Chapter 170: The Balam Alliance
"I can't accept this, old man!"
Natsu Dragneel's voice echoed through the half-built framework of the new guild hall. "Why did you have to expel Laxus?! He's our comrade too! Even if we fought, we're still comrades!"
He slammed his fist on a stack of lumber, his voice frustrated. "I still have to have a decisive match with him!"
For the past three days, ever since Makarov had returned from the Magic Council and the reconstruction had begun in earnest, Natsu had come to the Master with the same complaint.
Ren, who was sitting on a crossbeam meticulously sanding a piece of wood, sighed and looked down. "That's enough, Natsu. You yell about it all day, isn't it annoying? If you're not annoyed, everyone else is. He was just expelled from the Guild; it's not like he's never coming back."
Natsu froze, his head snapping up to look at Ren. "Coming back?! Laxus is coming back?!"
Ren shrugged, returning to his work. "That guy committed an unforgivable mistake, after all. Expulsion is a Guild rule. Once he reflects properly, deeply understands his mistake, and promises not to repeat it, the old man will probably let him rejoin."
Makarov, who was sitting on a barrel nearby, hadn't expected Ren to say such a thing. Expelling Laxus, as his grandfather, was the last thing he wanted to see, but it was necessary. As the Guild Master, he had to lead by example and give an explanation to all Guild members; otherwise, the morale of the Guild would crumble.
Natsu's eyes lit up with a new, fiery hope. "Really?! Then let him rejoin now!"
Ren flicked a wood chip at him. "Do you think this is child's play? If you have nothing better to do, go to work! You still haven't compensated for the damage you caused to Magnolia Town."
It was certainly impossible for Laxus to rejoin now, as there was still a lot of resentment among everyone. At least, time was needed to calm things down.
"Uh..." Natsu grumbled, his argument deflating.
Compared to others in the Guild, Natsu and Gajeel had caused much more damage during the 'Battle of Fairy Tail' than anyone else. The damage caused by others had already been repaired, but the destruction caused by the two Dragon Slayers would take some time and money, and naturally, that would be indispensable.
Of course, Ren and Laxus had caused even greater damage, but both of them were S-Class Mages with strong earning capabilities, and they had already compensated for the damage. Ren had personally paid for the destruction of Kardia Cathedral, a sum that had pained him greatly; he had never spent such a large amount of money before.
So, he urgently needed to take on some S-Class Quests to recover his funds. But unfortunately, the Guild currently had no new S-Class Quests.
During this vacuum period with no S-Class Quests to do, Ren spent most of his time cultivating, or in this case, helping with the reconstruction.
To be honest, with his current 6-Star magic power, although he couldn't use magic wantonly when taking over his Golden Card characters, he didn't have to calculate every second of use, either. He had more leeway.
But he still preferred to make his main body stronger.
Ren understood that feeling; it was the huge, jarring sense of disparity that arose every time he finished a Take Over and returned to his original form. That feeling of going from a god to a mere mortal made him deeply uncomfortable.
Magic power itself is a high-level energy, and the Rank of the Fairy Tail world is very high among many anime worlds. After fighting Jose, then Jellal, and finally Laxus, he realized that even when he received some powerful characters, his current strength was only at the Ten Wizard Saints level.
Even if the characters he received were one-in-a-million, in the Fairy Tail world, he could completely find those with similar or even stronger strength. He hadn't even met Gildarts yet.
There were even greater crises looming in the future—he knew the plot. The Oración Seis. Grimoire Heart. Tartaros. Acnologia. The strength of a Ten Wizard Saints-level mage was simply insufficient for him to cope with what was coming. This made his desire to become stronger, and his frustration at the lack of quests, even more urgent.
Somewhere high in the sky, the massive, ominous airship of the Dark Guild Grimoire Heart flew silently among the clouds.
"Oración Seis, huh? So... they've started to move."
Inside a vast, dark chamber, Ultear Milkovich, clad in her form-fitting battle suit, received the news from a communications lacrima. She turned to the imposing figure sitting on the throne at the far end of the room.
"What should we do, Master Hades?"
Hades, formerly Precht Gaebolg, the second Guild Master of Fairy Tail, stroked his long, white beard. His visible eye glowed with a dark, ancient power.
"Let them be," he mused, his voice a low rumble. "If those arrogant fools from the Oración Seis move, the 'light' guilds won't just sit idly by. The Magic Council will be forced to form an alliance to stop them. It will be a perfect distraction."
Hades smiled. "We'll use this opportunity to search for the key that can unseal Zeref. If we're lucky... several of those annoying 'light' Guilds might even be eliminated in the chaos."
Ultear's lips curved into a cold, beautiful smile. "Like... Fairy Tail, for instance?"
Hades didn't reply, but the dark smile on his face indicated that what Ultear said was correct.
Fairy Tail Guild Hall
Ren sat cross-legged on the new, freshly-installed bar counter, bored out of his mind. The old man, Makarov, had gone to the regular Guild Master's meeting. And, because of the incident with Lumen Histoire, Makarov had left Ren, the 'acting Guild Master', to hold down the fort. There was something important, a secret, beneath the Fairy Tail Guild that needed to be protected at all times.
Originally, Ren didn't want to do it. Babysitting was not his idea of a good time. But the old man, knowing his weakness, had promised he would try to get him some S-Class Quests from other Guild Masters at the regular meeting. Only then did Ren reluctantly agree.
He hadn't done an S-Class Quest for over half a month, and he felt uncomfortable all over. He was getting an itch for a new gacha pull.
"What is this?"
Lucy's voice pulled him from his thoughts. He glanced over and saw a small crowd gathered around Levy McGarden, who was drawing a large, complex diagram in the air with her Solid Script magic. The Guild members also gathered around to watch.
"Ah! I drew it," Levy said, pushing up her glasses. "This is the organizational chart of the Dark Guilds."
"Why did you draw this, Levy-chan?" Lucy asked.
Mira, who was delivering drinks, explained, "Because the Magic Council is in disarray after the Tower of Heaven and the Etherion incident, the Dark Guilds have become active again recently. If we don't strengthen our ties with other Guilds and understand our enemies, the consequences could be unimaginable."
"What's in this extra-large bracket at the top?" Elfman asked, squinting at the diagram.
Juvia, who was standing as close to Gray as possible, spoke up, her voice surprisingly knowledgeable. "Juvia knows. That's the largest force among the Dark Guilds. It is the Balam Alliance."
[Akarin's Note: The Balam Alliance is the collective name for the three most powerful Dark Guilds in the Fairy Tail world. All other Dark Guilds are, in some way, affiliated with one of these three.]
"Balam Alliance?" Lucy repeated, unfamiliar with the term.
Mira explained, "Just like the regular Guild Alliance, Dark Guilds also have their own Alliance organizations to oppose the regular Guilds. The Balam Alliance is the largest of these, formed by three different, overwhelmingly powerful Dark Guilds. Each of these three Guilds has numerous subordinate Dark Guilds under its command, and through them, they control the entire dark underworld of magic."
At this moment, Lucy scanned the complex chart and saw a familiar, and very recent, name. "Ah! Eisenwald is there too! Is that a Guild affiliated with Oración Seis?"
Evergreen, who was fanning herself at a nearby table, scoffed. "The Eisenwald Guild we annihilated was also under Oración Seis!"
"That's right! That's right!" Bickslow's dolls chirped, flying around his head.
After the Battle of Fairy Tail ended, the three members of the Raijinshuu, having seen Laxus off, had also reintegrated into the Guild. Their previous aloofness was mainly due to following Laxus, so they had always deliberately kept a certain distance from the other Guild members. Now that Laxus was temporarily expelled, the three no longer had to worry about anything and began to blend in, albeit awkwardly.
Juvia smiled at Gray and said, "Juvia and Gajeel also annihilated several Guilds affiliated with Oración Seis when they were with Phantom Lord. Juvia remembers a particularly nasty group called the Ghoul Spirit."
Lucy shivered in fear, her face paling. "Waaah~! I just hope they don't get angry! Has Fairy Tail provoked them so many times already?" She didn't want to be retaliated against by a massive Dark Guild alliance.
"Actually, there's nothing to worry about," Macao said, taking a drag from his cigarette. "The rumor is that those guys, Oración Seis, only have six members."
"What a tiny Guild, hahaha!" Wakaba laughed, not putting Oración Seis in his eyes at all.
Mira, seeing this, warned them seriously, her smile fading. "Don't be careless! The fact that only 6 people have become one of the largest forces in the Balam Alliance shows just how powerful each of them is. Each of those six is rumored to have the power of a Wizard Saint."
Just then, Makarov's voice, small but powerful, rang out from the entrance. He had just returned.
"Ah! Regarding that... Oración Seis... it has been decided that we will be the ones to subdue them!"