Tartarus

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tatsumi Port Island.

June 19, x788.

As soon as the clock struck midnight, the atmosphere on the island turned dark once again, and all the lights went out. However, that was to be expected after what the Fairy Tail wizards experienced the night before. What was completely unexpected, however, was the changes the school in front of them was undergoing.

As the atmosphere of the Dark Hour enveloped the school, its entire structure began to change. Then, in a truly physics defying display, the school began to grow as it took on a sinister feel and shot miles up into the sky.

"What... the... hell?" Alzack muttered in an astonished tone as he looked up and watched the tower grow continuously.

"How is that even possible?" Bisca asked in an equally amazed tone.

"That is the tower mentioned on the quest sheet." Mitsuru said in a solemn tone. "We call it Tartarus."

Tartarus had a dark, gothic architectural design. And with its unreal height, it blocked part of the sight of the moon, which was tinted green because of the Dark Hour. However, with its height, it was hard to take in its full grandeur. But the large doors that acted as its entrance were enough to let them know just how colossal the structure was.

"Well, let's go inside." Alfonzo said firmly. "We're burning day--- Dark Hour light?" Alfonzo said, correcting himself in a questioning tone. "And I need to be done with this quest by the twenty-fifth."

Alfonzo's little slip of the tongue was enough to break the tension, causing Alzack, Bisca, and Mitsuru to look at him weirdly. Meanwhile, Elicia just smiled before hopping up to kiss him on the cheek.

"Fonzie, you're so cute sometimes." Elicia said as she held Alfonzo's hand. Then, she looked towards the other three while her expression turned solemn. "but Fonzie's right, standing out here won't get the job done, right?"

Nodding solemnly, Alzack and Bisca followed closely when Alfonzo and Elicia took the lead to enter Tartarus. Meanwhile, Mitsuru, who had seen Tartarus an innumerable amount of times over the past few years, was surprised by the way the group of four wizards entered somewhere so dangerous without hesitation.

"I guess guild wizards are just different." Mitsuru muttered to herself as she pushed her motorcycle and followed the Fairy Tail wizards inside. "*Sigh* Maybe we should have called them before that accident happened and Aragaki left us."

Entering the first floor of the group of five found themselves in a large, circular entrance hall. In the center of the hall, there was a long flight of stairs leading up to a pair of double doors. However, if you were to look beneath those stairs, you would see there was nothing supporting them, despite how high they climbed.

To the left of the stairs, there was what appeared to be a large grandfather clock. However, this clock seemed to be made entirely of a metal resembling bronze. On top of that, the hands were not moving. But on second thought, that made sense, considering that time was stopped during the Dark Hour.

To the right of the stairs was a strange construct with four short pillars jutting up from the four cardinal directions. In the center of these short pillars was a circular platform that looked as if it was waiting to be activated.

"This place is huge." Alzack muttered while looking around. "And how the hell are those stairs not falling down?"

"I don't know." Bisca replied with her eyes focused on the clock. "I'm more curious to know what that is. Why is there a clock in a place that exists only during stopped time?"

"We've yet to find a purpose for that clock." Mitsuru replied as she pushed her motorcycle to the right side of the stairs. Then, she pointed towards the circular platform surrounded by the short pillars. "But we do know what that is."

Hearing that, the four Fairy Tail wizards turned their attention in the same direction, waiting for Mitsuru's explanation.

"It's a teleporter." Mitsuru continued. "It's how you get back down from the higher floors, since there are no stairs leading down. At least, that's what we've surmised, since the stairs you use to climb up seem to disappear once you get to the next floor."

"Well, as long as we have a way down, we'll manage." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Anyway, is there anything else we should know before we get going Miss Kirijo?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have any more information than that." MItsuru replied while shaking her head. "None of the exploration teams have ever made it higher than the second floor in the past."

"Oh, this is going to be wonderful." Alzack said in a dry tone.

"Don't be so negative, hon." Bisca said with a smile. "We're going to see something that no one has ever seen before, right?"

"*Sigh* I guess." Alzack replied.

"Well then, if you're ready to go, I'll get started, then." Mitsuru said as she lifted the backseat of her motorcycle.

A moment later, Mitsuru pulled an Evoker Pistol from the motorcycle's storage space. Then, she placed the muzzle on the side of her head, looking as though she were about to commit suicide. And just as Alfonzo and Elicia thought, the expressions Alzack and Bisca wore when they saw that were priceless.

"[Penthesilea]." Mitsuru said as she pulled the trigger of the Evoker Pistol.

In the next instant, the pistol's recoil forced Mitsuru's hand away from her head. At the same time, her head jerked to the left, as if she had been shot. However, there was no wound or blood splatter. Instead, Mitsuru was covered in a cloak of blue magic power while incandescent blue butterflies circled around her.

A moment later, the transparent figure of a woman wearing a mask that covered the entirety of her face, and a blue, nobleman's pants suit with black high heels and white gloves appeared floating behind Mitsuru. In the female figure's right hand, she held a dagger with a triangular blade while a rapier was held in her left.

"Whoa!" Alzack exclaimed in surprise.

"This is my [Persona], Penthesilea." Mitsuru said, gesturing towards the figure floating behind her. "She'll help me guide you through the tower."

With that, Mitsuru once again reached into her motorcycle's storage compartment. Then, she pulled out a small case. In that case, there were five small magic items.

"Everyone, please put one of these in your ear." Mitsuru said as she extended the case forward. "These will allow us to communicate within the tower."

"Can't we just use our lPhones?" Bisca asked as she took out her lPhone. "Don't tell me you don't have one. Have they not spread in popularity all the way out here? But I saw that Ikutsuki guy with one earlier today."

"No, I have one as well." Mitsuru replied while shaking her head. "But the Dark Hour has a strange effect on communication devices. lPhones, and even normal communication lacrima don't work during the Dark Hour."

"Really?" Bisca asked as she glanced at the lPhone's connection. "Wow! It's true! That's the first time I've ever seen my lPhone without a connection."

Shaking his head with a smile, Alfonzo was the first to take one of the communication devices Mitsuru offered. Elicia followed him shortly afterwards. Then, Alzack and Bisca each took one, as well. Finally, Mitsuru put the last remaining magic item into her ear.

"Alright then, let's get moving." Alfonzo said once his communication device was in his ear securely. "We shouldn't have much time until the Dark Hour ends. So we should try and make as much progress as we can."

Receiving nods in return, Alfonzo led the group of wizards up the stairs.

"I'll keep you all posted about your progress when clearing each floor." Mitsuru said solemnly.

"Got it." Alfonzo replied as he waved over his shoulder.

A few minutes later, Alfonzo reached the top of the stairs. When he did, he paused for a moment to look back at his party. Then, when he once again received nods from all of them, he placed his hand on the doors and pushed.

As soon as the doors opened, the wizards of Fairy Tail could not see anything on the other side. This did not stop them from walking through it, though.

In the next instant, after a brief period of weightlessness, the group found themselves in a new location. And just as Mitsuru said, when they looked back, the stairs they used to arrive here where no longer present.

{"Can everyone hear me?"} Mitsuru asked through the communications devices. "You're currently on the second floor. Currently, the only thing I can see on the map Penthesilea created is the room you are in. Please move forward and I will let you know when the stairs are nearby or when you've completed the floor, if you'd rather check every nook and cranny."

"Got it." Alfonzo replied.

"By the way, one of the quest objectives was to put down a monster called the Reaper." Elicia said as she started walking along with Alfonzo. "Any idea where we can find it?"

{"That's the thing…"} Mitsuru said hesitantly. {"It has no fixed location. From what we can tell, it will only appear when people have stayed on a floor for too long. But since we've only been able to send people up to the floor you are on, we don't have many points of reference."}

"I see." Elicia replied with a nod.

"We'll just have to figure it out as we go." Alfonzo said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Until then, we'll just worry about finding the Old Document first."

Once again, Alfonzo received nods from the rest of his party.

With that, the Tartarus exploration began in earnest.

Entering the next room, the group saw a rectangular room with pillars on either side of the entrance they just came through. There were also passages leading out of the sides of the room. However, they would not be able to go forward, as there was a wall blocking the path.

ON top of that, there was a slime-like creature scooting around in front of the aforementioned wall.

"Is that a shadow?" Bisca asked in curiosity. "It looks like one of those weak slimes you see in caves."

{"Don't let its appearance fool you."} Mitsuru replied over the comms. {"Although it only looks like there's one in front of you. When it notices you, it may divide into several. I'd suggest sneaking up to it and striking it from behind. Although it will still divide into more than one Shadow, they'll all be stunned for a short while."}

By the time Mitsuru finished speaking, Alfonzo had already raised his right hand. On top of that, it was sparking with violet electricity. Plus, there was a chunk of metal floating above his outstretched index finger.

"Well, we can sneak attack it from here." Alfonzo said with a smile. "Besides, I'm curious to know just how strong the structures in the tower are."

{"Huh? What are you talking about?"} Mitsuru asked in a confused tone.

"Brace for impact." Alfonzo said as the chunk of metal fell onto his fingertip. "[Electromagnetism Magic: Railgun]."

*Boom!* *Boom!*

In the next instant, a sonic boom deafened the surroundings. On top of that, an orange streak of superheated air drew a line from the tip of Alfonzo's finger to where the Shadow once stood.

That's right, once stood. Instead of dividing into multiple Shadows, it simply evaporated, leaving nothing behind.

At the bottom of the wall where the Shadow died, there was a crater with a hole the size of the piece of Metal Alfonzo fired. On top of that, the crater was filled with spiderweb cracks.

{"What was that!?"} Mitsuru exclaimed over the comms. {"The whole tower just shook."}

"Hmm? It did a lot less damage than I expected." Alfonzo said as he approached the crater his attack created. "I wonder what this tower is made of."

As he reached the crater, Alfonzo knelt in front of it. Then, he touched the wall and seeped his magic power into it.

{"That was from one of your attacks?"} Mitsuru asked in shock. {"Just what did you do?"}

"We'll tell you about it later." Elicia said with a giggle. "For now, we've gotta find the Old Document."

{"Right."} Mitsuru said, trying to calm herself down.

"There's no metal elements in the wall." Alfonzo said while shaking his head as he stood up. "Oh well, I guess I'm not gonna get any new metals to add to my arsenal."

"That's not important right now." Alzack said. "Let's just get going. I don't' wanna be stuck in here when the Dark Hour ends. Who knows what will happen to us if that happens."

Nodding in reply, Alfonzo, Elicia, and Bisca did not want to find out, either. But Alfonzo and Elicia were less worried about that then Alzack or Bisca. Since, it seemed like anyone who had the ability to fight the Shadows did not have to worry about that. Because no matter how long you spent exploring Tartarus in the game, the Dark Hour never ended while you were in there.

Though, that could be just a game mechanic, so they decided they would be exploring at a brisk pace. And hopefully, Mitsuru would let them know when they needed to get out before it was too late.