Chapter 144: You're Too Easy to Fool
"Jellal—!"
With a roar of pure, unadulterated rage, Erza exploded into motion. "Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
In a flash of golden light, she was clad in her winged armor, twin katanas in hand. She shot forward, a silver comet of vengeance.
Boom!!
Her blades sliced through the grand throne where Jellal had been sitting, cleaving the massive crystal chair in half. The man himself, however, had vanished. He reappeared on the far side of the room, a golden blur of his Meteor magic, looking completely unfazed.
"Jellal!" Erza landed, her blades pointed at him, her entire body trembling with a fury that went beyond her own pain. "Sho and the others trusted you so much! They worshipped you! And this is how you repay their trust?!"
"Wasn't deceiving them for eight years enough? Do you have to trample their very dignity into the ground?!"
She had endured eight years of guilt and nightmares, believing she had abandoned her friends. But seeing Sho's broken face, she realized his suffering was a different, more insidious kind of hell. Jellal hadn't just taken their freedom; he had stolen their hope, their faith, and their very identities, twisting them into tools for his own ambition.
And the culprit behind it all not only felt no guilt but was mockingly enjoying it.
"Sister..." Sho, who was still kneeling, looked at Erza as she defended him, and the last of his composure broke. Tears streamed down his face, not of weakness, but of a profound, soul-crushing grief.
"Dignity? What dignity do they have?" Jellal scoffed, brushing an imaginary piece of dust from his pristine white robes. "Haven't I been good enough to them? I had people teach them magic. I gave them food, clothing, and a purpose. I even promised them a beautiful, free future..."
"But you deprived them of their freedom!" Erza roared.
Jellal spread his arms wide and burst out laughing. The sound was cold, manic, and echoed off the crystal walls. "Freedom? Hahahahaha!! Where in this world is there true freedom? Did you feel 'free' out there, Erza? In your precious, chaotic guild?"
He began to pace, his voice filled with the fervor of a zealot. "Everyone is bound by something. Family. Marriage. Work. Laws. Their own pathetic emotions. Is that freedom? You see them as 'free'? No! They are just slaves to a different master! Only Zeref's world—a world reborn, reset to its perfect, primal state—has true freedom! And I am the prophet, the shepherd, who will lead them to that new world!"
When Zeref was mentioned, Jellal's eyes burned with a fanatical light.
Erza said coldly, "These are all your one-sided, twisted ideas. You never considered their opinions."
Jellal sneered. "Their opinions? What's there to consider about the opinions of the weak? The sheep do not get a vote on the will of the shepherd. Erza, you've wasted eight years outside; haven't you figured out the simple rule of the jungle yet?"
"Jellal, you... you damn bastard!"
Sho, in a final fit of rage, screamed and shot card after card at Jellal. "Die! Just die!"
"Hmph! How pathetic." Jellal didn't even flinch. "I had someone teach you that magic, Sho. Do you think I don't have a way to break it?"
Dark, ethereal specters, like ghostly hands, emanated from Jellal's own. They easily swatted Sho's magic cards from the air, the images on them dissolving into nothing. The specters then coalesced into a single, dark beam that struck Sho directly in the chest.
"Ugh... ah!"
Sho cried out in pain and was knocked violently to the ground, unconscious.
"Sho!" Erza quickly went to his side and helped him up. "Sho! Are you alright?!"
"Sister... I'm sorry..." Sho coughed, his body limp. His heart had completely collapsed.
"Don't say you're sorry," Erza said, her voice softening for a moment. "You're not the one who should be sorry." She then stood, laying Sho gently against a pillar, and looked at Jellal with sharp, cold eyes.
Jellal's lips curled into a disdainful smile. Apologize? To these people? Impossible.
"This composure..." Erza said, her voice steadying. "It seems your talk about Etherion falling was just a bluff, wasn't it? You're just trying to scare us."
"No," Jellal said, his smile widening. He looked up, as if at a clock only he could see. "Etherion will fall. There are still... yes, nine minutes left."
Erza frowned. His ability to state the time so precisely... she couldn't afford to believe he was bluffing. "Sho!" she called, shaking him awake. "You have to leave. Now. Go down and tell everyone to evacuate this tower. Get to the boat and get as far away from this island as possible!"
"What about you, Sister?" Sho asked, his voice filled with panic.
"I'll deal with Jellal first, then I'll find you all. Eight years of grievances... it's time to settle them with him, once and for all."
"Mm... Sister, please be careful." Sho wanted to stay. He wanted to take down Jellal himself. But he knew how pathetically weak he was. Jellal had defeated him with a single, casual blow. He would only be a burden here. With one last, tearful look, he scrambled down the stairs.
Jellal watched Sho flee, making no attempt to stop him. In his eyes, a pawn like Sho was insignificant, to be discarded once used. "A touching farewell. Now, it's just you and me, Erza. There are 8 minutes left. Let's enjoy them thoroughly."
"8 minutes... that's more than enough," Erza said, her Heaven's Wheel Armor glowing.
"Hmph! I didn't expect your tone to become so arrogant after eight years." Jellal's body began to glow with golden light. "Have you forgotten how I drove you off this island, fleeing in disarray, with your tail between your legs?"
He shot forward, a literal meteor, and slammed into Erza, sending her flying.
He was too fast. Erza, even in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, couldn't track his movements. He was a blur of gold, striking her from every angle.
At the same time, he released a large amount of dark specters from his hands.
Erza dodged the specters' attacks while trying to parry the golden blurs of Jellal's Meteor magic.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The specters she missed slammed into the crystal pillars, destroying them.
"Didn't you used to value these things so much?" Erza taunted as she dodged, blocking a kick from Jellal that sent her skidding back. "Don't you feel it's a pity to destroy this tower, which was so difficult to build, with your own hands?"
"It's just one or two pillars; they're just decorations," Jellal sneered, appearing behind her.
"It was for these 'decorations' that Sho and the others believed in you for 8 years!" Erza roared, spinning to block.
"Don't keep lecturing me!" Jellal's voice was filled with rage. "What's important is the R-System! It's already completed!! Those guys... are useless now!!"
He unleashed a massive wave of dark specters, which finally overwhelmed Erza's guard and entangled her body, binding her arms and legs.
"Useless... useless! Do people only exist as 'useful' or 'useless' in your eyes?!" Erza roared, her magic power flaring. "Requip!"
The Heaven's Wheel Armor vanished, replaced in a flash of light by her Black Wing Armor. The sudden pulse of Requip magic gave Erza a sliver of space from the specters' entanglement. Erza seized this opportunity, her new, dark wings flapping as she cut all the specters.
"Fairy Dance!!"
She shot forward, faster than Jellal could track, and slashed him across the abdomen.
"Ugh... wah!"
Jellal stumbled back, his hand flying to his chest, but before he could even register the pain, Erza was already there.
Swish!
Erza's blade tip was directly at Jellal's throat.
"Tell me," Erza panted, "what is your true purpose?"
"I... I don't understand what you mean," Jellal choked out.
"Actually, the R-System was never completed, right?" Erza said, pushing the blade a fraction of an inch closer. "I haven't been doing nothing these past eight years. I've been investigating the R-System. The structure of this tower... it was built according to the original blueprints. But to complete the R-System, there's one indispensable item: magic power!"
"To activate such a large-scale magic, at least 2.7 billion Ideya of magic power is needed! Even if all the Mages on the continent were gathered, it might not be enough!"
[Akarin's Note: "Ideya" is the term used in this world for a unit of magical energy, or "Edeas."]
"And," she continued, her eyes narrowed, "you knew the Council was coming to attack this place, yet you didn't plan to escape. What exactly are you thinking?!"
Jellal, with the sword at his throat, suddenly smiled. "There are 5 minutes left until Etherion falls."
Erza shouted angrily, "Jellal!! Your so-called ideal has already ended! Do you intend to die like this?! Then let's die together!!"
"Ah... that wouldn't be bad either." Jellal's entire demeanor changed. The manic energy vanished, replaced by a hollow, tragic despair. "My body... it's been possessed by Zeref's spirit. It no longer obeys me."
"I am merely a puppet," he whispered, "used to revive Zeref's body. I cannot save myself. My companions... our friends... they cannot save me. No one can save me. That's why I said... paradise... freedom... they simply don't exist. Everything ended before it even began."
"I know the R-System won't be completed... but... Zeref's spirit won't allow me to stop. No one can stop it anymore. I'm like a broken train engine, speeding towards a cliff."
He looked up at her, his eyes pleading, tears welling. "Erza... you've won. Kill me. Then escape from here with your companions. Please."
Clang!
Erza's sword fell from her hand, clattering onto the crystal floor. She sat down, her armor dematerializing, opposite the broken Jellal.
"You... you are a victim of Zeref too!"
Jellal said with a dejected expression, "This is the punishment for losing to my own weakness... The huge gap between ideal and reality made my heart lose its way. I... I did too many things that hurt you... and Sho, and everyone..."
Erza shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "This isn't your fault. You saved me back then, but I... I couldn't save you. That punishment... I will bear it with you."
"Erza..." he whispered, reaching out a trembling hand. "I've always been by your..."
Suddenly!
A sound rang out. A slow, sarcastic clap.
"Ugh~!" A voice groaned from the side.
Erza immediately turned her head, her hand flying back to her sword.
"Ren?!"
Ren was seen leaning against a windowsill, his arms crossed, looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"Uh... sorry to interrupt the reunion," Ren said, "I really couldn't hold it in. But Erza, you're too easily fooled, aren't you?"
"Haven't you heard the saying? A man's mouth is a deceiving ghost. You believe such grade-A, premium nonsense? You're truly a foolish woman."
"What?!" Erza was slightly taken aback.
Ren then looked at Jellal, who was still on the floor, and sneered. "But you... you're really amazing. All sorts of nonsense just roll right off your tongue. 'Possessed by Zeref's spirit'... 'a broken train engine'... that's some high-quality material. No wonder you could fool so many people so easily."
Jellal looked at Ren, his face a mask of confusion and despair. "I... I don't understand what you mean."
"Don't understand?" Ren sighed, pushing himself off the wall. "Erza. Kill him. Now."
Although Erza didn't know why Ren would say that, her trust in Ren, built over the last year, was absolute. She immediately reached for her sword.
Bang!
Jellal's "despairing" expression vanished, replaced by a cold, furious snarl. He moved faster than Erza could react, kicking her hard in the stomach.
"Ugh... ah!"
Erza was kicked flying, sliding across the crystal floor. She looked up, her face a mask of disbelief and betrayal. [...crunch]
Jellal stood up, smoothing his hair with both hands. He looked at Ren, his eyes no longer filled with despair, but with cold, calculating rage.
"Honestly," Jellal hissed, "the atmosphere was just right. Don't come and mess things up!"
[Akarin Note:
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