Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 127 - Universe One

Irene planted her staff into the ground. A light trembling took hold, rippling out to the surrounding area and then further out. Red lights began to sprout all around.

Zeref glanced around at the magic, impressed. Irene smiled. The tension increased in her magic as the enchantment on the land continued to spread, deepening until it reached the foundations of the earth, until it reached all over Fiore and touched all things on it, living and nonliving.

"Tell me," Irene said, trying not to sound like her voice was strained. "What stipulations might you have, Emperor Spriggan?"

"Keep the civilians away," Zeref said. "I want them out on the outskirts of whatever you reform. When we're victorious, I need a populace that will help us rebuild. They cannot be caught in the crossfire."

"Good. Anything else?"

"None. Activate the spell at your whim."

Irene nodded. She could sense everyone and everything, but of course, the more powerful wizards stood out the most. She found Erza first, then the other Fairy Tail wizards. Lucy, Natsu, and Wendy were unconscious. Several, if not all, had their magic significantly reduced. Then there were the other rebels. Jellal and his crew—not nearly as weak. Primed for more combat. And with them...

"What is it?" Zeref asked.

A magic Irene was familiar with. Ancient, primal, but somehow also new and enhanced.

"We must be careful," she said. "There is a weapon, among the rebels."

"A weapon?"

"Yes."

"Can you retrieve it?"

The spell began to unravel, and reality lurched. Irene held on tight.

"I'm sorry, I—I must simply arrange things now."

"Do it. Collapse us all into Crocus, and we will attend to this problem in time. There is no weapon so strong as Acnologia or myself."

Irene said nothing.

She did not want to introduce doubt into her Emperor's plans now.

One more pulse as the magic tried to break loose. It was a stray movement, a stray miss. Nothing serious. Maybe someone would be displaced where Irene didn't know—a citizen, or a wizard. It wouldn't matter. She took control and let her voice be heard all about the land,

"Universe One."

***

No sooner were Hisui, Romeo, the Thunder Tribe, Laxus, Mavis, Makarov, Mest, Warren, and Bisca back on the mainland than it began to tremble, and the land glowed a deep scarlet hue.

"Is it a trap of some kind?" Freed shouted.

"Damn it, must've been waiting for us!" Laxus shouted.

"No, it's worse," Hisui said as scarlet light consumed her. "It's Irene!"

Everything ran red, and all the world froze and then exploded into place around her. What'd once been midday became midmorning again, and what had once been a rolling countryside was instead the outskirts of Hisui's once-home, Crocus.

Its walls were tall, but crooked, misshapen, and warped with the stonework of other nearby castles and settlements. Buildings were stacked on top of one another. Roadways were straight, yet all the same led in so many weird directions. Clouds mixed, swirled in one another, and then set about their business.

It was chillier, too, for some reason, as the air seemed unsure if it wanted to be freezing cold or just chilled. A harsh wind swooped in and vanished, the shift in the world catching up with everything else.