Capítulo 60: 57. Dominoes
.
.
.
Jellal
It was the next day and, just as promised, newspaper articles were finally being publicised across the country that released information on the attack on the train. Several things were of course censored, but the terrorist attack, who was behind it, what guilds participated, and what was happening to the people that have gone missing were all mostly public info and known by most of the country by the day's end.
The important topics of the event were being discussed within a private meeting room, the attendants being myself, Queen Alectsa, Queen-Consort Selene, Chief Knight Arcadios, Head Chairman Crawford Seam, a few investigators who have been trying to track down Beestenbloed since they were branded a dark guild, and Knight Captain Reece who was present when the events unfolded.
"So, this is the primary weapon they used then?" Seam asked as he and the others inspected the control collars in their hands.
"Should you not be familiar with the case already, Chairman?" Arcadios asked.
"Half of the Council, myself included, have focused these last few weeks on reinforcing our security around the etherion storage," he responded with a frown. "Though, I'm beginning to regret not giving this more attention."
"Please continue, Captain Reece," interrupted the Queen.
"*Ahem* Right, as I was saying, we were entirely focused on neutralising the transformed humans in hopes that in their unconscious state, we could capture them and reverse the transformation later. Our own forces were divided into two and all of the knights focused themselves on erecting barriers to safeguard the wounded and the etherion. My force had the largest amount of knights, with our second half having most of the hired wizards. Lyubov of the Unremmiting Mist of the Phantom Elite took the role of our sole offensive combatant, while the other, an unknown wizard also from Phantom Lord, sought out the one controlling transformed humans."
"Was this unknown wizard the source of the violet flames we at Era saw?" Seam asked.
"Yes, Chairman. Lyssa Wisteria, a Fire Demon Slayer," he answered. Several people, including the two Queens - who seemed to be having a secret discussion amongst themselves - were intrigued by the seemingly sudden appearance of a user of Lost magic. However, he continued on.
"Miss Wisteria lit the mountains in a radius around us on fire to trap whoever was her target inside and seemingly succeeded in subduing them. She came back with a platoon led by Colonel Milkovich, command ring in hand and uddered the phrase that released them all."
"Do you remember the phrase?" Arcadios asked.
"No. It was...long. And in a foreign language, something from deep in the eastern continent I think."
"No one else at the scene remembered what it was either," I spoke up, "so we can safely assume whoever came up with it did so with the intention of it not being remembered, and thus used."
"They wanted to keep them as slaves until their death," spoke Selene. "Makes sense."
"We did, however, recover the woman that held the command ring. Her information is in dossier 4A," I replied, causing everyone to open it up and look at the information inside. "As you can read, she has unfortunately been in a catatonic state since the event. Our lead specialist in illusions and mind magics, William Foeda, has reported that she was put under intense traumatic shock. Specifically by receiving a large surplus of memories related to experiencing pain. Given the magic being used in those memories, they belong to Miss Wisteria."
"This girl is beginning to paint an interesting picture..." Alectsa spoke with clear interest in her voice. "What do we know about her?"
"Miss Wisteria? Quite a bit thanks to her guild master and old acquaintances, but what we do know only explains her background," I said as I opened up her dossier. "She was an orphan who disappeared for five years and showed up in the now-destroyed village of Himura where she said that she was sold into slavery. She killed her slavers with fire magic, but since she was imprisoned at sea she ended up killing her fellow captives when the boat burned away. The captain of the guard at Himura, an Infernal Fire wizard named Ito Tatsuo, trained her for two years before the city was destroyed and has spent the last two at Phantom Lord. She has a merciless streak when it comes to jobs involving dark guilds, almost assuredly because of her past. In fact, she has a preference for jobs involving hunting dark guilds in particular, and it seems that anytime she chooses another type of job it is because she's going on it with a twelve-year-old girl named Julia Lockser or her job partner Chikafuji Totomaru, the fire pillar of the Elemental Four."
"Taught by Ito Tatsuo, huh? That explains the damage done in these pictures," murmured the queen.
"You know of him?" asked the chairman.
"Of course. He's quite famous in Minstrel."
"How does that explain anything?" Arcadios interrupted. "Who is he?"
"A Fire Artist. The only one in the present day," Selene answered.
"A Fire Artist? What's that?"
"On a fundamental level, a very powerful pyromancer. One free from the restrictions of magic's Taboos and the punishments for breaking them. A mortal trespassing on the domain of the gods," answered the queen with a smirk.
"Impossible!"
"Oh, it is very possible. It's just rare. So incredibly rare that I can count the amount of Artist-level wizards to appear in the last five centuries on one hand."
"If such an idea existed surely they would be the stuff of legends."
"Make no mistake. Being an Artist is not a measure of strength, but rather understanding of the magic they study. The Copy Wizard, August, is considered the strongest man in the Alvarez Empire and quite possibly of all humanity, but he only understands the conceptualization all wizards have of magic. Although, you have actually heard of an Artist before. Zeref, and his Black Arts, are rather quite infamous after all. Granted many only know him as a Black Wizard, as the identifier term Artist is unique amongst Minstrel, but if you use him as a baseline for what an Artist could achieve you can imagine what training under one for even a small amount of time can do for one's development."
"If you were to look at things like they were sciences, then magic is physics, alchemy is engineering and spirit arts are mathematics," Crawford added. "All have ways of interacting and explaining the world, but arts reach the same conclusions through sheer dumb luck from an outsider's perspective. No one knows how to properly achieve that status, but it does exist."
"Regardless," I interrupted, "however she implanted those memories also allowed Lyssa Wisteria to get the passphrase required to free the transformed humans. Colonel Milkovich should be returning shortly with an interview with her that fully explains any holes in our understanding."
"Alrighty then," Crawford said as he looked over the map on the table, "While we wait for that, what else can you report on the dark guild?"
At his request, a middle-aged man named Arryo dressed in the Council's investigator attire stood forward, "We have, unfortunately, noticed an unprecedented rise in Beestenbloed's behaviour. With hindsight, we can trace the caravan and merchant attacks back to them, pinpoint a likely starting date, and track the trends from there across half the continent halfway through Seven and Bosco towards the borders with Iceberg and Stella."
"Stella, hmm? I wonder how King Animus would respond to someone enslaving his citizens," murmured Arcadios.
"Like a dragon," snarked Selene.
"How far back is this timeline?" asked Alectsa.
"At the furthest, close to seven or six months. At the closest six to five."
"And the rate of escalation?"
"The current rate of attacks is two hundred fifty per cent more than the initial, much smaller rate of attacks."
"Have you been able to find a pattern? Something that gauges where they might be based?"
"Our best estimates are the border between us and Bosco. Though...they do seem to be moving further towards Fiore than Bosco."
"Revenge on their home country maybe?" murmured Seam as he scratched his beard.
"It's likely, but there's more to it than that." Arcadios stared intently at the map, tracing his hand over the paths arrayed atop it. "Walraven has always been as much a showman as a huntsman."
"Whatever his plans are, they're big if they need Etheri-"
Queen Alectsa was interrupted by the door to the meeting room bursting open at the hands of a sweaty knight. "Lord Arcadios! There's been an attack on the western side of the city! It's Beestenbloed!"
—
Thirty minutes prior...
There wasn't a single person in the capital who hadn't read the newspaper by noon. Businesses practicality stopped as the news spread like wildfire. After all, while magical terrorism wasn't uncommon, the scale, goal, and methods were unprecedented in recent history.
All the elderly could think about was how it sounded like the anti-magic legends they used to tell less than a century prior before Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord founded the first wizard guilds and worked to change public perception of magic during the Second Trade War.
However, one woman in particular was trying her best to swallow a different despair than the rest.
"Cherri!" a middle-aged woman shouted into the kitchen of a diner. "If you're not going to clean the dishes, then make yourself useful and take out the trash!"
"R-Right! Yes! Sorry, boss!" replied a shy girl with orange hair, her hands wrinkling the newspaper in her sweaty grip. She shoved it into the pit of her arm, pulled out the garbage bag and tied it as she opened the door with her back. The twenty-six-year-old heaved the large bag over her shoulder and threw it into the open garbage behind the diner.
With a shuddering breath, she turned around and leaned against the dumpster, slowly lowering herself to the ground beneath her. Cherri stared at the picture on the front page with a blank stare. "Himari...what were you thinking..."
"I was thinking..." started a voice to her left. Cherri jumped and looked over to see the bloodied form of the train's lead attacker dressed in torn prisoner clothes shambling along the alley wall, "...that Beestenbloed's mission was moving too slow..."
"Himari! What are doing here!?" Cherri shouted as she bolted towards her friend. "How did you get out of the Council's custody? Are you injured?"
"The answer...is the same. I fought...my way out...damned sorcerers..."
"We have to get you treatment! There's a medkit in the staff room, just stay her-"
"No! No, there...isn't enough time." Himari, the Oni, spoke. "There...almost certainly tracking me. Just tell me...where the nearest safehouse is..."
The ginger stared at the woman in front of her and the streaks of crimson she'd left. Without hesitation, she reached into her boot and pulled out an inhaler, huffing the crimson mist it injected into her lungs and shoving the large dumpster out of the way. Her fingers unnaturally wedged their way into the cracks in the concrete and heaved the large block out of the way revealing a ladder down.
"Here," Cherri said as she shoved the inhaler in Himari's hands, "this should give you enough of a boost to get down the ladder. Go. I'll clean up here."
Himari held the inhaler in her hand for a few seconds before puffing. A small smile graced her lips as she felt strength course through her once again. "Thank you...love..."
Cherri blushed ever so slightly but turned around and entered the diner without giving a proper response.
The fallen samurai shrugged, her expression blank as she descended the ladder, moving effortlessly, unhampered as if her injuries were never there.
The safe house was about 12 feet below the diner, and the ladder was all in a small pocket that led to a hatch barely big enough for someone to crawl through. She twisted the dog handle to open it and crawled through, once again moving with exaggerated injuries.
Dramatic grunting signalled those who were waiting on the other side, and with practised movements pointed their spears at the opening. The armoured men grew tense when they saw blood matted hair crawl through, but upon seeing the familiar face they instantly rushed to pick her up. The duo each threw an arm over their shoulders, abandoning the steel blades to clash on the rugged stone floor.
"Open up! We have an injured hero here!" the one on her left shouted as he slammed his hand against the iron door they were guarding.
A visor opened up on the door, showing a pair of blue eyes looking outwards at the three individuals. A feminine voice sounded outwards, echoing twice over through the metal on her helmet and that of the door. "Who's the roadkill?"
"It's the Oni, ma'am. She just showed up!"
The woman's eyes widened, and the visor slammed shut. One of the guards noticed her head starting to sag and urgently started to convince her to stay awake. Himari, however, ignored them, choosing instead to feign tiredness to gaze at the blades of the spears that were lying on the floor.
'Normal steel tips, no odd colouration. Not anti-magic. So the memories weren't lies. They only have a limited number of anti-magic blades.' Her gaze, though still acting foggily, turned towards the door as the sounds of metal latches clanking apart echoed in the cave. 'But I can tell the door has something on its rim. A barrier?'
The iron door opened with a groan and shudder, and the two people carrying her did not hesitate to try and carry her inside. The odd commotion in the usually quiet bunker had already drawn a crowd and their shouts for a medic only drew an even bigger crowd. The dozens of people, all dressed like they were ready for war at any moment, bore witness in unison to the sight of an injured woman vanishing the second her foot scraped across the threshold.
However, just as the sight of bright white hair emerged, the woman planted her feet onto the ground and hurled the two carrying her into the bunker and dispersed into a flood of darkness that threatened to rip them all off their feet.
"Shit!"
"It's a wizard!"
"We've trained for this!"
"Kill them!"
Their shouts were met with echoing, girlish laughter that sent a shiver down their spines. Those who had sturdier wills reached for vials filled with liquified bane particles and moved to cover their weapons. Each and every one, however, was stopped by shadowy feminine figures spearing out of the darkness and grabbing the poisonous liquid, ripping their helmets off and forcing them to drink their own deadly toxin.
"Now, now. Don't be rude. I'll make this quick," started the shadowy voice. Then, like a bolt of lightning, the source of the rushing darkness burst forward at a full sprint towards two of the dark guild's members, a husband and wife ready to defend each other. Their expressions were filled with fear as glowing purple eyes locked onto them, the predatory gaze making them feel lesser than prey.
The sound of metal clasps snapping together silenced all thoughts in those present. Their eyes jumped to the collars their assailant clasped around the couple's necks and the green glow that stretched to the ring on her finger. "Doesn't feel too good, does it?" she muttered. The collars and ring flashed green for an instant, the man and woman went stiff, and all will was drained from their bodies. In the next instant, their bodies were consumed in purple flame and they vanished entirely, not even allowed to scream.
"Y-you...you monster!" A woman's shrill voice screamed into the cave-turned-bunker. The white-haired girl turned around, finding that the source came from a woman dressed like a doctor and her lips curled into a sneer.
"「Fire Demon's Infernal Pillar」," the assailant murmured with a grasping motion towards the doctor. A column of violet flame roared to life around her, consuming her down to the bones that fell unceremoniously to into the flooding darkness.
A sharp snapping noise drew her attention behind her towards a charging crowd of soldiers, forcing her to come face to face with the glinting head of a barbed crossbow bolt that she barely caught inches from her face before throwing it back at the shooter.
She moved to dodge the thrust from a leading trio of pikemen just as a duo of swordsmen worked seamlessly together to swing at her. The blades slipped threw her ribcage with terrifying ease and, to their horror, she dispersed into the shadows without a wound, dragging the flood of darkness with her towards the opposite end of the room.
Her gaze casually glanced at the armoured men and women. Some were old, and obviously more experienced, but the more eagre of them all were young. Most of the cult's members were young.
'I can't afford to stay here for long. This is the capital of the country, after all.'
A gruff middle-aged man stood forward, false bravado enabling him to point the tip of his blade towards the teenager in front of him. "Fight me, wizard. I'll cut you down, here and now."
She didn't even bother gazing at him. Instead, she stared through the walls, mapping out the tunnels and rooms her shadows traced for her in the initial attack. Once she traced out the path towards a particular room of interest she smiled.
"Hey! Witch!" the man shouted.
Purple eyes locked him into place like a mouse in a trap, casual dismissal in her gaze. "I don't have a whole lot of time to entertain you. Sorry."
Her hands stretched out and grabbed the centre of a black magic glyph like she was opening a set of doors, a purple smog consumed the area whole, and, with a strained voice, shouted into the rag-tag cave bunker, "「Shatter, Gate of the Snake Charmer. Ophiuchus!」"
A bell charmed out as the smog turned opaque, everyone within the bunker and its tunnels were crushed as a titanic serpent shattered the bedrock and began to bore its way around the underground outwards towards the surface and vanishing.
"S-shit!" Lyssa coughed as she reemerged from the shadows. "That drained a lot more magic than I thought! Maybe I should stick to the keys..."
She looked around and sighed at the faint rays of sunlight coming through the dust.
'Guess Momma Snake was a bigger bitch than I thought...' she sweatdropped as she began to move towards the area that caught her attention. 'Better move quick and steal all that I can. Someone's gonna come poking around pretty soon.'
Another flood of shadow began to consume everything in the area, rubble and all. Only when it was spotless did she warp from shadow to shadow until she was overlooking the pit from atop a bell tower. A second image, just as solid, emerged from her body to stand right next to her. Then, like a blip, she disappeared entirely in a flash of violet flame.
The thought projection, however, stayed, overlooking everything.
A whorl of white light formed over the city revealing the plummeting forms of several individuals. Two in particular darted from the group, one in red light and the other in gold. The rest were sucked up in the white light again as it reemerged on the street next to the pit that was the diner and the buildings next to it.
The crimson and gold lights shot towards the same pit and landing next to the group that went through the white light. Some of the members of the party were familiar, members of the Magic Council or Royal Guard, however, two of the women were completely unknowns but the magic pressure radiating from them made her thankful she teleported out when she did.
That relief however was completely consumed by an almost blind rage as she registered the last person. There, standing in the attire of a government official, was the source of her first and only memory of total betrayal.
'Jellal!'
Before she could do something foolish, however, she registered the blonde woman looking directly at her in full detail. The familiar smirk of Selene, the dragon in disguise, shot a shock of sense into the girl.
She, in both her real form and thought projection, stopped and took a deep breath before a brilliant idea emerged and her form changed shape.
—
"Get the injured treated! Now!"
"Secure the area!"
"Need a medic over here!"
The immediate responders were trying to establish order in the chaos that emerged from the attack, and the sudden arrival of our party was no exception. Regardless of our rank and position, those present began ordering us around, too. Captain Arcadios quickly assumed leadership and the investigators that Selene had managed to teleport followed suit, myself included.
We cleared rubble, rescued as many civilians as we could, and tried to secure evidence, each group doing so according to their expertise.
The efficiency was accelerated by the two draconic queens present. Selene would transport the injured with her pearlescent white spatial magic and Alectsa destroyed the obstacle with searing hot crimson darkness.
Though the crushed bodies had the guild's insignia emblazoned on their crushed armour, time quickly revealed the depth of the operation taking place within the capital without the local police even knowing.
'Or maybe they're letting them operate...' I mused. 'Getting in the Council might be easier than I thought if they're this corrupt already...'
My gaze turned towards none other than the leader of the Magic Council himself, Crawford Seam. Brain and I have had our suspicions about the man for a while, and we're both confident that he's had several dealings with one of the corners of the Ballam Alliance. However, considering his age and the open secret of his retirement occurring in the near future, the need to investigate him those dealings is nonexistent.
At least for now.
A firm but light hand on my shoulder sent an alert down my spine. I quickly sent an unintentionally startled glance at the burgundy-eyed dragoness whose approach I hadn't sensed at all.
Her scrutinizing gaze only observed the pit and the tunnels we were in and wasn't on me, thankfully. Though she had requested my presence during her stay in the capital, she left me to my own devices after the court dinner. Something I was grateful for, in all honesty, as I hadn't grown used to the pressure she exuded in the slightest.
"Now is about as good a time as any to get to know your measure, prodigious child." Her voice was mellow and measured, calm and strangely calming which had the adverse effect of further increasing the discomfort her presence brought. "Tell me, what do sense about what occurred in this place?"
I took a breath to steady myself before I answered, carefully trying to craft my words to the professionalism the situation demanded of "Siegraine". "Well, if we go by the structure of the rubble and the layout we can assume that the diner here had the ladder that allowed entrance to this underground structu-"
"Your assessment of the infrastructure was not what I was referring to." Her gaze that was now turned to me was piercing. Her voice turned stern and cold, rippling with dissatisfaction. "I told you, I came here to assess the boy who seems to be the leader of the next generation of wizards. So, what do you, the prodigious wizard, sense about this place."
I knew what she was asking, and frankly, I refused to accept the answer. The emotion that clung to the air like thin miasma was eerily familiar, but the difference in nature made me cling to another answer. "Darkness," I started, "Whoever attacked this structure was a wizard who used darkness."
Her stony expression cracked slightly, not quite smirking but still evidently happy with my response. "Correct. Now, search deeper. What emotion fueled this darkness? What were they wholly consumed by?"
"...Malice."
"Correct." She nodded in approval. "But do you know who the target of this anger was towards, and maybe even why?"
"Considering what we know of Beestenbloed they likely targeted them out of revenge. For them to drag civilians into this they must've been wronged personally, or had something happen to a loved one."
"Is that your answer?" Once again her voice was filled with disappointment and even suspicion. I could tell in that instant that I had stepped on a landmine, but I couldn't back out.
"Is there another interpretation?"
"There is nothing to interpret. I have the centuries of experience with magic needed to come to a deeper conclusion than most, but your experience is different, isn't it?"
Shit.
"You yourself were the true target of this malice, but why?"
"I-I don't have an answer."
Her burgundy eyes stared right through me, it felt like. A gaze that seemed to draw the truth out of the depth of my soul without me ever saying it myself. She knew I had an answer. She knew from the beginning. She just wanted to know how I'd respond.
"Very well then. This was enlightening." Her hand finally left my shoulder as she turned away, her heels clicking against the crushed stone. "You will find however that the source of our discussion has been waiting for you on the surface. Do enjoy yourself."
My skin felt clammy at that moment. Rarely ever have I felt lesser than someone since I awakened those four years ago, and now this woman - no - this dragon seemed to exist purely to upset the status quo.
Once I was surrounded by fools, easily manipulated all, but now as I rushed upwards to the surface I could only feel like a target had been painted on my back by the gods themselves. And I couldn't deny myself. Despite the annoyance of it all, I was tingling with excitement.
I was finally being challenged for the first time in these past four years.
The street was abuzz with energy and confusion when I surfaced. The guards themselves were all tense, and the gazes of everyone present were on a group of familiar faces standing on the rooftops.
Simon, Sho, Milliana, and Wally all stood there in broad daylight, their faces obscured by large cloaks. Their presence alone, however, was not what drew the shock of those present, but rather the one in the centre.
Because standing there with a sickly sweet smile was none other...
"It's been a while since the family last got together, hasn't it, little brother?"
...than me.
.
.
.
A/N: Ooooh dramatic cliffhanger! Anyway, here's some memes as well as the new book cover.
Oh, and on the poll (that's now deleted) having punk Mirajane for the rest of the series won out, but she will have a more mellowed-out, big sister personality in private which is kinda how I've been trying to write her already.
And for those that don't remember, Mira is a canon domme (Grand Magic Games side chapter, Team A lost a game of Rock Paper Scissors to Team B. Yes that's how this chapter led to what you're about to read) (->)
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder