"Collection complete!"
Mira flashed Rhodes a cheerful OK sign.
The "collection" in question referred to the souls of the defeated demons. The Nine Demon Gates members who had "seemed to have heatstroke" and the guild master who had "felt unwell."
After the battle, the kind Ms. Mirajane Strauss had used her Take Over on Mard Geer while he still had a single breath left. Ended his pain. Claimed his soul.
Jackal and Tempester had been next. Mira grabbed both of them before they could trigger their self-destruct sequences. Quick, clean, no fuss.
Kyoka's soul had been found inside Hell's Core. She was still cursing from within the cultivation tank, spitting venom at anyone within earshot. But as a disembodied soul, she had absolutely no way to resist. Mira took her without breaking a sweat.
There had also been a tentacle monster and a group of researchers in rabbit-eared white lab coats lurking inside Hell's Core. Mira dealt with them too. Unceremoniously.
The only one who escaped collection was Keyes. His body had crumbled to nothing and his soul was nowhere to be found. There was nothing left to Take Over.
The running theory was that Gray's Devil Slayer magic had erased him completely. Body and soul.
He truly lived up to Silver's assessment: the weakest of the Nine Demon Gates in personal combat strength.
The remaining Tartaros forces, minus those already defeated and a handful of stubborn holdouts, surrendered without much resistance. Rhodes had people haul several inscribed stone tablets out of the ruins as evidence, then waved for the Voidmites to move in and start clearing construction debris.
With that, the Tartaros incident could officially be considered closed.
"Alright, Mira and I are heading out for a bit. Everyone else, get back to the guild and start preparing for the celebration!"
"OHHHHH!!!"
The word "celebration" hit the guild like a bolt of lightning. Every trace of fatigue vanished instantly.
Natsu perked up. "Going out? Is there another fight?"
"Nothing that fun," Rhodes said. "We're delivering these prisoners to the Council. The stone tablets too. Evidence that Fairy Tail wiped out Tartaros."
Mira hadn't been on a proper trip in a while, and her role in today's battle had been mostly support work behind the scenes. She wanted to stretch her legs.
Lucy tilted her head. "Wasn't the Council building destroyed?"
"Mr. Org is still operational, and some of the mid-level staff survived. They can handle basic administrative work." Rhodes shrugged. "Besides, the prison is underground. It took almost no damage in the attack. Plenty of room for these guys."
In the Kingdom of Pergrande, near the southern bay.
A translucent blue orb of light streaked in from the west, crossing the sky in a blink and landing precisely inside the magic circle Rhodes had planted near the Council's temporary site.
The speed was absurd. Ordinary people wouldn't have registered it at all. Anyone with sharper eyes might have caught a flash of blue and dismissed it as a trick of the light.
Under normal circumstances, even the Council's security wouldn't have noticed. But these weren't normal circumstances. Every nerve in the organization was still raw from the attack two days ago. A patrol team scrambled to investigate within seconds.
"Rho... Rhodes-san?"
Rhodes raised a hand in greeting. He gestured at the cluster of bound, unconscious figures piled on the ground beside him. "Oh, hello. Sorry for showing up unannounced. Could you take these into custody for me?"
The squad leader's eyes locked onto the emblems on the prisoners' armor. His face changed. "These are... Tartaros?"
"That's right. Tartaros has been defeated by our guild." Rhodes paused. "Is Mr. Org available?"
"You actually... already..." The squad leader's composure cracked for a moment. The organization that had attacked the Council and murdered nearly the entire leadership two days ago had already been destroyed. By a single guild.
He pulled himself together, barked an order for one of his subordinates to run back and deliver the news, and directed the rest of his team to secure the prisoners.
Then he personally escorted Rhodes and Mira toward Org's location.
The search and rescue operations at the Council headquarters had been completed days ago. The ruins had been cleared to a workable state, though "workable" was doing a lot of heavy lifting.
The building that had once been a majestic palace now stood at less than half its original height. Construction crews crawled over the remains like ants, inspecting structural integrity, taking measurements, and debating the costs of two options: tear everything down and rebuild from scratch, or try to renovate on the existing foundation.
Temporary tents had been pitched on the nearby open ground, serving as makeshift offices. Fixed and mobile sentries were stationed at every approach. Further out, the Pergrande army maintained a visible perimeter.
It was clear that the Council had taken a devastating blow. It was equally clear that Org was holding things together through sheer willpower and organizational discipline.
The squad leader brought Rhodes and Mira to the entrance of Org's tent. A guard ducked inside to announce them.
Org's voice reached them before the guard came back out. "Please, come in."
Rhodes lifted the flap and stepped through. Mira followed.
The interior was sparse. A basic desk. A camp bed. Nothing else. The kind of setup that said its occupant hadn't left this tent for anything resembling rest in days.
Org sat behind the desk. He'd already set down his pen and was looking at the entrance. His face was tired, but his eyes were sharp.
Standing behind him was Mest. Or Doranbolt, depending on which name you preferred. True to his word, he hadn't left Org's side since the attack. He wouldn't, until he was certain the last surviving Council member was safe.
Org offered a small, weary smile. "Welcome. I apologize for not standing to greet you properly. As you can see..." He gestured vaguely at himself. "My current condition doesn't allow for it."
Only then did Rhodes notice that Org wasn't sitting in a chair. He was in a wheelchair.
The healing magic administered after the attack had been timely enough to save his life. But Org was old. Taking a stone slab of that size at his age, it was remarkable he'd survived at all. Walking again was likely out of the question.
"Sorry for the intrusion." Rhodes's gaze drifted to the thick stacks of documents piled across the desk, and he felt a genuine pang of sympathy.
The workload of nine Council members, dumped onto the shoulders of one injured old man. That was brutal.
"First, some good news. Tartaros has been completely wiped out."
"What?"
The look on Org's face was identical to the squad leader's from minutes ago. Pure, undiluted shock. Beside him, Doranbalt's expression mirrored it exactly.
Rhodes and Mira smiled and gave them a concise summary of the battle and its results.
Org didn't speak for a long time afterward. He sat very still, processing, as if the information needed to settle into his bones before he could believe it.
Finally, he spoke. His voice was steady. Serious. "Thank you. I want to thank Fairy Tail on behalf of the Council members who lost their lives. And I want to thank you on behalf of every mage on this continent. What you stopped today... most people will never understand how close it came."
Rhodes waved a hand. "No need for all that. We're part of Ishgar too. Besides, the enemy came to our front door. We didn't exactly have the option of sitting it out."
"Thank you," Org said again. Then, with a slight shift in tone, "To be perfectly honest, I was drowning in headaches before you arrived. Reporters at the gate every day demanding interviews. Formal inquiries pouring in from every major kingdom. Being able to report a resolution this quickly is an enormous relief."
"Sounds like you've been under serious pressure." Rhodes reached into his bag. "In that case, this should help. I brought more than just prisoners."
He set a folder on the desk.
"Crawford Seam's body is among the ones we delivered. With physical evidence of the former Chairman's betrayal, no one will be able to question you about the Council's destruction or the intelligence leak surrounding Face."
After the Face self-destruct sequence had completed, Rhodes had stopped sustaining Crawford's reanimated body. The man was now fully, properly dead.
If his corpse could take some political pressure off Org's shoulders, then at least Crawford would have been useful for something in the end.
It was the least he owed, considering the damage his betrayal had caused.
"Crawford..." Org's expression didn't brighten. He stared at the folder for a while, then let out a long, heavy sigh.
They had served on the Council together for years. Neither man had been perfect. But Org had never imagined his colleague would walk this far down the wrong path.
"We've also put together a brief intelligence report on Tartaros's key members." Rhodes placed several more documents on the desk. "Should be useful for official records, archival purposes, or answering those reporters."
Org accepted them with a nod.
They exchanged a few more words. Nothing heavy. Just the quiet, practical conversation of people wrapping up the aftermath of something terrible. Then Rhodes excused himself.
He wanted to take Mira for a walk along the seaside before heading back to the guild. They'd earned that much.
Org asked Doranbalt to see them out.
Once the tent flap fell closed, Org picked up the documents Rhodes had left behind. He read through them slowly, carefully, with the attention of a man who had spent decades evaluating people through paperwork.
After a while, he spoke without looking up. "Lahar."
"Yes?"
"What do you think of him? Of Rhodes?"
"In what regard?"
"All of them."
Lahar considered the question carefully before answering.
"In terms of magic power, he's beyond anything I can properly gauge. He may be comparable to the Four Gods of Ishgar."
He paused, choosing his next words.
"In terms of ability and character, the record speaks for itself. He's resolved crisis after crisis. We've both seen it firsthand."
"In terms of temperament, he's far more level-headed than most people in Fairy Tail." A brief pause. "Perhaps more level-headed than most mages, period."
"Even Doranbalt, who never had a kind word for Fairy Tail, spoke highly of him." Lahar hesitated, then added with a careful tone, "Though his competence has, ironically, made Fairy Tail itself considerably more troublesome to deal with than before."
"Haha." A genuine laugh escaped Org. Small, tired, but real. He thought about how much Fairy Tail had changed over the past few years. How the guild that had once been famous primarily for property damage and noise complaints had somehow become the linchpin of continental security.
All while remaining an absolute headache for anyone in an administrative position.
Lahar looked at him curiously. "Why the sudden question?"
Org set down the documents. His fingers drummed once against the desk.
"Well. I have an idea. It isn't fully formed yet."
...
STONES PLzzz
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