"This is the price for ambushing our Guild Master!"
Rowan's voice boomed across the battlefield, amplified by magic, just as Aria's lifeless body hit the ground.
For a heartbeat, everything froze.
Fairy Tail's mages stared in disbelief.
Rowan had just killed Aria. Not wounded him. Not driven him back. He had taken down the strongest of Phantom Lord's Four Elements in a direct, one-on-one fight.
Silence shattered into uproar.
"Rowan… he actually killed Aria?"
"That was the head of the Four Elements!"
"And he kept saying it was all luck?"
"Yeah, sure. Luck doesn't do that."
Cheers and shock mingled together, raw and cathartic. If there was anyone the guild hated most in this battle, it wasn't Jose. It was Aria, the one who had crippled Makarov with a cowardly ambush. Seeing him fall felt like vengeance carved in stone.
But Mirajane didn't let them linger.
"Keep moving!" she called, guiding the retreat. "Fall back, now!"
The reason was obvious.
Erza, Natsu, and Gray were barely holding on.
Jose was a monster.
Even battered from his clash with Makarov, even facing three of Fairy Tail's strongest fighters, he still pressed them relentlessly. Erza's Black Wing Armor was cracked and broken in places, her breathing ragged. Natsu and Gray were covered in burns and frostbite, pushing themselves past their limits just to stay standing.
Rowan turned, eyes narrowing.
This wasn't a fight he could tip by joining in. The gap was too wide.
Darkness and death magic swirled around Jose like a living shell. Rowan could tell at a glance that most of his spells wouldn't even pierce that defense. Even a killing curse wasn't guaranteed to work against someone of this level.
Then he made his decision.
"Looks like there's only one option."
If they wanted to retreat safely, he needed something overwhelming. Something uncontrollable. Something terrifying enough to force Jose to stop chasing them.
Rowan raised his wand.
"Fiendfyre."
Magic poured out of him without restraint.
The air screamed.
A colossal blue dragon of cursed flame erupted into existence, its body writhing with savage intent. It roared and lunged toward Jose, heat distorting the sky itself.
"Move!" Rowan shouted.
Erza reacted instantly, grabbing Natsu and Gray and hauling them back toward Rowan as fast as she could.
Jose snarled.
"So this is what it's come to? Pathetic! Utterly pathetic!"
Rage boiled over. His elite mage captured. Two of his Element Four defeated. Aria dead, slain by a single creature he had dismissed as a joke. Humiliation piled upon humiliation.
"I'll kill every last one of you!" Jose roared.
"Soul Consumption!"
He unleashed his strongest spell again.
Two enormous black specters formed, their mouths yawning open as they rushed toward the blue fire dragon, attempting to devour it whole.
Under normal circumstances, it would have worked.
But this was not ordinary fire magic.
The Fiendfyre dragon roared back, furious, and bit down on the specters. Black darkness and blue flame collided, shrieking as they clashed. Neither yielded. The sheer force ignited parts of the Phantom Lord guild hall below, sending Phantom Lord mages screaming as they fled the burning structure.
Jose's eyes widened.
Impossible.
This fire… it had will.
"Now's our chance!" Natsu shouted, flames flaring as he tried to surge forward. "Let's finish him!"
"No!" Rowan snapped. "Get out, now!"
He didn't hesitate.
"That thing doesn't distinguish friend from enemy. If you go in there, it'll burn you too. Retreat first. We save the Guild Master. We live to fight again."
Erza didn't argue. She struck Natsu across the back of the head and dragged him along, hauling Gray with her as they followed Rowan and the retreating guild.
When Fairy Tail vanished into the distance, Jose finally forced the Fiendfyre back, drowning it in raw dark magic until the blue flames tore themselves apart and faded.
He stood amid the ruins, black magic coiling around him like smoke.
"Summon every branch," he said coldly. "Activate the mobile fortress. We march on Fairy Tail's home."
None of them were getting away.
Then Sol, bruised and barely standing, spoke up hesitantly.
"Guild Master… with Aria dead, the Jupiter Cannon won't function properly."
Jose turned slowly, eyes blazing.
"Idiot," he said flatly. "Then modify it. Use Gajeel as the core instead. The output will be lower, but still more than enough."
After all, in the chaos of the retreat, no one had taken Gajeel with them.
Jose smiled, dark and venomous.
"Fairy Tail," he murmured. "Run while you can."