Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fairy Tail
Things were far more concerning in Magnolia than Lahar expected them to be. The rune knight had given his report, handing over notes from the various interrogations going on in town. While he wished to read through them in more depth, another emergency was slowly rising within town. More people had died, and panic was spreading. People were speculating about dark wizards attacking town. Some blamed this mysterious dark guild for the destruction of Fairy Tail, while others were trying to flee in fear. Overall, the streets were tense with people watching as Lahar and Doranbolt made their way through town.
Lahar had hoped to handle things quickly, but his wishes were quickly thwarted. A child ran up to him, tugging on his robes with tears in his eyes. "Mister, you're one of the rune knights I've heard about, right?" the young boy asked. He had dark brown eyes and messy blond hair.
Glancing around, Lahar tried to locate the child's parents. He nodded in response to the kid's question, but this wasn't his area of work. "Are you going to stop the bad wizards? I heard they're attacking Magnolia now." he stated. "I'm afraid…what if they come for me, mister knight? I don't wanna…I don't wanna die…"
There was a trembling in his voice, and his grip on Lahar's robes weakened slightly as his hand shook. Closing his eyes for a moment, Lahar tried to imagine that he was anywhere else at the moment. Doranbolt should have intervened by now, but the other wizard was simply watching with an amused smile. When Lahar opened his eyes once more, he gazed down at the child passively. "Return to your home. I cannot make any promises, but my squad is investigating the wizard responsible for what has been occurring in Magnolia. We will discover the culprit, and they will be brought to justice."
"C-can I help?" the boy asked hesitantly. He stepped back, wiping at his eyes as he tried to meet Lahar's gaze. "I wanna be strong, too. One day, I'm going to be a wizard, and then, I'll help keep bad wizards in line! That's my dream, it always has been…since I learned that Fairy Tail doesn't always do good things for others. I heard they hurt people sometimes, though my parents say they don't mean to."
Glancing towards his partner for help, Doranbolt finally stepped forward. He knelt down in front of the kid, ruffling his hair with a small smile. "Hold on to that dream, kid. I'm sure it'll come true one day. For now, why don't you let us official rune knights deal with the problem? Go on back to your family, I'm sure they're worried for you." he insisted.
The child smiled up at Doranbolt, his arms dropping to his sides as he nodded slightly. "Right! If you change your mind, come find me! You guys are awesome!" he shouted, rushing off down the street after waving goodbye.
Glancing towards Lahar, Doranbolt smiled slightly. "You aren't that good with children, are you?" he commented.
Shaking his head, Lahar focused on finding the location that had been described. Multiple deaths were reported suddenly during his discussion with the rune knight earlier. Something dangerous was going on, and Lahar was beginning to wonder if Fairy Tail had found something dangerous to cover their tracks as they fled town. "Children are not a part of our job. They rarely brake laws, and when they do, it is their parents that are held responsible. In terms of serving the Council, there is no need to interact with them."
"Whatever you say, Lahar. That kid could be one of us, one day. The least you could do is show him that you enjoy your job." Doranbolt commented, shaking his head. "Anyway, for now, we've got work to do. Based on the reports from your knights before, I'd say we're dealing with some dangerous magic in this town."
Lahar nodded in agreement. The original report had simply been to explain the sudden death of an employee at a magic shop in town. Other rune knights had already been sent to investigate the matter further, so Lahar had quickly ignored the news. A single death was a coincidence, and not a major concern unless it was deemed to be the intentional actions of a wizard nearby. Considering the contents of a typical magic shop, it wouldn't be unreasonable for a defective product to have caused the cashier's death.
Things had changed, however, when another rune knight came rushing towards them during their meeting by Fairy Tail's former guild hall. The newcomer, one of the rare females amongst the rune knights, had reported several more deaths. She had been approaching the scene to investigate why no one had been in communication with the other knights from the event. As she went closer, she saw a strange explosion of black magic. Lahar didn't know what to make of her description of the spell, but he did understand that the results were unforgivable. Everyone caught inside of the black cloud of magic was dead in an instant, including the shop's owner who had been present to handle the customers and any questions the rune knights had.
With the firmer description of what was going on, Lahar knew that this task was far too risky for the average rune knight to handle. That was why he had taken it upon himself to investigate, while waiting for Natsu to return from his initial scouting mission. "Yes, it is quite troubling. There haven't been rumors of true black magic in decades, and even fewer reports of a black wizard. Do you think another dark guild gotten their hands on one of Zeref's creations?"
From time to time, strange occurrences such as this did occur. Lahar had read the reports of such incidents, when dark guilds went out seeking more power. Often times, it would lead to their own destruction, but in a few cases, they succeeded in finding a black magic spell to utilize. They would terrorize a small area, before the rune knights swept in to deal with the rogue wizards and dispose of the tool created by the legendary black wizard.
Doranbolt frowned, gently gripping his chin as he thought. "Maybe, though it almost sounds too discrete to be one of them. Most dark wizards with one of Zeref's spells go wild. If that was the case, I'd expect the entire city to be dead, not just a few locals in the town's magic shop."
It was a valid point, and it made Lahar frown. Dark wizards were easy to deal with, because their actions became predictable. They would set their sights on some form of illegal magic to gain power, attack anyone who got in their way to retrieve it, and ultimately, expose their presence in the process of attempting to utilize that magic. This event, however, did not follow the usual patterns.
"Then this must be them." he concluded grimly, gazing towards the crowd in the distance. "Fairy Tail truly has gone dark, and this is their way of covering their escape."
Shaking his head, Doranbolt dropped his hand and placed it in his pocket. "Once again, this is too small scale for that. If Fairy Tail wanted a distraction, based on their previous ways of handling missions, I'd assume half the town would be destroyed, rather than a small group of business people. Plus, for a legitimate guild going dark, it seems like an extreme move to take. Normal people wouldn't be able to handle the guilt of killing someone so easily." His logic was sound, and it left Lahar's mind running in circles once more.
"Right, I had not considered that. Fairy Tail simply wishes to avoid disbanding…it is unlikely that they will act like a traditional dark guild, at least not yet." Lahar agreed. Stepping closer, he began to hear the raised voices of people around. They were all focused in front of them, though a few had turned towards each other in arguments over what was going on.
"Dark wizards?" One began.
"Where is the Council in all of this? We deserve their protection from these criminals!" one shouted.
A few people turned towards Lahar and Doranbolt, their anger and fear now rounding against them. "Those two are rune knights!"
"Look at their uniforms…I'd say they're more than just knights, they're captains."
"Tell us what's going on!"
"Where is Fairy Tail? Don't tell me those insane wizards finally turned on the town!"
"Who did all of this? You must stop them, before more of our friends die!"
The panic and swarming people were interfering with his work. Lahar pushed his glasses up his nose, sighing as he pushed past those around him. Doranbolt followed after him, making use of the path Lahar created. "Everyone, remain calm. We will inform you when we have news of the criminal, or criminals, responsible for these acts. The Council has sent us to handle the issue, and we will continue looking into matters until we find a solution."
Many people did not look satisfied with his response. Most grumbled and glared at him, clearly concerned and wishing for action now. Unfortunately. Lahar couldn't simply arrest someone for doing no harm. Investigations were key to finding the culprit, and until he could perform it without interference, he would be feeling the wrath of others.
Walking passed two of his knights, Lahar glanced at them over his shoulder. "Make sure the citizens begin to disperse. They'll only get in the way standing around like this."
They moved into action with his orders, quickly barring the approaching crowd from getting any closer. A few more knights came for a report, and quickly joined in the efforts of guiding traffic towards the main streets of Magnolia. Meanwhile, Lahar knelt down by the bodies before him. A shop owner and two rune knights lay dead before him, along with another citizen from town. That was five deaths total, all in a matter of hours.
With gloved hands, he began to pull the shop keeper closer. It was an older man, with graying hair and stubble lining his chin. Wrinkles were on his face, which was frozen in an expression of irritation in death. His blank eyes stared up into the sky as Lahar quickly inspected his body for injury. There was not a single cut or bruise on his skin that could be fatal, though there was a minor paper cut on the side of his index finger.
Doranbolt joined him, pulling one of the bodies of the rune knights towards himself for inspection. "I'm not seeing any injuries." Lahar commented, frowning. His attention was diverted, however, by a citizen attempting to break free of the rune knights restraining them.
"You monsters! You claim you'll help us, but you're just leaving us all to die, aren't you? I hate all of you council freaks, trying to boss us around while doing nothing to help us when real danger comes near!" the woman was shouting. Behind her, her daughter, just a child, watched with wide eyes, her hair just as black as her mother's.
Growing irritated, Lahar rose to his feet. In the air, he began to write an enchantment to keep the citizens at bay. Lines seemed to appear from his finger, slowly spreading and surrounding Lahar, Doranbolt, and the bodies within a large box. The woman pushed passed the knight just as he finished, colliding with a magical barrier. Her eyes widened, staring at the strange lettering before her with a frown.
"That should keep her at bay." Lahar stated. "Now, we can work in peace. Only officials working for the council and the dead can enter this area, until I dispel my ward."
Doranbolt nodded, glancing up towards Lahar with a serious expression. "Good. That will help, since it seems like this will take some time. There are no injuries on your subordinate, either. I don't even think we should waste our time with the others."
Nodding in agreement, Lahar closed his eyes and let his palm hover over the body of the elderly man. Sensing magical energy was not an easy task. For rune knights, they all had to be skilled in differentiating between the energy of different spells to know if the intent was friendly or not. The higher ranking officials had to be able to do the same for the lingering energy of spells that had been previously cast, rather than ones being used at that moment.
His partner began doing the same, looking concerned the longer they sat side by side. Something in the air was making Lahar almost feel sick the longer he meditated. The ethernano of this spell was twisted and dark, far darker than anything he had ever encountered. Even demons had a brighter feel to them, and they were created by the Black Wizard himself.
With tense arms, Lahar began to sweat and lean forward. Despite knowing how dark the magic was, he could not identify the spell. It had to be something ancient, a lost magic of some form. That was all the more concerning, though. Lost magics were rare, and even the Council had little information on them. "Lahar, this energy…it is almost revolting just to sense the spell that lingers in the area. I don't think I can stomach doing this for much longer." Doranbolt stated, breathing heavily as he hunched over on the ground.
There was nothing Lahar could say to argue against him. Feeling weak himself, Lahar opened his eyes and focused on the world around him once more. "This is even worse than I imagined. Black magic…true black magic, designed to kill in an instant. That is all I can gain from what I'm sensing. Going much deeper…I fear we would experience the affects of the spell itself, to be honest." he breathed.
A spell that powerful was rare. Lahar had not expected this magic to have a lingering effect, but so long as he kept his body sealed off to the ethernano in the air, he appeared to be okay. The more of this energy he absorbed, the more sick he felt. "I agree. I don't think we can learn anything more here, Lahar. Let's get somewhere safe, and wait for Natsu to return. Maybe his nose can pick up something we've missed, because right now, I don't think even one of Tartaros' members is strong enough to cast a spell like this."
Rising to his feet, Lahar nodded in agreement. The sooner they left this place, the better. He began walking towards the end of the street with Doranbolt at his side. He paused for a moment, glancing back at the magic shop. All of the buildings were intact, and not a single object was broken. Whatever spell this was, it targeted only living things. Raising a hand to take down his spell, Lahar hesitated. Slowly, he dropped his hand, leaving the barrier in place. If the spell's effects were lingering in the area, it would be safer to keep others away from it. For now, he would leave the shop blocked off, until they could determine just what spell was used and how to stop it from being cast again.
Alright, I've got another update finished. I'm kind of half-asleep right now, so I don't really have many comments other than to say thank you to my wonderful readers! Feel free to review with any feedback you may have, they keep me motivated to write more!