In Tartaros's control room, two soldiers lay motionless on the floor. Blood pooled beneath them, slowly seeping through the cracks between the tiles until the two stains merged into one.
The figures standing nearby paid them no attention at all.
In fact, they were so elated they looked ready to dance.
"It worked!" Crawford stared up at the display screen, trembling with excitement. "The seal on Face has been released!"
"Really?" Franmalth stared at the screen in disbelief. "Just like that?"
Before this, they had bombed the Council, hunted down Council Members, and exhausted countless resources, yet found nothing. And now, killing two insignificant soldiers had somehow led to a breakthrough?
"It's true!" Crawford declared proudly. "This is the power of my Super Archive!"
He pointed at the screen with manic enthusiasm. "One of the Council Members we killed earlier was already a 'key.' Using Super Archive, I identified the remaining two."
"One was Siegrain, no, Jellal now. The other was Belno, whom you failed to assassinate."
"And here's the genius part," Crawford continued, voice rising. "Using my authority as former Chairman and the Super Archive's authority-transfer function, I reassigned the remaining two 'keys' to these two soldiers."
"Once they died, the Organic Link Magic activated automatically."
He slammed his hand onto the console.
"The seal on Face was released!"
A red dot flashed on the map. After a few rapid keystrokes, a straight line extended from it, projecting a magnified image.
"There," Crawford said, nearly breathless. "That's Face. It's surfaced in the Great Hollow of the Dokuzeri Valley!"
"Incredible!" Franmalth rubbed his hands together, caught up in the excitement. "Do you have any idea how much credit unsealing Face is worth? Hm? How much?"
Crawford laughed loudly. "At this point, it doesn't matter. With Face under our control, the world is as good as ours! Change course immediately, our current trajectory is completely wrong!"
"Well…" Franmalth hesitated, scratching his cheek. "That might be a problem. The course was set by the Underworld King himself."
Crawford snapped, "Are you joking?! That's Face! The weapon we've been searching for all this time! Isn't that worth making him reconsider once?"
"Now, now, don't rush, old friend," Franmalth soothed. "Face isn't going anywhere. I'll report to the Underworld King myself. Besides, can't it be activated remotely?"
Crawford paused, then brightened. "You're right! I can try to gain control using Super Archive!"
He immediately started typing furiously, then barked, "Go report it, fast! Even if I can initiate Face remotely, it needs warm-up time. There's no one guarding it. If something happens during that window, don't blame me!"
"Relax, relax," Franmalth waved him off. "The seal was just broken. What could possibly go wrong so..."
He froze.
Pointing at the screen, he asked slowly, "What… does that red 'X' mean?"
Crawford glanced over casually. "A red 'X' means it's been destroy..."
He stiffened.
"What?"
The next instant, Crawford grabbed Franmalth by the collar and screamed, "WHAT HAPPENED?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"How should I know?!" Franmalth shouted back, shoving him away.
"Let go of me! I'm reporting to the Underworld King right now!"
His mind was already spiraling.
How could Face, just vanish?
Could it be that killing the three 'keys' didn't release the seal… but triggered a self-destruct sequence instead?
"Yeah," Rhodes said casually, flying through the sky as he redialed the call he'd ended not long ago.
"I blew it up."
Even he was a little stunned.
The ultimate weapon Tartaros had searched for, schemed over, and slaughtered for, had surfaced directly beneath him.
Should he praise Silver's intelligence? Or Levy and Lucy's calculations?
Lisanna appeared on the communication screen, blinking in disbelief.
"So," she asked, "did we just win without even fighting?"
Rhodes shook his head.
"I wouldn't say that," he replied calmly. "Face may be gone, but Tartaros is still active. And, I have a bad feeling about this."
Lisanna was gently nudged aside as Makarov leaned into view, his expression serious.
"What do you mean?"
"The output was too weak," Rhodes said.
"Too weak?"
"Yes. When that crystal pillar detonated, the release was impressive, but only on a local scale. If Face had been activated through its intended process, the area of effect should've expanded several times over."
He continued evenly, "Judging by the energy signature alone, even if we multiplied that pulse dozens of times, it wouldn't be enough to erase magic particles across the entire continent. Honestly, it might not even wipe out a single country."
Makarov fell silent, thinking.
"So you're saying there are parts of the Face Project we still don't understand."
"Very likely." Rhodes paused, then asked, "Do you remember how many locations Uncle Silver's information listed as possible hiding spots?"
"Seven," Makarov replied slowly. "They were scattered extremely far apart, wait…"
Rhodes nodded.
"Those seven locations probably weren't possibilities," he said. "They were confirmations."
A chill ran through the room.
"You mean…" Makarov's eyes widened. "There could be six more Faces?"
Levy hurried forward with the map.
"Master, the farthest location is over three thousand kilometers away. If Tartaros can activate them remotely, or if they've already stationed personnel at those sites, we won't have time to destroy them all."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Belno, standing beside Levy and Gajeel, broke the silence.
"There may still be time."
Gajeel shot her a glance. "Got a plan, old hag?"
Belno ignored the address and pointed to the map.
"Doesn't Rhodes possess a type of subspace magic capable of crossing vast distances almost instantly? If so, he could split the personnel and deploy them separately."
Mirajane shook her head gently.
"That magic requires a prepared magic circle at the destination. Rhodes would have to arrive there first to set it up, and if he's already there, there'd be no need to send anyone else."
Belno nodded and pointed to a specific location.
"Then let him go here first. Set up a circle. Return to the guild, bring a small team, and deploy them to destroy the remaining Faces simultaneously."
"That alone would save more than half the time," she added.
Mirajane's eyes lit up.
"That does work."
She turned to Rhodes immediately.
"Can you reach the Kingdom of Borgo quickly?"
Rhodes smiled faintly.
"My dear," he said lightly, "why do you think I'm still flying instead of heading back to the guild?"
...
STONES PLzz💎💎
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