Jellal was in absolute shock as he saw the person in front of him.
All he remembered was making his way towards one of Crime Sorciere's recent makeshift guild bases and he felt a mighty fist collide against his cheek.
Jellal was almost instantly knocked out by its sheer force if it had not been for his cat-like reflexes which helped him manage to minimise the damage by a minimal amount. It felt like the entire left side of his jaw had been excoriated against asphalt and dipped in salty water. Fighting through the sudden urge to faint, Jellal looked up to see the blurry figure of a man wearing a jet-black fur coat. He scurried up to his feet with whatever bit of strength he could muster to face him, only to have the man grab him by the neck.
In a desperate attempt to escape the man, Jellal conjured some fire magic that he had come across during his spars with Natsu and after going through quite a few runes while fighting dark guilds.
While his fire was nowhere near as potent as the salmon-haired mage, it was still strong enough to burn someone's skin away.
The other man took the magic head-on, with no hesitation, and did not flinch. Jellal could feel his eyes stare back at him through the fire. If fire could not get through to the man, smoke might.
Jellal used some wind to raise a sandstorm, obviously causing sand and dust to spread into the man's face. While it did little to no damage to the man, he was preoccupied with it, which gave Jellal the single moment he needed to escape his rugged grip.
As he scurried away from the man in a vain attempt to put some distance between them, Jellal was horrified to see the man burst forward and grab his shoulders.
The dust was still up, and Jellal could not see the man's face. He brought his knees up and kicked him square in the ribs as he escaped his grasp and looked up to see the man as the sand settled down.
His mouth dropped as he saw an aged version of his own reflection staring back at him.
The man's hair had begun to turn grey near his sideburns and the corners of his eyebrows. The tattoo over his eye had spread down to his chest akin to a visible scar, and his eyes screamed of animosity.
"What?", was all Jellal could muster as he saw the older version of himself step forward. Who was the man? Was it his father? Or an uncle or an older brother? Or was it a case similar to Mystogan? Whoever he was, it was clear as day that he was related to Jellal. But what was the reason behind why he wanted him dead?
"You die tonight, Jellal. You might think of me as a madman. But this is for h-"
The older man could only hear a guttural roar as the sky began to light up in the shape of the Big Dipper constellation.
The seven beams of light tore down from the sky with the strength and velocity of meteors and slammed themselves into the man.
Jellal got back on to his feet knowing well that it was not enough to beat the older man.
Smoke, ash, and dust covered the place upon impact. Jellal could have cleared it with some basic wind magic, but that would be as simple as outing his own location to the man.
"Satisfied, Jellal? Will you let me complete?", he asked. The powerful magic could only leave a solitary scar on his face. This was the result of one of Jellal's go-to spells and the older man did not make a single attempt to dodge.
"This is how Grand Chariot should work"
Jellal's eyes rose up towards the sky as each asteroid seemed to be as big as a small island. The sheer magic that seemed to emit from the man forced blood out of his mouth due to the overdose of magical aura in the place.
"She will have a good life now", he muttered as he snapped his fingers.
A spell that Jellal knew like the back of his hand suddenly seemed like an unattainable elixir. Rather than a Grand Chariot, it seemed like seven separate incantations of Sema mixed with some of the most potent Dark magic were pouring down on him, all with the aim of stripping his life from him.
If it had been his mentality from a couple of years back, Jellal would have accepted his fate with joy. Perhaps he would have thanked the other man for ending his misery once and for all.
But all he could think of at the moment was the crying face of Erza. Memories he had spent with Laxus, Crime Sorciere, and Fairy Tail started to assert their positions in his memory, each one screaming out a valid reason to keep moving forward.
With a sudden burst of Meteor, he surged forward, with his Binding Snake wrapping itself around the older man who looked annoyed.
Grabbing onto the older man, Jellal flung him towards the strike zone of Grand Chariot and tried to step away from its range, but he was after all, battling against a magician of such prodigious capability.
Jellal did not bear the brunt of the attack but took significant damage from it nonetheless as it seared his jacket and shirt off with a few more battle scars to add to his tally.
He turned around in anticipation and much to his dismay, the man was very much alive. Similar to Jellal, his coat and shirt had been seared off by the attack and Jellal took a step back in horror as he saw the man's body.
The same set of scars that adorned his body was covering the man's body. He tore through Jellal's Binding Snake and coughed out some blood.
"The fight is on now", he growled and his eyes grew a sickening shade of black.
Jellal did not know how much time had passed. The older Jellal was obviously holding back his strength, but he was beating him at his own game each and every time. If he had chosen to kill him, the fight would definitely last more than a solid second. That much was obvious to him.
But what was the reason behind him holding back his strength, and why did his magical attacks grow weaker over time?
They had begun fighting around the evening, but the sun was already down.
"You can kill me. But why won't you?", Jellal asked and the older man smirked.
"The problem with fighting you is your brain. No matter how strong I am, there is no point if you know what to dodge, what to block, when to attack, and what to face. In a battle, strength can only do so much.
This battle would be a short battle if I did not care for my own life, but I bear some responsibility to those who passed for my sake.
Our magic is already depleted. I know myself better than anyone else. It was foolish, but looks like I had underestimated you, and leaked away far too much of my magic than I should have. I know I cannot use the simplest of spells right now, and I can no longer sense any kind of magic from you"
Even with his older counterpart's explanation, Jellal knew he had no chance against the man. He stood in front of Jellal, but he could find no openings to take advantage of - as if he were baiting Jellal to take the first step.
He looked at Jellal with a knowing smirk before rubbing his hands in anticipation.
"Funny. The playing field is even now if it is limited to physical prowess. If you don't have the balls to strike first, I'll bite", he growled and lunged forward with an outstretched fist.
Jellal thanked his reflexes and muscle memory for forcing him to dodge the strike. All he could hear was the powerful sound of thunder.
As he turned towards the sound by instinct, he stared with his mouth agape as he saw the older man standing still while his fist had absolutely demolished a massive boulder.
Screaming out with their guttural voices, the men began to trade punches.
Each blow began to send shockwaves through the woods. The absence of magic did not mean that it was trickling down to a stupid bar brawl.
It was a battle that should have been witnessed by hundreds, if not thousands of people.
But fate was cruel in multiple ways, and Jellal was not always dealt the best of cards.
The men traded a final punch to each other's jaw as blood splattered from each other's mouths.
Bruises shaped like each other's fists covered their bodies, and skin painfully dangled down their knuckles as their hapless skin could not handle the sheer brutality of the fight.
As their brains rattled inside their skulls, the two men stepped away from each other, grabbing onto whatever they could for dear life.
"W...Why do you want me dead? I deserve to know that at least", Jellal panted out as he glared at his older counterpart.
"Erza deserves a better life. I know it best. As long as you are around, she will not let go of you...and you being around her...ruins her life"
The younger mage had no response to the accusation. For the entirety of the past decade, he had been giving out countless reasons as to why Erza should not end up with him. But when the same words came out of another person's voice, it was excruciating.
The older mage's eyes spoke enough. He needed no other words.
"This world...is not as direct as you deem it to be, my younger self. I remember the time I was just like you, and how my ignorance tore my life apart - bit by bit by bit.
Each and every day was pure horror to me, Jellal as I waited for the next person to die. Before I could realise what had happened, I was all alone.
Do you know the one link in all of that?"
The older man pointed towards Jellal with a disappointed stare, as he recalled his own life falling down in shambles.
"I know what you are thinking - 'I am not you, and I can do better. Just because you are weak, does not mean that I will cave in'. That is what you are thinking right now, are you not?"
Jellal dropped to the ground as the fatigue began to hit him. As he grabbed onto the bark of a nearby tree with all of his might, glaring at the future Jellal with pure hatred, the latter approached him, fighting the physical toll on his body, and kneeled to meet his eyes.
"Let me tell you something. When I was your age, the same thing happened to me, and I killed my future counterpart, calling him weak.
Turns out, he was right all along. Jellal, die for her sake.
For once, let Erza live her life to the fullest. Don't -"
"What do you mean by for once?"
Jellal glared at the older man and grabbed his hand, as he glared at him, waiting with bated breath for the answer.
The sheer disappointment in his face answered Jellal's question - he had spoken too much.
"I have already spoken too much, haven't I? I -"
With newfound energy, Jellal charged forward to land a mighty fist against the man's jawline yet again, causing him to stumble back.
"YOU DIE BY OUR MOTHER'S HANDS, JELLAL!", he roared through the pain, causing the younger man to falter in his steps.
Mother? Who was she? His entire childhood, he had been praying and waiting for his parents to come up and claim him again, as he hoped for a better life.
All those years, she did not step up, but at this moment, she did.
"This is not your first life, Jellal. Truth be told, this is your three-hundred-and-seventy-fourth attempt at life. I am the previous one"
Logic seemed to fly out of the window with every word he spoke as the questions began to pile up inside Jellal's head.
"If that is true, how -"
"The only reason I am here is because I was fighting Mother. She used her time magic, and I used that short time frame to slip here.
I lost my life and ruined countless others. If I killed you, the bloodshed will end with you alone.
Erza will be crushed, and yet again, I will hurt her - possibly irreparably this time. But she is a strong woman, and she will find the strength to move on. She will find the strength to fall in love again, and perhaps this time, with someone who will not hurt her.
If not for our sake, die for her sake Jellal"
The older man pulled out his katana and lined it up against Jellal's throat. A soft thrust would have been more than enough to put Jellal out of his misery.
"In all of your past lives, we lived and died miserably. I hope the next one is a tad bit different. Farewell, young one", he whispered and closed his eyes, muttering a short prayer.
The physical and magical bursts of energy he had used in the fight had finally begun to take its toll on Jellal's body as he sunk to the ground, and his eyelids began to grow heavier by the moment.
At that moment, a sudden burst of energy erupted in the vicinity and a blur rushed forward, pushing away the older man's katana.
In his weakened state, Jellal opened his eyes with the last bit of energy he could muster and sighed in a juxtaposing mixture of joy and grief at the familiar sight of wavy scarlet hair lined up protectively against him.