A New Life in Fairy Tail

”Do you really think you can take that Jose?” Goldmine whispered to Noah, who had been sent back by Makarov. Bob also leaned in, curious.

”Based on the power he’s showing right now? No problem at all,” Noah whispered back. ”It’s just that Gramps won’t let me go up and fight him. It’s only Jose. It’s not a big deal.”

”Your grandfather is just afraid you’ll get hurt, which is why he won’t let you up there. Besides, with his status, it’s much easier for him to handle the aftermath. It would be different if you went up. It would be troublesome whether you won or lost.”

Noah understood the reasoning, but he could only sigh. I’ll just have to find another chance to beat him up later. Right now, the most important thing is to watch Makarov and make sure he doesn’t get hurt.

Makarov, hearing Jose challenge Noah again, refused flatly. ”Don’t say any more. Let’s begin.”

”Then you’d better be careful, Big Brother Makarov.”

Seeing that the two were really about to fight, everyone else quickly retreated to the side and focused on the battle. This was, after all, a fight between two of the Ten Wizard Saints; learning even a single technique from it could lead to great improvement.

Jose didn’t hold back. He stretched out his right hand, and a wave of purple magic light shot towards Makarov. Makarov simply raised a hand, and a golden beam of his own light shot out, dispersing the incoming wave.

Immediately following this, tiny magic circles began to form as Makarov waved his hands. A barrage of small but varied elemental magic spells flew towards Jose. Jose, not daring to be careless, quickly waved his own hands, and identical small, purple magic circles appeared, sending a barrage of dark magic to meet Makarov’s attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The spells collided and neutralized each other in mid-air. Both of them were controlling their power. The collisions were loud, but very little excess magic power spilled out into the surroundings.

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, Jose had already lost. The magic Makarov used was not just Light Magic, but also Wind, Fire, and Ice. It was a dazzling display of color, far more beautiful than Jose’s monotonous purple darkness.

Jose clearly realized this problem as well. His face darkened, and he increased the speed of his casting. Magic circles appeared in front of him even faster.

Seeing that Jose was clearly becoming agitated, Makarov, in contrast, remained calm and composed. He matched his speed, blocking all of Jose’s spells. Then, he began his counterattack.

Makarov waved both hands, and a beam of light shot from each of his ten fingers, curving along different trajectories to attack various points on Jose’s body. Jose snorted, releasing ten spells of his own to cancel out the incoming beams.

Then, Jose stomped his foot on the ground. A magic circle appeared beneath Makarov’s feet as Jose simultaneously fired several more spells at him, trying to overwhelm him.

Makarov remained unhurried. He simply stomped his own foot, shattering the magic circle beneath him. At the same time, golden magic circles appeared both above Jose’s head and below his feet. Makarov’s hands flashed, releasing spells of different attributes that negated all of Jose’s attacks. At the same moment, he swung his arms outwards, firing another ten light beams.

Jose waved his hands and stomped his feet, destroying the magic circles around him, then released an equal number of spells to counter the beams, but he was just a little too slow.

Makarov’s gaze sharpened. With another stomp of his foot, six golden magic circles appeared, completely surrounding Jose from all sides. Simultaneously, he fired another ten beams from his fingers.

It took Jose a moment just to break the six magic circles trapping him. By the time he faced the ten incoming attacks, he could only block nine of them. The last beam struck him directly. However, it didn’t cause him any injury; a layer of magic was rippling on the surface of his body, blocking the attack.

But Jose’s face was extremely ugly. He knew he had already lost. He had lost in casting speed and in spell-breaking strategy. He was not convinced. We are both Wizard Saints, our strength is the same. He’s just older than me, so his casting speed is a little faster. But if we really fought, it would be an even match.

Having lost this spar, he no longer had the face to stay. He knew that if he continued to attend these meetings, the other masters would just whisper, ”There’s Jose, the Phantom Lord Master who lost to Makarov.” The very thought made him furious. He decided he would never come back. What was this Guild Master’s League? He didn’t need it.

Without a word, Jose turned and left the meeting hall. The others didn’t dare to stop him, only moving aside to watch him walk out the door.

However, Makarov did not have the smile of a victor. His expression was grave. Just then, Goldmine and Bob came over to his side with Noah.

”Makarov-chan, you need to be careful of Jose. He might retaliate against you,” Bob said.

”Mhm. That fleeting look of venomous hatred as he left gave me a very bad feeling. He might not just target you; he might go after your guild members,” Goldmine added.

”I’ll be careful. I’ll warn everyone when I get back to the guild. If it wasn’t for maintaining order in the magic world, I really would have taught him a deeper lesson.”

Just then, Noah whispered to Makarov, ”Should I go cripple him?”

Makarov was terrified. He quickly grabbed Noah. ”Absolutely not! If something happens to him right now, the suspicion will fall directly on us! It will cause all sorts of trouble, and if they trace it back to you, it will be even worse. You are forbidden to do anything, do you understand? On second thought, you should stay in the guild for a while. Don’t go out. We’ll wait until this blows over.”

”That’s fine, too. I was planning to go back and do some research anyway. Strengthen the safety of the guild members.”

”Good. For now, let’s just finish the meeting.” Makarov thought about it, but still felt uneasy. He contacted the members back at the guild and told them to be careful, especially to watch out for anyone from Phantom Lord.

After the meeting ended, Noah arranged with Goldmine and Bob to contact them before visiting their libraries, and then he teleported himself and Makarov back to the guild.

A month passed after the meeting. Makarov kept a close watch on Jose and Phantom Lord, bracing for retaliation. But Jose made no major moves. There were just the same old small-scale skirmishes between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail members on missions; nothing else had changed.

After discussing it with Noah, Makarov concluded that Jose, having just received the title of Wizard Saint, didn’t want to do anything drastic that would damage his new reputation. So, for now, he was staying put.

Makarov breathed a sigh of relief, but he still reminded the guild members to be careful on requests. Noah, on the other hand, began to plan a trap to make Jose jump in of his own accord, so he could destroy Phantom Lord once and for all. But in the meantime, he began to consider upgrading the guild marks. Now that his magical knowledge had improved so much, it was the perfect time for an upgrade.