Chapter 88

In almost every corner of the Tower of Heaven, there was magic set up for surveillance.

So, the instant Lucy and Natsu and the others reached the top of the Tower of Heaven, Jellal already knew.

"I didn't expect you to actually chase all the way here."

"It really is somewhat beyond my expectations—Dragon Slayers do have some unique qualities."

Watching Natsu, who was crouched on the ground dry-heaving and looking utterly wretched, Jellal said with some amusement: "But what Young Lady Xiao Nan said earlier, about me being in mortal danger—was it related to these people?"

"One Celestial Spirit Mage, two powerful magic-type A-Class Mages—not bad at all."

"Young Lady Xiao Nan, how about a little wager between us—let's bet on whether they can make it to us."

Jellal sat in his seat, perfectly at ease.

Even though he had already detected Lucy and Natsu's trail, Jellal still made no significant move, not even feeling the urge to notify his subordinates—he simply watched Lucy and Natsu's actions in silence.

Jellal had placed himself at an exceedingly high, god's-eye vantage point.

The pride etched into his very bones made Jellal extremely arrogant, convinced that Natsu and the others could not possibly pose a threat to him.

They might not even be able to make it to him.

Over eight years, Jellal was hardly a lone commander—the slaves from the Heimoshu Sect back then had all been taught magic by Jellal and become Mages.

A small number with decent talent had even become very formidable Mages.

Mages who had reached S-Class were not unheard of.

In the original work, the protagonist's team lineup was stronger than now; with an additional S-Class Mage, Juvia, Erza barely managed to reach Jellal, only to be beaten down by him.

As things stand now, missing a powerful combatant like Juvia, the difficulty of standing before Jellal again is considerably higher—it won't be as easy as it was in the original work to reach Jellal.

Of course, because Erza's childhood companions would later clear up their misunderstanding with her, nearly all of them defected, so the probability of Erza and the others standing before Jellal in the end is actually still not small.

However, Lin Cheng was not interested in this sort of wager with Jellal.

So, Lin Cheng did not have Xiao Nan respond to Jellal's invitation to wager.

Jellal did not pay much heed to Xiao Nan's reaction either; instead, he directed most of his attention to the other side—toward the Thought Body Zeref at the Fapingyi Society headquarters.

And as the sky gradually brightened, the Fapingyi Society, under Zeref's guidance, once again convened a plenary session to discuss whether to deploy the Magic Power on the Tower of Heaven.

"Regarding the specific situation at the Tower of Heaven, I have already given a very detailed explanation."

Zeref looked at everyone present and said with a faint smile: "Personally, I recommend directly using the Magic Power to utterly destroy the Tower of Heaven."

"The R-System violates human ethics and absolutely must not be allowed to exist in this world."

"At the same time, recently many forces hidden in the darkness have appeared on the continent, and our Fapingyi Society even suffered a setback the day before yesterday, losing quite a bit of face."

"I think it's very necessary to take this opportunity to demonstrate the absolute strength of our Fapingyi Society."

Chairman Crawford did not participate in this meeting, citing ill health as his reason for abstaining.

Although early in the morning Zeref had already submitted a full intelligence report to Chairman Crawford's side, confirming that the absolute forbidden magic, the R-System, had been built at the Tower of Heaven.

But considering the importance of the Magic Power, Chairman Crawford decided to remove himself from the affair.

Even though there was ample justification to deploy the Magic Power, the subsequent magic would be enormous, and Chairman Crawford did not wish to face that kind of trouble.

As Zeref finished speaking, all the council members present suddenly fell somewhat silent.

"I second Councilman Zeref's proposal."

"What happened inside our Fapingyi Society the day before yesterday—I believe everyone here has seen it."