Meliodas stood over the two unconscious bodies of the assassins. His demonic features began to revert, his eyes turning an emerald green once again. He turned his head towards the sound of many rushing footsteps.
There he saw a dozen councilmen in their signature white robes running towards Meliodas. Leading them and running at the front was Lahar.
"Meliodas?" Lahar questioned as he got closer. He saw the two unconscious men that were on the ground. "What's going on here?"
"I was targeted by an assassin guild." Meliodas said. "Three of them attempted to kill me and my landlord. The third was dealt with down the road about a block over." Meliodas said as he pointed down the street.
"I'll get more details about this later. Squad one, detain these two. Squad two find the other assassin!" Lahar ordered.
"Yes sir!" The councilmen replied as they split up into groups, leaving Meliodas and Lahar by themselves.
"Now explain this situation." Lahar ordered.
"Last year, an assassin guild broke in and tried to kill my landlord, Schneider. I stopped them from doing so but now they've retaliated with even stronger assassins from their guild." Meliodas responded.
"An assassin guild? So your landlord has some connection to them." Lahar inquired as he scanned the surrounding area. "This was quite the battle. How strong were these assassins?"
"Stronger than I expected. If I were to compare them to a group you're familiar with, in terms of magical power, the assassins I fought were stronger than the Oracion Seis." Meliodas said.
Lahar's eyes widened at the statement. 'That powerful?! Meliodas has fought the Oracion Seis before, so for him to acknowledge these assassins as that strong…' Lahar adjusted his glasses and regained his serious composure.
"Where is your landlord currently?" Lahar asked.
"He's at the guild hall." Meliodas responded.
"Then we will convene there." Lahar said.
---
The guild hall, which was rowdy and bustling with energy, immediately froze as dozens of councilmen swarmed the entrance. The guild members stared at the councilmen, confused as to what they were doing there. To their surprise, Meliodas was with them.
"Did Meliodas kidnap another princess?" Wakaba commented.
"What's going on?!" Macao shouted as he approached Meliodas. "First Reedus comes running in here with some old man and tells me to hide him, then I hear a portion of Magnolia Town was destroyed!"
"Where's Schneider?" Meliodas asked.
"That old man who came in with Reedus? He's in my office right now." Macao responded.
"Bring him out." Lahar ordered.
"Of course." Macao said. He quickly scurried off to the back where the guild master's office was located. Less than half a minute later, he came out with Schneider next to him.
"Are you Schneider?" Lahar asked.
"That is correct." Schneider answered.
"I need to ask you a few questions regarding the assassin situation. This will be a private matter, so I will be taking both you and Meliodas to headquarters with me." Lahar looked at Macao who was noticeably taken back by the situation. "Do not worry, Meliodas is not in trouble. I will send a full report to you once I finish with them."
"Y-yeah…" Macao replied.
---
November 9th, X785
Meliodas sat in a spacious office type room. In front of him was a large white table. Sitting next to him was Schneider and across from them was Lahar.
"Schneider, I will need you to tell me everything you know about this assassin guild. From what I gathered, you seem to have some connection to them." Lahar said.
"Very well. I will start from the beginning. Listen well Meliodas, as I have only told you part of the story." Schneider said before taking a deep breath.
"The "assassin's guild" as you've been calling it is a dark guild known as "Phonoi." They are identified by the symbol of two crossed daggers. I was involved with them over fifty years ago before Logres Kingdom's assimilation into Pergrande. However, a target who I was sent to assassinate changed my view of the world and spared me. As a result, I changed my name to "Schneider" and moved here to Fiore, as far away from Pergrande as I could. But before I left...I stole something from them." Schneider said.
"What did you steal?" Lahar asked.
"It wasn't "stolen" as in physically taken. I "stole" it in the sense where I took it from them by destroying it. It's something called "The Key." It is a magical artifact that "unlocks" a mage's potential, granting them even greater power. It's best described as, "a tool that defies fate." Schneider continued.
"I've never heard of this key before...I'll have to check the archives on this. Now my question is how you were the second in command. From what I can tell, your current magical power is barely above a regular citizen's." Lahar inquired.
"I wasn't always like this. In my prime, I was nearly as strong as the guild master. However, in order to destroy this key, it required a sacrifice. So I performed a ritual and gave up all of my magic "potential" in order to destroy it. I couldn't let the guild master gain that kind of power." Schneider replied.
"You keep addressing this person as the guildmaster. What is the guildmaster's name?" Lahar asked. Schneider remained silent.
"I'll ask again in case you didn't understand the question. What is the guild master's name?" Lahar asked once more.
"Before I tell you the guild master's name, there is something I must say." Schneider said. He turned his head to Meliodas and smiled.
"Meliodas, I enjoyed my time as your landlord, especially since you always paid your rent. In some ways, you remind me of that young boy who had changed my life all those years ago, although despite your appearances, I know you're hardly a boy." Schneider said. Meliodas' eyes widened as he realized what was going on.
"I have a lockbox in my office. I know our house caved in and you'll have to dig it up, but there's something I want to pass down to you there. I don't have any family anymore but you're the closest one I could consider family." Schneider continued. He reached into his pocket and handed Meliodas a small golden key. Meliodas held the key in his hand, his hand trembling as he looked at Schneider.
"Alright, Captain Lahar. Now that that's out of the way, I will tell you the guild master's name." Schneider said.
"Something's not right…" Lahar said solemnly. "For you to be doing something like this...was there some kind of restriction placed upon you? Or perhaps you're unable to answer that...in that case, I can't let you go through with this. I will stop-"
"That is not necessary." Schneider interrupted.
"Schneider…" Meliodas said as he clenched the key tightly in his hand. "Is this really what you want?"
"Yes." Schneider responded resolutely. "Now, listen closely as I will only say this once. The guild master most likely changed since then, but I'm sure knowing this name will grant you enough information to locate Phonoi. The guild master's name is Blue Tsukihou."
Both Meliodas and Lahar jumped out of their seats as blood suddenly erupted out of Schneider's mouth and a strange sword insignia with a spiral shape behind it appeared glowing on his forehead. As Schneider's vision began to blur, he watched as Meliodas rushed to his side.
'Don't lose, Meliodas.'
"Schneider!" Meliodas shouted with both rage and sorrow in his voice as he stared at Schneider's body on the ground.
"Get a medic in here now!" Lahar shouted. Several seconds later, a few council nurses ran in through the door with various medical equipment. Meliodas stared emptily at them as they leaned over Schneider's body.
"He's dead sir." One of the nurses said.
"I see...get this body out of here." Lahar said. He looked over Meliodas who was looking down at the ground, his eyes not visible as his hair fell over the top half of his head.
"Meliodas." Lahar said, getting his attention. "I assure you that I will track this Phonoi guild and when I do, I will let you know immediately. They cannot be allowed to further destroy the peace as they have done to Magnolia and to you."
Meliodas remained silent and Lahar walked out of the room, leaving Meliodas alone. Meliodas looked down at the key in his hand. 'I keep losing those who are close to me...first the Seven Deadly Sins, then Fairy Tail, and now Schneider…' Meliodas clenched his fists and looked up at the ceiling.
"DAAAMMNNN IIIT!!!"
---
November 10th X785
Meliodas stood over the remains of his and Schneider's house. He moved aside several large chunks of rubble, revealing Schneider's office desk which was somehow still intact. Meliodas opened up one of the drawers, revealing a small lockbox inside. Meliodas picked up the lockbox. To his surprise, it was sealed with a special magic, something very powerful from what he could sense.
Meliodas pulled the key Schneider gave him out of his pocket and inserted it into the lock. The magic seal on the box suddenly vanished and popped open. Inside the box was what appeared to be a small broken off piece of rock with strange markings on it. On the inside of the lid of the lockbox there was a note.
[This box can only be opened by those I have given the key to. If this box is opened, that means I've most likely died already. This is a portion of "The Key" that I was unable to destroy. It still possesses a small amount of residual power but is nowhere near as powerful as it was when it was whole. Take care that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.]
Meliodas picked up the strange piece of rock. He couldn't feel any power radiating out of it as he had expected of "The Key." The piece of rock began to glow brightly, vanishing as Meliodas placed it into his requip inventory and looked around the remains of the house. 'I guess I have to get a new house.'
An hour later, Meliodas returned to the guild. He stood in front of the S rank guild board for several minutes, staring blankly at the jobs listed. Even if he was the only S rank member of Fairy Tail, the guild still received plenty of S class jobs due to his increasing reputation, becoming nearly as well known as a wizard saint.
"Meliodas." Macao said, grabbing his attention.
"Yo, Macao!" Meliodas greeted.
"You could at least call me Master- nevermind…" Macao commented. "There's someone looking to see you from the council. He's waiting at the entrance."
'Already?' Meliodas thought as he walked down the stairs to the front of the guild. There he saw a lone councilman, one who he was not familiar with. The councilman noticed Meliodas approaching and turned towards him.
"You must be Meliodas." The councilman said.
"That's me." Meliodas replied.
"I have a message and a request for you, your hands only." The councilman said. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it over to Meliodas. Meliodas read the paper.
[Meliodas,
The council is still in the process of researching the assassin guild, Phonoi. While we find their whereabouts, here is an important mission. I am aware that you've been apprehending dark guilds for us over the past few months. On the off chance you encounter Jellal Fernandes, capture him. We will reward you with a 25 million jewel reward.
-Captain of the Custody Unit, Lahar]
Meliodas looked back up, expecting the councilman who had given the request to be there but he was gone.
'It looks like they want me to find Jellal.'