Under the blazing sun, there was nothing but wailing and desperate pleas.
But once all the spectators had arrived and the executions officially began, even those cries quickly died down—because there was no breath left to keep crying.
Slash! Slash!
Blade after blade fell, and heads rolled.
This time, the executions were carried out in the most primitive and direct way possible.
The whole point was blood, terror, and deterrence.
The Magic Council was truly furious—more furious than when Jellal had toyed with them before.
Last time, Jellal had schemed and infiltrated for so long that, once they were deceived, there wasn't much they could do about it.
But this time, the enemy had directly broken people out of prison. It was a slap to their face, over and over again.
"Remember what you promised me, Marco! I'm leaving this lacrima to you!"
When it was Cobra's turn to be executed, the "Poison Dragon" still hadn't let go of the matter.
Even now, he was still thinking about Cubellios.
Pfft!
After shouting that line, Cobra spat out a crystal from his mouth.
It was the Poison Dragon Lacrima!
As long as someone used that Lacrima, they could obtain Poison Dragon Slayer Magic.
Of course, that was only if they were compatible with the power. Otherwise, using it could be dangerous instead.
Bzz!
With a thought, Marco used telekinesis to bring the Poison Dragon Lacrima over to himself.
Naturally, he didn't grab it with his bare hand.
He first washed it over with magic power, then formed a small box out of Crystal Wall to seal it inside.
"Don't worry," Marco said, giving Cobra his assurance once again as he looked at the man, already pale and near death.
Now that Kinana had been sentenced to confinement within Magnolia, and Fairy Tail had taken on the responsibility of teaching and monitoring her, Cobra's worries were unnecessary.
As long as Kinana never suddenly turned back into a giant snake and went berserk again, she would be allowed to live out her life in Magnolia as Kinana.
No one would be allowed to harm her.
Slash! Slash!
Marco's words made Cobra close his eyes with the faintest trace of a smile.
Before long, the executions were complete.
The members of Oración Seis had, comparatively speaking, carried themselves with a bit more dignity than the others.
Brain in particular, as the leader of Oración Seis, hadn't said a word all the way through his execution.
Mostly because Marco had long since stopped bothering to control him and had simply let him go die.
Ever since Brain had been beaten to the brink of death by Marco, he had already been completely controlled by the Phantom Demon Emperor Fist.
Otherwise, Brain would never have voluntarily confessed so much during the trial, nor would he have faced death so calmly.
"Collect the bodies. Burn them all together."
After the executions, Marco gave the next order.
To prevent these corpses from being used by anyone with ulterior motives, the best solution was to cremate them all together.
There was naturally no need to make funeral arrangements for a bunch of dark wizards.
Not tossing them aside for wild dogs was already merciful enough.
Once they had been sentenced to death, all their rights as persons had effectively been stripped away.
Even their families were not allowed to claim the bodies. Of course, given their circumstances, it was doubtful anyone would come for them anyway.
Their relatives would likely have to hide their names and live quietly just to survive.
People always said that a family shouldn't be punished for one person's sins—but could that really be guaranteed?
Especially in a world like this. If someone truly wanted revenge, it would be very hard to stop them. So the less exposure, the better.
The flames burned fiercely, swallowing countless corpses.
They also swallowed the ambitions of Oración Seis, swallowed Brain's mad attempt to use Nirvana to change the world, and swallowed a great many dark wizards who had endangered society.
That fire burned especially bright.
And it was printed directly in the newspapers.
The Death of Oración Seis was absolutely the hottest story around right now.
Each new piece of information released stirred the public's emotions.
And today's Cleansing Fire made the front page headlines, giving countless people a sense of deep satisfaction and joy.
The destruction of Oración Seis, the collapse of its subordinate dark guilds, and their being crushed one by one—this was absolutely an unprecedented victory, one that made ordinary citizens and legal wizards everywhere cheer in delight.
...
"This feels amazing!"
Inside the Fairy Tail guild hall, Macao couldn't help but shout.
He still appeared in this issue too!
Even if it was only in a group shot, showing up in two issues in a row still made him feel great.
"I got my own little section. Did I say anything?"
Gray stood beside Macao, pretending not to care as he shamelessly showed off.
This time he had gotten a small feature of his own, specifically covering his battle with Hoteye, and it had earned him plenty of glory.
"Why am I not in here?! That makes no sense!"
Holding The Death of Oración Seis newspaper, Natsu flipped through it over and over, then roared in frustration.
Gray was in it—but he wasn't! How was that fair?! Natsu found that completely unacceptable!
"What the heck is Lucy doing?!"
Natsu started questioning Lucy's work, and even began to suspect that Gray had bribed her so she would only publish Gray's fight.
"Relax. Your battles are all going to be published one by one later. Lucy specifically asked me to explain it to you—she's not releasing all the fights at once. They're going to be spread out across different issues."
Marco smiled and soothed the indignant Natsu.
Lucy had already predicted this exact reaction and had even come to explain it to him beforehand.
"That's more like it!"
Natsu finally calmed down, though he still looked dissatisfied.
He thought his story should have been published first.
Since Gray's got published first, Gray had been basking in the spotlight all day, getting praised everywhere he went.
The guy was practically floating around in front of him.
Watching Natsu and Gray butt heads again, Marco shook his head helplessly.
He ignored the two of them and instead called over one of the guild's newer girls—a young purple-haired girl.
"Kinana."
When Marco called her name, the girl named Kinana froze for a moment, then quickly hurried over and lowered her head.
"Did you need something?" she asked.
Kinana was the girl the giant purple snake Cubellios had turned into.
She was now working as a waitress in Fairy Tail, and Mirajane, Lisanna, and Laki had already started showing her the ropes.
The girl was especially dependent on Mirajane, almost like an older sister, and listened to her very obediently.
"I don't need anything. I have something for you."
Marco took out the Poison Dragon Lacrima and placed it on the table in front of Kinana.
It was Cobra's keepsake, and Marco wanted to see whether Kinana had any reaction to it.
"This... what is this? Why are you giving it to me?"
Kinana looked at the Poison Dragon Lacrima in confusion.
She clearly didn't understand what it was, nor did she recognize it at all.
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