"Impossible!"
"That's Etherion, which can destroy everything!"
"What exactly did you do?!"
Jellal roared at Takeshi, his face contorted in rage.
He had spent eight years painstakingly building the Tower of Heaven, and many more years finally climbing to the top of the magic world, becoming one of the Council Members of the Magic Council.
He had put in countless efforts for this moment, but just as he was about to embrace everything, Etherion disappeared.
His eight years of hard work were ruined at the last moment, so how could Jellal's emotions not collapse?
Takeshi looked at Jellal, smiled, and said, "Didn't I just say? I teleported it away."
"Teleport?! You bastard!"
Jellal's face was extremely grim. He had investigated all of Takeshi's information and believed he was fully prepared. He knew all of Takeshi's transformations: Black-winged demon, Sword God, Flame Emperor, Tyrant, Whitebeard. He had thoroughly investigated each one.
The newly appeared white-haired man was a bit surprising, but normal. The other party seemed to acquire new transformations every so often, and the abilities of each form were different.
He had never seen this yellow-haired one, and this character's ability was actually teleportation, which threw his calculations way off.
However, things weren't as bad as they could be. The Tower of Heaven was still there. He just needed to eliminate this guy, then re-seduce those idiotic Council Members into using Etherion.
Having figured this out, Jellal regained his composure.
"I underestimated you, Takeshi. As expected of the man who could defeat Jose, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, you can even teleport Etherion away."
"But teleporting such a huge thing, and so far, you must have consumed a lot of magic power, right? Plus, dealing with those small fries and Trinity Raven earlier, how much magic power do you have left now?"
"Takeshi?"
Hearing Jellal's words, Erza became very worried about Takeshi.
Takeshi nodded and smiled faintly. "It did consume a lot, but what's left is enough to take you down."
Jellal retorted, "Huh? Take me down?! If you were at full magic power, I might actually be a little worried, but now, with your magic power so depleted, you still want to take me down? Shouldn't it be me taking you down?"
Erza snorted. "Hmph! Don't be so arrogant, Jellal. You're not even my match, and you still dream of defeating Takeshi? That's simply a fantasy."
Suddenly—
A voice sounded beside Erza.
"A fantasy, you say?"
Erza quickly turned her head and saw a man dressed in white, looking exactly like Jellal, appear.
"Siegrain?!" Erza's eyes widened.
This person was Siegrain, one of the nine Council Members of the Magic Council.
"Wh-why are you here?!"
Siegrain smiled. "Erza, you remind me of when we first met. You went with Makarov to submit a letter of apology, right? You mistook me for Jellal and attacked me. I can't blame you, we look alike. You only stopped when you realized we were twins. But, you still hold such animosity towards me."
Erza said, "Of course. As his older brother, you stood by and did nothing about Jellal's actions. Not only that, you were constantly monitoring me."
"Indeed, that was my miscalculation. At the time, I should have said that I would definitely find Jellal and kill him. But I had just managed to get into the Council when I met you. That was my biggest miscalculation. There's no need to suddenly think of excuses for more painful things."
Erza said with a grim expression, "Sure enough. You two are in cahoots, aren't you? No wonder Jellal knew Etherion would attack here. You orchestrated all of this, right?"
Takeshi shook his head helplessly, saying, "Erza, where did your usual shrewdness go? You really are a foolish woman."
"What do you mean?" Erza looked at Takeshi, puzzled.
"What 'collusion'? They are one and the same person."
"What did you say?!"
Erza looked at Jellal and Siegrain in disbelief, turning her head sharply.
At this moment, Siegrain and Jellal had already walked together.
"As expected of Takeshi, you couldn't be fooled. You're much more astute than this foolish woman, Erza."
As he spoke, Siegrain and Jellal's bodies began to merge into one.
"Thought Projection?!" Erza's eyes widened.
At this moment, she naturally understood what was happening.
"That's right. Siegrain is me. Before, because most of my magic power was distributed to the Thought Projection, and I also underestimated your strength, I was in danger, so I had no choice but to deceive you. Who knew you would believe it so easily? Hehe, you're foolishly adorable. I almost couldn't bear to keep deceiving you."
"How many people have you deceived in your life?!" Erza angrily roared at Jellal.
She couldn't believe what kind of terrible person could speak of deception so lightly. Did this guy truly have no heart?
Jellal wiggled his fingers. "Hehe... My strength, my magic power, has recovered. Now it's time to prepare the sacrifice for Zeref's revival."
As Jellal spoke, his gaze fell upon Takeshi.
Erza noticed Jellal's gaze. "Sacrifice? Could it be..."
She had previously thought that the sacrifice Jellal spoke of was herself, because Sho and others had said they wanted to capture her as a sacrifice. But now, when Jellal mentioned a sacrifice, his gaze was directed at Takeshi.
"That's right. Takeshi, be honored. You are the sacrifice personally designated by Zeref-sama. Erza was merely the bait to bring you here."
"Jellal!"
Erza looked at Jellal in anger, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. She couldn't understand how a person could change so much.
The once gentle and kind Jellal had now become a despicable, calculating, insidious villain full of lies.
Was everything she had once seen a lie?
Just then, a finger wiped away Erza's tears.
"Don't cry. You're already beautiful enough, and now that you're crying, aren't you even cuter? I'm not some gentleman, aren't you testing my self-control?"
"Takeshi..."
Erza's face flushed slightly.
She hadn't expected Takeshi to still be able to joke in this situation, but it was precisely this joke that put her at ease.
"Alright. The next scene might be a bit bloody and could be uncomfortable to watch. Do you want to stay here or go back to everyone?"