Change in Plans

Mard Geer stood in front of multiple tubes filled with clear liquid with a serious look on his face. In the tubes were the bodies of Kyoka, Tempester, Jackal, and Torafuzar.

"So even the nine demon gates couldn't take down Meliodas or Jellal." Mard Geer sighed and his smile vanished. He turned his head to Crawford and Franmalth who were standing at his right side. The two became immediately nervous.

"W-well where's Silver? Why isn't he here?" Franmalth asked.

"Isn't Keyes the one in charge of his regeneration?" Crawford added.

"That doesn't matter now. We'll have to change plans." Mard Geer focused his attention on Crawford.

"W-well I think I figured out a way to transfer the key remotely from Jellal to myself. But it will take time." Crawford said.

"Okay, that solved the Jellal issue, but what if either of them try to interfere with us? Gehehehehe!" Franmalth added.

Mard Geer simply smiled at the two of them as he caressed the book of END between his arms.

"No matter how strong they may be, not even those two can stand against our master, END! Crawford, make sure you finish the key transfer from Jellal before the rest of the demon gates are revived."

—

Meliodas sat in a chair next to Org in his office, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping, yet completely aware of his surroundings.

"How are you holding up after yesterday?" Org asked.

"I'm good now. That cold feeling is gone." Meliodas opened his eyes and grinned. "So are we having that council meeting in your office? It's a bit cramped don't you think?"

Meliodas looked around the office, which was one of the only parts of the building that had already been completely finished while the main council meeting room was still under construction.

"It will do. Besides…there's not many of us left anyway…" Org said somberly.

A few minutes later, Doranbolt and Lahar walked in the room. The two of them sat across from Org's desk. Lahar immediately turned his head back towards the entrance and yelled.

"Hey stop dawdling and come in!"

"Oh there's more of us?" Org questioned.

"Sorry! I was simply intrigued by the construction work and architecture of this building! It's not everyday you get to see the whole building process of one of Ishgar's greatest landmarks!" A voice shouted from the hallway. From the doorway, a figure familiar to Meliodas walked in the room.

"Oh! Praetor!" Meliodas exclaimed. Despite his apparent hospitality, he was still suspicious of Praetor for previously trying to search his mind.

Praetor looked at Meliodas and smiled.

"Glad to see you remember me. It's been years hasn't it?"

Org raised an eyebrow at Praetor as he looked at the man.

"Have we met?"

"Forgive my rudeness, Head Chairman Org." Praetor bowed his head. "I am Praetor, a delegate of the new Pergrande government for the Magic Council. We've most likely never met as I spend only half my time here in Fiore and the other half in Pergrande Kingdom."

"I see. I do recall reading a few performance reports about you in the past. Well as of today, you have an official seat on the council along with Lahar and Doranbolt here." Org said. Praetor smiled and nodded before taking a seat.

"Now, as for the meeting, we are here to discuss Tartaros and their potential plans." Org said before turning his attention to Doranbolt.

"What did you find out from Cobra?"

"Their entire guild is made of demons who use curses instead of magic and their goal is to erase all magic using Face." Doranbolt responded.

"Face?" Meliodas asked.

"Do you remember Tenrou when I brought up the council using Etherion?" Doranbolt asked. Meliodas nodded his head.

"Just like Etherion, Face is one of the council's weapons. It has the ability to nullify all magic across the continent."

"That makes sense, considering those demons use "curses" instead of magic. They could thrive in a magic free environment…however, to go through the effort of using something as massive as Face…I believe they may have an ulterior motive." Praetor mused.

"How are they going to activate Face though?" Lahar asked.

"Through keys. Face works on an organic link system bound to current previous council members. Some of those keys were broken when most of the council died in Jackal's initial attack. But that only covers current council members. There are previous council members who I am not aware of that have the keys." Org said.

"Then I will go to the directory and get their addresses. I must send whoever is left of my custody squadron to protect them at all costs!" Lahar quickly stood up from his seat.

"Cool it, glasses." Praetor said. "I have all of that saved in my archive. No need to make such a long trip down the hall. Besides, what could your squadron do against Tartaros?"

Lahar grit his teeth and remained silent, sitting back down in his chair. Doranbolt looked at Praetor with a puzzled expression.

"How did you get to the council's files like that? You were never a part of the research and logistics department."

Praetor smirked at Doranbolt and shrugged.

"My magic. Works like super archive but better. As for how I got access to it…don't worry about it. I'm a member of the council now after all, right?" Praetor raised his right hand out in front of him and a bright glowing purple cube materialized in his hand. The cube opened up, revealing a massive interface that appeared as a large screen above the table with smaller parts that wrapped around Praetor's head.

"Are you able to pinpoint the locations of the keys with that?" Meliodas asked.

"Hah. I wish. Not even I'm that good. But here are the addresses. Now it's a matter of rolling the dice and figuring out which one of these elders has the key. Although I might be able to create an algorithm that does it better…hmm…"

"Well why don't we just send Fairy Tail over. After fighting those demon gates myself, I'm sure they can protect the elders." Meliodas said.

"Oh Fairy Tail?" Praetor mused. "They seemed pretty strong at the Grand Magic Games. Sounds like a great idea."

"Very well. Our communications lacrima are still down so Doranbolt, I'll need you to tell Fairy Tail about this task immediately." Org said.

Doranbolt nodded and stood up from his chair, suddenly vanishing from his place. Meliodas looked at Org, Lahar and Praetor.

"So what's next?"

A small grin formed on Praetor's face.

"I say we try to locate Tartaros ourselves."

Praetor pulled up another interface and the entire map of Ishgar appeared on it. Several dots blipped on the map. Meliodas noticed many of the dots were in locations that prominent guilds were placed.

"These are all the guild locations?" Meliodas asked.

"Sort of. By default, I have this sorted by ethernano density. Places with more mages have more ethernano and after surpassing a certain threshold, it gets marked. Hence, mage guilds tend to show up on this map." Praetor answered.

"But Tartaros doesn't use magic. They use curses. Can you track something like that?" Lahar questioned.

"No. Not with this current filter…however…" Praetor began to type wildly and the blips started to disappear one by one.

"I have a theory. You could call curses the antithesis to magic. What is the opposite of ethernano? Magic Barrier Particles. I suspect Tartaros somehow utilizes these in development with their curses. So if I adjust the filter…" Praeteor began typing a few more things until only one blip was left on the map. The blip moved slowly over the eastern border between Fiore and Bosco.

"Oh? A moving base?" Praetor commented.

"That's really them?" Org asked.

"Well, can you think of anyone else who can utilize that many barrier particles in one place?" Praetor retorted.

"So we're able to track them now. What do we do with this information." Lahar said.

"Well did you guys ever get to rebuilding Etherion?" Praetor asked. Org shook his head and Praetor sighed.

"Why don't we just go after Face?" Meliodas asked. Praetor's expression immediately lit up.

"Oh! That's an idea! We'll just destroy the thing they're trying to activate!"

"Face is the last of the council's great weapons…" Lahar said quietly.

"Pfffft! You say that but your greatest weapon is about to be used against you!" Praetor exclaimed.

"I suppose I could try to find Face, except I have no idea what to look for. It's probably buried underground somewhere because my scan only works on surface objects." Praetor sighed.

"But you think you could find it?" Org asked.

"Hah! Of course I could! It would take time though. And time isn't something we have a lot of with Face involved. You'd all probably be better off sending Meliodas and the Gods of Ishgar or something." Praetor continued typing into his interface.

"The Gods of Ishgar…we may have to rely on them after all…" Org said quietly. "But contacting them is another issue. Our communications lacrima were all destroyed and their locations are unknown to us."

"WHAT?!" Praetor screamed loudly without warning. "The four strongest guys in all of Ishgar supposedly and you can't even contact them nor know where they are?! Man you councilmen are a mess here…" Praetor took a deep breath and looked at Meliodas.

"Well looks like you're just gonna have to do it by yourself."

"Actually, I might have to return to the guild and take a few people with me if that's the case. I don't know how many members Tartaros has left, but there were a few problematic ones for me and if they have more of them like that, even I'd be in trouble." Meliodas said.

"Problem for you? Hah. You're too modest. I've never seen your strength firsthand, but from what I've heard from the Grand Magic Games and Conwell, you're practically unmatched." Praetor said.

"Oh right! Conwell! He could help with this, right?" Meliodas asked.

"Yeah, if I could contact him in time. I don't have cross continental communications with this magic of mine." Praetor retorted.

"There's also the issue of me having to protect the council from them. I can't be in two places at once." Meliodas continued.

"Tch. Your presence is wasted here." Praetor said as he looked at Org. "He'd be much better off on the front lines now. It's time to go on the offensive!"

"You may be right. Meliodas has already shown he can take down the elites of their guild. They may have to recover before they can send more after the council since they know Meliodas is here." Org looked back at Meliodas. "Meliodas, your mission with the council is complete. When we are fully rebuilt, I will send you payment. For now, I want you to return to Fairy Tail and group up with Doranbolt."

A determined grin formed on Meliodas face and he jumped up from his chair.

"Well, well, well. I think it's about time we officially declared war with Tartaros."