The two of them chased after their quarry.
Before long, they arrived at the entrance of the Fairy Tail Guild.
Gildarts's playful expression faded as he stopped in front of the guild's heavy doors, momentarily unsure of how to open them.
He instinctively lifted his foot but quickly put it back down.
No way.
He couldn't leave a bad impression on Cana.
However, Gildarts's mind was blank, and he couldn't kick the door...
How did that door open...?!
At that moment, Gray caught up from behind, gathering Ice Hammer, Ice Spear, and Ice Spike magic in his hands, and without hesitation, he slammed them towards Gildarts.
But Gildarts merely waved his hand, shattering all of Gray's magic.
"Alright, we're here. Enough fooling around. Gray, go open the door."
Gray scoffed, biting his teeth in disbelief.
"What a lazy guy you are. You just stand there while I open the door."
Gray stepped forward and raised his hand to push the door.
Suddenly, he stopped, turning to glance back at Gildarts.
Seeing Gray suddenly turn, Gildarts noticed Gray instinctively looking away.
"What's wrong?"
Gray shook his head and turned back, raising his hand to push the door again.
Gildarts tensed up, watching nervously.
But then he noticed Gray stop, head down, a slight smirk on his lips.
"I'm saying, old man. You're not getting nervous, are you?"
Turning to Gildarts with a sly smile.
Gildarts was taken aback and quickly denied it.
"Are you kidding me? Why would I be nervous about going back to my own guild?! If you don't open the door, I'll do it myself! So annoying."
Gray chuckled, stepping aside and giving Gildarts an encouraging look.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Gildarts's forehead as he stared at the door, feeling cornered.
After taking a few deep breaths, he gritted his teeth and raised his hand to push the door.
Boom!
The guild's heavy doors crash down, breaking apart into countless small blocks.
Makarov's furious voice echoed through the hall:
"Gildarts! You better compensate for that door!!!"
Gildarts awkwardly looked at his hand and cleared his throat.
"Alright, alright. I'll pay for it."
Then he took a deep breath and stepped into the guild.
Seeing the surprised faces around him, he forced a gentle smile.
"Good afternoon, everyone."
As he said this, he raised his hand as if to greet them.
But the room fell into an eerie silence.
Clang! Clang!
The sound of more things dropping echoed through the hall.
Everyone stood frozen in shock, looking petrified.
Macao swallowed hard and nudged Wakaba, signaling with his eyes.
Is this Gildarts?
Wakaba was also dumbfounded, his pipe falling from his mouth as he shook his head in disbelief.
No idea...?
Could it be someone impersonating him?
When did Gildarts become this... civilized?
Makarov dropped his pen onto the ground, wide-eyed in shock as he stared at Gildarts.
"You… you… you… You're Gildarts???!!"
This guy never returns without wreaking havoc in the guild.
Since when did he learn to speak so gently?
If it weren't for that unchanging magical aura, Makarov would have almost transformed and prepared for a fight.
Gildarts twitched his mouth, awkwardly smiling.
"You don't need to look so surprised. Haven't I always been like this?"
Then his gaze swept across the guild hall, and in an instant, he spotted Cana.
Gildarts froze.
Cana's face slowly blended with the memory of Cornelia in his mind.
Tears almost welled up in Gildarts's eyes.
But the next second, his expression darkened.
He noticed the small barrel of alcohol in front of Cana as well as the half-empty cup in her hand.
Gildarts immediately recalled what Gaal had said and clenched his teeth, walking over.
Everyone was confused.
Gildarts reached Cana and snatched her cup, placing it on the table before glaring at Macao.
"Macao, did you encourage Cana to drink?!"
Macao gulped, everyone could see the fury emanating from Gildarts.
"Uh... uh…"
Wakaba beside him remained silent, merely giving Macao an expression of self-preservation.
Macao was almost in tears; who knew what had happened to Gildarts?
He didn't know what to say.
Fortunately, Gildarts didn't continue to glare at Macao but instead said in a deep voice:
"Not again."
Gildarts didn't want to reveal his violent side.
But little did he know, his reputation had long been tarnished.
Cana had certainly heard plenty about Gildarts's exploits.
But at this moment, she was so stunned that she couldn't speak.
Seeing the bewildered Cana in front of him, Gildarts squatted down and embraced her tightly, his voice trembling.
"Cana..."
The guild members looked on, completely dumbfounded.
What was happening? Gildarts wasn't even around when Cana joined the guild.
How did these two know each other?
And when embraced, Cana's body shuddered, her eyes reddening as she hugged Gildarts and began to cry.
"Gildarts! Waaahhhh!!!"
No one understood what was happening.
Meanwhile, Gray stood at the door, observing everyone's dumbfounded expressions, feeling puzzled.
"Don't you all know? Cana is Gildarts's daughter."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the atmosphere fell into a deadly silence.
A moment later...
"Eh—!!!!"
——
North Ishgar.
Within the Great Snow Mountain.
A giant squid swam through the snow-covered peaks.
Its massive body was barely smaller than the mountains beneath it, yet its many writhing tentacles flew as it climbed over one snow mountain after another.
With each ascent, the avalanches created buried countless animals.
At the head of Unicorn.
Gaal sat steadily on the head of the Unicorn, directing its movements.
After several days of modifications.
The Unicorn had transformed drastically.
Its originally black and red body had turned into a black and blue hue, and the seven orange magical eyes shifted to a water blue, with a blue glow flickering at its brow, displaying the Water Stone Plate embedded in its brain.
Once fearful of ice, the creature now moved across the dense snow-covered mountains like it was on flat ground.
With a thought from Gaal, the galloping Unicorn came to an immediate stop.
Gaal then looked towards a larger snow mountain nearby and gave the command.
"Ice Beam."
Underneath him, the Unicorn's seven enormous magical eyes flashed a blue light.
Woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh—!!
Ice-blue Ice Beams shot out from the seven magical eyes, like a relentless machine gun.
In just a moment, the perpetually snow-covered mountains transformed into a massive ice mountain.
Seeing this, Gaal nodded in satisfaction.
Such a wide-range attack was best for clearing out small fry.
Regular mages wouldn't stand a chance.
Later, he would toss it into the sea next to Fiore Kingdom; it would be perfect.
Gaal issued a stop command, then stood up from the Unicorn, stretched, and moved around a bit. He had been in the mountains for nearly two months; it was time to get out.
As Gaal focused his thoughts, the blue light at Unicorn's brow flickered.
In the next second, the Unicorn vanished in place, leaving behind a floating Water Stone Plate, which Gaal collected.
Just as Gaal was about to activate his magic to teleport to a nearby town, the communicator at his waist lit up.
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