At the same moment Gajeel fell, several figures appeared at the street corner.
Jet, his face full of urgency, arrived in a hurry with Erza, Natsu, and the others.
"What in the..."
Gray looked at the devastated street and Gajeel's blank eyes, unable to suppress an exclamation of shock.
"I never expected Phantom Lord would send such a dangerous guy."
Erza recognized the attacker's identity. Her expression turned serious, with a barely contained fury. "Iron Dragon Slayer... Gajeel Redfox."
She didn't dare imagine what would have happened to Shadow Gear if Ches hadn't prepared countermeasures in advance!
"Levy, Droy! Are you okay?"
Lucy and Dark Magician Girl rushed to check on Levy and Droy, who had minor scratches.
"Thanks to Ches. Lucy, Dark Magician Girl, we're not hurt."
Levy smiled, taking Lucy's hand, glancing at Gajeel lying in the crater with lingering fear.
"Dammit! We were too slow—Ches already finished the fight!"
After confirming his comrades were safe, Natsu relaxed and started complaining in annoyance.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He walked over, grabbed Gajeel's collar, and shook him violently.
"Hey! Wake up! You're the Iron Dragon Slayer, aren't you? Get up and fight me, bastard!!"
Happy spread his hands and reminded helplessly, "Natsu, he's already unable to fight."
While Natsu was causing a ruckus, Ches had found the Sabertooth member Gajeel had sent flying.
The man with a background-character face was playing dead in the rubble. When Ches spotted him, he immediately dropped to his knees and started begging pathetically.
"Ches, who is this?" Erza walked up from behind.
Chess knocked the noisy man unconscious with a knife-hand strike, tearing off his tattered clothes to reveal the intact Sabertooth emblem on his chest.
"Strange. I don't recognize that guild emblem..." Erza crossed her arms, frowning slightly.
She hadn't expected an unknown guild to be involved in the attack on Shadow Gear!
"It's Sabertooth. A small guild without much fame," Ches said.
"What are they doing working with Phantom Lord?"
"Probably because I beat their guild master at the last regular meeting. Holding a grudge."
"What? You beat Sabertooth's guild master?!"
Erza's eyes widened in disbelief.
Having participated in the Lullaby Extermination War, she hadn't heard anything about this from Ches or the master...
"Let's talk details after we bring this guy back to the master. I want to know what they're plotting too."
Ches pulled out a blank card and imprisoned him.
Though he wasn't sure of the specifics, considering Jiemma's muscle-brained stupidity, he could guess Sabertooth was being used as a pawn by the scheming Jose.
In its current state, Sabertooth wouldn't affect the overall war much. But since two guilds were involved, it was better to let the old man decide.
"What about Gajeel?"
Erza pointed at Gajeel, who was getting repeatedly slapped by Natsu.
Her intuition told her Ches had other plans.
"I have a better idea than bringing him back to the guild." Ches grinned.
Because of Lucy's unique status as the "Heartfilia Zaibatsu heiress," war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord was inevitable. Backing down would only make Jose more reckless.
So why not add fuel to the fire and make Phantom Lord lose patience first?
As for the method...
Jose had been making all those moves just to provoke Fairy Tail into starting a war.
Why not do unto him as he did unto others? Use Gajeel's own style!
"Erza, if I remember right, Phantom Lord's largest branch is in Oak City, northeast of Magnolia, right?" Ches smiled.
"That's right... Wait, Ches! What are you planning?" Erza vaguely guessed his intentions.
After Lucy, Gray, and the others gathered around, Ches explained his plan.
Everyone had different reactions after hearing it.
"Ahaha! Sounds great!" Natsu laughed heartily.
"Aye!" Happy raised his hand in agreement.
"That's quite something, Ches. You came up with such a nasty idea," Gray chuckled.
"Ches-nii, isn't this a little..." Lucy's pretty eyes were full of sympathy.
Erza, who usually valued rules, sighed and shook her head. After a few seconds of thought, she silently accepted Ches's proposal.
She was just as angry as Natsu inside, but had been restraining herself out of respect for the master's orders.
But Phantom Lord's attack tonight had crossed a line that could not be tolerated. It was time to give them a warning!
So they split into two groups.
Ches, Natsu, and Gray took the unconscious Gajeel and flew through the night to Oak City on a Rampart Wyvern.
Erza, Lucy, Levy, and the others took the card containing the captured Sabertooth extra to report to Makarov.
The next morning, Oak City's central square.
Under the city's most distinctive tower, residents and passersby gathered, pointing and whispering.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please let us through. We're from Phantom Lord. No, no, no~"
Phantom Lord's Element 4 pushed through the crowd and arrived at
the front upon hearing the news.
The moment they saw the scene before them, the four were stunned, showing expressions of disbelief.
There, on the tower wall, their guild's ace mage Gajeel had been stripped naked and hung using a hexagram magic seal!
His bare butt was exposed for all to see—half crudely painted with Phantom Lord's guild emblem, the other half featuring a raised middle finger!
Ches had held back—he hadn't exposed Gajeel's face to magical cameras.
"That's... Gajeel?!" Fire Element Totomaru exclaimed.
"Don't worry. The rain will wash away the ugly graffiti soon... pitter-patter..." Juvia stood expressionless under her umbrella.
"This is truly... beneath dignity... no, no, no~" Earth Element Sol twisted his body oddly, eyeing Gajeel.
"Gajeel... was defeated? Ah~ A comrade's humiliation~ So sad~" Wind Element Aria wept uncontrollably.
Unlike Natsu's boundless fury upon seeing Shadow Gear hung up, the Element 4 showed little emotional reaction despite their varied expressions.
Clack, clack.
Leather boots echoed from behind.
Looking at Gajeel hanging there, Jose's face was terrifyingly dark. Phantom Magic swirled around him, radiating a chilling aura.
His concern wasn't for Gajeel himself, but the blow to Phantom Lord's reputation.
Fiore's strongest guild's strongest mage—exposed in such a pathetic, ridiculous state before the public.
If this spread, what would others think of Phantom Lord?!
"You really went and did it, Makarov..."
The middle finger graffiti on Gajeel's bare butt and the murmuring crowd deeply stung Jose. In his dark eyes, an intense killing intent surfaced.
If Makarov's berserk button was the children, Jose's was undoubtedly the strongest guild's reputation and prestige!
So...
"Aria. Contact Jiemma. Awaken the Hexapod Walker."
Deep purple magical energy erupted from Jose, sweeping across the entire square.
"Everyone better prepare themselves. We're going against Fairy Tail..."
"All-out war!!"
***
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