— — — — — —
"Wait a minute—no bodies? Then did you find any blood? Signs of battle? Witnesses?"
Makarov suddenly felt something was off. He frowned and asked carefully.
"None of that," the Council member replied flatly. "Your mages cleaned up too well. We've tried every method we could think of, but there's nothing left. Still, we all know what really happened, so stop pretending you don't."
Even the Magic Council couldn't figure it out. How the hell had Kazuma done it? A hundred men gone without a trace—where could he possibly have hidden them?
BAM!
Makarov slammed his palm on the table, the sound echoing through the hall.
"You have no evidence, no witnesses, not even corpses—and you're already pointing fingers at Fairy Tail?" he barked. "Do you take us for pushovers?"
"I'll tell you this—if you have proof, I'll cooperate. But if you're just here to throw accusations around, don't blame me for what happens next!"
Makarov's voice boomed with righteous fury. He honestly had no idea how Kazuma had pulled it off, but since it was all handled cleanly, there was nothing left to worry about.
After all, honesty gets you jail time; silence gets you peace of mind.
"You—you're challenging the Magic Council itself?!" the Council member shouted, stumbling back a few steps. But then he remembered who he represented and straightened up.
"Say whatever you like," Makarov said coolly. "If you have proof, fine—handle it however you want. But if you don't, you're not laying a finger on a single one of my kids!"
"We don't pick fights with the Council, but everything should be based on evidence. If you can't bring that, then don't think the Guild Alliance will sit quietly while you push us around."
At that, the other guild masters—Blue Pegasus's Bob, Quatro Cerberus's Goldmine, and several others—stood up beside him.
They all understood the stakes. Sure, they knew what probably happened, but without evidence? That was the Council's problem, not theirs.
Because if the Council could just drag people away on baseless suspicion today, then what's to stop them from shutting down their guilds tomorrow?
That was a line they could never allow to be crossed.
Together, they represented most of Fiore's magical power. Even the Council couldn't just steamroll them.
"You… you people…" the Council member sputtered, face flushed with frustration. "Fine! But this isn't over!"
He stormed out, humiliated.
Once he was gone, the room fell into a more relaxed buzz.
"Makarov, those two kids of yours are monsters," one guild master chuckled. "Wiping out Eisenwald all by themselves? That's no small feat."
The others nodded, their faces showing a mix of awe and unease. Everyone knew Fairy Tail was strong—but this strong?
To wipe out a dark guild in silence, without a single trace left behind… If they could do that to Eisenwald, they could just as easily do it to any of them.
First Gildarts, then Erza, Laxus, Mystogan, and Kazuma—each one of them had the power to run their own guild.
Fairy Tail wasn't just strong; it was terrifyingly strong.
"Hahaha! Well, you know my kids—they're a talented bunch!" Makarov laughed heartily, puffing out his chest. "Come on, drinks are on me tonight! Let's celebrate!"
All his earlier worry melted away. No evidence meant no crime. He hadn't spent decades running this guild for nothing; he knew how to play the game.
The Council could bluster all it wanted—they weren't above politics either.
Still, deep down, Makarov was shaken. Kazuma's power had grown again. Not only had he taken out over a hundred mages, he'd erased every trace of them.
When he got back, Makarov definitely needed to have a chat with that brat.
---
At that moment, inside the grand chamber of the Magic Council, ten councilors were in the middle of a heated session.
"Fairy Tail has gone too far this time!" one of them barked, slamming a hand on the table. "It was bad enough they kept wrecking towns—now they've crossed the line with a massacre like this!"
"I agree!" another snapped. "I move that we revoke their guild's legal status immediately!"
The room erupted in murmurs, but before the argument could spiral further, a calm voice cut through the noise.
"Yeah, great idea," a calm voice cut in. "Day one, we revoke Fairy Tail's status. Day two, they become a dark guild. Day three, I attend your funeral—though come to think of it, maybe not. You'll probably disappear without a trace too."
The room went dead silent.
The speaker was Yajima, his tone steady and quiet, but every word carried weight. As one of the senior councilors—and an old friend of Makarov—he'd been the one smoothing things over for Fairy Tail more times than anyone could count.
Now that trouble had flared again, it was obvious whose side he'd take.
"What do you mean by that?!" the angry councilor snapped, fists trembling.
Yajima set his cup down gently. "I mean stop trying to pick fights with Fairy Tail."
He folded his hands on the table and continued, "Fairy Tail is the number one guild in Fiore, both in power and influence. You don't just 'cancel' their status on a whim. Those kids might be a bunch of troublemakers, sure—but the guild is their home. Take that away, and they'll tear the world apart to get it back. Are you ready to lose your home in return?"
The room fell silent.
Unlike other guilds, most of Fairy Tail's members had been strays—orphans, outcasts, or runaways—taken in and given a place to belong. For them, Fairy Tail wasn't just a workplace. It was family.
"You…" the councilor began, but the fight had already drained out of him. Yajima was right, and everyone knew it. If they really went through with that plan, none of them would sleep soundly again.
"Enough," another member said. "Eisenwald was a dark guild. Its destruction isn't exactly a tragedy. Let's call it… extreme, but not a crime."
"First, Eisenwald was already wanted. Even if Fairy Tail did it, at worst they went overboard. Second, we have no evidence—no proof they were responsible. We can't act on assumptions."
"Agreed?"
Jellal sat quietly in the back, listening. He didn't care about Eisenwald or guild politics. What caught his interest was Kazuma himself.
Still, after a moment, he dismissed the thought. The boy wasn't relevant to his plans—at least, not yet.
"I agree," Yajima said first.
"So do I."
"Same here."
One by one, the others followed suit. No one wanted unnecessary trouble.
"You… all of you…" the angry councilor grumbled, finally sighing in defeat. "Fine. Whatever."
And with that, the matter was settled.
...
By the next day, the news had spread across the entire kingdom. Every major guild in Fiore had heard the story—Fairy Tail's Kazuma had single-handedly wiped out Eisenwald.
His reputation exploded overnight.
And just as Kazuma stepped back into the guild hall, a familiar chime echoed in his mind.
[Ding~]
A new system notification popped up.
.
.
.