Chapter 343: Siegrain Headquarters
A heavy, suffocating silence descended upon the Fairy Tail guildhall, broken only by the crackle of a few dying embers in the central hearth. Everyone was paralyzed, their eyes wide with sheer, unfiltered shock as Ren's words echoed through the cavernous room.
"How... how is that even possible?" Makarov stammered, his grip on his wooden cane tightening until his knuckles turned a stark, bruised white. The aged Guild Master shook his head, his face pale with disbelief. "The Former Council Chairman, Crawford Theme... he was always a kindhearted old man. A stickler for the rules, yes, but gentle! Even when Fairy Tail caused so much collateral damage and endless headaches, he never truly punished the guild. How could such a man be a traitor?"
Makarov simply could not reconcile the image of the benign, bureaucratic old man with the mastermind behind a bloody conspiracy. It completely shattered his perception of the former leader of the magical world.
Ren stood in the center of the hall, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp, radiating a quiet, absolute authority. Erza and Mirajane stood just a step behind him, their gazes filled with a mixture of simmering anger toward the enemy and deep, passionate admiration for the man leading them.
"People change when their power is stripped away, Master," Ren said smoothly, holding Makarov's gaze. "The Former Council Chairman was forced to step down in utter disgrace because of the machinations of Siegrain and Ultear. He harbored a deep, venomous resentment for being ousted from his prestigious office despite doing absolutely nothing wrong in his own eyes. So, he struck a deal with the devil. He collaborated with Tartaros, intending to use their sheer destructive power to reclaim his position as Chairman. Tell me, Master, who else do you think possessed the clearance to leak the highly classified home addresses of so many active Council Members?"
Makarov's expression darkened, the wrinkles on his face deepening as the horrifying reality set in. His mind flashed back to the catastrophic Etherion incident. Indeed, when Jellal—acting under the alias of the thought projection, Siegrain—and Ultear had manipulated the Magic Council into firing the ultimate satellite weapon, the Chairman had conveniently been absent, citing 'health reasons'. It was the remaining nine Council Members who were left to decide. No, it was only seven. Yajima and Org had vehemently voted against the use of the weapon from the very start to the bitter end.
Those other seven fools had cast their votes in favor, leading directly to the apocalyptic descent of Etherion.
That singular disaster had directly caused the disgraced removal of both the Chairman and the Council Members who had voted in favor. Yajima had resigned in protest of the council's corruption, and only Org had managed to maintain his position. The Former Council Chairman had suffered an unexpected, humiliating downfall, so it was only natural—in a twisted, human way—for him to let that festering resentment consume his soul.
"The Former Council Chairman... is actually the traitor," Erza whispered, her hands drifting to the hilt of her sword, her crimson hair shadowing her eyes.
"How can this be?!" Gray shouted, slamming a fist into a nearby table, freezing the wood instantly.
"No wonder Tartaros knew exactly where to strike," Mirajane added, her usually sweet voice laced with a terrifying, demonic frost. "They had the addresses of all those Council Members handed to them on a silver platter."
"What should we do next, Ren?" Makarov asked, his voice losing its trembling edge, replaced by the steely resolve of a seasoned general. Makarov looked up at the young mage. Even as the Guild Master, he knew full well that at this moment, his tactical judgment and raw power could not hold a candle to Ren's.
Ren's lips curled into a confident, razor-sharp smirk. "I know how to find Tartaros. Now, we just need to march in and deal with those arrogant bastards."
"Exactly!" Elfman roared, flexing his massive arms. "A real man doesn't let his family get hurt!"
"Those guys actually dared to harm our guild members! They poisoned Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe! We must make them pay the ultimate price!" Macao yelled, his fists igniting with purple flames.
"Let's go together! We'll tear down their guildhall brick by brick and take down those bastards!"
The members of Fairy Tail were practically vibrating with righteous indignation. A fiery, blood-pumping aura of camaraderie filled the room; every single member, from the strongest S-Class mage to the youngest rookie, wanted to storm the enemy gates together.
Ren shook his head slightly, raising a hand to quiet the roaring crowd. "It's not that simple. The location of their guild isn't fixed on any map. It's a massive, cubic island that can fly and maneuver freely through the skies."
"It's mobile?!" Lucy gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
"In other words, there's absolutely no way to know their exact location at any given time?" Levy asked, frantically flipping through a pocket-sized geographical lacrima.
"In that case, there's no way to launch a general offensive unless we somehow board that floating fortress mid-air," Erza deduced, her tactical mind instantly analyzing the logistics.
"I extracted the layout and security information of their headquarters from this guy's mind before I ripped out his soul," Ren explained, his voice chillingly calm as he extended his right hand. "But even he didn't know its specific geographic coordinates at this exact second. However... these Etherious demons have a very unique racial trait. They can be resurrected. After their physical bodies self-destruct or are killed, their cursed souls automatically return to the Tartaros guild's 'Hell's Core' to reshape their vessels and revive. By letting this guy's soul loose and following it, we have a flawless compass straight to the Tartaros headquarters."
Ren slowly opened his palm, revealing the ethereal, agonizingly twisted soul of the demon Jackal. The cursed spirit writhed against an invisible barrier, emitting a faint, high-pitched wail of pure malice and despair.
"I see!" Makarov's eyes widened in realization. Then, his gaze softened as he looked up at Ren. "Ren... I know that with your unfathomable strength, wiping out Tartaros entirely on your own would be more than enough. But this isn't just your business. This is the business of the entire Fairy Tail family. I request that our entire guild marches together to fight this war."
Makarov spoke with absolute sincerity. Tartaros was, after all, the strongest Dark Guild of the Balam Alliance. Its members were not human; they were Etherious, nightmarish demons birthed directly from the Books of Zeref, creatures that had brought unparalleled terror to the continent for centuries. Furthermore, the enemy's total military strength was still a mystery. Even if Ren was virtually a god among men, going into a demon's den alone carried unknown risks.
Besides, Makarov thought fiercely, his old bones weren't so brittle that they couldn't move yet. He would defend his children to his last breath.
"The Master is right! We also want to take down those bastards!" Wakaba cheered around his cigar.
"To actually injure our comrades, to leave Laxus on death's door... those guys are utterly unforgivable!"
"We fight together! We must avenge Laxus and the others!"
The roaring chorus of the guild washed over Ren. They were fearless, standing on the precipice of a deadly war with smiles of absolute defiance.
Hmm... alright, Ren thought, a genuine, warm smile breaking through his serious demeanor. He nodded gracefully.
Indeed, he realized, he shouldn't always bear the weight of the world entirely on his own shoulders. Combat was both a deadly crisis and an invaluable opportunity. A true protagonist's growth—and the growth of those around him—was never achieved overnight by hiding behind a stronger protector. It was a brutal, gradual process of forging one's spirit through blood, sweat, and numerous hardships.
Ren felt this deeply within his own core. Although his System had granted him the memories, battle instincts, and abilities of countless geniuses and multiversal experts, it was his own sheer will and execution in actual combat that allowed him to dominate everything.
It was just like playing a highly competitive video game. Given the exact same hero, some elite players could reach the Top 500 Challenger ranks, while others with zero battle sense would remain hardstuck in Diamond forever. While Ren might not consider himself the absolute number one in the multiverse just yet, his combat IQ easily placed him in the elite echelons.
However, his massive advantage was that he was playing the game with an utterly overpowered, reality-breaking hero, while his guildmates were essentially playing with ordinary, vanilla characters. If he cleared the map for them every time, they would never gain the 'EXP' needed to survive the apocalyptic battles that awaited them in the future. They needed this crucible.
"Contact Natsu and the others!" Ren commanded, his voice booming with the authority of an emperor. "Tell them to get their asses back here quickly! Prepare for war!!"
"YEAAAAHHH!!" The guild erupted into a frenzied, blood-pumping battle cry.
Warren immediately activated his Telepathy magic, reaching out across the continent to contact Natsu's team.
Unlike Ren, who possessed the reality-bending [Flying Thunder God Technique] allowing for instantaneous, cross-continental teleportation, the other teams moved at a painfully slow pace. Ren had already been back at the guild for half a day by the time Natsu's team had barely reached their destination, and that was only because Ren had given them a massive head start.
Soon, Warren managed to link up with Natsu. The news was grim. When Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had finally rushed to the estate of their assigned Council Member, Michello, they were a tragic step too late. The Council Member had already been brutally assassinated, the estate reduced to smoldering rubble. Clearly, Tartaros was operating with lethal efficiency and numbers; Jackal was not acting alone.
Upon hearing through Warren that Ren had captured a Tartaros demon, extracted its secrets, and had a surefire way to track down their mobile nest, Natsu practically screamed through the telepathic link in excitement and fury. They immediately commandeered a magical vehicle to hurry back. There was no way in hell the Fire Dragon Slayer was going to miss this war.
Once the preparations were finalized and the guild was armed to the teeth, Ren stepped out into the courtyard of the guild. The sun was beginning to dip, casting long, dramatic shadows over Magnolia.
Ren held out his hand and effortlessly shattered the invisible barrier holding his captive. He released Jackal's soul.
Instantly, the screeching, dark orb of spiritual energy seemed to be violently attracted by an unseen magnetic force. It shot up into the sky, rapidly flying toward the northern horizon.
Ren's eyes flashed. "[Full Body Take Over: Ulquiorra Cifer!]"
BOOM!
A terrifying, suffocating pillar of emerald-green spiritual pressure erupted from Ren's body, instantly cracking the cobblestone beneath his feet. The Fairy Tail members gasped, instinctively taking a step back as the sheer density of his power made the air feel as thick as water.
Ren's appearance shifted drastically. His skin paled to an otherworldly, flawless white. Deep, emerald tear-marks formed beneath his eyes, and a hollow hole manifested at the base of his throat. The raw, emotionless void of his aura was staggering.
But he didn't stop there.
"[Enclose! Murcielago!]"
A torrential downpour of black and green spiritual rain washed over the courtyard. Ren activated his first stage of [Resurrección], fully transforming into his Murcielago state. Grand, majestic black bat wings burst from his back, casting a massive shadow over the guild, and bone-white, horn-like protrusions framed his face. He looked like an aristocratic god of death.
Within his internal System space, Ren evaluated the form. The Ulquiorra character card was classified as a mid-tier [Gold Legendary], but it possessed highly coveted, unique characteristics. The most prominent was effortless, high-speed flight. Ulquiorra's aerial mobility was blindingly fast, completely defying the aerodynamics of Earth Land, whereas many other [Gold Legendary] cards lacked innate flying capabilities entirely.
Beyond that, Ulquiorra's comprehensive offensive toolkit was absurdly strong, especially his ultimate move: [Lanza del Relámpago]—the Thunder Lance. Not only did the javelin of highly condensed spiritual energy possess apocalyptic, mountain-shattering power, but it could be conjured instantaneously.
After violently throwing one, Ren could immediately condense the next with absolutely zero cooldown required. In short, as long as his vast, oceanic magic reserves held out, he could carpet-bomb the earth with [Lanza del Relámpago] infinitely. It was a disgustingly overpowered, game-breaking ability.
Furthermore, this form granted him access to [Garganta], a spatial-tearing technique capable of ripping through the void between dimensions. Based on these utility skills alone, the Ulquiorra card would never fall out of his primary rotation.
Ren hovered a few feet off the ground, the slow beat of his black wings kicking up a fierce gale. "Master, I will go ahead and secure the exact coordinates of the Tartaros headquarters. Once I've locked onto their airspace, I'll use the Flying Thunder God to instantaneously teleport the entire assault force over."
The plan was flawlessly set. It was time to execute.
"Good!" Makarov shouted over the rushing wind, looking up at the terrifying yet reassuring figure of his strongest mage. "Remember, Ren, do not act alone once you find it! The demons of the Books of Zeref are all monsters that once brought apocalyptic disasters to our world. It is safer, and necessary, for all of us to attack as one!"
"Understood," Ren replied, his voice echoing with a haunting, dual-layered resonance.
With a deafening sonic boom that shattered the glass of the nearby streetlamps, Ren spread his grand wings and launched himself into the stratosphere, leaving a trail of emerald light as he chased after Jackal's fleeing soul.
Ren flew at breathtaking speeds, piercing through the cloud layer. Grand mountains, sprawling forests, and winding rivers passed beneath him in mere blurs of color. The cold, high-altitude wind whipped against his pale skin, but he felt nothing but the thrilling anticipation of the hunt.
Jackal's soul was pulled inexorably onward by its dark tether, advancing at a blistering pace. Ren followed closely behind, his Reiryoku easily matching the frantic speed of the retreating spirit.
After flying relentlessly for an hour straight, crossing vast, unmapped stretches of the Fiore wilderness, the sky ahead began to darken with unnatural, swirling storm clouds.
Ren slowed his ascent, his emerald eyes narrowing.
There, suspended ominously in the sky, was a colossal, cubic island. It defied all laws of gravity, slowly rotating as it drifted through the clouds. The structure radiated an eerie, suffocating miasma of dark Curse power, an overwhelming negativity that made the very air feel toxic. It looked profoundly alien, incredibly similar to the floating, magical islands of Edolas that hung suspended in mid-air.
Ren smirked, his black wings beating steadily against the storm winds. He had found the Underworld.
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