Netherworld Island, Gate of the Underworld.
Rhode, cloaked in black and wielding a golden magic staff, hurriedly returned.
Facing Kuanghua who came to greet him, Rhode spoke: "Sorry, Kuanghua."
Kuanghua frowned: "You failed too?"
"Encountered unexpected obstacles; there are indeed quite powerful beings among human mages."
"Fairy Tail?"
"No, it seems to be Blue Pegasus." Rhode considered Kuanghua's previous response, puzzled, "Were others also unsuccessful?"
"Among those dispatched, only Sella completed the task beautifully and returned intact." Kuanghua turned, "Come with me."
The two walked into the core of Hell.
Sixteen Lamies were busy running back and forth in the lab, one came respectfully to greet Kuanghua.
"Master Kuanghua!"
Kuanghua asked: "How are those two?"
"With no other hindrance, Jia Ka'er will complete regeneration by this afternoon at the earliest, Dempsey Tower needs until evening."
"Jia Ka'er and Dempsey Tower have died?"
Rhode was somewhat shocked; they were fine yesterday when he went out, and suddenly two from Nine Ghosts Sect had died, truly rare.
Kuanghua said: "Jia Ka'er blew up the Council, but one fish slipped through the net. Dempsey Tower completely failed to injure the target."
Jia Ka'er shouted furiously from within the cultivation container: "When I resurrect, I'll make that guy pay!"
Dempsey Tower showed no reaction, as he had started selective amnesia, totally unaware Kuanghua referred to him.
Kuanghua asked: "Still no news from Travessa and Ethel, how about Shilba?"
For Gate of the Underworld, no news should be considered good news because as long as a soul hasn't returned to the core of Hell, it means they aren't dead yet.
However, Shilba's case was most special, most likely won't return even if dead.
Rhode confidently said: "That man is probably the least to worry about, even amongst Nine Ghosts Sect, his strength... huh?"
Kuanghua sensed something amiss: "What's wrong?"
Rhode muttered blankly: "I... can't feel any connection with Shilba anymore."
...
"Where's Lord Gray?"
Searching has Jubia not seen the person she most wants to see among those just returned.
Rhode answered: "He has some matters to deal with, will be back later."
After conveying Gate of the Underworld's intel, Shilba seemed to lose all desire to remain in this world.
His vitality quickly dissipated along with his will.
Gray naturally had to bury Shilba, according to Shilba's wish, of course, alongside Gray's mother, Mika.
Lucy offered to accompany him but was refused by Gray, because with the battle coming, he didn't want his vulnerable side seen by others.
Erza agreed to let Gray handle it himself, so Rhode left the Mountain Sub-Dragon to take Gray there.
The old brother always complained about trouble, but his mind might be finer than the two sisters of Cloud Realm and Ocean Realm, so Rhode specifically entrusted him.
"Come over, I have something to tell you." Makarov called everyone over, "Mr. Yuri has been murdered."
"What?" Erza exclaimed, "Wasn't Sabertooth responsible for protecting Mr. Yuri, nearly all of them went?"
"The strange thing is here." Makarov said, "Sabertooth's provided information shows Mr. Yuri committed suicide, after examination, this is indeed the conclusion."
"Suicide?" Rhode had a bit of speculation.
Makarov frowned and said: "Not only that, at that time Sabertooth at the scene erupted in infighting without warning.
"They slaughtered one another, nearly wiped out. Even Rekete and Floros fought each other to mutual defeat."
Lucy was shocked: "How?"
Natsu was even less willing to believe this: "That's impossible, isn't it? Didn't Stinger say he would cherish comrades in the future? They fought against Netherworld to save companions!"
Makarov shook his head: "I can't believe it either, but such was the occurrence."
Rhode spoke out: "'Lunar Night' Sella."
Makarov asked: "What?"
Rhode said: "Just received intelligence, one of Nine Ghosts Sect, Lunar Night Sella, uses 'Command' magic, able to make people act entirely according to her command."
Makarov pondered and asked: "A... mental control type?"
Rhode said: "Not entirely, because she can also manipulate the dead and other lifeless objects to some extent... perhaps it encompasses a complex manipulation of both mind and body."
Makarov mused: "So Sabertooth was fighting each other under her control?"
Rhode nodded: "She enjoys various stories, especially using Command magic to let people perform supposedly exciting tales according to her script.
"And the tale Sabertooth performed was probably one of being forced into mortal combat with valued companions."
"Damn it! I won't forgive her!" Natsu can't accept such comrades killing each other.
Even Erza found such an ability tricky: "Can she also manipulate an entire guild?"
Lucy was slightly panicked: "How do we deal with such an enemy?"
Rhode said: "I'm unsure, but her 'Command' must have certain limitations. Otherwise, Gate of the Underworld wouldn't need to seek Feis, they could directly command all of humanity to submit."
Makarov felt it made sense, but he immediately asked: "Lucy has yet to start testing Gemini's abilities, where did this information come from?"
"This touched upon Gray's privacy, if you're interested, you could ask him later." Rhode felt no urgency to say this, "I'll first retell the intelligence on Nine Ghosts Sect..."
Rhode rattled on, while Reby and Lucy took notes rapidly.
Later, ensuring everyone in the guild received a copy, and also providing it to other guilds responsible for protecting other evaluators, to avoid being disadvantaged due to insufficient intel.
"Next is the key point, regarding Gate of Underworld's location."
"They reside on a square-shaped floating island named Netherworld Island. Originally to conceal whereabouts, hiding in various places, and making irregular transfers periodically.
"But recently for convenience of action, the flight of Netherworld Island has become somewhat routine.
"With the former chairman's assistance, they locked onto several locations where Feis might exist.
"While conducting assassination evals, Netherworld Island moves among these locations, checking each one.
"If the assassination plan doesn't go smoothly, they may initiate the backup plan, attempting different ways to lift the seal after locating Feis."
"That means as long as we scout these locations, we can find them."
Saying this, Rhode looked at Reby and Lucy with encouraging eyes:
"If our guild has clever buddies skilled in analysis and computation, then we could catch them in transit and launch a surprise attack."
Reby proudly patted her chest, confident: "Leave it to me! As long as the intelligence is accurate, I can definitely calculate it!"
Lucy was also full of energy and said: "I'll help too!"
In the guild, the two were the best at these kinds of things, and since they deemed their combat skills lacking, they always thought of using their minds to exert more effort outside the battlefield.
Rhode nodded satisfactorily: "Go for it."