Back with the continuation
"speaking"
""thinking""
On with the story
"That's our Jackal! He really knows how to make an entrance!" Franmalth cackled, pressing his index fingers together. "I wonder how much? How much the lives of the nine council members are worth."
"Cease that uncouth laughter at once, Franmalth!" Torafuzar demanded. "Have some respect for our dignity."
"We're demons! What 'dignity' is there to have?!" Ezel retorted to his comrade. "Send me next, Kyôka! I'm ready to massacre those humans!"
"My dear Ezel, there is an order to every story." Sayla informed. "We are only at the prologue…no, even before that. This is only the foreword."
"Sayla is right, Ezel." Kyôka said. "Do not be so hasty. You will have your own task to complete soon enough."
"But my body is itching for some action!" Ezel argued. "Why are Tempester and Jackal the only ones who get to do some killing?! It's not fair!"
Keyes tapped his staff against the stone floor, the ring's clangs echoing in the chamber in which they all stood. "Prayers…Murmurs…" He mumbled. "And may the blessings of the inferno be upon us."
"This is only the beginning of the hell we will unleash upon this world." Kyôka declared.
Silver stood in silence, watching the rest of his guild mates. He then turned his head to face the altar in front of them all.
Kyôka stepped forward, turning around to face her comrades. She held out her arms before speaking emphatically.
"We demons will bring a crushing blow down upon humanity. All for our master, Zeref!"
Hargeon
8island
The Raijinshuu were at 8island, helping Yajima in his restaurant
"This is terrible." Yajima muttered aloud as he reads the newspaper
Freed, who was chopping vegetables nearby, turned his head to examine the paper. "The incident at the council?" he hypothesized.
"I heard all nine members were killed." Bickslow, who was currently manning the stove, recalled.
"That's not all." Yajima reported, his eyes narrowing in anger the more he read the article. "It says that there were 119 total casualties in the attack. This was no accident. This was mass murder pure and simple."
"Then I guess it's a good thing you quit the council, right?" Bickslow laughed with his tongue sticking out.
"You fool!" Yajima scolded. "Learn some tact!"
"But he is right." Freed grinned. "There is a silver lining in this tragedy."
"Just because we are low on customers doesn't mean you can slack off." Evergreen chided. She walked into the kitchen, wearing the standard issue 8 Island waitress outfit. "Concentrate on your work!"
Both Freed and Bickslow stopped what they doing and stared at Evergreen perplexed. "What?" she insist6ed.
"That outfit looks terrible on you." Bickslow remarked.
"Mm." Freed added, neither agreeing or disagreeing with his friend's statement.
"I don't need to hear that from you of all people!" Evergreen shrieked.
"Just get back to work! You've been complaining about us taking so many heavy jobs since the Grand Magic Games. We're only here because you wanted light work." she said to Bickslow.
"Yeah. Yeah." Bickslow waved off, returning to his cooking duties.
"We apologize, Evergreen." Freed said with an amused grin.
"Hey!" Yajima shouted in offense. "Restaurant work is not light."
"Regardless, I really feel that I possess quite the skill at cooking." Freed eagerly boasted as he began to chop the vegetables faster.
"And arranging the food is out specialty, right babies?" Bickslow said to his puppets.
"Arrange! Arrange!" the floating wooden dolls parroted as the set the food.
"And making it sexy is mine." Evergreen winked as she posed on her side.
"Has Laxus returned yet?" Yajima asked.
"Nah." Bickslow grinned. "He probably just got lost or something."
"Can't even do something as simple as shopping…" Freed chuckled. "Just what are we going to do with him?"
The bell above the entrance rang, signaling the arrival of someone. Evergreen rose from the floor. "Speak of the devil."
However, the person that walked to kitchen was not Laxus. Instead it was a man wearing a jacket with a hood that concealed his face from view.
"Who is this weirdo?" Bickslow asked. "A customer?"
Freed felt an ominous energy emanating from the man, instantly putting him on alert.
The hooded man pursed his lips, letting out a high-pitched whistle. Suddenly a tornado formed in the kitchen, destroying the entire restaurant.
Yajima shouted in shock as he and the Thunder Legion members were blown around by the fierce winds. The hooded man then summoned a tornado around himself, using the force to propel towards Yajima.
"Who is this guy?!" the former council member shouted.
"Yajima-san!" Evergreen yelled.
Freed and Bickslow immediately moved to Yajima's defense, but their intervention was rendered useless when the hooded man pressed his hands against their chests. He swung his arms, creating gusts of wind that blew both of them away. His protectors gone, Yajima was forced into action.
"Bad manners, boy!" he flattened his body and swirled around the hooded man's arm.
The mysterious attacker let out another whistle, this one low, and blew Yajima away with another gust of wind.
"Yajima-san." Freed called out, struggling to his feet.
"I'll take care of him!" Evergreen declared. She jumped into the air, holding her fan to her head.
"Yosei Kijuu! Reburahon!"
She swung her fan, the tiny bullets of light summoned from it shooting towards the hooded attacker, but another whistle from him created another tornado that both intercepted the blasts as well as sent Evergreen flying. She crashed through a pile of wood, letting out a grunt of pain.
"Ever!" Freed shouted.
"You damn jerk." Bickslow growled. Both of them were too weak to move, allowing their attacker to approach Yajima with no interference.
He stood over the weakened old man, who looked up at him in defiance. "Who are you?" Yajima demanded.
"I have no name, but I have been told that it was once Tempester." the man answered. "I am one of the Nine Demon Gates and my coming heralds' calamity for all of humanity."
"Dammit…" Freed cursed. "What is with this guy's magic? For some reason I can't move my body."
Tempester grabbed Yajima by the throat and lifted him in the air. "The gate of the underworld has opened!" he declared. He summoned small tornados around his tight grip, further driving the air from the struggling Yajima's lungs. "We are delivering mankind's rightful judgement!"
"The gate to the underworld…?" Bickslow wondered. "Does he mean Tartaros?"
Freed's eyes narrowed in anger. "Then that means he's…"
Yajima's eyes widened in shock and realization. "You're not just after the council are you?! You aim to kill anyone who was ever a member!"
"What are you after?!" Freed demanded.
Tempester ignored their questions and tightened his grip.
"Stop!" Bickslow shouted.
"Fall to hell." Tempester clenched Yajima's neck, causing the old man to scream in pain.
"Yajima-san!" Evergreen cried out before.
DUUUUUUUUUUURRRR!
Lightning strikes at Tempester as Yajima falls down the ground while the Raijinshuu looks in joy for Laxus had arrived
"I might get lost on the road…" Laxus clenched his fist, lightning cackling around it. "But when it comes to taking you down, I'm right on course."
"Laxus." Yajima sighed in relief.
"We're saved." Freed smiled.
"Bout time you showed up, boss." Bickslow grinned.
"What's the deal with this guy?" Laxus asked about Tempester.
The hooded man looked at Laxus, his eyes showing his anger at the lighting wizard's interference in his work.
"He's a member of Tartaros!" Evergreen informed Laxus. "He's here to kill Yajima-san!"
"Oh really?" Laxus questioned.
Tempester reached for his cloak, ripping it apart and revealing his form to his opponents. He was of massive size and height. His long yellow hair was shaggy and flowed down his massive back. Tied to his shoulders were two armored shoulder plates. He glared at Laxus, exhaling through his dog-like nose.
"He's not human?!" Laxus wondered in shock.
Laxus and Tempester battled it out as Laxus was gaining the upper hand in battle
Tempester picked himself up on his knees, his angered eyes still trained on Laxus. "You dare…" before he could finish, Laxus appeared on the other side of him.
"You picked the wrong wizards to mess with." Laxus said as his fist was covered in lightning
"Rairyuu no Agito!"
Laxus hammers down Tempester as the demon was sent crashing down to the ground
"I wouldn't have expected anything less." Freed grinned, he and Bickslow were able to move their bodies enough now to be able to sit on the ground.
"Nice goin, boss." The masked wizard praised.
"What a man!" Evergreen swooned.
"Old man Yajima!" Laxus called, looking back to the others. "What do we do with him?"
"Hm…" Yajima pondered. "With the council out of commission there isn't much we can do right now."
"Maybe we can't take him to the main office, but the branches are still up, right?" Bickslow inquired.
"The body can do nothing if the head has been cut off." Yajima replied, gritting his teeth in irritation. "The council was always bound to topple with that type of mentality."
"What if we take him back to the guild for questioning?" Freed suggested.
"Oh I would enjoy that." Evergreen said as she takes a coil of sausages and use it like a whip
"They took out the council, and now they seem to be targeting former members as well." Freed speculated. "I can only worry as to what their ultimate goal is."
"Sounds like something we should concerned about, huh?" Bickslow acknowledged.
"Fairy Tail…" Tempester muttered, catching Laxus' attention. "Is that all you have?"
"I'm surprised he's still conscious." Bickslow commented.
"Please allow me to interrogate him." Evergreen said with a sly grin.
"Don't play with your food." Yajima said to her.
Tempester either didn't hear the wizards, or he ignored them. "I underestimated you." He admitted to Laxus. "I was unaware that a human could be this strong. I've taken more damage than I expected I would. Perhaps I should go ahead and die."
The vague words creepily hung in the air. Unfazed, Laxus decided to humor the demon. "Die? What the hell are you talking about?"
Tempester looked up at Laxus. "I believe that it is you who chose the 'wrong opponent to mess with' as you put it, human." Tempester's body exploded, leaving behind a black mist.
"What the hell?" Laxus questioned.
"What happened?" Yajima asked to no one.
"He blew himself up?!" Evergreen blurted out. She coughed lightly. "What is with this black mist?"
"It's spreading fast!" Bickslow called.
"Mankind cannot defeat this malady," Tempester said, his disembodied voice trailing in the wind. "These are anti-magic Devil particles. They pollute the air, eradicating the ethernanos within it!" as he spoke, the mist began to permeate and get thicker.
"It creates an anti-ethernano zone?" Freed questioned. The mist entered his nose and mouth, causing him to cough violently along with the others.
"What you are feeling right now is magic anemia…" Tempester explained.
"The onset of Magic Deficiency Disease! The disease itself is fatal to wizards!"
The coughs of Yajima and the others became more and more frequent. They felt themselves beginning to pass out due to the pain brought upon them by the mist.
"My one weakness is that I cannot regenerate my body until I return to my main guild hall." Tempester informed. "But you are all good as dead now. Perhaps we will meet again in the underworld."
Freed covered his mouth, trying to limit the amount of mist he was exposed to. "Don't breathe in!" he called to the others.
"If we don't do something…" Evergreen coughed. "We'll all…"
"The whole town's gonna be polluted at this rate!" Bickslow shouted.
"The only thing we can do now is run!" Yajima pointed towards the clearest path through the rubble of 8 Island. "Hurry! Get away from the mist!" He tried to make a run for it, but he collapsed due to exhaustion.
"Yaji-"Evergreen's voice trailed off as she passed out and fell to the ground. Bickslow succumbed to the mist's effects soon after.
"Ever! Bickslow!" Freed called. "Get up! We have to escape or else we'll…!"
"I won't let anybody die!" Laxus announced. "No one's dying here today!"
"Laxus, cover your mouth!" Freed shouted to his leader.
Laxus hunched over and inhaled, sucking in a small amount of the mist.
Freed's eyes went wide. "What are you doing?!"
Laxus continued to inhale, sucking up more of the mist. "We dragon slayers have special lungs made for this sort of thing." He boasted.
"I'm gonna suck up all of this crap!"
"No! Stop!" Freed pleaded. "Your body won't be able to take it!"
Laxus looks at Freed as he smirked.
"Your job is to get them all home!" He ordered. "Don't let me down, alright!" with that he inhaled one last time, effectively sucking up all of the black mist in the area before collapsing on his stomach.
Freed's eyes went wide with horror. "Laxus!"
3 hours later
At Fairy Tail
"Porlyusica! How are Laxus and the others?! Are they alright?! Tell me!" Makarov demanded from Porlyusica who came out of the infirmary
"They're alive." She replied to him
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness." Lucy said.
"But…" Porlyusica began. "They've all been infected with Devil Particles."
"Devil Particles?" Yukino questioned.
"What's that?" Levy asked.
"It's a poison that's fatal even in the smallest of quantities." The alchemist explained, "So even if they're alive now, I cannot say for certain whether or not they will make a full recovery."
"Oh no." Laki gasped.
"Laxus' infection is especially grave." Porlyusica continued. "It's a miracle that he is even alive."
"May we see them?" Makarov asked.
"Freed is the only one conscious now, but be brief. He needs his rest."
Makarov and team Natsu entered the infirmary as they see that Laxus and the Raijinshuu were resting on the beds
"Master…" Freed rasped. "Laxus…he saved the entire town. Without him…the town would have…"
"I know." Makarov acknowledged solemnly. "I'm proud of you Freed, for helping Mirajane and Elfman return you all here."
"The people of the town…are they safe?"
"Yes…he saved them all." Makarov said with a lie as in reality more than a hundred of the citizens were killed by the particles
"Thank good…ness." Freed said with joy without knowing Makarov's lie
"Rest now."
Freed nodded. "Yes…Master." He replied before he closed his eyes
"Tartaros…" Levy muttered, showing a rare sign of anger.
""If they're targeting former council members… she pondered. That means Jellal is a target as well."" Erza thought as she felt worried
"Gramps" Natsu called out to Makarov as he nodded
"this is war" Makarov said with a dark look
With Tartaros
Inside the laboratory of Tartaros' guildhall, Tempester's body regenerated inside one of the many liquid chambers strewn about the room.
"I am sorry to bother you with such a task, Kyôka." The healing demon apologized.
"Be at ease, Tempester," Kyôka said. "There is no need to worry about this one."
"Tempester? Is that my name? Whenever I regenerate, I forget my name. Thus, naming me makes no sense."
"So you say." Kyoka nodded. "But it is still a necessary measure."
"How long will my rebirth take?"
"Hm…" Kyôka wondered. "Normally it would only take a day, but now that you have company in here, it will be a little longer."
"Company?" Tempester inquired. "Is someone else injured?"
"No." Kyôka smirked. "It is merely my child"
"A fresh demon."
She pointed to the chamber to the left as it was Minerva and she had black tentacles attached to her body
"Minerva." The female demon explained. "She has the potential to become one of us."
"It seems that she will prove interesting." Tempester said.
"This one hopes so." Kyôka grinned.
"Hopefully she won't turn out like that dud Doriate." Franmalth cackled.
"Franmalth." Kyôka scolded.
"I wonder how much we wasted on him. And you!" He walked to Tempester's chamber, pointing his staff as his healing comrade. "Your regeneration isn't free either. Don't go spreading Devil particles without good reason!"
"Fairy Tail…" Tempester snarled, remembering his defeat. "If they hadn't intervened, none of this would have happened."
"Fairy Tail again, huh?" Kyôka muttered. She heard a bubbling and turned her head, pleasantly surprised to see Minerva thrashing about, a look of hate on her features.
"Look, the little girl is reacting." Franmalth jeered.
"Fairy Tail is the guild that took down both the Seis and Grimoire Heart." Kyôka grinned.
"It seems they intend to defy us. This one might enjoy that."
Back at Fairy Tail
"we must find Tartaros and stop whatever they're planning"
"but where do we find them?" Levy asked
"not even the council know their guild's location," Jet said
"The only thing we know is that they are after council members both past and present," Lucy recalled.
"If that's the case, then if we go to an ex-council member's house, we can sit and wait for them to come to us." Gray reasoned.
"But the addresses of the council members were never revealed to the public." Macao reminded. "We would have no idea where they are."
"but we do" Natsu said with Ultear standing beside him
"me too." A voice answered. Everyone turned to see Loke making his way through the crowd.
"I know where some of the older members are holding up." Loke told them
"When did you get here, Loke?" Lucy questioned.
"How do you know all of this, Loke-san?" Wendy asked.
Loke kneeled beside Wendy as he started whispering to her and made her blush in embarrassment and fidget around nervously.
"from the girls right?" Lucy said with a sweatdrop
"Tell us what you know, you three" Makarov said.
"Of course, Master." The spirit nodded.
Loke had revealed the names and locations of four of the past council members, with Natsu and Ultear pointing out several more
Makarov assembled his teams. Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Charla, and North would guard Elder Michello.
Gajeel, Shadow Gear, and Lily would look after Elder Belno.
Juvia, and Gray were tasked with protecting Elder Hogg.
Elfman and Lisanna would look after Elder Yuri.
Jellal, Ultear and Meredy are to find any useful information about Tartaros that are left in the wrecked ruins of the Magic Council
And finally, Erza and Mirajane would visit Crawford Seam, the former chairman of the council.
"Does everyone know their assignments?" Makarov asked. Everyone nodded in confirmation, getting ready for their respective journeys.
"Good. Now listen up. When you reach your destination, try to get as much information out of your charge as you can. The councilmen are stubborn, so prepare for some resistance. We need information on the locations of other former council members, as well what Tartaros could possibly be after."
"Also," Porlyusica began. "If any of you run into the enemy that battled Laxus and the Thunder Legion, be sure to get a blood sample from them, but be careful! I need a good sample so I can synthesize an antidote for their ailments."
Makarov returned to the front. "Remember! The enemy is Tartaros! While they may be the head of the Baram Alliance, we already beat both Oracion Seis as well as Grimoire Heart! They will be no different! We will take Tartaros down just as we did those two! They will regret making enemies of us! They harmed our friends! Our family! We one sheds blood, we all bleed! Take that pain and suffering in your hearts, and use it to fuel your rage against Tartaros! This is not a fight for law and order! This is a fight we chose! They forced our hand by testing the bonds we share! In return, we will obliterate the enemies of our family!"
Everyone roared in unison, their collected determination fueling their resolve.
"The operation will begin in an hour, make all last-minute preparations before leaving!" Makarov said before finally leaving the stage.
Mirajane and Elfman walked into the infirmary. Elfman stood over Evergreen's bed, watching as she writhed in pain.
"I'll avenge you, Ever." He said. "I swear as a man."
Mirajane watched Laxus struggle through his labored breaths.
"You've truly started putting your friends ahead of yourself." She smiled warmly. "I will not forget the courage you showed."
An hour passed, and everyone assigned to a protection job stood in front of the guild hall, eager to start their tasks.
Ultear stands in front of her husband as she gives him a goodbye kiss "be careful out there"
"I will." Natsu said with a smile, reaching down and grabbing his wife's hand. "You too. Run if there's danger"
"that goes for you too, Meredy" Natsu told his daughter who nodded
"Mama. Papa." Aya called out to her parents.
The two looks at their daughter who was tugging on Natsu's pants
"don't go" Aya said in a sad voice
"I'm sorry, but we have to go," Natsu said as he kneels down to her height
Aya looks to her father with a sad look as she frowns
"don't worry" Ur told her granddaughter "it takes more than just a dark guild to kick Natsu out!"
Ur grinned to Natsu who smiled back
"stay with Ur-san, alright?" Natsu told his daughter who nodded
"let's go" Gray said as Ultear and Natsu nodded
"be good" Natsu told to her as he gives her a goodbye hug and a kiss to the forehead before leaving the guild with the others
That's a wrap!
Bye bye