Chapter 8

Mystogan was perplexed.

It had only been three days since the guild war with Phantom Lord where he attacked all the enemy's subdivisions on his own. Ideally, he would take a short rest after such a large task, but the anima won't wait for him to catch his breath.

He had stopped by the guild during their rebuilding process to accept a quest near the spot where he'd calculated the anima to appear. The anima was sealed with no issues, but the quest is what has him confused.

It was only a regular low-level dark guild suppression quest for a guild called Cyclops' Eye, nothing unusual for an S-class mage. He even completed it without any issues either, capturing all 23 members of the guild. He's currently waiting for a squad of Rune Knights to come and pick them up, but he can't get his mind off it. It was just too unusual.

The first sign of abnormality was that the entire guild base was abandoned, and many items were left behind. It felt like they were in a rush to leave, but they shouldn't have known that Mystogan was coming for them. Even if they did, dark mages are usually far too arrogant to flee from a light mage. They know that light mages try not to go for the kill, and it makes them think that they have an advantage. Even if one or two people might flee, it's highly unlikely that the entire guild would.

The second was that they hardly fought back at all. As soon as their first attack failed, they surrendered and allowed themselves to be captured. They even lined up and ushered him to hurry it along. It's as if the moment they saw that they might have to slow down, they decided to take the quickest route out of there. Even if it meant going to a jail cell.

The third is…

"Don't you understand me?! You need to get us out of here now! We can't afford to wait for the Rune Knights! If we don't leave now, we're all as good as dead!" The blonde guild leader, a woman who looks like she could be Lucy Heartfilia's evil blue-eyed aunt, shouts at her captor.

They're all still terrified of something. Even though they've seen how strong he is, they don't seem to have any faith in his ability to protect them from whatever they're scared of. Maybe they just don't believe that he would be willing to save them.

"Don't worry, I'm an S-class mage from Fairy Tail. I won't let anything happen to you until you're all in the custody of the Rune Knights." Mystogan assures them, but they don't look like they feel any better.

"It doesn't matter if you let anything happen or not." The woman screams in frustration, she's so scared that tears are beginning to build up. "If that monster finds us, nobody can stop it from killing us all. Do you have any idea how many people that thing has killed? What does your 'S-class' count for in front of a monster like that?"

Mystogan was surprised. He hadn't expected them to be completely assured when they heard his rank, but he had at least thought that they would gain some confidence. Just what kind of fear has been implanted in them?

"Then tell me, what is this monster? Why are you so certain that I will lose against it?"

The woman hesitates and looks to the ground. This is sensitive information. Eventually, she finds her resolve and meets his eyes.

"You had better be serious about ensuring my safety after this because if they find out I told you about him, I'm dead." She takes a deep breath. "He's called the Balam Executioner, though I've heard his real name is White. His job is to kill anyone who might give up information about the Balam Alliance, whether they're traitors or if they've simply been found out like us." She sneers at him. "As for why you will lose, it's because you cannot win. Even if you're right and you are stronger than him, he's a monster who can't die, can't be stopped. Nobody who's ever been marked by him has survived because he doesn't lose. Not ever."

Well, that sounds like a problem. If he's a high-ranking member of the Balam Alliance, that leaves only three possible guilds. The Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart, or Tartarus. None of the three sound like someone he wants to fight while protecting 23 prisoners. He's never even heard of a Balam Executioner before, but he has seen what is likely his work.

For the past few years, almost every time a dark guild with suspected ties to the Balam Alliance is cornered, the entire guild would be wiped out by the time the raid arrives. Mystogan had been a member of one of those raids in the past, and the scene was horrible. Every single person had been decapitated and left in a heap on the floor. It didn't even look like they were able to fight back.

To this day, the council still has no idea who was responsible for these massacres and has a large bounty posted for any information on the culprit. It may be dangerous, but Mystogan needs to find out as much information as possible now that a lead has finally shown itself.

"I need more details than that." He had processed all that information in a second and spoke without pause. "Tell me everything you know about him. His name is White. What is his age? Appearance? Guild? Magic? Anything and everything you know about him."

"We don't have time for this damn it!" She curses at the Fairy Tail mage. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know later, just get us out of here now!"

"We can make time," Mystogan states. "And you will talk, now."

"Ok, ok, but we leave as soon as I'm done." She relents, but the hard look in her eyes remains as she glares at the Fairy Tail mage. "Ok, like I said, his name is White. I've heard he's only thirteen, but he's tall, so he looks 15 or 16. When I saw him, he was wearing a black and purple haori with black pants and bare feet. Um, what else? Oh, his hair is pure white, like snow. He keeps it in a messy ponytail that's kind of spiky. His eyes are emerald green and his left eye has a red guild mark on it. His guild is Grimoire Heart."

That's not good, Mystogan thought. It would be best if it was the Oracion Seis, where all members were public knowledge, but that physical description doesn't match any of the known members of Grimoire Heart. At least it's not Tartarus, who is a complete unknown. Still, once he puts together a mental image for White, Mystogan can't help but think that he's heard a similar description before.

"And his magic?" He asks.

"Well, honestly nobody knows." She admits. "He carries a sword at his waist, so it probably has to do with that, but then the rumors that he's immortal wouldn't make sense. There are also rumors that he can steal other people's magic. Honestly, I think he's just some kind of demon."

"I see, I'm going to report this to my guild master, and then I will take you all away from here to the nearest Rune Knight base." Mystogan pauses before his gaze softens a bit. "You were a big help, I'll try to make sure you get a lighter sentence after this."

"Report to him later, get us out of here now if you're really grateful!" She exasperates. "A lighter sentence won't help me if I die first!"

"You will be safe. I will only move around the treeline for privacy. I will still be able to hear if anyone approaches." Mystogan assures her.

"Fine, just please hurry." Her eyes lose their bite and she becomes a simple scared woman, not an angry dark mage. "I met him in person 4 days ago, and that thing wasn't a human. He's something else. He looked at me like I was a juicy slab of meat. Not in a sexual way, but in a more literal sense. He was a carnivore looking at his prey. All he wanted to know was what kind of magic I had. I know that he wants to steal it." She reaches out with her cuffed hands and grabs Mystogan's cloak. "He absolutely won't let me get away, so you have to protect me! Please!"

Without another word, Mystogan disappears from her sight and reappears on a tree branch a short distance away. All he has to do is look around the trunk he's leaning against to have a perfect view of the clearing and all 23 captives.

Mystogan pulls out a communication lacrima and contacts Makarov.

"Mystogan, what is it?" Makarov's voice comes through the magic device.

"I've acquired some information that you need to know as soon as possible."

"Let's hear it then." Makarov's voice is solemn, if it's Mystogan who says that, he knows this is big.

After Mystogan finishes reporting everything the dark guild leader told him, there is a moment of silence before Makarov speaks up.

"Well now, that is a problem." His voice is incredibly grave.

Mystogan and Mavarov are both well aware that this is likely the culprit who killed Ivan, Makarov's son. Even though they were far from close, Ivan still called Makarov for help in his final moments. The cheerful old man was gloomy and depressed for months after that.

"Do you want me to apprehend him?" Mystogan asks.

"No, it's too dangerous. It's enough that you learned so much. Get those people safely handed over to the Rune Knights and come back." Makarov hesitates before dropping a bombshell. "A 13-year-old boy in a dark guild with white hair and green eyes, even the sword matches. This will be difficult to tell poor Mira."

That was it! It felt familiar because Mirajane Strauss had come to him with that same description, years ago. Her youngest brother, Cyrus, had been kidnapped by a dark guild at a very young age and she had been looking for him ever since. When Lisanna died and she lost her magic, she came to each of Fairy Tail's S-class mages and asked them to keep an eye out for anyone matching the description.

"I'll be back soon." Mystogan cut off the communication and returned to the clearing.

Immediately, he took the lacrima back out and contacted Makarov once again. He cut his guild master off before he cut talk when the connection went through.

"There's been a problem here," he states, fury barely kept in check.

"What happened?" A concerned voice cautiously ventures.

"They're all dead."

All 23 captured dark guild members lie dead in the clearing. Unlike his usual work, only their throats have been slit. All except for the guild leader, the woman who had just begged Mystogan to protect her.

Her left eye was carved out along with part of her brain, Some of her nails were broken, but all of them were covered with blood and skin from where she scratched and struggled against her assailant. The cuffs that he had put on her had prevented the woman from truly defending herself. Her face was immortalized in a look of fear and pain.

Mystogan clenched his fist in anger. How hadn't he noticed? He was only a few feet away, yet he hadn't heard anything. He promised to protect her, a Fairy Tail promise, and he broke it.

...

Makarov Dreyar was not in a good mood.

The long-lost family member of one of his precious guild children has been found. Ordinarily, this should be a cause for celebration. A night of merry drinking and brawls, so much of either that everyone in the guild forgets the entire day when they wake up. However, he cannot do that.

The boy they had found is not the boy who Mira remembers. Life had been cruel to the boy, and the boy had become cruel in turn. He became a monster, more ruthless than any other, in order to survive in that world of cutthroats and demons. It's not the boy's fault, life dealt him a bad deck and he became what he must to deal with it. It's not exactly his fault, but that doesn't make him innocent.

Makarov hates it, but he has to face the facts and be honest with himself. The boy's a murderer. A vile serial killer who has hundreds of known victims and has a tendency for torture.

Like my son, thought Makarov with an uncontrollable surge of anger. His son wasn't a good person. Makarov would be the first to admit that, but nobody deserved that. He had always held onto the hope that Ivan would one day realize his mistakes and come back to him. That he would change his ways. He had hoped that that was why Ivan called him that night, but the truth was far too cruel.

Even knowing that it's Mira's kid brother, the old guild master isn't certain that he would be able to stop himself from killing the boy on sight. There are some things that not even the kindhearted old man of Fairy Tail can forgive.

Still, Mira has a right to know. Even if the truth causes her nothing but grief, she still has a right to hear it. It is his duty as guild master to tell her and take on her pain. He can't force this on Mystogan or let her find out from the newspaper when the council hears about his identity. There's no doubt that Mystogan has already reported this to the Rune Knights.

.....

Mirajane Strauss sat on a bench with Elfman, and sitting across from them was Makarov.

He had pulled them aside before they could go home after working on the rebuilding of the guildhall. It was late enough that they were the only people left in the area. She knows that this is serious because the only other time she had seen this look on Makarov's face was when Lisanna died.

"Mira, Elfman, how are you two feeling?" Makarov looks awkward like he's avoiding something.

"I'm Manly as ever! No need to worry about me!" Elfman's lively response does nothing to lift the mood.

"I'm well, but I'm curious," Mira responds with a sly voice. "What are you so nervous to talk about?"

Makarov panics for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh and resigning himself to his fate.

"I need you both to calmly listen to what I have to tell you." He starts and looks both of them in the eye before continuing. "We believe that Mystogan may have found your brother."

"WHAT?! WHERE IS HE?! IS HE OKAY?!..." Elfman immediately starts rattling off questions and shaking Makarov around like a chew toy. It should be incredibly loud, but right now everything is muffled to Mira.

It's like a bomb just went off in her brain. She can't think. She can't focus. She can't move.

Is she even breathing?

Does that matter? Cyrus is alive! Her baby brother is alive!

After so many years without so much as a hint to support that belief, she had all but given up on him. She searched and she searched and she searched, but she never heard so much as a whisper about him.

And now he's been found.

At some point, tears began to stream down her face. She doesn't even need to look at her brother to know that he's crying as well, she can hear it in his voice. She can't remember the last time she's been so happy.

She looks at Makarov and is about to join her brother in interrogating him when she stops herself.

What's with that face?

Makarov looks like he's going to cry. Now that she thinks about it, this is odd. Normally, Makarov would announce something like this in front of the whole guild as an excuse to drink, so why would he wait until we're alone? Also, the serious tone doesn't match. That means…

"Elfman, let him go." Mira puts her hand on Elfman's shoulder.

"What are you talking about Mira? He knows where Cyrus is!" Elfman protests.

"Just do it." She glares her she-devil look at him until he complies. "Now Master, what aren't you telling us."

Makarov looks down at his feet before launching into an explanation of everything that happened on Mystogan's end, from start to finish. He finished his speech with his feelings on the matter.

"We may have found White, the member of Grimoire Heart who used to be a member of the Strauss family, but Cyrus is nowhere to be found." Makarov shakes his head. "I'm afraid your younger brother is long gone already."

The two siblings collapsed back into their seats and sat in stunned silence. They wanted to deny it, to say that it was impossible, but the description matched him perfectly. In their hearts, they knew it was their brother. However, that doesn't mean they could accept it. There is no greater despair than that which comes right after regaining lost hope, and that kind of despair isn't easy to accept.

"There's no way!" Elfman lashes out. "Cyrus was the nicest kid I've ever known. There's no way he's some kind of murderous psychopath! Even if he did kill someone, he had to have been forced to with possession magic or something!"

"Possession magic is a possibility that we can't rule out," Makarov admits. "However, nice kids don't survive years of captivity in a dark guild. They can hold out for a little bit, but if they aren't rescued quickly, they are left with two choices. Either they throw away their kindness or they die." Elfman collapses once again after Makarov lays out the cold truth that he hadn't had the heart to tell these children before.

Mira just sat in silence. She wanted to deny it, but she couldn't. She always knew this. It was the reason she focused on targeting slave rings during her search. If he was sold into slavery, there was a chance that he would still be himself when they found him. She knew that if he was being trained as a fighter, her kindhearted little brother wouldn't survive. Not as he was at least.

"I will leave you two with some alone time to sort this out among yourselves, but know that I'm always here for you if you need me." Makarov begins to leave but stops after a few steps. "And I forbid you from chasing after Grimoire Heart. Their guild is constantly in motion, so tracking them would be near impossible, and even if you do, you wouldn't be able to handle them on your own. They're one of the three biggest dark guilds for a reason." With his warning out of the way, his voice softened and filled with love. "I am sorry children." With that said he walked away.

Mirajane Strauss couldn't help but have a single thought in the middle of her tears.

Is it my fault? Is it because I gave up on you? Is that why you had no choice but to become this, Cyrus?

...

I left Hades' office in a sour mood.

Not only did I get reprimanded for being late to my targets, but I didn't even have the time to play with them on the mission. Why did those cowards have to run right into the enemy's hands? As fellow dark mages, why did they have to make things difficult for me by getting captured so easily? I had to perform the operation to acquire that woman's Body Restriction Magic as quickly and efficiently as possible because Mystogan was so close. There wasn't even time to properly vent my frustration.

Of course, I could have killed him, but I don't want to start a guild war between Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart yet. Fairy Tail, or any light guild for that matter, is not yet strong enough to defeat Grimoire Heart. Even though I don't remember Mystogan being much of a big deal in the story, any form of weakening Fairy Tail or messing with the plot can only hurt me. I will need Fairy Tail, so I can't afford to risk ruining them prematurely, even if it means exposing myself.

So here I am, sulking about getting chewed out by my boss cause my identity is now public. A wanted criminal with an astounding A-class bounty of 700 million jewels. I'd turn myself in for that if they wouldn't kill me.

I have a fourth, blue eye on my sword with Body Restriction Magic that activates on contact, but I have no good memories to go with it. Ah, this seriously sucks. I was hoping to be a free man after the guild war with Fairy Tail, but now that looks impossible. I can maybe still do it if I change my face and build with magic, but for some reason, I can't change my hair color, which is pretty conspicuous.

"Haha, you got in trouble~!" A childish taunt interrupts my sulking.

"What do you want Meredy? I'm not in the mood right now." I walk right past the pink-haired girl.

She's the only one in the guild who doesn't avoid me. Even Hades only sees me when it involves a mission. Everyone else keeps a wide range from me, everyone except Meredy. In fact, I'm the one who avoids her because she always seeks me out and I don't know how to deal with her.

"But I am!" She pops right back in front of me. "It's refreshing to see Mr. Perfect fail for once." she goads.

"I didn't fail my mission. My targets were all eliminated." I give up on escaping and give her a flat look.

"But they gave out the information you were supposed to hide right?"

"...Yes…"

"That's what you call failing, genius." She flicks me in the forehead.

"Shouldn't you be toddling around after that witch right about now?"

"You will treat Miss Ultear with respect!" The pinkette snaps. "And she knows that I would never miss a chance to needle you about your mistakes."

"You're infuriating, you know that?" I glare at her.

"I'm well aware, sir!" She flicks me once again as I stand stone-faced before her.

"Everyone else seems to think I would have killed them if they did that to me." I leak out a bit of bloodlust to send my point.

"Would you?" She asks, unfazed.

"Possibly."

"But not me, right?" She gives a big Cheshire smile and slings her arm around my shoulders. "After all, we're besties~!"

"... I'm leaving." I shrug her off before turning around and walking the other way. I don't care that it means I'll need to take almost a full lap around the airship to reach my room.

"Bye then~!" Meredy dramatically waves her arm. "It was fun, White! I'll see you soon!"

I don't think I'll ever be able to deal with that girl. The sooner the guild war comes, the better.