Erza followed the remnants of Siegrain and eventually landed at a seemingly abandoned castle.
As she approached the castle, the magic's strength started to multiply, and when she ended up at a stone's throw from it, Erza dropped down to the ground, clutching her neck from the sheer oppressive aura.
If she had to rate the strength, it would surely make it to the top five of her personal list, and its strength was comparable to Zeref's substantial magic, possibly even more than that. Whoever was inside, held no qualms in reducing the strength of their magic, letting it flow in all directions.
Clutching her sword, Erza rushed inside the castle, covering her mouth. Her head was spinning and she wanted to retch her guts out. Holding it in, she somehow made it close to the main room.
The next room was where Jellal and the other person were fighting. Erza was well aware that there was no point in hiding her presence. What worried her was that Jellal's magic, which she compared to something that was as vast as the ocean seemed smaller than a pond, and it was obvious that he was heavily outclassed.
The room carried lots of broken pillars, punch marks on the walls, cracks on the floor, tons of bloodstains which literally forced Erza on her knees.
If she didn't recognize Jellal's magic, Erza was positive that she would have given up on hoping that he was alive.
Erza breathed hard and clutched her swords. She was determined to not butt in and help him UNTIL he asked her himself. Siegrain's words had buried themselves deep inside her mind.
Inside the dungeons and during their quests, Erza knew that his contributions were extremely high, and sometimes he would do everything on his own, just depending on her to watch his back.
Perhaps the thought had never entered her mind - the fact that Jellal might feel inferior when everyone praised her while ignoring his contributions. It was because he never said it out loud, and neither did he show any signs of his inferiority complex. But she was determined to change it. If she did not raise a single finger against his opponent, it would mean that Jellal took them down on his own. It would surely not be enough, but...it was a start, was it not?
It was easy to say that things would improve, but the mentality and attitude of the common folk towards Jellal would not change within a day. It would take less than a minute to throw a piece of advice asking him not to bother about the words of the others and live life on his own terms, but when was his life on his terms? Even if she did try to put herself in his shoes, her interpretation would be different from his. She would not understand his pain.
Erza's mind continued to ramble as she walked towards the door. Perhaps it was her incessant rambling that helped her remain sane during the magic overflow. But she didn't realise that she had already reached the door and slammed her head against it by accident. Nursing her forehead, Erza steeled her nerves, fighting every instinct to avoid throwing herself in front of her husband.
The moment she opened the door, Jellal was sent flying towards a wall. His chest was covered with what appeared to be something similar to stab marks. On peeking closer, she saw that those were the marks of thick fingers penetrating his body. Jellal spat out blood and got up, wobbling and gritted his teeth.
His opponent...Erza could not see his face, but it was a male. His body was covered with a thick fur coat and he had a magnificent shade of Aquamarine coloured hair - the same shade as Jellal's.
"Such a disappointment", the man clicked his tongue as he made his way towards Jellal, totally ignoring Erza's presence.
The broken lacrima lighting cast a massive shadow on his face, only exposing his glowing eyes. He bent down and grabbed Jellal by his throat, and Erza saw his extended right arm.
It was filled with a red coloured tattoo that seemed highly similar to the one on her body and the veins on his arm seemed to almost pop based on how tightly he had his arm clenched.
Jellal started to kick the air randomly and the man once again sighed in disappointment before Jellal noticed a small gap and kicked his chest with a powerful dropkick, evading his chokehold.
"At least you can put up a fight. Don't disappoint me, boy", he sneered and charged at Jellal again.
It was at that moment did he realise the presence of Erza in the room. He turned towards her and Erza's eyes widened on seeing his face.
The same face which would smile at her softly in the mornings, the same emerald eyes in which she could drown into forever, the same face which she would forcefully bury into her bountiful breasts during sleep and the same face which had been avoiding her gaze the past four months was staring back at her. But there was no sign of warmth from the face. Even when Jellal was distancing himself from her, she could not find a single sign of animosity - just disappointment. But this man's face - the way he looked at her forced her to instantly stare away. It was as if her pristine skin was being sullied by his gaze. Erza was pretty much used to being viewed like a piece of meat - but this man, his sight just drove a single sense into her brain...fear.
Pure, unadulterated fear.
Instead of a single tattoo over the right eye like Jellal's, his tattoo travelled from his forehead and went down to his chest around both of his eyes. By this time, Erza realised who was standing in front of her.
"Well, well, well, and this is supposed to be my daughter-in-law, huh?", he sneered and reached for her. For some reason, Erza could not move an inch. She internally screamed at her legs to jump back, but they wouldn't oblige. Erza was always used to putting herself in danger, even if she were to cower in fear. She was one who could not handle seeing the one she loved being put in danger. But when her actions were doing the opposite of her intentions, she was in a complete dilemma. She stood on the spot like a frozen sculpture, waiting for the test of time.
Her armour, which fit her like a second layer of skin, suddenly felt like a ton of bricks and she felt Jellal grab her and dash towards the door. The instantaneous Meteor disheveled her hair and she forgot to close her eyes during the Meteor. Her brain ricocheted within her skull like a marble in a glass bowl, and Erza instantly lost her bearings.
"Don't come inside. You cannot face him. He's too dangerous", he told her as he grabbed her arms and somehow managed to gain her focus. He looked back to see the man approaching and cupped the back of her head. Before Erza could complain or convince him to run away with her, he kissed her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Take care of Zure and Rule", he whispered to her, defiantly using their children's nicknames which annoyed the souls out of them.
He pushed her away and a large pickaxe levitated behind him. Erza screamed and pointed at it, but the man didn't mind.
He smiled at her and pushed her away from danger and the pickaxe severed his arms below his elbows and his body from his waist. Erza's heart was in her mouth, and her body would not move.
Her lungs wouldn't work and it was obvious that she was facing a heart attack, which only subsided when she saw his corpse vanish as magic and she heard his voice once again.
"Is that all?", the other man sighed as he lazily cleaned his ear with his little finger. Jellal was once again lying against the wall with more bloodstains covering his body.
"Tch! What is it with you giving me some hope and then pulling the rug out from under me? Are you really this weak?", he groaned and slammed his massive boot against an open wound close to Jellal's chest. He drove the boot's toe cap right into the wound and Jellal screamed in pain yet again.
Erza curled herself into a ball and covered her ears. Jellal's wish, Siegrain's words and her instinct were fighting one another and while she desperately wanted her instinct to win.
Peeking through the door, Erza whimpered on seeing him screaming out in pain. Gritting his teeth, Jellal grabbed a nearby broken shard of glass and severed a part of his foot. The man howled in pain, and Jellal attempted to recover by scurrying away.
To his horror, the man grabbed him by his hair and pulled him close. Reaching his right arm back as much as he could, he suddenly drove it into the centre of Jellal's back and crushed his spine. Erza screamed in horror, but Jellal appeared behind her clutching his back in fear.
"Ho! Thought Projection at the last moment, huh? Not bad at all", he gleamed.
"Who...Who are you?", Erza whispered as she desperately clutched her swords. The man raised his hands in mock surrendered and whistled.
"Nobody aiming to harm you...at the moment", he chuckled before turning his attention back towards Jellal.
"I've been called by so many names that I totally forgot what my original name was. The most common phrase used to describe me however, was Pure Evil. If at all you want to call me, use that name...or whatever you want to call me. I truly don't care as of now. But well, you can call me Father"
The man spat on the floor and moved towards Erza as he appraised her.
"What you should be worrying about, is what I would be doing to your husband", he turned towards Jellal who was breathing heavily while nursing some of his wounds using his weak healing magic.
"I'm wasting time here because I pity you, you fool. Take some time, think of a plan and attack me. The result however, will not change", he groaned and turned his attention back towards Erza and whistled. If he knew that she was his son's wife, why in the world would he be looking at her like that? That same eerie feeling creeped inside her soul as her entire being shook in a mixture of disgust and fear.
"Your mother-in-law was almost as pretty as you, girly. I cannot say I loved her, but...she wasn't a disappointment. But I didn't think she would ditch this fool and kill herself. Even if a fool like that woman can find out that you are useless, you truly are a pathetic excuse of a living being aren't you, Jellal?", he taunted his son yet again as he stroked his beard with a sneer on his face.
Before he could move towards Jellal, a sword moved towards his throat which he instantly caught and crushed with the might of his hand. Erza's jaw dropped on seeing it, especially when his eyes were lazily fixed on Jellal.
Both of them were entirely outclassed.
There was ABSOLUTELY no chance of victory.
"Tch! If I had just waited for another couple of decades, I could have found a better someone to bear my kid", he grinned and Erza clenched her fists.
Even if her defeat or possibly even death was inevitable, she could not handle being looked at as a piece of meat. She was not going to let someone, irrespective of his strength, disrespect her, especially in front of her husband.
"If you're worried about bearing a child with another man, don't worry. I can take care of those two little thi-"
SMASH
It was almost at the speed of light.
Erza was sure that Jellal was at least a few metres away, and was still recovering. Fresh cuts still covered his Adonis-like body and by some miracle, his fist was connected to his father's cheek.
The man's lip began to bleed and he momentarily stepped back to wipe the blood from the wound, and raised his eyebrows.
"Not bad! You can hit, huh?"
"You wanted a fight, didn't you? You've got one", Jellal glared, as he clenched his jaw and his father grinned widely.
"Don't come back crying, little boy"
"Yeah", he nodded his head and slit his eyes. "For future reference, don't ever refer to my children as things"
"Make me", he countered and the two men stood against each other, raising their fists.
Erza did not know what would happen to Jellal. Based on his strength, Jellal's defeat was inevitable. But at the same time, his eyes spoke an entirely different story.
It was not going to be a simple fight.
It was going to be a bloodbath.
To Be Continued...