Fairy Tail: Collapsing Stars

Chapter 451: The Person Who Sold Out Fairy Tail Is Makarov?!

”Leo, youʼre joking with me, right? Donʼt tell me this is the so-called ultimate killing move you were talking about?”

”If this really is your so-called ultimate killing move, then Leo, I suggest you go directly to Senior Selene and report yourself! Iʼm afraid from now on, youʼll have to make a living by selling your ass…”

”Come to think of it, theoretically speaking, as something that can be called a trump-card ultimate killing move by you, the leader of the Twelve Zodiac Spirits, shouldnʼt it be something like a Super Magic or something?!”

”I, Lucy, am not a greedy person. As long as you, Leo, give me eight or ten Super Magics that are enough to counter Natsu, Gray, Brandish, and the others! Wouldnʼt the position of S-Class Mage in Fairy Tail this year then be within easy reach?!”

Lucy looked at Leo and spoke excitedly.

At this moment, Lucy had already dreamed of the scene where she used countless Super Magics to slaughter her way through all opposition!

She saw herself punching Natsu and kicking Gray.

Successfully defeating Brandish, directly making a comeback from the person least favored by everyone in the guild and smoothly becoming Fairy Tailʼs new S-Class Mage! From then on, she would walk toward the peak of her Mage career! Just thinking about it made Lucy incredibly excited…

”Lucy, stop dreaming!”

As Lucyʼs good Celestial Spirit, Leo directly interrupted Lucyʼs beautiful dream, preventing Lucy from continuing her helpless YY.

”Cough, cough…”

”That was just a hypothesis!”

”Even if you donʼt have any Super Magic you can teach me! At the very least, shouldnʼt you have something like a secret art or forbidden technique that, because it has huge flaws, or because using it comes with an extremely heavy price, or for some other reason, cannot be used easily, but as long as I use it, it can instantly elevate me to the level of a Ten Wizard Saint, suppress all sides, and make me a powerful figure of an era?! You know, thatʼs how all the novels circulating on the market are written!”

Lucy told Leo about the satisfying-power-fantasy plotlines she had seen on the market. Although this was another world, everyone had the same kind of pleasure point, and thus ”The Qidian-style power-fantasy novel is still a bestseller even after being brought to another world”.

”Anyway, whichever one it is, itʼs much more reliable than your method, Leo…”

After Lucy finished telling Leo about the satisfying-power-fantasy plotlines she had seen, she did not forget to add another sentence.

At this moment, Lucy looked at Leo, who was holding a long-distance communication Magic Lacrima, and felt a headache coming on.

It could be said that although Leo in the past was a scumbag, at least he still had a bottom line. But Leo who had returned from Selene, although he still had a bottom line, did not have much of that bottom line left!

”...”

After hearing Lucyʼs words, Leo did not speak. Instead, he looked at Lucy with an expression that seemed to be caring for an idiot.

”Whatʼs wrong? Did I hit the nail on the head, so you donʼt dare say anything anymore?”

Seeing the silent Leo, Lucy became even more certain that having Leo give her powerful magic was the correct path.

As long as she, Lucy, learned sufficiently powerful magic, she could punch Natsu, kick Gray, become Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage, and from then on walk toward the peak of life!

Just imagining it made Lucy feel incredibly excited!

As for scumbag Leo directly arranging for someone to take out the other S-Class Mage candidates in the guild, could this even be called an ultimate killing move?!

Wasnʼt this cheating or breaking the rules? She, Lucy, was such a kind person, how could she bear to use such methods?!

”Idiot Lucy! If I really had something that could increase your combat power in a short period of time, I would have taken it out and given it to you long ago! As for Super Magic…”

”Even if I really have Super Magic engraved upon the constellations that I can give you, the prerequisite is that, Lucy, you have to be able to learn it! With your learning ability, without a cheat, wanting to directly increase your strength based on my experience is absolutely impossible…”

Leo really could not hold back anymore. He had actually wanted to complain about this for a long time. If there really were secret arts that could increase oneʼs strength simply by sacrificing some things, would he still have dragged Lucy into painstaking training? He would have had Lucy sacrifice her potential and increase her strength long ago…

Ahem, yes, this was how much Leo cherished his master!

At worst, afterward, he would kneel and beg the Celestial Spirit King to intervene and help Lucy make up for her potential…

”Uh…”

Lucy fell silent after hearing Leoʼs words. Just as Leo had said, even if Leo really gave her a Super Magic now, she would probably have difficulty learning it in an extremely short period of time. Unless someone helped her cheat and directly engraved the magic she needed into her brain, Lucy had not the slightest other way…

For a moment, things became somewhat awkward, as though Leoʼs method had become Lucyʼs optimal solution for becoming an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail.

”Besides, weʼve both worked hard! Lucy, exactly how much effort youʼve put in during these days, I think you know better than I do!”

”Unfortunately, I discovered that hard work has no meaning at all! At least for you, thatʼs the case…”

”If hard work were useful, then what would we need geniuses for?”

For a moment, Leo seemed to transform into a great philosopher. He raised his neck and silently looked at the sky. At this moment, Leo was different. He seemed to no longer be a scumbag, but rather a wise scumbag capable of seeing through the celestial phenomena and penetrating the truths of this world.

”Lucy, take a good look at Brandish. Every day, once sheʼs full, she sleeps, and once she wakes up, she continues eating. When she has nothing to do, she lazily lies on the guildʼs table, or sets up a beach chair outside the guild to bask in the sun, yet her magic power keeps rising like crazy! Across the entire continent of Ishgar, in terms of magic power alone, there arenʼt many humans who can surpass Brandish!”

When Leo spoke, he was extremely careful with his wording. He used the phrase ”there arenʼt many humans,” because in his eyes, beings such as Evan could no longer be called human at all.

”Now look at you. You underwent special training for a month, and your magic power increased by less than five percent. I really donʼt know what I should say to you…”

”In short, Lucy, you have to believe me. The individual differences between humans are often even greater than the differences between humans and other species!”

”Lucy, listen to my advice. There is nothing difficult in this world, as long as one is willing to give up.”

After hearing Lucyʼs words, Leo spoke helplessly. It sounded as though he were saying that he did not want to use aboveboard methods to win Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial…

He wanted to! But Lucy was not up to it! He had already pushed the cheat he could give Lucy to the absolute limit, okay?! Hadnʼt she seen that with Lucyʼs magic power, which could barely accomplish two simultaneous gates, they had managed to achieve five simultaneous gates, something the other Celestial Spirit Mages would not even dare dream of accomplishing in their entire lives?!

But was it useful?

No!

Even if the Celestial Spirits used their own magic power to cross over into this world and help Lucy fight, because of the contract between the Celestial Spirit King and the world, they could not bring out much of their own strength. If they wanted to display their strength, they still had to see whether their master was capable enough. Simply put, the magic power they ultimately needed to fight their enemies still had to be supplied by Lucy! But with Lucyʼs magic power, it would probably be drained dry by the five Celestial Spirits in less than five minutes…

But five minutes was too short, really too short! They simply could not take down the other candidates for Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial. After all, what were Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage candidates? They were a bunch of monsters!

With the addition of the Spriggan 12, it was no exaggeration to say that this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial had an average quality far exceeding previous years, almost reaching the level of everyone being a Ten Wizard Saint…

Of course, this was referring to the average quality. The very peak combat power still could not compare to the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial involving Evan, Irene, Selene, Magic King August, Ignia, Zeref, and the others…

”Ah, this…”

When Lucy heard Leoʼs words, she froze.

As for Leoʼs words, Lucy found it difficult not to agree.

Indeed, the gap between humans had already become greater than the average gap between humans and other species!

Some people looked like humans, but in reality, they never did anything a human should do. They could transform into dragons and stand in the heavens shoulder-to-shoulder with True Gods! Likewise, there were also some people who looked quite human-like, yet had not even learned three simultaneous gates…

Thinking of this, two lines of tears flowed down Lucyʼs eyes. The stupid bastard who had not even learned three simultaneous gates was precisely herself…

”Lucy, donʼt cry!”

Leoʼs heart ached when he saw Lucy crying.

Of course, the reason Leoʼs heart ached was not because he was afraid of Lucy crying, but because he was afraid Lucy would become completely dispirited from then on, causing him to completely lose his bet with Selene! That was something Leo absolutely would not allow…

At the same time, Leo was also very helpless! If Lucy had Laylaʼs talent and strength, then what about this yearʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial? So what? Wouldnʼt she just slaughter everyone like crazy? She could directly summon a group of the Twelve Zodiac Spirits and ride them in the opponentsʼ faces, okay?!

If that didnʼt work, couldnʼt she just use magic power to forcibly summon the Celestial Spirit King?

As for the tradition and rule that summoning the Celestial Spirit King required sacrificing one of the Twelve Zodiac Keys? As long as there was enough magic power and sufficient strength of conviction, all traditions and rules could be pushed aside… After all, Earth-land was a world governed by the power of belief!

Unfortunately, it was a great pity that the bloodline of the Heartfilia family within Lucy was not pure.

Simply put, Lucyʼs father, Jude, really had no talent for cultivating magic. According to what was said in the neighboring ”Harry Potter”, although the Heartfilia family was a pure-blood family that had been passed down for hundreds of years, unfortunately, Jude was a Muggle, causing Lucyʼs talent to be divided in half because of Judeʼs genes!

But Lucy had used that remaining half of her talent and still reached the level of two simultaneous gates in her teens. This level of strength, placed in other Mage Guilds, would absolutely be elite among elites. The main force among the main force!

This was the weight of the Heartfilia familyʼs Celestial Spirit Magic talent, which had been passed down for four hundred years…

However, unfortunately, although Lucy could be called a genius, the people inside Fairy Tail were all cheaters…

”Iʼm fine!”

Lucy took a deep breath. She quickly adjusted her state. Since things had already become the way they were now, she should not continue shedding tears, because crying was useless. Crying could not change the situation before her.

”Change the way we think…”

Lucyʼs eyes gradually became sharp, while her brain became incredibly active.

”Uh, go on…”

Leo trembled when he was looked at by Lucyʼs sharp gaze.

”If we must rely on external forces to achieve victory!”

”Then why donʼt I directly hire Big Brother Evan to take action?”

”With Big Brother Evanʼs strength, he should absolutely be able to easily take out our competitors, right?”

”Even Brandish would have no meaning in the face of Big Brother Evan! Before absolute power, everything will turn into nothingness…”

A faint killing intent flashed in Lucyʼs eyes as she asked Leo.

”Lucy…”

After hearing Lucyʼs words, a complicated look flashed through Leoʼs eyes.

”I never thought you would actually be such a despicable person. I misjudged you! So youʼre actually a scumbag too!”

Immediately afterward, Leo shook his head at Lucy, looking as though he were sighing.

”Isnʼt it because you started it, so I followed your line of thinking?!”

After hearing Leoʼs words, Lucyʼs pretty face flushed red as she shouted loudly at Leo.

”Ahem…”

”Lucy, I actually thought of this idea too. The problem is that we canʼt contact Evan right now!”

Leo had an angry expression. If he could contact Evan, would he still have designed so many Plan Bs?!

Wouldnʼt he just charge forward recklessly?!

The problem was that Leo could not contact Evan right now. Not to mention Evan, he could not even contact Selene, who had suddenly thrown him back into the Earth-land world, Magic King August, or Evanʼs mother Irene, along with all the other top combat forces of Fairy Tail!

Leo was not worried that something had happened to these monsters. After all, there was already no one in this world capable of directly contending with Evan and the others! Even if a god standing above the heavens personally descended to the mortal world and fought Evan and the others, he would have to take two big slaps to the face before returning to the divine realm! Leo vaguely guessed that Evan and the others were probably secretly planning something…

”So in the end, isnʼt it still because you canʼt contact Evan, and therefore you created a whole bunch of plans that may or may not exist? Am I right?”

Lucy narrowed her eyes and asked Leo.

Lucyʼs question was extremely sharp, directly striking the heart of the matter…

”Ahem…”

After hearing Lucyʼs words, Leo merely coughed softly twice before saying no more.

Leoʼs mind was spinning rapidly. He was thinking about exactly how he should explain it to Lucy so that Lucy could understand his difficulties…

”And even if we get in contact with Evan, if Evan doesnʼt agree, we have no idea what will happen!”

”So after comprehensive consideration, having Brandish, who like you will definitely be selected this year and can participate in the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, help you secure victory is the most reliable thing to do!”

”Yes, Lucy! Donʼt you understand yet? We are not going to act inside Fairy Tail, or before the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, but during the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, at this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial location, namely Fairy Tailʼs sacred island, Tenrou Island…”

”After all, if all the candidates this year were injured and in the end only you could participate, no matter how you looked at it, it would be too fake…”

”Besides, the rules for this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial are different from previous years! This yearʼs rule is that all Mages selected as candidates for the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial will be divided into groups of two, with the main theme being one word: ʼbondʼ!”

”After passing all the selections, the remaining group of contestants will have two choices. The first choice is for the two people to join forces and defeat any two currently active S-Class Mages of Fairy Tail. Once successful, the two people in this group will jointly become S-Class Mages of Fairy Tail. If they fail, both people will be eliminated!”

”The second choice is to form teams and engage in a duel. The final victor will become the ultimate winner of this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial!”

After thinking for a long while, Leo gently pushed up the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and revealed his entire plan to Lucy. The so-called sincerity was the ultimate killing move! Leo planned to win Lucyʼs trust through his sincerity.

As for the trump card Leo had mentioned to Lucy earlier, in reality, it was not as simple as Lucy had imagined.

In fact, Leo had never placed his hopes on Lucy from the very beginning. The reason Leo had taken Lucy to undergo special training was merely to prevent Lucy from becoming too much of a hindrance to Brandish. That was all…

And Leoʼs true plan was to have Brandish and Lucy participate in Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial together, then have Brandish take out the other S-Class Mage candidates, and finally have Brandish lose to Lucy. If that happened, everything would be accomplished! Lucy could smoothly become an S-Class Mage this year…

It was simply a perfect plan!

”Leo, I suddenly have a question I want to ask you…”

”How do you know the location of this yearʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, as well as the rules of the trial, so clearly?”

Lucy narrowed her eyes as she looked at Leo and asked coldly.

For a moment, Lucy seemed to have caught the blind spot!

”Thatʼs not important!”

After hearing Lucyʼs words, Leo raised his eyebrows. What he was emphasizing was that as long as Lucy followed his plan, she could become an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail this year. Yet Lucy was asking him how he knew so much about this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial?!

Was that important? It wasnʼt important. It was like someone asking the monkey who had held two watermelon knives and hacked his way from Penglai East Road to the Southern Heavenly Gate for three days and three nights without blinking whether his eyes were dry or not. It was the same principle?!

The most infuriating thing was that someone actually asked whether that monkey, who clearly used a staff, really moved that smoothly with watermelon knives?! None of these things were important…

Although Leo also wanted to ask whether the monkey in the story Evan had told had dry eyes or not, that was all.

You had to know, even three days and three nights was enough to make even a Celestial Spiritʼs eyes unable to endure it.

”Whatʼs important is that as long as you listen to me, Lucy, there will absolutely be no enemy before us. The victor of this yearʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial will definitely be ours!”

Leo pulled Lucyʼs hand and shouted loudly.

”Oh!”

Lucy echoed the excited Leo and gently nodded, but Lucy was still somewhat curious. She was curious about exactly how Leo knew so much inside information about Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial…

At the same time, Lucy was somewhat afraid. You had to know, Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial was the most serious examination in Fairy Tail! Their blatant cheating behavior—would it really be okay?!

The moment Lucy imagined Leoʼs peeking at the examination questions being exposed…

She felt a burst of terror at what she would ultimately have to face!

She was afraid that by then, she, Lucy, would probably face the enormous risk of being expelled from Fairy Tail, right?!

However, Lucy did not think too much about it. To be honest, Lucy did not even know whether she could be selected by Makarov this year as one of the candidates for the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial…

After all, there were so many powerful experts in the guild, and they were all seniors. Makarov had no reason to choose a little girl like her who had been in the guild for less than one-fifth of a Kun year!

”Gulp~”

Of course, if you asked whether Lucy was nervous, she was definitely nervous.

At this, Lucy swallowed a small mouthful of saliva, but the deed was done. Right now, Lucy and Leo were people on the same boat. If the boat overturned just like this, neither of them could expect to have a good time…

Therefore, Lucy could only keep these matters hidden in her heart. From today onward, Lucy planned to become someone whose emotions and anger could not be seen on her face…

Thus, on the day of the opening ceremony of Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial!

”...”

Lucy expressionlessly walked into Fairy Tailʼs guild.

Lucy swore that no matter what happened next, she, Lucy, absolutely would not reveal a surprised expression!

However, Lucy saw her Celestial Spirit Leo appear inside Fairy Tailʼs guild without her permission, and quickly walk up to Makarov.

”Guild Master Makarov, thank you for informing me in advance of the rules for this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial!”

As Leo spoke, he handed Makarov a bag of thank-you gifts that he had prepared in advance. Even in the Celestial Spirit World, these treasures could be considered rare treasures.

”Hmph, Leo, I, Makarov, have always been incorruptible, and I have always been fair and impartial!”

Makarov snorted coldly. Without making a sound, he accepted the bag of gifts from Leo.

As the Guild Master of Fairy Tail for many years, Makarov only needed to weigh the treasure in his hand to know whether this Mage had been selected by Fairy Tailʼs S-Class Mage Promotion Trial to become an honorable candidate…

”Perhaps you wonʼt believe it! In order to help Lucy have a chance to obtain victory in this yearʼs Fairy Tail S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, I not only temporarily formulated a two-person joint examination method for Lucy! I also put quite a bit of effort into the examination site! I guarantee that Lucy can gain an enormous advantage…”

Makarov gave Leo a lecherous smile and spoke softly.

”Fair! Guild Master Makarov is indeed fair!”

”After the matter is accomplished, I will double the treasures on top of this!”

Leo was planning to go all out. He was even prepared to give away the fortune he had accumulated over several hundred years.

”Deal!”

Makarov was already grinning from ear to ear.

”I found him! I finally found the person who helped Leo steal the examination papers! Itʼs actually Guild Master Makarov?!”

At this moment, Lucy was completely dumbfounded. It was like a school had a leaked-exam-question incident, and the students were dissatisfied and planned to find out who had leaked the questions, only to discover that it was actually their principal!

At this moment, Lucy really could not remain calm. Her declaration just now that her emotions and anger would not show on her face had immediately fallen apart…

There was no helping it. This matter had simply shattered Lucyʼs worldview too much!

So this was the power of money?

From this day onward, Lucy finally discovered the beauty of money!

First update, six thousand words. The S-Class Mage Promotion Trial is about to begin.