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Most people might think that Iron Dragon Gajeel is nothing special, but as an intelligence expert, Rabbit-Tooth understood that Gajeel, known as the Ghost's ace wizard, certainly lived up to his title.
At the very least, his strength was certainly on par with the Four Elemental Mages.
Gajeel's reputation as the Iron Dragon was earned through real combat experience. He had once single-handedly taken down several Dark Guilds.
"Uh... no, it wasn't us. We're no match for Iron Dragon Gajeel. It was George—George defeated Gajeel on his own and saved us."
Levy quickly waved her hands, her face turning red.
"George!!!"
All the mages looked at George, who was still pondering the rumors about Mirajane, their faces filled with disbelief.
If Levy and the others had defeated an S-class mage like Iron Dragon Gajeel together, they might have been surprised but could accept it.
But for George to have single-handedly defeated Gajeel—this they never expected.
It was like imagining Happy defeating Natsu, a thought too ridiculous to entertain.
"I'd say it was just luck—do you believe me?"
George shrugged his shoulders helplessly as all eyes were on him.
Though he felt that with his excellent wand and the combination of various spells and superpowers, he might be able to delay someone like Erza, an S-class mage, for a while—or even escape.
But to say he could actually defeat her? That seemed almost impossible.
He was well aware of his limits.
However, with the situation as it was now, he realized there was no way to explain himself, so he simply closed his mouth.
In truth, George didn't yet have a clear understanding of his own strength.
He wasn't aware that the S-class mages of the Fairy Tail guild were actually quite different from those of other magical guilds.
The only S-class mage he'd met, Aligor, seemed significantly weaker compared to Erza.
However, the truth was that the Grim Reaper, Aligor, was actually far more powerful than many S-class mages in other guilds.
George had spent most of his time in the guild and didn't have a solid grasp on the true strength of the world's mages. The only standard he had to reference was Erza.
Fifteen minutes later, Erza, now wearing her Heaven's Lament armor, flew in with Natsu and Gray in tow.
Behind them, Happy, with wings spread wide, carried Lucy, while Sarusuk ran below ground.
Twenty minutes after that, Mirajane arrived, carrying Guildmaster Makarov.
As Makarov landed, the anger on his face hadn't faded, and the immense magical power within him was nearly spilling out.
"If they had just destroyed the guild, I could have endured it, but attacking the guild's children? I can never tolerate that."
He turned to the mages of Fairy Tail. "All Fairy Tail mages, listen up! Tonight, we officially declare war on the Ghost Guild. We leave now!"
"War!"
"War!"
"War!"
Upon hearing that Makarov had finally decided to go to war with the Ghost Guild, the Fairy Tail mages, who had been seething with anger, erupted into cheers.
"War, huh? That works for me. At least now we can finally see the battle between the world's top ten Holy Mages!"
At that moment, George felt his own heart begin to race.
He had always been studying magic in the library, with only vague impressions of the world's various magical powers. But now, with so many mages about to clash, he would finally get to witness it firsthand.
And the battle between the Holy Ten? That sounded like it would be absolutely incredible.
"Guildmaster, wait a moment, I need to check his memories!"
Just as Makarov was preparing to lead everyone into battle, George stopped him.
He felt that, given how the Ghost Guild had never done anything so extreme before, their sudden attack on Fairy Tail might be part of a bigger plot.
It would be safer to use his Mind Reading ability to examine Gajeel's memories first.
The Ghost Guild's strength is not inferior to Fairy Tail's, and their numbers even give them an advantage, so we can't afford to be careless.
"You can use memory reading magic?"
Makarov was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.
Memory-related magic isn't easy to learn—it requires a high level of talent, and only a few people in the entire magical world can master it.
Besides the undercover mage Master Greyd that he sent to the Council, the only other notable person in this field is Sol, one of the Four Elementals of the Ghost Guild.
He hadn't expected George to be skilled in this type of magic.
"I think it's always useful to learn different kinds of magic," George replied as he lifted Gajeel's coma spell.
As Gajeel slowly regained consciousness and his willpower was still weak, George focused on his eyes and cast the Soul Snatching spell.
"Soul Snatching!"
Moments later, George was slightly surprised.
"So it's like this..."
From Gajeel's memory, George learned that the true purpose behind the Ghost Guild's attack on the Fairy Tail mages was to capture Lucy, the heiress of the Heartfilia conglomerate.
Lucy's identity was that of the wealthiest heir to the Heartfilia family in the kingdom. She had run away from home to avoid a business marriage arranged by her father.
The leader of the Ghost Guild had been commissioned by Lucy's father to carry out this attack on Fairy Tail.
However, according to Gajeel's memory, the Ghost Guild's leader was not entirely motivated by the mission.
Instead, the leader's goal was to capture Lucy in order to control her father and seize the entire Heartfilia fortune, using it to strengthen the guild.
Of course, eliminating the Fairy Tail guild would be an added bonus.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
As Gajeel regained consciousness and saw a group of Fairy Tail mages around him, he immediately tried to cast his magic. But before he could, Makarov, in his giant form, landed a punch that drove Gajeel's face into the ground.
"Kid, stay down!"
Having physically knocked Gajeel unconscious, Makarov turned to George and asked, "Did you find any useful information?"
"Yes," George immediately replied, relaying the memory he had accessed.
When the others heard that Lucy was actually the heir to the Heartfilia family, their eyes widened in surprise.
Lucy's usual behavior didn't fit the image of a wealthy heiress at all.
"I'm so sorry, it's because of my impulsiveness that the guild got attacked," Lucy said, her face filled with guilt after learning that everything had been connected to her father.
She really liked Fairy Tail, enjoyed her life here, and loved her companions, but she hadn't expected her family to bring such trouble to the guild.
"Even if it wasn't you, they'd still come after your family's money. They've always been at odds with the guild," George casually reassured her.
This was the truth. In his eyes, Lucy's connection to all of this was merely a trigger. Without her, it could've been someone else—maybe Luton or Lubei. Either way, a confrontation was inevitable.
"Don't say that, Lucy! Since they dared to mess with us, we'll just crush them all!"
Natsu smashed his fists together, his face beaming with excitement.
"Though, you really don't look like a rich heiress."
"Hey!"
Happy raised his paw, clearly in agreement.
(End of Chapter)