The early hours of winter were bitterly cold.
This world had no tradition of staying up to see in the New Year, and so even as the new year arrived, the vast majority of people lay fast asleep.
In a deserted village at the border of Fiore and Bosco, however, firelight had already been lit.
Dozens of figures in black hooded robes held torches and gathered in the open ground at the village's center. They were tired, but their expressions were alive with excitement. According to the High Priest, if the plan went smoothly, they would lay eyes on the legendary Zeref himself before the day was out.
In the small chapel at the heart of the village, two rows of candles burned on either side of the prayer room.
A white-bearded old man in clerical robes and an iron mask knelt in prayer. "Great Zeref, may all souls return to you. May you stand at the pinnacle of the great magic world and cleanse this filthy age."
This was the Avatar cult's leader. The High Priest, Arlock.
Before him lay several shattered stone tablets covered in ancient script that few living people could read. Had Rhodes been present, he might have recognized them as coming from the ruins of Tartaros. When the Avatar cult had retrieved them, and from which site, was anyone's guess.
When the prayer ended, two figures entered the prayer room. A white-haired woman dressed in simple black leather, and a heavily armed, broad-shouldered man. These were the two remaining officers at Avatar's headquarters: Briar and D-6.
"Lord Arlock." D-6's voice came out muffled behind his iron mask. "The time has come."
Briar held up a communication Lacrima. "The operatives we positioned inside the city have gone dark. The Council is likely already in position. Should we consider adjusting the Purification Plan?"
"No need." Arlock rose, took up the staff leaning against the wall, and let out a low, satisfied laugh.
He was not afraid that the Council was ready for them. He had been counting on it.
Because what he had always intended to offer Zeref was not merely the souls of thirty thousand citizens. He intended to offer the entire Avatar cult as well.
It was the Council's crackdown that had left the cult short on followers and, consequently, short on what Arlock considered high-quality souls. That was unacceptable.
So he had given the order to recruit aggressively, and he had communicated the Purification Plan in a way that was quietly visible to those watching. Not hidden enough to stay secret, not obvious enough to look deliberate.
He had been baiting the Council from the start. He wanted their souls added to the offering too, to compensate for everything that had been lost in recent months.
The two officers, unaware of Arlock's actual intentions, took his composure as reassurance and set their doubts aside. The Council was troublesome, but Avatar's numbers were in the thousands, and Arlock held a trump card. The Purification Plan would go forward without issue.
They took their places at the chapel door, made way for Arlock, and followed him out.
The restless crowd outside fell quiet at the sight of him.
Arlock raised his staff slightly. "The day of purification is here. Call in all branches. Fight for Zeref."
The roar that answered him rolled out across the dark fields.
The two officers raised their communication Lacrimas and began transmitting the assembly signal to the hidden branches scattered nearby. The new communication tools had proven genuinely useful. The efficiency of coordinating between headquarters and the branches had improved considerably.
"There we go. They're using the Lacrima network to communicate."
On the outskirts of Marba City, a radar map rendered itself across the screen of the communication Lacrima in Rhodes's hand. Twenty kilometers out, small red dots were flickering into existence one after another.
Gray watched over his shoulder. "If you can track them, can they track us?"
Warren answered before Rhodes could. "No. Rhodes is running the law enforcement version, which is Council-exclusive. The Avatar cult would only have access to the civilian model."
Lucy said, "That's remarkably convenient."
Rhodes gave Lucy a pat on the shoulder. "Don't just watch. You have a job."
"A job?"
"Yes. Lucy, you're going to take down the Avatar cult."
"Me?"
Ten kilometers from Marba City, the Avatar cult moved in a loose, ragged column.
Whatever faith bound them together, it had not translated into anything resembling discipline. At the very front of the line, a branch leader was walking and simultaneously delivering what he apparently considered an inspiring sermon to the people behind him.
"Leader, someone's coming toward us!"
"Looks like a woman?"
The branch leader squinted at the figure running toward them through the dark. She looked familiar.
Short purple hair. Black cat-ear hair accessory.
"Is that. Lady Mary?"
Mary was running hard, and she pulled up a short distance in front of the column, breathing fast. The branch leader stared at her. "I heard you were captured. How did you—"
"I got away. That doesn't matter right now." She was still catching her breath. "The Council has set an ambush. Where is Grandfather?"
The branch leader knew she was the High Priest's granddaughter. "Lord Arlock is at the rear, with the headquarters group."
Mary didn't wait for anything else. She turned and ran toward the back of the column.
The branch leader opened his mouth to suggest stopping, to regroup, to do something cautious. She was already gone.
He stood there uncertain. He couldn't just keep marching straight into an ambush, could he?
Many of the cult's newer recruits didn't recognize Mary. The older members who did watched her pass with curiosity. When a few tried to slow her down or ask questions, the veterans waved them off, and Mary reached Arlock without being stopped.
"Grandfather! It's me, Mary!"
Before Arlock could speak, Briar turned in surprise. "You? Why are you here?"
"I slipped away when they weren't watching. It took me a long time to find this place." Mary kept moving as she spoke, still covering the last stretch toward the High Priest, as though she intended to embrace him. "Listen to me. The Council is—"
Arlock looked at her for one moment, then raised his staff and pointed it at her without hesitation.
A beam of light, no thicker than a thumb, fired from the eye-shaped carving on the staff and struck her directly in the chest.
Both Briar and D-6 spun around. "Lord Arlock?!"
"Grandfather—"
Mary seemed unable to hold on. Her body pitched forward.
Before she hit the ground, she dissolved into two beams of light and became two small blue figures.
"Looks like we failed, Gemi!"
"Sure does, Mini. What a shame!"
The two small figures vanished mid-sentence.
Briar said slowly, "That was. a Celestial Spirit?"
D-6 said with admiration, "As expected of Lord Arlock. He saw through it immediately."
"I didn't see through anything," Arlock said, his voice flat. "Mary has been in their custody long enough. She can no longer be trusted."
A ripple of shock moved through the surrounding crowd.
Lord Arlock had genuinely just tried to kill his own granddaughter.