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Boom—!
"W-wahh!"
The Tower of Paradise's front gate was shattered by a single blow from Natsu.
"Jellal! Get out here—!"
Natsu shouted loudly after entering the gate.
At this moment, large mouths began to emerge from various parts of the walls.
Lucy was instantly terrified: "What are these? So disgusting!"
"Mouths?!"
"What are these mouths?!"
"This is Jellal's magic to ensure his voice can be heard in every corner of the Tower."
Soon, a voice came from the mouths:
"Welcome, everyone, to the Tower of Paradise. I am Jellal, the ruler of this Tower. Both sides' pieces are all here, so let the Paradise Game begin."
Natsu looked puzzled: "What game?"
"The rules are simple: it's a stage-by-stage clearing game. I have arranged guards on every floor of the Tower of Paradise. They are responsible for guarding the hostages, and these hostages are the companions who built this Tower of Paradise with Wally and the others, and also the companions who resisted the Black Magic Cult with Erza."
"What?!"
Wally and the others, along with Erza, all changed their expressions.
"Jellal, you scoundrel! It wasn't enough that you deceived those innocent, pitiful people; now you want their lives?!" Erza gritted her teeth. Jellal had become even more evil than he was eight years ago.
"To be honest, I originally planned to kill all these guys. After all, the Tower of Paradise has been built, and these guys are useless. If I let them leave, they might expose this place. Now, I'm giving you a chance to rescue them. This can be considered my last act of mercy."
Lucy said with a grim expression: "What kind of mercy is that?!"
"Besides those guards, I have also arranged three warriors. Only by defeating these three warriors can you reach the top floor and have the final battle with me."
"If you violate the rules, I will order all hostages to be killed. The decision is yours: rescue the hostages, or come directly for the final battle with me."
Simon said with a solemn expression: "This guy... did he already know we were going to betray him?"
He had previously planned to use Wally's magic to directly assault Jellal on the top floor, but judging by the opponent's thorough preparations, he clearly had anticipated this.
"However, there's one point I need to emphasize: this is the Tower of Paradise that I spent eight years building. I don't want any significant damage. If the damage is severe, I will also kill all the hostages."
"Finally, an additional special note: the Magic Council is very likely to use a satellite magic array to attack this place. That is the ultimate destructive magic that can turn everything to ashes, Anima."
"!!!"
Everyone was startled by these words. Anima was the Magic Council's ultimate weapon and their biggest trump card for deterring the continent.
Vidardus said: "Hey! You never told me about this, Jellal! If we get hit by something like that, we'll all go to hell!"
Ikaruga glanced at Vidardus, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Vidardus, are you scared?"
Hearing this, Vidardus looked like he was high on drugs: "Quite the opposite! The opposite! I'm totally hyped! I want to do this kind of dangerous work—!"
Jellal continued: "The remaining time until the attack is unknown. When Anima falls on our heads, none of us will survive, which means there will be no winner. Game over."
"Let us enjoy ourselves to the fullest."
After saying this, all the mouths on the walls disappeared.
"Wh-what... What is that guy Jellal thinking... Playing games when his own life isn't even guaranteed..."
Lucy's body trembled uncontrollably; she was frightened by Jellal's insane actions.
"Anima? The Council? No... Impossible! That's..."
Erza couldn't believe it. Anima was the Magic Council's ultimate weapon; how could it attack here?
"Is he just bluffing?"
Gray also found it hard to believe that the Magic Council would fire Anima at this location.
Clap clap!
Qi Yan clapped his hands and looked at everyone, saying: "Alright, whether it's a bluff or not, the people must be rescued. Let's start assigning teams now."
"Simon, you four understand the structure of the Tower of Paradise. Split up and assign yourselves to different teams."
Juvia was the first to speak: "I'll team up with Gray. My magic can complement Gray's."
Simon said: "Then I'll go with you guys. We've met before, even if it wasn't particularly pleasant."
Wally said: "In that case, I'll team up with the Fire Dragon."
Natsu said indifferently: "I don't care, as long as I'm with Happy."
Wally said: "I'll go with my sister." He felt incredibly ashamed towards his sister, Erza, now. He wanted to protect her well and wouldn't let her suffer any harm.
"Then I..."
Miriana looked at Qi Yan with some fear. Not long ago, she was almost squeezed to death by Qi Yan, and she still had psychological trauma.
"For efficiency, each team will be responsible for one floor. How many floors are there in the Tower of Paradise?"
Simon replied: "Up to the top floor where Jellal is, there are forty-eight floors in total."
Happy said: "So that means each team has to cover twelve floors."
"This guy... wants to drain our stamina and magic power."
Gray guessed the opponent's objective. The opponent deliberately stated a vague time, wanting them to fight continuously without rest, so that by the time they reached the top floor, their stamina and magic power would be exhausted, making them no match for the opponent.
Lucy said indignantly: "This guy is too despicable!"
"Qi Yan, your magic power..."
Erza looked at Qi Yan with some concern. Qi Yan's strength was extraordinary, and his magic burden was also very heavy. He was least skilled at dealing with this kind of drawn-out battle. She felt as if Jellal's rule was specifically designed for Qi Yan.
"It's fine, this level is nothing."
Not to mention his current magic power was already very high, incomparable to a year ago. He also held several purple and gold cards in his hand. If absolutely necessary, he could sacrifice one, but he felt it wouldn't be needed. It was just a mere Jellal. If he couldn't even deal with Jellal at this stage, then he would have drawn all those cards in vain.
Soon, everyone agreed on the floors they would be responsible for.
"Everyone! Make sure you stay safe! Move out!"
"Oh oh oh oh oh oh!"