At this moment, Future Rogue's face was ashen, looking rather grim...
Future Rogue understood Fairy Tail. He knew the habits of the Fairy Tail Guild.
Back when the Fairy Tail Guild could only blow up a mountain with one punch, it was already capable of turning the entire Kingdom of Fiore, and even the entire continent of Ishgar, into a complete mess, with all kinds of buildings being demolished until it single-handedly kept construction crews across the continent in business! And now, Acnologia and the others, who stood at the pinnacle of combat power in the entire world of Earth-land, had all joined Fairy Tail... Just how terrifying would Fairy Tail's ability to destroy buildings and obliterate terrain be now?!
In Future Rogue's eyes, a crazed Acnologia from the future was nowhere near as dangerous as Acnologia after joining the Fairy Tail Guild!
The Acnologia of the future, put simply, only intended to wipe out all life in the world of Earth-land. As long as he, Rogue, was careful enough and found some corner of Earth-land to hide in, living out the rest of his life in seclusion wouldn't be much of a problem!
But what Acnologia would become after joining the Fairy Tail Guild was impossible to say...
Especially since the Fairy Tail of this era, aside from Acnologia, also had a group of God Dragons, the Empire's two strongest, and, supposedly, Evan, the world's strongest combatant who stood above all of them!
With so many monsters gathered together, and all of them joining the Fairy Tail Guild, wouldn't it be perfectly reasonable for them to accidentally destroy a planet or something when they got excited?! No, more precisely, if so many monsters gathered together and they didn't blow up a planet during an internal war, then they would be doing a disservice to the five letters "FAIRY TAIL"!
Which was more dangerous, an Acnologia who intended to eliminate all life, or an Acnologia who intended to destroy planets?!
If buildings were demolished, construction crews could repair them. But what if a planet was destroyed? What could he, Future Rogue, do? If there were no planets left for Future Rogue to live on, then he wouldn't even need to hide anymore. He could simply wait to die...
Therefore, in Future Rogue's eyes, this past world was completely beyond saving! It was even more despairing than the future he came from!
"Haah..."
Thinking of this, Future Rogue couldn't help but retreat several steps. He leaned against the wall, his eyes empty as he sighed repeatedly.
"By the way, Rogue, you wouldn't happen to be like those blind God Dragons and oppose our Fairy Tail Guild too, would you?!"
Just as Rogue's face looked grim and cold sweat continuously dripped down his forehead, Invel Yura suddenly revealed a sinister smile. The glasses perched on the bridge of his nose gleamed sharply. Yes, Invel had already noticed that something was wrong with Rogue, so he bent down and smiled at Future Rogue.
"Gulp~" Future Rogue looked at Invel Yura and couldn't help swallowing nervously. In the end, a helpless expression appeared in his eyes as he forced a bitter smile.
"Of course I won't do anything against Fairy Tail..."
After saying this, Future Rogue complained inwardly:
"I want to oppose Fairy Tail too, but do I dare?! Just look at what kind of monsters your Fairy Tail Guild is full of! There's Acnologia, there are God Dragons... What am I supposed to do? What can you expect me to do? All I wanted was to travel through time, summon a group of dragons, and unify the world! Why are you treating me like this? Why did I have to travel into such a terrifying world?!"
"That's good!" Invel Yura smiled when he saw Future Rogue's bitter expression. He then gently patted Future Rogue on the shoulder and advised him softly, "Although I don't know what exactly you're troubled about, no matter what, you're a member of the Fairy Tail Guild now! If you have any problems, you can tell everyone in the guild. Our Fairy Tail may not have much else, but we're certainly loyal to our own!"
"Hmm?!"
Future Rogue was stunned after hearing Invel Yura's words.
"That's right! I'm a member of the Fairy Tail Guild now! What am I afraid of?"
Future Rogue looked at the Fairy Tail Guild's emblem on the back of his hand and finally realized that he was now also a member of the Fairy Tail Guild. Even if someone was going to get bullied, he would be the one bullying other people. Even if one day the Fairy Tail Guild collectively went crazy and actually destroyed the planet beneath his feet, that wouldn't have anything to do with him. Fairy Tail members wouldn't possibly ignore the lives of another Fairy Tail member, right?!
"If you can't beat them, join them..."
"From today onward, I'm just going to lie flat!"
After thinking for a long time, Future Rogue's eyes flashed with a look of relief. He leaned against the corner of the wall and smiled. At this moment, even Future Rogue himself hadn't noticed that his synchronization rate with the Fairy Tail Guild had already risen considerably. He was about to evolve from a Sabertooth member into a Fairy Tail member!
"There's no time to keep hesitating! We have to hunt down more members of the Mage Guild Diabolos!"
Just as Future Rogue decided to lie flat, Invel Yura grabbed Rogue, who was leaning against the corner, and pulled him up while speaking with burning enthusiasm.
"Eh?!"
Future Rogue was stunned. He always felt that this Fairy Tail was somewhat different from the one he had imagined.
"Come on, let's go beat up Diabolos!"
Before Future Rogue could think any further, Invel Yura grabbed Future Rogue's hand and ran toward the depths of the labyrinth.
"Eh? Wait, I'm not ready yet..."
Future Rogue seemed to want to say something, but unfortunately, Invel Yura completely ignored him and dragged Future Rogue toward the depths of the labyrinth.
"Brandish, could those two guys be idiots from somewhere?"
Behind Rogue and Invel Yura, Dimaria, wearing a sexy athletic tank top, looked speechlessly at Invel Yura and Future Rogue rushing forward and asked Brandish beside her.
"Exactly!"
After thinking for a moment, Brandish looked at Dimaria with her listless eyes and nodded firmly.
Just as Future Rogue was synchronizing more and more with the Fairy Tail Guild, elsewhere...
Northern Continent, Guiltina. In what had originally been a town belonging to Diabolos, but was now named after the Mage Guild Fairy Tail, Evan and the others were eating grilled meat at a barbecue restaurant in town...
"Buzz!"
At the same time, accompanied by a dazzling white light, a teleportation gate suddenly lit up in the middle of the street.
As for the teleportation gate that had suddenly appeared, the residents of the town merely glanced at it before each returning to their own business. After all, during the days since the Fairy Tail Guild had moved into the town, the residents had gradually grown accustomed to Fairy Tail's antics!
"Where is this..."
As the white light shone brightly, a blonde woman around thirty years old, wearing her hair in a single ponytail and whose appearance bore some resemblance to Layla, walked out of the teleportation gate.
"Yo! Senior Anna, long time no see..."
Evan looked at the blonde woman who had walked out of the teleportation gate and waved at her with a smile.
The blonde woman was none other than Anna Heartfilia, the ancestor of Lucy and Layla, as well as the person who passed down the mission of opening the Eclipse Gate to the Heartfilia family!
"Evan?! Are you the one who wanted to see me? By the way, where is this place?"
After a brief moment of confusion, Anna Heartfilia noticed Evan greeting her and immediately walked toward him.
To be honest, Anna's head was still buzzing at this moment. She had originally been walking alone through a forest when a teleportation gate emitting white light suddenly appeared in front of her. Anna's first reaction upon seeing the teleportation gate had been to stay away!
After all, when you're alone outside and encounter a teleportation gate of unknown origin, immediately staying away was common sense! If she entered the teleportation gate recklessly, what if she were transported to some forbidden area or an uninhabited place? That would be disastrous!
However, just as Anna tried to move away from the teleportation gate, the teleportation gate seemed to come alive and actively approached Anna, subsequently enveloping her body. By the time Anna realized what was happening, she had already appeared on this unfamiliar street, where she then encountered Evan.
"This is the Northern Continent, Guiltina..."
Evan explained to Anna where she currently was.
"The Northern Continent, Guiltina?"
"In other words, that teleportation gate just transported me over ten thousand kilometers, directly from the continent of Ishgar to another continent?!"
After hearing Evan's explanation, Anna was stunned, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Yes..."
Evan smiled slightly at Anna and answered.
"Evan, you're already this powerful?"
Anna looked at Evan in confusion. She still remembered when she first met Evan. Back then, Evan had been a little runt not even 1.4 meters tall. Yet in the blink of an eye, not only had Evan grown taller, his strength had also grown to a level beyond her imagination.
Anna could be considered fairly knowledgeable. She had seen countless geniuses before, including Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Rogue, and Sting. All of them could be called geniuses of Dragon Slayer Magic!
Yet compared to Evan, these geniuses whom Anna and Zeref had selected, whom they had cultivated into the first-generation Dragon Slayer Mages and placed their hopes of defeating Acnologia upon, even going so far as to open the Eclipse Gate so they could enter a world with richer magic power, were nothing! Evan's rate of growth was absolutely enough to leave countless geniuses hopelessly behind...
"By the way, Evan, compared to Acnologia, how strong are you exactly?!"
Anna looked at Evan in confusion for a moment before suddenly thinking of something. She asked Evan excitedly.
"Acnologia?!"
"Well, it would have been hard to say before, but now!"
"Even Acnologia at his peak would not be my opponent."
After thinking for a moment, Evan confidently told Anna.
Back when Evan had not yet reached Level Seventeen, he couldn't say for certain who was stronger between himself and Acnologia at his peak, after Acnologia had devoured the power of the rift in time. But now, there was no doubt that Evan was stronger!
The current Evan had already surpassed the level of the Dragon Kings and reached an entirely new realm, a level that no dragon or Dragon Slayer Mage had ever reached from ancient times until now...
Calling the current Evan a god among men would not be an exaggeration at all!
"What?!"
Anna was shaken after hearing Evan's words, a look of shock appearing on her face as her heart trembled!
The reason Anna had suddenly asked who was stronger between Evan and Acnologia was merely because the thought had suddenly occurred to her. In reality, she hadn't placed much hope in the answer...
Even if Evan said that his strength was still inferior to Acnologia, Anna wouldn't have said anything.
On the contrary, Anna believed it was perfectly normal for Evan's current strength to be inferior to Acnologia. If Evan could spend only a few years cultivating and already beat Acnologia into submission, that would actually be abnormal...
Yet the exact opposite had happened. Evan had openly admitted that he had already surpassed Acnologia. This caused Anna's heart and mind to tremble violently.
"Are you telling the truth? You're not lying to me?"
Anna's voice trembled slightly, filled with excitement.
"Of course!"
Evan looked at the excited Anna and nodded with a smile.
"Whoo..."
Anna looked at Evan, who had admitted that he had surpassed Acnologia, and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air while smiling.
"That's wonderful! This world is saved!"
"Acnologia is finally no longer an unbeatable existence..."
Anna suddenly felt completely relieved. She had been far too exhausted these past years. Who knew how much effort she had put into dealing with Acnologia and how many records she had studied? She wasn't even that old, yet wrinkles had already begun appearing on her face, and several more white hairs had even appeared...
At the same time, the pressure Anna had carried over the years had only grown heavier. Especially after Anna experienced Acnologia's seemingly unbeatable power, she began to wonder whether she and Zeref had been cruel by sending Natsu and the other children to this magic-rich world and entrusting them with the responsibility of protecting world peace and defeating Acnologia.
After all, they had never even asked the children what they wanted! As a result, Anna, who was already overflowing with compassion, became increasingly guilt-ridden and worked even harder to destroy Acnologia, to the point that she had barely gotten a good night's sleep over all these years...
And the instant Evan announced that his strength had completely surpassed Acnologia's, it was as if the burden on Anna's shoulders had vanished, all her pressure disappearing into thin air! Even her body no longer felt so exhausted. Her back didn't ache, her legs didn't hurt anymore...
Evan watched as Anna seemed to have become considerably younger. Even the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes had faded considerably.
"Evan, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and team up to destroy Acnologia!"
After calming herself down, Anna grabbed Evan's hand and spoke excitedly.
At this moment, Anna radiated a youthful vitality of a completely different kind!
"Well, about that?!"
After hearing Anna's words, Evan scratched his cheek. He was thinking about how exactly he should tell Anna that Acnologia had already abandoned evil and embraced righteousness, joined their Great Fairy Tail, and become a proud Fairy Tail member of the light.
"Evan, we're out of meat. Can I order five more plates?"
Just as Evan was wondering how to explain things to Anna, Acnologia, who had changed into a floral shirt and floral shorts and looked as if he were on vacation, carried a plate of grilled meat and walked up to Evan, asking.
"Of course you can. I already said that you can eat as much as you want today!"
After hearing Acnologia, Evan patted Acnologia on the shoulder and laughed.
"Thanks!"
Acnologia thanked Evan softly.
"Ah, ah, A..."
While Acnologia was chatting with Evan, Anna also noticed Acnologia behind Evan.
The moment Anna made eye contact with Acnologia, she felt as if she had fallen into an icehouse. It was as though the person standing before her wasn't a one-armed disabled man at all, but a ferocious and overwhelmingly powerful black dragon roaring at her with abandon!
The instant Anna saw the phantom of that dragon, she recognized the identity of the one-armed man before her. After all, there was no way she, Anna, could ever forget the appearance of the great Black Dragon King Acnologia...
Thus, Anna stared at the one-armed young man with her eyes wide open, continuously making sounds of "Ah, ah," yet for a long time she couldn't get the rest of the words out.
"Hmm?!" At the same time, Acnologia seemed to notice Anna as well. After looking her up and down, he softly asked, "You're a Celestial Spirit Mage?!"
Acnologia was extremely sensitive to magic power. He had almost instantly determined Anna's identity.
"Acnologia?!"
At the same time, Anna finally overcame the fear in her heart and loudly called out Acnologia's name.
"Do we know each other?"
Acnologia looked at Anna with his brows tightly furrowed.
"Let me think. I seem to have seen you somewhere before, about four hundred years ago..."
After recalling for a moment, a look of realization flashed through Acnologia's eyes as he spoke to Anna.
"Gulp~"
"Evan, come with me for a moment! I have something to ask you..."
After realizing that Acnologia had recognized her identity, Anna swallowed nervously and then walked to Evan's side, whispering into Evan's ear.
"Heh heh..."
"Acnologia, go inside and eat first! If you don't have enough meat, just order more. Eat as much as you want today. I have something to take care of."
Seeing Anna trembling in fear, Evan couldn't help laughing. He first greeted Acnologia behind him, signaling for Acnologia to return inside, before smiling at Anna.
"Haha, sure. I'll go outside with you and talk!"
"Mm!"
Anna nodded lightly after hearing Evan's words.
"Alright..."
On the other side, Acnologia gave Anna a deep look before turning around and walking into the restaurant. As for whatever Anna and Evan wanted to discuss, such matters had never been of interest to the great Black Dragon King.
"Alright, Acnologia has gone back inside. Senior Anna, you can tell me what exactly you wanted to ask me now, right?!"
After confirming that Acnologia had returned inside, Evan asked Anna.
"What do you think I wanted to ask you?!"
"What was that?! That was Acnologia! The dragon recorded in the Book of Revelation, powerful enough to destroy the world! How could such a terrifying existence be eating at the barbecue restaurant behind you with you?! Are you crazy?!"
After hearing Evan's question, Anna was completely overwhelmed. She lowered her voice as much as possible and bombarded Evan with questions.
"Senior Anna, let me slowly explain and argue my case..."
"How should I put it? Because explaining the whole process in the middle is too troublesome, you just need to know that Acnologia is now a Mage of our Fairy Tail Guild and everything will be fine!"
Evan scratched his cheek. He didn't know how to explain things to Anna either, and he was also too lazy to recount the process of subduing Acnologia. Thus, after thinking for a moment, Evan decided to simplify things and directly told Anna the outcome of what he had done with Acnologia.
"Don't skip the process just because it's troublesome! You damn brat!"
After hearing Evan's words, Anna instantly felt as if she had swallowed a whole stomachful of anger! Perhaps it was because Anna was Lucy's ancestor, or perhaps the entire Heartfilia family had inherited a powerful genetic predisposition for complaining, but after hearing Evan's words, Anna simply couldn't hold back and began ranting furiously at Evan.
"Simply put, Acnologia has abandoned evil and embraced righteousness. At the same time, we've found an even greater enemy and need Acnologia's strength, so Acnologia joined Fairy Tail. Can you understand it if I put it that way, Senior Anna?"
Evan thought for a moment before explaining to Anna.
"Fine! I more or less understand. So Acnologia chose to abandon evil and embrace righteousness! Well, then there's nothing we can do about it... Except that's bullshit!"
"Acnologia has been insane for so many years, and you say he decided to abandon evil and embrace righteousness just because you told him to?!"
"If Acnologia were really that easy to reason with, then what would the four hundred years of effort between Zeref and me amount to?! What would the four hundred years of effort by my Heartfilia family amount to?!"
After hearing Evan's explanation, Anna first smiled and nodded at Evan before angrily ranting.
"Actually, it wasn't completely useless!"
"After all, if I hadn't managed to persuade Acnologia, then Senior Anna, the hundred-year plan that you and Big Bro Zeref designed would have come in handy. But I was simply too hardworking, and my strength increased too quickly~"
"I never expected that after spending only a few short years, my strength would surpass Acnologia's~"
After hearing Anna's words, Evan spoke helplessly.
He, Evan, was helpless too! He had never expected his strength to increase so quickly. In the blink of an eye, he had surpassed Acnologia and become the only existence in the mortal world capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the gods, and even surpassing them...
Thinking of this, Evan sighed helplessly once again.
"Haah..."
"Just how did you become this strong, you damn bastard?"
After hearing Evan's words, Anna felt as if blood were dripping from her eyes. She looked at Evan and asked helplessly.
"Probably because I work hard enough!"
After hearing Anna's question, Evan thought for a moment before speaking with emotion.
Yes, the reason Evan could become so powerful was entirely because of his years of relentless effort, doing missions day after day and then using the system to allocate stat points...
"Bastard..."
After hearing Evan's words, the corners of Anna's eyes twitched slightly. She tried several times to speak, but in the end, when those words reached her lips, she couldn't bring herself to say them.
Perhaps this world simply always gave birth to geniuses, right?! Just like Acnologia, who, after cultivating Dragon Slayer Magic, surpassed all dragons and Dragon Slayer Mages in a short period of time and reached the summit of the Dragon Kings! This world would always give birth to such beings who could be called the protagonists of the world!
And Evan's talent was simply even more outrageous than Acnologia's...
If Acnologia was the protagonist of the world four hundred years ago, then Evan was the protagonist of the world now!
"Whoo..."
Thinking of this, all of the emotions in Anna's heart turned into a breath of stale air that escaped from her lips.
"Anyway, Senior Anna, your mission is over!"
Evan smiled slightly as he looked at Anna, who was sighing helplessly.
"Alright!"
After hearing Evan's words, Anna spoke helplessly. No matter what else she wanted to say, facts spoke louder than words. The crisis posed by Acnologia had indeed ended.
"Haah..."
Thinking of this, Anna sighed again, a hint of disappointment on her face and confusion in her eyes.
To be honest, there had been more than one day when she had hoped that Evan could defeat Acnologia and free her, as well as her family, from this centuries-old responsibility. Yet when that day finally arrived, Anna instead felt somewhat uncomfortable...
For a moment, Anna didn't even know what she should do. Put simply, Anna did not belong to this era. The era she belonged to had already disappeared. It was the era of four hundred years ago...
"Senior Anna, it doesn't seem like you're very happy?!"
"Could it be that you don't feel relieved now that the Acnologia incident is over?"
"Or perhaps, now that Acnologia has truly been dealt with, you don't know what you can do anymore?!"
Evan looked at Anna, whose eyes were filled with confusion, and asked with a smile.
"Evan, you know this too. My era has already ended! I don't belong to this era. The people I knew, the people who lived four hundred years ago, have all passed away with the flow of time. In this era, there is only me. I am so out of place. After the matter of Acnologia was resolved, I don't even know what I should do. Perhaps my mission has already ended..."
After hearing Evan's words, Anna didn't hide anything. She spoke to Evan in confusion.
"Who said that you're the only one left from that era?"
After hearing Anna's words, Evan couldn't help smiling. He directly interrupted Anna's lament.
"Hmm?!"
Anna was stunned after hearing Evan's words.
"Come, Senior Anna. Let me introduce you to a few people!"
As Evan spoke, he directly pulled Anna into the barbecue restaurant.
At this moment, apart from the staff, the huge barbecue restaurant only had guests from the Fairy Tail Guild inside...
After all, Evan had just bought this restaurant! Of course, Evan had used Mystogan's money to buy the restaurant. After all, Mystogan owned an entire world and wasn't short on money...
"Evan, you're back?!"
As Evan pulled Anna into the restaurant, Irene, Selene, and the others who were eating all raised their heads and looked toward Evan and Anna.
"Evan, who is this person?!"
When Irene and Selene saw Anna behind Evan, they were both stunned and asked.
"Irene, Selene, Ignia, Acnologia, and August, let me introduce you. This is Anna Heartfilia, Lucy's ancestor, and also one of the partners in Big Bro Zeref's Eclipse Plan..."
Evan first introduced Anna's identity to Irene and the others, then looked at Anna behind him and introduced Irene and the others to her.
"Senior Anna, this is Irene Belserion, my mother, and also the ancestor of the Dragon Slayer Mages. Four hundred years ago, she established the Dragon Kingdom, a kingdom where dragons and humans could coexist, and became its queen! Senior Anna, you're also from four hundred years ago, so I'm sure you've heard of Irene's name, right?"
Evan told Anna about Irene's identity while asking her.
"Of course I've heard of her, the legendary Dragon Queen! The creator of Dragon Slayer Magic! The main force who fought against those dragons that refused to coexist with humans and treated humans as food! A hero of humanity..."
Anna naturally knew Irene. She listed Irene's titles one by one, and as Anna spoke of Irene's titles, there was even a hint of admiration in her voice! In fact, among the humans of that era, there was no one who didn't admire Irene. After all, if Irene hadn't invented Dragon Slayer Magic, humanity might already have been wiped out by the dragons...
"As for Acnologia, I don't need to introduce him in detail. Surely you already know him, Senior Anna..."
After hearing Anna's words, Evan smiled slightly and continued introducing Acnologia, who was not far from Irene.
"Mm!"
After taking a deep look at Acnologia, Anna nodded lightly.
There was naturally no need to say more about Acnologia. He was the origin of everything, the origin of Anna turning her back on her own era, taking the children, and embarking on their journey...
"And this is the 'Moon Dragon God' Selene. She is also an existence from four hundred years ago! She was one of the dragons that fled Ishgar and escaped to the Northern Continent, Guiltina, when Acnologia began exterminating the dragons across the continent of Ishgar! At the same time, after spending several hundred years, Selene now possesses the strength to challenge the Dragon Kings..."
Evan continued introducing Selene, who was beside Acnologia.
"A dragon!"
After hearing Evan's introduction, Anna took a deep look at Selene. For a dragon to still be alive four hundred years later was quite rare.
"As for this one..."
"This is an old acquaintance of yours, Senior Anna—the son of Igneel, Ignia! He is also one of the dragons that migrated from the continent of Ishgar four hundred years ago. Ignia inherited Igneel's power, and after spending several hundred years, he now possesses Dragon King-level strength! On the Northern Continent, he is even known as the Fire God Dragon!"
Evan then introduced Ignia.
"Igneel's son. Indeed, he looks very similar to Igneel!"
After hearing Evan's words, Anna was stunned for a moment before looking at Ignia's face and nodding firmly. She could indeed see Igneel's shadow in Ignia.
"Finally, this is August. Surely I don't need to introduce him to you, Anna?!"
Evan then mentioned August. He had no intention of introducing August in detail, since August's identity could not be exposed yet.
"I know..."
After hearing Evan's words, Anna nodded firmly. She still knew about August. He was the right-hand man of the Alvarez Empire founded by Zeref, after all~
"Besides that, there's Big Bro Zeref..."
"So, Senior Anna, you don't need to feel lonely! Because you're not the only person in this world who comes from four hundred years ago. If you don't know what you should do anymore, you can join Fairy Tail and contribute your strength to this world!"
Evan extended an invitation to Anna.
"This..."
After hearing Evan's words, Anna hesitated. She looked at Acnologia, then Irene, then Selene, then Ignia, then August, and finally Evan, falling into deep thought.
"Alright!"
In the end, Anna stopped hesitating and nodded at Evan.