Fairy Tail: Strongest Creature

"Jellal!!" Sho shouted incompetently and furiously.

Erza stopped Sho and said, "Sho, save the people. Leave the rest to me."

"You can solve it. Let me tell you the truth: the Etherion will fall in fifteen minutes, and everyone in the entire tower will die by then!"

"Including you?"

"Of course! There is only one way to reverse this fate: you must die as a sacrifice to Zeref and resurrect the great Zeref! Only the great Zeref can destroy the Etherion!"

"Fifteen minutes? Enough. I will destroy you in fifteen minutes. Sho, you take everyone away. Your magic can put everyone into the cards, and then let Happy take them away. With Happy's speed, even if the Etherion falls, you can escape."

"How about you, Sister?!" Sho asked with a worried expression.

"I'm going to settle things with Jellal right here." Erza raised her sword.

"But Sister—"

"Don't waste any more time! Go!"

After Erza spoke, she charged toward Jellal, swinging her sword at him.

Jellal kept dodging: "Erza, you weren't my opponent eight years ago, and you won't be now."

"Don't underestimate me, Jellal. People grow!"

"Requip to Sky Wheel Armor!"

Erza swiftly changed her attire, donning silver-white steel armor that looked quite magnificent. Under Erza's control, multiple swords slashed at Jellal.

"Controlling multiple swords with your armor?"

"I've been accumulating strength all these years just to defeat you!"

"Sky Wheel: Stunning Sword!"

Jellal released a large number of dark ghosts from his hands, tangling with the steel swords. Right afterward, he pointed a finger at Erza, firing a magical impact at her.

"Crack—"

Erza's body crashed through several pillars and tumbled toward the outside of the tower.

"Requip: Black Wing Armor!"

A pair of bat-like wings sprouted from Erza's back, letting her fly back up to continue attacking Jellal.

"Don't you think it's a pity to destroy a tower you built with your own hands?"

"One or two pillars are just decorations."

"For the sake of those 'decorations,' Sho and the others believed you for eight years!!"

"Don't lecture me. The important thing is the R-System. It took eight years of precious work, and now it's finished!!" Jellal sent out another dark magical ghost, wrapping it around Erza's body.

"Requip: Armor of the Wind God!"

"Whoosh!"

A gust of wind swept over Erza's body, blowing away all the dark ghosts binding her.

"What is your real purpose? The R-System can't really be complete, can it? I haven't sat still for eight years. I've been investigating the R-System.

"The structure and principle of this tower do follow the intended design over time, but a fully built R-System requires one essential thing: magic power.

"To activate such large-scale magic, you need at least 2.7 billion Edeas of magic power. Even if you gathered every wizard on the continent, you might not achieve that. And this tower can't store so much magic power.

"Moreover, you already knew the Council would attack this place, yet you haven't tried to escape. So your claim that the Magic Council is about to strike seems like a bluff."

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind Erza and said: "No, it's not a bluff. The Magic Council really is about to use Etherion on this place. Nearly twenty minutes ago, they voted in favor."

Erza froze at the new voice. Turning around, she saw a man in white clothes who looked exactly like Jellal standing there.

"Siegrain?! Why are you here?! And what's with the Etherion?!"

"Because evil must be eradicated. Jellal's ideas are too dangerous. He wants to resurrect the Black Mage Zeref, and I can't let that happen. That's why I proposed using Etherion to destroy this place."

Erza's face fell. "What?! It was you?! Why would you drop Etherion?! There are still many lives here!!"

"There's no other way. If the Black Mage Zeref is resurrected, countless more lives will be lost. As his brother, I can't stand by and let Jellal do this."

"Erza, leave it to me. Take your companions and flee." Siegrain approached Erza and patted her shoulder.

Footsteps suddenly sounded, and Su Yan and Lucy appeared at the door, walking toward them.

"Su Yan? Lucy?!" Erza recognized them immediately. Su Yan's strength was enormous, so it was natural he'd reach the top floor.

"Erza!" Lucy showed relief upon seeing her. But then she was startled by the two identical figures: "T-Two Jellals?!"

"No, one is Jellal, and the other is Jellal's twin brother, Siegrain. Su Yan! Lucy! Run away with everyone—Etherion will strike in ten minutes!!"

"Ten minutes!!"

The timid Lucy was frightened again. If Etherion really was coming, they only had ten minutes. Could they escape the blast range in time? It was said one hit could destroy an entire country—Etherion truly was that fearsome.

Su Yan raised his brows at Erza's words, looking at the two identical figures. "Twins? Jellal, you sure like tricking people—even women."

Erza was stunned by Su Yan's remark. What was he implying? Deceiving women? Etherion?

At that moment, Siegrain and Jellal both laughed: "Aah! We didn't mean to trick anyone. You can only blame this woman for being too stupid."