Laxus crouched atop the now-ruined Twilight Ogre guild, watching Ankh cross off an entry in his little notebook as he remarked:
"You actually planned your revenge against these people completely in advance?"
Ankh closed his grudge-keeping notebook, smiling contentedly.
"Of course. While we were away, they bullied our comrades. Now that we're back, if we let them roam free, wouldn't our return be entirely meaningless?"
Laxus dusted off his hands, sighing as he looked up at the panicked citizens gathering around the ruins.
"So how do we handle this now? Everyone saw us attack Twilight Ogre, violating the Magic Council's Non-Aggression Pact. There's absolutely no hiding this."
"Why hide it?" Ankh waved the bill in his hand, speaking with total righteous confidence.
"I'm just collecting what is owed to me. Twilight Ogre couldn't pay, so isn't it perfectly reasonable to take their guild as collateral?"
Laxus fell silent.
Not far away, Banaboster—charred black and tender from the lightning strike—struggled to crawl out from under the heavy rubble.
Weakly blowing black smoke, he pointed at them.
"You... are finished... The Council will never believe that scrap of paper. Fairy Tail will be completely destroyed sooner or later!"
Laxus disdainfully picked his ear, totally ignoring him.
Nearby, Freed lifted him up by the collar, his gaze incredibly fierce as he growled.
"The mere fact that you oppressed our guild mates is enough to make you suffer before the Council."
Banaboster snorted coldly, preparing to retort with sarcasm, but Bickslow impatiently kicked him back to the ground, muttering.
"So much nonsense. Do you really think we won't beat you up?"
The townsfolk were buzzing with discussion.
Many longtime residents recognized Ankh and the others, while a number of the younger generation clearly no longer remembered Fairy Tail, instead expressing outrage on behalf of the Guild Master of Twilight Ogre.
However, it wasn't long before numerous city guards came marching over, surrounding the wreckage of Twilight Ogre completely.
Ankh leisurely tucked the bill back into his pocket, then patted Banaboster's cheek mockingly.
"Don't worry, the next ones to fall will be the Council you rely on."
"The mayor will cleanly handle the fallout here. Let's go. You head back to the guild first—I have somewhere else to be."
Laxus was taken aback. "Where are you going?"
"Akane Resort. I need to check on the company. Jellal and the others are waiting for me."
As the true owner of the Ram Company and its employees, having been supposedly missing for seven years, it was only right to return and reassure everyone, as well as express immense gratitude to Frey for smoothly managing the company all this time.
Laxus nodded.
Back on Tenrou Island, he had already learned that Jellal and the others had secretly joined Ankh's company.
With Jellal and Midnight—former members of Oración Seis—acting as bodyguards, Laxus wasn't worried about Ankh being successfully ambushed while he couldn't use his God Slayer magic.
He nodded in understanding, reassured.
As the two brushed off their pants and prepared to leave, Banaboster behind them shouted furiously,.
"You can't leave! My guild—!"
"Annoying."
Evergreen turned back impatiently, pushing up her glasses as a fluorescent glow shone from her eyes.
Moments later, Banaboster was completely turned to stone by Evergreen, frozen in a roaring pose atop the ruins.
After Ankh and Laxus left the city, Ankh followed Jellal and the others toward Akane Resort, while Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe returned to the guild.
As soon as he pushed the door open, the absolute clamor inside made Laxus pause in surprise—there were several unexpected guests in the room.
A man with a potato-shaped head, a shiny bald scalp, a long beard, and loose training robes—Jura Neekis.
Lyon Vastia, Gray's senior disciple, whose demeanor had grown more composed over the years though his appearance hadn't changed much.
And Sherry, who once showered Lyon with declarations of "love" but was now the fiancée of Ren, the tsundere dark-skinned man from Blue Pegasus.
Also present were the still-short fluctuating man Yuka and the dog-headed Toby, who had once been hilariously outsmarted by Natsu.
These were all familiar faces Laxus had heard about from Gray and Natsu.
"Why are people from Lamia Scale here?" Laxus wondered.
Max explained from the side, "Lamia Scale helped us a lot over the past seven years. After everyone miraculously returned, we sent them word that we were safe, so they came to visit."
Laxus nodded, then asked curiously, "Isn't having guests a good thing? Why does the atmosphere feel so strange?"
Just then, Makarov walked over with his hands behind his back, pointing at Lyon sobbing loudly in the corner.
"He saw Ur earlier and has been exactly like this ever since."
Everyone immediately understood.
To see his master, whom he deeply revered as a mother, resurrected—one could only imagine the utter shock Lyon felt the moment he stepped inside.
Ur looked on helplessly at Lyon kneeling before her, wailing rhythmically, and wiped the corner of her eye with a warm smile.
"Alright, get up now. My daughter told me she spoke with you before, didn't she?"
Lyon nodded, looking incredibly respectfully at his senior sister who had thoroughly beaten him on Galuna Island before, and said.
"Ultear said she would bring you back to life, and she actually did it!"
"It can't really be called a true revival, since I wasn't truly dead to begin with," Ur explained briefly, without going into detail about her resurrection circumstances.
This was also what Ankh had strongly advised her—resurrection magic was the most forbidden of all taboos.
If word spread, it could cause massive chaos throughout the entire magic world...
Gray scratched his head blankly, confused. "Ultear was on Galuna Island back then? How come I didn't know?"
Facing his junior, Lyon immediately resumed his senior tone and mocked him.
"Of course you couldn't recognize Ultear true identity. Not just Ultear, I even saw brother-in-law back then... mmm?!"
Ultear slammed her hand over Lyon's mouth, her face flushed bright red with embarrassment as she glared at him with cold sweat all over, whispering fiercely:
"What brother-in-law?!"
"Huh? Wasn't it Fairy Tail's An—?!"
Boom!
Ultear violently threw Lyon flying away, calmly said.
"He's so excited to see mother that he has started talking nonsense?"
Ur and Gray both wore highly strange expressions.
Ignoring the highly affectionate reunion of Ur's lineage, Jura and the others sat together with Makarov, sharing valuable intelligence about the current magic world.
"So you are saying, Ishgar and the Western Continent have become much closer now?"
Makarov gasped in absolute astonishment.
Jura nodded and sighed. "Just a single day's journey apart, practically facing each other across the sea. Fortunately, the continental drift has completely stopped. But even so, counting the Northern Continent on the other side, all three continents have become a total mess."
"Communication and integration are highly inevitable, but the other two continents haven't responded much. The Fiore Kingdom can do very little about this massive matter."
"The Alvarez Empire is getting incredibly restless. Over these past seven years, they have repeatedly sent probing military forces directly to Ishgar's borders. Yet the Magic Council is still hesitating, trying to selfishly recruit Mages from the Western Continent for their own use."
Makarov thought back to that terrible day on Tenrou Island, remembering the many Alvarez experts who had put his children at such a brutal disadvantage, and couldn't help but feel deeply worried.
It wasn't that he looked down on the Council—those monstrous Mages from Alvarez truly weren't people the Council could ever hope to control.
For them to try successfully extending their power tentacles to the Western Continent would be extraordinarily difficult.