While Charles was dealing with the demon from the Book of Zeref, the others had also finished off their opponents one by one.
The buzzer blared, and the pumpkin-headed referee passionately announced the results of the match.
Charles stood alongside the other four as they basked in the crowd's cheers. It was just a shame the kingdom hadn't prepared a trophy or something—lacked a bit of ceremonial flair.
The first Grand Magic Games had come to an end, but everyone decided to stay an extra day.
Because tomorrow was July 7th—the day of the Dragon King Festival, a grand celebration to be held by the kingdom!
Charles had no idea what made the date July 7th so special. Acnologia had fully transformed into the Black Dragon and become the Dragon King on that very day, which was why it had become known as the Dragon King Festival.
And July 7th was also the day Charles and Natsu had been sent four hundred years into the future. The activation of the Eclipse Gate on that day couldn't have been a coincidence.
But before the celebration, Fairy Tail threw their own party to celebrate winning the championship.
Charles didn't get involved in the revelry. He sat off to the side, thinking about what came next.
The appearance of Zeref's demon had made him realize—it was time to start preparing for the future.
Yes, what Charles had in mind… was Tartaros.
When it came to widely known villainous factions in the kingdom, the only one that fit the bill was the Balam Alliance, made up almost entirely of dark guilds.
At the heart of that alliance were three major dark guilds, and the core among them was Tartaros, composed entirely of demons from the Book of Zeref.
Fairy Tail really lived up to its protagonist status. The Balam Alliance, which by all rights should've been dealt with by the Magic Council—the official governing body of all guilds—was instead defeated, one core guild at a time, by Fairy Tail.
Still, the coming war against Tartaros in the future was one Charles could not afford to take lightly.
Because in the original timeline, too much had happened during that war—it had affected too many lives.
Lucy had sacrificed her strongest bond—the key of Aquarius—in order to summon the Celestial Spirit King and shift the tide of battle.
Gray had to fight his father, who had been turned into a demon, and Juvia had been forced to make the painful choice of ending that very same father's life.
More crucially, Zeref and Acnologia both appeared, and the continent-threatening Face weapons were activated.
And then… came the appearance—and death—of Igneel and the other dragons.
Fairy Tail may have emerged victorious from that battle, but it had been a victory soaked in tears.
At the same time, it marked the true beginning of the larger crisis brought by Zeref. Faced with the pain Tartaros had inflicted on their family, and fearing what Zeref could do next, Makarov had chosen to disband the guild.
The worst part? As long as Natsu and Fairy Heart existed, neither the war with Tartaros nor the coming clash with the Alvarez Empire could be avoided.
And neither of those were battles Fairy Tail could simply walk away from.
Which meant Charles had to begin preparing for war now.
He refused to believe that even with seven years of preparation, he still couldn't change those tragedies.
Of course, saying that was one thing. Figuring out exactly how to proceed—that was the problem now weighing on Charles's mind.
To prepare for war, there were only two paths: strengthening oneself, and weakening the enemy. With the Tenrou team still missing, there wasn't much he could do in the first category for now.
But as for weakening Tartaros… that seemed more viable. After all, he had one major advantage—information.
The problem was figuring out how to find those demons from the Book of Zeref.
Tartaros, being the core of the Balam Alliance, was surely a top target of the Magic Council.
And though the Council often seemed utterly useless, even Charles had to admit they were still the most powerful organization on the continent.
If even they hadn't been able to locate Tartaros after all this time, it showed just how well-hidden they were.
These demons weren't like Deliora—a brainless monster driven purely by destruction. These demons were cunning, meticulous, and wholly committed to fulfilling their wish to reunite with Zeref.
Charles sighed. He didn't have time to play hide-and-seek with demons. If only someone else could take care of that for him…
Just then, he sensed a familiar magical signature.
He set his cup down and, after saying a quick word to Stella, left the inn.
Under the cover of night, he tracked the source to a hill across from the Grand Palace. There, he found three cloaked figures.
He stopped in front of them and said, "Come on, we all know each other. No need to sneak around like that."
All three pulled back their hoods. At the front stood Jellal, who had willingly gone with the Magic Council after the defeat of Oración Seis.
Behind him stood Ultear and her little sidekick, Meredy.
Charles looked at Ultear and said, "You mentioned before you were starting a guild… but your member list is pretty wild."
Ultear and Meredy needed no introduction—former high-ranking members of Grimoire Heart. And Jellal… was a criminal who had destroyed part of the Magic Council and attempted to "resurrect Zeref."
And the whole reason Jellal had gone down that path in the first place was because Ultear had manipulated him. Now here she was, dragging him into her new guild, and even breaking him out of a Magic Council prison to do it. Fate really was twisted.
That reminded Charles—he'd previously complained about how useless the Council was. In the entire story, the Council never did anything helpful. All they ever did was go after Fairy Tail and fail to safeguard dangerous magical weapons.
Even their own facilities had been destroyed multiple times. They'd been manipulated by people like Jellal and Brain… no wonder they couldn't be trusted with dangerous criminals.
Ultear gave a shrug and said, "What can I say? Crime Sorcière was founded as a guild for atonement. There aren't many people who qualify."
Charles asked, "So what brings you to Crocus? Something happen?"
Jellal answered, "We came to spectate, but we also discovered something odd. There may be more to the Grand Magic Games than meets the eye. We wanted to ask someone who was in the thick of it."
Charles understood why they'd sought him out. Seven years in the future, they'd been the first to suspect something was amiss with the Games and had asked Fairy Tail for help investigating.
So Charles told them about the Eclipse Project. Of course, he left out the parts about Future Lucy, her two time-travel journeys, and Rogue's corruption—he wasn't about to reveal information that didn't even have a shadow of existence yet.
It took the trio a while to fully grasp what he was saying. Then Meredy asked, "But doesn't the Eclipse Project sound like a good thing?"
Crime Sorcière's goal was to eliminate all dark guilds and the evils born of Zeref. The Eclipse Plan, on paper, sounded aligned with their objectives. So Meredy didn't understand why Charles had spoken of it so negatively.
But the more mature Jellal and Ultear didn't voice any opinions.
Charles explained, "Those who attempt to control time will end up controlled by time. Time isn't something you can mess with so easily.
To put it simply—if their plan had really worked, we wouldn't be living in a world where Zeref still exists.
Rather than pinning our hopes on changing the past, we should be working to forge a new future."
Then Charles's eyes lit up. "By the way—you've been investigating dark guilds. Do you have any intel on Tartaros?"
It hit him then—Crime Sorcière was the perfect team for this. In both motive and capability, there was no one more suited.
For some reason, when Ultear saw the look on his face, she suddenly had the urge to hang him from a lamppost.
But before she could say anything, Jellal stepped in and accepted the mission to investigate Tartaros.
Sighing, Ultear told herself, This was what we were going to do anyway, and let it go.
Then she said, "We'll take the job. But don't tell me you're just going to kick back and enjoy life now."
Charles smiled. "Of course not. I've got my own plans too. Next stop—Kiltina. There are some things I need to look into."
(End of Chapter)
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