"You want to start an all-out war with Fairy Tail? Is that it?" Gajeel growled, his voice vibrating with menacing metallic resonance.
"You... you're actually still standing?!" Yomazu's pupils suddenly widened in shock as the Iron Dragon Slayer slowly rose to his feet.
"This whole scene really resembles that time..." Gajeel muttered, wiping a trail of blood from his chin.
He recalled when he was still an Ace of Phantom Lord—Natsu had seemed exactly this enraged back then when defending his guild.
At the time, Gajeel couldn't understand it at all.
Wasn't it just some rundown, pathetic guild?
What was there to get so desperately angry about? To him, a guild was just a convenient place to take jobs and fill his stomach.
But now... he finally understood.
"Now, I'll let you taste that exact same feeling!" Gajeel roared.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel's furious, metallic tornado tore through the jungle, shredding the earth as it charged straight at Yomazu.
"[Defense]!" Yomazu yelled, slashing his sword.
Thick, three-dimensional kanji characters slammed into the earth, forming a massive protective barrier in front of him and absorbing the brunt of the roaring metal shards.
"Watch me pierce right through you!" Yomazu gripped his longsword tightly with both hands and lunged, thrusting the blade directly at Gajeel's chest.
Gajeel didn't dodge.
His right arm transformed into a massive, studded Iron Dragon's Club, violently clashing head-on with the samurai sword.
Shhhk!
The magically enhanced longsword pierced directly into the iron club, biting deep into Gajeel's arm.
Intense, searing pain flared through his nerves.
Gajeel gritted his teeth, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
But he had absolutely no intention of letting go or backing down.
"I can't lose here! There is no way I can lose!" Gajeel roared, pushing back against the blade.
Yomazu laughed mockingly, continuously applying heavy pressure to drive the longsword deeper into Gajeel's flesh.
The cracks along the Iron Dragon's Club grew deeper and longer, threatening to shatter his arm entirely.
'This guy... is exactly like I was back then,' Gajeel thought, glaring at the arrogant dog-man.
Despite the blinding pain, Gajeel couldn't help but recall exactly what happened after the destructive war between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail.
...
Flashback....
After the Phantom Lord guild was officially disbanded by the Magic Council, Gajeel couldn't find any mercenary work.
Hunted and despised, he could only hide in the dark ruins of his former guild hall, miserably chewing on scrap metal to survive.
"Yo!" A cheerful greeting suddenly broke the gloomy silence.
Gajeel's head snapped up.
"Master Makarov?" he grunted, somewhat surprised to see the tiny old man standing in the rubble.
"What are you doing here?" Gajeel snapped, not exactly welcoming.
He didn't even bother to fully turn around.
Makarov struggled up the uneven piles of debris with his short legs, eventually reaching the iron mage.
"I came to say hello. A few days ago, Juvia officially joined our guild."
"What? Whatever, I guess that's good too. She seems quite suited for a sunny guild like yours," Gajeel scoffed.
Truthfully, Gajeel had always felt Juvia didn't quite fit Phantom Lord's miserable atmosphere anyway.
Phantom Lord was far too dark, only suitable for real scoundrels like him.
"You probably don't know this, but she has been very worried about you," Makarov noted gently.
"That rain woman, what is she thinking?!" Gajeel grumbled, looking away.
"So, what are you planning to do next, my boy?"
"What plans? I haven't decided yet! I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
Gajeel was actually just putting up a tough front.
After the brutal battle between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail, Gajeel's reputation across the continent was ruined.
If he wanted to join a legitimate guild, he would likely have to flee the Fiore Kingdom entirely.
Makarov didn't mind his harsh tone.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Gajeel didn't respond, so Makarov took the silence as agreement and continued.
"What were you actually thinking when you came to start a war with us? What was Phantom Lord to you? How do you view guilds? And how do you view Mages?"
"You're asking way too many questions, old man. Is that supposed to just be one?" Gajeel scoffed.
"It seems like many, but it is actually the exact same question at its core," Makarov smiled softly.
"Simply put, I want to know—how do you view yourself as a person?"
"Would you really disregard all morality and law just because it was a direct order from Jose? Is he truly an absolute, unquestionable existence to you? If that is the case, how are you any different from a mindless puppet? I don't think you are that shallow of a man, Gajeel."
"Enough! Stop bothering me!" Gajeel yelled, refusing to answer the piercing questions.
"Why plunge yourself into total darkness? Why not come to our guild instead?" Makarov offered warmly.
As if on cue, a warm ray of sunlight streamed through the broken roof of the ruins, illuminating the dusty path directly before Gajeel.
"Don't joke around with me! Are you just here to mock me?!" Gajeel snarled, his fists shaking.
"In this world, there are indeed people who genuinely enjoy solitude. But no one... absolutely no one can truly endure true loneliness," Makarov said softly.
Gajeel felt his heart clench.
Though he didn't fit in well with others, it didn't mean he actually preferred being alone in the dark.
"I am the one who completely destroyed your guild's tavern," Gajeel reminded him, his voice cracking slightly.
"I stopped caring about that building a long time ago," Makarov waved his hand dismissively. "A tavern is just a tavern—it can always be rebuilt. As long as the guild's spirit remains strong and its children are alive, the guild will endure."
"I also personally participated in the brutal attack on your guild. I injured your members," Gajeel confessed heavily.
"That... I truly cannot forgive," Makarov stated, his voice briefly turning stern.
Then, his eyes softened into deep, fatherly warmth.
"But... to turn a blind eye to a young man who is about to tragically fall into total darkness? I think I would find that even harder to forgive myself."
Gajeel clenched his jaw tightly, tears suddenly welling in his fierce eyes as his broad shoulders trembled slightly.
"And it is not just me who welcomes you," Makarov smiled. "I have discussed this at length with the senior members. Both Ur and Raizel have explicitly expressed their welcome for you."
Besides Raizel, Makarov had also sought Ur's opinion.
Ur had shared Raizel's view, firmly believing that Gajeel had simply lacked a proper, loving upbringing and wasn't inherently bad at his core.
"I am not trying to magically save you, Gajeel. I just want to guide you toward the path to your own future. Whether you charge forward into the light or stop completely—that is entirely your own decision to make."
Gajeel slowly turned around, staring blankly at Makarov's small, outstretched hand...
His own metal-studded hand trembled violently as he reached out to grasp it.
....
"I CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE!!!" Gajeel's roar snapped him back to the present.
With a deafening CRACK, Gajeel's Iron Dragon's Club shattered completely.
But within the broken metal fragments, Gajeel's bare, bloodied hand shot forward, tightly gripping the razor-sharp edge of Yomazu's longsword with his bare palm.
"I too am a Mage of Fairy Tail!" Gajeel roared.
Under the sheer, monstrous crushing force of Gajeel's grip, Yomazu's magical longsword slowly bent.
Then, with a sharp snap, the legendary blade broke cleanly in two.
Gajeel didn't stop there.
He yanked the broken top half of the blade toward his mouth and viciously crunched down on the magical steel, chewing on the jagged shards as if they were a light snack, adding ultimate insult to injury.
"My sword! My soul!" Yomazu's pupils dilated in absolute horror as he stared blankly at the iron-eating monster before him.
"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art!" Gajeel bellowed, swallowing the metal and unleashing all of his remaining magical power.
He slammed his hands together above his head.
The massive surge of magical energy formed into a colossal, devastating silver broadsword nearly a hundred meters tall, piercing the jungle canopy.
"Karma Demon: Iron God Sword!"
Gajeel violently swung the colossal iron sword down, directly striking Yomazu with the force of a meteor and carving an extremely long, deep trench through the entire jungle floor.
The resulting shockwave incidentally sent Kawazu flying wildly through the air.
Levy seized the golden opportunity, rapidly tracing her glowing script in the air.
"Solid Script: Fire!"
A massive fireball blasted the airborne rooster, instantly charring Kawazu black and knocking him unconscious.
With the enemies finally defeated, the giant iron sword vanished.
Gajeel collapsed heavily to the ground, panting rapidly, completely and utterly exhausted.
"Gajeel!"
"Hang in there, Gajeel!" Levy cried, ignoring her own bleeding injuries as she frantically rushed to his side.
"Are you... okay, shrimp?" Gajeel forced his heavy eyes open despite the agonizing pain, looking up at Levy's tearful face.
"I'm fine! Let's just get you back to camp first!" Levy sobbed, trying to support his massive weight.
Hearing the explosive sounds of the Secret Art tearing through the forest, Erza and Juvia rapidly arrived at the scene, following the principle of proximity.
They burst through the trees, only to find the completely devastated trench and the two severely wounded guild mates.
"Hahaha...!" Yomazu wheezed, lying flat on his back in the dirt, laughing arrogantly through his broken teeth.
"It is far too late now! The main forces are about to land on the island... Mages far, far beyond my capabilities are coming!"
"Our glorious Seven Kin of Purgatory will slaughter you all! Hahaha!"
Erza's expression darkened into sheer, unyielding resolve.
Without a word, she raised a magical flare gun toward the sky.
"Red Alert!" With a loud bang, Erza launched a brilliant, crimson signal flare high above the canopy, bathing the island in an ominous red glow.
Although Raizel had already given everyone the telepathic warning, Erza still thought it was necessary to paint the sky red.
The war had officially begun.