AN: Thank you Goku275 and MDM11.
MDM11, I looked at Jose Porla and Mest's pages on the Fairy Tail Wiki and found a clear for Mest choosing to free Oración Seis over the former Wizard Saint during the Tartaros Arc in canon. After Erik was temporarily released to fight one of the dragons that came through the Eclipse Gate, he returned to custody voluntarily — showing he honors his promises — and gave a warning about Tartaros (Ch. 339). This event likely made Oración Seis the better option in Mest's eyes.
Plus, it originally took Jura (another Wizard Saint) and about a dozen other powerful mages to defeat Oración Seis. It could be argued that, collectively, the six of them are stronger than Jose.
"You guys should go on ahead," Erza told the others, eyeing Irene warily. The Fairy had Requipped into her Clear Heart Clothing and taken out the katana Benizakura. "I will deal with her."
"Got it."
"Right."
"Okay."
"Aye."
Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy agreed easily and departed without another word. Carla, on the other hand, was far less accommodating.
"Hold on!" cried the Exceed, her voice full of worry. "This Spriggan isn't like the ones we fought in Hargeon Town! She's far stronger!"
"I know," replied Erza. "But I have to see for myself if my suspicions are true!"
With those words, the Fairy launched herself at Irene. Carla sighed, then followed after the others.
The Spriggan scowled and fired an explosion at Erza. However, when the blast faded, Irene saw Wendy standing between the two red-haired women, having countered the Enchantment Magic that the Spriggan had used to create the blast.
"Enchantment Magic?" said Irene, not expecting such a young girl to have the magical knowledge and skill necessary to stop the Spriggan's spell.
"I'll fight with you!" declared the young dragon slayer. Erza opened her mouth to protest, but Wendy cut her off. "She's an Enchanter like me."
"…I understand," responded the older Fairy. Titania shifted into a fighting stance. "Then let us do this together!"
Erza performed several slashes with Benizakura, her movements enhanced by Wendy's magic. Irene blocked them with her staff, then stabbed at the Fairy with the butt of that staff. Erza jumped back to avoid the strike, prompting the Spriggan to create another explosion with her magic.
However, Erza was able to minimize the damage she received by leaping upward, keeping herself around the edge of the blast. As Titania rose into the air, she Requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and brought out several dozen swords.
"Heaven's Wheel: Blumenblatt!"
As the red-haired Fairy descended, all of her blades shot at Irene, save the two she kept in her hands. The weapons slammed into the ground with enough force to send chunks of earth flying and kick up a cloud of dust.
"Did that do it?" asked Wendy.
"No," replied Erza. "It will take far more than that to defeat her."
The older Fairy was proven right moments later.
"I must say," said Irene. The dust cleared, revealing the Spriggan unharmed and the swords arranged around her in a flower pattern. "I am impressed to see you control so many swords at once, even if it is pathetic that this was the best you could do despite being enhanced by that young lady."
Irene tapped one of the blades with her staff, and they all dissolved into smoke.
"Speaking of which, why is it that me being an Enchanter made you so willing to accept her help, Erza?"
"I assume you know about the Eclipse Gate incident last year," responded the red-haired Fairy as she Requipped into her standard armor. The Spriggan nodded, prompting Erza to continue. "A future version of Wendy came back in time, one who received training from an Enchanter from the Spriggan 12. Before she ceased to exist, Future Wendy passed those lessons on to Present Wendy."
Irene frowned and glared at the young dragon slayer. "Just how much does she know? To what degree did that version of me educate her?"
"To my knowledge, you are the only Enchanter among the Spriggan 12," continued Erza. "With that in mind, Wendy has just as much of a right as I do to face you."
"Ah," went Irene, shifting her attention back to Erza. "So you have realized who I am… that I am you mother!"
Wendy could hardly believe that Irene was Erza's mother. Though the two did look quite similar, hold large reserves of Magic Power, and have strong personalities, the young dragon slayer just could not accept that the Spriggan was the older Fairy's mother.
Wendy knew what a mother was like because of Grandeeney, and even if Irene gave birth to Erza, she was not her mother. This rejection grew stronger as Irene explained her past, where she created the Personality Enchantment to steal her daughter's body and abandoned the baby when that failed.
It made Wendy angry when Irene called Erza worthless, and the dragon slayer felt happy when Erza called Fairy Tail her true family. And, when the red-haired Fairy Requipped and attacked the Spriggan with twin swords, Wendy followed up with her own strike.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" shouted the dragon slayer, hammering Irene's side with wind-wrapped hands while the Spriggan was preoccupied blocking Erza's blades. The hit made Irene stumble and grunt in pain, something the red-haired Fairy took advantage of.
"Crimson Double-Blade!" called out Erza, slashing Irene. The Spriggan was pushed back a few feet by the force of the attack, although she only received minor cuts.
"I get it now," said Irene, confusing Wendy and Erza. The Spriggan stared at the Sky Dragon Slayer with an intensity that made the Fairies uneasy. "You're a dragon slayer like Zeref's brother, immune to dragonization… and an Enchanter that a version of me deigned to train…"
In Irene's head, it all made sense. The version of her from the Acnologia-dominated future must have taught Wendy so that the girl, a perfect vessel, would have a reason to come to her!
"It seems the other me realized that the most essential thing for the Personality Enchantment is compatibility," muttered the Spriggan, making the Fairies realize what she was planning. Irene raised a hand toward Wendy, performing the Personality Enchantment.
"No!" shouted Erza, turning to Wendy in horror. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to stop the High Enchanter's magic. "Wendy!"
Oh, how Irene had waited for this moment. A new body! A new life! Irene would be reborn!
She felt her Enchantment envelop Wendy's body…
"What?"
…Only to be rebuffed.
"Why am I…?" went the Spriggan. Having tasted her goal, the sudden failure gave Irene an especially strong shock. "But… My new body… How?"
"Anti-Personality Enchantment," answered Wendy, shocking Irene. "After hearing that the Alvarez Empire declared war against us, I remembered the Personality Enchantment that F-Wendy learned from one of the Spriggan 12. To prevent it from being used against my friends, I created an Enchantment that blocks the Personality Enchantment."
In the moment between the Fairies realizing Irene's intentions and the Spriggan's casting of the Personality Enchantment, the young dragon slayer had applied her untested Anti-Personality Enchantment to herself and prayed that it would succeed. If Irene's mind was clearer, she would be impressed by Wendy's skill as an Enchanter.
"If it's just an Enchantment keeping me from my new body…" spoke Irene in a detached tone. Her centuries-old desire being snatched from her grasp had caused something inside of the Spriggan to snap. "…then all I have to do is beat you until you can't resist, tear off your pesky Enchantment, and TAKE WHAT IS MINE!"
The fury Irene felt steadily seeped into her voice until she was screaming. The Spriggan snarled as her body transformed, growing larger and more reptilian. Her clothes tore, and wings and a tail sprouted from her back.
In less than a minute, the Sage Dragon Irene Belserion stood before Wendy and Erza in her true form, power and wrath oozing from her in equal measures.
"A dragon!?" exclaimed Erza, shocked by the Spriggan's transformation. She shifted into a defensive position as Irene slapped her away with an open hand, only for the Fairy to feel her bones crunch as her body was sent flying. "Aaaaaaaa!"
Irene followed Erza, who came to a stop and found herself too injured to get back up. Despite her fury, the Spriggan had enough presence of mind to finish off the red-haired Fairy so that she could seize Wendy's body without interruption. Or so she thought.
Unfortunately for Irene, she didn't consider the lengths to which the Sky Dragon Slayer would go to protect Erza.
"Don't you even think about hurting Erza anymore!" shouted Wendy as she gathered up her Magic Power. "Focus all of your anger… on me! Dragonization Enchantment!"
As the young Fairy cast her spell, her body began to shift as Irene's had not long before. Except, rather than scales, feathers covered the Sky Dragon's body, the same deep shade of blue that her hair had been.
"MY BOOODY!" screeched Irene, whose attention had been drawn by the surge in Wendy's Magic Power. "WHAT HAVE YOU DOOONE!"
The Spriggan, falling for the Fairy's provocation, abandoned Erza's fallen body and sprinted toward Wendy.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" bellowed Wendy, unleashing a tornado-like blast of wind far stronger than any spell she had cast before.
Irene, too caught up in the loss of a potential body, wasn't able to react to the attack in time and took it head on. She was knocked back a bit, with the areas that were hit getting damaged enough to draw blood.
Getting hit did cause the Spriggan to regain a bit of composure, though. She still looked at Wendy with pure hatred, but she was now thinking about how to annihilate the Fairy instead of just blindly rushing in for the kill.
"You. Will. Die!" vowed Irene, creating firing several giant explosive blasts of energy at Wendy with her magic.
"Momentary Wind!" cried Wendy, gathering wind at her hind legs and using it to propel herself as she jumped upward. The Fairy's ascent caused Irene's blasts to miss and strike an uninhabited cluster of ruins. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
As Wendy descended, she used her wings to glide toward the Spriggan. She wrapped a strong whirlwind around her right arm as she fell, using it to deliver a heavy strike to Irene on impact.
The Spriggan blocked the attack with her left arm. The scales on that limb cracked and bled, but her vitals were protected. Irene then took advantage of Wendy's closeness, enchanting several large pockets of air around the Fairy's body to explode.
"Disappear!" shouted the Spriggan hatefully. She jumped back to escape blast radius of the imminent explosions, using a quick flap of her wings to supplement the jump.
"Ile Armor!" chanted Wendy, sensing Irene's Enchantments. The Fairy curled up in a ball as her defense increased, preparing to endure the explosions.
"Don't be impertinent!" berated Irene, preparing to nullify Wendy's Ile Armor. "Deus Zero!"
"I nullify your Deus Zero with another Deus Zero!" retorted the Fairy as she successfully countered the Spriggan's magic. The enchanted pockets of air (which Wendy hadn't used Deus Zero against due to how numerous they were) exploded a moment later, engulfing the Sky Dragon whole.
Thanks to her Enchantment, Wendy was able to endure the overlapping blasts. However, the light and noise from the explosions meant that the Fairy didn't notice Irene's next attack until it slammed into her. Her wings took the brunt of the attack, but Wendy's body still received enough damage to make her collapse.
"How did you like my Roar?" asked Irene as she looked down on the Sky Dragon literally and figuratively. "You were foolish to think that Dragonizing yourself would allow you to win. I have far more experience as a dragon than you do. Now, be ground into nothing by my Master Enchantment. Deus Sema!"
Up in the sky, beyond the planet's atmosphere, a meteor was imbued with Irene's magic. The Enchantment pulled the meteor toward the planet, rapidly gaining speed as it moved closer and closer to Wendy.
"Th-That's just impossible…" said Erza, gawking at the descending meteor.
It had frustrated the Fairy that she could only watch as Wendy fought Irene, her injuries preventing Erza from moving anything but her right arm. Now, however, one arm would have to be enough.
The red-haired Fairy brought her arm up then slammed it into the ground with as much force as she could muster. The impact shot her body into the air and toward the meteor, which she turned to face.
"Even if my body falls apart," began Titania as she Requipped Benizakura into her right hand. As the Fairy approached the meteor, she swung her blade. "I will protect my family!"
Sword met stone, and the meteor shattered into a million pieces.
Omake
"Tch!" went Carla (human form), clicking her tongue. As she kicked down one of the few remaining Berserker soldiers blocking the way to the guild hall, another one attacked her from behind. "I won't be able to dodge in time!"
Fortunately for her, she was saved when Happy (Battle Mode Shift) punched the soldier to the ground before the female Exceed was harmed. Happy spared her a brief smile, then went after another Berserker soldier.
"He really has matured," mused Carla. "The old Happy would have either lost to the soldier or, upon winning, tried to flirt with me."
She looked at the male Exceed, watching him take down another enemy. "With that serious look on his face, he's even a bit handso— What am I thinking about!?"
Carla shook her head vigorously, refusing to acknowledge that she found a mature Happy attractive. To the Exceed's relief, another Berserker solider attacked her, giving her an excuse to push the thought from her mind.
AN: Irene's fight ended up being longer than I expected. I originally thought I would be able to end it this chapter, but it looks like I will have to finish it next chapter.
That is all. Goodbye for now!