Jura and One Night, along with the others, were naturally overjoyed, but deep down, it was more of a shock. They marveled:
"This is the power of a Dragon."
"What a mighty creature!"
Erza smiled: "Anyway, this means our subjugation mission is successfully completed."
"It's still too early." Rhode, using his remaining strength, summoned a Golem and gave one of the Crowns of Insight to himself and another to Wendy.
"Wendy, could you heal Gray? If we don't control the fire in these woods sprawling all over the mountains, it's going to get bad."
"Right!" Wendy jogged over to Gray and started using Healing Magic.
Everyone suddenly realized that although Nirvana was destroyed, there was still a mess to clean up.
The city area carried by Nirvana was vast, and now the range of the Sea of Fire was equally large and growing by the second.
If they didn't act quickly, the entire Mountain Range might get destroyed.
Rhode patted Natsu on the shoulder: "Once Nirvana is completely burned out, putting out the fire is up to you, Natsu. Let's think of a way to contain the flames."
"Leave it to me... there are just so many!" Natsu instinctively replied, then had a dramatic reaction upon seeing the extent of the flames.
Yet his body very honestly charged towards the Sea of Fire.
"In controlling the spread of the flames, let me help out too," said Jura, suggesting his magic could create firebreaks. "And also, please have Miss Wendy heal Leon; he can be of assistance too."
"Understood!"
A few minutes later, Gray and Leon were fully awake; their injuries weren't completely healed, but they were both engaged in working to extinguish the fire.
Throughout the forest, towering rock walls and ice walls rose, effectively halting the spread of the flames. However, expecting just a few of them to surround an entire city with such a Sea of Fire was clearly a stretch.
Rhode kept enhancing the three with the Crowns of Insight while waiting for his Magic Power to recover.
"Aaaaaah... Waaah... Damn it..."
Natsu, emitting strange cries, ran back and forth through the Sea of Fire, mysteriously allowing flames to enter his mouth without impeding his shouting.
Every time he passed by, the Sea of Fire diminished by about the width of a street, like it had been erased by an eraser.
When a long rock wall and ice wall stood firmly on both sides of the Sea of Fire, everyone saw the second Dragon of the evening.
Amidst the tremors of the earth, two firebreak walls taller and thicker than the ones Jura created rose from the ground, completely confining the Sea of Fire.
Though the ice wall was melting and the rock wall was slowly crumbling, they remained within their boundaries.
The Mountain Sub-Dragon was different from the Purgatory Sub-Dragon. It didn't roar upon completing its task but just silently vanished.
Yet, perhaps it was an illusion, but everyone seemed to hear its sigh.
They thought after handing over the Dragon Soul and introducing the Purgatory Sub-Dragon, there would be nothing more for it to do, but it still had to help clean up the mess. How annoying.
Rhode would rather pretend he didn't understand its meaning, wondering how much it disliked being summoned for work.
With the fire hazard addressed, everyone waited outside for Nirvana to burn down while Wendy recovered her magic to continue healing.
Later, they would have to 'retrieve' the defeated Oracion Seis members and the Red Headscarf and White-tailed Eagle members.
But after such long bouts of travel and battle, everyone was exhausted, intending to primarily focus on Oracion Seis, leaving the others for tomorrow.
Ever since Hapi woke up, his eyes hadn't left Carla and he was constantly chasing her around: "Carla, did you come specifically to help us?"
"Carla, do you want to eat fish?"
"Carla..."
Carla, fed up, complained: "You're so annoying, I should have asked Wendy to heal you later."
Hapi turned to stone instantly.
Lucy squatted down and patted Hapi's head, teasing: "Seems like you've got a long way to go before you're a couple."
She mimicked Hapi's rolling tongue when she mentioned 'couple.'
"Lucy is the worst person in the world!" Hapi burst into tears, dropped his precious fish, and went to a tree to sit beside it and draw circles.
Lucy gaped: "Is it really that serious?!"
Mira was helping Erza bandage her wound and cheerfully called out: "Lucy, pick up that fish. Since Hapi doesn't want it, let's make fish soup later; everyone must be hungry!"
Hapi cried even harder.
Lucy loudly complained, "How cruel!"
Erza, however, nodded, "Mira has a point. After a battle, we should indeed replenish nutrition; fish meat is rich in..."
"You're taking this too seriously!"
"Miss Lucy seems troubled!" Hibiki appeared like a whirlwind, dragging his injured body and kneeling on one knee before Lucy, reaching out a hand, "No matter what it is, please confess it to me."
Lucy quipped: "My trouble would be less if you didn't try to pull that move."
"Then you can also talk to me." Ive did a similar move to Hibiki, though his expression seemed a bit shyer, "How about I call you sister? Sister, if there's anything I can help with, please say so promptly."
"Can you both focus on healing your wounds first..." Lucy said weakly, "Why do I never see you guys talking to Miss Mira, who's obviously prettier?"
"..." Hibiki and Ive exchanged a glance but continued to dote on Lucy.
Lyon, this time, didn't join them. Instead, he stayed by Jie Li's side, deliberately turning his head away despite their closeness: "How... are your injuries? I'm not concerned about you or anything."
"After being... treated by Miss Wendy, it's much better." Jie Li turned her head as well, not looking at Lyon, "It's not that I don't want you to worry."
Originally, she cared a lot about Leon, but after fighting alongside Lyon she couldn't help but pay more attention to him.
Besides, Jie Li felt that Leon preferred chatting with Gray over being with her.
One Night was now very quiet; he had repeatedly gotten injured today, and after using the potential-enhancing perfume, he needed a good night's sleep to recover.
Jura, after resting a while, set up a stone table and stove on the spot, beginning to handle the ingredients Rhode provided.
Later, after Mira finished bandaging Erza, she would come over to cook the meal.
Rhode sat on the high wall crafted by the Mountain Sub-Dragon, watching the burning progress of Nirvana, ensuring it wouldn't resurrect again.
He also kept an eye on Natsu bustling in the Sea of Fire.
His head followed Natsu's running direction, turning left to right, then right to left, curious about how much fire Natsu could consume.
Natsu felt a gaze on him and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. When he once again reached the spot closest to Rhode, he shouted angrily: "I'm exhausted, you should come down and help too!"
"I can't eat flames."
"Liar, you clearly use Fire Dragon Slayer Magic after transforming!"
"That's not a regular Dragon Slayer Magic; I genuinely can't eat fire."
"It's definitely because no dragon taught you. Watch closely, you just need to suck it in like this!"
"..." Rhode didn't want to speak.
He couldn't possibly tell Natsu that he once tried to eat fire, only to end up with blistered lips. Mira showed some brief concern and afterwards would chase him around for kisses whenever she had a chance, teasing him for days, right?
Guessing the timing was about right, with his Magic Power almost restored, Rhode summoned the Void Nest Insect.
The eggs on the Nest Insect's back continuously cracked open, one by one, blue-purple Void Worms leapt out, heading for the ruins of Nirvana that hadn't completely burned away.
Having promised to destroy Nirvana, Rhode figured even the ruins shouldn't be spared.
Leaving the worms to carry on their business, Rhode gathered with everyone around the stone table.
Though most people here had only just met today, they all shared joyful smiles, raising their bowls of soup like a toast, "Cheers!"
Everyone happily drank the soup, except for Natsu, who couldn't drink anymore, lying on the ground clutching his stomach.
Even though he consumed intangible flames, he ate a tremendous amount, leaving him feeling very full and stuffed, like he wouldn't need to eat for a day.