Magnolia Town fell into an eerie silence after the commotion of the day.
Most residents had long since shut their doors and windows, the streets were empty, with only a few magic crystal lamps emitting light in the night wind.
Ryoma sat quietly on the roof of the Guild. He was waiting, waiting for a reason to unleash all his anger and frustration.
Merely destroying Phantom Lord's guild building was far from enough. He wanted to make them hurt, make them fear, make them regret provoking Fairy Tail.
But not yet, those old guys on the Council were troublesome.
Fairy Tail had just been attacked. If they immediately retaliated, it would only give others an excuse to label it a private fight between guilds. Then Fairy Tail would be the one to suffer.
So he needed evidence.
Ironclad proof that Phantom Lord had provoked them repeatedly, leaving the Council speechless.
And this evidence would deliver itself tonight.
Ryoma's gaze pierced the night, falling on a distant alley.
He knew Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer, was currently lurking in some dark corner, like a venomous snake waiting for its prey. And his targets were Levy and her two companions, some of the least combat-proficient members of Fairy Tail.
Ryoma wasn't very sure if his act of repairing the guild would make that guy change his mind but it didn't matter. As long as he dared to show up, as long as he dared to lay a hand on his companions...
A cold glint flashed in Ryoma's eyes.
Time passed minute by minute.
The last few lights in the guild went out, and everyone except him had gone home to rest.
Just then, three familiar figures appeared at the end of the street.
It was Levy, along with Jet and Droy, who were always by her side.
"Is this okay, Levy?" Jet looked around cautiously.
"You should really stay with Laki and the others in the ladies' dorm." Droy echoed.
Levy adjusted the headband on her head and smiled. "Relax, we're a team, aren't we?"
This immediately excited the two simps behind her, who swore they would protect Levy.
Only their three sets of footsteps echoed on the empty street.
They didn't notice a figure on a rooftop not far behind them, watching them with a playful smile.
"Fairy Tail... a bunch of trash who only cry in the basement."
Gajeel followed step by step, not a trace of magic power leaking from him.
On the guild roof, Ryoma's eyes instantly sharpened.
He's here!
Almost the instant Gajeel had the thought, Ryoma had already perceived everything about him.
From Gajeel's perspective, those three weak Mages were completely defenseless. He had even already planned how he would hang the three of them on that big tree to thoroughly humiliate Fairy Tail.
Iron Dragon's Club!
Gajeel grinned viciously, his right arm instantly transforming into a thick black iron club, smashing down towards the back of Levy's head, who was walking in front. He used all his strength in this strike. He wanted to hear their mournful cries as they were brutally beaten.
Levy and her two companions didn't even have time to defend themselves. The deadly iron club rapidly grew larger in their pupils.
Just as the iron club was about to touch Levy's hair—
Buzz!
A cold blue light bloomed behind the three of them without warning.
The temperature in the air seemed to be sucked out in that instant, and a bone-chilling cold instantly swept through the street.
The vicious grin on Gajeel's face froze. He watched as a layer of clear blue ice spread across the tip of his Iron Dragon's Club at an imperceptible speed.
Crack! Crunch!
That ice was no ordinary ice, it emitted a strange magical fluctuation, and even the air seemed to freeze wherever it passed.
In the blink of an eye, Gajeel's entire arm, which had transformed into an iron club, along with half of his body, was completely sealed by a layer of indestructible blue ice. His movement came to an abrupt halt.
That deadly iron club stopped less than a centimeter from the back of Levy's head, unable to advance another millimeter.
Levy, Jet, and Droy stood stiffly in place, cold sweat instantly soaking their backs. They looked at Ryoma, who had appeared behind them at some unknown point.
Faint icy mist swirled around him, and a complex and magnificent ice flower slowly rotated on the ground beneath his feet, emitting spatial magic fluctuations.
And in front of him, the ferocious man with a face full of piercings was frozen into an ice sculpture, maintaining his attacking posture.
The moment Ryoma appeared, an imperceptible magic spell had quietly vanished.
The entire process of Gajeel's sneak attack had been completely recorded.
Evidence, acquired!
"Hoo... Hoo..."
Levy gasped for air, her heart pounding. She looked at the iron club so close, then at the reliable back in front of her, her eyes instantly reddening.
Ryoma's gaze rested calmly on the ice-sealed Gajeel. He slowly opened his mouth, his voice like an ice pick harshly piercing Gajeel's ears.
"Harming my companions."
"Who gave you the courage?"
Beneath the ice, Gajeel's pupils suddenly contracted.
A never-before-felt sense of crisis surged through his entire body like an electric current.
When did this man appear?
He hadn't noticed at all.
What terrified him even more was that his magic power inside him was actually frozen by this strange layer of ice.
How was this possible!?
"Ahhhhh!"
Gajeel let out a beast-like roar.
Who was he?
He was Phantom Lord's ace, a powerful Dragon Slayer.
How could he be frozen by such a minor character?
"Break! For! Me!"
He furiously urged his remaining physical strength, trying to shatter the ice on him. However, that seemingly thin layer of ice was unexpectedly solid. No matter how he struggled, it remained motionless.
"Bastard!"
Gajeel was completely enraged. He violently swung his other arm, which hadn't been frozen.
Iron Dragon's Lance!
If physical strength was useless, then use magic.
Countless sharp spears made of iron shot out from his hand like a torrential rain, overwhelmingly aiming at Ryoma, who was close by.
He didn't believe the other party could still block it.
Facing an attack powerful enough to instantly riddle a house, Ryoma was unconcerned.
"Too noisy."
As his words fell—
Buzz!
An invisible ripple instantly spread out from him.
The next second.
The countless iron spears flying through the air all stopped in mid-air when they reached half a meter in front of Ryoma, as if a pause button had been pressed.
Gajeel's eyes instantly widened.
What did he see?
Those iron spears were neither frozen nor blocked by anything. They just... stopped.
They just hung there eerily in mid-air.
"This... what kind of magic is this?" Gajeel's voice carried a hint of tremor for the first time.
Ryoma didn't answer his question. He just extended his index finger and lightly pointed at the countless iron spears in the air.
"Reversal."
In an instant, a bizarre scene occurred.
All the suspended iron spears actually reversed direction and flew back at an even faster speed than they came.
Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
A series of dense thuds rang out.
Not a single one of those iron spears missed. All of them reinserted themselves into Gajeel's hands.
No!
Rather than saying they reinserted themselves, it was more like they were retracted.
Like a bizarre rewind.
Gajeel was completely dumbfounded.