I hadn't intended for this chapter to end up so long, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Day 3: Possession

"Captain Lahar!"

The man in question, sitting at his desk bent over the last report of the night, looked up into the panicked expression on the face of one of his best intelligence officers. "What is it, Doranbolt?" he inquired, setting the report down and giving the other man his full attention. Doranbolt didn't panic easily – whatever Lahar asked of him, he did with efficiency and near ruthlessness. In the man's civilian life, he was the complete opposite, but when on the job there was no one Lahar would rather have on his side. Whatever had spooked the man was worth Lahar's full attention… especially given where Doranbolt's assignment had been.

"There's something going down in the Worth Woodsea. Something big – the entire forest was shaking, and the dark guild activity has been chaotic. I think I saw Fairy Tail mages, and a wizard saint as well. A lot of fighting's been going on in the forest since early afternoon, but something's changed for the worst."

Lahar stood abruptly from his desk, the report he'd been reading sliding unnoticed to the floor in his haste. "Are you still good to Direct Line?"

Sweat ran down Doranbolt's face, and in his eyes Lahar could see the depth of his subordinate's weariness from the long series of jumps he must have taken to reach Era. But the intelligence officer nodded curtly. "Yes, sir."

"Take me to the squadron nearest the Woodsea. I will be taking command of them." Lahar had sent some men out there mostly as a precaution – a backup in case the intelligence operatives needed to leave the area quickly – but he was thankful now that he'd had the foresight for it. Getting a full contingent out there would be impossible to accomplish in short order, but the few men out there already were better than nothing.

Even if they were headed straight into the territory controlled by Oracion Seis of the Baram Alliance.

After several gut wrenching jumps, Lahar found himself standing in the distant outpost. Doranbolt began to collapse beside him, magic depletion taking its toll on the officer. Lahar grabbed him and held him up.

The outpost was already in a frantic state, and Lahar soon understood why as the ground rumbled ominously beneath his feet.

"Men! At attention!" Lahar spoke loudly, the sharp, commanding tone of his voice carrying to the alarmed Rune Knights with ease. They snapped to attention, the cadence of a superior officer issuing orders drilled into them strongly enough to cut through their fear. "Lieutenant Corsan! What is the situation?"

"Sir!" A woman stepped forward from the Rune Knights. "Something large just rose up from the ground. It… it looks like a walking building, sir. It seems to be under attack, but it's on the move. It'll reach civilization relatively soon on its current trajectory."

Lahar nodded. "Then we need to deal with it." He passed Doranbolt off to one of the Knights, who propped the intelligence officer up against a wall. "Move out!"

Once in the Woodsea, it didn't take long for the dark mages still lingering around to notice the Rune Knights in their presence. Lahar soon found his group beset on several sides by enemies.

Long before they could approach the gargantuan structure moving through the forest… it stopped, and fell quiet. This development stop Lahar and his Rune Knights from mopping up any dark guild stragglers they came across, including – to his great surprise – several unconscious members of the infamous Oracion Seis.

Halfway through the night, Lahar called a brief rest while he interrogated some of the captured dark mages. It quickly became apparent that the dark guilds weren't the only source of illegal activity in the Woodsea in the past twenty-four hours. Several legal guild mages, including some from Fairy Tail, had banded together in clear violation of the inter-guild conflict ban, to fully obliterate all of Lahar's hard work and preparation against the Oracion Seis.

It set the normally calm Lahar's blood to boiling. He would be lucky now to get even half of the lesser dark guilds wrangled up before they pulled up roots and vanished once more. Furthermore, hadn't Fairy Tail already learned this particular lesson, from their conflict with Phantom Lord?

Fresh Rune Knights arrived then to replace Lahar's exhausted squadron, while more began to comb the forest for more dark mages; no doubt this was courtesy of Doranbolt, who must have recovered and sent for reinforcements. Lahar resolved to give the man his pick of assignments when they returned, and possibly a commendation of some sort.

Lahar himself pressed on, despite his own growing weariness. He was the highest ranking officer present – it was his duty to see this through until the end.

Daylight had broken by the time Lahar found the instigators of the entire mess. Several bruised and bandaged mages stared back at Lahar, dumbstruck by the rune barrier he'd hastily erected around them.

Amongst their number, Lahar was shocked to see two very familiar blonds.

Eve Tilm. That must have been the source of their information, Lahar concluded. The former Rune Knight must have taken something from the archives when he left, prior to Ultear's own, much more violent, exit.

And Lucy Heartfilia. Her presence really surprised Lahar. He would have thought she'd steer clear of breaking the ban on inter-guild conflict more than anyone else in her guild.

But most shocking of all – and the real reason he'd caged them – was the presence of two well-known criminals in their midst.

Richard Buchannan, of Oracion Seis.

And Jellal Fernandes himself.

Bafflingly, Fairy Tail, and the other guild mages protested when he ordered the two men to be taken into custody. Even Eve Tilm, who knew better, seemed unhappy with this.

Well, Lahar didn't need to be liked. He'd do his job, and he'd do it well.

After the criminals were loaded into the transport vehicle, one of the Rune Knights turned towards Lahar. "Sir! What should we do with the others?"

And here, Lahar faced a dilemma. On the one hand, the legal guild mages had broken a rule with dire consequences. Protocol dictated that Lahar lock them up with the other criminals they'd rounded up that night. On the other hand, they'd done a good portion of the Rune Knights' work for them, in stopping that monstrous weapon that still towered over the Woodsea. Then again, they'd also made a mess of it, potentially endangering the lives of civilians and Lahar's Rune Knights and allowing the escape of many of the lesser dark guild mages.

Lahar looked at the group – much the worse for wear, and sporting injuries amongst all of them. There was even a child there. Who brought a child into this mess like this? They deserved to be locked up for that alone.

And yet…

"Not today," Lahar told his Knights. "The ones we've already taken into custody are plenty." Jellal Fernandes was a career-maker, for all of them. And Lahar wasn't in the business of throwing children into prison, besides.

When they turned to leave, he ignored the stares of the legal mages at his back.

As far as he was concerned, this made him even. He no longer owed a debt of honor for his lapse in judgement months ago.

He hoped Lucy Heartfilia and her friends made the most of the freedom left in their possession.