Though Crawford's house was mostly destroyed, Erza within her Black Wing Armor, and Mira in her Satan Soul stood tall over some rubble. Several grunts of Tartarus were subject to their wrath. "Is that all?" Mira practically spat those words out to the defeated grunts. Shaking her head, she looked to Erza to confirm that the area was clear.
"That's all of them." Erza nodded. "How strange. I expected to see familiar faces when it came to the former Chairman…"
"Perhaps they just didn't think me too important?" Crawford suggested while hiding behind some rubble.
"Strange…" Erza repeated while looking around. She then felt her body growing…weaker. "W-What…What's going on…? I feel…"
"M-Me too…" Mirajane placed a hand on her head, staggering about from sudden dizziness.
"Tsk tsk…" A familiar accented voice clearly had some disapproval. Maggie's heels clicked along the ruined ground while glancing at the fallen grunts. "They can't even handle a simple job, how disappointing…"
"M-Maggie…?" Erza attempted to tighten her grip on her sword, but the opposite happened: she could hardly hold onto it and it just dropped to the floor. As soon as that happened, Maggie's arm shot out to wrap around Erza's neck and drive her into the ground. "Ack…! Why...can't I move?"
"E-Erza…!" Mirajane tried to move, however Maggie just did the same thing and forced Mira onto the ground with a choked cry. The second she hit the ground her Satan Soul faded away and she fell unconscious.
"I expected a bit more of a fight…" Maggie sounded very disappointed before looking at Crawford. "You drugged 'em, didn't ya?"
"I-I had to make sure they didn't pose any problems! They were very perceptive women, you see…" Crawford explained, however his words only made Maggie roll her eyes. "I-I mean, they took care of those grunts of yours like nothing, even with the sedatives in their system! Had they been normal wizards, they would've collapsed long ago."
"BOOO!" That came from Kiora. "I saw Erza and Mirajane and wanted to fight them to the death! As in, their death. I can't believe he took the coward's way out!"
"I..." Crawford gulped.
"Coward. I was looking forward to a fight with the both of 'em." Maggie shook her head. Crawford was stammering over his words and she did not care for his excuses. "Just hurry up and come along."
"Yes, of course." Crawford said with a slow nod.
"Can I call dibs?" Kiora looked to Maggie, who shrugged.
"It's no fun when she's not giving that defiant glare..." Maggie sighed. Crawford really sucked the fun out of it, but there was nothing that could be done now.
Kyouka appeared on the scene moments later, much to Maggie and Kiora's chagrin. "Hmmmm…" Kneeling down, she grabbed the barely conscious Erza by the chin, licking her lips in anticipation. "Yes…I think I'll have a little fun with this one. Luck seems to be on my side today…"
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Lucy tried to get a lacrima working. After all the damage Jackal did to the area, it was a miracle anything was working. After a few moments something finally popped up and she connected to Makarov back at the guild. "Ah, finally! Hello? Is this thing on…?"
"Oh, Lucy. How is everything over at Shaman's Haven? Was everything a success?" Makarov questioned.
"Mhm…" Lucy nodded. "Natsu took care of one of the Demons attacking the guild. We made it just in time. Unfortunately, Cynthia wasn't with him…"
Crossing his arms, Makarov nodded slowly. "I see…so we're still missing her. Satoshi, is there any information as to why Tartarus is acting the way there are?"
Satoshi was on screen now, tipping his hat as a greeting to Makarov before nodding. "My Ace Roy figured out something. It seems that Tartarus wishes to activate the Face Project. I know we as Wizard Saints haven't been told much about it, however multiple members of the Magic Council had clearance to this. Those are the same members that are now deceased…."
"Face…" Makarov mumbled.
"Face?" Lucy tilted her head. "That sounds familiar. Didn't King Ashnard mention something about that in Joya...? Something about how unbelievable it was that Fiore had control over such a thing."
"A mighty weapon that is capable of erasing all magic on Ishgar. A Magic Pulse Bomb, if you will." Roy explained for those who were in the dark. Immediately, he caught the attention of everyone. "Yeah, crazy I know. Why would Fiore be in charge of such a device? As it turns out, it was a mutual agreement from the other surrounding countries, because if Fiore even tried to make a weapon of this caliber on their own who knows the shit they would've received from it. From what I learned…it can only be activated if either all parties involved have given consent, or if they're deceased. Also…only Chairmen of the Magic Council have access to it."
"Face?" Alex crossed her arms. Given what Magnus told her, it made sense. "Is it a pillar of some kind? If it can wipe out magic...!" Her eyes widened, and she quickly went off to the side to make a call to Gaia.
"What is it?" Gaia was waiting for Alex to report.
"It's Face...!" Alex said with a panicked breath. "Tartarus is trying to wipe out magic across Ishgar!"
"WHAT!?" Gaia's eyes widened. "We're coming over there."
"No, you can't." Alex shook her head. "There might be remnants of Face in Bosco. If things go badly, you have to find a way to destroy it and fast. I don't know how we're going to stop it here, but we need to be prepared just in case."
"...You're right. I'll inform King Ceros of this right away. Please be safe, Alex." Gaia didn't like it, but Alex did have a point. If they couldn't stop Face entirely, they needed a backup plan right away to try and limit its reach.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't say. Don't know what it actually looks like..." Roy shrugged. "But Tartarus' objective is clear. They don't need to worry about consent if they just kill everyone involved. But..." Roy did have one idea. "The opposite holds true..."
"The opposite?" Lucy tilted her head.
"You don't have to kill someone if they give their consent." Roy finished his thought.
"What…?" Natsu's eyes narrowed at that information. There was something very wrong about to happen. "HAPPY! We gotta go, NOW!"
"What…?" Happy was confused but did as Natsu said. Wings sprouting, Happy lifted up Natsu and took to the sky before flying off.
"Where are you going!?" Alex shouted, but alas, she wasn't getting an answer.
"N-Natsu! Happy! Wait…!" Lucy reached a hand out but the duo was already long gone before anyone could stop them. "What were they getting so worked up about…?"
"...I wonder what he thought of." Roy had his arms crossed. He only had a few ideas, but nothing he could prove directly.
"Me too…" Wendy sighed before taking a look around once again. Unfortunately for her, Cynthia was nowhere to be found. "I wish she was here…that would ease my worries a lot."
Lucy placed her hand on Wendy's shoulder, offering a supportive smile. "Don't worry. We'll find her soon and bring her back here even if she's kicking and screaming!"
Wendy's lips curled to a small smile and she nodded to Lucy. "Mmm!"
"She'll be doing a lot that, I imagine." Alex said with a faint giggle. While she was a little discouraged that Cynthia wasn't around, and that Jackal didn't give them any answers, she wasn't going to give up either.
"We'll come back to the guild for now, Master. We don't have any leads at the moment…though I wish I knew where Natsu decided to fly off to…" Lucy said while scratching her head before turning off the communication. "Thank you for letting us use your lacrima, Satoshi." A slight bow was given to show her respect to the Wizard Saint.
"It was no problem." Satoshi replied.
"…One more thing real quick…" Roy spoke. "There's something that's been bothering me for a while now…and I don't know if it's related to this incident or not, but…who's sitting on Fiore's throne again? It's Toma, right? Or is it that emerald haired woman, Emeraude…? I can't quite remember…"
"Huh…?" Mason scratched his cheek before giving a shrug. "It's the lady, right…?"
"Ah…I guess it's nothing." Roy then waved off Lucy, Alex, Wendy, and Carla. "Anyways, we'll keep you updated over here. Thanks again for lending a hand."
"Not a problem!" Lucy said with a bright smile. "Come on you three, let's go back."
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Just outside Dawn City, multiple Tartarus followers started marching towards the Empyrean Dawn guild. They were searching for Lucius Kaiser and only knew that he was somewhere within the city; more specifically within that guild. Standing on the balcony of the guild, Kaiho shook his head slowly. "I see they are after me as well. I was at least expecting one of their commanding officers so we could subject them to interrogation hell…" A small sigh passed his lips. "But no such luck. I suppose it cannot be helped. Marshall, if you would."
"Of course, Dancho." Marshall stepped out of the guild with a wicked smile on his face. He intercepted the Tartarus soldiers outside the city and slowly unsheathed his blade. With the embodiment of Wrath, even drawing his sword sent an uncomfortable aura outwards. Raising his blade above his head, he then brought it down and…a gigantic shockwave occurred, slicing through the ground while taking out a large number of soldiers.
"Whoa! Who is this monster….!?" A solider questioned while placing a hand over a cut on their arm. However the blood literally starting to rise from his cut against his will.
"My my…" Cecelia appeared while tapping her cheek. The blood she drained from the soldier turned into a blood scythe which she held within her grasp. In a single slash, she easily decapitated several other soldiers that attempted to get the jump on her. "Hubert, why are you just standing around? I thought you wanted to get involved in his action yourself."
"Well…" Hubert started; however before he could say much else, Nina appeared with a big grin on her face.
"Hell yeah! This is the kind of action I've been waiting for!" Nina grinned while placing two fingers to her temple, activating her Random Select magic. The slots were in her favor today, because she got to use Bomb and Rainbow Fire magic! "Let's go!" Igniting the fuse of the bomb with multicolored flares she hurled it down for a brilliant explosion that scattered the remaining forces.
"Sigh…" Hubert adjusted his glasses, pulling out his rune blade. Shifting the weapon to a bow, he pulled the string back before letting it go, shooting off an arrow composed of light that scattered and turned into many. "Rain of Light." These 'arrows' of light impaled those who were too unfortunate to dodge, however these arrows also covered an incredibly wide radius and left little to no breathing room. "If this is all Tartarus has to offer against us and Kaiho, I am very insulted. Worms have no business crawling into the hawk's nest…"
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"Can I burn the building down…!?" Rose questioned while looking to the others, who didn't seem to really care whether she did or not. Taking it as a yes, she turned and started to inhale with dark red flames flickering around her mouth. "Omega Fire Demon's…"
"Nah, wait a second." Silver placed his hand in front of Rose, causing her to huff and cross her arms. "Let me invite them with a nice chill and see how that goes. I detect some familiar power in there; I hope it's not just a hoax…" Silver cracked his knuckles before swiping his hand forward. In an instant, purple tinted ice moved to coat the Lamia Scale guildhall and completely freeze it over…but midway similar ice clashed with Silver's and just resulted in an icy explosion. "Ho…?"
"I knew it!" Blues said while exiting the building. "Way too many smelly demons around here for it not to be dangerous! Nice one, Gray!" Blues then cut his eyes towards Torafusa, though that particular demon didn't even give him a second glance.
"That was nothing." Gray said while crossing his arms. Standing outside the building; Gray, Lyon, Juvia, Kagura, Blues, Chelia, Raven, and Jura! Lamia Scale's defense force was ready to act!
"Gray-sama…! Look!" Juvia immediately pointed at Rose, who stared intently at Gray and Juvia. "Isn't that…!"
"Cynthia!?" Gray and Chelia exclaimed at the same time.
"…." Rose said not a word, just glaring at the foes before her. She did not respond to the name Cynthia despite how much she may have wanted to internally.
"Cynthia! What the hell are you doing over there?! I'll go get her…" Gray took a step forward, but Silver appeared in his face in a flash, catching him off guard. "…!"
"Sorry, but I got more important business with ya than that girl there. Hope you understand. Ah, who am I kidding!? You will soon enough!" Gripping Gray by the collar of his shirt, Silver and Gray literally vanished from the scene!
"Gray-sama…!" Juvia reached for Gray but was unable to reach him before Silver vanished with her beloved. "Everyone…please…help Juvia get Cynthia back! I don't know why she's over there, but you know she doesn't belong on that side!"
"Of course! Cynthia is my sister after all!" Chelia nodded while unstrapping the bow on her back along with Raven. "I may not have magic…but I'm certain love can reach her if it's strong enough…!"
"Worry not; we'll do everything in our power to retrieve Cynthia-dono from these demons." Jura's voice was filled with conviction, for he felt this was the least he could do in this situation.
"Such feeble minded creatures…" Keith said with a bit of mockery. "We're only here for but one thing…and if you dare to stand in our way humans…" Slamming the bottom of his staff into the ground, it ruptured and cracked before several skeletons rose from the dead. "I will be more than happy to add you to my list of experiments. That I promise you, in the name of the Nercomancer."
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Reappearing somewhere north where snow caked the land, Silver tossed Gray like some ragdoll. The Ice Make mage tumbled before catching himself, sliding to a halt while glaring at Silver. "What the hell is your problem?"
"I told ya…I have business with you." Silver clicked his teeth together, giving a wide grin. "It's been quite a while, boy…"
"…" That tone Silver took. It felt slightly familiar to Gray in a way he couldn't believe. Eyes narrowed and he shifted into his Ice Make stance on instinct, staring up at Silver. "Who are you?"
"I'm hurt you don't remember me…" Silver chuckled soft as a dark purple aura emanated from his being. "But it has been so many years; I guess it's only natural."
"Tch..." Gray sucked his teeth. "Alright then, how about this. After I kick your ass, you tell me what happened to my friend Cynthia." He was going to get answers out of him, one way or another!
"A terrible wager on your end." Silver shook his head, but he did wear a grin. "Fine. I accept those terms. But only because you won't be alive to get that information you so dearly seek." Before Sliver could say more, a flaming spear cut through the cold air aimed at his chest! Silver extended a hand out and froze the flaming spear in place, letting it drop to the ground. "Now who's this? Interrupting some family bonding time."
"I knew I'd find you soon…" Kuro Crane emerged, his eyes narrowed at the Ice Devil. "You brought danger to my family…so as the Fire Devil Slayer…I'm going to incinerate you."
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Next Time: Strike!