Heaven's Punishment?

Sordil stared at the familiar yet utterly unfamiliar building before him, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He had wanted to join the guild more than once, yet that dream had never come true. Today, it was finally about to become reality. Sordil now somewhat understood the feeling described in fantasy novels: to hear the truth in the morning and die content that evening. He simply did not know that in the near future, truly arriving at the real Fairy Tail would plunge him into deep distress. But that was a matter for later. Right now, Sordil was still thrilled, for he was finally about to fulfill a long-cherished wish.

"Sordil, hurry up! Didn't you want to join Fairy Tail? You'll have plenty of time to admire the guild later. We need to get the paperwork done now!" Natsu, who had walked ahead, turned back and urged him when Sordil drifted off.

"Okay! Coming!" Reminded by Natsu, Sordil gathered his thoughts and hurried after him.

"Great, I can finally join Fairy Tail! I wonder what procedures there'll be. Will there be some kind of test?" Lucy muttered softly beside Sordil. Sordil reached out and gently patted her shoulder, encouraging her.

When they pushed open the doors, the guild's interior was laid bare before them. Directly opposite the entrance was a large counter for accepting jobs. To the right of it stood the job board and the stairs leading to the second floor, while to the left was a small door leading who knew where. Rows of tables and chairs filled the space before the counter. Countless people were drinking or eating at the tables. A man dressed like a Native American paced before the job board, while a graceful white-haired woman behind the counter prepared drinks and food. People bustled through the hall, making it lively and noisy.

"I heard you did another good deed in Harujion..." a bucktoothed man said to Natsu.

Bang!

"The information you gave me about the Fire Dragon was fake!" Natsu shouted as he kicked the man in the face.

"Well, I only told you what I heard..." the man replied as he flew backward.

Bang!

The man crashed through a table, and the people around it instantly broke into a brawl. Cups, chairs, food, alcohol, and all sorts of things flew everywhere. Happy happened to be struck by one of the flying objects and slammed into another table in the distance. The chaos immediately intensified, and the entire hall descended into disorder. Sordil pulled Lucy along as they carefully dodged the flying debris and made their way toward the counter. It was only a few dozen steps, but they felt as though they had walked half their lives. At last, they arrived safely and met the white-haired woman behind the counter—Mirajane.

"Sorry, they're always like this. You weren't scared, were you?" Mirajane's soft voice reached their ears.

"It's fine. This is exactly how Fairy Tail ought to be. Natsu told me all about it long ago. Besides, this version of Fairy Tail is more fun!" Unlike the stunned Lucy, Sordil answered with a smile.

"That's right, everyone is more lovable this way..." Mira had not finished speaking before the flying Elfman crashed into her, knocking her to the floor unconscious.

"Have you all had enough? You're practically tearing the guild apart!" A furious roar rang out. Looking toward the sound, they saw a massive, pitch-black figure appear in the center of the hall.

"Oh my, Master, you were here too!" Mira, now awake, said as she stared at the enormous shadow.

With the guild master's appearance, the disturbance gradually subsided. Natsu, the chief culprit, was even pinned beneath the master's foot. Soon, the huge figure shrank into a white-bearded old man less than a meter tall, leaning on a wooden cane.

"You two are the newcomers? Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Makarov said as he looked at Sordil and Lucy. Then he flew toward the counter in a backflip, only to be stopped by it just like in the anime. He climbed onto the counter with both hands and feet, sat cross-legged on top, and began drinking.

With Makarov's approval, Mirajane began helping Sordil and Lucy complete the joining procedures. Calling them procedures was an exaggeration; they merely registered information such as their names, ages, and places of residence, then received Fairy Tail guild marks. Sordil chose the same red mark as Natsu and had it imprinted on his left hand. Mira then mocked him for being a combination of Lucy and Natsu.

"Sordil, where's that guy? Why haven't I seen him?" Early the next morning, Natsu scanned the hall but found no sign of Sordil, so he asked Mira.

"He accepted a subjugation job yesterday and left that very night. He also asked me to tell you to team up with Lucy first and help her get familiar with jobs. When he gets back, the three of you can form a team and do jobs together!" Mira tilted her head as she recalled yesterday's events and relayed them to Natsu.

"Great! I'll go talk to Lucy about it right now." After hearing Mira's message, Natsu excitedly ran out of the guild.

Meanwhile, Sordil had already arrived at the job site, a forest located between Magnolia and Harujion, and had begun searching for the target of this subjugation job: the Wind Wolf Pack. The reason Sordil was in such a hurry to do jobs was because two function cards had appeared in the Novice Gift Pack he opened yesterday. One was a Ten Times Experience Card, while the other was even more powerful: a Temporary Level Boost Card that could raise Sordil's level to thirty. However, both cards had one fatal weakness—they were only effective within twenty-four hours of appearing. Once the time limit passed, they would become useless. As a seasoned gamer, how could Sordil possibly let such powerful leveling tools go to waste? So he had accepted a job overnight and rushed here. Even so, he did not have much time left, forcing him to move faster.

Sordil carefully searched as he advanced. He had no desire to die here because of a moment of carelessness. If that happened, not only would he fail the job, but his two function cards would also be wasted. Yet some troubles in this world could not be avoided. No matter how cautious you were, trouble would still come when it was meant to come—just like now.

Suddenly, a faint rustling came from the grass to Sordil's front right. The blades of grass swayed gently. Gradually, the sound grew louder, and the grass shook more violently. Sordil retreated several steps, his eyes fixed tightly on the brush.

Whoosh!

A black blur shot out of the grass and flew straight at Sordil. Just as it reached him, it suddenly changed direction and circled behind him. Before Sordil could recover from his shock, a blue-violet bolt of lightning followed from the direction the black object had come.

Sizzle!

As though piercing a sheet of thin paper, the blue-violet lightning instantly tore through Sordil's body and shot toward the black object behind him. Sordil's body and the black object it struck instantly turned to ash. At the same time, in the real world, Xiao Rang, who was lying on his bed, suddenly sat upright and let out an agonized scream.

Bang!

The gaming helmet on Xiao Rang's head instantly exploded, scattering fragments everywhere. His head burst like a watermelon dropped on the ground, red and white fluid splashing over his entire body as he fell stiffly back down.