CHAPTER 745: ONE MOVE

"What’s wrong, Sting?" The little red Exceed Lector rubbed his eyes and padded out to see what the commotion was. When he took in the scene in the guild hall, he froze. "What happened? Is that Orga?"

Half of Orga’s body was buried in the floor, so Lector could only identify him by his legs, still, he was confident it had to be Orga.

Rogue and Frosch stepped forward as well and stood silently beside Sting, taking in the situation.

Lector considered it calmly. "Could that person have defeated Orga?"

Frosch, in his high childish voice, piped up, "Frosch thinks so too."

"Isn’t that Rhodes of the Ten Wizard Saints?" someone offered.

"Frosch thinks so too," Frosch repeated.

The presence of Sting and the twins suddenly steadied the crowd. With the Master and the Young Miss absent, the Twin Dragons were the strongest fighters left in the guild. They clustered together and began chattering, filling in the story for the others.

Rhodes tapped his foot on the cracked floor and the fissure widened enough that Orga could be rolled to his side and breathed on without suffocating.

’This kid promised to tell me Yukino’s whereabouts if I won,’ Rhodes thought. ’Why is he gone silent now?’

Sting, who had been listening to the gossip, silenced his people with a hand and pushed through the crowd toward Rhodes.

Everyone insisted Orga had provoked Rhodes first and struck the first blow.

Sting glanced at Orga, who, though his eyes rolled, was still breathing, so he should live. That eased Sting a little.

Sting did not dwell on Orga’s embarrassment. He answered Rhodes’s question directly.

"Yukino left the guild two months ago because she defied Master Jieman’s order and refused to sever ties with her sister, who is a criminal."

Rhodes frowned. "What do you mean ’sever ties with a criminal’? Why should sisters cut each other off?"

Mira’s voice rose as well. "Sisterhood is something you are born with. How can it be severed like that?"

Sting shifted, uneasy; he felt the Master’s decision was defensible, but he also felt something wrong about it. He spread his hands and said, "This is natural, isn’t it? We are a legitimate guild, the top guild in Fiore. How can we be associated with criminals? Can you accept your guild members keeping ties with criminals?"

Rhodes retorted righteously, "Why not?"

He pointed out, bluntly, that Fairy Tail had its own history: a founding Master who had ties to dark arts, a second Master who had once led Grimoire Heart, a third Master whose son was imprisoned. Members like Gajeel and Juvia had criminal records; Lily had once been an invader; Gray’s senior sister was still wanted. Rhodes himself had even argued for a wanted criminal not long ago. Yukino merely wanted to see her sister. What was the harm?

Sting looked taken aback. He had not expected Rhodes to answer with such moral force.

The others were also stunned. A Ten Wizard Saint had just defended the supposed stain on a guild. Could they tolerate their guild being so tarnished?

Mira’s voice grew fiercer than Rhodes’s. "What has Sorano’s crime got to do with Yukino? The bond between sisters is something you’re born with. How can you ask her to sever it so casually? How heartless is your Master, to order a girl to disown her own sister without considering Yukino’s feelings?"

Sabertooth’s members exploded in outrage. "How dare you slander the Master!"

"Because that woman isn’t from your guild, you can say such pretty things here!"

"You two are too presumptuous! This is Sabertooth’s territory!"

Rhodes began to understand why Yukino always went silent when Sabertooth was mentioned.

He patted Mira’s back lightly and smiled. "No need to get angry. It’s better Yukino left such an immature, petty guild. Perfect. Now we can find her. They do not know how to value an Earth Mage like her, but we do."

Mira nodded. "Right. Let’s go find Yukino."

They turned to leave, but Sting blocked them.

"As for Orga," Sting said, "he provoked first and was simply outmatched. I will pretend it did not happen. However, if you do not retract your slander against Master Jieman and Sabertooth, I cannot let you go so easily."

Rhodes chuckled. "Is speaking the truth slander?"

The hall erupted: "How dare he!"

"What arrogance!"

"Teach him a lesson!"

The crowd began to surge forward, perhaps emboldened by their numbers.

Dozens of Sabertooth mages surrounded Rhodes and Mira, forming a loose wall meant to block the exit.

Only one man slipped away, the one who had knelt before. Cleverly, he hoisted Orga onto his back and retreated toward the infirmary, wanting no part of what was about to happen.

"Perfect," Sting said, his expression sharpening as light gathered on his fist. "I also want to see if you deserve the title of Ten Wizard Saint!"

The ball of white light burst forth as Sting lunged.

Rhodes sighed and, just like before, raised his hand, then brought it down in a single clean chop.

Bang!

The strike landed squarely on the back of Sting’s head.

He crashed face-first into the floor with a thunderous boom, the stone splitting beneath him. Though stronger than Orga, he didn’t pass out, he simply ended up prostrated, half-buried in a man-shaped crater.

The entire Sabertooth guild trembled.

Another single move.

Sting, like Orga, hadn’t even touched his opponent’s clothes before being floored.

"Sting!" Lector’s fur stood on end, eyes wide. "H-how could this be?! Sting actually..."

"Too strong..." Rogue muttered, his gaze narrowing. "He didn’t even get serious. So this is a Ten Wizard Saint."

But Rogue couldn’t ignore what had been said about their guild. They insulted Sabertooth.

If words wouldn’t do, then he would fight.

His body sank into his own shadow. The darkness on the floor stretched and twisted, turning into a long, spear-like spike that shot toward Rhodes.

"Shadow Magic?" Mira tilted her head, intrigued.

Dark wings flared from her back as she entered Satan Soul, her long black leg flashing upward.

Crash!

Rogue’s cry of pain echoed through the hall as he was kicked out of his own shadow, clutching his stomach. He flew backward, smashed through the wall, and vanished into daylight beyond.

"Rogue!" Frosch yelped, flapping his tiny wings as he hurried after him through the gaping hole.

"How is that possible? Even Rogue..."

"He was kicked right out of his shadow!"

"Not just Rhodes, the woman’s terrifying too!"

"The Demon Couple...!"

Gasps rippled through the guild. The strongest duo of Sabertooth had been utterly overpowered, and in less than a minute.