Natsu, Gray, and Juvia were not the only ones to defeat their opponents.
Gajeel had won his battle as well, though only after an extremely difficult fight.
Torafuzar the Dark possessed a Curse that made his body impossibly hard, while also allowing him to summon a poisonous sea filled with carbon that engulfed his enemies.
Submerged beneath the black water, Gajeel had nearly suffocated to death.
Worse still, he had been completely unable to break through Torafuzar's supposedly indestructible defenses.
At the critical moment, however, Gajeel entered Iron Dragon King Mode and answered hardness with even greater hardness.
Just before the last of his oxygen ran out, he unleashed a Secret Dragon Slayer Art and defeated Torafuzar.
Unfortunately, he passed out from oxygen deprivation immediately afterward.
If Lyon and Gray had not arrived in time, Tartaros's soldiers would have dragged him away.
The other battles were also gradually reaching their conclusions.
Kagura adopted a reckless strategy of trading injury for injury, squeezing out the last of her strength to defeat Minerva.
Wendy and Sherria had also won.
Ezel's arrogance had gotten the better of him yet again, allowing the two adorable young mages to send him flying with a relentless combination of wind attacks.
Both girls had suffered serious injuries, but they could still fight if necessary.
Mirajane battled Seilah for a long time while trying to destroy the Hell's Core.
In the end, she successfully used her own magic to Take Over Seilah's demonic form.
Over on Sabertooth's side, Tempester was still giving the two young Dragon Slayers an incredibly difficult fight, and neither side had managed to claim victory.
Rufus and Orga, meanwhile, faced their former master Jiemma, who had been transformed into a demon.
That battle ended with surprising ease.
Even after being enhanced, Jiemma was swiftly crushed by the two of them working together.
It was hard to imagine how he had ever had the nerve to call anyone else weak.
Of the Nine Demon Gates, only Kyoka, Tempester, and Jackal remained standing.
"Only three left…"
Mard Geer stood within Cube's central control chamber, smiling coldly.
"But it no longer matters. Once our plan is complete, all demons will eventually return to Lord Zeref's embrace."
"Underworld King, the seal on Face has been broken."
Crawford wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled obsequiously.
He had initially agreed to cooperate with Tartaros for money.
But now…
The situation had spiraled far beyond his expectations, and Tartaros itself no longer seemed capable of guaranteeing his safety.
Crawford was beginning to panic.
"We can't deal with Ankh or Jellal," Mard Geer said, staring thoughtfully at the Super Archive display.
"Who did you transfer their Organic Links to?"
"Hehehe…"
Crawford rubbed his hands together.
"Since there weren't any suitable candidates available, I temporarily transferred them to myself."
He leaned closer and eagerly offered a suggestion.
"All you need to do is find some unfortunate fool. I'll move the Organic Link onto them, then you can kill them. Once that happens, Face's activation will be entirely under your control."
"Oh?"
A satisfied smile appeared on Mard Geer's face.
He patted Crawford's shoulder and asked with apparent curiosity, "How quickly can Face be activated?"
Crawford answered honestly.
"Thirty minutes!"
"I see. Your magic truly is impressive, Chairman Crawford. To think you can activate Face remotely without traveling to the site and switching it on manually."
Crawford beamed at the praise.
"Of course! Super Archive isn't some petty magic used by ordinary mages. Even if the Magic Council wanted to shut Face down remotely, they could never do it without me!"
"In that case, I'll have to trouble you to make Face impossible to deactivate manually, then activate every unit at once. I'll go find a suitable sacrifice for you."
"Certainly, certainly…"
Unlike Kyoka, who had done nothing but order him around, Mard Geer seemed to appreciate his abilities.
Crawford's vanity was thoroughly satisfied, and he cheerfully began operating Super Archive again.
A short while later, every one of the densely packed red markers on the display gained a LOCKED symbol.
Crawford had prevented anyone from reaching the individual Face units and shutting them down on-site.
From this moment onward, unless someone possessed Super Archive Magic with even higher authorization than his own, no one but Crawford could deactivate Face.
Once he completed the procedure, a thirty-minute countdown appeared on the screen.
Three thousand Face units buried throughout Ishgar would erase every trace of Magic Power from the continent when that timer reached zero.
Having finished everything, Crawford turned around.
Mard Geer was still smiling at him.
Unable to suppress the concern that had been lingering in his mind, Crawford approached and rubbed two fingers together in the universal gesture for money.
"Underworld King, about my payment… When might I receive it?"
"And if you don't find a sacrifice quickly, it could interfere with Face's activation."
Mard Geer nodded before revealing a strange smile.
"Your reward is ready."
"So is the sacrifice."
"Then you have my—"
Crawford's words abruptly stopped.
Terror filled his eyes as his body began trembling uncontrollably.
His flesh shriveled as though every drop of moisture had been sucked from it.
In the next instant, he had become a dried corpse!
After a lifetime of corruption and wrongdoing, Crawford died with fear and resentment frozen across his face, reduced to a pitiful, withered body lying upon the cold floor.
At the same moment, his death severed the Organic Link.
The countdown to Face's activation officially began.
"What a pathetic fool."
Mard Geer looked down at the corpse without the slightest emotion.
A strange tendril still curled around his fingertips—the thing he had used to drain every trace of moisture from Crawford's body.
Once Face was activated, Crawford was theoretically the only person with enough time to deactivate every unit.
If the legal guilds captured the spineless old man and forced him to shut Face down, Crawford would almost certainly agree without hesitation.
For that reason, Mard Geer had decided that killing the fool was the safest option.
Besides… Crawford had actually dared to demand payment.
How laughable.
Being personally killed by the Underworld King was the greatest reward a worthless councilor like him could ever receive.
Still holding the Book of E.N.D., Mard Geer took one final look around Cube's central control chamber and smiled.
Boom—!
The chamber collapsed in an explosion.
Mard Geer vanished through the doorway as the ruins buried the last remaining trace of Crawford's existence.
Walking through the dark corridor, Mard Geer pressed two fingers against his temple and smiled coldly.
"Underworld Beast, awaken."
"Joy!"
As though responding to his command, Cube began shaking violently only seconds later.
Mages scattered throughout the fortress hurried to steady themselves in alarm.
The island's strange gravitational fields suddenly disappeared.
One careless step could now send them plummeting from Cube entirely.
Happy carried Natsu into the air.
Staring at the changing island in disbelief, Natsu's voice trembled.
"This is…"
"Foolish humans."
Mockery spread across Mard Geer's face before he burst into wild laughter.
"This island—Cube—is the body of the Underworld Beast itself!"
"The moment you set foot upon it, every one of you entered a cage…"
"And placed yourselves directly upon the Underworld Beast's dinner plate!"