Magnolia had rarely seen such tension.
The skies were overcast. Winds carried the whispers of battle, and Fairy Tail's members stood on edge, guarding every street, alley, and rooftop.
Deep within the infirmary, Makarov remained unconscious, breathing shallow, his magical aura flickering like a dying candle.
Lucy sat beside him, still shaken but safe. Natsu paced like a caged animal. Gray kept a cold vigil.
Shinra stood at the balcony, silent and alert, watching the horizon.
It was coming.
A rumble echoed in the distance—deep and unnatural.
Then… *they saw it.*
Emerging from the hills was the **Phantom Lord Guild itself**—transformed into a towering mechanical fortress walking on massive steel limbs, steam hissing from vents, iron panels gleaming beneath a magical barrier.
Its cannon—the *Jupiter Cannon*—extended forward like the barrel of a divine judgment.
"Th-That thing is going to fire on Magnolia?" Max stammered.
"They wouldn't…" Jet whispered.
"They would," Shinra said flatly. "And they will."
---
Phantom Lord's fortress halted just beyond the riverbank.
Above, Jose Porla stood at a high platform, arms raised.
"FAIRY TAIL!" his voice boomed magically across the town. "You've overstepped your bounds! Now… you will be erased!"
The cannon hummed with growing power—magic concentrating into a beam of devastating potential.
"It's charging!" Warren shouted. "Ten more seconds!"
"We have to stop it!" shouted Cana.
"No one can survive that blast," Macao muttered.
"I will," said a voice.
Everyone turned.
Erza stepped forward, already re-quipping into her **Adamantine Armor**, gleaming with defensive plating and reinforced enchantments.
"I'll block it."
"No!" Levy screamed. "Erza, that thing—!"
But she was already moving.
Running across rooftops. Armor glowing. Hair whipping behind her.
She leapt into the air—
—*but someone appeared in front of her.*
Shinra.
"Step aside," she growled.
"No," he said, voice calm and absolute. "You've done enough."
"I'm not letting anyone else die!"
"You won't," Shinra whispered.
He raised a single hand toward the roaring cannon.
The magic beam *fired.*
---
It was a column of pure destruction—light and sound fusing into a scream of annihilation.
Erza flinched.
The cannon's energy collided with Shinra's hand—
—and *stopped*.
Not blocked. Not deflected.
Stopped.
The beam froze inches from his palm, suspended in space, particles locked in an invisible field like shattered glass caught mid-fall.
The earth trembled. Buildings shook. People screamed.
Shinra's cloak rippled in the storm.
"Infinity…"
His eyes glowed blue.
"Break."
The energy imploded inward, collapsing on itself, folding into a singularity of stillness—*then vanished*.
Silence followed.
The Jupiter Cannon's glow dimmed. Its power… gone.
Erza stared, stunned.
Shinra turned his head slightly. "You would've blocked it. But I wanted them to see something."
"See what?" she asked.
He looked toward Phantom Lord's fortress.
"That we are no longer afraid."
---
Cheers erupted through Magnolia.
The cannon was gone. Their spirits lit anew.
But Jose wasn't finished.
The fortress's legs shifted.
It *moved*—marching straight toward Magnolia, metal groaning and gears turning as the city itself quaked.
"They're going to walk it into the town!" Gray shouted.
"They'll level everything!" Wakaba added.
"We can't let that happen!" Elfman growled.
Shinra floated into the air, calling out across the guild with magic-enhanced voice.
"THIS IS OUR HOME!"
"WE DEFEND IT NOW!"
Erza summoned her Flame Empress Armor. Natsu's fire burst around him. Gray's ice slicked across his arms.
Every Fairy Tail mage charged as one, leaping from the rooftops, magic blazing.
Macao, Wakaba, Reedus, Jet, Droy, Levy—all of them.
And at the edge of the crowd, *watching quietly*—Mirajane Strauss stood frozen.
---
She had fought once.
She had led missions. Crushed enemies. Been feared as the **She-Devil of Fairy Tail**.
But since Lisanna's death… her magic hadn't surfaced.
She had buried it with her pain.
Now, she stood on the balcony, watching as Elfman shouted, "FOR FAIRY TAIL!" and rushed with the others toward the approaching steel nightmare.
And then—
One of the fortress's cannons fired.
A smaller blast this time.
But *enough.*
The shockwave knocked Elfman from the sky, sent Nab crashing into a building, and flung Jet and Droy into the trees.
"NO!" Mira screamed.
Smoke clouded the air. Screams echoed from below.
She could see her brother, trying to rise. Blood from his mouth.
Her hands trembled.
Then… they stopped.
Not from fear.
But from *awakening.*
A pulse of raw demonic magic surged from her body—twisting the air with its pressure.
Her hair fluttered. Her body glowed faintly.
She stepped forward.
"I won't let you hurt them."
The ground cracked beneath her as her magic returned like a tidal wave.
She reared her head back and screamed—
"TAKE OVER: SATAN SOUL!"