Fairy Law descended like a silent verdict.
The spell Mavis had created to challenge the domain of gods tore through the battlefield, its sacred radiance hunting down every soul Rowan had judged as an enemy. There was no evasion. No hiding. Only endurance.
The weaker members of the Twelve Shields collapsed instantly, even those who had tried to remain hidden for a second ambush. The stronger ones were hurled back, bleeding, their defenses shattered.
August and Irene felt it coming a heartbeat before it hit.
"Now!" August roared.
Dark energy flooded his body as he triggered his forbidden augmentation.
At the same time, Irene shed her human form in a storm of crimson light and transformed into a colossal red dragon.
The holy light struck them both.
When it faded, August staggered, blood spilling from his lips. Irene's scales were scorched and cracked, but she remained airborne.
Rowan's eyes narrowed.
"…So it really is you."
He had felt something wrong about Irene from the moment they entered the palace. Her presence had reminded him too strongly of Elefseria.
And the name he'd pulled from Wall's memories confirmed it.
Irene Belserion.
The woman who had created Dragon Slayer magic four centuries ago.
Which meant she had paid the price.
"You're a dragon," Rowan said quietly. "Or what's left of one."
Irene's draconic eyes fixed on him.
"I underestimated you. A cat who wields this much magic… and this many systems. But the emperor ordered your death. And I owe him everything."
Her magic surged.
"Celestial Magic. Starfall."
A massive crimson sigil formed in the upper atmosphere.
Then the sky tore open.
A real meteor, dragged down from space, began its descent.
Not an illusion.
Not a projection.
A planetary weapon.
The wounded Twelve Shields stared upward in horror from behind August's barrier.
"That's Starfall…"
"The spell that erases continents."
"This is why they call her the Scarlet Despair."
On the ground, Natsu and the others froze, faces drained of color.
"That thing's going to wipe us out—!"
"Mavis!" Lucy screamed. "The barrier!"
Mavis floated forward, panic breaking through her composure.
"Rowan, Fairy Sphere! Now!"
Rowan didn't move.
Instead, he smiled.
"No need."
Golden light wrapped around his body.
His form twisted, expanded, reshaped.
The giant cat vanished.
A dragon took its place.
Massive wings unfurled, lightning dancing across golden scales.
Gasps rippled through the battlefield.
"The guild master turned into a dragon?!"
Natsu's jaw dropped.
"Wait—he can do that too?!"
Rowan launched upward.
He didn't cast a spell.
He simply raised one claw and struck the falling meteor head-on.
The impact cracked the sky.
The meteor shattered into incandescent debris that burned up harmlessly in the upper air.
Rowan descended slowly, wings folding.
He landed between August and Irene, eyes glowing faintly.
"…Warm-up's over."
For the first time since the battle began, excitement edged into his voice.
"Now the real fight starts."
August felt it.
That pressure.
That wrongness.
He turned to Irene and sent a silent transmission.
"Can you take him?"
Irene shook her massive head.
"No. Not alone. He crushed Starfall with brute force. His dragon form is far beyond mine."
Her voice dropped.
"He feels… like Acnologia."
August inhaled slowly.
"…Then we fight together."
Magic detonated from his body.
"For His Majesty."
Irene surged forward, wings beating like thunder.
"Sage Dragon's Roar!"
August followed, unleashing dozens of apex-tier spells in rapid succession. Gravity distortion. Neural slow-fields. Spatial collapse spirals. Disintegration beams.
The air itself screamed.
Rowan's eyes lit up.
"…Beautiful."
...
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