'No.. This is bad' whispered Ultear as she watched the event which unfolded within the secret hideout of multiple dark guilds.
'What's going on?' Jellal asked Meredy.
'I'm not so sure, Ultear's being afraid that's all I can say' replied Meredy, who had earlier connected herself with Ultear via a sensory link between the two.
'Is Zeref down there?' asked Jellal curiously.
'I'm not sure, all I can say is Ultear doesn't get afraid this easily' added Meredy. Meanwhile, within the secret gathering, Ultear witnessed a small number of people being taken captive.
'What's happening?' she thought, as a man in a dark red robe stepped up onto the podium. Everyone gathered there raised their hand soon as he raised hesitated for a second, and then raised hers a short while after.
'Long live Zeref!' yelled everyone altogether. Their voices echoed across the cavern.
'The time has come, our lord Zeref has been waiting for this moment, the hour to strike is at hand! We've been under the shadows for too long, it's time to crumble the world into eternal darkness!' he announced, which followed a loud cheer within the crowd.
'Why have they taken those civilians hostage?' she thought for a moment as she watched a statue of Zeref come in.
'This is the holy water of Zeref! With this! Everyone shall fall down to his knees!' the announcer pointed at the statue, which began dripping down a black sludge onto the hostages.
'That water..?' wondered Ultear as she watched the citizens choke after being exposed to it. A short while after, they stood up and began chanting 'Long live Zeref...' in a robotic manner. Everyone was dumbstruck upon what they had witnessed.
'That water, is it some mind control magic?' she thought as she watched the hostages chant.
'As we speak, more of this holy water is being dumped into a nearby village's water supply. With the world falling onto Lord Zeref's knees, there's no stopping us from achieving our goal!' the announcer added.
'No, Meredy, if you're hearing this, you must head towards the nearest village and warn the others before it's too late!' whispered Ultear, who used communication magic.
'Right!' replied Meredy, soon after which Jellal nodded and both of them headed towards the nearest village in proximity to the hideout.
'Long Live Zeref!' chanted the entire audience in succession as the announcer raised both of his arms.
'And now, our Lord himself' he announced with a grin on his face as he left the podium and bowed. Ultear's eyebrows were raised as Zeref himself stepped onto the stage.
'Lord Zeref, he's here..' whispered some of the members as they all bowed in front of him.
'This world is plagued with chaos and suffering, there's no hope left for humanity correct their mistakes. I will start a new world, a world free from all negativity!' proclaimed Zeref with a loud tone.
'Long live Zeref!' chanted all the members, along with the hostages affected by the black water.
'So the water works after all' thought Ultear as she began to walk away.
'I think I've seen enough' she whispered as she left the cavern and fled towards the nearest village.
Ultear sprinted through the forest towards the closest village, where Jellal and Meredy were headed. Upon arrival, she along with Jellal and Meredy were dumbstruck upon the scene which they witnessed. With the whole water supply poisoned by the cult, the team search for bystanders.
'The whole village had been poisoned before we even got here' claimed Meredy as she searched through the houses.
'This is bad, if all the villagers had been affected by this, where would they all be right now?' asked Jellal as he sat down on the ground.
'I believe that should answer your question' replied Ultear as she pointed towards a crowd of people walking towards the forest.
'Those eyes, they're the same as before' added Ultear, who pointed out their blacked out eyes.
'Long live Zeref' chanted the entire crowd as they marched.
'We have to stop them!' yelled Jellal as he confronted the villagers in an attempt to halt them. The villagers pounced onto him a short while after, surprising both Jellal and Ultear, who used her orb to fend off the villagers from him. Jellal used his meteor to fend off the rest of the victims away from him. A short while later, the villagers began sprinting towards the team.
'We need to get away from here!' yelled Meredy, when all of the Jellal halted as he used his Earth magic to enclose the affected by surrounding them with walls.
'What do we do now? It's not like we can find a cure for all this' asked Meredy in concern.
'We must do what we can in order to save their lives, if this continues to grow, the world we know might plunge itself into eternal darkness within no time' replied Jellal as he began to walk away.
'Where are you going?' asked Ultear.
'I need more information about this, I'm headed towards the magic library and see if I can find anything related to this holy black water of Zeref' replied Jellal.
'I'll come with you, we can act faster if we know what's going on as soon as possible' added Ultear as she walked towards him. Jellal nodded and headed towards the library.
'Hey, don't leave me alone over here!' yelled Meredy as she began following the duo.
Zeref and some of the cult members had arrived to the scene a short while after.
'I see, so someone was here after all' claimed Zeref as he tore down the wall imprisoning the affected.
'Long live Zeref!' chanted the affected villagers simultaneously. All of them lined behind. He grinned for a short moment over his thoughts.
'Try as they might, they don't stand a chance!' he added.
'The time has come for humanity to witness true terror!' he further yelled out loud, as he released a dark aura around him, which began to intensify by the second.
As the team arrived at the Magic Library, they began their search on all books related to Zeref. After hours spent on searching anything relevant to the holy water of Zeref, they found nothing.
'I don't believe it, I thought we would definitely find something' mumbled Jellal as he kept the last book on it's shelf.
'I don't think that water has anything to do with Zeref in the first place, I've searched all books related to telepathy and mind control magic, I found no leads based on a water that can grant you mind control' added Ultear. Suddenly, a young woman with blue hair and a fairly dark complexion had entered the area where the team were inspecting.
'I'm assuming you are looking for something related to Zeref' she proclaimed as she approached the trio.
'And who might you be?' asked Jellal.
'I mean no harm, I know everything about you three, you're Crime Sorciere, and independent guild. Yes, I've heard a lot about you' she replied. 'My name is Jen, I belong to the Mermaid Heel guild, I visit here often' she added.
'Do you know anything about the holy water of Zeref?' Jellal further asked curiously. Jen didn't reply for a few seconds, when suddenly Ultear interrupted. 'It's a water capable of mind control? Have you seen or heard anything related to it?'.
Jen stared at the ground for a few seconds, 'I have no clue onto what you're trying to tell me over here, but I'm fully aware of what's going to come' she added.
'What do you mean?' asked Ultear.
'I've learned about Zeref's awakening, and ever since the disappearance of Fairy Tail, he might take his time to strike us down' she replied.
'It has already begun' replied Jellal, which lit up Jen's eyes.
'No, not now, we've been searching for Fairy Tail for over 6 years! We have no clue onto where they are!' she replied with tears in her eyes.
'We might have to work without them at the moment' said Ultear.
'No.. We can't win this way..' she said as she looked upto her.
'I used to be known as Blaze...I fought with Fairy Tail and Cole before, they are the only ones that can stop him!' she added, which lit up their eyes.
'So, the rumors of an inter-dimensional traveler were true' mumbled Jellal.
'That's right, his name was Cole McGrath' she replied.
'We could use all the help we can right now, do you have any contact with him?' asked Jellal curiously.
'Unfortunately, he sacrificed his life to save Magnolia, that was the last of what I heard from him' she replied with a tone of disappointment.
'We better get going, there's nothing useful over here' said Meredy.
'Alright, good luck to all of you' said Jen as they began to leave.
'Cole McGrath.. The Fairy Conduit..' thought Jellal as the team walked across the forest.
'So the rumors were for real, a man with a silver staff being able to call lightning strikes at will' muttered Ultear.
'I'm just as surprised as you are' replied Jellal.
'He sacrificed his life to save the town huh?' asked Meredy.
'I heard about a giant fireball covering the entire sky, when all of the sudden this man called down an ice guardian from the heavens and saved the entire city. I thought it was just an urban myth and couldn't confirm it with the Fairy Tail guild' replied Jellal.
'What if he didn't die, he might be out there somewhere, if we could just get a sample of his power, I might be able to track him down' claimed Ultear in a confident tone. Jellal paused for a brief moment which surprised Ultear and Meredy.
'What if we succeed in tracking him down? It's worth an effort, he might prove himself to be useful in an hour like this' said Jellal confidently.
'But again, we need a power source' she replied.
'If he managed to call an ice guardian as the rumors say, we might be able to bring back chunks of ice from the battle by using arc of time' Jellal replied.
'You're right..' Ultear responded , who was clearly surprised by Jellal's answer.
'Where do you think he called an ice guardian in the first place?' asked Meredy curiously.
'I'm not so sure myself, but we must gather whatever info we can on the day he disappeared' replied Jellal.
Crime Sorciere head towards Magnolia, a town that had briefly changed over the past six years. Fairy Tail had fallen to the lowest ranks ever since.
'I doubt anyone from the current Fairy Tail guild would know what exactly we're looking for' said Ultear as the team entered the town.
'Again, few people believe this actually happened' responded Jellal. The trio walked through the crowd with their robes covering their identities. They worked undercover onto finding anything that would give them a clue onto where Cole used his powers.
'If he used his magic to stop a giant fireball, he would need to get to high ground, the highest point around here is the church, so I'm guessing we might find something over there' claimed Ultear as she entered the church. The team stepped out onto the rooftop of the church on an overcast day. Ultear walked towards the edge and began to use her arc of time. The area around her began to roll back in time. Jellal and Meredy observed from a distance as Ultear rolled back 6 years. A large chunk of ice began reappearing around the dome. Jellal and Meredy watched as the ice began to take shape as Ultear focused her arc of time around it.
'It's from the guardian's hand' mumbled Jellal as he walked towards it for further inspection. Ultear broke out a small piece of ice from it and placed it on her orb. She then cast a spell on it.
The orb began to vibrate vigorously.
'What's going on?' asked Meredy curiously.
'It's searching for a power source that matches the piece of ice we've obtained over here' replied Ultear as she kept an eye on her a few minutes, the orb stopped and showed nothing.
'There's nothing around..' Ultear whispered as she gave it a close look.
'It was worth a try..' added Jellal as he stood up.
'No, wait... I'm going to broaden the search, and see if I can find anything similar. This magic is nothing like I've ever seen before' she proclaimed as she further took a piece of ice and repeated the procedure. After a few minutes, the orb stopped vibrating and displayed a large chunk of ice kept inside the prisons of the Magic Council. The team were shocked upon their discovery.
'No way, is that the magic council prison?' asked Meredy curiously.
'Indeed, it would seem Cole McGrath's body is under an eternal state of rest within that ice. The magic council would have liked to keep it that way, I'm not sure why' replied Jellal.
'What do we plan to do now?' asked Ultear.
'I'm afraid we're gonna have to break some laws, at this hour of unrest we can't afford to sit out on the sidelines, we could use all the help we can' answered Jellal as he stood up.
'Our objective is to free Cole McGrath!' exclaimed Jellal as he put on his robe. The others nodded and the team left the church rooftop.