Just as Cana was about to reply, Laxus suddenly sensed something and turned to look at the sky.
In the distance, a mass of black clouds, like ink, was flying towards them at an astonishing speed.
Above the dark clouds was Ezreal, who had split up from Cana and the others.
His voice arrived before he did.
"Hurry back to the Guild, things are complicated!"
...Fairy Tail, Guild Hall.
The Guild was packed, with no empty seats. Apart from Gildarts, who was always away, even the usually mysterious Mystogan was present.
Nearly a hundred people sat in their respective places, each with a serious expression. No one spoke, and even Natsu Grey and others, who usually loved to bicker, were now sitting quietly in their seats.
Master Makarov sat on the podium in the hall, holding an old leather-bound book. His weathered and profound gaze swept over everyone in the hall.
In the front row sat the Guild's S-Class Mages.
Laxus, Erza, Mystogan, Ezreal, and Mira sat upright.
The second row was occupied by the Guild's A-Class Mages: Macao, Wakaba, Ikaruga, Marcus, Cana, Natsu, Gray, and the three members of the Thunder God Tribe.
Further back were the gun-wielding duo Alzack and Bisca, the muscular Elfman, Warren who used Telepathy Magic and Mind Reading, Levy's team, the Guild's recognized artist Lidasu who used Painting Magic, and even Loki, who had rarely appeared with Ezreal since he learned Dimensional Summoning, were all present.
The hall was deathly silent.
Makarov withdrew his gaze, opened the ancient book in his hand, and read its contents: "Two hundred and seventy-one years ago, in the Fiore Kingdom, during the Emerald Era, a city named 'Newborn City' was born in the Rhine Basin, at the border of Magnolia and Jinkadi City."
"At that time, nations across the continent were constantly at war. Some anti-war individuals gathered together and came to the neutral Fiore Kingdom to build this city. To heal those injured and disabled by war, they vigorously developed Life Magic, researched life medical technology, and collected a large number of war orphans."
"This city gathered a group of the most brilliant scholars and Mages specializing in Life Magic from two hundred years ago."
"As time passed, within Newborn City, at some unknown point, experiments on human genetic optimization began."
"No one knows the specifics, but in the 211th year of the Emerald Era, Newborn City, which possessed the most advanced Life Magic and life medical technology of its time, vanished into thin air overnight."
"Not a single brick or tile of the entire city remained. A large crater appeared where the city once stood; this crater is the present-day Rhine Basin."
"The Magic World at the time dispatched many people to try and find Newborn City, eventually discovering that the city might have been banished into the spatial rift."
"The spatial rift is extremely dangerous, with intense spatial cutting and spatial coordinates leading to unknown worlds. Even Mages proficient in Spatial Magic dare not easily venture into the spatial rift."
Makarov slowly closed the book and looked up at the neatly seated Guild members below, saying in a deep voice, "I called everyone here today because of this Newborn City, which has been lost for two hundred years."
"According to reliable sources, about seven Dark Guilds have formed an alliance called 'New World.' Among them, some S-Class Mages wanted by the Magic Council have also joined."
"These people gathered together and found the rumored lost Newborn City."
"They obtained Newborn City's highest research achievement before its disappearance: 'Bloodline Fusion Technology'! This is a special technology that can fuse human bloodlines with those of other magical beasts."
"Even ordinary people, by fusing with a magical beast's bloodline, can become Mages who wield magical power."
"And those who are already Mages, by fusing with a magical beast's bloodline, can gain power beyond common sense."
"In the current Newborn City, members of the New World have all used this technology, calling themselves New Humans."
"In addition, this group of people has used bio-cloning technology to stockpile and create a large number of biological soldiers."
"The New World members in Newborn City, before winter, finally found the correct spatial node, capable of pinpointing coordinates in the current world."
"These coordinates are located near the railway section on the outskirts of Jinkadi City, very close to the Rhine Basin where Newborn City originally disappeared."
"With accurate spatial coordinates, it won't be long before the people of the New World can find a way to pull Newborn City back from the spatial rift into the current world, returning to its pre-disappearance location. Once they succeed, the Magic World will surely face a great catastrophe. The Fiore Kingdom will be the first to suffer."
A profound silence fell over the hall, and everyone's expressions were heavy.
Mystogan, usually a man of few words, slightly raised his head and asked in a deep voice, "Master, is the source of this information reliable?"
Makarov nodded, then gave Ezreal a look, "Ez."
Ezreal stood up, and the gazes of his companions fell upon him.
Ezreal tossed something with his left hand; a green sphere the size of a fingernail flew into the air, then suddenly exploded, releasing a large cloud of green mist.
The green mist briefly swirled, then solidified into a square green crystal, looking like a large screen.
On the screen, strange images appeared.
The first to appear was an incredibly magnificent city, exuding a solemn and mysterious aura.
The entire city was constructed from huge green bricks and sturdy black iron. The surfaces of the green bricks were covered with traces of age, yet they remained incredibly strong.
The black iron parts gleamed with a cold light, adding a sense of solemnity to the city.
The second image was an dark and damp room, dimly lit, filled with a suffocating atmosphere. A tall man with a single blue horn on his head and blue eyes stood in the corner of the room, speaking excitedly.
His expression was frenzied, filled with urgency and fanaticism. The faint light illuminated his sharply defined face, making his expression appear even more sinister.
The third image was a massive round table, surrounded by ten people.
These ten individuals varied in appearance, each possessing more or less some animalistic features.
Some had two horns on their heads, some were half-human, half-monkey with dense fur, others had sharp canine teeth... They sat around the round table, their expressions somewhat deranged.
The fourth image showed a group of monsters with black pig heads but human bodies, densely arrayed outside a grand and massive castle.
They knelt in unison towards the castle, their grotesque pig faces filled with piety and reverence.
Their thick bodies cast large shadows on the ground. Above the castle, the ten figures from the previous image, who had been seated around the round table, stood expressionless before the castle gate.
The fifth image showed a group of monsters with white rat heads but human bodies, running in formation through the city streets.
Their footsteps were like a rapid drumbeat, making the ground tremble slightly.
Their white rat heads appeared particularly eerie in the sunlight, and their eyes gleamed with a light...
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