Jellal's Schemes Revealed

Earth Land, Ishgar, Era.

September, x784.

Going back a few minutes.

Around the time when Erza was preparing to kick in the door to Jellal's throne room in the Tower of Heaven, All the preparations to fire the Etherion had been completed. So, the ten highest seated members of the Magic Council were all manning their stations to fire.

That included Yajima, who was the sixth seat of the Magic Council. Though, from his expression, it was clear to everyone that he would rather be doing something else.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Etherion is charged and the targeting is complete." Jellal said, taking the lead on this operation since he was the one who proposed it. "We must destroy that evil tower before it ever has the chance to be used.. Now, Fire!"

With that, nine of the ten Councilmen operating the Etherion's firing mechanism enthusiastically triggered the Etherion. The last of those ten, Yajima, also triggered the Etherion. However, it was done with a feeling of resignation.

After that, the members of the Magic Council watched the Etherion blast travel across the continent on a display lacrima.

By now, in the Tower of Heaven, Erza had just disarmed Jellal and was in the process of trying to talk him out of his evil ambitions. Unfortunately, just as that failed, the Etherion blast had begun to unnaturally light up the surroundings of the unnamed island off the coast of the Kingdom of Caelum.

"The Etherion has made contact." A lower ranking member of the Magic Council reported. "Direct hit confirmed!"

Hearing the confirmation of a direct hit, many of the members of the Magic Council began to cheer. Instead of just sitting back and letting the guild's take care of most issues, they were proud to have acted to keep the stability of Ishgar's magic community with their own hands.

There were actually three exceptions to the cheerful atmosphere, though. The first was Yajima, who after hearing that the Etherion hit, continued to look at the display. And when the flash from the Etherion died down, he noticed that the Tower of Heaven was still standing, though it's appearance had changed greatly. Seeing that, his head snapped in Siegrain's direction immediately.

This led Yajima to see the other two members of the Council who were not cheering excitedly at the direct hit. The first was the man he was glaring at, Siegrain, who was looking at the new form of the Tower of Heaven with glee. As if his plan had succeeded.

Then, there was Junko Enoshima, the youngest member of the Magic Council, who looked like she was about to have an orgasm but was holding it back for some reason.

Ignoring Junko, Yajima focused on Siegrain.

"Siegrain, what is going on here?" Yajima asked sternly while opening his eyes a little less than halfway. "The Etherion did not destroy the tower. And I get the feeling that you were expecting that."

Hearing Yajima's grave tone, the cheerful atmosphere in the control room died down immediately as the other counselors' heads snapped towards the display lacrima. Then, when they saw the new form of the Tower of Heaven, their faces paled as despair was starting to show itself on their faces.

"Wait, what is that thing?" Org asked with shock in his tone. "How can anything still be standing their?"

"Is that… a… lacrima?" Crawford Seam asked in disbelief. "The tower and the Etherion… were they compressed into one giant lacrima?"

At that moment, a completely out of place sound rang out through the control room.

"Mm~~~~~~~~~~!" Junko moaned as she wrapped her arms around her body. "The despair saturating this room… Ahn~~~~! Is magnificent. I want more! Ahn~! Give me more!"

That outburst drew quite a few weirded out gazes. However, no one's attention stayed on the strange pervert for long. Instead they all returned to the victoriously grinning Siegrain.

"It's just as you said, Old Man Yajima." Jellal said, his grin growing wider with every word. "I was indeed expecting this outcome. And to answer your question Org, That is the final form of the Tower of Heaven. Meaning the R-System is ready for activation."

With that, the feeling of despair in the room increased with Junko moaning even louder as she felt it. Still, everyone kept their attention on Jellal.

"You see, my fellow Councilmen, Although the Tower of Heaven had been constructed, it was missing something vital. The thing that would make it complete." Siegrain said, addressing the Counselors in a grandiose fashion. "Do any of you know what that thing is?"

"Energy…" Yajima replied. "That's why you were so insistent about firing the Etherion. The tower would absorb its energy upon contact."

"Well, aren't you perceptive, Old Man Yajima?" Siegrain said in a genuinely impressed tone. "That's right. The R-System required two things for completion after the tower was built. The first was energy, which you all so graciously provided in the form of the Etherion. And the second was a human sacrifice. One strong enough to recall the soul of the deceased person you wish to call back. In this case, Zeref, the Black Wizard."

"You plan to use those young wizards from Fairy Tail, don't you?" Crawford Seam asked in a shocked tone.

"Correct." Jellal replied confidently. "The funny thing is, had you simply listened to Yajima's cautious advice, this could have all been avoided. The Fairy Tail wizards had defeated nearly all of the opposition in the tower by the time we fired the Etherion. And with their combined might, they would have had no trouble bringing down the tower if given enough time."

Once again, the faces of the Magic Councilmen paled. This time, much more than before.

"Unfortunately for you, your bias against Fairy Tail clouded your judgement." Siegrain continued. "Something I was happy to take advantage of."

"Wait, how do you know that Fairy  Tail had the upper hand in the tower?" Crawford Seam asked, his face distorting in fear a moment later as he realized the answer to his own question.

"Well, that's quite simple, actually." Siegrain replied. "Because I'm not actually here. My true body is in the Tower of Heaven. This is just a [Thought Projection] that was given substance. Keeping it up is using more than half of my magic power, though. So, fighting Erza Scarlet was rather uncomfortable."

"You were a spy!" Org shouted angrily.

"I was." Siegrain replied calmly. "I've been planning this for years. And I knew the best source of magic power to charge the R-System was the Etherion. So, I orchestrated this little play. I do hope you enjoyed the show."

"Oh, it was magnificent!" Junko blurted, writhing in pleasure from all the despairing looks in the control room.

Ignoring Junko, the members of the Council glared angrily at Siegrain.

"Who are you, really?" Yajima asked.

"Oh, Yes." Jellal said as if he had forgotten something important. "Naturally, the name Siegrain is an alias. But since it is no longer necessary, you may call me Jellal… Jellal Fernandes. And since this charade is over, I think it's time I tendered my resignation from the Magic Council. Also, Junko and I have readied a going away present for all of you."

With that, all the Magic Councilmen glanced at Junko and had the same thought.

'You were actually working with this despair obsessed pervert?'

A moment later, a half black and half white teddy bear with a glowing red eye walked into the control room with its white paw raised.

"Hey, Junko!" Monokuma said cheerfully as he entered.

"What the hell is that thing?" A low ranking member of the Council asked in confusion.

Stopping in place after hearing the question, Monokuma turned towards the councilmen who spoke and raised his black paw. Then, a claw popped out of its paw, making it seem that he was giving the poor guy the finger.

"I am not a thing, buddy." Monokuma said in an obviously offended tone. "The name's Monokuma, and you will address me as such. Got it?"

Subconsciously the councilmen nodded his head in acknowledgement which caused Monokuma to nod in return before he continued walking towards Junko.

"The nerve of some people." Monokuma muttered as he walked. "I swear, does no one have any manners anymore? How were these people raised?"

Seeing that interaction, Junko could not help but smile. Then, when Monokuma was close enough, she swept him up in her arms.

"Don't worry about that guy anymore, Monokuma." Junko said with a smile. "Now, tell me, did you finish everything?"

"Ah, yeah, it's all done." Monokuma replied. "The surprise present should go off in about ten seconds."

While everyone, other than Siegrain a.k.a. Jellal and Junko were confused, the building began shaking exactly ten seconds later. On top of that, the sound of explosions could be heard coming from everywhere.

"What have you done?" Crawford Seam asked while flaring his magic power.

"Like I said, we left you a parting gift." Jellal replied. Then, with a deep bow, he continued. "Now, allow me to bid you adieu. Though I wouldn't say it was fun, the time I spent as a member of the council was certainly fruitful."

With that, Jellal's thought projection flickered out of existence.

"Damn it! We let him get away!" Org shouted as he slammed a fist on the control panel in front of him.

"We can worry about him later." Crawford Seam shouted, not letting everyone fall into despair any further than they already have. "For now, we must capture his accomplice, Junko Enoshima!"

With that, all eyes fell on Junko, who was smiling at them with Monokuma held in one arm while the other was waving at them. However, before anyone could say or do anything, a large piece of the ceiling fell on top of Junko, seemingly crushing her beneath it. What no one noticed, however, was the fact that there was no blood leaking out from beneath the rubble.

"We can worry about those traitors later.!" Crawford Seam shouted, pulling everyone out of their dazes at seeing Junko crushed. "For now, we need to get everyone out of here."

With that, everyone started moving, doing their best to save as many people as they could on the way out of the collapsing Council building.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Caelum, Unnamed Island.

Going back once again, as the sky over the unnamed island brightened, Elicia and Cana, who had been destroying as much of the tower as they could without collapsing it on top of themselves, had met up on the bridge where Erza confronted Ikaruga, and discovered the latter's body.

"How the hell is this girl still alive?" Cana asked after checking Ikaruga's pulse and looking at the blood staining the bridge.

"I'm not sure." Elicia said. "But we should take her with us. Her bounty is pretty high."

"Sure." Cana replied with a shrug. "But I think we should get outta here quick, that bright light in the sky is getting brighter as we speak."

"Yeah, we should at least get to the outside of the tower." Elicia nodded in agreement. "We could at least jump if necessary."

With that, Cana threw a combination of cards at the nearest exterior wall. Then, after injecting her magic power into them, the cards exploded on impact, blowing out a hole large enough for the two girls to jump through.

At the same time, Elicia used her threads to pick up Ikaruga, bandage her wounds, and strap her to her back as she and Cana ran and jumped through the newly created hole in the wall.

Then, just as Elicia was about to catch Cana and use her threads to slow down their descent, both she and Cana felt a feeling of weightlessness as they stopped falling. Familiar with this feeling, Elicia and Cana both called out happily.

"Fonzie!" The girls shouted.

"Yeah, it's me." Alfonzo replied as he floated towards Elicia and Cana. "Anyway, Erza is still inside. And I can feel that she has been restrained by some kind of spell. ON top of that, I'm guessing she's with that Jellal guy on the top floor. I'm going up there to see what I can do to help. Hopefully, I can get her out before that flash hits the tower."

To that, Elicia and Cana nodded. Then, Elicia grabbed onto Cana. A moment later, Elicia created a glider out of her threads and the two glided away from the tower.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo flew up to the top floor of the tower just in time to see Jellal gloating about the new era he would usher in before the Etherion hit the tower.

*Boom!*