Darkness had already fallen over the city of Crocus by the time Irene reached the city. In the cover of night, she took a moment to stop and stare. This was a place seeped in memory for her and, truly, this was the culmination of that. So long ago she had thought control of Ishgar would be hers, and so long ago had she thought she was to marry the heir to the continent's strongest power. This was fucking personal, and she meant to end it tonight. She had long since come to terms with any regret she could feel regarding Toma, whom she now refused to admit she still loved, or his family. Of course, as she kept telling herself, she was not as concerned with him, or even Laxus and Hisui. No, the prince and eldest princess, in her mind, were worth far more. The youngest brat, she supposed, could be spared. Irene had never thought much of her, and saw no point in letting a little girl tear apart her plans.

This would be symbolic, what would happen tonight, and it would make an example of Fiore to every other country on both Ishgar and on the Empire's borders on the northern continent. That, she had always known, was her true aim. To make an example of the one kingdom that openly stood up against her. Allowing herself the pleasure of it being personal as well had always been secondary. In her mind, as twisted and impossible to untangle as it was, she was cementing her own power in getting revenge. She had done so plenty of times before, after all, and over the years death had become nothing more than a passing fancy for her. She was good at killing, and she enjoyed it for the prestige and power it gave her over others.

More than that, as she had tried to show Erza for years, it was the one thing that reminded her of just how human she was. With a light smile on her scarlet lips, Irene focused her magic, and disappeared from where she stood in the city with a sharp crack. When she reappeared, she was in the palace, albeit in the back of the library. No one seemed to be there. Wasting no time, Irene swiftly began up the stairs and began towards the ballroom, though she was well aware the winter ball, ordinarily held around this day, had been postponed by a week. She laughed mirthlessly to herself, quite curious herself as to what the end of the night would mean for the kingdom. Surely, it would not be the same.

Much to her shock, when she stepped into the ballroom, it was far from empty. Her eyes narrowed deeply upon seeing her daughter, who in return gave her a dark look herself, less than happy to see her mother. The so-called "Thunder Legion" and their spouses were there too, all of them prepared for a fight, including the king and queen themselves. With a smirk, Irene jumped down from the balcony and on to the floor of the ballroom, looking rather smug. It was then she finally saw the royal brats, too, though given that three of them had burst into the room, it seemed they had not been meant to be there. Of course they weren't. It almost amused her, knowing the king and queen must have tried to protect them, just as they had nearly twenty years before. When she caught sight of the fear that had glazed over the eldest princess' eyes, Irene smirked. She knew exactly how to bring them to their knees.

With no hesitation, Irene laughed, and shot a rather harsh shock at the prince, effectively knocking him deep into one of her sleeping spells. Even all these years later, she thought with a smile, her control over their curses was impeccable. The two princesses screamed in horror, and their father immediately charged at Irene, pure anger on behalf of his children in his eyes. Laxus was too fast for Irene to stop from getting an arduous blow on her with his magic, but, albeit winded and having dropped her staffs, she managed to snag him by the collar of his shirt. His magic was still furiously sparking around him, much to the Unceasing Empress' shock, but she did not care. It had been so long since she had last felt true fear that this felt to be nothing.

"I'll give you that you've always been strong, stronger than your father, even, and he was my greatest general," Irene hissed, knocking back Elfman, Mirajane, and Freed as they had begun to move on her too. "But you have to mean it and enjoy it to kill someone. You do know that's how this ends, don't you? I will never surrender myself to you and your wife, so you will have to kill me if you truly wish for this to finally end for you."

"And what makes you think," Laxus finally managed to wrench painfully out of her grasp and moving to punch her again. "That we'd have to kill you to put an end to this?"

Irene knocked him over with a heavy pulse of magic, something she knew better than to do much. She then turned towards the princesses, both of whom were shaking, and began towards them while she briefly had everyone on the ground from the sheer force of her magic. She whipped around, however, when a knife flew just past her neck and snagged on to part of her dress, stabbing into her shoulder. When she turned, she met the blazing gaze of a bespectacled blonde woman with piercing green eyes, followed by that of the woman next to her. Irene felt her entire body freeze for just a moment, but she broke through the enchantment, albeit at the expense of quite a bit of magic energy. This was not what she had planned.

Angrily, she changed targets, seeing Erza, Jellal, Bickslow, and Lisanna rush over to protect the princesses and treat the prince as best they could. Sensing the powerful shield the blonde, bespectacled mage had cast around herself and the others, Irene focused her magic energy again once she had picked up her staffs. With this, she shattered the shield after a long minute of force, which immediately impacted its caster, causing her to fall over, her high voice letting out a terrible cry of pain. Mirajane and Siegrain immediately moved to help her, while Freed, who had drawn his sword, Evergreen, who looked worriedly towards her sister, and Elfman, whose arms were crossed and ready for a fight, stood by Laxus and Hisui. All too aware that all of them were watching her, she turned on Hisui, slowly approaching the queen who, much to her shock, drew a crossbow on her.

"Not a step closer," The queen bitterly ordered, glancing towards the doors when Arcadios, who had been looking for the prince and princesses, burst in. She quickly refocused her gaze. "You're in no state to bargain, Irene. I do not say it lightly when I say we knew this was to come and are prepared to address it."

Irene cocked her head to the side, almost amused. "So," She drew out the word. "You managed to place spies in my Empire after all. How? How could you have possibly managed such a feat when I have been killing suspects left and right?"

"Funnily enough, this has nothing to do with espionage," Hisui replied, her voice shaking in anger. "Your so-called 'greatest general' gave it away, to his own father and then myself and Laxus, no less."

Irene's eyes flared, caught between disbelief and visceral rage. "What?" She demanded.

"Ivan knew your plot against the Magic Council would kill him," Hisui scowled. "His reasons, disgusting as they may be, however, are of no matter. Give it up, Irene. That's the only way this ends well for you in any sense of the word."

Irene snorted. "You're as arrogant as your mother."

"Enough damage has been done," Hisui tightened her gloved hands around the trigger, her wedding and coronation rings glinting in the light. "And I, for one, have had enough."

Irene rolled her eyes. "Foolish," She said with a smirk, briefly catching the anxious way Laxus looked at his wife. "Perhaps this will teach you a lesson."

Irene moved on Hisui, who in response fired, managing to shoot Irene in the stomach. Letting out an enraged yell, Irene ripped the arrow out of her and tackled the queen to the ground before she could reload. Laxus and Freed all but ripped Irene off Hisui, but, using one last powerful pulse of her magic to knock them back, Irene managed to regain some semblance of control. Tightening her staffs in her hands and laughing darkly when she saw Laxus immediately move to protect his wife and help her off the ground, Irene unleashed a curse on the queen, one that caused her to scream and convulse in Laxus' arms, terribly pained, before falling lightly to the floor, a small, pale green mouse.

Laxus let out a pained cry and immediately picked up his wife, cradling her in his hands and holding her close as he fell to his knees. In abject rage, Freed bolted towards Irene, as did Erza, and Siegrain. The three of them managed to forcibly restrain Irene, multiple swords and the Wizard Saint's knife at her throat. Now, their view unhindered, Fallon and Annetta could see what had happened to their mother, and both of them screamed, shaking even more when they saw how delicately their father was holding her, tears streaming down his face. Horrible, overwhelming guilt was threatening to subsume him, and he didn't know what to do, except for protecting her.

"I'm so sorry, 'Sui," He whispered. "This is all my fault…"

"How can you possibly love her now?" Irene taunted, though less confident in this position. "Now that she's a disgusting rodent."

Laxus looked to her in pure anger, still holding Hisui close to him. "She's my wife, and the mother of my children," He hissed. "I will always love her."

Irene scoffed, nearly breaking free of her restraints only to be, to her shock, kicked to the ground by Freed, who held his sword flush against her throat.

"You will undo all the curses you have lain upon my sister and upon her children," Freed pressed a little harder against her neck for emphasis. "Or you will die, which will do that in and of itself."

Irene glowered. "What makes you think I have any intention of dying here?"

If unable to escape being cut, Irene kicked him off of her and knocked Siegrain and Erza towards the where the Wizard Saint's wife was still struggling to get off the floor, her entire body in awful, overwhelming pain. Freed, Mira, and Evergreen all lunged to try and restrain the Unceasing Empress again, but she managed to get out of the way, causing them to hit the floor rather harshly. Turning back towards Jellal, Bickslow, and Lisanna, who were protecting the prince and princesses still, Irene paid little mind to Arcadios running towards the king. Taking great joy in the terror in Fallon's eyes and the way her whole body shook, Irene managed to snag Annetta by the wrist, pulling her out of grasp of Jellal, Bickslow, and Lisanna too quickly for them to stop her. However, Jellal immediately moved to fight her, his own magic at the ready just as the Unceasing Empress ripped out a knife and cut deeply down Annetta's right arm, from nearly her shoulder to almost her wrist.

"You could get much worse than just that, little girl," Irene spat, throwing Annetta harshly aside to meet Jellal's attack. Resisting against him, she turned towards where the princess was laying on the floor, clutching her bleeding arm. "But can you really still say you're the lucky one?"