Phantom Lord Mobile Castle (Main Hall)—
Only Jose Porla was sitting here, having dispatched the Element 4 to guard the four Magic Lacrima Crystals powering the Jupiter Cannon.
Sitting on his throne with legs crossed, Jose looked composed and calm as he observed the white armored knight that had suddenly appeared in his guild hall.
"Oh? So you're that knight from Fairy Tail. I must commend you for being able to withstand Jupiter, but you don't actually think you stand a chance against me, do you?"
Jose Porla slowly stood up, raising his arms high with his head held high, a proud expression on his face.
"I am one of the Ten Wizard Saints of the Ishgar continent, selected by the Council itself! Do you know what that means? I am one of the most powerful individuals in Ishgar! It would be more fitting for Makarov to face me in battle!"
Raizel twitched his mouth slightly inside his armor, quietly watching Jose make a fool of himself with his grand speech.
Jose then shifted his tone, his voice becoming dangerously smooth.
"Actually, I quite admire you. I've always believed that Fairy Tail has been wasting your potential."
Raizel replied with a hint of feigned confusion, "Oh? But I just led a team to destroy all of Phantom Lord's branches last night."
Jose's eye twitched, but he continued excitedly, ignoring the jab. "Think about it—you became an S-Class Mage in your youth, yet in recent years you've faded into obscurity, while others like the 'Salamander', the 'Titania', and the 'Beast' have all gained fame. If you were with us at Phantom Lord, you would be our absolute ace, renowned throughout Fiore, and possibly even the entire Ishgar continent!"
After finishing his pitch, Jose closed his eyes, shook his head disdainfully, and added, "As for destroying the branch guilds, those were just small fry, probably no better than my Phantom Soldiers."
Raizel sighed helplessly. "So, is it possible that I simply don't want to be famous? I'm not really interested in being an ace or anything like that."
His voice grew cold. "And don't even think about recruiting me. Whether it's destroying our guild, attacking our members, or your attempt to secretly take Lucy away—each one crosses Fairy Tail's bottom line! After today, Phantom Lord will be erased!"
Jose burst into laughter as if he had heard a great joke. "You arrogant brat, you should go back and let Makarov come instead!"
Raizel didn't mind the insult; he just lowered his head as if thinking and muttered, "Let me think, how many times have you lost to our Guild Master? Once, twice, three times... oh, damn, I've lost count. All I know is you've never beaten our Guild Master, right?"
"You're still so young and impulsive, Raizel!" Jose roared, furious that his past humiliations were being exposed.
Jose narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning sharp. "Originally, I thought I could spare you if you joined Phantom Lord, but now it seems I have no choice but to kill you."
While conversing with Jose, Raizel sensed the fluctuations of magic power throughout the moving castle.
Mirajane must be facing the Wind Element, Aria, while Natsu was locked in a fierce battle with the Fire Element, Totomaru.
As for Gray, he seemed to be in a tough fight as well—though perhaps in a different sense, judging by the strange magic signature of the water element, Juvia.
Jose spread his hands, wearing an expression that said he had seen through everything.
"You've been talking to me all this time to stall, haven't you? Thinking about recovering your magic power?"
Raizel shrugged and retorted, "Oh? And aren't you doing the same by stalling?"
Jose had guessed half-right—Raizel was indeed recovering magic power, as blocking the Jupiter blast in his giant form had expended a significant amount of energy, but it wasn't exactly stalling.
"Aren't you just stalling, waiting for the second super-sized Jupiter to fire?" Raizel asked pointedly.
Jose raised an eyebrow, somewhat puzzled. "If you know, then why aren't you making a move?"
He truly couldn't figure out why Raizel was so calm with only ten minutes left until Jupiter fired.
Jose was indeed waiting for the second blast.
Based on his understanding of Makarov, he was certain the old man would try to block it personally to protect the guild.
Even if Makarov used his strongest defense magic, the Three Pillar Gods, to defend against a super-sized Jupiter shot, he would still suffer greatly.
That would effectively neutralize Makarov, leaving only Ur to deal with.
Raizel looked at Jose and replied firmly, "Because I believe Natsu and the others will handle it. Before Jupiter successfully fires, they absolutely will wrecked those so called element 4!"
Jose's expression turned disdainful. "The Element 4 were Mages I carefully selected—they wouldn't be defeated so easily, especially not within fifteen minutes."
"Enough, no more nonsense. Jupiter is almost ready to fire. I can't wait to see Makarov's devastated expression, hahaha!!!"
Jose laughed heartily, then immediately unleashed a surge of powerful, dark magical power.
"Take Over: Alphamon!"
Raizel instantly transformed into the black-armored Royal Knight, the carrier of the X-Antibody.
He extended his left palm forward, and a green semi-circular barrier enveloped his form just as Jose attacked.
Inside the barrier, Raizel observed his surroundings.
The entire hall was filled with black smoke emanating from Jose's body.
When Raizel had first come into contact with this magical energy, he sensed an aura of pure dread and immediately used the defensive barrier to block it.
"Inhale this smoke, and you'll lose your will to fight!" Jose laughed loudly as he watched Raizel resisting the smoke's invasion.
"Dead Wave!"
"Hmm?" Jose soon stopped laughing.
He watched as the green barrier around Raizel expanded continuously, pushing the death aura back.
"Tch." Jose gritted his teeth in frustration, surprised that Raizel had countered his signature spell so quickly.
"Darkness Shot!"
Jose raised his arm horizontally, and purple magical bullets shot forth rapidly from his fingers.
Raizel also raised his arm, firing green beams of holy energy from his palm to collide with the Darkness Shot.
BOOM!
Jose was forced to teleport to a new position instantly, as the spot where he had been standing became a deep crater riddled with green beams.
Jose narrowed his eyes in confusion.
Darkness Shot was fired from five fingers, yet Raizel's green beams from his palm were even more numerous and faster.
"Gloom!"
Enraged, Jose swung his right hand, sending a wave of crimson energy sweeping from left to right.
Raizel leaped high into the air, using the thrusters on his back to evade the attack.
"Ghost Arrows!"
Several purple energy arrows, imbued with resentment and malice, shot toward Raizel in mid-air.
Raizel grabbed his cape with his right hand and pulled it forward, hardening it to block all the arrows, while continuously firing green beams from his left palm to sweep the area below.
Jose reacted quickly, unleashing over a dozen purplish-black beams of Dark Stream to disrupt Raizel's movements, while simultaneously using teleportation to evade the incoming green beams.
After several more rounds of intense offense and defense between the two sides, Jose steadied himself after evading another attack and spoke, slightly out of breath.
"It seems I've underestimated you. Your magic power is truly remarkable!"
"So far, you're the first Mage who has been able to hold out to this extent in battle against me," Jose admitted.
He wasn't boasting—many Mages couldn't even withstand his deathly aura, losing their combat ability the moment they sensed it.
"If you hadn't lost so much magic power blocking Jupiter earlier, we might have been somewhat evenly matched."