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The operation against the Necromancer Devil ended abruptly due to a certain Black Wizard who preferred to remain anonymous just passing by.
Although it started with a bang and ended with a whimper, the purpose of this trip was achieved with an even more perfect outcome. The Book of Necromancy was much more useful and convenient than the Necromancer Devil's demon soul.
However, dealing with the piles of corpses from the corpse army was troublesome. Noah called his companions and the theater troupe members, and it took them most of the day to lay the deceased to rest.
An undisturbed no-man's land also makes for a good resting place.
After a day of work, it was already night when everyone finally rested. The theater troupe consisted of ordinary people who couldn't compare to mages, so after eating and drinking, most of them returned to their respective tents to rest.
The night sky was filled with twinkling stars, and the ground was dotted with firelight.
The Fairy Tail group sat around the bonfire, listening to the crackling of the burning firewood.
Gray had a smile on his face. After the painful experiences of his hometown's destruction and his master sacrificing herself, Gray had never been as happy as he was today.
Silver, on the other hand, quickly regained his composure after his initial excitement. "Noah, I'd like to ask you to keep this book."
Watching Silver hand over the Book of Necromancy, which was crucial to his existence, Noah—sandwiched between Erza and Mira—immediately realized Silver's true intention.
"Uncle Silver, are you planning to return to Tartaros?"
Silver didn't deny it. His hometown was massacred, and he himself was picked up and manipulated by the Necromancer Devil for nearly ten years. The accumulated hatred made eradicating demons an unshakeable obsession for him.
And the most mysterious Dark Guild, Tartaros, was the largest gathering place for demons.
Hearing that his father, who had just gained his freedom, was planning to enter the wolf's den again, Gray absolutely could not agree. But Silver's firm gaze left him at a loss for how to persuade him.
Silver paused, then looked at Noah. "If you want to know the intelligence needed to destroy Tartaros, I, as an insider seemingly 'controlled' by Keyes, am essential."
"The necromantic curse that still sustains my existence won't make Tartaros think that the Necromancer Devil is in trouble. They'll only assume that guy has gone off to collect corpses somewhere again."
It was a very reasonable explanation, but Noah just wanted to laugh a little.
Among the Balam Alliance, Oración Seis had already been reshuffled to become his own people, and Grimoire Heart had Ultear and Jellal as two major moles.
And now, for the last one, Tartaros, the undercover agent Silver was about to be in position.
What's the point of fighting? When you're out there, it's all about connections.
Now that the Balam Alliance all had his people, what else could they use to fight against the even stronger Fairy Tail?
Noah thought for a moment, ignoring Gray's pleading gaze for him to help dissuade Silver, and said to Silver, "Since Uncle Silver already has a plan, I won't say anything more. When you find a suitable opportunity, I will help you wipe out Tartaros."
"Don't forget about me!"
Natsu raised his arm like a student eager to answer, as he hadn't had a satisfying fight today and his inner fire was still suppressed. So he preemptively reserved a spot for the future battle against Tartaros.
Actually, Natsu didn't even need to speak—everyone else present thought the same thing. That was one of the Balam Alliance Dark Guilds. Whether for fame or fortune, they would inevitably join in the excitement later.
Silver watched the young people eagerly wanting to participate in the future subjugation of Tartaros, thinking that his son had truly joined a wonderful guild.
Then Silver briefly recounted the intelligence on Tartaros.
Tartaros was currently controlled by its Guild Master, the Underworld King Mard Geer. His goal was to awaken E.N.D., the strongest Demon from the Books of Zeref.
However, Silver felt that the Underworld King Mard Geer merely wanted to use E.N.D.'s name to attract more demons to his ranks.
Tartaros's main elite forces were known as the Nine Demon Gates, and Silver and Keyes were members. Except for Silver, each of them was a powerful demon.
Additionally, Tartaros possessed a special magical device called the Magic Barrier Particles. This device could resurrect demon executives who died in battle.
Unless it was a method like the mysterious Spriggan's, or magic specifically targeting souls, it wasn't very realistic to permanently kill Tartaros's executives.
As for the other members of Tartaros, they were all cannon fodder. Apart from their large numbers, there was nothing worth mentioning about them.
"There's even a resurrection magic device..."
Lucy looked a bit surprised. If they couldn't first destroy that so-called Magic Barrier Particles device, wouldn't the demon executives just keep resurrecting?
Erza, however, was more inclined to believe that the Magic Barrier Particles device was a physical assembler, capable of quickly creating perfect bodies to house the souls of the demon executives.
Moreover, if the Nine Demon Gates were to be defeated and killed and then encounter Mira, they would likely be absorbed by Mira's special Take Over Magic in the form of demon souls.
Noah was somewhat interested in Tartaros's supposed ultimate weapon, E.N.D.
There were many legends about him. He was said to be the strongest demon created by the Black Wizard, possessing terrifying power that could end everything, just like his name.
However, for over four hundred years, there had never been a definitive conclusion on what E.N.D. actually looked like, as he had never appeared, nor were there any records of him causing destruction.
It wasn't until Silver mentioned that the Underworld King Mard Geer always held a Book of E.N.D. that Noah realized why this being had never shown himself for centuries.
It turns out that the strongest demon, E.N.D., who had been praised to the heavens, had been dormant for who knows how many years, and his "book" had become a tool for the Underworld King Mard Geer to attract other demons to join him.
According to Silver, the master of Tartaros, the Underworld King Mard Geer, was an extremely dangerous character. All the demons of the Nine Demon Gates combined would not be a match for the Underworld King Mard Geer.
But Silver was the only exception.
Silver was confident that if he were given another two years to develop, his Ice Devil Slayer Magic, if not enough to kill the Underworld King Mard Geer, could at least cause him enough fatal trouble.
Because the unparalleled lethality of Devil Slayer Magic against demons made it the absolute demon bane.
It was late at night, and everyone had gone to rest.
Noah, sleepless, sat alone by the bonfire, once again flipping through the Book of Necromancy. There was a passage he had been very curious about before.
From Keyes's life story, it seemed he had, in conjunction with other demons, attempted to kill their creator more than once. The reason for such rebellious acts was, surprisingly, because the Black Wizard wished to die.
That's right, the reason for the birth of the Demons from the Books of Zeref was simply the Black Wizard's various attempts to end his own life.
What exactly happened to make that person, who once loved life, choose death?
But now it seems, without exception, all these tools for suicide failed. The demons who couldn't kill Zeref, in turn, became a great scourge to the world, harming countless lives.
How ironic.
Creating trouble and then not dealing with it—just for this point alone, the Black Wizard deserves his current infamous reputation.