Movements in the Background

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

May, x785.

Deep under the city of Crocus in a long-forgotten cave system, a group of five individuals were meeting. The most peculiar thing about the cave where they were meeting was the fact that there was an intact dragon skeleton on one side of the cave.

And sitting atop that dragon skeleton was a large, stone throne with a tall, broad-shouldered, middle-aged man with shoulder-length, golden blond, a long beard of the same color, and red eyes wearing a long white robe.

Meanwhile, the other four individuals, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, and the newest addition, Org, or rather Greed, who had been transformed into a homunculus after Bradley, or rather Wrath, introduced a Philosopher's Stone into his blood stream, were standing around the dragon skeleton.

"Has there been any news about Wrath's reappearance?" The golden-haired man asked in an eerily calm tone.

"No, Father." Lust replied respectfully. "Although we saw that he had been sent high into the air, we never witnessed him falling back to the surface."

"I say we catch that kid, Alfonzo Marcus, and force him to tell us where Wrath is." Envy said in an agitated tone. "And if that doesn't work, we can just grab one of his little girlfriends and threaten him with their life."

"That's an option worth considering." The golden-haired man, Father, replied while stroking his long beard. "But there are other pressing matters we need to consider, as well."

"What do you mean, Father?" Lust asked.

"It would seem that the information about you all has been revealed to the ruling bodies on the continent." Father replied. "To think that only two young people have disrupted our plans so much in such a short time."

"Then, what should we do about this, Pops?" Greed asked, sounding as if he could not care any less about the predicament the homunculi found themselves in.

"Just give the order." Envy growled. "And we'll wipe out those nuisances and their entire guild."

"We can worry about them later." Father replied. "If we're lucky, more than a few of them will be caught in the transmutation circle once we activate it."

Hearing that, Lust, Envy, and Greed nodded their heads in understanding. Gluttony, on the other hand, simply looked on with a blank expression on his face, leaving the others unsure if he was even able to follow the conversation.

"Speaking of which, how is the transmutation circle coming along?" Father asked. "According to the estimates, it should be almost complete."

In response, a shadow extended from one of the walls. However, unlike other shadows, on top of moving on its own, there were glowing red eyes and mouths lined with sharp teeth scattered throughout the shadow. And when those mouths moved, an androgynous young voice could be heard echoing through the cave.

"Father, there is a slight problem." The voice from the shadows said. "A part of the tunnel serving as the transmutation circle was collapse near Rosemary Village. However, it was filled with a seemingly living liquid metal."

"It was that boy again!" Envy shouted angrily.

"It seems that man, Lt. Colonel Hughes, really did figure out our plans." Father said. "Have Sloth clear it."

"Thats' the thing, Father." Pride replied. "No matter how much Sloth digs at the metal, it comes back together on its own."

Hearing that, Father's eyes began to glow subtly.

"It would seem something needs to be done about this boy, after all." Father said.

"Unfortunately, that's not all." Pride said, continuing to report. "Though, this issue is much harder to explain."

While Pride fell silent to compose this thoughts, all the homunculus in the cave waited to hear the report that even gave Pride pause.

"The section of the tunnel running under the village where Lust and Gluttony confronted Elicia Taylor has been closed as well."

"I would assume you have more to report, correct?" Father asked.

"Indeed." Pride replied. "In this case, it was as if the sides of the tunnel were pulled together... As if a hole was sewn shut."

"Sewn, you say?" Father asked in an intrigued tone.

"Yes, much like the way Gluttony's False Gate of Truth was sealed." Pride continued.

Once again, the cave fell into complete silence. However, that silence was broken before long.

"It would seem something, indeed, must be done about those two." Father said with a hint of irritation in his tone.

"Just give the word, and I'll go and rip his head off his neck." Envy growled in irritation. His irritation becoming more apparent, especially after hearing about the liquid metal that was injected into his body, almost rendering him immobile.

"Once they appear at a location inside the circle, I will have you all go and end their lives." Father said, bringing an end to the conversation.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Floating Cube Island.

"Damn that bitch!" Jackal shouted as he exited a device that recreated his body.

As Alfonzo and Elicia alluded to after the battle with Jackal and the homunculi in Crocus, just shredding Jackal apart with her threads was not enough to end his life. Like most Etherious, after being defeated, Jackal's consciousness was drawn back to Tartaros' base, the Cube, a floating island in the shape of a cube where the strongest Etherious reside.

"It would seem you failed your mission, Jackal." Said the voice of a young man. "To think you would have so much trouble with a bunch of humans."

Turning his head in the voice's direction, Jackal saw a young man with shoulder-length, dark purple hair tied into a large ponytail with messy bangs that obscured most of his face. However, his dark, malevolent eyes were completely visible. On top of that, he wore a disdainful smirk on his lips. As for clothing, he wore a black, tattered jacket trimmed with a white flame pattern over a frilly black shirt, a pair of white pants, and a simple pair of black boots.

"Those humans will pay for what they've done, Lord Mard Geer." Jackal growled angrily. "Just give me another chance. I'll bring in their heads."

"Pathetic." A female voice cut into the conversation before the young man, Mard Geer Tartaros, the leader of the Dark Guild, Tartaros could reply.

Snapping his head in the voice's direction with a scowl on his face, Jackal saw a woman with pale grey skin, an exceptionally large pair of breasts, and an hourglass figure wearing a tight leotard that emphasized her breasts even more, a striped jacket that covered her shoulders, arms, and most of her hands, that resembled talons, a pair of tight bands on her legs that extended down from her thighs to just above her bird-like feet, and an intricate helmet on her head that covered most of her face, excluding her mouth and eyes.

"You were defeated by humans." The woman continued. "You've brought shame to the name of the Nine Demon Gates."

"Grr!" Jackal growled angrily.

"But you were right." The woman said. "They will pay for what they've done. No human shall live to regret humiliating the Nine Demon Gates. I'll be sending Seilah, Keyes, Tempester, and Ezel to deal with them."

"What? Kyôka, are you serious?" Jackal bellowed in disbelief. "Those humans are my prey!"

"Someone who has already been defeated has no right to question my decisions." The woman, Kyôka, replied dismissively.

"Damn you!" Jackal shouted angrily as he glared at Kyôka.

"Actually, that won't be necessary." Mard Geer said, cutting into the conversation. "We have more pressing matters to attend to. We need to find the location of [Face], as well as the way to activate it."

"Understood." Kyôka replied with a respectful bow of her head.

And although Jackal's anger was not quelled, he calmed down enough to refrain from attacking Kyôka.

"I think we should contact that young woman." Mard Geer said while stroking his chin in contemplation. "What was her name again? Uh... Remembering the names of humans is so difficult. Ah, now I remember, it's Junko.... Junko Enoshima. She's the one that gave us the information about that ex-Magic Council chairman, after all."

"As you command, Lord Mard Geer." Kyôka replied respectfully. "I'll contact her, at once."

With that, Kyôka turned around and left the resurrection chamber without sparing Jackal a glance. Meanwhile, Jackal stared at Kyôka with wrath burning in his eyes. Even so, he dared not make a move on Kyôka for two reasons.

First, Kyôka was the leader of the Nine Demon Gates. In other words, in terms of power, she stood at the top among them. And second, Mard Geer was watching with an interested gaze. And Jackal was under no illusion that the most powerful of all Zeref's demons would stand by and watch an internal struggle take place among his forces.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Pegasus Village.

In a village located near the Legal Guild, Blue Pegasus, there is an elegant hot spring enclosed by a bamboo building. This hot spring, owned by the Blue Pegasus guild is specifically used for the members of Blue Pegasus to relax.

At the moment, however, there are no members of Blue Pegasus in the area. Still, the hot spring was not unoccupied. Instead, there was a young blonde woman enjoying the hot spring all by herself.

"*Sigh* And it was such a good chance to have Zeref under my control." The blonde woman, Junko Enoshima, said to herself while letting all her stress melt away with a relaxed smile on her face. A moment later, however, her expression changed into something much more vicious. "And if it weren't for that bitch from Fairy Tail, this world would be wallowing in despair by now. It's too bad Acnologia wasn't able to wipe her and her guild mates off the face of the continent. Ooh~~~! The despair that would have brought to the rest of the guild would have been wonderful."

As she spoke of despair, Junko's expression changed once again. Now, instead of an expression filled with malice, she wore an expression filled with euphoria. On top of that, she began cupping one of her breasts while there was movement from her other hand below the water's surface. However, thanks to the milky color of the hot spring, it was unclear exactly what she was doing.

At that moment, one of the communications lacrima Junko kept with her at all times to communicate with her co-conspirators began blinking.

"Hmm..." Junko hummed after noticing the blinking lacrima. "I wonder who it could be."

Picking up the chain of communications lacrima with the hand that was previously cupping her breast, Junko looked at the blinking lacrima to ascertain the identity of the one trying to contact her. At the same time, the hand moving below the water's surface did not stop.

"Mmm~! It's Kyôka from Tartaros." Junko said in a sultry tone. "I wonder what she could possibly want."

With that, Junko injected a bit of her magic power into the lacrima. A moment later, an image of Kyôka, from the waist up was projected from the lacrima in Junko's hand.

"Kyôka, to what do I owe the... Mmm~! Pleasure?" Junko asked once the image was stabilized.

In response, Kyoka examined Junko's body. Then, she licked her lips.

"One day, I will turn you into a demon." Kyôka said with a sadistic glint in her eyes. "Oh, how I love transforming beautiful young women into demons."

"As despair inducing as that sounds, I doubt you contacted me for that." Junko replied with a radiant smile.

"Of course." Kyôka said with a nod. "I'm sure you are aware that Crawford Seam met his end before we could get the information about Face from him, are you not?"

"I am." Junko replied with a nod. "I would have loved to see the look on his face just before he died. The unwillingness... it must have been incredible."

"I'm sure it must have been." Kyôka replied. "However, because of his untimely demise, we were unable to get the information we wanted."

"And you're hoping that I can find out where Face is and what is needed to activate it, correct?" Junko asked.

"That's right." Kyoka replied. "And in return, we will gather the necessary humans for your little game."

Hearing that, Junko's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I'll be able to bring them to hope's peak, before dropping them to the pits of despair. The back stabbing, the accusations, the deaths... It will be nothing short of a trigger happy havoc."

"I assume that means we have a deal?" Kyôka asked with a smile, completely unconcerned with the fates of the humans who will be sacrificed in Junko's death game.

"Most definitely." Junko replied.

"Very good." Kyôka replied. "You will receive your humans after we get the information we want."

With that, Kyôka cut the communication.

"*Sigh* I can't wait." Junko replied as she placed the chain of lacrima back on the side of the hot spring. "But gathering the information Kyoka wants will be tedious if I do it by myself. I guess I should break Himiko out of prison again. Having her to assist me will make my job much easier. Oh, and I should really let Mukuro know, too. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to get the game started."

With that, Junko stood from her spot in the hot spring. Then, after picking up the chain of communications lacrima, she left for the changing rooms. And just like that, without anyone from Blue Pegasus knowing she was ever there, Junko left Pegasus Village to plan Himiko Toga's break out... again.