Having beaten Jiemma to the point where he's physically unable to resist, I stood atop him, meeting his intense, furious gaze, causing me to snort before kicking him into the wall. "Tsk, all you know how to do is glare; what a fucking weakling." Spitting in disgust, I approached Jiemma, who had fallen from the wall, landing on the ground like a slab of raw meat.
I reached down, grabbing him by his neck before lifting him up, slamming him against the wall as I tightened my grip; I'd toyed with him for long enough. "Oi, when you get to hell, make sure to tidy it up for me." Flashing a ferocious grin, I clenched my hand, intending to break his neck in one go.
However, just as I was about to, I heard a rock fall, prompting me to glance in its direction, only to see Minerva silently watching me; as I looked at her, I couldn't help but bite my lip and hesitate. After a few seconds, I clicked my tongue, tossing Jiemma through another wall; killing him was one thing, but to do so while Minerva watched, that wasn't something I could bring myself to do.
'Tsk, lucky fucking bastard.' Growling in frustration, I shifted my gaze to Minerva as I approached her, coughing up blood in the process. "C-Cooper, are you okay!?" With difficulty, Minerva rose to her feet, stumbling towards me, prompting me to catch her before she fell. "Yeah, don't worry, he just reopened some of my wounds." Hoisting her up into my arms, I wiped the blood around my mouth while using indestructible magic on her.
"My F-Father, i-is he…?" As she looked at the wall I'd thrown him through, I snorted before shaking my head. "No, he's not dead; his injuries aren't anything serious, I'd made sure of it. I couldn't have him dying in the middle of my fun; he is in a hella of a lot of pain though." Smirking towards the end, I glanced at Minerva, who faintly nodded, her expression undiscernible.
"Anyway, let's leave this place; now that I know how this place operates, I can't let you stay here. How about I take you to Fairy Tail? I know an old man who'd love to have you." Flashing her a faint smirk, I began my trek through the heavily damaged building of Sabertooth, stepping across destroyed floors, debris from ceilings and walls, as well as the bodies of unconscious members.
Minerva just shot me a weird look, causing me to tilt my head before slapping my face, realizing my crazy wording. "I mean, at Fairy Tail, he'd love to have you at Fairy Tail." "O-Oh. W-Would that be fine? A-Am I strong enough?" I released a burst of laughter at her question while shaking my head. "Strong enough? First things first, Minerva, you're strong as hell."
From all the child abuse and nonsense Jiemma had been feeding her, she didn't seem to really believe me as she skeptically glanced at me. "R-Really?" "Yes. When I was your age, I wasn't even half as strong as you." "W-What? T-That. Y-Your lying, right, Cooper?" "Heh, I wish. At the same age, you were a whole league ahead of me. Now imagine that someone much weaker than you became this strong. If that could happen, how strong do you think you'd become in the future?"
As her widened eyes slowly returned to normal, Minerva lowered her head slightly with a thoughtful expression before hesitantly raising it once more. "M-Much stronger?" "Correct. So ignore whatever that fucker of a father mentioned; someone much stronger than him just said you were strong." Smirking, I ruffled her hair, causing her faintly nod as she rested her head on my shoulder while a small smile graced her face.
"Anyway, why didn't you send a letter? If it weren't for Finger's, I wouldn't have come to help?" "S-Sorry. F-Father wouldn't let me." "Hmph, fucking bastard. I should go back and punch him a few more times." "Hehehe."
Snorting in annoyance, I continued trekking through the building, which seemed to be on the verge of falling apart, until we eventually escaped through the front entrance. "Haa, finally, we escaped." "Wait, Cooper, I-I just remembered, b-but F-Father, he had recently taken in some kids; t-they're inside somewhere." Looking at me in worry, I turned around, glancing into the building, when a piece of rebar suddenly fell.
"So, you only know remembered?" With a twitching expression, I met her gaze, causing her to blush while faintly nodding. "You little brat. Haa, wait here, I'll go look for them." Pinching her nose, I gently set her down on the steps before reentering the guild, scratching my head.
"So where are they?" Muttering softly, I focused on sensing magic power signatures, only to notice a few weak signatures, causing me to click my tongue. 'Tsk, no wonder I ignored them, they were so weak.' Sighing to myself, I headed towards the weak magic power, opting to take a direct path even if it sped up the collapse of the guild.
After a minute, I arrived in what looked like an obscure part of the guild, then opened a door that led to a large closet full of brooms, buckets, and other similar things; however, sitting in the middle, playing cards, were five people. Well, more like five children.
"Tch, I just said you can't do that, you can't place a six atop a nine." The oldest one, a teenage boy with blue hair and skin a little bit lighter than mine, glared at a boy just a bit younger than Minerva with blonde hair. "B-But they're the same if you flip them?" "Then don't flip them! Arghh!" "Haa, bunch of clowns." The third one to speak, somehow, seemed to be the smartest despite being one of the youngest.
"I have a seven." "I also have a seven." The next two, both clearly introverted at a glance, were also of a similar age to the two previous boys; one had black hair, and the other brown. Despite watching them for a solid minute, it wasn't until I cleared my throat that they finally noticed me. "Eh, who is he?" "I don't know. Maybe another guild member?" "Ugh, do we have to clean something again?"
'Unbelievable, to think Jiemma used children as janitors… Hmm, actually, that's not a terrible idea.' Rubbing my children with a wicked glint, I eventually shook my head, shifting to the pressing matter of not being flattened by the guild's collapse. "C'mon, you five follow me."
As they reluctantly stood up while grabbing brooms, mops, and a bucket, I led them out of the hallway, using the path I'd made to get here. "W-We've got clean t-this stuff up?" "N-No way, r-right?" "J-Just end me now." "T-This should count as cruel and unusual punishment! Where is the Magic Council!?" "Have you forgotten the Magic Council has disbanded, Orga?"
While they lamented over something they weren't going to have to clean in the first place, we eventually arrived outside, where Minerva was sitting down on the first step. "Oi, Minever, how the hell can you all this grown ass man a kid?" Calling out to Minerva, who looked this way, I pointed at the tallest, who I learned was called Orga. "W-Wow, you two look like brothers!"
My face aggressively twitched at her remark; approaching her, I saved any violent teasing and lifted her upside down by her ankle. "You do know that's racist, Minerva? Minvera? Eh, Minvera?" It seemed I shouldn't have done that; it must've been because she'd lost a decent amount of blood, because when I lifted her upside down, she'd fallen unconscious.
'Well, it might be better. Let her rest after everything.' Sighing softly, I held her in my arms, using my magic on her, letting her comfortably sleep on my body. "Oh, I also want to be carried!" "Urgh, this dummy, Sting." Dropping the mop in his hand, Sting promptly latched onto my leg and climbed onto my shoulder, causing me to sigh; thankfully, it wasn't my first time dealing with an annoying child.
"You guys can drop those useless things; I'm taking you away from Sabertooth." Gesturing to the four behind me, they looked at each other curiously, causing me to internally groan as I imagined I'd need to spend several minutes explaining to them why I was doing so; however, luck seemed to be on my side. "Okay." "Hmph, anything to no longer be forced to clean up." "I concur; I don't need my life wasted away from menial manual labor." "I hate this."
Seeing them all toss the stuff onto the ground, I felt a wave of relief and walked down the stairs while they followed. "So, sir, can I ask what happened to the guild?" "You can just call me Cooper. What's your guy's name?" Dismissively waving my hand, I shot them a glance.
"Well then, Cooper, I'm Rufus Lore, the quiet one is Rogue Cheney, the quieter one is Dobengal, the annoying one is Sting Eucliffe, and the tall, aggressive one is Orga Nanagear." Nodding at Rufus's professional-level introduction, Orga pushed him aside and stepped forward, matching my stride.
"So, what happened to the guild, Cooper? If you're taking us away, did you happen to launch an attack?" "Yeah. I beat up everyone, including the guild master." At my response, Orga's eyes shone brightly.
"Everyone? Who was the strongest?" "It was the guildmaster. Right?" "Oh, you must be super strong then! How about we fight!?" "Hoho, you'll undoubtedly lose, Sting, though I'm interested in watching." "Can I also fight?"
Getting hit with questions non-stop, I looked at the sky and sighed. 'Haa, I do not miss this one bit.'