"We've really been underestimated, haven't we?"
The Garou Knights' captain let out a cold laugh and slowly removed the two enormous scythes from his back, standing together with the two remaining members.
Uosuke shouted in his shrill, eunuch-like voice, "How did you know we were coming? And… where are Kamika and the others?!"
The eye-searing cross-dressed Natsu yanked the blonde wig off his head.
Two jets of fire burst from his nostrils as he roared furiously, "The Lucy you were trying to steal already told us you were coming to steal Lucy! You bunch of sneaky bastards!"
The three Garou Knights: …
Why did that sound a little hard to understand?
"Garou Knights… You don't act much like knights at all."
At that moment, a cold and proud female voice came from the second-floor window.
Then two people were thrown out through the broken window.
Bang! Bang!
After the two bodies hit the ground, the Garou captain's eyes widened instantly.
That was…
Kamika and Cosmos?
They had been taken out? In such a short time?!
Uosuke hurriedly helped them up, while Neppa glared furiously toward the second floor.
Soon, Erza, clad in her Black Wing Armor, and Mirajane, who had taken over Satan Soul, floated down from the second floor as well.
Their presence alone instantly crushed the Garou Knights' momentum.
"Titania… the Demon…"
The Garou captain looked at the two women, who had defeated his teammates in such a short time, and unease began beating in his chest for no reason.
Had his judgment been wrong?
The S-Class Mages of this guild… why did they feel different from everyone else's?
Ankh stood protectively in front of Lucy and Future Lucy.
Looking at the panicked Arcadios, he smiled and said, "We meet again, Captain. Only this time, you might have to cooperate with us."
Arcadios sighed. The thought of escaping that had been lingering in his heart was completely extinguished.
With a Wizard Saint protecting Lucy, and with so many people working together, there was no hope left.
The Garou captain, however, clearly had some backbone.
Seeing how little regard Ankh showed him, rage immediately surged up in his chest, and he roared.
"Don't look down on the Garou Knights, you bastard!"
Even though their comrades had been defeated, the three had not lost their fighting spirit.
Under the Garou captain's lead, they bravely charged in.
Uosuke possessed magic that could alter terrain effects.
Neppa had acid magic capable of corroding steel.
The Garou captain was a physical enhancement-type mage, and the massive scythes he swung moved so fast their paths could barely be seen.
Seeing Fairy Tail caught in a lava terrain, while the famous Ankh had his steps blocked by acid, the Garou captain's eyes gleamed with excitement.
He swung his scythe toward Ankh's neck and laughed loudly.
"You fool! Wizard Saint or not, with the three of us working together, even you might not be able to defeat us!"
Ankh, pinching his nose in disgust as he avoided the acid, heard that and his expression turned even stranger.
That line…
It really sounded like he was raising a flag for himself.
How could Ankh not grant him that wish?
…
One minute later.
Ankh sat on the back of the unconscious giant, Neppa, and casually tossed Uosuke, whom he had nearly choked to death, off to the side.
Then his gaze shifted toward the Garou captain, whose giant scythes were broken, mask torn, black robe shredded, and whose earlier intimidating aura had completely vanished.
"Still feeling tough?"
Unfortunately, the Garou captain had already rolled his eyes back and fainted, so he could no longer satisfy Ankh's curiosity.
Arcadios, who was hiding farther back, was a tough man himself, but even he could not help trembling as he watched the Garou Knights get speedrun by Ankh in one minute.
'What kind of monster is he…?'
The Garou Knights, whose infamous name was practically an urban nightmare, had just been wiped out instantly?
"I have a few questions. What was the purpose of kidnapping Lucy? What exactly are you trying to accomplish with the Eclipse Gate? Who proposed this plan? And has anything strange happened in the palace recently?"
Ankh faced the teeth-chattering Arcadios while sitting on a member of the Garou Knights.
Behind him stood a huge group of fierce-looking mages, with the beautiful yet dangerous Erza and Mirajane on either side.
He looked exactly like a mafia boss interrogating an enemy while surrounded by his underlings.
Arcadios was horrified that the other side knew about the Eclipse Project, but after remembering Ankh's methods, he suddenly felt that it was not all that important anymore.
After a long silence, perhaps because of the strange unease that had been hidden in his heart all along, Arcadios finally opened his mouth and spoke honestly.
"This matter is a long story. I should begin with the Eclipse Project."
"Around the time the Grand Magic Games first began, the princess accidentally came into contact with a mysterious person. He claimed to be from the future."
"The future?!"
Ankh froze for a moment, then turned with everyone else to look at Future Lucy.
Only, Future Lucy looked just as confused.
Arcadios did not notice the strange expressions on their faces and continued, head lowered.
"That person from the future claimed that, in the early hours of the seventh day of the Grand Magic Games, ten thousand dragons would appear over the royal capital and destroy the entire kingdom. After that, the whole continent would fall into war."
"At first, the princess did not believe this person. But every day during the Grand Magic Games, he predicted the outcome of each team's matches with astonishing accuracy. Because of that, both the king and the princess began to waver."
"After that, the future person used this to suggest that the only way to change the future was to rely on the Eclipse Gate, which the kingdom's upper ranks had kept sealed away. By opening the Eclipse Gate on the special day of July 7, they could use the Magic Power accumulated over many years of the Grand Magic Games, along with the abnormal movement of the stars that day, to destroy the attacking dragon swarm in one strike."
"We could not simply sit and wait for death. With that in mind, the king and princess asked that future person about the detailed operation of the Eclipse Project. And among all the things he emphasized, the most important point was…"
Arcadios paused.
His expression became somewhat complicated.
"In the future, the Eclipse Gate would lose its effect because a certain Celestial Spirit Mage with golden keys deliberately interfered with it, causing the apocalypse to arrive. Because of that, he begged the kingdom to take control of Lucy and Yukino."
"How is that possible?!"
Future Lucy suddenly stood up in agitation.
"I didn't even know what the Eclipse Gate was! How could I possibly interfere with the kingdom's plan?"
"That… That is indeed what the future person said. He said it was because of you that the future… Eh? Miss Lucy? Why is there another one?"
Lucy soothed Future Lucy's emotions and refuted him just as firmly.
"If that were really the case, I would never have caused trouble. And besides, 'I' already said that at that time, she was locked in prison and didn't do anything, but the disaster still happened!"
Arcadios's brain nearly crashed from seeing two Lucys.
Ankh, meanwhile, rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, "In other words, someone from a different future appeared… Judging from his actions, he wants the Eclipse Gate to open."
"His motive isn't clear, but from what Arcadios said, we can at least conclude that, in that future person's world, Lucy's choice wasn't what he wanted."
"The Lucy of that timeline chose to prevent the Eclipse Gate from opening…"
Lucy, whom he could trust completely, was the most important anchor Ankh had for judging the future.
So that future person was most likely an enemy, not an ally.
"Was that future person wearing a mask?"
Hearing Ankh's sudden question, Arcadios froze for a moment.
Then he thought back and said, "I have not seen that future person myself, but… I think I saw the princess wearing a mask today."
…
Deep within the palace, in a remote sealed hall where no one usually entered, raging flames were wildly burning everything around them.
Every member of Team Ram stood injured amid the firelight, battered and miserable.
Some stood, some crouched on the ground, while Jellal braced himself at the very front.
Jellal panted heavily.
Beneath his messy blue hair, his handsome face was more serious than ever before.
He stared coldly at the person slowly walking toward them.
"You are not the princess. Who are you?"
Opposite him, Princess Hisui, her long emerald hair falling around her, wore a damaged and luxurious gown.
On her face was that terrifying demon mask, as if it could seize a person's soul.
The smile on the demon mask was indescribably eerie.
When those eyes stared at them, their limbs stiffened and chills ran through their bodies.
"Chaos is what makes things interesting, is it not…"
The voice that came from beneath the mask was not Princess Hisui's gentle voice at all.
It was a hoarse, androgynous sound.
"That willful Ankhseram… the god successor who returned from that future… and I, all gathered here together. This situation… how amusing. Far too amusing!"
"Come then. Let this farce burn even brighter!"
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