— — — — — — —
"I actually lost... Ever since I joined the guild, this is the first time. But it doesn't matter... none of you can win..."
"Fifteen minutes... the beam of righteous light descending from the sky will bury everything. What an absurd poem..."
With those final words, Ikaruga completely lost all signs of life.
"Sho, are your injuries okay?"
"Yeah... I'm fine..."
"Take Simon and the others, along with my comrades, and leave this place immediately."
At first, she thought Jellal was just joking. After all, the Magic Council would never easily deploy the Etherion.
But after hearing Ikaruga's words, the possibility seemed all too real. She couldn't let her comrades risk their lives because of her.
"B-but—"
"You'll listen to me, right, Sho?"
"Yeah... But what about you, Sis?"
"I have to go... and put an end to this."
— — —
At the Top of the Tower
"Ikaruga was defeated? Erza really surprised me... has she already become this strong?"
Jellal was slightly taken aback. Ikaruga was the leader of Trinity Raven and the strongest among his subordinates. He never expected Erza to take her down so easily.
Originally, he planned for Ikaruga to defeat Erza, only to be bested later by Uchiha Kitaro. But he never imagined Ikaruga would be the first of the Trinity Raven to fall.
"But even if Ikaruga is gone, it doesn't matter. Thirteen Dark Guilds... they're not so easy to get through."
---
"Huff... huff! These guys aren't just small fry!"
On the second floor, Natsu and his group were panting heavily, finally having taken down all the Dark Guild members on that level.
At first, they thought these enemies would be weak, but as the battle went on, they realized they were much stronger than expected. It had taken all five of them considerable effort to wipe them out.
"And there are still twelve more guilds like this...?!"
Lucy shuddered at the thought.
Unless there was an overwhelming power difference, sheer numbers alone could be a massive advantage.
Wally and Millianna freed the captured workers, urging them to escape.
"Wally!"
Just then, a voice echoed in Wally's mind.
"Sho?! Where are you?"
"I'm on the fifteenth floor. I just ran into a weird woman. Erza just defeated her. Now Erza's heading to Jellal. Before that woman died, she also said that in fifteen minutes, the Magic Council would fire Etherion at this place. Erza told us all to get out of here."
"WHAT?!"
Wally's face changed drastically at the revelation.
"That bastard Jellal... he never planned on letting any of us leave alive!"
Wally quickly relayed the information to the others.
"That lunatic... What the hell is he thinking?!"
"Is he seriously out of his mind?!"
They had only managed to take down one Dark Guild so far. There were still twelve left. Even if they fought at full strength, it would take at least ten minutes to take down one. That would leave them only five minutes to escape—an impossible feat.
"Do we give up?"
"No way! No matter how much time we have left, we can't just abandon Erza!"
"Yeah! Erza is our comrade. We would never leave her behind!"
"Let's go!!"
Determined, the group rushed toward the upper floors, prepared to fight no matter how many enemies awaited them.
As soon as they reached the third floor, they were shocked to find numerous enemies already defeated.
"What the...?!"
"It's Kitaro!"
Only Uchiha Kitaro could have done this. He was powerful enough to single-handedly wipe out an entire guild.
Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy had already witnessed how Kitaro obliterated a Guild with just one punch.
"Let's hurry up!"
The group continued their mad dash upward. When they reached the fourth floor, they saw another pile of defeated Dark Guild members, and the prison cells that once held hostages were now empty.
Then came the fifth floor, the sixth, the seventh...
As they climbed higher, their shock only grew. Just moments ago, it had taken the five of them everything they had to defeat a single Dark Guild. Yet Kitaro had already taken down so many of them by himself.
Wally, Millianna, and the recently reunited Sho and Simon were all terrified. They had actually dared to challenge this monster before.
The group pressed forward, and finally, after what felt like forever, they saw him.
Uchiha Kitaro stood in the middle of a battlefield of fallen enemies. This was the fourteenth floor, meaning he had single-handedly wiped out twelve Dark Guilds on his own.
"He actually... alone..."
"...took down twelve Dark Guilds..."
"Completely... wiped them out..."
"Meow?!"
Sho, Simon, Wally, and Millianna were utterly dumbfounded.
Simon, who had spent years gathering intel on Fairy Tail, knew all too well how much of a legend Uchiha Kitaro had become in the magic world.
At such a young age, he had already defeated Jose Porla, one of the Ten Wizard Saints and the Guild Master of Phantom Lord.
The Ten Wizard Saints were the strongest mages chosen by the Magic Council from the entire continent of Ishgar. Their power was beyond imagination.
Even though they had heard of Kitaro's strength, seeing it firsthand—witnessing how he annihilated so many Dark Guilds in such a short time—left them utterly shaken.
"Wait... this mark...! That's the Skull Guild!!"
Simon's face turned grim as he recognized the symbol on one of the defeated enemies.
"The Skull Guild?!"
Natsu was confused.
"It's one of the strongest assassination guilds in the entire Dark Guild network! I can't believe they were working under Jellal..."
But the most shocking part?
Uchiha Kitaro had destroyed this top-tier assassination guild as well.
.
.
.