This was the third time Raizel had come to Irene's castle because he had business with her, so by now he could be considered thoroughly familiar with the way.
And if visits without official business were counted, judging purely by the number of meals he had eaten here, that number was already impossible to track.
When it came to freeloading meals, Raizel was far too skilled.
The gates opened automatically. Heine and Juliet greeted him, respectfully stepped aside, and allowed him to enter the castle directly.
Selene was sitting on the first floor with one leg crossed over the other, reading a book with great interest.
She merely glanced at Raizel once before lowering her head and continuing to read.
Raizel did not even need Heine or Juliet to guide him. He went alone to Irene's suite on the third floor.
He glanced at the time.
'Three-thirty.'
'That should be fine, right?'
Just as Raizel was about to knock, the door to the suite opened automatically.
Irene, dressed in casual home clothes, sat upright on the sofa.
Two steaming cups of black tea had already been placed on the coffee table, clearly showing that she had known Raizel was coming.
Seeing this, Raizel did not waste time with small talk and went straight to the point.
"Zeref has already made a move. It can even be said that I should know some of his plans by now. I intend to bring Erza and the others to the Alvarez capital, Vistarion."
"I will do everything I can to stop the war between the two continents. If Zeref insists on fighting, I will try to propose another solution to him..."
Irene did not react much to this news.
She merely changed which leg was crossed and kept her cold expression directed at Raizel.
Raizel shook his head and slowly said, "Don't worry. I will not put you in a difficult position. I do not intend to have you participate on either side."
This time, Irene's expression finally changed.
She frowned slightly, but the emotion in her eyes was not impatience.
Rather, it was contemplation and a hint of emotion.
Her contemplation came from wondering how Raizel planned to stop Zeref.
In her view, stopping Zeref would be extremely difficult. If she were being pessimistic, the probability was basically zero. However, she did not say that aloud to discourage Raizel.
As for the emotion, it came from the fact that Raizel truly understood her.
After thinking for a moment, Irene frowned slightly and reminded him,
"If Zeref is determined to have his way, communicating with him and stopping him will be very difficult. You should prepare yourself mentally."
She did not call him "His Majesty" now, but referred to him as Zeref.
That was her way of proving her neutrality to Raizel.
Raizel nodded in understanding.
"I understand."
He then continued, "When Zeref originally unified the Alvarez Empire, as one of the former two pillars, you should know very well that he once said the purpose of the Spriggan 12 was to help him eliminate the Black Dragon, Acnologia."
"Of course, that was his lie. Or rather, it was a secondary goal that was not particularly important. You should understand Acnologia's strength..."
Irene shook her head and interrupted Raizel.
"No. In truth, I have never met him. Do you think I could have met him and still be alive?"
"After Belserion died at the hands of the western dragons, during the three-plus years after I completely became a dragon, Acnologia disappeared entirely from people's sight. After that, for nearly four hundred years, I lived in seclusion deep in the mountains, so I never once met him."
Raizel nodded in understanding.
"The main reason for Zeref's mental disorder is indeed the so-called curse of Ankhseram, but there is another important reason as well. Acnologia's pressure on him."
"To Acnologia, the immortal Zeref is definitely a pretty good toy..."
Irene narrowed her eyes and interrupted Raizel again.
"The so-called curse of Ankhseram? What do you mean?"
Raizel's expression became serious.
"I believe the so-called curse of Ankhseram should merely be a kind of rule-like existence, rather than an actual curse bestowed upon Zeref by some true god."
"Let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen a god?"
"No."
Without even thinking, Irene gave that answer decisively.
Dimaria, the War Princess who had also been one of the Spriggan 12 alongside Irene, was said to be a descendant of Chronos, the God of Time, and could Take Over the power of the God of Time.
However, the existence of this God of Time, Chronos, was similar to the titles of the Five Dragon Gods.
Simply put, it was something spread by humans.
Levy, Ultear, Lucy, Freed, and Raizel had used Super Archive Magic together, and the five of them had spent several days flipping through ancient records.
As for access to information from the western continent, Raizel had contacted August, who provided it.
Dimaria had been born in a village where everyone claimed to be descended from the God of Time.
In ancient times, this village had been known as the Capital of Time, and every household worshiped Chronos.
However, not everyone there could Take Over the so-called divine power of the God of Time.
Dimaria had absorbed Chronos's soul during a ritual, which gave her the current Take Over: God Soul Magic.
Tracing it back to its origin, it was simply ancient superstition.
This Chronos could use Time Magic, could control time, and possessed great strength.
To people of that era, he was no different from a god.
That was how information worked, especially in an age where communication was poor.
The more it spread, the more exaggerated and mysterious it became, and in the end, he was revered as the God of Time.
Moreover, Dimaria's village was not the only one.
According to the information Raizel, Levy, and the others had searched through, on both the eastern and western continents, villages claiming to be descendants of some "god" or another were not exactly everywhere, but there were definitely quite a few that could be found.
For example, if Ultear had existed in ancient times and casually controlled a seed to grow into a towering tree, or restored damaged objects with a wave of her hand, superstitious people might also have spread stories of her as some so-called God of Plants or God of Time.
Raizel continued,
"Selene is called the Moon Dragon God, and there are Six Dragon Gods in the northern continent. But are they gods? Of course not. You understand that clearly as well. It is nothing more than humans blindly worshiping them and granting them divine titles."
"In my view, Ankhseram's curse is more likely a rule-like existence. One that activates as long as someone touches that taboo."
"I also do not believe there are gods in this world."
Selene suddenly appeared inside the suite and sat down on another single-person sofa with one leg crossed.
Clearly, she had been eavesdropping on Raizel and Irene's conversation just now.
Raizel and Irene had not cared about Selene listening in, so they had paid her no attention.
Irene looked at Selene with interest and asked,
"Why?"
"Dragons ruled this world of Earth Land for many years, yet there has never been any record of gods among dragons, not even the briefest mention. I have traveled through multiple worlds, and I have never seen these so-called gods either. This so-called curse of Ankhseram is also only something spoken of by humans."
This so-called curse of Ankhseram was only at that level.
The scarf Igneel had given Natsu could resist it.
Wendy could remove it with healing Magic. The Black Dragon was even completely immune to it.
That's right.
The curse of Ankhseram had absolutely no effect on the Black Dragon.
This was something Zeref had once told Raizel.
When the Black Dragon fought Zeref, it was not as if the curse on Zeref had never activated.
Once, Zeref truly could not endure it anymore.
He did not suppress the curse at all, allowing the curse on his body to fully erupt. Everything within several kilometers of Zeref withered away.
But Acnologia was completely unaffected.
He even seemed to fight more comfortably afterward.
It was like the Black Dragon had simply taken a bath!