Early September. Early autumn.
Summer's heat hadn't fully retreated, but the morning sun no longer scorched the streets of Magnolia.
The town stirred awake as it always did.
Shopkeepers rolled up shutters. Vendors set up stalls. Workers headed toward the train station. Neighbors paused to exchange gossip over fresh bread and coffee. Life moved with easy rhythm.
Even though it was still mid-morning, a few familiar regulars were already thinking about stopping by the Fairy Tail pub. Loud? Yes. Chaotic? Absolutely. But somehow, being there always made people feel alive.
Dublin was one of those regulars.
His favorite pastime was sitting idly in Fairy Tail's hall, especially near the so-called "Shadow Gear Team." For seven years, he'd told himself he would join the guild. For seven years, he'd told himself he would confess to Levy.
Every single time, he decided both were too troublesome and gave up before even trying.
Still, he kept coming back.
There was something comforting about being around them, about watching Natsu argue, Erza scold, Levy read, and Nab sit around claiming he was "waiting for the right job."
Today, though, when Dublin arrived near noon, the guild's massive front doors were tightly shut.
He scratched the back of his head.
The only time Fairy Tail closed its doors was during the Grand Magic Games.
He considered asking someone what was happening… then immediately felt that even asking would be too much effort.
Just as he was debating whether to simply go home, a small winged loudspeaker buzzed overhead.
Makarov's amplified voice rang across the city:
"Attention, citizens of Magnolia! The Dark Guild Tartaros is advancing from the west! Fairy Tail has moved to intercept them outside the city! Please prepare to evacuate in an orderly manner!"
"Tartaros…?" Dublin muttered. The name sounded familiar.
He didn't understand the details, but if Master Makarov said evacuate, then he would evacuate.
More floating speakers drifted through the sky, repeating the message across Magnolia.
This announcement should have come from City Hall, properly stamped and verified.
But there was no time for formalities.
Across town, citizens hurried home. There was tension, but not chaos.
They believed Fairy Tail would win.
They always did.
At City Hall, officials scrambled into action. Messengers were dispatched. Twilight Ogre was contacted to assist with city defense. Clerks shouted over one another while drafting emergency orders.
The mayor stepped outside and looked toward the western sky.
Suddenly, two beams of blinding white light shot diagonally upward from the mountains.
"What in the world…?"
...
"What is that?!"
Franmalth had the exact same thought in Tartaros' control room.
A heartbeat later, the answer arrived.
The entire Cube shuddered violently.
An explosion tore through the lower decks.
"It's a Magic Concentrated Cannon! Two shots!"
Crawford slammed his hands across the console, activating his Super Archive to access Cube's structural diagnostics.
The surveillance display shifted to the underside of the floating island.
Far below, in the mountainous region, smoke curled from two concealed artillery positions. On the peaks of two modest mountains, cannon muzzles withdrew backward, sliding into hidden camouflaged housings beneath the forest canopy.
On Cube's front and bottom sections, two massive holes, each nearly a hundred meters wide, gaped open.
Fragments of rock, shattered timber, and torn organic material rained down from the ruptures. Several unlucky soldiers were dragged into the open sky with the debris.
"The frontal hull and lower gravity modules are severely damaged," Crawford reported rapidly, fingers flying. "Multiple gravity control nodes are offline!"
Then he turned on Franmalth.
"Didn't you say this operation was covert? That flying directly overhead wouldn't be detected?"
"How was I supposed to know? It's always worked before!" Franmalth snapped back, equally shaken. "Maybe the weather..."
"The weather?!" Crawford nearly shrieked. "You're telling me someone just happened to look up at a clear sky, just happened to notice us, just happened to have two fully-charged Magic Concentrated Cannons ready, and just happened to fire both at the exact same moment?"
Crawford let out a sharp, disdainful laugh.
"Use your brain for once. If this were just a coincidence, there's no way they could've prepared an ambush that fast."
His fingers tapped rapidly across the console.
"Information was leaked. Three of the Nine Demon Gates were killed, weren't they? Do you really think they kept their mouths shut before dying?"
He projected his own cowardice onto them without hesitation.
If his life were on the line, he would've spilled everything.
Naturally, the Nine Demon Gates must have done the same.
"Impossible!" Franmalth snapped immediately. "Today's navigation route was decided by Lord Mard Geer himself. Those three couldn't have known it."
Two guards burst into the control room.
"Lord Franmalth, below...!"
"I know!" Franmalth barked. "Mobilize everyone! Whoever is ambushing us, wipe them out!"
"Yes, sir!"
As the guards ran out, Franmalth glanced at the massive holes torn through Cube's hull and muttered irritably,
"Damn it… do you know how much this is going to cost to repair?"
He paused.
"Actually, how much does it cost?"
Crawford gave him a strange look.
"Cost? Since when does it cost money to repair? Cube is alive."
Rhodes had seen it clearly the moment both cannons struck.
The floating square island had twisted unnaturally, not like metal bending, but like flesh reacting to pain.
Silver had warned him before: Cube itself was a colossal demon. Landing recklessly on it could be dangerous.
Rhode believed in verifying intelligence.
So he tested it.
Sure enough, at the two massive impact sites, something grotesque began to writhe. Dark, pulsing flesh expanded outward from the shattered stone. The broken surfaces didn't crumble further, they healed, veins spreading like roots through fractured rock.
A low, resonant vibration rolled through the air.
Not mechanical.
Organic.
Like a titanic beast stirring in its sleep.
"So it really is alive."
Landing directly was no longer a simple tactical choice. It was entering the body of a monster.
Rhode immediately issued orders through the communication link.
"Sniper team, relocate at once. After the Magic Cannons finish recharging, wait for a clear shot and prioritize vital targets."
"Received!"
"Received!"
From two separate mountaintops, Alzack and Bisca began dismantling their artillery positions with practiced coordination.
The cannons were no ordinary weapons.
One was the Jupiter-class cannon once deployed by Phantom Lord.
The other, the Saturn model from Dragon's Treasure, was its upgraded successor, boasting superior compression and output.
Even Cube couldn't ignore a direct hit from those.
But Cube wasn't finished reacting.
From its underside, thick black appendages burst forth, tentacle-like limbs made of writhing shadow and hardened flesh. They stretched downward, flexing and coiling in midair like grotesque roots searching for purchase.
Along the top surface, rows of dark horn-like protrusions split through the stone. Chunks of rock and soil piled between them, forming a jagged ridge like a monstrous dorsal fin.
Then, at the front of the cube, the cracked hull began to split wider.
Stone peeled back like lips parting.
Inside was not machinery.
It was a mouth.
Two rows of perfectly aligned teeth emerged, massive and pale. Between them slid a thick, muscular tongue slick with viscous fluid.
The earlier cannon strike which had seemed to blast a hole through its front, now looked insignificant.
On that colossal face, it was nothing more than a small blemish.
Then the sky trembled.
"ROOOOAAARRR!!!"