Ben felt like his skin was torn apart, his muscles are ripped and his bones are crushed even though none of those things happened. Even the injuries he didn't receive from Acnologia 7 years ago didn't feel this painful.

But he needed to go through this, so he held on and forced himself to stay conscious. The black magic letters on his body slowly turn red as they absorb the dragon's blood. They also absorb the thick Ethernano in the isolated room with the barrier which made them glow.

Then the dragon's magic power which had been stored also entered the barrier. It was also absorbed by the magic letters. The absorption of the dragon's magic power activated Ben's Dragon Force and golden scales appear on his skin, but now they appeared all over the body, making him look like a dragonoid.

A transformation also took place inside Ben's body. Cracks start to form on his Demon/Dragon/God Seed. All the magic power that he absorbed through the magic letters enter the seed through the cracks.

The absorption power is just 1 MP/second, so it seems slow. However, it was very fast compared to a mages' natural absorption that might not even increase a point in a day. It's fast even for Ben who can increase his MP by a few hundred MP per day if he only relied on his natural absorption rate.

But now he absorbed 3,600 MP per hour, which meant he absorbed 86,400 MP per day. His target is very high though, so it would take days to finish the procedure. But he can't leave the barrier during the process, which meant he would stay there for days without eating or drinking.

He informed Mira about this, so she won't look for him unless there was something urgent that requires his presence. She can contact Jarvis if something came up and Jarvis can inform him about it.

Mira wasn't that worried about Ben because she knew what he was capable of. He will be able to survive without eating or drinking for a month if he pushed it. His vitality was really high and the thick Ethernano will help him survive.

The problem is their kids who will keep searching for their father. Even now, they've already asked about him. It had only been a day, but they already miss him and wanted to play with him. They behave when Mira told them he is working right now.

It only lasted until the 3rd day though and they start whining because he hasn't returned. Mira then turned into a demonic mother and makes the kids behave again. She knew they will whine tomorrow, so she really hoped Ben will return soon.

Over the next few days, Mira continued to deal with the whining kids. They finally stopped whining after 10 days after Mira pretended to cry too. The kids console her, but then they become angry with their father.

Mira became speechless. 'T-this was not the result I expected. I'm sorry Ben, but you'll have to deal with this when you get back.'

The days passed peacefully after that and the kids are well behaved. They are still mad at their father though because they thought he was the one who made their mother cry. Everyone in the guild knew this because the kids kept complaining about it and it made them feel sorry for Ben.

Although they were also wondering why Ben hadn't returned. It had been 21 days since he left to seclude himself. He told them he would only be gone for a few days, but this is more than a few days. It's been 3 weeks already.

Then suddenly, their attention was shifted when Jet and Droy enter the guild with panicked expressions. They told them that something terrible had happened. The Magic Council HQ was attacked and a lot of people were killed.

It surprised everyone there because this was concerning for Ishgar's magic world. This was the 2nd time the Magic Council HQ was attacked. The first time was when Jellal and Ultear attacked it disguised as members of the Council.

People were still wondering about the motive behind that attack when the next day, another shocking thing transpired. Laxus and the Thunder Legion returned in bad shape along with Yajima. They were guarding him when someone suddenly attacked them.

Their attack killed a lot of townsfolk. Over 100 people died as a result of Magical Barrier Particles. It caused magic deficiency, illness and eventually death.

Makarov knew they couldn't wait anymore and decided to make a move. The enemy's targets are Magic Council members who have high positions. So he sent the members of the guild to guard the Council members.

"Should we call Ben?" Mira asked.

"Not yet. He's doing something really important right now. So we should do what we can before calling him." Makarov said.

"Don't you think it's already urgent? We already suspect Tartaros is behind this. And they were capable of destroying the Magic Council HQ and hunting Council members. So don't we need all our mages, especially our strongest ones? I won't say anything about my helpless dad, but we need Ben." Cana pointed out.

Makarov thought about it and finally said. "You're right. We can't hold back now. At the very least, we should inform Ben to get ready first. It might be too late if we wait too long to call him."

Mira nodded when she heard that and she returned home with her kids, Asuka, Wendy, Carla and Bella. After arriving there, Mira asked Jarvis to inform Ben about everything that happened. Then she asked Wendy and the cats to take care of Ariel and Gabriel because she needed to help the others.

"Ariel, Gabriel, listen to your aunties while Mama isn't here, alright? Mama will return as soon as possible after finishing this job. Asuka, you also need to behave. Your father and mother also have a job to do." Mira said while caressing the kids' hair.

The 3 kids nod, but Asuka was a lot calmer about this than Ariel and Gabriel who were still holding onto Mira's skirt. Eventually they let go of her and she returned to the guild. This house is the safest place in the town which was already very safe due to the defense mechanisms that Ben set up.

But extra protection never hurt, that's why the kids were sent here. Wendy, Bella and Carla were tasked to take care of them. They are also in charge of contacting Ben because they can only contact him through Jarvis.

Elsewhere...

Kenshin walked down a mountain path after finishing a S-Class job a few days earlier. He then tightly gripped his staff. He had a bad feeling in his bones and immediately changed into a air current to return to the guild.

/

Sometime later, Makarov assigned a task to Mira after he obtained more information. She will work with Erza to guard the former Chairman of the Magic Council, Crawford Seam. Makarov thought he would one of the targets as a former Chairman, so he sent 2 S-Class mages.

Mira and Erza head there as fast as they can and arrive not long after that. Crawford happily welcomed them because no one will refuse free protection. He even served them tea while they kept watching their surroundings.

The 3 of them discuss the attack on Council members. Mira and Erza ask about the things they found out before. They knew Tartaros was after Face, a very powerful weapon owned by the Magic Council.

This weapon can nullify all magic on the continent of Ishgar. That means all mages will lose their ability to use magic and only those that don't use magic aren't affected. Tartaros is a guild comprised of Etherious and they use Curses, so that weapon won't affect them. That's the reason they're after it.

However, not much is known about Face. Crawford even said that he doesn't known where it's located or who has the keys. Mira and Erza keep trying to dig for more details, but he kept saying he didn't know anything.

Then sometime later, they felt sources of ominous magic power approach them. A lot of Etherious were heading their way. Mira and Erza got ready to fight the demons, but they suddenly felt sleepy.

Erza instantly fell unconscious, while Mira can still hold on even though her consciousness was fading. She looked at the hiding Crawford who seemed surprised that she was still conscious. He had drugged their tea and he even made sure to put a higher dose into Mira's tea, but she can still hold on, which really surprised him.

Mira glared at Crawford and said, "This won't end well for you." before she lost consciousness.