Edolas, Edolas Continent, Royal Capital.
November, x784.
Several Hours have passed since the Dorma Anim was defeated, if one could call it that, and King Faust was taken into custody. Though Mystogan had every intention to hold a trial and tell the population of the Edolas Kingdom everything his father had done over the years.
However, he had more pressing issues to attend to for the moment. Namely, sending Magnolia and its inhabitants back to Earth Land. And just at this moment, in one of the relatively undamaged meeting rooms that survived Dorma Anim's awakening, Mystogan was explaining his plan to the other wizards from Fairy Tail, Panther Lily, and Coco.
"So, you're suggesting sending everything magical in origin from Edolas to Earth Land?" Marin asked curiously.
"But won't that cause a lot of panic for the people of Edolas?' Lucy asked. "I mean, even though there isn't much magic here, the people are used to living with assistance from magic, after all."
"Unfortunately, that is the way things must be." Mystogan said in a solemn tone. "Reversing the Anima's primary functions, the little bit of magic power left in this world will be safely sent to Earth Land. Then, conflicts over magic will cease to exist."
"*Sigh* Your old man was right, Mystogan." Alfonzo said in an exasperated tone. "You're a bit short sighted."
Hearing Alfonzo's opinion of his plan, Mystogan frowned. Before he could respond, however, someone else beat him to it.
*Bang!*
"Insolence!" Panther Lily shouted angrily while slamming his fist on the table in the meeting room. "You will show the Prince the respect he deserves.
'*Sigh* And this is why I don't like cats.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he glanced at Panther Lily lazily. 'They always act how they please. I mean, look at Mystogan. He's not even angry. The only reason he's frowning is to try and figure out what I could have meant.'
After having that thought, Alfonzo also glanced at happy and Carla, who, after they little trip to Extalia, seemed to be much closer than ever.
'I probably shouldn't mention my dislike for cats, though.' Alfonzo mused. 'Happy and Carla would end up as collateral damage.'
"Calm yourself, Lily." Mystogan said, Panther Lily's outburst breaking him from his thoughts. "Believe me, I know that Alfonzo meant no harm by his statement."
"But Prince…" Panther Lily said in a tone filled with complaints.
"He's right, you know." Alfonzo said. "I mean, it's not just Mystogan, either. Everyone in this kingdom who knows about the Anima is short sighted. Well, the king probably wasn't, but he was just a greedy fucker. So, it doesn't really matter."
Hearing that everyone in the room, except for Elicia and Natsu looked at Alfonzo with interest. While Elicia had an idea what Alfonzo was going to say, since they had discussed this arc of the Fairy Tail anime many times in their previous lives, Natsu had smoke coming out of his ears, literally, due to not understanding the complexity of the conversation.
'Maybe we should put together an educational course for Natsu when we get back to Earth land.' Alfonzo and Elicia wondered at the same time.
Immediately after that thought crossed Alfonzo and Elicia's minds, Natsu sat up straight and looked around warily.
"Natsu, what's wrong?' happy asked in a concerned tone.
"I'm not sure." Natsu replied, continuing to look around warily. "but I felt like someone was plotting against me."
'A Dragon Slayer's instincts really are impressive.' Alfonzo and Elicia thought simultaneously with a smile.
"What did you mean by what you said, Alfonzo?" Mystogan asked, getting the conversation back on track.
"What I mean is, you all look at such an incredible piece of machinery in such simple terms." Alfonzo replied with a slightly excited expression. "I mean, yeah, it was the source of all the conflict between the two worlds, but it could be used for so much more, right?"
"I don't doubt that, but the magic power needed to power it is too much for Edolas to bear." Mystogan said.
"That's if you only use the magic power from Edolas, though." Alfonzo shot back. "I mean, because of your old man's ambitions, you look at the Anima taking magic power from Earth Land as a bad thing. But… Is it really?"
"Of course it is." Panther Lily replied. "Especially when the magic power is taken from the people of your world."
"That's true." Alfonzo said with a nod. "but what if we altered it to only take ambient ethernano?"
"Huh?"
That confused exclamation came from everyone in the room, minus Elicia. Not to say that taking the excess ethernano from Earth land's atmosphere was something so groundbreaking that they could not understand it. Instead, it was because the solution Alfonzo suggested was so simple.
"Did you forget what happened two years ago?" Mystogan asked, a deeper frown now decorating his face.
Of course not." Alfonzo replied.
The event Mystogan was referring to from two years ago was when an Anima opened over Alfonzo, the Strauss siblings, and Natsu after Alfonzo and Natsu saved the siblings from Elfman's failed [Take Over] of the Beast.
In that situation, If Alfonzo had not been there, At least one of them would have been drawn into Edolas thanks to the Anima portal that opened up in the sky.
"But that's why I said we should modify the machine." Alfonzo said with a smile. "meaning, make it smaller. Or rather, make the scale of the phenomenon smaller."
Once again, everyone looked at Alfonzo skeptically.
"Okay, chill out with those looks." Alfonzo said, waving his hands to disperse the awkward air. "On top of making the phenomenon smaller, we should shrink the machine, as well. Then, we spread the smaller machines all over Edolas."
"Then, the amount of ethernano and magic power the portals could drain from Earth Land would be smaller by comparison, right?' Elicia asked, helping the conversation along.
"that's right." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "And with the modifications, it would only release ethernano into the air after pulling it from Earth Land. And although it would take time, the creation of natural lacrima would happen again, eventually."
Hearing Alfonzo's idea, everyone intelligent enough to follow looked at him in understanding.
"But how would these smaller devices be powered?" Mystogan asked curiously. "We don't have enough lacrima to power them all."
"That's actually an easier problem to solve than you would think." Alfonzo replied. "First, you disassemble the original Anima. Then, you break its lacrima into smaller pieces. After that, you use those smaller pieces to power the new, smaller Anima."
Hearing that, Mystogan was about to open his mouth once again.
"I know what you're about to say." Alfonzo said, raising his right hand to stop Mystogan. "That's only a temporary solution. The longer term solution is to add some sigils that will convert the gathered ethernano into magic power. That way, the new Anima will eventually be self-sustaining, only needing the occasional maintenance."
With that, Mystogan's last concern was solved.
"But making these new Anima will take a longtime, though." Panther Lily said.
"Not necessarily." Mystogan said, glancing at Alfonzo as he spoke. "Not when we have Earth land's best magic item crafter in our midst."
With Mystogan's declaration, Alfonzo once again became the center of attention.
"Well, I wouldn't say I'm the best in Earth Land." Alfonzo said with a sheepish smile. "but It's been said that I'm the best in Ishgar, at least."
"That means you're gonna help them, right?" Marin asked. "If so, then how much longer are we gonna be staying here in Edolas?"
"Well, I'd have to get a look at the Anima, first." Alfonzo replied. "but since they use the same sigils as we do back on Earth Land for magic item crafting, it shouldn't take too long for me to understand how the thing works. After that, I should have a working model ready for use in a couple of days."
"Then you should hurry up and get to it." Marin said. "I wanna take a dip in the hot tub back home."
Hearing that, Elicia and Erza nodded in agreement. Even Lucy, who had never taken a bath in Alfonzo and Elicia's bathroom seemed interested, especially after having heard so many stories about it from the other girls.
'If our date works out after we get back, I should get the chance to try it to, right?' Lucy thought to herself. Then, she began to blush lightly as she glanced at Alfonzo. 'That's another reason to hope we can really hit it off on our date.'
With that, the meeting came to an end. While Mystogan led Alfonz o to the Anima so he could inspect it, Elicia led the other members of Fairy Tail into the Royal Capital to help with the rebuilding efforts. Naturally, she dragged Erza Knightwalker, Hughes, and Sugarboy to assist, though their punishments for assisting Faust had not been decided.
A few days later, just as Alfonzo estimated, he had been able to put together a working Anima. And after he finished, he called for Mystogan to witness its initial use.
"So this is it?" Mystogan asked while looking at a small, metallic cube that was about the size of a Rubik's Cube.
"Yeah, this is it." Alfonzo said as he picked up the small cube from his work bench. Then, he popped open one of the sides of the cube as he continued. "This one doesn't have a lacrima in it, though. But that's not necessary for what I'm about to do."
"Does that mean it can take in magic power from a wizard directly?" Mystogan asked curiously.
"In most cases, no." Alfonzo replied. "but because it was made with my [Metal Magic], I'm an exception. People won't be able to modify its sigils for the same reason."
"I see." Mystogan replied with a nod. "then what about when performing maintenance?"
Like that, Alfonzo explained everything Mystogan and the people of Edolas needed to look out for when using his new Anima while answering any questions Mystogan might have at the same time.
"Alright, now that all that is out of the way, let me show you how well this thing does what I promised." Alfonzo said as he closed the side of the Anima that revealed the slot for the lacrima crystal, before pushing his magic power into the device.
A few moments later, both Alfonzo and Mystogan could feel the density of the ethernano in the workshop increase noticeably.
"Incredible." Mystogan exclaimed in amazement. "To think the density of the ethernano would increase by so much in such a short amount of time. And just wear is the ethernano being pulled from on Earth Land."
"I made it so that the Anima would open high up in the atmosphere." Alfonzo replied. "That way, even if there was an accident, no one should get pulled through it."
*Rumble!*
Before Mystogan could praise Alfonzo's creation any further, however, the majority of the Royal Capital, the Royal Castle included, began to shake. Though the shaking was not particularly intense, it was strong enough for everyone to notice.
"An earthquake?" Mystogan asked in surprise. "No, for as long as the Royal Capital has stood here, there has never been an earthquake."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "It's just the biggest group of criminals in the kingdom."
Meanwhile, just outside the Eastern gate of the Royal Capital, a building-shaped plant with the Fairy Tail emblem bloomed from the ground. And once it had grown to hits full size, the doors were flung open with force revealing the members of the Edolas Fairy Tail decked out in their full battle attire, ready to help their friends from Earth Land fight against the Royal Army.
When they saw the state of the capital, however, they all froze in place just outside the front door of their guild hall.
"What the hell?" Lucy Ashely asked in confusion. "What happened to the Royal Capital? Did someone set off a bomb, or something?"
Although the wizards from the Earth land Fairy Tail, minus Alfonzo, the four captains, Coco, and a large number of soldiers from the Royal Army had been working to repair the destruction caused by Erza, Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy for the last few days, that was not nearly enough time to restore the city to its former glory.
So, when the Edolas Fairy Tail saw the large number of construction sights and tents in the Royal Capital, they were completely dumbfounded. But when they saw Elicia spring herself up onto the city wall with a smile on her face, they were even more confused.
"Hey, Guys! Your timing is perfect!" Elicia shouted with a smile as she waved her hands excitedly at the members of the Edolas Fairy Tail. "We could really use your help, right about now!"
"For once I agree with the Blonde Bimbo." The Edolas Levy said from next to Lucy Ashley. "What the actual hell is going on here?"