"Mystogan?" Rhode was the first to notice the person quietly arriving above the battlefield.
Mystogan wasn't masked today, and Erza couldn't help but be slightly affected: "Jella... no, Mystogan?"
Kildas suddenly realized: "You're that mysterious kid, right? I heard that while I was away for a few years, you became S-Class as well. Are you here to help?"
Mira took a slight step back, moving a bit closer to Rhode.
The information Gemini received from Hughes mentioned that there was a prince named Jellal in Edolas.
It's safe to assume that he is their guild's Mystogan.
Before the attack on the Royal Capital, everyone believed Mystogan was an ally and was willing to try their best to save everyone turned into Magic Crystals.
But now, with the four of them storming the Royal Capital and causing such destruction, will his stance change?
There had already been a discussion before arriving; if Mystogan spoke, they could act according to his opinion.
Of course, the prerequisite was that everyone in Magnolia could return safely to Aslan and would no longer be threatened by Anima in the future.
After all, the medicine to restore Magic was given by him, and Gajeel and Lucy, two crucial forces, were sent by him, and the enemy was his country.
Rhode considered that the final situation might become similar to the time with Lucy's father.
Perhaps being accustomed to the guild members' way of handling things, Mystogan showed little reaction to the destruction of the Royal Capital, merely lowering his altitude and nodding at the four of them as a greeting.
But... Faust himself seemed unwilling to let things end peacefully.
"Mystogan? Is that your name in Aslan? Jellal!"
Mystogan spoke, "Father, stop it. The Anima plan has failed!"
"Shut up! I am not your father, you traitor!" Faust was full of rage,
"If it weren't for you constantly preventing Anima in Aslan, infinite Magic Power would have long been obtained! I have no such son as you!"
Mystogan's face turned pale; from the moment he started stopping the Anima plan, he anticipated a day of confrontation with his father.
But his father was even more resolute than he had imagined.
Mystogan stared at the metallic monster: "The so-called infinite Magic Power is nothing more than your fanciful hypothesis!"
He never approved of such desecration of life, but he couldn't bring himself to directly confront his father, which is why he's been stopping Anima for the past seven years.
He thought that as long as he kept doing this, it would wear away the higher-ups' patience and trust in the Anima plan, and it would eventually be completely abandoned.
But unexpectedly, his father was so persistent that the frequency of initiating Anima over the seven years has increased, which means that the limited Magic resources need to be invested repeatedly, bearing intense pressure by Faust.
But Faust persisted through various means of gathering Magic Power, putting Mystogan in a frantic state with mounting pressure.
Just last month, he took a mission to find missing villagers—because he couldn't arrive in time and a village got absorbed by Anima.
He originally intended to take the risk of returning to Edolas to bring back those villagers, but when he infiltrated the Royal Capital, he heard that those Magic Crystals had already been drained of Magic and put into the next Anima plan.
At that moment, Mystogan was struck as if by lightning.
The sins of Edolas deepened once more.
Helpless, he returned to Aslan, intending to guard against this Anima, but... it was too massive.
Both in scale and power, it was too vast for him to prevent.
Fearing to trigger a war between the two worlds, Mystogan never dared to casually reveal the information, hoping to resolve it quietly on his own.
But this time, when the guild disappeared, when the entire town vanished, he regretted it.
Over the past seven years, Mystogan had already regarded the guild as his home.
Compared to that cold and ruthless father, who almost killed him over disagreements, those in the guild who could accept him even without seeing his true face seemed more like family.
If only he had told the President earlier and they had thought of a solution together...
At that moment, he was utterly despairing, regretful to the extreme.
If it weren't for Wendy's insistence on saving everyone, Mystogan doubted whether he would have the courage to face reality.
Mystogan questioned the person hidden within the metal creature: "For a conjecture of unknown truth, an impractical wish, can one recklessly sacrifice so many lives?!"
"Fool! They're just a group of cats and some people from another world, even if they die meaninglessly, what does it matter? As a King, it's unnecessary to have excess pity!"
"A King only needs to possess Power, and then control everything!"
Ka-ka...
The metallic beast moved twice, aiming the cannon in its mouth at Mystogan:
"Right, as long as I eliminate all of you here, no one can stop Anima anymore. Even if this time isn't successful, I can still conduct ten, a hundred more experiments!"
A Magic Array appeared at the cannon's mouth, releasing a white energy wave targeting Mystogan directly.
Five Magic Staffs flew to Mystogan's front, but before he could activate Defense, a white net already enveloped the wave.
The wave was instantly diced into square pieces and disappeared without a trace.
Kildas dug into his ear: "What parent wouldn't acknowledge their child?"
Mira glanced at him peculiarly.
"Mind your own business! You all must die as well!" The metallic dinosaur's back opened, releasing ten thigh-thick missiles.
The missiles seemed to be of the homing variety, each pair targeting one person, intending to finish all five of them off.
This time as well, there was no need for anyone else to take action, as the ten missiles turned into fragments once again.
Kildas continued: "Listen until people finish talking... If it's a father-son conversation, we could be left aside, but casually attacking our guild's kids is really looking down on us."
As the words fell, Kildas had already rushed out, landing a punch under the chin of the metallic dinosaur.
"No! Doroma Anim—Dragon Knight Armor is made from 'Wizard Slayer (Crystals made specifically against mages),' Magic is ineffective against it!"
"Hahaha... Foolish..." Faust's taunting voice cut off abruptly.
Because with just a crack, the metallic chin of the Dragon Knight split with gaps, the entire armor being punched a foot off the ground and retreating several meters with a thud.
Kildas sensed a peculiar Power, as he observed the red and blue streams of light around himself.
Rhode waved his hand, signaling the Crimson Marked Tree Monster to retreat and hide its contribution and name.