Inside the solemn courtroom.
Eight Council Members took their seats on the raised platform, though, for some reason, Ultear was absent.
The chairman seated in the center cleared his throat, then brought his wooden gavel down hard.
Clang!
"The hearing on the full-scale guild war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail is now officially in session."
What followed was several hours of long-winded readings of legal provisions and a dry, tedious recounting of the events.
"First, the ruling on Phantom Lord-"
"The Phantom Lord guild disregarded the laws of the Magic Council, initiated a violent attack against a fellow guild, and maliciously provoked a full-scale war."
"Furthermore, during the conflict, it openly deployed a weapon of mass destruction against Oak Town. This constitutes an offense of extreme severity! Effective immediately, the guild is ordered to disband."
"Phantom Lord's Guild Master, Jose Porla, as one of the Ten Wizard Saints, knowingly violated the law and showed utter disregard for humanity. Effective immediately, he is stripped of his title as one of the Ten Wizard Saints and sentenced to life imprisonment."
"Next, regarding Fairy Tail."
"Zzz... zzz..."
"Zzz..."
The chairman had just turned a page of the verdict and was about to go through the motions of reading Fairy Tail's sentence when the discordant noise in the courtroom caught his attention.
"Hm?" The hand holding his verdict jerked, and a vein bulged on his forehead.
The clerk below stared at the two men in the defendants' seats, his mouth hanging open in surprise.
"Mr. Makarov? Mr. Blanc?" The clerk wiped away a cold sweat and called out loudly to alert them.
"Yes!"
Startled by the shout, the Guild Master jolted awake. A conditioned reflex honed over many years kicked in, and he hastily answered at the top of his lungs.
Blanc, meanwhile,