"Guh…!"
Serena let out a muffled groan, staring at Ankh in disbelief.
He lowered his head and looked at the arm piercing straight through his chest.
Then a large mouthful of blood surged uncontrollably up his throat and sprayed out.
Ankh dodged Serena's "bloody" attack in time and could not help letting out a breath of relief.
His judgment had been about right.
Serena really was a specialist with a terrible imbalance…
That punch just now had been meant to kill, yes, but if the target had been Laxus, or even Natsu or Gajeel, it would never have gone through that smoothly.
Sting and Rogue, maybe.
Maybe this was one of the drawbacks of having too many Dragon Slayer attributes.
His body's passive defense in a normal state was unstable.
Dragon Slayers who specialized in a single attribute usually had absurdly strong passive bodies even in their normal state, along with all kinds of attribute bonuses.
Serena had eight types, but because he had spread himself all over the place, his natural defense when he was not actively using a specific Dragon Slayer attribute was outrageously low.
And the ridiculous part was, Serena even had Cavern Dragon and Diamond Dragon Slayer Magic, two Dragon Slayer attributes famous for defense.
A "mage-style" mage with high attack and low defense somehow felt strangely rare in this magical world.
"Damn it…"
Serena collapsed limply to the ground.
Blood poured from his mouth like a fountain, and his body kept twitching.
Unexpectedly, though his defense was a disgrace to Dragon Slayers, his recovery ability was impressively strong.
He had been convulsing on the ground for quite a while and still had not died.
By instinct, he used the Diamond Dragon's power to protect himself, even forcing himself to try to stand again, looking as if he still was not convinced.
Of course, Ankh had no real intention of killing the chairman in front of so many witnesses.
If he did that, Fairy Tail would probably be labeled a dark guild by the Tribunal on the spot.
But taking a little interest was fair, right?
Ankh's eyes trembled slightly.
Without changing his expression, he clenched the fist that had just pierced Serena's body and did not loosen it at all.
In fact, he even hid it a little behind his back.
Serena's pale face lifted toward Ankh.
Seeing that posture, his chaotic mind froze for a moment before his expression suddenly turned horrified.
"Wait… they're gone… so many… You… bastard!!"
Serena suddenly started patting himself down, then went red with rage and charged over howling like a ghost.
Ankh whistled innocently and quickly retreated behind Warrod and the others, who had rushed over to protect the scene.
From the perspective of the arriving Council members, what they saw was Serena, who had been defeated and even spared by his opponent, suddenly losing his mind after losing and trying to pick another fight out of spite.
How could they allow that?
Wolfheim immediately stepped in front of Ankh, his face flushed red as he roared.
"Serena, can you not accept defeat? As the head of the Four Gods, launching a sneak attack on a man was already despicable. Are you still refusing to reflect on yourself?"
Hyberion's gentlemanly little mustache trembled as he stared coldly at Serena and snorted.
"I will report this to the Tribunal. A man who acts so recklessly is not fit to lead us in managing the magical world!"
These two old men really were different from the old Council members.
As former legendary figures among the public, they had already disliked the way the old Magic Council governed the magical world.
Now that they finally had the chance to handle things themselves and show what they could do, an internal villain had appeared among them?
Could two stubborn old men with grand ambitions tolerate that?
Of course not.
They surrounded Serena and started scolding him nonstop.
Nothing else aside, when it came to righteousness…
Serena collapsed limply to the ground again and began coughing up blood like typical chinese wuxia villain, enduring the two men's furious lecture while suffering in silence.
On the other side, Warrod and Makarov worriedly examined Ankh, afraid the kid had suffered some kind of injury.
Ankh smiled and comforted the guild master and his guild senior.
When Ur saw his expression, she immediately curled her lip.
"Enough. You don't look like you suffered at all. You probably grabbed something again, didn't you?"
"Shh."
Ankh looked delighted and said with a smile, "Keep it quiet."
What had he grabbed?
Naturally, the most valuable things on Serena's body.
Ankh rubbed the handful of Dragon Slayer Lacrimas clenched in his fist and sigh emotionally.
Serena was a good man!
During that punch that pierced Serena, Ankh had felt the Lacrimas inside Serena's body shift out of place because of the violent turbulence in his magic source.
So, in that single instant, Ankh used his extraordinary technique to complete a whole series of movements, successfully bringing out a handful of Lacrimas.
Ankh had almost failed to hold them all in one hand.
After carefully counting them in his palm, he found that his fishing operation had caught five Dragon Slayer Lacrimas with that one punch!
...
After that whole ridiculous farce, Hyberion and the others scolded the wronged Serena until he actually passed out, then finally sent him to the medical department for treatment.
It was easy to imagine that once the matter was reported to the Tribunal, Serena might still be allowed to remain a Council member, but he would definitely be kicked out of the chairman's seat.
As chairman, he had stalled and refused to act on such a major issue, done nothing but run his mouth, privately fought a guild mage, and most importantly—he lost.
There was no way the upper levels, who were extremely sensitive about the new Magic Council during this period, would tolerate that.
As for Ankh, Hyberion carefully searched and actually found the magical tool Harland had left with the Magic Council to counter the Phoenix's "revival."
The Evil-Breaking Arrow.
This proved that Serena's obstruction had been targeted and full of lies, so Ankh did not even receive a criticism.
Before they left the Magic Council, several old men personally sent Makarov and Ankh off with pleasant attitudes.
Part of it was because they valued the important mission entrusted to Fairy Tail.
The other part was respect from the old-timers toward the strength of the new generation…
No, at this point, it could be called respect for Ishgar's strongest mage.
Serena's weakness was obvious, but before this, he had sat firmly in the position of Ishgar's number one because the other Four Gods had no way to break through his firepower suppression.
Ankh had done what they could not, which was enough to prove his strength.
On the way back to the guild, Makarov sat at the front of the carriage, giggling happily as he continued savoring the compliments the Council members and his senior had given him for "raising his children well."
He was honestly moved to tears.
Fairy Tail had been established for so many years, but which guild master had ever heard so many nice words from Council members in a single day?
While the guild master drove the carriage up front and sang to himself, Ankh hid inside the carriage.
He set the box containing the Evil-Breaking Arrow aside and began examining his spoils.
Purgatory Dragon, Sea King Dragon, Gale Dragon, Cavern Dragon, and Flash Dragon.
Five Dragon Slayer Lacrimas of different attributes were lined up in dazzling luxury, while Serena had only Diamond Dragon, Lightning Dragon, and Dark Dragon Lacrimas left.
Ankh happily ran his fingers over the five Lacrimas as all kinds of new and wonderful uses for them gradually surfaced in his mind.
He had to make something out of these treasures.