Fairy Tail: Collapsing Stars

Chapter 353: The New Member of the Ten Wizard Saints, Precht?

After the Phantom Lord Guild took action against Fairy Tail, only to be utterly annihilated by Evan, Irene, and Erza...

Magic Council - ERA

”The Phantom Lord Guild has gone too far! Do laws even matter anymore?! They actually dared to lay hands on members of our Fairy Tail. Itʼs like they donʼt want to live on the continent of Ishgar anymore!”

”This is rebellion! Absolute rebellion!”

”Today they dare to target our Fairy Tail membersʼ families. Tomorrow theyʼll come for our council membersʼ families. And the day after that, theyʼll be kidnapping kings across the continent! In the name of the Kingdom of Fiore, we must take swift and serious action against them…”

In a dim, smoke-filled room, several elderly council members dressed in the robes of Ishgarʼs Magic Council sat together. One elder slammed his fist down in fury, his face twisted with anger.

All of these elders, current members of the Magic Council, were, unsurprisingly, originally from Fairy Tail!

”Hmph~”

Rob, one of the active council members, puffed on his long pipe, his eyes gleaming coldly.

”Letʼs just revoke Phantom Lordʼs status as a legal Light Guild…”

”No matter how you look at it, they were in the wrong this time. Fairy Tail stands on the side of justice!”

After thinking for a moment, Rob voiced his idea to the other council members.

”Senior Rob, I must disagree!”

Just as Rob finished speaking, a blue-haired youth with a tattoo across his face spoke up with visible discontent.

”Oh? Jellal, do you have a different view?”

Rob looked at the boy with light blue short hair and a facial tattoo, visibly surprised.

”Senior Rob, I believe your suggestion is inappropriate!”

”Phantom Lord is still one of the officially recognized Light Guilds on the continent of Ishgar. If we handle this so heavy-handedly, Iʼm afraid weʼll lose the confidence of the other guilds!”

Yes, the blue-haired youth was none other than Jellal. Having worked at the council for over four years, Jellal still looked like a teenager, but he spoke with the experience of a seasoned politician, quite fitting for a council member now.

”Indeed, conflicts between mage guilds happen often. And while Phantom Lord may have provoked things this time, they were discreet about it. The real reason this got public attention was because of Evanʼs meteors lighting up the sky…”

”What we should be focusing on now isnʼt Phantom Lord itself, but how to explain the meteor incident. We canʼt just say meteors randomly rained down from the heavens, coincidentally hitting all of Phantom Lordʼs branch guilds! Thatʼs way too suspicious…”

”As for disbanding Phantom Lord outright, just as Jellal said, theyʼre a legal Light Guild in Fiore. If we disband them over such a minor incident, wonʼt that make the council seem tyrannical?”

Councilor Org nodded and followed Jellalʼs reasoning.

In Ishgarʼs magical world, conflicts between wizards are commonplace, especially between members of different Light Guilds, not just between Light and Dark Guilds. Task overlaps are frequent, and power clashes are inevitable.

And truthfully, the clash between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail hadnʼt been very severe, until Evan got angry and dropped meteors…

The Phantom Lord mages hadnʼt even had time to act before they were obliterated. From Orgʼs point of view, disbanding a legal Light Guild over this seemed a bit much.

”Councilor Org, I think youʼve misunderstood me…”

Just as Org finished backing Jellalʼs statement, Jellal unexpectedly spoke again.

”Huh?”

Org blinked, a bit confused.

”What I meant was… Disbanding Phantom Lord is letting them off too easy!”

”A bunch of trash dared to ambush Evanʼs sister and mother, absolutely unforgivable! Totally unforgivable!”

”We should sentence all of Phantom Lordʼs mages to Starfall execution. Immediate execution!”

”No, worse! Those bastards laid hands on Lord Evanʼs family… we should retaliate against their families too!”

”Iʼve decided! Iʼm ordering the army to arrest the families of all Phantom Lord mages and gift each of them a True Heavenly Body Magic, Starfall! Let them all die!”

Jellal stood from his seat, eyes wild with fervor and glowing red with murderous rage. If not for his duties, he wouldʼve cast Starfall on every single one of Phantom Lordʼs members himself!

”Understood…”

Hearing this, Laharl stood from his chair, ready to carry out Jellalʼs order.

”W-Wait, thatʼs what you meant?!”

”N-No! No matter how you look at it, their families donʼt deserve Starfall! Thatʼs way too extreme!”

Org broke into a cold sweat. He had thought Jellal was arguing against harsh punishment, turns out Jellal wanted to go nuclear!

”Jellal, please calm down…”

Just as Jellal fumed with rage, Yajima stepped in.

”Senior Yajima…”

Jellalʼs eyes softened, and he returned to his seat, though his face remained dark and brooding.

Clearly, Jellal respected Yajima enough to listen. But that didnʼt mean he wasnʼt still burning with the urge to blast every Phantom Lord member into orbit.

”Uhh…”

Laharl, halfway through standing, also returned to his seat when he saw Yajima step in.

”Yes, Jellal, please calm yourself. Weʼre the Magic Council, we must at least try to maintain justice. No matter what those guys did, Starfall is too harsh a punishment…”

Org dabbed his forehead nervously as he tried to reason with Jellal.

After all, True Heavenly Body Magic, Starfall is a top-tier, Ten Wizard Saints-level ultimate spell. Even among the Ten Saints, few could withstand it…

Using that kind of destructive force on people who hadnʼt even reached S-Class was just… wasteful, to say the least.

Not to mention, Evan had already used Starfall to bombard every Phantom Lord branch across Fiore…

Of course, Evan had been precise. None died, just many critically injured. And in a world like Earthland, with healing magic and magical prosthetics, even missing an arm or eye wasnʼt a big deal anymore…

In fact, prosthetics crafted by magical artisans could be even better than oneʼs original limbs, sometimes enhancing a mageʼs combat ability.

”Hah…”

After hearing Yajima and Org out, Jellal exhaled slowly, composing himself. He looked at them both and gave his signature polite, sunny smile.

”Forgive me, Senior Org, Senior Yajima. I lost my composure. The mere thought of those lowlifes daring to harm Evanʼs family filled me with uncontrollable rage!”

He bowed slightly in apology.

To be fair, Jellal wasnʼt usually so reckless. But Phantom Lord had crossed a line, they had threatened someone they should never have touched.

To Jellal, Evan was his hero. The man who had freed him from the Tower of Heaven, who guided him onto the path of magic. He couldnʼt tolerate anyone showing Evan disrespect, especially not his family!

Even if it cost him his life, Jellal would remove anyone who dared do so.

The same sentiment held true for Laharl, who saw Evan as the man who had changed the fate of the entire Rune Knightʼs Special Task Force…

In Laharlʼs eyes, Evan held the same weight and reverence.

”As expected of Senior Yajima…”

”Just one sentence, and he calmed Jellal down.”

Org wiped the cold sweat from his brow, feeling genuine admiration for Yajimaʼs ability to handle Jellal.

When it came to Jellal, Org really had no idea how to deal with him~

Especially when Evan was brought up, Jellal would transform into a completely different person, becoming frenzied and irrational, unable to hear anything else.

To Org, maybe all geniuses were a little… unhinged?

Yes, Jellal was truly a genius, one the likes of which Org had never seen before. No matter the spell, he grasped it instantly, as if born to be a wizard.

Org firmly believed that with Jellalʼs exceptional magical talent, even without any mentorship, he would eventually reach the level of the Ten Wizard Saints.

And that was assuming he had no teacher, when in fact, being in the Magic Council, Jellal often received guidance from Warrod, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Ishgar. Warrodʼs instruction helped Jellal avoid countless detours on his magical path.

Additionally, Jellal occasionally got pointers from Precht, the second Guild Master of Fairy Tail, who would sometimes come to the Council to debate Warrod. Precht cherished talent, and before every debate, he would offer Jellal some advice…

Thanks to all this, Jellal, who still looked like a mere fifteen- or sixteen-year-old, already possessed magic power and strength on par with the Ten Wizard Saints, commanding respect from anyone who met him. And given his potential, reaching Warrodʼs level as a Heavenly King in the future didnʼt seem far-fetched at all.

”Haha, no worries, itʼs understandable. Jellal, donʼt worry too much.”

”More importantly, I think using Starfall on that trash is a waste. Letʼs just toss them into the ocean to feed the sea beasts!”

Yajima smiled gently at Jellal before offering his own solution.

”Feed them to sea monsters? That doesnʼt sound bad at all…”

Jellal paused, then nodded enthusiastically. His radiant smile this time was real, not the forced, polite one from earlier. He looked at Yajima and praised,

”As expected of Senior Yajima! Thatʼs a brilliant idea. I hadnʼt considered that. Even garbage has its uses! Feeding them to magical beasts gives them one last bit of value in this world~”

”Haha, itʼs nothing…”

Yajima chuckled modestly, acting as if his idea wasnʼt all that special.

”This… This isnʼt right, is it?”

”Throwing them into the ocean to be eaten by magical beasts doesnʼt seem appropriate either…”

At that moment, only Orgʼs face twisted in horror as he realized where things were headed.

Phantom Lord was one of the top guilds in Fiore, with dozens of branches across the kingdom. That meant hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

Feeding them all to sea monsters? What about the Councilʼs image of justice? How would the world view ERA then?

Unfortunately for Org, no one else in the Council seemed to care. To them, once someone laid a hand on a Fairy Tail member, they had to pay it back a hundredfold.

Yes, even Jellal, though some councilors no longer wore the Fairy Tail emblem, deep in their hearts, they still considered themselves part of the guild. Spiritual members of Fairy Tail, so to speak.

The spirit of Fairy Tail was not something easily severed!

As long as fairies danced in the sky, the will of Fairy Tail would live on! Ahem…

”Alright…”

Just as Org was drowning in distress as the lone voice of reason, the Council Chairman Warrod suddenly spoke.

”Chairman!”

Org looked at Warrod with shining eyes, thank goodness, someone still had common sense.

”Ahem…”

”Feeding them to monsters, Starfall, either way, itʼs too flashy. Not very tasteful!”

”I say we just send in the military and kill them all quietly.”

Just as Org eagerly waited for Warrodʼs reasoned leadership, the old man cleared his throat, and dropped that bombshell coldly.

”Yes, yes! Just send in the troops. Kill all the Phantom Lord mages. Feeding them to monsters or blasting them with meteors, itʼs just too messy, not elegant…”

Org instinctively began nodding and echoing Warrodʼs words… until halfway through, he realized something was very wrong. His lips dried as he froze mid-sentence.

”Wait, sending in the military to execute all of Phantom Lordʼs mages?! Isnʼt that even more extreme than before?!”

Org stared at Warrod in panic. What he really wanted was to de-escalate, to handle the matter quietly. No need to blow this out of proportion…

Sure, Evan had already rained meteors down on every Phantom Lord branch in Fiore, and the news had spread like wildfire through the media, making it one of the hottest topics on the continent…

”Hahaha, I was just joking~”

Just as Orgʼs eyes widened in horror, Warrod suddenly smiled.

”Please donʼt make jokes like that again… itʼs terrifying…”

Org wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking at Warrod seriously and pleading.

”Now, letʼs get back on track…”

”Regarding the Phantom Lord issue, given that their mages attacked members of a fellow Light Guild, Fairy Tail, causing significant disruption and threatening the peace of the magical world of Ishgar, we hereby revoke their Guild Master, Jose Porlaʼs status as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints.”

”Effective immediately, Phantom Lord is disbanded! All mages who participated in the incident are sentenced to five years imprisonment. Those with serious offenses will receive ten years. Those who were aware but didnʼt report it will be banned from joining any new guilds for three months after the dissolution. Mages unaware of the situation will not be punished.”

Warrodʼs face turned serious as he formally announced the Councilʼs verdict against Phantom Lord.

”Stripping a Wizard Saint of their title…?”

Cold sweat dripped down Orgʼs face. While Warrodʼs solution was tactful and structured, it was still much heavier than what Org had hoped for.

The removal of a Ten Wizard Saint was a huge deal. The entire kingdom of Fiore, and possibly the entire continent, would hear about it. After all, the Ten Saints were the pinnacle of Ishgarʼs magical world. This wasnʼt some random name on a list.

”Now then, regarding a replacement for the open Saint position, given that Precht Gaebolg, the Guild Master of Heart of Light, successfully defeated Hades, the leader of the Dark Guild Grimoire Heart, and defended the peace of our magical world, I hereby nominate Precht as a new active member of the Ten Wizard Saints.”

Naturally, when one Saint is removed, another must take their place. Warrod had long since decided who that would be, Precht, whose strength and magical understanding rivaled even his own. With that power, Precht was more than qualified to join the elite.

At the same time, Warrod was also subtly promoting Prechtʼs newly formed guild.

”Precht, huh? Thatʼs certainly fitting…”

”But… will Precht really agree to join the Ten Saints?”

Org asked with a bit of doubt in his eyes.

”Haha, who cares what he wants?”

Warrod laughed at Orgʼs concern. He didnʼt care in the slightest whether Precht wanted the position.

”Uh…”

”And about the meteor issue…”

Org hesitated, unsure whether he should even ask, but finally looked at Warrod.

”Letʼs just say… some meteors happened to fall into Fiore that day. And it just so happened… they all landed on Phantom Lordʼs branches.”

Warrod paused, then smiled casually.