"Guildmaster, what are you saying?" Alzack said firmly, gripping his guns. "Everyone else won. I won't be the one who drags Fairy Tail down. I'll take these last ten points and keep us alone at the top."
Fairy Tail was leading, but if he lost here, Sabertooth would gain ten points. Ogre had fallen to Rowan, but the other Sabertooth members had swept their matches clean, earning thirty points. Another win would put them level with Fairy Tail in the individual rankings.
And there was something else Alzack didn't say out loud. Everyone else had won. If he lost, he'd be the only one. And if he won… he planned to finally propose to Bisca.
Rowan studied his expression, then nodded. "Alright. Go all out. Don't hold anything back."
This was a tournament, not a death match. Even if things went badly, Rowan was right there.
"Alzack, you've got this!" Bisca hugged him tightly before he stepped forward. Laki and Marcus added their cheers. In the stands, Macao and the others were shouting themselves hoarse. None of them had expected Fairy Tail to earn thirty points already in the individual matches.
With everyone's support behind him, Alzack walked onto the platform, twin guns in hand.
Across from him, Jiemma stepped forward as well, his expression openly hostile.
"Fairy Tail. The so-called strongest guild," Jiemma sneered. "After this tournament, that name will be nothing but history. From now on, the strongest guild will be Sabertooth."
They took their positions. The gong rang.
"Steel Beasts!"
Alzack didn't hesitate. He unleashed the twenty winged steel constructs Rowan had given him, sending them swarming toward Jiemma. At the same time, he vanished under his cloak, firing relentlessly from shifting angles as the constructs attacked.
"Parlor tricks," Jiemma roared. "War God Possession. Die!"
His muscles swelled as crimson magic wrapped around him. With a single punch, he smashed the nearest steel beast out of the air.
Rowan watched from below, stroking his whiskers. "That's not ordinary enhancement magic," he muttered. It looked less like pure reinforcement and more like a form of possession, a summoned presence inhabiting the body without altering its outward shape.
It was bad news.
The steel beasts were torn apart one by one. Alzack's enhanced gunfire did injure Jiemma, but only superficially. Without the invisibility cloak constantly shifting his position, Alzack would've been taken down instantly. Even so, it couldn't last.
"War God Fist!"
Jiemma planted his feet and unleashed a storm of magically charged punches, hundreds of them saturating the area Alzack was firing from. Alzack couldn't escape in time. The blows landed.
The armor spell held, barely, saving him from immediate injury. But his position was exposed.
Jiemma closed the distance in an instant, tearing through the cloak's defenses with his bare hands.
A gunner caught in close combat stood no chance.
What followed was a brutal, one-sided beating. Alzack refused to surrender, gritting his teeth and trying to fire back even as he was overwhelmed. That resistance only enraged Jiemma further.
"Know your place," Jiemma snarled. "Kneel and surrender. If you resist, I'll make sure you remember this for the rest of your life."
He slammed Alzack into the ground and raised his foot, aiming to crush his leg.
Killing was forbidden. Crippling was not.
"Alzack!" Bisca screamed, tears streaming down her face. The rest of Fairy Tail clenched their fists in fury.
Before Jiemma's foot could fall, a small figure appeared beside Alzack.
"I suggest you reconsider."
Rowan's voice was calm.
An overwhelming presence erupted from him. Jiemma's vision filled with slaughter and ruin, an instinctive terror clawing up his spine. His body moved on its own, stumbling backward again and again before he managed to stop, drenched in cold sweat.
Rowan withdrew his aura and turned toward the announcer's platform. "I surrender on Alzack's behalf."
Rowan had shed plenty of blood in other worlds. Compared to that, intimidating someone like Jiemma took nothing more than intent.
"Alzack!" Bisca and the others rushed forward, carrying him off the field.
Before the ruling could be announced, Minerva stepped onto the platform, fan in hand.
"I have an objection," she said coolly. "Rowan Mercer interfered with the match. Shouldn't Fairy Tail be penalized?"
Rowan glanced at her. "The rules forbid third-party magic interference. I didn't cast a spell. I merely stepped in to surrender for an unconscious teammate. Your father panicked on his own."
Jiemma's face flushed crimson. He lunged forward, only for Minerva to stop him with a raised hand.
"Father. Don't fall for it."
Attacking Rowan would mean breaking the rules outright.
After conferring briefly, the officials announced their decision. "Alzack was unconscious and unable to surrender. Team leader Rowan Mercer acted on his behalf. This is within the rules. Sabertooth wins this match and earns ten points."
As Alzack drifted into unconsciousness, he mustered his last strength and whispered to Bisca, "Tell the guildmaster… I'm no coward."