Fairy Tail 78

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Fairy Tail
Chapter 78 "The Paradise Beyond"
[insert text: Now accepting applicants // to be "punished"!♡

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[insert text: The ripples caused by Erza's unearthed past... are serious enough to reach even the halls of the Magic Council?!]
[box: Magic Council Hall, Era]
Councillors: R-System still exists?!! // Impossible!!! // Eight years ago... A cult of dark-art worshippers... / They put a huge quantity of funds into the construction of the "R-System". // Seven towers, if I recall? But the entire project was suppressed by the Council... no trace should remain.

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Councillors: But there was an eighth tower... in the waters off Ka Elm. // D... Don't tell me it has been brought to completion...? // I'm afraid our field researchers don't joke lightly about such matters. // Then... it is complete. // Hmmm... // But how could R-System possibly be...
Sieglein: The Tower of Paradise.
Councillor: ?!
Sieglein: Not "R-System"... // The "Tower of Paradise"...

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Councillors: Yes, I have heard it called by that name... // Quiet, Sieg!!! Who cares about the name?!!! // R-System is a forbidden magic!!! // The scale of its impact upon the people is too great!!! It would bring chaos to the land!!! // The military must be dispatched immediately!!! / There is not a moment to waste!!! // However, as long as we know not whom we face...... // We know not... whom we face...? // It would seem that this is not the work of the magical cult from before. // What?!! // ...There is a mysterious man known only as Gérard.

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Councillors: "Gérard"?!! // ?!! // Not a name I recognise... // Aside from the name, we know nothing of him. // ......

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Gray: Where the hell is this?!!!
Lluvia: Could we have become lost somehow?
Lucy: Hey... Natsu, are you sure this is the right way?
Natsu: Y... / Yeee... / Yeeah...
Gray: Hey, we're going on your nose here, you know!!! / Pull yourself together!!!
Lluvia: To betray Gray-sama's expectations... such a thing would be despicable!

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Gray: Dammit!!! I can't believe somebody ran off with Erza and Happy while we were knocked out! // Ugh... it's all so pathetic...
Lluvia: Absolutely... for a mage of Erza's level to be taken out so easily...
Gray: She isn't dead. // You don't know a thing about Erza, okay...?!
Lluvia: L - Lluvia is sorry...
Lucy: Gray!! Calm down!!
Gray: Tch...
Natsu: Ughhh...
Lucy: They said that they were Erza's old nakama... // I guess even we don't really... // ...know a thing about Erza......

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Lucy: Ah! // A tower! // Could it be... / The Tower of Paradise?!

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Erza: So, it really was... completed...
Shou: Well, we have had eight years, y'know... / We're the ones who brought it to completion.
Shimon: Walk.
Erza: Ungh... // Eight years... // You guys have changed, too...
Shimon: ......

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Shimon: The ceremony will be at noon tomorrow. // Until then, you stay here.
Erza: Ceremony?! They intend to activate R-System?!!
Shou: Well, there's nothing to be done now, Nee-san... it's your fault for betraying us. // You made Gérard pretty mad. // He's decided that you're to be the sacrifice for the ceremony.
Erza: ......

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Shou: I guess I won't be seeing you again, Nee-san. // But this is all for the sake of "paradise". // You shaking? // Scared of becoming a sacrifice? // Or are you just scared because you're back here?
Flashback!Dude: Did you really think you'd get away so easily?!!! // You little brats!!!

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Flashback!Shou: Aahh... / Aaahhh...!
Flashback!Worly: Ugh...
Flashback!Erza: Uunhh...
Flashback!Dude: It is absolutely essential that we complete R-System with the utmost speed!! // But wait... we cannot allow any further delay to the construction process. / Under normal circumstances, you would all be sent away for punishment...
Flashback!Worly: !!!
Flashback!Dude: However, just this once... only one will be punished. // Who was the mastermind behind this little escape plot? // He alone will be taken for punishment. // Ah, but aren't we just so kind to you all...? Hahahah...

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Flashback!Dude: Well... who is it?! // The little rebel...
Flashback!Erza: It was -
Flashback!Gérard: It was me.
Flashback!Everyone: !!!
Flashback!Gérard: I was the one who came up with the plan, and put it into action.
Flashback!Erza: ......
Flashback!Shou: Géra... / ...rd...
Flashback!Dude: Ohhh? // Hmm...

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Flashback!Dude: This girl, I think.
Flashback!Erza: !!!
Flashback!Gérard: Wha - ?!
Flashback!Shimon: ...!!!
Flashback!Dude: Take her.
Flashback!Gérard: It was me!!! I was the one behind this!!! Erza's not to blame!!!
Flashback!Erza: I... I'll be... fine... // Don't worry about me.
Flashback!Gérard: Erza...!!!
Flashback!Erza: You're the one who said it, right, Gérard? // I'm not scared of anything!

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Flashback!Gérard: Erza!!!
Flashback!Dude: Get back, brat!!!
Flashback!Miriana: S... Save her, Gérard... // Save El-chan...
Flashback!Dude: You little punks get no food for three days. // Well, it's better than going off to be punished... / Hahahahah!
Shou: I'm sorry about back then, Nee-san... // I was the one behind it all. // But... I was scared; I just couldn't say it. // It wasn't fair, I know......

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Erza: I don't care about that any more. // More importantly... do you all understand just how dangerous it is, using R-System to bring people back to life?
Shou: Huh... so you knew what R-System really is. Impressive.
Erza: The "Revive System". / In exchange for the sacrifice of one person, another can be brought back from the dead. // An inhumane and forbidden magic.
Shou: Since when was magic ever "humane"? // All magic puts "humanism" to one side.
Erza: Just the way a dark mage would think... you're no different from them.
Shou: Those bastards never thought of R-System as anything more than a means of bringing back the dead. // Gérard's not like that.

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Shou: He means to lead us all to the "paradise" beyond...
Erza: Paradise?
Shou: When Gérard revives that person... // The world itself will be born anew. // With us at its helm!

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Shou: The bastards who stole away our freedom... your nakama, the nakama of our betrayer... the common people who live their lives in ignorance and sloth... the brainless fools of the Council... // Everyone in the world will know terror and misery!!!! We will steal away freedom from them all!!!! THE ENTIRE WORLD WILL BE OUUUUUUUUUUUUUURS!!!!
[TN: Wow... unhinged to the MAX. And he's not even the ringleader.]

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Shou: Ugh...!
Erza: ......

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Erza: What have you done to change people like this...?!! // I will never forgive you, Gérard!!!! // I will put an end to this!!!!
[insert text: The tightly-coiled chains of the past! Now is the time to sever them all!! A heart filled with rage!!!]
[bottom text: To be continued in Chapter 79: "Sieglein's Resolve"!]