While Taranis and Alexander weren't able to defeat Minerva, they were able to cause the leg she was guarding to explode. This stopped Nirvana in its tracks. Minerva glanced behind her, gritting her teeth in irritation. "This has been an absolute waste of my time and talents." She wasn't even mad that the two Twilight Zone mages pulled a fast one on her. No, not at all. She was mad because this entire part of the operation did nothing but spoil her mood and appetite for Erza.

"It's not too late to give up...!" Taranis said while panting heavily. "We can beat you too!"

This made Alexander's eyes widen. Taranis was an absolute madman. "Don't provoke her!" They barely managed to complete their single objective, why was he going above and beyond now!?

Deciding she had enough of this farce. territory surrounded Minerva's hands. She swung them forward, prompting a series of explosions to engulf Alexander and Taranis. When the smoke cleared, the two of them were lying unconscious on the floor. Minerva sucked her teeth in annoyance. "There's not even any joy in toying with you. I have much better things to do." She was going to leave. Dealer was testing the limits of her patience and she finally had enough.

.

.

"There seems to be a severe lack of exploding around here…" King commented while shuffling his deck of cards. "I wonder what the issue seems to be."

"It appears…" Heartless said while checking on the lacrima camera outside. "That Spade has failed to follow through with his mission. Nirvana has been stopped by Blue Pegasus, Twilight Zone, and a few others. I cannot say what Minerva managed to do, however."

"Is that so?" King asked while raising a brow, though he didn't take his eyes of his cards. "I would say I'm disappointed, but I expected as much."

"I can go finish the job for him, if you so desire." Joker offered.

"No, there's not need to do so," King replied with a slight chuckle. "He did exactly what I expected him to. He removed a large chunk of those mages from the base, preoccupied them for a decent amount of time, and it will be quite some time before they'll be able to return. So though the grand operation was a failure, he managed to redeem himself in the smallest of ways. I may give him another chance depending on how things go. But if he doesn't make it back in the end, oh well. He was a failure to begin with."

"A true statement," Joker nodded in agreement to King's statement.

"..." Cana was barely conscious after Joker's treatment of her. She still refused to talk, and it seemed like they moved on from her for the time being.

"Speaking of…" King remembered something he overheard somewhere within the hideout, and decided it was best to bring it to attention now. "It has come to my attention that there is a traitor within our midst."

Joker's ears perked up at the word. "A traitor…? Someone wishes to overthrow you just before your hour of triumph?"

"A traitor…?" Heartless blinked a few times. "And where exactly did you hear this…?"

"I overheard your lackey talking about it to the other three," King responded with a slight chuckle. "Of course, if it's any of those three there's no problem. However, I do hope it isn't you or Joker. You two are the only ones who I bear some respect, and it would be a shame to see you go…"

"You know I am bound to your will, King," Joker reassured with a firm nod.

"Your loyalty belongs to me, King, so fear not," Heartless too reassured with a nod and bow of her own.

"Excellent. Now then, let us see how loyal Spade, Diamond, and Strong are. Will they complete their mission and eradicate the intruders? I'm curious to see if they'll make it here…ho ho ho…" King spoke the last part to himself, returning to shuffling his deck without a care in the world. "Either way, I win."

.

.

The intense gravity Spade placed in the room was strong enough to bring an S class mage like Rylo down to all fours. However, Evanee was fairing just fine; she was standing tall with no signs of struggling. Spade began to back away with widened eyes. "N-No way! What the hell are you!? How can you stand in such intense gravity!?"

"Because you aren't shit," Evanee replied, reaching Spade within seconds, swinging a simple roundhouse to his side. And though it was simple for the Twilight Zone ace, it was near devastating for Spade as he was sent flying into and through the nearest wall.

"Gah…" Spade was dazed from the hit, rubbing his head with blurred vision. He could hardly make out Evanee's approaching shape, but he couldn't do anything. The gravity he placed was gone and it only took one kick to do so. "N-No…Not here…" Spade slowly got to his feet, swiping his hand in front of him. Multiple clear magic seals appeared before him, releasing a plethora of missiles towards Evanee. "Get down!" The missiles flew right through Evanee, causing Spade's eyes to widen. "S-Shit…!"

"Is that it?" Evanee asked in a menacing tone, standing above Spade with her arms crossed. The Dealer mage was stricken with fear and panic. She reared her fist back, preparing to go for the finishing blow. She brought it down, but Spade managed to teleport away at the very last second, leaving her fist to make a large crater in the floor. "Tch…" Evanee drew her fist back, shaking it slightly just to remove the debris. "Are you okay, Rylo?"

"Peachy…" Rylo replied, making way back to his feet with no trouble. "Somehow it all worked out…"

.

.

"Fire Dragon's…" Luke began, starting to inhale as a small vortex of flames appeared around his mouth. "Roar!" He then threw his head forward, unleashing a funnel of orange flames towards Diamond Ice. The roar slowly began to weaken from the cold air and just completely fizzled out before even reaching Diamond. "Oh."

"I'm surprised you thought that was a decent idea…" Diamond scoffed with a sassy hair flip.

"Yeah, that was kinda stupid…" Selene said with a shrug.

"Not your smartest move, Luke-san…" Wendy admitted with an apologetic bow.

"Wasn't the best thing to do…" Carla said with a slight shrug.

"I could've given you a better idea with the current range I have on my telepathy…" Warren added.

"OKAY I GET IT!" Luke shouted with a comical tick mark. He then pointed over to Diamond. "How about you all stop ganging up on me when she's the enemy over here!?"

"So touchy…" Diamond giggled at the abuse Luke was taking.

"We didn't forget!" Wendy exclaimed before turning her attention back to Diamond, cheeks beginning to puff her cheeks out. She took a quick leap forward and opened her mouth, unleashing a tornado in Diamond's direction. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"

"Hmph…" Diamond scoffed, swiping her hand forward to create a diamond wall in front of Wendy, causing the roar to prematurely explode a foot before the sky dragon and send her flying back into the nearest wall. A Wendy shaped dent appearing. "Ngh…"

"Wendy!" Carla let out a concerned yelled.

"I'm…alright…" Wendy reassured with a nod, pulling herself out of the wall. "That just caught me off guard…"

"We can't do anything to this woman…" Luke growled, while standing next to Selene. "Her defense is insane…"

"There's nothing you can do that will get through me!" Diamond shouted as an icy blue aura began to spike from around her body. The temperature began to drop drastically, causing the group of five to shiver uncontrollably. They could hardly move in the sharp cold. Selene had her diamond scales cover her body which made things easier, but she still found it somewhat difficult to move around.

"C-Cold…" Luke stuttered, unable to draw forth flames to warm himself up.

"This is the ultimate ice!" Diamond raised her hands, generating a large sphere of cold ice and diamond. The sphere grew until it was about 10x times its original size. "Freeze within the depths of Hell! Absolute Zero!" She threw the sphere into the center of the room, which shortly exploded into a powerful burst of ice that covered the entire room. Diamond panted heavily, looking into the cold mist the explosion left over. As it cleared, she noticed a diamond dome in the center of the room. "Huh!?"

The dome slowly dispersed, revealing an injured Selene, Luke, Wendy, Carla, and Warren. Selene had to keep herself from dropping to a knee while panting heavily. The Absolute Zero did hit, but Selene's dome managed to drastically cut the damage from everyone. "That was too close…"

"Way too close…" Luke grunted, panting softly.

"Are you okay?!" Wendy asked, paying close attention to how shaky Selene's legs were.

"Don't worry about me!" Selene barked, quickly moving to face Diamond. "She's our concern; we have to take her out!"

"I'm afraid you won't get the chance!" Diamond replied while gathering magic for another Absolute Zero. The process was much quicker, though it was certainly not healthy for her to be gathering so much magic after wasting so much earlier. "I won't let you get any farther!"

"I don't think we're gonna take a second one...!" Luke said, getting ready to try and defend. If Diamond hit them with that...!

Diamond drew her hand back, but just as she was about to throw a bolt of lightning suddenly dropped down from nowhere, smiting the girl. She let out a scream of pain and dropped to her hands and knees, panting heavily.

"What the…!?" Warren's eyes widened at the divine intervention from above.

.

.

"Ah ha!" Levy exclaimed with a large grin. Her spin on the Wheel of Misfortune was entirely in her favor; she was the reason Diamond was stricken by lightning. Daigo's face twitched somewhat in an annoyed fashion, but he held a smirk despite this. "I've finally figured out the trick to your little wheel!"

"Have you now…?" Daigo asked while raising a brow, keeping a calm composure.

"That's right," Levy replied with a firm nod. "It's weighted in the opposite direction in where we spin! Not only that, but it's always slightly tailored to go just beyond what you're aiming for."

"Is it now?" Royal asked while looking with interest.

"Of course!" Levy replied with a nod. "I didn't understand how it worked at first, but slowly as we played I saw a few things that tipped me off. I spun to the left, and it landed just beyond something I was hoping for. In turn, Lu-chan was almost hit by lightning. Daigo then spun to the right, and somehow managed to buff Club Strong? That wasn't luck; he knew exactly what he was going for!"

"Ah, so you then used that information for an opposite effect?" Royal asked while taking a sip of his beer. "Like when I spun a while ago but you told me to spin to the left instead of right?"

"That's right. I needed to test to make sure my hypothesis was right without giving it away. There was no way Daigo was going to do it and we're on the same side," Levy nodded.

"You're a clever one…" Daigo admitted with a smirk. "But, just because you know how the game is now played, it doesn't mean you'll be able to win. Anything can happen in this came of unfortunate events!"

"I've already got all the data piled up," Levy replied to Daigo's statement with a confident grin. "Now that I know how the game is played, all that's left to do is win it!"

.

.

"Ngh…" Diamond struggled to make it back to her feet; however, Luke didn't give her the time. He rushed in with a thick sphere of darkness in his open palm.

"Black God's Bomb!" Luke threw his hand forward, causing the sphere of darkness to explode right in front of Diamond's face. The explosion was so powerful it forced Diamond to fly back, barely managing to stop herself by catching herself in the air and flipping onto the ground. However…

Wendy and Selene appeared to Diamond's left, cheeks already puffed out. "Sky Dragon's Roar!"

"Diamond Dragon's Roar!" The two females released their roars at the same time, the funnels of sky and diamond slayer magic mixing together in a glistening tornado of diamond shards. Diamond had no time to react and the attack consumed her whole, sending her flying into the nearest wall. When the attack was over, the mage fell from the wall onto her stomach, defeated.

"Nice job!" Warren exclaimed. "Excellent teamwork!"

"Yeah, that was pretty impressive!" Carla admitted. "Especially you, Luke. Way to get your act together."

"Okay you know what…!?" Luke started, but was halted by a soft groan. "Huh…!?"

"I can't…let up…here…" Diamond groaned, placing her hands on the floor to slowly lift herself up, though she was far too exhausted to support her own body.

"Just give it up," Selene frowned at Diamond's attempt to continue fighting. "Why are you still trying? We've won…we're not letting this stupid plan go any farther."

"I can't…!" Diamond shouted once again. "I can't let you go farther…"

"Is she okay…?" Wendy asked with a concerned tone. "I think something else is amiss here…"

"The hell is wrong with you…?" Luke asked while raising a brow. "Why are you so adamant in trying to stop us…? Dealer…"

"I won't have anywhere else to go." Diamond replied, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "If Dealer fails…we won't have anywhere to go. Which is why…" She brought herself up, heaving heavily with a determined glare towards the mages. "I can't let you go any further! If it's the last thing I do then so be it…!" The temperature around began to drop once again, but at a much slower pace. Diamond didn't really have the energy to keep fighting but she forced herself to.

"You've gotta be kidding me…!" Selene brought her arms up; preparing to protect herself for whatever Diamond was going to throw.

"How loyal is she to King…" Wendy asked aloud, but that question caused everything to cease. The temperature leveled out and Diamond just fell to her knees. "H-Huh…?"

"It's not King…" Diamond corrected, letting out a defeated sigh. "It's Strong and Spade…and I…if Dealer happens to fail, we're finished. Not like King thought of us quite highly anyway. We…We're just pawns to him, after all."

"You mean you've been nothing in the grand scheme all this time…!?" Carla questioned, and Diamond nodded in response.

"So we've been wasting time on these grunts for nothing in the long run…!" Luke let out an annoyed grunt.

"I…I know I don't have any right in asking this…but Spade and Strong…they're really not that bad either. After a while, we realized that Dealer may not be the ideal place for us to stay at, but then…things changed drastically for us. After that…we all somehow tricked ourselves into believing that what we were doing was for the benefit of King and ourselves…but only half of that ended up being true. King doesn't care about us, and only acknowledges us with a small pat on the back whenever we do something right. So…I don't care what you do to me…but you legal guild mages…you take jobs right…? So…In that case…I…I ask you…to save my friends! Please! I can't go on knowing that what they're doing is wrong when they know it too!" And there it was; the tears she was holding back from her time spent at Dealer, she couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Diamond-san…" Wendy slowly reached out her hand to Diamond, but Selene stopped her.

"Now hold on…" Selene glared towards Diamond. "I don't buy this for a second. You think you can just throw out a sob story and expect us to believe it? Just because you know the word friend doesn't mean you can just throw it out there and expect us to believe that."

Wendy shook her head at Selene, giving a soft smile to the Dealer mage. "No…I don't think she's lying…"

"Wendy…?" Carla gave Wendy a surprised look. "How can you say that with so much confidence!? She's the enemy…!"

"Because Cynthia was the same way, almost…" Wendy said in a soft tone. "I remember the first time she called me a friend and meant it. I think Diamond-san knows what a friend really is…and I want to help her save them. I want to believe that she and her friends really aren't bad people…"

"Man, you're a stubborn kid…" Luke scoffed while rubbing the back of his head. The way Wendy made is sound made it impossible to say no to Diamond's request.

"Tch…" Selene remained silent; the last thing she wanted to do was verbally admit that Wendy had a point, however her silence spoke for her.

"S-So…you'll help them…?" Diamond asked with a sniffle, looking right up at Wendy.

"I'll do my best…" Wendy reassured with a nod.

"You hear that, guys?" Warren asked with two fingers to his forehead. His telepathy now spreading out to the entire squad brought over. "It looks like we've got another mission within this mess."

"We're saving Spade and Strong now? I don't remember signing up for this…" Takeru replied to the telepathy with a groan. "Oh crap speaking of…move!"

"Oh, don't be that way, Tak!" Aira replied with her usual jubilant tone. "I know from experience that Diamond isn't a bad person, so we have no reason to not believe her!"

"I wasn't expecting another job in this place, but I know everyone will do their best!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"Don't get me wrapped up in this," Reve replied with a scoff.

"Let's do it!" Cynthia exclaimed, louder than she probably should have.

"H-Huh…?" Diamond was shocked at how many people were actually willing to help her. "Y-You're serious…!?"

"If we're going to take this job, at least tell us the details," Luke said while shaking his head, the slightest of smiles appearing on his lips. "Tell us why exactly Spade and Strong are still with Dealer. If we can get rid of that reason, they'll likely leave, right?"

"Oh, right…!" Diamond nodded. "Well…Spade was planning on leaving a long time ago…but King wasn't having it. He found Spade's family and kidnapped his younger brother, Spark Magus, locking him away somewhere in the base. He never said where in case Spade overheard, but since then Spade has been stuck here and does whatever King demands down to the last detail."

"So we're looking for a lost little brother?" Luke asked.

"We'll take care of that!" Gray responded through the telepathy channel.

"I'll find him first!" Waiston shouted.

"Somebody get me away from these walking refrigerators…" Draco sighed, though his comment was more of an offhanded one.

"What about Strong…?" Wendy asked.

"Strong…? Let me talk to him, he thinks he's doing the right thing in his little pea brain…" Diamond replied.

"Kinda busy fighting him right now!" Happy exclaimed.

"Wait, seriously?! Ugh…he's probably hopped up on adrenaline now and won't listen to reason…okay, beat him first then talk some sense into him!" Diamond nodded.

"And how about you?" Selene curiously asked. "Why were you with Dealer for so long? What do they have against you?"

"I'm an earth-bound spirit…" Diamond replied. "I was taken from a shrine in Iceberg and put into a physical form here. King wanted my power, but I wonder if he even got what he wanted out of me. I can't die…but sometimes Joker makes me wish I could…" She looked down at the last statement, rubbing the side of her arm.

"He abuses you all, then…?" Wendy quietly asked, and Diamond slowly nodded in response.

"Whenever we fail a mission or don't follow orders…" Diamond replied. "Which is why I was scared to leave…I didn't want to leave Spade and Strong alone like that. We already lost Jack and Tia, after all…Even together the three of us wouldn't last against Joker."

"Harsh…" Luke said quietly. Joker really was a monster...

"Oh, and one more thing…" Diamond began to limp forward. "The door that leads to King's room is right after the huge room after this. The door won't open unless a member of Dealer opens it. So I'm going with you guys…"

"Fine by us…" Luke said with a shrug.

"Glad you agree…now, follow me. We can wait for your friends there, since all other rooms eventually converge there." Diamond said with a heavy sigh.

.

.

"C'mon, c'mon! Don't tell me that's all you got!" Strong said while swinging his club around like a mad man.

"I'm getting tired of this! Let's just knock him out!" Natsu said while pounding his fist together. "Diamond didn't say to leave him conscious!" With that line Natsu then rushed forward, making a dead sprint for Strong.

"Even I'm not stupid enough to do that!" Strong commented on Natsu's rashness. The bulky male drew his arm up, aiming to slam his club right on top of Natsu…however Natsu jumped just before the club hit, now landing on top of it. "Huh!"

Natsu's fist was already lit in his flames. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He then slammed his fire coated fist right into Strong's nose, causing the male to recoil and hold his face. While that happened, Natsu back flipped off the club and allowed everyone else to take over.

"Iron Dragon's Pole!" Gajeel raised his hand, striking it into the ground as it morphed into an iron pole. Seconds later, multiple iron poles appeared around Strong, restricting all movement. "Shadow Dragon, you're up!"

"Heh…" Takeru gave a small smirk, advancing forward with his cheeks puffed out. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!" He unleashed the funnel of shadows, which ended being a direct hit on Strong. "Time to finish it…"

"No way...you're not taking me out!" Strong slammed his foot on the ground, keeping his balance. He reared his head back, slamming it down on Takeru's skull once more, to crush him into the ground. This time, Takeru was out for the count, but Strong was left pretty dizzy as a result. This still left him open...

"Leave it to us!" Ace shouted with his blade out, Pantherlily at his side. The two swordsmen leapt high, slashing in an X formation across Strong's chest, landing behind him. Strong then fell over with X's in his eyes, showing his defeat.

"There it is…" Pantherlily said while reverting back to his normal form.

"Man, that was a hassle and a half…" Ace said while rubbing the back of his head. "We can drag him while waiting for the others. I have an idea of where King's throne room is."

.

.

A bolt of lightning struck down on Daigo. He grit his teeth, resisting the urge to cry out and instead let out a loud groan. When it faded, he fell to a knee, panting slightly with a small grin. The Wheel of Misfortune vanished. "Congratulations. You have beaten me."

"Whew…" Levy wiped her forehead. "That was rough…"

"Not bad, short stack," Royal commented.

"You helped out, too…" Levy said with a smile before facing Daigo.

"I said I'd tell you some juicy information, right?" Daigo then stood up, dusting himself off. "I suggest you heed this. There is apparently a traitor within the current group of Dealer members. Who is it…? Who knows..?" And slowly, Daigo made his way out of the kitchen. "Just beyond here is the room before King's throne room. You'll meet with your friends there." And with that he was gone.

"Forward, then?" Levy asked.

"Only way to go," Royal responded, grabbing a few more beers from the fridge before moving along with Levy.

.

.

"Ugh…" Spade limped into a vacant room within the Dealer Hideout, panting heavily. "I failed to complete King's order…who knows what he's going to do to Spark…" He groaned, slamming his fist into the nearest wall as he got an idea. "No, this isn't over quite yet! There is still one more thing I can do before King brands my performance as a failure." His eyes shone with determination. "I'll use the Magic Depletion Device. I don't care how it affects me, but I have to make sure that I follow his orders no matter what!"

.

.

Natsu: "We're almost there! Just a little more until we reach King!"

Lucy: "It's about time, my feet were starting to get tired…Hey, has anyone heard from Cana…?"

Reve: "Who cares about that?! It looks like now this place's security force decided to step up! White Eclipse, I hope you're not running on fumes yet!"

Cygnus: "Hell no! I'm still waiting for some action! Let's get rollin'!"

Spade: "No…this is your final stop, Fairy Tail! White Eclipse. I'm not letting you get any farther!"

Diamond: "Wait, Spade, what are you doing!?"

Next Time: The Magic Depletion Device!