In the control room of the Gate of the Underworld, two soldiers lie on the ground, two pools of blood slowly merging through the gaps in the floor tiles.
The two people standing nearby are not only unconcerned but are almost dancing with joy.
"We did it!" Crawford looked up at the display screen above, excitedly exclaiming, "Feis's seal has been lifted!"
"Really? So easily?" Franmarls couldn't believe it, especially after bombing the Advisory Council and killing the evaluators.
After so much effort without a clue, suddenly killing two insignificant soldiers led to such a breakthrough?
"It's true! This is my Super Ancient Document Magic!" Crawford boasted with pride,
"Clearly, one of the evaluators we killed earlier was already the so-called 'key'. And I, using my Super Ancient Document Magic, identified two other individuals.
"One is Zikrein—no, he should be called Jellal now. The other is your failed assassination target, Beluno!
"And now for the most exciting part! Using the power of my Super Ancient Document Magic and my authority as a former council president, I transferred the other two 'keys' onto these two guys.
"Now that the two of them are dead, the living connection magic activated on its own, and the seal on Feis was lifted! Look quickly—"
Crawford excitedly pointed at a red dot on a map displayed on the screen, and after typing a few keystrokes, a line extended from the red dot, displaying an image of Feis.
"That's Feis, it has already appeared in the Great Hollow of Dokuzel Creek Valley!"
"This is great! How much is the credit for unsealing Feis worth? Huh, how much?" Franmarls was genuinely happy yet also influenced by Crawford's emotions.
Crawford said joyfully, "In any case, with Feis in our grasp, the world will be ours soon, change course quickly, the current direction is completely wrong!"
"Well..." Franmarls rubbed his hands together, saying awkwardly, "The current course can't be changed because it's decided by Lord Hades."
Crawford anxiously questioned, "Are you kidding? That's Feis! The Feis we've been searching for! The world is almost in our hands, isn't it worth changing course just this once?"
"This... don't worry, former council brother." Franmarls comforted,
"After all, Feis is right there, it won't run away, I'll report to Lord Hades... and, can't that thing be remotely activated?"
Crawford thought carefully: "Right! I can try using my Super Ancient Document Magic to remotely gain control!"
He quickly busied himself but still urged:
"Hurry and report, even if I can start Feis right away, it requires warm-up time, and there's no one guarding it. If something happens during this time, I'm not responsible!"
"Rest assured, rest assured, Feis has just been unsealed; how could anything go wrong so quickly..." Franmarls was stunned, pointing at the red cross on the map, asking, "What does that mean?"
Crawford glanced at it, casually said, "A red cross obviously means destroyed inten... What? What's happening?!!"
Crawford, in his excitement, directly grabbed Franmarls: "What happened? What did you do?!"
"How should I know?! Let me go! I'm going to report to Lord Hades right now!"
Franmarls felt like the sky was falling, how did Feis just disappear out of nowhere?
Did activating three 'keys' start a self-destruction program instead of unsealing?
...
"Yeah, I blew it up." Rhode flew through the sky, reconnecting the call he had just hung up not long ago.
He couldn't even believe it himself. The enemy had schemed for so long, painstakingly searching for their ultimate weapon, and just like that, it landed right in his lap?
Should this success be attributed to Jellal's intelligence, or was it Reby and Lucy's precise calculation?
Lisana appeared on screen, inquiring, "So we won without even fighting?"
Rhode shook his head, "I wouldn't say that, although Feis was blown up, the Gate of the Underworld is still there. Moreover... I have a feeling that the matter of Feis isn't that simple."
Lisana was pushed aside, and Makarov came into view, asking, "Why do you say that?"
Rhode replied, "The power wasn't enough."
"Power?"
"Yes, when that crystal pillar exploded just now, its power was quite astonishing. If it had been activated according to the normal procedure, its impact range should have expanded many times.
"But based on the energy release just now, even if the magic pulse from a normal explosion were to expand the affected area hundreds of times, it still wouldn't eliminate the magic particles of the entire continent... Maybe it wouldn't even affect a single country."
Makarov pondered, "So, there's a part of the Gate of the Underworld's Feis plan we don't understand?"
"Most likely." Rhode questioned, "Do you remember how many suspected locations of Feis were mentioned in the intelligence provided by Uncle Shilba?"
Makarov said, "Seven... and they're all located far apart... could it be?"
Rhode nodded, "Perhaps each of the other six locations also hides a Feis. The seven locations they've identified aren't places where Feis 'might possibly' exist, but places where it's confirmed to be!"
"So there might be six more Feis to destroy?!" Makarov was shocked, shouting, "Reby, where's the map?"
"Here it is." Reby brought over the map she'd marked with various points and lines, reminding,
"President, the farthest one is over three thousand kilometers from us. If the Netherworld can activate it remotely or has people stationed at other sites responsible for activating it, we wouldn't be able to destroy it in time!"
At this time, Beluno, who was next to Reby and Gajeel, said, "Perhaps we can make it."
Gajeel impolitely asked, "Do you have a way, old lady?"
Beluno, ignoring the improper title, proposed, "Doesn't Rhode have a Subspace Magic that can cross a thousand miles in seconds? We can use this magic to deploy personnel simultaneously."
Mira explained, "That kind of magic requires setting up a magic array at the destination in advance, meaning Rhode has to reach the destination first... but if he's at the destination, there's no need for others to go."
Beluno pointed at a spot on the map, saying, "Then, if he sets up a magic array here first, then returns to the guild to pick up a few people and head off to destroy Feis separately, it could save a lot of time, right?"
"That... seems feasible." Mira immediately asked Rhode, "Can you reach the Borgo Kingdom quickly?"
Rhode smiled, "My dear, do you know why I'm flying and didn't stay in place or return to the guild immediately?"