When Charles said "long time no see," he wasn't referring to seeing Zeref in the manga during his previous life—but to the fact that the two of them had truly met before.
Zeref looked at Charles and said, "I think I've seen you before."
Charles replied, "It's normal that you don't remember. While for me it's been less than ten years, for you it's already been over four hundred years since our last meeting."
Something seemed to click for Zeref as he spoke. "You're that child who was with Igneel! I left Natsu in your care. Natsu… where is Natsu?"
Charles furrowed his brow. "Calm down. In your current state, it's not a good idea for you to appear in front of Natsu. And Natsu right now… isn't capable of fulfilling your wish."
A bitter expression appeared on Zeref's face. "Is that so? Not yet… Just how long must this tragedy continue before it ends?"
Zeref clutched his head, as if overcome with pain.
"Stay… stay away from me…"
Black energy began to seep from Zeref's body, then quickly spread outward like a tide.
But instead of backing away, Charles's eyes lit up. His ring glowed, and a cylindrical magic device appeared in his hand.
After upgrading his "Mystery" development ability, Charles had successfully created spatial equipment. The ring was his first successful prototype.
Thanks to the fact that space magic research in the Fairy Tail world far surpassed that of Orario, Charles had access to enough theoretical knowledge to complete his research.
Unfortunately, Charles didn't possess the "Fine Smith" development ability, so the ring was a bit crude in appearance—just a metal band set with a small gem.
But it could store about three cubic meters of material. From now on, whenever he traveled between worlds, he wouldn't have to worry about not being able to bring important items.
As for the cylindrical magic device—it had been specially crafted by Charles for this very encounter.
The device's top snapped open, and a crystal pillar rose up. The black energy began being sucked into the crystal immediately.
But within two seconds, the pillar began making ominous cracking sounds, and fractures started to spread along its surface.
The divine power's level was simply too high. Even though Charles had carefully designed the device to contain it, it couldn't hold very much.
Charles quickly retreated from the range of the dark aura while twisting the base of the device.
The crystal pillar retracted, and a membrane of magical runes wrapped around it, stabilizing the magical energy inside.
Research material on divine power: secured!
Charles stowed the device back into his ring, looked at Zeref, and signaled for Fal in the sky to retreat as well.
…
While Charles was meeting with Zeref, someone else had also sensed Zeref's presence.
A one-eyed old man wearing a horned helmet and a black cloak grinned with wild joy. "I can feel it. Zeref's power! He's really here."
"As long as I awaken the sleeping Zeref, the Era of Great Magic will begin!"
If Makarov were here, he would instantly recognize this man—it was Precht, Fairy Tail's second guild master, now known as Hades, leader of Grimoire Heart.
"Someone come!" he barked.
A masked Grimoire Heart member rushed over. "What are your orders, Master Hades?"
Precht demanded, "What's the situation with the Seven Kin of Purgatory? Why haven't we received any reports yet?"
The masked man replied, "Reporting, Master—five of the Seven Kin have encountered members of Fairy Tail and are currently in combat. We've received no word from Lady Ultear or Lady Meredy."
Precht frowned. This was far from what he had planned.
"Makarov's brats are quite capable, it seems. What about Azuma? Who did he encounter? Why hasn't the Tenrou Tree been dealt with yet?"
The masked man answered, "Lord Azuma has run into Demon Mirajane and is currently engaged in a fierce battle."
"Useless fool!" Precht snapped. "A complete waste of precious forbidden magic."
"But it's pointless. These kids can't possibly understand how powerful forbidden magic truly is. This war between demons and fairies… will end in our victory!"
He then added darkly, "But I'm tired of waiting. Release Brunotte."
The masked man flinched at the name. Hesitantly, he asked, "Master Hades… do you really want to release the Vice Master? He's a great wizard who leaves nothing but death in his wake…"
Precht replied coldly, "It doesn't matter. Even if Brunotte kills every living soul on this island—if it allows us to obtain Zeref and usher in the Age of Great Magic—then it's worth it."
The masked man bowed and departed to carry out the order, leaving behind Precht's maniacal laughter.
Just as Precht had said, this was a war between demons and fairies—but the battle wasn't unfolding the way he had hoped.
Natsu gritted his teeth in pain, but continued devouring the black flames.
Zancrow was utterly shocked by what he was witnessing. "Impossible! This can't be happening! You're just a Fire Dragon—how can you eat god's fire?!"
Natsu wiped his mouth and grinned. "God's fire? Your flames don't even come close to Charles's."
"But now that I've eaten it, I feel power flooding in. Thanks for the meal—I'm fired up!"
Natsu's fists burst into flame. One hand burned with orange-red dragon fire, and the other with black god fire.
After being burned by Charles's flames, Natsu had begun training his own.
In the original story, Natsu couldn't devour Zancrow's flames because his Dragon Slayer Magic couldn't harmonize with the similarly-tiered God Slayer Magic. He had to empty his own magic reserves before he could absorb divine flames.
But thanks to Charles's training, Natsu had awakened to an even higher level of dragon power—enough to overwhelm divine magic.
It was difficult, but Natsu had succeeded in eating god fire.
"Take this—Dragon God's Brilliant Flame!"
The two types of fire fused together, and Natsu hurled them directly at the still-dumbfounded Zancrow.
…
Meanwhile, Cana and Lucy weren't sure whether to call themselves lucky or not. Everyone else was searching for targets—and they had already run into two.
Kawazu's magic, "Hour of Misfortune," had tortured them enough already, and it was only thanks to some trickery from Cana that they managed to take him down.
But before they could celebrate their thirty points, Capricorn appeared.
Just as the two found themselves struggling, Loki arrived and revealed Capricorn's true identity.
Capricorn had originally been one of the Zodiac spirits, belonging to Lucy's mother—Capricorn of the Goat.
Before her death, Lucy's mother had entrusted Capricorn's key to their servant, Zoldeo.
When Lucy became a mage, Zoldeo should have given her the key.
But he had fallen into darkness and used a forbidden magic—Subordination Magic, which couldn't be used on non-humans—on Capricorn.
As a result, Zoldeo merged with Capricorn, and the two became one. Zoldeo later joined the Seven Kin of Purgatory.
Loki had tried to convince Lucy to run, but Lucy insisted on helping Cana earn points.
She then used the ultimate spell Charles had taught her—Celestial Narrative!
Fortunately, being on Tenrou Island meant she had plenty of magical energy to pull it off.
Under the brilliance of all eighty-eight celestial constellations, Capricorn and Zoldeo were finally separated.
Cana's team earned sixty points in one go—making them the closest to passing the exam.
…
As for the remaining two members of the Seven Kin:
Azuma had nothing this time that could threaten Mirajane, and she thoroughly overwhelmed him with relentless bombardment.
Rustyrose was the unluckiest of all. Although he only faced people who had been eliminated in the first round of the exam, none of them were weak.
His Lost Magic, Arc of Embodiment, allowed him to conjure all kinds of weapons out of thin air—it was powerful and initially caught everyone off guard.
But Freed locked him down with runes, and then Gray and Juvia teamed up for a combination attack that sent him flying.
The war had only just begun, yet the fairies were already hunting down the demons one by one—closing in on their final target.
And the ones closest to Precht… were Charles and Wendy, heading straight there after their encounter with Zeref.
------------------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get early access to chapters by joining my Patre@n!
Find me at: patre@n*com/Mutter
You can read each novel for $5 or get them all for just $15.
Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
[+50 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[+5 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter]