Chapter 31

The appearance of Sloth caused the hearts of all the Fairy Tail members seeing Sloth for the first time to skip a beat.

The frenzied expression, the bloodshot eyes, and the posture of madness emanating from every part of his body.

All of it displayed the terror of Sloth.

"Leaving?"

"How lazy. Just when everything was about to begin, you want to leave."

Sloth looked down at Ace below, a bizarre smile on his face, and said: "Truly a disgrace to Diligence."

"So it was you who was staying over there just now?"

"What a pity, I didn't manage to save this Yuese Society Leader in time."

"I sensed it earlier — the Yuese Society Leader got along splendidly with you rats from the gutter."

Facing Sloth's appearance, Ace was on guard, yet also slightly relieved.

Ace's action of letting out a breath drew a sideways glance from Erza beside him, but considering the current tense situation, Erza did not say much more.

Ace looked at Sloth and sneered: "Still the same old you, going on about Sloth and Diligence again."

"Looks like my old man didn't beat you hard enough last time."

Everything was proceeding according to the script Lin Cheng had long since set.

Although strictly speaking, the opposition between the Bai Huzi Pirates and the Monu Sect feels a bit like a hodgepodge — a proper pirate-versus-marine setup would have been more down-to-earth.

But these were the only two Lin Cheng had on hand that could somewhat hold the stage.

So he could only forcibly stage a bit of drama about the Bai Huzi Pirates and the Monu Sect not getting along.

"Yuese's death was simply because he was too lazy."

"Lazy people cannot bear 'her' favor."

Facing Ace's provocation, Sloth's face still wore that signature bizarre smile of his as he said: "And now, I have already received new guidance."

"The lazy me, unexpectedly able to be guided, unexpectedly able to be so diligent."

"Ah! My brain is trembling!"

As Sloth's words fell, Ace's expression changed sharply, and he instantly used himself as the origin point to unleash endless raging flames wildly.

Boom!

In the blink of an eye, the already teetering Fairy Tail guild headquarters completely became ruins.

Ace held Erza around the waist and, with a solemn expression, leapt away from the spot.

Of course, Ace's control over flames was extremely high, and he did not harm the Fairy Tail members who had not reacted in time; Ace left with Erza in his arms simply because he wanted to dodge an invisible attack.

"This is…"

Erza looked at the faintly visible silhouette within the flames, her eyes narrowing slightly.

At this moment Ace had leapt into midair holding Erza, so Erza could see very clearly that within the flames, at some unknown point, an invisible palm had appeared beside every Fairy Tail guild member.

If not for Ace's sudden eruption, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"This is the authority of the Monu Sect's Dazuisi Sect — the Invisible Hand."

"Although these hands aren't particularly fast, their power is extremely strong, and they are completely impossible to see or sense."

Ace looked at those invisible palms being gradually burned away by the flames he had unleashed, and explained with a solemn expression: "Even using Kenbunshoku Haki, one can only sense the existence of the hands indirectly, not directly."

"One can only make them manifest indirectly through dust, water, or flames like now."

Because the intelligence on Sloth's authority, the Invisible Hand, had long been obtained by the Mingfuzhi Sect side, in order to make the script more realistic, Lin Cheng had Ace directly spill the intelligence on the Invisible Hand from his own mouth.

'Kenbunshoku Haki?'

Hearing yet another new term come out of Ace's mouth, the confusion on Erza's face grew even more severe.

But Erza also knew that this Monu Sect Dazuisi Sect might be Ace's formidable foe, so she did not speak to Ace on her own accord, lest she distract him and cause him to fall into a disadvantage.

Thus, Lin Cheng used the verbal confrontation between Ace and Sloth to gradually make the images of the Bai Huzi Pirates and the Monu Sect become three-dimensional and vivid.

The Bai Huzi Pirates, the Monu Sect.

These two secret organizations, which had never appeared before, showed up in everyone's sight for the first time.

At the same time, with Sloth's official appearance and move, the situation also became complicated.

What was originally merely a war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail had now become a battle between two entirely new forces that had surfaced.

'The Monu Sect's Dazuisi Sect.'

'The Bai Huzi Pirates' Second Division Commander.'

Not only the Fairy Tail side — the Phantom Lord members, who had been very quiet ever since Yuese was instantly killed, also learned of the situation here through monitor magic.

Continuously pondering the two entirely new forces that had suddenly appeared today.

And what was chilling was that, whether it was the Second Division Commander or the so-called Monu Sect Dazuisi Sect, neither seemed to be the topmost boss — the truly terrifying ones were likely still behind them.

'Monu Sect…'

'Could it be connected to the Heimoshu Sect?'

Amidst the shock and heart-pounding, Erza was also thinking.

Because of having been captured as a slave by the Heimoshu Sect, who worshipped Zeref, during her childhood, Erza's memories of the Heimoshu Sect were especially deep.

So the instant she heard of the Monu Sect, she immediately associated it with the Heimoshu Sect.

After all, both were cults that worshipped a certain existence to an extreme degree.

However, Erza did not have much time to think.

Soon, Ace and Sloth began to fight fiercely in full view of everyone.