"All three hundred lightning crystals have been transferred into mirror space!"
Erza landed lightly in front of the guild, the mirror still humming with residual magic. She had completed Rowan's instructions perfectly.
Makarov stepped through the open doors, his expression set.
"Rowan. Lead the way. We're going after Laxus."
Guided by Rowan's tracking spell, more than a hundred Fairy Tail mages surged out of the guild in a unified wave, magic flaring as they moved through Magnolia.
At the same time, in the heart of the city, within the cavernous halls of Cardia Cathedral.
Freed knelt beside Laxus and reported quietly, "The barrier at the guild has been broken. And the Thunder Palace crystals… Erza sealed them all inside a mirror."
Despite the grim news, relief flickered across his face. Fighting the guild head-on was one thing. Killing civilians would have been something neither he nor Laxus could ever undo.
Bickslow's puppets twitched uneasily beneath his helmet.
"The master is free, and the whole guild is moving. If they reach us together, this turns ugly fast."
They all understood the reality. Fairy Tail wasn't some disposable dark guild. Makarov alone stood at the pinnacle of the continent's magic. Erza, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Juvia… and the cat whose presence even Laxus treated warily.
And Evergreen was gone.
The odds had turned brutally against them.
"Enough," Laxus snarled.
Lightning exploded around his body as his muscles swelled, veins bulging beneath crackling arcs of power. His teeth sharpened, faint dragon markings rippling across his skin.
"You forced this," he growled. "The old man. The guild. This city. All of it can disappear."
He brought his hands together.
Blinding white light surged upward, spreading across the sky as a massive magic circle unfurled over all of Magnolia.
"Grand Spell: Fairy Law."
As Makarov's grandson, as the man determined to replace him, Laxus had never ignored Fairy Tail's strongest inheritance. This was the spell meant to judge enemies with divine light.
But everything had gone wrong. Every plan had failed. Doubt, resentment, and humiliation twisted together until the only answer left felt like annihilation.
A street away from the cathedral, Fairy Tail's advance faltered.
The sky darkened under the immense magic circle. Faces drained of color.
"That idiot," someone muttered. "Does he want to kill everyone?"
Makarov's fury peaked—
Then froze.
And the next moment, he laughed.
Rowan glanced at him sharply. "Master? Is something wrong with the spell?"
Fairy Law was infamous. Rowan had no intention of testing it firsthand. He was already preparing to pull everyone into mirror space when he noticed Makarov's calm.
"The spell is flawless," Makarov said, smiling faintly. "Even if I cast it myself, this is exactly what it would look like. But it won't hurt us. Or the city."
He looked up at the blazing circle with quiet pride.
"Fairy Law judges only those the caster truly considers enemies. If your heart does not condemn them, the spell has no target."
Understanding rippled through the guild.
Laxus had unleashed Fairy Law across Magnolia.
But deep down, he didn't see the guild. Or the city's people. As enemies.
"That's why," Rowan murmured, watching the light descend without triggering any sense of danger, "it feels harmless."
The spell flared.
Then vanished.
Not a single person was harmed.
Inside the cathedral, Laxus stared at his hands in disbelief.
"How… why didn't it kill anyone? This isn't how it's supposed to work."
Freed hesitated, then stepped forward.
"Laxus. You know the truth. Fairy Law only strikes those you truly see as enemies. You inherited more than magic from the master. You inherited his heart."
He bowed his head. "Let's stop. Apologize. End this before it goes any further."
Even Bickslow's bravado wavered. "Yeah. This has gone far enough."
Laxus roared.
Lightning detonated outward, blasting both of them through the cathedral walls.
"No!" he shouted. "That's wrong! I don't acknowledge weaklings as comrades. Anyone in my way is an enemy! If Fairy Law won't decide it, then I'll crush them myself!"
The cathedral doors exploded inward.
A massive fist slammed into Laxus's chest, driving him backward across the floor.
"Wake up, Laxus!" Makarov bellowed as he stepped inside, the full might of Fairy Tail at his back.
Laxus wiped blood from his mouth and grinned wildly.
"Good. Then fight me. I'll defeat every last one of you."
Makarov stepped forward—
"Wait," Rowan said calmly, raising a paw.
The shouting, the anger, the posturing. None of it would break Laxus now.
"Master," Rowan continued, eyes steady. "I have an idea."
Laxus's pride was rigid. Confrontation alone would only harden it.
"So instead of tearing Fairy Tail apart," Rowan said evenly, "why don't we settle this properly."
He smiled slightly.
"Let's hold Fairy Tail's first Grand Magic Tournament."
...
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