Chapter 140: Hughes's Fatal Flaw (Patreon)

Beneath the bar stood an ice sculpture.

Natsu's eyes were fierce, like a man-eating demon, as he forcefully pushed his head against Gray's. "Gray, Wakaba asked me for help, not you!"

Gray refused to back down. He suddenly shoved back with his head, sending Natsu stumbling backward.

"Ha! You're the one who's slow, and you still blame me?"

Stumbling back, Natsu swung his arms and barely steadied himself. "Droopy Eyes, are you looking for a fight?"

"Who's afraid of you, sharp-eyes?!"

"BOOM!"

Their heads slammed into each other. They glared at each other for a moment, then went all out.

"BAM!"

"CRACK!"

A flame fist clashed with an icy fist. The two remained locked in place for a moment, veins bulging on their arms, and the atmosphere grew tense.

Suddenly, Happy spread his white wings, held a small red flag high, and flew over their heads.

"Aye! Natsu and Gray's seventh duel of the week officially begins!"

After Happy's feline announcement, Natsu seemed to activate his hidden backup energy reserve. His entire body burst into flames.

With a furious roar, his idle left hand suddenly erupted in flames and smashed downward.

"BAM!"

Completely unprepared for Natsu's dirty trick, Gray was instantly blasted away. He flew through a surprisingly elegant arc before crashing into Erza's table with a THUD, shattering it to pieces.

Erza sat frozen on her chair, fork and knife in hand, her bright eyes staring blankly.

It was gone. The strawberry cake was gone. The best part of the cake, which she had saved for last, was gone...

At that moment, Gray scrambled up from in front of Erza, a cold aura rising from his body, and stormed toward Natsu in fury.

That bastard Natsu had sucker-punched him. He was going to teach him a lesson.

Erza briefly glanced at Gray's back, now covered in strawberry cake. Her blank stare turned instantly icy.

"CLANG, CLANG!"

Her knightly sword was drawn in an instant, a cold flash passing across the blade.

Erza: (╬◣д◢)

Natsu and Gray, locked in their heated fight, both shivered involuntarily. They stopped at the same time and backed away, frowning at each other.

"CRACK!"

Suddenly, the chair between them split in two.

Gray and Natsu turned their heads in confusion. In the next moment, their hair stood on end.

"Er... Erza?" x2

"We were just playing! Not fighting!" x2

The two who had been fiercely brawling moments before now stood with their arms around each other, sweating nervously, their legs shaking uncontrollably.

Before them, Erza in her armor advanced. Her face was dark as death, like a terrifying wraith returned from hell, radiating a terrifying aura.

Her long sword dragged along the ground as she advanced, sparks scattering everywhere as the sharp blade collided with the solid floor.

Natsu and Gray swallowed hard and pressed even closer together.

"Er... Erza!" x2

Her mind consumed by thoughts of strawberry cake, Erza was in no mood to hear any excuses.

She twisted her wrist, reversing her grip and holding the sword properly.

The next moment, with a sharp whistle, she brought the blade down on them.

"Ah! Erza's gone crazy!"

Scared out of their wits, Natsu and Gray immediately split up and scrambled away in opposite directions.

Her dark expression unchanged, Erza kept her sword raised, occasionally appearing behind them in an instant to deliver a sudden strike.

"CRACK!"

"BAM!"

Innocent bystanders inevitably got caught in the mess. Others nearly hit by Erza were angry but dared not complain, instead directing their anger at the real culprits, Natsu and Gray.

Lidush held his paintbrush, staring helplessly at his canvas split in two, his eyes twitching.

"Natsu, don't run! Pay me back!"

"Ha, Lidush, it was Erza who broke your canvas! Why should I pay?" Natsu called back as he leaped to dodge Erza's thrust.

Lidush: ... If I had the guts to demand money from Erza, would I be talking to you?!

"I don't care! If you hadn't provoked Erza, she wouldn't have broken my canvas. You're the source of all this!" Lidush shouted.

With that, he sprinted on his spindly legs, joining the army hunting down the Fire-and-Ice duo.

How many others had been caught in the crossfire in that short time?

Now, inside the Fairy Tail guild, a grand cat-and-mouse spectacle was unfolding.

Led by Erza, over ninety percent of the guild members were frantically cornering Natsu and Gray, those slippery little mice.

Natsu and Gray used every table and chair as cover to dodge the barrage of attacks.

"BOOM! BOOM!"

In an instant, the guild filled with smoke, dust, and complete chaos. The state of the tables and chairs went without saying, not a single one remained intact.

Makarov sat at the bar, sighed, and pulled out a 100,000 Jewel bill, handing it to Laki, who was helping out behind the counter.

He felt suddenly grateful they had a Wood-Make Mage in the guild.

"Laki, could you fix up the guild tonight?"

Laki wiped the water from her hands, beaming as she took the money. "Sure thing, Guild Master! I'll repair them with Love's Shy Dam!"

Makarov: ... Forget it. He wasn't going to comment.

Tucking the 100,000 Jewel carefully into her pocket, Laki was secretly thrilled. With this, she had finally saved enough to buy that ancient execution device she wanted.

On the other side, Hughes, pretending to have just arrived at the guild, stood at the entrance with Mira, watching the group beat up Natsu and Gray with great interest, occasionally clicking his tongue.

This is fun. I want to keep watching.

Just then, Gildarts at the bar waved at Hughes. Hughes nodded back.

He leaned in and whispered something in Mira's ear. Her expression immediately shifted, and the demon arm that hadn't been seen in a while reappeared.

Watching Mira stride menacingly toward Lisanna, Hughes smiled with satisfaction.

Soon, Hughes settled onto the stool next to Gildarts, enjoying the sounds of male and female screams filling his ears as he took a few satisfying sips of his drink.

This kind of peaceful life was really nice.

Gildarts raised his barrel and clinked it against Hughes's, lowering his voice.

"You've got some serious guts, kid. You almost tore a hole in Ishgar's sky."

"How did you know?" Hughes asked, confused. Mira had told him Makarov hadn't told anyone about his activities.

Gildarts shook his head.

"I figured it out from the Memory Crystal footage the Magic Council released.

Your disguise technique isn't refined enough. You forgot about your fatal flaw. Anyone familiar with you could guess that the fake Jose Porla who attacked the Magic Council was you."

Hughes got up and refilled Gildarts's barrel, signaling him to continue.

"For powerful mages, sensing whether someone has magical power inside them isn't difficult."

The moment Gildarts said it, Hughes understood.

He had been using his Flame-Flame Fruit so much that he'd forgotten he was Magicless, with no magical source inside him.

At that moment, Makarov suddenly interjected.

"That's also one of the reasons I stopped you. However, if you just want to hide the fact that you're Magicless, I do have a way."