About two hours later, in the midst of the rubble, Gajeel let out a pained groan. His eyelids twitched with effort before slowly opening.
His head was pounding like it was about to split. He instinctively raised a hand to rub his temple, only to feel something wet and sticky. Bringing his hand into view under the dim light, he saw his palm smeared with dark, half-dried blood.
I was here to… attack. Memories pieced themselves together like a shattered puzzle. Right! I came to take down those two Fairy Tail women!
He jerked his head up, scanning the area nervously. When his eyes landed on the unconscious blonde girl lying nearby, covered in wounds, he let out a long sigh of relief, his lips twitching from the pain of his injuries.
Good… the target hasn't been rescued yet.
Wincing through the agony, he staggered to his feet, surveying the wrecked street around him. A grim, satisfied smirk spread across his face. "Fairy Tail's guard is way too lax! After all this chaos, not a single one of them has shown up."
He limped over to the unconscious "Lucy," roughly hoisting her over his shoulder. "But I shouldn't stick around. If that Fairy Queen shows up, it'll be trouble."
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he took off, disappearing into the dark streets with his "prize" in tow.
---
The next morning, as dawn broke and a thin mist cloaked Magnolia, Roger and Erza appeared near the town's central park, carrying a carefully "prepared" and unconscious "Levy."
They deliberately chose a busy route to ensure early-rising townsfolk and merchants could clearly see the blue-haired girl on the makeshift stretcher (cobbled together from a door panel), her clothes torn and body "covered in wounds," with the glaring Phantom Lord guild emblem on her outfit.
"Oh my gosh! Isn't that Fairy Tail's Levy?!"
"What happened to her? She's all beat up!"
"Look at her clothes—that mark! Phantom Lord did this?!"
The hushed gasps and murmurs from the crowd prompted a quick glance between Roger and Erza.
Step one of the plan: success.
Pretending to be grim, they rushed "Levy" to the town hospital, stirring up a small commotion before hurrying back to the guild.
The atmosphere in Fairy Tail's battered guildhall was heavy.
Roger lowered his voice, quickly filling Master Makarov in on everything that happened last night and Joseph's full scheme.
Bang! Makarov's face turned ashen, and he slammed his fist onto a nearby crate, crushing his wooden mug to splinters. "That bastard Joseph!! He actually dared to pull this off?!"
"Attacking, kidnapping, and trying to destroy the guild?!"
Seeing the Master trembling with rage, his beard practically quivering, Roger worried about his heart acting up again and quickly tried to calm him. "Master, don't get too worked up. Everything's under control. I've got a plan, and we're one step away from pulling it off. I just need your approval."
"If you give the go-ahead, we'll not only hit back hard, but we'll also get a bigger, shinier new guildhall out of it!"
"My approval?" Makarov, still huffing, looked at Roger skeptically.
Usually, Roger only came to him so formally for decisions critical to the guild's survival. But something about the look on Roger's face made Makarov suspect this wasn't exactly a "safe" plan—it felt a bit… unreliable?
Roger transmitted the full plan directly into Makarov's mind with telepathy.
The moment he finished, Makarov's eyes nearly popped out, his voice rising several octaves. "W-What?! Get the Magic Council to pay us compensation?!"
"That's impossible!"
"Those guys are happy enough squeezing fines out of us! Them paying us? No way!!"
"Roger, are you still half-asleep?"
He took a few steps back. "I've still got four incident reports to submit today! If your plan backfires and I end up with twenty, I'm retiring on the spot and making you Master!"
"You've gotta leave yourself an out! We can't afford to completely piss off the Council!"
Roger: "=_="
Make me Master? That's a new kind of threat.
Seeing Roger's deadpan expression, Makarov realized he'd overreacted. He coughed awkwardly, his eyes drifting to the ceiling. "Ahem, your plan's just… a bit shocking. I got carried away and said some weird stuff. Don't take it to heart."
His face grew serious as he locked eyes with Roger. "But are you sure this plan will work?"
"After the 'Lullaby' incident, the Council's been a tiny bit nicer to us, but if this flops, our reputation with them will hit rock bottom!"
"Don't worry," Roger said, a confident smirk tugging at his lips. "Ninety-eight percent chance of success."
"The other two percent? Just a question of how much compensation we'll get."
Makarov stared at him for a long moment before sighing heavily and nodding. "Fine. I'm in. Let's do it your way."
Roger waved his right hand, conjuring a magical illusion of Makarov that was nearly identical to the real thing. He grabbed the illusion's hand, channeling a flood of golden magic power into it.
Lucy, watching curiously, piped up. "Why pour so much magic into the Master's illusion? If you're worried about Joseph noticing something off, why didn't you have me do the same for my illusion?"
Roger waved his hand again, summoning about fifty familiar-looking guild members. He directed them to follow the powered-up Makarov illusion to carry out the plan against Phantom Lord before explaining, "The Master hasn't signed a contract with me, so I can't perfectly mimic his unique magic signature."
"And Phantom's 'Aria of the Sky' can drain a mage's magic essence."
"If the illusion's magic is too weak or off, Joseph—one of the Ten Wizard Saints—will spot it instantly."
He paused, glancing at Lucy. "As for your illusion? It just needs to lie there 'unconscious.' No magic required, so no way it'll get exposed."
Lucy: "=_= Okay, fine, I overthought it."
Just then, a loud, "powerful" humming broke the moment.
Lucy stared, dumbfounded, at Erza in the corner, earnestly practicing vocal exercises and dramatic expressions against a wall. "Uh… what's Erza doing?"
That doesn't look like battle prep…
Roger chuckled, half-amused, half-exasperated. "She's getting ready for her 'performance.'"
"Last night, when she heard the plan, she insisted on taking the starring role—getting 'blasted away' by Phantom's Jupiter cannon."
"Part of it's her wanting to test Jupiter's power herself, and part of it's… well, she says she wants to work on her acting, see if she can fool Joseph into thinking she's really been hit."
Lucy's forehead beaded with sweat. "R-Really…?"
←_← Didn't expect Erza to have that kind of hobby. And this practice looks so awkward.
Mira sidled up, leaning in to whisper in Lucy's ear with a teasing smile. "Erza's acting is notoriously awful~."
"When she's in front of a crowd or has to 'perform,' she gets so nervous she can't speak, her mind goes blank, and sometimes she even forgets to breathe. Then she starts smashing everything around her by reflex."
"She's accidentally wrecked at least a dozen theaters and stages over the years."
"She's been secretly blacklisted by every major performance venue in Fiore. They all refuse to let her in~."
"That's why she's so 'excited' about this chance to perform~."
"What?!" Lucy nearly yelped, quickly covering her mouth and glancing at Erza, still engrossed in her "vocal warm-up."
Satisfied Erza hadn't noticed, she whispered, "Her acting's that bad? And Roger's still letting her do this? What if she gets nervous and forgets to defend herself? That Jupiter thing sounds terrifying!"
"Don't worry~," Mira said with a wave, her smile full of confidence in her old rival and friend. "Even if her brain shuts down, her body will instinctively defend and counterattack. That's been drilled into her through years of training."
She propped her cheek on her hand, sighing dramatically. "If she were that easy to take down, I'd have ambushed her successfully a hundred times when we were kids~."
Lucy: "=_= You two have a… deeper bond than I thought."
Catching Lucy's expression, Mira grinned slyly and whispered, "Oh, and guess what? I'm making an 'appearance' too~."
"What?!" Lucy's eyes widened again. "But, Mira, aren't you supposed to be halfway across a forest dealing with that trap mission?"
"Exactly~," Mira said, tapping her chin with a finger, her eyes glinting with mischievous anticipation. "That's what makes it fun~."
"I can't wait to see the look on Joseph's face when I show up out of nowhere~."
Not long after, Roger stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the temporary base. "The 'Lucy' illusion has been 'rescued.' Joseph and his crew will be here soon."
"When I give the signal and confirm the recording crystal's rolling, everyone moves according to the plan!"
"Got it!" the guild roared back.
No sooner had he spoken than—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The ground shook with heavy, thunderous tremors, as if a massive beast was stomping closer. The damaged guildhall rattled, dust falling from the ceiling.
"Whoa! Earthquake?!" Lucy stumbled, grabbing a table for balance.
Happy flapped his wings, perching on a crate and peering toward the source of the noise. His cat eyes went wide, and he let out a stunned yowl. "Oh my gosh! That's… Phantom Lord's guild?! Their entire guildhall… is walking on the lake?!"
"Joseph's going all out to crush us!!"
Makarov, hidden among the group, watched with a grim expression, his brows furrowed. "So that's it. I was wondering how they'd transport and fire a massive magic cannon like Jupiter."
"Didn't expect him to turn his entire guild into a mobile fortress!"
"A project this huge couldn't have been done overnight."
"Joseph, you bastard…"
On the lake, a colossal "island" with eight massive mechanical legs dragged Phantom Lord's guildhall forward, each step sending up huge waves and booming like thunder.
Roger turned to his comrades, all ready for action, and gave his final instructions. "Alright, the 'camera' is about to start rolling! Make it real—show anger, fear, the shock of seeing our guild under attack!"
"We're the victims here! Our beloved Master was just ambushed by Joseph, gravely injured, and lying unconscious!"
At that, everyone's eyes instinctively flicked to Makarov, who was mid-sip from a fresh mug of ale,润喉.
Lucy: "=_= This feels a bit weird."
"Oh, Master!!" Erza reacted fastest, clenching her fists, her face instantly filled with grief and fury—an Oscar-worthy performance! "Don't worry! I'll make Joseph pay for this!!"
Makarov froze, mug halfway to his lips, and cautiously tried to correct her. "Uh, Erza, I'm just supposed to be gravely injured, not dead…"
But Erza was in her own world, her magic power surging as she declared, "I'll take down Phantom Lord! Crush them completely!"
A flash of white light, and she swapped into her battle armor, ready to charge out and solo the entire Phantom guild.
Roger, quick on his feet, grabbed her arm. "Hold it, Erza! Your role is to get 'blasted' by Jupiter, not slaughter all of Phantom Lord right now!"
Snapped out of her fervor, Erza blinked, dispelling her armor. A mix of embarrassment and "I nailed that" pride crossed her face as she coughed lightly. "Ahem, sorry, got a bit too into it. I think my acting's almost as good as my fighting these days."
Lucy: (==) Erza's confidence is something else.
Adjusting their emotions, the Fairy Tail members put on faces of anger, fear, or grim resolve, following Roger out to the guild's back courtyard to "face" the approaching mobile fortress.
In the distance, Phantom Lord's guildhall halted a few hundred meters from shore, its giant mechanical legs sinking into the lakebed to anchor it.
The central structure on top of the guild slowly opened, revealing a massive, gleaming cannon. Its dark barrel aimed straight at Fairy Tail's guildhall!
Buzz!
A terrifying mass of black-purple magic power gathered at the cannon's mouth, compressing with a low, ominous hum.
Seconds later—BOOM!! A massive beam of destructive black energy, like a roaring dragon, tore through the air toward Fairy Tail!
"Here it comes!" Erza shouted, charging to the front.
[Requip: Adamantine Armor]
In a flash of white light, she donned her imposing white-and-navy armor, wielding two massive white shields. She slammed them together with a clang, forming a towering barrier, while a complex blue magic circle unfolded before her!
BOOM!! The black beam slammed into the magic circle, erupting in blinding light. The circle trembled violently, as if it might shatter any second!
Underneath, Erza frowned slightly. This impact… it's weaker than I expected.
She carefully adjusted her magic, gradually weakening her shields and the circle to avoid accidentally blocking the attack entirely.
To onlookers, the blue glow of the magic circle flickered and dimmed under Jupiter's relentless assault.
Inside the mobile fortress, Joseph watched through a crystal ball, leaning back with a cruel smirk. "Hmph! Looks like the Fairy Queen's about to break!"
Erza, sensing the beam's energy, judged the timing. As the circle's light faded to its weakest, she dropped all her magic and kicked off the ground with a dramatic, "Argh!!"
She flew backward as if struck by overwhelming force, crashing through several crumbling walls before "collapsing" in a cloud of dust, "unconscious."
Makarov winced at the fresh wreckage. More damage! How much will it cost to fix this?!
But then he sighed in relief. Good thing we didn't rush to hire a repair crew yet, or that money would've been wasted.
From the fortress on the lake, Joseph's voice, amplified by magic, rang out—lazy, venomous, and triumphant. "Hiii~! The Fairy Queen's down! Makarov's already been drained dry by me, reduced to a husk!"
"I suggest you hand over Lucy Heartfilia right now!"
"Of course… even if you do, I'll still crush Fairy Tail completely!"
His voice dripped with sadistic glee. "Go ahead and struggle! Savor the despair and torment of your final moments!"
"Hahaha!!"