José's Entrance

"Hey! What's the matter?" Gray calls out in shock and worry as the water mage on the ground suddenly seems to pass out. He turns and quickly stands up next to her prone form, unsure of what to do or how to help. The woman has been going through so many emotional twists and turns, he is kind of scared that he might say or do something to set her off, again.

"Hang in there!" he shouts. "Hey! Hey!" he calls trying to wake her up, too scared to actually touch her. He kneels next to her to at least make sure that she is breathing, and finding that she is, he lets out a sigh of exasperation. He shakes his head slowly when he notices the look of joy on her face.

"Now, what could have caused her to look so happy after losing?" he mutters to himself.

"Gray!" More than once voice calls his name. More than a little surprised, he looks over to see Mirajane and Elfman running towards him.

"Elfman!" He calls out towards his friend before continuing in a confused voice, "And Mira too?" As they approach, he stands up to properly greet them. The two siblings come up on the other side of Juvia, so all three surround her unconscious body.

"Is this the third Element 4?" Elfman asks of Gray before also asking in a puzzled voice, "Why does she look so happy?"

"Beats me. Maybe she's having a nice dream." Gray says nonchalantly, really not wanting to discuss the battle he just finished having when he has no idea how or why Juvia has acted so random and weird throughout it.

"Only one left!" Mirajane says excitedly which catches Gray off guard. Seeing his confusion, she quickly explains before he has time to ask.

"If we can defeat one more, we can stop Abyss Break." Elfman continues the explanation knowing that like him, Gray will need a more details to understand what his sister is talking about.

"The Magic Giant moves using the power of the Element 4." he says calmly.

Mirajane jumps in to exclaim excitedly, "We can still make it! We can do it!" The two guys nod in agreement with Mirajane as they too believe that they now have a chance to stop it.

"Let's hurry!" she says, now completely serious. The guys nod again and all three of them take off towards the nearest opening to get inside. Using one of the skylights that were broken during Gray's battle, they hop in to run deeper within the giant. A few minutes of searching for the last Element 4, Mirajane remembers an important detail about Aria. She stops suddenly, which Gray and her brother do as well as soon as they noticed she stopped.

"What is it, nee-chan?" Elfman asks in concern.

Mirajane gives them both a deadly serious look as she tells them, "When we meet Aria, we must be careful about his eyes."

"His eyes?" Gray asks in puzzlement.

"Yes." she nods gravely.

"What about his eyeballs?" questions Gray in curiosity.

"Aria usually has his eyes closed. By closing his eyes he suppresses the overwhelming magical power he possesses, it seems." She explains in an earnest manner.

"What?" her brother exclaims in surprise, never hearing about someone with so much magical power that they have to suppress it.

Mirajane continues on, "Anyways, if you find Aria, beat him before he can open his eyes! If he opens them, you will lose any chance at victory." At her words, the realization of how serious this is sinking in the minds of the two young men. They lock gazes with one another as both their fear of failure and determination to not let failure happen shows up in their expressions.

A glow catches their attention and Mirajane looks out the nearest window to see what is going on now. A terrified scream tears out of her throat and both men hurry over to see what has distressed the older woman so. As soon as the men look out of the window, their breath catches in their throats. The magic circle for Abyss Break has finished and is about to activate.

They were too late.

A choked cry escapes from Mirajane as the two guys just stand there in silent grief. Then shockingly, the circle shrinks until it disappears. All three of them gasp in disbelief. Before anyone of them could say anything, the giant starts to shake violently.

"What's this? Is this Natsu's doing?" Gray demands while looking around wildly.

"It stopped!" Mirajane cries out in relief. "Abyss Break had been terminated!"

"Seriously? That means…" Elfman trails off as he bites his tongue by accident.

"The power of the four elements has been cut off!" Mirajane finished joyfully. They stumble to their knees as they brace themselves against the shaking that increased dramatically as the transformed guildhall crashes to the ocean below. Looking back out the window, it can be seen that the giant is falling as it has lost the power to keep itself upright.

Less than a minute later, although it seemed much longer than that, the shaking stops. Unsteadily, the three get back on their feet to see everyone on the beach, cheering. Mirajane squeals with joy as Elfman picks her up and swings her around, laughing all the while. Gray stands there smiling at the antics of the siblings.

For a while, everyone's hearts have been lightened as the last of what seems to be threats are now neutralized. Until the cheerful tones of the Phantom Lord speaker system sound off.

"Attention all you from Fairy Tail." José's voice rings out sounding very pleased. "Please listen carefully to this voice." he requests almost in a sing-song manner. A pained filled feminine scream sounds out from the system, causing the blood of everyone who heard and recognized the voice to run cold.

"We have captured Lucy. So we have accomplished one of our objectives." José's voice rings out happily. His voice lowers slightly and becomes gruffer, but doesn't lose the note of joy in it, "Thus we have one final goal that remains to be fulfilled. To slaughter the lot of you! Disgusting brats!"

Silently, the three friends stare at each other, the horrible realization that they aren't finished with Phantom Lord just yet. Now Lucy needs to be rescued from their clutches, and this time, she might not be able to escape before help arrives.

They nod in silent agreement before running quickly down the halls, knowing that they have to join up with Natsu if they have any chance to save Lucy. They race down the hallways looking for any sign of the dragon slayer. As one, they stop as they sense a large source of magic somewhere ahead of them.

"Natsu…" Mirajane whispers before rushing headlong in the direction that the source of magic was coming from with the two guys not far behind. They eventually make it to a large room that has been royally trashed. A sure sign that Natsu was here. A quick survey shows that the dragon slayer wasn't there anymore, but a surprise did turn up.

"Erza!" Mirajane cries out in shock, as she sees the redhead sitting on the floor looking worse for wear. She was propped up against a pillar and lifted her head when she heard her name.

"Erza!" Gray yells in shock, not expecting to find her here, especially with how heavily wounded she is.

"Looks like there were some fireworks here too," Elfman states as he observes the state of the room since he was the last to enter.

"It's you guys," Erza says with relief as she relaxes against the wall.

"When did you break in?" Gray demands loudly.

"You shouldn't even be standing!" Mirajane exclaims worriedly right on the heels of Gray's question. Elfman stays vigilant in case more Phantom Lord mages decides to show up and attack. He notices something that the other two have missed when they first entered.

"H-Hey!" he calls out to catch his guildmates' attention. Gray and Mirajane turn to look at what Elfman has found. The sight of the strongest mage of the Element 4 laying prone on the ground catches them by surprise.

"Aria?" Mirajane says in shock. Realizing what this means, the three turn to Erza in awe.

"You actually fought with wounds like that?" Elfman asks in amazement.

"What were you thinking?" Gray scolds. He pauses before adding, "Which means…"

"You defeated Aria?" Mirajane finishes Gray's trailing question.

Erza looks up at them with a bemused expression before answering in a soft voice that they haven't heard from her in a long time, "I never wanted you guys to see me so weak like this…" She smiles gently at her family before looking down and closing her eyes.

"I guess I still have a long way to go." The redhead declares in a casual manner as if defeating such a powerful mage while wounded so badly isn't an impressive feat.

A cold, noxious aura enters the room and sends unwelcome chills down everyone's spines, including Gray's. The sheer amount of magical pressure heading towards them terrifies the group.

"What's that?" Gray asks hesitantly, fearing he already knows the answer.

"That's…" is all Mirajane can say as the foreboding feeling grows.

"I sense death!" Erza exclaims, not used to feeling this overwhelming aura of doom.

"What is this feeling?" Gray asks, deeply troubled by the turn of events.

Elfman shudders as he comments, "It sends chills down a Man's spine!"

"The malice is palpable!" Mirajane says with a shudder. A soft clapping noise coming from behind the group startles them and they swiftly turn around to see José with a sardonic smile on his face.

"My, my. I'm quite impressed, my Fairy Tail Wizards…" He says slowly and calmly in that perpetually smug voice. He is standing at the other end of the hall, his magic visibly rolling off of him in a purplish black haze.

"To think I would be able to have such fun… I would never have dreamed it." he continues, his voice now turning mocking as he regales the Fairy Tail members with an icy glare that his smile doesn't reach. He spreads his arms out as if to encompass the entire guild hall.

"Destroying Jupiter, taking down the Element 4... And even bringing my Magic Giant to its knees!" A frenzied look graces his face and his tone matches his expression.

"Master José!" growls out Erza in anger. Elfman has a scared expression on his face as just by sensing José's magical power, he knew that he was completely outclassed and had no way to win if he had to fight.

"This guy is Phantom's master?" Gray questions in awe and fear. Mirajane puts her hand over her mouth and looks like she is about to become sick.

"How can magic feel so… evil?  I feel nauseous just standing near him!" She exclaims, as her face pales.

"Now, I must thank you for the fun you've given me." José intones in a voice speaking of generosity. They might have believed him if it wasn't for the malignant aura of his magic and the cold glare of hatred in his eyes.

"Elfman!" Gray cries out as he jumps in front of the girls, bent over in a defensive position.

"Right!" The larger male grunts out as he also jumps in front of the girls at the same time Gray does.

José glares coldly at mages in front of him and waves a hand in front of his face as he says to himself, "I'll enjoy this…" Hand up, his magic starts to form and increase in power. Gray and Elfman immediately go on the attack, hoping to stop whatever nasty spell José is about to cast. They jump towards the leader of the Phantom Lord guild, and his magic activates into a yellowish color as they approach.

"Wait, don't be hasty!" Erza screams out in warning, but it is too late. The boys attack and José activates the spell.

"Absurd!" he calls out disdainfully at the weak attacks coming towards him. His magic changes color again and dozens of purple-black forms streak across the hall, a majority of them hitting Elfman and Gray.

Overwhelmed by the sheer power of the spell, they are flung into a far wall of the room and crash land hard onto their backs. José did cast a spell before attacking the two males, what they don't know was that it wasn't aimed at them.

_____________________

Outside, the Shades that have been constantly besieging the Fairy Tail wizards on the beach suddenly stop attacking. They fly up into the air, congregating into one large group. They merge together into a swirling dark purple sphere and the sphere grows as more Shades join in.

It grows until it is almost the size of the Fairy Tail guildhall and eyes appears on the mass of magic. Six long black arms also appear, wiggling around in a creepy way. As the wizards on the beach try to understand what is going on the blob of magic raises its arms and punches the Fairy Tail guildhall.

Everyone is stunned at the sight. Their beloved guild, their home, is being destroyed right before their very eyes. Screams of pain and despair sound off across the beach. A few quick-witted mages start to attack the mass of magic and the others swiftly join in.

___________________

"Elfman, Gray!" Mirajane screams out in fright. A noise behind her catches her attention and she turns with a gasp. Erza is in a kneeling position, trying to stand up again to fight. Ignoring the females, José sweeps his arm over the area where the guys landed and a golden glow appears before erupting into an explosion.

Again, helpless against José's power, they are blown backward unable to defend themselves. This opponent was no joke. The force of the explosion even knocks back Mirajane who wasn't in the line of fire. The blast was strong enough that it knocked out both guys and Mira in one shot.

Her anger and determination to protect her friends gives Erza not only the strength to stand, but to charge towards José. Seeing the redhead approaching rapidly towards him, José extends an arm in her direction and a swirling mass of magic blasts out from his palm.

Erza's reflexes kick in and she is able to dodge the attacks as she continues her headlong rush towards their enemy. Jumping into the air, she changes into her demonic looking armor that allowed her to enter the giant along with Krysti. With an enraged yell, the redhead tries an overhead swing of her sword, hoping to strike José. The guild leader was able to dodge nimbly to the side, completely avoiding her attack.

A quick change in grip and Erza turns the overhead slice into a horizontal one that aims for José's neck. He ducks quickly and grabs onto Erza's arms before the armored woman can mount another attack. She realizes in shock that she can't get out of José's grip. He is either just too strong, or she is just too weak from her earlier battles.

Knowing that he has Erza firmly in his grasp, his ever-present smile becomes slightly crazed. With a powerful throw, the leader of Phantom Lord tosses Erza into the air and away from him. Using a piece of rubble as a step, she is able to recover from the toss and not suffer any more wounds as of yet.

Flipping in mid-air, she lands lightly on the ground in a kneeling position. Calmly they both stand back up, José looking quite bored with the exchange and Erza looking quite angry.

"You," José says in a bored tone to match his expression. "I'm pretty sure you took a direct hit from Jupiter," he states.

A hint of irritation can be heard in his voice when he asks, "How is it you can stand?"

"My friends strengthen my heart!" Erza proclaims loudly as she holds her sword in an outstretched hand, unwavering.

"For those that I love… I'd throw away this body!"  she declares in utmost certainty.

"Strong, courageous, beautiful… It will be such a pleasure to destroy you, girl!" José cries out with a manic expression now on his face.

"Leave Erza alone asshole!" a voice harshly growls out. José barely turns his head to get a look at the newcomer.