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[X784, Velothi Mountains]
— Zancrow —
"What the hell happened here?!"
Zancrow's voice echoed through the air. A look of shock on his face.
He stood upon the base of a broken guild building— which has been reduced to nothing more than jagged beams and cracked stone. A dark flag bearing the Raven Tail insignia could be seen buried beneath the rubble.
"Shit, Meredy! Meredy!" He cried out, rushing ahead and looking for any sign of the pink-haired girl.
His boots crunched against splintered wood and stone as he pushed forward, ignoring the groans of half-dead mages twitching in the rubble. Corpses littered the area. Their auras flickered weakly or had vanished entirely.
His mind reeled. 'Had they ambushed her? Did she get caught in some goddamn trap?'
But then there she was. Against a collapsed wall, half-hidden beneath debris and broken stone, he saw her.
"No fucking way…" Zancrow whispered, stunned.
Meredy's pink hair was stained with ash and blood, her clothing singed and half-torn. Her body was crumpled in an unnatural position, her skin mottled with angry red burns. Steam still rose faintly from her as if whatever hit her had only recently ended.
"Meredy!"
Zancrow was beside her in an instant. He knelt down and pushed debris away, pressing two fingers to her neck. For a moment, he felt nothing—then, faintly, the slow thump of a pulse. Weak. But still there.
He gave a small sigh of relief before he pulled out a communication lacrima and jammed his thumb against the activation rune.
"Lord Hades! It's Meredy!" he barked. "She's on death's door!"
"I figured." The voice came out from the other side. Hades sounded calm as always, but there was something odd in his voice that Zancrow couldn't recognize.
"What?! You knew about this?!" Zancrow said, surprised.
"Only recently. I received news that Ultear is injured, she was found unconscious in her office in Era." A loud sigh came out from Hades. "My guess is that Meredy instinctively connected her senses to Ultear in a panic. The damage-sharing aspect of her Maguilty Sense probably kept her alive. Split the pain between them."
"Shit…" Zancrow replied. It made sense, somehow. Ultear had always been close with Meredy—Maguilty Sense worked best when tied to emotional bonds.
"Is Ultear compromised?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
"No. The council thinks she was ambushed. Which is nothing unusual since the Council has plenty of enemies. They won't connect this to us and she's professional enough to not say anything incriminating." Hades replied. "For now, do what you can to keep Meredy stable. The airship is en route to your location. In the meantime, investigate. Find the one responsible."
"Yes, sir."
The lacrima deactivated with a blip. Zancrow immediately dropped his bag beside him and tore it open, grabbing the emergency salves and potions that Hades had drilled into all of them.
Any mage worth their salt should be able to heal themselves in cases of injury. Healing magic was rare and considered a luxury, so learning the conventional way of healing was mandatory during their training.
Zancrow wasn't good at this kind of stuff. His magic wasn't gentle—it was all fire and rage, made to tear flesh and break bones. But his rough and calloused hands moved with careful precision as he treated Meredy's burns and stopped the worst of the bleeding.
Looking at the injured girl, Zancrow grit his teeth. 'Who the fuck could've done this?'
Meredy was the weakest of them, but she was still a member of the Kin. She wasn't a small fry by any means. 'Which means the person who did this is strong.'
Done applying the salves, he began bandaging the worst of her injuries to stem the blood as much as he could.
His fingers curled into fists as he looked at the carnage again. Not just the damage—but the scale of it. Raven Tail wasn't weak either. Cowards? Sure. Dirty fighters? Absolutely. But they weren't pushovers.
Looking around, he spotted plenty of signs of destruction. The most obvious of them being scorch marks that could have come from lightning.
'This wasn't an ambush. Someone had steamrolled this place—someone strong.' He concluded. 'Meredy was working together with Raven Tail, and yet they got beaten anyway.'
Zancrow's lips curled into a grin, sharp and wild.
"The guy who's been taking down dark guilds," he whispered to himself. "The one Bluenote mentioned."
He chuckled, the sound low and thrilled. It bubbled up from his chest like an ember catching fire.
'Guess we've got ourselves a real monster walking around, huh?'
He stood, his fists crackling with divine black flame, eyes gleaming.
'I can't wait to fight this guy.'
…
[Around the same time, Tower of Heaven]
— Jellal Fernandez —
Jellal sat atop the obsidian throne, fingers interlaced, elbows resting on the arms of the seat. His expression was unreadable, gaze locked forward with eerie calm. Deep beneath the serenity, however, his mind stirred—pieces of a grand design slowly slotting into place.
The rising sunlight filtered through the stained glass of the Tower of Heaven, casting long shadows across the cold marble of the throne room.
The reconstruction was nearing completion. It had taken time, patience, and a dangerous amount of influence across Fiore's underground, but soon, it would be ready.
The sound of footsteps echoed across the hall, followed by a voice that he recognized belonged to Orion, his subordinate. The man walked with purpose, cloaked in black with silver runes etched into his sleeves. He had long brown hair tied into a ponytail, piercing yellow eyes that showed utter devotion towards Jellal.
[Orion image]
"My lord," the man bowed low. "The reconstruction has reached ninety-eight percent in completion. All that's needed is to perfect the lacrima to be able to channel Etherion's magic through the conduit matrix. Everything should be ready in three days' time."
Jellal gave a slight nod, his lips curling faintly. "Good."
"There's also... a visitor."
Jellal paused as he gave him a raised eyebrow.
"He said you'd be expecting him."
"Send him in," Jellal said, already knowing who it would be.
Sure enough, heavy doors opened moments later, revealing a tall man cloaked in a high-collared cape.
"Ivan Dreyar…" Jellal greeted, his tone cool as winter. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Cut the crap, Jellal," Ivan replied bluntly. "You know why I'm here."
A low chuckle escaped from Jellal's throat, echoing through the empty chamber. "Indeed. Brain seeks knowledge of Nirvana, doesn't he?"
"Yes," Ivan said simply.
Jellal tilted his head. "And what does he offer in return?"
"Me."
The answer gave Jellal pause.
"You can tell can't you?" Ivan continued, a faint smirk twitching at the corner of his lips. "I might not show off much, but I'm still the master of a powerful dark guild and the son of a Wizard Saint. Brain lent me to you to assist with your little resurrection project."
"I see." Jellal leaned forward slightly, a smirk on his lips. "It's quite interesting that he knew of my plans. Then again, I have vague memories of seeing his subordinates in the Tower a long time ago. Cobra, Angel, Racer… before everything fell apart."
A flicker of amusement crossed his face.
"How intriguing," he murmured, eyes drifting to Ivan with renewed interest. He studied the man carefully, reading his magic signature, his posture, the subtle flow of magical current beneath his skin.
'He's not overly powerful,' Jellal mused. 'but he's more dangerous than most. Certainly stronger than the assassins I hired. More like a scalpel than a blunt weapon, but an S-Rank mage nonetheless.'
That alone made him useful. Unlike the Trinity Raven whose brutality often lacked finesse, Ivan could be surgical. And Brain lending him so freely? That meant the Oracion Seis were preparing for something of their own.
'Orion isn't a fighter, being the premier architect behind the Tower of Heaven's construction. Having a backup such as him wouldn't be the worst thing. Especially since I'm planning to invite more players than I initially planned.'
The face of Dannis Martell appeared in his mind. That encounter in Era, his meeting with Siegran.
'It's quite the risk, but that faint trace of Zeref I detected from him is too interesting for me to ignore. Especially if he bore secrets that could relate to the R-System.'
His gaze returned to Ivan.
'I never much cared for Nirvana anyways. It was merely something I came across one day by accident.'
A menacing smile graced his features. 'Very well then.'
If the game was going to shift, then he needed to shift with it.
"Then I accept," Jellal said. "Let Brain know I'll cooperate. I look forward to working with the Oración Seis."
…
— Ultear Milkovich —
She laid still, her eyes closed. Every breath she took was controlled. Not too shallow, yet not too deep. On the surface, she looked unconscious, helpless.
But in reality, her mind was running a mile a minute.
"Will she be alright?" Councilwoman Belno's voice was gentle but edged with concern.
"It's hard to say," the doctor answered gravely. She was an older woman with greying hair and spectacles dangling on the crook of her nose. "From what I can tell, her wounds were electric in nature. She suffered wounds to her nervous system as well as first degree burns, particularly on her shoulders and back. Whatever attack she was hit with, it was some kind of lightning magic."
Lightning. That fact alone narrowed it down. Not many could wield that type of magic with such destructive precision. Ultear knew only a handful of candidates capable of inflicting that level of damage.
"Which is a problem," Belno added, sighing. "Lightning magic isn't exactly rare."
"How did something like this happen?" Yajima interjected. "Era is considered to be a fortress…"
Their voices blurred together as the door to the infirmary opened once more. She didn't need to look to recognize the presence of Org and Crust.
The former was familiar enough to her after spending years in the council. While the latter gained her attention after his feat years ago, when he held back Grilthos the Wizard Killer alongside Dannis Martell. That singular act had done wonders for the man's career, being promoted as head security for the council headquarters.
"There has been no sign of forced entry," Org stated. "And our detection wards haven't picked up any unusual magical residues."
"My men are scouring the city and its surroundings," Crust said. "Whoever did this, they were good."
"What kind of assassin was capable of catching a member of the Wizard Saints off guard?" Belno shook her head. "The world is getting more and more troublesome by the minute."
Ultear continued listening in, pretending that she was still unconscious. But even so, she fought back the urge to grit her teeth.
She knew all their speculation was useless, since she knew exactly what happened. No one ambushed her. No one caught her off guard.
It was Meredy. She was injured.
Scratch that, she was dying.
Even now, Ultear could feel the embers of Meredy's magic lingering in her body. The others didn't detect it since she hid it as soon as she made the connection. All the doctor could feel were merely the embers of the lightning magic that coursed through her for a second.
She had woken hours ago, drenched in sweat and barely breathing. The pain hadn't been hers, but she had felt it all the same. Every jolt, every nerve burned raw. The anguish of someone being torn apart from the inside.
'Meredy's anguish.'
Ultear's hands, hidden beneath the covers, tightened into trembling fists. Her mind flashed back to when she'd first found Meredy—a girl standing in the center of a village that had turned to rubble.
A village she turned into rubble.
Seeing her then, she had made a promise.
To guide her.
To protect her.
To ensure that no one ever used her again.
And now…
Now, she was confined to a bed, pretending to be powerless while Meredy fought for her life miles away.
'What kind of protector am I?'
For years, Ultear had buried herself in deception. Her duties made her stuck here. She had manipulated the Magic Council, twisted their resources, and spun many stories to make sure that Grimoire Heart benefitted in every event.
Everything was calculated. Every move made in service of their ultimate goal.
It was a duty she had relished in for years, never once had she ever had doubts.
Until now.
The murmurs in the room continued, but they faded into the distance. Ultear closed her eyes tighter, not to feign sleep this time—but to hold back the burning sting in her eyes.
Her chest felt tight. In the silence of her own thoughts, there was only one thing that ran in her mind.
'I hope you're okay.'
She didn't know who she was speaking to. The gods? Fate? Zeref himself?
"Please... protect her. Let her live. Just let her live."
For the first time in years, Ultear Milkovich prayed.
…
AN: I apologize for the lateness since this was supposed to be uploaded yesterday. But I got too busy plotting things for my Skyrim fic that I completely forgot to post it.
Been a while since there was a full on interlude chapter. We get to see what's in the mind of the villains side of things.
Jellal and Ivan working together was something I had planned for a long time. It was why I gave them some POV's way back in the previous chapters.
Also, a new OC is introduced! A relatively mild one, I just find it hard to believe that Jellal never had loyal subordinates of his own. Erza's friends don't count since he always meant to betray them.
Orion is Jellal's right hand man, being the premier architect for the construction of the Tower of Heaven and fanatically loyal to Jellal. Jellal never showed any particular tendency to be a genius builder, so I always wondered where he got the knowledge of building the Tower of Heaven from.
So as always whenever I find plot inconveniences from canon, I take my own liberties to it.
I've also been wanting to make an Ultear POV for a while now. Thought the best chance of it was here since we'll be seeing quite plenty of Grimoire Heart in the next few chapters.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Cheers!