Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master

"Summon, Murk Wolves!"

Two pairs of Murk Wolves emerged inside the guild, sprinting toward the stage and sniffing around for a scent.

Warren could've used his own magic to track people, but Rhodes had called out the wolves just in case. A good tracker never hurts in a mission like this.

"Let the wolves lead you to your targets. And here, take these." Rhodes held out two pairs of sunglasses, handing them to Gray and Elfman.

"I've heard the Thunder God Tribe has more than just powerful elemental magic. Some of their spells are cast through eye contact. You'll need protection."

Magic that works through the eyes can be especially dangerous, just like Evergreen's petrifying gaze, which had even turned Erza into stone.

But the good thing about eye-based magic? A simple pair of glasses could block it. When Evergreen attacked Lucy earlier, she'd even had to lift her glasses to cast the spell.

Rhode had prepared these sunglasses last winter during a snowy mission with Erza, originally to prevent snow blindness. He hadn't expected they'd come in handy like this.

"I'm heading out first," Elfman said, slipping on the glasses and hopping onto the back of one of the Murk Wolves. "Real men charge in!" he shouted, riding off as the trio of wolves bolted out of the guild.

Gray glanced at the sunglasses and waved Rhode off. "I'll pass. Fried's eye magic is different from the others. If I need glasses, I'll just make a pair myself."

Laki asked, "Then what about us?"

"Laki, you stay with the Master. Warren, keep tracking everyone and report their positions. The rest of you guard the petrified girls. If Bickslow realizes something's wrong and heads this way, it's on you all to stop him."

Everyone responded immediately.

"We got it."

"Leave it to us!"

Natsu paced angrily. "Let me out already! I want to fight Laxus too!"

Gajeel didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes was enough. Even if he didn't admit it out loud, he clearly wanted to use this opportunity to bond with the guild.

Rhode sighed. "Can you even get out?"

"No! So figure out a way to let me out!"

"Beat Freed, and you'll be free. Otherwise, try punching the barrier. Maybe draining his magic little by little counts as helping."

"That's lame!" Natsu growled, swinging punch after punch at the air wall.

Mira returned from the infirmary, having handed the Master over to Laki. "Have we decided?"

Rhode nodded, handing her a pair of sunglasses. "Gray and Elfman are already moving. We'll follow after, splitting up. Be careful and finish things fast."

The two waited a moment before splitting. Rhode ran after Elfman's trail while Mira followed Gray's path.

Before leaving, Rhode summoned a crab to remain in the guild.

Unlike the chaos of last year's Harvest Festival, the area around the guild felt eerily quiet. Maybe it was the shock of the earlier riot.

To avoid stepping into traps, Rhode vaulted from rooftops and fences, hopping between buildings for a better view.

As he moved farther from the guild, he occasionally spotted sudden flashes of strange light, no doubt where his guildmates were fighting.

Inside the guild, the battle updates kept flowing.

"Niggy vs. Bickslow."

"Winner: Bickslow. Niggy is unable to continue."

"Alzack vs. Freed."

"Winner: Freed. Alzack has lost the ability to fight."

"Fairy Tail remaining members: 58."

Some members had already found Freed and Bickslow.

However, although they managed to defeat their companions and escape from the traps, they had lost a considerable amount of magic power and suffered injuries. They stood no chance against the Thunder God Tribe in their current state.

They had to be located quickly.

Rhodes remained alert, carefully watching his surroundings to avoid being caught in a trap alongside someone else.

He noticed that once away from the guild, ordinary people seemed unaffected. The Harvest Festival was continuing as usual. People were shopping, chatting, and walking about like nothing was wrong.

It was the same on Mira's side. Occasionally, a gap would open in the street where two or three Fairy Tail members were fighting.

Clearly, they had triggered Freed's traps.

The local townspeople weren't surprised in the slightest. To them, it was just another brawl between Fairy Tail members. Some even started betting on who would win or lose, treating it like entertainment.

Tourists who saw the calm reactions of the locals assumed it was all part of the festival performance. The braver ones stayed to watch, while others simply walked past, unfazed.

Freed's spell clearly targeted only wizards. Ordinary citizens weren't affected at all.

As for the guildmates fighting on the road, Rhodes didn't bother trying to stop them. He just shouted at them to stand down and kept moving. Whether they listened or not didn't matter. Once the spell was broken, it would all be over.

Mira, on the other hand, couldn't just ignore them. Each time she spotted someone fighting, she lobbed a pair of pink hypnotic bubbles the size of basketballs.

The results were impressive. Every time, the combatants froze and dropped out of the fight.

Whenever this happened, the battle feed inside the guild updated with a new report: "Winner: Mirajane."

Elsewhere, inside the cathedral, Laxus sat alone, gathering his strength for the final showdown with the old man. Thanks to Freed's spell, the battle updates were being projected in real-time.

Laxus chuckled to himself. "So you finally joined in, Mirajane. It was Evergreen's mistake not to petrify you with the others. But with your current power, do you really think you can defeat the Thunder Gods and make it to me?"

He didn't consider Mira a serious threat. Just like how he had looked down on Erza, he believed her presence wouldn't change the outcome.

The number of active members had dropped to forty. Most of Fairy Tail had already lost their ability to fight. What mattered now was how long the old man could endure.

He just had to wait a bit longer. Let the numbers fall even lower. Once the so-called "Fairy Strategist" was crushed, Laxus would confront the old man directly and force him to announce his abdication in front of the entire city.

...

"Found her!"

After crossing half the city from the guild, Elfman finally spotted one of his targets, Evergreen.

Not far away, Wan Chanzi lay on the ground, battered and defeated. He had just lost to Evergreen.

Meanwhile, Evergreen strolled casually through the crowd, blending in as if nothing had happened, continuing her game of magical hide-and-seek.

"Evergreen!" Elfman roared. "Don't think you can run!"

The people nearby had already given wide berth to the two-headed wolf. But when they heard Elfman's voice and saw his wild expression, they backed off even more.

This was no performance. A real fight was coming.

Evergreen calmly turned her head, adjusting her glasses slightly.

"So the wolf's nose found me? How uncute."

Her pupils glowed with a flash of light. In an instant, the three wolves were turned to stone and then vanished.

Elfman was spared thanks to the sunglasses Rhode had given him, but the sudden stop threw off his balance, and he stumbled forward.

Using the momentum, he clenched his fist and aimed a heavy punch straight at Evergreen's face.

The four purple, wing-like ornaments behind Evergreen fluttered, lifting her into the air and allowing her to dodge mid-air with ease.

Elfman's punch landed on a nearby stall, reducing it to splinters. The vendor quickly memorized the two fighters' appearances, then rolled out of sight. It was supposed to be a fun festival. He had no intention of getting hurt. As for the stall, he could always go to the guild for compensation once the chaos ended.

Hovering midair, Evergreen looked down at Elfman with a smug expression. "With that brute look of yours, can you even be called a 'fairy'?"

Elfman ignored the mockery. "Doesn't matter what I look like. If you've got any guts, turn the girls back right now!"

"Them? Don't you think they look beautiful as stone statues? One fairy is enough, and that's me!"

She wore a green dress paired with black stockings, long brown hair cascading down her back, and her signature four purple wings shimmered as she floated. In that moment, she really did look like a fairy from a storybook.

Evergreen had adored fairy tales since childhood and only joined Fairy Tail because the name intrigued her. After joining, she came under Freed's wing and soon began idolizing Laxus. Lately, she had even dreamed of snatching Erza's title as "Fairy Queen."

Turning Erza to stone had boosted her confidence and inflated her ego.

"I doubt talking is going to get through to you." Her wings trembled as she drifted back several meters and then threw out her hand. "Fairy Shotgun!"

Golden spheres the size of eggs shot out like a barrage from a machine gun, each one aimed directly at Elfman.

Dodging left and right, Elfman charged forward. "Beast Soul, Full Body Takeover!"

Two horns jutted out from his head, while hard, scaly skin covered his face and body. His shirt ripped apart, revealing powerful muscles, and his arms bulked up enough to support a person standing on his fists.

It was clear now that Evergreen wouldn't back down. Elfman didn't bother with any more words. He let out a roar and surged ahead.

Each of his footfalls cracked the ground as he moved like a rampaging beast. He leaped high, displaying incredible strength, and swung a fist as large as a cauldron straight toward Evergreen's head.

But her wings were incredibly agile. With a flutter, she dodged cleanly and zipped around him in the air.

She landed a quick punch on his cheek, followed by a sharp kick to the back of his head.

"Honestly... with a name like Elfman, you're not cute at all."

Without the ability to fly, Elfman swung his massive fists wildly, but couldn't even graze the edge of Evergreen's dress.

Thankfully, her strikes were more for style than strength. For someone like Elfman, those glancing blows barely registered as scratches.

It was like watching a mosquito try to annoy a lion. The mosquito could keep pestering him, but the lion couldn't land a hit.

After landing back on the ground, Elfman noticed something strange, fine golden dust was floating all around him.

Although the golden powder sparkled in the sunlight, Elfman couldn't see it clearly through his sunglasses.

"Too bad for you," Evergreen said smugly. "You're already caught in my Fairy Scales."

She somersaulted through the air, putting some distance between them. "Fairy Bomb: Scatterlight!"

The golden particles around Elfman erupted in a violent explosion. Fire and smoke billowed out, shaking the ground with a deep rumble. Nearby stalls were blasted by the shockwave, sending cloth and wood flying.

Evergreen landed just outside the blast radius. She calmly adjusted her glasses, ready to turn Elfman to stone once the smoke cleared and finish the fight.

But when the haze finally lifted, what she saw wasn't Elfman—it was a massive stone wall standing tall in front of him.

"What... is this?" she muttered.

Before she could react, the ground beneath her bulged upward. A stone fist, the size of a cooking pot, slammed into her chin.

There was no time to dodge or defend.

The hit launched Evergreen into the air. She tumbled back and crashed into the street, groaning from the force of the blow.

She struggled to lift her head. What she saw made her tremble.

The figure before her had heavy, jagged dragon wings. His arms were now scaled and clawed like a dragon's, his eyes glowing with narrow, vertical pupils, and his face marked by deep yellow dragon scales.

Evergreen couldn't recognize him for a moment. Was this really the guild's so-called "strategist"? His magic felt crushing, his presence absolutely suffocating.

Rhodes didn't speak. He strode over and grabbed her by the throat, pushing her back to the ground with a clawed hand.

With his free hand, he slammed his palm into the street. Instantly, stone shackles burst from the earth and clamped down on her wrists and ankles. A krug scuttled forward, its massive pincers locking tightly around her waist.

Behind him, the stone wall collapsed. Elfman emerged from the smoke and rubble, confused to see Evergreen already pinned to the ground.

He didn't even know what had happened.

Thanks to avoiding the worst of the explosion, Elfman had only a few scrapes and some torn pants, his usual fate when transforming into Beast Soul: King of Beasts.

That transformation always shredded his clothes.

Rhodes didn't look at him. His eyes stayed cold as he stared down at Evergreen.

"I'll give you one chance. Undo the petrification spell. Otherwise, I'll end you right here."

He squeezed her throat tighter until she gasped, then loosened slightly as she prepared to speak.

"Cough... cough..." Evergreen struggled to catch her breath. "Even if you kill me... the spell won't break."

She smiled wickedly. "In fact, I can still control it remotely. I can shatter them all at any time. So here's my offer."

She sneered, "Kneel, surrender, and beg me. Or I'll—urk!"

Rhodes let go of her throat and drove his fist into her stomach. Her eyes bulged, and a mouthful of blood spilled from her lips.

"Rhodes…" Elfman murmured. He was worried, unsure if his friend was acting out of anger, but he couldn't find the words to stop him.

Evergreen coughed and wheezed. "Y-you... don't care about their lives at all?"

"This is a calm decision," Rhodes replied, voice sharp as ice. "Their lives are in your hands, not mine. I can't force you to release them, but I can choose what happens to you."

"In the rules you and your little gang created, it says that defeating the caster releases the hostages. But now you're using them as leverage. That tells me you never planned to follow the rules. Either way, they're as good as dead."

His glare narrowed.

"And if that's the case, I'll make sure you go down with them. Lucky for them, they're statues. They won't feel a thing. They'll die looking beautiful."

Evergreen's face twisted in disbelief. "What?"

"But you won't be so lucky." Rhodes leaned in, his tone turning venomous. "You've seen it yourself, I'm not like Elfman. I'll do anything to get revenge for them. And before you die, I'll make sure you regret crossing me."

He raised a hand.

"Summon, Gromp."

"AHHh?!"