"Hahaha... enjoy yourselves!" Aria burst out laughing at the sight of Natsu and Happy.
"How boring!"
Xi Feng raised Hyōrinmaru and charged at Aria with a single stride.
"Can you overcome my Airspace magic?!" As Xi Feng rushed toward him, Aria kept unleashing his magic power, sending wave after wave surging toward him.
"I told you, your magic is boring!"
Xi Feng shouted, releasing a burst of magic power. At the same time, Hyōrinmaru radiated a fierce chill, freezing the entire space solid in an instant.
"What?! Impossible! How could my magic be frozen?!" Aria stared at the chunks of ice in terror.
"Ice-Dragon Tail!"
While Aria was still reeling in horror, Xi Feng appeared before him and swung Hyōrinmaru, delivering a slash brimming with freezing air.
"Gah!"
Aria coughed up blood in agony. Then a gust of icy air swept over him, freezing both him and his blood solid.
"Eek!"
The sight startled Happy and Natsu.
"I gave you a chance, and you threw it away. Then you even dared to ambush the old man," Xi Feng said coldly, without so much as glancing at Aria.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Erza, Elfman, and Gray easily defeated Earth Element, one of the Element 4.
All four of the Element 4 had lost this battle.
Outside, the members of Fairy Tail had watched the magic circle slowly take shape, despair filling their hearts. Just as they were about to take cover, the Magic Giant began collapsing and finally crumbled into ruins.
"We did it!"
"Thank goodness!"
"Fairy Tail!"
Seeing the Magic Giant reduced to rubble, the members of Fairy Tail burst into cheers.
"Impossible!"
Jose, meanwhile, was furious. "How could my Element 4 lose to those Fairy Tail wastes?!" he roared. "Where's Gajeel?! Where is he?!"
"We don't know..." a Phantom Lord lackey said fearfully.
"I'm here, Master Jose." The lackey had barely finished speaking when Gajeel's voice rang out.
"You're back? Why do you look so battered?" Jose asked in confusion at the sight of Gajeel's injuries.
"It's nothing." Gajeel shook his head, choosing not to answer the question.
"If you won't tell me, fine. I don't care what happened earlier. It's your turn to act now." Knowing Gajeel's temperament, Jose did not press him and simply gave him an order.
"Yeah." Gajeel nodded, then turned and left without another word.
"Damn it! Damn it! I'll kill those Fairy Tail wastes!" Jose shouted, seething with rage.
"I'll make them understand! There won't be another miracle. I'll deal with them myself."
Just as Fairy Tail was celebrating, a swarm of Phantom Soldiers suddenly flew out of the Magic Giant's rubble, plunging everyone back into battle.
"Fire Dragon..."
After Xi Feng dealt with Aria, Gajeel's voice rang out.
"Huh?" Hearing someone call him, Natsu looked over in confusion and saw Gajeel standing outside the ruins.
"It's you! I'm going to beat your face to a pulp today!" Flames erupted around Natsu as he charged straight at him.
"Come on! Let's have a battle between Dragon Slayer Mages!" Watching Natsu charge, Gajeel brimmed with fighting spirit. His magic power surged as he rushed to meet him. ...
"Well, well. Just what I'd expect from you, Xi Feng. You really are powerful."
But shortly after Natsu left, a nauseating magic power spread through the area. The moment Xi Feng sensed it, he knew who it belonged to. Then Jose appeared before him, a smile on his face.
"To be honest, I'd rather not snuff out a genius like you. But your Fairy Tail has made me very angry!"
Jose's gaze sharpened as an invisible burst of magic power surged straight toward Xi Feng.
Boom!
The sudden burst of magic blasted Xi Feng away. Although he had been prepared, Jose was, after all, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, just like Makarov.
"Do you know why I didn't kill Makarov right away?" Jose asked leisurely as Xi Feng slowly got to his feet. "Despair! I want him to know what despair tastes like. When he wakes up and sees his beloved comrades dead and his beloved guild destroyed, what do you think he'll do? His expression will be wonderful. Then, while he's grieving, I'll kill him. Hahaha..."
"You won't succeed..."
"I won't succeed? Who can stop me? You? Hahaha! You're far too naive!"
"You don't get to decide whether I'm naive!" Xi Feng shouted, his magic power erupting.
"Bankai-Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!"
Vast magic power poured out without end, until an enormous frost dragon appeared behind Xi Feng!
"How is this possible?! How can you have so much magic power?!" Sensing Xi Feng's magic, Jose began to panic.
"Ghost Arrows!"
Without another thought, Jose launched a surprise attack, firing ghostlike arrows straight at Xi Feng. But when they came within half a meter of him, Jose's magic froze into a block of ice and fell to the ground.
"You've truly angered me now."
At some point, Xi Feng had appeared beside Jose, watching him coldly, and "walked" four steps.
"Four Realms Freeze!"
As Xi Feng's words fell, the entire ruin erupted in dazzling blue-white light.
"What's going on?! What is that light?!"
"It's blinding!"
"What happened?!"
"Why do I feel so cold?!"
Outside, the members of Fairy Tail stared at the sudden blue-white radiance in shock and confusion. The Phantom Soldiers floating in the air turned into shards of ice and fell to the ground.
Chapter 52: Pressure from the Magic Council (Please send flowers and enable automatic subscriptions)
"What on earth happened?!"
When the dazzling blue-white light faded, Fairy Tail's members were stunned. The area before them had become a frozen landscape of ice and snow.
"Xi Feng..."
At the sight, Erza covered her mouth, tears of joy spilling down her cheeks.
"Stay away from Fairy Tail. Next time, you won't get off this easily," Xi Feng said flatly to the frozen Jose, then turned and left.
Natsu's battle had also ended. Although he had initially been outmatched by Gajeel, once the flames of emotion in his heart erupted, his strength more than doubled.
"We won!"
"Thank goodness! We defeated Phantom Lord!"
"Xi Feng, you were amazing!"
After defeating Phantom Lord, Fairy Tail's members burst into cheers. Some cried and others laughed, filling the air with lively celebration.
"Seems like we made quite a mess this time, huh?"
Xi Feng rubbed his chin as he looked at the guild, now reduced to rubble.
"If the master sees this when he wakes up, he'll probably faint again," Erza said with a laugh, covering her mouth.
"Whatever. Everything after this is the old man's problem." Without a second thought, Xi Feng dumped all the remaining responsibility onto Makarov.
"Xi Feng, you'll make the master furious if you do that."
"He won't get worked up that easily. The old man's still fit and strong. Besides, he's the guild master, isn't he?"
"Um... Xi Feng, everyone..." Just then, Lucy approached from behind Xi Feng, her face full of guilt. She kept her head lowered, unable to meet anyone's eyes.
"Hm?" Hearing the guilt in Lucy's voice, Xi Feng looked at her in confusion.
"I... I'm sorry..." Lucy bowed her head deeply, her whole body trembling as tears streamed down her face.
"What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong." Xi Feng wiped away Lucy's tears and said gently, "Look at everyone..."
At Xi Feng's words, Lucy raised her head and looked around. Everyone was smiling at her, without the slightest trace of blame.
"Lucy, we're family."
"Don't cry!"
"We all chose to do this!"
"Waaah... but I..." Lucy covered her face with both hands, tears seeping endlessly between her fingers. "But because of me, everyone got hurt, and the guild is gone..." she sobbed. "Waaah..."
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