Back with the continuation
"speaking"
""thinking""
On with the story
Far away
Through a deserted wasteland was where the Ice Devil Slayer named Silver walked. Coming upon a rather eerie and deserted looking structure, he stopped in his tracks. He smirked in amusement as he looked over the castle before him.
"No matter how many times I see this place it gives me the creeps." he commented. "Guess it's supposed to. It is my guild after all." He snorted before resuming his walk through the large open doors.
In the magic council
The magic council were having a meeting that was discussing about the activities of a certain dark guild
Within the central meeting room of the main building, the members of the magic council discussed the most recent matters that happened in Earth Land. Among the gathered were Lahar and Doranbolt, the latter looking rather nonplused at his friend while they listened to the senior members around them prattle on.
"that Fairy Tail is giving me a major headache" a council member said while rubbing his forehead
"I agree, First their rowdiest members return from Tenrou Island, then they win the Grand Magic Games, Will they ever cease being a nuisance?"
"If you ask me, we should have been allowed to have a say in the Games."
"But they're sponsored by a sovereign nation. Negotiations would have been difficult to manage."
"That's no excuse."
A metal rod tapped three times against the tile floor, halting all meaningless conversation.
"Everyone…be silent!" a voice boom out as everyone looks at the chairman, Gran Doma, the head of the magic council.
"We are meeting today to discuss Tartaros." He reminded.
"For those of you who do not know…" he began. "Seven guilds under the Tartaros umbrella have been wiped out over the past number of days. For reasons we cannot divulge their identities, but even if their intentions are noble, it only makes our job that much harder." He directed everyone's eyes to the numerous papers spread out on the table. Each one was a report on each guild taken down by this mysterious third party.
"If this is being done by an official guild, there is almost certainly a risk of retaliation."
"I say it's the work of Fairy Tail." An elderly woman sneered. "They're always out to cause us trouble."
"Right." The bespectacled man to her right agreed. "It's as if their mission in life is to make ours terrible."
"I hardly think it's wise to try and connect every unfavorable happening to the Fairy Tail guild." Org advised.
The man turned to him. "You seem to have been taking those troublemaker's side a lot recently, Elder Org."
Org leaned back in his seat. "That is not what I'm saying, but if we are discussing possibilities…I don't think it is inconceivable to assume that Tartaros has begun to start taking control of their subordinate guilds directly."
"Why would they do that?" A man with an eye patch and fangs that stuck upward from the bottom of this mouth asked.
"I can't say. But the most likely motives for these actions would either be preparation for a military offensive, or simply weeding out weaker guilds."
The other council members looked at one another, thinking of Org's words before they erupting in a loud fit of laughter, distressing the Fiore councilman.
"Dark guilds destroying one another?!"
"How absurd!"
"I think we all know that Tartaros has all the military strength they need."
"Your years are starting to show, Elder Org."
"Wait." Gran Doma interrupted. "There may be some truth to Org's words."
"But Chairman!" A hooded man protested.
"The time has come for us to permanently deal with Tartaros." The chairman declared. "Though we know very little of this enemy, taking them down would mean the fall of the Baram Alliance as a whole." His eyes darkened, sending chills down the spines of the collected council members. "It is time we show them the full might of the magic council."
Before anyone could offer a rebuttal one of the frog messengers raced into the meeting room, looking down at everyone from the balcony. "Everyone, terrible news!" he shouted in fright.
"You fool!" one of the members scolded. "Can't you see we are in a meeting?!"
"B-but this is urgent. Intruders have been spotted and…"
BOOM!
The first explosion interrupted the messenger, and rattled the ears of all those in the meeting room. Wave after wave of explosions destroyed the council building, killing or fatally wounding all foolish enough to be in their path.
When the dust settled in the meeting room, Doranbolt found himself on the other side of a splitting headache. He held his hand against his head, feeling the blood from a wound dripping down.
"Wh-what happened?" he groaned. He moved a piece of debris off of himself and looked around, seeing Lahar a few meters ahead of him on his side. He groggily stood up and ran to his friend.
"Lahar? Come on, man, get up. Lahar?!" When Doranbolt turned Lahar's body over his eyes widened in shock.
He gritted his teeth before setting his friend down as he was no longer with him
"This…this can't be happening…" Doranbolt shuddered. He turned to look at the rest of the room, and was equally horrified at the state of it. The roof was completely gone, with debris was strewn everywhere…along with the dead bodies of the Gran Doma and the other council members. "No…!" Doranbolt gasped as he stands up
"Is anyone still alive?!" he called into the destroyed room. A minor tremor caused the injured wizard to fall back to the ground and he looked ahead, seeing Org under a pile of rubble.
"Doran…bolt…" he called weakly.
"Elder Org!" he shouted happily, but that all faded away when he saw a hand press the injured Org's head further into the ground. Doranbolt's eyes widened in shock and he followed the hand up with his eyes, getting a full view of the perpetrator.
A man who had inhuman like features was holding Org down as the man grins
"Oh no you don't." he said. "We can't let you get away. We came here for all nine members of the council." He clutched Org's head tighter, his hand beginning to glow in an ominous light. "Explode!"
"No!" Doranbolt pleaded desperately. "Don't!"
"Doranbolt…" Org coughed. "Run…"
"I can't!" Doranbolt protested.
"What good will it do if you were to die too?!"
"It won't do you any good." The mysterious man said to Doranbolt. "You can't outrun my explosions."
"Doranbolt, go!" Org ordered, ignoring the attacker's threat. He could feel the heat emanating from the man's palm as the light grew brighter.
"I'm Jackal." The man introduced. "One of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros."
"you'll remember my name in hell!" Jackal grin at Doranbolt
"the name of the one who killed the entire council!"
Doranbolt offered no reply, instead he could only helplessly lie there on his stomach as his mentor was about to be killed.
"Go, Doranbolt! Live on!" Org shouted one last time. "See that justice is done!"
The man holding him cackled maniacally as another explosion erupted from his palm, rocking the room once more, as well as destroying Org.
"Elder Org!"
At Fairy Tail
Back at the Fairy Tail guild, everyone was happily conversing and carrying on, unaware of the looming darkness creeping ever closer over the land.
"Right here, Mira!" Macao called from his table. "Make sure it's the hard stuff."
"Ok, coming!" The barmaid sang.
"It's really too early to be drinking, Dad." Romeo sighed. "It's the middle of the day."
"Hey it's five o'clock somewhere." Cana shrugged, lifting her own barrel of alcohol overhead.
"Where?" Romeo sweat-dropped.
"Look at that weird bug, Aya!" Asuka pointed. The two girls were squatting on the ground as Asuka pointed at what looked to be some sort of scorpion mixed with a grasshopper.
"Oh~." Aya marveled. "It looks scary."
"Don't go touching that, you two." Bisca warned the girls while in conversation with Ultear and Meredy
"We won't." The girls said in unison.
"Hey!" Elfman shouted, slamming his fist on the edge of the table. He was currently staring a hole into a frightened Warren. "I saw you making googly-eyes at Lisanna."
"I-I wasn't." the telepathic wizard stammered, his body breaking into a cold sweat.
"Elfman, stop that right now." Lisanna scolded. "Warren wasn't doing anything wrong."
Elfman looked at the shaking man a little longer before letting up. "Ok, but I'm watching you." He pointed.
"R-right." Warren slowly nodded.
"that Minerva joined a dark guild?!" Makarov said in surprise to hear such news from Erza
"yes" Erza told him
"that girl can be so stupid" Makarov said with a sigh
"what about her father? Jilemma was it? What of him?" Makarov asked Erza
"there have been no clues to his whereabouts as yet" Erza replied
"we must report this to the council" Makarov said while scratching his beard
"I was thinking of informing Sting as well. He and his guild might be able to pull her out of the darkness, she is plunging in"
"I made Fairy Tail buns if anyone would like some." Juvia offered. She held out a plate filled with hot bread buns with the Fairy Tail symbol on them.
"Sure, I'll try one." Elfman accepted. He grabbed one and bit into it, his eyes lighting up. "These are man's buns!"
Juvia sweat-dropped. "I do not understand what that means, but I'm glad you like them."
"These are delicious, Juvia." Lisanna smiled.
"Thank you, Lisanna."
"can we have one too?" Aya asked with Asuka beside her
"of course!" Juvia said with a smile as she kneels down to the children's height and let them take one "be careful, they're fresh from the oven"
"You should try one too, Gray." Ur suggested her student while eating a bun in her mouth. "Juvia spent all day making them." She lightly pushed the reluctant ice wizard towards Juvia.
"Why are you saying it like that? And don't push." Gray said irritably. Nonetheless he shrugged his shoulders and reached for the plate. "They do smell good. I guess I'll try one too."
At another table in the guild hall: Natsu, Lucy, Gajeel, Wendy, and the exceeds all crowded around Levy.
The script wizard was thumbing through a book that she had recently taken in the magic library. "Look at this." She pointed at a picture in the book that depicted a monster raging through a town.
"E.N.D. It doesn't really go into too much detail but, it says that demons like Deliora and Lullaby don't even compare to it in terms of power."
"Are you sure that's what Atlas told you the demon's name was, Natsu?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah." The dragon slayer nodded.
"Then if that book is true then E.N.D. is the strongest demon in the book of Zeref."
"That's scary to think about." Wendy shuddered.
"What are Demons from the Book of Zeref, anyway?" Lily asked. "We never had anything like this in Edolas."
"How would I know?" Gajeel irritably retorted.
"They are demons that Zeref created." Yukino informed.
"Correct." Charla nodded. "Each volume of the book has the means to summon one of them."
"So someone can summon a demon with just one volume?" Lucy said.
"In essence yes."
"what do you think, Natsu?" Lucy asked Natsu but was surprised as the man was suddenly gone after he was just standing next to Gajeel a few seconds ago "eh? Where did he go?"
Natsu was at the second floor with Jellal as he was in conversation with the man
"are you saying that the last Dark guild of the Balam Alliance is about to make their move?" Jellal aske Natsu who nodded
"the possibility is getting higher by the second, I need you to get to the council and find any information they have on that guild," Natsu told Jellal who nodded "I'll get Ultear and Meredy to help you along the way"
The two were about to go their separate ways before the guild doors suddenly swung open, revealing Jet and Droy who had shocked look on their faces
"BAD NEWS EVERYONE!"
With Doranbolt
Doranbolt walked through the underground jail cells.
He reached a cell near the end of the hall and faced its resident, Cobra of the Oracion Seis.
"Been expecting you." The poison dragon slayer smirked.
"I'm assuming you 'heard' what happened above?" Doranbolt questioned.
"Don't be stupid!" Cobra insulted. "I can't use magic down here. All I heard were explosions."
Doranbolt's mood darkened. "Tell me all you know about Tartaros." He demanded.
Cobra snorted in amusement. "I told you just like I told Lahar, I got conditions. You gotta release the Oracion Seis before I tell you anything."
"I don't have the authority to do that."
"Then go up there and get someone who does. Until then you get nothing out of me."
"The entire council…has been wiped out." Doranbolt informed.
Cobra's eyes widened in shock before he smirked. "They really did a number on you guys, huh?"
Doranbolt teleported behind Cobra, a knife in his hand. He held the blade to the surprised dragon slayer's neck. "My friends are dead! I don't have time to play games with you anymore! Tell me everything you know, or you will die in this cell." He threatened.
Despite the councilman's words, Cobra continued to smirk in amusement. "I already said you're not getting anything unless you release the others. Those are my friends."
Doranbolt tightened his grip on the knife's handle. "You…"
"There's no need to get hostile. I suppose I could give you a freebie…" He turned his head to face Doranbolt, his superior grin turning into a sadistic smirk.
"Not one member of Tartaros is human. Each one of them is a demon from the Book of Zeref. Their master's name is E.N.D., the worst demon in the Book!"
Tartaros
Silver awaited the final member of his guild along with the rest of the Nine Demon Gates.
The final member to walk in was Kyôka, who was being followed in by a group of armored men.
"It has been a while, Silver." She said.
"That you, Kyôka?" the Ice Devil Slayer asked, turning his head to look at her. "You're as sexy as ever I see."
"It surprises this one that you came as a human." Kyôka noted.
"I know." Silver smirked. "Pretty cool, right? I like it."
Kyôka turned to the rest of the group. "Where are Tempester and Jackal?" she asked the cyclops demon
"They both had special duties to attend to." Franmalth explained.
"That means everything is progressing, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am." Franmalth bowed.
"Very well." Kyôka walked past Franmalth and deeper into the castle, the rest of the assembled demons not far behind.
"It is time we show the humans the depths of the Underworld." She declared. "And the hell of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros!"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye