Rowan barely spared a thought for the larger strategy looping quietly in the back of his mind.
If one version of him gained power, all the others rose with it.
If one version of him took risks and survived, the payoff echoed across worlds.
That was why he never waited for perfect odds.
If profit existed, he moved.
Playing it safe forever only guaranteed slow growth. And slow growth, in the long run, was death.
—
"Agil lost to that trash?" Larcade sneered as he stepped forward again.
"Embarrassing."
He shot a venomous glance toward Fairy Tail.
"I'll handle them myself."
He was still furious about getting dropped by Rowan's sleep spell earlier.
That humiliation burned.
August spoke coldly from behind him.
"Be careful."
He didn't trust this situation at all.
That golden cat had been far too calm from the beginning.
The others thought Agil and Larcade were more than enough.
August didn't.
He was using them to test the enemy.
If Larcade fell too, he would order the rest to attack at once.
Larcade scoffed.
"I was careless earlier. Don't forget, I'm Father's secret weapon against Acnologia."
His body erupted in blinding white light.
"Now let me show you what real desire looks like."
The light washed over Fairy Tail.
And then—
Screams.
Half the guild froze mid-charge.
Faces flushed.
Breathing staggered.
Legs buckled.
Several mages collapsed outright, gasping and moaning uncontrollably.
"…It's stimulating lust," Rowan muttered.
Even he staggered.
This wasn't a mind spell.
Not physical either.
It went straight for the emotional core.
Pure desire.
No amount of raw willpower or physical toughness could erase it completely.
No wonder it worked on Acnologia.
Rowan clenched his teeth and began chanting under his breath.
"By the radiant root of all breath and spirit… let the golden light endure."
A thin gold aura wrapped his body.
The pressure inside his chest eased sharply.
"Figures. Taoist techniques counter this kind of nonsense perfectly."
He scanned the battlefield.
And blinked.
"…So it only works if you've actually done it before."
Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Wendy were completely fine.
Zero reaction.
Meanwhile—
Gildarts, Laxus, Minerva, Cana, and several others were flat on the floor, barely conscious.
Rowan's ears twitched.
"…Wow. That's a brutally honest sorting spell."
Then he noticed something else.
Jellal was down.
Erza too.
"…Oh."
And Gajeel and Levy.
"…OH."
Mira, somehow, was completely unaffected.
"…What."
Then his eyes widened.
Mavis.
She was trembling too.
"…That spell works on ghosts?"
And that meant—
His gaze slid slowly toward the palace.
"…Zeref. You absolute menace."
He exhaled.
"Well. That answers a few historical questions I really didn't need answered."
—
Without Gildarts, Erza, Laxus, Jellal, and Minerva, Fairy Tail's front line collapsed.
Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy fought like hell.
They charged.
They fell.
Rowan healed them.
They charged again.
They were growing in real time.
But it wasn't enough.
Larcade smiled darkly.
"Enough. You're getting annoying."
He clapped his hands.
White tendrils exploded outward, wrapping around Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy.
Their bodies stiffened as artificial desire was forced directly into them.
They went limp.
Rowan vanished.
He reappeared in midair, dodging a swarm of tendrils and slicing them apart with invisible blades.
"…Stronger version," he noted calmly.
"But sloppier."
He looked down at Larcade.
"…Yoink. Mine now."
Lightning detonated.
Rowan appeared above him, one paw glowing.
"Overdrive Plasma Cannon."
A pillar of compressed lightning slammed straight down.
The impact cratered the mirrored battlefield.
Larcade was hurled into the ground, blood spraying, his entire body smoking and twitching.
Not dead.
But wrecked.
Rowan floated down and landed lightly.
"…Good spell. I'm stealing it."