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South of Cait Shelter lay the Vast Tree Sea.
With its beautiful scenery, mild climate, and pleasant environment, the Vast Tree Sea attracted developers who built high-end leisure villas on its outskirts, selling them exclusively to wealthy individuals seeking relaxation and recreation.
However, those developers probably never imagined that deep within the Vast Tree Sea—which they'd left undeveloped due to budget constraints—lay an ancient Magic that could shake the world.
Deep within the tree sea, Jellal led Oración Seis into a cave.
It wasn't so much a cave as a massive hollow beneath a thousand-year-old tree.
Jellal ran his hand over the faded ancient runes on the cave wall, then turned toward the stone monument standing in the cave's center. "Teacher, that's the seal containing Nirvana."
His past identity as a Magic Councilor had allowed Jellal to learn many secrets of the Magic World, and the legendary Magic Item known as Nirvana was one of them.
"Well done, Jellal."
"Although your plan to resurrect the Black Wizard failed, your dream still has a chance to become reality. We'll ultimately bring the freedom of darkness to this world."
After feeding his pawn false hope, Brain thrust his skull staff, Klodoa, into the runic array at the monument's center.
Even though the complex ancient sealing Magic had weakened over time, breaking it was still extremely difficult.
But Brain, who'd once been director of the Magic Development Bureau, possessed profound magical knowledge. With just one glance, he identified the seal's weak point.
He twisted his staff, and with Brain's precise magical guidance, the sealed stone monument crumbled inch by inch. Immediately, the earth began to tremble.
Hoteye, one of Oración Seis's members, sensed something unusual about this tremor and warned his companions, "Something's coming up from underground."
Cobra, wrapped by his purple snake Cubellios, twitched his ears and echoed, "I hear it too. That thing seems pretty massive."
Sawyer pushed back his cockscomb hairstyle with both hands, his face indifferent. In his opinion, Nirvana was just ancient Magic—how big could it possibly be?
The remaining two Mages of Oración Seis, one male and one female, showed no interest in the changes beneath their feet. One was dozing on a magic carpet, while the other toyed with a Celestial Spirit Key in her hand.
While his students chatted, Brain completely removed the seal.
With a tremendous boom, the thousand-year-old tree toppled amid suddenly violent tremors. A faint grinding roar emanated from deep underground as moss-covered rock layers cracked open like eggshells.
Rocks crumbled. Trees fell.
Gray metal spires pierced through the surface, and six mechanical spider legs as thick as bell towers burst through the earth, raising waves of mud that splattered even the surrounding trees.
In just a few minutes, the entire landscape transformed drastically.
Just as Brain and the others tried to comprehend what these mechanical legs were, the ground beneath them shook again with earthquake-like intensity, followed by a sensation of being lifted upward.
Trees, grass, and rocks tumbled downward. As their gaze rose, the now-stable group finally witnessed the colossal mechanical construct emerging from beneath the Vast Tree Sea.
It was an ancient city roughly ten square kilometers in area, supported by six mechanical legs—resembling a gigantic mechanical spider.
Even the well-informed Brain stood there slack-jawed, shocked by this transformation. He'd never expected that breaking the seal would reveal a mobile ancient city!
And the long-desired Nirvana was located at the city's center.
But Brain wasn't in a hurry to activate Nirvana just yet. Instead, he walked to the city's edge and surveyed its astonishing firepower configuration.
Beneath the hexagonal base's rim were thirty-two Magic Crystal Cannons whose manufacturing techniques had been lost to time, their power far surpassing ordinary Magic Cannons.
Realizing that half of the thirty-two Magic Crystal Cannons were still functional, Brain burst into maniacal laughter. Nirvana's carrier was an indestructible weapon of war—an unexpected windfall for him.
With these two assets, he might even surpass Grimoire Heart, Tartaros, and the Black Magic Cult, becoming the leader of all dark forces!
Forcibly suppressing his fantasies, Brain focused on what he needed to do now: completely control this city and Nirvana.
"Careful, a strong guy is here!"
A gentle breeze blew past, and Cobra suddenly turned his head toward a row of ancient buildings. Even he, who'd mastered Sound Magic, had almost failed to detect the two people.
Following Cobra's gaze, Brain saw two figures—one black, one white—standing silently on an ancient structure. He recognized one of them.
"Fairy Tail S-Class Mage, Mystogan."
"If it's just you, you won't leave here alive today."
Brain's low voice dripped with killing intent.
As for the white-haired youth beside Mystogan, Brain paid him no mind. A kid whose name even his vast intelligence network couldn't identify was probably just some ordinary, unremarkable Mage.
However, it was this "nobody" in Brain's eyes who made Jellal—who'd remained calm since waking—change his expression and curse through gritted teeth, "It's you! You despicable white-haired bastard!"
"Why're you shouting so loud?"
Noah feigned cleaning out his ear, a smile on his face and mockery in his tone. "Jellal, seems you got lucky last time and escaped with your life, but you won't have that same fortune today."
"Hmph, you're the unlucky one today!"
Jellal's face was grim. Toward the person who'd "destroyed" the Tower of Heaven and rendered his seven years of effort worthless, he couldn't possibly show a good face.
If it weren't for this hateful white-haired bastard interfering, his plan to sacrifice Erza and resurrect the Black Wizard would've succeeded long ago, and he could've been completely free, embracing the freedom of darkness.
The other Oración Seis members now understood that this white-haired youth was the one Jellal had mentioned who caused the Tower of Heaven plan to fail. Their gazes toward Noah turned dangerous.
Feeling the unfriendly stares of the 6+1, Noah showed no sign of tension. Instead, he swaggered forward and jumped down from the ancient building that could've been his ancestor, ignoring the surrounding stares and shouting toward the sky:
"Hey! Black Magic Cult brothers, are you there?!"
"If you are, hurry up and come out for a group fight!"
As soon as he said this, Brain immediately looked at Cobra, but the latter shook his head. Cobra's senses hadn't detected any other people present besides those already there.
Not just the 6+1—even Mystogan was puzzled by Noah's actions. When they'd arrived, they'd scouted the area and found no other Mages besides Oración Seis.
Could his younger brother be delusional...?