A/N: Here's chapter 28! Bye-Bye Phantom! (This chapter's on the shorter side, sorry!) Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Makarov's eyes popped open with vigor in the bed Porlyusica provided. He immediately got up, put his battle attire and coat back on, and headed for the door.
"What on Earthland do you think you're doing?" Porlyusica grabbed his shoulder, "You cannot leave, not in your condition!"
A pause, "I don't recall having to listen to you."
She gave an empty sigh, "Well, I suppose it is my fault I forgot you never use your brain at all, after all these years." She stood in front of the doors, "I know how much you want to take care of your children, but I forbid you to leave."
"This is something I must do. I cannot abandon them. Not now. I've already left them alone far too long."
She paused, "How do you feel? Your magic, especially. And don't lie to me. I know your lying face."
"Most of it has returned, I'm sure by the time I make it to Jose's little rat's nest it'll be completely filled up."
She sighed, slowly stepping away from the door, "Fine. Just this once, Makarov Dreyar. But after you save your children and give them a home, I expect you here, so I can make sure you're in full health."
"We'll see." He slipped out the door.
"Damned…old…idiot…" Porlyusica growled as she slammed the door he left open.
Jose snickered a bit as his mechanical monstrosity broke down little by little, "Those two dragons can really go on a rampage."
Erza panted a bit, a small smile crept onto her face. Not because she felt confident or thought Jose was wrong, but because she pictured Natsu fighting Gajeel in a blind rampage, joyous about taking her S-Class spot, "I'm not sure that your ace…has nearly as much power as S-Class Natsu…"
"Hmm…I wouldn't be so sure about that. I know you're the strongest female warrior Fairy Tail has to offer, Titania, I wouldn't inflate Salamander's potential, it will only serve to disappoint you in the end." He chuckled, "And to think, this battle would be much more interesting if you did not take a full blast of Jupiter. So I'm afraid I'll have to cut this short and leave nothing but a lifeless body for Makarov!" He blasted Erza with a dark wave, she smashed into the wall and coughed up blood.
"Did you want to know why I left him alive?" He went on, "Despair! To kill him slowly with despair! When he finally awakens, he'll see his guild in ruins and all his children dead, ha, ha, ha!" He laughed, "He'll be a pathetic shell of a man by then…and only after I have treated him to such scrumptious despair will I finally kill him! I refuse to give him a quick death! I will make him suffer in anguish and misery! Only when he has felt enough pain, will I finally kill him!"
"You're a disgrace…" She growled.
"Phantom Lord has always been the best! We have the most powerful wizards, the best magic, and the most influence in the country! But these past few years, Fairy Tail has increased its rank higher and higher. The names of Erza, Laxus, and Mystogan have been heard all over town. Even Salamander has a formidable reputation. I hear people call Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord the two greatest guilds in the country." He growled, "I won't stand for it. My pristine guild will not be associated to such a vile and trash-ridden one!"
"That's your reasoning? What a petty war! And what a shame we had to be part of it!" She exclaimed as she flew forward.
He jumped back and shot out some of his deadly purple waves at her, "We're just clarifying our superiority, that's all!"
"I'm not very surprised." She spat, "Only when you become strong at heart will you be able to outshine us-
His phantasmal magic worked its way around her, electrocuting her and sapping some of her strength, "I could never stand your guild! And now I finally have a reason to utilize that hatred! By returning the Emerald Knight to Caesar at long last!"
"The Emerald Knight…" She choked out, "Has…hardly a thing…to do with this…."
"In that case I don't think you've been paying attention very much, have you Titania?" He asked as he kept wrestling power out of her, "One of the secret holy gemstone knights in your guild? How much of Fiore's military power are you going to have tucked away in your guild's back pocket, hmm? Caesar may be largely inactive now, but no one questions his worth as a nobleman. That's why the Emerald Knight is in your guild, isn't he? That tiny man is nothing but a pawn and an undying soldier with hardly his own will aside from his worth to Caesar and I very well suppose for you lot too!"
Erza cried out as he restricted even more, more blood leaking down her lips. However, her lips were curved up in a smile, rather unsettling for the Phantom Lord Master. "Besides the pitiable fact that this is your reason behind all of this…your ability to gather information is abysmal…it makes me laugh…"
"What?" He snapped.
"He ran away from those damn knights to live with us…so how could we use their military power if he severed all ties with them…?" She wheezed, "He lives in a little house he built with his own hands in the middle of the woods so no one would find him but us….and he works jobs and sheds blood and tears with the rest of us…"
She tried to squirm away from his grasp, then she continued when she couldn't, "I've seen how he fears Caesar….he wanted to stay away from him more than anything else…because he want's nothing more than freedom…" She said before screaming, "Why do you feel it's right to take someone's freedom from them!?" Her eyes were wide and frantic as she screamed, it felt like her heart was on fire, like it was bleeding out all over her.
He snickered, "At the end of the day, the fate of that knight has little to do with all of this. Do you have any idea how powerful I would be with a man like Caesar indebted to me? A little bit of reward money isn't going to cover all the damages to my guildhall now! I'm going to make sure he is bound to Phantom Lord just as he was previously bound to Fairy Tail!"
"Filthy excuse for a man!" She screamed, but Jose didn't like that much, as he strengthened his magic and broke all her armor.
"I would be careful with those insults, you're just making it worse for yourself." He cackled as he kept shocking her. This went on until his magic was abruptly cut off and Erza was freed, "My magic!" He exclaimed, "Who dares-
"You've bathed yourself in the blood of many. The blood of children. Children have been hurt, children have cried, all because of their incompetent parents, such as you and I. We've done quite enough Jose. It must be stopped!" Makarov roared.
Erza's eyes wavered as she hit the ground, "….Master…."
"Two of us clashing could be dangerous Makarov, are you sure you want to risk it?" Jose smirked.
"If it's for the sake of my family, then of course I will!" Makarov said.
Porlyusica sighed as she took a walk around the perimeter of her house, watching the wind blow stray leaves from the trees and carry them off. I can feel the very earth trembling…the animals are disturbed, the wind is stronger than usual… She turned to a crate of apples and kicked it, "This is why humans are the worst!" She screamed, fed up and angry, "These creatures can't even disagree on something without turning it into a war!" She stepped on an apple, "Makarov, you idiot, if you want to die so badly, I'll gladly do the deed!"
One of the apples rolled quite a distance, until someone else picked it up, "Do you mind if I have this?" Mystogan asked.
"Mystogan…" Porlyusica stood back, shocked, "Well…that answers that then…" She looked at the forest floor as she continued, "You're the reason he recovered so quickly, you were able to restore his magic, weren't you?"
To answer, Mystogan simply took a bite out of his apple.
"Nobody gave you permission to eat that…" She scowled.
"The war of giants will soon come to its conclusion."
She sighed, "The last thing I want to do is involve myself in this pathetic human war, but why don't you help Makarov? You know him well, right? Enter the battle yourself!"
Mystogan reached inside his cloak and tossed a few pieces of fabric in front of the two of them. They were all flags with Phantom's emblem on them.
Phantom flags? He…couldn't have…killed all the Phantom officers… Porlyusica's eyes were wide as she watched the flags drift to the ground.
"Can I have another apple for the road?"
"You better not be treating me like a trash can for your disgusting apple cores, Mystogan!"
Thunder rumbled in the air above them. Or maybe it wasn't thunder. Perhaps it was magic power in the atmosphere.
She turned around, "I give up on you people…." She sighed, relaxing again before she said much calmer, "A power too great only gives birth to sorrow. And within the whirlpool of tragedy, one forgets sorrow and only knows rage."
"I would like to believe in the sacred light that can envelop both sorrow and rage." Mystogan said, "The sacred light that guides us all…"
"What…what is this magic power…?" Gray woke up and winced at his injuries, "It sort of feels like home…"
"Everyone clear the arena!" Makarov announced.
"Gramps?" Gray asked.
"How did you get here?" Elfman asked.
"Do as you're told!" Makarov said.
Erza glared at Jose, then got to her feet. She was able to run, it seemed hearing her Master's voice put a new life into her battle-weary body. She then fell to Gray's side, "Are you able to stand, Gray?"
"Yeah…but…" He started.
Jose watched Erza help Gray up and Elfman help his sister escape, "Now that you're here, I have no use for your underlings, Makarov. But afterward, I'll be sure to kill them all!"
"If we stay here, we'll just make the Master worried about us. Let's go." Erza took Gray's hand and pulled, the two ran off.
"It's been six months since we've last seen each other face-to-face, I had no idea how big Fairy Tail's name would be in a collection of months…" He snickered madly, "Of course, it's just rubble now…"
"A guild has no outward form." Makarov said, "It is the harmony between its people."
"I must admit that I'm glad about how this turned out. We will now finally be able to establish who the superior Wizard Saint is."
"Everything is thanks to you, my children! You did well, take pride in the fact that you are Fairy Tail wizards!" The sky began to open up with a golden sacred light, as Makarov shot a bright golden beam of pure light at Jose.
Jose grimaced as the light beam pierced a hole in his shoulder, he raised a hand up to launch a counter-attack, "Dead wave!" He fired off hundreds of phantasmal purple spirits at Makarov.
Makarov grit his teeth and held his hands out, extinguishing all the phantoms with a humungous blast of light.
Meanwhile, the three who were present during Gajeel's fight shook with the large towering machine as one spatial disturbance after another shook the entire ocean.
"Whoa…!" Natsu said.
"What is that, what's going on?" The Emerald Knight asked.
"I have no idea!" Happy said.
Natsu chuckled for a while, "Only gramps can do magic like that!"
"Impressive." Jose said, "To have such a level of magic at your age…I suppose they don't just hand out that Wizard Saint title willy-nilly after all."
"If only you had used your magic power the way it should be. You could have been a model for the newer generation, advancing the magical world." Makarov said, "Instead, you're a model of what not to do."
"Are you lecturing me?" Jose growled.
"There's a rule that I have in my guild, that works quite well. Everyone in Fairy Tail follows it without fail." Makarov said as he grew in size, "I'm supposed to give you until the count of three to do as I say or you'll be punished. So…on your knees!" His voice boomed.
"What?" He cocked an eyebrow.
"One…"
"Ha, ha, ha! I was wondering what you were going to demand, but for me to go on my knees?"
"Two!" Makarov held his hands closely, as a golden light began to shine in between them.
"You're asking for the leader of the greatest guild in the country to grovel before you! Don't make me laugh! You and I are evenly matched! No, not even that, I am the stronger one!"
"Three!" His golden light consolidated into a glowing sphere in between his hands.
"You're the one who should be on his knees! You should be dead and Fairy Tail trash should be erased from all of the history books in our nation!"
"Time's up!" Makarov clapped his hands over the light, "Fairy Law…is invoked!"
Jose's jaw dropped as the clouds opened up to reveal a blinding light that seemed to consume the entire world around them. The light only got brighter and brighter, destroying all of the phantom soldiers immediately and ultimately saving all of the Fairy Tail members by the rubble.
"Fairy Law!" Erza's eyes brightened as her armor reappeared.
"Fairy Law?" Gray asked, "What is that, and why isn't it hurting us?"
"It's a sacred type of light magic….all darkness or evil in the caster's eyes is obliterated….It's considered one of the legendary magics…it takes years to learn properly…"
Jose lay crumpled on the ground, twitching erratically, all his hair turned white, as if all the color faded away from his body.
"You will never harm Fairy Tail again." Makarov said, he started walking away, "Now after this fiasco of epic proportions, the council will probably be on both our tails. We'll have to be very careful."
Aria snuck behind him, a huge grin on his face, "It's just like last time! He doesn't even see me coming! He's mine!"
Makarov stretched a fist out and punched him in the face, knocking Aria to the ground, "It's all over! The battle between the guilds have been resolved! If you try to fight us again, you'll be swept away without a trace of afterthought. Go home and take Jose with you!"
A/N: So, any thoughts? Let me know with a review, they're always appreciated! Thanks for reading!
