User blog comment:Purehito/What is your favourite magic and what magic would you like to see in the next FT arc?/@comment-7888801-20130628002117/@comment-4829046-20130628075340

I think they expected to get away with it thanks to the illusions. They were planning on beating up and/or torturing Laxus and make it seem like all the damage was done by the illusionary Alexei so they could have pulled all the bloody illegal things they wanted, even used illusions to bring in the items into Crocus. They didn't expect to be defeated. Unless of course Obra reveals that it was all part of the master plot or something. But I would love it if Obra reveals he is actually from Tartaros.

But then again, we saw some other guy in the very first post-timeskip scene of Raven Tail. Maybe he is their secret weapon? Even though he looks so lame.