Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August 9, x791.
Just as Retsu expected, Yoruichi, after her morning with Alfonzo, was too tired to travel when noon came around. So, the two decided to stay another day. Then, they left right after breakfast.
As for Alfonzo and the ladies of Fairy Tail, they headed to the guild for training after Retsu and Yoruichi rode off on Retsu's motorcycle. Then, after their training ended, while the ladies headed to the first floor to hang out with the other members of the guild, Alfonzo headed up to Mavis' office to discuss the attack strategy against Tartaros.
"So, that unpleasant woman is finally gone, is she?" Irene asked with a smirk.
"Is that why you haven't been by in the last couple of days?" Alfonzo asked while lightly shaking his head.
"Would you rather have your house destroyed thanks to the aftermath of a disagreement?" Irene shot back.
"Not that I think either of you is strong enough to do that." Alfonzo muttered.
In response, Irene narrowed her eyes while she stared at Alfonzo. From the glint in her eyes, Alfonzo was certain that Irene took that as a challenge. Luckily, Mavis spoke up before Irene could say anything about it.
"More importantly, we need to make plans for the attack on Tartaros' base." Mavis said in a solemn tone. "Do you think we should ask for help from the other guilds in the guild alliance?"
'Good job, Master Mavis.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he turned his attention towards Mavis. 'Hopefully, Irene will forget about trying to destroy my house.'
["Yeah, but how do you think she'll react when she finds out that Retsu is coming to live with you once the matters with Mermaid Heel are settled?"] Bedlam asked in a tone filled with schadenfreude. ["She might end up destroying the house, and it won't be because of some kind of challenge."]
'Ugh! Don't remind me.' Alfonzo groaned internally. 'I'll get to reinforcing the whole house as soon as I get back.'
"Honestly, I don't think that will be necessary." Alfonzo replied while mentally noting the tasks he needed to complete after returning to the Mansion on the Lake. "Right now, we don't know exactly where their base is located. I only have a direction. So, having them follow us from a distance won't work. I doubt they wanna possibly traverse the entire continent to help us contain the damage."
"I suppose you're right." Mavis replied. "Well then, we should decide which of our wizards will come along with you on this mission."
"I'll leave that up to you, Master." Alfonzo replied. "But, if possible, can you leave Natsu out of this? Actually, leave Gajeel out, too. I really don't want the Blackbird smelling like vomit."
"We could just have Wendy come along with you to alleviate that issue, couldn't we?" Mavis asked.
"Yeah, that would work." Alfonzo replied.
"So, what's the real reason you want to leave them out?" Irene asked in an amused tone.
"Because they don't know how to sit in one place." Alfonzo grumbled. "Plus, they both challenge me to fights too damn much. I'm sick of dealing with their shit."
Mavis and Irene could not help laughing at Alfonzo's disgruntled expression.
"As true as that may be, they are some of our strongest wizards." Mavis replied while getting her laughter under control. "So, there's no reason to leave them behind on this mission."
"*Sigh* Fine... You're the guild master." Alfonzo said as he flopped down on the couch next to Irene and lay his head on her thighs. "Either way, we'll need at least a week before I'm ready to go. I need to build some WMDs for this trip."
"WMDs?" Mavis asked curiously.
Irene, while running her fingers between Alfonzo's dreads, also looked at him with curiosity after hearing the unfamiliar term.
"Weapons of mass destruction." Alfonzo replied with a grin. "Honestly, I'd rather not even have to fight Tartaros again. If possible, I just wanna remove them, their base, and all the surrounding land from the map all in one strike."
In response, Mavis and Irene could only stare at Alfonzo blankly. From what they knew of Alfonzo, he was against using overwhelming force that could cause so much collateral damage. But to hear him talk about destroying Tartaros' base and the surrounding area, they found it hard to fathom those words would come out of his mouth.
"Well, you are a member of Fairy Tail, after all." Mavis said while smiling wryly. "So, the thought of destroying any and everything probably crosses your mind a lot."
Irene nodded in agreement with Mavis' assessment. Meanwhile, Alfonzo, with his head still resting on Irene's lap, could feel his eyebrows twitching in irritation.
'What does she mean I must think about destroying any and everything a lot?' Alfonzo asked himself indignantly. 'The only reason I would ever say anything like that is because I know the Tartaros base is located on a floating island. So, the collateral damage would be a lot less than what the rest of the guild tends to do, okay?'
["Yeah, but you can't say that."] Bedlam replied with a chuckle. ["Otherwise, you'd have to answer a shit ton of questions about why you know that."]
'I know...' Alfonzo replied as his expression morphed into a pout.
Seeing the pout on Alfonzo's face, Mavis and Irene started laughing again. Irene even took the opportunity to pinch his puffed out cheeks with glee.
August 16, x791.
After that, a week passed quickly. During that time, Amar'e turned four years old, and his party went off without a hitch. On top of that, Alfonzo, Mavis, and Irene met every day after training. During these meetings, they discussed who would accompany Alfonzo on the mission to eliminate Tartaros. And in the end, they decided to send nine of their S-Class wizards on this mission.
The list consisted of Alfonzo, Laxus, Fried, Alzack, Gray, Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, and Gajeel. They would also bring Wendy along to keep Natsu and Gajeel in fighting shape while they were traveling aboard the Blackbird.
On top of that, Alfonzo, Mavis, and Irene decided on a date for the mission to eliminate Tartaros. And as it just so happened, it would commence tomorrow. So, while most of the members were getting in as much training as they could before departure, Alfonzo was in the hangar under the Mansion on the Lake fitting the new armaments he created onto the Blackbird.
Unfortunately, many of the S-Class wizards who were not chosen to go on this mission were unhappy about being skipped over. And as it just so happened, most of those who were displeased lived in the Mansion on the Lake.
Meaning, despite the fact that he had work to finish, Alfonzo was being bombarded with complaints about not getting a chance to fight.
"Come on, Fonzie~~~!" Cana whined from nearby as Alfonzo floated a thermite missile into place below one of the Blackbird's wings. "Why can't I come with you? I didn't get to fight the demons at all when they showed up~~~!"
"You should take that up with Master Mavis." Alfonzo replied without even looking in his second wife's direction. "Well, either her or Irene. They were the ones responsible for the lineup this time. I was just there so that I could come up with a strategy once I knew who would be coming with me."
While Cana was not above questioning Mavis about her decisions, albeit in a much more polite way than she would with Makarov and Ur, the thought of questioning Irene made Cana shudder.
"No way am I questioning that sadistic woman." Cana said resolutely. "I've never gotten on her bad side before... And there's a damn good reason for that. And I have no intention of starting now."
'Sometimes, Ireen's reputation is a Godsend.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'The fact that she used to be such a sadist makes most of the girls not even want to cross her. But if they knew that was only an act at this point, I wonder how Irene would react. Maybe she would go back to be that sadistic to make people stop bothering her. Hmm... I'm kinda curious to find out.'
"Anyway, the fun fight you're expecting probably won't happen.' Alfonzo said as he got the missile connected to the launcher. He then patted another missile that was lying next to him on the hangar's floor. "With these babies, I wouldn't be surprised if only one or two of the Demon Gates were alive after they go off. Then, it will just be a bunch of us ganging up on a few. Is that really the kinda fight you wanna be part of?"
Looking back over his shoulder after speaking, Alfonzo saw Cana frowning. And thanks to how long he's known her, he knew exactly what that frown meant. Currently, Cana was fighting with herself. On one hand, she really wanted to fight against Tartaros, the guild full of demons who attacked their home only a little over a week ago. But on the other, she was not all that interested in ganging up on the members of the Dark Guild who were fortunate, or unfortunate depending on how you looked at it, enough to survive Alfonzo's initial attack.
After nearly a minute of silence that allowed Alfonzo to load the second thermite missile onto the Blackbird, Cana came to a decision.
Actually, a decision would be inaccurate. Instead, Cana decided that she was done trying to decide. So, she just stopped thinking about it.
"Whatever..." Cana muttered in a disgruntled tone. "But after you get back, we're going on a quest together. And we're gonna fight something S-Class in difficulty, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Alfonzo replied, raising his right hand in a salute after the second missile was firmly attached to the Blackbird. "While I'm gone, you take your time finding the perfect quest. Then, we'll get going after I have a day to rest. You okay with that?"
"Good." Cana replied with a nod. "And you better not forget. Otherwise, you won't like the consequences."
Cana punctuated her threat by shaking her right hand, which would have been both cuter and more threatening had she not been holding a nearly empty bottle of vodka. She then dashed forward and planted a quick kiss on Alfonzo's cheek before turning around and walking away towards the elevator like she just won a debate, her hips swaying the way Alfonzo liked for good measure.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo, who had started to levitate an oversized railgun shell, completely paused what he was doing to watch her leave.
"Yeah, I hate to see her go..." Alfonzo muttered quietly while his eyes focused on Cana's swaying hips. "But watching her leave isn't so bad."
Shaking his head, Alfonzo turned back to the task at hand. Unfortunately, while he was finishing the preparations for departure, Cana was not the only one who tried to convince him to take them with her, as Ultear, Sun, Marin, Saeko, and Rika also tried everything from guilt-tripping to seduction to get him to bring them along. But Alfonzo's response of "ask Mavis and Irene, and if they agree, I'd be happy to take you," stopped them dead in their tracks.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Bosco, Cube.
August 17, x791.
Shortly before noon of the following day, the demons of Tartaros were piloting the Cube towards Fiore. Their objective, to take revenge of Fairy Tail for causing their plans to fail time and time again. However, the two highest ranking members of the guild, Mard Geer, the guild master, and Kyôka, the leader of the Nine Demon Gates, were having a discussion in Mard Geer's throne room.
Though, calling it a discussion would not be completely accurate. Instead, it was more like a hearing or interrogation, as Mard Geer, to anyone who knew him, was clearly unhappy about how things were going at the moment.
"Can you tell me why Tempester and Seilah have yet to return?" Mard Geer, sitting atop his thrown with his right elbow on its arm rest while he rested his head in his hand, asked in a deceptively calm tone.
"I'm not sure about Tempester's situation, my Lord." Kyôka replied calmly. "As for Seilah, I believe she fell victim to the She-Devil of Fairy Tail, Maryjane Strauss-Marcus. That woman uses [Take Over Magic]. And she specializes in what she calls [Satan Soul Take Overs], which are simply demon [Take Overs]."
On a side note, Mirajane did not only [Take Over] Seilah. She also took over Tempester, which Alfonzo presented to her shortly after he returned from Hargeon with Lucy and Brandish. But the members of Tartaros had no way of knowing that at this point.
"I see." Mard Geer replied as his power began to leak due to his anger. "So, rather than dead, she has been trapped inside a disgusting human vessel and is being forced to give her power to that human woman?"
"That is one way to look at it, I suppose." Kyôka replied, her tone shaking thanks to the pressure from Mard Geer's aura.
"Then, the solution is simple." Mard Geer declared as he stood up from his throne. "We just have to kill that woman. When we do, Seilah's soul will be collected, and she will be reborn here on the Cube."
Though it was clear Mard Geer was proud of his plan, the pressure he released only increased, almost forcing Kyôka onto her knees. Clearly, coming up with a solution did not make his mood better in the slightest.
"Then, I will kill her over and over again until I'm satisfied." Mard Geer continued, a sadistic smile spreading across his face. "She needs to be punished for such a disgrace. Hmph! She's lucky she's one of Lord Zeref's creations. Otherwise---"
*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
However, before Mard Geer could finish, the castle that acted as Tartaros' base shook. Yet, little did Mard Geer or Kyôka know, it was not just the castle, but the entire Cube, that was shaking thanks to an attack that no one expected.