Chapter 26

"Looks like your Monu Sect has quite a long history, huh."

Joseph, on his side, had also heard Ace's brief rundown on the Monu Sect.

Gazing at Daiduosi, who had been standing motionless in place since earlier, he smiled with keen interest and said, "So it already existed four hundred years ago — seems like you know quite a few secrets."

"But let's put the chit-chat on hold until I've dealt with all these guys."

"I think the Dazuisi Sect of the Monu Sect, Daiduosi Sect, would be more than happy to have a nice long chat with me, right?"

Because of Ace's explanation, Joseph had genuinely taken an interest in the Monu Sect.

A cult that had been active since four hundred years ago — one could tell at a glance it had plenty of good things.

Not to mention, there had to be at least some of those lost magics from four hundred years ago.

Having said that, Joseph didn't bother waiting for Daiduosi's reply, and once again shifted his attention to the Fairy Tail group; the smile that had been on his face vanished completely.

"Your name is Ace, right?"

"Being able to take a hit from Jupiter, the Magic Convergent Cannon — you do have something to be proud of."

Joseph looked at Ace and said calmly, "So, I'm willing to give you one chance now."

"Join Phantom Lord, and I'll overlook the fact that you, Joseph Porla, were obstructed just now."

Joseph Porla.

Ranked sixth among the current Ten Wizard Saints, and the Guild Master of Phantom Lord — one of the strongest guilds in the Kingdom of Fiore.

If one doesn't take the later plot into account, then Joseph Porla is the big boss of the early arc, standing at the very top tier of the early combat-power ceiling.

With a character setup like that, how could Joseph not be proud?

Although Ace had indeed shown decent strength just now, if Joseph went all-out, he could do the same.

Joseph didn't think that Ace, who looked barely past twenty, could surpass him in strength.

In Joseph's eyes, the fact that he was willing to give Ace a chance to join Phantom Lord and let bygones be bygones was already an extremely magnanimous and generous gesture.

"My apologies."

"I have no intention of leaving my old man's pirate crew to join some other faction."

After hearing Joseph's ultimatum, Ace said with some amusement, "There's one thing I think Mr. Joseph should keep in mind — even if you let bygones be bygones, I won't owe you any favors for colluding with the Monu Sect."

"Whether it's me or old man Bai Huzi, we both can't stand the Monu Sect."

As he spoke, Xiong Xiong flames ignited across Ace's body.

Although the two-star Ace couldn't awaken the Mera Mera no Mi like the three-star Ace, gaining a domain-like ability.

But after becoming two-star, Ace's base stats and his development progress with the Mera Mera no Mi had both taken a big leap forward.

Absolutely not something comparable to his one-star self.

"How laughable."

"Looks like you're planning to keep obstructing me."

Joseph rose to his feet, and a terrifying surge of magical power manifested around him.

Joseph had never been a patient man — otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten into an argument and then a fight with Makarov at that guild masters' gathering back in the day.

With Joseph's movement, everyone could feel that the once perfectly clear sky had faintly grown somewhat dim.

This was the signature effect of the Ten Wizard Saints.

Every one of the Ten Wizard Saints possessed terrifying power capable of altering the heavens — even without deliberately intending to change the weather, the mere boiling of their magical power alone was enough to shift the skies.

Since Joseph's magical attribute was Darkness, the sky would grow somewhat dim from the boiling of his magical power.

"What a pity."

"If you're going to obstruct me, then disappear — completely."

Joseph appeared in midair, his dark magical power boiling to the extreme, and an incomparably massive magic circle radiating a dark glow materialized before him.

The faint pressure leaking from the magic circle was, compared to that earlier Magic Convergent Cannon, no weaker — only stronger.

Faced with Ace's repeated and repeated contempt, Joseph's true anger was roused.

He was prepared to bring out a hundred percent of his strength and crush outright this junior who had gotten far too arrogant over a sliver of power.

Of course, there was also a layer of meaning in there — that if he didn't bring out a hundred percent of his strength, he, Joseph, wouldn't be able to completely suppress Ace either.

After all, the scene of Ace having taken that Magic Convergent Cannon head-on and emerged unscathed had already thoroughly proven Ace's strength.

"Joseph, what do you think you're doing using a magic of this scale?!"

"Are you planning to drag the ordinary people in the town into this too?!"

Compared to Ace's ease and composure, Erza, upon seeing that massive dark magic circle in the sky, once again turned pale and roared out loud, "Are you really not afraid of the Pingyi Society's sanctions?!"

Honestly, Erza could hardly believe it.

That earlier Magic Convergent Cannon, Erza could still rationalize as a strategy or tactic to force her into taking it head-on.

But now, looking at what Joseph was displaying, Erza only felt a bone-deep chill — how dare he, Joseph, do something like this?!

Does he really think that just because he's a Wizard Saint, no one can bring him to justice?

【PS: Is anyone reading this book? Mind dropping a comment? Some flowers would be even better.】