A/N: Episode 241.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR: DEMON REINCARNATION

The citizens of Magnolia could only look in shock at the smoke coming from the explosion that had occurred.

"What was that?!"

"Fairy Tail..."

"...blew up?!"

"Even though we fixed it up..."

"Does it have anything to do with the recent bombing at the Council?!"

"I hope everyone in the guild is okay..."

"Don't tell me they've been wiped out..."

"Let's help them!"

"Wait! It's too dangerous! Stay away from there!"

"As you can see, Kyoka-sama." Seilah informed.

"You did well, Seilah." Kyoka praised.

Franmalth cackled. "How many lives were lost? How many?" He questioned.

"If Fairy Tail was going to be eradicated anyway, there was really no need for us to move the Cube to this outpost." Kyoka claimed.

"True." Seilah agreed.

"Now we can all return our focus to the Face project. The time has come. The white legacy that human suspicions have bred will destroy them in the end. Face will steal all Magic from the humans and the Age of Demons will begin. It is all for the world that Zeref desires." Kyoka said as an alarm soon went off.

"Huh?"

"What is it, Franmalth?" Kyoka asked.

"For some reason, I'm picking up multiple Magic signatures..." Franmalth replied as soldiers came in.

"We have a problem!"

"Five confirmed figures heading towards the Cube!"

"Five? No. This represents a multitude of Magic-users." Franmalth said.

"But we can only see five of them!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Kyoka wondered.

"I'll display Undercube." Seilah said as five red dots appeared. "That's..."

"What?!" Franmalth exclaimed.

The five red dots were revealed to be Happy, Lily, Carla, Chii, and Jim.

"Cats?" Seilah questioned.

"They're with Fairy Tail!" Franmalth informed. "And you let two of them get away, Silver-san."

"Multiple magical signatures are coming from those small animals?" Kyoka questioned.

"Kyoka-sama, it looks like they're holding something." Seilah said as cards were in the five Exceeds paws. "Cards..."

"Elfman, wake up!" Cana said, struggling under Elfman's grip.

"Destroy Fairy Tail..."

"You..."

"Destroy... Destroy..."

"Dammit! You're making me do this." Cana said, waving her hands in front of Elfman's face and trapping him in a card. "That swarthy hottie I met last time taught me this trick."

She then looked at the glowing Lacrima. "It's about to blow?! Dammit!" Cana rushed up the steps of the basement to the main hall. "All of them into cards!"

The guild soon found themselves encased in cards. "What?!" Wendy spoke in confusion.

"What is this Magic?" Gray wondered.

"Why am I in a card?" Akame questioned.

"What happened?!"

"We've got injured and slowpokes, so this is the only way!" Cana informed.

"Cana, is that you?!"

"Salvage all cards in my hand!" Cana shouted as all of the cards flew into her hand. "Happy! Carla! Lily! Chii! Jim! The guild is going to blow up! Kamikaze attack as you escape!"

"Those cards are Fairy Tail wizards!" Franmalth informed.

"What?!" Kyoka said.

"It can't be... This is my fault..." Seilah muttered.

"Put up a line of defense. Activate the Undercube gravitational field." Kyoka ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"First battle station at the front and rear sides of the Cube!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Don't let them get near the top of the Cube!" Kyoka shouted.

Happy, Carla, Lily, Chii, and Jim soon began flying upwards. "What is this?!" Carla exclaimed.

"We're being drawn in!" Lily stated.

"We're gonna crash!" Happy said.

"Brace yourselves!" Jim warned.

The five Exceeds fell onto the ground. "This is... gravity!" Lily noticed.

"Are we upside down?!" Happy questioned as Tartaros soldiers charged behind them.

"More importantly, here comes the enemy!" Chii informed.

Cana soon appeared from the card. "Everyone, decompress from the cards!" She shouted as rays of light appeared. "Let's go!"

"Fairy Tail, move out!"

Elfman opened his eyes. "I..."

"Have you come to your senses?" Cana asked.

"What..." Tears began to fall from Elfman's face. "...did I do?"

"We're gonna save Mira and Lisanna. So stand up." Cana told him.

"Sure is noisy outside. Well, whatever. First, I'm gonna mess up that pretty face!" Lummy cackled as Mira began transforming. "How does it feel to have demon particles invade your bloodstream? You're going to hit every branch on the ugly tree as you race towards rebirth."

More lines soon appeared. "Frustrating... So frustrating..." Lummy muttered as Mira's eye opened and the tube shattered. "W-What...? What is this?!"

"Sorry. I already have demon particles. I use them for Satan Soul." Mira informed. "They revived me."

Lummy backed up in fear.

Kyoka was walking towards where Ezekiel was being kept. "Use Ezekiel? Or the humans as hostages?" She asked herself before opening the door.

Her eyes widened upon seeing that the wall was broken. Natsu and Zack suddenly grabbed onto her as a now freed Erza placed a blade up to her neck.

"We've been waiting for you!" Natsu claimed.

"Gotcha!" Zack said.

"How did you get out of the cell?" Kyoka asked.

"This sword is loaded with power." Natsu replied.

"Heat Blade?"

"Huh. That's the sword's name? It fells into our hands thanks to that shaking before. We used it to break out of the cell." Natsu said.

"We freed Erza, too." Zack added.

"Where is Ezekiel?!" Kyoka questioned.

"You've taken such good care of me." Ezekiel spoke with Yakdoriga around him. "So I'm going to return the favor and then some."

Kyoka was soon chained up as Ezekiel cracked his hand, having a dark look on his face. "Get settled. This is going to take some time."

"I wonder what they did to him..." Lisanna muttered.

"Where are Mira and Elfman?" Natsu asked.

"They captured Elfman, too?" Erza questioned.

Ezekiel placed his blade towards Kyoka's throat. "Answer. Where are they?" He asked.

"I don't know where the one called Elfman is. But the one named Mira is in the upstairs lab. Though you may be too late."

"You..." Natsu mumbled.

"I have to go!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"You go too, Natsu, Erza, Zack." Ezekiel told the three. "Leave her to me."

"Right." Zack nodded before following Lisanna.

"Got it!" Natsu agreed, leaving as well.

Erza stares at her brother for a moment before following after the three.

Kyoka and Ezekiel stared at one another. "What was that tremor before?" Ezekiel questioned.

"Our castle responded to the lifting of Face's seal." Kyoka responded.

"Face's seal...?!" Ezekiel widened his eyes. "D-Don't tell me Jellal is..."

"We haven't killed him. But the seal was lifted with another method." Kyoka informed.

"What do you scum want?" Ezekiel asked. "Face, a weapon that would destroy Magic throughout the continent... What do you hope to gain by using that?"

"Is so that everything... is returned to Zeref."

"Returned to Zeref?" Ezekiel quoted.

A green glow soon surrounded Kyoka, breaking the chains. "You do understand... These shackles seal Magic. But I have Curse power, so they have no effect on me!"

Ezekiel blocked her punch, shocking her before Ezekiel kicked her down. "A Zeref zealot, huh?" He questioned.

"Zeref's love inscribed us in those books. We were born from his books... The demons of the Books of Zeref!" Kyoka claimed as her and Ezekiel began trading blows. "It's only natural that we believe in our creator!"

"You're free to believe what you like! But you should make that decision for yourself!" Ezekiel claimed.

"A human couldn't understand!"

Ezekiel soon had a golden aura around him. "Humans have faith, too. What's important is not losing sight of yourself. The power to think, the courage not to run away..." He requipped and attacked Kyoka. "You yourself have to make that walk!"

Outside of the Cube, the Fairy Tail members were fighting the Tartaros soldiers.

"Crawling out of the woodwork..." Gray started to say as ice appeared from his fists. "Get out of my way!"

Gray attacked the Tartaros soldiers with his Ice Magic, freezing them solid. One soon appeared behind Gray as Juvia charged forward.

"I won't let anyone... embrace Gray-sama from behind!" Juvia shouted, kicking the soldier with water appearing from her leg as Gray had a deadpanned expression.

One of the soldiers charged forward as Gajeel blocked their attack, denting the metal as he grinned. He then chomped on the iron. "Yuck!" Gajeel complained, tossing the iron rod aside.

"Iron Dragon's..." Gajeel took a deep breath in. "...Roar!"

He used his breath attack to blow the foot soldiers away.

"Sky Dragon's..." Wind picked up around Wendy. "...Wing Attack!"

The foot soldiers jumped down from a bird. "Sky Dragon's..." Wendy inhaled. "...Roar!"

Tartaros soldiers rushed towards Akame. "Blood Dragon's Clotting!" He called out as the soldiers kneeled down in pain.

"Blood Dragon's..." Akame inhaled deeply. "...Roar!"

He released a large blast of red mist at the foot soldiers.

"Lucy Kick!" Lucy yelled, kicking one of the soldiers while Taurus struck some more with his axe. One soon appeared behind her in which Taurus took notice of.

"Moo! I can't get there in time!" He exclaimed.

Loke stepped in front of Lucy. "Regulus Impact!" He shouted, striking the soldiers with golden light.

"Loke! You came out on your own again?" Lucy asked.

"You can't let your guard down. That being said..." Loke leaned closer to Lucy. "...I would love for you to let your guard down around me."

"Is this any time for flirting?" Lucy questioned.

"My power will always protect you." Loke claimed.

"Moo! I'm ready for you!" Taurus said.

"Lion Brilliance!" Loke had a yellow aura around him, blinding the foot soldiers.

Hana faced a few of the Tartaros soldiers as she pulled out a silver key. "Open! Gate of the Speedster! Fulgur!" She called out as Fulgur appeared from the gate, speeding past the soldiers and easily taking them out.

Foot soldiers surrounded Makarov as his eyes glowed, activating his Giant Magic. "Get back!" Makarov ordered, punching the soldiers.

"Knuckle Plant!" Droy shouted, attacking more soldiers as he was surrounded by more.

"Falcon Heavenward!" Jet called out, speeding through the foot soldiers and stopping next to Droy.

"You saved me, Jet!" Droy said.

"Your heft is slowing you down, Droy!" Jet informed.

"Shut up! This is all muscle!"

"Where's Levy?" Jet then asked.

"I'll protect her with my life!" Droy replied.

Levy's fingers glowed. "Solid Script! Stone!" She called out, crushing the foot soldiers down.

"Sand Rebellion!" Max shouted. The Tartaros foot soldiers spinning in the sandstorm. "Don't just stand there!"

"Max!"

Foot soldiers appeared behind Jet and Droy.

"Tch! How many are there?!"

"There's no end!"

"We have to protect Laxus and the others who can't move!" Max informed.

Macao, Cana, and Elfman were back to back. "Why did you bring our wounded here, too?!" Macao asked.

"If I hadn't, they would've been blown up with the guild!" Cana responded, making Elfman tense up.

"I'm sorry. I..."

Cana turned to face him. "You call yourself a Man?! If you have time to stand there and brood, use it to cut down the enemy's ranks instead!" She said.

"I know. I'll definitely settle this! Man!" Elfman shouted.

"The Gunner!" A rifle appeared in Bisca's hand as she shot at the enemy soldiers.

One appeared behind her as it got blasted away by wind. "Guns Magic!" Alzack spun his pistols that were in his hands. "Tornado Shot!"

Alzack struck the remaining two soldiers. "Al!" Bisca shouted.

"Are you okay?" Alzack asked his wife.

"Yeah. Where's Asuka?" Bisca questioned.

"Don't worry. She's right here." Alzack replied as Asuka appeared from his poncho.

"This is annoying." Wakaba claimed as he punched the soldiers in the air using his smoke.

"Rainbow Fire!" Romeo called out, striking the Tartaros soldiers and creating an explosion. "We still haven't made any headway!"

"How are we supposed to reach the castle?" Wakaba questioned.

"We can't even fly properly because of this gravitational field!" Carla pointed out.

"Right now we're on the bottom side, so to get to the top..." Happy trailed off.

Lucy breathed heavily. "What should we do?" She wondered.

"Even while we're exhausting ourselves out here, Erza and the others are..." Lily started to say as he was in his Battle Form.

Jim had used his Transformation Magic to grow larger as he requipped a large sword, swinging it at a soldier who was about to attack him, earning a nod of gratitude from Lily.

Elfman sent a punch to the soldiers as Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, and Yajima still laid unresponsive on the ground with Porlyusica watching over them.

"We still haven't found a way to break through?!" Makarov exclaimed as a sudden explosion appeared.

"What the...?!" Alzack questioned.

"The surface!" Bisca exclaimed.

Ezekiel soon flew up in the air. "Ezekiel-sama!" Hana shouted as everyone was stunned.

"Our way in!" Makarov said, noticing the hole.

Natsu, Lisanna, and Zack were running through the Tartaros hallways. "Mira-nee, I'm on my way!" Lisanna said to herself.

"There they are! The escaped prisoners!"

"Get them!"

"Lisanna, go on ahead." Zack told her.

"But..." Lisanna began to protest.

"Rescue Mira!" Natsu interrupted.

"Right!" Lisanna continued on her way.

Natsu leaped down as flames came from his foot, kicking the soldiers back while Zack struck them with blue light.

"This is what happens when I get to use Magic!" Natsu claimed when he suddenly stopped, seeing that the soldiers had froze in mid-air. Zack noticed this as well.

"What is this?! They froze in mid-air..." Zack muttered.

"So you made it this far..." A voice spoke up as Natsu turned around while Zack tensed up. "Though I knew you both would."

Natsu widened his eyes as did Zack. "This is Zeref's bookshelf, Tartaros. The town where my books live..." Zeref claimed.

A/N: Zack and Natsu have encountered Zeref!

Thanks for reading!

~ Kaleb.