ᴇᴜᴘʜᴏʀɪᴀ •• ғᴀɪʀʏ ᴛᴀɪʟ¹ ✓

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Erza and Natsu stared in front of them with horror on their faces. Rae let out a choking sound as she was grabbed by Jellal by her throat. Natsu shouted at him to let her go but Jellal only sent him a smirk. She reached out her hands to claw his face but the villain just tightened his grip on her throat.

"Jellal!" Natsu screamed at him when he saw him leaning closer to Rae's face. The Fire Dragon Slayer went to step ahead but his body won't allow him, feeling a little bit weak from the attack. Rae looked at Jellal with tears pooling in her silver eyes, whimpering. The man just stared at her with a blank face.

Erza quickly ran to Simon, still feeling the shock when he willingly stepped in front of the attack for her. She held his head as a sob escaped her mouth. "But why Simon? Didn't you escape?" The red haired girl stammered on her words, looking down on the man.

Simon smiled, telling her, he was glad that he could be of help to her at last. She always had been so kind to him. Erza cried for him, didn't ready to let him go yet. Simon then told her he loved her for the last time before closing his eyes fully and dropped his head on the ground.

Erza let out a loud scream, hurting inside of her heart. Rae watched the scene in front of her in remorse then Jellal pulled her hair roughly. She screamed in pain as her body was losing blood. The man let out a laugh, talking about how pointless was Simon's sacrifice for Erza.

Natsu who had reached his limit went to him and punched him hard, catching Rae in his arms. Jellal was thrown away. Natsu put Rae down gently, caressing her face. The girl only stared at him with a pained look on her face and told him to eat the Etherion.

Natsu nodded his head and ate some of the broken pieces of Etherion-infused lacrima. He eventually managed to resonate with the Etherion and entered Dragon Force, resulting in Jellal being on the receiving end of a brutal counterattack as he hit the man repeatedly.

Jellal briefly escaped him with his meteor attack but Natsu was now more stronger than him.

"You're the reason why Rae and Erza were crying! I made a promise!" Jellal then sent a kick to him, shouting on how he can't be defeat. He's the only who can sense Zeref. Natsu jumped and punched him hard. Rae witnessed Jellal jumped high and cast his next move.

Abyss Break? He will destroy this tower!

Jellal stated that he can build it again next 8 years and he even can finish it in 5 years. "Jellal!" Rae screamed loudly. There were dark mists coming out from her body and moved high to hit him, stopping him from doing the magic.

Jellal was thrown away and found himself looking at the Fire Dragon Slayer who was heading to him.

"You will never find freedom! There is no such thing as freedom for somebody taken over by ghosts! Free yourself first, Jellal!" Natsu sent him a punch and exploded the tower. The ground was shaking and Erza had went to Rae to help her. Rae smiled at Natsu who had beaten Jellal.

She slung her arm on Erza's shoulder and soon found herself ran limply to Natsu, wrapping her arms around his torso. "Natsu." Rae breathed out his scent, feeling at ease in his hug. Erza headed to them, sprinting.

She fell on her knees and stared at her friends with a soft smile on her lips. "You're really incredible." Erza threw her arms around those two and closed her eyes. Rae smiled at the red head. Then, the tower began to grumble.

The brown haired girl lifted her head slowly and looked around them. The tower was slowly collapsing. Rae told Erza to take Natsu when Erza offered her a hand. Rae stood up limply and ran behind her. She saw Erza was glancing back at Simon and she just gave her a squeeze on her hand.