Chapter 102: Beat Them Into the Ground! (Request Subscription!)

Joseph Bola was certainly not insane, nor did he have time to be—he was busy healing himself, in a “do not disturb” state—but his subordinates had gone mad.

Gajeel had stayed in Magnolia for the past week, not chasing Mo En but choosing an alternate path.

Mo En defeated their president, Joseph Bola, turning the Phantom Lord into a laughingstock across the Fiore Kingdom, with a growing trend toward becoming a continent-wide joke across Ishgar.

Then why not just retaliate in kind—defeat the president of Fairy Tail instead? There was no need to defeat Mo En at all!

I have to say, Gajeel's idea is absolutely brilliant, with not a single flaw.

But the problem was, implementing it was just a little difficult.

When Gajeel arrived at the Fairy Tail guild hall, he never even met the president—he was immediately surrounded by a group of children.

This Phantom Lord member, loudly challenging Mo En and President Macarov, naturally drew everyone’s hostility.

Natsu charged forward and immediately clashed with Gajeel; for some reason, Natsu felt an overwhelming urge to punch him the moment he saw him.

Wendy watched from the side, wanting to intervene—but of course, she wouldn’t actually do it. This Gajeel had come straight in shouting he’d knock Mo En to the ground and make him beg for his teeth, which made Wendy furious—he was incredibly rude!

But for some reason, Wendy felt a strong sense of déjà vu—like she’d seen Natsu and Gajeel fight before—even though they’d never met until now.

On his first day at Fairy Tail, Gajeel fought Natsu all day, ending in a draw.

This dealt a heavy blow to Gajeel—he’d come to challenge Mo En and the president of Fairy Tail, yet he’d ended up evenly matched with some unknown pink-haired bastard!

What did this even mean?

Itachi came to fight the boss, never even saw the boss, and ended up stuck in a stalemate with some low-level grunt!

That night, staying at the inn, Gajeel lay awake all night wondering why things had turned out so completely different from his plan!

Where was the promised one-punch fame like Mo En’s?!

But Gajeel didn’t give up. The next day, he returned to the Fairy Tail guild hall entrance, shouting again.

Natsu stepped out again and clashed with Gajeel; the two "Supremes" fought fiercely, their battle threatening to erase the very Great Dao.

Naturally, it ended in another draw—this left the crowd that had come specifically to watch the next day utterly bored: “What a pathetic brawl.”

According to Gray, Gajeel’s strength was “he couldn’t even beat the weakest among them.”

Gray, who had previously defeated Natsu in a one-on-one, naturally had the right to say this—he was indeed stronger than Natsu at this stage.

After all, Gray had trained under Mo En since childhood and endured Erza’s beatings a full year earlier than Natsu, so naturally he was stronger.

But the moment Gray spoke those words, he inevitably got dragged into the fight—Natsu wouldn’t tolerate it.

In the end, the battle turned into a chaotic three-way brawl between Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel, a complete mess.

Gajeel’s antics added yet another joke to the “Phantom Lord Joke Collection.”

Their president was humiliated, and the one who came to avenge him was just a kid—fine. Everyone had assumed the child was a prodigy on par with Mo En, but instead he was locked in a stalemate with Fairy Tail’s unknown grunts.

This twist was absurd beyond belief, leaving everyone utterly baffled—and naturally, the story spread as fresh entertainment.

As a result, Natsu and Gray’s names also spread far and wide—they never imagined they’d become famous this way.

The entire “Three Elements” who had come with Gajeel finally snapped—they never expected things to turn out like this.

But now they had no choice—they had to step forward, or else they’d be utterly vilified. As famous members of Phantom Lord, the “Three Elements” were naturally the ones cursed the most.

Even a child dares come to Fairy Tail seeking revenge—are all other Phantom Lord mages just cowards?

Faced with such accusations, the “Three Elements” could no longer hold back—they appeared publicly, claiming they wished to test the strength of the man who had defeated their president, nothing more than a friendly challenge.

Three adults picking on a child sounded terrible—but if it were Mo En, it made perfect sense. After all, Mo En had defeated their own president, Joseph Bola, one of the Ten Saint Mages.

The “Three Elements” said they came to challenge Mo En—this was perfectly reasonable. They lowered their stance, acknowledging Mo En’s victory first—that was the tactic of retreating to advance!

Admitting it now didn’t matter—as long as they ultimately defeated Mo En, everything before would be erased.

I have to say, this move was truly thought out excellently.

It was brilliant—offensive when needed, defensive when necessary. The only problem was…

“If we lose…”

Rabbitt felt his scalp go numb—if they ultimately lost…

Then even if their president had merely been unlucky and caught off-guard by Mo En, it would still be “shit in his pants—not shit, but still shit,” since even their own people had accepted the result.

Unless Joseph Bola could fight Mo En again and redeem himself.

But there was no time to overthink—furthermore, if they all lost, at least they wouldn’t be the ones disgraced; after all, their president had already been defeated. The sky had fallen, and their president stood at the front.

At this point, it was sink or swim—they had to keep surviving, the “Three Elements” still had careers ahead of them.

“So… a whole crowd’s come to watch, right?”

Listening to the citizens’ accounts, Mo En finally understood everything that had happened over the past week—his expression was priceless.

No wonder he’d noticed unusually heavy foot traffic at the station today—everyone had come to watch. The Phantom Lord’s “Three Elements” had declared they’d wait for his return to challenge him, and now they’d set up a ring right at Fairy Tail’s guild hall.

“Is Mo En in danger?”

Juvia listened, confused—she didn’t grasp the full context, only that three people had come to trouble Mo En.

This worried her deeply—they sounded powerful, calling themselves the “Three Elements.”

“Don’t worry, it’s just a small matter.”

Mo En smiled and ruffled Juvia’s hair.

He truly didn’t care much—the “Three Elements” sounded impressive, but elemental magic was actually easier to handle.

What was truly annoying? Magic Itachi couldn’t understand—unknown threats were the most dangerous. Joseph Bola certainly understood this now—he’d been caught off-guard by exactly that.

“Mo En! Go get ‘em! Beat them into the ground!”

Citizens gathered around Mo En and Juvia, cheering him on, all united in righteous fury.

This was Magnolia—the home turf of Fairy Tail. Phantom Lord had come here to cause trouble, naturally sparking outrage. Everyone wanted Mo En to teach them a lesson, to make them lose face badly.

“Don’t worry—I won’t let our fellow townspeople down!”

In response to the crowd’s enthusiasm, Mo En gave an enthusiastic reply, making everyone delighted as they escorted him toward the city center and the Fairy Tail guild hall.

Mo En felt slightly exasperated—he’d expected his return to be met with praise for his literary achievements, but instead he’d have to fight again. Still, it was fine—this was a great chance to grind some experience.

Juvia, caught in the crowd beside Mo En, felt something strange—she sensed the crowd’s peculiar emotion toward Mo En, but what was it? Affection? Trust? Adoration? Seeing him as the city’s pride?

Juvia didn’t understand. She’d never felt such emotion before—but… she liked it. It moved her deeply.

The girl looked up at Mo En beside her, her eyes shining.

‘So I must become as outstanding a mage as Mo En, to be treated like this?’

Juvia recalled the village chief’s words—now she understood their difficulty. The more she spent time with Mo En, the more she saw the outside world, the more she realized just how exceptional he was—he seemed to be loved wherever he went.

This made Juvia feel ashamed—wherever she went, people despised her. The constant rain along her path had drawn plenty of complaints—even though no one knew the terrible weather was her doing, she knew it herself.

Juvia felt bleak. She believed she’d never be like Mo En—she was his exact opposite.

‘But I want to be like Mo En too.’

“Splish splash!”

The rain grew heavier, so intense that even holding an umbrella was difficult—but the downpour couldn’t dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Mo En glanced at Juvia, puzzled—what was wrong with her? Had she been frightened by the aggressive crowd?

Thinking of this possibility, Mo En gripped Juvia’s hand tighter.

To prevent the girl from being lost in the growing crowd, Mo En had held her hand since they’d started walking.

“Don’t be afraid, Juvia! I’m here!”

Mo En shouted to Juvia—the crowd was too loud, the rain too heavy, and even at close range, normal speech was impossible without raising his voice.

Juvia turned to Mo En, her eyes shimmering. A smile appeared on her face as she nodded firmly.

“Yes! Juvia isn’t afraid!”

The moment she spoke, the rain lessened. The thick, dark storm clouds instantly nearly vanished. A single beam of sunlight broke through the clouds, shining on Mo En and into Juvia’s eyes.

“Go get ‘em, Mo En! Beat them into the ground!”

Juvia raised her tiny fist, clenched it, and waved it vigorously, cheering for Mo En—her lips pressed tight, her expression fiercely determined.

Mo En froze. This was the first time he’d seen such a vivid, lively expression on Juvia’s face—before, she’d been quiet and doll-like, except for her curiosity.

(End of Chapter)