Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 244: Tear it down!

"Golden Shield!"

A radiant golden barrier appeared in Rustyrose's left hand once more, just in time to block the flurry of crimson feather headed his way.

But Rhode noticed something important, the shield materialized much more slowly this time.

"Jet Black Sword!"

With a swift swing of his right arm, Rustyrose cleaved down into the ground, slicing a Krug clean in half.

As he lowered the shield to follow up, he realized, Rhodes had vanished.

"Hiding underground again, you filthy little rat?" he sneered.

He began shaping a new summon in his mind, planning to manifest Tower of Dingir to burrow down and flush Rhode out—

But just then, a flicker of shadow passed over the earth. Rustyrose looked up sharply.

There he was. The grotesque, toad-like figure of Rhode was already mid-air, descending from above with purple venom bubbling at his lips.

"Damn it!"

Rustyrose could only throw up the shield in a panic, not having the focus to conjure something more elaborate while still reeling from the searing pain in his arm.

SSSSSSSSSSS...!

The caustic venom splashed against the shield with a hiss, releasing a plume of noxious steam. Rustyrose cried out in pain again, his expression twisting with fury.

Slamming his right palm into the ground, he roared, "Let pain fuel my imagination, Thorned Hell!"

A horrible grinding sound echoed outward.

Thousands of gleaming steel spikes erupted from the earth, each one over a meter tall, spreading across a two-kilometer radius with Rustyrose at the center. Anyone caught falling within would be impaled like a pincushion.

But—

Rhode's figure twisted mid-air. His arms flared outward and shifted into red-glowing wings.

With a flap, he stopped himself from falling into the deadly spike field.

"Tch..." Rustyrose clicked his tongue in annoyance. "That's right. This pest can fly."

"Then become the Sacred Guardian Beast's prey!"

Rhodes continued circling high above and loosed another wave of feather knives down toward him.

But Rustyrose was already ready.

The Arc of Embodiment surged again, and from it, a massive steel pterosaur took shape at his side, its wings sharp as blades, its body reinforced like living armor.

The beast screeched and batted the feather knives away with a powerful sweep of its wing. Rustyrose vaulted onto its back in one fluid motion, and the steel beast immediately took flight.

"Shaaaaah!"

With a metallic cry, the monster opened its jagged beak and dove toward Rhodes, razor teeth glinting in the sun.

Rhodes winced.

Without the power boost from the Red buff, his feather knives couldn't do much more than scratch the creature's armor. They certainly weren't enough to stop something like this.

He turned and fled.

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But the beast was faster.

"Fall from the sky, little fairy!"

The metal wyvern flapped its wings with tremendous force, closing the gap fast.

Rhode felt its breath at his back as the jaws opened to clamp down.

At the last second, he jerked into a sharp downward spiral, twisting into a tight arc and diving under the beast in a narrow escape.

The maneuver was flawless.

Rhode had learned that trick during all those aerial chase games with Happy. The small cat loved dodging like that to avoid his larger partner during flight training.

Now, Rhode used it perfectly, just like Happy had taught him.

A high-speed game of aerial tag unfolded above the battlefield: one massive creature, one nimble toad-winged mage, weaving and spiraling through the air.

Rhode's Raptor, he'd summoned earlier, swooped in to assist, but before it could land a hit, the beast turned and caught it midair with a brutal strike of its steel talons.

The Raptor vanished in a shimmer of light, dismissed from the field.

Rhodes twisted midair, agile and focused, searching for the right moment to strike with his Featherstorm attack, aimed squarely at Rustyrose riding atop his summoned steel bird.

In response, Rustyrose conjured a shimmering shotgun from thin air and fired intermittently at Rhodes, forcing him to maneuver erratically in the skies.

As the aerial chase continued, Rhodes caught a glimpse of Elfman in the distance, already locked in battle against a massive force. Rhodes's eyes widened.

'There's at least a hundred enemies over there. I need to get to him, fast.'

But flying straight in would mean dragging this lunatic along for the ride. He wouldn't be able to shake Rustyrose.

'Do I take him down right here?'

Bang!

"Ugh—!" A shot tore through Rhodes' wing. Blood sprayed midair, and crimson feathers scattered like falling petals.

His flight wavered, speed and maneuverability dropping sharply.

The massive steel wyvern, opened its iron jaws wide and snapped them shut with a metallic clang, trapping Rhodes in its mouth.

"The fairy of flight swallowed whole by Sacred Guardian Beast, feathers fluttering, blood dripping... what a tragic and beautiful scene," Rustyrose monologued with theatrical flair.

"Take Over—Brambleback!"

In an instant, his form surged in size, his body wrapping in thorny bark and flaming vines. He transformed into a living tree-like warrior, a glowing red ember pulsing at his chest.

The aura of the Red buff ignited around him once more, and the wounds on his shoulder and arm began healing at an accelerated rate.

The beast throat was much too tight to hold him.

The giant beast tried to swallow its catch, Rustyrose's imagination had outfitted its stomach with the power to melt enemies with acidic bile.

Rhodes wasn't about to let it get that far.

Calculating his angle, he slashed his flaming claw downward. With one brutal swipe, he tore through the wyvern's esophagus from within, his attack bursting upward and grazing Rustyrose on the back.

"Wha—?! Jet Black Sword!"

Rhodes' palm dripped with blood. Across from him, Rustyrose wasn't much better, his arm bore several gashes, still bleeding from their midair clash.

Though they'd fought high above the ground, the skirmish had been too brief to take them far from the battlefield. Below them, the steel spikes Rustyrose had summoned earlier still jutted from the ground like a deadly forest of spears.

Rhodes gritted his teeth. He couldn't land safely like this.

Channeling the lingering power of the Brambleback, he called forth wood magic, commanding thick vines to burst from the soil. The bramble-like tendrils wove quickly between the steel spikes, coiling together to form a platform strong enough to support his landing.

But the moment his feet touched down, Rhodes sensed something was wrong.

Rustyrose didn't land with me...

Above him, the Grimoire Heart mage hovered midair. Glowing white wings flared from his boots, and his arms spread wide in an exaggerated pose, casting magic with theatrical flair.

"Manifest, Dingir Tower! Let the foolish fae drown in despair and return to dust!"

Rhodes' eyes went wide.

Without realizing it, his body had been caught, completely immobilized, as if fused to the rising wall beneath him.

Even in Brambleback form, he couldn't break free!

Panicked, Rhodes immediately released the Take Over magic, hoping a smaller body might allow him to escape.

But it was no use.

He tried again—Take over: Blue Sentinel. Nothing. The walls closed in around him as if the very earth refused to let him go.

The structure continued to grow upward, stone upon stone building into an ornate tower that wrapped around him like a magical sarcophagus.

From above, Rustyrose grinned triumphantly. "Give up! This is an unbreakable masterpiece of my imagination! No one has ever escaped from it!"

This is bad!

Rhodes clenched his teeth. He didn't know what this tower spell would do once it fully formed, but he could feel the tremendous magic power building within it. If it finished... he was dead.

'A tower?' A sudden thought flickered through his mind. 'If I can summon the Rift Herald...'

That summoned beast was built for demolishing structures. If he could bring it out, he might still stand a chance.

But there was a problem.

He couldn't move his hands.

He couldn't touch his pendant, the key catalyst that allowed him to summon.

Rustyrose had deliberately sealed him in a way that prevented summoning.

Rhodes' heart pounded.

'Unless...'

"Believe in yourself. You're stronger than you think. Magic flows from the heart, if you can't trust in yourself, your magic will falter."

Makarov's warm, reassuring voice echoed in Rhodes' mind.

He forced himself to tilt his head upward. Just barely, he felt it.

The pendant.

Pressed against his skin. Still there.

His heart pounded like a drum.

"I practiced this. It has to work now. I have to make it work now!"

Gritting his teeth, Rhodes focused everything he had into a desperate mental cry.

"Rift Herald!"

"Hear me! Rift Herald, respond to my will!"

A pulse of heat surged from the pendant.

Buzz—

A brilliant light burst forth where the pendant touched his collarbone. His magic power was drained in a sudden wave, funneled directly into the summoning.

Purple light erupted at the foot of the tower, the ground rumbling as something massive forced its way into the world.

A hulking, violet-armored beast surged from the earth with a roar that shook the sky.

The Rift Herald.

Rustyrose's eyes widened, pupils narrowing in disbelief.

"That's impossible!"

Panicking, Rustyrose thrust his right hand forward and shouted:

"Too late. Be erased! Tow.."

But Rhodes shouted louder, his voice ringing with defiant strength:

"Rift Herald, TEAR IT DOWN!!!"

BOOM!!!

The Rift Herald howled and launched forward in a flash of violet energy, its massive form ramming into the tower like a living battering ram.

Stone cracked, then shattered.

Fissures spiderwebbed outward from the impact, splitting the ornate structure from base to spire. The force rippled upward, reaching the section that held Rhodes captive.