The tiny monster rammed itself against the inside of the golden orb again and again, but it couldn't break through the barrier.
It turned toward Rhodes, flashing its teeth, not in defiance, but with a fearless grin.
Rhodes narrowed his eyes. A strange sense of déjà vu crept over him. 'This feeling… I've seen you before. Where was it?'
The creature gave no reply, only tumbling and frolicking inside the orb as though mocking him.
"Obra…" Ivan's eyes widened as he recognized the demon-like creature. But he had no time to puzzle it out.
Snarling, he summoned all his magic power. Hundreds of paper soldiers appeared, merging into five enormous purple storms that howled toward the Mountain Dragon's head.
The Mountain Dragon raised its chin and let the spells land.
Boom!
The impact made the dragon's head shift slightly.
It scratched its chin lazily with one claw. 'Not bad. Guess those years of sparring with the old man weren't a total waste. Though, ugh… too many painful memories.'
Ivan's jaw dropped. "It… it didn't even work!" His confidence crumbled. Against a dragon, at the very least, some scales should have fallen.
Seeing Ivan still struggling, Rhodes put the strange little creature aside for now. "Only your magic power even faintly resembles the old man's."
He shook his head. "But your destructive force? Disappointing."
Ivan roared, veins bulging on his forehead. "Don't mock me! If only I could obtain Fairy Tail's Light.."
"Alright, enough daydreaming," Rhodes cut him off sharply. His gaze swept over them. "The three of you have three chances left. Refuse to talk, and we'll see who the next unlucky one is. One, two.."
"I'll talk!"
"Stop! I'll talk!"
Flare and Kurohebi blurted at once, voices overlapping. They scrambled to speak faster, terrified that even a heartbeat's delay might be counted against them.
"We didn't capture your comrades!"
Ivan's face twisted. "Shut up, both of you!"
Rhodes ignored him. He pointed toward Ivan and gave a simple command to the Mountain Dragon. "Make him shut up first."
The dragon shifted its claw away, but the ground itself rose. Thick stone wrapped around Ivan, sealing his body, limbs, and even his mouth in a solid sphere, leaving only his nostrils exposed to breathe.
The moment his magic stirred, the stone sphere constricted around his chest, crushing the air from his lungs. The pain broke his concentration, cutting his spell off instantly.
Only then did Rhodes relax. He turned to the remaining two. "Good. Now you'll explain, one at a time."
He stomped once, and the earth rumbled. Two heavy, curved stone walls rose between them, muffling sound and isolating each interrogation.
Kurohebi stiffened. He was terrified that the dragon pinning him would be the one to question him. If the dragon spoke too fast again, he'd mishear, answer wrong, and end up crushed. That would be too pitiful a way to die.
Thankfully, Rhodes himself stepped closer. His tone was calm but heavy with menace.
"Alright then. Tell me clearly, what happened?"
Kurohebi steadied himself and began to speak.
"The whole incident started when Nullpudding and I, that purple 'sweet potato', accidentally spotted you and the demon together. The Guild Master ordered that all news about Fairy Tail had to be reported directly to him, especially anything involving you and Laxus."
"So he set up an ambush. We waited in position for two days… but you never showed."
Kurohebi glanced nervously at Rhodes, only relaxing when he saw no reaction to the word ambush.
"Later, the Guild Master suddenly canceled the plan and told us to investigate why Fairy Tail had suddenly begun searching so publicly for a Celestial Spirit Mage."
"After that, we started digging into the whereabouts of your guild's original Celestial Spirit Mage through an undercover agent."
Rhodes raised an eyebrow. "An undercover agent?"
Kurohebi nodded. "Yes. Gajeel. The Guild Master sent him into your guild years ago. Even though he disappeared for six years, he reestablished contact as soon as he returned."
Rhodes's eyes narrowed dangerously. 'Gajeel, an undercover agent? What kind of nonsense is this?'
"You'd better think carefully before you keep talking," Rhodes warned, his voice low.
"It's true!" Kurohebi blurted out. "He regularly reports information about Fairy Tail. We knew you and the demon were getting married before the media did! That the Rain Woman has a crush on the Naked Man! That the Fire Dragon and the Hartfilia heiress have… a relationship of some kind. And also..."
"…"
Rhodes was speechless for a moment. 'Was this supposed to be intelligence… or just guild gossip?'
"Get back to the main point."
"Y-Yes." Kurohebi swallowed hard. "In short, after watching closely, we noticed the team led by the Fairy Queen had vanished. And your guild was searching frantically. So the Guild Master concluded that your hunt for a Celestial Spirit Mage was connected. His plan was simple: before you could find any clues, we'd pretend to have kidnapped them, lure you and Laxus out separately, and then deal with you both one-on-one."
He continued quickly, "The Guild Master led our four elites to deal with you, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, while the rest of Raven Tail's combat force was sent to take down Laxus."
"Oh! By my reckoning, they should be making their move right about now. If you hurry, you still have time to save him!"
Kurohebi felt confident. With information that valuable, surely Rhodes would spare him. After all, Fairy Tail always put comrades first.
But Rhodes's expression didn't change. In fact, when he heard Raven Tail had sent their "elites" after Laxus, his lips curled in open disdain.
"You call yourselves elites?"
"…"
Kurohebi froze. Normally, he couldn't stand being looked down upon. But this time he swallowed his pride and admitted honestly:
"Actually… when we're together, the Guild Master calls us the 'Fairy Tail Special Reinforcement Unit.'"
He added weakly, "He said our magics are the kind Fairy Tail mages struggle to fight against."
Rhodes tilted his head, thinking. 'Underground sneak strikes… hair used to bind from below… mimicry for sudden ambushes… and Obra's nullification magic.'
Yes, they were irritating. Fairy Tail would find them troublesome.
But to say Fairy Tail couldn't handle them? That was a stretch.
After all, dirty tricks were Rhodes's specialty. Back when his power was still growing, he had trained in such methods himself between head-on fights.
He smirked slightly. 'So Ivan's so-called "judgment" is based on nothing but stereotypes and wishful thinking.'
If Gajeel really was an undercover agent and fed Raven Tail that kind of "intelligence," Rhodes thought grimly, then perhaps he shouldn't have relied so heavily on brute force the day he beat him down. Maybe some restraint would've been wiser.
He shook off the thought and asked coldly, "How many members does your guild have in total? And where is the ambush for Laxus?"
Kurohebi answered quickly, "Forty-four in all. The trap is set in Rosemary Village, the place he took a mission yesterday."
Rhodes gave a slow nod. 'Forty so-called 'elites'… It'd be insulting to Laxus if I ran to his rescue for that.'
"Why target the two of us specifically?" he pressed.
"Because you and Laxus are considered the most likely successors to Fairy Tail's master," Kurohebi explained. "That means you're also the most likely to know the secret. Between the two, we believed your chances were greater than Laxus's."
"…"
Rhodes twitched, deadpan. 'Most likely to be Guild Master? Of all the things to say, can't you at least wish me something better?'