Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-
Chapter 54: Malevolent Forces Rising
Year: X758. 26 years till Canon begins.
No POV:
Far away in the continent of Ishgar, miles away from Fiore, there was a large cave that had the entrance entombed into a mountain. This cave spiralled downwards deep down into the rock below the earth.
This cave had nothing more than the odd difficult drop downwards, a few strange looking rocks, some small cave critters that posed you no harm and the occasion drip of water from the ceiling hitting the rocks below you. Many travellers were able to climb down this cave despite the lack of a clear pathway or proper human infrastructure.
When one is exploring this cave they may; after a few hours of traversing it, come to a solid rock wall that seems like a dead end at first glance.
However, if you were to push an out of place rock that is to your right, the stone wall in front of you would open upwards and allow to continue walking.
If you were to continue walking now, you would begin to hear noises that sounded like hammers clashing down rock. As you would keep walking you would stop seeing the small cave critters and hearing the drop of water from the ceiling. You may also notice that the stone below you is smoothing out, along with torch light on the wall to light your way forward.
Eventually you would come to a verge that you would have to climb up to keep going forward. This verge had a large open area that had a bright yellow light coming from it.
If you climbed the verge and looked forward into the rest of the cave, you would see a sight that may dismay many from continuing forward.
You would see that there was a colossal mining operation going on. The cave now expanded out several hundred meters in all directions, going high up to touch the mountain top, to going even further down to reach deeper into the earth. There were several large open corridors that were mined out and they led in all sorts of directions. Across the ground of the cave there were mine cart tracks that connected all across the cave, with mine carts moving along them. In these mine carts were tons of stone that were mined out by the people working here.
I say that people worked here as if they had a say in the matter. No, in the actual fact everyone here that was mining were slaves. They were kidnapped in the night from small villages so far away that the authorities would not have noticed due to the vast distance.
They wore nothing but basic rags as clothing, and they were fed just enough to keep them working. Thick collars were around their neck to electrocute them if they tried to escape.
Hundreds of slaves were forced to work down here in the mines to last another day forward, in the hopes that they would be rescued.
Working these slaves were men of magic that wore some basic iron armour. Their armour was nothing unique, but on the chest piece of the armour there was the hexagonal symbol of a faceless human knelt down on his knees, and was holding a dagger in his hands, with the hilt upwards.
Dozens of these men patrolled the caves keeping the slaves working. With how powerful their magic was there, compared to the fact that the slaves had none; there was truly a low chance of escape from this hell hole.
Following the larger mined out tunnel in the middle of the large cavern, we come to a large built out room that the slaves were forced to mine out, before they were told that they were forbidden from entering the now-mined tunnel and room.
This large room was guarded at the door, with some guards and some magical creatures spawned to also help protect it. The door was of a strong oak wood and was locked by the guards.
We now follow a man who is walking there to the room. He had no armour on, yet he wore fine robes that were coloured red and gold. He was average height and had brown hair with some glasses. He had no magic, unlike the guards that patrolled this cave.
He then came to the doorway of the room and moved forward to enter it, the guards recognised the man's attire, and his status above them so they knew to step aside and open the door for him.
This room of importance was built rather circular in shape, and to the far end of the room there was a stone staircase that led upwards to a grand wooden doorway. This doorway led into a room that many of the men and of course the slaves were forbidden from entering unless summoned.
Elsewhere in the room, there was several other small tunnels that led into much smaller mined out rooms that had all sorts of important areas like living quarters.
However, the main thing of importance in this room was a round circular table that had three other men sitting at it. They had matching robes as the man that just entered, and they also did not have magic.
"There you are." One of the men said as he saw the man enter the room. "We're about to begin."
"My apologies for the delay." The apologised as he sat down on an empty seat.
"You shouldn't be apologising to me. Apologise to the general when he gets here. He's had to delay the meeting because of you." One of the other men hissed at him, as the door at the far end of the room opened.
Out of the room and down the steps walked a tall, bulking man. He was of good height and had lots of muscle on him. He had some short brown hair, with lavender eyes and had a stern and powerful presence about him. He wore some shiny silver armour, with the underclothing of the armour being black. He also wore a cape that was coloured black and was tied to the neckpiece of his armour. He had the same symbol as the guards on his shoulder piece, and it was coloured gold.
This man was an ex-general of the Pergrande Kingdom. He was a cunning strategist and had found a new allegiance.
His name was Varkold Fujisawa, now leader of the Gorgonian army.
His eyes darted around the room, and immediately saw that all four men were here now. His eyes met the man that was late.
"Be late again and you will be demoted." The General warned the man as he took a seat at the head of the table. "Now let us begin this meeting. The first order of business that I would like answered, is how the efforts to capture the Magnistone are faring." The General turned to look to the man furtherest to the right of the table.
The man who was sitting farthest to the right cleared his throat. "General. I have just heard word from Piko and his company of men. Unfortunately, the Magnistone was not recovered from Fiore. He said that they were stopped by a guild wizard as they were searching for it."
General Fujisawa looked disappointed and annoyed to hear that news, before he opened his mouth to speak. "And what about the rest of you? He asked the other men. "Were you able to find a location on the other stones yet?" His voice was laced with seriousness.
The other men looked somewhat worried at that. They each let out several excuses saying that they had not found them yet, and that they would keep searching for them. One of them, however quickly spoke up.
"General! I have been able to locate the area in question that the Sasimistone crashed." He quickly addressed.
That got the General's attention. "Have you now?" He inquired with interest, him now turning to look at the man who spoke. "Continue."
"Yes Sir. It was a few months ago me and my company of men were travelling through Iceberg when we found a detailed document commemorating what they call the Day of the Celestial. It said that a fragment that may contain the Sasimistone crashed somewhere in Fiore." He explained.
The General narrowed his eyes. "And what evidence lead you to believe that it was the Sasimistone?" He questioned, not yet convinced.
"Me and my company then travelled to Fiore under the guise as simple traders. Using the devise you trusted us to use, I was able to locate the crust of the meteor buried under some grasslands. The radiation emanated off it was of 97% similar to the Sasimistone." He further explained.
"And what information can you tell me about the crust of the meteor?" The General quickly asked.
"It is being dug up and being transported back here." The man concluded.
General Fujisawa gave a small smirk at that man, before he turned to the other three men that had failed him.
"Lord Shineva summoned me just three days ago. When he summoned me, he demanded that I bring him all four stones in the next decade. We have secured none of them. The stones are still unclaimed, and every second we spend here not collecting them is another second that he will be considering how to kill you in the best way possible." General Fujisawa strictly informed the three men.
"I acknowledge that we are now nearing one of the stones, but the other three are just as crucial to his plan as everything else. If we cannot manipulate the people to our way of thinking, how can we structure a takeover of a kingdom!?" He demanded to them raising his voice.
The men held their heads down low, ashamed for their failure.
The General gave a scowl of disappointment, before he continued. "Lord Shineva and I are patient men, so be grateful for that. Now then, I want further information on the whereabouts of the other stones in a year, and I want them to be present on this table in the next five years!" He ordered his men.
He then turned to the man who had impressed him earlier. "Sanyo. Establish a facility in Fiore for the purpose of locating the Sasimistone. I don't care about the location, just ensure it is far away from all legal guilds. I want you presiding over it. Understood?"
Sanyo nodded his head firmly. "Of course General! I'll get on that as soon as possible!"
The General gave a nod of approval at his subordinate, before he moved onto other matters. "Our mining and tunnelling operation here is beginning to excavate into another layer of the mountain. To maintain our momentum, we will require additional slaves to keep up with the progress."
The General then pulled out a lacrima that he sat on the table. Out from the lacrima, projected a large aerial view of the nearby area. The huge mountain they were in was displayed, as well as the many small surrounding villages nearby.
"Our raids on many of these villages have already been successful, but there are still some villages further to the south that we could pillage; yet that may attract the attention of the Magic Council. In the western and eastern regions, there are a few villages that are mostly peaceful and isolated from the rest of the world, but they are surrounded by the nearby mountains. As for the north, we can find the border to the Pergrande Kingdom."
"Tell me. How do you think we should approach this issue that we face?" The General quizzed, interested to see if the men here could come to the same answer he had.
The four men looked at the map, and considered the four options in their head.
Three of the men suggested crossing forward to the east and west, over the harsh mountains to get more villagers for slave work, while also avoiding the Magic Council. However, the man Sanyo frowned.
"It would be best if we crossed into the Pergrande Kingdom." He suggested. "By doing that we can attack some of the smaller villages on the border. Due to the sheer size of the Pergrande Kingdom the King cannot always keep track of every village. He wouldn't notice if a few went missing."
General Fujisawa gave the man a nod of approval. "That's the right course of action. The King's lack of awareness of the condition of every village on his throne would leave the outer border villages unprotected." The General explained, him taking the lacrima off the table.
He then gave the other three men a glare, as they were beginning to make him wonder why he promoted them to this position in the first place. The General gave a grunt of disproval, before he continued to the next topic.
"While we do require additional slaves, we are already facing the challenge of keeping the current slaves fed and hydrated, even though we are rationing their food. How is the development of the farms in the fields above progressing?" He asked one of the men.
"We are improving on that matter." He addressed the General. "We have been able to make some of the slaves work above and have them work on the farms. The clothing we use for them hide the shock collars on their necks. Many people passing by see them as simple farmers. We have had no instances that they have tried to escape."
The General nodded his head, satisfied at that. "Very good Ray. See to it that they keep working there and that they do not escape." He demanded with a stern voice.
"Yes General." Ray nodded his head.
"Before this meeting is adjourned, I have one final matter to discuss." The General announced, him looking at all his men. He then pulled out different lacrima, placing that as well on the table.
The lacrima then sprung to live, before it then projected the image of four faces.
The first was a man with slick blonde hair. He had a grin that was on his face. The next was a man whose face was oddly rectangular in shape, with messy black hair on top. After him was a man that was a bit older than the other two, he had light blonde hair and a black eyepatch over his right eye. The final person was a young girl who had wavy, long pastel blonde hair. She had what looked like a bow around her neck, with wing-like adornments around her ears and small hoop earrings.
"These are the four individuals that Lord Shineva as ordered me to locate. With the binds that still hold him to this day, only the blood of one of the four people here are needed to break his cuffs and have him regain his power." Fujisawa elaborated.
"Despite the fact that these four individuals have not been together for many decades, it would be advisable to search for their descendants. Although their ancestors were all born in Fiore, the possibility exists that they or their descendants may have relocated to a different country since then. Use whatever methods necessary to obtain their blood."
"At the moment, the stones are still the top priority. Concentrate on finding them and leave the blood as the second priority." The General addressed to his men. "Do you understand?" He said with a serious and dangerous tone.
All the men snapped to attention and quickly nodded. General Fujisawa gave a small nod, as he smoothed his chin with his armoured hand.
"That concludes what I have to say for this meeting. Remember what I conveyed." He coldly reminded them as he stood up from the table, with the other men doing the same.
General Fujisawa turned to go back to his room behind him, but he was stopped by a voice.
"Ah, just a minute General!" Came the voice of one of the men from behind him.
He turned and saw that it was Sanyo. "Sanyo. This better be important." He warned, not liking that he was interrupted from leaving.
"It's… just something I had to address to you. It's about the research facility in Fiore you want me to set up." He explained. "I can head there right away with my men, but it will take some significant time to set up the facility and make it operational for use."
"You're saying that you will be unable to come back here." General Fujisawa said, him figuring out what he was trying to say. "Very well then. It should take you quite a few months to cross into Fiore and find a suitable place to set up the equipment. After that take the next five years to find the Sasimistone. If it is not found by then, return here immediately." He ordered.
"Of course General." Sanyo agreed. "As for resources…"
"Take a few dozen men for protection. As for resources for building the place, you will have wizards by your side, so that should be simple enough for you. A device that can teleport objects between two areas will be provided to you. Send the orb here once it's secured." The General ordered
Sanyo nodded in understanding what was to be done, and the expectations he had to meet.
"Now get going." General Fujisawa ordered him with impatience in his voice.
Sanyo then left the room to prepare for the expedition to Fiore to set up the research outpost that was expected of him. Fujisawa figured it would take him months to get there, and possible years to construct the outpost.
Yet he was a patient man. In the meantime, he could order Lieutenant Harl to prepare the spies for their eventual infiltration of the Ishgar kingdoms. Perhaps he could also examine some old documents he had about some ancient magical items that would benefit this cause.
Hm, and he had to also make moves to have the Lieutenant send some men to explore some of Ishgar's oldest libraries.
Fujisawa needed to find her. The old Queen. She could assist them in this cause.
But it had been hundreds of years since she had been spotted, odds of encountering her were low…
But still… a Master Enchanter on their side… That would be a fantastic addition indeed.
But these were merely ideas. Ideas that would take years to even begin moving forward.
But the General did not care about the length of time. He and Lord Shineva were patient, and could wait. This was all for the glory of Lord Shineva. Once Lord Shineva regained his true power, he would give him the greatest reward imaginable.
The reunification of Ishigar, that was.
Elsewhere…
We now cut to a barren wasteland on the outskirts of Fiore. Almost no civilisation existed this far out in the country. There were the few passing travellers and traders that came across the great wasteland and the rocky cliffs, but they chose to go around it to avoid the treacherous travel.
Far and deep into this wasteland there was a very old and worn-out castle that still stood firm and strong despite years of never being used. It was mostly unknown to almost the entire kingdom and its people, them choosing to forget this rather old and failing structure after whatever war it had its moment in.
The castle was very big in size, containing at least three separate sections all atop one another. The two main bodies of the castle are noticeably squarer in shape and decorated with numerous crenelations, whilst the turrets and roof of the castle are more curved, their balustrade lined with decorative machicolations and their spires topped with fancy ornaments. At the gate to the castle stand two large statues. Protruding from the nearby rocks is a number of spines, these appearing quite large in size.
Inside of this still grand building, was several henchmen and mechanical monsters that were patrolling the inside of the area, with them maintaining the infrastructure of the building. They were powerful creatures that could take down even some of the most accomplished wizards in the world – yet they were not the main threat of this building.
The castle had many large rooms, but there was one that was of particular interest and importance right now. Deep underground there was a dimly lit laboratory which housed several large test tubes which had a blue liquid in them.
Inside one of these blue test tubes lay a man who was currently unconscious inside of it.
Outside of the test tubes there were two individuals. One was hugging the glass and had her head practically glued to it.
She was a young girl with a small frame. Her hair was dark and was in a bob cut, she also had two rabbit-like ears protruding from her head. She wore a light fluffy coat with large pom poms over a dark skirt and shirt. She completed her look with a pair of tights that run into knee-high boots. Around her neck, she wore a tie.
The other figure was standing a bit further back from the test tube. She was average height and donned a helmet that covered almost her entire face showing only her blue eyes along with her mouth. From the side of the helmet two long green pieces of hair came out like wings. Finishing the helmet was a large purple jewel where the forehead was. She wore a very skintight suit with her arms and shoulders covered by a long-stripped jacket with sleeves almost covering her hands of which took the shape of talons. Her feet seemed to be almost bird like.
Both of these women were watching the man in the test tube with interest. One doing it for a completely different interest however.
"Can't you move your head? I can barely see him because of you." Remarked the Raven Lady with annoyance.
"Oh I can't help myself! He's so handsome in that test tube! You made the right move to bring him to me! I fixed him up and made him even more handsome~!" The bunny girl squealed with delight.
"You say he is to wake up today?" Asked the Raven Lady.
"He is, he is! After years of him being kept up in here, he's finally ready to become one of us!" Shouted the bunny girl with joy.
As she said that the Raven Lady noticed something with her keen eyes.
The man. His fingers twitched!
"Lamy! He is waking up." The Raven Lady pointed out. "Begin draining the tube." She ordered.
Lamy pulled herself away from the test tube and began to work on a devise nearby to drain the test tube. As she pressed the final button, all the liquid in the test tube began to drain itself.
After a few seconds the tube was fully drained and the glass at the front of it opened up, allowing the man to exit the test tube.
Or rather he collapsed out onto the floor.
As he did, Lamy ran over to help him up as much as he could, her worried for this strong and handsome new member.
This man had dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes. There were no distinct facial features on the man's face. But one thing did stand out about him – his skin was a sickly pale colour. It was as if all the colour in his face had been drained out of him. He had nothing to cover his chest or arms – which showed that he was quite well built, but he wore some dark trousers to cover his lower half. On the man's left hand, there was a ring on his fourth finger. On his right wrist however, there was a very faded red mark that looked like a symbol of sorts.
The man gave a slow look up to see where he was.
He saw a Raven like Lady was standing over him, her watching him closely.
"You are awake." She said with some satisfaction.
"Who… are you?" He asked with confusion. To her and his surroundings.
The Raven Lady smiled. "I am Kyôka." She greeted him without that much emotion.
"And I'm Lamy!" Cried Lamy from the man's side, as she was able to get the man to at least sit up.
"But I have a question for you." Kyôka said, directing the attention back to him. "What is your name?"
The man paused at that. He then gave a confused look and tried to recall that important detail. "I… cannot remember… Why can't I remember anything…?"
"Most do not remember after going through what you experienced." Kyôka responded, her now looking pleased at the fact that the man could not remember his name. "Can you stand?" She asked. The man was able to stand up quite easily due to his strength. Kyôka smiled at that. "Excellent." She grinned.
Kyôka then turned her body to face the exit of the laboratory. "Come with me. I must introduce you to to our Master and Lord." She spoke.
The man rubbed his head. "I… still don't understand everything…"
"I shall explain it all along the way." She assured him. "You must have many questions, and I will try to answer them the best that I can."
The man nodded his head, hoping that this lady and her Master could help him. He then followed her out of the laboratory leaving Lamy behind.
"Bye! Make sure to come back soon!" Lamy waved the man goodbye with a cheer.
The man and Kyôka traveled up the stairs to the first floor of the castle. As they walked up, the man spoke up to Kyôka.
"Where are we?" The man questioned as they traversed the stairs.
"This is our guild, Tartaros." She answered him.
"Right…" The man muttered, as they had now come to the top of the stairs. "I can't remember anything that happened to me before I woke up. Why?" He questioned.
Now he and Kyôka were in a long corridor. They both continued to walk forwards through it.
"You were killed." Kyôka spoke. "We found your dead body and decided that you would be put to waste, so we used one of our members here to bring you back to life. You were pretty badly damaged and… emptied so to speak, so it took a few years to bring you back."
"You had no family I am afraid. No people to go back to. Because of that we brought you here." Kyôka followed up.
Strangely enough, the man did not question anything about his revival or his death. Perhaps he was still too confused about his surroundings, or maybe he wanted to wait until he met this Master that they would be seeing.
Or maybe there was some foul play here that he did not know about.
As they walked through the building, they passed several men and machines that stayed far away from them – mainly Kyōka.
"Are these people also a part of your guild?" The man inquired as they turned a corner.
"They are." Kyôka replied with a bit of distain.
As they both came to a rather grand door, a new voice could be heard.
"So. He is awake at last." Came a raspy and dead voice from behind the both of them.
Both individuals turned to see who said that.
They saw a literal skeleton with no eyes, hair, ears, skin, mouth or nose. He was dressed in form-fitting robes with a high collar. The robe itself has a checkered pattern and covers a collared shirt and tie that was worn beneath. Around his face and on his head, he wore an ornate headpiece, covering his jaw and fanning out over his head almost like a crown. It had some sort of symbol on it. He held a staff in his hand, with several keys dangling from it.
"Many years you have lay dormant in that test tube. I am satisfied to see that my abilities were able to bring you back." He spoke.
"Keyes." Kyôka greeted, her knowing who this was. "I take it your meeting with Lord Mard Gear went well?"
"He was most pleased about my progress." The skeleton replied with his cold voice. Nearly no emotion could be made out from it. The skeleton then shifted his head slightly to look at the man, before back to Kyôka.
"I shall leave you to your meeting with him." Keyes finished as he then began to sink into the floor, before he then disappeared into it.
"He was the one that saved me?" The man wondered.
"In a sense." Kyôka said. Then she gave an intriguing look to the man. "You do not feel gratitude towards him?" She questioned with interest.
"I… can't feel anything." The man replied after realising that. All of the emotion that he had was gone, just like that. "But… I am not bothered by it." He said with some strange acceptance on the matter.
Kyôka then smiled sinisterly. "I see. Yes, such things can slow you down. I think it is for the best that you no longer have them." She stated, as she moved forward to open the door.
The room ahead of them was rather rectangular and was well lit. There was nothing that important in it except for one thing – or rather someone.
At the end of the room, there was a well-crafted throne that had a man sitting quite comfortably on it.
He was a young man, and his build was tall and lean. He had dark purple hair, which was long and wavy, reaching his shoulders even whilst the majority is tied up in a very large ponytail. He had a smirk on his face and had one leg over the other.
He wore a long, black jacket trimmed with a light-coloured flame pattern. The cuffs of his jacket were rolled up, revealing a light-colour inside. The jacket itself is tattered and splits into four torn fabric segments at the tail. Beneath the jacket, he wore a frilly black v-necked shirt, lined in a lighter colour, that closes down the middle and is adorned with a buckle just below his clavicle. The rest of his attire is simple, consisting of light-coloured pants that had on each leg, a seam running down the middle. His footwear was some simple black boots.
What was interesting about that man was that he had a book that was under his right arm, while his left hand held his face and his left elbow rested on one of the arms of the throne. The title of the book could not be made out due to the fact that it was covered.
This man was Mard Gear Tartaros. The leader of the Tartaros guild. But not the Master.
Mard Gears eyes moved to look at Kyôka before then shifting to the man who was walking alongside her.
When they both reached Mard Gear, Kyôka bowed on her knees in front of him, with the pale man doing the same.
"Lord Mard Gear." Kyôka began. "Keyes experiment has been a success." She informed, as she moved her hand to gesture to the amnesiac man.
Mard Gears smirk remained as he shifted his feet, to swap his legs over each other. "That remains to be seen. All you have brought me is an amnesiac worm." He spoke as he now shifted his gaze to look at the newly resurrected man.
Mard Gear stared at the man for a while, him almost looking into the man's soul – deciding whether he was worth keeping. He later opened his mouth to speak.
"I have been informed plenty of times in the last few years as to your continued existence. There were many times that you were to perish for good in that test tube – yet you persisted nonetheless." He commented.
The amnesic man simply kept his mouth shut, not wanting to interrupt the man on the throne. Kyôka was also deadly silent.
"I can sense it from here. Our blood runs through you. The blood of an Etherious." Mard Gear added, tilting his head slightly. "I find it extraordinary that a miserable human like yourself was able to take in our far superior power to that of magic."
Mard Gear then seemed to think about something for a small moment, before he raised his voice to speak again.
"When you were reborn, did you recall any of your useless memories from your past?" He questioned. Mard Gear now waited for man's response. The man quickly responded back.
"No, I cannot." He explained to Mard Gear. "But… there is this voice in my head almost." He added
Mard Gear now raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. Kyôka also was somewhat interested in this. "Tell me. What is this voice that you hear? I am curious as to what it is." Mard Gear asked – yet his smooth and cool tone had the sense of danger to it.
The man closed his eyes to think somewhat on this. He searched his mind for the answer. As he was just reborn with little to no memories of his past, this was little difficulty for him. There was a lingering and whispering voice in his mind that kept resurfacing.
Eventually the man found it.
This was it. The reason why he was reborn. The reason why he now existed. This, this was his sole purpose now.
Yes… It all made sense now.
Everything and everyone that was of importance to him before this was now meaningless. This was his new goal. His new path in life.
The man opened his eyes – now they were a dark and evil red colour. His face also shifted from one of confusion, to one of seriousness and dedication. A rather sinister and evil aura of power now flowed about the man.
"To return to Lord Zeref." The pale man clarified with commitment.
Mard Gears smirk grew to a disturbing level. He now seemed satisfied by what he saw in front of him. Kyôka was also pleased by this.
"I am pleased to hear that." Mard Gear spoke with his grin that of a manic one. "Here at Tartarus, our Master E.N.D resides waiting for us to revive him. It is his will." He explained, as he brought the book he was holding forward somewhat for the man to see. "I would bestow upon you the opportunity to join us here and work to serve him for our purpose."
The man bowed his head even lower. "I am greatly honoured Lord Mard Gear. My existence is to now serve this guild and Master E.N.D." The man committed with a deep voice.
Mard Gears smirk still remained. "You may rise."
As the man and Kyôka began to rise to their feet from their knees, Mard Gear immediately summoned a thorny rose vine that wrapped around Kyôka's body and stopped her from getting up. "Not you Kyôka." Mard Gear said with venom in his words.
"Of course, Lord Mard Gear! I apologise for my mistake." Kyôka quickly apologised with sweat running down her skin under her clothing, with her grimacing from the pain.
Mard Gear then looked back to the man. "Your old name has no purpose any longer." He began. "I name you, Drarkelon Typhoon, and your title will be The Executor." Mard Gear named the man.
Damon bowed his head in respect. "Yes, Lord Mard Gear." He accepted his new name with pride.
Mard Gear then shifted his posture somewhat to get a bit more comfortable, him swapping his legs over again. "Now Drarkelon, take your Etherious form. I wish to see it." Mard Gear commanded.
Drarkelon closed his eyes and began to focus this new energy that was swirling around inside of him ready to be unleashed. A dark and sinister purple aura surrounded him, before he began to shape and mouth into something else entirely.
When the transformation was complete, an animalistic growl could be heard from Drakelon. Kyôka remained silent still, while Mard Gear's smirk remained as he put his left indent finger to his head.
"Attention Tartaros. We have a new Etherious to join us. His name is Drakelon Typhoon." Mard Gear's voice projected out to the minds of all members of the guild that were inside the building, informing them of their new ally.
Many of the regular humans in the castle let out a cheer at this. The other members of the guild that were also known as Etherious, gave varying responds to this.
Keyes the Black Archbishop said nothing in response as he was walking though the castle corridors. Yet he was pleased that his experiment was a success after all.
Jackal the Destroyer gave a scowl when he heard the news. He was against the idea of this man (who had actually beaten him before he died) to be allowed among them as an Etherious.
Tempester the Immortal also said nothing, but he took notice of what was said. Him giving a half thought as to what this man would add to their strength.
Torafuzar the Dark grinned when he heard the news. He saw and felt the strength of the man firsthand when he fought him. This new ally would be a powerful one.
Ezel the Dôjigiri crossed his four arms as he moved on a higher corridor in the castle. He was impressed that Lord Mard Gear allowed a lowly human to walk with them in their goal.
Down in the Laboratory, Lamy gave a cry of delight upon hearing the news. She was so happy to be seeing more of that man – now named Drakelon.
And in the throne room, Kyôka the Goddess of the Slave Planet gave a internal sigh of relief. She had made a huge risk taking that human back here with them all those years ago. She knew how Lord Mard Gear felt towards humans. If it weren't for the interjection of Keyes, she might have been killed by him despite the mission being a resounding success.
As for Mard Gear? He was not all to bothered by this addition. He would still have his guild search for any missing demons and add them to his ranks. This man was simply an experiment and a means to an end.
As all these thoughts crossed the members of Tartaros, Drakelon (still in his Etherious form) looked down at his hand and saw that ring on his fourth finger. He pulled it off using two fingers, and crushed it with them, before then dropping the shards to the floor.
As the shards fell to the floor he felt like a weight had been lifted from him. Like any leftover responsibilities that he had before he died had been removed from him.
He grunted at this. Anything from his past would be a hindrance and an obstacle in his path with this new guild he was a part of.
Now he only lived to serve Lord Zeref. His objective was clear. He was to return to him.
It did not matter who he faced. He would kill them where they stood if they got in his way. A job rather befitting of his title.
He bowed again before Lord Mard Gear, now as a member of Tartaros. No longer was he a human. Now he stood as an Etherious Demon.
And so, the malevolent forces grow in power…
Do let me know what section was your favourite here, between the buildup of General Fujisawa and his army, or the birth of Drakelon Typhoon?
Both Tartaros and the Gorgonian Empire are growing in power… Who is the Old Queen that Fujisawa is after? And what shall Drakelon do while in Tartaros?
Now then, that is this arc concluded, and I shall see you after the two-three month break. During that time I will be starting another story! If you are interested… somehow… It will be starting either mid-April or the beginning of May. Exams are coming up, so wish me luck!
Anyways, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this story, and I thank you for your support! Don't worry, I will return…