N-M Chapter 597 597
Chapter 597 597
"Don't worry. That Black Dragon definitely won't be coming out to wreak havoc again anytime soon. With injuries like those, even he'll need a long time to recover."
Seeing how deeply everyone feared that terrifying Black Dragon, Marco smiled and offered a few reassuring words, giving them something solid to hold onto.
Given the creature's monstrous vitality and the unique resilience of a dragon's body, it would no doubt recover eventually.
But having nearly half its body completely obliterated by Athena Exclamation was not the sort of damage that could be mended overnight.
Turning toward Gildarts, Marco grinned and teased, "Well, old man, I got revenge for you."
The Black Dragon had destroyed nearly half of Gildarts's body back then, and this time Marco had repaid it with interest.
"Hahaha! Now that felt good!"
Gildarts laughed loudly, clearly delighted.
Watching Marco beat the hell out of the Black Dragon truly had been satisfying.
A younger member of the family avenging him still counted as revenge, didn't it?
If the Black Dragon had a problem with it, it could go find some terrifyingly strong junior of its own and see whether that one could beat Marco.
Still, after the initial satisfaction faded, Gildarts couldn't help feeling a little regretful.
"It's a shame that thing is still way stronger than I am. Wounds like that aren't fatal to it."
What a pity that none of them had been able to help Marco.
If even one of them had been capable of stepping into that battle, the Black Dragon never would have gotten away so easily.
"It's fine. The only reason I could destroy half its body this time and still fail to kill it is because I'm not strong enough yet." Marco clenched his fist and smiled. "Next time we meet, I'll be stronger. One day, I'll finish it for good. After all, i'm only nineteen."
That Black Dragon had to be at least five hundred years old.
Bullying a nineteen-year-old like that was downright shameless!
"Nine..teen..."
The moment Marco mentioned his age, the words carried almost absurd weight.
Only then did everyone seem to remember it.
Marco was only nineteen.
That was supposed to be the age when gifted mages first began to make names for themselves.
But Marco had long since gone beyond the point of simply 'making a name for himself.'
He had fought the Black Dragon head-on and forced it to flee.
At this point, there was probably no other human left who could truly be compared to him.
Even now, the thought still felt unreal.
"Since both Marco and Laxus are back safe and sound, we should be heading home as well," Makarov said once the mood in the room had finally settled.
"Back to Magnolia."
What they had gone through this time had far exceeded anything they could have expected.
First Grimoire Heart, then Zeref, then the Black Dragon.
Grimoire Heart was one thing—they had at least fallen within the bounds of something the guild could comprehend and confront.
But the latter two...
Those had felt like some kind of cruel joke.
Makarov could say it plainly: if Marco had not been there, Fairy Tail would have been finished.
Even with Master Mavis protecting them under Fairy Sphere, the guild would still have suffered catastrophic losses.
If the entire core of Fairy Tail's strongest fighters vanished for years, the guild would become nothing more than a child clutching a mountain of gold.
Modern Fairy Tail held too many interests, too many stakes, too many eyes watching it.
To keep all of that firmly in hand, strength was essential. If its strongest members disappeared, the people coveting what Fairy Tail possessed would no longer restrain themselves.
They would swarm in and carve it apart.
Marco had saved Fairy Tail.
He had saved everything the guild was.
As that thought crossed his mind, Makarov had already begun making up his mind.
Once they returned, he would step down cleanly and formally pass the position of Fairy Tail's Guild Master to Marco.
Surely no one would have any objections now.
At that thought, Makarov glanced toward Laxus.
Once Marco took over as Guild Master, it would be the perfect moment for a fresh start—and just as naturally, the perfect opportunity to pardon Laxus and bring him back.
Back then, Laxus had been expelled because he had tried to seize Fairy Tail for himself in his struggle against Marco.
If Marco himself were the one to bring him back now, it would be fitting.
And after Laxus had rushed to Tenrou Island specifically to help them this time, restoring him to the guild would be more justified than ever.
Standing there among the others, looking slightly awkward and out of place, Laxus had no idea what the old man was thinking.
He only knew that this feeling was strange.
And it had been a very, very long time since he had felt anything like it.
"Then let's go home."
Marco rose to his feet in support of Makarov's proposal.
The main reason, of course, was that if they delayed much longer, Hargeon was going to end up underwater.
Juvia's influence over the weather was simply too dramatic. The roaring downpour outside was impossible to ignore.
Maybe the others had not realized it yet, but Marco and Laxus had just come in from outside, so they were much more aware of the sudden change.
Before they entered, the weather had not merely been fine—it had been perfectly clear, with not a cloud in sight.
A torrential rainstorm beginning all at once like this was obviously unnatural.
There was only one possible cause.
Marco walked over to Juvia.
Of course, it was not just Juvia sitting there.
At her side were two other women—one with white hair, one with crimson.
Mirajane and Erza.
At the moment, the two of them seemed to be comforting Juvia.
'...I think they're comforting her.'
Marco silently amended the thought in his head.
For some reason, the scene in front of him gave him the distinct impression that Mirajane and Erza were working together to physically restrain Juvia.
He was not entirely sure whether that was just his imagination.
"Juvia, don't worry anymore. I'm back, aren't I?"
Marco reached out and lightly flicked her nose, trying to stop this overly tearful girl from unleashing any more of her power.
If she kept going at this rate, it was only a matter of time before Harujion was swallowed by rainwater.
It was a coastal city.
A storm like this could genuinely frighten people half to death!
"Marco-sama..."
The moment she looked up and saw him standing right in front of her, Juvia immediately tried to rise—
Only for the 'guardians' at her left and right to hold both of her arms in an iron grip.
It was like being pinned down by two sets of steel clamps.
She could not get up at all!
"Calm down, Juvia. The most important thing right now is to control the weather outside," Mirajane said at once, her expression solemn.
"Otherwise Hargeon's houses are going to be washed away."
Her tone was so serious that she was practically weaponizing morality itself.
Though to be fair, it was not really unfair pressure in this case.
However emotional Juvia might be, dragging the innocent citizens of Hargeon into it was obviously not right.
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