All of the wizards remained as they were for several long seconds, completely still and silent. As if they had been frozen in place. The first of them to break the silence was the blue cat, in his usual manner.
"ARGH! WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE GUILDHALL?!" he screamed in horror at the top of his lungs.
"oh no…" Wendy whispered with her hands still over her mouth. The combination had made her voice so low that only Natsu heard her which made him frown.
"Someone did this to our guild." Gray said through clenched teeth. He would already have been pissed under normal circumstances, but right now he was far beyond pissed. He had been so excited to show Ur his guild…and this happened.
"But who would do such a thing…?" Erza wondered. Apart from Natsu, she appeared to be the calmest about the whole thing. But this was only true on the surface. Deep down, she was fuming.
Before any of them could say anything else, a new yet familiar voice rose from behind them to answer the last question asked. "It was Phantom…"
When they turned around, they saw it belonged to Mirajane who was looking at them with a dejected look on her face. The only one who didn't turn around was the pinkette of the group who was staring at a precise spot on the ground with intensity, as if he was trying to see something through it.
"It pains me to say it…but they got us good." the white-haired barmaid continued.
After that, she took them to the door to the basement of the Fairy Tail guildhall. Usually, it was only used for storage. But with the main part of the building unusable, all of the members were now gathered here. And they weren't happy about it as was shown by their quiet and solemn attitude. They were so depressed that they didn't even notice the group's return not the new woman's appearance. Besides, they were mush too busy already talking among themselves.
"I can't believe this! Have you seen what they did to our guild?!"
"Those damn jerks! How dare they?!"
"We should go and repay them!"
"I know we've never gotten along with those guys but they have gone too far this time." Jet, a slim, young man with orange hair, said to his two teammates, Levy and Droy.
"Maybe we should go and explain it to them." the latter suggested offhandedly, leaning back into his chair with his arms behind his head.
"Stop it, guys. This is Phantom Lord we're talking about here." Levy argued.
As the group made its way towards the end of the room, they saw Master Makarov sitting cross-legged on a crate. He was holding a pint of beer which didn't seem to be his first of the day. In fact, he looked quite hammered already. When they got close enough, the old man finally noticed them and greeted them.
"Yo, kids! How's it goin'?!" he exclaimed loudly with a wave of his free hand.
Upon hearing the guild master, all of them stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him blankly and silently for several seconds. Just long enough for them to realize just how drunk he was. This only made some of them even angrier. Although, some of them were better at hiding it than others.
"We are back. Sorry for the delay." Erza responded first.
"You really think this is the right time to drink?" Gray asked with gritted teeth and clenched fists.
"No. You're right, it's not." Makarov agreed more calmly as he settled his pint down next to himself. He then raised his hand high above his head and solemnly declared. "Now is the time for you to be punished! You have stolen an S-class quest and accepted it without permission! Prepare yourselves!"
The three wizards in question were surprised and frankly scared by the old man's statement. But before they could fully react to it, the two males received a slap on the top of their head and the girl one on her rear end.
"Kyaa!" she yelped in surprise.
"Master, stop that before I get angry." Mirajane threatened.
But she was ignored as Makarov noticed the unknown woman standing close to Gray. "Oh. Hello there. Who might you be?"
"My name is Ur. Ur Milkovich, sir. And I am…well, at least I used to be Gray's teacher before you were forced to take on this role yourself. Something I am immensely grateful for." the dark-haired woman responded as respectfully as she could under the circumstances.
At this point, Makarov was so drunk that he couldn't even remember how Gray had told him about Ur sacrificing herself to stop Deliora. "It's been my pleasure. I'm sorry about how we are receiving you. Nevertheless, we'd be happy to welcome you for as long as you'd like."
Before Ur could respond or say anything anything else, she was interrupted by her former student who was both still angry and afraid that he would become the subject of the conversation. "This is no time to exchange pleasantries right now! What we should focus on is that Phantom Lord destroyed our guild hall!"
All his outburst did was make his guild master take yet another sip of his drink and dismissively wave his hand at him. "If you could just calm down and stop screaming. It's not that big of a deal."
"What do you mean "not a big deal"?! They freaking ransacked our home! Of course it's a big deal!" the teenage ice mage countered, even louder and angrier now.
"Master, I hate to say it, but I agree with Gray. Do you not fully realize what has happened?" Erza stepped in.
"Pff. All those dunderheads did was show yet again how cowardly they truly are. Destroying an empty guildhall, where's the glory in that?" the guild master commented while drinking his beer.
"Empty guildhall?" Erza repeated in confusion.
"They attacked in the middle of the night, after everyone had already left. Even Mira and I." Lisanna clarified as she joined the group.
"Well, I suppose that's at least one thing to be thankful for. No one was hurt." the red-haired knight sighed in relief. She could now understand her guild master's calmness better.
"Exactly. If all they can do is sneak-attack us because they don't have the guts to face us directly, they are not worth wasting our time with. Just forget about that bunch of weaklings." Makarov emphasized.
It is at this point that Lucy noted how Natsu had remained silent all throughout the conversation. As a matter of fact, he hadn't said a word since they came upon their damaged guildhall. But as she turned around to ask him about it, the Celestial mage found herself unable to locate or even spot him as she frantically looked around the basement. Before she could voice her observation though, Makarov spoke up again.
Indeed, seeing that Gray was about to argue again, the old man decided to make up an excuse to leave so that he wouldn't have to continue this debate. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta take a leak." he drunkenly mumbled and jumped down his crate before running to the back of the basement.
"W-Wha…" the male ice mage stuttered and trailed off. His disbelief making him unable to speak.
"I must say, I'm not really sure what to make of this." his teacher admitted.
"Don't let it fool you, the master is just as angry and upset as we all are. Maybe even more. But what can he do? The Council strictly forbids conflicts between legal guilds. Never mind all-out wars." Mirajane informed with sadness evident in her voice.
"This is the master's decision alone. We have to respect it, no matter how we feel about it." Erza relented with a solemn expression which was then shared by all her guildmates.
As Makarov arrived at the toilet, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Natsu leaning against the door with his arms crossed and looking off into the distance. The two of them just stood there in complete silence for a few seconds before the tallest of them broke it.
"Have you checked the condition of what's underneath the guildhall?" he asked, vaguely turning his gaze in the old man's general direction.
His question somehow seemed to make the guild master instantly sober up. "As soon as I was sure nobody would see me doing so. Don't worry, it's completely intact." he assured.
"That's good." Natsu declared while pushing himself off the door and uncrossing his arms. He then proceeded to slowly walk towards Makarov as he continued talking. "Look. I'm really not convinced that an appropriate response to someone attacking your guild is to get black-out drunk. But you are the guild master so I will respect your decision not to retaliate. Even if it was made while under the influence." He paused briefly when he reached Makarov's side, and then continued in a darker tone but while still looking straight ahead of himself. "But if I ever come to doubt your ability or willingness to protect what's down there…I will rain hell upon you for the rest of time." He then walked away, leaving Makarov frozen in genuine terror.
In the evening of the same day, Lucy was making her way back to her apartment. She was walking alongside Plue on the edge of the canal that was going through the whole city.
"Well, that's quite the pickle we just got in, huh?" she declared with a sigh. "I mean, I had read that Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail weren't in the best of terms. But even in my wildest dreams, I never would have imagined either one of them would do something like this. And to think I was considering joining them before I met Natsu." she continued as she arrived at her destination and opened the door. "But I definitely made the right decision because…" she trailed off when her eyes caught sight of Gray, Erza, Ur sitting around the only table in her home and Happy and Carla sitting on said table.
"Welcome back." Gray greeted.
"You're place is very nice." Erza congratulated while drinking tea, a white sleeveless blouse replacing her usual armor.
When she finally proceeded what she was witnessing, the blonde woman reacted…by throwing her handbag directly into Gray's face and screaming. "What are you guys doing here uninvited?!"
"Since some Phantom Lord members have come to attack our guildhall, it is possible that some of them are still in town." the red-haired woman explained calmly.
"And if that's the case, they may even have found out where each of us lives." the teenage ice wizard completed while rubbing his head.
"Y-You really think so?" the clearly frightened Celestial mage stuttered as she sat down at her table.
"That's why your master advised his members to stay together in small groups in case they try anything. And since I had nothing better to do, I decided I'd tag along." the older ice mage finished.
"Aye! All of Fairy Tail is having sleepovers tonight!" Happy exclaimed.
Lucy spent a few seconds staring quizzically at the blue feline before she spoke up. "Not that I think there aren't enough people in my place already, but if you two are here, where are Natsu and Wendy?"
"With what happened, Natsu wanted to make sure Wendy would be ready in case Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord ended up at war anyway. So he decided to train her some more but said it would be dangerous for the two of us to stay with them or stay by ourselves so we came here." Carla answered between two sips of tea.
"He even took her to his super-secret training ground!" the blue-furred cat added as excitedly as always. His statement caused everybody else to look at him curiously.
"Super-secret training ground?" Gray repeated.
"Aye. He has a spot in the forest around our house where he goes to train. He says he does this so he won't be bothered and won't bother anyone." Happy explained while eating a fish.
"And where is that?" the blonde girl eagerly asked.
Happy brought one paw to his chin and harbored a thinking expression for several seconds before responding. "No idea." he shrugged and everyone else fell over comically.
In the very place Happy had mentioned, Wendy was testing out the effects that her newly-acquired Sky Drive had on her different spells and techniques. At the edge of the field, Natsu was leaning his back against a tree with his arms crossed and was thoroughly observing his sister's each and every move. His study was interrupted when a familiar voice rang through his mind.
'That wasn't very nice of you to threaten Maki like that.' she scolded which made him sigh.
'Okay, I'll admit that I went a little too far. But I mean, damn. His guild hall is attacked and all he can do is drink himself into an early grave? Come on.' the pink-haired mage countered.
'I get your point….Thank you by the way.' the ghost added.
'…For…what?' her host asked.
'Caring so much about me.'
'Bah. What kind of friend would I be if I stopped caring about you just because you're dead?' Natsu brushed off, making the First Master giggle. 'Although,…I have to say I find you surprisingly unbothered with what has happened.'
'It's like I said, the guildhall tends to get destroyed every now and then. Besides, Phantom Lord attacking us isn't exactly shocking either.' Mavis explained.
'Why not?'
'Well, you already know about the bad relationship between my guild and theirs. What you might not know is that it's always been like that. You see, after my friends and I defeated Blue Skull, its guild master, Geoffrey, decided to create a guild that could stand against Fairy Tail to get back at us and founded Phantom Lord. And every time I'd go to a guild masters meeting, he'd be there to tell me that his guild would destroy mine some day.' the blonde girl answered.
'So this is basically the "anti-Fairy Tail" guild? But why would they attack us now? None of you four are active members of Fairy Tail anymore and that Geoffrey guy has probably been dead for some time. What would be the point?' the pinkette wondered.
'I don't know. Maybe something reignited the animosity between us. Or maybe the answer lies in the explanation you're about to give me.' the Fairy Tactician theorized.
'What explanation?' the Triple Hybrid asked in confusion.
'The one about the name you said earlier…. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was something with a G.'
'You mean Gajeel? Back when I saw what he did to the guildhall?' her old friend suggested.
'Yes, him. He's the one who did it?' Mavis inquired.
'Most likely. Gajeel is an Iron Dragon Slayer so either there is another one walking around at Phantom Lord, or it was his work.' Natsu confirmed.
'Wait. If he's a Dragon Slayer, couldn't you have eaten one of the iron poles he left behind to get his magic?' she wondered.
'Well, technically yes, that would be how it works. But in this case, since they had been sitting there for hours, all of the magic in them had probably been drained when we arrived.' he explained.
'Oh okay, I see. What else can you tell me about him?' the thought projection questioned.
'I mean, I haven't seen him in something like 400 years but from what I remember he has red eyes, spiky black hair, tanned skin but most notably, he has many piercings. As for his temperament, he is belligerent, stubborn, short-tempered and frankly not very smart. I think he got it from his foster father, the iron dragon Metalicana. He was quite a piece of work himself if I remember right. He and my dad would have spent decades arguing if not for Wendy's mother.' the pink-haired mage answered, chuckling at the end.
'Speaking of Wendy, you should refocus on her. She's been calling your name for some time now.' the dead girl advised teasingly.
Her comment made him regain awareness of his environment, and he noticed that Wendy was indeed standing right in front of him and giving him a look of confusion and worry.
When she saw that her brother was finally paying attention to her, she voiced her worries. "Are you okay? You looked preoccupied."
"Don't worry sis, I'm fine. I'm sorry for spacing out just there, I just have a lot on my mind." Natsu tried to reassure her with a small smile that didn't seem to convince her at all.
"You've been acting strange since we discovered what they did to the guildhall. I can see something is bothering you. Please, just tell me what it is." the bluenette pleaded.
'Am I really that obvious?' the pinkette thought with a sigh. "Alright fine, you're right. There is something bothering me and that something is that the person who pierced our guild hall full of metal poles is a Dragon Slayer."
This revelation made the young girl's eyes widen in utter shock. "Y-You mean there's someone like me in Phantom Lord?"
"Well, he was raised by a dragon like you. But other than that, you two don't really have anything in common." the older sibling explained as he made his way to a fallen tree trunk nearby and sat on it, his sister following suit. "And just so you know, you've never been the only Dragon Slayer in the world. While there aren't exactly many of you, there are at least three others."
"I see…" the blue-haired girl muttered while looking down at the ground thoughtfully.
Natsu gave her a couple of seconds to process the information but then noticed that she would steal glances at him repeatedly, as if she wanted to say something but didn't dare to. "What is it?"
"W-Well, I was just wondering…since you're a dragon too…if you have ever adopted and trained a child too…" she hesitantly responded.
"What? You're worried you might have a niece or a nephew out there somewhere?" Natsu teased with a sly smirk.
It worked better than he could ever have hoped as Wendy started to wave her hands and head frantically from left to right with a look of panic. "N-No, it's not that. I just think I'm a bit too young to be an aunt, that's all."
Her panic subsided when she saw her interlocutor chuckling. "Calm down, Wendy. I'm just messing with you. And to answer your question, no, I've never taken in anyone. As a matter of fact, it has never even crossed my mind. I wouldn't even have known how to do it, even though I've been there before."
Although he was mostly speaking to himself at the end, his last statement didn't go unnoticed by his little sister. "You know…you've never told me about your dragon parent…" she said while looking away.
At this point, there was a short pause in the conversation, with Natsu staring at Wendy in thought and her waiting for his response. Then he finally broke the silence, which caused the young girl to turn her head back towards him. "Fair enough…. His name was Igneel. He was the Fire Dragon King before me. Although, that title has become meaningless now that there are no other fire dragons. He was a very loving and protective father, though quite arrogant and boastful of his own achievements."
"What happened to him?" the Sky Dragon Slayer questioned without thinking about the question she was asking.
"He lost a part of his soul during a fight with another dragon. It took several decades but over the years it made him sicker and sicker until he died from it." the elder told her, looking off to the side with sad eyes.
As horror struck the poor girl, she covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes widened. "I…I'm so sorry-" she started to say but was cut off.
"Don't be. He wasn't. And in the end, I think he was at peace. Maybe even happy." the pink-haired mage explained with a melancholic smile. "Anyway, break's over. Get back to training." he instructed while standing up.
"But Natsu, it's late, I'm tired, I've already used most of my magic power tonight, and I've fought a lot on Galuna Island. Can't I just go to bed for now and we will resume tomorrow?" his little sister whine cutely with a pout.
"Tell you what, if you can keep going for another 30 minutes, I'll teach one of my own moves. Deal?" Natsu proposed, which got the young girl very excited.
"You promise?" she eagerly asked.
"I promise." the pinkette confirmed. And without another word, the younger sibling ran back to the middle of the field to continue her training.
At the same time, back in Magnolia, the streets and alleyways were completely deserted at this late hour, except for the three members of Team Shadow Gear who were making their way to the home of their two male members.
"Don't you think you should be with the other girls in the dorm?" Jet asked her.
"Of course not! We're a team, we stick together!" Levy refuted but with a friendly smile that the two men misinterpreted and caused them to fall backwards with hearts in their eyes.
Little did they know, they were being observed by a dark figure standing on the roof of an adjacent house. He was a tall and muscular young man with long, spiky black hair kept slicked back and was looking down at them with red eyes filled with malice and ill-intent. Moreover, he also sported a number of round studs all over his body. His outfit consisted of a shabby, black, sleeveless tunic with studded edges, a studded belt around his waist, loose, beige pants tucked inside studded black boots, and a pair of studded brown gloves paired with similarly studded wristbands. He also wore a distinctive wing-like ornament, seemingly made of feathers, jutting upwards, over his right shoulder, attached to his tunic by a large stud.
After a few seconds of looking at them, he jumped from his vantage point and landed on the stone floor a little behind the trio, who turned around upon hearing the noise it made. They didn't even have enough time to fully turn their heads before their leader was rendered unconscious by a blow to the head.
Back in Lucy's apartment, she, Erza and Ur had all taken their baths in turn and were now in their clothes to spend the night. Gray was sitting on a chair and looking thoughtfully out the window. Happy had fallen asleep after eating one too many fish. As for Carla, she was still drinking tea since she had made more.
The room had been pretty silent until Lucy spoke up. "Hey. There's something that has been bothering me. Do you have any idea why Phantom attacked us all of a sudden like they did?"
"I wish I knew." Erza responded. "We have already had quite a few arguments and scuffles from time to time, but nothing that came remotely close to that."
"What I would like to know is why Gramps is so reluctant to attack them. I mean, he can't possibly be afraid of them, can he? He's even a Wizard Saint and all." Gray said while turning away from the window.
"Wizard Saint? What's that?" the blonde asked in curiosity.
"It's a position granted by the chairman of the Magic Council. There are only ten of them at a time in the entire continent and they are supposed to be the strongest wizards around, though I doubt it." Ur explained.
"Why is that?" her apprentice questioned.
"Because they offered it to me once and I said no. So if other people did the same with the current selection, they are not the most powerful wizards of the continent. Not to mention mages that the council may not know about or doesn't want to see promoted for political reasons."
"Be that as it may, they are still a force to be reckoned with." Titania contested. "And Jose Porla, Phantom Lord's master, is one of them as well." She scowled as her thoughts drifted towards a blue-haired acquaintance of hers at the end. 'And so is he…'
"They also have a numerical advantage over us." the white feline added.
"They do?!" the Celestial wizard exclaimed, her fear beginning to build up.
"Yes. Although, our members are rumored to be stronger and use less common forms of magics. If an all-out war were to break out between us, I think it would just end with the destruction of both guilds. Each side would have a Wizard Saint leading it who are said to be on par with one another. And they have a group of elite wizards like our S-class mages, they are called the Element 4. However, the most worrisome of them all might be their strongest member, Black Steel Gajeel. Very little is known about him. But if what they say is true, then he may be the one who destroyed our guildhall. He reputed as the Iron Dragon Slayer." the red-haired knight told her.
"Y-You mean he's like Natsu and Wendy? You don't think he's as powerful as he is, do you?" the blonde stuttered, praying that guy wouldn't be as strong as her pink-haired guildmate.
"I don't. Natsu uses a variety of Dragon Slayer Magics as well as other types of magics and has actually mastered at least most of them. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure that man could beat Wendy in a fair fight." Carla commented, the last part surprising the others.
In the city of Oak Town lies the main headquarters of the Phantom Lord guild. The main room of that guildhall was large and tall and had several tables paired with benches but was extremely dark with only a few candles here and there to light it at this late hour.
At one of those tables stood a single man. He was the very man who the people in Lucy's apartment were talking about, and the one who had caused and would surely cause Fairy Tail so much trouble and pain recently: Phantom Lord's ace, Gajeel Redfox. He was currently munching on some iron bolts and hinges with a big pile of other metal objects in front of him.
"Hey Gajeel, rumor has it that you wrecked Fairy Tail's guildhall. I'm sure they cried like babies. That'll teach them-" some random member of the guild said, and he would have said more if not for the iron pole that hit him in the jaw and sent him crashing into a wall.
"I warned you about talking to me while I'm eating. And why are you talking to me about those losers at all? They're so far below us it is just a waste of time." Gajeel declared while turning his arm back to normal.
"And so it has begun. You have done very well, Gajeel." a tall, slim man complimented from the railing of the second floor. He had dark red hair reaching down to his shoulders, a thin mustache and a long and sharp face with vaguely pointed ears, prominent eyelashes and dark-colored lips. His attire consisted of a flamboyant coat with a high collar that sported a jagged mantle and jagged lower edges, as well as intricately decorated borders and inners featuring two prominent wings similar to a bat's, with a matching witch-like hat bearing Phantom Lord's symbol, complete with an extremely long, bent top hanging down on his left, a plain shirt which sported his Wizard Saint's medallion around the neck, with two light ribbons falling down from it, loose striped culottes paired with long socks, and a pair of pointed shoes each bearing two furry balls, one on the front and one on the back of the foot. While donning this attire, his left hand's fingers were adorned by a pair of rings, with one of them sporting a spherical gem. This man was Jose Porla, Phantom Lord's Guild Master.
"I wasn't satisfied with my first attack, so I decided to leave them with a parting gift on my way out of their miserable town. This one was…a bit more meaningful." the Iron Dragon Slayer responded with a sadistic smirk.
"Why, of course. You may do as you see fit, just as long as you make sure to spare that one." the guild master reminded with a wicked smile of his own which only enticed Black Steel further.
The next morning, there was an unusual amount of activity in the park located near the southern end of Magnolia. Indeed, many people had gathered around the large tree in its center. They were looking up at its trunk and whispering. The crowd was so dense that it made it difficult for Erza and her companions from last night to make their way through to see what they were staring at, as they were doing right now.
"Please step aside. We are members of Fairy Tail." she requested when they finally caught sight of what was causing all the commotion.
And what they saw left them shocked, horrified and soon furious. From left to right, Jet, Levy and Droy had all been crucified on the tree with iron ties. They were all unconscious, with torn clothing and numerous cuts and bruises all over their bodies. The bluenette in particular had the Phantom Lord guild mark painted on her exposed belly.
"Levy!" Lucy cried out in horror, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Jet. Droy." Gray added, unsure whether he should check on them or go kill whoever did this.
Everyone quieted down when they noticed Makarov heading towards his guild members from behind them. He was completely silent, yet people still stepped aside to let him pass. His outfit had changed. He was now wearing a more formal attire with a white tunic with the Fairy Tail symbol on the left collar, and black pants, all in which was covered by a formal white coat with white fur around the edges and with the Ten Wizard Saints' symbol on the back. In his right hand, he was holding a wooden staff that he was using as a cane and was taller than he was.
He came to stop as he reached the members of Team Natsu and looked at the scene with a silent but deadly glare he tightened his grip on his stick. "I can accept our guildhall getting trashed…I can even take all of the gloating and the humiliation that comes with it…But I will never let anyone hurt my children and get away with it!" While saying these last words, he squeezed his stick so hard that it shattered into a pile of splinters and chips and his magic flared up in the form of a golden aura all around him. "If they want a war that bad, I'll give them a war! Fairy Tail is going to Oak Town! To battle!"
Less than an hour later, the three injured mages had been taken to Magnolia Hospital where they were currently recovering but still unconscious. After they had been bandaged and treated, they were placed in the same room that had a view of their guildhall. Levy's bed was the closest to the window, and between the two, Lucy was sitting on a chair and watching over them.
She had decided to sit her guild's counterattack out and would rather stay with her guildmates to be there if they woke up. But until they did, she was left to her thoughts which, not surprisingly, were rather dark. "Droy…Jet…Levy…How could this happen?…Those Phantom mages…they are monsters…"
Her thoughts then turned to her first meeting with Levy and her team. It wasn't all that long ago. She was having a drink at one of the tables in the guild when the blue-haired girl came sitting next to her and excitedly asked her about the book she was writing. She was initially surprised Levy even knew about that, until she figured out that Happy must have found it when he was at her place and had probably told the whole guild by now. This got her quite embarrassed and exasperated, so to lighten the mood, Levy formally introduced her two teammates and herself. Particularly, she mentioned that she loved to read and, after a bit of prodding, she got Lucy to agree to let her be the first person to read her novel once it was finished. This, along with their mutual love of books, quickly developed into a close friendship, which only made it that much more painful for the blonde girl.
"No matter what history there may be between our two guilds…nothing can justify this….But we are gonna make them pay…" she declared with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Fairy Tail's attack force was on its way to do just that. It was composed of a large majority of its members, but not its strongest members, apart from Erza. Something that many of them were wary of.
"Master, are you sure we shouldn't wait until we have more members to attack them?" the Requip mage asked.
"And when would that be? The only members that we have that might be close enough to help us are Natsu and Wendy. And you said you didn't know exactly where they were and had no way of contacting them." the old man responded, walking with a determined step and glaring at the space before him. His look softened a little with his next words. "Don't worry. We may be outnumbered, but we have the element of surprise, more powerful magics and above all, Jose's guild members fight for their pride, we fight for each other." As he said that, the group arrived at the large double door that was the main entrance of Phantom Lord's principal guildhall. "Go ahead, Gray."
With a silent nod, the ice mage joined his hands and pointed them towards the entrance. "Ice-Make: Lance!" he yelled out and launched his attack, the ice spikes breaking down the doors and sending them flying into the great hall.
This had two effects. First, it knocked out a few of the mages inside who were too close to it. And second, it froze the doorway, covering its frame with ice. Naturally, it also caused everyone to turn towards them.
"Fairy Tail is here!" Makarov roared menacingly.
Immediately after, the attacked ran to the attackers to make them pay for what they had just done. For some reason, many of the Phantom mages had weapons while the Fairies had none, but this did not discourage them.
Indeed, in a matter of seconds, dozens of them had been repelled or even sent flying, sometimes by a single Fairy Tail wizard with a single spell.
Nevertheless, the commotion it created quickly attracted the attention of each and every Phantom Lord member present in the building who rushed into the hall to take part in the battle that had just begun.
"Purple Net!" Macao shouted and formed a bunch of tendrils with purple fire which he used to ensnare a group of enemies. "Your turn, Wakaba."
"Okay! Smoke Crush!" the other mage replied and his pipe generated smoke in the form of multiple fists which struck the mages his friend had immobilized.
Next, a small group of Phantom mages thought it would be a good idea to rush the small enemy Guild Master and take him out quickly, especially since he was standing perfectly still and had his eyes closed at the moment. Therefore, they surrounded him and then all ran towards him simultaneously. That proved to be a catastrophic mistake for them as when they got close enough, Makarov opened his eyes and all hell broke loose. First of all, his eyes weren't so much eyes as blinding golden light sources without pupils. That alone made his attackers slow down in intimidation and hesitation, but it was already too late. Because then his size increased dozens of times in a few seconds and his head almost touched the ceiling. Phantom Lord's members around him barely had time to register what was happening before the were all squashed by a fist at least three times bigger than them.
"T-That guy is…a monster!" one of the mages, who had miraculously remained conscious, cried out in pure terror.
"And you were foolish enough to harm this monster's children! You have provoked my wrath and no human law will protect you from it now!" Fairy Tail's master threatened which sent shivers down his opponents' spines, especially since it wasn't just him, but all of his members who were wiping the floor with them too.
As a result, they decided to change their target again and bravely chose to concentrate on Happy. "Let's get that cat!"
"Yeah! Turn him into a rug!"
"It'll be child's play!"
However, as they were all running towards him, the blue-furred feline showed no signs of alarm. On the contrary, he looked at them with eyes of insanity and an evil smile. "Will it?" he challenged. When they got near him, his wings suddenly sprouted and he took off, dodging them all and making them all collide with each other. "Make no mistake, I'm a wizard as well." He then pulled two massive fish out of his green backpack and swung them at his foes, thus throwing them around. Shortly afterwards, all the mages who had tried to take him out found themselves knocked out, their mouths filled with different food items. All of them, except one. One of them was still awake and aware. That being said, he was also laid on his back and unable to get up, though it as out of fear, not pain. He was afraid because Happy was standing in front of him holding a watermelon twice his size over his head. "Is there something wrong with being a cat?"
"Jose! Come out and face me!" Makarov roared, which shook the ground and frightened his enemies even further.
At the same time, Erza capitalized on this and quickly reequipped into her Flame Empress Armor. She then used the sword that came with it to shoot fire around her in a circular motion. This, combined with the already poor balance and lack of attention of the Phantom mages around her, left them no chance and they were thrown all over the place like leaves in the wind. "Where are Gajeel and the Element 4?! Answer me!"
Little did she know, one of her targets was looking down at her from one of the rafters at this very moment. "So this is the famous Titania Erza, uh?…But I can't see any Mystogan, any Laxus, not even a Salamander…Are they scared? Do they feel like they don't need them? Or do they simply not care?…Although, they are not half as bad as I had expected….But it doesn't matter anyway….Everything is going as Master Jose said it would."
Back in Magnolia, Lucy had just recently left the hospital after realizing that her friends wouldn't be waking up today. She was now walking down an alleyway on her way back home. She was carrying in her arms a bag of groceries that she had bought on the way.
"I wish someone else had stayed with them a little bit too instead of them all rushing into the fight like that." the blonde thought aloud. "Then again, I understand. If I had been in the guild as long as they had, and if I had been a better fighter, I might have done the same thing." The Celestial Spirit mage was looking down at the ground with a sorrowful look while she was walking. So she really didn't see it coming when the rain suddenly started falling on her, to the point where it made her stop in her tracks. "Uh? It's raining…and yet the sun is out…" Her attention was once again diverted when she spotted someone walking towards her. But what really caught her eye was the appearance of this person.
It was a slender, teenage girl with azure blue hair, midnight blue eyes, snow skin complexion and a curvaceous figure. She had long hair, tightly curled at the base, and sported a sapphire blue coat, a cream colored furry trimmed navy blue shawl with a small pure white handmade doll made from paper or fabric attached to it, as well as a matching long cylindrical fur hat.
"Drip. Drip. Drop. The rain follows Juvia everywhere she goes. That's why they wall her the Rain Woman." the blue-haired woman, now known as Juvia, explained with an emotionless face. She was making Lucy more than a little uncomfortable. "And who are you supposed to be, if you don't mind me asking?" she asked while she walked right past her, without giving her a second glance.
"Um…I'm no one special really…" the blonde replied carefully.
After she had passed her by a few steps, the so-called Rain Woman opened a pink umbrella and placed it over her. "It was nice to make your acquaintance, but I must be on my way now."
"Okay…Don't forget your rain." the Fairy Tail wizard awkwardly waved with a sweat drop.
Both of them stopped what they were doing and turned around when they heard a new voice. "Non. Non. Non. Non. Non. Non. Non." it said as a new figure emerged from the ground.
It was a slim man of average height with a tiny, pointy, mustache and green hair pointing upwards. His right eye was hidden by a monocle, attached to a slim chain. Under it, the eye itself seemed small and round, in contrast to his other, larger eye. He was clad in a formal attire consisting of a brown suit with a ragged collar bearing six prominent protrusions jutting outwards (three on each side) over a white shirt paired with a red tie and simple shoes. He also donned what appeared to be a short cape attached to both of his elbows, linking them. He kept a very bizarre stance, standing with his head tilted while he oddly swung his body back and forth. Also, he had his feet melded to the ground.
"And après all these non, I say bonjour to you, Mademoiselle." the weird man continued with a creepy smile.
'Aaaand here's weirdo number 2…fantastic…' Lucy sarcastically thought.
"Juvia, ma chère, please try not to fall astray from our mission." the mysterious man told her, swaying from side to side repeatedly.
"I'm well aware of that, Monsieur Sol." the bluenette assured him.
"My monocle is very informatif, mon amie. For example, it's telling me that this Demoiselle right here is just our cible." Sol informed his friend while holding the aforementioned piece of glass between his thumb and forefinger.
"Is that so? I didn't realize she was the one." the blue-haired woman admitted in a tone still just as devoid of feelings.
Their conversation was making Lucy wary as she eyed them cautiously. 'Cible? Doesn't that translate to…target?'
"Oh but excusez-moi. I forgot to introduce myself. My nom is Sol of the Earth or simply Sol for short. Fier member of the Element 4. But most people call me Monsieur Sol." the green-haired man greeted with his head parallel to the ground.
His words caused the teenage girl to assume a defensive stance and her right hand to drift towards her keys. "I know about the Element 4. They are part of Phantom Lord!"
"En effet, you're right. Maître Jose instructed us to find you and bring you back to our guilde with us." Sol clarified, making Lucy glare at him with gritted teeth. "I believe you have already met my jolie camarade, Juvia of the Great Sea. She's a member of the Element 4 aussi."
It was then that Lucy let go of her purchases completely and pulled her keys out. Her anger was growing and it showed. "It was you who hurt my friends! You'll regret-" Before she could finish what she was trying to say, her whole body was surrounded by a huge bubble of water.
"Pas du tout, ma chère. You assumption makes sense, but we had nothing to do with ça." the tall man denied as the blonde was banging her fist against the sphere. "Monsieur Gajeel is responsible for the attaques on both your guildmates and guildhall. Although that is not to say we didn't fully agree with it all."
"What the hell is this?!" the Celestial mage managed to say despite the fact that she was running out of oxygen.
"That is my Water Lock spell and it is unbreakable. So your resistance is futile." the other member of the Element 4 answered.
Just as Lucy's eyes began to close and her consciousness was leaving her, one more voice echoed through the empty alley. "Ice-Make: Javelin!"
The two Phantom mages barely had enough time to register what they had heard when a spear made of ice landed between them and shattered into pieces. Some of these pieces were thrown at them and even at their faces, causing them to raise their arms to their heads to protect themselves. Additionally, it broke Juvia's concentration and rendered her unable to maintain her spell, thus freeing Lucy.
And so, the sphere of water fell on the ground and dispersed there as one of the countless drops of the rain that continued to fall. As for the blonde, she landed in a sitting position on her butt and hands, not hard enough to actually hurt her but doing a pretty good job at waking her up. The first thing she did was to take a sucking breath to try to make up for the time she had spent suffocating. Once that was done, she projected herself on the side to recover her keys that she had dropped and stood up. Since she had been on the verge of losing consciousness, she hadn't really realized what had saved her. As a result, she didn't bother to look around and instead chose to focus solely on her two attackers.
They, however, did the exact opposite and completely ignored their original target in favor of finding the caster of the spell that had hindered them. Eventually, they spotted not one but two figures in the alleyway to their right. The first was a woman of average height with dark purple hair and the second was a white-furred cat with angel-like wings floating in the air.
"Whoever you are, you shouldn't have interfered." the Rain Woman told them with narrowed eyes. "We had explicit orders not to hurt this girl. But now that you've foiled our initial plan, we are going to have to punish you and she may get harmed in the process."
"Oui. Everything was going so well and you deux had to ruin it. Quelle tragédie." Sol added.
Their comments made the Celestial mage finally notice there were other people present. As she followed their gaze, her eyes widened in surprise and her lips curled in joy and relief. "Ur! Carla!"
Despite her call, she was fully ignored by both of the newcomers who continued to glare at her two would-be kidnappers.
"I realize I have been away for a long time and I am not completely aware of what has been happening since then. I don't even understand half of the stuff I've seen since I returned. So I wouldn't normally interfere in what I deem not to be any of my business. But in this case, I think your guild has already done more than enough harm to warrant it." the ice mage explained, mainly to distract them while she was observing them. And what especially caught her eye was the way the green-haired man's feet merged with the ground. "Ice-Make: Floor!" she called out as she slammed both of her hands on the floor. Within a few seconds, the entirety of the alley's stone ground was covered by a slippery layer of ice. When the ice reached Sol, his connection with the soil was broken and therefore so was his spell. As a result, his feet materialized and, as soon as they hit the ice, he skidded and fell over backwards. Not only that, but he continued to slide across the ice while still on his back, hitting one side of the alley after another until he was out of sight.
"Aïe! Aïe! Aïe!" he repeated each time he hit a building or a store until he vanished on the horizon.
Deciding now would be a good time to cast a spell of her own, Lucy chose one of her keys and used it. "Open Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!"
"This girl's hairstyle really needs my help." the crab spirit declared as he appeared in a flash of light.
Juvia wasn't so much concerned about her hair as she was about the fact that she was so badly outnumbered. "It would seem I have no choice but to retreat. It's a shame. Master Jose won't be pleased. But that will only make him come at you harder. Until me meet again, Lucy Heartfilia. Drip. Drip. Drop." After she said that, her entire body turned into water that fell to the ground and dispersed. A few moments later, the rain dissipated.
When they were really convinced that she was gone, Cancer returned to the Celestial Spirit World and Ur and Carla started making their way to Lucy. Said blonde was mindlessly staring in front of her, flabbergasted that Juvia knew her last name. So much so that she didn't see how Ur was limping. Nevertheless, she broke out of her daze when she heard Carla speak up.
"Are you alright?" the white feline asked.
"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Thanks to the two of you." Lucy responded with a grateful smile, which then turned into a confused look. "Speaking of which, what are you doing here?"
"Carla was giving me a tour of Magnolia when we spotted that it was raining on a single street and we decided to check it out." Gray's teacher supplied. "We would have arrived earlier if my leg wasn't still a bit messed up. It makes me glad we got rid of those guys that fast. I'm not sure how well I would have fared in a prolonged fight."
"What did they want with you anyway?" Carla wondered.
"I don't know. All they said was that their guild master had ordered them to kidnap me." the blonde answered.
"Maybe he wanted acquire a hostage to have some leverage over your guild." the older woman theorized.
"I doubt it. They knew my full name and called me their target. I think they were looking for me specifically." Lucy refuted, surprising her interlocutors.
In the guildhall of Phantom Lord, the fight was still raging between the two guilds. Although, it was clear which side was currently winning, neither was backing down. The main reason why Fairy Tail was doing so well was that their master was cutting through his opponents as if they weren't even there. That is how he had made his way to the second floor were he was currently located.
"Erza! I leave the rest to you here!" he shouted to the knight without turning around.
"Yes, Master!" she responded.
Upon hearing her confirmation, Makarov began to walk deeper into the enemy guildhall. Specifically, he was searching for the nearest flight of stairs. By now, the members of Phantom Lord had learned their lesson that they would do better to avoid him, so he was free to roam their building unopposed. "Jose's office is on the top floor. That's where he must be hiding. He's right to hide. But that won't save him from my vengeance."
"Please come back safely." the redhead requested with a worried look pointed at where her guild master was last seen.
From his vantage point, Gajeel had a perfect view of Makarov's actions and watched as he blew up a wooden double door and walked through the hole it left in the wall. "With this guy finally gone, I should be able to join in on the fun." he established. After which, he jumped down from the rafter towards the ongoing melee with a malicious smirk.
When he landed, it was on a giant sign that had his guild's name on it. The impact was so strong, it broke the panel in half and got everybody's attention.
"Who's that?"
"I don't know. But he doesn't look friendly."
The only person who recognized him for sure was Erza who was back in her default armor. "Black Steel Gajeel. Phantom Lord's Dragon Slayer."
Upon hearing this, Nab decided to pay the man back for what he had done to his three guildmates and jumped at him with his fist cocked back. But before he could get anywhere near Phantom's Ace, he received an iron pole to the stomach that sent him flying. But even after that, Gajeel's attack continued and took out several of his own guildmates.
"What the hell…" Loke whispered in shock.
"He didn't even try to avoid them!" Gray exclaimed, outraged.
As they were recovering from their surprise, the Iron Dragon Slayer jumped down again to be on the same floor as them. "So which one of you fairy worms wants a piece of me? Or maybe you'd rather just turn tail and run right now?"
His taunt would have made Elfman jump on him in turn, if he had not been prevented by an armored gauntlet holding his shoulder. When he looked at it, he wasn't all that surprised to see it belonged to Erza.
"I am the only S-class mage we have, I will handle him." she told him with her gaze fixed on the smirking Ace. Although he wanted to protest, the white-haired mage knew it wouldn't be a good idea for many reasons, so he relented and moved out of the way.
The whole thing just made their foe's grin widen. "Titania, uh? Yeah, I've heard about you. They say you're the toughest woman of your guild. But you don't look so tough to me. Then again, by your trash guild's standards, tough doesn't mean much, does it?"
Gajeel was hoping that his insults would cause the red-haired mage to get enraged and attack him recklessly. He succeeded in the first, but failed in the second. Indeed, instead of lunging at him like he expected her to, Erza merely narrowed her eyes into a death glare and reequipped one of her regular swords. She wasn't confident enough to believe she could defeat the Dragon Slayer without any special equipment, but she wanted to test the waters first.
Seeing that his initial tactic had failed, Gajeel decided to do what he always did and went on the offensive. "Iron Dragon's Club!" he yelled and transformed his right forearm into a large steel club, similar to the ones he had left in Fairy Tail's guildhall. He pointed it at the enemy S-class mage and it elongated at an impressive speed, covering the distance between them in a couple of seconds.
It was only thanks to her reflexes that Erza was able to raise her sword with both of her hands in time to block the pole. "Don't underestimate me." she warned.
"Gi Hi. You think I meant for that to take you down? Maybe you're tough but you're definitely not smart. I just wanted to see how you would handle this!" As he spoke the last word, multiple smaller clubs shot out of the end of the original one and hit several mages, though they were all Phantom Lord mages.
As for Erza, she was left flabbergasted and scandalized by his actions. To such an extent that she didn't notice when her adversary withdrew his club. "You intentionally attacked your own comrades?! How wicked can you be?!"
Although, her indignation only served to make the black-haired wizard snicker. "Comrades? More like tools to distract you!" He then re-launched the same attack but with much more power behind it and aiming it at her head instead of her chest.
However, much to his chagrin, the Requip mage managed to protect herself in time again by placing the blade of her sword in front of her face, one hand holding the handle and the other placed on the flat side of the blade. That being said, he had put so much force into his attack that she got pushed back anyway and was forced to plant her feet in the ground to stop herself. When she finally did come to a full stop, she was instantly enveloped by a familiar golden glow. "Requip: Black Wing Armor!"
The light was so intense, it forced Phantom's Ace to cover his eyes with his other hand to protect them. When it faded, and his eyes returned to the red-haired knight, he was surprised to see that even the sword had changed without it having moved from its place. Once again, Gajeel began to retract his arm, but as soon as he did, his opponent used her armor's flight capacity to rush towards him. "Moon Flash!" she called out as she was closing in and generated two waves of blue energy with her sword. Gajeel's arm barely returned to its normal state when they reached him, so the only thing he could do was to raise his arms to his face in defense.
The resulting explosion created a thick cloud of dust that hid the Dragon Slayer from everyone's vision. When it started to settle, an ominous voice rose. "Gi Hi Hi." When it fully dissipated, it revealed that Gajeel had barely been scrapped by the attack. "I guess the rumors weren't completely unfounded after all. That actually kinda stung a bit. But I hope that ain't all you got. Or I'll get bored fast."
By the time he was done talking, Erza's sword was already heading for his face. However, her enemy had…an interesting parry to this attack, to say the least. Indeed, his response was to bite the blade of the incoming weapon and hold it between his teeth. The S-class mage tried to pull her weapon away, but his grip on it was too strong. She didn't exactly get a fair chance to try anyway, because a few seconds later, the Phantom Lord mage bit down on the sword he was holding, snapping it in two and chewing on the part that was in his mouth.
Upon witnessing this, the redhead blinked several times at what was left of her sword (which was pretty much just the hilt) before throwing it away. Just as she did, she received a kick in her left side but thanks to her armor and natural durability, it didn't hurt her too much. Furthermore, before Gajeel could retract his leg, she grabbed it with both hands and spun around, throwing him back into the rafters.
He hit and went through a couple of them before he managed to stop by creating metal spikes under his feet and sticking them into the next rafter. When he did, he was met with the sight of Erza levitating to the same level as him and holding an axe in each of her hands.
Each axe appeared the same with a purple handle leading up to the axes' blade which was black in color and ended up in a gold pointed tip. They also had bandages that wrapped the axes' shaft below the blade.
But before either of them could make a move, they were interrupted by a tremor that engulfed the whole building.
"I guess he's really pissed, uh?" Wakaba remarked.
"You can say that again." Macao responded.
"I just hope he remembers we're standing right below." Gray commented.
"W-What do you mean?" one of Phantom Lord's wizards shakily asked.
"That's what you get for pissing off Master Makarov." Cana mocked them with a wry smile.
"You see, Black Steel. In the end, you were just a fool. We can't lose as long as Master Makarov is with us." Erza told him in a firm tone, her last sentence intended for her guildmates as much as for him.
As the aforementioned old man was advancing towards his enemy's office, his rage, and thus his magic power, increased drastically, damaging the guildhall around him. When he finally found the room he had been looking for, he didn't content himself with blasting the door, but took the entire wall along with it. Nevertheless, Jose's only reaction was to smirk. He was sitting cross legged in the chair behind his desk, which resembled a throne more than anything else. He was perfectly calm even as the other guild master walked up to him, destroying the floor in the process.
"JOSE! What is the meaning of your attack on my guild?!" Fairy Tail's master yelled at him with a thick golden aura surrounding him.
"Makarov, it's been quite a while. Six years ago for the annual master conference if I remember right. I haven't been to one since. Then again, I was so wasted last time. I must admit I'm not as used to alcohol as the rest of you." the younger man greeted, ignoring both the question and destruction around him.
He would have said more but before he could, a fist about twice his size landed where he stood. "I'm not interested in reminiscing the past, Jose. I'm here for the present."
"Well, if you would let me speak…" the other Wizard Saint mocked in an amused tone.
When Makarov withdrew his fist, he saw that he had demolished Jose's chair and the wall behind it, but that the man himself hadn't sustained any damage whatsoever. In fact, the only change was that he was now standing up for lack of a seat to sit on. Then, his body flickered briefly before returning to normal, but it was long enough to let Fairy Tail's master know what was going on. "A Thought Projection? You abandoned your guild members to fight a battle that you started?! You coward!"
"Coward, you say? Yes, I suppose for someone as simple-minded as you, wisdom can easily be mistaken for cowardice. But I didn't leave because I was scared. I left because I know the kind of damage a fight between two Wizard Saint can do. And do you know how I know that? Because, as I was trying to say, during our last meeting, your drinking and bragging led to the two of us going at it. And you humiliated me in front of all the others, simply because, unlike me, you spend all your days getting drunk." the taller man countered.
"What?! You're telling me that is what this is about?! Well if that's the case, come and face me!" the oldest of the two demanded with gritted teeth.
"Well, that's one of the reasons. But in all honesty, the main reason is this new blonde Celestial wizard of yours." Jose admitted which made Makarov's eyes widen in shock.
"Lucy?! What do you want with her?!" He was even more enraged now at the prospect of another one of his children getting hurt.
"What do I want? It should be obvious, even for you. Unless of course, Lucy Heartfilia never confided in you. Not that it matters now anyway. My agents must have found and retrieve her by now, she will be in my possession soon enough." Phantom's master declared with a sadistic smirk.
"In you possession?! You-" Before he could continue, Makarov was interrupted by the sudden appearance of someone behind him.
It was an extremely tall and massive man with tanned skin and a rectangular, elongated face with prominent cheekbones, which had his rounded chin jut downwards. A thin, vertical dark line was present on the chin, crossing its whole length up to his lower lip, and his nose was flat. His eyes and eyebrows were hidden away by a simple, light blindfold. His limbs were quite small and especially thin in comparison to the large mass of his body. Nonetheless, his hands seemed to be more well-proportioned. This man's massive upper body was covered by a large, loose green coat sporting white edges, which was closed around his neck, sporting a wide and high collar, but left open on the front below it, revealing a similarly loose and ruffled pale red shirt, with its high collar split in three horizontal straps circling his neck, being held closed by an equal amount of buttons, one for each strap. Appearing from below such shirt was a similar robe, seemingly yellow in color, which almost reaches down to his feet, revealing an extremely loose pair of pants with prominent hems and a pair of simple, dark shoes. His attire sported a pair of distinctive elements: circling his neck was a large, orange-colored necklace composed of several crosses linked together by small beads, which on the front, right below his neck, bore a small skull, with its eyes obscured by a blindfold not unlike that covering his own eyes. Passing over his shoulders and hanging on the front was instead a wide purple and white stole, being covered in intricate motifs. His outfit was completed by a top hat sitting on his head, matching his coat in color.
'What?! How did he sneak up on me? I didn't even feel his presence?'
"This is so sad!" the giant shouted with an endless stream of tears flowing from his blindfold. He stretched his hands out to the small guild master and used his magic who screamed in pain as the room was filled with a blinding golden light.
As that happened, the ground under Makarov gave way and he fell in the seemingly bottomless pit that opened up and disappeared from their view.
"Well done, Aria. Now that you have rid Makarov of his powers, he is no longer any threat to us." Jose congratulated with a satisfied smile, before it turned into a displeased frown. "Although I wish I could say the same for those other two. How long can it take for two of my Element 4 to acquire a single, young, Celestial mage? No matter, delay or not, victory is ours, Fairy Tail."
Back on the ground floor, the battle was suddenly interrupted when something fell on the floor with a loud thud. When everyone turned to see what it was, they were either horrified or delighted to see it was a very sick-looking Makarov. His skin was an ugly shade of green and his body was stiff as a board, leaving his previous expression of pain imprinted on his face.
'W-What is this? M-My magic, it's…gone…' Fairy Tail's master thought despite his overwhelming pain.
"Master!" Erza, being the first to react, screamed and flew towards him, forgetting Gajeel completely. When she landed next to the old man, she picked him up with both hands. He was mumbling words left and right that didn't mean anything. "Please try to remain calm."
As for Gajeel, he hadn't moved from his spot in the rafter. "I guess the fun's over. And to think I was just beginning to enjoy myself."
As he was complaining, a large crowd consisting of pretty much all of the Fairy Tail wizards present was forming around Makarov and Erza. They were quite shocked and worried.
"What in the world happened?" Cana asked.
"Whatever it is, it left him without any magic power." Gray noted with wide eyes.
"Do you mean he's just a common old man now?" Elfman asked in disbelief.
On the other side of the guildhall, the opposing group of wizards was far from being in the same mental state as they were. Indeed, the sight of the defeated enemy master was a huge boost to their moral. As a result, they decided to try their luck at another all-out assault. However, this time they were much more successful.
Seeing this, Erza realized there was only one sensible thing left for them to do. "Pull back! Everyone retreat back to the guild immediately!" she ordered.