— — — — — — —
"What did you say?!"
"The Phantom Lord Guild Master, Jose Porla, was taken down by Uchiha Kitaro. He's now gravely injured, and whether he survives or not is still uncertain."
Makarov and Lucy widened their eyes in disbelief.
They knew Kitaro was ridiculously strong, but this was on a whole other level!
"K-Kitaro? Is what they're saying true?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal. That guy's strength was exaggerated anyway."
Makarov knew exactly how strong Jose was. Six years ago, during a regional guild meeting, Jose—who had just become one of the Ten Wizard Saints—got drunk and, feeling cocky, provoked Makarov.
Back then, Makarov gave him a solid beating, and from that day forward, Jose never attended another regional meeting.
He knew firsthand that Jose wasn't weak.
That was also when the rivalry between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord truly began.
Jose might have had a terrible personality, but his strength was undeniable. He was a legitimate Wizard Saint-level mage.
And yet, Jose had been utterly crushed by Kitaro, left on the brink of death. If Makarov didn't know his own guild members well, he wouldn't have believed it either.
— — —
Meanwhile, the Magic Council held an emergency meeting.
"Punishment! We must punish them severely!"
"That's right! Fairy Tail needs to face consequences!"
"But we all saw it—this time, Phantom Lord was the one who initiated the attack on Fairy Tail. They even used the Jupiter Cannon! If that attack had landed, not only would Fairy Tail have been destroyed, but countless civilians could have died."
"But wasn't that because Fairy Tail destroyed all of Phantom Lord's branch guilds first?"
"If we go by that logic, Phantom Lord started it by attacking the Fairy Tail guild first."
"There's no solid evidence proving that Phantom Lord was behind that attack."
"And there's no evidence proving Fairy Tail did anything either!"
"..."
The Council members weren't fools. It was obvious that Phantom Lord had started the conflict by attacking Fairy Tail first.
Fairy Tail then retaliated—but they did it in a way that left no proof behind.
And finally, Phantom Lord launched a full-scale assault on Fairy Tail, only to be completely wiped out.
This was undoubtedly an extreme case of inter-guild warfare.
When they first received the report about Fairy Tail's guild being destroyed, they hadn't even had time to intervene before the battle had already ended—with Phantom Lord utterly defeated.
At that moment, Jellal (under the alias Siegrain) spoke up.
"There's something important we need to consider—why did Phantom Lord choose to attack at the exact moment Makarov was taken away? Was that really just a coincidence?"
"Siegrain, what are you implying? Are you suggesting someone among us leaked the information to Jose?!" Org slammed his hand on the table.
"No, I'm not suggesting anything. It's just that Jose was clearly aiming to wipe out Fairy Tail completely. For us Wizard Saints, battles of this magnitude are catastrophic—we don't engage in them lightly. I just find it suspicious that Jose chose such a convenient moment."
"To be honest, if Fairy Tail didn't have that newcomer, Uchiha Kitaro, their guild would have been the one to disappear."
"..."
It was true—Jose had brought the Element 4, their top fighter Gajeel, and even moved their entire guild just to destroy Fairy Tail.
If not for Kitaro, Fairy Tail would have been wiped out.
"At present, there is no direct evidence proving that Fairy Tail destroyed Phantom Lord's branch guilds. However, there is undeniable proof that Phantom Lord started this war and attempted to annihilate Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail had no choice but to defend themselves."
"As Council members, we must base our judgments on evidence."
After some deliberation, the Council Chairman concluded, "Hmph… The Rune Knights will continue investigating both guilds. We'll decide on a verdict after gathering more evidence. Meeting adjourned."
Three days later, Fairy Tail's members were released.
The investigation had uncovered new evidence—it turned out that the root cause of this war was Lucy.
Lucy herself was shocked to learn she was involved. Apparently, her father had commissioned Phantom Lord to bring her back home.
When Jose discovered that the famous Heartfilia heiress was in Fairy Tail, he was filled with jealousy and resentment.
If Fairy Tail gained the financial backing of the Heartfilia family, they could surpass Phantom Lord and become the strongest guild in Fiore.
So, Jose sent Gajeel to attack Fairy Tail, hoping to provoke Makarov into retaliating.
Then, when Makarov arrived, Jose planned to ambush him.
However, instead of Makarov, someone claiming to be Lucy launched a counterattack.
This enraged Jose. Upon learning through special channels that Makarov had been taken away by the Council, he decided to take advantage of the situation and wipe out Fairy Tail completely.
His plan was going smoothly—until he ran into Kitaro.
In the end, his grand scheme backfired completely.
Not only was Phantom Lord destroyed, but Jose himself was nearly killed.
And as for whether Fairy Tail had destroyed Phantom Lord's branch guilds, that was still uncertain. However, Jose's actions had already blatantly violated the Council's laws.
With no concrete evidence against Fairy Tail, all members were released.
.
.
.