Zeref's words brought Weston a sense of closure.
"I told you, how could the 'Curse of Contradiction' be bypassed so easily..."
But at the same time, Darwin fell into a deep silence, his face even turning pale. He suddenly thought of something. If 'friendship is not affected by the curse' was a lie, then the fact that he had met with Zeref many times without triggering the 'Death Predation'—didn't that mean the other party simply treated him like an NPC in a 'friendship game' and didn't actually value his life at all?
Σ(⊙▽⊙"a
All those years of friendship... were ultimately given to the wrong person! Thinking of this, Darwin suddenly felt a few more white hairs fall from his head, and his nose felt as if it were becoming large, round, and red.
Zeref continued: "Although that statement was false, Darwin, I truly did regard you as a rare friend. On that point, I did not lie."
(╬￣皿￣)
Darwin glared at Zeref through gritted teeth: "Then I am truly honored..."
Zeref pretended not to see his expression and went on: "As for why we met many years ago without triggering 'Death Predation,' I believe it must have been due to the influence of your magic!"
"...My magic??"
Although Darwin did not have a superhuman understanding of magic theory like Weston and Zeref, he was no fool. He immediately realized what Zeref was trying to express. Just as he pieced it together, Zeref voiced his own view.
"Imaginary Take Over is indeed a magic that stands above the rules of the world!"
"You probably wanted to help me lift the curse so badly that, in an unconscious state, you fantasized about and took over 'Ankhseram,' or perhaps an existence capable of restraining that divine power."
"Mm... let's just call Him 'Ankhseram 2.0' for now."
"The influence of this 'Ankhseram 2.0' is great enough to shake the rules of the world; but because His influence is too great, even you yourself cannot fully take Him over, let alone freely control the switch for the 'Take Over'."
"The only thing you could do was use Him in your subconscious to protect yourself, resisting the influence of the curse on my body."
"But 'unable to freely control' means that He might stay within you for a long time without your knowledge. Over time, you would have become a second 'me,' taking away the lives of those you cherish."
Hearing this, a surge of lingering fear instinctively rose in Darwin's heart.
"You're not lying this time, are you?"
"I didn't sense anything 'dirty' on myself back then at all..."
Zeref shook his head: "In this world, I am likely the person with the deepest understanding of that damn curse. So when a change appeared in you, I noticed it immediately."
"Thus, I chose to leave, so that you could step out of that unstable state of Take Over."
"Fortunately, the subsequent development was just as I expected. After I left, the aura on your body gradually stabilized until it finally dissipated completely and never appeared again."
"It was likely only after I left that you gradually mastered the method of taking over the 'God Ankhseram,' right?"
Darwin thought seriously for a moment and nodded: "It seems... that was indeed the case."
"A month after you left the Kingdom of Fiore, I preliminarily mastered the power of 'God Take Over.' At the time, I often felt it was a pity that you missed the chance to lift the curse."
Zeref explained: "That was because you no longer had to resist the curse on my body, so you had more energy to achieve a full-body Take Over of 'Ankhseram 2.0'."
"But even if I had been there then, with your magic power at that time, there was a high probability you wouldn't have been able to root out the curse on me."
"Fortunately, now it is definitely possible!"
Saying this, the gaze Zeref turned toward Darwin held several hints of expectation.
Darwin felt uneasy under his gaze: "Calculating it like that, your departure back then could be considered to have indirectly saved the lives of my family..."
Zeref shook his head, his black hair swaying.
"No, this matter was a trouble I brought upon you from the very beginning, so it cannot be counted that way."
"My departure then, at most, can only be considered a slight lessening of my sins."
The room subsequently fell into silence.
Weston, listening from the side, had his features scrunched together. Clearly, the plot of the story was quite normal—simply choosing to leave a friend to avoid involving them. But why did it feel so strange coming from their mouths? Was he really so old that he couldn't keep up with the new era? But Zeref was several hundred years older than him!
"Ahem..."
"Let's end the story of manly pure friendship here!"
"Zeref, it's about time you stated your intent for coming tonight, isn't it?"
Zeref looked at Weston: "My intent—didn't you know it long ago?"
Having said that, his eyes lowered to the Book of END on the table. His gaze was filled with melancholy and nostalgia, which then turned into determination and resolve.
"I want to entrust Natsu to you, and then..."
"Please grant me release!"
"My friend!"
Release... he really came here to find death! It was an request that was unexpected, yet entirely within reason!
After a long while, Darwin finally spoke.
"I promise you!"
As a friend of several decades, Darwin understood very well how painfully Zeref had lived for centuries. That feeling of being rejected by the world was something that even someone with the strongest mental fortitude could not endure, destined to head toward the path of world destruction amidst endless torture.
He knew even better that the Curse of Ankhseram was not something easily removed. From four hundred years ago until now, only his "Imaginary Take Over" could achieve it. But "Imaginary Take Over" was, after all, not a magic that could be passed down. Once he died, who knew how long it would take for a magic with similar power to appear in the future—it might even never appear again.
At that time, Zeref would surely suffer a mental breakdown and choose to destroy the world, and by then, it was likely no one in the world would be able to stop him.
So, to prevent the worst-case scenario, there was only one way: to completely eliminate Zeref while he was still alive! This was not only his responsibility as the guild master of the Council for the sake of world peace, but also the final helping hand he could extend as Zeref's friend!
Darwin had understood this point many years ago and had long been mentally prepared. However, when Zeref actually voiced this request to him, all that remained in his heart was sorrow for his close friend's fate.
"Thank you!"
"Everything from here on, I entrust to you!"