Chapter 35: Phantom War?
As the group of 6 headed towards the guild, they couldn't help but notice how bizarre it looked from a distance. There was random pillars sticking up at odd angles, creating quite the spectacle.
'Hmm guess my presence in the guild didn't stop Jose from declaring war, being a saint wizard himself he should know of me at least. The battle should be a bit more interesting now that Natsu and Gray are so much stronger, or maybe it will be boring... Should I even help?' Alex mused to himself as they approached the guild hall.
"What the hell happened to our GUILD!?" Natsu yelled in rage to the members currently milling about looking sullen and downcast.
"It was Phantom, they got us good." Mira said sadly.
"Was anyone hurt?" Alex asked.
"No, thankfully it happened after everyone had left for the night" Mira replied, still looking sad.
'It's a little strange there wasn't anyone in the guild. Usually there are people always passed out on the floor after drinking too much'. Alex thought curiously.
"Why would they do something like this!?" Wendy asked with tears in her eyes. Her question having pulled Alex out of his internal thoughts he too turned to Mira.
"We have never gotten along well with the Phantom Lord guild, but it has never been this bad. I don't honestly know why they would trash our guild hall" Mira said.
"It could also be a declaration of war" Alex commented.
"If this is a declaration of war, you should make sure your guild members don't go walking alone and maybe even check to see if there are still members of the other guild in town" Ur spoke up.
"That is a good Idea. While I hope very much you're both wrong about this, we can't let our guard down" Mira said with some determination returning.
The conversation about Phantom members still being in town reminded Alex that Gajeel was most likely still here.
He looked around to see if he could spot Levy or her team around the guild hall but it looked like they had already left.
He wondered briefly if he should just let it happen so the master would retaliate but stopped himself from that thought. Nobody should have to go through the pain and humiliation of getting beat to near death and almost literally crucified.
Had the 3 members of 'team shadowgear' been pinned somewhere less public it could have easily resulted in their deaths with how badly injured they were.
Knowing nobody deserved that kind of treatment, Alex excused himself from the group with an unreadable expression on his face.
Nobody stopped him or asked where he was going, but a quick glance and Wendy and Carla showed that it was only because Carla had stopped Wendy from saying anything.
'Seems like she already knows what I am going to do. I wonder if she also saw the guild building getting destroyed?' Alex wondered as he headed towards where he thought the ambush would take place.
He had never met Gajeel before so he couldn't just follow his scent. He also wasn't able to get it from the guild as many of the local civilians had joined in helping fix the guild already.
Luckily for him, he had met the short bookworm known as Levy and her two companions.
When he was reasonably close to where he thought they were going to get ambushed, he paused.
Focusing on his sense of smell he went through many unfamiliar before he found the few he could recognize.
As he got closer to where the smell was coming from he started to hear the sounds of fighting and could sense the ethernano being stirred up from using magic.
Quickening his pace, he arrived in time to see Gajeel making quick work of Levy and her team.
They weren't out of the fight just yet, but they were severely outclassed by the Iron Dragon Slayer.
Alex watched from {Stealth} for a while longer as the fight started to wind down. As Gajeel was about to keep attacking after he had completely overwhelmed them, Alex made his move.
Dropping {Stealth} directly in front of Gajeel, Alex casually punched him right in the face.
He had intentionally withheld most of his strength so Gajeel could respond to the hit or he wouldn't even have been able to see it coming.
It still didn't change the outcome as Gajeel was too surprised to react and took the full brunt of the damage.
The hit sent Gajeel crashing through a couple trash cans before smacking into the building behind them. Levy, Jet and Droy were all surprised to see him but were also very happy as well.
"Alex! Thank goodness!" Levy called out, still a little stunned by everything that happened.
"I think he was the one that trashed the guild hall! His magic is the same at least". Jet said after getting his bearings.
At this point, Gajeel had pulled himself up off the ground and was rubbing his Jaw as he glared at Alex.
"Who the hell might you be?" he asked cockily.
He had assumed the punch he was hit with was Alex's full strength and thought he could beat him now that he was paying attention.
"I think that should have been my question, don't you think? You are in my city after all". Alex said instead of answering.
"I am Gajeel! The Iron Dragon Slayer of Phantom Lord" Gajeel said narcissistically while flexing his 'magical might'.
"Hmm, I've never heard of you. Guess you can't be that big of a deal" Alex lied with a smirk as he saw Gajeel getting angry at his words.
"You Bastard!!! I'll make sure you never forget me!! Iron Dragons Club!" Gajeel yelled as he attacked.
Alex stopped Gajeels hand that had turned into a steel beam and extended toward him rapidly. He stopped it so casually and with seemingly no effort that he momentarily stunned Gajeel.
"Sorry, you aren't really pretty enough or my type. So I doubt I'll remember you" Alex said to the stunned slayer before he casually crushed the magic that made up Gajeels attack.
Gajeel screamed in Pain as he withdrew his hand and reversed his magic.
Alex could tell Gajeel was getting mad now, a fact that amused him to no end.
'All Dragon Slayers seem to have very short tempers ..aside from Wendy' he thought as he could see Gajeel trying to plan his next move.
This short exchange had shown Gajeel that the wizard in front of him wasn't someone he could afford to underestimate.
He still didn't think he would lose so he didn't hesitate for long and started attacking in earnest.
A couple of minutes being on the offensive made him stop though. He had calmed down a little and realized that his opponent hadn't attacked even once since that first hit but he had not been able to land a single hit on his opponent either.
The other person hadn't even released his magic. This fact finally started to make Gajeel sweat. It was plainly obvious that his opponent was toying with him or stalling.
Currently he was the only wizard from Phantom that was in Magnolia and if this fight went on much longer the other members of fairy tail would show up.
He had already completed what he was here for and only attacked these three to drive the point home that they wanted a war.
Thinking his opponent was stalling and knowing he would be out numbered soon, he decided to leave.
Before leaving he said "You win this round little Fairies, but Phantom will be coming for all of you soon enough! Your pathetic guild is finished!" before bolting out of the city as fast as his magic could take him.
Alex could have easily stopped him but decided not too. He knew Jose's plan was to get the guild to do something stupid and he was looking forward to the look on his face when none of his plans seemed to work.
"We need to inform the master right away that Phantom is openly declaring war! The rest of the guild members won't be safe" Levy said in a panic.
"I can't believe they actually want a war!" Droy said in frustration. He was still majorly upset with himself that they were useless against Gajeel.
"Those bastards!!" Jet yelled out, he too was frustrated with their weakness.
"You three need to calm down. This wasn't your fault and overreacting will play right into their hands" Alex said as he was healing them enough to move on their own.
"B-but bu.." Levy started before Alex cut her off.
"No buts, I doubt Gajeel has the authority to start a guild war and is probably trying to bait us into making the first move so the council forces us to disband. An actual guild war between the light guilds hasn't happened in a very long time after all". As Alex was speaking the three injured wizards had calmed down.
When they thought about his words, it made a lot of sense. If they recklessly attacked Phantom then they would be seen as the aggressor even after what Gajeel had done, as Jose could claim Gajeel acted alone.
"Those sneaky RATS!" Levy yelled when she put the pieces together in her head.
"We still need to report this to the guild" Jet said slowly.
"And we will. We just need to say Gajeel was acting alone and not mention the part where he said Phantom was trying to wipe us all out. That might make most of the guild members go mad and do something stupid. It sucks, but we have to let them make the opening blow if he was actually serious" Alex said.
He know Phantom or at least Jose wanted Fairy Tail destroyed but wouldn't tell anyone. It would be way more fun to mess up all his plans and make him openly attack.
That would make Phantom the undoubtable bad guys with many witnesses. It would guarantee their disbandment after it was over, and would paint Fairy Tail in a better light with the Council.
Not that anyone in the guild cared about the council to begin with, but any improvement couldn't hurt.
It didn't take long for Erza, Natsu and Gray to show up at the scene.
Evidently they had heard the fighting and come running. When they seen the condition team shadowgear was in, they almost lost it.
Alex told them what happened and that the offending party was already gone.
"Why did you let him escape!" Natsu yelled at Alex while grabbing is collar.
In reply Alex smacked Natsu into the ground for grabbing his shirt and replied in a cold tone "And what? Leave these three injured on the ground without any help?".
At his words and tone, the newcomers held their tongues while looking down. A little embarrassed that it wasn't his first thought, Natsu apologized to his injured guildmates.
Alex wasn't actually mad and just didn't want Natsu in his face. Levy, Jet and Droy told him it was fine and his actions where understandable considering they were mad too before Alex had explained the situation to them.
They shared their thoughts on the matter with Erza, Natsu and Gray while heading back to the guild.
Erza and Gray seemed to agree that retaliating would be exactly what Phantom wanted even though they were still mad.
Natsu on the other hand didn't care and still wanted to storm the place.
By the time they got back to what was left of the guild Gray had gotten sick of Natsu's constant yelling and told him to shut up as nicely as possible.
It basically meant he sucker punched him in the head for being a 'Flame Brain' and they instantly started a brawl, much to the amusement of the other guild members.
Unlike the previous day where Gray was easily able to toy with Natsu, they were back to being relatively even in strength.
Their brawl eventually devolved into the usual name calling it turned into when neither could get the upper hand.
Alex, Erza and team Shadowgear headed to the pile of logs the Master was drinking on to tell him what had happened.
"So thats how it is?" Makarov commented after they explained their thoughts. "You are probably right about them wanting us to make the first move, Jose is a crafty one so I wouldn't put it past him." Makarov said while staring at the ground deep in thought.
"I don't like the idea that they might target my guild members next, but I also agree that we can't be the ones to make the first move in this war. If that is what it turns out to be." he said after a moment of silence.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SpawnOfSatan
SpawnOfSatan Get to see a little bit into Mc's scheming side, though he isn't much of a schemer LOL! Well... he's not very good at it anyway.
Enjoy.
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