Chapter 27: Arc 1 – Now or Never: Chapter 27

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Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.

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"Speech"

Time*

---

Arc 1 - Now or Never: Chapter 27

30 minutes later*

"So what should we do?" Machio asks everyone, now that we've spoken with the chief of the locals on the island about what we should do, mainly being asked to destroy the moon to break their curse of being turned into demons.

So yeah, pretty much like in canon, and I made sure these locals are demons, not legit humans cursed to become demons with the moon shining down on them with my cheat.

"Do we even have the ability to destroy the moon?" Carla asks the main important question before doing anything else.

"I do." I replied, causing everyone to look at me in disbelief. Even Bari and Tania looked at me as if they couldn't believe I couldn't do it. "What? Do you think I don't have the means to destroy the moon? I have many means to do so, especially with my Magic Cards." I said half-heartedly. Not to mention using my Breakdown Magic, aka Failure Manipulate's cover name. "But, I won't be doing that, though. Too many problems would happen the moment the moon is destroyed. Also, the price for destroying the moon isn't close to what it should be." I shake my head at this.

"I find it frightening that you can destroy the moon." Carla stares at me with eyes of fear.

"Of course, Renato-sama could do anything as long he put his mind to it." Juvia quickly took the chance to praise me while continuing to hug me, something I notice she is doing more often now, and I can easily guess why. "Although, Juvia is also confused about how the Magic Council allows this job to go through among the other jobs for guilds to take."

"I would be surprised if the Magic Council even knew half the jobs being posted for Magic Guilds are illegal without bothering to check the background, or even read bother to read what the clients' requests at all and just see the money being offered." I said dryly, causing others to look at me. "What?"

"Do you actually think that?" Machio narrows his eyes at me.

"You shouldn't say things you don't know about, Renato." Erza shakes her head in disapproval.

I can feel my face going stiff.

Okay, what the hell? Am I missing something?

"The people in the Magic Council are doing their best to help everyone. You shouldn't badmouth them, Renato, even if you're joking." Wendy frowned at me.

"And here I thought you were one of the smart ones in the group." Carla shakes her head, sighing in disappointment.

"Hey, you guys are being mean to Renato. He is just speaking what he thought about how fishy the job we're taking." Juvia glare at everyone, then look at Bari and Tania. "What about you two? Got anything bad to say about Renato-sama?"

"I don't care really." Tania said in a bored tone.

"My opinion doesn't really matter in this whole conversation." Bari calmly stated.

"Alrighty then." I did not expect these reactions just because of my opinion about the Magic Council. "You guys could decide to accept the job or not. Juvia, Bari, Tania, and I will check the surroundings." I shake my head at this whole thing and walk away with Juvia without bothering to wait for their answers.

Bari and Tania exchange look with each other, which is weird they would do that, but they follow Juvia and me nonetheless.

"Can you believe the nerve of those two?" I heard Carla whisper to the others, but loud enough for me to hear her.

Going by the scowl on Juvia's face. She heard it too.

---

A few minutes later*

"So, why were they so angry with me?" I asked Juvia once we were far away, but we didn't stop and continued heading to the ancient temple where the other Mages should be fighting each other now.

"Some people strongly believe in the Magic Council and hate anyone saying anything negative about them." Juvia answered. "Most common cases are in the past where the Magic Council managed to free slaves from a place called the Tower of Heaven. Most of those slaves came to see the Magic Council as their savors and idols that would go out of their way to do whatever in the name of repaying for their freedom."

I continue to listen to Juvia's explanation with a blank face.

Inside though, I am in shock and scolding myself for not doing deeper research about the Magic Council and other people I know of.

Actually, this could all be solved easily by using the Beyond Card. Which I forgot about due to many reasons.

"So, Renato. Are you going to be civil with them or planning to split from them?" Tania looks at me with interest.

Even Juvia is waiting for my response to this question.

"For now." I thought back at the faces, similar to those with deep faith, and I knew those people have a high chance of doing crazy things. I know for sure Erza would due to her being a former slave herself, and no doubt she had a background with the Magic Council compared to canon. "We just work together for the rest of this job, whether we complete it or not. Afterward, we will see if we should stay in this team."

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I would feel bad not having Erza in my life, but not all relationships are perfect. Even then, I still have Juvia with me, along with the Phantom Maidens. More of the former than the latter. I'm still skeptical of the Phantom Maidens. No matter how useful they are and continue to show their loyalty to me. There is bound to be something bad dealing with them in the long term.

Again, I can find out easily enough with Beyond Card. I seriously got to remember all the important Magic Cards I've made over time.

"Juvia doesn't like how Erza sided with the other instead with Renato-sama." Juvia pouted, causing me to hug her, which immediately brought a smile to her face. "Look like Erza won't be joining us for our daily night activity, huh?"

"Look like it." I ignore the stare I'm getting from Tania. "So, Tania. Is there anyone up ahead?"

"Yeah, there's a bunch of Mages inside the temple fighting." Tania didn't even take a second to detect the people inside.

"Think it the Mages that came before us, or Dark Mages hid here for some time now?" Juvia has a serious look on her face, which means it's time to focus on the job and forget about other things until then.

"Mostly both." Tania answered Juvia's question. "So, Renato. Do you want me to capture all of them alive or just kill them?"

"Capture them alive as well as prevent any of them from using their magic." I order Tania. I pause for a second to think about anything else. "Bring them here before us intact. I would rather not go inside and have the temple collapse on me due to accidentally destroying walls."

Tania didn't say anything for the next few seconds. The ground shakes and earth pillars rise in front of us. The top part of the earth pillars broke apart, revealing people's faces for us to see.

"Who the heck are you, people?! Release me!" Natsu roared, flames coming out of his mouth for a second before having rock covering his mouth, silencing him.

Tania realizes her mistake, covering everyone's mouth as well.

Yup, it's Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Happy, and the villains in the canon.

"Oh, Juvia knows these people. Those three should be from the Fairy Tail Guild." Juvia point at Natsu's group, then look at the villains. "Juvia doesn't know them and it looks like there is another cat like Carla after all. Too bad she isn't here to see him."

"I should be able to find out." I pull out the Magic Card: Scanner. The ability to scan anything and analyze the data and information that is gathered, including not just technological and digital subjects, but also subjects that are biological, chemical, etc.

I point the Scanner Card at Natsu's and the villain's groups. Like I'm taking a picture with a smartphone.

It only took a minute or two before I scanned everyone, then had the Scanner Card display the information.

Name: Natsu Dragneel (E.N.D.)
Race: Demon (Etherious)
Gender: Male
Occupation: Mage (Fairy Tail)
Status: Alive
Magic: Dragon Slayer Magic (Fire Dragon Slayer Magic)
[Tap To Expand]

Name: Lucy Heartfilia
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Occupation: Mage (Fairy Tail)
Status: Alive
Magic: Spatial Magic (Celestial Spirit Magic)
[Tap To Expand]

...(Scroll for more)

"Well, I was not expecting this." I look at Natsu's basic information, mainly his name and race.

Juvia leans over to look, then at Natsu, back at the Scanner Card, and back to Natsu. She did this several times to check whether what she was reading was true.

"I'm speechless." Juvia looks at Natsu with wide eyes.

"So am I." I was expecting Natsu to be somewhat different from canon, like not being a former human turned into a demon by his older brother to save his life. "Juvia, hold onto this. I need to do something real quick." I hand the Scanner Card to Juvia, then pull out a couple of Beyond Cards to get some answers. Something I've been pushing off for a while now. Too long really and that isn't good in more than one way.

---

A few minutes later*

I came back to see Natsu and the others are still being restricted by Tania.

I threw many Binding Cards around me before anyone could do a thing. All but Juvia and bound by the Binding Cards. There is now a slight change to the Binding Cards as they now bound one's power, suppressing them from allowing the users to use them until the Binding Cards' duration runs out.

And as always, I made sure to use my cheat to make it so none could escape nor be able to escape. Similar to how I use the Binding Card on Machio, but much stronger.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Tania shouts at me in rage, struggling to break free.

"Master Renato, did I do something wrong?" Bari asks me calmly, too calm, in my opinion. "You just need to tell us what we have done wrong and we will try our best to fix it."

"Did they do something wrong, Renato-sama?" Juvia didn't try to help Tania and Bari. Instead, she stood closer to me in a way to protect me if needed. Something I find Juvia cute and thankful.

"One second." I flick a couple of Sleep Induction Cards at Natsu and the villain's groups, putting them asleep instantly.

The Sleep Induction Card does precisely as its name, causing anyone to fall asleep instantly or more naturally. With this Magic Card, I can make people fall asleep by telling them or putting them in a sleep-like trance, making them dream of their greatest fantasies or experience their worst nightmares.

This Magic Card is among the many I've created in my free time.

"There. Now, we won't have to worry about them anytime soon." I look over to Bari and Tania, giving them my undivided attention. "Now, let's talk about this curse the Phantom Maidens has been trying to place on me since day one when I sign the contract."

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