Lucy cried so hard she could barely speak.
Future Lucy let go of her, then turned back to look at Future Natsu.
She let out a long breath, faint tears shimmering in her watery eyes as she smiled with a trembling voice.
"Thank goodness… you're here with me."
"Hasn't it always been that way?"
Future Natsu gave her a reassuring smile and stepped forward to take her hand.
Perhaps because they had both survived a calamity of life and death, Lucy had finally seen through her own heart.
She did not blush or refuse.
Instead, she clasped his hand tightly in return, their fingers intertwined.
After experiencing separation and death, people understood even more deeply how precious the living people before them truly were.
That was also what Future Lucy wanted Lucy to understand…
Looking at Natsu, who had collapsed unconscious on the ground, Future Natsu's previously heavy expression disappeared.
A bright, sunny smile appeared on his face, and he shouted to Lucy, "I'll be in your care from now on too, Lucy!"
As he gradually turned into golden particles of light and drifted into the sky, there was no sadness in Lucy's heart, but her tears still would not stop falling.
She knew they were going back to reunite with their companions.
'The ones who truly protected our future… were you.'
Lucy crouched beside the unconscious Natsu.
Looking at his ridiculous state, she could not help laughing through her tears.
She lay against his chest and quietly repeated "Lucy's" words in a murmur.
"Thank you for always staying with me…"
Watching Natsu and Lucy disappear, Ankh's expression turned complicated.
He turned his head and sighed. "What will happen to them?"
A mask suddenly popped out.
Yusalk thought for a moment, then said, "Their world will reset, and everything will return to the beginning. They'll live in a world without the Eclipse Gate…"
Then Yusalk casually added, "But you don't need to think too much about it. Their world, to you people, is only one possibility. Whether it exists or not depends on the angle you choose to look at it from."
"I think they'll live happily together, just like before."
Ankh nodded, then looked toward Future Rogue, who was already on his last breath, and asked.
"What I want to know more is why you became like this. I heard from Lucy that you killed Sting."
Future Rogue's body was gradually turning into golden light and fading away.
His gaze drifted as he looked at Ankh, and his voice was low.
"Because… Gray killed Frosch."
Ankh frowned.
Rogue gave a bitter smile. "I know you don't believe it, but it's true. Frosch died, and the shadow inside my heart swallowed me. Even Sting, who tried to stop me, was killed by the dazed and senseless me…"
Future Rogue looked up at the sky.
Thinking back on his miserable life, he said bitterly, "Please, Ankh. Save Frosch…"
"And that great war… be very careful of Acnologia…"
After Future Rogue finished speaking in broken fragments, his body also vanished from this world.
Ankh, however, could not help falling into thought.
Gray wanted to kill Frosch?
Was it an accident? Or did he lose control?
As far as Ankh knew, Gray actually liked Frosch quite a lot.
That adorable little cat who thought he was a frog suited Gray's tastes very well.
And the Black Dragon…
In the world seven years from now, it seemed Acnologia really had become the final boss after all…
"I'll keep an eye on it from now on."
...
This incident finally came to an end.
The night of slaughter beneath darkened skies was over.
The storm clouds above had long since dispersed, and clear moonlight shone down, driving away the lingering fear in the hearts of every warrior.
Cleaning up the battlefield, rescuing the wounded, and searching for people buried beneath the rubble—even after the fighting ended, no one had time to rest.
The only ones free from work were probably the few people who had turned into dragons and then collapsed into puddles of mush, along with Ankh, who had just finished fighting and was now talking with the king and princess.
"I am truly, deeply sorry, Lord Ankh."
The king pulled Hisui over with a bitter expression, and Princess Hisui knelt before Ankh without hesitation, pressing her forehead to the ground.
Her voice trembled as she cried.
"It was all my fault! If I had destroyed the Eclipse Gate from the beginning and driven out that Future Rogue, none of this would have happened!"
Seeing the princess of an entire kingdom prostrating herself before him, Ankh quickly used gravity to help her up and said irritably.
"You're not a prophet. There aren't that many 'what ifs.'"
"Besides, too many things interfered with this incident from the start."
The schemes of gods. The schemes of people from the future.
And even then, it was only because Soda had Yusalk control Hisui that things had spiraled so badly.
For a young princess, she had not exactly had it easy.
Still, wrong was wrong.
Atonement was necessary, and compensation was necessary.
That was what it meant to rule a kingdom.
Once a ruler made a mistake, it became a massive mistake.
Watching Ankh yawn as he gradually walked away, Hisui looked at her father with some disappointment and whispered.
"Am I… getting farther and farther away from Lord Ankh?"
King Toma scratched his head awkwardly, very much not wanting to crush his daughter's confidence.
He really wanted to say that, judging from Ankh's performance in this battle, forget her—even Erza and Mirajane from his guild probably found him impossible to catch up to…
"Want me to help, little green girl?"
Hisui was startled.
Then she raised her hand and saw the mask that had somehow appeared there.
She immediately shouted in anger, "If it weren't for you, why would I ever have attacked Lord Ankh?!"
"Oh my, my… didn't I help him in the end? Wait, wait, wait! Don't throw me! You've seen what I can do, haven't you? Don't you want to become stronger?"
"I won't fall for your temptation!"
"What temptation? Someone like you? I could control you to death without even needing to breathe."
Yusalk turned into a stream of air and shamelessly slipped into Hisui's body, angering the princess so badly that she wanted to kill Him.
"Oh, come on. I just want to see how Ankhseram lives in this place. I can lend you my power, you know. And if that still doesn't work, you can ask Ankhseram for permission. He'll agree~"
The moment Hisui heard something related to Ankh, her emotions instantly calmed.
She turned and ran toward Ankh again.
'As long as Lord Ankh agreed, then keeping this guy around was acceptable.'
After all, He had indeed been Lord Ankh's comrade earlier, and when He controlled the kingdom's higher-ups, He had not killed anyone.
Yusalk continued chattering endlessly in her heart like a teacher who loved lecturing others.
"Little green girl, I can teach you soul-type magic. Interested?"
Hisui did not respond. Instead, she thought of an important question and asked, "Are you male or female?"
"Hm?"
This was the first time Yusalk had ever heard that kind of question, so He chuckled and said.
"You care that much about it? What do you want me to be?"
"Obviously!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk… Humans really have no manners." Yusalk seemed rather fond of Hisui, and His temper was surprisingly good.
With a grin, He said, "Then just treat me as female. My gender is decided by me anyway."
"What kind of weirdo body is that…"
Hisui and Yusalk, one human and one god, were getting along in an unexpectedly "harmonious" way.
One had a fiery temper and cursed at gods whenever she got the chance, while the other did not get angry at all and simply enjoyed teasing her for fun…
"Little Green, is there anything fun happening lately?"
"After everything settles down, I want to hold a banquet to thank the mages who helped us…"
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