"I loved you once, Erza," Jellal's voice echoed across the sea. "So give yourself to my dream."
No one saw him arrive.
One moment the sky above the ship was empty. The next, Jellal stood there, suspended in the air as if the world itself refused to let him fall.
Erza answered without hesitation. Two blades flashed into her hands, and she launched herself upward.
"Jellal!" she roared. "This ends now!"
Rowan Mercer felt it instantly. The pressure. The weight of the magic flooding the air.
"This is worse than Jose," he muttered, his expression tightening. "Far worse."
The last time they had faced Jose, it had taken an entire guild fighting together to bring him down, and even then only after Natsu had burned through most of the man's strength. Jellal stood on an entirely different tier.
"Everyone, together!" Rowan shouted.
Erza alone would not survive this. Rowan spread his wings and surged upward. Natsu, Gray, and Juvia followed in a heartbeat. Simon and the others were too injured to help. Lucy was already gripping a golden key, her face pale but determined.
Jellal looked down at them with mild amusement.
"You think numbers matter?"
He vanished.
"Not teleportation," Rowan snapped. "Speed."
Star-like light wrapped around Jellal's body as he reappeared midair, moving like a falling meteor. He slipped past Erza's strongest strike, the same technique that had once defeated Ikaruga, then drove a brutal kick into Natsu and Gray, sending them crashing toward the sea.
Juvia dissolved into water just in time, but Jellal was already raising a hand.
Seven points of starlight ignited behind him.
They slammed down in a thunderous cascade, striking Juvia's liquid form and driving her straight into the ocean.
Rowan reacted instantly.
A coin snapped forward, screaming through the air wrapped in violent arcs of electricity.
Jellal turned and caught it with his fist.
The electromagnetic blast shattered like glass.
"That won't hurt me," Jellal said calmly, already accelerating toward Rowan.
Rowan clicked his tongue. "Figures."
He had no time for subtlety.
Magic flared around him, and his body twisted and expanded, golden fur erupting outward as he transformed into a massive feline shape that dwarfed the ship below.
Electricity surged through every nerve and muscle, forcing his body beyond its normal limits. The air screamed around him.
"Get away from them!"
A claw the size of a millstone slammed forward, crackling with lightning.
Jellal met it head-on.
The impact detonated the air between them. This time, Jellal was the one thrown back, hurled through the sky like a broken comet.
Rowan didn't let up. Blades of compressed force spiraled after Jellal, tearing through the air in a lethal swarm.
Against someone like this, holding back meant dying.
Below, Lucy plunged her key into the sea.
"Open, Gate of the Water Bearer. Aureo!"
A blue summoning circle burst from the ocean's surface. Aureo emerged in a fury, clutching her water jar like a weapon.
"You dragged me out again?" she screamed. "I'll drown all of you!"
Magic exploded outward. The sea itself rose in response, forming a massive wave that surged toward the falling Jellal.
Unfortunately, it caught more than him.
The ship, Natsu, Gray, Juvia, and Lucy were all swallowed by the churning wall of water.
Erza didn't hesitate.
Her armor shifted, plates locking into place as she donned her heaviest battle gear. With a full-body heave, she hurled a massive spear that burned with purifying force straight into the chaos.
For a moment, the attacks overlapped. Steel. Lightning. Water. Force.
Any normal mage would have been erased.
Jellal crossed his arms.
Darkness bloomed beneath him, forming a void that swallowed everything. The blades, the spear, the water, all vanished into the black sphere before detonating outward in a violent shockwave.
Everyone was thrown back.
"Ice Make: Grand Platform!"
The sea froze in an instant. A vast ice shelf spread across the surface, catching the scattered fighters as they fell. Gray dropped to one knee, breathing hard but standing.
Rowan shrank back to human size and landed beside them.
"…This guy's a monster," he said flatly.
Jellal hovered above, untouched.
"Let me tell you something fun," he said, smiling. "The man your entire guild barely defeated before? He doesn't even rank as high as one of my projections."
Rowan's blood ran cold.
"Oh, and since you're already this deep," Jellal continued, "the Council fired Etherion because one of its members pushed for it. A man named Zikrein."
The name hit like a blade.
Rowan's eyes widened.
Zikrein. The youngest of the elite. A council member whose face no one had ever seen.
"And yes," Jellal said lightly, "he was me."
A projection with only half his strength had surpassed Jose. That meant the man in front of them now was something far worse than they had imagined.
Rowan clenched his fists.
"People don't stay the same forever."
While Jellal spoke, Rowan reached out mentally. Natsu surfaced from the water, already moving. Power ignited as he began feeding on the raging flames still clinging to the battlefield.
Jellal laughed.
"Then let me show you what the gap looks like."
He rose higher, a vast celestial array unfolding beneath his feet. Magic poured from him so violently the air warped around his body.
"True Celestial Magic," he declared. "Starfall."
The sky cracked open.
A colossal meteor, wreathed in fire, tore through the clouds and began its descent.
One strike.
Enough to erase a city.