Gray finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Despite his injuries, he made his way over to Ultear and said, "You all suddenly started attacking us. You seriously don't remember?"
"We… attacked you?"
Ultear stared at him blankly.
Meredy suddenly tugged anxiously on her sleeve.
"Ul! Look at Sorano and the others!"
The moment Ultear saw the rest of Crime Sorcière still attacking Wendy and the others, her expression changed. She immediately rushed forward to stop them.
"Thank goodness. We finally know how to fix this…"
Nearby, Lucy was being held up like a child by Brandish, who enlarged one arm and sent an enormous fist crashing toward Macbeth.
Macbeth hurriedly summoned a torrent of darkness to defend himself, giving Ankh the opening he needed to use Separation Enchantment.
Sawyer slipped on a sheet of ice Gray spread beneath his feet, while Wendy raised an enormous wall of wind that temporarily blinded Erik.
Ankh, meanwhile, caught Sorano by the head with one hand. Seeing the vicious glare she gave him, he could only shake his head helplessly.
Crimson light swept across each of them.
One after another, strange white masses of energy were forced out of their bodies, and Ankh carefully crushed every one before it could escape or attach itself to someone else.
When everyone finally regained their senses, they wore almost identical expressions of confusion.
None of them remembered attacking their own friends.
Bacchus casually slapped the grim-faced Erik on the shoulder.
"Come on, don't look so miserable. You weren't the only ones who got caught."
Ultear walked over to Ankh with guilt written across her face.
"Sorry, Ankh. We were investigating the White Magic Cult when they caught us off guard. Jellal only ended up…"
"It's fine. I'm not blaming you."
Ankh gently patted her head, easing some of the tension in her expression, then glanced toward Jellal and Kagura.
"We can talk about the details later. First, somebody needs to separate those two."
Everyone else had been holding back while fighting their friends.
Even Natsu had never seriously intended to kill Jellal.
Kagura was a very different story.
Just like in the original course of events, after reuniting with her brother Simon and learning that Jellal had been the supposed cause of their long separation, Kagura had developed an intense hatred toward him and sworn to cut him down herself.
Ever since discovering Jellal during the Grand Magic Games, she had relentlessly pursued him whenever the opportunity arose.
Jellal, unfortunately, was far too gentle for his own good.
He could have defended himself and explained the full story, but guilt had driven him to accept responsibility instead.
No matter how often Kagura came after him, he had never truly fought back.
The White Magic Cult's control clearly didn't rewrite a victim's personality.
Even while under its influence, Jellal reacted to Kagura's furious attacks exactly as he normally would—by refusing to retaliate and simply dodging everything she threw at him.
Kagura was getting increasingly frustrated.
Just as she looked ready to lose patience and unleash a large-scale Gravity Magic attack, Ankh jumped directly between them.
One hand clamped firmly around Kagura's blade while the other landed on Jellal's shoulder.
The moment Jellal realized his opponent was no longer Kagura, he immediately counterattacked without hesitation.
And the moment Kagura saw Jellal actually fighting back, her temper flared even harder and she tried to push past Ankh to stab him again.
Ankh's patience finally snapped.
He tightened his grip on Kagura's sword and used it to fling her away, then immediately drove a heavy punch into Jellal's chest.
BOOM—!
Anyone hoping to withstand one of Ankh's physical strikes needed a body at least comparable to an S-Class mage's.
Jellal staggered backward several steps before stabilizing himself, but before he could counterattack, Ankh had already slapped a crimson magic circle directly over his face.
The familiar white energy was forced out.
A moment later, Jellal stood there looking as though he had just woken from an unusually deep sleep.
"…What happened?"
It was becoming a very familiar question.
Jellal slowly looked around at the devastated street, then happened to notice Kagura charging toward him with her sword raised.
His expression changed instantly.
His first instinct was to run.
"Enough, both of you!"
Ankh grabbed one in each hand and held them apart.
"Put your personal grudge aside until we finish dealing with this. Afterward, you two can argue as much as you want."
Then he turned toward everyone who had been affected by the strange White Magic.
"I'm worried something may have happened to the guild.
Let's head back to Fairy Tail first. Once we're there, you can explain exactly what happened before you were controlled."
The moment the conversation returned to the actual crisis, everyone's expression became serious.
Kagura reluctantly sheathed her sword.
Jellal, meanwhile, seemed to remember something from before the attack and looked distinctly troubled.
With the chaotic battle finally resolved, the group hurried back toward Fairy Tail.
What greeted them was complete disorder.
The guildhall, normally loud in its own familiar way, had become genuinely chaotic.
Members rushed constantly in and out through the entrance, while many others stood around using Magic Mobile Phones to contact people across Fiore.
Only a few hours earlier, everything had been normal.
Now the place sounded like a crowded marketplace in the middle of an emergency.
Ankh frowned and hurried inside.
Natsu reached out and grabbed Jet as he rushed toward the doors.
"What happened? Why's everyone running around like this?"
Jet had been wearing a miserable expression, but when he saw Natsu and the large group accompanying him, relief immediately spread across his face.
"Something huge happened! Mages from the guilds all over Fiore have disappeared, and now the White Magic Cult is attacking cities that no longer have guilds protecting them!"
"They all disappeared?!"
Natsu stared at him.
Gray looked equally incredulous.
"How is that even possible?"
"It's true!" Jet said helplessly. "Warren contacted every guild he could reach. Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus… none of them are responding."
Then Jet finally noticed Kagura, Bacchus, and Ichiya, who was currently slung unconscious over Erik's shoulder.
He blinked.
"Wait. Why are all of you in Magnolia?"
"We'll explain that later."
Ankh grabbed Jet before he could get distracted and gestured toward the chaotic guildhall.
"What's happening outside? And who do we still have here who can actually handle things?"
Jet immediately understood what he meant.
"Laxus, Gajeel, Juvia, and the others are out in the city clearing out White Magic Cult members. Luckily, our guild's strong enough to keep Magnolia under control. Only a few civilians have developed Magic Deficiency Disease, and Porlyusica is treating them."
He hurriedly continued, "They're still dealing with the remaining cultists. I was just about to head out and help. The Master and Mira are inside trying to contact the Magic Council."
Kagura and Bacchus exchanged uncomfortable looks.
Fairy Tail had also been attacked, but Ankh and the others had resolved the situation almost immediately.
Their own guilds…
They still didn't know exactly what had happened, but judging from everything they were hearing, Mermaid Heel and Quatro Cerberus had probably been completely overwhelmed before anyone realized what was going on.
After learning where Makarov was, Ankh and the others hurried toward the meeting room.
Inside, they found Makarov and Mirajane wearing equally grim expressions.
The moment Mira saw Ankh return, visible relief crossed her face.
"Ankh! Every mage organization in Fiore structured as a guild has been attacked!"
Makarov shook his head heavily.
"The Magic Council has already tried contacting every guild."
His expression darkened further.
"Fairy Tail is the only one that answered."
"And when Council mages reached the other guildhalls, they found them completely deserted."
"Every member was gone."
"No bodies. No struggle. No trace of where they went."
Makarov slowly raised his head, weighed down by the implications.
Then his gaze suddenly landed on Erik's shoulder.
Ichiya had just lifted his head, revealing that unmistakably handsome face with its usual strangely seductive expression.
Makarov's eyes widened.
"EH?!"
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