"Cr... Crush through?!"
Simon was completely bewildered.
"Wait! There are massive numbers of troops guarding the island!"
Simon knew Jellal had deployed thousands of soldiers throughout the Tower of Heaven. With such a crowd, even if they only took one punch per person, who knew how long it would take to finish? They would likely drop from exhaustion long before reaching the top.
"Exactly! We should just smash our way through!"
Gray wholeheartedly agreed with Kael's proposal.
"Erza, please, talk some sense into them..."
Simon turned to Erza, hoping she would persuade Kael and Gray to be more cautious.
To his surprise, Erza simply nodded.
"Then that's the plan! Eight years ago, we overthrew that dark guild. Today, we will completely dismantle everything Jellal has built!"
"Erza?!"
Simon couldn't believe it. Had Erza's personality changed this much in eight years? Was she always this radical?
"That guy hurt Erza, and now he wants to kidnap her as a sacrifice. We need to show a guy like that exactly what we're capable of!"
Lucy felt a surge of courage. On one hand, she was furious about what Erza and Simon's group had suffered. On the other, she knew how powerful their current team was.
Especially Kael. He was a monster who could defeat one of the Ten Wizard Saints. There were only a handful of such mages in the entire continent of Ishgar.
Kael also had a reputation for taking on ten thousand enemies at once. How many people could this tower possibly hold? Moreover, besides Kael, they had Erza, Natsu, and Gray. This team was practically invincible. With Juvia and Sho's group backing them up, there was absolutely nothing to fear.
Soon, their ship reached the island where the Tower of Heaven stood.
"It's... it's huge!"
Up close, the tower was even more massive and intimidating than they had imagined.
"After all, it took eight long years to build."
Sho stared at the structure, wishing he could tear it down. Not long ago, he had been proud of his work on the tower, but now it felt like a monument to their shame.
"There are so many of them!"
Seeing the sheer number of guards lining the shore, Lucy felt a flicker of her usual apprehension.
"I tried to tell you," Simon sighed, feeling helpless.
Natsu and Gray, however, didn't hesitate for a second and leaped off the ship.
"Who goes there?!"
The guards on the shore spotted them and immediately shouted a challenge.
Natsu's expression turned fierce as flames erupted around his fists.
"You're asking who we are?! We're Fairy Tail! You bunch of bastards!"
Natsu charged straight into the fray.
"Gwaaaaah!"
A dozen guards screamed as they were sent flying by the impact.
"Enemy attack! To arms!"
Seeing the chaos, the other guards raised the alarm. More soldiers began swarming toward them from every corner of the beach.
"Ice-Make: Lance!"
Gray slammed his hands together, releasing a barrage of ice javelins.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Another wave of guards was instantly neutralized.
Juvia clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling with admiration.
"Lord Gray is so handsome! Juvia must show her best side as well!"
"Water Slicer!"
With a graceful sweep of her hand, Juvia unleashed razor-sharp blades of water that cut through the guards' ranks.
"Uwaaah!"
The crowd of soldiers thinned out even further.
"They're incredible!"
Sho, Wally, Millianna, and Simon watched the spectacle in awe.
Initially, they hadn't thought Natsu and the others were that powerful; after all, they had managed to capture them back at the casino. But seeing the sheer lethality of their magic now, they realized the true gap in their strength.
Against these mages, the guards were as fragile as glass. They finally understood what Kael meant by "crushing through."
"I'm not staying behind either!"
"Open! Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
Determined not to be deadweight, Lucy pulled out a Gold Key and summoned her celestial spirit.
"Mooooooo!"
A massive, humanoid bull carrying a giant axe appeared. He swung his weapon, engaging the guards with raw power. However, while he was taking down enemies, his performance seemed much slower compared to the others.
Millianna tilted her head, whispering, "...He's kind of... ordinary..."
Wally nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. A bit plain, isn't he?"
Hearing them, Lucy's face turned red with frustration.
"I'm going to be super strong in the future, just you wait!"
Lucy clenched her fists, forcing herself to focus. Compared to the others, she was still behind—but she refused to be deadweight.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
High above, Erza transformed. She was now clad in shimmering steel armor with four metallic wings spanning from her back.
She soared into the air, fast and unyielding.
"Heaven's Wheel: Blumenblatt!"
A swarm of magic swords appeared around her, raining down upon the guards like a lethal storm.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
The beach was quickly cleared of any remaining resistance.
Sho and the others were deeply moved. They remembered how, years ago, when they were on the brink of despair, Erza had awakened her magic to lead them against the Black Magic Cult.
They felt a pang of guilt. They had actually doubted her loyalty because of Jellal's lies. They felt they truly didn't deserve her kindness.
Kael finally stepped off the ship and onto the sand. He looked up at the towering structure. Knowing Erza had endured years of agony just to build this place filled him with a cold urge to destroy it.
"Full-Body Take Over: Edward Newgate!"
Kael's frame began to expand rapidly, his muscles bulging as he grew to a towering height. His clothes transformed into a long, white captain's coat. In his hand, the legendary Murakumogiri—one of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades—manifested. Most striking of all was the white, crescent-moon mustache that now adorned his face.
"He's... he's a giant!"
Millianna and the others had spent their lives on this island; they had never seen a human of such proportions. They stared up at Kael, completely stunned.
Kael gazed at the Tower of Heaven. Its height reminded him of the fortresses at Marineford.
"Looking at this thing is starting to irritate me."
The corners of Kael's mouth curled into a slight smirk.
"Since we're here, let's give them a proper greeting."
Thump!
Kael planted his feet firmly into the ground.
He reached out with both hands, grabbing the very air as if it were a physical fabric, then yanked his arms downward in a sharp 'S' motion.
RUMBLE!
The earth groaned and buckled. The entire island began to tilt violently as the sea split apart, creating massive, terrifying cliffs of water hundreds of meters high.
"Wh... What... What is happening?!"
Everyone watched in sheer terror as the world itself seemed to break apart at Kael's command.
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There are 50 advanced chapters on Patreon, which I'm currently rewriting and polishing for a better reading experience. Thank you for your support and patience.
https://www.patreon.com/c/LEYI396