Chapter 390: Healing the Sky Dragon

"This Heavenly Blue... who exactly are they?"

"We don’t know the identities of the roster. What we do know is that the guild was established with the direct backing of the Chief of the Magic Council’s Fiore Branch."

"Him again? That corrupt bastard..."

"Regardless of his reputation, he has delivered a group of highly capable mages right to our doorstep. Their presence might actually accelerate our plans."

A single, authoritative voice quickly calmed the tension in the dimly lit room. The conspirators knew that to complete their mission, they needed to harvest an unfathomable amount of magical energy. That was the true, hidden purpose behind gathering the continent’s strongest mages at the Grand Magic Games.

"But the Chief himself isn’t here in Crocus, correct?"

"Correct. Intelligence reports indicate he is currently away on business in a neighboring kingdom, negotiating port logistics."

"Good." The female voice—belonging to Princess Hisui—let out a heavy sigh of relief. "It would be incredibly troublesome if he were here."

While she didn’t believe Finn Hoen would actively try to stop her noble plan to save the kingdom, she knew exactly how greedy the man was. If he caught wind of their operation, she would likely have to pay an extortionate sum in bribes just to buy his silence.

"You are absolutely right, Princess," Arcadios, the armored knight, nodded in agreement, rubbing his temples as a headache formed. The mere thought of dealing with that young man—who somehow held more practical authority over many things in the Kingdom of Fiore—was exhausting.

"Then, we shall proceed with the plan as scheduled. We cannot fail. The fate of the world rests in our hands."

"YES, PRINCESS!"

While a massive conspiracy brewed in the shadows of the capital, absolute chaos had erupted inside the Fairy Tail lodgings.

"WENDY!"

Panic seized the guild the moment Finn walked through the door carrying the unconscious Sky Dragon Slayer. Wendy was completely unresponsive, trapped in a coma-like sleep that left everyone frantic.

"What happened to her?!" Natsu roared. Running purely on raw, unchecked emotion, the Fire Dragon Slayer immediately rounded on Finn, glaring at him with blazing anger. "What did you do to her?!"

"Don’t suddenly blame him! He didn’t do this!" Lisanna snapped, stepping fiercely between Natsu and Finn. "If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have even found her!"

"Ugh!" Natsu took a physical step back, genuinely shocked by Lisanna’s hostile reaction.

When they were children, he and Lisanna were incredibly close. She even teased him about getting married in the future. But time, tragedy, and a seven-year gap had driven a wedge between them. With Lucy now by his side and Lisanna returning from what they thought was the grave, things were already different. Yet, seeing Lisanna so aggressively defend Finn over her own guildmate made Natsu deeply uncomfortable. He knew he was jumping to conclusions, but her fierce way of defending Finn stung.

"Apologize to him, Natsu," Makarov ordered, letting out a heavy sigh. "You really need to rein in your temper. If you hurl baseless accusations at an innocent party just because you’re upset, do you think a simple apology will be enough to fix it?"

If they were dealing with some random street thug, Makarov might have let it slide. But this was Finn Hoen. Picking a fight with him was administrative suicide.

"...I’m sorry," Natsu muttered, bowing his head in frustration. He still felt suspicious of how conveniently Finn had found her, and seeing how incredibly close Finn and Lisanna had become rubbed him the wrong way.

Seeking to de-escalate the tension before anyone else provoked Finn, Mirajane stepped forward. "Do you have any idea what happened to her, Finn?"

Having lived with him for months, Mirajane understood his temperament better than most. She knew that if she didn’t politely take control of the conversation, Finn would simply turn around and leave them to deal with the mess themselves.

"I don’t know," Finn replied flatly. "Your guild has made a lot of enemies over the years. It’s likely one of them targeted her to cripple your roster before the games."

"..."

The guild fell silent, the grim reality setting in.

"It really wasn’t you, right?" Gray asked, his eyes narrowing in lingering suspicion.

Finn slowly turned his gaze to the ice mage. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet. "If I wanted to destroy this guild, I wouldn’t bother targeting a little girl in an alleyway. I would simply reclassify Fairy Tail as a Dark Guild and let the Council eradicate you from the continent by morning. Is that what you would prefer me to do?"

A cold sweat broke out on Gray’s neck. "I... I’m sorry."

Unlike Natsu, Gray possessed a cool head. Realizing he had just accused the man holding their guild’s survival in the palm of his hand, Gray offered a sincere, deeply apologetic bow.

"I’m leaving," Finn stated, turning toward the door. He honestly detested the overbearing, self-righteous attitude of certain Fairy Tail members. It was exhausting.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Don’t go yet!"

Cana quickly lunged forward, physically blocking the doorway, with Lisanna and Mirajane hurrying up right behind her.

"You’re a master at healing magic, right? Please, heal Wendy! Help us!" Cana pleaded. Leaning forward provocatively, she tried to press her soft, generous cleavage against Finn’s chest. "Don’t worry. If you help us out, I’ll make sure to give you a very nice reward~!"

Before she could even make contact, Cana was suddenly shoved hard from behind, sending her stumbling to the floor.

"Eh?"

Cana looked up in shock to see Lisanna and Mirajane standing over her with identical, dangerously sweet smiles.

"Oops. Sorry, my hand slipped," Lisanna giggled.

"Geez, be careful where you’re stepping, Cana," Mirajane added sweetly.

"...."

Cana glared at the Strauss sisters. Neither of them possessed a single ounce of guilt for shoving her. In fact, their eyes were practically glowing with territorial menace.

"DO YOU WANNA GO?!" Cana roared, scrambling to her feet, entirely ready to activate Fairy Glitter right there in the lobby. Did they seriously think she was afraid of them?

"Oh? You want to try us?" Mirajane’s smile widened terrifyingly.

"We aren’t exactly weak, you know," Lisanna cracked her knuckles.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Erza’s voice boomed like thunder, instantly freezing the impending catfight. Rubbing her temples, Titania stepped past the bickering women and stopped directly in front of Finn.

Without a moment of hesitation, Erza dropped into a deep, respectful bow.

"I beg you to heal Wendy," Erza pleaded, her voice trembling with desperation. "I know we have caused you nothing but trouble, and I know you have zero obligation to help us. I also know that whoever did this might target you next if you intervene. But I swear on my honor—if that happens, I will act as your shield. I will lay down my life to protect you if I have to. I know we are already drowning in debt to you, but I will do whatever it takes to repay this."

She looked up, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "So, please... heal Wendy!"

"Please!"

Following Erza’s lead, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and the rest of the guild bowed deeply, begging the Chief for a miracle.

Finn looked down at the bowing guild. "Don’t you have your own specialized doctors? Hiring my services isn’t exactly cheap, you know."

"....."

"But," Finn sighed, raising his hand, "if you’re all willing to go to such lengths, I suppose I can do it."

Finn extended his hand over the comatose girl. "Invigorate."

A brilliant, gentle light cascaded from his palm, enveloping Wendy’s pale body. The suffocating chill of Magic Deficiency instantly vanished, replaced by a deep, pulsing warmth. Color rapidly returned to her cheeks, and her shallow breathing stabilized into a healthy, rhythmic rise and fall.

A moment later, Wendy’s eyelashes fluttered.

"Mmm... where... where am I?" Wendy murmured, slowly opening her eyes to look around in confusion.

"WENDY!!!"

The guild erupted into tears of absolute joy, dogpiling the little girl in a massive, emotional hug.

Watching from the sidelines, Finn mentally checked off a box. It was a tedious chore dealing with Fairy Tail’s dramatics, but securing a massive, undeniable life debt from the protagonist faction was a good thing.

As the guild rejoiced around Wendy, Finn’s eyes casually swept across the room—and locked directly onto Bisca.

It had been a while since he had seen her. Standing near the back of the crowd, Bisca caught his gaze. Finn offered a polite, completely formal nod, acting exactly as if he barely knew her.

Yet, despite his professional facade, Bisca’s entire face instantly flushed a brilliant shade of crimson. Unable to maintain eye contact, she quickly bowed her head, clutching her husband Alzack’s arm to steady her trembling knees.

Alzack, completely oblivious, just smiled and patted her hand.

However, standing just a few feet away, Erza caught the entire silent exchange. Titania’s eyes narrowed into sharp, deeply suspicious slits.