Entering the Tower of Heaven

The first thing that I did after confirming the story and heading back to the Rune Knight base, it would suspicious if I didn't submit information.

I didn't want an actual investigation to happen however as that would take the spotlight off of me. So I had to report to a person who would completely ignore me.

With my growing circle of friends, it was actually pretty hard but luckily there is always some dumbass out there willing to do something stupid for spite.

And that person was Ignatius, the guy who tried to beat me the first day that I was here. I was honestly sad that he still held on to the grudge even now.

I had even befriended his teammates that had also attacked me but his ego pushed him from even talking to me civilly.

So I walked into the scribe office where I had originally been signed up to the Rune Knights in. I had kept track of the office politics as even at the lowest levels there were always power struggles.

There were some factions in this place that would try to help certain Rune Knight Squad Leader for a little backing here and a little bribing there.

Ignatius feeling a need to control everything had set up a faction and it was one of the larger ones. So all I had to do was report this to one of the scribes he controlled.

They knew of his hatred of me so would do everything in their power to make life harder for me to suck up to him.

So I walked up to one of the scribes in that faction and said, "I would like to report some concerning information I've heard."

That scribe, Benny, looked up and once he recognized smoothed his facial expression to be as calm as possible, "What is it that you have heard Sir Fulbright?"

I replied, "Well when I was at the Fairy Tail guild I heard a concerning piece of information that a Resurrection System is being built out at sea."

He raised his eyebrows, "Who did you hear this from? Is it an accurate accounting?"

I said, "I heard it from one of their guild members Erza Scarlet. She said that she was forced as a kid to be a slave that built it before she managed to escape."

His eyes gleamed seeming to recognize that name, "Erza Scarlet, isn't she just 15 years old now? Practically a child."

I replied, "Well even though she is young that shouldn't affect her testimony."

Benny sighed, "I'm sorry to say that it will. I will write a report on what you have heard but I am sorry to say that most Rune Knights will probably not believe it."

I asked, "Then may I go in my free time to look for it myself."

He smiled, "You are free to do whatever you want to do in your free time. That's why it's called free time. If you want to go searching for a mythical tower at the behest of a little girl go right ahead."

That was all I needed, I walked out of the Rune Knight building and started towards the direction where Erza had said it was.

I Geppoed on the air quickly rushing in that direction, it was incredibly far away and when I reached dark I was on the shoreline. Tomorrow I would scour the sea to find the tower.

It would be a little harder since it was not actually that tall yet as it was 4 years behind canon, but I should find it after 1 day.

So I ate some of the foods I brought along with me in my Requip storage space. I looked up at the stairs and fell asleep ready for the next day.

---

When I woke up I ate breakfast and then was immediately on my way to look for the Tower of Heaven. It was an annoying search as Erza couldn't give an exact place, but a general area.

I search most of the day before finally finding it in the distance. I could see why it hadn't been found though as it was located in a particularly barren area.

This area had no particular interest activities of any note. There were no trade routes coming in this direction as there were no partners to trade within this part of the sea.

The shoreline was also filled with underground rock and steep cliff faces, I am honestly surprised that Erza managed to get back on her own.

Once I saw the Tower I started walking towards it. They seemed not to have any lookouts and no one even noticed me till I was basically on top of it.

They must have been complacent after having no contract with human civilization for years now, thinking that they had nothing to look out for.

One of the slaves working on building the tower yelled alerting the others, "Who are you!? What are you doing here?"

I smiled, "Can't you tell? I am a Rune Knight dispatched here after I heard that a Resurrection System was being built in the middle of the sea."

Another one of the slaves yelled, "You're here to save us!"

I said reassuringly, "Don't worry I promise that all of you will be safe and able to reintegrate into society as soon I learn what is going on here."

One of them yelled, "It's that kid Jellal, he's gone mad he got his hands on some magic and is forcing us to build the tower instead of helping us escape."

Millianna, one of Erza's childhood friends, yelled back, "No he isn't he is trying to build the tower to help us escape and protect us in the real world. It was Erza who betrayed us."

I said, "Do you even know what you are building?"

Nobody responded so I continued, "What you are building is called the Resurrection-System and is as its name suggests supposed to revive a person."

"The downsides are that it was built by Zeref himself and requires a live sacrifice for it to work. It has been banned to be built for these reasons as it is too dangerous to use."

A massive cacophony of voices rang out as this information was revealed, many of the slaves saying they knew this was a scam, while loyalists were trying to deny my accusations.

I said, "How about we talk this out, all I need is to talk to this Jellal fellow. I should be able to convince him of stopping this construction then we would all be fine."

Shô, another one of Erza's friends, said, "How do we know that we can trust you?"

I said, "I am a Rune Knight, I act with the power of the law. And if that is not enough to convince you how about the fact that I could defeat you all in a single moment?"

Sho scoffed, "No way, your only like 18 years old, you definitely can't beat us."

I responded and released a controlled amount of Conquerer's Haki that drove everyone in the Tower to their knees. I made sure that no one was hurt or knocked out though.

I smiled, "Really you think that? I am one of the strongest Rune Knights in the kingdom of Fiore and all you are some jumped up brats. I can destroy you with a thought."

I stopped releasing my Conquerer's Haki and they all managed to get up on their feet. It was Simon who spoke up this time, "Ok I will lead you to Jellal."

There were some protests but they were weak as everyone knew that their disagreement was a mere formality if I actually wanted to do something.

I landed on the Tower and Simon started leading me through all the twisting corridors. He asked, "Are you really not going to hurt Jellal and save us."

I nodded, "I will do better than that I will save all of you including Jellal. Honestly, I am pretty sure that he has been possessed."

Simon froze and said, "What?"

I nodded, "Yeah such a massive change in personality when building a tower designed by Zeref is pretty suspicious. Especially when he changed from wanting to destroy the tower to rebuilding it."

Simon said, "How do you know all of this?"

I said, "I heard it from Erza of course."

He sighed, "So it was all a trick from the beginning. I knew that Erza betraying us and Jellal's sudden shift in personality wasn't normal."

I nodded, "Yeah, you seem the like the only one among Erza's childhood friends to catch on."

Simon nodded, "We all felt hurt when Jellal told us that Erza had betrayed us and he was the one that always led our group."

"However learning to use telepathy magic, even at the simplest level made me realize that the way that Jellal was acting was not normal."

I nodded, "Good on you. Don't worry I'll deal with this, I've studied anti-magic to specifically prepare for if a situation like this happened to me. So I will deal with it easily."

Simon sighed, "Thank you for the confirmation. Hopefully, your confidence is not misplaced."

He stopped talking as we reached a set of doors that lead into a massive room. He knocked on it and I heard a voice say, "Enter."

I walked into the room and there was Jellal Fernandes sitting on his chair looking at me like he had all the time in the world.

He said, "It is nice to meet you Marcus "The Maniac" Fulbright, I believe we have a lot to talk about."