Jose's Two Mistakes

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Oak.

August, x784.

Just as Alfonzo defeated Gajeel, Makarov finally made it to the top floor of Phantom Lord's guild hall. Without wasting any time, he kicked in the only door on the floor. Luckily for the door, Makarov was not in his [Giant] form, resulting in the door simply swinging open before slamming into the connecting wall.

"Jose!" Makarov growled angrily as soon as he saw the one responsible for the order to attack his children.

"Makarov… You came much quicker than I expected." Jose's projection said from behind his desk.

The thing about Jose's projection is that unless one is close enough to it, it is nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Naturally, the use of any kind of detection spell would give him away instantly. Unfortunately, Makarov was too enraged to do something as mundane as casting a spell for detection.

"Before I punish you for your transgressions, I'll give you the opportunity to explain yourself." Makarov said in an authoritative tone.

"Hmph! I have no need to explain my actions to you." Jose replied disdainfully. "But since I am magnanimous, and for the sake of your peace of mind after your guild is destroyed, I'll tell you why I started this war. Our client, Jude Heartfilia asked us to retrieve his daughter."

"And what does that have to do with escalating the rivalry between our guilds into an all-out war?" Makarov asked, a tint of confusion mixed into his enraged tone.

"Hmph!" Jose snorted once again. "And you have the audacity to call yourself a guild master? You don't even know who your so called children are. Pathetic."

"My patience is growing thin, Jose." Makarov growled, flaring his magic power to its limits.

"And why should that be my concern?" Jose asked dismissively. "Anyway, recently, you accepted a girl into your guild. A blonde girl with brown eyes. Does that description ring any bells?"

Upon hearing Jose's description, Lucy's face immediately popped up in Makarov's mind.

"Lucy…" Makarov muttered.

"That's right." Jose replied with a grin. "It would seem that you didn't even know her full name, Lucy Heartfilia. Sometimes I wonder how your guild hasn't been taken over by spies from other guilds yet."

With that said, Jose looked at Makarov with a mocking gaze.

"Why would you accept this quest, Jose?" Makarov asked with a hint of curiosity in his tone. "The girl is of legal age, an adult capable of making her own decisions. Instead of retrieving a runaway child, this is more akin to kidnapping. Especially with the methods you are employing. Even though we never saw eye to eye, I thought you were better than that."

By the end of his short speech, Makarov's tone contained some disappointment as well. At the same time, he gazed at Jose as if he were a child who had been caught causing mischief.

Naturally, Jose heard and saw the disappointment in Makarov's tone and gaze. And being looked down on in such a way instantly enraged him.

"Do not talk down to me as if you were my superior!" Jose shouted. "I refuse to allow you to have the backing of the Heartfilia Kanzen. Only Fiore's strongest guild, Phantom Lord, deserves that kind of support!"

"Heartfilia Kanzen's support?" Makarov asked, genuine confusion in his tone. "Like you just said, I didn't even know she was a Heartfilia, how could I be aiming to gain their support?"

"In the end, it doesn't matter." Jose said, calming down as he did so. "We WILL retrieve the Heartfilia girl. Then, we will demand the Heartfilia Kanzen from Jude Heartfilia for her safe return. And once that behemoth of a company is in our hands, there will be no one who can contest with Phantom Lord's supremacy in the wizarding world."

"Now you sound like the guild master of a Dark Guild." Makarov said while shaking his head. "Either way, you'll pay for harming two of my children last night. And since we won't let you take Lucy against her will, the rest doesn't matter, anyway."

With that, Makarov increased his size using his [Giant Magic]. Then, with his magic power coating his right hand, he threw a punch at Jose that shattered the desk he was sitting behind and everything on top of and behind it. However, when Makarov pulled his fist back, he saw that Jose was still seated in the same position. However, the chair that he had been sitting on was nowhere to be seen, destroyed along with the desk.

"A projection…" Makarov muttered as he saw the smirk on Jose's face.

"It took you long enough to realize." Jose mocked. "Your overprotective nature will one day lead to your downfall, Makarov. Unfortunately for you, that day is today."

As soon as Jose's words fell, a tall, massive man with tan skin, a rectangular face with a rounded chin, and disproportionately small limbs with large hands appeared behind Makarov wearing a blindfold, a black hat, a yellow shirt, a light blue robe over the shirt, and black pants and shoes.

"It's so sad to think that such a powerful wizard will fall today." The giant of a man said with tears flowing from beneath his blindfold as he stretched his hands towards Makarov from behind. "[Mets---] Argh!"

Before the man could finish his chant and activate his spell, his head snapped to the right before he was blown away, slamming into the wall and cracking it on impact.

"What!?" Jose exclaimed, his projection standing up in both rage and confusion. "Who dares to interfere with my plan? If I ever find out who you are, I'll make you regret the day you went against me."

"Gramps was right." Elicia said as she dropped her [Camouflage Magic], appearing from thin air next to Makarov. "Phantom Lord really does act like a dark guild. And if you keep spouting lines like those, Master Jose, I'm gonna have to downgrade you to a third rate villain."

"Elicia, why are you here?" Makarov asked in surprise. "I thought you were downstairs helping the others fight the rest of the Phantom Lord."

"Nah… Fonzie and the other girls are down there. Phantom Lord doesn't have the firepower to deal with all of them. So, I came up here to make sure that nothing happened to you. You were way to angry to detect any kind of sneak attack, after all."

"I suppose I should thank you then, Child." Makarov said with a solemn expression.

"So, it's the Magic Seamstress…" Jose muttered. "Gajeel mentioned that you were capable of fighting on par with him, if only for a short time. Still, that's quite---"

"You villain types always twist things to your advantage, huh?" Elicia muttered, interrupting Jose. "Of course it was only for a short time, the fight only lasted, like, one exchange. Then he ran away. Yet you make it sound like I was getting overwhelmed or something."

While Jose's eyebrow twitched after being interrupted, he did not lose his cool this time.

"Why would such a strong wizard such as yourself be satisfied with a guild like Fairy Tail?" Your talents would be better nurtured if you joined us. With my resources I can make---"

"So, from backhanded compliments to trying to poach me, huh?" Elicia said, her expression showing that she was getting more and more disappointed with Jose. "You really are trying to get down to third-rate villain status, huh?"

Once again, Jose's eyebrow twitched at being interrupted. On top of that, his face slightly twisted from due to rage. Still, he did all he could to keep his cool. Before he could start speaking once again, however, Elicia beat him to it.

"And the fact that you're talking like that to distract me so that the big guy can sneak attack me, just like you tried to do to Gramps, isn't helping your case." Elicia said as she flicked the fingers on her right hand, controlling the thin threads she had secretly wrapped around the large man's body.

At the same time, the large man Elicia blew away a few moments ago appeared behind her with his hand extended towards the back of her head. However, before he could even open his mouth to chant a spell, he was once again flung into a wall. However, instead of stopping at just one, he bounced around the room, slamming into all four walls, the floor, and the ceiling, repeatedly, leaving cracks behind with every impact.

Eventually, Elicia stopped flicking her fingers and the man, covered in cuts and bruises, slumped to the floor in a corner of the room.

'She's grown so much in only thirteen years.' Makarov said, pride for one of his young wizards visible in his eyes. 'If I remember correctly, that should be one of Jose's S-Class wizards, Aria of the Element 4. And she defeated him with ease.'

While Makarov was proud of Elicia's growth, Jose's thoughts were in direct contrast with his. Naturally, he was enraged that his plans had been thwarted. But after remembering the secondary plan he put in motion, his expression relaxed.

"Even if I failed to put you out of your misery, Makarov, the Heartfilia girl will still fall into my hands." Jose said with a smug, yet cruel, grin on his face. "As we speak, two more members of the Element 4 are in Magnolia right now, and they should have already captured the Heartfilia girl."

Once again, Makarov's emotions peaked. However, before he could speak out his rage, Elicia opened her mouth once again.

"Oh, although he didn't think that Lucy was your target, Fonzie thought there would be another attack on Levy and the boys." Elicia said, waving off Jose's words dismissively. "So, he asked Ultear and Gray to stay behind and make sure nothing happened to them. So, if they attacked Lucy, they probably got intercepted."

'I'm really getting better at this deceiving the enemy thing.' Elicia thought to herself while happily smiling on the inside. 'Of course Fonzie knew that Juvia and Sol were after Lucy. But he couldn't tell that to Ultear and Gray. I mean, there's no way he should have known that beforehand.'

"Huh? When did that happen?" Makarov asked, genuinely confused by the news Elicia provided. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"Seriously, Gramps." Elicia muttered. "You were so angry that you didn't even notice two of the stronger wizards in the guild weren't with us? We should put you in an anger management class or something."

"Ultear and Gray?" Jose muttered, searching through his memories about those names. "Ultear Milkovich, Fairy Tail's newest S-Class wizard, and Gray Fullbuster, A strong contender for the next S-Class Promotion Exam. On top of that, they are the daughter and disciple of the Ice Witch, Ur Milkovich. Damn it! It looks like Juvia and Sol will not be able to complete their mission."

By now, Jose's expression had been twisted by such an inhuman amount of rage that he looked more like the name sake of his guild than a human. On top of that, due to his loss of emotional control, his gloomy magic power was leaking from his body and putting pressure on the entire top floor of Phantom Lord's guild hall.

"Damn you, Fairy Tail!" Jose shouted angrily. "Believe me when I say this, I will not rest until I've seen your guild destroyed!"

"Third-rate villain status achieved." Elicia said with a smile. "Congratulations, Master Jose Porla. It seems you were able to make all your dreams come true."

With that statement, Jose's glare focused on Elicia.

"And I've had enough of your mockery, girl." Jose said in a venomous tone. "After destroying your guild, I will make sure that you pay for your insolence. But I won't kill you. Oh no. You deserve much worse than death. And when I'm done with you, you'll be torn between wishing for death and begging for more."

By the end of his threat, Jose held a bit of lust in his eyes as he ran his gaze up and down Elicia's body. Though both Makarov and Elicia felt that Jose was only trying to intimidate and break Elicia's will, both of them frowned at the insinuation.

Before either of them could speak, however, the entire guild hall was engulfed in a potent killing intent. In fact, the killing intent was so strong that the battle down on the first floor came to a halt, wizards on both sides unable to stand the killing intent that washed over them.

While Makarov was taken aback after feeling such potent killing intent, he was mostly unaffected. He had been a wizard for a long time, so, it was not the first time he felt killing intent like this. What surprised him, however, was the fact that Jose, through the projection, had stiffened for a split second.

"What happened downstairs?" Makarov asked curiously. "And who's killing intent is this?"

"It's not what happened downstairs, gramps." Elicia replied with a wry smile. "It's because of what happened up here. More specifically, what Master Jose just said."

"What do you mean?" Makarov asked in confusion.

"I don't know how, but it seems like Fonzie heard Master Jose threatening to rape me." Elicia said, her wry smile widening. "And I'm sure you can tell, but he's not okay with that."

"But how?" Makarov asked in a dumbfounded tone. "Is that even possible? I mean, there's a guild war going on downstairs. How could he hear anything all the way up here with all that noise?"

"Beats me." Elicia replied with a shrug.

At that moment, Jose came out of his shock at stiffening thanks to someone's killing intent.

"Do you really think anyone will believe that nonsense?" Jose asked disdainfully. "Since you think I'm so easily fooled, before I start on making you pay for your mockery, I'll start with that fiancé of yours. I'll torture him in front of you until he signs over all his patents to me. After that, I'll make you watch as I---"

Jose's words were cut off as he once again stiffened from being washed over by a potent killing intent.

"Fonzie marked you first, Jose Porla." Elicia said in an emotionless tone. "So, I won't do anything to you for now. But I'd suggest you never let either of us see you again, or you'll live to regret it."

With that, Elicia turned around and started walking out of Jose's office, leaving two thoroughly flabbergasted guild masters behind her. Just before she left, though, she formed her [Battering Hammer] out of her threads and slammed it into Aria's head when she noticed that he started to stir from his unconscious state. Then, she left the room.

A moment later, Jose, with his expression twisted in fury, dispelled his projection, leaving Makarov standing alone with the unconscious Aria in the office.

"What the fuck was that?" Makarov asked, thoroughly confused at what just took place.

Eventually, Makarov came to his senses and followed Elicia back to the ground floor. When he arrived, he saw that the fighting was over. Most of the Phantom Lord wizards had either been knocked unconscious or lost the will to fight after feeling the two potent killing intents that washed over the building. Even some of the wizards from his own guild were looking at Alfonzo and Elicia with worry.

"Let's go back to Magnolia, Children." Makarov shouted, dispelling some of the awkward atmosphere. "We have no reason to remain any longer. Fairy Tail has won!"

With that declaration, Makarov raised his fist in the air as a sign of victory.

Finally snapping out of it, the Fairy Tail wizards cheered for their victory before quickly leaving the Phantom Lord guild hall and loading into the three vehicles, with Happy once again carrying Natsu, before they all started the return trip to Magnolia.