Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August, x784.
With Aria and Gajeel's defeats, the only remaining, battle ready, member of Phantom Lord was its guild master, Jose Porla. So, without wasting time, Alfonzo, Elicia, Erza, and Mirajane made their way up to the top of the Phantom Lord HQ.
When they arrived, they saw Jose seemingly waiting for them. Though from his clothing, he did not seem to be in the best condition.
"Oh, hey, Master Jose, I presume." Alfonzo said after catching sight of the disheveled guild master. "I'm really digging the minimalistic design of your command center."
Meanwhile, Jose, who had been looking down at the rest of Fairy Tail dealing with his newly created [Shades], slowly turned around once he heard Alfonzo's voice. And as soon as he saw the grinning young man, his already bloodshot eyes reddened completely.
"Even now, you insist on humiliating me, boy?" Jose asked in a low, dangerous tone.
"What are you talking about, Master Jose?" Alfonzo asked in a tone of mock confusion. "I give you a compliment and you call it mockery. I swear, there is no pleasing some people."
"I've had enough of your nonsense." Jose said in the same tone. "I will enjoy torturing you until all your patents are the property of Phantom Lord. Then, I'll make sure to keep you alive long enough to see the torture I inflict on your little fiancée, as well."
As he spoke the last part, Jose glanced, not so subtly, at Elicia with sadism flashing in his eyes.
Surprisingly, neither Alfonzo nor Elicia's killing intent burst out. Although they were both furious, they also knew that Jose was only trying to get a rise out of them so they would make a mistake that he could capitalize on.
"Every time you say something like that, you give me another reason to fuck you up, Jose." Alfonzo said, dropping the little respect he had been showing since they arrived on the top floor. "And I gotta say, I'm gonna enjoy it."
"Those are some pretty big words, Brat." Jose said, narrowing his eyes. "Apparently, you don't know the difference between a Wizard Saint and the rest of the common rabble. Don't worry, though, I'd be happy to show you."
In the next moment, Jose disappeared from his spot in a burst of speed. Then, with his hand covered in his [Darkness Magic] he reappeared in front of Alfonzo with his hand reeled back and ready to throw a punch.
*Smack!*
To Jose's surprise, Alfonzo lifted his left hand almost lazily and caught his fist without even taking a step back.
"You're underestimating me, Jose." Alfonzo said with a grin. "It's clear you don't specialize in melee combat. Even if there was a lot of power behind that punch, you still wasted a lot of it due to your lack of training. But since I'm such a good junior, I'll show you the right way to throw a punch."
*Bang!*
As soon as he finished speaking, Alfonzo clenched his right fist and threw a punch, aimed at Jose's nose, that Jose tried his best to block with his free hand. However, the physical strength behind the punch was much more than Jose expected.
Though Jose did manage to block the punch with his forearm, his arm was forced back into his face. At the same time, Alfonzo released Jose's fist with is left hand and threw another punch into Jose's ribs. After that, he followed up with a flurry of punches that Jose did his best to block.
After a few seconds, Alfonzo had managed to push Jose back and away from the girls, who were standing by and watching Alfonzo's fight. Even though they knew that Jose was one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and it would probably be better to take him on together, they also knew that if they interfered with the fight before Alfonzo truly needed help, he would be pretty unhappy with them.
"Why is Alfonzo throwing punches when he could do a lot more damage with a spell?" Erza asked curiously while keeping her eyes on the fight.
"Humiliation." Elicia replied simply. "He knows that he can't let his anger take over completely, so he's using this to bleed off the excess anger before he does something that will come back to bite him."
"But won't that just anger Master Jose?" Mirajane asked, a bit worried for Alfonzo.
"Enough!" Jose shouted while flaring his magic power.
With the flare of magic power, Alfonzo was forced away from the now even more enraged Jose.
"His magic power feels so gloomy and evil." Mirajane said while furrowing her eyebrows. "How can a wizard from a legal guild have magic power like that?"
"It's partially because of that [Shade Magic] and partially because he's a bad guy." Elicia replied.
"Indeed." Erza added. "He is truly of foul character. Threatening torture so freely makes him sound like any other dark wizard I've ever encountered."
Meanwhile, after stabilizing himself, Alfonzo looked at Jose with an amused smirk.
"Oh, couldn't handle the fist fight that you started anymore, huh?" Alfonzo asked in a mocking tone.
'This old man sure can take a beating.' Alfonzo said to himself without losing his smile. 'I definitely felt a few of his ribs break under my fists, but he's standing there like nothing happened. But at least I was able to put a few bruises on his face, though.'
"I've had enough of your mockery." Jose said as he summoned a dozen or so of his [Shades].
In the next instant, the summoned [Shades] began to combine. In the end, they turned into a floating mass with a red nucleus that took on the appearance of a jellyfish.
Then, without wasting any time, the [Shade Jellyfish] floated forward and began swinging its tentacles at Alfonzo with great speed.
In response, Alfonzo created a pair of buzz saw blades that attached to his forearms. And as the tentacles approached, the saw blades started spinning as Alfonzo cut them down. Unfortunately, just as quickly as they were cut down, they seemed to regrow.
"Now, let's see how long you can keep that up, Boy." Jose said with a smug expression on his face.
"Like I said before, you're really underestimating me." Alfonzo said in a nonchalant tone. "I could do this all day."
"The arrogance of youth." Jose said, shaking his head in mock pity.
Ever since Alfonzo started upgrading his body with the Techno Organic Metal, his physical strength, speed, stamina, and magic power reserves have all increased immensely. Though, there's no way that Jose would know that.
"But I think I've had enough of this jellyfish thing." Alfonzo said, creating a metal drill head in front of his chest. Then, as it started turning at high speed, he sent a current of electricity into it. '[Tera Drill break]."
With that chant, Alfonzo set the electrified drill head flying straight through the [Shade Jellyfish], the bright light from the electrical discharges destroying the particles of [Darkness Magic] that it was created from.
Meanwhile, Jose, after seeing how easily his spell was dispatched, gritted his teeth in anger.
"[Dark Pulse]." Jose chanted as he swung his right arm horizontally.
A moment later, a pulse of [Darkness Magic] was released from Jose's hand, following the arc it made when he swung it. As a result, everything in a conical shape was washed over by Jose's magic.
While Elicia, Erza, and Mirajane quickly moved to get out of the path of the range of Jose's spell, Alfonzo fell to one knee in order to stabilize himself as he quickly gathered an orb of sparking, purple magic power in his outstretched palms.
"[Electromagnetism Magic: Spark Cannon]." Alfonzo chanted as the orb surged in power.
In the next instant, a sparking beam of electricity was fired at the incoming wave of [Darkness Magic], splitting it in half and clearing a free space for Alfonzo.
At the same time, on the ground, Makarov had once again destroyed the last of the [Shades] Jose summoned just in time to look up and see the wave of [Darkness Magic] extend beyond the top of the Phantom Lord HQ.
"He's already started his fight with Jose, huh?" Makarov asked rhetorically as he looked up.
"We should get up there and help him." Ur said, looking up at the top of the Phantom Lord HQ from next to Makarov. "Alfonzo may be much stronger than his age would suggest, but he's still not ready to take on a Wizard Saint."
In response, Makarov started stroking his mustache as he felt the state of the wizards on the top floor of the walking building in front of him with [Magic Power Detection].
"Although that may be true in terms of raw magical power, Alfonzo's ability to adapt to situations would make him a pretty good match for Jose." Makarov finally replied. "Even if he has very little chance of winning in the end."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ur asked, seeming a bit impatient.
"Because I promised that I'd let him fight Jose." Makarov replied. "Even though Alfonzo was clearly unhappy with Jose for what he said, he's too smart to think that he could win against him at this point. Maybe after a few more years… NO, definitely after a few more years, he can defeat him. But for now, he just wants to see the distance between himself and one of the Wizard Saints in real combat."
"Still, we should get up there." Ur said after nodding in understanding. "Anything can go wrong in a real battle."
"Okay, okay, I get it." Makarov said with a wry smile. "You're really worried about your son-in-law, aren't you?"
"If anything happens to that boy, Ultear will be crushed." Ur replied. "And I refuse to let that happen."
With that said, Makarov decided to just follow Ur's wish to get closer to the fight between Alfonzo and Jose without another word.
Meanwhile, back on top of the Phantom Lord HQ, Jose was summoning more of his [Shades] before transforming them into projectiles that he fired at Alfonzo from a distance.
In response, Alfonzo was creating and firing off chunks of metal charged with electricity and shaped into kunai , intercepting each of Jose's attacks. At the same time, he was manipulating the visible light spectrum to give Jose a false sense of his location. Unfortunately, with Jose's honed senses, that was not making much of a difference.
"*Sigh* He's too experienced for a trick like that." Alfonzo muttered. "Then, let's see how this works. [Electromagnetism Magic: Gravity Well]."
In the next instant, a pulse of magic power was ejected from Alfonzo's body, creating a hemispherical domain with him at its center. Although the domain was not large enough to cover the entire top floor of the Phantom Lord HQ, it was enough to cover Jose, who staggered forward immediately after the pulse of magic power washed over him.
"What is this?" Jose asked, struggling to stand up straight. "Does this boy know [Gravity Magic] as well?"
Hearing that, Alfonzo smiled. It did not surprise Alfonzo that Jose noticed the change in gravity so quickly. But it did amuse him that he attributed it to the use of [Gravity Magic]. It really did not surprise him that the old man did not know about an electromagnetic field's ability to be a source of gravitational force.
Shaking his head to get rid of the idle thoughts, Alfonzo used his [Lightning Enhancement] spell before dashing forward, hoping to reach Jose before he could recover. Unfortunately, Jose was too experienced for that to work, flooding his body with is magic power to offset the gravitational force.
Then, Jose raised his right hand in Alfonzo's direction with several [Shades] that had been transformed into a swirling mass of [Darkness Magic] and were spiraling around his outstretched hand.
"I grow weary of these tricks." Jose said, glaring at Alfonzo in annoyance. "[Dead Wave]."
With his chant, Jose fired the mass of [Darkness Magic] swirling around his hand at Alfonzo, who hastily stopped his charge.
*Clap!*
In the next instant, Alfonzo's hands were covered in sparks of electricity before he clapped them together forcefully. And with that clap, the electricity was separated from his hands and started creating sigils that floated in front of him.
"[Electromagnetism Magic: Reflection Barrier]." Alfonzo chanted.
A moment later, Jose's [Dead Wave] slammed into the quickly constructed barrier that Alfonzo raised in front of him. Then, just as the name would suggest, Jose's spell was reflected back at him.
"How is this possible?" Jose asked in a disbelieving tone as he summoned more [Shades in front of him.
Using his power over the [Shades] he summoned, Jose transformed them into a barrier that blocked his reflected attack, cancelling them both out in the end.
At the same time, Alfonzo fell to one knee, breathing heavily due to magic power exhaustion.
"*Pant* I'm glad that *Pant* worked the way I thought it would." Alfonzo said through ragged breaths. "I've been upgrading that barrier spell for years. *Pant* Never thought it would be so draining if I used it without carving it into a medium, though."
In fact, the reflection barrier Alfonzo just created was the same one that he used to keep Gildarts… Gozaburo… intruders out of his mansion. Although it was only a passive defense on the mansion, Alfonzo supercharged the sigils just now to defend against Jose's spell. Unfortunately, that left him low on magic power.
"I'll admit that I've truly underestimated you, Boy." Jose said, walking towards Alfonzo after seeing him drop to one knee. "I'll give you one chance, leave Fairy Tail and join Phantom Lord. Then, I won't have to do anything either of us will find unpleas---"
*Bang!*
Before Jose could finish speaking, one of the pipes that moved magic power through the structure broke through the floor, aiming at Jose's backside. Jose, reacting quickly, sent a pulse of his magic in all directions, destroying the pipe.
"*Pant* I hope *Pant* that answers *Pant* your proposal. *Pant*" Alfonzo said, inching even closer to magic power depletion with that little stunt.
Instead of responding, Jose wore a murderous gaze and raised his right hand to once again cast his [Dead Wave] spell.
Realizing that things were getting bad for Alfonzo, Elicia, Erza, in her [Adamantine Armor], and Mirajane, in her [Satan Soul: Sitri] form, rushed in front of Alfonzo to protect him. However, before the [Dead Wave] spell could reach the four young Fairy Tail wizards, a magic circle appeared in front of them and stopped the spell.
"So, you've finally come, Makarov." Jose said while looking to his right with an eerie smile on his face. "I was wondering when you'd show up."
"Jose, this has gone on for long enough." Makarov said with his left hand outstretched towards Alfonzo, Elicia, Erza, and Mirajane. "You'll pay for harming my children. But as I am merciful, I will give you a chance to apologize and repent. Otherwise, things will not end well for you."
While Makarov spoke, Ur, who accompanied him to the top floor of the HQ, made her way over to the four younger wizards to make sure that they were unharmed.
"How are you kids holding up?" Ur asked as she drew near.
"We're fine." Elicia replied for all four of them. "Fonzie's almost out of magic power, though."
Looking down at Alfonzo, who was struggling to keep his eyes open, Ur could not hide the fact that she was impressed with the young man in front of her.
"Not bad, Kid." Ur said, patting Alfonzo on the top of his head. "You fought that creepy, old man for so long and you don't have a scratch on you. Pretty impressive."
"Who do you think you are!" Jose shouted in response to Makarov giving him a chance to apologize, cutting off the conversation between the Fairy Tail wizards. "I'll make you regret talking down to me!"
With that, Jose flared his magic power to its limit, resulting in his eyes changing color, with is sclera turning black and his pupils turning red.
"I'll do just like I do with my children." Makarov said, completely unbothered by Jose's changes. "You have until the count of three to apologize."
"Hmph!" Jose snorted in disdain. "That will be more than enough time to show you the difference between us."
"One." Makarov said, starting his count.
At the same time, Jose started amassing a huge number of his [Shades] around him.
"Two." Makarov continued, raising his hands to his sides.
Meanwhile, Jose turned the [Shades] int a mass of swirling [Darkness Magic] that rotated around his outstretched right hand.
"Three." Makarov said, bringing his hands together with magic power coating them.
"Die!" Jose shouted as he fired off the largest [Dead Wave] of the day.
"[Fairy Law]." Makarov chanted as his hands came together in front of his chest.
In the next instant, the area was covered in a blinding white light.
"[Fairy Law], one of Fairy Tail's three great magic spells." Ur said in awe as the light washed over her and the other four. "It's said to inflict heavy damage on anyone the caster sees as an enemy from his or her heart, leaving allies and bystanders completely unharmed."
A moment later, the light dissipated, revealing almost everyone in the same state as they were in before the light washed over them. The exception being Jose Porla, whose attack had been cancelled out completely. On top of that, he was laying on his back with is eyes rolled back in his skull, foaming at the mouth, and muttering something completely incomprehensible.
"*Sigh* I gave you the chance to repent on your own, Jose." Makarov said while looking down at his rival. Then, he turned back to his wizards. "Anyway, let's go. We could all use some rest after today. We can worry about building the guild another day."
"Sounds good to me." Alfonzo muttered while being supported by Elicia and Erza. "I wanna make some changes to the guild's design, anyway. I had a great idea while fighting that guy."
With that, the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord ended. Unfortunately, the wizards of Fairy Tail were unable to relax fully. There was no doubt that officers from the Magic Council would come to question them about what happened. And thanks to the Council's dislike for Fairy Tail, no one was under the illusion that they would make it easy on them.