Rowan could tell that Jellal had truly grown desperate this time.
He had originally believed victory was already in his grasp, only to discover that Erza's strength far exceeded his expectations. She had forced him into a corner several times.
With no other choice, he unleashed his ultimate move, intending to wipe everyone out at once.
Rowan slowly raised his hand and aimed it at Jellal.
Just as he was about to intervene,
Erza suddenly teleported and appeared directly in front of Jellal.
The black hole released a terrifying gravitational force, attempting to drag Erza inside and crush her into dust.
However, at that very instant, Erza suddenly swung her sword.
Her attack was extraordinarily fast, like a thunderbolt or flash of lightning. Just as the black hole was about to pull her away, her sword struck Jellal with perfect precision.
However, Jellal was not cut in half.
That was because Erza had held back. Instead of striking him with the blade's edge, she used its flat side.
No, calling it a slash was no longer accurate.
It was more like a clubbing.
The sword slammed down on Jellal's head with a dull bang. He staggered backward several steps, and the black hole above him instantly collapsed.
His mind went blank as the world spun around him.
It felt as though the ceiling had fallen on his head, leaving him unable to stand steadily.
Seeing this, Rowan clicked his tongue.
That move had been truly vicious.
Erza really had not shown the slightest mercy.
Jellal staggered backward several more steps before collapsing to the ground with a thud and falling into a sleep as peaceful as a baby's.
"Huh? It's over?"
Lucy stared at the vanished black hole with her mouth wide open in disbelief.
Jellal had seemed so powerful just moments earlier. How had he suddenly fallen?
Wasn't that far too anticlimactic?
"He panicked," Rowan explained.
"Huh?"
Lucy did not understand.
Rowan continued, "During the battle, Erza forced him into an extremely miserable position. So he used his strongest move, intending to wipe out everyone present."
"When people become desperate, they expose openings."
"Erza seized that opening, took a dangerous gamble, and engaged him at point-blank range. That was how she defeated him."
When Erza had teleported directly in front of Jellal, a delay of even one second would have caused the black hole to pull her in and reduce her to ashes.
But she had still done it.
Jellal never expected Erza to act so recklessly.
That was why he lost.
Looking at the unconscious Jellal, Erza raised her sword and pointed it at his throat, seemingly intending to drive it down.
But after hesitating several times, she still could not bring herself to kill him.
Rowan walked over and patted her shoulder with a smile.
"If you can't do it, then forget it. There's no need to force yourself. Besides, didn't he eventually redeem himself?"
For a moment, Erza did not know what to do.
Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Cana, and the others also approached and began persuading her.
After hearing everyone's words, Erza ultimately decided to bring Jellal back and hand him over to the Magic Council.
As for Sho, Millianna, Simon, and the others, Erza gathered them together as well.
She explained their experiences and the entire truth behind everything that had happened.
However, they did not dare believe her, fearing that it was another lie.
After all, in their eyes, Erza was a traitor.
How could they trust the words of a traitor?
"Everything Erza said is true."
At that moment, Simon stood and told everyone the truth.
Only then did the others finally understand.
After all, Simon had always been one of them. He had no reason to deceive them.
"How could Jellal do something like that? He's horrible!"
After learning how much Erza had suffered, Millianna immediately threw herself into Erza's arms and began crying loudly.
Erza did not know whether to laugh or cry. She could only hold Millianna and gently comfort her.
Sho, meanwhile, dropped to his knees with a thud and begged Erza for forgiveness.
Naturally, Erza forgave him.
Rowan had little interest in this kind of emotional scene.
Instead, he became curious about the Tower of Heaven and began exploring it.
The Tower of Heaven was actually the forbidden magic known as the R-System, invented by the Black Wizard Zeref.
Although it appeared to be a tower, it was actually an enormous lacrima. To activate the system, it needed to be struck by Etherion and absorb 2.7 billion units of conceptual magical energy.
It was also called the Revival System, a forbidden magic that sacrificed a living person to resurrect the dead.
In theory, it could revive anyone.
In the original story, Jellal intended to use it to resurrect Zeref.
Unfortunately, he did not know that Zeref had already been cursed by a god with eternal youth and immortality.
He was not dead.
Therefore, even if Jellal had successfully activated the Tower of Heaven, it would have been impossible to resurrect someone who was still alive.
Even so, Rowan remained interested in it.
Resurrecting someone who had died four hundred years ago was something even Rowan could not accomplish.
Therefore, the system still had great potential value.
Rowan searched Jellal's memories and found all the knowledge concerning the Tower of Heaven.
How should he describe it?
Although the Tower of Heaven could resurrect people, its preparations were far too complicated.
Constructing the tower alone required several years.
Activating it also required an enormous amount of magical energy—enough power to destroy an entire country.
It was the classic principle of achieving miracles through overwhelming power.
Rowan estimated that he would probably never use the device himself, but its underlying concepts were still worth studying.
Before long, everything came to an end.
Rowan's group returned to Fairy Tail.
As for Jellal, Erza and the others naturally delivered him to the Magic Council.
Whatever punishment he received afterward had nothing to do with Rowan.
Rowan immersed himself in researching the R-System.
As for Sho, Millianna, and the others, just like in the original story, they bid farewell to Erza and left Fairy Tail.
They did not join the guild.
Erza felt helpless about their decision, but ultimately respected her companions' choice.
In the blink of an eye, another dozen or so days passed.
During this period, Fairy Tail remained calm and peaceful.
Logically speaking, after the Tower of Heaven Arc should have come the Battle of Fairy Tail Arc.
Unfortunately, because Laxus had been warned by his grandfather Makarov and forbidden from approaching the guild for three months, there was still no sign of the guild civil war breaking out.
Instead, the Rain Woman Juvia and Iron Dragon Gajeel were invited by Makarov to join Fairy Tail.
Clearly, the old man who had read the story was beginning to take action, trying his best to pull the plot back onto its original course.
The only difference was that the Rain Woman Juvia did not seem nearly as attached to Gray as she had been in the original story.
And Gajeel had not formed a bond with Levy through fighting.
Whether the two pairs would still end up together in the future was something only heaven knew.
Rowan saw all of this, but had no intention of interfering.
One day, Makarov returned from a meeting with the Magic Council and gathered everyone together to announce something.
The plan to subjugate Oración Seis had officially been placed on the agenda.
Several guilds would form an alliance and completely eliminate the six members of Oración Seis.
Makarov also explained every member's abilities, personality, and past to everyone present.
The amount of detail left everyone dumbfounded.
Gray could not help commenting, "Isn't this intelligence way too detailed? Since when has the Magic Council been this competent?"
They had practically dug up every secret Oración Seis possessed.
With this information, the danger posed by the group immediately dropped by several levels.
Makarov quietly glanced at Rowan and calmly said, "In any case, that's the situation. Next, I'll need you to meet up with the members of the other guilds and eliminate Oración Seis together."
Natsu excitedly rubbed his fists together.
"I'm all fired up! Old man, I'm going on this mission too, right?"
Makarov nodded.
"For this operation, I plan to send Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, Gajeel, and Rowan."
"I'm counting on all of you to completely wipe out Oración Seis."
Rowan did not refuse, because he was interested in the magic used by Oración Seis.
Thus, the group departed for the rendezvous point.
Three other guilds would be participating in the operation alongside Fairy Tail.
Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Cait Shelter.
Lamia Scale had even sent a Wizard Saint—
Jura Neekis.
Of course, anyone familiar with the story knew that although Jura made an impressive entrance,
he was far too honest and straightforward. Shortly after appearing, he was ambushed by Angel of Oración Seis, who used the Celestial Spirit Gemini to deceive him. He was injured, causing his intimidating presence to collapse immediately.
But that did not diminish his actual strength.
Later, when he fought and defeated Brain, the leader of Oración Seis, he proved that this Wizard Saint was not truly weak.
Incidentally, Jura's magic was not some exceptionally powerful or rare ability.
It was ordinary Rock Magic.
He could freely manipulate stone and harden the ground before controlling it as he pleased.
Yet with such an ordinary form of magic, he had still managed to become one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
That was enough to prove that he had already developed this simple magic to an extraordinary level.
Rowan was extremely curious about it.
Before long, with Rowan's assistance, the Fairy Tail group arrived at the meeting place.
It was a luxurious villa.
Because Rowan had used the Door-Door Fruit, their group was the first guild to arrive.
The members of the other guilds had not yet appeared.
So everyone began exploring the villa.
Rowan formed a group with Erza and asked curiously,
"Do you think Lamia Scale will still send Lyon, the Emperor Zero, and Sherry this time?"
In the original story, after reconciling with Gray on Galuna Island, Lyon eventually joined Lamia Scale.
But this time, because of Rowan and Erza's intervention, Natsu and Gray had never visited Galuna Island at all.
They knew nothing about what had happened there.
Lyon had not reconciled with Gray either.
Therefore, Rowan was genuinely a little curious whether Lyon and Sherry would still participate in the mission to subjugate Oración Seis.
~~~
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