"Anyone! Come at me!" Natsu shouted after punching the door open.
"Wanna see who can take down more?" Gray tossed aside his clothes and stretched.
"A real man fights one against a hundred!" Elfman charged forward, his arms transformed into the Beast Soul's limbs, knocking down dozens of enemies with powerful swings from both sides.
"Don't underestimate me, I'm a Mage too!"
Happy, looking like the weakest of the group, pulled two frozen-solid fish from his bag and swung them wildly like clubs, preventing the Phantom Lord members from even getting close!
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
"Ice Make: Lance!"
"Who said 'Demon Mira' can't use magic anymore? Step forward!"
A man trembled behind a table, watching in horror as Mirajane unleashed dark energy blasts as if they cost no Magic Power at all.
"Don't eat me!" A Mage pleaded for mercy, pinned under the claws of a massive black panther.
"Thunderbolt!"
With so many Phantom Lord members crowding the hall, Cana took to the air and opted for an area-of-effect attack, raining lightning cards down on them.
"Three Layered Magic Circle: Mirror Water!" Mystogan reflected all the spells cast at him back at their casters.
"Aranyaza!" Kagura unsheathed her blade, and shockwaves enveloped the entire Guild branch.
In terms of numbers, Phantom Lord had over ten times the members of Fairy Tail, but when it came to individual combat strength, even an average Fairy Tail member could handle several Phantom Lord grunts—Wakaba and Macao alone could take on ten or more each.
This group, however, wasn't made up of ordinary members; they were Fairy Tail's elite forces.
Against these low-level opponents, Erza, Laxus, Natsu, and the others were practically unstoppable, moving through the battlefield with ease.
Phantom Lord did have high-level fighters of their own, but Jose had recalled them to the main Guild—a piece of information Gajeel had passed to Raizel.
Raizel hadn't fully trusted Gajeel at first, but after the battles, he was convinced, as Jose hadn't appeared at any of the branch Guilds.
In a single night, all of Phantom Lord's branch Guilds were wiped out, leaving only their mobile main Guild standing.
...
Phantom Lord HQ.
By the next day, news had spread throughout the Kingdom of Fiore.
Jose learned of it when a battered survivor from the nearest branch Guild woke up and rushed to inform him.
Jose, the Element 4, and Gajeel gathered in the meeting room.
He was pacing back and forth, completely lost in rage.
"Damn it! Fairy Tail!"
"I never thought they'd dare to ignore the Council and start a Guild War!"
"They're stomping on my face! Stomping on my reputation!"
If this wasn't handled properly, both Phantom Lord and his pride would be utterly humiliated—Phantom Lord might even collapse.
All their branch Guilds destroyed in one night, and not a single enemy captured or killed!
If this got out, any claim to being the Fiore Kingdom's top Guild would be laughable—they'd be competing for last place instead!
"Tch... What's there to be angry about? They were just weaklings. The real strength is all in this Guild."
Gajeel nonchalantly ate a piece of iron scrap. "We wrecked their Guild, they wrecked ours. Fair's fair. Blame the grunts for being too weak to even put up a fight."
Jose was left speechless by Gajeel's blunt retort.
"Doesn't our guild still have the Magic Convergence Cannon—Jupiter?" said Sol, the self-proclaimed gentleman of the earth element, tugging at his thin mustache.
He had always looked down upon Fairy Tail as unrefined.
Jose didn't respond immediately, instead pinching his chin while pacing back and forth in thought.
'Laxus, Ultear, and Erza are all attacking branch guilds far from Magnolia.'
'They shouldn't be able to return in a short time. Using the Jupiter Cannon should be feasible, plus we have the Element 4 and Gajeel.'
'The only uncertainty is the combat power of that Wizard Saints member Ur... wait, my intel says she is in Hargeon.'
'If the guild moves across the sea, we can reach Magnolia quickly. Timewise, it should be sufficient.'
Jose was quite confident in himself.
Although he had indeed lost to Makarov six years ago, he had been young back then. He had made significant progress over these years, while Makarov would only have grown older.
That Giant Magic of his required immense physical strength to support.
"Notify all personnel—all out attack!" Jose walked to his seat and sat down, pressing the communication Lacrima.
"Gihi." Gajeel chuckled quietly while crunching on metal.
'It's finally starting!'
"Poor Fairy Tail, They're about to disappear," Aria of the Heavens spoke while weeping, seemingly mourning the decline of Fairy Tail.
The entire Phantom Lord Guild rose from the ground, extending multiple mechanical legs from all sides to transform into a mobile walking castle, advancing across the sea toward Magnolia.
....
Fairy Tail Guild (Underground Library)—
Early that morning, after receiving messages from Natsu and Mirajane confirming the successful raids, Raizel brought everyone back to the guild's temporary base.
He once again established a communication link with the distant teams.
"We should return to the guild immediately!" Erza exclaimed excitedly through the Lacrima projection.
"Erza, calm down. We're too far away—it would take two days even by Magic Vehicle," Ultear placed a hand on Erza's shoulder, signaling her to calm down.
"Besides, we've already accepted a mission that isn't completed yet."
"Same here. With my mission unfinished, I probably can't make it back either," Laxus shook his head helplessly from his location.
"I'm free actually. If needed, I can start heading back now," Mystogan offered.
"No need. Continue completing your missions. We'll protect the guild just fine," Raizel shook his head—having them return now would be too troublesome and might leave openings elsewhere.
The guild's current combat forces in Magnolia should be sufficient.
"I'll definitely protect the guild!" Natsu punched his palm, making his promise to Erza.
"And us too." Lucy, Mirajane, Cana, and Wendy also nodded in agreement.
"The guild still has me and the Master, Erza. The mission takes priority," Ur also spoke up to persuade Erza, having returned from her training just in time.
"Alright," Erza's tense body relaxed as she nodded slightly—she had just been overly worried about the guild.
Indeed, they were simply too far away, otherwise she would have returned no matter what, for the guild was her home.
"Complete your mission quickly and come back. We'll be waiting for you to direct the guild's reconstruction," Raizel smiled, comforting the somewhat dejected Erza.
"After this, let's build a new guild! Bigger! Taller!" Makarov raised his glass and waved his arm enthusiastically!
"Yeah!" Natsu, Gray, and Elfman shouted in unison.
"Tch, boring. Going to do my mission," Laxus ended the connection after speaking.
"Let's hurry up with our mission, Freed, Evergreen, Bickslow," Laxus immediately stood up to proceed with the next mission after ending the conversation.
"Laxus, you're going the wrong way. It's over there..." Freed pointed out gently.
'Such a tsundere...' That was what everyone was thinking.
"Don't worry, we'll be waiting for your return," Raizel raised his teacup in a distant gesture to the image before it faded.
"Okay!" Erza nodded, her eyes rimmed red.
"Our next mission is to exterminate the monsters in the lake. Let's set off," Ultear glanced at the location and details on the request form.
"Alright!" Erza and Kagura responded with high fighting spirit.
After ending the communication, Raizel looked at everyone around him in the library and said.
"Phantom Lord might attack soon. Notify everyone to stay alert."