Chapter 15: Phantom Lord Disbanded
A few days passed in the blink of an eye.
On this particular morning, Yumesaki strolled along at a leisurely pace, arriving at the guild with a relaxed smile on his face.
"Good morning, Yumesaki."
Lucy walked over and greeted him.
A few days ago, Natsu had practically dragged her along by force to go on a mission, and she had only just returned yesterday. Although the course of the mission had been full of twists and turns, the result was great. Not only did they complete the request, but she had even managed to obtain a Celestial Spirit Key from the Twelve Zodiacs. Just that point alone made her incredibly happy, which was why she had been wearing a cheerful smile for anyone she met.
"Good morning, Lucy."
Yumesaki responded, his eyes scanning her a few times before he remarked, "Seeing how radiant your face is, and with your enthusiasm up a hundredfold, did you happen to get something good?"
"You could say that."
Lucy replied with a smile. She was just getting ready to say more when Natsu suddenly ran over, bursting with excitement.
"Yumesaki, duel me right now!"
Lucy sighed, "Ah, here we go... just how much do you actually love dueling?"
"Sure." Yumesaki accepted nonchalantly.
Natsu instantly rejoiced upon hearing this. He clenched his fists as his magic power began to boil. "I'm fired up! Take this! Fire Dragon's Iron—"
"Ice-Make: Sauzer!"
Yumesaki flicked his finger, launching an ice bird at an incredible speed straight toward Natsu. In a split second, Natsu was completely frozen into a solid block of ice.
Happy commented, "Aye, Natsu lost."
Lucy couldn't help but chime in, "That was too fast! It hasn't even been three seconds, has it?"
During their last mission, she had once again seen Natsu in action. He was indeed out of the ordinary, strong, and highly capable. But now, seeing Yumesaki freeze Natsu with just a flick of his finger, she truly understood the phrase "above any great person, there is always someone greater." This was exactly that.
"The guild is as lively as ever today, I see."
Right at that moment, Erza walked over. Seeing the frozen Natsu and Gray who was currently mocking him, she couldn't help but speak with a smile.
Mirajane walked over carrying some freshly mixed drinks, handing them out one by one. "Erza, did something happen earlier? I can't help but feel that you're smiling much more happily today than usual."
"Is it really that obvious?" Erza asked, touching her own face.
Mirajane nodded, "It's very obvious."
Lucy looked closely a few times and couldn't help but comment, "I can't tell at all. Doesn't she look exactly the same as before?"
Erza explained, "Actually, I did recently come across some good news. The Guild Master of Phantom Lord, Jose, was arrested by the Magic Council for researching forbidden magic. Furthermore, Phantom Lord has been disbanded."
Hearing up to this point, Yumesaki already knew that Ultear had taken action.
That woman's methods were as ruthless as ever.
"What? Phantom Lord was disbanded?" Lucy was utterly shocked.
That was a guild capable of rivaling Fairy Tail, yet it had surprisingly been dissolved overnight. It was simply too unbelievable.
Mirajane was also rather surprised. A few days ago, the Master and Erza were still suffering from a massive headache because of Phantom Lord, yet out of nowhere, they were hearing news of its disbandment today. She wondered if there might be something suspicious going on behind the scenes.
"How exactly did this happen?"
Erza shook her head and replied, "I don't know the full details either. However, this order was handed down directly by the Magic Council, and all the council members agreed unanimously. The evidence of Jose researching forbidden magic is absolute, which is why he was arrested."
Yumesaki spoke in a calm tone, "If I remember correctly, Jose's specialty is Dark Magic, right?"
Mirajane nodded.
Yumesaki then continued, "For someone researching that type of magic, even if they haven't completely fallen into darkness, isn't researching forbidden magic a pretty normal occurrence for them?"
It was worth noting that one of the four founding members of the Fairy Tail Guild and its Second Generation Master, Precht Gaebolg, had also studied Dark Magic. In his later years, he ultimately stepped into the abyss of magic and became a major enemy. For someone like Jose to research forbidden magic was completely within expectations.
In the original timeline, Jose possessed an immense magic power on par with Makarov. His sinister magic spread an aura of death everywhere, to the point where mages lacking strength would feel physically sick just standing before him. No matter how one looked at it, that situation was abnormal; it wasn't the kind of magic power a normal mage should have. If the Magic Council claimed he was researching forbidden magic, Yumesaki didn't doubt it for a second.
"Even if you say so, isn't the timing just a bit too coincidental?" Mirajane said hesitantly.
Hearing her words, Erza also knit her brows.
Speaking of which, she had only recently sought out Ultear, hoping to borrow her influence to put some pressure on Jose. Not long after that, Jose was arrested, and Phantom Lord was forcibly disbanded. Erza hadn't thought about it that way at first, but now, hearing Mirajane's doubts, she couldn't help but feel a flicker of uncertainty herself.
Could Ultear really have used her own influence to frame Phantom Lord? If that were truly the case, wouldn't they be the ones in the wrong?
Ultimately, in order to confirm the truth of the matter, Erza dragged Yumesaki along to the Magic Council once again to find Ultear. She wanted to know if there was actually something fishy going on.
Inside the reception room.
After Ultear understood what was on Erza's mind, she looked at her with a knowing smile.
"You're as upright as always, aren't you, Erza?"
Erza's heart skipped a beat, "Was it really you..."
"No."
Without waiting for Erza to finish, Ultear cut her off firmly. "We didn't frame Phantom Lord, nor did we frame Jose."
"Is that all true?" Erza stared intently into Ultear's eyes.
Ultear met her gaze without a single hint of fear. "To be honest, in the beginning, I really did intend to do just that. However, after conducting my investigation, I found that there was absolutely no need for me to resort to such measures."
"Because Jose's own background wasn't clean to begin with."
"Six years ago, after he lost to your Fairy Tail Master, Makarov, he wanted nothing more than to defeat him at any given moment to wipe away his past humiliation."
"But under normal circumstances, it was impossible for him to be a match for your Master."
"Therefore, he began utilizing human lives to practice Dark Magic."
"What?" Erza was shocked. Her sharp brows furrowed tight, and her scarlet hair fluttered wildly in the air. "To think he actually used human lives to practice Dark Magic... What difference does that make from a rogue mage? No, that is entirely the path of a rogue."
Ultear nodded and said, "Precisely. It is indeed the path of a rogue. That is why the Magic Council arrested Jose and forcibly dissolved Phantom Lord."
Erza nodded as she processed the information, then asked a crucial question. "Why is it that this matter was only successfully investigated just now?"
Ultear pointed at Erza and said, "This is all because of you."
"Me?" Erza was somewhat confused, a look of bewilderment appearing in her eyes.
Ultear explained, "Previously, you pleaded with me to restrain Jose. I originally intended to find a random pretext to frame the man and lock him up by force, which led me to carry out a highly detailed investigation on him."
"Then, I discovered his secret of utilizing human lives to practice Dark Magic."
"Because this man is extremely cautious, the people he used weren't ordinary civilians. Instead, he used Dark Guilds—specifically assassination guilds, which are illegal organizations—to practice his magic."
"That's why no one discovered this point until now."
In this world of Earth-land, there were actually several types of guilds.
For instance, there were official guilds that received recognition from the Magic Council, such as Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and others. This type of association primarily operated by accepting ordinary requests from clients, but they also performed functions that benefited the general public. The most common example was Fairy Tail, which would take in homeless children, providing them with simple jobs so they could make a living.
As for Dark Guilds, they were simply guilds that did not receive recognition from the Magic Council. This type of guild lacked any strict rules; as long as you provided enough money, they would accept absolutely any request. They would burn, kill, pillage, and commit every imaginable crime. The most prominent example was the Balam Alliance, formed by three major organizations: Oración Seis, Tartaros, and Grimoire Heart. This alliance aimed to control the magical world, and every single one of their Guild Masters possessed power that surpassed a Wizard Saint. They could be considered the giants among Dark Guilds. Aside from them, there were smaller ones like Eisenwald, which was a minor Dark Guild.
Beyond official and Dark Guilds, there were also assassination guilds. These were guilds that focused strictly on murder. While Dark Guilds would accept any dirty job, assassination guilds did only one thing: assassination. Whoever needed someone dead could come looking for them. In the original timeline, Trinity Raven, who appeared at the Tower of Heaven, was the most typical example of a special guerrilla squad under the assassin guild Skull Cube. Their leader, Ikaruga, was a female swordsman who wore a white kimono and wooden sandals, sporting long cherry-blossom-colored hair. She had once pushed Erza into a corner.
In addition to those, there were mercenary guilds, treasure hunter guilds, and so on. However, the latter were clearly considered law-abiding organizations, completely different from Dark Guilds and assassination guilds.
Dark Guilds and assassination guilds did nothing but dirty work, and every single member was a wanted criminal. Jose took the lives of these people to practice his magic, so naturally, no one cared about them. But the problem was, just because no one cared didn't mean it wasn't a violation of the rules. Those were two entirely different matters. It was like how killing a wanted criminal was fine, but using them to conduct inhumane experiments was crossing the line. Some things were fine if left unexamined, but once scrutinized, they became problematic. After all, even if you were a Wizard Saint, you still lacked the authority to arbitrarily execute people, let alone use the lives of criminals to practice magic. Regardless of whether the opposing party was a wanted criminal or not, it was completely a rogue practice and a strictly forbidden act.
Once Ultear discovered this matter, she immediately brought it straight to the Magic Council. All the Council members deeply despised such actions, leading them to resolutely arrest Jose and forcibly dissolve Phantom Lord.
After understanding the cause and effect of the whole ordeal, Erza breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Jose wasn't framed, then it was fine. As for his actions of using human lives to practice magic, he was entirely reaping what he sowed. Erza certainly wouldn't beg for leniency for someone like that.
"Thank you for your help, Council Councilor Ultear."
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