Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 123 - Friends and Faux

A light storm swept into Crocus. According to the meteorologist, it would pass by the afternoon. Already there were pockets, within Crocus, where the sun shone through. Sheets of thin rain kept everyone indoors—everyone save for the soldiers, who diligently marched through the streets for any rebel activity.

From high up in the Twilight Division tower of Crocus, August monitored the rain. The clouds. The streets. Everything. He had viewing lacrima set up all around.

There would be no surprises. Nothing to catch him off guard. The rebels could make no move he couldn't counter.

Already, he knew about the battles in the plains south of Gazania: Wall and Axel's fall, Irene's sudden arrival to halt proceedings. He'd seen that coming. To the south, Gajeel Redfox and Mirajane Strauss handled Neinhart and the Historias' defense of the port city. To the east, Ajeel and already fallen to the combined might of Yukino and Sorano. While his defeat felt imminent, given Jellal's presence, he did not expect the Agria sisters to be the ones to defeat him.

Still, nothing was going out of the ordinary.

Dimaria was a wildcard, as ever, as she advanced on Tenrou Island. It was a countermove to Laxus Dreyar's recent pirating of an airship that had been downed by Hisui. In all likelihood, Hisui expected this. Mest's recent move to steal Warren and Bisca back, and bring them to Tenrou, was the confirmation August and Dimaria needed to advance on the island and ultimately destroy it. Doing so would quell the rebellion right away. Makarov and Hisui stood no chance against Dimaria.

Crocus itself would be under attack soon enough. While the rebels near Gazania didn't have the power to defeat Irene, August knew that she wouldn't have the heart to put them down. Worse, she could join them. In that instance, he still had defenses to use. Larcade and Invel had yet to be mobilized.

Larcade would handle Natsu while Invel could counter Gray Fullbuster, Wendy Marvell, and Lucy Heartfilia, particularly given how exhausted the former most and latter most would be following their bouts. Erza and Irene would be a complication for August to defeat, but victory was assured.

August inspected another viewing lacrima, one that dangled above the others, one that was constantly on the move. Where was Acnologia?

And why hadn't he come out to hunt, given how much great power was on display?

He suspected that Acnologia would go scouring Hargeon, considering that Gajeel and God Serena came to blows and a massive amount of Dragon Slayer magic would be on full display.

Something had to be keeping him at bay. Perhaps he wanted to hunt Sonya in a useless effort. August wanted Ajeel to assassinate the former Queen, but her life was out of his hands now, and into August's. She was a Dragon Slayer of a caliber lower, even, than the Second Generation, given how minute her training had been with Zeref and Irene. Without Animus within her, she was hardly a factor worth considering.

A gust of rain battered his window.

One more thing disturbed August. A third party, though one technically on their side.

That cosmic shift from a few days ago, that breaking in the world of magic, and that sudden rush of familiarity.

Was Emperor Spriggan back?

August didn't set aside a viewing lacrima to find him. Irene was stifling the viewing lacrima he'd placed near Gazania such that he could only hear what was going on, not necessarily view it. He doubted that she would've actually found him; more likely, Zeref would've crawled his way out of the Space Between Time on his own, thanks to his own intellect and power.

He had very little to go on with this theory. Mostly, it was a hope. With Zeref returned, the rebellion could finally end, and they would return the Empire to its proper fighting force. Zeref would Break all of the rebels, effectively replenishing their ranks lost in the last year, and rewrite the books of Tartaros.