"These traces belong to Natsu and Gray."
Near the tower's main gate, Rowan found every guard already unconscious. The residual magic was unmistakable. Dragon Slayer flames and ice constructs. The two of them had arrived before him.
"That means Lucy and Happy are probably here too."
Instead of relief, Rowan felt a headache coming on.
If Erza were alone, this would be simple. Track her, grab her, and leave. Whatever happened to the dark mages afterward wouldn't matter. Etherion would erase the rest.
But now Natsu and the others were inside the tower, scattered who knew where. Rounding everyone up one by one before the countdown hit zero was a different problem entirely.
He sighed.
"So much for a clean extraction. Guess I can't abandon my own guild."
With a flap of his wings, Rowan slipped into the tower.
The moment he crossed the threshold, every sound-engraved surface inside the structure activated at once. A man's voice echoed through the corridors, smooth and theatrical.
"Welcome to the Tower of Heaven. I am Jellal, its master. All the pieces are finally in place. Let the game begin."
Rowan frowned.
"A game?"
"The rules are simple," the voice continued. "Erza Scarlet will serve as the living sacrifice to revive the dark mage Zeref. If the Gate of Paradise opens, I win. If you stop it, you win."
There was a pause, followed by a chuckle.
"But that alone would be dull. So I've arranged for three elite mages from the Skull cult to hunt you down. Defeat them, and you may reach me."
Another pause.
"Oh, and one last thing. The Magic Council is already preparing Etherion. So you'd better hurry. Otherwise, everyone on this island will be reduced to ash."
Rowan's expression sharpened.
"That's odd."
He knew about Etherion because Councilman Yajima had warned Fairy Tail. Jellal shouldn't have had that information.
Unless he had eyes inside the Council.
Or worse, unless this entire situation was designed to be exposed.
The R System had been hidden for years. Now suddenly there was a kidnapping at a resort, a public trail, and a ticking superweapon. Everything about it felt staged.
"Later," Rowan muttered. "First priority is rescue."
He followed the trail left by his tracking charm, wings beating softly as he moved through the tower. If he could secure Erza first, the rest would be manageable. Best case, everyone was together. Worst case, he'd extract them one at a time.
By the time he reached the sixth floor, the scent of magic was thick in the air.
Then he heard screaming.
"Ah—! Stop—!"
Rowan's ears flattened.
"Lucy."
He surged forward and burst into the central hall.
Lucy was kneeling on the floor, her clothes torn and barely held together as she struggled to cover herself. Behind her stood Juvia, eyes unfocused, wielding a water whip that cracked down again and again.
Behind Juvia, a punk-styled mage was strumming a magic guitar, sound waves pulsing with every chord.
"Mental domination," Rowan assessed instantly.
As a psychic, he could feel it clearly. The guitarist wasn't attacking directly. He was controlling Juvia through sound, turning an S-class mage into a puppet.
"So this is one of the three elites Jellal mentioned," Rowan thought. "No wonder he's confident."
He reached into his spatial storage and drew out a single copper coin.
Controlling an S-class mage so completely wasn't something to underestimate. Time mattered more than flair.
Rowan vanished into invisibility.
The coin flicked upward.
"Take this."
Two hundred million volts erupted.
With a precise tap of his paw, the falling coin became a screaming blur, accelerating past the sound barrier as a railgun round aimed straight for the guitarist's head.
"What—?!"
The guitarist sensed the surge of electricity an instant too late. He yanked his head forward, hair surging up as magic-infused strands twisted into a defensive wall.
The impact detonated.
For less than a second, the coin stalled against the reinforced hair.
Then it punched through.
The guitarist was launched backward, smashing into the wall hard enough to shatter stone.
The music stopped.
Juvia's eyes cleared immediately. She staggered, then rushed to Lucy's side.
"Lucy, I'm sorry! I couldn't control my body. Are you hurt?"
Lucy shook her head weakly.
The guitarist groaned and stood back up, clutching his forehead. A massive welt was already swelling.
"You coward," he snarled. "Sneaking around and attacking from the shadows!"
He glanced down at his hair, now missing a chunk like it had been bitten off.
"My hair… you'll pay for that!"
He raised his guitar again, mana flaring violently as he prepared to unleash a full-scale sound domination spell on everything in the hall.
Wherever the attacker was hiding, as long as he could hear—
The air shimmered.