Chapter 77 - Dark Guild Raid Begin

---Two Days Later, Earthland---

Waking up early, I headed over to see the two genius women to pick up my new equipment. Knocking on Levy and Hermione's door, the two women welcomed me in with unusually big smiles. I could smell the faint scent of lavender on them, and they were better dressed than usual which was a nice chance of pace. Happy to see they were finally putting in an effort to changing themselves, I looked at the room and chuckled with a grin.

"Some things will never change.", I teased them, "You two will never be organized."

"I will have you know we worked hard to keep it this clean!", Hermione refuted.

"I am not mad, I am happy you didn't change everything about yourselves.", I said as I put their books back, "Anyways, I am here for the Magic Detector. Is it ready?"

Telling me to give them a minute, Levy giggled as she walked over to get it. Picking up a device that looked similar to the Dragon Ball Radar of the living table, Levy handed it to me. Giving me a brief run through of how it worked and all the features they built in, she asked me to give it a try. Pushing the On button, the unit powered on and started highlighting areas with dense magic concentration.

"Right now the scanner is set up to scan the entirety of Ishgar.", Levy said showing me how to zoom in and out, "This should help get you find the Dark Guilds you are after. It's a rough prototype, but it will do what you want."

"Thank you.", I said giving them both a hug, "I owe you a nice dinner in the capital for your hard work."

Telling them to let me know when they were free, I headed out to get this out of the way. Closing the door behind me, I headed outside and was going to leave when Yennefer came storming over with an annoyed look.

"Where the hell have you guys been? I have been looking all over for you, and you just show back up two days ago.", Yennefer stated, "Do you not want Mirajane and Erza to get their ranks promoted?"

"Jeez calm down, we went north and took a nice vacation at a hot spring resort. Do I need your permission to take them on vacation?", I asked.

"No...but I know you didn't go northwards. I just came from your home, and the girls all look exhausted. You went fighting without me, didn't you?", she pressed me.

"Maybe they are exhausted because I got a bit frisky with them on vacation.", I replied with a smirk, "A bitter, naggy woman like you probably doesn't know what it's like to get laid."

Watching her eye twitch in annoyance, it appeared I hit a sore spot for her. Crossing her arms, she told me that she didn't care anymore about what happened. Storming off away from me, I decided to look into her history a bit more when I had some free time. Taking off into the sky, I headed out towards the first closest source of magical power.

Zooming in on the scanner to get a more accurate location, I quickly marked several sites off my list as they were either military sites, natural sources of magic, or were deposits of magical ore. As I reached the outskirts of Fiore around 11am, I finally found my first Dark Guild though they weren't one of the ones I was looking for.

Finding the Eisenwald Guild Hall situation on the northeastern, fog covered coast they appeared to be smuggling something off some boats. Flying down lower to get a better look, I realized they were offloading magic weapons and material. My hunch that the Dark Guilds would use this chance to strike was right, and they were preparing for a bloody war. Deciding that I had enough information to obliterate them, anyone that survived could answer my questions or I'd get a soul to tell me what I wanted to know.

---3rd Person POV---

Surveying the unloading operations, Erigor was making sure the men were handling everything properly. All of these items were incredibly expensive and hard to come by currently. Seeing a few of the crew almost drop one of the crates, he lashed out at them.

"Be careful with those Fire Crystals!! You wanting to blow us up!!", Erigor shouted at the men, "One misstep and we are all going up in a fiery explosion."

"Sorry sir, the boys are just concerned about getting caught.", the Ship Captain said wiping the sweat off his forehead, "Things have been hectic with the fall of the Church of the Eternal Fire and Mage Hunters. Lots of orders coming in, and some of the crews have been getting sloppy to make sure deadlines are met."

Chuckling at that, Erigor said it wasn't any excuse to be careless with Fire Crystals. He had seen first hand how deadly a single one was, and they were offloading almost five hundred of them. While Erigor was seeing to the unloading process, several other Eisenwald members were watching the surrounding area for any signs of Kingdom Troops or the Magic Council.

"Jeez, why are still watching for ships? The Navy hardly comes here because of the fog...", Snarl sighed watching the horizon, "We could be doing better things with our time than watching for non-existent ships."

"Oh shut it, we are getting paid to sit here.", Kageyama sighed with an annoyed look, "Why are you complaining about getting paid to sit and watch? You complain when we do real work, and complain when we don't do anything...make up your fucking mind."

"It's a waste of my talents!", Snarl shouted, "I am sick of being stuck out here, I want to actually fight real opponents!! Watching for stupid ships and killing random merchants is ridiculous!! How am I supposed to move to better Guilds without being able to show off my skills!"

Disregarding that comment, Kageyama knew they were at the bottom of the Dark Guilds for a reason. They weren't that powerful in the grand scheme of things, that's why they were used at the front lines as they were expendable pawns. He had tried to tell their Guild Master this, but the old man didn't really care about that. Everyone got paid well so he was fine being the low man on the totem pole so long as the coin kept flowing.

'Once we deliver this stuff to Grimoire Heart, we can finally start on our own plans.', Kageyama thought looking at a rusty locket that he kept in his pocket, 'Those bastards have to pay for not standing by us when they outlawed Kill Quests. They watched the fucking Church and Mage Hunters chase us out of our homes...and stood by as we watched those we cared about die. I swear, I will make them pay for ruining our lives!!'

As they watched the horizon, Snarl started to notice that the fog was starting to dissipate abnormally fast. Knowing that something wasn't right, he got excited thinking they would get to fight the Kingdom's Navy. Scanning the horizon for any signs of ships, he couldn't see a single one anywhere in sight.

"You noticed it too...where are they..?", Karacka said nervously, "We should really get out of here., we can't see any people approaching."

"Shut up you coward.", Snarl hissed in anger, "Go piss your pants elsewhere!"

"No he's right...why aren't we seeing them?", Kageyama agreed.

Contacting the people watching for approaches from ground forces, he called them to ensure they were still breathing. The twins confirmed their area was clear and Chicken confirm that nothing of interest was in his area either. Hanging up with them, he started scratching his head trying to figure out where they were.

'Where the heck are they...', Kageyama thought looking up into the sky, 'It's not like the Kingdom would send an airship out here to stop...'

Spotting a large man with blue flame wings above them, his blood froze as he recognized him. Every Dark Guild had his picture on their walls, and everyone was advised to not engage him at any cost. He was the one man who had the balls to attack the Magic Council, Church of the Eternal Flame, and the Mage Hunters killing anyone in his way. Not only that, just a few weeks ago he single handedly erased the Churches HQ in broad daylight. If he was here...that meant their time on this world was numbered.

"SHIT!! ENEMY ATTACK!!", Kageyama shouted pointing to the sky, "Everyone get out of here!!"

Seeing a massive Blue Sun appear above the 1st Rank Wizard Saint Mael, Kageyama knew they had to move fast or die a painful death. Telling everyone to scatter, several people froze up in fear as they watched the massive Sun start flying at them. Those that could move their legs ran as fast as they could away from the area.

Hurling a bunch of insults at the mages that were running, he wasn't the least bit fazed by the attack. Erigor was one of a few Dark Mages that thought Mael's power was just a bluff created by the Mage Group in the Magic Council to scare people. There was no way a mage could have that much power, it just wasn't possible.

"What a bunch of whimps", Erigor snickered, "He's not that strong, it's a bunch of crap that the Magic Council is using to increase their standing. Hold fast and watch me kick his ass!"

Honestly believing that, Erigor tried to slice the Blue Sun with his Wind Magic. Watching his spell get close to the Sun, it burnt away without slowing the Sun down. Thinking it was just a fluke he tried several more times only to have the same thing happen. Going to try a sixth time, he found that his scythe was incredibly hot now and was melting in his hands. Tossing it to the ground, he saw the ocean literally start boiling violently.

'No...no no no!! He couldn't actually be that powerful!!', Erigor thought as his body started to carry him away from the area.

"Pride Flare.", he heard Mael say before the entire world around Erigor went white.

Hearing the roar of an explosion hit him, it was the last thing he registered before he felt nothing. Not only him, those that were within a two mile radius were reduced to nothing more than ash. Karacka was the only man to survive, thanks to diving deep underground, but he was in terribly shape. The rock he had been diving through literally boiled with him inside it, the only reason he was still alive was because he managed to fight through the pain and get deep enough to cool down.

"...why...why did this happen...to me...", Karacka gasped as his insides felt like they had been cooked.

Picking himself up, he decided to run back to one of the other Dark Guilds. If Mael was going to start picking them off, they needed to know now so they could prepare. Going to use his magic, Karacka dove a wall only to crash right into it. Shaking the impact off, he tried it again with same result as before.

"...Did...did he destroy my magic ability..?", Karacka asked aloud.

"No, I just cancelled your magic.", a voice said from behind him.

Feeling the icy cold embrace of death behind him, Karacka's whole body froze up. Feeling a hand firmly grasp his shoulder, he didn't dare look back.

"I will make this simple...where is Tartaros and Grimoire Heart? Tell me honestly and I will make your death quick and painless. Lie to me...your soul won't ever reincarnate again.", Mael told him.

Starting to cry where he stood, Karacka spilled the beans to Mael. Giving him the location of every Dark Guild location he knew, he even told him about the plan to attack the capital in a few months. When he had told Mael everything he knew, he pleaded for his life.

"How many innocent merchants begged for their family's lives as you laughed at their suffering?", Mael asked him, "You will die here today, do better in your next life and you won't ever see me again."

Instantly he felt himself slip into darkness without any pain.