Chapter 588 - 588: One Woman Against an Entire Guild

Millianna sensed the violent rush of air coming toward her and reacted instantly.

She bent low, twisted with a catlike agility, and sprang out of the way just before Kagura's strike came down.

The blow slammed into the ground with a tremendous crash, immediately drawing the attention of everyone inside the mine.

The enslaved civilians had been working with hollow, exhausted expressions, but the sound of fighting caused a spark of hope to return to their eyes.

That hope quickly faded when they saw that the intruder was only a single woman standing alone against an entire force of mages.

Kagura noticed their reaction, but she paid it no mind.

Magic Power erupted from her without restraint.

A tremendous horizontal gravitational force burst outward from her body like an invisible wall.

Kagura's control was precise enough that the crushing repulsion curved harmlessly around the civilians while catching the overseers completely off guard and blasting more than half of them across the cavern.

The controlled mages immediately fell into chaos.

Risley, however, quickly recognized the intruder.

The heavyset Mermaid Heel mage narrowed her eyes at Kagura and activated her own Gravity Magic.

Her power was nowhere near enough to overpower Kagura's directly, but it was sufficient to stabilize the others and keep them from being completely swept away.

"Never thought I'd use this against you, Kagura…"

Risley raised both hands.

"Everyone, attack! I'll control her movements!"

Gravity shifted.

Kagura's body was suddenly yanked upward toward the cavern ceiling.

At the same time, magic circles lit up across the ground below her as dozens of mages unleashed their spells toward the airborne target.

"Void Escape Slash!"

Kagura twisted in midair and landed upside down against the ceiling.

Her sword flashed from its sheath.

Space itself rippled as each incoming spell was cut apart one after another before reaching her.

The shattered attacks exploded against the rock around her, filling the ceiling with smoke and debris.

Kagura used the cover to drop back to the ground.

Then she charged straight into the crowd.

Her movements flowed continuously from one target to the next.

She held her sword reversed in one hand and its sheath in the other, both arms moving like spinning blades as she struck with terrifying efficiency.

Weaker mages often lost consciousness before they even had time to finish casting.

"Carrot Bombs!"

A freckled girl with twin braids shouted as she activated her Vegetable Magic.

Explosive carrots sprouted from Beth's hands and flew toward Kagura in a dense barrage.

Kagura hesitated for only a fraction of a second when she saw her guildmate.

Then she hardened her heart.

Sword and sheath blurred into a near-solid wall, batting away every explosive projectile before Kagura closed the distance and knocked Beth unconscious with a precise strike from the sheath.

She had no intention of killing anyone.

Even so, the sight of Kagura fighting like a war god against an entire chamber full of mages began to crush their morale.

Risley noticed it immediately.

She clenched her teeth and shouted toward a group beginning to retreat.

"Go deeper underground! Report this and request reinforcements!"

At the far edge of the cavern, another passage descended even farther beneath the earth.

Several scattered mages snapped out of their panic and hurried toward it.

Kagura immediately remembered Jellal's warning.

She couldn't let even one of them escape and alert whoever was below.

She rushed toward the passage.

Then something tightened around her arm.

Kagura glanced aside.

Arania had caught her with a web.

Before Kagura could tear herself free, Millianna followed up with one of her binding tubes, wrapping the other arm.

As the strongest mage of Mermaid Heel, Kagura's reactions were frighteningly fast.

She immediately released her sword, kicked it into the air with one long leg, and sent the sheathed weapon spinning straight through a group of mages who had been preparing to attack while her arms were restrained.

Several bodies went flying.

Kagura then leaped.

Her core strength let her twist violently in midair, and the restraints around both arms became the leverage she needed to drag Millianna and Arania off their feet.

Both women screamed.

BANG!

Kagura swung them together hard enough that they collided headfirst.

Their eyes rolled back, and both dropped unconscious.

"Don't get cocky, Kagura!"

Just as Kagura turned back toward the mages trying to escape, three flamboyantly dressed men suddenly appeared in her path.

"Hibiki, Ren, Eve…"

Kagura's expression tightened.

"Blue Pegasus."

She immediately moved aside as the three launched a coordinated attack.

"WILD—FOUR!"

A group of muscular men charged in immediately afterward.

Kagura stared at them.

"And Quatro Cerberus…"

She retrieved her sword and settled into a guarded stance.

No one here could match her individually.

But three of Fiore's top guilds had already appeared in this mine, and even Kagura's Magic Power had limits.

Against that many competent mages at once, attrition alone could become dangerous.

"FOUR!"

Just as Kagura prepared to fight through them anyway, an even louder drunken roar erupted from behind the muscular men.

Bacchus charged in with alcohol still in hand and unleashed his Drunken Split-Palm, mercilessly sending several members of his own guild flying.

Elsewhere, a heavy fragrance suddenly filled the cavern.

And then he arrived.

Ichiya burst dramatically onto the battlefield after using his Perfume Magic to transform himself into a towering wall of muscle.

Hibiki, Ren, and Eve stared in horror as the grotesquely enlarged Ichiya grinned and charged toward them.

It was a visual nightmare.

While the front of the cavern descended into chaos, golden starlight suddenly flooded the escape route on the other side.

A huge wave of force tore through the crowd of mages trying to flee and sent them tumbling across the ground.

Jellal lowered his hand as the last traces of celestial light scattered from his fingers.

He stepped up beside Kagura.

"We came to help."

Kagura took a moment to steady her breathing after the enormous amount of Magic Power she had burned through.

Then she stood and deliberately kept her tone calm.

"Weren't we supposed to wait for reinforcements?"

"You were right."

Jellal didn't answer the question directly.

Instead, he returned to what Kagura had said outside the cave.

"I was pretending to be a good person."

Kagura frowned and looked at him.

Something in Jellal's eyes seemed different.

A shadow that had lingered there for years had lightened, if only slightly.

"Whether I was being controlled or not, I still became someone who did terrible things."

He smiled faintly.

"When I talk about spending the rest of my life atoning, what I really mean is that I'm trying desperately to become a better person."

"To repay the people who suffered because of me…"

"And, if I'm being honest, to make it easier for me to live with myself."

His gaze lowered.

"But no matter how much good I do now, it doesn't erase what I did before."

"To you, and to the people I hurt, I may always remain Jellal—the man you hated."

Kagura stared at him in surprise.

"No… I was angry. I said things I didn't really—"

"It's alright."

Jellal gently interrupted her.

"I think I finally understand myself a little better."

And strangely, the realization made him feel lighter.

Atonement had always contained a contradiction.

Past sins couldn't be scrubbed away simply by piling good deeds on top of them.

Jellal had spent years wandering that road without fully understanding what destination he expected to reach.

Now he understood that there might not be one.

That didn't make the path meaningless.

If anything, it made his choice clearer.

He would carry what he had done and continue doing good anyway.

Not because it would erase the past.

Because it was still the right thing to do.

Jellal turned toward the controlled guild members filling the mine.

"Let's deal with everyone here first, Kagura."

His smile was unexpectedly relaxed.

"Before Ankh and the others arrive."

Kagura still wasn't entirely sure what revelation he had just reached, but she could hear the change in his voice.

She drew her sword without hesitation.

"Fine."

Bacchus and Ichiya moved into position beside them.

Four people faced the combined forces of multiple guilds.

Magic circles began lighting up throughout the enormous cavern.

Then the battle erupted again.

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