Mercury had felt something go wrong several hours after the offense team had left to go tell Phantom Lord to shove it. If he'd been any more superstitious, he'd have thought that something was wrong over there and worried himself into getting stomach ulcers – but he wasn't, not for a long shot. The sensation was akin to having lightning race on his skin.

A jolt ran through his head; instead of alarm bells, the shrill sound of a violin screamed into his ears.

Someone was using magic to summon water in Magnolia.

And Mercury knew of no mages other than himself who could or would do so.

Before any sort of plan came to mind, Mercury was off his stool and out the door with a quick shout to Mira – and whoever else remained in the hall – to stay there. The actual likelihood of Mira doing so was low, but something told the water mage it wouldn't do him any good if he had to watch over her and fight whoever was using such large scale magic.

His footsteps pounded on the pavement as he raced in the direction of the hospital. Each step sent a dull wave of pain through both the side of his head and his left arm, the bones jostling roughly from his hurry, though it did not stop him. If anything, it just quickened his pace.

Water screamed in his ears; it called, it cried, it sang, repeating over and over within his brain until he thought he might go insane, and when he reached the street that the hospital was on, it finally started to pour.

And Mercury fucking hated the rain.

It was both a blessing and a curse that the scene upon turning the corner snapped him out of it. Lucy, encased in a ball of water and surrounded by two unfamiliar mages.

Her face was turning blue.

Yeah, this wouldn't be good.

The sound of his own footsteps on the ground were heavy, yet the one with their back turned to him – the one summoning the water ball – did not turn to face him. It took a small fraction of a second to wrest the water out of her control, and one more to cause it to crack in two, spilling Lucy onto the pavement below. Mercury regretted not setting it down with a more refined touch. He could tell she'd swallowed more than a little bit of water, that he'd gotten there just in the nick of time.

And the water mage raged. First, it was himself – that was fine. The guild hall was a bigger loss. Then, it was Team Shadowgear, and now it was Lucy.

Phantom Lord really was despicable.

Mercury blasted the blue haired water mage away from Lucy the moment he was sure there was nothing else binding her, that she was, for the moment, okay.

("Okay," being the barest of baselines, because he knew firsthand that drowning was an incredibly terrifying experience.)

The ensuing fight – though not entirely exciting – was short, only a few minutes at most. If Mercury's own fight with Gajeel had proven anything, it was that the fighting prowess of Phantom Lord's mages was much higher than his own, and he wasn't entirely sure he would have been able to take one or both down, with or without Lucy's spirit's help. So, he went for the easier target; the woman, Juvia, was the one summoning the rain, and relied on her water magic to attack.

Mercury just happened to have a greater affinity for water magic than she did. He wasn't particularly more deft at using it than she was, nor did he have a greater stamina to use it; he was just able to overwhelm her by wrestling control of the summoned water from her grasp to use against her.

In other words, he got lucky.

Sol and Juvia retreated, and neither party had received wounds other than a fair bit of bruising. If anything, Mercury was only suffering afterwards because of the wounds received by Gajeel; his arm had become irritated both from the hard sprint and from wrestling with Juvia, though he'd tried his best to not let it show while they were both within earshot, the rain fading with them.

(The water in his head calmed to the familiar, dull lull; only the sharp pangs in his chest that came in tandem with a racing heartbeat remained.)

In the absence of an enemy, Mercury struggled internally about whether he should ask about what had just happened. She was supposed to be at the hospital watching over Levy, Jet, and Droy, and somehow that had turned into an attempted kidnap attempt – and, going from her shadowed, slumped body language, the celestial spirit mage seemed to know why she specifically had been the target.

The question of whether to bring the topic up raced through his mind, but he eventually decided to just leave it at that when Lucy didn't offer up an answer. There were some things you just didn't want to tell other people. It wouldn't have been Mercury's place to pry, especially given the fact that he hadn't exactly been so forthcoming with his own history, either. Besides, Lucy was already terrified out of her mind. The blonde had been practically reduced to a poor, shivering ball of soggy clothes with legs, following after Mercury as he headed back without a word.

And then she'd asked if he was alright.

Mercury almost laughed.

Lucy was such a kind hearted girl that she would ask about his own condition after such a harrowing experience, despite the harsh words that one of her trusted spirits had spat about him; she was a wonderful fit for Fairy Tail.

Though it had never been in doubt, Mercury steeled his resolve to protect her – to protect all of Fairy Tail. As much as his apparently frail body would be able to do.

As they walked back to the guild, his head swam, and the pounding in his chest brought about by being so close to water, of all things, retreated towards his temples. A migraine, by the feel of it, and the blurry spot quickly forming close to the bridge of his nose.

Those had been much too common recently.

Their entrance to the guild was immediately met by chaos. Mira jumped to her feet as soon as the soggy pair pushed the door open and got to work, providing Lucy with some spare clothes and a towel, then ushering her into one of the back rooms to change. After a moment, she returned to Mercury, and a towel was forced into his hands, too.

He took it gratefully. Anything to get that disgusting feeling of water off of his skin; even walking back in it had been a greater chore than he'd anticipated, wet movements harsh against an already wailing brain.

Mercury hated being wet. Quite ironic for a water mage, and for a creature that had originally come from the ocean.

(Mercury had to remind himself that he wasn't there over and over again, repeatedly, and even then, his brain hadn't believed it until he'd nearly torn the wet clothes off his body. If anyone heard him throwing up from the double-combo of a headache-induced nausea and violent, visceral memories resurfacing, they said nothing.)

By the time he had (mostly) successfully calmed his stomach, Lucy had already been wrapped in several blankets and was sitting at the bar with a hot cup of something clasped between her hands. Probably tea. Mira wouldn't give coffee to an already anxious girl.

Lucy looked about as fragile as a doll while sitting on her usual barstool, finally dry but still shivering intensely. Her hair had been brushed out and detangled, now laying down much like the way Mercury had taken to wearing it the past couple of days, and she was wearing something he could recognize as one of Mira's old outfits to replace the ones that had been soaked.

It made Lucy look incredibly small.

Mercury couldn't wait for Natsu to get back. Somehow, that boy had become indescribably linked to Lucy, and Mercury had no doubt he'd know exactly what silly thing to say to get the blonde in a better mood.

As though the universe was laughing at his selfish request, it was then that the remainder of Fairy Tail walked through the guild's doors, tones sullen and faces sunken.

The attack on Phantom Lord had ended in failure.

Master Makarov had been seriously injured by one of Phantom's mage; knowing that Sol and Juvia had been in Magnolia at the time meant that either Totomaru or Aria were the most likely culprits, as Makarov never would have let his guard down around José enough to have been caught off guard.

He'd been rushed off to Porlyusica. Her hands were likely the best place for him to be; if there was anyone the human-hating-healer would do her damndest to save, it was Master Makarov.

That didn't make Mercury feel any better about it, though.

The guild was at a loss for what to do. With their Master out of commission, they were aimless; the declaration of war had come from him, and though they wished to do their hardest to fulfill it – as soon as Phantom had chosen to make Fairy Tail their enemy, it had become their declaration as well – they simply lacked enough remaining firepower to mount a second counterattack.

Again, that surge of dread that came from knowing this was his fault threatened to drag him under, but he forced it down with as much strength as he could muster. They had to figure out what their next steps would be before Phantom Lord took the loss of their master as an opportunity to mount another assault.

As soon as everyone returned and got moderately settled, Mira and Mercury explained what they'd learned about Phantom Lord's goal to Erza, who was essentially the next in command – though they were still limited in information, it was clear that Lucy was one of the targets, and at least now they had an idea of why the guild was after them.

Natsu, with his freakishly acute hearing and generally good ability to read the room (or, well, to read Lucy) overheard the situation and planted himself as close to Lucy as he could possibly be without being physically on top of her. The dragon slayer wasn't exactly subtle, but Mercury was sure Lucy appreciated it nonetheless.

Erza's frown turned into an angry scowl upon hearing the news.

"Is that the only reason that Phantom Lord is after us?" She asked no one in particular.

Mercury was sure it wasn't.

It might have been a large part of their rationale, sure, but José had always seemed to hold something against Fairy Tail. Phantom's previous guildmaster had, too. Having only known Fairy Tail's previous guildmaster briefly as well as being vaguely familiar with Phantom's previous one, Mercury had no idea what the root of the bad blood between the guilds was, only that it had been passed from guildmaster to guildmaster.

"Well, obviously, we aren't going to hand her over," Mercury said to the two gathered mages. "So what are we going to do?"

The strongest member was, hands down, Erza, and he was glad to note that she'd hardly been injured at all during the raid; only a couple of bandages seemed to stick out, tucking underneath the breastplate of her Heart Kruz armor. Unless Mira somehow reactivated her magic, the knight was the only active S-Class currently in Magnolia, and therefore the only one with a snowball's chance in hell at going toe-to-toe with José, should he choose to go on the offensive; Mystogan was a mystery, only god knew where Guildarts was, and Laxus wouldn't come back even if they got on their knees and begged.

Okay, maybe the lightning dragon slayer would come if they begged, but Mercury wasn't going to resort to that any time soon.

He did a quick headcount of those who had returned. There was a good mixture of those in good condition and those who had been injured, with more of the former than the meant nothing, however, in the face of the raw power that came from a Wizard Saint. Without one of their own to back them up, Fairy Tail would be facing some dire straits, unless the Magic Council decided to step in.

Which, of course, they wouldn't, Mercury thought distastefully. He was sure that his face had twisted in an ugly frown at the thought of the useless council attempting to curry Fairy Tail's favor – or even debt – by helping them out.

It would be almost as bad as asking Laxus for help.

He hated them with a burning passion, but they'd at least attempt to put a stop to Phantom Lord's tomfoolery. Unfortunately, the Magic Council's main goal was, and likely always would be, maintaining appearances. They wouldn't help Fairy Tail for the sake of helping Fairy Tail; it was just that letting Phantom run wild would make them look bad.

Not only that, if Phantom Lord, and subsequently José, were to continue doing whatever the hell they wanted, it would reflect poorly on the Magic Council's ability to control the "Wizard Saints" they were so proud of. As soon as they lost that card, any respect from the guild system that they'd mustered would follow, at least among the guilds that had held respect for their rules in the first place.

Fairy Tail had, and would never be, one of them.

Unfortunately, the Magic Council didn't have the strength to put a stop to José, not with Makarov gone; they were in the same situation as Fairy Tail in that sense. They'd likely just show up to pick up the pieces when the fighting was over.

There was some talk of people getting ready to launch another assault on the enemy guild hall, this time in further retaliation for their assault of Master Makorov. At least they were still in somewhat high spirits, though the energy felt more panicked than the steaming anger that it had been previously.

At least a lot of the younger members with lots of potential were in good shape, too.

In another unfortunate twist, however, Mercury knew that quality was going to be a lot more important than quantity in a drawn out battle such as the one he was sure was on their horizon. Phantom Lord had all four of their S-Class mages remaining, plus Gajeel, while Fairy Tail had Erza for an S-Class, Natsu and Gray – and maybe Lucy – as strong non-S-Class. That wasn't even taking into account José's entire presence.

Erza could certainly take out one or two of Element Four, maybe even all of them if she were to fight them at the same time, but José wasn't stupid enough to let the situation become unfavorable for himself. He'd make his mages face Erza one after the other so that she was worn out by the time it came to fight himself. Even with Natsu and Gray reducing the burden – hell, even if Mercury himself joined in – making it to José at the end would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

Mercury was sure he could take on Juvia. Maybe Totomaru, too, if only because the fire mage would likely find himself unable to use much fire magic when the room was soaked. And couldn't see himself being able to fight both. Then, Natsu and Gray could be left to take on Sol and help him finish off Totomaru, and Erza would be left to fight with Aria. Afterwards, all five of them could try to team up and outnumber José?

No, that wouldn't work. Regardless of whether taking care of the Element Four went as planned, they'd have no way to fight José without getting seriously injured.

Then, if they wanted to keep injuries to a minimum, it would have to be that he was the one going against José.

Mercury paused at his own thoughts. It was true that the safest way to get out of all of this would be to just let him take the brunt of anything that came their way; no matter what, Mercury wouldn't die. He'd get injured, but it wasn't like fatal wounds would really mean anything to someone who regenerated as steadily as himself. At the worst, he'd be comatose for a little while…

Would it really mean anything though?

The water mage wasn't particularly strong. He could start with intense, powerful attacks that would crush weaker mages, and he could make use of unique support magic in the form of magic enchantments. His physical strength wasn't bad, either. While he wasn't great at any one fighting style, having a long life meant that he had enough time to try out a multitude of them; he'd tried using weapons before, though never enough to master any of them, and while hand-to-hand combat was lacking, he considered himself passable enough to take care of most enemies that came his way.

On the flip side, he had terrible magical stamina. Physically, he could keep going until his body forcibly shut down on him, but he was really only good for three or so large spells before having to start taking it easy.

In essence, José would wipe the floor with him.

But with no other feasible plan that would limit injuries and casualties, it seemed that was the best course of action. Erza wouldn't like – actually, none of them would – so he kept it in the back of his mind. If it was the only option, Mercury would sacrifice his body in a heartbeat.

"Has anyone tried to contact Mystogan?" Erza asked, snapping the water mage out of his internal reverie.

Mira nodded; it had been the first thing that she did when the assault team left, and their communications lacrima hadn't been able to find him.

"... and Laxus?"

Both Mercury and Mira's faces turned grim. He'd barely managed to talk her out of reaching out to the lightning dragon slayer, knowing his eccentric personality would do nothing but put them all in a worse mood.

Actually, he'd probably laugh if they said Makarov had been taken down. And then call the guildmaster weak.

With a sigh, Mercury explained, "There's no way he'd do anything but come back to laugh at our expense. We can't count on his help."

Erza, knowing that Mercury was the most familiar with Laxus – they'd been on the same team for years – accepted this answer with a frown and clenched fist. They seriously were low on both options and time. Who knew when Phantom Lord would choose to fight back?

The conversation came to a lull until Mira turned it back to the "cause" of all this fighting.

"Should we hide Lucy somewhere?"

Mercury would have been tempted to agree with her, had he not been able to empathize with the blonde; if Lucy were to hide and something happened while she was gone, the girl would be heartbroken.

"I think it's best to leave the decision to her," Mercury said, loud enough that the dragon slayer at her side could probably hear, but quiet enough that anyone directly nearby wouldn't catch it. They likely had their own opinions about the situation, most of which being that the blonde should hide. Mercury didn't want to influence Lucy's decision in the slightest – regardless of what happened, she should harbor no regrets.

Erza and Mira agreed. When they went to ask the blonde, she nearly burst into tears as she shouted, "I want to fight!"

And that was enough for the three of them. Still, Mira made sure to tell Lucy – and Natsu – where the nearest safehouse was located, just in case something went terribly wrong. The conviction in Lucy's eyes, however, told them that she'd rather be captured herself and end this whole thing than let anyone else get injured for her sake.

How commendable.

Mercury mirrored her sentiments exactly.

And then, much like earlier, he could tell that something was about to go wrong.

At first, it was asininely small; he wrote it off as an additional sensation stemming from the migraine that had finally started to fade, the feeling of tinnitus replacing it. It wasn't entirely abnormal – until it grew so loud that he could hardly hear Mira and Erza's voices above it.

He rubbed a hand to his head. The bone on his temple was still somewhat soft, but he could still tell that wasn't the source of the ringing.

A familiar sensation of nausea in his stomach and goosebumps on his skin were what alerted him to the fact that something was coming.

Mercury was sensitive to magic in a way that most humans weren't. Maybe it was because of the two other senses that he lacked – scent and taste – that the sensation of nearby magic always seemed to manifest as a sound only he could hear. Human mages that were sensitive to magic usually felt this all "naturally," while Mercury usually had to stop and attempt to take in the ethernano from the air to sense where it was coming from. It was like how you had to physically put something in your mouth to be able to taste it; he normally would have had to specifically search for it to find a source of magic.

But there were two situations in which this wasn't true: the first, water magic. He could sense water from great distances, naturally produced or not. It never left his mind. Even now, he could feel the sensation of the ocean in his blood and mind, and only through a combination of practice and almost half a century of exposure to it had he learned to ignore it.

The second situation in which the sense was wrested from his control was when there was just so much magic that it seemed to invade even his pores.

This was most definitely the second case.

"Merc?" Mira asked hesitantly when the water mage went rather quiet, a hand clasped over his mouth as though to quell the rising nausea. Somehow, his already pale face went paler, body overstimulated by the flood of magic approaching.

"Something's coming," he choked out, then turned to where he could feel it coming from. They were still in the guild's basement, but he was sure that it was coming from Magnolia's harbor; the two magical sensations in his mind lined up, overlapped, and nearly threatened to consume him until he bit down on his cheek hard enough to feel blood spring up.

As if on cue, the guild hall started to shake.

Dust sprang free from the basement ceiling, showering those preparing beneath it. Underfoot, Mercury could feel the floor trembling, then a pause, and more trembling a moment later.

"It's coming from outside!" Someone shouted.

Mercury was dizzy with the sensation of magic in the air, but he was able to force himself to run up the stairs with the group to see what was going on, barely managing to follow the redhead as she led the charge. People rushed out of the building like water breaking free from a dam, flooding the plaza outside the guild hall – where civilians were staring in abject horror towards the bay, as Mercury had feared.

When the water mage followed their gazes, he was just as horrified.

A hulking, mechanical crab-like figure rose sat atop the waters, now violently turbulent. Its legs seemed to be made entirely of some sort of metal, at their base connected to a piece of earth that looked like it had just been pulled from the ground. Even now, dirt crumbled from the part where the legs and rock met.

Atop the rock sat a building – a castle, really, with stone towers, high, bricked walls, and a large flag waving vibrantly in the wind.

A Phantom Lord flag.

What the fuck.

The ground trembled once more as the metallic crab took one last step in their direction and stopped. Mercury vaguely heard someone from the Fairy Tail crowd shout for the civilian onlookers to run, but he was too shocked to take his eyes from the building.

It was a mechanical wonder that didn't seem feasibly possible, and the water mage wouldn't have believed it if not for the waves upon waves of ethernano in the air that flooded so loudly that he couldn't hear anything – not the panicked cries of the people around him, nor the screams of people running away.

He did, however, hear the maniacal laughter coming from the building.

It was what forced him to breathe, to force the shaky breath he'd been holding through his throat and then suck in another one; Mercury refused to let himself be overtaken by fear in such a situation as this, when the people around him were so fearful themselves, when they were staring down the hypothetical – no, literal, he thought, seeing the edge of something round baring down at them – barrel of the gun of a madman.

"Down!" Erza cried with enough urgency that most of the crowd immediately threw themselves to the ground. Mercury would have done it too, if not for the spasm in his legs that held him frozen in place, the slight tremor in both knees as he stared up in a mixture of shock and awe.

It wasn't fear. It wasn't.

Mercury moved.

He saw the thing aimed towards all of them. It was clearly some sort of gun or cannon, and judging by the immense amount of energy radiating from it, he was willing to bet on the latter; regardless, it wasn't good. Not when it was already smoking. Not when it was almost ready to fire.

Erza raced to the front of the crowd and requipped as fast as Mercury had ever seen her. When the blaring light of magic faded, he could tell exactly what she was planning; her Heart Cruz armor had been replaced by the familiar visage of the Adamantine Armor, which the water mage had only ever seen after she'd first acquired it and was testing it out. It boasted the highest defense of all of her armors, considered to be nigh-impenetrable.

Unless one was attempting to block the might of a Jupitor Cannon by themselves.

Mercury, however, was not going to let her. There was no telling just how strong the cannon was by itself, or if her armor was even going to hold out long enough to completely block it. Even if she did, she'd be severely weakened – and they absolutely could not let that happen. Erza was the only one Mercury could realistically see taking on Phantom Lord's guildmaster, and…

Well, Mercury was not willing to see another guildmate get injured by something he could prevent.

He knew he wouldn't be able to do much; his water was flexible and resilient, but also thin and easy to break. It had no way of combating the Jupiter Cannon by itself – unless he somehow managed to get into its base, where the power supply was, and there was hardly enough time for that right now, anyway. Jupiter was already about ready to launch.

So Mercury followed close behind Erza as she set herself up in a powerful defensive stance that covered her whole body with the armor's shield-like arms.

Water was flexible; it was easy to manipulate. Most important of all was its ability to conduct all sorts of things – electricity, sound, and even magic.

Magic which Mercury could use as enchantments.

The idea had come from Fried, but he'd been able to make it his own in the years after his and the Thunder God Tribe's falling out, and he'd never been more thankful for one offhand comment made by the green-haired boy before in his life

His own magic didn't have names, but enchant magic did, so he rattled off as many as he could in the three seconds before Jupiter fired. Enchantments for defense, for muscle strength, for stamina; anything he could think of and realistically get to stumble out of his mouth in time for the blast to happen.

They both braced for impact.

It hit the water mage like a literal mountain had been thrown at him, and he couldn't comprehend how it must have felt on Erza's end.

One second passed.

He felt the strain of magic in his body as the cannon tore holes through both his and Erza's magic and it tried to fill in the gaps. It was like trying to keep his body tense under the pressure of holding the sky. Mercury swore he felt a vein in his forehead pop as a bead of what had to be sweat rolled down his temple.

Two seconds passed.

If he thought the sensation of just being near the magical, mobile guild hall was bad, this was worse. He had gills; he lived under water; he should not be experiencing the sensation of drowning and choking on solid air as his lungs fought to get any sort of purchase against his thundering heart.

And yet there he was, ducked under Erza's shoulder blades, leaning against them with his shoulder so that even when she started to falter, at least she had something to lean on. Nope, definitely not because his legs felt weak in such an unfamiliar way.

Three seconds passed.

It hurt. It really shouldn't have. He wasn't the one taking the brunt of the damage, even if his magic was quickly draining as it fought to keep up whatever meager protection it could offer. A slight stabbing pain in his lungs – no, higher, in his heart, as though someone had stuck a needle between the delicate aortas.

He choked on a breath. The distant sound of metal creaking, snapping, made its way into his ears.

Four seconds passed.

Jupiter finished firing.

The shield in front of Erza shattered completely.

Only when the dust cleared, and any of the remaining ethernano dissipated enough for Mercury to take in a shaky inhale did he allow his muscles to cautiously relax. Erza was the same. She breathed hard, heavily, and then dropped to a knee.

But she remained upright. That was almost more than Mercury could say of himself.

Why was he so tired? He hadn't even been the one physically withstanding the pressure – even being so close to it had his body shaking, so painful and terribly weak.

Mother, he was apparently very, very out of shape.

"You alright?" Mercury asked Erza as she leaned backwards into his shoulders. He was tired, but at least he was strong enough to be there as a support for her, he supposed.

She gave a shaky nod – but any response she had was interrupted by a horrible, painfully grating voice cracking through disused loudspeakers.

(It appeared that Phantom Lord had spent so much money on making their guild hall movable that they hadn't been able to afford a decent sound system; if it was Fairy Tail, it certainly would have been the other way around.)

"Hmm," came the bored voice. Mercury had heard José speak before. His voice was deep and brooding, yet somehow equally as nasally, and the echoing voice hardly did it any justice. The thought was only a small victory, however, as it just didn't stop – José kept talking, kept rambling, as though he simply liked to hear himself talk. Which, in all likelihood, was actually the case.

Mercury offered Erza a hand for her to stand, both of their gazes focused on the guild hall that loomed above them with hardened glares.

"You Fairy freaks may have stopped one Jupiter blast," José drawled as the two hobbled back to rejoin the gathered Fairy Tail mages. Mercury heard the distant whirring of mechanical machinery. "... But can you stop another one?"

The water mage's stomach dropped.

Erza's adamantine armor was cracked. The "unbreakable armor' had been broken. Erza's limbs looked noticeably weakened, in the same way that Mercury's felt, and he hadn't even been the one blocking the attack.

No, they likely couldn't block another one.

Erza had likely realized it too, but there was no way that would stop her from trying to do it again – meaning that, for her sake (on top of all of their own), Fairy Tail had to find a way to prevent that damn thing from firing again.

If only there weren't so many things they needed to do.

And unfortunately, José knew this too.

"You're nothing without your master - just look at how ragged Titania is after defending you lot." His voice sent shivers down Mercury's spine, and not just because of how gross José sounded. There was something in it, some unmasked venom that the water mage was now entirely unused to hearing. If you'd asked him half a century ago, maybe he'd have a different answer, but now…

Mercury was glad that Fairy Tail's voices rose up to engulf José's at the mention of their master, because his own was among them. He still could not believe that Makarov would fall to a sleaze like José.

José paid them no mind, however, and just kept on with his prattling. "I will give you one final chance. Hand over Lucy Heartfilia, and I will allow you to live under the command of Phantom Lord," he explained – but he hadn't even finished getting Lucy's last name out of his mouth before Fairy Tail's cries once more drowned out his own, even whilst being broadcast by magic and machinery. The roar was deafening.

He doubted José expected anything else.

"Piss off!"

"Screw you, asshole!"

"No way in hell we're giving up Lucy to the likes of you!"

Natsu's voice broke above them all in a wordless scream of rage, echoing in the silence that followed before José sighed animatedly through the microphone.

"So be it. Jupiter will finish recharging in fifteen minutes. You'll have until then to regret your decision, Flies."

With that, his voice cut out with a small final crackle, leaving the gathered Fairy Tail mages alone for the moment.

It didn't take long for people to start giving orders. Erza, for one, had recovered enough to choke out commands to take a defensive position, and to Mercury's surprise, Cana stepped up as well, beginning to organize the waiting mages into a somewhat stable formation. The bigger fighters were lined up and front, and the more fragile ones towards the middle and back. Mercury found himself shuffled somewhere into the head of the formation.

Meanwhile, many of the younger mages were told to take shelter in the ruins of the guild hall. They protested, of course, but even Mercury told them to just stop whining and do it; he even pulled the "listen to your elders" card, though he was actually just referring to Erza and Mirajane, who was fretting around anyone who seemed even the least bit injured.

(Her hands certainly felt tied, and Mercury distinctly understood the feeling. This was all they could do.)

The ethernano particles in the air started to rise once more, urged by the becoming of whatever was powering Jupiter. Mercury felt nauseated as soon as it started – but he couldn't tell if it was because of the ethernano itself or the worry that engulfed his gut as soon as José started to make good on his promise. They'd already wasted at least one minute, maybe two. Thirteen minutes remaining wasn't a good prospect.

Especially when he had no idea how they were going to get up there.

If only there was someone in the guild who was hypermobile and could also do some serious damage – oh, wait.

There was one.

"Natsu!" Mercury found himself shouting, searching for the familiar flash of pink among the crowd. His eyes scanned, scanned, found nothing – and then the boy popped out of nowhere to his left as though just to startle him.

Any other time, Merc would have snapped something rude at the boy, but there were too many things to focus on right now for that.

"What are you waiting for?" Mercury asked. "Get up there!"

Natsu hardly needed the prompting; Happy was already on his shoulder, perched and ready to take off. The dragon slayer flipped his head around to search for someone – Lucy, probably – before giving a short nod, and leaping into the air.

Hopefully, he would be quick. They'd already wasted enough time on trying to organize, and there was probably less than ten minutes remaining before it fired again.

Mercury wished he had the time to convey all he wanted to to Natsu. Somewhere inside the barrel of the cannon, there was likely some sort of power source, and around that, a guard; though Mercury had no idea who it would be, the anxious thrumming in his chest wouldn't let him forget that it was likely someone of Phantom's Element Four. If they were lucky, it was Sol. If they weren't, it was probably Aria.

The water mage was not sure Natsu could take on Aira. He wasn't particularly sure who could, barring Erza.

After Natsu had taken off, though, Mercury realized he hardly had the time to worry about anyone else. José knew that their only option was going to be to somehow destroy Jupiter, and he wasn't going to let them just have a free shot at it; black, putrid magic started flowing from the guild hall, so disgustingly greasy that Mercury thought he might be sick. It was certainly a very "José" feeling.

Mercury knew José was a Wizard Saint. He had the ability to do this – flooding them with his Shade Magic – while still hardly breaking a sweat, and they had no way to counter him.

But he had to take one thing at a time.

Destroy Jupiter.

Destroy the Shades.

And after that, somehow, by some miracle, take out José.

"Gather up!" The voice that came out of his throat wasn't familiar. He wasn't used to being authoritative anymore, and anyone in the guild simply knew him as someone who was lazy – but that didn't stop them from following Mercury's command instinctively. The gathered mages huddled deeper together, trying to cover any holes in their defensive line just before the first line of Shades met with their first line.

The Shades had no sort of solid body to them. It was as though they were made out of a hazy, black mist, but that didn't mean that their attacks didn't hurt. Mercury found himself ducking under the first couple because they towered over him, and flashing his magic to pierce the fourth and fifth ones that close with a spear made of water.

And of course, both reformed immediately afterwards.

Shit.

None of the Shades were strong, he quickly realized, though they made up for it with sheer numbers. José's magic probably outnumbered them five to one, and that wasn't even close to the limit of the Wizard Saint's abilities as a mage; if he wanted to, the man could probably drown them under a wave of that putrid magic without even really trying. He was just playing Fairy Tail, because in his mind, he'd already won.

Mercury dodged around the magic forms, slapping the ones he could into watery spheres. They didn't hold any of the Shades down for long, but it slowed them down just enough to let his fellow mages take some of them down; it seemed that the Shades could be destroyed if one powered through with enough magic power, but if they kept at it for too long, they'd be overwhelmed and out of power long before Jupiter fired.

The water mage knew he had to do something. Most of the people gathered were short range fighters, which put them at a disadvantage against the horde.

But Mercury was flexible, just like water. He could fight close quarters or at a range; he just had to adjust himself to fit the situation.

"Cover me," he called out to whoever was nearby – Macao and Wakaba, as it turned out. Without question, they seamlessly moved in front of Mercury to block him from the closest Shades.

He hardly had any time to thank them.

It was a good thing that they were so close to the ocean. José couldn't have factored into his plans that the sheer amount of water nearby might be a good thing, because Mercury hadn't been forced to use any large scale magic in, what, five or six years now? His name was hardly well known anymore, but when it had been, they'd called him all sorts of things to do with the water; Leviathan had been one nickname to go with Laxus's "Lightning Dragon," and it described Mercury rather aptly.

(Or, at least, it had.)

At least now it still applied rather well. Mercury came from the ocean. He drew power from it, even though he hadn't stepped foot in it in well over half a century, and he wasn't sure if he ever would again.

Still, it did listen to his call.

Mercury knew it would probably give him the fattest headache imaginable, but he still pulled at the ocean water with as much magic as he could muster without risking popping a blood vessel.

The waves in the bay rose slowly. First, the waves just looked slightly stronger; it was like pulling at a swing set, pushing and pulling and pushing and pulling until the momentum built up enough to break free from gravity – except, in this case, it wasn't gravity, it was the natural resistance that the ocean had to being controlled. As a bead of what could have only been sweat rolled down Mercury's temple, the waves finally started rising above the harbor, high enough to be noticeable. He had it in his grasp, but it still felt like his own magic was digging into his intestines.

With a grunt, Mercury finally tugged with all of his might, dragging the water towards any more of the approaching Shades.

Controlling it was hard, but much less difficult than getting the ocean moving in the first place. It tore through the Shades that were on the ground between the Fairy Tail mages and itself easily, as though they were nothing more than sand and it was an unstoppable river before breaking the first line of the Fairy Tail mages.

Instead of letting it ram into them, Mercury forced it upwards with another tug of magic. Any Shades in the air above them attempting to pick off individual mages fell under the wave, too, the sky briefly becoming a warped gray as light cascaded through the water overhead. Spray dripped down onto Mercury's face, burning like acid.

The ocean still hated him as much as he hated it.

With one final heave of magic, the ocean water fully arced overhead, dissipating into smaller waves that pushed past them. Once free of his control, the water crashed into buildings behind them, surely creating several thousands worth of damage, but Mercury could care less about that kind of thing until he was sure that José wasn't about to drown them in Shades; he'd pay for it out of his own pocket if needed, if it meant that the Fairy Tail members around him remained safe enough to scold him for it later.

When all was said and done, Mercury's head ached with a sharp pain. Black spots spun in front of his eyes – but the number of Shades had been significantly reduced.

… As had his ability to think straight.

He panted out heavy breaths, and would have fallen down to a knee if not for Wakaba, who pressed arms under his shoulders to keep Mercury upright. The Shades that he and Macao had been fighting off were gone. Hopefully it would stay that way for a couple more minutes.

(It wouldn't.)

But Mercury had bought them some time.

"You okay, bud?" Wakaba asked as though the water mage was little more than a child, but he was having too hard of a time catching his breath to snap back.

Instead, he gave a simple nod. Mercury blinked rapidly to remove the spots spinning in his vision, only to realize that they weren't simply caused by dirt getting into his eyes.

Maybe he had popped something in his brain…?

The tides of the battle – pun intended – had shifted slightly, but it was still in favor of José. The Wizard Saint was simply too powerful to be held back by the loss of dozens of his miniscule footsoldiers, and soon, more were already starting to flow out of the building.

In a battle of attrition, José would certainly win. Especially because he still had Jupiter as a card in his hand, and it was still slowly gathering energy – how much time was left? Eight minutes? Five? Mercury had long lost track.

Even if Natsu did manage to take out the cannon, this was unsustainable. The Shades would take them all out before they managed to hold off Phantom Lord's mages at this rate.

Mother, what to do? Mercury's mind reeled.

If only – if only he could go up there and fight. That way, no one would have to get hurt.

The thought persisted in his head. If Mercury went to go fight José, he would lose, hands down… but, no matter what, he wouldn't die, and that was more than he could say of the rest of his guildmates. Did the water mage trust himself enough to be able to sufficiently distract José? Could he pull the guildmaster's attention away from the Fairy Tail mages enough to make a difference down here?

… Maybe.

No, it was entirely possible. Mercury had never fought a Wizard Saint before, but he had fought Laxus to a standstill, and that guy was still absurdly strong. And he didn't need to win. The water mage just needed to stop himself from passing out long enough for Jupiter to be broken and the waiting Fairy Tail mages to get to work dismantling the mobile guild hall.

But then, how would he get up there?

The waves underneath Phantom Lord's base churned angrily underneath it as though upset that Mercury would dare to use its power. If he got close – yeah, that might be an issue. Who knows what it might do just to spite him.

So he needed another way to the top of the castle, where José was surely waiting.

Fortunately, he had a solution in one of the most unorthodox ways possible – Erza Scarlet.

She was crazy, and she was doing her best to protect the entire guild by herself. Mercury slashed through some of the first couple of Shades that were starting to get too close again, shuffling over to her side.

"I'm going – can you get me up there?" Mercury shouted above the din. It was hard to even hear his own voice, the sound being swept underneath both the sound of people preparing to re-engage and Jupiter absorbing energy, but Erza cocked her head.

A flood of realization seemed to shoot through her after a moment of thought.

It was an entirely logical plan. One of them needed to stay behind to stall the overwhelming Shades, being the remaining two hard-hitting members – Mercury was probably only a bit stronger than Natsu and Gray, but his astounding regeneration put him a level above the both of them – and Erza was the one with the armor. The Adamantine Armor might have been broken, but she likely had other, less effective armor sets; they wouldn't hold if the worst case scenario of Jupiter firing again came into fruition, but they'd at least be able to mitigate the blast. Mercury had no such defensive capabilities. On the ground, he'd only be able to stop injuries from the Shades, and even then, Erza was a lot faster and a fair bit stronger than he was.

Though Erza was the one more likely to be able to face José and the Element Four and come out on top, Mercury was the one who could come out unscathed.

For both criteria, it was better for him to be up in Phantom Lord's guild hall.

It wasn't quite self-sacrifice, despite both Erza and Mercury knowing neither of them could face José head-on and win, but the knight seemed to hesitate for that reason – if she let Mercury go up there, who knew what he'd be subjected to at the hands of a cruel man like José…

But it was better than letting anyone else die.

Erza nodded.

The sword in her hands shifted into something long and pointed – a spear. Mercury had never seen it before, the handle being plain, black metal, while the head was even simpler as just a piece of what appeared to be steel with a sharp tip. It looked sort of like a fountain pen. At the part where the handle turned into the head were two ribbons, fluttering in a phantom breeze.

Mercury figured out what she was thinking immediately, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Her eyes flicked between himself and the spear, silently asking for him to get on it – a tactic which she'd apparently done before.

His face turned green at the thought. If they weren't almost out of options, he'd have asked for something else.

Oh, well. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

The water mage slipped his leg over the metal handle without any hesitation. He gripped it as tightly with his legs as he thought possible, squeezing so tightly that he almost worried his face looked like it was constipated, and waited for Erza to grab the spear by the tip.

She didn't even ask if he was ready. He wasn't. Mercury supposed that was just Erza fashion.

As Mercury went soaring through the sky, barely managing to keep himself balanced on the edge of the spear, he wondered if he was making a very, very bad decision.