"What about you? Why are you here?"
Jellal tossed his shovel aside, wiping his dirty hands on his rags. He looked at Ankh expectantly.
Ankh shook his head, explaining to this man cosplaying as Andy Dufresne from Shawshank Redemption.
"The Oración Seis broke you out and are also targeting Forbidden Magic. The light guilds have formed an alliance to come and subdue Oración Seis."
Jellal frowned.
He crossed his arms and his expression turn analytical.
"Oración Seis's overall strength is actually the weakest among the three major Dark Guilds of the Balam Alliance. They're not that hard to deal with individually, but they act in unison and are very opportunistic, so capturing them is somewhat challenging."
The three major Dark Guilds are widely recognized as troublesome in the magic world, each for their own main reasons.
Grimoire Heart, as the strongest Dark Guild on the surface, has "Seven Kin of Purgatory" executives who all possess "Fairy Tail standard" S-class or quasi-S-class strength.
When they take action, they naturally sweep everything aside.
Tartaros, as the most mysterious and strongest dark guild from the depths of hell, leaving the Council completely clueless about their whereabouts.
As for the Oración Seis, aside from their subordinate guilds, they operate entirely as a special forces unit—small in numbers, specializing in blitzkrieg tactics, striking swiftly and retreating immediately, which infuriates the Council even more.
However, in terms of direct combat, if Jellal in his prime were to face the entire Oración Seis, taking them all out would be entirely possible.
Thus, Jellal's tone held no fear toward the Oración Seis, and Ankh expressed agreement.
"I originally intended for Natsu and the others to gain some experience through this. Moreover, I don't believe the Oración Seis are beyond redemption."
Jellal furrowed his brows and asked doubtfully, "Why do you say that? They are criminals."
Ankh looked up, meeting Jellal's eyes, and said, "They are victims of the Tower of Heaven—the five exceptionally gifted children taken away by Brain back then."
Jellal's pupils trembled.
He lowered his head, his hands clenching into fists.
The air grew quiet once more.
After a long pause, Jellal spoke heavily, "I want to help them."
Ankh nodded and said, "I knew you would do that."
As he spoke, Ankh reached out and grabbed the alloy collar around Jellal's neck.
A small magic circle appeared on Ankh's hand.
Click.
With a soft sound, the alloy collar fell to the ground.
Jellal gasped. He immediately felt the immense power within him rapidly returning, flooding his veins like a river breaking a dam.
Jellal looked at Ankh in astonishment, rubbing his neck. "This is a restraint magic tool exclusive to the Council. Only council members have the authority to unlock it. How did you…"
Ankh interrupted him calmly. "I am Anselion."
Jellal's mind felt as if struck by a heavy hammer.
He blinked.
"Come again? Anselion? The Council member?" Jellal then hesitantly said, "A Thought Projection?"
Ankh nodded.
Jellal couldn't help but twitch his lips in a wry smile.
'Well,' Jellal thought, 'it seemed i wasn't the only one messing with the Council.'
"I don't trust the Council," Ankh stated bluntly. "Coincidentally, you need to atone for your sins, and I'm short on talented employees. Dealing with Dark Guilds also requires underground forces that light guilds can't touch. So, how about it? Want to join my company?"
Jellal fell silent for a moment.
He looked at his hands, feeling the magic flow.
"I want to find, one by one, the people I tormented back in the Tower of Heaven," Jellal said softly. "I owe them."
Ankh nodded and extended his hand, saying, "Don't worry. Joining my company doesn't mean you lose your autonomy. We share the same goals."
Jellal raised his hand and firmly grasped Ankh's palm.
His gaze was resolute as he declared, "I will live for the sake of my past. Once everything is over…"
"We'll talk about it then," Ankh interrupted him again, smiling. "We still have a lot to do first."
Jellal released his hand and quickly adapted to his new role.
He straightened his back. "Then… Boss, what will I need to do from now on?"
"On the surface, you'll take a position in my new entertainment company to lay low. Behind the scenes, you'll hunt down all Dark Guilds and cults related to Zeref. They are also major contributors to the suffering you and Ultear endured and the tragedy of the Tower of Heaven."
Jellal listened attentively, but his sharp mind quickly caught on to a detail.
"Wait a minute, Boss… Is Ultear also one of your people?"
Ankh glanced at him and said, "She's an external member, not officially employed yet. She's currently in Grimoire Heart."
Jellal quickly processed the flood of information, trying to make sense of it all.
"So, Grimoire Heart sent her to spy on me... and she was spying for you?"
Ankh gave him an appreciative look.
The new employee was quite sharp!
Jellal felt a bit overwhelmed in the dimly lit cave.
'Caught between the two of you and your acting,' Jellal thought dryly, 'my Thought Projection feels like a rookie.'
"This trip has two main objectives," Ankh stated, getting back to business. "Recruit the five children from the Tower of Heaven back then, and obtain Nirvana."
Boss Ankh came online and began assigning tasks.
Employee Jellal raised his hand like a student, asking how they should proceed.
Ankh: ...
"Do you have any suggestions?" Ankh asked.
Jellal frowned in thought, carefully choosing his words:
"With the Council around, we can't steal the physical city of Nirvana. It's too big. But if we're rebuilding Nirvana, many ancient materials would be hard to find in modern times."
"However," Jellal continued, pointing to the tunnel, "regarding the core technology... I've been studying inside Nirvana these past few days. Perhaps by using Archieve Magic at the central area of the six Magic Crystals—inside the barrel of Nirvana's Magic Cannon—we could gather and extract the relevant Magic Power signatures and data."
"All this requires Nirvana to be in an active state to generate data, but the Oración Seis are still here now..."
Ankh stroked his chin, thinking for a moment before saying:
"Then let's handle the other matter first. Defeat the Oración Seis, find a way to subdue them, then try using the core technology to build a modern version of the Nirvana weapon later."
Jellal nodded in response, "Understood."
All that tunneling work for several days suddenly became useless... it's really frustrating to talk about...
But now, with Jellal's Magic Power restored, even though his body was weakened from not eating for days and excessive mining, he no longer needed to fear the Oración Seis.
The two quickly turned back toward the tunnel exit.
Ankh produced new clothes and rations from his Re-quip Space, allowing Jellal to eat his fill and change out of his rags.
Meanwhile, Ankh quickly communicated with Seram in his mind.
'Seram, quick! Do you have any magic similar to Archieve Magic to teach me? I need it urgently.'
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the unfolding events.
In Nirvana City, among the collapsed ruins of the residential district.
Several people lay crumpled on the ground, defeated.
Ren was covering Sherry with his body, his back suit torn to shreds, himself unconscious from heavy blows.
Sherry held onto Ren in return, her eyes misty with tears as she glared hatefully at the tall man before them—Hoteye.
Beside them, Eve was similarly fallen, groaning in pain.
Jura Neekis stood with his staff raised, creating a rock wall to protect the injured.
Jura, who had arrived just in time to save them from Hoteye's "Liquid Ground" magic, didn't notice the faint dark glow beginning to emanate from Sherry behind him.
Her despair was feeding Nirvana.
Across from them, Hoteye confronted Jura, his blocky face twitching.
His eyes were filled with complex emotions as he looked at the Wizard Saint.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator