This is a goldmine, not the Guild Master named Goldmine, but a figurative goldmine.
"Kain. Stop. Smiling."
"Alas, it appears I have conveniently forgotten how to do such a thing, Master Laxus. Woe is I in such a sorry state." Since I was standing right next to him while he sat down on a bench, I could see the veins bulging from his hands as he gripped his fists tighter.
I finally knew how Tien Shinhan from the Dragon Ball Abridged series felt. It was cathartic having word superiority over someone infinitely stronger than you.
"Oh you poor thing," The source of my smug smile and Laxus' stress spoke out with concern as she looked over towards me before back to her grandson. "You shouldn't be working your guild mates to sickness! Your grandfather had the opposite problem of trying to handle everything by himself, I swear you two are more alike than you pretend to be, Lala."
"Snrk!" Okay, that wasn't just me, even Natsu and Gray caught what she just said. "La...la?"
Much to the dismay of the ticking time bomb of an electric dragon slayer, Illana Dreyar heard the two males and explained. "It's a pet name I gave him when he lived with me during his toddler years. Sometimes, before he could speak his own name, he would repeat the first syllable like a little song! It always warmed my heart and the nickname stuck ever since." The old woman spoke this out with a most nostalgic of smiles that Laxus was definitely not sharing at that moment.
And thus, I became the epitome of the phrase, 'In for a penny'.
"That is very interesting!" My smile grew wider, Laxus's pupils shrunk even more, and the remaining Fairy Tail Members had looks on their face as if they had all struck an untapped oil mine. Even Freed of the Thunder Legion was mildly curious about his leader's childhood.
"Oh!" The older woman's lit up as she obviously recalled more childhood memories. "Have I told you about the time when Lala here dressed up as a super hero and—"
"Grandmother." Laxus almost shouted that one word out. The usually stoic and serious fourth master seemed to be close to snapping. And everyone was enjoying every second of it. "May I please ask why you're here in Magnolia?"
The older woman seemed sad. "Aww, aren't you going to call me Gram-gram like you usually do?"
I would like to take this moment to mentally remind myself to thank the jerk gods that abandoned me into this world for allowing me to realize my true purpose here of relishing Laxus Dreyar's darkest hour.
"Grandmother—"
"No no, I get it." The Grandmother then sniffed and her voice almost sounded like it was going to cry. "My little Lala is all grown up now, no time for his dumb old Gram-gram, not even a letter after all these years." She took out a handkerchief and wiped her slightly wet eyes.
Oh my god, she was guilt tripping him. I saw Laxus practically glaring at me with looks that could kill an immortal dragon a million times over, but my smile only threatened to grow even more, and risk the very limits of my cheek muscles.
The fourth guild master showed a mental battle the likes that will overshadow all future Fairy Tail fights to come and none could ever hope to match. He placed hand into his face and sighed deeply.
"Gram-Gram." One could almost reach enlightenment by feeling Laxus dying a lot inside with every syllable uttered out loud for what was left of the guild to hear. "What. … Are you doing here?"
The levity of the older woman seemed to drop, causing me to slowly see that there was an urgency to her being her. "Is… is your grandfather here?"
Laxus looked back at me and I towards him.
"When was the last time you saw the old man?" The blonde guild master asked with a calm tone.
"Oh, a little over a month ago when he called through a Lacrima Orb. We had a talk and he seemed to be in a… I wouldn't say good mood, but he looked peaceful, more content than I had seen him in a while."
A little over a month? That was probably after the Phantom Lord War.
"Well the old man is doing some sightseeing that he's always wanted to do now that I've taken over the guild. Knowing him, the old coot is probably sleeping his worries away."
The Fairy Tail Alumni gave a soft laugh. "He probably is, isn't he? I was getting worried since he hadn't called like he used to. But then again, he has missed some calls here in there, doing his own thing."
"I'll be sure to remind that stubborn coot when he gets back. I'm sure you're tired form your trip from Elisyuz. Have you checked in a hotel?" Laxus stood up from his bench and I slowly understood his body language: get my grandmother out of her fast and gently.
"Oh… yes. I have. Now that you mention it I am rather tired."
I stepped closer to her and gave kind smile. "We can arrange more time to see the guild when it's open and can even escort you around the town, but it's getting late, and we should all hit the hay."
"That does sound about right." The rather normal sized woman stood up as well and I looked over to Elfman.
"Can you escort Mrs. Dreyar back to her hotel?"
"Not to worry, it's a man's job to protect someone's gram-gram." There was a joke in his voice and I could only crack a smile. Yet…
I knew that everyone was just waiting for the grandmother to leave to start unleashing their contained laughters. The temptation was too great not to, and to be honest, I would have too, if she did not ask that question.
As Elfman led Makarov's wife out the guild door, Laxus closed it shut, and then the laughter behind us erupted without filter.
We didn't care about that, as much as I wanted to, something more important was at stake and hidden beneath that innocent conversation.
"What you said, would Master Makarov really do that sightseeing first?"
Laxus turned to me with equal amounts of seriousness. "He would have at the very most taken a week even if he did do that. He always prioritized grandmother, it was one of the few things we saw eye to eye on."
"What about the magic council, could they have called him back even though they fired him? Or maybe he was visiting the other guild masters?"
By now, I could hear the laughter quickly die down. Instead of seeing Laxus flustered, everyone saw him and me talking with urgent looks on our faces.
"That doesn't make any sense, and if he did meet with masters Goldmine and Bob, he wouldn't have stayed long." Laxus shot down my ideas again.
"Hey, what's going on?" Gray's smile was now gone as he he and the rest seemed to notice the air around the two of us.
Laxus and I shared a look. The taller, and infinitely more muscular man silently gave me a nod that allowed me to explain everything.
"Before master Makarov left, he told me and Laxus… that he was going to be visiting Laxus' grandmother. But as all of you just plainly saw, she came to us looking for him and she expressed not even hearing from him around the time of the Phantom Lord War."
That information made everyone's previously happy emotions into one of realization and dread.
"Is gramps, alright?" Natsu looked towards me.
"I… I hope he is." All though I said that, another part of my mind added in. "But considering our luck? I think we should be prepared for the worst."
Laxus stepped forward. "I want the Thunder Legion, Alzack Conwell, and Bisca Mulan up front now."
Those people were indeed still here as they all came forward. "Conwell, Mulan, you two are our best trackers. Kain here will give you the info of my old man's trip the day he transferred power to me, and the Thunder Legion will assist you if you need more fire power."
"Fire power?" Bisca asked as sweat started to pour down the side of her head.
"My old man my be a Wizard Saint, but he can get careless. And even knowing that old geezer, a Wizard Saint isn't something you can mysteriously hide for a month. You five are going to track him down." Laxus looked over towards me. "Brat, do you have anything that can help them?"
My mind instantly thought back to that day and I powered up my armor and sped back to my office. I looked through the new cabinet I was given and with super speed I got the file I needed and re appeared back in front of Alzack with paper in hand.
"This is the receipt of the train ticket that Master Makarov had me buy. You can start your search there." I said as I handed the paper to the gun mage who then looked at it with Bisca.
"Also," Laxus' voice echoed through the near empty guild. "I want no one else to say anything about this to the other guild members, Elfman should be briefed this when he returns, but in case he babbles, Rocko!" The telepathic mage winced at the call of his last name. "Give him a link. Tell him when he's done, he is to report to back to the guild and talk to no one."
"R-Right sir!" Warren then placed a hand on his head, already sending the message.
"Wait, what about your grandmother?" Lucy would of course be worried about that sweet old lady that even Laxus had trouble saying no to.
"Not yet. I'm still hoping that the old geezer is being an idiot, so I can smack him hard in the head for worrying grandmother." He inhaled. A dark thought was crossing his mind, and seemed to battle with himself wether to say it or not. "If… I will wait for more information before telling her myself."
Even Laxus, who was usually so standoffish, was being delicate about this. "And we also don't want the public to panic at the possibility of a Wizard Saint missing. The dark guild activities have already increased since the Magic Council is still rebuilding. If more people found out one of the saints was missing, that could paint Magnolia as a target for idiots who think my old geezer is the only one to fear." He gripped his fist and electricity danced across it. "But there's no way Magnolia can keep up being constantly attacked like it has these recent times."
Phantom Lord and the civil war of Fairy Tail have left Magnolia in a fragile state. Even if Fairy Tail could fend off potential attackers, the city and it's people might not be able to last.
"Got it?" Laxus asked while looking around the guild. "Freed, your in charge." He spoke to his right hand man who nodded once.
I added in more info. "The train station is also open 24/7, since we're pressed for time, you guys should go as soon as possible if not right now."
"Do you two need any preparation?" Freed turned that question towards the two trackers, implying that the Thunder Legion was already ready.
"We're good." Bisca smiled as she pulled out her sniper rifle. "Let's bring the master back home."
Laxus folded his arms. "Then go."
The makeshift team of five left through the door, leaving us waiting in anticipation.
"Hey! Wait!" Ah right, Natsu. "Why don't we go out too!? We can help find gramps!"
"Natsu," I began, my hands already leaning on my hips. "I'll put it in simpler words: we need a team that understands delicacy and efficiency." I pointed a thumb to my torso to explain this next point. "We're the team to send when something needs to be broken… even the things not meant to be broken."
Natsu grunted and folded his arms. I would have to keep an eye on him in case he would try to find Makarov on his own—wait, why is his nose twitching?
We all turned back towards the door to the guild and it slowly opened once more.
"Oh come on! Who else wants to see us this late?!" I managed to complain as a stranger in white came through he door.
"The Magic Council." The stranger declared as he removed his white hood, revealing a man with tied up black hair and glasses. "I am Lahar Vondarun, Head Captain of the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit. Fairy Tail, I apologize for the late entrance, but we have a job that you must accept."
I sighed and shook my head. My mind was picking up a phrase I heard a lot as a kid to describe this situation. "When it rains, it pours."
It rained, it poured.
Azkal'Duzan Prison, a maximum security prison in the northern isles of Fiore. It prided itself as the second most secure prison in Fiore, under the one the Magic Council itself watches over.
In here many magically inclined criminals sat in their specialized anti magical cages, locked in anti magical restraints, and were watched with guards equipped to take down any potential riot at the first sign of trouble.
The had multiple cameras watching every possible inmate the prison had, each was monitored by over a dozen camera rooms in constant communication with each other.
In one of these camera rooms, a lone guard was preparing coffee and noticed his coworker return with a platter of sandwiches.
"Why the heck did all the funding go on the security? Shouldn't there have been enough left over so we'd get good food? Their sandwiches are just practically two pieces of bread!" The one carrying a platter cried out as he placed the tray on a table and took one of the coffee made by his coworker.
"You complain that every time you come back."
"Because it's damn true. Hell, the prisoners get better food and it's mostly just three star buffet stuff!" The one who brought the sandwiches sat down on his seat, sipping the coffee and begrudgingly eating the 'sandwich'.
"How about I make you forget your troubles?"
The worker wondered why his coworker suddenly sounded so effeminate. As he looked up, he was met with the sight of an almost naked chest with side boobs shown. He looked further up, seeing a woman wearing some white-bird themed clothes, smiling devilishly at him.
His brain processed this while his body made him sip some more coffee. "Damn, Kaden, did you drug my coffee? You sound and look like a horny striper with a bird fetish."
Said 'striper with a bird fetish' slammed him with a magical power that snapped his neck, instantly killing him.
"The nerve of him!" The woman cried out indignantly, stomping her foot and kicking the corpse of the man while he was down.
"HAHAHAHA!" Laughter exploded in a mental link.
The woman placed a hand near her head and shouted, "Cobra, shut up!"
"Hell no! I heard that both through the link and with my own ears! That's like the best guard I've ever met just for how little shit he gave! I'm kinda upset he's dead even. Shame."
"L-Let's all focus." A deeper voice near the point of laughter, tried to keep things professional. "Angel, send the regulation codes and move out. Cobra, how is the outer security?"
A man with purple hair was seen petting a giant purple snake while standing in a dock filled with fallen bodies and broken ships. "I've been done with that for the past ten minutes. I think this place is my favorite prison so far. The guards have a lot of funny thoughts—almost thought I was in a comedy show sometimes."
"Well at least one of us like this place. The jail has too many narrow and tight turns. Not a lot of room for a speedster." Inside, guards were taken by an invisible wind. Their weapons were taken and they were hit with a powerful unseen force.
"Racer, when you're done, aim for the control room to release all prisoners, but not their collars just yet. Cobra, move in towards the facility and help Racer with any stragglers. Hot Eye, is the main generator down?"
Down below, many controls and guards were seen beaten up, and have buried into the metal walls and the trail of destruction led to a large man with very shape-like face standing in front of a lever that powered down a massive generator.
"Uh! Imagine all the money taking and selling this generator would bring! Oh yeah!"
A figure under one of the watch towers looked towards the facility despite it being near unseeable due to the heavy rain pouring in. "Racer, activate the unlock button and herd all the prisoners towards the main hall. Also, I seem to have lost track of Midnight. I know he's asleep, I just don't know where."
"Angel here, Midnight was in one of the camera rooms I already emptied. Even though he's asleep, he holding one of the cups of coco the guards made. You know, looking at all the coffee machines here really makes me want to have some hot coco afterward."
"Huh, now that you mention it, hot coco does sound good right about now. Right, Cubellios?"
The obvious leader of this group walked inside the now emptied halls of the facility. "Just steal the drink machines there later. Now, I would very much like us to focus."
"Brain, the inmates are all gathered into the hallway."
The man smiled as he exited the hallway, reaching the platform high above the mess hall that allowed him to look down on all inmates.
"Men and women of Azkal'Duzan Prison! Today is a glorious day for you all!" He shouted out loud for all to see and hear nothing but him. "My name is Brain, leader of the Oracion Seis, and you can consider this an early release for 'good' behavior."
The criminals all cried out with cheers.
"Hey!" A voice of a lone mage rose above and silenced the cheers. "Why didn't you remove these collars then!? We can't use any magic with these thing still on!"
"Oh that." The man with many tattoos fought the urge to laugh then and there. "It's not good business to give our clients everything. We want to be sure that if we let you out, you'll be joining Oracion Seis in overthrowing the Magic Council!"
Brain motioned his hands towards the crowd as they started to murmur. "Now, I know what you're thinking: the Magic Council is practically the strongest magical army in all of Ishgar. They have rumored weapons that can blast the entire continent to the sea, and as someone who was once a part of their Magic Bureau… I can assure you that the rumors are true and more." His voice became low as he said that last part, his mind flying back to a moment he wished he could forget even with memory magic.
But he pressed on and threw his hands out. "But because I know what the Magic Council is capable off, I also know it's weakness. And more importantly: a weapon the council doesn't have that would make even them powerless against us all!"
He had snared their attention. A weapon that could destroy the Magic Council? Was there truly such a thing that could over throw seven hundred years of magical regulation and power?
At that moment, there was a communication from the link.
First it was a yawn, followed by a half lazy voice. "Hey, Father, the council sent an air force en route to us. Looks like they had a silent alarm we didn't know about. Should I take care of it?"
"I appreciate it, Midnight, but it's time for our 'new' member to prove his worth up in the air." Brain responded before throwing his hands out.
"Now if there's any doubters among you, I invite you all to watch what will happen to an incoming Rune Knight task force." With a wave of his staff, a large screen appeared, showing the image of not a task force, but a battalion of Magic Council planes, boats, and men rushing towards the prison.
"Blue Commander! This weather is really giving us trouble! Some of our wind mages are having trouble calming down this storm!"
The leader of the first wave of magic planes answered the comlink. "Copy that, Blue 5, but stay your course! We've lost all communications with Azkal'Duzan, it's a priority Alpha!"
There was a beeping coming from his proximity alert followed by another call from someone in his squadron. "Sir! The scanners below detect a bogie at 12 O clock!"
"Weapons primed! Everyone get ready! How many, Blue 3!?" He looked out the rain, trying to see any sign of enemy fighters, but even with his magical equipment helping him, he couldn't spot anyone.
"S-Sir! The scanners! They're just showing one bogie coming in fast!"
"What!? Just one!? Then where the hell is..."
There was a bright light up ahead.
And in an instant, Blue Squadron was shot out of the sky by a powerful beam of light. All the planes fell down, forcing their pilots to all eject.
"Blue Squadron!" Green Commander yelled out from the fighter planes on the side. "Brown Commander, go to formation Jigsaw! Find out who shot that—"
And in another flash of light, Green Squadron was blasted out of the sky in a massive explosion, by some miracle the survivors were able to eject before they could fall with their aircrafts. Brown Squadron soon followed, and soon the Magic Council's air support reached a fat 0.
Back down below, the leaders of the boats were in panic as they saw debris and flames falling down along with the heavy rain.
"What was that!? How did it take down our fliers so easily!?"
"Captain!" A man cried out from outside. "You need to see this!"
The Captain ran out of the main room and saw that the storm was finally letting up. The skies cleared and the moon was absolutely beautiful.
… Almost like the final moon anyone there would ever see.
In front of the moon, flying in the center to all remaining boats, a figure donned in a black cloak was seen, placing his hands in the pockets of his long coat, and looking disinterested despite destroying almost a hundred planes within the span of seconds.
"Captain… that's..." A Rune Knight gasped as the flying strange reached for his hood and pulled it off. As the drops of water fell, everyone could see blue hair and an all too familiar tattoo across the right eye.
The Captain noticed the flying man raising his palm towards them and a golden magical circle appeared from his hand.
The Captain pointed and shouted with every single fiber of his being. "Everyone, open fire!"
All remaining boats fired their magical cannons, all mages on board fired their spells, and a plethora of magic that could annihilate an island raced for the blue haired man.
Yet, the man with his back turned to the moon could only sigh. "I'm sorry."
The magic circle expanded to a massive size that matched the size of the moon from where they could see it. The light of that circle became blinding before it fired every blast right back at the ships.
The Captain saw their own blasts heading right for them, and mere moments before oblivion took them, he screamed out at the top of his lungs, "JELLAL FERNANDES!"
And then a massive explosion filled the air. Jellal was left alone in the sky among the black sea and all he could do was frown and place his hood back on.
The inmates of Azkal'Duzan could only stare in awe. Silence filled them as they saw one man take down an entire fleet of Magic Council Rune Knights.
The screams of victory, vengeance, and vindication that came after shook the island to it's very last rock.
It was then that they were silenced by a powerful slam of a staff and looked back towards Brain who had a smile that could make the Devil sweat.
"And now!" He threw his hand out, as if for them to grab on to. "Follow us! And we will grant you power that will make even that of a Wizard Saint cower before you!"
And the cheers returned ten fold, even greater than before.
Brain could only smile as he saw this. However, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest. He turned away from the inmates and walked back into the hall, clutching his chest and coughing violently as he did.
"N-No… I-I'm so close." He coughed several more times, each time more worse than the last, even spitting out blood. Brain forced himself to lean on a wall. "Not yet. I need more time… I need to get Nirvana soon, before it's too late..."
"Uuuggghhhh." I couldn't help but groan after hearing that. Oracion Seis had just destroyed the second most secure prison facility under the Magic Council? That sentence alone gave countless impressions, not a single one of them any good.
"Brat." Laxus said from his desk.
"I know, I know. It's just… we have to deal with a lot right now."
"That is none of my concern. Official guilds must accept summons from the Magic Council without fail." Lahar stated without a shred of empathy. The longer he spoke, the more I was getting the feeling he was strictly 'by the books' type of person.
"So let me try to understand here," Laxus leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and letting his chin rest on his hands. "Oracion Seis, one of the most wanted of the Dark Guilds, has made their move and since the Magic Council is still rebuilding, you're hiring us and five other guilds to give you each a team of mages so you can combat them from completing whatever it is their doing?"
Lahar pushed up his glasses. "A mundane retelling of what I explained, but yes. If you want to know, the other guilds are Phantom Lord, Blue Pegasus, Qautro Cerberus, Lamia Scale, and Cait Shelter."
I recognized every name except that last one. Phantom Lord: we fought them. Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus? The guild masters there were old friends of Makarov and even Fairy Tail Alumni. Lamia Scale had been gaining attention recently by Sorcerer Weekly, but Cait Shelter? I never heard of those guys before now. Why were they included?
"I didn't really care about them, but since I know two of those guilds are our unofficial 'brother guilds', we'll help," I didn't know Laxus cared about something like that. "What type of mages are you looking for?"
"Preferably your best combat team." Lahar answered.
"Unfortunately, they're still on another mission. So you'll have to settle with Team Valiant."
Oi.
Despite my flat look, Laxus ignored me as did Lahar.
The Rune Knight stood up, fixing his uniform as he did so. "I see; have Team Valiant report to me in 0800 hours at the Sun Flower inn. Any longer and there will be repercussions." Without even a word from us, he left.
"Dick." Laxus muttered under his breath after the council member left the office room.
"So, we're going with him after all?" I asked the current guild master.
"We don't have a choice. Either we answer the call, or the guild pays for it. Just try to keep those idiots under control?"
"You make it sound like I can," I responded before sighing. "But even so, can you handle things while we're not here?"
"Are you kidding? Having Natsu away from here might be a godsend." Laxus scoffed, but I could tell that he wasn't sincere about that. "You should go. Team Valiant is going need all the time to prepare and rest they're going to get."
With that, I left the room. However, I could feel my stomach turning. I knew things would get even worse than they were now, but the killer question was no longer 'can this get worse', but 'How' and 'When' it will.
But all things considered, having some new back up didn't sound like a bad idea. I can only wonder at what type of people we're going to meet from the other guilds?
{Author Notes}
Edit: October 13 2018: Thanks to Specter HellScythe for making me remember that Nukes don't exist yet and I accidentally used that phrase in the story when it wasn't Kain that said it.
I noticed that whenever it's the opening chapter of a new arc in this story, it's usually one of the shorter chapters before the next chapters almost double or triple in word count. I don't know why, but it is.
This might be my longest arc yet considering the next draft is already... well... I'll keep that secret for now.
I hope you guys like this preview on the Muggle among Mages take on this arc! I have… *rubs hands evilly* ideas.
Anyway, support the fic by Favoriting, Following, and leaving a review! Thank you for your support and reading this fic!
Extra: Naming is everything. (Translators Note: Seis in Oracion Seis means six. And according to google, Oracion can either mean Sentence or more likely Prayer. In other words, Brain named his guild after the Six Prayers body link magic he has. Talk about redundant.)
Angel was about to drink a cup of hot coco until she realized something. "So now that Jellal is part of our group, doesn't that mean we should change our guild name into Oracion Siete?"
Racer looked towards her. "Now that you mention it, siete is close sounding enough to seis. So if we were to change it, it wouldn't really take long to get used to the new name."
"It's a good thing thing too!" Hot Eye pointed a finger up. "Can you imagine if we were named, Oracion Ocho? … Wait, that actually doesn't sound bad."
Cobra wanted to try something. "Oracion Uno, Oracion Dos, Oracion Tres, Oracion Qautro, Oracion Cinco, Oracion Nueve, Oracion Diez… they all don't sound that bad."
Angel looked over towards Brain sitting comfortably behind the warden's desk. "Hey Brain, did you do that on purpose?"
The leader of the Oracion Seis realized that he hadn't made Jellal a part of his body link magic yet. Though, making a new one wouldn't work now and the more that he thought about it, why did he name the guild after his body link magic?
"Yes." Brain lied then looked back at his mug. "Wait a second, I wanted mine with the tiny marshmallows! Who took them!?"
And thus ended another daily conversation of the Oracion Seis (now name pending), one of the three most evil dark guilds Fiore had ever faced.