Chapter 292

"You'd say so too, right?"

Listening to Blackbeard's words.

At this moment, Volod, who had lived through war for over a hundred years, could no longer hold back his surging fury.

One must know that at this very moment, his companions were still fighting, and quite a few mages had died tragically at the hands of the pirates.

Yet the cause of all this, the chief culprit, stood before him telling him he couldn't bear to lay a hand on a former companion.

Were the lives of those mages not lives too?

Fury nearly devoured Volod's entire mind, but reason forced him to suppress it.

"Would you still care about those things now?"

Seeing Volod's face on the verge of contorting, the smile on Blackbeard's face grew even more rampant as he said, laughing.

"How boring. I helped you all with the best of intentions, yet you still doubt me. I really am pitiful."

Hearing this, the veins on Volod's forehead bulged wildly as he said in a heavy voice.

"Stop the chatter. Prove it with your actions!"

"Actions?"

"I want to as well, but right now I don't have that kind of strength."

"Say that one more time!"

Hearing this, Volod's temper instantly exploded. Paying no heed to face, he roared out.

Although Volod clearly knew in his heart that discord during a war was a grave taboo, at this moment he truly could no longer hold back!

However…

In response, Blackbeard still wore a smile as he said.

"Can't do it, just can't do it. What can I do about it?"

Boom—!

The moment his words fell, Volod struck out in fury.

Vines surged explosively, snaking toward the spot where Blackbeard stood.

But… just as Volod thought the other would dodge, he found Blackbeard still watching him with that same smile.

Before Volod could think it through, the result the next instant left him frozen on the spot.

All because, within his field of vision, the vines that should have hit simply passed straight through Blackbeard's body without any obstruction, and crashed heavily into the building behind him.

In an instant, along with the collapse of the building, Volod's inner world crumbled as well.

"This is…"

"An afterimage!"

……

The collapsed building, coupled with Volod's roar, instantly drew the attention of the vast majority of those present.

Erza, Lucy, Jura, Bixlow… and many others all turned their gazes toward the direction of the sound. And seeing Blackbeard pierced through by Volod's vines, everyone froze on the spot as well.

Not only them, but even Grand Duke, standing on the high platform, had shock flooding his eyes.

Crack—!

"Blackbeard!"

Grand Duke crushed the scepter in his hand in one grip. The exploding scepter gave the other councilors beside him a tremendous fright; his face, brimming with fury, looked as if he could devour someone whole.

At this moment, Grand Duke, who had always been a master strategist and perfectly composed, had lost his composure!

"I told you these people from another world simply can't be trusted."

And just then, Makarov's voice came from the sky.

"Besides stirring up trouble, that fellow has never done a single good thing!"

Although the other had already become a companion, in truth Makarov had always harbored his doubts.

What's more, the source of all this was triggered the moment Blackbeard seized Ace.

One could say that without his appearance, this war would never have been ignited!

Makarov had even suspected at one point that Blackbeard had deliberately provoked it!

And judging from the situation now, the result was clearly just as he had guessed.

Along with Makarov's string of words, Grand Duke, who had been furious to the extreme, had already turned deathly pale.

At this moment, seeing the illusory Blackbeard, even a fool could understand — he had been made a fool of by Blackbeard.

Only now did he finally understand why the other had waited until he became a councilor before handing over the method of crossing into another world — it was simply to establish ties with the Fapingyi Society.

At the same time, it was also to use the Fapingyi Society's power to block the pursuit of the Whitebeard Pirates.

At this moment, the Grand Duke, who had originally pinned his hopes on Blackbeard to obtain from him the method of crossing into another world and change the current situation, now saw nothing in his eyes but a stretch of grey ash.

All of this — every bit of it — had been caused by him.

Had he not trusted the other too much, this war would never have been triggered in the first place.

Now, recalling Ouga's words from back then, Grand Duke could only feel himself growing ever more laughable.

……

At this moment, Lin Cheng, who was controlling Blackbeard as he advanced toward the depths of the Pingyi Society, watched the changes in Grand Duke's expression through the vision of his other puppets and shook his head.

Laughable? ……

In fact, it wasn't laughable........

Ever since Zeref's betrayal back then, the Fapingyi Society itself had constantly faced doubts from the outside world.

In such a situation, having taken on this mess of the Fapingyi Society, Grand Duke must have wanted change more than anyone.

But things had not gone as wished.

During his tenure, although no incidents like the previous Zeref's betrayal occurred, the Magic Pingyi Society suffered successive heavy blows under the invasion of an otherworld.

The severity was such that even Ultear, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was gravely wounded and collapsed.

Under successive strikes, the Magic Pingyi Society had already become increasingly precarious.

For this reason, Guran Duomacai Society initiated reforms, conscripting mages, even going so far as to reform, loosening conditions to recruit people from an otherworld.

All of this was to change the current situation.

Under the circumstances of Guran Duomacai's eagerness for talent and desire to change the Magic Pingyi Society.

Bai Huzi delivered the head of the Anheigong Society's president, and at the same time used traversing space as bait, coupled with Bai Huzi's own formidable strength; in Lin Cheng's view, Guran Duomacai had absolutely no reason to refuse.

Moreover, to dispel the wariness in Guran Duomacai's heart, Lin Cheng even had Bai Huzi reveal the true objective this time — 'Mage Spirit Power.'

The purpose was to let Guran Duomacai know that Bai Huzi genuinely had something to seek, rather than simply wanting to join.

But in fact, this plan of Lin Cheng's never succeeded.

Guran Duomacai's wariness toward Bai Huzi always existed.

Not only did he not let Bai Huzi view the Mage Spirit Power, but to prevent accidents, before the decisive battle, he had him stay in one room with the other Heavenly Kings and the Ten Wizard Saints.

And the purpose of this was to use the hatred between Bai Huzi and the Whitebeard Pirates, forcing him to participate in the battle.

This effortless trick of getting someone to work for free made Lin Cheng have to praise Guran Duomacai — the older the ginger, the spicier.

It's just a pity that no matter how much Guran Duomacai calculated, he never anticipated that the moment Bai Huzi became a candidate to enter the Pingyi Society, in fact his plan had already succeeded when Bai Huzi became a candidate councilor of the Magic Pingyi Society.

As long as Bai Huzi had a connection with the Magic Pingyi Society, there was a reason to start a war; as for Ace's imprisonment, it was merely a fuse.

From beginning to end, Lin Cheng never expected the Magic Pingyi Society to let an otherworlder casually view the Mage Spirit Power.