(This is called being fashionably late) Ola would state while walking into the Council Ball with a few of her Black Phoenix members: Hikaru, Tristan, Trinity, and Leon.

"I think the word late is the appropriate choice here, Master…" Tristan replied with a nervous smile.

(Just go and socialize…) Ola demanded, a slight tick of annoyance appearing on her forehead, but she played it off with a sweet smile. It was actually pretty scary but none of the BP members seemed too frightened by it, but they would still follow her orders nonetheless. The members scattered within the ball.

Tristan looked around until he spotted Reve sitting on a chair nearby. Feeling like starting a conversation, Tristan approached the requip mage, sitting down next to him. "Reve-san, correct?"

"Hm?" Reve turned to see who it was who initiated a conversation. "Oh, you're Tristan, right?"

"That's right," Tristan nodded. "How are you enjoying this ball so far? I only just got here with a few others of my guild."

"It's not bad so far," Reve replied looking off into a random direction. "Nothing eventful has happened, but it's not the worst thing in the world."

"I see…" Tristan gave yet another nod before moving onto a different topic. "I also wanted to congratulate you and your guild for winning the most recent Grand Magic Games."

"It was too easy," Reve responded, his cocky attitude now showing. "It was only natural we'd win, too." Reve then began a small talk about how White Eclipse was obviously the best guild within the country even before hand, but his attitude got on Tristan's nerves somewhat, but the steel make mage elected not to show this. Reve continued until his eyes spotted something too familiar standing alone in the middle of the room. "No way…" Reve spoke in a breathless voice, standing up from his seat and walking off from Tristan.

"Uhm…" Tristan just blinked, letting out a silent "hmph" from Reve's action which he took as rude.

The figure Reve saw was a female, chestnut colored hair too familiar it was almost like a dream. "…"

Skye turned around, giving a wide smile to her "older brother". "Nii-san!" Skye then threw her arms around Reve, giving him a tight hug.

"…! Syke…!" Reve returned the hug to Skye, still attempting to process what was happening. "But…how…you…"

"I'm only a spirit, Reve-nii," Skye explained, pulling back from the hug with a smile. "Only those with the guild mark can see me."

"So I just hugged thin air to everyone who isn't a White Eclipse member?" Reve asked for clarification.

"Pretty much!" Skye beamed; she was clearly happy to see most of her guild members out and about.

"Wait right here…" Reve said, leaving Skye for a split second before dragging Kairi over. "Surprise!"

Kairi stood in shock and awe for a split second before throwing her arms around Skye, hugging her tightly. "S-Skye…!"

.

A masked male walked around the perimeter of the ball, feeling along the walls and everything. When he felt the coast was clear, he would pretend to drop something, using it as an excuse to place his hands on the ground. A purple light illuminated off his hand as a result. "Heh…"

"What are you doing…?" Gray would ask, catching the masked man red handed.

"Gh…!" The male jumped, clearly startled by the appearance of the ice wizard, but would play it off coolly. "I just…dropped something." The male responded, giving a firm nod after.

"Mhm…" Gray raised a brow, crossing his arms after. "That purple light coming from your hand…what was it…?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with…" The male replied with an annoyed tone. "Why don't you just stick your nose out of my business and enjoy the ball, eh? That's what it's here for, is it not?"

"I suppose…" Gray agreed, giving a nod to signify this. He then turned and walked off, but he couldn't help but shake the feeling as if he met that masked man before, or the suspicion that surrounded him. "Hm…"

.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Cynthia flailed while she was dragged away from Wendy and Carla by Tayakata. "What are you doing…!?"

Taya released her grip on Cynthia, hands on her hips after. "Do you have any idea who that little girl even was?"

"You mean Sora?" Cynthia asked while rubbing her wrist.

"Yes, her," Taya replied. "That's a member of TARTAROS, you know."

"I know," Cynthia replied with a serious expression. "But Sora's my friend!"

"I don't think you understand what I'm saying…" Taya said while pinching the bridge of her nose, a heavy sigh exiting her lips.

"I know what you're saying, and I appreciate the concern, really!" Cynthia replied with a growing smile. "But Sora's my friend, and she wouldn't hurt me! Bye now!" Cynthia proceeded to skip off afterwards.

"Kids…" Taya groaned silently, just giving up on the matter entirely. "She'll learn the hard way, then…"

"What did that scary woman want with you?" Wendy asked as Cynthia returned.

"She was just being over cautious…" Cynthia replied with a shrug.

"I don't blame her…" Carla mumbled.

.

"I think it's been long enough…" Siegrain nodded, walking over to Doranbolt. "Doranbolt, if you don't mind, I think we should have a change in music. Something easy to dance to, yes?"

"Oh, of course." Doranbolt gave a nod, walking over and changing the music. The sudden shift confused a few people.

"Grab a partner, everyone! It's time to dance!" Siegrain exclaimed.

"Dancing requires two people…" Luke grumbled before crossing his arms. "I'll just…" He suddenly stopped when a female bumped into him.

"Amelia" removed her mask, giving a slight wave to Luke. "'Ello, Luke."

"Amelia…?" Luke blinked a few times, but eventually shrugged off the small initial surprise. "Hey…! It's good to see you…!"

"Mhm, you too, love," Amelia, replied, holding her hand out to Luke. "Care to dance?"

"Eh…? Oh uh, sure…" Luke nodded, taking Amelia's hand while placing the other on her waist. "I'm not very good at this, but I'll try my best…"

"Eh, dance…?" Natsu blinked before giving a dismissive shrug. "No thanks…"

"Oh, come on…!" Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand, giving him a puppy-dog eye look. "Dance with me, Natsu! It's what happens at balls!"

"But…" Natsu began to object, but when he saw the look on Lucy's face, there was no way that he could retreat, and he knew that. The Salamander let out a defeated sigh before nodding. "Fine, fine…I'll dance with you…"

"Yay!" Lucy let out an excited squeal before dragging Natsu into the middle of the room where everyone was dancing. "You remember what I taught you before, right?"

"Hard to forget, that was a…eventful day…" Natsu replied with a small grin at the memory.

"Hey, come on, dance with me, Evanee!" Rylo said, pulling Evanee into the middle of the room along with everyone else.

"W-Wait a second…slow down…" Evanee began to protest, but found it useless in this situation, and just began to dance with the cliché mage, a small, small smile tugging her lips.

Cynthia looked around feeling a little out of place now. She had no knowledge whatsoever how to dance, so she just awkwardly rocked back and forth on the back of her flats. "Do do do…"

Siegrain noticed this, and walked over to the young girl, extending his hand. "Hello, Cynthia. You look a little down, care to dance?"

"Hm…?" Cynthia blinked, staring at Siegrain's hand for a few seconds before nodding and taking it. "S-Sure…! I don't know how to dance like everyone else is, so bear with me…"

"Don't worry, I'll teach you along the way," Siegrain nodded, giving a small smile.

.

In the corner of the room, Future Rogue just sat in a chair, not caring at all about the dancing that was going on. He instead just dined on some of the fancy food around. "Hmph…Relax while you can…I'll be the ruler of dragons and the king of this world one day…"

.

"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu said as a small grin appeared on his face; something to probably be worried about.

"Yes…?" Lucy asked, a brow raised.

"I'm gonna try and spin you!" Natsu said with his grin widening. "I think I can do it!"

"I think we should hold off on that…!" Lucy protested, eyes widening.

The protest was useless, Natsu's mind was already set on it, and there was no stopping him once that happened. "Here we go!"

"Nooo…!" Lucy shouted, but it was way too late. Natsu spun her around…and failed horribly. Lucy spun out of control, narrowly avoiding a few dancing couples.

"Oops…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head, whistling nonchalantly after.

"Idiot…" Flare just sighed heavily, not even bothering to watch Lucy's crash course.

"…How did that even happen…?" Asked Luke while briefly taking his glance away from Amelia to Lucy, who was spinning all over the room.

"I'm wondering how hard that bloke spun her…" Amelia commented.

Lucy continued to spin, and spin, until she slammed into someone, now lying down on top of them with swirls in her eyes. "Gaaaaah…."

"Oof…" The male below Lucy grunted. "Kind lady, would you remind removing yourself from atop me…?"

"S-Sorry…!" Lucy snapped back into her senses, standing up and offering the male a hand. "I'm so sorry! My partner just…spun me a little too hard!"

"Ho ho ho…" The male chuckled. "Ah, an aggressive dancer, then? Do not worry about it then! You were just a simple victim!"

"I guess…" Lucy shrugged before eying the male curiously. He wore a fancy black suit with white gloves. As for his face, he had yellow eyes, a few markings on the sides of his face, and purple hair. Not to mention, he was clearly much older than she was. Had she seem him before…? "My apologies…have we met before…?"

"I don't believe so…" the male replied before getting an idea. "Here, as a token of our meeting, I'll play a small game with you." He then proceeded to pull out a deck of cards. "Pick a card, any card."

"Huh…? A deck of cards…?" Lucy blinked before deciding to give it a go. She carefully pulled out a card from the deck, making sure the male wouldn't be able to see. While looking at it, she realized it was a card she'd never seen before, leaving her with a confused look. "Okay…now what?"

The male shuffled the deck before putting it back in his pocket. "Hm…Show me the card." Lucy did just that, causing the male to grin. "Ah…that's a rare card indeed…The elemental wild card."

"The…what…?" Luck blinked, completely lost now.

"It's a rare card that allows the holder of it to unleash a powerful attack based on the elements, of course. It does have limited use, so don't go using it like a toy. It's also one of my favorite cards, but I feel you can put it to better use than I can. Ta, ta, now." With that, the mysterious male left, leaving Lucy standing there with a blank expression.

"What a strange man…" Lucy thought to herself.

"I bet I can outdance you…" Cygnus said while dancing with Ola, though it was more of a competition between the two than actual enjoyment.

(We'll see about that, Gravity God...) Ola replied with a competitive smirk.

A few people whispered upon spotting Laxus dancing with Mirajane. Things like: "Can you believe that!" and "Look over there at those two!" could be heard amongst the whispers.

Laxus could hear the whispers, and he really didn't want people to get the wrong ideas. A classic tick mark appeared on his forehead as he shouted over to the group of whispers. "Oi! Mind your own business, will ya?"

"Teehee…" Mirajane only snickered at Laxus' reaction.

"That's a lovely lady you've got there," Dante said as Takeru and Selene danced. "Would you mind if I danced with her?"

"Hm?" Takeru blinked before giving a shrug. "Sure, why not…" Takeru nodded, trading places with Dante and took a seat somewhere.

"Hm..?" Selene raised a brow towards Dante, unable to help but feel they had meet somewhere before or something. "Have we met before? I don't know why, but you seem familiar…"

"We've not met before," Dante said with a nod.

.

"My, my…" Makarov shook his head at the sight of the KO'ed Cana, Jack, and Bacchus. All three of them drank to their heart's content and more. "Kids these days don't know how to drink beer." The old master was drunk himself, cheeks flushed pink.

"The least they could do is clean up after themselves…filthy…" Zalen commented, taking a mop to clean up all the split beer on the floor.

Makarov ignored Zalen, stumbling along somewhere else within the Council building, probably to an area where he shouldn't even be going, mumbling a few drunken thoughts to himself.

"And he's gone…" Zalen then shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me…like I care where that old Fairy goes…" He then laid his eyes on the utter mess of food surrounding the buffet table, causing him to nearly lose it on the spot. "….Animals, everyone."

"You know we have janitors to clean this stuff up after, right…?" Layanna asked Zalen. "You don't have to do their job…you're not even getting paid for it."

"Your janitors shouldn't even be getting paid. This floor is atrocious, and look at that mess over there! By the time they finish they'll probably just make it messier than before!" Zalen replied. The neat-freak within the building mage was taking over, and he just couldn't help but walk over to any and all messes, doing his best to clean and prevent them from happening.

"Right…" Layanna just gave a nod and turned around. "Are all members of White Eclipse that…deranged about little things…?"

.

After a while, the dancing slowly started to come to an end, and the party began to decline afterwards. "Well, this was fun, but I must go now," Amelia told Luke, causing a small frown to appear on the copy cat's face.

"Eh, I guess so. I'll see you around," Luke gave Amelia a wave, and then she walked off.

"That was so much fun!" Cynthia squealed while making her way back to Wendy. "We still have some time left to dance! Dance with me, Wendy!" Before Wendy could even give a response, Cynthia had already taken her up, showing what she learned when dancing with Siegrain.

"O-Okay!" Wendy gave a small laugh before dancing along with Cynthia.

"…Adam-san." Skye's expression turned serious; too serious. "You have to tell Reve-nii to get everyone out of here, NOW."

"Now?" Adam asked, a brow raised. "What's going on?"

"Something very bad is about to happen…!" Skye explained. "Everyone has to leave NOW!"

"It appears as though things have died down…" Dante mumbled to himself, a grin now forming on his lips. "Guess there's no better time than now…"

"Huh…?" Selene blinked once again. "You keep mumbling to yourself…are you okay…?"

"I'm just fine…" Dante replied before taking off his mask, revealing himself to be none other than Daityas. "But I don't know if I can say the same for the rest of you. Tartaros, attack!" Suddenly, some of the masked strangers would throw off their mask, causing shock to the civilians and the mages. Cobra, Midnight, and Racer of OS, along with Tobias, Rugal, and Ruika of Tartaros suddenly appeared.

"Heh…" Cobra smirked as he threw off his mask, a large, fangy grin on his face.

"I knew you smelt familiar…!" Natsu growled while flames lit on his fist.

"I knew things weren't as peaceful as they seemed to be…" Evanee stated while clenching her hand into tight fist.

"Tataros…what bad timing…" Lahar curled his lip in disgust. "Protect the civilians!" As Lahar shouted this, the temperature in the room suddenly began to drop rapidly. "What the…?"

"Ice Make: Blizzard!" Exclaimed Ur, sending a powerfully cold blizzard throughout the room, blowing some people away from the sheer force of it.

"Ice Make: Shield!" The two pupils, Gray and Lyon would shout out for a counter, creating two shields of ice to protect the others from the powerful blizzard. The shields only held up for a few seconds before shattering, sending the two ice make wizards back.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia shouted with a worried look on her face.

"Lyon-sama…!" Sherry exclaimed just as Juvia did.

Selene clenched her fist, allowing diamonds to form along the length of her arm. She then threw her diamond coated fist towards Daityas' cheek, but Daityas caught the punch with ease, causing Selene's eyes to widen. "…!"

"My…what beautiful diamonds you have there…" Daityas said while increasing his grip on Selene's hand. "It would be a shame if…something happened to them." Suddenly, Daityas' hand lit up in Hell flames, burning the diamonds off and beginning to burn her skin. As a result, Selene let out a loud scream of pain.

"Selene!" Aira picked up on the scream immediately, turning in the direction of it. Before she could move, she was slammed into by Racer, whose force sent her flying back. "Oof!" She hit the floor on her back, defenseless for the next attack.

"I'll make this a quick death for you…" Racer said aloud while speeding towards Aira. Before Racer could reach Aira, Leon sprang out, slamming his acid coated fist into Racer's jaw, causing the speed mage to slide back. "Who dares…?"

Leon glared towards Racer, a green aura flaring around his body. "Aira, are you okay?"

"Leon..!" Aira's face lit up with joy at the sight of Leon.

"Hmph…" Racer merely scoffed, vanishing within a blur once again. Where was he? Leon's left, Leon's right, all within seconds. Leon had no way of defending against the fast blows that connected to his person, eventually sending him into a nearby wall.

Takeru squared up, rushing towards Daityas while puffing his cheeks out. "Shadow Dragon's Roar!"

"Keh…" Daityas merely grinned, throwing Selene into the incoming roar. The result was a small explosion and Selene hitting the ground, quite injured as a result.

"No…!" Takeru's eyes widened as he hit the wrong target, immediately running over to Selene to check on her. "Selene, are you alright!?"

"Tobias, take care of these two…" Daityas said as he began to walk off.

"But of course…" Tobias chuckled, walking into the scene before glaring towards Takeru. "I remember that beating you and the Salamander delivered to me…now it's time to pay you back tenfold…" Tobias snapped his fingers, creating a purple magic seal above him. "Demon's Lance!" From the magic seal, a lance coated in Demon magic shot forward towards the pair.

"N-Ngh…" Selene held her uninjured hand up, creating a diamond shield that managed to stop the lance in its place.

"I need to get you out of here…" Takeru stated, attempting to use his Shadow Travel to bring Selene to safety, but he was unable to. "What…!?"

"Rune magic…" Tobias grinned. "All over the Council building. No magic shall be used to escape the Council Building."

"Then we'll just have to make a break for it…" Takeru grumbled.

"That won't work either," Tobias replied. "Dait has surrounded the entire perimeter with Hell magic, but if you want to try and break through, go ahead and be my guest…"

.

"I'll take you both down!" Natsu roared while charging towards Cobra and Midnight, who both looked at the Salamander with doubtful looks. Natsu swung a flaming fist towards Cobra, but the poison dragon heard it coming miles away.

"You seem to forget that I can hear all your movements…" Cobra replied, immediately sending his own poison coated fist into Natsu's face, causing Natsu to stagger back.

"Dark Rondo…" Was all Midnight had to say, pointing two fingers forward before unleashing a spiral of darkness magic towards the staggered Salamander.

Natsu shrugged the hit to his face off quickly, now seeing the Dark Rondo coming his way. "Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!" Just as he did before with Zero, he punched the Dark Rondo, gripping his punching arm with his free one, holding his ground while gritting his teeth.

.

"Are we really stuck in here…?" Cynthia asked while looking around.

"Cynthia-chan…!" Sora came running back, clinging onto the ravenette with a scared expression. "I don't know what's happening!"

"H-Hey…!" Wendy huffed somewhat. "Just calm down!"

"It's okay Sora…!" Cynthia reassured the pinkette, letting out a heavy sigh. "Wendy, what do we do…?"

"You can play with Sora…" Sora's scared expression suddenly changed into a sadistic one, taking a few steps back from Cynthia. Suddenly, Sora's shadow would span out and wrap around Cynthia, constricting her.

"G-Gah!?" Cynthia's eyes widened as she was restrained, attempting to break free of the shadow holding her. "S-Sora?!"

"Did Cynthia-chan forget…?" Sora said as she turned around, showing the Tartaros guild mark engraved on her neck. "Sora is a member of Tartaros, too…"

"I knew she couldn't be trusted…!" Carla yelled.

"D-Don't worry, Cynthia!" Wendy took a step forward, but the floor began to shake. "W-What now…?"

"Have fun playing with others…" Sora waved with a sweet, childish grin. "Bye, bye…" Suddenly, the floor caved in. Most of the mages and civilians fell through, all separating into different parts of the building.

"The first part went by rather well…" Rugal chuckled a little bit.

.

In the cells below, Tia could hear the sounds of the fighting from the ball room. She let out a silent scoff and crossed her arms, leaning back against her cell. "Hm…" Her eyes scanned the area, suddenly catching a purple line running down the walls of the room. "What the…?" The purple line made its way across a few cells, remaining on them for a few moments before disabling the locks, opening them as a result. "Rune magic…?"

"Oi, oi…!" Byron of Silent Sanctum exclaimed while stepping out of his cell, causing the guards to panic. "I was getting real tired of that little cramped up space!"

"W-What!? How did he break free!?" A guard asked.

"Who knows…" Horoki asked while taking a puff from his cigarette.

"I'm just glad to be out of that small cell…" Diana said while letting out a yawn. "How dare you treat a lady like that?" She then formed a black sphere on the tip of her finger. "Black God's Bomb." She sent small sphere, yet it caused near catastrophic explosion, blowing all the guards away. "I still got it~"

"Wait a sec…" Byron looked around, raising a brow. "I'm missing something here? Weren't there two of ya? Black and White?"

"Don't worry about him…" Diana replied with a dark smirk, raising her hand up, creating a white sphere in her palm. "Let's just say his power won't go to waste…"

"Crazy bitch…" Byron chuckled a bit, and then hoisted a sword over his shoulder. "Welp, it's time to wreck some havoc!"

"Silent Sanctum has been freed…" Tia mumbled to herself, watching as her cell door broke open. "Myself as well, it seems…" Tia poked her head out of her cell, witnessing two particular people just below her.

"Finally, we're free!" Hoteye exclaimed with a grin. "Now I can finally use this time to look for my brother! I'm sorry, Council, but this is important to me!" Before Hoteye could take another step, a Dark Rondo hit his back, causing him to fall over into an unconscious state.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait on that a little longer, "Richard"," Said Brain as he stepped out of his cell, one of the four the lines on his body disappearing from the defeat of Hoteye. He held Kolda in his hands, grinning sadistically. "I'm finally free…"

"And now it's time for the Ocracion Seis to rise from the ashes!" Kolda exclaimed, hopping from Brain's hands. "We've no use for those who refuse to fight, so enjoy that nap, Hoteye, you traitor!"

"Enough…" Brain commanded, and the infamous "seventh" member of the guild of prayers stopped. "It's no time to play games. This is the time…

For revenge."