Just as everything was about to be settled, Serena, seated in the highest position, finally straightened up and spoke at an unhurried pace.
"Then it's decided. Fairy Tail will take the lead in stopping the Principality of Veronica's attempt to revive the Phoenix. If necessary, you may use force."
"The Council's reward afterward may be whatever you request. However, there is one condition. Once the Phoenix is sealed again, it must be handed over to the Magic Council."
Makarov could not help frowning at Serena's demand. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "But… the Phoenix is a terrifying creature. If we can kill it directly—"
"The Phoenix is an eternal, undying creature. Even if it dies, it will be reborn through nirvana. It is better to seal it and leave it in our custody."
Serena grinned with a forceful smile.
"Don't question the chairman's decision, Makarov."
Makarov's gaze sharpened.
Old and experienced as he was, he somehow sensed a trace of disdain and hostility from this newly appointed chairman.
After the Magic Council split into two branches, one for the eastern continent and one for the western continent, Serena, Ishgar's so-called "strongest," had become the most direct beneficiary of that shift in power.
Because of his strength, he had leapt straight into the position of chairman, managing the eastern continent's magical world.
But after spending some time around him, the guild masters and the other four Council members still found him difficult to read.
When handling government affairs, he was responsible enough.
He did not hoard blame or shove it onto others, and his management of the guilds was more reasonable than the old Council's harsh approach.
But he did not seem to have any clear ideals or beliefs. He simply drifted with the current.
Whenever the other four Council members discussed a proposal, Serena usually let them do as they pleased.
He would ask a couple of questions, then approve it.
Strangely enough, today he seemed to be deliberately making things difficult for Makarov.
Makarov was puzzled, but considering that the new Magic Council should be capable of properly managing something as important as the Phoenix Stone, he could only lower his head and agree to Serena's condition.
"Chairman!"
Just as Ur and the others were explaining the action plan to Makarov, a frogman in uniform suddenly rushed in through the door in a panic.
He ran into the hall, looked at Serena in alarm, and stammered nervously, "R-Report, Chairman! That calamity—ah, no! Wizard Saint Ankh has broken into the Council again!"
Makarov: !!!
"Let him in."
Serena's gaze drifted toward Makarov, who had started sweating, and he laughed.
"Master Makarov, you really do manage your people well."
Makarov thickened his face, lifted his head, and calmly replied, "Ankh must have something important to tell the Council members."
As one of Mavis's companions, Warrod, one of Fairy Tail's founding members and now the fourth-ranked Wizard Saint, was still known by very few people in the modern world.
He scratched his old bark-like face and immediately began siding with them.
"Ankh isn't very familiar with the new Council. There's no need to take a momentary lack of manners to heart."
Serena smiled faintly and said nothing.
Hyberion and Wolfheim also remained silent. Naturally, they had heard plenty of rumors about this man.
Ankh's reputation in the magical world was extremely divided.
Among younger people, his popularity was on an entirely different level, but because his style was reckless and arrogant, he was not particularly accepted by the older generation.
The group did not have to wait long.
Ankh, travel-worn after rushing back through teleportation, stepped into the hall and immediately sensed that this place was different from before.
He looked up and saw five mages whose Magic Power was so intense it was practically spilling out of them.
Sure enough, they looked much stronger than those useless old-man figurines from the previous Council.
Wolfheim kept a stern face as he asked, "Ankh, do you have something urgent to tell us?"
Ankh withdrew his assessing gaze and repeated the information he had obtained.
"…In short, I believe the relic Harland created specifically to kill the Phoenix was most likely entrusted to the Magic Council at the time. We need that item."
"As long as we have Harland's tool, we won't have to worry about the Phoenix in the future. We can kill it directly!"
Makarov's eyes lit up when he heard that.
If they had a method that could truly kill the Phoenix, then naturally, there would be no need to seal it.
The Council members also looked pleased at the possibility.
But Serena's expression remained neither warm nor cold as he suddenly said, "Sorry. The Magic Council has no such thing."
Ankh narrowed his eyes and looked up at Serena, who sat high above him.
"Chairman, you've only been here for a few days. You already know everything the Magic Council has?"
Serena still wore that arrogant look of someone standing above everyone else.
Sitting with one leg crossed over the other, he laughed with disdain.
"I am the chairman. I have reviewed the files on every forbidden artifact. If I say we don't have it, then we don't have it."
Oh?
Ever since Ankh had trained those old men into obedience, it had been a long time since anyone in the Magic Council had spoken to him this boldly.
Seeing Ankh gradually reveal a "kind" smile that was clearly packed with danger, Ur quickly spoke up to smooth things over.
"Why don't we have someone search the Council's forbidden vault? Since Harland cooperated with the Magic Council four hundred years ago, it's very possible he left the hope of destroying the Phoenix here."
Hyberion nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Even if the Council's records do not mention it, that may have been an oversight by our predecessors."
Serena did not give in.
He stared straight at Ankh and said with unquestionable authority, "I already sent people to check the artifacts. There is nothing belonging to Harland!"
Seeing the chairman so firmly reject something for once, the other Council members were all somewhat surprised.
Makarov silently gave Ankh a look, and Ankh saw it.
He simply ignored it.
The Magic Council had changed generation after generation… and yet people with this same rotten attitude still kept appearing.
Ankh said calmly, "I request permission to personally search the vault where the forbidden artifacts are stored."
"No."
Serena narrowed his eyes and refused decisively. "You are not a member of the Magic Council."
"According to the new Council regulations, all Wizard Saints are candidates for the next generation of Council members. That should be enough qualification to enter a vault."
Ankh's tone was flat and mild, but Makarov, who stood beside him, could clearly feel the violence buried beneath those words.
Makarov's heart began pounding wildly.
He knew his own child better than anyone. Outside the guild, Ankh really was a pure honey badger of a man.
"My rules are the rules."
Serena stood up.
The pressure around him spread out intentionally or otherwise, and he spoke each word slowly and clearly.
"I said, you may not enter."
The atmosphere instantly grew heavy.
Now everyone present could see the clash between them.
Warrod and Ur, who leaned toward Fairy Tail, grew worried. Meanwhile, the neutral Hyberion and Wolfheim were confused.
Why was the chairman acting so strangely today? It almost felt as though he was deliberately provoking Makarov and the others.
The Magic Power in the air grew thicker and thicker.
Ankh looked at Serena, then suddenly broke into a bright smile, shattering the tense standoff.
Then his next words instantly snapped everyone's already-fragile nerves.
"Then I won't trouble the chairman. I'll just punch my way into the vault myself and see whether the thing I want is there."
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