The party ran late into the night, as it always did.
Rhodes took Mira home early.
His intention had been for her to rest. Then Mira showed him something nice, and the two of them ended up playing around for a little while. Restraint was necessary during pregnancy, but a little while was still a little while.
The next morning, the news hit the entire Ishgar continent at once.
Tartaros was gone.
The latest issue of the newspaper carried it front to back, and with it, Fairy Tail's name rose another notch in a reputation that was already difficult to top.
The Council's press conference filled the rest of the pages. Org laid out Crawford Seam's crimes in full, then turned the lens on the previous Council's failures without softening either. In the accompanying interview, he confirmed that discussions on selecting new Council members were already underway.
The next Council, he said, would be sharper, more capable, and better positioned to actually make people feel safe. When that time came, he intended to step down himself and hand the work of maintaining the magical world's stability to a generation more suited to carry it.
Rhodes set the newspaper down on the bar counter. "Why does this feel like there's nothing actually in it? They didn't even name any candidates."
"Because naming candidates for something this consequential is genuinely difficult," Yajima said, setting his tea down. "And even once people are chosen, you need their consent before you can announce anything. You can't print a list that hasn't been agreed to." He paused. "I have some experience with that process, though not particularly fond memories of it."
Mirajane glanced toward the rest of the guild. "The guests will be arriving soon. Are you going to wake everyone up?"
The guild floor looked like a battlefield after a ceasefire. Bodies sprawled across tables, benches, and bare floor in every direction. A handful of early risers were upright. The rest were emphatically not.
Rhodes checked the time and a slow, mischievous grin spread across his face. "Yeah, about time." He looked at Mira and Yajima. "Cover your ears."
Mirajane had a reasonable guess about what was coming and complied without argument. Yajima took the advice at face value and covered his ears without asking questions.
Rhodes raised his right hand and traced several quick strokes through the air with his index finger. The red word SOUND formed from condensed magical energy, hanging suspended in the middle of the guild, and then began vibrating.
Slowly at first, a low and heavy drone that you felt more than heard, and then faster, the frequency climbing, the drone sharpening into a whine that climbed further still until it hit the precise pitch of a microphone pressed too close to a speaker.
The feedback screech tore through every wall in the building.
The effect was immediate. Sleeping faces contorted. Hands flew to ears. Eyes snapped open. People launched themselves upright from positions that would have looked impossible to sleep in to begin with.
"Who did that?!"
"My ears! What the hell!"
"Bastard! Cut it out!"
The guild went from dead silent to completely alive in about four seconds.
Rhodes dispersed the Text Magic with a casual wave. He looked out at the sea of furious faces staring at him from every corner of the room and smiled pleasantly.
"Come on, clean up. The tavern opens soon."
"Someone clean him up first!"
Fairy Tail had never had a shortage of brave souls.
Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Jet, Elfman and several others grabbed whatever was within arm's reach and hurled it in Rhodes's direction, then charged after it screaming.
Rhodes stepped back over the counter in one easy motion, picked up a long bench, and worked through the incoming projectiles with a series of clean thwacks, knocking mugs, boots, and an unidentified cushion out of the air in quick succession.
Then he came back over the counter.
The bench cracked across Gajeel's back and drove him face first into the floor. Rhodes dropped what was left of it, pivoted left and punched Natsu cleanly enough to send him airborne and directly onto Lucy, pivoted right and kicked Gray into Juvia, turned and fixed Elfman with a look that stopped him mid-stride like his feet had been nailed down, then caught Jet by the collar, spun once, and launched him squarely into Troy.
Outside, people heading out early heard the crashes and banging spilling out of the guild building, glanced over briefly, and kept walking.
Fairy Tail. Nothing serious.
The noise settled after a while.
Rhodes straightened up, patted down his clothes, and looked around at the aftermath cheerfully.
"Alright, bury the dead, and everyone still breathing get up and get to work!"
Everyone got up grumbling, muttering variations of "we'll settle this next time" as they started collecting broken furniture and sweeping up the mess.
Michello emerged from wherever he had been waiting with his granddaughter Michaelia at his side, having apparently decided to appear only once the brawling was definitively finished.
He looked around at the state of the guild with obvious displeasure. "Honestly. First thing in the morning. Is Master Makarov here? We've imposed on you for two days now and wanted to take our leave."
Yajima was already crouched beside a small lump on the floor. He patted Makarov's forehead twice. "Makarov. Time to wake up. How did you sleep through all of that?"
Rhodes stared. They had just caused enough noise to rattle the walls and the master had not moved once. Exactly how much had he drunk last night.
Mirajane passed Yajima a damp towel. The intended use was fairly self-evident.
Yajima looked at the towel, looked at Makarov, and slapped it directly onto the old man's face.
"Mmmph!"
Makarov's arms and legs shot out in every direction at once, flailing with an energy that suggested genuine fear for his life. The overall effect was remarkably similar to a murder scene. Fortunately he was not an ordinary old man and pulled through, eventually sitting upright and blinking at the room with the bewildered expression of someone piecing together where they were.
He greeted everyone present in a voice still thick with sleep.
Michello watched this with a dark expression. He had now observed Fairy Tail across two full days, from the eldest member to the youngest, and had reached some conclusions. He repeated his farewell.
Makarov waved a hand. "Leaving already? Yajima is staying a few more days. Ms. Belno too. Why not join them?"
Yajima's restaurant had been destroyed in the chaos, leaving him with no particular reason to rush back, so he had arranged to stay at Makarov's house for a while.
Belno's situation was similar. Her home had not survived the destruction either, and beyond that she had found herself wanting to observe more of Gajeel's daily life, so she had accepted the offer of a room in the girls' dormitory the night before, ending up right beside Levy.
Michello shook his head firmly. "I prefer peace and quiet." His house had been frozen solid by Silver's ice at one point but had come through the thaw without major damage, so there was nothing keeping him here.
More to the point, he had survived Tartaros and had no intention of meeting his end at the hands of Fairy Tail, which felt like a genuine possibility if he stayed much longer. These people treated ordinary brawling as a warm-up activity.
And there was that blue-haired woman who kept looking at Michaelia with that unsettling expression. He had heard she used to be one of the Four Element Captains from Phantom Lord. Very scary.
Makarov did not push further once it was clear his mind was made up.
Rhodes called Lisanna over and asked her to walk them out and help flag down a carriage. They confirmed they needed no escort, and Rhodes left it at that.
The other guests still in the guild were three people and two cats from Sabertooth. Minerva had already made arrangements with Porlyusica to begin treatment, working to remove the demonic alterations that had been done to her body.
Sting and Rogue had both taken serious injuries during the fighting and were using the opportunity to get proper medicine and recover. They would likely be around for another two or three days. They had not set up inside the guild though. They had pitched a tent outside Porlyusica's treehouse, citing convenience for treatment.
Rhodes suspected they were too proud to impose further and had said nothing about it.
The guild floor gradually returned to something resembling order. Laki moved through the room quietly, her Wood-Make magic patching the broken floorboards and straightening what remained of the tables and chairs until the place was functional again.
The tavern had barely opened when the door swung in and a postman stepped through, slightly out of breath. "Letters for master Makarov and Mr. Rhodes."
"Here." Rhodes raised a hand. He considered inviting the man to sit down for a drink. The postman politely declined before the offer was fully out of his mouth.
Rhodes broke the seal on his letter and scanned it. A joint letter addressed to both him and the master. He reached the relevant line and nodded to himself.
"Ten Wizard Saints gathering. Thought so."
He passed it across to Makarov.
...
Stones PLzzzz