Chapter 51

Guts And Toes- Ceithin-Har is eventually going to be revealed. I already have the debut arc figured out.

Yes, I know. Do you want me to vary those, or do you wish to simply point that out?

I'm sorry. What do you mean by that third review? I can't fix anything if you can't pinpoint the error and what it is.

Eh, I can see that comparison between Malekith and Laxus.

Diederick

"This is completely ridiculous!" Yelled Gray as he, Diederick, Happy, Juvia, and Lucy were being escorted by Millianna and Wally to one of the few remaining boats left on the whole island. "We shouldn't be leaving, we should be staying and fighting that Jellal jerk!" Wally just grunted at that before glaring at Gray.

"Look, man, we all want a piece of that jerk Jellal for everything that he did, but we ain't got a choice!" Yelled Wally. "Etherion is going to be firing soon and unless you like to get blasted into oblivion, you're going to follow us out of here."

"Besides, a lot of you are too weak and exhausted to even stand a chance against Jellal." Said Millianna as she looked at Juvia and Lucy. Both were too weak to even stand on their own and thus forced Millianna and Diederick to carry them as they walked. Despite the boy's exhaustion from the fight with Vidaldus, which he unspeakably won for Juvia and Lucy through means he couldn't explain nor understand, he was carrying Juvia as best he could. Speaking of Diederick, the boy looked at the two kidnappers before speaking up.

"So, I'm guessing that your friend Simon told you to do this, right?" Asked Diederick weakly, recalling how the two found him, Lucy, and Juvia. They claimed that they were here to get them out of the tower and out of danger. At first, Diederick didn't believe them on account of what they did back at the resort, but then Simon spoke to all of them via magic and assured Diederick and the Fairy Tail wizards that Millianna and Wally are on their side now and they all needed to get out of danger now. He claimed that Etherion would soon be upon them and they needed to get out of the tower before the blast could reach them. Thus, much to Diederick's reluctance, he agreed with Simon and thus wasn't opposed to leaving the tower with his friends, especially when they were all exhausted from fighting against Jellal's underlings. If those were his underlings, Diederick couldn't imagine how much more powerful Jellal was compared to them.

"Yeah, he did." Said Wally as he looked at Diederick. "And we got to listen to him if we don't want to end up getting blasted into nothing because of the Council's big superweapon." Despite the logic of them leaving on account of Etherion, Gray still didn't like the idea of them leaving a fight unfinished. He didn't know much about this Jellal fellow, but he knew enough that he deserved a massive butt whopping for all that he did. But that wasn't the only reason that he hated leaving. No. He also had a problem with this whole thing was that he was also abandoning his friends. Natsu and Erza were still out there, at Jellal's mercy, and Gray didn't want to leave them behind.

Last he saw them, Erza was in a card because of that idiot Shô, and Natsu had been knocked out by that weird bird man thing. Neither of whom was in a great condition to actually fight against Jellal. Granted, he and the others weren't in great shape to fight him either, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from helping his friends in defeating that bastard. That wasn't how Fairy Tail Wizards operate. He wasn't going to let them fight that bastard alone, no matter how hurt or weakened she was. If he had to fight in the state he was in now, then he'll do it. It was a better alternative than abandoning his friends.

"Look, I wouldn't be arguing against this if Erza, Natsu, and Simon were here with us." Said Gray as they walked towards a dock with a single rowboat for them. Seeing just the one rowboat left Gray, Diederick, Juvia, and Lucy feeling a bit concerned for their friends as they wondered how they were going to escape without a boat of their own.

"Well, we ain't got a choice in the matter, man." Said Wally in annoyance. "Every second that we waste is another second that we give Etherion to go and blast us into nothing. And you think that's going to help Erza or your friend out, huh?" Gray was about to entire another argument with Wally when Happy yelled out at them.

"Stop!" Yelled Happy, sick of the arguing that was happening around him. Everyone, stunned at hearing Happy yell, looked at the blue cat as he let out tears of sadness, yet he glared at everyone with anger and determination. "All this arguing isn't going to help at all! All it's doing is dividing us and making us fight amongst ourselves. You don't think I want to be there and help out our friends? Well, I do, but we can't. Etherion will fire any minute now and we can't afford to stay. We'll just be sacrificing our lives for nothing. Worse, Jellal might use us as a way to get to Natsu and Erza! Right?!" Upon hearing that and seeing that everyone else was arguing, Diederick supported what Happy was saying.

"Much as I hate to admit it, he's right." Said Diederick, causing everyone to look at him. "Jellal, from what I've seen and heard of him, sounds like the type of person to use a person's loved ones as a shield to advance his goals. With our current injuries, we'll be nothing but a burden to Natsu and Erza. Worse, we'll be tools for Jellal to defeat him. Thus, much as I hate to say it. We have to leave before we can give him a chance to use us against our friends." Going further, Happy spoke up one last time with tears on his face.

"Plus Simon told me that Natsu can beat Jellal." Said Happy before breaking down in tears. "If he unlocks his true power, then not even Jellal can beat him. We just have to have faith that Natsu and Erza can defeat that Jellal guy." Seeing the argument before them as well as Happy crying, everyone looked at each other and realized that they had to leave now and place faith in their friends that they'll both defeat Jellal and escape in time. Thus they walked toward the boat and got on it. As it took off, Gray thought of Natsu and prayed that he'll be fine.

"Natsu, you better be kicking that Jellal guy's butt soon." Thought Gray as the boat moved away from the island and towards open waters.

Meanwhile

Lilea

Groaning as she got up, Lilea held her head as she opened her eyes.

"What in the name of the gods happened?" Thought Lilea as she felt a headache coming towards her. Looking around, Lilea tried to decipher what occurred. Upon seeing the dead boy and the unconscious pink-haired woman, Lilea's memory started to return to her. "I had been taunting that Erza Scarlet and then…" She then remembered what occurred after taunting Erza and her rage grew.

She was attacked while she was taunting that Erza woman, taking her prize away from her. Growling as looked around for her sword. Finding it close by, Lilea grabbed it and vowed to make the one that surprised attack her pay for doing so.

"Once again I've been defeated by a mage." Thought Lilea in rage as she looked at her sword. "And once again I've let my pride get the better of me. Argh." Snarling, she slammed her sword at the ground, releasing some tension from her body. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the unconscious pink-haired woman and decided to take her to Sullava, so her Wyvern can take her to the ship. Walking over to the unconscious woman, she was about to grab her when she saw a strange sight coming toward her.

A large human with the head of an owl, feathers and all, flew towards her in a jetpack. Jumping back, she watched the owl-headed human land in front of the pink-haired woman and spoke to Lilea.

"Stop, whatever you're doing, villain." Said the owl-headed human in a boisterous voice that it left Lilea's head throbbing in pain. "You shall not harm my comrade in arms. This, I swear by my name Fukuro." Growling in annoyance at the voice of the owl-headed human, Lilea spoke.

"I assume you're one of Jellal's servants, yes?" Asked Lilea as she got ready for a fight.

"Not quite, villain!" Yelled Fukuro as he pointed at her. "He had hired us, Trinity Raven, to protect the R-system tower from those he wishes for us to eliminate. Though he mentioned not you among those we must eliminate, I know for a fact that he also wishes for us to eliminate any intruders to the tower and you, certainly, are an intruder. So prepare to face the wrath of Fukuro, evildo…" He didn't get to say anymore when Lilea, faster than he could possibly see, tossed a dagger laced with poison at Fukuro's neck. By the time he said evil, the dagger was already in his throat, causing him to choke on his words.

"Be silent, fool." Said Lilea in annoyance as the thing grabbed the dagger in shock. Before he could do anything, Lilea grabbed her crossbow, loaded a bolt, and shot him in the head, killing him. "I can't believe these fools are what Jellal hired to protect the R-tower. *Scoffs* Pathetic." Walking over to Fukuro's corpse, she retrieved her dagger, and sheathed her sword and crossbow, before grabbing the pink-haired woman's body and hoisting it over her shoulders. Finding the woman surprisingly light, Lilea went to the area where she had asked Sullava to drop her off at so she can whistle for her precious Wyvern to pick her up. Much as she hated to turn tail and run with little rewards, she knew she had to. Etherion would be firing soon and she had no intentions of staying on the island when it did. As she walked, she thought of Erza and wondered what had become of her.

Meanwhile
Jellal

"Excellent." Said Jellal as he waited in his throne room with Erza in tow. The unconscious woman was laying before him, making him smile. Everything was in place now. All that remains was to await the Etherion blast and then his plan can come to fruition.

"The council was so easy to manipulate." Thought Jellal with a chuckle. "They're so afraid of Zeref that they're willing to do anything to prevent his return. And that fear allowed me to manipulate them into doing by bidding. Or should I say…Siegrain's bidding." He then laughed as his mirror image watched as the Magic Council was preparing to fire Etherion at the R-tower, not knowing that he wanted them to do so in the first place.

The reason for wanting to do so was simple. The R-System needed a tremendous amount of Magic Power to operate. An amount that would be impossible to be produced by even an entire army of mages. However, Etherion, a weapon of tremendous power, can easily provide the Magic Power necessary in order to function. And that was exactly why Jellal had infiltrated the Magic Council. To manipulate them into firing Etherion at the Tower of Heaven under the guise of protecting the world. When in reality they were dooming it. Laughing madly, Jellal watched through his mirror image as the final preparations to fire Etherion commenced, eager to start the process of reviving Zeref.

"Zeref will be reborn and there's nothing that anyone can stop it!" Thought Jellal as he watched his grand plan start to initiate its final stages.

Few minutes later

"Look!" Yelled Diederick as he pointed at the sky as magic circles formed there, dissipating the clouds in the process.

"No way is that…" Said Wally, already knowing what it was.

"It is." Said Gray as he looked at the circles starting to glow gold. "It's Etherion."

"They're actually going to do it." Said Lucy as everyone watched the Etherion begin the process of firing. As everyone from the small group watched, Lilea had landed on her ship with Sullava, having escaped just in time to meet up with her ship and crew.

"Captain, how is our cargo holds?" Asked Lilea as she tossed the pink-haired woman to the ground, uncaring about her condition at all. She had seen plenty of destroyed ships along with bodies from those that tried to escape the Tower as she made her way to the ship. With so many bodies in the ocean, she guessed their holds were brimming with captured slaves.

The human captain of her ship, upon seeing Lilea, saluted her before speaking.

"The cargo holds are almost to their capacity." Said the captain of Lilea's ship. "The only reason we even had room was that we thought you would bring even finer prey than those found on the ships of those trying to escape the island." Giving a nod at the captain's words, Lilea found them acceptable and ordered that the pink-haired woman be taken to the hold as well as given drugs to keep her sedated. She also ordered the ship to be sailed away from the island to give them more distance away from the Etherion blast. As people carried out her orders, a sailor suddenly yelled out to look at the sky. Everyone, including Lilea, did so, and thus saw golden circles forming above the Tower of Heaven.

"So, it's begun." Said Lilea as she noticed the circles. Seeing everyone getting distracted by the glowing circles, Lilea barked out orders. "Get this ship moving now! Or else you'll all be slaves next!" Upon hearing that, everyone scrambled to get back to work. Watching the circles glow golden, Lilea started to pet her Wyvern as it watched along with her Etherion about to fire.

Meanwhile

Magic Council Chambers

Yajima sighed in sorrow as he watched Etherion being fired at the Tower of Heaven. Despite his attempts to convince his fellow Council members to stop this madness, they refused to listen, and thus the firing of Etherion went on as scheduled. Shaking his head as he, along with everyone in the council, watch Etherion fire on the Tower of Heaven, creating smoke and dust as a result of the destructive blast, Yajima could only pray that he was wrong. That this was indeed the right course of action and that he was only being paranoid. That Siegrain didn't have ulterior motives for suggesting using Etherion against his brother. That he was simply looking out for the people of the world. That, however, would be in vain as he would learn along with the other Council members within the next few minutes.

This would start when they saw the Tower of Heaven and gasped upon seeing it. Instead of being destroyed like they thought it would be, the Tower of Heaven transformed into a massive piece of blue Lacrima, stunning everyone into submission.

"Impossible!" Yelled out Belno upon seeing this. "How could this happen!?"

"It's a giant Lacrima!" Yelled out Leiji, upon seeing the structure in place of the Tower of Heaven. "It must have absorbed the Etherion blast!"

"But that's impossible!" Said Org as he looked incredulously at the Lacrima structure. "The Magic Power of Etherion is simply too great for any Lacrima to absorb, no matter its size." As everyone tried to figure out what was going on, Yajima looked at Siegrain with a dark glare.

"You better explain what this is, Siegrain." Said Yajima as he looked at Siegrain. This was entirely his idea and thus Yajima held him responsible for what was about to come from this. Rather than answering Yajima, however, Siegrain simply vanished into thin air, stunning Yajima and everyone that saw this. As he processed what just happened, Yajima realized with horror what was going on.

"This was all a trick." Said Yajima as he realized that Siegrain was nothing but a thought projection. "This was all an elaborate trick by Jellal into making us fire the Etherion!"

"What!?" Yelled Org in shock. Before he could ask Yajima to explain himself, the entire building they were in started to shake and fall apart.

"What's going on!" Yelled Leiji as he looked around himself. "It's like the entire building is aging for…argh!" He was stopped when a slab of rock fell onto him.

"Leiji!" Yelled Belno before she and Org rushed towards their fellow Council Member. They then pulled the slab off him before lifting him up.

"This event must be a result of the Arc of Time." Org realized as he recognized the situation before him. "But that's a type of Lost Magic." Everyone then began to run out of the building as the headquarter of the Magic council aged forward to the point of oblivion. All except Yajima, who was looking around for answers. He found at least one of those in the form of Ultear, who was standing in the center of the destruction, her arms raised as if for a spell. Realizing this, Yajima demanded answers from her.

"What are you doing, Ultear?! Stop this!" Yelled Yajima as he moved towards her, but he couldn't get closer as pieces of the building fell between them. Instead of answering Yajima, Ultear simply smiled before speaking.

"This is it." Said Ultear with a smile. "Siegra…no, Jellal's dreams are now coming to fruition. Let him rejoice in the tune." Stunned at hearing that, Yajima couldn't hear any more as the building was deteriorating even further, meaning if he didn't leave now, he'll die from the rumble. Forced to leave, Yajima ran out of the building as Ultear remained, satisfied with what was going on.

Meanwhile

Lilea

Meanwhile, in Lilea's ship, the Dark Elf's human crew was getting up from the ground, having been forced off the ground by the blast from Etherion. Only Lilea remained standing and that was only because of Sullava holding her in place with her tail. Thanking her Wyvern, Lilea then looked at the structure that took the place of the Tower of Heaven and wondered what had just occurred. Her human captain, after getting back up, spoke the question that was in her mind.

"What the hell happened to the tower." Said the captain as he looked at the tower made of crystal. Lilea said nothing as she looked at the tower, curiosity filling her body. She had never known that the R-System tower can do this. Her people may have helped fund and kept it hidden from the Magic Council and the kingdom of Caelum, but they never knew it could do this. Was this hidden feature the reason why Jellal was so nonchalant about the Etherion blast? Or…did he want it to happen in the first place?

Humming to herself, Lilea looked at her captain and ordered him to have the ship ready to depart once she returned.

"You're returning back there, Lady Lilea?" Asked the captain in shock, stunned that his lady would want to return back to the island after what just happened.

"Indeed." Said Lilea as she looked at the crystal tower. "And this time, I'm bringing something much more significant than a pretty face."

Meanwhile

Tzeentch was laughing madly to himself as he tortured Vidaldus' soul for even more information. What he had found was quite enticing to the Chaos God of Magic and Fate. This world that Vidaldus came from. That the Thirteenth Everchosen was inhabiting at the moment. It was…magnificent. A world filled with Magic. Magic that he, the God of Magic, held no knowledge of. It was beautiful. It was…ripe for the Chaos God.

Laughing at the immense potential and opportunities that this world can provide him, both for his own entertainment and goals, Tzeentch momentarily stopped torturing Vidaldus' soul for information and went back to observing the Everchosen, eager to see what was going on in that world. Upon doing so, he found something that enticed him dearly.

He sensed that the Everchosen was confused and horrified at something. Something that intrigued Tzeentch. Enough that Tzeentch was eager to feel what will transpire next and, if necessary, intervene so he can profit from whatever will happen next. Such was his way.