SailorStar9: We now continue with Chapter 123 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?

Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny and my OCs.

Chapter 123: Tartarus Chapter, Prologue – Fairies vs. Netherworld

"Minerva joined a dark Guild?" Makarov echoed, after Erza reported to him. "What about her father? The former master of Sabertooth?"

"I don't know where he is at the moment." Erza admitted.

"We need to report this to the Council." Makarov mused.

"I thought I should inform Sting, too." Erza agreed.

"What's wrong?" Gray rested his folded arms on the back of the bench Ulyo was sitting on. "Ever since we came back, you've been acting weird. Isn't that..." he noticed the water user fiddling with the Ensui dagger.

"Look at this." Levy started, pointing to the opened page of the book in front of her. "END. This doesn't go into detail, but it seems to be a demon that's a whole other league then Lullaby and Deliora."

"So, it's really a powerful demon from the Books of Zeref?" Lucy noted.

"What is this 'demon from the Books of Zeref' thing?" Pantherlily asked.

"Hell if I know." Gajeel retorted.

"A demon that Zeref brought forth." Carla explained. "It's said the way to summon it is written in the one of Zeref's books."

"And Tartarus may have that END demon, right?" Natsu reasoned. "And Igneel tried to destroy END. Now I get it. I'm gonna beat the crap out of Tartarus!" he grinned.

"Agreed!" Gajeel smirked.

"You don't get it!" Lucy fumed. "There are too many unknowns about Tartarus. How can you beat them up when not even the Council knows where they are? We don't even know anything about their members."

"Emergency!" Jet shouted, rushing into the Guild building with Dory in tow. "Dire news!"

"Porlyusica!" Makarov demanded, the Fairy Tail mages were gathered in the infirmary after receiving news about what happened to Yajima and the Thunder God Tribe. "How are Laxus and the others?"

"They are alive." Porlyusica replied, Ulyo having surrounded the five patients in a 'Cleansing Barrier'. "However, their bodies are permeated by with magic barrier particles. Even a small digested amount is known to be poisonous, possibly fatal. I don't know if they'll make a full recovery. The contamination is especially bad in Laxus' body; so much that it is a miracle he's still alive."

"Laxus..." Freed started. "Laxus... saved the town. If it hadn't been for him... the town..."

"I know." Makarov nodded. "And you did well bringing everyone home."

"But... thanks to Laxus, the town was saved." Freed defended.

"Gramps." Natsu hissed. "This is war!"

"It's war!" Natsu fumed. "I'm gonna crush Tartarus, every single one of them!"

"Calm down, Natsu!" Warren scolded, pinning the enraged Dragon Slayer to the ground in the Guild Hall with Max, Nab and Jet.

"They hurt our comrades!" Natsu raged. "We can' take this lying down! Let's go on the offensive right now, Gramps!"

"I don't disagree." Makarov admitted. "But we don't have enough information to go on."

"Tartarus; we don't know their objective, and not even the Council knows the location of their headquarters." Erza stated.

"That's right, Natsu." Warren agreed. "How are we gonna attack when we don't even know where they are?"

"The one thing we know is that they're targeting Council members." Lucy reminded. "Past members as well as current ones."

"The, if we go to a former member's place, they'll come to us?" Gray followed her reasoning.

"But the addresses of former members are secret." Marco pointed out. "Nobody knows them."

"I know the addresses of former Council members." Loke stepped up. "Not all of them, though."

"How do you know, Loke-san?" Wendy wondered.

"Figures they're all women, huh?" Ulyo muttered, seeing Wendy's flushing face when Loke whispered his answer to her.

"Loke gave us the addresses of four former Council members." Porlyusica marked the location on a map. "Let's go as teams to each address and protect the former members from Tartarus. And I'm sure they'll be tight-lipped, but get as much information as you can. The addresses of the other former members... about Tartarus and why they're targeted. If you encounter the being who attacked Laxus and the others with those magic particles, exercise caution as you obtain a blood sample. Ulyo may have used the 'Venom Scale' to stop the magic particles from spreading, but it's only a temporary measure. I may be able to use the blood to create a vaccine that would cure them."

"The enemy is Tartarus." Makarov addressed the gathered mages. "They're a cornerstone of the Balam Alliance, like Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart were. But, we destroyed the both of them. And like them, Tartarus will regret making an enemy of us. Our comrades have been hurt. Their pain is ours. The blood that flows through their bodies flow through ours. This pain, this suffering; turn it into fighting spirit and avenge them. We don't act out of justice! We act out of will! Take pride in our bond and drive away our family's enemy!"

"Wait," Nab voiced. "Where's Ulyo?" he asked, looking around to find the water mage missing.

"Ulyo, she..." Makarov started. "Already left, to train for 'Final Release'."

"'Final Release'?" Loke echoed. "She manifested Ensui?"

The nice thing about the forests in Magnolia, in Ulyo's opinion, was how easy it was to get lost in. Not accidentally lost, mind you, but getting lost on purpose.

Readying herself when she arrived in a plain clearing, she opened a bottle of mineral water and doused the Ensui dagger with the water. "Ensui!" she drew out the snow maiden spirit.

"You are resolved this time, then?" Ensui asked.

"Yes." Ulyo nodded.

"Then, let's begin." Ensui declared. "To gain my 'Final Release'," she manifested a snow-white sword in her hand and froze the clearing with a wave of ice. "Defeat me; you have 100 tries."

"That's 90 times too many." Ulyo grinned, molding a 'Droplet Spear'.

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.