The aftermath of the disappearance of King Spriggan had affected Alvarez in a deep manner. Unlike the canon timeline, where the majority of their army had passed away, creating a vacuum of power within the continent, this time none of the army participated in the war against the dragons except for the Spriggan 12.
So, the council members of Ishgar were worried that there might be a war in the future. But within a few months, negotiating teams came from Alvarez to write up a letter of diplomacy between the two continents so that there wouldn't be any wars between them in the future.
This was because the Spriggan 12 had seen the capabilities of the Fairy Tail members during the Dragon King Festival. Even with their abilities, they only managed to kill two or three dragons, while the Fairy Tail members had killed them in dozens, with a few even reaching hundreds in number of kills during that one night.
That made a few hot-headed members rethink their earlier plan to have a war against Ishgar. Though there were still a few who were adamant about fighting a war to completely subdue Ishgar.
And the few included an ice wizard, a time god, and a sand wizard who wanted to establish himself in the new world.
Well, Karna decided to stay out of it and decided to give others a chance to get some work done.
Gray joined the battle and gained the title of the strongest ice wizard in the whole world. He had already pushed his ice-style magic to turn himself into ice. He had already reached a state similar to Bobby, an Omega-level mutant in X-Men, and was virtually immortal.
So, when he battled the Ice General, Invel Yura, he was able to easily nullify his Frost Field and most attacks that depended on reducing the temperature.
The fight took place for a total of five hours, after which Gray gained the title of the strongest ice wizard in all of Earthland. Ur was proud because she was unable to obtain it due to Invel all those years ago. And seeing her disciple obtain that title at a young age filled her with pride.
Ultear dealt with Dimaria, who thought she could win the battle by pausing the battlefield. But the moment she did, a few people, including Karna, were unaffected by the time-stop ability. It seems like her ability cannot pause the time of those who have more magic power than her. And seeing the danger she possessed, Ultear decided to take her down immediately.
Now, that raised the question of whether or not a dragon slayer can defeat a god, as normally, god slayers are required to defeat a god.
Ultear proved the fact that anything can be beaten down as long as you hit them hard enough.
And as for Desert King Ajeel, Natsu was able to destroy almost half the battlefield of desert with a single strike, effectively ending that battle.
After that, the negotiations went without any hitch, and let's just say, lasting peace will be present between the two continents for the foreseeable future.
Now, for the matter of the consequences of the demise of Zeref, it seems like he was responsible before he went away.
All the demons of Zeref except for Natsu and Larcade had completely disappeared along with the books of Zeref. Larcade was also chosen to inherit the throne of Alvarez since he was recognised as the closest kin to Zeref.
August decided to retire from being the general of Alvarez. He had met up with Karna since Mavis was both of their mothers and then disappeared for a long journey.
Wendy managed to create a spell that enchants a dragon's soul into a homunculus body, which we used to create new bodies for the dragons still trapped in their dragon slayers' souls. We also used the same spell to create a humanoid body for Irene, by which she was able to get back her life as a human being.
Then the dragons decided to move towards the cluster of islands where the dragons from the other time were now residing in, but before they went there, they dealt with all the Dragon Gods of the Hundred Year Quest and took them all with them to the islands.
They do have regular visits, and sometimes the dragon slayers also take trips to the islands.
They recently started integrating with human society, but they were strictly monitored so that they don't cause any problems. Plus, most of the problems caused by dragons were because they lacked the senses that humans had in their bodies. After we managed to create a spell for them to get human sensations, they began to appreciate human culture even more and began making plans to integrate their communities.
"Well, all of that is good and well, but are you saving the best for last?" Jason asked as he looked at the ring on Karna's finger.
It was a silver band with two lines around it. But if someone looks closely, they will find out that one line is made up of swirling spheres and cards, while the other was made of clock faces and ice crests.
Karna smiled contently as he touched his ring.
"Well, since everything was over, I decided it was better not to wait for too long. So, within two months after the battle with Ankhseram, I decided to marry the both of them," Karna chuckled as he remembered that beautiful day when he had married both Ultear and Cana at the same time.
They even gave birth to his kids. Cana gave birth to a girl whom they named Alice, and Ultear gave birth to twins named Chrono and Alta. All three of them were born with a humongous amount of magic in their bodies, but unlike the situation with Ultear, this time there were expert doctors in the guild who managed to take care of them.
At the same time, there was a boom of relationships that began in the guild due to being influenced by Karna's marriage. Natsu got together with both Lucy and Lisanna, Gajeel with Levy, and many more.
Guess the almost-apocalypse with the dragons must have brought out the suppressed emotions deep within them.
"And what about your evolution to the death god?" Jason asked with a mischievous smile.
Now, Karna's smile turned a bit awkward as he tried to look away.
It seems like when the death aspects upgraded his body, they also managed to upgrade his heart that was filled with life energy.
This brought the attention of the inverse aspect of death.
The aspects of life themselves.
Unlike the death energy which people had tried to attain control over for centuries, nobody had tried to obtain control over the aspect of life energy.
People over millennia had skirted near the edges of it but never imagined that such power was untouched by any beings since its creation.
And when those aspects sensed the presence of such energy within Karna's life heart, they decided to look into the being that held such power.
After realising everything, they wholeheartedly chose him as their own avatar as well, cooperating with the death aspects to recreate his body to embody both life and death.
Plus, the death aspects do not have any aversion to the aspects of life. They understood balance more than anyone and knew that Karna gaining power over life would only benefit them more in the long run.
It was a year later when Karna realised what was happening with his body in the death realm while he was dealing with things in Earthland, and since there was no difference, he just shrugged and went back to living his life.
"Well, it just happened, and I didn't think there was any difference, so I just accepted it," Karna said. He was already prepared to be the God of Death, and adding another by then basically made no difference. His workload is actually nonexistent. The only thing he needs to do is make sure that the balance between life and death is not broken by too much.
Basically, the duty of death is to end life and grant them peace, while the duty of life is to regulate growth. Life is the reason why long-living species have low fertility, while short-living species have kids in the dozens within a short period of time.
So, Karna accepted it without much fuss.
"Hmm, that's good. Now, looking back, tell me something. Do you regret the fact that you were brought into this world?" Jason asked with a serious expression.
Karna realised that Jason was asking this question with a serious intent.
He then looked back into his life. The day he came here and met Mavis and Porlyusica, the time he came to the guild, met Cana, met Ultear, met everyone in the guild. His battles that pushed him close towards death, the ones he used to forge himself to get stronger, and the ones that happened without him realising about it. And lastly, he thought about his children who were waiting for him to come back home.
He smiled. "Nah, I wouldn't change a single second."
"Well, that's nice. So, I guess it's time you knew about the next phase."
"The next phase?"
Jason just turned around and waved his hand. The next moment, Karna found himself standing near a door with intricate carvings on it.
Curiously, he opened the door and entered the room, which had a round table with a lot of chairs surrounding it. One of the chairs was occupied by a person who looked vaguely familiar to him.
"Enmado? Is that you?"
"Haha, couldn't recognise me easily now, did you? It's been a few years, Senpai, I had gotten older. And sorry about all this drama, it might seem like too much, but it actually is apt for the theme," Inazuma said with an awkward expression.
Karna didn't understand for a second. But the more he looked at Enmado, the more he felt like a title was forming in his mind.
Surprised, he looked around the room at the other chairs and got different visions in his mind.
One showed him a wizard whose wand warped reality, another showed him a hunter who never lost his prey, he saw a blue slime staring straight at Darkseid, a blindfolded boy whose form shifted to that of a character from Assassin's Creed and shifted back. And finally, a couple who seemed to be representing yin and yang.
He understood that the empty chairs were being kept for the reincarnators yet to come or who still had not completed their lifelong missions. That might be why he didn't see any titles like the one he found on Inazuma.
He then turned his attention towards the last chair and read the title written on it.
"Welcome, Karna, to the council of the first Gods of the universe," Jason introduced while sitting on a throne situated outside the circular table.
"It's about time we prepared for war."
A/N- Thank you all for being there for this book for the last four years. I was able to complete it thanks to all of you supporting me on the way. For now, Karna's story is over, though he might return in some other book. And if I missed anything, like if you want me to complete an ending for a character in this novel, please mention it in the comments. I will make sure to do an Omake to complete it.
And once again, thank you for all your support.