July 7, 777

Mercurius, Crocus

Kingdom of Fiore

X777

Silence fills the cavern as Layla and Toma process the absurdity of Anna's statement while Ambrosius merely raises an eyebrow. While Ambrosius certainly remembers who Acnologia is along with the general plan to bring the dragon slayers to a time rich with magic to allow them to be powerful enough to fight Acnologia, he didn't really give it much thought throughout his time on Earthland. From what he can tell, Acnologia hasn't been cited by anyone yet.

"How exactly do you plan on achieving that?" asks Ambrosius.

"I'll train the children until they're ready to face him." answers Anna.

"Did you take into account that in four hundred years Acnologia will have grown much more powerful, especially since he will also benefit from the rich ethernano like the children?" questions Ambrosius.

"I did, but I have to try. They're the world's only chance at stopping Acnologia." replies Anna with conviction.

"Can't you beat Acnologia?" questions Toma as he looks worriedly towards Ambrosius. "You beat Gildarts easily, so Acnologia shouldn't be far off right?" he once again asks, prompting Layla and Anna to look at him, interesting in his answer. From what they have seen, Ambrosius seems to be the type of person that is confident in his own power while also being honest with how much he can do.

"If that stupid lizard would just show himself I would have already killed him myself." answers Ambrosius with a shrug.

"Surely that's an exaggeration." says Anna with a frown. She's seen what Acnologia is capable of, and while she doesn't want to doubt Ambrosius, she doesn't think that anyone would ever be powerful enough to nonchalantly kill Acnologia. Even the dragon slayers that she is putting her faith in will face immense difficulties with facing Acnologia.

"You're right." agrees Ambrosius with a nod, prompting her to quietly sigh in relief at his ability to face reality. "I wouldn't be able to kill Acnologia, at least not before my daughter gets to him herself." he says, shocking her and the others.

Before they can regain their bearings, the voice of a child can be heard coming from the cavern's entrance along with three sets of footsteps.

"Are you sure that he's here?" asks the child, prompting the adults to turn and face the cavern's entrance where they approach from.

"I'm sure." answers a quiet childlike voice as the three enter the cavern.

Once they are fully inside, Layla, Anna, and Toma are finally able to see who the voices belong to. The first child is none other than Toma's daughter, the princess, Hisui E. Fiore. She is around ten years old, possesses beautiful green hair with a crown resting on top, and green eyes. She wears a pink and white princess dress along with white arm sleeves.

Her companion is none other than Cassandra who has grown around an inch or two in the past year. She wears black pants tucked into black knee high boots, and a gray sleeveless shirt, making her somewhat look like an eight years old ninja cosplayer.

Following behind the children is the princess' guard, Arcadios. He is around seventeen years old with wild black hair, brown skin, and wears the standard armor of a guard which consists of a sleeveless green and white tuni, black trousers tucked into black boots, white gloves on his hands, and two swords sheathed at his hips.

"Papa! Mars!" exclaims Hisui once her eyes spot her father and Ambrosius, prompting her to run towards them with Cassandra following close behind with a slight jog while Arcadios brings in the rear with a walk.

With a smile on his face Toma opens his arms to embrace with his daughter while Cassandra hugs Ambrosius and hesitantly keeps her mouth shut. With an inner sigh, Ambrosius cannot help but internally lament the current stage of their relationship. While they have made significant progress in healing her of her trauma from her experience in Cain's hands, her relationship with him has somewhat stalled. She has no trouble hugging him, or being carried by him, however she seems to want to take it a step further by calling him father but hesitates to do so. While Ambrosius would love nothing more than encourage her to do so, he feels that a step as big as this is best left for her to make on her own. As such whenever she seems to be about to say it but stops, Ambrosius simply gives her a reassuring smile.

"Sir." greets Arcadios with a salute as he stops a few feet away from Ambrosius and the group.

"Arcadios." answers Ambrosius with a nod. "How is guard duty?" he asks.

"It's going well." replies Arcadios before Hisui excitedly runs to Ambrosius.

"Mars! You came to visit!" she exclaims with a brilliant smile on her face.

"Unfortunately this is a business visit princess." he answers with an apologetic smile.

"Mhmm! I told you to call me Hisui. H-i-s-u-i." she responds with a pout.

"And I said only if you call me Ambrosius. A-m-b-r-o-s-i-u-s."

"But Mars sounds cooler." answers the princess.

"Such a travesty!" exclaims Ambrosius with a fake gasp as he places his hand over his heart, prompting Hisui to laugh in amusement while Cassandra simply smiles.

"Arcadios take them back to the castle. This conversation is not for the ears of children." orders Toma.

"That will be unnecessary." comments Ambrosius. "The conversation is, for all purposes, over. Acnologia will be dealt with, and all that is left to discuss is where Anna and the children will go." he says.

"Can't they go to Fairy Tail with you?" asks Toma.

"That is up to her." answers Ambrosius as he inquiringly looks at Anna.

"What is Fairy Tail?" wonders Anna.

"A wizarding guild." replies Layla.

"I see. Considering that this is the only viable option I can see, I accept." answers Anna.

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Unknown Forest

Kingdom of Fiore

X777

In the depths of these dark woods, the sound of explosions, swords clashing, and magic can be heard as a battle takes place between an entire Dark Guild and two knight warriors, one clad in blue and white dress with silver armor while the other wears a red and silver tunic under a silver armor. The two warriors gracefully and fluid move between their enemies, slashing them down with ease born from years of experience on the battlefield. With each slash or stab a blood stains the forest floor and body falls to the ground, either dead or grievously injured. With each move from the knights an attack is dodged or redirected back towards the caster or one of their comrades.

"Fuck! They're not even using magic!" exclaims a mage with rage written on his face as he launches a fireball at Mordred, only for Arturia to block it before Mordred herself strikes him down.

"Fuck this shit man! I'm out of here!" screams another mage as he turns to run away only to be stabbed in the thigh and knocked out with a kick.

Realising that the knights have intention of letting any of them escape, the mages stand their ground and renew their efforts with vigor. Impressively they are able to launch an assault that would fatally injure anny A-Rank and most lower to mid S-Rank mages. Unfortunately for them however, their opponents are easily in the top ten most powerful beings in the entirety of Earthland and make quick and effortless work of them.

As the last body falls to the round with a thud, Mordred takes a second to look at the starry night sky before turning to Arturia.

"This should be the last Dark Guild in Fiore, Death's Head Caucus." comments Mordred as Arturia sits herself on a boulder.

"The last one we have any definitive proof against." answers Arturia as she wipes the blood from her blade with a cloth.

"The others are rumors at best and we have more important matters to attend to than hunting down rumors." responds Mordred as she also wipes the blood from her blade.

"Yes, the Alvarez Empire's escalation to sabotage Fiore is troubling." agrees Arturia as she thinks about the Alvarez Empire's recent attempt at crippling Fiore's communication lacrimas.

"Sometimes I really hate politics." comments Mordred with a sigh.

"I understand your pain." answers Arturia with a nod as she thinks back to her time as King of Camelot. After the civil war she still had to deal with nobles who believed that since the drawing of the sword was rigged that she was not the rightful ruler of Camelot. Had it not been for Morgan's expertise in politics, Arturia is sure that she would have faced multiple civil wars during her tenure as King. Once again she cannot help but feel grateful for her older sister.

"Do you ever think of what could have been ?" asks Arturia she looks at her reflection on Excalibur.

"If we survived our battle against Vortigern?" questions Mordred, earning a nod in return. "Well, we would have had to rebuild the Round Table, and we would most likely die at someone else's hands." she answers.

"It seems that creating a Utopia would have been impossible." laments Arturia.

"We had the closest thing to one. Camelot's worst crimes pertained to adultery and personal slights between the people. Murder was extremely rare, and so was anything as vile as ****." says Mordred.

"Do you ever think about creating another Camelot? Perhaps in one of the worlds where the planet itself will not try to end it." asks Arturia.

"Sometimes." answers Mordred just as a group of six Rune Knights walk towards them.

"It is done Commander." says the one in charge with a salute through his silver Knight helmet.

"I see that you have no casualties from facing the Trinity Raven. Congratulations you have faced three competent and powerful S-Class mages with no casualties and minimal injuries." says Mordred, prompting the knights to unconsciously puff out their chests in pride. These six knights are what one can consider to be the representation of the average Rune Knight's strength. They are not more powerful, nor are they weaker than the average Rune Knight.

"Return to headquarters, Arturia and I will be along shortly." orders Mordred as she feels a massive discharge of magical energy not far from their location.

With a nod and a salute the knights tap the back of their gauntlets where a magic circle appears and teleports them away. Turning to face the direction of the disturbance, Mordred launches herself towards it with Arturia following close behind. Arriving at their destination, the duo look up at the overcast sky to see a brilliant golden light forming what seems to be a portal. From the portal, multiple beams of golden light shoot out and strike the ground near them.

"What is this?" whispers Mordred as she carefully approaches one of the beams of light to inspect it.

"This is ethernano." observes Arturia with a slight frown on her face as the grip on her sword tightens in anticipation for any trouble.

Not long after Arturia's observation a particularly large golden beam of light collides with the ground before the portal disappears just as quickly as it arrived. Turning towards where the last beam of light collided with the ground. There they find a small body lying on the ground as the dust slowly drifts away from it.

"Jellal?" questions Mordred as she sees the child's uncanny resemblance to Jellal. "No, you aren't Jellal. Who are you?" asks Mordred as she takes notice of the child's royal clothing along with his demeanor that easily separates him from Jellal, or at least the Jellal that she is familiar with.

Rather than answer, the boy sways on his feet for a few seconds before falling unconscious and plummeting to the floor just as Arturia catches him.

"Your father or mother may have answers." comments Arturia as she dismisses Excalibur and lifts the child in her arms.

"They most likely do." agrees Mordred with a nod as she and Arturia begin to make their way towards Magnolia Town.

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AN: Sorry about the late update, but I have a few certification tests coming up so I've been studying more often than usual. Updates will continue to be erratic unfortunately until after December 1 when I'll be done with my tests. As usual constructive criticism and opinions are appreciated.