Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Caelum, Unnamed Island.
September, x784.
Shortly after the Etherion landed on the Tower of Heaven, it was entirely engulfed in a bright light that caused everyone who saw it to both close and shield their eyes from its luminance.
On top of the overly bright light, a shockwave was released from the tower, blowing away everything on the island that was not heavy enough to resist. On top of that, all the ships that the tower's residence left behind immediately capsized, if they were not thoroughly destroyed, by said shockwave.
Also, just as Alfonzo suspected, tidal waves were set off in all directions with the island as the center. Those tidal waves directly destroyed several more of the escaping ships that were not traveling towards the ship Alfonzo and the girls used to arrive at the island. Meanwhile, those lucky enough to be traveling in that direction were saved when Ultear froze the entire wave, turning it into a small iceberg.
"*Sigh* Alfonzo was right." Ultear said in a tired tone after freezing a large portion of the sea. "I doubt he expected it to be like this, though. What in the world was that flash of light? And what happened to the tower? Did it turn into a… giant lacrima?"
Not only Ultear, but Simon, Shô, Wally, and Millianna were staring at the Tower of Heaven's new appearance with shock and awe, as well.
"It looks like none of you knew about this either." Ultear said after glancing at the expressions of the wizards who originated from the Tower of Heaven.
In response, the four could only shake their heads dumbly. Ever since the rebellion was concluded, they only followed Jellal's instructions to complete the tower. Other than that, they had no idea of any of its functions... Other than the function to resurrect the dead.
Even then, they were lied to. Jellal told them that they would use the tower to resurrect Rob, or Grandpa Rob as they called him as children. And they were definitely not informed of the sacrifice needed to complete the ritual.
"*Sigh* I just hope Alfonzo, Elicia, and Cana are all right. They were all either inside the tower or flying towards the top floor."
As if to answer Ultear's concerns, the sound of a screaming female voice could be heard. And from what Ultear could tell, it was coming closer. Looking up, Ultear saw Elicia and Cana, as well as a third woman who seemed to be unconscious, flying through the air towards the ship.
"*Lici~~~~! We're going too fast~~~~~!" Cana screamed as she held tightly onto Elicia's waist from the front. "Do something! Fast!"
"I'm trying, Cana!" Elicia shouted back. "But you're not making it any easier with all your struggling!"
"We're losing altitude too fast!" Cana shouted once again.
"I know!" Elicia replied.
"Lici! We're gonna crash!" Cana shouted.
"No, we won't!" Elicia shouted her reply once again. "Well, we will, but it won't hurt!"
"Lici! That's ice, not water!" Cana shouted, clearly panicking more as time passed. "Why did I promise not to drink so much!? I never got to taste that one hundred seventy year old whiskey I stored under my bed! And it looks like I never will!"
"It will be fine." Elicia replied.
As she spoke, Elicia turned the direction of the glider, so it would catch more wind. This caused the glider to jerk, abruptly slowing down and giving Ellicia the time to create a large cushion that softened their landing.
A few seconds later, Elicia, with Ikaruga strapped to her back, and Cana landed on the cushion Elicia created. Although the landing still could not be considered soft, it was much softer than landing on the ice.
"There, we're all safe and sound." Elicia said, picking herself up from the cushion.
"I'm never doing that again." Cana said, sprawling out on the cushion. "I saw my life flash before my eyes at least three times."
"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad." Elicia replied with a wry smile. "If it wasn't for that shockwave, you probably would have loved it."
"Hey~~~~! Are you two all right?" Ultear shouted from the ship before Cana could respond.
Hearing Ultear's shout, Elicia looked in the direction of the ship and smiled. Then, she dragged Cana toward it.
Meanwhile, at the top of the giant lacrima that is the Tower of Heaven, Erza and Jellal seemed to be completely unaffected by the shockwave that the Etherion caused when it hit the Tower of Heaven. In fact, they had not moved at all from where they stood before it hit.
"Jellal, what just happened?" Erza questioned.
"Oh, those fools on the Magic Council just fired the Etherion on the tower." Jellal replied. "They gave the Tower of Heaven what it needed to start performing the resurrection ritual. Now, with you here, everything is prepared to welcome Lord Zeref back among the living."
With that, Jellal forced the immobilized Erza toward the spot where his throne used to be. Now, in its place stood a lacrima pillar.
Once the two arrived in front of the pillar, Jellal forced Erza's back against it.
"Now, the time has come, Erza." Jellal said, no remorse in his eyes as he intended to sacrifice his old friend.
"It's still not too late." Erza replied calmly. "Don't do something you won't be able to come back from."
"I've heard enough." Jellal said as he activated the ritual. "I will not stop here. Zeref will be resurrected."
"*Sigh* No, he won't."
*Bang!*
After hearing that unfamiliar voice, Jellal froze momentarily. And the owner of the voice, Alfonzo, used that to his advantage as he backhanded Jellal away, sending him skipping across the top of the tower, and took Erza into a princess carry.
"Alfonzo, you're here." Erza said from Alfonzo's arms with a slight dusting of red on her cheeks. "You can put me down, though."
"I would have been here sooner if it weren't for that damn shockwave." Alfonzo muttered.
"Shockwave?" Erza asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Yeah, although it didn't seem to affect you and your friend, when that flash, most likely the Etherion, hit the tower, it did quite a bit of damage to the island." Alfonzo explained. "It kicked up a few pretty serious tidal waves, too."
"Is everyone else okay?" Erza asked in worry.
"They should be." Alfonzo replied. "I can't really tell from all the way up here. But I did move the ship away and Ultear stayed there to keep it safe. Plus, I ran into Lici and Cana before I made it up here and they seemed to be fine."
"I hope you're right." Erza said worriedly.
"Ugh… I should have known you would get in my way when I heard that you accompanied her to the island." Jellal said while rubbing the side of his face where Alfonzo hit him. "But even if you are here, Alfonzo Marcus, you won't be able to stop me from resurrecting Zeref. In fact, you would make an even better sacrifice than Erza."
"*Sigh* Speaking of sacrificing Erza…" Alfonzo said, turning towards Jellal. "I'm gonna have to kick your ass for that. You see, I'm definitely not okay with you trying to sacrifice my fiancée in a ritual that won't even work."
In response, Jellal could only look at Alfonzo incredulously.
"From the way you're looking at me, I would guess that you think I'm talking nonsense." Alfonzo said with a chuckle after seeing Jellal's expression. "That's fine, though. But there are two reasons why I said that it wouldn't work. The first is that the dead don't come back to life… Ever. That's just a law of the world. I mean, look at all the Alchemists throughout history that tried to bring people back with [Human Transmutation]."
As someone whose special [Thought Projection] had been on the Magic Council for the last few years, Jellal knew exactly what Alfonzo was referring to. However, because he was using a different system of magic, he did not believe he would fail like the alchemists had. Even if he willingly ignored the fact that he was also trying to bring someone back to life with equivalent exchange.
"And what is this second reason you speak of?" Jellal asked, completely dismissing the first reason Alfonzo mentioned.
"Oh, that one will make you feel really stupid when you find out." Alfonzo said, chuckling a little harder when he thought about it.
"Alfonzo, are you okay?" Erza asked, a bit concerned that Alfonzo had started chuckling for no discernable reason.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Alfonzo replied, doing his best to get his chuckling under control. "Anyway, I won't tell you about that one. Wouldn't wanna give out any spoilers, after all."
Hearing that, Erza looked on with confusion while Jellal deadpanned.
"Trust me when I say this, you'll find out in a few years." Alfonzo said after seeing the other two's expressions. "And when you do, you'll realize just how meaningless this whole incident was."
"Enough!" Jellal said sternly. "I've heard you prattle on for long enough. And that has made my decision more firm. You will become the new sacrifice to activate the R-System."
"*Sigh* You really should have listened when I said that it wouldn't work." Alfonzo said as he let an electric current run over Erza's skin, destroying the [Bind Snake] that was immobilizing her. "I wouldn't have had to kick your ass so hard if you did. But it seems like you really wanna catch this ass whoopin', don't you."
As soon as the [Bind Snake] was gone, Alfonzo put Erza back on her feet. Then, he started walking towards Jellal.
"You underestimate me." Jellal said with a sinister grin.
With that, Jellal removed his hood, revealing the same face as the ex-Magic Councilman, Siegrain, who was his [Thought Projection]. A moment later, a second Jellal, dressed in the Magic Council's robes appeared next to him before the two fused.
As soon as that happened, Jellal's available magic power spiked, doubling from its previous amount.
"If you think that you can defeat me just because I lost to Erza not long ago, then you're sorely mistaken." Jellal continued. "Now that I no longer have to maintain that [Thought Projection], I can use the magic I truly specialize in."
"Hmm… You're on par with Laxus, from what I can tell." Alfonzo said, continuing to move towards Jellal. "Although we haven't fought in the last couple years, I'm pretty sure I'm still stronger. I guess I can test that theory on you."
With that, Alfonzo started to increase his pace as he approached Jellal.
Meanwhile, Jellal cloaked himself in bright yellow magic power. Then, he began floating off the surface of the tower.
"[Heavenly Body Magic: Meteor]." Jellal chanted from just above the ground.
Jellal's [Heavenly Body Magic] is a powerful form of caster magic that allows the caster to wield and manipulate the energy created by stars with their own body. And in most cases, the spells take properties from different astronomical objects.
A moment later, Jellal flickered away from where he floated, leaving only a yellow line as proof of where he passed by. An instant later, he appeared on Alfonzo's left and thew a punch at the side of his head.
To Jellal's surprise, Alfonzo dodged Jellal's high-speed attack by tilting his head back. Then, he stepped into a right straight. Unfortunately, Jellal's surprise did not slow his reaction speed, resulting in Jellal flashing away.
"I'm surprised that you could keep up with my speed." Jellal said after taking a bit of distance. "But how long will your body be able to keep up with such high-speed combat?"
"You're about as fast as Laxus was the last time we fought, too." Alfonzo muttered as he watched Jellal retreat temporarily.
Once again, Jellal turned into a streak of star light as he approached Alfonzo, this time opting to attack head on with a flying kick. However, just before his attack could land, he noticed that Alfonzo flickered with electricity before he vanished from where he stood.
*Bang!*
A moment later, Jellal was once again sent skipping over the top of the tower after being kicked in the back when Alfonzo reappeared behind him.
A few seconds later, Jellal was able to kill off his momentum and regain his footing.
"Looks like you're not used to people being able to match you in speed." Alfonzo said as he watched Jellal's every move. "If that's the case…"
Alfonzo once again vanished from where he stood as he spoke. A moment later, he reappeared in front of Jellal, kicking upward towards the blue-haired man's chin.
Reacting just in time, Jellal was able to guard against the kick by raising his arms. However, he was still shot up into the air. By the time he moved his arms away, Alfonzo had once again vanished from where he was, escaping Jellal's line of sight. Unfortunately, it did not take long for Jellal to figure out where he was, in a painful way.
*Bang!*
While Jellal had been launched upward, Alfonzo followed after and surpassed him. Then, with a powerful axe kick, he sent Jellal plummeting back towards the top of the tower. Then, before he collided with the tower, Alfonzo created six soccer ball-sized chucks of metal around him.
"… This won't last long." Alfonzo continued. "[Metal magic: Metal Meteor Barrage]."
As soon as his chant ended, Alfonzo kicked the first of the chunks of metal down towards Jellal. And with his ability to manipulate metal, the chunk flew down much faster than it would have normally. He could have added his [Electromagnetism Magic] to it as well, but he felt that Erza was too close to the point of impact, and did not want to negatively affect her.
Still, instead of stopping at one, Alfonzo, with acrobatic aerial movements, kicked the other five chunks of metal towards Jellal.
In the end, the first chunk of metal arrived less than half a second after Jellal collided with the tower, with the other five chunks landing within half a second of the first, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris from the giant lacrima.
"I hope that wasn't enough to beat you." Alfonzo said while continuing to float in the air. "If so, I'd be thoroughly disappointed."
"Then, I'm happy to not disappoint you." Jellal's voice rang out from inside the cloud of debris.
A moment later, the cloud was dispersed when Jellal flared his magic power.
"It seems I was the one who underestimated you, Alfonzo Marcus." Jellal said as he looked up at Alfonzo. "It seems I'll need to take this seriously."