"Lucy!"
The sky-obscuring giant meteor came crashing down, Lucy's legs moving so fast they became a blur.
Seeing this, Natsu burst flames from his feet, rushed over, grabbed Lucy, and leaped desperately to the side.
The massive meteor crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact, sending up thick clouds of dust and mud.
Lucy stared at the giant rock with lingering fear, while Natsu watched the seemingly easygoing woman before him with extreme tension.
"Oh~ Brandish, looks like you're quite motivated?"
Jacob vanished from Racer's sight once again, then materialized securely beside Brandish.
Brandish fiddled with her green hair, muttering in rebuttal, "Not at all. I didn't even want to come here in the first place."
"His Majesty brought you along on this mission to train you. This is a good opportunity—don't waste it."
Jacob maintained his gentlemanly demeanor, actually speaking in a patronizing tone to comfort the sulking Brandish.
The Alvarez Empire placed great importance on nurturing the younger generation.
Those who came this time—Dimaria, Brandish, and Ajeel, the son of an imperial minister—were all supernovas aged twenty or younger, destined to become the foundational pillars of the empire's future combat strength.
As a mature adult, Jacob felt it was his duty to encourage the children's progress...
Brandish's eyes turned into dot-like shapes as she muttered under her breath, "So nagging..."
"Dammit! If you want to chat, get off Tenrou Island first!"
Gray's palm emitted ice crystals as countless ice spikes burst from the ground, shooting toward the two Spriggans.
Brandish glanced sideways and lightly raised her hand, giving a casual wave.
The bone-chilling ice cones suddenly vanished from their positions, shrinking into nothingness.
Gray froze in astonishment, only to see a dark figure flash before him.
Jacob's hands glowed with black-red light as he swung down heavily toward Gray.
An invisible blade seemed to materialize in his grasp.
Gray felt the metallic chill graze past his neck, instantly breaking into a cold sweat.
"Gray-sama!"
Juvia, who had been carrying Meredy—the former opponent she'd bonded with during their fight—flew into an absolute rage upon seeing Gray attacked.
She set Meredy down and charged wildly at Jacob.
Rainwater gathered into raging rivers midair, controlled by Juvia like massive, high-pressure water cannons as they surged toward him.
Jacob stared blankly at the tsunami-like assault.
'Impressive.'
'This guild truly lives up to what His Majesty said.'
But admiration aside, Jacob vanished like a ghost from Juvia's attack range without a single sound, then abruptly reappeared right beside her, raising his hand to strike.
"Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!"
Lucy swiftly drew her key. In a golden glow, Loke appeared on the scene, still dressed in his beach attire.
Without needing an explanation, Loke assessed the situation instantly.
Golden Leo Light radiated between his hands, abruptly illuminating the entire area.
Jacob instinctively shut his eyes against the blinding glare. Racer swiftly moved in and carried Juvia away to safety.
"Dammit..." Jacob glared furiously at Lucy after reopening his eyes.
Two seconds later, his face flushed a bright crimson as he pointed an accusing finger at Lucy and shouted.
"Shameless! How dare you appear here dressed like that!"
Lucy stared blankly, glanced down at her outfit—a bikini swimsuit under an unbuttoned short-sleeved shirt and hot pants—and instinctively retorted.
"Hey mister, we are in the tropics! We got caught in a fight right after the rain—when would we have time to change?!"
Ignoring this perfectly logical explanation, Jacob noticed Cana, Juvia, Lisanna, Evergreen, and the others nearby, all dressed for the heat.
He shrieked like an old gossiping woman.
"And you all! Ah!!"
Cana tugged at her spaghetti strap in exasperation. "This guy's a total prude... Of course we'd show off our figures on a tropical beach!"
Jacob blushed in sheer embarrassment, squinting his eyes to look away, until his gaze landed on two modestly endowed figures in the corner.
His expression immediately returned to normal as he praised, "Now these two young ladies—this is how one should dress!"
Wendy and Levy, wearing no different outfits from the other girls: ...
The atmosphere grew inexplicably awkward until Freed snapped back to reality and urged everyone.
"Stop wasting time with them! We need to run!"
"Oh right... Loke!"
Loke's hands erupted with dazzling golden light once more, while potent Magic Power condensed around his fists before exploding forward.
"Regulus Impact!"
A lion-shaped golden Magic surged from the magic circle, instantly flooding the area with blinding light and scattering the enemy formations ahead.
The members immediately seized the blindness caused by Loke's attack to charge right back into the battlefield.
Jacob, who was at the rear, immediately moved to intervene, but the moment he appeared behind everyone, a golden figure charged toward him.
Racer delivered a heavily speed-amplified punch straight at Jacob, who swiftly vanished from the spot.
"Warp—"
Behind the broken formation of Team Fairy Tail, a large area of space began to distort and tremble.
Jacob slowed his assault again, glaring impatiently at the two Mages who kept pestering him.
"Failures of Oración Seis, since when did you start protecting Light Guilds?"
Midnight stood in front of Team Fairy Tail with his hands in his pockets, his tone icy. "Covering their retreat is the mission our Boss gave us."
Jacob sighed, tightened the black gloves on his hands, and said grimly, "I didn't want to get serious with you two, but now... I'll play along for a bit."
Team Fairy Tail was trapped within the army's battle formation.
This time, everyone pushed with all their might to break through, finally showing signs of tearing through the relentless troops.
Gray, watching Racer—whom he'd fought before—said worriedly, "Should we help them? Those two might not be a match for that suit-wearing guy."
Gajeel replied calmly, "Break out first. We have many injured comrades here. Let's get them to the airship before anything else."
With everyone fighting desperately, the army that relied purely on numbers was finally defeated, and Team Fairy Tail burst out of the encirclement in one final push.
But just then, the ground shook violently, as if some enormous creature was shifting its weight.
Then Lucy, who was running at the back of the group, suddenly felt her whole body tighten—she was being grabbed by something!
Everyone stared in horror at the sky, where Brandish, who had seemed utterly listless earlier, had now transformed into a terrifying giant.
With one hand, she clutched Lucy and lifted her high into the air.
"Ahhh—why is it always me?!"
The incredibly unlucky Lucy let out another sharp scream.
Brandish, shedding her earlier laziness, now looked grim.
Her eyes were burning with murderous intent, and her voice boomed like thunder, nearly deafening Lucy.
"What is your relationship with Layla?!"
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