In a dim environment resembling a natural underground mine carved over centuries, a city lay dead silent within this subterranean cavern.
The city appeared dilapidated, covered in moss with broken walls and ruins everywhere—it was difficult to find a single intact building.
Judging from these traces, the city must have been at least hundreds of years old, yet for some reason it remained buried deep underground, unknown to the world.
This was Nirvana City.
Right in the city's center, inside a building that stood out starkly from its surroundings—a control room—faint glows suddenly began flickering frequently.
Six magic circles materialized, and the Oración Seis, who had been fighting the alliance moments earlier, appeared out of thin air.
"Cough! Cough!"
The moment Brain returned to the room, he covered his mouth coughing uncontrollably.
Blood sprayed from his lips as he collapsed to the ground again, clutching his staff.
Cobra glanced around, his serpent hissing softly.
He asked with a furrowed brow, "Weren't you supposed to deal with the Fairy Grim Reaper? Are you so badly injured that you had to use this teleportation magic?"
Brain's fierce eyes burned with rage as he whispered, "That guy is tough to deal with... and I'm already wounded from before... his magic eats away at me."
Midnight looked at the leader from his carpet and inquired expressionlessly, "But doesn't this mean we've delivered Nirvana right to the doorstep of the light guilds? They are in the city now."
Brain struggled to prop himself up.
He traced images in the air that showed the guild alliance members' reactions upon arriving in this underground city.
"They have two Ten Wizard Saints on their side—Ankh and Jura. Out there, they outnumber us—we can't win in a direct fight."
Though arrogant, Brain still possessed the necessary perception and intelligence to admit tactical disadvantage.
In contrast, Midnight, Cobra, and Hoteye—who hadn't yet suffered losses from the alliance wore expressions of clear dissatisfaction.
Angel sat aside, recovering her Magic Power without speaking.
She was pale and exhausted from her encounter with Ankh.
"Forced teleportation magic—after all my years of research and modifications, I've strengthened many aspects of it. The only remaining flaw is its enormous Magic Power consumption."
Brain picked up his staff, Kuroa.
"So I simply sealed the magic within Kuroa's body, releasing it when needed. But it can't be used a second time."
"This is a perfect opportunity," Brain declared. "We'll use Nirvana's power here to divide and eliminate the allied guilds!"
Racer asked with some confusion, tapping his foot, "Didn't Jellal activate the Biological Link Magic to connect himself with Nirvana's seal? Without killing him, how can we unseal Nirvana?"
Hearing Jellal's name mentioned, Brain's face fell as if someone had died.
He instantly drooped as he muttered, "I have a way to utilize the magic power leaking from Nirvana..."
Several days earlier, the Oración Seis, seeking Nirvana's power, had broken into prison to rescue Jellal—the only one who knew Nirvana's whereabouts.
But who could have known what Jellal had been through? The formerly sinister and dark Jellal absolutely refused to help them break Nirvana's seal.
Fortunately for Brain, Jellal hadn't fully recovered from the torture he endured in prison.
So after the Oración Seis subdued him, their leader used memory-reading magic to learn Nirvana's location—this very city.
However, just as the Oración Seis found Nirvana, Jellal—who had been compliant throughout the journey—suddenly erupted.
Breaking free from his restraints, he successively repelled the Oración Seis members, injured their leader Brain, and activated Biological Link Magic on the nearby Nirvana core.
This was an extremely reliable linking seal magic, similar to the Oración Seis living link mark on Brain's face, but much more stable.
Only Council members knew this magic, with many of them bearing this spell themselves.
If they died, certain ultra-dangerous weapons of the Council would become unsealed.
Due to its concealed, unshakable, and irreversible nature, it was considered more reliable than living links.
Having heard of this magic, Jellal had secretly taught himself the spell while in the Council, utilizing his astonishing talent.
During their journey, having witnessed the leader's extensive knowledge of magic, Jellal's original plan was to use Self-Destruction Magic to destroy both himself and Nirvana.
But he worried Brain might have a way to counter this, so he switched to this different magic at the last moment.
As it turned out, Jellal's concerns were justified—Self-Destruction Magic was actually created by Brain.
Had he used it, he would have undoubtedly handed Nirvana to the Oración Seis on a silver platter as Brain simply cancelled it.
So with the change of magic, Jellal's objective shifted as well.
In the original storyline, Jellal used Self-Destruction magic, desperately trying to take Nirvana down with him.
But now, with Biological Link Magic that even Brain couldn't break, Jellal could only hide to avoid being killed by the Oración Seis and thus unsealing Nirvana.
Therefore, after casting his magic and breaking through the Oración Seis' encirclement, Jellal ran for his life, hiding somewhere within the vast Nirvana city—his current whereabouts still unknown.
Jellal's brilliant counterattack had completely outmaneuvered the Oración Seis.
Brain, who prided himself on being "extremely clever" but had been outsmarted, had been utterly depressed these past two days, even calling out Jellal's name in his sleep.
He truly couldn't break the Biological Link Magic.
And to make matters worse, despite Cobra scouring the entire city using his hearing magic, he still couldn't locate where Jellal was hiding.
Thus, several days passed in the search until finally, the allied guild forces arrived.
To everyone's surprise, the alliance brought along two of the Ten Wizard Saints, who promptly sent Brain howling in retreat back into the dungeon.
After repeated setbacks, Brain regrouped and stared at the ancient text's projection, where Ankh was curiously surveying his surroundings in a different sector.
The hatred in Brain's eyes was unmistakable.
"Since he's looking for Jellal... why not use him to find him?" Brain schemed.
Brain swung his magic staff, planting it firmly on the ground.
A dark pillar of magic power erupted from the earth, but it lasted only a moment before vanishing.
Brain swiftly captured the escaping black light, splitting it into four portions and injecting them into Cobra, Racer, Hoteye, and Midnight.
"You were originally members of a Dark Guild, so as long as you remain unshaken, Nirvana's alignment-shifting magic won't affect you. This boost will help."
"Angel will stay here to recover from her injuries. I'll contact you through the ancient text. Your mission is to ambush the scattered members of the guild alliance in the city."
Brain grinned maliciously.
"If you encounter a formidable opponent, target their loved ones first. Once they're captured and the target is emotionally shaken, infuse them with Nirvana's magic power. They'll be subdued effortlessly!"
Cobra clenched his fist, sensing no abnormalities within his body. A fierce grin spread across his face.
"Heh... I'll go have another encounter with that Fire Dragon and see about taming him."
Midnight was sent out on his flying carpet while dozing off.
Racer selected his target, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
And finally...
Hoteye advanced slowly toward his objective, though a trace of confusion lingered in his gaze as he touched the spot where the black light entered him.
'My brother...'
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