"Everyone, prepare for defense! Sniper team, switch to armor-piercing rounds!"
Even though Rhodes relayed the order directly into everyone's minds using telepathy, it still ca a second too late.
From the front of Jose, three towering waves of purple-black energy, each more than three ters high surged forward in succession like a demonic tide.
The shattered remains of the ruins were pushed aside instantly, and the waves carried a storm of stone and debris as they hurtled toward the mbers of Fairy Tail.
Acting swiftly, Rhodes transford his hands into dragon claws and slamd them into the ground. A towering stone wall, five ters high and over a ter thick erupted from the earth, rising between the oncoming wave and the Fairy Tail formation.
"Gray! Laki! Tono!" he called.
The rubble crashed against the stone wall, breaking apart and scattering, but the first wave of magic slamd into it and cracked the wall with a deafening boom before it finally burst apart.
"Ice-Make: Shield!"
"Wood-Make: Guardian of Love!"
Gray and Laki followed up imdiately, erecting an ice wall and a wooden barricade behind the now-crumbled stone wall.
Tono, a newer mber who had only joined Fairy Tail earlier that year, hesitated slightly, half a beat behind the others but still managed to raise his spell in ti.
"Light Guardian!" he called, pressing his hands together. A halo of soft blue light spread from his body, layering itself protectively over Gray's ice wall.
The final remnants of the first wave of energy dissipated harmlessly against the light barrier.
But the second wave crashed forward imdiately, breaking through Tono's shield of light, lting the thick ice wall, splintering the wooden defense, and pressing on with relentless force.
Erza raised her great shield once again, while Mira placed a hand on her shoulder, casting a black defense spell that overlaid Erza's magic circle with a thin, dark barrier.
The second wave slamd into their combined defense, and shattered.
But the third wave was the largest. The strongest. It bore down on them like a mountain collapsing into the sea.
"You're not getting past us!" Mira and Erza shouted in unison. Once fierce rivals, today they stood together, guarding everyone behind them.
Two streams of brilliant blue magic spiraled around them, amplifying their power.
"Haaaah!!"
The two unleashed a joint roar, unleashing the full force of their magic. The third wave collided with their barrier in a brilliant flash—and finally dissipated.
Their barrier shattered, and the defensive circle crumbled. Mira and Erza were thrown backward, Rhodes caught Mira mid-fall, while Cana caught Erza with a sliding tackle.
The wind howled around them from the lingering magic. Even the weakened remnants of Jose's spell were strong enough to knock people off their feet.
So began to falter.
A few mbers looked shaken, frightened. That monstrous attack had taken nearly everyone working in unison just to repel it.
Can we really win this? That silent fear rippled through the crowd. Through Warren's magic, those doubts transmitted directly into Rhode's mind, dozens of inner voices whispering their unease.
The weight on Rhode's shoulders grew heavier.
These comrades had entrusted their lives to him, placing their trust in his leadership. He couldn't fail them. He wouldn't fail them.
But just as he opened his mouth to speak—soone else beat him to it.
A voice rang out, brimming with fire and faith.
"Don't be stupid!" Natsu shouted. "We stopped it, didn't we?! That was a Saint-level attack, and we stopped it! If we're together, nothing can beat us!"
He grinned through the dust and exhaustion, fists clenched, fire blazing behind his eyes.
"We'll show him what Fairy Tail's made of!"
"Natsu!"
"Yeah! He's right! We blocked it!"
"And now Jose's the one on the ropes!"
'Well done.'
Rhodes gave silent praise to Natsu, forcing himself to stay calm. With a steady breath, he issued the next command:
"Comnce Attack Plan C! Everyone, move to your assigned positions!"
As expected of a Wizard Saint, Jose's combat ability left almost no opening.
After testing various elental magics, fire, ice, lightning, wind, even divine light, Rhodes ca to a troubling conclusion: Jose had no clear elental weakness. He wasn't just immune to basic counters, his magic had an overwhelming edge even against traditionally opposing attributes.
Even though he wielded dark-elent magic, he shrugged off light and thunder spells with barely a reaction.
If he had a flaw at all, it wasn't his magic, but his body.
His physical resilience wasn't much higher than a regular S-Class mage. If you could land a hit before he activated a defense spell, his body wouldn't withstand it just through raw mana alone.
That's where Rhode's Brambleback ca in. Once an attack broke through, it would hurt.
So the strategy was clear. Overwhelm him. Control the space. And when the mont cos, strike.
Most of Fairy Tail's strike force had already repositioned, retreating to a wider periter. The distance was enough to keep them safe from Jose's unpredictable area-of-effect magic, while still giving them ti to move in for backup or ranged support.
At the frontline: Mira, Erza, and Natsu stood shoulder to shoulder. Two towering Sentinels flanked them, guarding their flanks like twin stone guardians.
Rhodes and Warren stood at center formation, acting as the command hub. Gray and Elfman held both wings, and Cana brought up the rear, her magic cards already glowing between her fingers.
Jose didn't imdiately launch another attack.
He couldn't.
From the skies above, more than a dozen sniper bullets rained down, their trajectory laser-precise, aid straight at his head, throat, heart, and other vital spots.
At the sa ti, a new wave of voidmites burst forward behind him, swarming like blue-purple hailstones with fangs.
Jose twisted his body sharply, evading the bullets with just two sidesteps. With a violent flick of his right arm, a serpent-like torrent of dark magic lashed out, coiling and snapping, consuming the voidmites midair with a flare of shadowfire.
But that motion cost him.
The wound on his right shoulder, already split from earlier, tore wider with the sudden movent. A few dark droplets of blood hit the stone floor and sizzled from the dark magic still coursing through his veins.
His lips curled into a snarl.
Eyes locked on Rhodes, this damn kid who kept barking orders like so battlefield general. That smug little upstart... definitely the one who'd led the trap that buried him.
He would be the first to die.
Jose casually tucked his right hand behind his back.
Unseen, a thin stream of purple-black magic dripped from his fingers like oily ink, seeping quietly into the broken ground.
"Lightning and wind magic!
Those familiar with the elents imdiately began chanting. Others quickly flipped through their magic books, searching for the right spell.
But before any spells could be cast, a sudden explosion erupted beneath Rhodes and Warren's feet.
"Ahhh!!!"
A burst of purple-black fla detonated beneath them. Gray and Elfman were caught in the shockwave and blasted to the sides, while Cana was thrown backward with a yelp.
Rhodes and Warren, standing at the heart of the blast, were hurled into the air, only to be saved by two krugs bursting up from underground. The krugs split apart under the force of the explosion, shielding them just long enough to minimize damage.
The two were rattled, but still okay. Gray, Elfman, and Cana, though bruised and a little bloodied, quickly shouted:
"Don't worry about us, keep attacking!"
Truthfully, Rhodes had planned to launch a surprise underground attack after Mira's aerial strike. But to his annoyance, Jose had already anticipated it and used the strategy first.
Even now, in his rage, Jose could still think tactically. A testant to why he was one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
In response, Fairy Tail's lightning and wind users fired spell after spell toward Jose.
But Rhodes didn't even stop to check if the attacks landed. He was already issuing the next wave of instructions:
"Vijeter! Joey!"
"Exhilaration Dance!" Vijeter stepped forward, lifted both arms above his head in a flashy pose, then spun into an energetic routine, one hand forward, one behind, his movents full of rhythm.
As he moved, a rebellious blue light radiated from him, coating every nearby ally in a soft azure aura.
It was a rare and powerful support spell, amplifying their battle capabilities.
Then ca Joey, his muscles bulging, who struck a sequence of bodybuilding poses beside Vijeter.
In an instant, Mira, Erza, Natsu, and even Rhodes found their arms and legs bulked up with exaggerated muscle mass.
It looked ridiculous.
But it felt amazing.
Joey's spell boosted their raw physical strength, and despite its odd aesthetics, its effects were imdiate and undeniable.
These two support spells were the signal, now was the ti to strike.
Erza and Mira surged forward with renewed power.
By now, Jose had already raised a protective barrier to absorb the barrage of lightning and wind magic. In his hands, purple-black serpents of magic coiled and hissed.
"Red buff!" Rhodes shouted, casting buffs onto Erza and Mira. At the sa ti, he barked his next command:
"All fire magic, focus on Natsu!"
Then, pointing toward Jose, he called out:
"Warren, sound magic! Overload his senses!"
...
Bonus @400
40 Chapters 👉patreon/Keepsmiling818
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