"...Aren't you his daughter?"
Finn pointed a casual finger at Jiemma, who was currently lying face-down in the dirt, completely unconscious and bleeding. He looked back at Minerva, genuinely curious about the cold, calculating woman asking to be his subordinate.
Honestly, he wondered how a stunning woman like Minerva could possibly share DNA with a brute like Jiemma. The Guild Master was essentially just a massive, bearded wall of muscle wrapped in a fur skirt.
Minerva, on the other hand, was breathtaking. She possessed sharp, elegant Eastern features, accentuated by geisha-style makeup, including a dark, glossy lipstick that made her lips look perpetually moist and inviting. Her long, straight, purple-black hair reached her lower back, parted in the middle with two bangs framing her face. She styled it with two unique, bun-shaped dango loops on the sides of her head, with small braids dangling beneath them.
She wore a revealing, off-the-shoulder oriental dress resembling a modified cheongsam, perfectly displaying her toned, smooth legs and generous cleavage.
Yet, as she offered him a beautiful smile, Finn could only compare her to a snake. She was incredibly alluring, but inherently poisonous.
Fortunately, I am completely immune to poison, Finn thought, luckily, since if Minerva made an attack, he could happily accept.
"..."
The surviving members of the Sabertooth remained absolutely silent. When Minerva practically stepped over her father's body to offer her loyalty to the man who had just destroyed their home, none of them dared to voice an objection. They were entirely at his mercy.
Furthermore, the smarter mages among them—like Rufus—had just realized why no guards or civilians had rushed to investigate the massive explosion.
Letter Magic.
It wasn't the versatile, elemental script magic used by Levy McGarden of Fairy Tail. While Levy's Solid Script was incredibly creative, simply writing the word "Fire" was ultimately less effective than just casting actual Fire Magic.
No, this was something far more oppressive. It was conceptually similar to the Dark Écriture used by Freed Justine—a complex enchantment that created absolute, barrier-like force fields, cutting off all physical and magical connection from the outside world.
Finn had taken it a step further. He had woven optical and auditory illusions directly into the barrier runes. From the outside, the Sabertooth lodgings appeared perfectly intact and completely silent.
Though, casting standard barrier magic would have been much faster, Finn admitted internally. Without the Manager rapidly calculating the complex rune structures in real-time, setting up this flawless quarantine would have been incredibly troublesome.
"It's fine," Minerva said, her voice devoid of any warmth as she looked down at her father. "It is his own fault for being so weak."
She turned her attention back to Finn, her expression perfectly sincere. To anyone else, her immediate willingness to betray her own blood would be a massive red flag. She looked exactly like the type of subordinate who would inevitably stab her master in the back the moment he showed a sign of weakness.
Yet, Finn wasn't worried in the slightest. Frankly, even if she did eventually try to betray him, it would just add some much-needed entertainment to his life. Surrounding himself with blindly obedient zealots all the time was efficient, but ultimately boring. Navigating ambition, betrayal, and shifting loyalties was what kept a ruler sharp.
"Sure," Finn agreed easily.
"Eh?"
It wasn't just Minerva; the entire Sabertooth roster blinked in absolute shock.
"What's wrong?" Finn looked down at her, amused by her momentary loss of composure. "Did you actually think I was going to reject you? Why would I turn down a guild as powerful as Sabertooth? Or... are you lying to me?"
"No, Finn-sama. Whatever you command, I will follow," Minerva quickly dropped to one knee, bowing her head to formally display her absolute obedience.
"Excellent. I'll fix this mess for you," Finn stated casually. "Use your spatial magic to move all of your guildmates off to the side so they don't get trapped inside the walls when I put the building back together."
"Okay...?"
Minerva was completely baffled as to how Finn intended to "fix" a completely pulverized mansion, but she didn't question him. Activating her unique spatial magic, Territory, she rapidly manipulated the space around her fallen comrades.
"It is done, Finn-sama," Minerva reported.
With a series of wave-like, rippling distortions, every single battered, injured, or unconscious member of Sabertooth was instantly teleported to a safe clearing near the edge of the courtyard.
"Good."
Finn surveyed the catastrophic ruin of the courtyard. He snapped his fingers.
"Restore."
A massive, intricate, clock-like magic circle expanded rapidly across the ground.
Suddenly, the absolute destruction seemed to hit the rewind button. The shattered stone pillars pulled themselves back together. The pulverized bedrock smoothed out. The massive mansion, which had been flipped completely upside down, violently righted itself, the roof reattaching and the splintered wood sealing flawlessly.
Everything in the environment—except the living beings—was rapidly forced backward through time to the exact state it had been in before Finn arrived.
"Done."
"...."
The Sabertooth mages stared at their perfectly intact mansion, their jaws practically hitting the dirt.
How was Finn so confident he could erase all the evidence of his attack? Because he had already analyzed and mastered Ultear Milkovich's signature magic: the Arc of Time.
It was a Lost Magic that allowed the user to manipulate the "time" of non-living objects and non-sentient lifeforms. Finn had always appreciated time-altering abilities—like Racer's Slow Magic—so mastering Ultear's magic was a priority.
As for affecting living beings... Finn thought silently. If I pushed the conceptual limits of the magic and fed it enough raw mana, I could probably force it to age or de-age living targets as well. The potential of time magic is terrifying.
Minerva's spatial Territory magic was impressive, but witnessing Finn casually rewind time left her completely awestruck.
"Do you want me to heal your minions as well?" Finn asked Minerva, pulling her from her daze.
"Is... is that possible?" Minerva gulped.
"I can."
"...If you don't mind. It would be incredibly troublesome to manage the guild completely alone tomorrow," Minerva admitted. She glanced at her father, who was still bleeding into the dirt. "But you can leave my father exactly as he is."
"Very well."
Finn looked at Jiemma, wondering exactly what kind of horrific childhood the man had subjected his daughter to for her to hate him with such cold, absolute apathy.
"Reinvigorate."
Finn extended his palm. A gentle, sweeping wave of restorative light washed over the clustered Sabertooth mages. In seconds, their shattered bones set, their bruises faded, and their exhausted magical stamina was completely replenished.
The mages stared at their own hands, utterly speechless.
"Now that you are all healthy again," Finn smiled warmly beneath his mask. "Let's do round two."
"....."
The fleeting joy of being healed instantly vanished. The guild froze in absolute terror, looking at each other in panic.
Minerva quickly stepped in, her sharp voice cutting through the fear. "What are you idiots doing?! Hurry up and bow before him!"
"Finn-sama!"
The entire guild practically threw themselves onto the dirt, bowing deeply. Finn had already effortlessly crushed them when they were at peak strength. Fighting him again was literal suicide.
"Well, that's a shame," Finn sighed, dropping his hand. "But I did enjoy our brief exchange. Especially you four."
Finn looked directly at Orga, Rufus, Sting, and Rogue.
The four elites kept their heads bowed, cold sweat dripping down their faces. They were reckless and incredibly arrogant, but they weren't stupid. They recognized an insurmountable wall when they hit one. And currently, that wall was offering them mercy.
"Try to grow stronger," Finn encouraged lightly. "Maybe one day you'll actually be able to make me try."
He paused, his aura shifting from polite to cold and absolute.
"Since you have all decided to follow me, I have a few simple rules. Listen closely."
The courtyard was dead silent.
"I expect you to follow basic common sense. Conduct your guild activities and client contracts in good faith. If any of you decide you want to quit Sabertooth, you are entirely free to do so. I won't demand absolute, cult-like loyalty from pawns."
Finn's eyes narrowed behind the mask. "However, if you ever attempt to damage my interests, or if you ever harm one of my people... I will not show you the mercy I showed you tonight. Furthermore, I will not tolerate anyone being treated the way you treated Yukino Agria today. Understood?"
"...."
The mages remained in a daze, rapidly processing the bizarrely reasonable, yet terrifyingly absolute demands of their new dictator.
"I'm heading back," Finn announced, turning away. "You handle the rest of the transition, Minerva."
"Ah?" Minerva blinked, startled. Was he really just going to conquer the strongest guild in Fiore and walk away five minutes later?!
"W-Wait a moment, Finn-sama! Allow me to accompany you!" Minerva hurriedly hiked up the slit of her dress, rushing after him into the night.
As the two figures vanished into the dark streets, the remaining members of Sabertooth slowly stood up. They looked at the unconscious, battered body of their former Master, and then at each other.
"Rufus..." Orga muttered. "What exactly should we do now?"
Rufus, widely considered the most intelligent and tactical mind in the guild, adjusted his hat with a heavy sigh.
"For now... I believe we simply wait and follow orders," Rufus replied.
He had memorized countless magics and historical events, but he had absolutely zero memory of a hostile takeover happening this smoothly or terrifyingly.
Yet, as they looked down at Jiemma, they all silently agreed on one thing: trading a loud, abusive tyrant for a quiet, absolute dictator was a massive upgrade. At the very least, they wouldn't have to watch another comrade get stripped and humiliated for losing a tournament match.