After the Magic Council received the very impolite—and even somewhat wildly fanciful—letter signed and stamped by Annie and penned on her behalf by Natsu, titled "Order Requiring the Magic Council to Make Improvements Within a Set Time Limit and Related Compensation Ruling," they wasted little time discussing their decision regarding the Fairy Tail guild. It was finalized almost on the very day the letter arrived.
Perhaps...
In the Magic Council's eyes, apart from thoroughly enraging them and damaging the Council's authority, Fairy Tail's letter didn't pose much of a real threat?
After all, Fairy Tail's members had been gone for seven whole years, and the guild that remained now had only a handful of people. Its mages were pitifully weak, and it ranked near the bottom of the Alliance of Legal Guilds, so it was no threat at all?
Even if Fairy Tail's main forces had returned, things had changed in the past seven years. More importantly, the mobile city platform Fairy Tail relied on—Nirvana—had already been "legally" confiscated by the Magic Council years ago!
So, confident of victory and convinced there was no suspense to speak of, the Magic Council brazenly issued a bounty and an "annihilation order" against Fairy Tail. They also acted swiftly, sending a large force of Rune Knights to blockade Hargeon, the port city nearest Magnolia. They formed a massive encirclement by sea and land, cutting off every possible escape route for Fairy Tail's members.
Of course, they hadn't overlooked the skies, either. At least three of the Magic Council's floating warships were patrolling overhead.
According to the Magic Council's plans, the Alliance of Legal Guilds would spearhead the operation and launch a ground assault, while the Rune Knights would handle the encirclement and the final arrests. They expected to capture all of Fairy Tail's