The wooden bed in the lounge creaked softly.
Byakuran opened his eyes.
For a moment, he stared blankly at the familiar ceiling of the guild lounge, a trace of confusion in his eyes as he tried to remember what had happened.
“Hiss…”
A moment later, a wave of pain suddenly shot through his head.
Then, like a tide rushing in, his memories came flooding back.
Only then did he remember what had happened.
Byakuran immediately gritted his teeth in anger.
“Natsu!!!”
The door to the lounge opened.
The noise from the main hall instantly reached Byakuran’s ears.
Byakuran had expected the peaceful days of Fairy Tail to gradually disappear after Natsu joined the guild.
He just hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.
At that moment, Byakuran only wanted to find Natsu, punch him hard, and teach him the consequences of messing with him.
He stood in the doorway, his black hair still slightly messy from sleeping.
His right hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.
The murderous pressure around him was almost tangible.
As soon as he stepped out, his eyes swept left and right, searching for that pink-haired, spiky-headed idiot.
He was determined to let Natsu know that Byakuran’s iron fist was just as hard as anyone else’s!
But after looking around several times without finding him, Byakuran finally shouted:
“Hey! Where did that guy Natsu run off to?!”
Macao turned his head first.
He shook his spiky hair and smiled mischievously.
“You’re awake, Byakuran. I thought you were going to sleep until tomorrow.”
Wakaba pushed up his sunglasses and exhaled a small puff of smoke.
“After that guy Natsu got beaten up by Erza, he ran out of the guild.”
“He’s probably wandering around somewhere in the forest right now.”
Someone nearby immediately added insult to injury.
“Byakuran, you’re pretty pathetic. You actually got successfully ambushed by Natsu.”
“Even the request board took a punch for you!”
“Haha! I never thought Byakuran would fall so easily to the new fire-breathing brat!”
Erza stood nearby holding a cup, her short scarlet hair framing her face.
She raised her eyes toward Byakuran, a hint of concern visible in them.
Cana smiled and teased him.
“Gray is furious because Natsu beat him to it.”
Another wave of laughter and teasing erupted throughout the guild.
Byakuran’s face flushed slightly.
He had nowhere to vent his anger.
What a humiliating defeat.
Just then, the Master’s voice came from across the guild.
“Byakuran, come over here. There’s a designated request for you.”
Master Makarov was sitting behind his usual counter, guarding his little throne.
His small body was almost swallowed by his windbreaker and strange hat.
He held a request form in his hand, wearing an expression that suggested he’d just finished watching a particularly entertaining show.
Byakuran walked over.
He glanced at the details on the request form.
His voice instinctively rose slightly.
“Assist the Council in subjugating the Dark Guild—Pandemonium.”
“Reward: two million jewels?”
“This is a designated request issued by the Council,” Makarov explained.
“They’re asking the guild to send a powerful mage to assist them.”
Makarov waved the paper before handing it to Byakuran.
“Among the mages currently available, you’re the most suitable.”
“I originally planned to give it to Laxus, but he’s currently out on another quest.”
“With your strength, completing this should be more than enough. You just need to be a little careful when dealing with the Council personnel.”
He leaned back slightly.
“So, will you take it?”
“If you don’t, I’ll transfer the request to Lamia Scale and give it to one of their recently rising mages.”
His expression was serious, but his tone remained relaxed. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Dark Guilds naturally had to be taken seriously.
But if Byakuran was the one handling the job, Makarov wasn’t worried.
He already had a fairly good understanding of Byakuran’s strength.
Lamia Scale’s rising mage?
Jura?
Byakuran immediately understood.
Then this request must be quite important if the Master is considering giving it to Jura.
He lowered his head and looked at the request form.
Three large characters were printed across the title:
PANDEMONIUM
Roar~ What an arrogant name.
“Master, what do you know about this guild, Pandemonium?”
“The name sounds pretty impressive.”
“And the reward isn’t exactly small either.”
Makarov let out a dry laugh.
“Dark Guilds are always like that. Their names shake the heavens, but their actual strength is usually nothing special.”
“If they really had some serious power, this wouldn’t be a regular request. It would be classified as an S-Class request.”
He paused, and his expression became more serious.
“However, they are still a Dark Guild, and they use some very sinister methods. So they can’t be underestimated.”
“As for the high reward, the Council has received intelligence that the guild seems to have been involved in some shady activities recently.”
“On top of that, they’ve invaded numerous villages and committed countless crimes.”
“The problem is that they don’t have a fixed base.”
“Every time the Council sends people to subjugate them, they somehow manage to escape.”
“Because they’re so difficult to track down, the Council increased the reward to encourage powerful guild mages, who have more freedom of movement, to handle the subjugation.”
“You may have to spend a little more effort tracking them down once you begin the quest, but the Council personnel will handle most of that part.”
After hearing Makarov’s explanation, Byakuran gained a basic understanding of the mission.
On the surface, it didn’t seem particularly troublesome.
And he had been planning to start taking on more quests anyway.
He picked up the request form, waved it casually, and turned toward the guild’s front door.
“Alright, I’ll take it.”
“Then I’m off, Master!”
As for Natsu…
I’ll settle the score with him when I get back.
Makarov smiled and waved at his departing figure.
“Safe journey.”
The journey took some time.
Towns gradually turned into villages.
Villages eventually gave way to forests.
Byakuran finally arrived at the agreed meeting point: a forest station outside Red Apple Village.
It was a trampled clearing at the edge of the woods.
A plain-colored tent had been set up as the Council’s temporary camp.
Standing outside was a serious-looking man wearing the Council’s uniform.
Byakuran approached and showed him the request form and the Fairy Tail emblem, indicating the purpose of his visit.
The man frowned as soon as he saw him.
His gaze traveled from Byakuran’s still-developing body to his unusually delicate face.
There was clear suspicion in his eyes.
“I am Lahar, the Council’s combat officer in charge of this operation.”
“Why would Fairy Tail send a child like you?”
“What we need is a powerful mage. This mission is no child’s game!”
Lahar’s questioning tone made the atmosphere slightly tense.
Byakuran was already accustomed to this kind of reaction.
After all, children taking on quests were naturally going to be questioned.
Whenever this happened, he usually followed the same procedure.
He didn’t argue.
Instead, he simply released a small portion of his magical power.
He deliberately kept it at a level strong enough for people to physically feel the pressure, but not so overwhelming that it would cause unnecessary panic.
The air suddenly grew heavier.
The tips of the grass bent toward the ground.
The tent trembled slightly, producing faint rustling sounds.
Even the surrounding noise seemed to be suppressed by an invisible hand. New chapters come out on g.com first.
The entire area suddenly became quiet.
After displaying his strength for a moment, Byakuran immediately withdrew his magical power.
Everything returned to normal.
Lahar felt the pressure disappear.
A trace of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
“What astonishing magical power…”
After recovering from his surprise, Lahar straightened his back and nodded apologetically.
“My apologies. I shouldn’t have underestimated you.”
Byakuran waved his hand.
“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
“Just tell me what intelligence you’ve gathered so far. Once I understand the situation, we can move quickly.”
Seeing that Byakuran wasn’t offended, Lahar immediately returned to work mode.
He pulled a rolled-up map from inside his clothes and spread it across a wooden box.
He tapped the forest surrounding Red Apple Village, where several areas had been circled in ink.
“Dark Guild—Pandemonium.”
“The members of this guild worship demons, including the demons from the Book of Zeref and the pure-blooded demons mentioned in ancient myths.”
“They believe demons are a higher form of life that transcends humanity.”
“They believe the ultimate evolutionary path for humans is ‘demonization.'”
“Because of this, they have been obsessively searching for traces of demons, hoping to transform themselves into demons.”
“In reality, they’re simply pursuing power that doesn’t belong to humans because they’re too weak to begin with.”
“To achieve their goal, they have continuously explored ancient ruins associated with demonic legends, searching for methods to summon demons and transform themselves.”
“They’ve committed quite a few crimes in the process.”
“Recently, they appear to have discovered some kind of ritual magic capable of summoning demons.”
“Since then, they’ve been increasingly active, carrying out various small-scale operations and causing trouble for several nearby villages.”
“Our people received intelligence that members of Pandemonium had been spotted in the forest surrounding Red Apple Village.”
“After investigating the area, we managed to determine their approximate hiding location.”
“However, halfway through our investigation, we discovered that they’re extremely cautious.”
“There are numerous scouts stationed around the perimeter.”
“Considering their past behavior, I decided to remain here and only send a few elite personnel deeper into the forest to subdue them.”
“If a large force approached and they noticed us, they’d probably escape immediately.”
“Finding them again after that would be extremely difficult.”
After listening to the entire report, Byakuran nodded inwardly.
The Council isn’t bad after all.
They’ve gathered all the necessary intelligence, located the enemy’s approximate hiding place, and completed the preliminary preparations.
All that’s left is for me to harvest the results.
What a perfect client.
With that thought, Byakuran smiled.
“The intelligence is very thorough.”
“So there shouldn’t be any problems with this mission.”
“Take me there.”
“They’re just a bunch of motley fools anyway. We’ll deal with them quickly and wrap everything up.”
The gloomy forest was deathly silent.
Moonlight spilled through the branches overhead but couldn’t penetrate the dense canopy.
On a narrow path through the forest, wooden wheels rolled over dead branches, producing a dull, prolonged creaking sound.
A wooden cart was being pulled by several people.
An iron cage had been secured to its flatbed.
The iron bars were rusted dark brown, while damp straw covered the bottom of the cage.
Two figures were tied up inside.
One was large.
The other was small.
Hemp ropes dug into their clothes, while their wrists were bound behind their backs.
Their bodies were covered in dirt and looked completely disheveled.
Mud streaked their cheeks, mixed with dust rubbed onto their faces during the long, bumpy journey.
Lahar sat inside the cage.
His eyes were completely lifeless.
The light had seemingly gone out of them, leaving behind nothing but profound trauma.
Beside him, leaning against the cage, Byakuran rolled his eyes in speechless disbelief.
I take back what I thought about the Council being reliable.
He really wanted to beat to death the version of himself who had actually believed the Council was competent.