Makarov sighed heavily and said, "Right now, we can only rely on ourselves."
"I have already sent letters to the Magician Guilds within the Fiore Kingdom, hoping they can act quickly and arrive at the Rhine Basin in time."
"We need to contain the battle near the Rhine Basin."
"Once these beastmen charge into human cities, it will be a disaster."
Natsu suddenly stood up, waving his fists and shouting, "Hmph, what's there to be afraid of! We'll fight as many as come!"
Gray also chimed in, "Exactly, Fairy Tail will never back down!"
...A chaotic place, primarily silver-white light, interwoven with colorful rays.
A colossal silver-white spherical light cluster floated in this chaos.
Upon closer inspection, the silver-white light cluster was actually a translucent membrane, and within the membrane, a gigantic city floated.
The city was perfectly circular, and viewed from above, its area was approximately 3000 square kilometers.
All the buildings and architectural styles in the city were highly unified, constructed from moss-covered green bricks and black iron.
Solemn, oppressive, heavy.
This was Newborn City, a city that once brought the most advanced life magic and biomedical technology to the continent of Ishgar.
A grand and majestic castle stood tall in the center of the city.
Inside the castle, in the highest room, a hulking figure, like a giant tower, stood silently by the massive floor-to-ceiling window, his posture as weighty as a mountain.
He was a tall man, nearly two meters in height, with a wide black robe draped like night, concealing most of his robust body.
On his forehead, a single black horn stood proudly, like a sharp thorn in the darkness.
His bright golden pupils were like burning flames, exuding a strong, heart-pounding pressure.
His hands were clasped powerfully across his chest, and his exposed palms were broad and covered with black, metallic, shield-shaped scales, tightly arranged like impenetrable armor.
His sharp nails were long and keen, like short, sharp knives, gleaming with a faint, chilling light in the dimness.
The one-horned man's expression was focused and profound, his gaze piercing through the window, overlooking the bustling and fervent scene below.
Below, two distinct armies, one black and one white, were arrayed in two rows.
The white army on the left consisted of beastmen with human bodies but white rat heads, arranged in neat formations, respectfully kneeling on one knee towards the castle.
Each White Rat Person was covered only in snowy white fur; rather than resembling humans, they looked more like giant rats capable of walking upright, though their hands and feet were identical to human ones.
The black army on the right consisted of beastmen with human bodies but black wild boar heads, also arranged in neat formations, respectfully kneeling on one knee towards the castle.
Each Pig-Headed Person possessed strong muscles and black bristles; from an evolutionary perspective, aside from their heads retaining wild boar features, their torsos and limbs were essentially identical to humans.
At this moment, the two vast beastmen armies stood in neat formation, and they surprisingly uttered clear human voices, shouting in unison, "The New World shall surely come!"
"New Humans shall rule all!"
The sound rose in waves, deafening, called out tirelessly again and again, as if to deeply engrave this fervent belief upon the land.
"Lord Chris, Lord Unicorn has sent word that the spatial teleportation gate has been completed." A man in a black robe with a red fox head, like a phantom, silently appeared behind the one-horned man, then knelt on one knee, his voice respectful and devout.
This man with a horn on his head was none other than the most powerful leader of the New World—the Dragonman Chris!
Chris took a deep breath, a breath that seemed to draw in all the surrounding air, then slowly exhaled. The warm air from his mouth sprayed onto the window, instantly forming a faint layer of white mist, and the scene outside became blurred.
Chris gazed at his own hazy face in the mist, his voice soft, and he quietly asked, "You may withdraw."
A faint wisp of black smoke emanated from the fox-headed man, and the next second, he vanished.
The room returned to silence, but the next second, the previously dim room was suddenly filled with bright light.
The crystal chandelier on the ceiling lit up, and directly beneath it was a huge round table, around which eight oddly shaped people were already seated.
A high-backed chair was left at the head of the round table, clearly reserved for the Dragonman Chris.
Seated first on the right was the White Snake Hydra, dressed in a white kimono, bald, with golden snake eyes.
Hydra looked at Chris's back and said, "Both of my clones were wiped out by the Fairy Tail people, and that fool Tore hasn't returned either, most likely captured."
"Our plan has very likely been exposed."
Sitting opposite Hydra was a burly, muscular man with a pair of golden bull horns and a rugged face, bare-chested.
He snorted through his nostrils, "These official Magician Guild members really love to meddle."
"How strong is the opponent?"
The speaker was the man seated at the very end, a black werewolf, whose strong physique was almost identical to that of the burly man with golden bull horns on his head.
Hydra said expressionlessly, "According to the memory fragments transmitted back by the clones, the ones who acted were young faces, but they were all skilled. The person who killed my second clone was a master of lightning magic; I didn't even see his face before he was killed by a single lightning strike."
"Lightning magic?" The slender man in a golden haori, sitting next to the black werewolf, opened his eyes upon hearing this. His eyes were bright gold, and his gaze was sharp as a blade, making it impossible to look him directly in the eye.
"It must be Laxus of Fairy Tail, the grandson of Lord Makarov, one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Only he has that kind of power."
Seated on Hydra's right was a refined man in a black suit, with a pair of black ram horns on his head and pure black eyes. He surveyed the members around him and said unhurriedly, "With the plan leaked and the Fiore Kingdom on guard, we might not proceed so smoothly. The Magician Guilds within the kingdom are quite powerful."
Chris, who had been silent, finally turned around and slowly walked towards the high-backed chair at the head of the round table. Each step he took seemed to carry an invisible pressure.
After he sat down, he rested his hands on the table, scanned everyone present, and said in a deep voice, "Even if the plan might be exposed, we have no retreat. The Fiore Kingdom must become our stepping stone; this is the first step in the rise of the New World."
Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere in the room grew even more solemn.
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