Fairy Law

"Pathetic pest. She deserves to suffer a slow death." Jose says in a deadly calm voice as he lifts his other hand in the direction of the fallen woman.

"José! Don't you dare harm her!" Erza commands with all the dignity that she can muster in her position. José spares her a glance, his grin widening in a manic way.

"You think you can dictate what I can or cannot do? I am the leader of Phantom Lord, one of the Ten Wizard Saints. A mere peon like you has no right to even think of telling me what to do. I'll show all you in Fairy Tail and in this country that Phantom Lord is the superior guild even if I have to kill each and every one of you myself. And I think I'll start with this unsightly pest." José almost growls out, his eyes blazing with anger.

A magic circle activates in front of his hand and Erza starts struggling harder within her bonds.

"Die." José calmly says just before the sound of thunder rings throughout the room and it becomes lit up with a bright light. José magic fades and Erza is covered by a white glow. She gasps in surprise as she feels not only some of her energy returning, but even her armor is being repaired.

"This is..." Erza mumbles in wonderment. As the white glow dissipates around her, she floats gently down to the floor from where José has been holding her up with his magic. As her feet touch down, she allows herself to collapse onto her knees. She can feel the heat in the stones and it confuses her why they are so warm to the touch.

José's arms lower back down to his sides as he watches Erza descend. He looks up to see the source of the light and his face, which was in a crazed grin, settles back into a look of neutral indifference.

The light shining into the room from the broken windows is just enough to obscure the features of the short figure slowly floating down to the top of a large rubble pile. The face may be hidden, but only one person with a magical presence that strong is that small.

Makarov.

Thanks to the power and hard work of Mystogan, the Guild Leader was able to recover his magic in time to come and fight against the leader of Phantom Lord. He was there when Krysti's magic manifested itself in the explosion of fire. He feels proud and worried at the same time. Proud that she was able to tap into her magic and release it an effort to protect her friends.

But he is also worried that she has used too much of her magic and may be in a dangerous situation not unlike his just less than an hour before. At José's words of not just harming his children, but killing them, Makarov knew it was time to step in.

He cast a special healing spell to help his children rejuvenate their magic at a faster pace, hoping they would wake up. It was heartbreaking to see them all laying passed out on the ground like they were broken dolls.

As he floats down to confront José for his heinous actions, Makarov closes his eyes to keep the inner rage from controlling him and makes him lose his cool.

He needs to have the utmost focus for this battle with José. Seeing Makarov appear was a shock at first, but José quickly overcomes that fleeting feeling. He realizes that now he has a chance to not only defeat the Fairy Tail master but make him suffer even more.

Without realizing it, an ugly smirk appears on José's face. The disbelief that has kept Erza still, grows more so when she turns just enough to see Makarov's silhouette above her. It's incredible that not only has he recovered but to the point to where it doesn't seem like he was almost at death's door such a short time ago.

"Much blood has been spilled. Children's blood. Because of their parent's failure, the children have suffered and shed tears. Enough of this, you and I." Makarov intones solemnly in a formal way that he only reserves for the most serious of occasions. Erza looks at the man who is like a father to her with relief evident in her expression.

The white light of the spell Makarov cast wears off as he finishes with a harsher voice, "We must put this to an end!" His eyes snap open during this to reveal a glare aimed right at the master of Phantom Lord. Erza forces herself to stand up as she wipes away tears of happiness at seeing Makarov back to full health.

"Master!" she calls out softly, almost overwhelmed by her relief. With the Master here, Fairy Tail now has a fighting chance to win this unsanctioned war. The two guild masters stand there in silence, glaring at each other. While one is glaring with hatred and jealousy, the other glares with a righteous fury and the need to protect his loved ones.

Without saying a word, José lifts up his hand towards his chest and makes a fist. Purple light glows about him and the whites of his eyes turn black while the pupils turn a pale yellow. Small rocks start to fly up into the air from the pressure of his magic alone.

His expression and aura just ooze malice despite the ridiculous way his face looks. As he squints his eyes, it just gives him more of a look of a demented panda. If the situation wasn't so dire, it would be hysterical.

"You wish to cause a disaster?" José growls out in an almost gleeful way. The veins on Makarov forehead throb as he clenches his fists at José's words. He settles into a more balanced stance to ready himself for combat. A flash of light and a yellow magical orb appears on the end of Makarov's index finger.

His cloak flaps around him from the wind generated by the sheer intensity of his magical power. The Master lifts his finger up in front of his face before swinging his arm back in preparation to launch the baseball-sized orb towards José. The fury in his eyes greatly evident.

"If it's for the sake of my guild!" Makarov shouts out in reply to José's challenge. The wind from the magical pressure of the two wizards whips around in the room in a frenzy as the two stare at each other. Before the intense staring contest between the to guild leaders, two of the four fallen fairies slowly wake up as their magic returns.

"What is this warm, familiar magical power?" Gray asks himself as he struggles to lift his head. The sight that greets him, leaves him speechless. Erza and the Master are standing in defiance in front of José. The sickly purple magic used by José forms into an orb before it splits into the three skulls that imprisoned Erza just moments ago.

They rush out to capture Makarov who in response, casts several magical circle shields to block the attack. As he blocks, the Fairy Tail master jumps off the large pile of rubble to land in front of Erza. The red-head gapes at the increased amount of magic power José is throwing out. It makes what he was using against her a mere trifling.

"Get everyone away from here!" Makarov commands of the female S-class wizard without breaking eye contact with the crazed leader of Phantom Lord. Gray and Elfman get back on their feet with some difficulty, the battles they have fought today taking their toll. They look on in awe at the power exuding from the two Wizard Saints.

They also take in the sight of the blackened walls and floor of the room. Like there was a massive fire that broke out. It leaves them wondering what exactly happened after they passed out?

"Master!" Gray calls out, unhappy that he is ordered to retreat and leave the old man alone.

"Why is he here?" Elfman asks more to himself than anything. It's shocking to see someone so close to death to be fighting so soon and so strongly.

Erza turns to face the males as she barks out, "Do as he says!" She banks on the Phantom Lord master being too focused on taking out Makarov to pay attention to her as she leaves the safety of the shield to go to the fallen brunette. The guy's eyes widen in shock at her move, and the breath leaves their lungs like they are punched in the gut when they see where Erza is headed.

"Why is she here?" Gray asks of himself in a breathless whisper.

"What happened to Krysti, her clothes are completely burnt!?" Elfman shouts out in surprise. And Gray is snapped out of his shock to see that yes, it is true, her clothes are completely burnt to a crisp. Even the bandages that were covering her wounds are blackened. As Erza start to pick up the larger woman with a pained grunt, the burnt clothes and bandages start falling off in bits and pieces.

As she rushes back to the safety of the shield and her friends, the guys begin to blush heavily. In Erza's mad rush to hurry back, most of the brunette's clothes and bandages were whisked away by the wind. The coverings weren't just burnt to a crisp, they were completely ashen.

To help keep her modesty, Gray goes to take off his shirt only to realize that he lost his shirt, again. The blush on his face increases as he tries not to look at the now quite exposed body of his friend. Elfman coughs as he too looks away before taking his shirt off.

He walks over to the two females while keeping his gaze aimed towards the ceiling.

He offers the shirt to Erza while saying gruffly, "It is Man to help protect the modesty of a woman." As soon as his shirt leaves his hand, he turns his back to help with protecting Krysti's modesty. Gray can't help but peek as Erza pulls the surprising well fitting, although long, shirt over the brunette.

Mira by this point has already awoken and thumps Gray on the back of his head when she sees him peeking. His face turns even redder at being caught.

"Let's go," Erza commands once she gets the shirt on Krysti. She lifts the woman up, holding her upright with one arm wrapped around her waist and holding the brunette's arm over the redhead's shoulder. Elfman helps his sister to stand and they go to leave the room.

Gray jerks with a start as he quickly moves over to Krysti's other side to help hold her up and ease the strain on Erza. During this quick retrieval of their fallen guild mate, José stopped attacking Makarov and in turn, Makarov lowered the shield, although the glowing yellow orb at the tip of his finger has only grown bigger in size.

"Now that you are here, I have no need for the small-fry. Don't worry. I'll finish them off later, of course." José calls out cockily. He is confident in his youth and strength to be able to finish off the Fairy Tail guild all on his own, especially with them all run down from the battle against his obviously more powerful guild.

"We trust in the Master to be able to finish this war," Erza states confidently as she and the other four leave the Phantom guildhall through a hole in an outside wall.

"It's been 6 years since we've last faced each other, hasn't it? And Fairy Tail has grown so much in that time. But it's been destroyed now, hasn't it?" José says conversationally before chuckling happily as he widens his stance.

Makarov moves to change his position to a better angle and the yellow orb, now the size of a cantaloupe, emits a bright white light. His glare has intensified at José's words, Makarov's rage is bubbling closer to the surface.

"A guild is not a building. It's a union between people!" Makarov shouts out as he lunges forward with his arm swinging around to start casting a spell with the pale yellow orb. His hand moves erratically and each change of direction left a smaller pale yellow orb hanging in the air around the Fairy Tail master's body. Each floating orb is connected by a line of the same color.

"But I'm so happy." José says almost in a whine before he continues, "I get to establish the order of superiority among the Wizard Saints." As he finishes speaking his magic surges up again for another attack. At the same time, Makarov's magic also surges to prepare to counterattack.

"I really owe everything to my kids! You've all done well. Be proud to be part of Fairy Tail!" the master of Fairy Tail yells out, knowing that those four can hear him even though he wishes they would hurry and get away. Unseen by those inside the robot, a sphere of pale white light surrounds the robotic guildhall.

The power of the magic is strong enough that the ocean water lifts up and swirls around the sphere. Above, the clouds are spiraled and from the center, a blue lightning bolt hits the guildhall dead on before more lightning flashes around the pale sphere. Despite Natsu's victory, the Shades controlled by José has yet to stop attacking the members still on the beach.

It wasn't enough that the guildhall, their home, was destroyed. José has to take out the remaining Fairy Tail mages as well. As they battle on against the never ending army, their attention is caught once again by something happening to the giant robot.

Some of the more tired mages fall down as the ground starts shaking without warning. The mages on the beach are scared and confused by what is going on inside Phantom Lord's guildhall. The cause of the shaking is the clashing of Makarov's and José's magic.

Both are engulfed by their magic and are pushing against one another. The amount pouring out of them as they fight for dominance actually lifts the two off of their feet as if they are flying.

And they are only using one hand.

At the same time, both the guild leaders gather magic in their other hand to lash out at one another while not giving up their battle to overwhelm the other. Explosions of light flash across the room and both guild leaders land a magical hit on the other, knocking each other back.

"Dead Wave!" José cries out as he gathers magic into a bright purple ball within his hand as he recovers from the blow. With a wave of his hand, he launches it towards Makarov who blocks it with a shield of bright, almost white light. The blast is so strong that the pale sphere around the guildhall disappears and the purple encompasses it instead.

Red lightning shoots out from the purple magic as the sphere swiftly grows in size. It bursts into streams of purple magic that is so bright it almost turns white. The water surrounding the guildhall blasts upwards into large waves as more red lightning dances in the grey sky.

The shockwave from the explosion almost knocks down some of the mages fighting on the beach. Inside the room the two guild leaders are fighting in, dust and soot envelop the room, obscuring everything. The magical attacks cease as they both wait for the dark mixture to settle.

José stands proudly, certain that the old man at the very least has been injured if not killed from the powerful attack. He flinches back when Makarov bursts through a dusty soot cloud with three magic circles surrounding his sides as a shield. The circles turn and face José in an upside-down triangle as a white light admits from Makarov's hands.

He holds them up in front of his face in a triangular shape and the white light strengthens in brilliance until everything but him fades out into a bright white canvas. He lets out a wordless shout and the light becomes a beam aimed right at the Phantom Lord guild master.

The blast engulfed José and covered the guildhall in a light so intense that it burned brighter than the sun. The Fairy Tail members on the beach and even the people of Magnolia had to shield their eyes from that light or risk going blind.

The shockwaves from that attack were strong enough that it even knocked Natsu off of the floor from where he was resting. He lets out a startled yell as he finds himself falling through the air. Happy has yet to let Lucy out of his grasp as he flies around and is not able to catch the dragon slayer.

"Are you okay?" Lucy cries out to Natsu, worried about him being injured even more from that sudden fall.

"But what was that?" Happy asks worriedly. In response, a face-splitting grin show's up on the dragon slayer's face. He looks as happy as if someone told him he can eat as much as he wants free-of-charge. Lucy looks at his joyful expression feeling perplexed, not knowing what could be causing it.

"This is Gramps' magic, no doubt about it!" he tells her cheerfully. His spirits are higher now that the knowledge of the old man is back to fighting form.

The room the two guild leaders are fighting in is in a much worse shape than before. After that blast, most of the room is destroyed and is barely holding up. Both the guild masters land lightly on the ground, undisturbed by the unstable flooring.

"Impressive. Such magical power, and yet so young. You do have what it takes to bear the title of Wizard Saint. If you had used that power for good and became a role-model for the younger generation, you would have led the magic world to its future..." Makarov says in a grand voice before getting interrupted. As the old man spoke, José just gave him a glare of disapproval until he was tired of hearing the old guild master talk.

"You're lecturing me, aren't you?" José interrupts with a smugly amused sneer.

"As is Fairy Tail tradition, I shall count to three before rendering judgment upon you." Makarov cuts back in with a louder and more impatient voice. At hearing those words, as if he was naught but a small child, José's sneer twisted into a hateful frown.

"Beg for mercy." Makarov almost hisses out, his disdain for Jose displayed clearly on his features. José lets out a taunting laugh to show that he held no fear over the old man's threats.

"One!" Makarov shouts out fiercely.

"I wondered what you'd say. But this?" the Phantom Lord master sneers again, closing his eyes to show that he wasn't falling for this bluff.

"Beg for mercy!?" he shouts out in a high-pitched mocking voice that makes him sound even crazier than he is.

"Two!" Makarov shouts out again, as he calls upon his magic to cast down his judgment. So much power is being gathered that his pupils can no longer be seen in his eyes. He brings his palms together at an angle, with one over the other and another pale yellow orb of magic appears.

"You expect the number one guild in the country to bow down to you? Don't kid yourself! I can fight toe-to-toe with you! No, I won't hold back, so I'm actually more powerful!" José yells out as he calls upon the most powerful spell he knows, ready to destroy the old man in front of him. His purple magic drapes around him like a giant worm.

"Three!" Makarov yells out, enough magic has been gathered and now he only needs to activate the spell.

"You're the one who should beg for mercy! Begone! Disappear with your brats into the ranks of history, Fairy Tail!" José shouts, completely confident in his abilities and certain that since he is willing to kill that he will have the edge and win.

"Time's up!" Makarov cries out.

"Die, Fairy Tail!" José screeches out as he sees his moment of absolute victory. He blasts out his magic with every intention of snuffing out the life in front of him. Makarov slams his hands together as the magical glow around him brightens.

The twin blasts of purple magic almost reach him before they dissipate. José sucks in a shocked breath as the light continues to grow stronger. Something is sapping his magic, his strength, his will. All he can do is stand there as pure white light shoots out from the ground at his feet. Makarov starts floating in the air again as yellow light brighter than the sun can ever be, shines out from everywhere.

"Fairy Law is invoked!" Makarov proclaims at the top of his lungs. His eyes which have closed when he slammed his palms together now open. From them, a magic circle appears and a soft shining light spills out from the heavens to meet the golden glow in an ever more brilliant display. The entirety of the Phantom guildhall is bathed in the soft glow, and any place that the gentle light does not touch is covered by the blindingly bright orb in the middle that's half the size of the guildhall.

From the pale light shining above, another golden glow just as luminescent as the light in the guildhall pours out onto the building below. Just as quickly as it came, the golden light from above recedes and just before it disappears a supernova of light explodes out from the hall.

Everyone on the beach, in the town, and even those who evacuated are blinded by the burst of light. After the initial burst, it dims down but even that is quite bright. It's hard to see anything happening with the giant robot. At first, José's Shades went unnoticed by the mages on the beach as they faded in the light, but not for long.

The longer the Fairy Tail mages look into the light, the more they feel compassion radiating from it. What they were able to feel was the love that Makarov has for each of them.

"It's Fairy Law," Erza explains. She along with Gray, Mirajane, Elfman, and Krysti arrived on the beach just moments before.

"Fairy Law?" Gray asks. He never heard of a spell called that before.

"Righteous light that slays the darkness. It slays only that which the caster believes is the enemy. It's a super-powerful magic, now counted as a legend." she tells him. With a start, she turns to look at Krysti, who is laying on the beach, still unconscious near them. Erza looks down at the older woman in slight awe, thinking that her first showing of magic is reminiscent of the legendary spell being used in front of them right now.

A small smile appears on her face as she thinks about how great of a mage her new friend will be. The other three stare in awe at the sight of Fairy Law and its beautiful glow. Only Mirajane notices the look that Erza is giving the passed out brunette.

She stays quiet and plans on asking the red-head about it at another time. As the glow dies down, the sooty dust within the room containing the two Wizard Saints settles as well. There José can be seen standing in the same spot as before Fairy Law was cast. However in that same spot was not the same man.

Arms thrown over his face to protect him from the blinding light, a much paler version of the Phantom Lord guild leader stands there. Besides erratic twitching, he doesn't move an inch. His mouth gapes open in a scream, but the only noise that can be heard is a dry rattle. Everything about him has been muted, colors and even sound. His rich and vibrant clothes look old and faded. The soot and dust settling on him make the clothes look even more run down than they are.

Even his skin and hair have lost their color. His maroon red hair is now completely white, although the soot peppering it gives it a gray tint at a distance. His skin looks like he hasn't seen the sun in years. But one of the biggest changes was his face. As you get closer to José, wrinkles can be seen all over his face, making him look like a very old man now.

The look of absolute horror was so etched into his face that you would feel pity for the poor man if you didn't know that just seconds earlier that he was trying to murder an entire guild of people. Makarov stood there staring harshly all the while, taking in the new visage of José. He knew that something like this was going to happen once he cast the spell, but Makarov had no other choice.

It was either cast the spell now that would basically drain the younger man of his vitality, or duke it out which would cause unknown amounts of damages and possibly even casualties.

"Never come near Fairy Tail again," Makarov commands in a very deep but otherwise seemingly calm voice. If you didn't take into account the furious glare he is giving the once young looking guild master. Besides the twitches, José still has not moved one muscle during this.

The Master of Fairy Tail turns his back on the Master of Phantom Lord and his face relaxes a slight bit now that he is no longer looking at his now defeated enemy.

"The council will not stay silent after things have gotten so flashy. You should watch out for your own skin for a while. And the same goes for me..." Makarov advises before walking calmly away. Behind the short man, a pair of hands fades into view in an ominous way. Soon after the hands appears the manically grinning face of Aria.

Despite his clothes being badly singed, he seems to of recovered from his defeat by Erza. His hands are outstretched, trying to reach Makarov while his back is turned.

"The sadness..." he softly wails to himself. Magic circles form at the end of Aria's hands as he prepares to cast the life draining spell again. He almost wiggles in happiness at the fact the old man is wide open just like the last time he ambushed Makarov. Tears fly out from his eyes just as he thinks that the 2nd defeat of Makarov is literally at hand.

Just as the large man in a burnt green coat nears the Fairy Tail guild leader a large blow almost dislocates Aria's jaw. It happened so fast that Aria was already flying off to the side to crash heavily into a piece of a wall before the Master's arm was visible.

It is a testament to his strength that without even looking, he is able to knock down a man at least 10 times his size. Makarov's arm snaps back to its original shape just as Aria crashes into the now completely broken wall.

"It's over! The battle of the guilds is finished." Makarov loudly proclaims so José and Aria can hear him.

His voice grows harsher as he threatens them, "But if you try anything more, I'll take you out and leave not a trace..." He then turns to face Aria with a closed-eyed smile on his face which startles the Elemental 4 wizard. Makarov's voice goes up a few octaves and his tone changes from a battle harden warrior to a carefree old man.

"Take José with you and go home! Right now!" Makarov tells Aria gleefully.

________________

As nothing else seems to happen within the giant robot, the Fairy Tail wizards start to rejoice and celebrate their apparent victory over the Phantom Lord mages. Their cries echo so loudly that even the people who evacuated the town for safety were able to hear the resident mages. Makarov's heart swells with pride as he listens to the cheers of his beloved children.

Everyone was exhausted from their battles, each member fighting in their own battles to ensure that their loved ones were safe. The Fairy Tail wizards who decided to stay on the beach to try to protect the guildhall are all jumping and dancing in their joy. However, the four who made it back from Phantom Lord's guildhall are not quite as jubilant.

Oh, they were elated in their own right that the war is over, but at the same time, they couldn't express themselves fully. They were still extremely worried over the unconscious brunette laying on the sand beside them.

She is barely breathing and her hair is burnt, something they found out along their trek out of the enemy guildhall.

They might not have noticed if it wasn't for the smell of burnt hair that clung to her strongly. Mira, Elfman, Erza, and Gray all hover nearby Krysti, not quite certain what to do for her yet. As they stand around, each one is full of questions that they want to have answered.

Back at the robot, Lucy and Happy are flying higher to catch sight of their friends and family celebrating on the beach when they hear the cheering. Lucy lets out an almost hysterical laugh just from the relief that it is finally over. Out of all the Fairy Tail wizards, she was the one hurt the most emotionally and is a top contender of being most physically hurt as well.

Natsu watches his teammate laughing cheerfully as Happy joyfully flies her around in circles and a content look crosses his features unseen by the other two.

"I knew you could do it, Gramps..." Natsu says to himself, relieved and happy that everything turned out ok. Being able to see that smile on Lucy's face was more than worth the pounding he took. Lucy is a precious friend of his and he wouldn't hesitate for a second to go through all of this again to make sure that she doesn't have to cry anymore.

Makarov climbs up onto one of the robot's shoulders that doubles as a roof to look down on the beach watch his celebrating children. He is quickly noticed and they settle down in case he has something to say.

Projecting his voice, Makarov proudly proclaims, "This victory is not from just my power alone, but a victory made from our whole family." The cheers that rose from his words was deafening.