Chapter 26: The Things We Fight For
Two Years Prior.
A young girl ran frantically through the burning ruins of her destroyed village. She panted loudly, her erratic breathing rattling uncomfortably against her ribs as her face contorted with absolute, blinding panic.
It was raining relentlessly.
She could hear the wet, chaotic slapping of her own bare footsteps hitting the flooded stone floor.
A sharp strike of thunder exploded from the pitch-black sky above, illuminating the devastation for a fraction of a second.
"I have the most important thing to tell you!" the young girl cried out to the empty air. "Mama! Papa!"
Suddenly, her footing slipped on the slick, wet stone, causing her to crash hard against the ground. She landed with a soft, pained grunt, but completely ignored the scrape—scrambling back to her feet immediately to resume her frantic sprint.
"I have the most important thing to tell you all!"
The warm faces of her family flashed vividly through her mind. She desperately clamped her teeth together, fighting back the hot tears that threatened to blur her vision.
'I can remain a person because you guys exist!'
"Mama! Papa! Sis—!" The girl abruptly skidded to a violent halt.
The tense expression on her face, previously filled with desperate hope, instantly melted into a mask of pure, unadulterated terror.
She dropped heavily to her knees in the mud. Bitter tears welled up and spilled rapidly from her eyes.
Resting in a puddle directly before her was a plush seal—normally a soft, comforting palette of gray, white, and pale blue.
Now, its soft fabric was heavily soaked in thick, crimson blood.
In that singular, frozen second, the young child witnessed a scene so deeply traumatic, sudden, and reality-shattering that her mind completely unraveled in pure panic. The steady downpour of rain was the only remaining sound in the world.
Laying directly in front of her were the cold, unmoving corpses of her family. But the horror didn't stop there.
Extending out behind them, stretching across the entire village square, were rows upon rows of dead bodies. Every single person in her village had been slaughtered.
A stifled, wet gasp hitched violently in her throat—a breathless, rattling sound that shook her chest as reality completely buckled beneath her weight.
Then, the dam broke.
"Ah—haaa… aaAAHH—HAAAAAAUUUGGHH—!!"
It was not a standard scream; it was a long, shuddering mutilation of her vocal cords. The sound bled out into a ragged, breathless wail, dropping briefly into a desperate, repetitive sob before tearing violently back upward into a high-pitched, cracked screech that completely shredded her throat.
It was primal, hollowed-out, and entirely unspooled—the agonizing sound of a child begging the empty air to undo what she was looking at.
For on this day, the young girl lost everything due to that clan.
◆ ◇ ◆
"...That is why I know! The reason I fight isn't a mistake!"
Hearing Gajeel's fierce words in the present corridor instantly dragged those terrible, buried memories back to the surface of Juvia's mind.
The grief was so intense that her chest physically began to tighten, making it hard to breathe.
"A mistake, you say?" Juvia's eyes locked onto Gajeel's face, her gaze cold and piercing. "You have no idea what a true mistake looks like."
She placed her trembling palm flat onto the floor, submerging her hand into the water coursing through the corridor.
"If I had this power back then… if I had undergone an awakening back then…" Using her palm to press against the stone, she forced her body to stand completely upright. "Then I could have done something. I'm the one who failed to protect them. I failed to protect her."
The mental image of a specific person appeared in Juvia's mind. A small, innocent toddler, no older than four years old.
"For that was my duty. My very obligation as the older sibling," Juvia's voice grew fierce and heavy. "You have no idea what true terror and true tragedy look like, so shut your mouth!"
"You're wrong about that," Gajeel countered, his expression matching her intensity. "Because I've been through the pits of despair once already. Which is why I don't plan on going through it again."
The iron mage's mind flashed briefly to the day his entire life changed forever: July 7th, X777. The day Metalicana vanished without a trace.
Gajeel turned around, beginning to walk toward the exit of the corridor.
He wanted to get back to the guild hall and wait there so he could apologize to Albion.
"You know nothing about me!" Juvia shouted, her emotion splitting wide open. "About the world I lived in! Why did I have to go? Why was I the only one who survived?!"
Images of the countless dead bodies of her villagers flashed across her mind.
"And yet you dare to reject all that, to protect someone just because they check up on you? It is the very principle of stupidity!"
Gajeel kept walking, now several feet away from Juvia. He would have kept going if his foot hadn't lightly brushed against something beneath the water.
Leaning down, he picked it up.
It was a small, wet plush seal—soft gray, white, and pale blue. Gajeel thought back to the moment his iron strike had first collided with her defensive wall.
'She must have lost it then.'
Seeing that Gajeel didn't even turn around while she talked to him only infuriated Juvia more.
"With your formidable strength as a fighter, why is it that you reject my perspective?! It would do nothing but help you!"
"As I said," Gajeel said, his voice low as he shook the excess water out of the stuffed animal. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect the one who was kind to me."
"That's an argument only a loser would make!" Juvia cried out. "A wizard should speak on how this world should be! Rather than how this world currently operates!"
As Juvia's anger rose, the water in the far distance of the corridor began to heat up. Its temperature was growing at a terrifying rate.
"I am a wizard! I should be the one who decides how the world should be! Who do you think you are?! Answer me! Answer me! ANSWER ME!"
"Would you calm down for a moment," Gajeel sighed, turning partly around as he stood on a small platform of dry metal. "Your monologue is really annoying."
A stunned expression came over Juvia. A second later, heavy plumes of steam slowly started to pour out from the water beside her.
"Don't get cocky with that slim, grim, and unassuming attitude!"
The water within the corridor began to grow increasingly hot. It was literally boiling now, bubbles violently breaking the surface as steam filled the air.
"Argh!" Gajeel hissed slightly. "Is it just me, or is the water getting hot in here?" In his hand, he held the plush seal.
The moment Juvia noticed that, her eyes narrowed like needles. "Don't touch that…!"
"Huh?" Gajeel didn't understand.
The water around Juvia exploded upward in a wave of scalding steam.
"KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY BABY SISTER!!"
Juvia made a sharp, fluid gesture with her left hand. Instantly, the heavy, humid air around Gajeel began to warp.
"Sister? What the hell are you talking about—"
Cutting Gajeel off was a violent jet of water that erupted seemingly out of nowhere from the blind spot behind him.
It struck the back of his face with such immense force that it lifted his heavy frame completely off his feet, spinning his body around mid-air.
It wasn't standard water. It was scalding hot. The moment the liquid made contact with his skin, a sharp, angry hiss rang out as steam billowed from his flesh.
Before the Iron Dragon Slayer could even attempt to recover his footing, another pressurized jet of boiling water detonated from directly beneath him.
The scalding column tore straight through his metallic platform, splitting the iron structure clean in two and launching his body high into the air.
As he hurtled upward, Gajeel clenched his teeth, the intense heat radiating through his defenses. 'So hot! What the hell is the deal with this water? Is she boiling it with her own magic?'
Driven by the force of the blast, Gajeel's body shot toward the upper reaches of the chamber, rapidly approaching the stone ceiling.
Sensing the incoming impact, he twisted his torso with predatory agility, flipping his momentum mid-air.
CLANG!
With a sharp, mechanical screech, harpoon-like iron blades sprouted from the soles of each of his boots, digging deep into the solid stone overhead.
Thanks to his iron manipulation, he anchored himself firmly, standing completely upside down upon the ceiling as if it were the solid ground.
"What's wrong with this girl?" Gajeel growled aloud, wiping the boiling moisture from his face as he glared down at Juvia from above.
Back on the flooded floor, Juvia stood amidst the rising steam, a waterlogged plush seal clutched tightly in her hand.
Slowly, the water the stuffed animal had soaked up began to bleed outward, defying gravity as it levitated into the air around her. With a mere flick of her wrist, the floating droplets dispersed into fine mist, leaving the plush toy entirely dry.
"Nobody will ever separate us again, baby sister," Juvia spoke, her voice dropping into a dangerously soft, maternal whisper. "I swear it. I will avenge you. I will avenge Mother, Father, and everyone else."
Slowly, she tore her vacant, grieving eyes away from the stuffed animal that had once belonged to her deceased sister. Those same cold, unblinking irises locked directly onto Gajeel.
"No matter how long it takes me… I will hunt down every last member of the Ebonveil clan."
Raising her right hand, Juvia began to gather the weightless droplets of ambient moisture swirling through the humid atmosphere, pulling them toward her outstretched fingers.
By compressing the liquid under immense, localized pressure, the droplets began to elongate and sharpen. Within seconds, they morphed into thin, scythe-like blades of liquid, their pressurized edges shimmering with lethal, razor-sharp precision.
Unlike before, it wasn't just one or two projectiles. A massive, suffocating volley of fluid blades formed a halo behind her.
Juvia was not a standard mage; she was a specialized combat prodigy.
"And when I finally find them, I will slaughter them all. What did you say to me before, Gajeel? Oh, right." She fiercely clenched the dry stuffed animal against her chest. "I have more than enough desire for the both of us."
"Water Slicer!"
With a devastating sweep of her arm, the massive volley of pressurized blades detonated forward, cutting through the air like a storm of glass directly toward the ceiling.
Knowing he had absolutely no time to think, Gajeel unanchored his boots and began to sprint across the stone ceiling at a breakneck pace.
Thanks to his exceptional threshold for physical exertion, his muscles showed no signs of fatigue despite the grueling duration of the battle.
Using his enhanced, predatory senses, he perfectly balanced his center of gravity upside down, his boots cracking the stone with every stride.
A deafening wave of destruction echoed right behind him as the Water Slicers tore through the solid ceiling, turning the masonry into a pulverized wake of debris.
The blades weren't just pursuing him—the impact was kicking up a dense curtain of white smoke, scalding steam, and pulverized stone dust.
It was a tactical, clever attempt by Juvia to completely dampen and overwhelm his enhanced senses.
Unlike traditional mages who rely solely on an internal reservoir of Magic Power, Juvia's casting capacity was directly tied to her environment. Under standard conditions, her baseline magical reservoir easily rivaled her guildmates.
But in a wet, humid, or rainy environment—like the flooded, steam-choked corridors of Phantom Lord right now—her reserve became functionally limitless.
She was constantly cycling the ambient atmospheric moisture directly into her casting gate, allowing her to comfortably outlast almost any opponent in a brutal war of attrition.
If Gajeel was an exceptional, monstrous force when fighting up close, then Juvia was equally exceptional when dominating the battlefield from a distance.
Soon, the relentless volley of Water Slicers came to a halt. Gajeel skidded to a stop on the ceiling, breathing heavily but remaining, for the most part, entirely unharmed.
However, due to the sheer volume of water atomized in the air, his long hair, his iron-clad fists, and his clothes were completely soaked, dripping heavily with moisture.
Down below, Juvia saw the dripping water, and a lethal tactical concept formed in her mind.
Normally, Juvia preferred to avoid unnecessary conflict, viewing mindless violence as a form of "insanity." But right now, her fractured emotions had completely overridden her standard morality.
Raising her empty left arm, she began to rapidly condense the atmospheric water directly around her limb.
The liquid coated her hand so densely that it took on a solid, pressurized form, rapidly spinning and elongating into the shape of a massive water whip.
The weapon was already incredibly long, but Juvia wasn't finished.
Suddenly, the water clinging to Gajeel's hair, his fists, and his clothing began to rip outward, pulling away from his body in hundreds of tiny droplets.
Gajeel watched in stunned, paralyzed shock as the moisture from his own body gathered in the air before him, combining and growing into a thick stream of fluid that shot directly down into Juvia's water whip.
The stolen moisture caused the whip to expand violently in length, the liquid current surging all the way back up to Gajeel's position.
Before he could react, the hyper-extended whip coiled around his torso like a massive serpent, binding his arms to his sides while remaining directly connected to Juvia's arm.
"You can control the water directly from my own body?!" Gajeel questioned, his voice echoing in genuine shock.
"I told you before, didn't I?" Juvia said, her voice dropping into a cold, absolute tone as she violently yanked her arm downward.
Because the pressurized current was securely wrapped around Gajeel's frame, the sheer kinetic force ripped his iron blades clean out of the stone ceiling, dragging him helplessly through the air once more.
"Water can become anything, Gajeel… precisely because it already exists within everything!"
Gajeel let out a harsh grunt as his body was violently hurled through the air, riding the terrifying arc of the water whip.
BOOM!
A deafening, massive splash echoed through the corridor as Juvia brutally slammed Gajeel's bound body straight down into the deep, scalding water below, sending a massive wave of boiling foam crashing against the stone walls.
'How is she so damn strong?' Gajeel thought, his mind churning as he struggled under the weight of the water. 'It's like her rage is making her more powerful by the second.'
He desperately thrust both hands outward, trying to catch a rhythm. 'I need to pull the ambient metal from the surrounding structures to launch a counterattack!'
Before his magic could even manifest, a searing, white-hot agony tore through his senses. The water wasn't just trapping him—it was practically setting his skin ablaze with a scalding, unnatural heat.
'I can't focus on my magical power… The water's too damn hot! It's boiling my skin!'
"Arghhhgh!" A muffled, distorted scream tore from Gajeel's throat, bubbles escaping his lips as the heat cooked the air right out of his lungs.
Floating serenely above the surface was Juvia. She looked down into the churning, steaming depths where she had violently slammed the dragon slayer.
"What's the matter…?"
"Don't tell me the great Iron Dragon Slayer lacks the basic concentration required to channel his magic?" Juvia spoke in a calm, utterly mocking tone, her blue eyes piercing through the steam. "And to think, just moments ago, you were going on and on about how your precious metal wouldn't lose to a little bit of water."
She let him simmer for exactly five agonizing seconds before flicking her wrist. Utilizing her fluid water whip, Juvia effortlessly hauled Gajeel out of the boiling depths and hoisted him into the air.
"Fortunately for you, I have no intention of taking your life today. The only lives I want to take belong to them."
Suspended in the grip of her liquid lash, Gajeel hung limp, heavily damaged and visibly spent.
His leather boots and the studded iron bands that usually wrapped tightly around his wrists had been completely stripped away by the sheer pressure of her assault.
The oversized, sleeveless beige top he normally wore was gone as well, leaving his scarred, built upper body exposed to the damp air.
All that remained intact was the massive, pale scarf draped over his broad shoulders, and his dark trousers, which bore distinct vertical gold stripes and sharp red flame motifs along the thighs.
His long, spiky black hair was so thoroughly drenched that it matted down across his face, entirely obscuring his expression. His mouth hung partly open, drawing in ragged, steaming breaths.
"Now, you're going to tell me exactly what I want to know," Juvia demanded, her voice dropping into a firm, chilling register. "Do you… or do you not know someone bearing the last name Ebonveil?"
She tightened the whip slightly. "If you do, I want to know exactly who they are and where they are hiding. Tell me everything you know about them. Right now."
'She's… too strong,' Gajeel thought, his vision swimming as his muscles throbbed. 'I'm sorry, Albion. I couldn't protect you at all. D-dammit…'
A bitter taste filled his mouth. 'So… this is the true baseline of an innate magic…'
"Tsk. Pathetic." A harsh, arrogant voice, echoing from the absolute deepest, most primal corner of Gajeel's consciousness, suddenly broke through the haze.
"And you dare to call yourself a dragon slayer? Truly disappointing."
Gajeel's internal eyes widened. 'That voice… I know it.' It was impossible to mistake. 'It's you, Dad.'
"Answer me this, Gajeel… why is it that you speak of her magic as if it is something insurmountable?" the booming voice of Metalicana resonated through his soul. "Did you not once tell me that there wasn't a more worthy power in the entire world than mine? Did you not claim that you would be the strongest? That you would be filled with overwhelming power?"
A vivid memory flashed in Gajeel's mind—a memory of his younger self standing on jagged iron rocks during their grueling training:
[Perfect! I cannot think of any other power in the whole friggin' world that would suit me better. With power like a dragon's, there's no way in hell I won't be the strongest!]
'I… I did,' Gajeel recalled, his mental voice cracking as the weight of his past words hit him. 'But I tried, Dad. I tried to connect with her, just like what Albion did with me.' Gajeel desperately tried to explain himself to the lingering shadow of his mentor.
'But I wasn't able to do it. I didn't know what to say, or how to say it.'
'How do I say the things he said? Albion somehow knew exactly what to say and how to say it to break through to someone. I have to face it… I'm just not like him…'
"I do not know who this Albion is, so I cannot speak for his capabilities," Metalicana's voice rumbled, dismissive yet profoundly heavy. "But tell me, why is it that you are trying so desperately to look like someone else?"
"Was it not you who vowed to live solely for yourself? For your own pleasures?"
Gajeel recoiled internally. 'How… how do you even know about that?'
"You are the Iron Dragon Slayer, trained by humanity's greatest natural enemy,"
Metalicana roared, the phantom image of his jagged, metallic scales gleaming in Gajeel's mind. "I, Metalicana, am and will always be within you. So stand up! Stand up and show the world—"
"Show everyone exactly why you are better!"
"Do you hear me, Gajeel?" Juvia's sharp voice suddenly snapped him back to reality. "I asked you a direct question."
"Oh, I hear ya." Gajeel's scarred hand suddenly shot out, his fingers locking into an ironclad grip directly around the boiling water whip that held him suspended. "I hear you loud and clear!"
With a surge of raw, physical might, his bare hand clenched. He crushed the liquid construct entirely. The boiling, pressurized water exploded against his palm, instantly blistering his skin and sending a thick, hissing cloud of steam up around his arms.
"Are you completely insane?!" Juvia yelled, her voice faltering in stunned silence as she took a step back. "That water was burning at a boiling point! You're out of your mind!"
"I don't give a single shit what you think," Gajeel growled, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly register as he violently smashed his fists together. "The one standing here looking miserable and sad… it isn't me!"
A massive, violent metallic aura erupted from his pores, completely enveloping his bare torso in a jagged silver light. "It's you!"
Juvia froze, her chest tightening. At first, she didn't grasp the weight of his words. But then, like a physical blow, she remembered her own words from the very beginning of their confrontation—the words that had sparked this entire violent clash.
[But to me… you just look incredibly sad.]
Gajeel released a feral, blood-curdling roar as his metallic aura expanded exponentially. A massive, intricate magic circle flared to life directly beneath his bare feet, rotating with immense kinetic force.
The magical pressure radiating from his body was so dense and overwhelming that it physically pushed the surrounding water back, creating a dry perimeter in the middle of the flooded corridor.
'"My magic is a gift. It awakens fully only when you understand exactly what—or who—you are fighting to protect." That's what you told me back then, right? Metalicana.' Gajeel's mind solidified, every ounce of doubt evaporating into the heat of his aura.
'It looks like I finally found exactly who I want to protect!'
"You're no hero! You know the truth of what they are!" Juvia screamed over the rising noise of his magical pressure.
"I! Don't! Care!" Gajeel fired back, his sharp teeth bared in a defiant grin. "I'm going to make sure that kid has a reason to smile. And until he can do it on his own, I won't stop! Not for you, and not for anyone!"
Gajeel drew in a massive, sweeping breath. His chest expanded to an unnatural size as the air around them was violently sucked into his lungs, suddenly carrying the harsh, suffocating scent of ozone and raw iron.
"Iron Dragon…!"
Juvia's amber eyes widened in genuine terror as she felt the atmospheric pressure plummet. 'His magic… it doesn't just give him the mere power of a dragon… it gives him the strength to physically become one!'* She realized too late. 'So this is the true nature of a Dragon Slayer!'
"…ROAR!!!"
With a fierce, world-shaking shout, Gajeel unleashed a colossal, silver-gray tornado directly from his jaws.
The cyclonic blast was heavily infused with millions of razor-sharp iron particles and a crushing, localized weight.
It operated less like a simple breath attack and more like a high-velocity, automated battering ram, shredding, pulverizing, and obliterating absolutely everything in its trajectory.
The devastating spell completely engulfed Juvia's position, tearing through her water defenses like paper, before surging violently down the length of the stone corridor.
The iron storm kept tearing forward, obliterating the supports and blasting its way all the way into the main Phantom Lord guild hall.
A deafening, catastrophic explosion echoed through the entire facility, a shockwave so immense it caused the entire fortress structure to violently shudder.
As the dust and iron shavings slowly began to settle in the ruined, hollowed-out corridor, Gajeel exhaled a thick cloud of gray exhaust from his lips.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his bruised, blistered hand, a tired but genuine smirk breaking across his face.
"Thanks, Dad."