Hello there ladies and gents, it's that time for me once more!
Darkmaster10000000: Okay that's a fair number of reviews. So first and foremost, the whole harem and pairing thing isn't a real priority right now. Right now I'm just setting up Matt's character for when canon rolls around. I'm keeping myself loose and flexible with the story so I could roll either way down the line. But for now, romance, as I stated ages ago in another review response, won't go past the crush phase... well outside of Macao and Enno because no shit.
As for the Time Wizard stuff, I do actually plan to tackle this idea later on, so just have a bit of patience for when I do eventually get there.
With that done, let's get this show on the road!
Lucius sat inside a quaint home, a wonderfully crafted cherry wood table and chair are what he rested on. In his hands a book, to be precise it was an opera script, the music to it playing in the home from a Lacrima.
The door to the abode opened to reveal a swordsman, draped in foreign garb and with his black hair in a low ponytail. A blade rested on his hip, the cool black sheath and handle contrasting the golden cap and guard.
"Ah, Batou! Good to see you, come, come! Have a seat, enjoy the music!" He smiled and gestured for the man to take a seat on the opposite end of the table.
Used to the odd behavior of the man, Batou complied and sat in the chair, resting his blade against the table.
"So, how's the exercise going?" He placed the book down and asked Batou, a slight smile on his lips.
"We've lost most of our forces to the Encan military, about 60% if my estimation is right." The swordsman bluntly answered.
"Hmmm." Lucius placed a hand to his chin in thought before nodding. "It's within acceptable margins."
Batou didn't seem taken aback by their leaders rather cold attitude towards the people he so claimed as brothers and sisters dying. Then again, he couldn't even get a vague read on the man at all. From him callously murdering one of the members of the group back on that boat, to sending them all into what should be a deathtrap, it's almost like…
"Like I don't care about any of you?" Lucius smiled at the surprised swordsman.
"How did you-"
"Know what you were thinking?" Batou could only nod as Lucius let out a chuckle. "My friend, I've learned many things in these past 6 years of life." He moved his finger and the music ceased playing. "Magic." A lift of the book. "Culture." The man moved his hand slightly and a manju the previous resident had already cooked flying into his hand. He took a bite of the sweet and smiled at the wonderful taste. "Delicacy."
Lucius stood and walked around the home.
"For most of my life I was denied these truly magnificent things. I adore the genius musical compositions of the west, the outstanding history and culture of the east. I respect the forerunners that worked tirelessly to make our modern advancements what they are." He turned to face Batou. "And I equally wish to see it all crumble to dust."
Batou sat there, even more confused as to what Lucius' goal, or even his motives were.
"For too long we have allowed the past to dictate our actions. For too long we have allowed phantoms of ages past to inspire cruelty and hatred." He paced around the table, Batou couldn't help but think of his leader like a Vulture, staking a soon-to-be corpse for a meal. "So you ponder, why am I doing this? Aren't my actions here entirely contradictory to my words?"
The swordsman didn't even move a muscle, not daring to temp any dark hand of fate. "You are correct. Even if we are Magi, we are all still human, doomed to repeat the past in an endless cycle. No natter how hard I try, no matter how much I try and change, I'll always be the byproduct of my environment. And my environment, was a rather cruel one."
Lucius rested his hands of Batou's shoulders, sweat cascading down his head as a pressure that would cause any man to start frothing from the mouth leaked from the greenette. "So I'll do something special. I'll make sure this world receives something it has been so sorely lacking for many years."
The leader lightly clenching his hands on Batou's upper arms as a sign of playfulness. "Now, now, no need to be so tense!" He chuckled, "Relax my friend! Enjoy the show! Have some of this wonderful Manju!"
As the duo stood in the home, the door barged open. A man in tattered priest vestments and covered in odd black markings smirked.
"Hey boss, we caught the general of the island."
Lucius clapped his hands together, "Wonderful work! Please! Bring him here! I wish to chat with our gracious host!"
"You got it!" He smirked and walked off, leaving the faint odor of burnt flesh.
The greenette waves his hand in front of his face, "Goodness, I'll have to reccomend a bath for everyone after this." He chuckled playfully before turning his attention back to Batou. "Now, is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me?"
The man dryly swallowed, "N-no, I must be going anyways."
"Very good then," Lucius smiled. "Safe travels my friend." He wished the swordsman well as he left the home.
"Now then, where was I?" He opened the book once more and played the music again, the soft and mournful dirge of Dolor playing. An oprea about the life of a dying man, on the eve of his public execution.
"Goddamn it!" Cosmo pounded the table in frustration. Losing fifteen games of poker in a row tends to do that.
"Just give it up, if none of us could be him, you sure as hell can't." Siegrain sighed in annoyance.
"Now now, that's quitter talk, how about all of you take me on at once?" Matt coyly smirked as he counted his newly acquired riches.
"""WE DID DO THAT!""" Came the cries of the bankrupted crewmen around Matt.
"Oh yeah you guys did…" He vaguely recalled
"Man, I thought Macao sucked at poker, but this is just sad." His smug aura mocked then relentlessly.
"I knew I should've done a bet pool." Ultear clicked her tongue at the missed chance to make some easy cash.
"Now then, we got another two days before we reach Enca. So how about another round?" He shuffled the cards effortlessly.
"""ABSOLUTELY NOT!""" Came the cries of the empty-walleted people.
"Tch. Party poopers."
After that debacle, the crew split off to do participate in whatever time-wasters they felt like.
Yato sat in the mess hall, looking at a photo she kept in her uniform.
"Hmmmm." She squinted at the photo one moment before closing her eyes in concentration the next.
"What's with that face? You constipated or sumthin'?" Yoru grinned as she sat across from the woman.
"No, I'm not like Ken after a single drop of milk gets in his system." She shot back at the expense of the bug wizard.
"Ha! I remember Hina's face when she heard he was lactose intolerant. Poor girl had just made about a dozen milk chocolates for him." She chuckled at the memory.
"The lengths that man will go to for sugar is untold." Yato shook her head, a wide grin raised on her face.
Yoru caught a glimpse of the photo, "Oh, is that your sister?"
"Yup! My adorable baby sister who also happens to be a hopeless romantic." Yato sighed. "You should've seen her after she tried to ask this boy out on a date."
"How'd it go?"
"Well she said that she tried talking to him normally at first, then when he asked her about her hobbies, she requipped out about a dozen deadly weapons." The woman rubbed her temples .
"HAHAHA!!" Yoru smacked the table and clutched her gut.
"Yeah yeah," Yato rolled her eyes at the expected reaction. "You wouldn't be laughing as hard if you saw her use those things. Girl is a regular fightin' machine." She proudly grinned.
"Being your sister? I'd take those odds sooner than seeing Matt loose a game of poker." Her poor empty wallet cried out in hunger. Damn kid knows how to make you keep raising.
"That's another reason why I'm thinking about her."
"What? You wanna set those two up on a date?" The girl pondered before gaining a chesire grin. "Oh my Yato, I didn't expect you to desire the forbidden fruit of a pure boy."
"It's not like that!" She retaliated vehemently. Though if he were of age…. The girl shook her head of that thought. "What I'm saying is that he reminds me of her is all."
"Really?" The dark-skinned beauty raised a brow. "How so?"
"Well besides the bordering-on-insane level of courage he's got, it's his eyes."
"Uhhh, unless my own eyesight is going bad, I'm pretty sure your sister has brown eyes."
"Not the color. It's like how they say eyes are the window to the soul or whatever. I look into his eyes and I see a lot of the same things I do in my sister. But one thing stands out a lot more."
"And that is?" She urged the blonde on.
"Loneliness."
Cosmo sat at a desk in his own room, several crumpled up and discarded bundles of paper littered the area. He growled in frustration as he ruffled his hair.
"Damn this is hard! Why do movies always make this look easy?!"
He took a deep breath and huffed it out before slouching in his chair, gazing at the lantern on the desk. After a moment, the young man picked up the pen and used a fresh piece of paper.
"Dear Father
Everything is going well. We encountered the infamous Hood Pirates a few days ago and soundly defeated them! Naturally my help was invaluable, your unparalleled guidance and leadership being a great asset for me to channel even a small iota of in these battles.
My party consists of a varied bunch of personalities I'm sure you'd find amusement from to some degree. Our leader is the famous Sarutobi from the Rune Knights. A brave man who always keeps calm and collected, but I think you still outpace even his abilities naturally. We have four other Rune Knight Captains too. Captain Ken is a nice man, though his obsession with sugar still baffles me even with learning of his insect-based magic. Captain Hina is a quiet and meek girl, but like you always say, those kinds of people hide the deadliest of ability when applied. Captain Yato is quite loud and rather boyish for being such a beautiful woman, perhaps that's just the kind of environment in Seven? You'd certainly be more aware of such things than myself. Lastly, Captain Yoru is a lively woman who seems to enjoy messing with people a bit too much if you ask me.
Besides myself, we also have four non-government Mages too. Jura Neekis is just as you described, a strong-willed man who's personality perfectly matches his magic. Siegrain is rather odd, he's the youngest of us at 13, something I find rather absurd given my own age. However he's far more mature then you'd expect. It's almost as if he's playing with us or something, I'm not quite sure though. You'd be able to see through him easily though. Ultear is a rather mysterious girl. I can't make heads or tails of what she's even here for. Though she's had some rather violent outbursts befitting her age lately, it's quite amusing to see her become a mess or teenage development whenever our last member is in the mix. Matthew Atlas rounds out our group. I was surprised they called him of all people in, but I was even more surprised to find he's rather annoyed by the title thrown on him. Granted, it fits him to a T at points, but to find a mere 14 year-old acting so… mature, was just odd.
Regardless, even with this merry group, I've made sure to keep myself respected amongst them just as you'd want. I've no doubt our upcoming battle in Enca will give me amazing opportunities to demonstrate the skill you so tirelessly helped me perfect. I'll be sure to tell you all of the fantastic details when I see you again before too long.
With Love,
Your Son."
Cosmo placed the pen down and looked over the letter with a smile. Said smile began to fall as he reread it. Deeper and deeper it sunk until only a dissipated frown remained.
"Damn!" He crumpled the letter and threw it.
"It's not good enough!"
Cosmo hit the desk before a stray tear fell from his eye to the wood.
"It's never good enough."
Ken sat in the library of the ship, reading over some of the files for the S-Class mages they'd be going against in Enca. His gaze lingered on a specific file.
"Ken? Is everything okay?" Hina looked at him with concern.
"Huh?" He shook his head and looked up, "Hina? When did you get here?"
"Ken, I've been here the past ten minutes." Her concern only grew as he continued to speak.
"Oh. I-is that so? My apologies, I just got… distracted." He apologized and shook his head.
"It's about him, isn't it?" She gazed at the file in Ken's hand.
The man sighed in defeat, "Guess I made it kinda obvious huh?"
Ken was looking at the file for Hannibal. A mage who was his first big case as a captain some number of years ago. Imagine scum, now imagine the scum beneath that scum. Go about a thousand layers deep, and that's where Hannibal would rank on the list of humanities worst.
A sociopathic mage, arrested for the murder and cannibalization of hundreds of men, women and children. He marked his body for each person he'd devoured with his blend of magic. Not much clear skin remained on his body anymore, a mess of tally marks devouring any natural pigmentation.
That case nearly broke Ken physically and mentally. Though having to look at photographs of half-eaten people for months would do that to any sane individual.
Ken's hand trembled as the unpleasant memories flooded back into his mind. Sweat began to flow down his brow as the screams of his comrades being devoured came back. His pupils dilated smaller and bigger without end as his heart tried to pound its way from the confines of Ken's chest.
Suddenly, it all stopped.
Ken's head was nestled against Hina, the woman giving a sideways hug to the man.
"It's alright, you're not alone anymore. All of us, we're all in this together now." She softly spoke to the man. "So don't worry Ken, we'll protect you like you protect us." A small smile gracing her features.
Ken smiled, "Yes. You're right." He placed the file down and gently grasped her forearm, "Thank you Hina."
"Any time. Ken."
Siegrain sat in the crows nest of the ship, staring up at the stars in the night sky. After years of being a slave in that hell hole, he never stopped marveling at the magnificence of the stars. All those asteroids, the planets, countless stars, all dancing in the greatest waltz being conducted by gravity.
He'd always admired the sky. Under its light, no one was treated with inequality. Everyone got the same sky as long as mother nature allowed the ants of a species on her world to be blessed by it.
A vague smile rose on his lips.
"It's no different even compared to back then."
The warm memories of his family filled his fractured heart. His loving mother and father, laying on the ground with him on the hill that was by their home. Every night, they lay there, staring at the unparalleled beauty before their eyes.
He missed those days. More than anything else in the world.
"Just a little longer."
Yes. Just a little bit longer. The R-System would be used to resurrect Zeref. From there, either Zeref would bring back his family, or he'd simply use the system again.
Why would he resurrect Zeref first?
A spike of pain stabbed through his head as that simple question put everything he was doing in the hot seat. Why should he waste something as invaluable as a resurrection on someone that caused all this pain? It didn't make sense! He should bring back everyone's family! Uncle Rob! Yes! That's exactly what he'll-
The fog of agony cleared and Siegrain shook his head.
No, such a foolish idea that was.
All that mattered was bringing back Zeref. That's all that matters and all that ever will matter. Zeref is the key. Zeref is the link that will solve everything.
"Yes…" His hollow eyes filled with a malicious light once more.
Down below Ultear sighed.
"I know brainwashing is a tricky matter, and I should be doing it all manually, but planting suggestions is so much easier."
The Grimoire Heart member pinched the bridge of her nose. The R System was a complete pain in the ass to complete, even by conventional standards. Sure, Master Hades will use it as a backup measure, but he's so absolutely confident in the key method that he's not even telling Ultear how to go about with this whole debacle.
"Seriously Master, you could at least give me a vague idea." The girl groaned in annoyance as she walked off, leaving Jellal to his own devices.
"And you're positive this is where they've taken refuge?" He spoke to the lacrima in his private quarters.
"Correct, the Encan government confirmed it just a few hours ago." A voice responded.
The large man sighed, "How do we proceed then?"
"For now? Standard procedure for this kind of situation. Naturally it's subject to change if anything major occurs." The voice nonchalantly replied.
"You're telling us to secure something of that size and fortitude, with just a group of ten people." A hint of annoyance began to rise up in his tone.
"Look Captain, I understand your frustration with this, I truly do. However this situation can't just be resolved with a simple order of Etherion."
"When did I ever mention that?" He raised a brow of suspicion.
"Nevermind that. For now you're ordered to follow protocol and that's that."
"Very well, Sarutobi out." He cut the connection.
The large man sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Just when I thought things couldn't get anymore complicated after the Isles."
"So, what's up?" Matt raised a brow as he sat with Jura in the latter's room. Jura had called Matt over to discuss something.
"I wanted to pick your brain."
"About?"
"What happened with Hood."
Matt blinked a couple of times before shrugging and taking a seat on the bed.
"What about Hood?"
"You talked to him, didn't you?" The bluntness of Jura surprised Matt for a moment.
"Yup." He didn't even bother hiding it.
"I see, and you let him go too didn't you?"
"Correct." He nodded.
"You're rather casual about letting an S-Class band of criminals go." Jura raised a brow.
"So? Everything about this job has screamed rotten to me from the get-go." Matt sighed and laid back on the mattress.
"How so?"
"Let's see, from why Hood's crew got busted, the stolen Rune Knight uniforms the council did nothing about, the odd fact that our big bad is a former slave. Everything has just been backwards." Matt spat out. "Those guys have got a giant laser in space that points right down wherever they want, and suddenly they just can't find the ship that guy is on? Suddenly they feel the need to call in ten well-regarded mages to handle their dirty work? Excuse me if I think something is wrong."
"You have little trust in people, don't you?"
"Trust is a valuable thing Jura, misplacing it is a bad idea that leaves your back wide open." He bluntly retorted.
"…" Jura opted to remain silent at that.
Truthfully, he too could care less about Hood's group being out and about. The stories the citizens told him serving as ample evidence that they weren't malicious individuals.
What Jura was concerned with, was the mental state of Matt. The man had always suspected something was… off about him. Naturally he didn't pry as it would be rather rude, but as he's spent more and more time with the teen, the very subtle cracks are present. They aren't deep mind you, but the skin-deep hairline fractures are observable with a keen eye.
For now, all the man could do was hope Matt could at least make it through this mission intact.
"So, what'syour guild like?" Matt's question broke Jura from his thought.
"Lamia Scale is a wonderful place, orderly, quiet, quite friendly too. The old woman is a rather… eccentric master, but she know's what she's doing."
"Heh, sounds like the polar opposite of Fairy Tail." The teen chuckled at that mental compassion.
"Wonder how those guys have been since I've been gone a week?"
"Hey! Watch the BLFRGGHF-" Macao's face became well acquainted with the table he sat at once Natsu's flung body broke it.
"I'll get you back for that Boxer Sniffer!" Natsu hopped up and charged back into the fray.
"I-is it normally like this?" A young blonde man's eye twitched at the sight.
"Damnit Geronimo! Don't join in!" A young girl with pink hair in a ponytail chided a much larger man with short black hair.
"What?! Free fightin' is the best!" He smashed a chair over someone's head.
"Idiots, all of them are idiots." A reclusive man with short brown hair shook his head.
"Should I put a stop to this?" The final member of the group of fresh faces to Fairy Tail, a woman with long blonde hair spoke up.
"No Bryn, I don't think that'll be neccessary." Just as the blonde man finished speaking-
"CUT IT OUT YOU DAMN BRATS!" A massive foot ended the fight abruptly.
"J-jeez, talk about tough love." The pinkette gaped at the sight.
"Oh don't worry about that, Master handles it pretty well." Erza spoke up beside them.
"I see." Brynhildr gave a puzzled expression at the odd manner in which Fairy Tail operates.
"By the way Erza." The blonde man spoke.
"Hm? What is it Judeau?"
"I heard the famous King is a member of this guild, but I don't see him around. Is he out?" His words caused the girl to flinch slightly.
"Yes. Matthew is currently out on an extended job right now. We don't know when he'll return."
"I see." He nodded.
"Now if you'll excuse me." The redhead walked over to the pile of bodies and pulled out a certain Dragon Slayer. "It's time foe your next writing lesson."
"No! Anything but that!" He fruitlessly cried out as he was dragged off by the redhead.
"What a weird guild." Judeau sighed out.
Back in a nice, quaint house within Enca, Lucius quietly sat, awaiting the arrival of a certain individual.
The door burst open as a man dressed in a rather fancy blue and grey uniform was thrown into the room, his normally slicked back black hair a complete mess.
"Ah! General Izou! Wonderful to meet you." The greenette stood with a smile, "Please, have a seat. We have much to discuss."
"…" The general remained silent as he stood and sat in the chair across from Lucius.
"Now then, first and foremost I must praise the skill of your soliders! Non-mages managing to take out over 1000 mages is no small feat." He complimented the departed. "Truly, even I myself didn't expect that level of resistance." The man genuinely smiled lightheartedly.
"Do you have anything important to say to me?" Izou's tone was cold and unfeeling. He knew death quickly approached, but he refused to show fear in the face of it.
"Important to you in particular? Not really." The man shrugged. "What I do have to say, is that I quite like the culture here." Lucius stood. "Everyone has a simple, yet important role. There isn't a single person of power outside the Emperor that wasn't at one point a commoner. I admire that in a country you know?"
The greenette slowly walked around the home, admiring the art. His feet causing the wood to creak, which in turn caused vibrations to travel down into the ground, where some dirt fell atop the heads of the hiding citizens of the area.
Like in the Cross Isles, a hidden tunnel system served as a last-line of defense to safeguard the innocents in the event of an invasion.
The hundreds of civilians cowered in the dimly lit tunnels, their hands over their mouths to make sure not even the noise of breathing was too loud.
"I was, a bit lower on the totem pole of society than most of them y'know?" He sat back down at the table. "I went through many struggles to survive. Many hardships just to be fed. Untold levels of pain, for a simple glass of water. I've seen a lot of good men and women drop dead before my very eyes. Starvation, dehydration, disease, murder, all manners in which people who struggled beside me died."
Even as he spoke about the horrors of slavery to the man in front of him, his smile never fell.
"This in part, did many things for me. It made me strong. It made me observant. It also made me able to think, much like the common man would, and like the rich man would."
The general kept his composure, but, 'Does he know?!' That singular thought raced through his head, over and over.
"Truly though, I can't bring myself to senselessly hate anyone unlike those who I brought with me. My compatriots and I are cut from… let's say different cloths of life. Some of them, were truly good people that just received bad hands. Other however… rather justify the fear given to mages."
"What are you saying? Did you bring those people here with you to kill them?"
His smile widened with a short chuckle. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Maybe all I planned to do was kill those who made life so hard for innocent mages. Or maybe I just simply wish to see the world that wronged me so burn. It's quite an exhilarating mystery isn't it?"
"What are you?" Genuine feelings of dread began to swell within the man, sweat flowed off his brow.
"Hmmm. I wonder? Perhaps a phantom of the past? Maybe I'm nothing more than the bogey man. Though I do find the idea of hiding in closets and under beds to be rather uncomfortable." He chuckled to himself.
Lucius smiled at the man, however, slowly and surely, his lips curled down. His gaze narrowed. His cheeks lowered and flattened.
The general began shaking, as if what was once a man, slowly morphed into the devil himself. A weight comparable to a thousand stones crushed his chest as breathing became a nearly impossible task. Tears, welled in the corners of his eyes as the brave and respected general melted into nothing more than a regular man.
"They're hiding beneath us aren't they?"
"Y-yes."
"They have no escape route, do they?"
"No."
"If someone finds them, they're dead, aren't they?"
"Yes."
Lucius stopped speaking after that, even as the broken man across from him shot up and ran over to the kitchen, grabbing a knife.
The greenette didn't even see this as a remote threat, and he didn't flinch, when the man drove the knife forward, into his own stomach. Izou jerked the blade to the side, his entrails falling to the floor before he did. A massive pool of blood seeped through the floor and into the dirt.
"It's a shame, I would've helped them too."
A bright light blinded the civilians, smiles creeping up on their faces as they thought help had arrived.
"Not even I can keep a leash on some of these monsters."
"My my," The form of a man, coated in tally marks so numerous that his body looked like a massive scar, was bathed in the light. "Looks like it's supper time." His scarred tongue liked his lips.
Not even a bone remained of the once alive men, women and children.
"All hands at deck!" Sarutobi shouted below deck. The people below, Matt included, made their way up top as just ahead was their goal.
"Oi oi, you said they took over an island." Matt's eye twitched as he looked at the landmass ahead of them.
"I did." Sarutobi bluntly replied from beside him.
"Maybe you could've left in the fact that said island was a MILITARY FORTRESS CITY!!" He yelled at the older man.
Massive fifty foot walls surrounded the island. A colossal tower, most likely the headquarters, stood proudly above it by a good 300 feet. The island itself was nothing to scoff at size-wise either. It must've been ten times the size of Crocus, not counting what was outside the walls too.
"You expect us to not only reclaim that fortress, but also take out every last Dark Mage in it?" Jura sweated, as even he seemed doubtful of their odds now.
"Correct." Sarutobi approached the wheel of the ship.
"What about the people living on it beforehand?" Ultear cast her gaze at their obstacle.
"We don't know, last communication with them was three days ago." Ken sighed, frustrated by the situation himself.
"So that means we can't just bombard the island." Siegrain concluded.
"Yeah, if we could've, the council likely would've just used Etherion and be done with it." Yato sighed.
"So on top of reclaiming the island and eliminating the 2000 Dark Mages, we also gotta secure the safety of hostages… swell." Matt clicked his tongue.
"Fortunately for us, we were given blueprints to the place, so there are ways we can sneak in." Yoru smirked as she pulled out a map from her coat and laid it on the floor.
"Listen up, everyone will break off into teams of two and enter in a separate way." Sarutobi stated from above them as he kept the ship steady.
"Group A, Yoru and Jura, will enter through a hidden path on the south side of the island, where we're facing right now." The pair nodded at the Captain's words. "Group B, Ultear and Ken, will enter through the front gate on the western side of the island, Ken's magic will cover your entrance so don't worry." Ultear raised a curious brow as to how that would work, but shrugged and nodded along with Ken. "Group C, Cosmo and Hina, will take the underwater entrance to the east of the island." Cosmo smirked as his abilities would come into play. "Group D, Siegrain and Yato, will enter through a hidden door on the northern wall." Yato smacked her fist into her palm with a grin. "Finally Group E, Matthew and I, shall enter through the air, above the wall." Matt nodded as the older man walked over and dropped anchor.
"So what's the plan once we're in?" Jura asked as he examined the city map.
"Group A will have the objective of securing the armory by the southern wall. Cut off their weapon supply and destroy them." Yoru grinned in anticipation. "Group B shall handle finding the captive civilians and soldiers. Your job is to guide them out via Group D's door on the northern wall or Group A's Southern Wall entrance, whichever is closer." Ultear closely examined the map. "Group C will secure transportation for said civilians and cripple their Naval vessels. The ships are by the Eastern Wall in a port. A large switch in the control area will open the doors. Be warned though, that will signal our presence, so only do so if safe." Hina nodded. "Group D and E will be the primary assault force. Both of us will wait until nightfall so the other groups have time to secure their objectives. Once done, send up a flare."
"How will the groups inside know of each others progress?" Cosmo looked at the Captain.
"We have small Communication Lacrima that are placed in the ear. They allow us to speak to each other over a short distance." Cosmo nodded at his words. "Once the flare has been sent, Group D will enter and distract the primary force. Group E shall head straight to the heart in the tower to deal with Lucius." The three other people of D and E nodded.
"Remember, these are people who have committed crimes so despicable that a life sentence was the minimum punishment. No punishment shall be given to anyone here if you should happen to kill. Because I assure you, they will not hesitate to kill us." Everyone grimly nodded at his words.
Sarutobi looked around at the nine other group members. "Then if everyone is ready, the operation shall begin!"
"""YES!""" Everyone affirmed as they set out to perform their tasks.
"Be honest with me Captain." Matt whispered to the older man as they were alone. "What are out odds of success here?"
"…" His expression was unreadable and his eyes remained closed in thought.
"Our success rate." He started and then looked the teen dead in the eyes.
"Is lower than 1%."
Well that certainly fairs well for our heroes.
Hi! Welcome back for another chapter of: SK struggles to write good villain dialogue.
This chapter was on the shorter side again, but I'm pretty sure next chapter will make up for that pretty well.
Lucius is proving to be a task for me to write. Not that I mind it, since it's good practice for other villains down the line and I find his ultimate goal to be rather unique for an antagonist. His actions are... odd. He has little remorse for his fallen mages in the fight, but he holds steadfast about making sure wizards are treated fairly. I really tried to channel some Hans Landa in there for him, but I naturally don't have Tarantino's writing chops, so it may not have come off as well.
A lot of these other sections speak for themselves honestly, from Cosmo's daddy issues, Yato seeing through some of Matt's mask, Jura seeing the cracks in Matt's mind, Siegrain's brief lapses of brainwashing removal.
We did meet some new characters in the Fairy Tail guild, but we'll get back to them later on.
Next chapter will throw some curveballs I'm excited to finally pitch out, so make sure you tune in next week.
Before we close out, I just started up my Nier Automata story, go check it out if you want. This'll be the last time I mention this in KoG, so don't worry if you think this will become a weekly ad.
With all that said and done, I bid you all adieu.
