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.
AN: Here we are Chapter 33 Happy New Year everyone!
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As the Legion approached the Royal Capital Erza Scarlet took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She had…borrowed a soldier's uniform. With it, some dirt over her arms legs and face, and few cuts and bruises inflicted by her sword she looked sufficiently like she'd lost a battle.
A courtyard eventually came into view as she got closer to the castle, she could see other legions nearby and so after circling it a couple of time she found a good spot to land. After doing so she hopped off the Legion and was met by a short girl whose face bore a distinct resemblance to a puppy, with a small nose and a green headgear possessing large, floppy ears. She had brown eyes and long brown hair that is kept in a ponytail which descends on her right shoulder.
Her clothes consisted of a yellow dress over a dark blue, skin-tight bodysuit that runs from the middle of her forearms down to her shoulders. With white gloves on both hands and was barefooted.
"Captain Knightwalker you've returned. Assistant Chief of Staff Coco reporting ma'am!" She said saluting dutifully before crinkling her nose in confusion. "But where is your partner and why are you wearing a soldiers uniform?"
"She decided to keep hunting for Fairy Tail and to your other question I was hit by a Noble Phantasm which destroyed my armour so I had to borrow this until I could return," Erza replied harshly causing the girl to flinch. "Now if your done questioning me show me to my chambers, I want to get changed out this."
"Y-yes ma'am!" The girl straightened up fearfully and began walking with Erza following behind her.
As she followed the girl through the castle Erza noted servants and even other knights and soldiers actively avoiding her path and her gaze. Eventually, they arrived at a wooden oak door.
"Here it is ma'am."
"Good you may leave," Erza said watching the girl run out of sight before pushing the door open.
The first thing she did upon entering and closing the door was sit down upon the bed. Looking around the room was rather spartan with on the essentials. A bed, a bedside table a wardrobe, a desk and chair along with a mirror and a chest of drawers. Judging by the relatively undisturbed state of things it seemed as though her counterpart didn't spend any more time in her bedroom than was necessary.
Erza stood up and walked towards the desk picking up a framed picture which sat upon it. In the picture, she saw a young girl about six years old or so being carried on the shoulders of a man with silver hair one who looked vaguely familiar but Erza couldn't quite think of who. So she dropped it and looked at her counterpart, she had golden eyes and her skin was rather pale but there was no doubt of who she was.
So placing the picture back where it belonged Erza looked into the mirror, closed her eyes and focused. Remembering a trick that Merlin had once taught her when she was a small girl in Sir Ectors custody. She had caught the Mage sneaking out to what she would later understand as a 'rendezvous'. So he bribed her into letting him go by showing her a 'great' magic trick, in reality, a parlour trick. One which allowed her to change the colour of her hair, her eyes and even her skin tone, at the time she thought it was amazing but when she grew up she realized she'd been tricked, something that Merlin was rather fond of, but she preferred not to speak of it or of any of his pranks really.
Concentrating her magic energy she closed her eyes and when she opened them her reflection's eyes had turned golden, then concentrating on her skin it became much paler. Looking over herself Erza determined that she could pass as her counterpart with some appropriate clothing and the correct attitude of course.
She went over to the wardrobe and opened it, inside were a number of uniforms which seemed to be similar to the one she 'borrowed' to get into the palace with minimum suspicions in the first place. Taking it out she changed into it and hid the previous uniform in the wardrobe.
Erza looked herself over in the mirror and took a deep breath. With luck, she now looked enough like her counterpart to fool anyone in the palace while she gathered information about their plans. All she had to do was act the part successfully and do it all before her counterpart returned to the palace.
The King of Knights put her hand to the door and pushed it open, hoping her plan would work.
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Lucy sighed and sat down, withdrawing a book from the Gate of Babylon to read as she waited for Natsu to calm down upon seeing Lisanna. He went and tried to hug her only to be intercepted by Lucy's counterpart who demanded to know what he was doing. Lisanna hid behind the bar before running outside.
"What are you reading?" Shirou asked approaching Lucy.
"A history book I acquired," Lucy replied turning the page. "Edolas has an interesting history, both the kingdom and this world are called Edolas. There used to be other nations but they were destroyed in the unification war which occurred four hundred years ago."
"Unification war?"
"Indeed, the ancestor of the current royal family began a war of conquest, wishing for Edolas to be the sole power in this world. He succeeded but only through excessive use of a weapon called Dorma Anim. With it and his armies he swept across the world destroying and killing those who refused to surrender, the final nation agreed to surrender completely unwilling to face the awesome power of the weapon and was dissolved. The Kings son was sickened by what the weapon had done and created a law forbidding its use. After that its mostly peace followed by the destruction of the culture and heritage of the conquered nations leaving only Edolas and breeding out native populations, all of this eventually which caused any resistance movements to simply fade away with time."
"That's sick, but wait a book that says that why would they let something like that be printed?" Shirou asked.
"Because I got this from the black market. Here they sell all sorts of forbidden knowledge and magic items." Lucy replied with a shrug. "Texts that detail the secret history of Edolas are especially lucrative. If I'm correct this Dorma Anim is what might have caused the magic power in Edolas to start depleting. I imagine the Exceeds and reincarnates haven't helped the situation. Hence the heavy restrictions on magic use."
"So that's why they took Fairy Tail and magic power from Earthland because they're desperate?"
"More than you can ever imagine," Lucy said with a smirk. "You see here in Edolas humans did not evolve to have magic within them as Earthland wizards do. Instead, magic is only really found in items like lacrima which are put into items to produce magical effects, and I don't just mean weapons, and unlike our world, they don't have wizards and non-wizards their civilisation is positively dependent on magic in all aspects of their society and industry"
"Oh no, you don't mean…." Carla trailed off a look of horror on her face.
"What is it, Carla? What's wrong?" Shirou asked with worry.
"Y-you absolute dolt how can you not understand?!" Carla shrieked at the faker.
"U-understand what?" Shirou asked caught off guard by Carla's shriek.
"These people are desperate because magic runs everything her unlike in our world." Carla yelled getting into Shirou's face which caused her to back off more "Food, medicine, water treatment just to name a few when magic power runs out these vital services will cease to function plunging this world into a dark filled with riots, famine and disease."
Shirou gulped as the consequences that Carla listed off sunk in and she realised just how the people her would suffer, just how many would die.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" She asked.
"No," Lucy replied carelessly. "Magic is a finite resource here, these people have only themselves to blame for basing their civilisation 'entirely' on its use. This universe developed with magic as a finite resource, the only way to save these people would be to move this planet to our reality, so unless you have a sword which can move planets I['m afraid these people will have to make do on their own and build a new civilisation not dependent on magic."
"But a lot of these people will-"
"Die, yes." Lucy cut her off. "it is unfortunate, but you cannot change it, besides even if you tried to stay and help you will likely only make it worse after all your only notable ability depends on magic as well."
"How can you be so heartless?!"
"Do you think it was any easier for my people in the Age of Gods?" Lucy asked sternly. "We had to break our backs in the fields and die by the dozens just to fend off the beasts of the world, phantasmal or otherwise!"
Shirou was silenced unable to get a word in as Lucy continued.
"And you do think for even a moment that the 'gods'" She spat the word out like it was something vile. "Were of any help? When I spurned that wretch Ishtar, it was because I didn't want to end of left in a forest with a broken limb or turned into a glorified garden gnome. And how does that spoilt brat respond? By sending the bull of heaven to wreak havoc on my lands and kill my people. Dependence on anyone or anything makes humanity weak, strength can only be gained through hardship and adversity. That is the way it has always been and nothing can change that, not a god, not a king nothing. Now come it's time to put an end to this nonsense."
With that Lucy stormed out of the guild hall, eventually, a quiet Shirou followed her along with Carla, Happy and Natsu.
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Erza walked through the hallways of the castle aimlessly, pretending to know where she was going whenever she encountered someone. Fortunately, she'd only encountered random guards and not anyone of importance who might question her.
As she was going down a hallway she heard some chattering and saw a pair of guards turn the corner into the hallway she was walking down.
"And just where are you two coming from?" She demanded halting them in their tracks, her stern tone causing them to stand up straight.
"Ah, Captain Knightwalker, the king just dismissed us from guarding his chambers." The right guard reported.
"Yeah, he dismissed us because he'd forgotten to take his medication again and doesn't want anyone to hear his pain, would be good for the royal image if people know the king was ill after all." The left one said.
"He has taken it but now he's just waiting for it to take effect so he has to deal with the pains." The right guard commented.
"Yeah, he has to be in good condition for the celebration later today."
"Celebration?" Erza said curiously.
"Oh you've been out so haven't heard yet, the king is planning to unveil the giant lacrima from Earthland to the public in order to calm down people's fears."
"Yeah, that should keep 'em all quiet until the dragon chain cannon is ready."
"Quiet you dumbass, what if some Exceeds are still around?"
"Oh right, sorry, well good news for you Captain, the Exceeds won't be at the celebration. Apparently, they've all been recalled back to Extallia for new orders from the Queen."
"Yeah, you have more reason to hate them out of everyone considering-"
"Hey shut it, don't go spilling the Captains business to everyone."
"Well carry on, I'll go check on the king just in case," Erza said storming off down the hallway the two guards had come from.
"Great work you idiot, I just hope she doesn't punish me along with you."
"Sorry."
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Walking alone down the hallway to the royal chambers, Erza could hear cries of pain which she followed. As she got closer she heard the unmistakable sound of….cracking bone?. Yes, unmistakable, she'd heard it many times in both this life and the last.
Quietly she snuck closer and closer towards the door to the king of Edolas's chambers. She quietly and gently pushed it open just enough make a crack to see through. What greeted her was a grotesque sight.
The elderly man whom she presumed was the king was using the wall to keep himself upright even as his skin moved as if something or a lot of somethings were moving underneath it. The sight was something out of a horror movie she'd watched with Natsu and the others a few weeks back, something about a Mummy. Near him also against the wall was a staff of some sort, she didn't need to check to know it was magical in nature.
Slowly she began to back away from the door until she stepped on a loose tile which clacked loudly.
"Who's there?" The king demanded threateningly.
Cursing herself Erza thought fast. "Your Highness it's Captain Knightwalker, I was passing by when I heard you, are you alright sir?"
"I'm fine, I'm just waiting for the damned pain medication to kick in." The king grouched. "Did you manage to deal with Fairy Tail?"
"No your highness they got away, they were protected by another reincarnate, one with Golden Armour who could fire swords out some sort of portals." Erza decided that simply pinning it on Lucy would probably help and to her surprise it did.
"Damn it all, of all the heroes why did Gilgamesh have to come here?" The King grumbled.
"Well, she appears to be Earthlands version of Lucy of Fairy Tail, it's possible that Gilgamesh is also part of their Fairy Tail," Erza suggested.
"Of all the luck, fine, after the unveiling we'll hold a meeting with the other Captains." The King stated, "We're so close now when the Dragon Chain Cannon is operational the resulting magical energy release will be enough to power the Grail and Edolas's wish will be made a reality."
Erza froze, Grail….surely he couldn't mean….
"Yes, go check on the Holy Grail down in the Anima chamber." The King ordered. "I want nothing to go wrong especially now that the King of Heroes is here."
"Y-yes your majesty right away." Erza quickly marched away with purpose. How could it be? How could there be a Holy Grail here of all places?
When she was far enough away from the king's chambers Erza stopped, shut her eyes and focused her senses. It didn't take long, she saw it in her mind's eye somewhere below. It wasn't very large which was probably why she hadn't sensed it before. But it's power was growing with each passing second as it drew in Ethernano. Like a chalice slowly being filled with water.
She had to see it for herself, so she began walking closer to where she felt its signature, to look for a way down to it. If it really was a Holy Grail, then she needed to see it for herself.
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On the outskirts of the royal city, below the walls that protected it, was a tunnel system, one not commonly known to exist to the public, on a few guards and some others in the military and of course the king knew that they existed.
This was where Mystogan of Fairy Tail, his birth name, however, was Jellal, the prince of Edolas and counterpart of the Jellal Fernandes of Earthland. He stood before a Lacrima crystal which itself sat on a pedestal with a complicated runic array running down it. This lacrima and pedestal were part of a set of five which lay at specific points within these tunnels.
This special lacrima was a specially kept secret that not even king knew about. Only Mystogan and the man who created them knew of their existence. The man who had told him about them and entrusted him to begin their activation upon his return to Edolas after sending him to Earthland through the Anima. Telling him of his father's mad plan. The Royal Architect; Ambrosius Knightwalker father of Erza Knightwalker.
He like his daughter contracted an illness to which only the Exceeds had the cure. Human medicines could only keep it at bay, but the Exceeds were never inclined to share the cure with humans. As such, from Mystogan's understanding, Ambrosius passed away shortly after sending him through the Anima years ago. There had been a shortage of the medication and he chose to give his share to his daughter, so she would live.
What he was about to do would take time, so he was thankful he'd run into Gajeel earlier and entrusted him with the X-balls, which would allow his Fairy Tail friends to use their magic powers here.
"If I remember correctly, this is based on old Edolosian Circle magic," Mystogan said to himself as he began jogging his memory of the instructions passed onto him. "It was a method of using magic by circulating magical energy through a specially made magic circle to produce an effect, but with the rise of magic items which were easier to use it fell out of use due to complicated mathematics that went into creating the circle."
He paused before removing his glove and staring at his own hand then to the dull unpowered lacrima and back. For this plan to work, the lacrima would need a great amount of power and there was only one way to get it without anyone else realising its existence and trying to stop it.
"Father, you were a kind and just king once, but you became consumed by fear of the kingdom losing its magic and the end of our way of life, but what you plan to do now is wrong, it won't just destroy Fairy Tail but the people of Edolas too and though I know the price, I will stop you."
Mystogans resolve was steeled and so he placed his hand upon the Lacrima. Almost immediately it began to light up and his whole body was wracked with pain as the crystal did its job draining power from him so that it might have the energy to complete the task for which it was created. Despite the pain, however, he was able to keep himself from crying out, which was good as he would still have four more to do after this.
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Concealed underneath a cloak behind a pillar Gajeel Redfox stood watching the large crowd in the plaza. He'd heard the King of Edolas was going to make an announcement to the people soon, and so taking care to conceal his appearance he stood nearby watching and waiting. He'd met Mystogan who gave him the summary of what was happening.
Eventually, a man in brown robes appeared on a balcony. In his right hand was a strange looking staff. As its tip the staff had a strange golden ring, it wasn't a true circle but rather it looked like someone had simply put a ring of flesh and dipped it into molten gold. From ten points on the ring were fixtures which attached to a glowing lacrima in the centre. Just looking at it gave Gajeel the creeps.
The man raised his arms and the veil behind him fell revealing a massive lacrima crystal. It brimmed with magic power, no wonder they had to move it to this larger plaza.
"Children of Edolas, it brings great joy to my heart to tell you that our Anima program has produced enough power to last another decade!" The man Gajeel had been told by Mystogan was the king declared.
"Let us rejoice together! Let us sing and dance! Let laughter roar through our sacred kingdom! The power within this lacrima belongs to all loyal subjects of our fair homeland! Today, we hold our future in our hands to ensure its prosperity into tomorrow and beyond! Therefore, we must swear to protect this gift from heaven with our very lives!"
"My dear children, today I shall make a most solemn pledge to you as your benevolent ruler." He slams his staff against the lacrima, cracking it in one place. "I will bring you more power! So much more than you could possibly imagine!"
The creepy grin on his face made Gajeel nervous. There was something very wrong with this man, and these people all chanting Edolas over and over were like brainwashed puppets. Gajeel had his magic back thanks to the X-balls Mystogan had given him, but there was no way he could risk a full frontal attack right now. Who knew how many reincarnates were in the city at the kingdoms disposal. No, he would have to wait for an opportunity to strike.
Gajeel was shaken out his thoughts and the crowd out of their reverie by an explosion from the direction from the Royal Palace.
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It hadn't taken too long for Erza to find the way. There were lots of guards around the doors but they hadn't stopped her, clearly, her counterpart had permission to come and go as she pleased.
Eventually, after descending the flights of stairs, she found it, a large cavernous room with statues that no doubt made up the Anima machine. What really caught her attention, was what sat on a pedestal in the centre of the room. To those unfamiliar, it would seem to be a small unassuming golden chalice, but Erza knew better.
This was it. The Omnipotent wish granter. The Holy Grail. She walked closer and inspected it, she was no expert in magic, but she knew enough, and what found from her inspection of the Grail shocked her.
"Those fools what are they thinking? If they use it then…." Erza trailed off before shaking her head trying to formulate a plan. "I can't destroy it, if I do then it would wipe out the city above and kill all of those innocent people. If I steal it I'll have the entire army chasing me, plus I have nowhere on my person to hide it."
Erza was silent for a few seconds before sighing in resignation.
"No choice, I'll just have to leave it here and hope that the King doesn't use it until I've regrouped with the others and we can return to neutralise it." With that Erza turned and began marching back up the stairs.
"Lucy surely has something that can safely dispose of it." She mumbled before pushing open the doors and returning to the surface.
Erza began making her way back to the Legion pens so she could leave hopefully without fuss. But nothing was ever that simple.
"Saber." The voice, feminine yet still familiar enough to be recognisable from her memories shocked her causing her magical disguise to drop.
Erza looked up and sure enough, there was a woman with tanned skin and white hair. Clearly Wendy's Edolas Counterpart but more importantly, a reincarnate. A Counter Guardian, EMIYA. Better known to her as Archer. Standing next to her was someone who was clearly her counterpart though, with yellow eyes and pale skin the blackened holy sword in her hand was unmistakable and made her identity clear, she too was Arturia Pendragon, known to history and the world as King Arthur.
A pair of married blades appeared in Archer's hands and the Holy Sword gained a blackened aura around it. It seemed it would be a fight then.
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AN: So just one last thing, Lucy's rant was NOT meant to be political in any manner, it was just an observation of mine. If Edolas so desperate as to steal magic from Earthland using the Anima in a way that destroys towns and villages, even if it is in another world, then its only natural that people would ignore that atrocity not just because of greed but because Edolas must totally dependent on magic for things like food, medicine etc. I don't find it realistic that greed or selfishness alone is the reason no one ever questioned or cared about how the Anima stole magic from Earthland.