Although the members of Fairy Tail were known for their recklessness and bravado, they were not fools.
They did not dare gamble with their lives against a force of this magnitude.
In their understanding, being hit by a beam of this level of concentrated Magic Power would not just be painful—it would be absolute, instantaneous obliteration.
As the Jupiter Cannon's charging cycle reached its critical peak, the air around the guild began to vibrate with a low, menacing hum.
Erza gritted her teeth fiercely, her sharp eyes fixed unwaveringly on the cannon's muzzle, where the raw Magic Power was beginning to distort the space around it, leaking out in crackling arcs of dark energy.
She knew Ankh was currently fighting Jose inside the enemy fortress.
With him absent, she was the only S-Class Mage on the ground.
The burden of leadership, and the lives of her family, rested squarely on her armored shoulders.
"I will not let them fall!" Erza cried out internally, solidifying her resolve.
She suddenly dashed forward, placing herself directly between the cannon and her guildmates.
The golden glow of her signature Re-quip Magic instantly lit up the battlefield, blindingly bright against the gloomy sky.
"Re-Quip: Adamantine Armor!"
Two massive, diamond-hard shields materialized on her arms, joining together to form an impenetrable barrier.
Just as Erza locked her stance, the Jupiter Cannon's terrifying Magic Power finally reached critical mass.
With a sound like the world tearing apart, the destructive death ray erupted from the barrel!
BOOOOM!
The massive beam shot forward at a speed that defied comprehension.
Against the sheer scale of the attack, Erza's figure appeared pitifully small, like a lone ant trying to hold back a tidal wave.
"ERZA!" Natsu screamed, reaching out.
But right as the magic cannon was about to strike her shields, another astonishing anomaly appeared in the sky, overriding the impending doom.
Before Erza and the trembling fairies could process what was happening, several gigantic, multicolored magic circles suddenly descended from the sky.
They layered over one another standing proudly before the group like the gates of a divine fortress.
"Three Layered Magic Circle..."
The voice was calm, muffled, and echoed as if from a dream.
"...Mirror Water!" (Love this spell).
As the magic circles instantly locked into place, the Jupiter beam slammed into them.
But instead of an explosion, the energy was dispersed, refracted, and scattered harmlessly into the atmosphere in a shower of sparks.
Natsu froze for a moment, the heat of the blast washing over him harmlessly.
He tilted his head, unconsciously muttering, "That voice... it sounds so familiar..."
Gray also scratched his head, propping his chin on his hand as he pondered the familiar cadence.
"It seems like... I've heard it in a dream? Or maybe when I was half-asleep?"
"Seems like it, yeah," Lucy added, confused.
Erza, however, lowered her shields.
She watched the sparkling remnants of the Jupiter beam fade away, and a rare look of relief softened her intense features.
"So that's it," she whispered. "Mystogan has arrived."
At least they managed to block it.
The crisis was averted.
Then, a phantom-like figure drifted down from the sky, defying gravity, and landed silently in front of the crowd.
He was wrapped up tightly in blue robes, his face completely obscured by a mask and hood, with only his clear, piercing eyes visible to the world. three wooden staves were strapped to his back.
"It really is Mystogan!" Natsu exclaimed joyfully.
He ran up to the masked mage, completely disregarding the man's intense aura of mystery, and slapped him on the back.
"Even though you never show up normally, you're pretty reliable in critical moments, you sleepy bastard!"
Cana also relaxed, letting out a breath she had been holding.
She raised a tarot card in her hand with a weary smile.
"And here I was using my cards to divine your location, trying to notify you to join the battle. I didn't expect you were already here."
Mystogan glanced at the cards in Cana's hand, then turned away without a word, continuing to stand silently in place like a statue.
Just as the Fairy Tail members' morale had peaked with the arrival of another S-Class powerhouse... the excitement was instantly cut short by his utter social awkwardness.
The silence stretched, becoming thick and uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, high atop the mobile fortress, Gajeel's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
He gripped the railing, staring down at the figure who had single-handedly blocked the Jupiter Cannon's destructive power.
'Wait, who the hell is this guy now?!' Gajeel thought, sweat beading on his forehead. 'That mask... that magic energy...' (He think Ultear was Mystogan).
Wasn't this the masked person he had encountered that night in the alleyway? The one who had radiated such danger that he had hesitated to engage?
'Just how many monsters does this Fairy Tail guild have?!'
Gajeel felt as if his heart was being squeezed by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.
First the Grim Reaper, then Erza, Mirajane and now this guy? Putting aside everything else, Gajeel's instincts screamed that this Mystogan was also an S-Class Mage.
Based on the previous beating he had received from Mirajane, Gajeel knew that if he had to fight another monster of that caliber, he was completely outmatched.
Beside him, Totomaru's face turned ashen.
The Fire Element mage was clearly startled by the absolute defense Mystogan had deployed, but he quickly tried to regain his arrogant expression to hide his fear.
"Just one reinforcement is useless!" Totomaru spat. "It changes nothing!"
At this moment, Aria, the leader of the Element 4, was trembling inwardly.
Tears streamed like a fountain beneath his blindfold as he wailed, his voice cracking, "So sad... so terribly sad..."
Gajeel couldn't be bothered with this pretentious man.
He shifted his gaze downward again, trying to assess the threat.
But before the group could observe for long, they suddenly noticed something falling from the sky above Mystogan.
It looked like black snow.
A vast expanse of black banners drifted through the air, fluttering in the wind created by the aftermath of the blast.
They swirled and scattered across the sky, raining down upon the battlefield.
Totomaru seemed to realize something.
He immediately reached out to grab one of the banners floating nearby. As he unfurled the fabric, his expression instantly changed from arrogance to pure horror.
"This is..."
Without a doubt, these were the emblem banners from all the branch divisions of Phantom Lord!
'Could that man have single-handedly crushed every subdivision of Phantom Lord before coming here?'
At this thought, the three of them—Gajeel, Totomaru, and Aria—suddenly felt a chill run down their spines that had nothing to do with the weather.
...
Meanwhile, Mystogan stood calmly amidst the falling flags.
He didn't find his actions the least bit intimidating. To him, it was just efficiency.
The Fairy Tail members stared in stunned silence at the spectacular sight of countless Phantom Lord flags fluttering in the sky, unable to help but swallow their saliva nervously.
Natsu looked at Mystogan with sparkling eyes of admiration and enthusiastically struck up a conversation.
"That's amazing, Mystogan! Did you go out of your way to steal all these flags just to look cool?"
Mystogan glanced at him and shook his head slowly.
"No," he said, his voice muffled behind the mask. "On my way back, I accidentally destroyed several Phantom Lord branches and picked these up. I thought the fabric was nice, so I collected them along the way."
It was rare for Mystogan to talk so much, but everyone fell into an eerie silence once again.
'Accidentally destroyed several branches? Picked them up because the fabric was nice?!'
The sheer level of humblebragging in his words was a bit too much—those with weak stomachs might not be able to digest it!
At this moment, it was Natsu who broke the awkwardness.
The fire in his belly reignited, and he once again rallied the team's morale.
"ALRIGHT!" Natsu roared, flames erupting from his fists. "Let's go!!"
He charged toward the inactive Phantom Lord base, determined to take the fight to them.
Up on the Phantom Lord base, Totomaru frowned in displeasure.
He slammed his fist into his palm. "How dare they push us this far! I'll go deal with them!"
Aria wiped his tears and whimpered in agreement, floating into the air.
"I'll go too! Their sorrow shall be immense!"
Gajeel remained silent.
He didn't move to join them, because he had already noticed something else.
Natsu, carried by a blue cat with wings, was speeding straight toward him!
"Salamander..." Gajeel grinned, his iron teeth glinting.
This was a battle between dragons!
Gajeel wanted to prove, once and for all, that he was the strongest Dragon Slayer Mage in the world!
Before Aria and Totomaru had gone far, Natsu, wreathed in roaring flames, plummeted from the sky.
Happy released him at the perfect moment.
Without a word, Natsu threw a punch at Gajeel's face.
The heat was intense, but Gajeel dodged it effortlessly, leaning back just enough so the flames singed his nose.
After so many skirmishes, Gajeel had long grown accustomed to Natsu's rhythm.
He knew how the Salamander moved.
Moreover, they were fighting on a giant metal structure.
With iron everywhere around him, Gajeel was effectively fighting in an all-you-can-eat buffet. He could replenish his energy at any time.
If no one provided Natsu with the fire he needed, he would struggle to be a match for Gajeel, especially when exhausted and without any means of replenishment.
Gajeel laughed, reaching down to the floor.
He casually tore off a thick piece of iron plating as if it were a cracker and stuffed it into his mouth.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
The sound of metal being chewed echoed loudly.
Natsu, watching this, turned green with envy.
He stomped his feet on the metal plating and yelled, "That's so unfair! You're eating right in the middle of the fight! That's cheating!"
Gajeel swallowed the iron scraps, feeling his magic reserves swell.
He flashed a confident, predatory smile, declaring loudly:
"It's not cheating, it's dining! Its fire me up!"
Natsu's face twisted as if he had just eaten a lemon.
"That's my line!" Natsu screamed.
Not only was this guy copying his fighting style, but he was even stealing his catchphrases!
'Damn it! I'm gonna roast him!
Just as Gajeel was closing in on Natsu step by step, the environment shifted.
The clear morning sky was suddenly shrouded by a mass of ominous, swirling dark clouds.
The temperature plummeted, and the air became thick with static electricity.
The hairs on everyone's arms stood up.
Then, beneath the dense, overcast clouds, a sound like a thousand birds chirping erupted.
KRA-KOOOM!
A golden flash of lightning broke through the sky and crashed down directly onto the roof of the Phantom Lord headquarters!
The impact was devastating.
The shockwave blew the rain of flags away instantly.
Gajeel and Natsu, caught at the center of the lightning strike, were sent flying backward by the sudden, overwhelming pressure.
They tumbled across the metal roof, barely managing to catch themselves.
Smoke rose from the impact crater.
Soon, a tall, muscular silhouette emerged from the dissipating electrical haze.
Laxus's distinctive features came into focus: the lightning-shaped scar running down his right eye, the spiked Magic Sound Pods over his ears, and his heavy, black fur-collared coat billowing in the wind.
Golden lightning crawled over his frame like obedient servants, crackling and popping.
He looked down at the two Dragon Slayers with eyes that held nothing but contempt and raw power.
His voice was magnetic, yet it carried the terrifying fury of a provoked tiger.
He growled deeply, "So, you're the trash who's been repeatedly attacking my guild, right?"
Gajeel frozen in place.
'This feeling... this overwhelming taste...'
There was no mistake.
It was a taste Gajeel had tasted recently, and he hated it.
It was the taste of defeat.
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