Chapter 59

Raging Tempest

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip

A man walked through a cragged valley before coming to a stop, staring up at a large castle. "Home sweet home." He chuckled. "As grey and lifeless as always. No matter how many times I see it, I still shiver." Walking through the halls, he came to a stop as Kyouka rounded a corner. "Looking as deadly as ever I see."

"Silver." The bird demon said before the two walked into a large room. "Surprised you came in human form."

"It suits me." He replied as they noticed a large armored figure.

"Any signs of Jackal or Tempester yet?" She asked.

"They're too busy stirring up trouble with the council." The being chuckled, making Kyouka smile.

"So the operation has begun?" She asked before leading the other six out of the room. "Then let's show the humans the power of the Nine Demon Gated can unleash."

Era, Magic Council Headquarters

The old farts who made up the council were once again complaining about Fairy Tail before Gran Doma clanged his staff on the ground twice. "Enough! We're here to discuss Tartaros and the growing threat they pose. As I'm sure you're all aware off, seven dark guilds we thought were associated with them were wiped out over the past several days.

"We don't know why or who's responsible, but this is an unwelcome favor. If an official guild was behind this, Tartaros may be planning to strike back already."

"What about that independent guild, Crime Sorciere?"

"Perhaps, but this move seems too bold for them."

"I wouldn't put it pass Fairy Tail to do this."

"Should we just make it council policy to blame Fairy Tail for everything?" Org asked. "We need to keep an open mind. Tartaros themselves might be to blame. They could be taking over these branch guilds for some unknown purpose. Reinforcing their numbers, purging all their low level members. Any reason could be possible."

The others laughed at his suggestion before the chairman spoke up. "I think it's a valid theory." The laughing stopped instantly and turned to him. "Whatever the truth is, we put this off for far too long. It's time to deal with this. We don't know as much as we'd like, but if we crush Tartaros, the Balam alliance will fall. I propose we mobilize the entire power of the council to remove this blight from the face of Earthland."

The others stared in shock as Org smirked. The door to the chamber burst open and a frog man ran in. "It's an emergency situation! There's an intrud-" The entire building started glowing before it exploded in a blast of fire and smoke. People were burned alive or crushed to death before the smoke started clearing.

Groaning in pain Doranbolt pushed himself up to find Lahar's shattered glasses next to a pile of rubble. Crawling around, he looked see Org the onky councilman alive.

A smile graced his face for a second before a hand crashed onto the back off his head. Doranbolt looked up to find a canine man standing over him. "You can't be alive. The whole point was to kill you along with your pals. Time to die." His arm glowed before the head followed.

"Doranbolt, runaway!" Org ordered, much to the scarred man's shock. "There's no reason for you to die with the rest of us."

"Hate to break it to you, but there's no running from my explosions." The blonde chuckled as the glow intensified. "The name's Jackal, by the way. One of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros. Tell that to your friends in hell. They should know the name of the one behind their death and that he enjoyed it."

"Leave, now!" Org shouted. "Fine what justice means to you and defend it! That's an order!" Another explosion rocked the rubble, scaring the people below even more

Fairy Tail

Makarov sat on the bar as he listened to Erza's report. "Minerva has fallen pretty hard, hasn't she?" He mumbled. "And her father? He was Sabertooth's former master, as I recall."

"He hasn't been seen or heard from since the tournament." The redhead replied.

"No loss there." Laki chuckled as she walked by. "He's about ten times better than Jiemma ever was."

"I should probably make sure the council knows Sabertooth is under new management." The master mumbled. "And contact Sting as well. He's been looking for Minerva harder than anyone else."

Levy skimmed the pages of her book as Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Lisanna, Nicholas and the Exceeds stood around her. "I found something about E.N.D." The entire table leaned in to listen. "He's from the Books of Zeref. Compared to Lullaby and Deliora, he's on a whole other level."

"So this rumor about him being the stronger demon is true?" Lucy asked.

"How do we beat it?" Wendy asked.

"Okay, pretend one of us doesn't know what a Book of Zeref is." Gajeel requested.

"Zeref created demons, beings of pure evil." Slate explained. "After he was done, he turned them into books and scattered them all over the world because he was crazy like that."

"So if someone opens one, they can summon a demon just by reading them." Carla continued. "And each demon has a book dedicated to it."

"So Tartaros has the one for E.N.D." Natsu mumbled. "And Igneel tried to take that creepy thing down and failed. What is this thing?"

"So let's just go out there and fight these guys!" Gajeel demanded.

"Okay, go out there and find them." Nicholas suggested. "Cause no one knows where it even is, let alone how many members it has."

"But this is our still best chance to find Igneel." Natsu added. "Not to mention the other dragons."

The doors to the guild hall burst open as Jet and Droy ran in, a newspaper in hand. "Guys, this is big!"

Era

First responders worked overtime to clear the rubble and look for survivors. Below them all, Doranbolt walked through the jail and came to a stop in front of an all too familiar face. "And here I was starting to get lonely." Cobra chuckled. "What a sweetheart."

"I assume you heard what happened upstairs." Doranbolt said.

"Don't be stupid." The one-eyed man replied. "You know I can't use magic in this cell. Than again, it was hard not to notice the explosions."

"You're telling me everything you know about Tartaros, now." The survivor ordered.

"Is that so?" Cobra chuckled. "I don't talk for free. You'll get what you if you release the Seis."

"I can't do that." Doranbolt replied. "And anyone who could is dead."

Cobra gasped in shock before regaining his composure. "Sounds like they got you pretty-" Cold steel was pressed against his neck as Doranbolt held a knife there.

"I lost a friend today. I'm not in the mood for games." He replied. "One last chance, talk or die here."

"Let me and my friends go, and you got a deal." Cobra said back. "You're not the only one with friends. But to sweeten the deal, I'll let you in on a little secret about Tartaros. No one in Tartaros is remotely human. Every single one of them is a demon from Zeref. Their masters name is E.N.D"

"Sounds like Jackal went all out!" Franmalth, a bulbous yellow demon chuckled. "Poor fools didn't even know what hit them. How much were those Council members lives worth!?"

"Enough, Franmalth." A fish demon, Torafuzar declared. "You laugh like a banshee. It makes us look like undignified animals."

"Demons have no business being dignified anyway!" A spiky, four armed demon called Ezel growled out. "Send me out next, Kyouka! I got a fever and the only cure is making corpses!"

"All stories have an order to them, Ezel." A horned girl known as Sayla retorted. "This one has just begun. I believe we are still in the prologue."

"Precisely." Kyouka agreed. "Calm down, Ezel. You'll have some fun for yourself very soon."

"It's no fair!" The tentacled demon shouted. "Jackal and Tempester shouldn't have all the fun."

"Netherworld, we beseech the. Grant us your dark power." The black monk known as Keyes declared.

"May our lord Zeref be pleased." Kyouka added as Silver huffed. "All that we do, we do for him. Our creator. Now let's pay humanity a visit."

1 Day Later

8 Island Restaurant

"Such a terrible tragedy." Yajima mumbled as he read the paper.

"Hard to believe it's all true." Freed said from the stove.

"All nine council members were killed instantly." Yajima continued. "Over a hundred other employees were also killed. It is indeed a dark day."

"Good thing you left when you did." Bickslow chuckled, anger the elderly man.

"Enough talking, you two." Evergreen scolded as she walked over. "You two wanted to take these simple jobs after we were flooded with tough missions."

"That reminds me, has Laxus come back with the supplies?" Yajima asked.

"Five jewels says he got lost." Bickslow chuckled as the door opened.

A cloaked figure entered and everyone was caught off guard. He came to a stop and a single word left his mouth. "Woosh." A black tornado suddenly ripped the restaurant apart and blasted the four back. The stranger then coated himself in the wind before spiraling at the elderly man.

Freed and Bickslow jumped in front, only to get pushed in the chest. "Boom." Both were blasted back into rubble by a storm of fire as Evergreen jumped into the air.

"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" A volley of fairy dust shot forward, only for another tornado to dispel the attack and burry her under rubble."

"Who the hell are you!?" Yajima asked.

"I have no need for a name." The being declared, picking the ex-council member up by the neck. "You humans have a word for me; Calamity." Wind started whipping around his arm and climbed towards Yajima's neck. "The netherworld gates are opened, and humanity will be judged."

"He's… from Tartaros?" Freed groaned out. "It wasn't just the nine. They're going after former members as well… But why?"

"Your life ends now." A bolt of lightning crashed down and broke his grip, making the Thunder Legion smile.

"I leave for a minute, and you guys get into trouble." Laxus joked as he dropped the bags. "But you messed with my pals. If you thought you were getting away with this, you're dead wrong. Sp who the hell are you?"

"He's with Tartaros! He came here to kill Yajima!" Evergreen shouted.

The man gripped his hood and ripped it off, revealing a lion-like appearance that shocked Laxus. "He's not human?"

With one word, a whirlwind appeared around 'Calamity' and charged Laxus, who jumped over and kicked his back. "How!?" Crashing through rubble, he pushed himself up and turned in anger. "Stand still coward!"

"Is this still enough for you?" The blonde asked from behind before slamming a double axe-handle down on his face. "Lightning Dragon Jaw!" A bolt of lightning crashed down and obliterated the ground, one-shoting the enemy. "Any suggestions on what we do with him now, Yajima?"

"I would say we take him to the council, if there still was one." The elderly man replied. "With the main building gone, the entire organization collapsed around it."

"We should take him back to the guild hall." Freed said. "He has quite a few questions to answer. I don't understand why they went after retirees."

"So… you're with Fairy Tail?" 'Calamity' groaned, shocking the group. "I misjudged you. Your power is impressive for a human. No matter, all I have to do is die." He started glowing purple, confusing the humans. "In fact, a great number of people are about to die."

Exploding into a mass of dark purple clouds, the mist floated into the air, spreading around. "This mist is ripe with Bain Particles." His voice echoed out. "They will destroy any Ethernano they can find, causing a slow and painful death even to non-wizards. The only cost is now I must return to Tartaros to be reborn. I'll see you all in hell soon enough."

Evergreen and Yajima fell over as Bickslow dropped to a knee. "Stay strong!" Freed shouted.

"No one is gonna die while I'm here." Laxus declared as he opened his mouth wide.

"What are you doing!?" Freed realized in horror the blondes plan. "You're inhaling the Bain Particles!? You'll kill yourself!"

"Make sure they get home safe." Laxus ordered before falling fell over, a smirk on his face.

Fairy Tail

Porlyusica stepped out of the infirmary and faced the guild. "They've been heavily exposed to Bain Particles." She reported. "I'll do what I can, but smaller exposures than there's have proven fatal. Recovery is possible, not a guarantee. Especially with Laxus; it's a miracle he's even lasted this long."

Freed turned his head and Makarov walked in. "Laxus… he saved the whole town…" He groaned out. "If the mist spread… hundreds would have died… Laxus… breathed in so much of it… The people, are safe… right?"

"…Yes." The master replied, an obvious lie.

"He did it…" Freed smiled as he closed his eye.

"Didn't think he'd do anything this crazy." Nicholas confessed. "It's still not an apology, but… wow."

'If Tartaros is after former council members as well, then Jellal will be a target as well.' Erza realized.

Natsu turned and walked away, clenching his fist in anger. "Gramps… You realize this means war." The others grabbed onto him and pinned him to the ground, but he still clocked Droy in the face. "War! I'll take them all on!"

"Natsu, calm down." Makarov ordered, kneeling down into his face. "I know you wanna fight them, but we just don't have enough information to find them."

"All we know is that they're going after councilors." Lucy mumbled. "Old ones and new."

"So then we go protect the old ones." Gray said.

"Except their locations are classified for their own protection." Macao replied.

"Not all of them." The guild looked over to see Loke walking over. "I know where some of them are."

"Seriously?"/"How?" Lucy and Wendy asked, but the spirit only whispered into the smaller girl's ear, making her face turn red.

"Thanks to Loke's tramping about, we know three locations of old council members." Porlyusica said, staring at a map."A team will go to each of them and protect them from Tartaros. If you find the one who attacked Laxus, get me a sample of their blood. I might be able to create a cure for Laxus and the others."

In a bubbling vat of green goo, half of Tempester's body was being put back together by tubes. "Sorry for the trouble, Kyouka."

"Think nothing of it, Tempester." The bird demoness replied.

"Tempester… is this my name?" He asked in confusion. "Whenever I am born, I forget my name. I have no need for one. How long until I am fully regenerated?"

"Normally one day would be enough, but I'm using another vat right now, so it will take a bit longer." She explained.

"Was someone else wounded?" Tempester asked as she walked over to the other filled vat.

"No, it is my child." She replied, placing her 'hand' on the glass. "A new demon; Minerva. She is suited for the underworld."

"Let's home she doesn't come out like that Doriate fellow." Franmalth chuckled as he walked in. "How much will this regeneration cost us? You shouldn't use those Bain Particles so freely, you know."

"Fairy Tail…" Tempester mumbled in anger. "If they had not interfered, this wouldn't have happened."

Minerba suddenly thrashed about at the mention of the name, catching Kyouka off guard. "Is that the guild whom bested the six demons and Grimoire? This could be interesting."

Mikelo's House

"So that's why we're here." Lucy explained to the elderly man. "We're going to protect you."

"Thanks but no thanks." Mikelo declined. "Your guild causes nothing but trouble, and I don't like the idea of being bait."

"Tartaros would come here even if we didn't show up." Carla replied.

"Which is why I'm leaving now." He snapped back. "Don't follow me."

"Grandpa, you're being too rude." A woman with braided hair told him, carrying a tray of drinks as she entered the room.

'She's the one who used to do things with Loke…' Wendy thought with a bright red face.

"The other councilors were killed, are you really just going to ignore this?" Lucy asked. "There has to be a reason for this. Any idea why they would target you?"

"Too many to think of." He replied. "Dark Guilds aren't the onky one with a grudge against us."

"This isn't grudge." Carla said back. "It's too organized. There has to be a reason."

"Nothing comes to-" His eyes went wide and stopped himself. "No wait. Could it be Face?"

Natsu suddenly perked up and tackled the others to the ground, just as an explosion destroyed the house. "Everyone okay?" Rose asked.

Natsu tapped his stomach and wiped his mouth of the flames from his mouth. "The hell? I thought I blew you all up?" Everyone turned as Jackal came into view, a sick smile on his face. "Who the hell are you?"

"We're Fairy Tail, and we're here to kick your ass." Natsu declared.

And the Tartaros Arc has started off with a bang!… too soon? Whatever, the Council mostly deserved it, they were complete assholes. Laxus had a cool moment, I guess, but he's still not made up for a damn thing. Not much left to say so see you next time.

Beta read by General Feng Xiang