Aiden watched through the cameras the progress of Fairy Tail, White Eclipse, and Cosmic Star. Though he was a little displeased that Cosmic Star decided to enter the fray uninvited, things were still going well for him nonetheless. "Hm…the inclusion of Cosmic Star hasn't changed anything, aside from the Artificial Dragon's role." As he continued to scan the screen, he noticed the introduction of a few new players in this game, causing his brows to furrow in agitation. "Now, now…what do we have here? More uninvited guests? Jellal's group and some stowaway, I presume…You clearly didn't understand my demands…" With a sigh, he shook his head from side to side, arms crossed behind his back. "It appears I'm going to have to remind these people that I am not one to be trifled with. I nearly destroyed this country once and I can do so against once all the pieces fall into place…" He shrugged, turning his back to the screen and began walking off. "There still is that one thing I need to finish up, but for now…I believe it's time to set some things in motion, starting with them…" A sly grin curled onto his lips as he began to walk to the nearest elevator, stepping inside. The elevator then began to move down the shaft.
.
.
"There's one thing I just don't understand…" Lisanna said while playing that balloon dart game with Ace and Kinana purely because she didn't want to spend her time worrying.
"And what's that?" Ace asked with a brow raised while throwing a dart at a balloon, getting a direct hit of course.
"Aiden was defeated well over a year ago…" Lisanna started. "We all saw it happen. Wendy just managed to defeat him within the tower, though it did cost Cynthia her life that time…but anyway…I don't understand."
"The council made sure take the body away in the critical condition it was in…" Kinana commented. "So that means someone must've healed him when the Council was attacked all that time ago…"
Chelia couldn't help but overhear the conversation. Suddenly recalling her little incident within the dark times, she immediately felt guilty for the ongoing situation. She wanted to forget the things she did back then, and forced those memories to the back of her head. But this was one memory she couldn't get rid of. "If anything bad happens to them…it'll be my fault…"
.
.
"Ah…" Hyde let out a content sigh as he received the message about the new victims. "Music to my ears…"
"W-What's happened now!?" Lucy asked, though she was afraid of answer, she had to know. Her comrades' lives were at stake here.
"Another group has fallen prey to the trap," Hyde replied with a grin. "I must commend you and your group; you are all fine actors, following this new script to a T."
"Guys…" Lucy whimpered. "What do you even need me in here for?"
"All will be revealed in due time," Hyde responded with a sly grin. "For now, you can just sit back and enjoy the show. You have a front row seat, so you should be grateful, you know. The warm up event is about to wrap up!"
"Ngh…" Was the only sound Lucy could make while she gave Hyde a hateful glare; it was then that something crossed her mind, looking down to her hip frantically. "My keys…!?"
"I was wondering when you'd notice," Hyde said while holding Lucy's key ring within two fingers, jingling the keys from side to side with an amused grin. "So worried about your friends you didn't notice? Or perhaps they aren't as important to you as you make people believe them to be?"
Lucy's eyes widened at Hyde's accusation. She shook her head from side to side, obviously denying the claim. "N-NO! That's not it at all, stop talking!"
"Ah, ah ah…" Hyde replied while wagging his free finger in a disapproving manner. "You wouldn't want to say the wrong line, would you? You've already lost two of your spirits due to Dealer; do you really wish to lose the rest of them?"
"I…" Lucy stopped, eyes lowering down to the floor. She was powerless and she hated the fact to her very core.
"Good actress," Hyde said in a condescending tone. "Don't worry, your other friends will be joining you sometime soon."
.
.
Another explosion shook the front entrance. Erza and Knightwalker flew back from each other, both covered in bruises and marks, the fatigue of the battle beginning to catch up with them. But neither scarlet knight refused to give into one another until fell. Erza, however, once again tried to find some point to reason with Knightwalker to question her actions. "I've already told you once, but you shouldn't be working with that man! He's doing nothing but using you as a puppet, can't you see!?"
"You just don't get it, do you!?" Knightwalker replied while pointing her spear at Erza once again. "I'm not doing anything he's asking of me! I'm doing what I want to on my own free will!" Her expression then changed to an angered one as Erza referred to her as a puppet. "How DARE you accuse me of being used!?" She screamed, the tip of her spear gathering a large amount of lightning and wind on it. "I'll kill you!" She then unleashed the magic built up within her spear, sending a cyclone of cutting winds and powerful lightning towards Erza.
Immediately, a bright light surrounded Erza's body at the sight of the incoming cyclone, requipping into her Adamantine armor. The cyclone slammed right into her, though the armor's impressive defensive prowess allowed her to hold her ground against such an attack with ease, though it did begin to falter as Knightwalekr showed no restrain in this battle. "Gnk…"
Eventually, Knightwalker stopped the attack, seeing how it had no effect on the defending Erza. "Heh…" She uttered with a small smirk. "I'm no puppet like you so rudely decide to refer to me as, but there is someone else pulling the strings with the rest of your little friends."
"Aiden, is that right?" Erza asked while keeping her guard up, but she gave Knightwalker her full attention.
"Heh…" Knightwalker laughed again; the guess was humorous to her. "That would be too obvious of an answer, don't you think? Though, Aiden is a mastermind behind the plot, he shouldn't be your main worry right now~"
"What…?" Erza rose a brow at her wrong guess. "Not Aiden…but then…" It took a second, but it all finally clicked for Erza. Knightwalker was no longer the main threat, but another force, one she thought was disposed of a while ago. "No! I have to warn the others!"
"Too late!" Knightwalker yelled while appearing by Erza's side, canonhead spear equipped. "You're not going anywhere until I'm finished with you!" She then swung the spear down, causing a large explosion on Erza.
.
.
"Caw! Caw!" Terra Condor 2.0 exclaimed while flying around a large open room. Mirajane (in her Satan Soul), along with Reve, Waiston, and Zalen were doing combat with the large bird, annoyed that they were unable to land a hit on it. "What's the matter!? Can't clip this bird's wings!?"
"I swear to god if this thing doesn't shut the hell up…" Reve grit his teeth in annoyance. Even with his precision eyes active, he was still having trouble keeping up with the airborne foe. "Waiston, freeze the wings! Zalen, clip them after! And Mirajane…you can sit back and let me handle the rest," He said the last part with his patented cocky smirk, but it didn't seem to faze Mirajane.
"I'm afraid I can't let you three take all the credit…" Mirajane merely replied with her trademark smile. "But I will watch and see how this turns out."
"Heh…" Reve merely chuckled a bit before turning to Zalen and Waiston. "Alright, let's go!"
"Right!" Waiston nodded, taking the initiative. "Ice Dragon's Spike!" Waiston then stepped on the ground, creating two glaciers that popped from the ground, little distance between them. They were aimed to damage Terra Condor's wings.
"Caw, caw!" Terra Condor cawed once again, not even bothering to turn his body. Instead, he just flew towards the glaciers at full force. "Flying Impact!" He shouted, slamming right into the glacier's, causing large chunks of ice to fall onto Mirajane and the others.
"Gah!" Waiston covered up, but there was no need to as Reve took care of the falling debris with a few shots from his pistol.
"Okay, Zalen, you're up!" Reve shouted.
"Right!" Zalen nodded, clenching a hand into a tight fist. From the ground, two pillars of steel and diamond shot out. Zalen then threw his fist forward, merging these two pillars together into one and sent it forward, aiming to hit Terra Condor where it was going to be. "Take that!"
"Try again!" Terra Condor shouted, now stopping to flap his wings, unleashing a plethora of bird shaped missiles, raining down on the group of four.
"Tch…!" Mirajane scoffed, immediately flying up once seeing that Terra Condor was outplaying the White Eclipse members with ease. A magic seal appeared above Terra Condor. "Evil Push!" Mirajane called out, causing a tremendous force to push Terra Condor down.
"Gnk!" The bird exclaimed, forced down by the Evil push, but obviously not to be outdone by it. With a turn, it was now flying upside down, beak open as a pink energy sphere formed in its mouth. Without a second delay, Terra fired the pink sphere at Mirajane, which turned into an overwhelming beam of energy that consumed the demon whole, a yelp of pain escaping her lips as she flew back. Right after that, Terra flipped, flying back up, only to meet with Reve who was standing on a glacier created by Waiston, his signature magnum pointed directly at the bird's face.
"Bang." The only word Reve needed to say. He clicked the trigger and sent off the massive bullet. Surely, there was no way he would miss at such a close range! That assumption was wrong. The bird was fast enough to flap his wings once, gaining just enough air so the bullet would fly under him, slamming into the floor below, creating an explosion.
"Caw, caw! You'll need to be a better shot than that!" Terra Condor mocked before flying to the top of the room, circling overhead while planning out his next attack.
"Don't think you'll get away so easily…" Reve said with his smirk still on his face, requipping his magnum for a sniper rifle, taking aim at the circling bird. "Bang." He clicked the trigger, sending a single bullet towards the flying condor.
And once again, Terra Condor dodged the bullet, but it did clip his wing, causing him to lose altitude rather quickly. "Squawk!" He cried in a panic, flapping his wings desperately to keep his current altitude.
"I don't think so…" Mirajane said while flying above Terra Condor, her expression as intimidating as they could get. Electricity surrounded her arm, and within a second she swung it downward, right on top of Terra Condor's head, slamming the bird right through the ground. "And done," She said while dusting off her hands.
"Well, that could've gone better…" Zalen said while dusting off his clothing. "Now my clothes are all dirty…do you know how many showers it's going to take for me to even get clean again!?"
"One…like a normal person?" Mirajane asked with an innocent tone as she touched back down on the ground, returning to normal.
"NO!" Zalen replied with a huff.
"He's a neat freak among neat freaks…" Waiston commented with a slight chuckle.
.
.
"I feel like we've been walking for hours…" Cynthia said with a groan while rubbing her head.
"We did take a long fall…" Wendy replied. "That general guy packs a punch…"
"No kidding," Alex commented. "I hope he's getting what he deserves right now…"
"Mhm…" Cynthia nodded. The trio continued to walk down until coming into a large room, obviously leading to another floor as there was a window above. "Hey, look guys! A way back up!"
"Perfect!" Wendy clasped her hands together excitedly. "Maybe we can get back to the others now too!"
"Finally…" Alex sighed. But, while they were all excited to head up, no one noticed the two hand-like machines approaching from the ceiling. These two hands grabbed Alex and Wendy, immediately carrying them to the opposite sides of the room, two pit falls forming just under them. "YAH!?"
"WAH!?" Wendy yelped out, trying to free herself from the hand's grip. When she looked down, her eyes widened at the sight; spikes.
"WENDY! ALEX!" Cynthia screamed, looking back and forth between the two. She went to take a step forward, but the voice that spoke out to her stopped her.
"I wouldn't take another step forward if I were you," Aiden said as he appeared in the window overhead.
"You…" Cynthia instinctively growled at the sight of Aiden. "Let them go…NOW!"
"Oh, that's cute…" Aiden chuckled, his hand lingering over two buttons. "You think you're in the position of authority here. Let me tell you how this is going to work. You can save them, but you can only save one of them. By the time you reach one, the other will fall to their death."
"I'm sorry WHAT!?" Alex attempted to flail, but she couldn't do a single thing. "What kinda father are you!?"
"Scientist first, father second," Aiden said with a chuckle.
"Y-You're joking…!" Cynthia gasped, frantically looking back between Wendy and Alex. The person who meant the world to her and her own sister; she couldn't make a choice like that. "I…I…!"
"Oh, what's the matter, Cynthia? Having some troubles?" Aiden grinned at the sight of Cynthia's dilemma. "Come now, it's a simple choice! Whose life do you choose!?"
To be continued…