Siegrain walked inside the Magic Council building, looking around as he remised about the time he spent deceiving the people inside. "It's good to be back…" Siegrain said to himself with a slight smirk. He took a few steps farther inside, only to meet with several Council Guards, along with one of the captains, Lahar.
"J-Jellal!?" Lahar's eyes widened slightly, obviously mistaking the thought project formally known as a Wizard Saint for his counterpart. "What are you doing here?! Arrest that man!" Lahar pointed, and the Council guards complied, all of them equipping a weapon with various elements pertaining to each one.
"My my…" Siegrain shook his head slightly, unable to help but chuckle at Lahar's reaction. "Has it really been so long you've mistaken me for Jellal? Justice is a powerful thing, remember?"
"W-What…?" Lahar commanded the guards to stop, and then observed Siegrain before narrowing his eyes. "Siegrain…Why are you here?"
"I've heard the Council has taken a rather big hit in terms of numbers and creditably," Siegrain replied.
"That doesn't concern you," Lahar said, keeping his men at the ready.
"Actually, it does," Siegrain replied while placing his hands behind his back, and taking a few steps forward, now standing just a few feet away from Lahar. . "You see, Lahar, I am here because I want to return the Council its lost glory."
"How do we know you aren't working with Jellal, huh?" Lahar asked as he stared into Siegrain's eyes.
"Because I am nothing but an honest man, unlike Jellal, of course," Siegrain replied.
"I say we give him the benefit of the doubt," Head captain Aloy said as he approached the two.
"Aloy…?" Lahar turned to face Aloy, a look of disbelief on his face. "He's a wanted criminal!"
"Ah…but he is trying to make things right, is he not?" Aloy asked while crossing his arms. "He is merely thinking about the wellbeing of the people within Fiore, and the standing of the Magic Council, yes?"
"Well…that's true…" Lahar said as he looked down to the ground, thinking it over for a few seconds. "Fine…I'll allow him to take his business up with Gran Doma…but if he disagrees with this, you, and Jellal, are going behind bars, do you understand?"
"I understand," Siegrain said with a nod, and Lahar walked off, along with the Council guards. After Lahar left, Siegrain turned to Aloy with a slight nod. "So…You must be Aloy…I was told to look out for you when I arrived."
"That is correct, I am the head captain of the council guard, so this plan should go off without much trouble," Aloysius said with a nod and a slight smirk.
Siegrain started to lead the way towards Gran Doma's office. "Shall we then?"
In his cell, a faint smirk appeared on Cobra's face as he leaned his head back, listening to the events that were building up. "I can hear it…"
.
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Gran Doma was in the middle of a meeting with Toma - the King of Fiore - himself. Hisui, Arcadios, and Kemuri were also present. So imagine their surprise when Siegrain, led by Aloy, stepped inside without any warning. Gran Doma's eyes widened at the sigh of Siegrain and he immediately stood up. "What is he doing here? What is the meaning of this?!"
"I've simply come to talk." Siegrain said calmly. "About the leadership in the Council."
"Erm..." Hisui looked at her father, who looked towards Siegrain.
"Did you think you could just waltz in here and pretend nothing happened? Things don't work like that, Siegrain." Gran Doma scowled. "Aloy, why did you not arrest him the moment he stepped foot inside of this building?"
"Because I was interested in what he had to say. He has some concerns about things lately, sir." Aloy said calmly. "Won't you at least hear him out?"
"I will do no such thing." Gran Doma vehemently shook his head. "Your Majesty, surely you understand."
"I am...aware of what happened several years ago. This man is not to be trusted." Toma said while facing Siegrain.
"I will take him if need be." Arcadios said while drawing his sword.
"But Your Majesty...do you place your trust in a man who has failed his country time and time again?" Siegrain spoke calmly. All eyes were on him as he took a single step forward. "A country wide incident could've been avoided last year had he properly searched for that girl. Sure, the crisis was avoided in the end, but that was due to the efforts of the guilds, not the Council. The Council has then failed to capture the mysterious assassin, on top of failing to protect the people from Grimoire Heart. Failure on top of failure. Is this the man you really trust to enforce this country's laws?"
"Well..." Toma glanced away. Siegrain did have a point. The Magic Council's leadership had been lacking...
"That's why you need someone who will do anything to reinforce this country's laws. The people want protection. They cannot rely solely on the guilds to solve every problem they have. That would be like entrusting the law to them, and we know we can't do that." Siegrain added. "That is why you need someone like me."
"Now wait here just a-!" Gran Doma was attempting to object, however...
"I think he's right." Kemuri was standing by Gran Doma's desk. He was mostly quiet, but his interjection caught everyone's attention. "As a small business owner, let me tell you something. When things start to fail, you have to look at it from an outside perspective. As I see it, the way things are now tell me two things. Either the leadership isn't up to the task, or maybe it's the members of the Council themselves that are failing. But we've been doing all we can. I think we need...some new leadership."
"Kemuri? What is the meaning of this!?" Gran Doma glared at Kemuri.
"I'm saying...I think your time is up, sir." Kemuri responded calmly. "You've struck out three times."
"Oh." Aloy was intrigued by this turn of events. Siegrain was as well.
"I agree with Siegrain. It's time for some new leadership. Besides...you've broken the law yourself." Kemuri pulled out a lacrima, and with it, some documents. "Your Majesty, I think you should know. Back during the Fiore's End incident, Gran Doma skipped several procedures and immediately rushed to use the criminal Cobra in place of the Council. He even promised to let the criminal free. Not only that, but I've found some very incriminating documents with illegal activities written all over them..."
"WHAT!?" Gran Doma's eyes widened, but his name was on those documents. This was something he wasn't expecting, "You were the one who...!"
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. After all...it's your name on these documents, isn't that right?" Kemuri placed the documents down. It was his secret weapon to getting Gran Doma out of office. He never thought he'd have the chance to use these so soon. Compared to Gran Doma's handwriting, the match was one to one. Of course...it was all forged. But the replication was so perfect, nobody would know. Only Gran Doma could object to this.
"This is...preposterous! I agree that we sent Cobra, but it was not me who...!" Gran Doma was stumbling over his words.
"You see, Your Majesty?" Aloy spoke.
"Can we really trust a man who has failed at every step when it counts?" Kemuri asked. Toma and Arcadios looked like they were in some sort of deep, contemplative trance the more Kemuri spoke. Hisui, on the other hand, was simply confused at the events playing out before her.
"Choose wisely." Siegrain said. "I know you care deeply about your country and its people."
"Father...? Arcardios?" Hisui looked to the two of them.
"..." Kemuri narrowed his eyes at Hisui. Whatever he was doing, she was the only one not affected by it. There was some kind of magic in play on his end, but the Princess remained unfazed. No matter, her opinion didn't matter. The King was the only one who's choice impacted anything here. "So, Your Majesty? What will it be? A Council led by a failure, or a Council with a brighter and safer future ahead of it?"
"I..." Toma trailed off for a moment. His choice here was going to impact Fiore greatly. So he had to take great consideration into it.
.
Back inside White Eclipse, things proceed to go as normal as they were any other day, with all the members conversing among one another, training on their own, sleeping, or in Jack Royal's case, drinking as if there was now tomorrow. Selene walked past Jack, groaning slightly as the intoxicating smell of alcohol filled her sensitive nose, causing her to pinch it and close the airways. "Ugh, that smell..." Selene mumbled as she used her free hand to wave the smell away.
"The best smell in the world, right?" Jack asked with a drunken grin.
"Hardly..." Selene replied while quickly making her way to the other side.
"Hey, Reve," Jaxon started as he walked over to the gunslinger.
"Hm? What is it, Jaxon?" Reve asked as he examined one of his guns.
"I was curious about the White Eclipse techniques a few of you have." The green-haired meteorology mage asked with curiosity. His question attracted the attention of a few other members around.
"Yeah..." Luke started as walked over to Reve and Jaxon, along with a few curious members. "I've only seen the Eclipse tower, used by Master and Sidney."
"He's also got the Eclipse Circle," Reve said with a slight nod. "That one packs a punch. He's got a lot more, but I won't spoil the surprise for you all, heh."
"Do you have any, cowboy?" Taya asked as she raised a brow.
"Heh, do I ever." Reve smirked as the gun in his hand vanished. The gunslinger then took a few steps back as his smirked widened. "Stand back, this one's a killer." Reve held his arms out, and within seconds, a bazooka patented with the White Eclipse symbol on the side appeared in his hands. "Say hello to this beauty, the Eclipse Cannon."
Aira looked at the bazooka with amazement, her eyes sparkling from such a masterpiece. "Whoa! Can you show us what a shot looks like?!"
"Sorry, no can do, Aira," Reve replied as he allowed the gun to vanish.
"Aw...! Why not?" Nami asked with a small pout.
"Because he made a promise not to use it," Jack said in a half serious, half drunk tone as he stood up from his seat, stumbling over to the small crowd.
"That's right," Reve said with a stern nod. "I'm only going to use it unless I absolutely have to, but seeing as how I haven't, I won't."
"That's somewhat boring..." Luke commented, and right after he did, Reve used his QuickDraw to point a pistol at Luke's head, shutting the copy mage up.
"Shouldn't you be in a maid outfit?" Reve asked with a condescending smirk.
"I still have the pictures from the last time," Taya said with a teasing tone.
"Oh, oh, I wanna see!" Skye and Nami said in unison with both cheery, innocent tones.
"Yup, I think I'm just gonna..." And with that, the copy mage started to leave, but then he remembered something. "Oh, yeah, that reminds me! We got two new guilds around making a name for themselves, slowly."
"Twilight Zone and Cosmic Star!" Aira said with a nod.
"I feel like I've heard those names before..." Zalen said as he fixed his glasses.
"I heard Twilight Zone's ace defeated Bluenote Stinger," Aira nodded.
"I would've had Bluenote if a certain time mage didn't get in our way..." Cygnus mumbled underneath his breath.
"I bet Sidney could take her no problem," Waiston nodded.
"There are a lot of SS class mages out there, I'm not invincible," Sidney commented as he suddenly appeared from nowhere.
"You could beat Gildarts!" Luke said. "You almost had him half a year ago, but that Cynthia..." Luke sighed, and somewhere off screen, Cynthia sneezed, accidentally setting Happy on fire.
"Dwelling on the past at this point is irrelevant," Sidney simply replied.
.
.
Magnus walked inside the Cosmic Star guild, holding a shopping bag in his hands. "Here," Magnus tossed Alex the latest issue of Sorcerers' Weekly. "They have the recent model pages in the middle somewhere."
"Don't lie, you know exactly where it is!" Alex said while poking her tongue out teasingly, and then started to skim through the magazine, stopping once she reached the model pages. "Jenny Realight...she's a goddess..." Alex said in an envious tone. "I wish I had a body like her..."
"You do, you just never show it off like they do," Gaia said with a shrug. "You're a beautiful girl, Alex, and a strong one."
"D'awww!" Alex's face lit up with a cheesy grin. "Oh! And then there's Mirajane Strauss...what I wouldn't do for-" Alex coughed and stopped herself as she realized how carried away she was getting. "So, Magnus! Meet any new friends?!"
"Just an annoying Copy mage who's friends with a rather suspicious mage..." Magnus replied.
"Copy mage?" Alex blinked a few times.
"Mages who have no right to be mages, because they are unable to come up with their own magic so they must copy other's to become strong. Plus he's a member of White Eclipse." Magnus sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"The strongest guild in Fiore?" Alex blinked a few times.
"Technically, no. And even if they were, all they are doing is beating Fairy Tail, and overrated guild to begin with, and claiming it makes them the strongest." Magnus shrugged his shoulders with a deep sigh. "We'll show them, eventually."
"I'm interested to see what kinda mages they have there...perhaps I'll visit those three guilds later on." Gaia gave a nod. "I wanna see what kind of guilds they are~"
"Do everyone a favor and don't be so condescending..." Magnus said. "Just because you are what you are doesn't mean you should be so confident."
"Oh, come on. Let me have a little fun." Gaia said with a soft huff. "It's been years since I've had this much fun."
"You're going to get ahead of yourself this way." Magnus replied.
"Gaia-chan is just truthful!" Alex said defensively.
"Sure she is, Alex...sure she is..." Magnus sighed.
.
.
"You're not letting that Gaia chick get to you, eh?" Rylo asked a somewhat tempered Evanee.
"Of course not," Evanee replied plainly, taking a sip of strawberry milk to calm her nerves from earlier in the day.
"Kinda seems like it," Flynn commented.
"Who's bothering Evanee-chwan?!" Tsami asked as she poked her head into the main room.
"It's nothing," Evanee said to the others, her annoyance rising because she really didn't want to deal with anyone and she was slowly getting to the point of snapping. "The only things that bothers me about her is her attitude, and her scent."
"What's so special about her scent?" Rylo asked a raised brow.
"I'm not sure..." Evanee replied before walking towards her room. "Doesn't matter, I'm going to sleep now."
"She's the only person who's called her Ev and lived..." Rylo said in amazement.
"Let's not." Evanee replied just before entering her room.
"Doesn't matter if she's alive or not, Twilight Zone is much better than Cosmic Star!" Flynn said with a smirk, jogging in place because he had been staying still for too long.
"Exactly!" Rylo said with a smirk.
.
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In the depth of a secluded forest, Silent Sanctum awaited the results of the recreation of Siegrain, and wondered when he would infiltrate the Magic Council to place it under their control. "No word yet...?" Byron asked as he started to drift off to sleep, but Veronica flicked a piece of silver at the red haired mage's head, waking the requip mage up, an annoyed look now on his face. "The hell was that for?!"
"No sleeping!" Veronica demanded.
"Did you just hit me with a piece of silver?" Byron asked.
Veronica nodded, using using her Telekinesis to lift the piece of silver back into her hands. "Yes, a very important piece of silver too, mind you."
"What's so important about it?" Horoki asked while leaning back on the couch.
"A special friend of mind made it for me. Her name is Melody Silver, and it's been over half a year since I've last seen her," Veronica said as she examined the piece of silver.
"I've heard that name before..." Myuu said from a seat nearby. "Wasn't she one of the one's who participated in the defeat of Titania 10 months ago or something?"
"That's right!" Veronica said with a proud smile. "We were in the same dark guild at the time, and she's the one who actually came up with the plan to defeat her. Melody dressed up as the client who request the job, then we led Titania into a trap!"
"I remember this story. Titania's rep took a nose dive after," Byron said. "But didn't she beat the shit outta you guys for the most part?"
Veronica was ignoring that part. "Yes, but then she was shot in the stomach by a stupid gun mage! It left a large scar in her stomach, and we nearly got arrested!" Veronica said, her voice rising with resentment. She also got a crush on some ice mage, but she grew out of it. The last time I saw her was before I joined Silent Sanctum, when she took a fall from a cliff..."
"What a heart breaking story..." Byron said as he sarcastically used his finger to wipe away tears.
"She's important to me, okay?! I may be a cold hearted bitch, but I has a soft spot for her, and I won't rest until I find her and bring her here!" Veronica said with a huff.
"It's good to know my pupils have something they all look forward to," Jikan said as he and Aloysius walked into the main room.
"Master Jikan, any word?" Horoki asked.
"Ah, yes," Aloysius said with a grin. "Expect a new government within the next few hours."