[X784, Bob's Villa]
— Dannis Martell —
"Thanks to our friends from Fairy Tail, we have learned exactly what Oracion Seis is after."
Ichiya started the briefing, standing atop a makeshift podium surrounded by spotlights with his hands folded into finger guns.
Dannis stood near the back of the group, arms crossed, his gaze coolly sweeping across the faces of the assembled mages. He wasn't impressed by Ichiya's theatrics, but he was paying attention. The stakes were far too high to miss a single detail.
"North from this villa lies the Worth Woodsea," Ichiya continued. "A forest vast and ancient, once home to the Nirvits—an extinct civilization of powerful magic users. And it is within that forest that Nirvana sleeps!"
Hibiki stepped in then, fingers flying across a glowing interface of his Archive Magic. The golden screen behind him flickered and shifted as he displayed the relevant information.
"Nirvana," Hibiki said, more professionally, "also known as The Magic of Reversal. A spell that does not destroy the body, but the soul—flipping a person's alignment from light to darkness... or darkness to light."
"How does the change happen?" Erza asked quietly.
"Through wavering emotion and fluctuations in their intensity." Hibiki answered. "Anger, greed, jealousy... Anyone who succumbs to these emotions will have their personalities forcibly rewritten."
"What a terrifying piece of Magic." Mira muttered, shaking her head.
"Indeed," Jura said gravely. "Which is why strength of will is paramount. Purge all negative thoughts from your minds. If Nirvana takes root in weakness, we may find ourselves turning on one another." His eyes swept across the room. "Am I understood?"
A collective nod from all present. The atmosphere grew heavier, the reality of their mission settling in.
"This is great and all, but what's the point if we can't find it? Do we even know where Nirvana is?" Lyon cut in, arms crossed.
Dannis was the one who answered. "No. But we know someone who does."
The shadows beneath Dannis's cloak shimmered. A humanoid form rose from within, the Wraith of Jellal Fernandez.
"Jellal..." Erza whispered, her voice soft. The Wraith met her gaze as it gave her an eye smile.
"Jellal supplied Oracion Seis with the information on Nirvana," Dannis explained. "Even now, his memories persist through this fragment of soul. If anyone knows its location, it's him."
The Wraith gave a solemn nod.
"Well done, Dannis-dono," Jura said respectfully. "This will make our task far more efficient."
"Then we have a plan." Hibiki jumped in, pulling up a new interface. "We've got the numbers advantage—twenty of us against six of them, but don't take them lightly. While we have no intel on the types of magic they wield, we've gathered a bit of information from informants and survivors of encounters."
Hibiki threw his hand to the side as the single square of light turned into six larger squares, each one depicting the faces of the members.
"The mage who controls venomous snakes, Cobra."
"Racer, a man that lives up to his speed-based magic."
"Hoteye of the Heaven's Gaze."
"Angel, the woman who can see into your heart."
YOU ARE READING
Fairy Tail: The Dark Swordsman
Fiksi PenggemarAwakening your innate magic usually happens in the most dire of circumstances, and that's exactly what Dannis Martell experienced as he found himself trapped when tragedy struck. The story of a swordsman trying to make his way through life, alongsid...
