"What?!"
Jose's voice cracked with disbelief. "Finish me… in the next blow?"
"You arrogant child! Just because you landed a few lucky hits, you think you can talk down to me?"
Jose's rage boiled over, the shadows between his palms spiraling into a dense, chaotic vortex.
"You want to see if you can finish me? Fine! Show me! Show me how a brat like you finishes a Wizard Saint!"
Kael didn't bother answering. He planted his feet and sprang upward, the ground beneath him shattering from the force of the jump.
Whoosh!
Kael shot into the air, his right fist drawn back as he gathered every ounce of strength.
Hummmm—!
The power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit condensed into a brilliant white spherical halo around his fist. Inside the sphere, vibration energy compressed to its absolute limit, warping and rippling the space around his hand.
As Kael began to descend, the sky itself seemed to groan.
Rumble!
The atmosphere trembled in anticipation. Every mage nearby felt a primal stab of fear; hearts hammered as they sensed the magnitude of what was coming.
"Get back! Everyone, get back!"
"Ice-Make: Shield!!"
Gray shouted, slamming his hands down to raise a massive wall of ice to protect the guild.
"Requip: Adamantine Armor!!"
Erza shifted instantly into her heaviest plate.
"Adamantine Barrier!!"
She brought her two shields together, manifesting a colossal green magic seal to reinforce their defenses.
"Disappear from my sight!!"
Jose roared, thrusting his hands upward. "DEAD WAVE!!!"
A beam of absolute darkness—wider and more violent than before—shot toward the falling Kael. Kael didn't dodge. He drove his vibration-wreathed fist straight into the heart of the shadow.
BOOM—————!!
The forces collided with a sound like the end of the world. The spillover disintegrated everything it touched, whipping a hurricane of debris and raw magic through the ruined arena.
"Die! Just die already!!"
Jose screamed, pouring his very life force into the beam.
CRACK————!!
A sound like shattering glass rang out—but it wasn't Kael's fist breaking.
It was the Dead Wave.
The vibration impact fractured the dark magic, ripping through it like glass under a hammer. Kael kept falling, closing the distance in an instant.
"What?! No… this is impossible!!"
Jose's eyes bulged. He had never seen magic break like a solid object.
"I told you,"
Kael's voice rolled like thunder as he appeared directly above Jose. "One blow."
"——————!!"
Crack! Crack!
Kael punched the air inches from Jose's face. The space between them splintered into a web of white fractures.
"Uwaaaaaah!!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The vibration wave slammed into Jose—bypassing his exterior and rattling his organs with the force of a tectonic shift. Blood sprayed from his nose and mouth as he was driven deep into the earth. Across the city of Onibus, the ground buckled as a magnitude-five quake rippled outward from the arena's center.
A long, heavy silence followed while the dust slowly settled.
Everyone stared at the heart of the battlefield, frozen by what they saw. A massive, perfectly circular crater—like a meteor impact—now occupied the place where the arena floor had been.
Kael stood at the center, his towering form casting a long shadow. At his feet lay Jose, Master of Phantom Lord.
Jose was broken. His once-regal clothes hung in tatters, his hair was wild, and blood smeared his face. He twitched in the dirt, eyes rolled back—his presence as a Wizard Saint extinguished.
"Kael… he actually…"
"He won…"
"He defeated a Wizard Saint… with one punch…"
The Fairy Tail members felt as if they were dreaming. The Ten Wizard Saints were legends—monsters of magic that ordinary wizards couldn't even imagine touching. To see one defeated so decisively by one of their own defied comprehension.
"YEAAAAAAAAH!!"
"HE DID IT!!"
"KAEL IS THE BEST!!"
"FAIRY TAIL WINS!! TAKE THAT, PHANTOM LORD!!"
The silence shattered into an explosion of elation. Guildmates threw their arms around one another, shouting and jumping with joy. This wasn't just a win—it was vindication. Phantom Lord, who had looked down on them and tried to destroy them, had been crushed completely.
Across the crater, the remaining Phantom Lord members stood frozen in terror.
"Master Jose… lost? To a kid?"
Their morale didn't crack—it evaporated.
Then a familiar voice piped up from behind a pile of rubble.
[The winner is decided!!!]
[The victor: Kael of Fairy Tail!!!]
[Unbelievable! Simply unbelievable! Jose, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, has been toppled by a young mage! A new legend is born today!]
[The strongest guild in Fiore is undeniably—FAIRY TAIL!!!]
"You're still here?!"
Gray and Natsu shouted in unison when they spotted Chapati, the commentator, still hiding behind Erza's shield.
Kael looked down at the unconscious Jose and spoke in a cold, low voice.
"Consider this your only warning. If you ever target Fairy Tail again, I won't stop at sending you to the hospital. I'll end you myself."
After a year in this world, Kael had learned when mercy made sense—and when decisiveness mattered. He remembered how Jose had nearly killed the Master in the original story, and how he had terrorized Mira. If they weren't in such a public place, Kael might have been tempted to finish it.
Kael turned and started back toward his guild, his massive transformation fading as he returned to normal size.
"Kael! That was incredible!"
"You're a monster, man! A total monster!"
"Let's see if those Phantom bastards ever show their faces in Magnolia again!"
Kael reached Makarov, who looked up at him with a mix of pride and lingering shock. Kael rubbed the back of his head, suddenly sheepish.
"Sorry, Master… I think I caused trouble again."
He glanced around at the ruined arena and the cracks snaking into the surrounding streets. "The Council's probably going to have a headache over this earthquake."
Makarov let out a soft laugh, eyes crinkling with warmth.
"I told you, didn't I? You walk the path you choose. You protected your family, Kael. You did a magnificent job."
The Master had never felt more satisfied. Strength, humility, and fierce love for the guild—Kael embodied everything a Fairy Tail mage should be.
"Alright, everyone!"
Makarov shouted, raising a fist. "Let's go home!"