Mission complete

"Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!!"

The coldly spoken words rang through the deathly silent ruins like a sentence handed down by the Grim Reaper.

Rumble!

The next second, the earth split apart with a deafening crash! The ancient trees standing motionless around the clearing seemed to have been infused with savage vitality, instantly transforming into bloodthirsty wooden dragons.

Countless Giant Wood entities burst from the earth in an unstoppable surge, engulfing the entire clearing in an instant!

"Wh-what kind of magic is this?!"

"The trees are alive! Monster! Heeelp!"

The dark guild members who had been sprawled on the ground moments earlier did not even have time to think about running before the overwhelming green tsunami swallowed them whole.

The Giant Wood entities spread and intertwined wildly, precisely binding every last lackey and violently draining what little magic power they had left.

Screams and the crunch of breaking bones rose one after another. In mere seconds, the once-open clearing vanished completely, replaced by a forcibly created cage of Giant Wood that radiated terrifying pressure.

The dust settled.

The dark guild lackeys who normally committed all manner of evil now hung in clusters from thick branches like peanuts strung up for roasting, their eyes rolled back and foam spilling from their mouths. They had utterly lost the ability to resist.

Click.

Blanc gently pushed open the iron cage's gate. He strolled out over the carpet of green leaves and surveyed his magnificent "masterpiece," dusting off his hands in satisfaction.

"Hey, hey... you've got to be kidding, right?"

Lahar, who had fallen into a seated position nearby, was completely dumbstruck. He stared at the forest of Giant Wood that had sprung up from the clearing, not even remembering to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were filled with incredulous shock.

"Huff... hah..."

On the other side, Mirajane knelt on one knee. After the succession of fierce battles, her battered body trembled uncontrollably.

She stared blankly at the outrageous scene before her, then tugged at the corner of her mouth and turned toward the approaching Blanc, muttering in a voice barely above a whisper:

"You... what did they feed you growing up to turn you into a monster like this...?"

Before she could finish speaking...

With every enemy defeated, her long-strained nerves abruptly relaxed, and her accumulated injuries and exhaustion came crashing back like a tidal wave.

Mirajane's vision suddenly went black, and the world seemed to spin. Before she could finish her sentence, her body went limp, and she toppled helplessly to one side.

Whoosh.

Before Lahar could cry out, a blur flashed past.

Just as Mirajane was about to hit the ground, a strong arm caught her slender waist with perfect steadiness and swept her into an embrace.

A faint, fresh scent of greenery filled her nose. The warmth of his arms drew an instinctive, contented murmur from the half-conscious white-haired girl. Her head slumped against his shoulder, and she passed out completely.

"She's exhausted."

Blanc looked down at the girl in his arms, her face weary but finally relaxed, then turned helplessly toward Lahar, who was too shocked to speak.

"Mr. Lahar, don't just stand there gawking. Hurry up and call someone to wrap things up. I'll take her into town to find a doctor first."

Magic Council carriages stopped at the town entrance one after another. Chains clinked sporadically as the captured members of Pandemonium climbed aboard with their heads lowered. Standing at the front, Lahar thanked Blanc sincerely.

"Thank you so much. We truly owe everything to you this time."

"Your strength was simply astounding!"

Blanc, however, hardly looked pleased with him. Still holding half a piece of bread, he stared at Lahar with dead-fish eyes. What he had expected to be a simple subjugation mission had suddenly jumped several levels in difficulty.

Lahar's face fell at the sight. He could only bid him an awkward farewell and leave with the escort personnel.

Blanc's approach to the battle had been simple, too: first, he intimidated the enemy with his magic power, focusing all their attention on a single point.

At the same time, he summoned a clone nearby, created by combining a thought projection with a Wood Release construct capable of acting independently. The clone went to Red Apple Village to rescue the hostages.

Although the clone's strength was limited, it was more than enough to deal with a few small fry.

Blanc finished the rest of his food, then turned and headed toward the clinic in town.

Time to check on his unexpected haul from this mission: a Mirajane caught in the wild!

A faint smell of disinfectant lingered in the ward. The window frame divided the afternoon sunlight into strips that fell directly onto a plate of sliced fruit beside the bed.

Blanc sat on a low stool beside the bed, tossing an apple core toward the wastebasket. Hearing a sound beside him, he hurriedly finished what he was doing and turned toward his patient.

Mira woke in a hospital ward. When she opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar, good-looking black-haired boy sitting beside her.

Seeing that she was awake, Blanc said, "You're awake. You passed out after the battle ended yesterday, so I had to bring you to the hospital here in town for treatment."

Mira immediately recalled what had happened. Then her gaze fell on her exposed demon arm, and her expression suddenly turned anxious. She hurriedly tucked the arm beneath the covers.

She lowered her head, unable to face the person beside her who had seen her arm.

"My name's Blanc. I'm a wizard from Fairy Tail. And you?"

"...Mirajane." After giving a stiff reply, she spotted the cloak beside the bed, immediately grabbed it, and draped it over herself.

"Thank you for your help. I'm leaving the hospital now."

Seeing how guarded she was, Blanc thought he could not let her slip away just like that, so he brought up the matter that concerned her most.

"I heard everything you said yesterday. You seem to think you're possessed by a demon, right? You're not possessed. You've only awakened your magic!"

"It's a kind of magic called 'Take Over.' You simply took the demon's power into your own body."

Mira started at his words and looked at Blanc in surprise. Then her expression darkened again, as though she had recalled some painful memory, and she murmured:

"A demon's power... I don't need anything like that."

"You probably don't understand your own magic at all. Otherwise, you wouldn't have kept your arm in its demon form this whole time."

Mira's heart jolted. "Can this arm go back to normal?"

"It can." Blanc thought it over. His knowledge of Take Over Magic extended only to basic applications, and he honestly did not know how to handle an abnormal takeover like this. Still, he remembered that Mira had successfully brought it under control in the original story.

"How do I do it?" Mira asked eagerly.

Blanc answered with a broad smile, looking like a creepy old man trying to lure a child away.

"That part I don't know. We'll have to ask my Guild Master. Want to come with me? To Fairy Tail!"