Across various locations on the island, the Fairy Tail members currently fighting the elite soldiers of Grimoire Heart all witnessed the crimson flare light up the sky.
"A strong enemy has arrived, right?"
"This just got a lot more interesting!"
"I'm all fired up! No matter who it is, I'm going to beat them up!"
"Aye!"
The members reacted differently, but their unyielding will remained the same.
The war continued unabated across the jungle.
...
"Tell me your true purpose," Erza demanded, her sword resting menacingly against Yomazu's throat.
Under Erza's highly effective combination of sharp reasoning and brutal physical persuasion, Yomazu quickly confessed the truth.
"Zeref... the legendary Black Wizard, Zeref, is currently on this island!" Yomazu coughed.
Raizel hadn't actually told anyone the specific details of his recent conversation with Zeref—even Erza didn't know that Zeref had already agreed to leave the island.
'It seems the intel wasn't wrong,' Erza thought, exchanging a grim glance with Juvia.
After all, the original intelligence had come from Jellal.
Though Raizel had said he trusted Jellal, Erza hadn't fully believed him until this exact moment.
Thinking Erza still didn't believe him, Yomazu continued in a panic.
"For these past four hundred years, Zeref has been alive and well! However, Master Hades said Zeref is currently still in a dormant sealed state."
"When Zeref fully awakens... this entire world will be completely plunged into the absolute abyss of darkness!"
'That's enough,' Erza nodded—the enemy's confession matched Jellal's warning perfectly.
At least regarding their horrifying purpose, Jellal hadn't lied.
Juvia cooperatively delivered a swift Water Slicer attack, knocking the battered Yomazu unconscious once again.
...
"That red signal flare... what does it mean?" Mest muttered, scratching his head as he looked up at the sky.
When Raizel had used his telepathy to communicate the warning to the guild earlier, he had completely, purposely avoided linking with Mest's mind.
Therefore, Mest still had absolutely no idea about the massive dark guild invasion currently landing on the island.
Meanwhile, back at the Tenrou Island beach camp—
"That Mest guy... don't you think he is somewhat strange?" Panther Lily noted, his arms crossed as he grew increasingly suspicious.
"Is there a problem? Isn't Mest-san Mystogan's disciple?" Wendy asked, looking up with a puzzled expression.
"I have heard that Mystogan always operated in strict secrecy around here, keeping his face covered and avoiding everyone," Lily pointed out, quickly grasping the logical flaw. "Why would a fiercely private man like that suddenly take on a disciple and expose him to the entire guild?"
"I don't know..." Wendy murmured. "But I don't know where Mest-san went, either. He only said he wanted to look around the island."
"What exactly is going on, then?" Carla frowned.
"Based on my deduction, Mest probably uses some form of advanced memory manipulation magic. He cast spells on the guild members, tricking everyone into believing he was one of them," Lily reasoned sharply.
"Including that fabricated backstory about Mystogan—if you think about it carefully, it is completely full of holes. Besides you, Wendy, absolutely no one else has had any real, historical interaction with Mest."
...
Meanwhile, standing alone by a high cliff overlooking the ocean, Mest suddenly came under a lethal attack.
Fortunately, his reflexes were sharp.
He used his teleportation magic just in time, narrowly dodging a massive, explosive root that shot out of the ground.
"Who's there?!" Mest yelled, spinning around.
A human face slowly and eerily emerged directly from the thick bark of a nearby ancient tree.
"Not bad. You actually managed to see through my ambush," the man said, stepping smoothly out of the wood.
"Who exactly are you?" Mest demanded, sweating nervously.
"My name is Azuma. I am one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory from Grimoire Heart."
"So, those dark magic bubbles earlier were from attackers? The red signal flare was to warn of the enemy's arrival?" Mest quickly pieced the puzzle together.
He smirked, adjusting his coat. "I originally thought that by infiltrating the sacred land of Fairy Tail, I might obtain some advantageous, classified information. But first, the Black Wizard Zeref, and now Grimoire Heart? To encounter such massive criminal cases all at once... I am truly lucky today."
"Oh? You are not a member of Fairy Tail?" Azuma asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
The very first person Azuma had encountered upon arriving at Tenrou Island was the isolated Mest, so he had attacked immediately, assuming he was a fairy.
He was quite confident he could easily deal with him regardless of his affiliation.
"I am an elite intelligence officer from the Magic Council," Mest declared proudly. "I infiltrated this exam to find a concrete way to destroy Fairy Tail once and for all."
After the new Magic Council was established, all the other council members held considerable bitter grievances against Fairy Tail's destructive habits.
Their hostility far exceeded that of the previous Council, which had generally only made Makarov write lengthy letters of self-criticism.
"I truly didn't expect to catch a government rat here," Azuma chuckled deeply.
"But let's set Fairy Tail aside for now," Mest grinned. "Since the notoriously elusive Grimoire Heart has foolishly come directly to this island, hahaha!"
Mest spread his arms confidently. "If I can eliminate you all together in one fell swoop, my promotion to the high ranks won't just be a pipe dream anymore! As a strict precaution before I arrived, I deployed the Magic Council's main Rune Knights battleship fleet nearby. It seems that tactical decision was the most correct one I've ever made."
From the high cliff edge where Mest stood, over ten massive, heavily armed Rune Knight battleships could indeed be seen slowly approaching the shores of Tenrou Island.
"I will wipe you all out at once! I will crush the entire Grimoire Heart guild right here!" Mest yelled triumphantly.
"Battleships? You mean those fragile little toys down there?" Azuma's deep tone showed absolutely no trace of panic.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Instantly, massive, explosive magical trees erupted from the ocean floor directly beneath the fleet.
The heavily armored battleships exploded one after another in a blinding chain reaction, thick, black smoke billowing violently from the boiling sea surface.
Mest's jaw dropped in absolute horror.
"Well then. Shall we begin our dance now, Officer?" Azuma smirked.
He fully separated from the tree and stood firmly on the grass, his magical pressure suffocating the clearing.
After just one brief exchange of blows with Azuma, Mest knew with absolute certainty that he was no match for this monster.
Though Mest teleported instantly to appear directly in front of him, Azuma remained standing casually in place, severely injuring the Council spy with a single, devastating point-blank air explosion.
"No matter where you try to escape, my explosive magic can easily reach you," Azuma warned.
Mest gritted his teeth, repeatedly using his instant teleportation to frantically appear behind Azuma, trying to find a blind spot.
"Useless struggle. Tower Burst." Azuma calmly spread his hands.
Instantly, a colossal, roaring pillar of condensed explosive fire erupted directly from the ground beneath Mest, showing signs of continuous violent expansion.
"GAAAH!" Mest screamed.
He was completely trapped within the blazing pillar of fire, taking continuous, agonizing damage from the rolling explosions.
The towering, skyscraper-sized pillar of flames caused considerable seismic vibrations across the jungle, instantly attracting the attention of many guild members, including Raizel.
"A tower of flames? Who is using that kind of magic?" Raizel muttered, floating high above the canopy.
He observed the massive fire pillar in the distance.
He knew for a fact that absolutely none of the Fairy Tail guild members knew how to cast a spell like that.
[Ultear, any unusual movements on your side?] Raizel asked telepathically.
[Apart from some weak, small-fry grunts, I haven't encountered any powerful opponents yet,] Ultear quickly replied.
[Continue guarding the Tenrou Tree. I am going to go check who is using that massive pillar of fire.]
The towering pillar of flames slowly began to descend and dissipate, but Raizel had already firmly locked onto its exact coordinates.
"So it is you, Azuma," Raizel said coldly.
When Raizel landed in the scorched clearing, he saw Mest lying completely unconscious and severely burned on the smoking ground.
"Take Over Magic? And you are... Raizel?" Azuma noted, crossing his arms.
He looked with keen interest at the imposing armored knight figure that had suddenly appeared before him.
...
Meanwhile, hovering near the island's coastline, the remaining members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory were preparing to descend from the dark airship.
The earlier vanguard forces had essentially just been used as cannon fodder to drain the Fairy Tail members' magical power.
Precht knew perfectly well that ultimately, to win this war, he would have to rely entirely on his elite Kin.
Suddenly, a blinding, golden light erupted from the shoreline.
Makarov, sensing the immense fluctuation of dark magical power from the ship, violently ripped off his heavy Ten Wizard Saints mantle.
He covered his entire body with a thick, glowing layer of golden magical energy, and his originally short, stooped figure gradually began to grow to a massive, colossal scale.
This was Makarov's signature Giant Magic—the exact same spell he most enjoyed using when aggressively disciplining his rowdy children back at the guild hall on ordinary days.
Only now, it was fueled by pure, unadulterated wrath.
"A giant?!" Zancrow gasped.
"Is that for real?! He's so incredibly tall!" Kain Hikaru yelled, stumbling backward.
The Seven Kin of Purgatory couldn't help but halt their confident steps on the deck, staring in absolute awe at the towering titan blocking their path to the island.
"Hmph. Makarov," Precht scoffed from his throne.
Precht, however, was not surprised in the slightest, in fact, he had found it quite strange that Makarov hadn't acted immediately when the ship first arrived.
Makarov had simply been holding back, deeply concerned about the safety of his scattered guild members, and now he wanted to end the dark guild's invasion quickly and decisively.
Makarov's giant eyes blazed with intense, golden fury.
He raised a colossal fist, his voice booming like a deafening great bell across the ocean waves.
"VANISH FROM MY SIGHT!"
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