Arrest

— — — — — — — 

"Wait a minute! The entire Phantom Lord Guild was destroyed?!"

Lucy was completely dumbfounded. Since when was she this powerful? How could she have no memory of it?

"Yeah! Wasn't it you, Lucy? You took down hundreds of their members!"

"And then you leveled all their branch guilds. It was amazing!"

"No! It wasn't me!!!" Lucy frantically denied it.

There was no way she could've done something like that. Even if she wanted to, she didn't have that kind of power!

"I was in the guild all day yesterday! How could I have gone out and taken down all those Phantom Lord branches? And I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage—I don't even use a sword!"

Great. Now she was famous, even more famous than when Natsu stormed that mercenary guild. But this wasn't the kind of fame she wanted—this was terrifying!

Everyone in the guild started thinking. Now that they looked back, Lucy had indeed been in the guild all day yesterday. Even when she left for home in the evening, the timing didn't match up with the attack.

"Then who did this?!"

"Was it Mira?!"

Mira could use Transformation Magic, so theoretically, she could take Lucy's form.

Mira quickly waved her hands. "I was in the guild at the time too! Besides, I don't even use swords."

She took another look at the newspaper. According to the report, the attacker used a variety of sword techniques—lightning, fire, wind, water, earth...

She had a guess about who might be responsible, but since that person also had an alibi, she wasn't completely sure.

"Whoever it was, this finally settles the score. Phantom Lord destroyed one of our guild halls, so we wiped out dozens of their branches!"

"And it wasn't even a sneak attack! It was an all-out offensive!"

Makarov had his own suspicions about who did this. That brat, Uchiha Kitaro, always carried a sword. He'd never seen him use it, but with that kid's skill, there was no doubt he could.

But Kitaro had been with him all day yesterday, studying magic.

Still, Makarov couldn't help feeling satisfied. Compared to the younger guild members, his attachment to the guild ran much deeper. Seeing the building destroyed had enraged him.

If he were younger, he would've already stormed Phantom Lord's headquarters. But at his age, with so much to protect, he had to hold back.

If Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord went to war, the Magic Council would intervene, and worse, his guild members could get hurt—or worse. He couldn't risk that, so he chose to endure.

— — —

Phantom Lord Headquarters

SMASH!

Jose Porla, the master of Phantom Lord, hurled his wine glass to the ground in fury.

"Damn that Fairy Tail! How dare they attack Phantom Lord?! And who the hell is that so-called 'Lucy'?!"

"We're not sure. Based on the attack reports, dozens of Lucys appeared simultaneously. It seems to be some kind of cloning magic. We don't know if she's the one we were originally looking for, but she's definitely connected to Fairy Tail."

Jose scowled. He had just sent Gajeel to attack Fairy Tail, and now this Lucy had immediately retaliated. There was no way it wasn't related to Fairy Tail.

"Master Jose, what should we do?"

"What do you mean, 'what should we do'?! My guild branches and members were wiped out, and now everyone knows about it! If we don't retaliate, Phantom Lord will lose its standing in Fiore!"

His eyes burned with fury. "Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord can't both exist in this world."

"Notify the Magic Council—tell them to arrest Makarov and Lucy. This is the perfect chance to erase Fairy Tail from existence!"

— — —

Fairy Tail Guild

Suddenly, Loke came running down the stairs in a panic. "Bad news!! The Magic Council has surrounded the guild!!"

"What?!"

Everyone rushed upstairs to see a large force of the Council's Rune Knights encircling the remains of their guild hall.

One of the officers stepped forward. "I am a commander of the Magic Council's Rune Knights."

"Lucy of Fairy Tail, you are under arrest for attacking the Phantom Lord Guild and attempting to incite war between guilds. Surrender immediately."

"..."

Lucy was stammering. "W-What did you just say?!"

Other members of Fairy Tail were angry after hearing the commander's words.

"Phantom Lord destroyed our guild first! Look around! Do you not see the damage they caused?!"

The commander immediately replied. "If your guild was attacked, you should have reported it to the Council. The Council would have handled Phantom Lord accordingly. But you had no right to escalate the conflict into a guild war."

"No... it wasn't me! I was in the guild all day yesterday! I never attacked Phantom Lord, and I don't even have the power to take down so many of them!" Lucy defended herself.

"That's not for you or me to decide. The Council will investigate. For now, you are under arrest."

Makarov looked annoyed. "So Phantom Lord destroys our guild, and you don't arrest them, but now you come to arrest us?!"

"We will not let you take Lucy!"

An Officer of the Council looked at Makarove as he was waiting for him to appear. "Makarov, as the guild master, you are also suspected of ordering the attack. You must come with us as well."

"What?!"

"They're even trying to arrest the Master?!"

"Master never even let us retaliate! If he had, we would've wiped those Phantom bastards out long ago!"

"We won't let you take Master or Lucy!"

"Let's fight."

SWISH!

The Rune Knights all raised their magic staves, making it clear they were ready to attack if Fairy Tail resisted.

"EVERYONE, STAND DOWN!!!"

Makarov's voice boomed across the guild.

The members of Fairy Tail froze. Even the Rune Knights hesitated—after all, Makarov was one of the Ten Wizard Saints. If he truly resisted, they wouldn't stand a chance against him.

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