"What… did you say?"
Laxus froze. Slowly, he turned toward Makarov, disbelief written across his face. "Old man. Is that true?"
Makarov didn't answer right away. He sighed, the anger draining out of him, and lowered himself heavily onto the table.
"It's true, Laxus. I never told you because I was afraid you couldn't bear it." His voice was tired. "That's enough for today. Don't take this any further."
He had known this moment would come. If Laxus kept walking the same path as his father, the ending would be the same. Irreversible. Makarov had regretted not telling him years ago. Sometimes, a truth buried too long became harder to explain than the lie itself.
Laxus said nothing. His head dipped, shoulders stiff.
Rowan frowned.
Something was wrong.
The magic rolling off Laxus wasn't cooling down. It was spiraling out of control. And the emotion beneath it wasn't clarity or remorse.
It was rage.
"You've got to be kidding me," Laxus snarled as he raised his head again, veins bulging across his face. Even the lightning around him darkened, flickering with a faint red hue. "You tell me this now? Even if it's true, so what?"
His eyes burned. "My decision doesn't change. The game continues. And if you refuse to play, then not just the city… all of you disappear with it."
Lightning flared.
In the next instant, Laxus, Freed, and Bickslow vanished in a thunderclap, leaving scorched stone behind.
Laxus's voice echoed through the guild, carried by magic across Magnolia.
"Fight. Only the victor earns the right to challenge me. You have three hours. If no one wins by then, I'll erase the city and the guild, and build a new Fairy Tail from the ashes."
Rowan exhaled slowly.
"So it's that kind of ending," he thought.
People like Laxus usually broke one of two ways. Either they woke up, admitted their mistakes, and reconciled. Or pride, obsession, and years of pent-up resentment dragged them into a darker extreme.
When it was the second…
There was only one cure.
Hit them hard enough to force them to face themselves.
"So," someone asked quietly, "what do we do, Master?"
All eyes turned to Makarov.
He drew in a deep breath, then spoke with finality. "I'll deal with the Thunder Palace. Rowan, you can track him. Take the others and bring Laxus back."
His jaw tightened. "What he's done crosses the line. I will expel him from the guild."
Makarov knew his own limits. With his giant magic, he could endure the backlash from destroying the city's lightning crystals. Rowan, on the other hand, was best suited to hunt Laxus down and subdue him.
This wasn't a choice made lightly.
But it was the only fair one.
"Understood," Rowan said.
He raised a hand, magic forming cleanly and precisely. "Show me the path. Laxus Dreyar."
A golden arrow appeared in the air, pointing decisively outward.
To Rowan, the situation was serious but not dire.
If necessary, he could dismantle the Thunder Palace himself. He had options. He could endure the backlash. He could isolate the magic entirely. He could shield the city long enough to nullify the threat.
And as for Laxus…
Rowan didn't need numbers to measure the gap between them.
He had grown stronger through relentless refinement, not bravado. His magic was broader, deeper, layered with experience drawn from countless battles and disciplines. Lightning alone wouldn't decide this fight, especially against someone who understood it as well as Laxus did.
That didn't make Laxus untouchable.
Rowan stepped forward, leading the charge as Makarov and the others followed.
They reached the guild's main doors.
And stopped.
A transparent wall shimmered into view as Rowan collided with it.
He pressed a hand against the surface, eyes narrowing.
"A formula barrier," he said quietly. "Pre-set."
Someone had planned this in advance.
The guild had already been sealed in.