While Drake and Acnologia were fighting fiercely, the war between Fairy Tail and Tartaros was also in full swing.
The Etherious Forms of the Nine Demon Gates had made Fairy Tail's mages suffer a lot, but the facts proved that Fairy Tail, with the teamfight buff addition, was invincible.
Natsu quickly saw through the principle of Jackal's Explosion Curse and thought of a way to deal with it. With Lucy's support, although he was blasted into a mess, he did win in the end.
But Gray had ended the battle before him. After all, his opponent was his own father.
After seeing Gray's growth, Silver entrusted the power of Ice Devil Slayer Magic to Gray with peace of mind, and then smiled and went to reunite with Gray's mother.
Of course, this was also because Sting and Rogue had joined forces to defeat Keith, who used the Necromancy Curse. Keith's ability to revive and control the dead was indeed very strong, but he himself wasn't actually that strong.
On this unexpected battlefield, Keith couldn't find any undead to form combat power, and as a result, he was completely annihilated by the Dragon Slayer Magic of light and shadow.
Before the war started, Drake had given Juvia a magical tool to preserve souls, which would be used to revive Silver in the future.
But Silver himself had refused. The Deliora he had hated had been completely destroyed, and seeing that his son was still alive and had grown up so well, he no longer had any regrets.
So he wanted to find Gray's mother, and didn't choose to be revived, going to the world of the dead instead.
Wendy successfully awakened Dragon Force during the battle, and after Sherria and Wendy had both lost their combat power, she successfully defeated Tempester.
Kagura used the Garuda in her hand to forcefully cut off Ezel's demon sword. Even the demon sword couldn't resist the gravity magic-enhanced slash.
Gajeel did his best to defeat Franmalth in order to protect Levy.
You had to know that Franmalth had absorbed the soul of Fairy Tail's second guild master, Precht, and his strength was definitely not to be underestimated. For Gajeel to be able to defeat him could only be said to be the power of love.
Stella directly evaporated Torafuzar's Black Water Curse, blasted apart his self-proclaimed strongest defense, and won without any surprises.
In comparison, the other two female mages weren't so relaxed.
Erza's opponent, Kyôka, had a curse that could control people's senses.
She deprived Erza of her sight, hearing, smell, and even taste, but amplified her sense of pain many times over.
When a person lost all ability to perceive the outside world except for pain, you wouldn't know how terrifying that feeling was unless you had experienced it.
But the Fairy Queen had overcome it. By the time Laxus, who had defeated his old man, had rushed over, Erza had already cut Kyôka down with her sword.
And the battle between Mirajane and Seilah had many twists and turns. Seilah had controlled Elfman to attack Mirajane, and had once pushed the three siblings into a desperate situation.
In the end, Mirajane had relied on her Take Over magic to take over the power that Seilah used to control Elfman, and had defeated Seilah unexpectedly.
The Nine Demon Gates had been defeated one by one, and the scales of victory in this war had tilted irreversibly towards Fairy Tail.
And just then, everyone who had finished fighting saw the scene of Acnologia falling from the high sky with Drake.
Seeing that scene, anyone would think that Drake hadn't been able to win against Acnologia. Just as Natsu and the others were about to rush over to help, Igneel came out of Natsu's body.
Igneel stopped the others, and then issued a mission to Natsu, preventing him from coming along to participate in the battle.
The request that Igneel gave Natsu was to defeat the actual controller of Tartaros, the Underworld King Mard Geer Tartaros, and snatch back the Book of E.N.D. from him.
Just as Igneel believed in Drake, Igneel also believed that Natsu would be able to defeat Mard.
And in fact, there was no need to question whether Natsu could win.
Although this war had been won with great difficulty, everyone had retained a certain amount of combat power compared to the original plot.
So the final battle was Mard facing the entire Fairy Tail.
At the beginning of the battle, facing the battered Natsu and the others, Mard actually never thought that he would lose.
For a dignified demon from the Books of Zeref to lose to a group of remnants and stragglers, don't be ridiculous!
Then he fell into Natsu's hands. Everyone helped Natsu block Mard's attacks, especially Gray, who used the Devil Slayer Magic that he had just obtained to clear away the last obstacles.
Natsu, who had successfully arrived in front of Mard, launched the final blow, successfully defeating Mard.
But Natsu hadn't been able to get the Book of E.N.D. back, because Zeref had appeared after Mard had been defeated.
Before this, Zeref had always had a melancholy expression on his face. On the surface, he looked like a harmless and even somewhat delicate young man.
But although he was smiling now, he exuded a cold feeling, like a dead night.
The smile he showed to the dying Mard also didn't have any emotion. He said that he had worked hard, but directly burned Mard's original Books of Zeref.
Ignoring Natsu's words questioning him why he had abandoned his comrades, Zeref raised his head to look in midair, and happened to see the scene of Drake piercing Acnologia's heart with a sword.
Like a lament, Zeref said, "After four hundred years, the Black Wing has finally reached the end of his destiny. But this ending is more suitable for the Dragon King than a tragic self-destruction!
I didn't expect it to really be done. That child actually defeated Acnologia. How unexpected!"
Saying this, Zeref turned his head to look at Natsu and said, "Natsu, you also have to come to me as soon as possible! I don't have much patience left. Come and overcome the trial of despair that I have bestowed upon you!"
Saying this, Zeref's body began to dissipate in midair.
Natsu wouldn't care about the deep meaning in Zeref's words, and said loudly, "What despair are you talking about? Leave that book for me. That's the request that Igneel gave me!"
But when he rushed up, he only grabbed a phantom, and Zeref had left just like that.
When Drake came back, what he saw was everyone with solemn faces.
After learning what had happened just now, Drake also understood everyone's mood.
Everyone was already physically and mentally exhausted after the battle with Tartaros, and Zeref's words did make it hard for people not to feel heavy. After all, what had made everyone struggle so hard was just something that Zeref had created.
But Drake laughed and said, "Why are you thinking so much? Even if the opponent is the Black Wizard, we, Fairy Tail, will be the ones to win!
And now, we're going home! To celebrate defeating Tartaros and Acnologia!"
Everyone looked at each other, and then showed relaxed smiles and cheered together. For Fairy Tail, no matter how strong the enemy was, it couldn't stop everyone from moving towards tomorrow together!
Natsu searched around and said, "Drake, where did Igneel go? I have so much to say to him!"
Drake pushed away Natsu's approaching face, and looked at the red soul crystal in his hand and said, "Don't worry, we'll be able to see him again soon."
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