"Natsu!" Happy grabbed Lucy and flew to the platform where Natsu lay collapsed among the debris.
Natsu was merely exhausted, his body pushed past its limits.
Hearing Lucy's voice, he barely managed to open one eye and grinned weakly.
"Even for me, I can't move after fighting like this."
"Really, you've gone too far," Lucy looked at Natsu lying on the ground with tears in her eyes.
"Aye! That's Natsu for you!" Happy chimed in.
'But... it was still pretty cool Natsu,' Lucy thought, wiping the tears from the corner of her eye before having Happy fly them down.
"Should we have Happy take you to Wendy for healing first?"
After helping Natsu sit up, Lucy finally realized how severely injured he was up close.
To put it mildly, his entire body was covered in burns, cuts, and bruises.
"Ah, it's fine. Where's Raizel? We need to go help Raizel, right?" Natsu initially wanted to shake his head to dismiss the concern, but just a slight movement of his neck made him grimace in pain.
Even taking a deep breath now aggravated his injuries.
"Don't push yourself when you're in this state," Lucy scolded gently.
"You're really in bad shape, Natsu," Gray and Mirajane also arrived on the platform, looking exhausted but victorious.
"I remember what you said earlier, Gray! Ouch~"
The moment Natsu saw Gray, he recalled Gray's earlier mocking remarks about finishing the fight in one round.
His anger moved faster than his brain, but getting worked up only worsened his injuries.
...
"What a ferocious guy."
Jose had already sensed Gajeel's defeat through their magical link.
"I never expected that aside from you all, even that Salamander guy isn't weak. It irritates me to think you're all Mages of Fairy Tail."
The Element 4 and Gajeel that Jose recruited weren't weak—he had absolute confidence in their strength, which was one reason he dared to start this war.
But he never expected they'd be completely wiped out, with Gajeel even losing to a mere fire breathing kid.
Jose's expression grew increasingly dark, the purple magic power around him intensifying as an aura of death began to spread rapidly.
BOOM!
Raizel blasted open the ceiling with a green palm beam and flew up into the sky to create distance.
"Don't think you can escape!" Jose snorted coldly and followed him upward, levitating on a cloud of darkness.
"Escape? I wasn't planning to escape."
After ascending, Raizel located Natsu and the others' position below and snapped his fingers.
A massive Teleportation Magic Circle appeared beneath Natsu, Gray, Mirajane, Elfman, Lucy, and Happy.
The death aura from Jose was spreading rapidly and would soon envelop the entire Magic Giant ruins and even part of the sea area.
Natsu and the others in their current condition couldn't withstand it.
"Oh? I see," Jose watched as the group vanished from the spot.
...
Fairy Tail Guild Entrance—
"Eh? How did we get back to the Guild?" Lucy looked around, confused by the sudden shift in scenery.
"And why is this guy here too!" Happy shouted, realizing Gajeel had also been teleported over by Raizel and lay unconscious nearby.
"Look there," Mirajane patted Lucy's shoulder and pointed toward the sky above the sea, where two figures floated like gods.
...
"Alright, time to get serious."
In the sky, a circular digital space appeared on the right side of Alphamon's armor.
Raizel reached his right hand into it and slowly drew out a massive, ornate battle sword glowing with divine light.
"Alphamon: Divine Sword Grade Alpha, summon!"
"Are you saying you haven't been going all out until now?" Jose narrowed his eyes, his tone displeased.
"Of course, you're not the only one playing around—I am too," Raizel replied calmly.
Raizel and Jose hadn't been fighting seriously from the beginning.
If they were truly going all out, the Magic Giant would have collapsed from within due to the sheer pressure of their magical power alone.
"I wanted to see your expression after the Four Elements and Gajeel failed, I can defeat you in 5 second actually."
"Big talk!" Jose roared, furious as Raizel rubbed salt in his wounds once more.
"I've seen the expression I wanted to see. Now it's time to end this!"
"The trees, the earth, the sea, the atmosphere—all tremble in fear before my darkness!"
...
Mirajane watched from the shore as the sea and sky before the Guild changed colors, turning a sickly purple-black under Jose's influence.
"To possess such magic power at such a young age... Jose truly deserves his title as one of the Ten Wizard Saints," Makarov frowned while observing Jose's soaring magic energy.
Ur nodded beside him and said, "What a pity he didn't channel his magical power toward the right path."
...
"Dead Wave: Dark Spiral!"
Massive amounts of dark magical power condensed into a spiraling sphere of destruction, flying toward Raizel with enough force to warp the space around it.
Raizel raised the Divine Sword with both hands and swung downward, sending a blade of pure green light to meet the spiral sphere.
SLASH!
The blade of light split the Dark Spiral cleanly in half.
The severed magic exploded harmlessly on either side, while the blade of light continued undiminished toward Jose.
Dodging the blade of light at the last second, Jose watched as it struck the sea behind him.
The ocean parted instantly, creating tsunami-like waves that crashed against the distant rocks.
He felt fear! if that had hit him, his magical defenses might not have held.
The wind from the slash whipped his hair and torn magic robe wildly.
"So high!" Guild members gathered at the Guild entrance to watch the battle were awestruck.
"Impossible! How could the Dark Spiral be cut so easily!" Jose couldn't believe his strongest probing attack was nullified.
"You thought it was just one blade of light, but actually it was many, compressed into a single second," Raizel explained coldly, seizing the advantage.
Clutching the Divine Sword with both hands, Raizel flew toward Jose at supersonic speed.
"Shade: Dark Bind!"
Jose released dozens of purple-black tendrils from both hands, attempting to entangle Raizel from multiple directions to immobilize him.
Raizel spun the Divine Sword with incredible precision, severing the purple-black beams one after another as he closed the distance.
Using the Dark Bind to disrupt Raizel's movement while employing short-range teleportation several times, Jose finally managed to create distance again.
Standing firm in mid-air, he concentrated all his remaining magical power into both hands.
"Dead Wave: Death Storm!"
A super-powerful shockwave of concentrated death energy parted the clouds and the sea as it charged toward Raizel.
This was Jose's ultimate attack, capable of wiping out an entire town.
Raizel had no intention of dodging this shockwave—if he did, it would strike the Guild behind him.
"Digitalize of Soul."
Raizel's armor glowed with a blinding emerald light.
Placing the Divine Sword before him, Raizel accelerated continuously, diving straight into the Death Storm.
"What?!" Jose gasped.
Like a hot knife through butter, Raizel cleaved through Jose's strongest magic, the green light of the X-Antibody parting the purple darkness.
"It's over, Jose."
Hearing these words whispered beside his ear, Jose's pupils contracted sharply.
Raizel, who had just split the Death Storm, suddenly vanished from his sight.
What appeared to be a collapsing circular digital space manifested before Jose, who couldn't react in time.
The next moment, Raizel's figure emerged from the space directly in front of him.
SLASH!
Jose only saw a flash of green light before his magical barrier shattered like glass.
His already damaged magic robe completely disintegrated from shoulder to waist.
"Gah!"
Jose's entire body plunged uncontrollably from the sky, crashing into the sea with a massive splash.
Moments later, he floated back to the surface, unconscious.
After glancing at the unconscious Jose, Raizel snapped his fingers, using Teleportation Magic to send the defeated Guild Master's body to the shore near the Guild entrance.
"WOOO!!!"
"WE WON!!!"
The members had only been able to see flashes of purple-black beams and sudden blades of light in the sky.
As they slowly opened their eyes, they saw Jose lying unconscious before the Guild.
Raizel descended from the sky and released his Take Over, returning to his human form.
"Everyone, we've won." Raizel brought two fingers together, pointing them from his temple outward in a salute.
"We've defeated Phantom Lord!!!"
Amid the deafening cheers, Jose slowly opened his eyes, coughing up water.
He was no longer capable of fighting—his magical power and body had reached their absolute limits.
Makarov noticed the change in Jose and let out a helpless sigh before walking over.
"Don't come near Fairy Tail again. With things escalating to this extent, the Council won't stand by idly. Take your people and leave."
Makarov had never wanted this fight—it was nothing good for the world of magic, and the destruction was senseless.
Turning his head, Makarov looked at the shattered, crumbling guild tavern and the wounded members, feeling an overwhelming sense of helplessness but also pride.
'It's going to cost so much to rebuild...' he thought, crying comical tears.
'But at least my children are safe.'
High above the ruins, the Fairy Tail flag remained standing, waving proudly in the clearing sky!
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