Chapter 144: The Twin Terrors of Fairy Tail Take on the Brothel Madam (Patreon)

In her fully demonized form, Mira was no pushover. No. She was genuinely powerful.

With her joining the fray and keeping Cailin occupied, Erza fought with even greater abandon. Her jagged greatsword slashed upward and downward, every strike aimed straight at Cailin's face, as if she wouldn't stop until she'd split her in two.

Hughes finally realized just how deep Erza's obsession with strawberry cake really was...

Seeing they'd be at it for a while; Hughes disappeared for a moment. When he returned, he was carrying a chair and a bag of melon seeds.

"Tsk, you can't watch women fight without some seeds to snack on," Hughes said with genuine conviction.

After looking around for a while, he finally found a corner with an excellent view. Satisfied, he set down his reclining chair, crossed his legs, and watched the three-way battle without taking his eyes off it while cracking original-flavor melon seeds.

As for exactly what he was staring at so intently... that couldn't be said. Hughes only hated that this wasn't X784 yet.

Busts... bounced amid the surging shockwaves as flashes of magic circles repeatedly erupted across the trio's battlefield, sending waves of power rippling in every direction.

Erza switched into her most familiar Heaven's Wheel Armor, dramatically increasing her combat power.

After another exchange, she left the battlefield to Mira and retreated more than ten steps.

The four steel wings on her body flashed with a cold gleam. As magic power surged, forty to fifty swords suddenly materialized behind Erza's small frame.

"Heaven's Wheel: Circle Sword!" Erza shouted.

The forty to fifty swords instantly floated into the air, forming a circular sword formation centered around Erza.

Within the formation, every sword tip glimmered with icy light like sharpened needles, aimed squarely at Cailin and every possible escape route.

Hughes watched Erza with interest. So she could already control forty to fifty swords at once?

No wonder the old man had always believed Erza could already defeat veterans like Macao.

...

Hughes still couldn't figure out why that damn system hadn't triggered a mission on Erza.

Mira corresponded to the Demon template in the system. Erza ought to correspond to the Hawkeye template. After all, both were master swordswomen, both possessed unwavering wills, and both had special eyes!

So why hadn't it triggered?

Could it be because Erza was still slightly weaker? But that didn't make sense either. Mira and Laxus were right there as examples!

Unable to figure it out, Hughes shook his head and turned his attention back to the battlefield.

Glancing at Cailin, who was still fighting Mira, he saw goosebumps rising across her smooth, fair skin, as soft and tender as fresh tofu.

"So by that logic, beauties aren't any different from me. Cailin gets goosebumps, and so do I. That means I'm pretty handsome too," Hughes thought as he spat out a mouthful of seed shells.

On the other side, unable to shake Mira off, Cailin grew increasingly anxious. These two girls were far stronger than she'd imagined. She wasn't even confident of defeating either of them one on one, let alone fighting both at once.

Erza's charged ultimate attack looked terrifying. If it hit her, even if it didn't kill her, she'd still lose a layer of skin.

Thinking of that, Cailin dodged Mira's attacks while trying to negotiate with Hughes.

"Hughes, I'm friends with your guild master. We're on pretty good terms. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entrusted me with his token and asked me to test you."

"What happened last time was my fault. Call them off, and I'll make it up to you."

Hughes couldn't even be bothered to listen. He simply opened his mouth as one melon seed after another disappeared.

Cailin wasn't trying to make peace. She was simply scared.

If Hughes weren't worried that stepping in himself would give Cailin another excuse to smear his name, he would've personally taught her a painful lesson.

What Hughes hadn't expected, however, was that although Cailin's words meant nothing to him, they worked on Mira and Erza. Both of them stopped fighting and looked toward him.

"Hughes, she might actually be telling the truth. Otherwise, the guild master wouldn't have asked her to test us," Mira said with a frown.

Hughes paused his seed-cracking and looked at the two girls with a rather speechless expression.

"So what if she knows the old man? That's got nothing to do with this. We came here today to settle the score over her slandering me."

The moment those words fell, magic power visibly began flowing around Mira and Erza once more.

Both of them fixed blazing gazes on Cailin again.

Flustered yet unwilling to back down, Cailin pointed at Hughes.

"Don't tell me you're seriously going to deny touching them."

As she spoke, she deliberately thrust out her chest again, making those gorgeous breasts bounce wildly.

Hughes was instantly rendered speechless.

He couldn't refute it because he really had teased those gorgeous breasts.

At that moment, Hughes wanted nothing more than to go back in time and slap his past self across the face.

After thinking for two seconds, Hughes revealed his shameless playboy side by deliberately changing the subject.

"You can't just make things up and twist the truth either. Back then, I only wanted to check what you had hidden at your waist, so I 'accidentally' brushed against them."

"But just listen to the nonsense you've been spreading. That I forcibly restrained both your hands with one hand while the other wandered all over your body?"

Always able to seize the key point, Cailin puffed out her chest once more and ended the argument with a single sentence.

"Men always turn a blind eye to their own mistakes. Just answer the question. Did you touch them or not? If you hadn't touched them, would I have done all this?"

Hughes sat frozen in his chair, opening his mouth several times, letting out nothing but a helpless "Ah..." while failing to come up with a single rebuttal.

There was no arguing against that.

Mira stood where she was, her gaze shifting back and forth between Hughes and Cailin. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, she suddenly exited her demon form.

She didn't want to fight anymore.

It was pointless.

Nor was she in the mood.

Erza tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Hughes. Around her, the forty to fifty swords continued circling.

"Hughes, are we still fighting?"

"Fight! Beat the crap out of her! Once we're done, we'll go buy strawberry cake immediately!" Hughes stood up and angrily pointed at Cailin.

Mira folded her arms and stood five meters away from Hughes, giving Hughes a sidelong look filled with disdain.

The more flustered and defensive he became, the more it proved he had something to hide.

Hmph. She wasn't cooking for him anymore.

He could starve.

Meanwhile, Erza, whose mind was already filled with strawberry cake, felt her eyes instantly light up.

She couldn't wait to eat delicious strawberry cake.

In the next instant, Erza raised her twin swords high before bringing them crashing down toward Cailin.

That slash was like a guiding light, directing the circular sword formation behind her.

"Slash! Slash!"

One sword after another shot out in orderly succession from behind Erza, piercing through the air like a torrent of blades as they rained down around Cailin, sealing off every possible escape route.

"Boom! Boom!"

The ground shattered and dust billowed everywhere. The hot spring tavern, already half-collapsed from the three-way battle, collapsed completely. The tremendous commotion frightened everyone inside into fleeing in panic.

Hughes was about to step in to rescue them, but after a single glance, he decided not to bother.

After all, a certain Yonko was hiding among the crowd.

Facing Erza's ultimate attack that came without warning, Cailin gritted her teeth, spread both hands, and instantly formed one deep-blue magic circle after another before herself.