Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night, any resemblance to any other Fairy Tail or Fate Stay Night fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.
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"So cool!" A specific reporter shouted. "Good morning and welcome to today's highly anticipated event! Fairy Tail's mandatory for all wizards 24 Hours endurance road race! And I'm everyone's favourite Sorcerer Weekly reporter Jason and I'll be your guide to all of today's sweet action! It's filling up fast out here so you'd better hurry if you want to witness what's sure to be the coolest race in Fairy Tail history!"
"There he is folks! The reigning and undefeated champion, lightning fast Jet!" Jason introduces Jet who had a pink umbrella held above him by Mirajane. "Rumors has it he does this to compensate for being lacklustre on quests!"
"Hey!" Jet shouted yelled a vein throbbing in his forehead.
"Cool it speed demon it's only a rumour!" Jason said placatingly.
"Jet's still fan favourite, everyone put their money on him again" Gray commented.
"Yeah? Well, I hope their ready to lose it because this year's champion is gonna be Salamander!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Big talking morons are sure to end up in a ditch before they even get close to the finish line," Gajeel stated.
"Those morons don't have a secret weapon like I do." Natsu bragged with a cocky smirk.
"Firebreathers blowing smoke, jeez you're such a child." Gray taunted.
"All right, let's do this!" Cana exclaimed as she chucked aside a barrel of booze which she'd chugged.
"Everyone quiet down! Fairy Tail wizards know that without the proper balance of intelligence and physical endurance they are doomed to failure! Over the next twenty-four hours, you will use those attributes against each other" Master Makarov declared.
"A real man never uses his brain" Elfman stated getting odd looks from other members of the crowd.
"Yeah, physical strength is all that matters in a race like this" Gray agreed.
"And that's why you guys are never gonna be S-Class." Happy chimed in getting glares from both wizards.
"The rules are very simple! From the starting line, each of you will make your way along a pre-determined course ending at Mt. Ivor! The summit has been peppered with Wyvern scales! You are to grab one and bring it back once it's across the finish line you've completed the race and have proven yourself a worthy member of Fairy Tail. Never forget, forfeiting is not an option for any of you. Fairy Tail wizards a pride ourselves on going that extra mile." Master Makarov explained. "I've decided to put a couple of new restrictions in place for this year's event, after numerous complaints I've decided that the use of flying magic is now forbidden." This caused both Evergreen and Happy's faces to drop as they had been planning to fly to gain an advantage. "Also the use of vehicles of any kind is also forbidden."
Nearly everyone stared at Cana who sweat dropped in return.
"Hey, I wouldn't have crashed into all of you if Gray hadn't iced up the ground last year." Cana snapped grumpily.
"All other forms of magic are still permitted."
"Guess I won't be drawing any hot air balloons." Reedus sighed sadly.
"The old man's not pulling any punches this year" Wakaba commented.
"And whoever's unfortunate enough to come in last, will have to face the most horrific punishment game ever devised," Makarov told them with a smirk.
Everyone stood there speechless, scared about what kind of punishment they'd receive if they came in last place.
"Is it just me or does he only put on this event for the punishment game?" Macao asked with a lopsided grin.
"Last year's was beyond sadistic..." Alzack muttered.
Gajeel was about to comment before he was cut off by Wendy.
"Hey, aren't we forgetting someone?" Wendy asked looking around and noticing someone was absent. "What about Lu-"
Erza quickly covered her mouth. "Shh, do not say her name lest you summon her."
"Yes, She who shall not be named hasn't been invited on account of her most likely not following the rules and turning the whole thing into one big mess," Makarov explained, receiving nods of agreement from the crowd.
"It's on, I'm not holding back this time, today you and me are rivals" Natsu declared to Happy.
"I won't hold back either" Happy yelled trying to act tough. "But this new no flying rule sucks kitty litter."
"With the opening speech now concluded its time for the main event! Let's have all the contestants on the starting line" Jason announced.
Jet's the first one to stand at the starting line. "Levy, watch my start!"
Everybody gets ready, standing at the starting line, eagerly waiting for the gunshot. "Ready! Bang!" Master Makarov shoots a small beam off his finger.
"Here I go! High Speed!" Jet immediately got moving, creating a shockwave which knocked everyone else down.
"Once again Jet starts off the race with an overwhelming lead!"
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Back at the Guild Hall Lucy and God Serena were lounging around talking to one another. The latter currently drinking some of the Fairy Tail whiskey he was promised a few days ago. He wasn't in any rush and so decided to stay a few days before hitting the road with Laxus who was waiting for him at the Inn.
"So that's about everything I know."
"Hmm…so Makarov's son found a Book of Zeref and learnt that pesky Alter spell." Lucy sighed with irritation leaning back to look up at the ceiling. "He must have had a lot of magic lacrima in reserve in order to bypass her B ranked Magic Resistance."
"With Medusa under his control its no wonder Raven Tail has been so successful in evading being charged with any crimes." God Serena sighed.
While Raven Tail was a Dark Guild that was something of a misnomer. Dark Guilds were by a technical definition, guilds which had not been recognised by the Magic Council. Of Course, people still formed guilds but getting them recognised took a long time due to the backlog in paperwork and various forms which needed to be filled out in order for a guild to become legally recognised. As such there were lots of 'Dark Guilds', some of them just waiting for legal recognition by the Council.
One might ask, why doesn't the Council create a new category for these guilds who were just waiting for recognition? The answer was laziness. It was easier to just generalise and lump them in with the illegal guilds because technically they weren't legal, whether they were doing anything criminal or not, plus it would create a whole slew of new paperwork which no one wanted.
One could Argue that Raven Tail were criminals, because of what Flare did to Fairy Tail. However, Ivan Dreyar after the Fantasia Parade had given the Council his current guild roster as part of the process of legalisation and had denied vehemently that Flare Corona was part of his guild. Sadly Gajeel's testimony to the contrary was far from proof, added to the fact that the Council were not fans of Fairy Tail for various reasons and they didn't have much incentive to care, having written off Flare as a Dark Wizard who they put on their wanted list. The fact that Flare stated that she was doing things for Ivan was dismissed as a lie on her part.
It wasn't corruption, it was politics. Makarov had a habit of not restraining Fairy Tail in the past which lead to more property damage and amongst other expensive antics. He had snubbed them and it had come back to bite him hard.
"Ivan 'll probably send her to try again but not while you and Erza and are here."
"Fortunately, I recently gained the services of reincarnate, I'll have him protect Fairy Tail in our absence."
"Really who is it?"
"it's Jellal he's Sir Lancelot."
"One of the knights of the Round Table?" God Serena whistled with surprise. "I'd love to spar with him, Where is he?"
"I have him retrieving something for me in Alvarez," Lucy replied with a grin. "Are you jealous? I do know how dogs love to play fetch."
"I AM NOT A DOG!" God Serena yelled angrily, a vein throbbing in his forehead before regaining his composure. "Anyway, have you heard? Midi has finally finished their Joya campaign. Surprised it took 'em so long Minstrel and Desierto are much bigger but fell in less time."
"Joya is bordered on all sides by harsh mountains and their military are experts in guerrilla warfare, so I'm not surprised Midi had trouble with them."
"This king of theirs, they crowned him about three years ago, then out the blue he invades Minstrel, conquered them in six months then does the same to Desierto, but Joya managed to force him into a two year long slugging match, they must have cost this guy a lot of soldiers."
"Indeed, if he wants to continue his campaign he'll have to take time to recruit from his conquered territories, this will give the surrounding countries time to fortify their defences."
"This king has to be a reincarnate, one with a high rank in Charisma or a military leader."
"Either way it does not matter." Lucy said standing up "If he tries to invade here, I'll simply destroy his armies." She was enveloped in a golden glow and now was sporting a jogging outfit and on her feet were a pair of golden sneakers, these were a Noble Phantasm that enabled the wearer to run at speeds exceeding High-Speed magic. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a race to win."
"Wait you knew about the race?"
"Of course I did fool, did you really think that your little distraction attempt was going to work?" Lucy asked before running out of the Guild Hall, leaving a golden trail as she did so.
"Welp looks like this my last shot of Fairy Whiskey, sorry Makarov." God Serena shrugged apologetically as he downed the last of the whiskey."
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Back at the race, Jason was commentating, he was in a shade of a pop-up canopy.
"There's movement on the summit of Mount Ivor." He said suddenly as he saw a streaking cloud quickly moving up to towards the summit of the mountain. "Is that him?!" The image cleared up showing it was Jet "It's Jet! Looks like the over-under was right on the money he's the first to the summit so co-"
Jason suddenly paused with a shocked look on his face.
"What the….Jet has disappeared!" Jason yelled after regaining his composure, indeed Jet suddenly vanished from view before he even reached one of the scales "Not just him, but the other racers are vanishing as well."
This got the attention of Makarov who quickly looked into the lacrima, indeed one by the other racers seemed to just vanish from view at various points of the racetrack apparently not seeing anything ahead of them as they simply vanished.
"What on Earth?" Makarov was cut off as a golden streak shot past them causing a shockwave which knocked most people off their feet.
"Was that-"
"Oh no," Makarov groaned cutting off Mira's question.
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As they approached Mount Ivor Erza suddenly came to a halt and used her arm to stop Wendy from going any further.
"Erza, what are you?"
"Stop, look." Wendy looked to where Erza was pointed and gasped as she saw it.
Near the path up the mountain was a portal to the Gate of Babylon except, far larger than she had ever seen it before. It was so massive, that the golden ripples denoting which denoted it were so far apart than one would never see it was there unless you were looking for it.
"The Gate of Babylon, wait so does that mean?"
"How dare you fools have a contest without me!" A familiar voice echoed throughout the entire race track.
Quickly gaining on them was Lucy, with a big grin on her face. The Gate of Babylon vanished, and this prompted Erza and Wendy to get moving again.
"Why are you even competing?" Erza yelled back at her.
"A foolish question," Lucy replied as she began speeding up.
"So what did you do with the others?" Wendy asked slightly worried.
"I sent them back to where they belong." Was the simple response.
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Back at starting line, Jason and Makarov gaped as it began to rain racers. Indeed a portal had opened and out of it all of the racers being dumped into a pile at the starting line. After a minute or so it finally stopped and a heap of Fairy Tail wizards began yelling and complaining at one another before finally bursting free from the pile they were trapped in.
"What the hell happened I was RIGHT THERE?!" Jet yelled furiously.
"Lucy found out about the race and SHE PUT YOU FOOLS BACK AT THE STARTING LINE, NOW GET GOING OR YOU'LL ALL BE PLAYING THE PUNISHMENT GAME!" Makarov yelled at them, this got a response as everyone charged having no intention of playing the punishment game.
"That seems a bit, harsh master," Mira commented.
"I'm just annoyed I didn't try harder to keep this race a secret from her." Makarov sighed pinching his nose.
"Ladies and Gentlemen Lucy has joined the race is this good or bad?!" Jason yelled with excitement.
"If she's an adult it would be nice if she could listen to what others day." Makarov groaned.
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"Good, very good," Lucy commented as she began catching up to Erza and Wendy who were nearing the base of the mountain. "This race isn't that bad of an event at all. However…" She suddenly stared at the camera which allowed Makarov and the others to observe the race. "Why wasn't I invited Makarov?"
"Well, you don't follow the rules," Makarov replied.
"So what? I am the rules, I must be first out of all things in the universe!" Lucy declared loudly, as the gap between her, Wendy and Erza began closing.
"Wendy, I need Shirou," Erza said as she hauled the girl onto her shoulders facing Lucy, not slowing down at all. Carla quickly joined her on the other shoulder.
"O-ok." Shirou quickly took over, the skin becoming tanned and the hair turning white.
"Shirou, intercept her!" Erza ordered her as she began charging up the mountainside.
"Are you sure?"
"We can win with a three-way tie for first place, so we can't let her ruin it all."
"Alright." Shirou projected a bow and some arrows and swords. "You've had your way too often King of Heroes. I'll shoot you down!"
Shiro fired arrow and after while the swords joined the attack, however, Lucy effortlessly weaved, ducked and dodged between them all.
"You underestimate my running technique." Lucy taunted Shirou, as arrows and sword flew around her. "Here take this!"
Three portals opened and out of them lanced a trio of golden laser beams which impacted the mountainside far above them. Large cracks opened up in the mountain, it wasn't long before a huge avalanche cascaded down towards them, boulders larger than Makarov's titan form fist, heading for them.
"Avalanche!" Carla screamed panicking.
"This is what you get for trying to outrace the King of Heroes!" Lucy yelled smugly.
However, this only seemed to light a fire inside Erza.
"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Erza cried as she jumped atop a boulder directly in front of her before leaping from one to the next, then smashing through another which was too high to leap over, then as she leapt over another she turned and kicked it towards Lucy who easily avoided it, before finally making it to the summit.
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"Erza Scarlet is the first to make it to the summit, all while carrying Wendy and Carla." Jason narrated events as he saw them on the display lacrima.
Erza reached the summit and quickly grabbed three Wyvern Scales, one for each of them and quickly began her descent down the mountain, passing Lucy as she did so, who had a cat like smirk on her face as she too grabbed a scale and chased after them.
"Meanwhile everyone else is triple timing it to make it to the mountain, Jet is in fifth place followed by Natsu, Gray, Gajeel and Elfman." Jason widened his eyes. "No wait Gajeel and Elfman have been stopped it looks Freed has booby-trapped the course with his enchantment magic!"
Gajeel and Elfman were both yelling at Freed who was standing outside of the enchantment barrier smirking at them as a pile of books appeared before them. Freed said something to them which caused them both to start vainly pounding on the barrier with even greater fury as other racers passed them. Freed simply shook his head and continued running leaving the two behind.
Suddenly there was a loud boom of thunder which caused the spectators to look up in confusion as there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
"Thunder? Bu-WOAH!" Jason and everyone else had to cover their eyes due to the shockwave caused by a large red blur which shot through the starting line. "It seems we have another late entry into the race, and this one's going fast whoever they are they're sure to catch up in no time!"
"Hey, master do you think it's him?" Mirajane asked putting a finger on her chin.
Makarov said nothing and simply grinned.
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"Get lost flame brain!" A wall of ice blocked a fireball.
"You started this Ice princess!" Natsu yelled ducking under a mallet made of ice.
"Yeah, that's because you deserve to play the punishment game ya cheater!" Gray shouted blocking another fireball.
"Using my own magic to give me an advantage ain't cheating!" Natsu retorted angrily.
"It should, you're going so fast you count as a vehicle you're just too stupid to realise it!" Gray taunted.
"That's it, Eat this!" Natsu growled a vein throbbing in his forehead "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu gathered a large fireball and tossed it at Gray who simply smirked and avoided it. "Ah come on!"
"Hey, moron haven't you noticed?"
"Noticed what?" Natsu asked angrily.
"That Jet booster of yours is starting to go out," Gray told him smugly.
Natsu looked at his hands and realised Gray was right, he tried to get it going again but it sputtered out.
"Ah crap!" Natsu cried as he began to fall behind Gray.
"That's right ya mouth breather I played you, I knew if you kept shooting fire at me then you wouldn't have enough fuel left for your booster. See ya at the finish line loser, Ice Make: Floor." A quick spell and the ground both behind and ahead of Gray was covered in a thick sheet of ice which he easily used to ice skate ahead while Natsu fell on his face.
"Gray-woah!" Natsu tried to stand up only to slip and fall "Come back here and face me like a man-oof!" He tried again only to fall again. However instead of trying to get up, he heard something, a rumbling, the ground was trembling beneath his ear. "What the hell is tha-WAAGGHH!"
The next thing Natsu knew he was flying up into the air before crashing back down again, he was joined not long after by Gray who landed just ahead of him.
"Damn, who the hell was that?" Gray asked with a groan.
Natsu sniffed a couple of times before grinning.
"He's back," Natsu replied.
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"Our mystery racer has blitzed through this course, he's easily overtaken most of the other racers. So Cool!" Jason commentated "Oh, it seems that Jet has finally reached the summit of Mount Ivor!"
Indeed, Jet had arrived at the summit and was just picking up a Wyvern scale until the red blur arrived and smashed into him.
"Ouch, our mystery racer is there too and he just knocked Jet down the mountain, too bad he's falling down the wrong side." Jason chuckled "And before we can even see him he's taken two scales and is off again, so cool!"
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"The race is entering its final stages, who will be in the lead when they turn the final corner?!" Lucy and the others appeared from around the corner all with intense looks on their faces. "Here they come, they neck and neck with Lucy just slightly in the lead."
"It's been fun faker, but just as I predicted victory is mine!" Lucy declared as she began pulling ahead only for Erza to match her speed by using invisible air as a jet booster.
"Don't count on it!" Erza yelled competitively.
Suddenly there a booming of thunder again, with accompanied a loud voice.
"YOU'RE BOTH WRONG BECAUSE I AM HERE NOW!"
"What?" The four of them asked.
The red blur turned the corner and began slowing down as it closed the gap revealing themselves as Cana riding a large black horse with a man sitting at the reigns just behind her wearing a large red mantle.
"IT'S GILDARTS!" Jason screamed as the crowd cheered around him. "OUR MYSTERY RACER WAS NONE OTHER THAN GILDARTS CLIVE AND CANA ALBERONA RIDING HIS HORSE BUCEPHALUS, ITS SO COOL I CAN'T TAKE IT!"
"Gildarts is back?" Erza gaped before focusing back on the race.
"Who on Earth is Gildarts?" Carla asked barely hanging on.
"He's Fairy Tail's strongest man, and evidently a reincarnate," Erza replied breathlessly.
"That's way too ridiculous you brutes!" Lucy yelled opened a trio of portals. "Suck on this horse lovers!"
A trio of weapons fired at them, however, Cana was prepared, she had three cards in her hand, lightning flowed from hands and charged the cards even further before she tossed them. They impacted and exploded knocking the weapons off course. This caused a vein to throb is Lucy forehead before she withdrew a Golden Key.
"Open gate of the Maiden Virgo!"
The maid celestial spirit appeared dashing alongside her mistress.
"Yes, your highness?"
"Holes, slow him down now!"
"On it."
Virgo quickly set to work creating countless deep pits in the road behind Lucy. However, Gildarts was undeterred and swiftly jumped avoiding them and all closing the gap making it neck and neck. There was a loud boom and a large gust of wind as all of them crossed the finish line. When it settled down the crowd let out a loud cheer.
"It's a photo finish, but our big winners are Erza, Wendy and Carla who have tied for first place. While Lucy, Cana and Gildarts tie for Second, the only question now is who will take third place?" Jason cried excitedly.
After about another twelve hours they finally had an answer to that question. The rest of the guild finally came into view of the starting line, with Jet in the lead and Elfman, Gray, Natsu and Gajeel quickly behind him. However just as they got close Natsu tripped on a loose cobblestone causing a chain reaction which took down nearly all of them. Gray, however, managed to avoid it and skid through claiming third place.
However, before the foursome could stand up they trampled by the rest of Fairy Tail leaving them as the last ones. Jet recovered first and made a dash for the finish line only for Natsu, Elfman and Gajeel to cling onto him causing a four-way tie for last place meaning all four of them had to play the punishment game.
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When the race ended everyone went home to rest, Wendy, Erza and Carla were sharing the first place trophy. A day had passed and unlike yesterday this time, it was cloudy and raining. Everyone was excited that Gildarts had returned and had turned in a Century Quest, a quest which supposedly takes a hundred years to complete, and he'd done it only three an incredible record.
After the excitement from the other guild members did down, Gildarts, Lucy and Erza went to get some privacy in the upper parts of the guild.
"Well, it's good to see that you came here King of Heroes," Gildarts said with a smile.
"You should have revealed yourself to me when we spoke, such rudeness King of Conquerers." Lucy scolded him.
"You were back in Fiore when was this?" Erza suddenly asked,
"Well I heard rumours of a girl who used weapons as projectiles and I wanted to check it out, lo and behold there she was. I knew it was the King of Heroes at first glance, the hair and eyes were a giveaway, but she seemed kind of out of it at the time, so I didn't introduce myself, I merely suggested that she try Fairy Tail." Gildarts replied with a shrug "Plus I knew you were here King of Knights I figures you'd benefit from each other's presence, you seem much more lively than last time I was here."
"I've come to terms with my past, and I learnt to accept it and look to the future." Erza replied, "Surprising as it may sound she helped."
"Excellent, that's the spirit." Gildarts laughed as the thunder outside boomed louder.
"Cana Alberona, she's your daughter, right?" Lucy inquired taking a sip of some wine.
"Yes, indeed, though admittedly I only recognised her because of her unique magic energy, it was too close to mine to be a coincidence, so I spoke, and she confirmed it," Gildarts admitted sheepishly. "Anyway, I helped train her a bit, I even offered to take her with me, but she refused, said she wanted to find her own path, something I can respect."
Suddenly there a shout from below. It was Carla, she stormed out of the guild, with a Concerned, Carla and Wendy chasing after her into the rain.
"So what's your game King of Conquerors?" Erza asked fixing Gildarts with a hard stare
"What do you mean?"
"I mean becoming king of Midi and invading, Minstrel, Desierto and Joya."
"Ah, well it's a new world how could I resist?" Gildarts chuckled, "Become king of Fiore would be too troublesome what with all the other reincarnates in this country, besides I made sure to disguise myself using magic. So my past self is Iskandar the King of Midi while Gildarts Clive is but a humble S-class wizard."
"How clever but know that if you turn your armies towards Fiore I will not hesitate to exterminate them," Lucy told him matter-of-factly.
"Well, I'm more interested in heading east anyway, for now, my goal is the Pergrande kingdom, which serves as the gateway to the rest of the continent." Gildarts shrugged. "The problem I have now is whether to invade Iceberg or Bellum to get there. Iceberg has a wide open plain straight into the kingdom, but its freezing cold I'd lose more troops than I care to hypothermia magic or no. Bellum while more temperate has a mountain range bordering it, which will be a pain the ass to cross."
"Still pursuing that dream of yours." Lucy sighed "I suppose it could be a bit interesting to see where you go with this." She looked out of the window at the swirling black clouds above, a small smile crossing her face.
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"Your majesty." A figure in black armour with eyes concealed behind a black visor entered the room, speaking to the elderly figure who stood before altar which was surrounded by five statues which held up a large glowing orb near the ceiling. "I have a lead on Fairy Tail."
"Good, hunt them down and destroy them, see to it that you succeed this time." The king replied. "But know that they are not a high priority, unleash your noble Phantasm if you must but be conservative, we need every last drop of magic energy to complete the ritual."
"I understand, however, Lucy will undoubtedly interfere if she is present, what are my orders in that case?"
"Try to kill as many of those meddlers as you can, but don't get into a full-scale battle."
"Very well, how goes it? Will we get enough magic power?"
"Yes, the anima will target the Fairy Tail of the other side. They have at least three reincarnates, plus a lot of wizards with lots of magic power, it'll be more than enough to charge the lacrima. The boy will not be able to stop it this time."
"Then the dragon chain cannon will be fired, and the exceeds will finally serve a useful purpose other than keeping the population fearful and quiet." The knight said as she moved to stand beside the king "When that happens the explosion will create enough magic power to fully charge the Holy Grail and Edolas wish will be granted, endless magic power…"
Both of them looked at the seemingly plain golden chalice which gleamed from the altar where it sat.
"I shall get going, Fairy Tail will not interfere, your majesty" The Knight replied as she walked out of the room.
"Ensure that the guards are tripled, I don't want anyone making off with the Grail understood?"
"Yes, sir." The Knight replied dutifully.
When her footsteps faded and he heard the shutting of large stone doors, the King knew he was alone once again.
"Yes, a wish will be granted by the Holy Grail, but not Edolas, it will be my wish that is granted." The King smirked at his reflection in the chalice. "Now I should go check on the girl in the basement, she is the only compatible terminal I have, it would be very bad if she died before I could complete the reprogramming. I'm so very close after all these years I can taste it. Victory is in my grasp."
With that, the king left the room which darkened, save for the Anima, and the Holy Grail which shone in the darkness.