The tranquil night was shattered by the piercing alarm bells that resounded throughout the town of Magnolia.
The mages of Fairy Tail, who had long anticipated this day, sprang into action according to their pre-arranged strategies the moment the alarms sounded.
"Jutsu Shiki: Barrier!" Freed, who had rushed to the Kardia Cathedral, slammed his palm onto the ground.
In the next second, a purple magical power transmitted from his palm into the earth, then spread out in all directions.
Soon, the entire town of Magnolia was covered by numerous dark script symbols.
Viewed from the sky, a massive hemispherical protective shield firmly enveloped the whole town.
Not long after Freed deployed the barrier, the 50-plus massive flying warships arrived directly above Magnolia.
The 50-plus warships were arranged in a tight formation. Looking up from the ground, they appeared like a huge dark cloud looming overhead, their imposing presence overwhelming.
"Attack! Destroy the entire town!" On one of the warships, Ajeel, with his explosive hairstyle and dark skin, looked down upon the town below, a smirk curling his lips as he loudly declared.
With Ajeel's command, the 50-plus warships opened fire simultaneously.
Bang! Bang! Bang!-
For a moment, a massive volley of projectiles, dense as rain, blasted towards the town below.
However, before those projectiles could actually hit the ground, they were blocked by a transparent protective barrier.
Boom-
Boom-
Instantly, numerous projectiles exploded in the sky.
The previously invisible barrier now became visible in the sight of Ajeel and the others.
"A barrier?" Seeing the barrier, Ajeel was first startled, then his smirk widened.
It seemed that for him, destroying Magnolia so simply would have held no challenge.
Only a situation like this was worth his effort to break.
"Ajeel-sama, a magic airship is approaching from ahead!" Just as Ajeel was watching the barrier withstand the bombardment, a mage, also with dark skin, pointed ahead and reported to Ajeel.
Hearing the report, Ajeel immediately looked forward.
Sure enough, a relatively small magic airship was sailing towards them.
"You all continue the bombardment, don't stop!"
"I'll handle the guys on that magic airship!" Looking at the approaching airship, Ajeel grinned, then pushed off with his feet, leaping directly towards the magic airship.
"Someone's coming!" At the same time, Wendy, standing on the magic airship, immediately alerted everyone.
No sooner had Wendy spoken than Erza, Mirajane, and Seilah saw a figure in the night sky, soaring towards them like a cannonball.
Before the figure's form could be clearly seen, Erza didn't hesitate.
Holding her sword, she flashed forward, instantly closing the distance to intercept the figure.
Swish-
A flash of sword light, and Ajeel's body was cleanly cut in two.
"Heh, so this is the mage of the Ishgar Continent?"
"Doesn't seem like much!" After Erza bisected Ajeel's body, Ajeel said with a mocking tone.
Hearing Ajeel's words, Erza's pretty face changed instantly, and she immediately looked closer.
She saw Ajeel's upper and lower body instantly transform into streams of sand.
After the sand merged together, Ajeel's figure reappeared before everyone's eyes.
"Sand?" Seeing Ajeel completely restored, Erza slightly furrowed her brows.
At that moment, Ajeel suddenly kicked fiercely towards Erza.
But Erza's reaction was equally swift, and she raised her arm to block.
Thud-
Accompanied by the sound of impact, Erza's body was forced back towards the magic airship below.
Ajeel's figure also descended, landing smoothly on the airship.
The moment Ajeel landed on the airship, his soul suddenly trembled.
His body felt as if it had sunk into a quagmire.
'What is this terrifying magical power?!'
'It's even more immense than August's!'
The mockery on Ajeel's face instantly vanished, replaced by a look of horror.
He struggled to lift his head and look at Kenichi ahead.
At this moment, Ajeel felt as if he were in endless darkness, and Kenichi before him was an impossibly huge monster within that darkness.
"I see... So you're the one who defeated Acnologia?" Ajeel, whose very soul was trembling, looked at Kenichi as if he had discovered some incredible treasure, a crazed expression appearing on his face.
"How lucky I am to run into you right away!"
"Although that guy Wall said he'd leave you to God Serena, I never agreed to that!"
With that, Ajeel, as if gone mad, launched an attack directly at Kenichi.
"Sand World-"
Ajeel's eyes were wide, one enlarged, one shrunken. He spread his arms, and spiral streams of sand appeared in his palms.
"Sea King's Sword!"
Just as Ajeel attacked Kenichi, Erza, wielding a sword formed from condensed water, charged fiercely to a position behind Ajeel.
With a flash of sword light, Ajeel's movements abruptly froze, and then copious amounts of blood sprayed from his body.
"A water sword?!" Ajeel looked down at the wounds on his body in astonishment, then struggled to turn his head to look at Erza behind him.
When he saw the Sea King's Sword formed from condensed water in Erza's hand, Ajeel's pupils dilated sharply.
Simultaneously, his body collapsed heavily to the deck.
Although Ajeel could use his sand body to evade almost all physical attacks, his weakness was water.
Erza had precisely identified this weakness of Ajeel's and attacked him using the Sea King's Sword, a sword formed from water.
"Damn it... To think I'd be defeated in a place like this..." As his body fell, Ajeel spoke with utter frustration.
He was, after all, one of the Spriggan 12, the Desert King.
Originally, in Ajeel's view, aside from Kenichi, the one who killed Acnologia, who posed some threat to him, no one else was worth mentioning.
But what he never expected was that Kenichi hadn't even made a move…
He was instantly defeated by Erza.