feral | sting eucliffe

L | THS

Episode 50: The Home of Suffering!

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"DOESN'T THIS REMIND YOU A LOT OF—" Lucy started, Erza nodding before she could continue, finishing her sentence cleanly. "— the Tower of Heaven? Yes. It's very similar, but we weren't forced to learn magic." Titania mutters after getting off another call with Sabertooth's power couple, the two informing her all about what Y/n had experienced.

Of course, he did it with her permission and he stuck right beside her the entire time when she told Erza all these things. Gray looked up at Erza, the girl staring at the plans as if they would burn under her gaze. "I don't get why they would teach lost magic in the first place. What's the point? They're kids and their magic is hardly powerful, especially at a young age."

Lucy glanced over at him, "Yeah, but look at the Kyuuseishu now. They're pretty damn powerful for their age and they're all in the same age range as us." That made Levy think. Her brown eyes were focused, filled with concentration as she looked down at the Latin book in front of her. Gajeel nudged her, inquisitive. "What's up? You've got your thinking face on."

She pinked at how observant he was, shaking it off quickly as she spoke up. "Maybe that was the plan. The leader knew that it was their only way and ability to survive, so he made them grow up with that magic before recollecting them again. Y/n mentioned that they'd try to run away, right? Maybe the guards didn't catch them by coincidence." She hinted.

Carla blinked, the exceed wrapped in Wendy's arms as the blue-haired girl sat on the right of Levy. "Trackers," The cat spoke, her tail swishing as everyone turned to look at her. "They were practically treated like prisoners, but they didn't have any magic canceling cuffs. Therefore, they knew their magic was weak. So, they relied on location to catch them each time."

Everyone shared a look. Her prediction seemed pretty feasible. Erza held up the communication lacrima, "I'll contact Sting again. The rest of you, hold tight." She ordered. Natsu grumbled at that, already excited to pick a fight with someone other than Gray. Levy flipped a page of her book, reading carefully. "Domum Dolorem, huh?" She mumbled.

Reading and translating at the same time, she spoke. "It means 'home of the suffering.'" Gray snorted, rolling his eyes as he rested his cheek on his knuckles. "You can say that again," He muttered under his breath, Lucy and Levy sending him a look. Wendy just averted her eyes silently, "They never got to have a normal childhood. . . "

The environment grew solemn at her statement, everyone looking down and staring at the wood of the table. "So," Gray started, his eyes clashing against Natsu's and Lucy's. "If this supposed 'headmaster' has an influence or control on them, it has to be something close to a tracker. Either way, my question is how and why they didn't take it out earlier."

Wendy spoke up, cuddling Carla. "Maybe they didn't know about it? It must've been implanted when they were really little." Levy nodded along, voicing out her own thoughts. "I agree with Wendy. That's the only plausible reason." Everyone let out a grunt or agreement of some sort, looking towards one another as the sky dragon slayer mumbled to herself.

She pondered, "The one thing I don't get is why he didn't get them earlier? Before the Joya thing, they were still super strong, so why would he wait until now?" Wendy blinked, everyone, becoming bewildered at her question. In a sense, she wasn't wrong and her question was something that could be heavily considered.

Unlike everything else they'd pieced together, this simply didn't make any sense.

Lucy looked down, "I guess we won't know unless we know the headmaster himself." She muttered, peeling her eyes away from the table to make eye contact with Wendy. The two stared at each other briefly before Erza came back, the lacrima in her hand as she sighed. "I told them and they're going to contact the other Kyuuseishu. However, they'll be attempting to get the trackers out with Porlyusica's help."

Levy blinked, brows furrowing. "So, they'll be coming to Magnolia?" Erza shrugged, her armor clinking as she did so. The lacrima glinted in her hand as she set it down on the table, Gray picking it up and tapping on it boredly. "Maybe, I think they're just planning to head to the forest. If they decide to linger for a bit, that's up to them."

Hours passed, everyone in the guild returning to their usual ruckus as time passed. Levy was still deep in her own research with others on her side, reading through books or looking through newspapers to find any sign of their headmaster of some sort. Suddenly, the lacrima beeped. Still tucked into Gray's cloak, the sound emitted from the cloth.

Juvia shot up, "Is Gray calling another girl than Juvia?!" She yelled, the sky starting to pour outside as soon as she exclaimed that. He grew flustered and startled, jumping slightly. "What?! No!" She immediately said some lovey-dovey things, but he pushed her away and took out the lacrima, growing confused when he saw that Kagura was calling.

Answering the call since Erza was busy talking to Mirajane and eating her cake, he blinked as soon as he heard chaos ensuing in the background. Kagura yelled another spell, supposedly dodging another table as she did so. "Erza, is this you?! Akane's going crazy again and she won't stop! I don't know what to—" She was cut off as the call abruptly lost connection.

"—this line is not in service please dial a new—"Gray quickly shut off the lacrima and looked towards Erza, blurting what had just happened. He was barely able to get all of his words out when the infirmary door suddenly busted open. Lisanna was sent flying, but Natsu quickly caught her and set her down, eyes narrowing at the figure in front of the infirmary.

A low chuckle erupted from Nikos, the male already in his ultimate form as he grinned down at them. A dark aura grew from him as he smirked, "This time, I'll make sure my poison is lethal."