Faced with Erza's apology, Ultear waved her hand, indicating that she did not mind.
"Haven't you already given me the greatest reward imaginable?"
As she spoke, her gaze shifted toward Rowan. The gratitude and tenderness in her eyes were so intense they almost seemed ready to overflow.
She genuinely had never expected Rowan to resurrect her mother and return Ur to her side.
Although their first meeting had been extremely awkward, the mother and daughter had now successfully reconciled.
Therefore, Ultear was deeply grateful for what Rowan had done. Otherwise, she would never have worked so hard to gather evidence against Jose and force the Magic Council to dissolve Phantom Lord.
Looking at Ultear's watery eyes, Rowan could not help thinking,
If she wants to develop a relationship with me that goes a little beyond friendship, should I agree, agree, or agree?
Unfortunately, the result left Rowan terribly disappointed.
Until the moment he left the Magic Council, Ultear did not make a single flirtatious move.
She felt nothing toward him but pure gratitude.
Damn it. I overthought things.
On the road back to the guild, Erza became unusually silent, seemingly lost in thought.
Rowan was busy regretting his own excessive imagination and did not pay attention to her expression.
Until—
"I've made up my mind."
"Huh? You've made up your mind? About what?"
Rowan stared blankly at Erza, who had suddenly stopped, and nearly walked straight into her.
Erza did not notice his distraction. She stopped and turned to face him.
"I've decided to visit the Tower of Heaven."
"Oh."
Rowan thought about it.
Eisenwald had already been dealt with. Galuna Island was finished as well. Even Phantom Lord had been forcibly dissolved through Ultear's intervention, causing the entire Phantom Lord invasion arc to die before it could begin.
The Tower of Heaven Arc really was next.
"So, are you planning to go alone?" Rowan asked curiously.
Erza nodded.
"That's right. This is my problem, so I intend to resolve it myself."
With her current strength, she genuinely would have no trouble clearing the Tower of Heaven alone.
Rowan said, "I think you should discuss this with the Guild Master first."
Erza hesitated. She crossed her arms over her chest as though thinking deeply, but ultimately agreed.
After returning to the guild, Erza found Makarov and told him that she intended to go to the Tower of Heaven alone.
She repeatedly assured him that with her current strength, she could absolutely clear the Tower of Heaven by herself.
"Calm down, Erza."
Makarov scolded her, but his gaze remained gentle as he looked at the young woman.
"I don't doubt that you can clear the Tower of Heaven alone. But you are a member of Fairy Tail. Your problems are our problems."
"We are companions. Do you expect us to watch you walk into danger and do nothing?"
"If we did that, what kind of companions would we be?"
"Erza."
Hearing Makarov's words, Erza's entire body trembled.
She suddenly realised her mistake.
She did not want her companions to be placed in danger, so she intended to resolve the Tower of Heaven alone.
But wasn't that also a form of arrogance?
If she had companions she could rely on, why insist on fighting alone?
It might look impressive, but it was not the correct choice.
After all, she was a member of the guild.
"I'm sorry, Guild Master. I was wrong."
The moment Erza recognised her mistake, she corrected it immediately.
She hurriedly gathered her companions and told them about her childhood, as well as the fact that the Tower of Heaven was still under construction.
"Everyone, I'm asking for your help. Please come with me and destroy the Tower of Heaven."
The moment she said this, the entire guild erupted.
"Isn't that obvious, Erza?"
Natsu suddenly jumped onto a table, flames pouring from his mouth.
"I don't care who the enemy is! Anyone who dares hurt one of our companions will get sent flying by me!"
"That's right! I'm going too!"
Gray stripped off his clothes and shouted loudly.
"A real man protects his companions!"
"Count me in, Erza!"
"I'll go too!"
Seeing her companions eagerly volunteering to accompany her to the Tower of Heaven, Erza felt both grateful and deeply moved.
Unfortunately, the Tower of Heaven was no safe or peaceful place.
In the end, Erza selected Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Cana to accompany her to the Tower of Heaven.
Naturally, Rowan was included as well.
Without Rowan, reaching the Tower of Heaven would require a long and difficult journey across mountains and seas.
But with Rowan, they could arrive in an instant.
The moment Erza pointed out the Tower of Heaven's approximate location, Rowan used farsight magic to search the vast ocean and quickly locked onto it.
He raised his hand and pushed.
An air door opened.
The Tower of Heaven appeared directly before them.
After taking a deep breath, Erza led Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Cana through the air door and into the Tower of Heaven.
Rowan followed behind them.
"Everyone, begin the operation."
Erza raised her head and looked toward the top of the Tower of Heaven, her gaze becoming sharper than ever.
"I'm all fired up! Watch me send every one of those bastards flying!"
Natsu roared and charged into the Tower of Heaven at the front of the group.
Gray saw this and shouted, "Like hell I'm letting you steal all the glory!"
Then he immediately ran after him.
Lucy could not help commenting, "Those two really are energetic."
Happy nodded.
"Aye. They're always like this."
Cana smiled helplessly and turned to Erza.
"Let's go too."
Erza nodded and followed after them.
Gray and Natsu led the charge. Anyone who dared block their path received a vicious beating.
However, they did not kill anyone. They only beat their opponents until they could no longer stand.
The two rampaged straight through the tower as though no one could stop them.
During this time, they naturally encountered resistance from other mages.
One of them was a square-faced man.
Wally Buchanan.
He was one of Erza's childhood companions and another victim of Jellal's deception. He specialised in Polygon Magic, which allowed him to divide his body into separate block-like pieces.
He could even move those pieces through space to launch surprise attacks.
The ability was somewhat similar to Buggy the Clown's Chop-Chop Fruit from the world of One Piece.
After appearing, Wally immediately used Polygon Magic against Natsu and Gray.
"You won't get past me so easily!"
"Get out of the way!"
"Move, small fry!"
Neither Natsu nor Gray took his obstruction seriously.
Gray used Ice-Make Magic and casually froze part of Wally's divided body.
The remaining pieces were sent flying by Natsu.
Unfortunately, mages varied greatly in strength.
Wally Buchanan was clearly a lower-level mage. Compared with Natsu and Gray, he was far too weak.
He failed to cause them any real trouble.
Erza, however, saw Wally's miserable condition and quickly swung her greatsword, shattering the ice and rescuing him.
"Erza… It's you."
When Wally realised that the intruder was Erza, his eyes widened involuntarily, and the anger in them became unmistakable.
"You traitor! You actually dared to come back!"
"I'm sorry. Things aren't what you think. I returned this time to help you."
"You think I'll believe the words of a traitor?"
Seeing the hatred covering Wally's face, Erza understood that Jellal had spent years brainwashing her former companions.
At this moment, he would never listen to her explanation.
In that case…
"I'm sorry, Wally. I'll explain everything to you later."
After saying this, she knocked her childhood companion unconscious without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Gray and Natsu encountered a little trouble of their own.
They ran into two more of Erza's former companions—
Sho and Millianna.
While the pair were charging through the tower, Millianna suddenly descended from above.
"Take this—my Cat Magic!"
Two magical formations appeared over her hands. Rope-like tubes resembling cat tails flew out and attacked Natsu and Gray.
Fortunately, the two reacted quickly and jumped backward, avoiding Millianna's attack.
However, Millianna suddenly smiled.
"You two fell for it."
Natsu and Gray were startled simultaneously.
At that moment, a blond man appeared behind them, holding two cards that emitted brilliant light.
"Get inside!"
The blond man instantly threw the cards, striking Natsu and Gray at the same time.
With a whoosh, both of them were sealed inside the cards.
Erza, Lucy, and Cana arrived just in time to witness the scene.
Lucy could not help complaining,
"Those two idiots."
In her opinion, with Natsu and Gray's abilities, they should not have lost so easily to these two.
The main reason they had been sealed was not because they lacked strength.
They had simply underestimated their opponents.
"I was wondering who had invaded this time. So it was you, the traitor, Sister Erza."
When the blond man saw Erza, his expression immediately darkened and even became twisted.
He spat out the words "Sister Erza" through gritted teeth.
"Sho."
Erza softly spoke his name before calmly saying,
"Sho, things aren't what you think. I never betrayed you. Everything that happened was because of Jellal—"
"Enough!"
Before Erza could finish, Sho interrupted her.
Hatred filled his face.
"After all this time, do you really think I'll still believe anything you say, Erza?"
"That's right, that's right."
Millianna walked over to Sho's side.
"We won't believe you anymore, meow."
"Millianna…"
Seeing her childhood companions misunderstand and hate her so deeply caused Erza's hatred toward Jellal to grow even stronger.
"I'll explain everything to both of you later, Sho, Millianna."
"But for now, please release my companions."
After forcing herself to remain calm, she spoke with complete seriousness.
~~~
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