"Go for it, Erza!! Show them how powerful you really are!"
"Crush them, Erza!"
"Let them see what a Fairy Tail S-Class wizard is made of!"
Erza walked toward the center of the arena, her footsteps steady—each one carrying a quiet, unshakable authority.
[Oh! Stepping up for Fairy Tail is none other than Erza Scarlet—the legendary "Titania"!!]
Whoosh!
A sudden gust of wind swept through the stadium, and a figure slowly materialized on the opposite side.
[And from Phantom Lord, we have the leader of the Element 4: Aria of the Heavens!!]
Lucy watched from the sidelines, a confident smirk on her face.
"Element 4 or whatever… they've all been wiped out by Fairy Tail so far! By the way, why is that guy wearing a blindfold? Is he actually blind?"
Mirajane answered with a serious expression.
"Don't underestimate Aria. He leads the Element 4 for a reason. He usually keeps his eyes sealed—it's said he has to close them just to suppress his overwhelming magical power."
"Hehehe… since my opponent is Titania, I suppose I have no choice but to go all out."
As Aria spoke, he reached up and unraveled the cloth covering his face, revealing his eyes for the first time.
[Fairy Tail vs. Phantom Lord, Match 4!]
[Start!!]
CLANG!
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
In a flash of light, Erza donned her Heaven's Wheel Armor. It was her most versatile set—balancing offensive reach with rock-solid stability.
"Heaven's Wheel: Blumenblatt!"
A storm of magical swords materialized around her and shot toward Aria like guided missiles.
Aria raised a palm and murmured,
"Airspace: Zetsu!"
Dozens of invisible pressure waves burst from his hand, colliding midair with the incoming blades.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every sword was blown off course before it could reach him.
"Airspace: Zetsu!"
Aria shouted again, thrusting his other palm forward to release a second volley of invisible impacts.
Erza's eyes narrowed. She swung her main sword with lightning speed, cleaving through the unseen pressure as if it were solid.
Aria's expression tightened. His magic was nearly silent and left no visual trail—most wizards wouldn't even realize what hit them until they were already broken. Yet Erza was parrying purely on combat instinct. The sheer depth of her talent sent a chill down his spine.
"Heaven's Wheel: Circle Sword!"
A ring of steel formed into a spinning saw, shrieking through the air as it closed in on Aria.
Whoosh!
Aria's form dissipated into the wind, reappearing several meters away.
"As expected of Titania. It seems parlor tricks won't be enough to decide this match."
Aria's aura shifted, and a terrifying amount of magic power began to pour from his body.
"Airspace of Death: Zero—activate!"
"This airspace will strip away all life it touches. Savor it. Can even Titania withstand the touch of death?!"
"Erza, look out!"
The Fairy Tail members shouted in unison, sensing the lethal nature of the spell.
Erza's gaze stayed cold and focused. She took a deep breath, centering herself until the world seemed to slow.
"Fairy Dance!"
Like a shimmering sprite darting through a forest, Erza moved in a blur of grace and violence. She didn't merely evade—she carved through the "dead" air itself, slicing apart the spell's structure and dispersing it with every strike.
"How is this possible?! She's actually cutting through the Airspace of Death… How could anyone—"
Slash! Slash!
Before Aria could finish, Erza's blades sank deep into his chest.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Aria let out a strangled cry and collapsed, unconscious before he even hit the dirt.
[The… the winner is decided!!]
[Winner: Titania Erza!!!]
BOOM!
The stadium erupted in the loudest cheers of the day. The crowd was stunned—a leader of the Element 4 had been taken down in what felt like an instant.
"Amazing, Erza!"
"She's a beast!"
"That was too cool!"
Back in the Fairy Tail stands, the wizards were ecstatic. Many of them noticed something familiar about her finishing sequence—it looked remarkably close to Kael's fighting style. Erza had clearly taken her recent duel with him to heart, forging a brand-new technique inspired by his fluid movement.
"She never stops growing,"
Kael murmured, a hint of admiration in his voice. He understood the gap between a genius and an ordinary person better than anyone. It wasn't something you could explain with words—it was a difference in perception, like a veteran seeing a decisive opening that a beginner couldn't even recognize.
Meanwhile, at the Phantom Lord rest area…
Silence reigned. Jose sat perfectly still, but the air around him felt ready to ignite. His subordinates trembled, sensing the volcanic rage boiling just beneath the surface.
"Impossible… my Element 4 were completely dismantled by Makarov's brats?!"
Four matches. Four losses. A stain on his reputation so ugly it made his vision go red. It sent a clear message to the entire kingdom: his so-called elite couldn't even stand on the same stage as Fairy Tail's youth.
Gajeel rose, a ferocious, metallic grin spreading across his face.
"The Element 4 getting wiped out just proves they were trash to begin with. Leave the rest to me. I'll make those Fairy Tail runts understand that garbage belongs in the bin."
"I'm counting on you, Gajeel,"
Jose muttered, his voice low and dangerous. "Do not disappoint me."
"Heh. Have I ever?"
Gajeel didn't even wait for the announcer. He stepped onto the stage immediately, his patience long since exhausted. If he'd known his teammates were going to be this pathetic, he would've demanded to go first and settled everything himself.
Back on the Fairy Tail side, Erza returned to the group.
Kael gave her a warm smile.
"Good work out there."
Erza looked at him seriously.
"I'm leaving the rest to you, Kael. But… try to take it easy. There are a lot of people watching. Don't go too overboard."
Erza was one of the few who truly understood the depth of Kael's power. While Gajeel was widely feared as Phantom Lord's strongest, she saw him as a standard S-Class wizard at best. Compared to a "monster" like Kael, the gap was astronomical.
"Don't worry,"
Kael said, walking toward the arena with a relaxed gait. "I'm an expert at holding back."
As he approached the center of the ring, Kael's appearance began to shift. His muscles rippled and tightened, becoming more compact—more explosive. His hair flattened slightly, and his clothing transformed, his heavy gear melting away into a tight black T-shirt that highlighted every line of his physique, paired with loose gray joggers and simple black shoes.
The Fairy Tail members felt a collective shiver crawl up their spines.
They'd seen Kael's many forms, but this one—this minimalist, physical powerhouse—left the deepest impression. It was the form he used when he wanted to set magic aside and dominate through raw, unfiltered violence.
This form might not have been his most magically "complex," but it was undoubtedly his most brutal. Lucy still remembered how Kael had used it to beat Natsu so badly that the Dragon Slayer couldn't even mount a defense.
"That guy from Phantom Lord,"
Someone whispered, "is absolutely finished."