Karna sighed as he walked out of the council's documentation room. He could have written the entire thing at a later date and sent it to the council himself, but they decided someone needed to come to the headquarters to do it. And seeing that all of them in the guild went through hell while he was sleeping, he volunteered to do it.
He had just gotten out of the council room after hearing dozens of questions about the weapons that Edolas citizens used — weapons that had no need for a mage to activate and work. He had denied it, although he knew about it, as he had looked into it before he left. He knew the consequences of that type of technology in this world. Edolas was actually extremely mild in their creations due to their lack of Ethernano. Even the small mountains they had created using Anima were not even a drop in the ocean compared to what could be accessed in Earthland.
Karna knew he couldn't stand in the way of development. The council already had knowledge that such potential weapons could exist due to the testimonies of the townspeople who were brought to Edolas by Anima. Now all that's left is an intuitive mind to create based on it. But after that, the chaos upon the world would be devastating.
Karna had a bit of a study in history. He had seen violence in the history of his old world. But the moment humanity got the power to destroy others without confronting them, without even directly seeing death, the death toll in the world increased by such a large amount that it became horrifying.
Even the council's weapons of mass destruction were built in such a way that people were aware of what they were doing and knew the weight of the decision they were about to make. But once technology like in Edolas goes out, it won't be long before everyone smart enough would be able to build weapons of mass destruction.
Karna sighed. He hoped he wouldn't have to deal with that in his time period.
"Karna Vermillion, please come to the council meeting room," a frog-headed council clerk came to him and delivered the message. Karna nodded and did not ask what it was about. If the clerk had known, he would have said it, and since he didn't, it meant it was serious — at least on the council's side.
'Looks like I won't be home soon,' Karna sighed in his mind as he moved towards the council room. As he entered the room, he was surprised to find that it looked empty except for the Gods of Ishgar, minus God Serena, sitting on the podium looking straight at him.
"Okay, gotta say I'm nervous right now. What did I do this time?" he asked, as he had done a lot of things secretly and had no wish to say the wrong thing and get in trouble for it.
Warrod coughed while trying to hold back a laugh, while the others had a few veins bulging on their temples.
"Karna Vermillion, this is a serious matter, so please don't pull any jokes right now," Wolfheim said with an annoyed sigh.
"Alright, alright. So what is it this time?" Karna asked, taking on a serious expression at the end.
Draculos took the stage and gave the question for which they had asked Karna to appear.
"Karna Vermillion, would you like to join the Ten Wizard Saints as one of the Four Gods of Ishgar?" Draculos questioned with a seriousness that was mirrored by the other two Gods of Ishgar.
========================================================
Magnolia
Ultear felt heat rush to her face as she remembered what she did when she met Karna in Edolas. At that moment, relief at knowing he was alive made her act irrationally, showing a side of herself that she had wanted to hide for a very long time.
And just hours ago, she had a talk with Cana as she woke up, where Cana had given her permission to pursue Karna — almost making her black out again. But she had held on, not wanting to forget it just because she couldn't handle the emotions.
She had heard it from Cana. But in return, she had asked her for one single thing.
"Just help me make sure that he does not kill himself while trying to protect others."
As Ultear heard that, she fully agreed, as she wouldn't hesitate to give her own life to save him if the chance arose. But Cana just smiled and left, saying to think about it.
And that's when she realized the weight of what Cana had asked for. She realized Cana would not have originally conceded Karna to anyone. As she too was in love with him, Ultear realized she would not have allowed it if she were in Cana's place.
She then remembered all those times Karna had almost lost his life in serious missions — the times he had lost his life recently as well. She then realized what Cana wanted her to do: to act as a chain binding him from falling into the other side easily.
'But does that change anything at all?' she asked herself and realized it did not. She would die before she allowed Karna to die before her. And right now, Cana was giving her a chance to be with the person she loved more than her own life — and she was not going to let that chance go.
She got up from the bed in her room and looked into the mirror, faltering slightly. She looked haggard even after sleeping for so long, according to what Cana had said. But most important of all were the cracks she could see in her body. She knew that if it could have been healed, she would have been healed by now by Karna's talisman or Granny's potions. Plus, she could feel that she wouldn't be able to cover it as well. The cracks let out bursts of magic sometimes — not at all harmful to anyone, but they would spit out anything she used to cover them.
"Looks like it's time to reinvent fashion. I remember the tapes Cana showed had a lot of fashion like that," Ultear spoke to herself as she walked out of the room.
A/N: Hope you like it.