When Raizel laid everything bare to Natsu and the others, the small fragment of consciousness Igneel had left inside Natsu's mind awakened.
Raizel's conversation with Lucy and the others was forced to pause.
They quietly waited beside Natsu, who had fallen asleep on the floor, his brows tightly furrowed.
After explaining to Natsu why he had left behind this fragment of consciousness, Igneel said,
"The Dragon Seed and Demon Seed inside your body have mixed together. If that continues, you won't be able to keep living as a human."
Inside his mind, Natsu sighed.
"But there are still so many things I want to do. I want to repel the western continent's invasion, defeat Zeref and Acnologia, and go on that Hundred Years Quest Raizel and the others told me about..."
Igneel directly curled one claw and knocked Natsu on the head, interrupting his gloomy emo spiral.
"What was that for?! I was feeling depressed over here!"
"Listen until I finish."
Igneel extended two claws and continued,
"I said you'll die because the two seeds have mixed together. In that case, you simply have to stop them from mixing. You need to choose one side."
"Choose? How am I supposed to choose?"
"Follow the will in your heart. Dragon or demon."
Natsu's eyes flickered slightly.
He stood there with his arms folded, recalling his life, one that could not exactly be called long.
"Dragon or demon, huh..."
All sorts of memories surged into his mind.
Fighting with Gray since they were children.
Celebrating festivals with everyone.
Going on jobs together with Lucy after she joined the guild.
"You already have your answer, don't you, Natsu?"
Natsu's expression suddenly grew more serious, and his tone was firm as he answered,
"Rather than either side, I'm neither. I'm human! Natsu Dragneel!"
A deeply relieved smile appeared on Igneel's face.
"Good! It seems you've found the right answer."
"You were awakened through the power of a demon and raised by a dragon, but you are a true human through and through."
"Igneel..."
"All right. You should be able to walk forward on your own now."
"Yeah."
...
Natsu's condition was gradually improving, so Raizel stopped paying too much attention to him and continued explaining to Lucy and Levy.
"The reason I said Natsu would be in mortal danger is because he is a demon, yet he also learned Dragon Slayer Magic. Both the Dragon Seed and Demon Seed exist inside him at the same time. Even if not for Zeref's sake, for Natsu's sake alone, this book must be rewritten."
Lucy murmured softly to herself.
Then her eyes suddenly lit up, and she raised her head to look at Raizel.
"Cut the connection... rewrite it. You mean rewrite it, right? Yes, if... if we can rewrite it..."
Levy pointed at the Book of E.N.D. and asked,
"Can we open it first? It won't unseal something inside Natsu the moment we open it, will it?"
Although she felt the possibility was not high, Levy still asked first, just in case.
Raizel gave a soft laugh and shook his head.
"No. I opened it a long time ago. You'll understand once you flip through it."
Following Raizel's reminder, the three of them and one cat all put on Gale-Force Reading Glasses.
"Then I'm opening it?"
Lucy looked at Happy, Levy, and Gray one after another.
Levy and Gray both nodded hard.
"Aye!"
After Lucy opened the Book of E.N.D., red light burst from the inner pages.
Red words rose into the air along with that light, and rows of red demonic script floated throughout the meeting room.
With Lucy and Levy searching through them, they quickly found the record of the demon inside the Book of E.N.D.
Just as Lucy was about to lift her brush and make the changes, Raizel stopped her.
"Lucy, there's something I have to tell you first. If you rewrite it, the violent dragon flames and demon flames will cause you tremendous pain. I imagine it won't be any less painful than opening your Second Origin. How about you tell me how to change it, and I'll do the rewriting?"
Although Raizel had always said he wanted to dump this matter onto Lucy, in truth, he had already opened the Book of E.N.D. before and attempted to modify it himself.
Unfortunately, he simply did not have the ability.
Lucy's hand paused around the magic brush, but she immediately shook her head.
"I should do it myself. Explaining it in words won't be as accurate as writing it with my own hands."
Gray glanced at Natsu, who was lying asleep on the floor, then turned to Raizel and asked.
"If it's flames, ice should be able to ease it, right? If it's demon flames, Ice Devil Slayer Magic Power should be especially effective."
"It can."
Lucy nodded firmly and slowly moved the magic brush toward the Book of E.N.D. spread open on the table.
As Lucy began rewriting, red markings started appearing on her right arm.
The patterns spread along her arm toward her neck, cheeks, and body.
'Raizel really didn't lie... This really hurts even more than opening my Second Origin...'
Even as she thought that, veins bulged on Lucy's arm, and she still gritted her teeth and kept writing.
Gray continuously released Ice Devil Slayer Magic Power from his palm, helping Lucy cool down.
"Lu-chan, you can do it!"
Levy placed her hand on Lucy's shoulder.
Although she could not bear the pain together with Lucy, she would give Lucy emotional support.
"Aye!"
Happy also placed his paw on her.
Even though Lucy's body temperature was terrifyingly high and Gray's ice Magic made his fur stand on end, Happy never pulled back.
A spatial passage appeared in the meeting room.
That's right.
Raizel had called reinforcements!
"I'll help too! Heal!"
Wendy aimed both palms at Lucy, continuously pouring healing Magic Power into her body.
"Pain sensitivity, weaken."
Mira had Taken Over Kyôka, her palm aimed toward Lucy.
"The demon power is corroding her body."
Irene frowned slightly and lightly tapped her staff against the floor.
"Enchant: Separation."
For the first time in a long while, Irene focused with complete seriousness on High Enchantment Magic, slowly stripping the demon power from Lucy's body.
A small red Magic crystal appeared above Irene's left palm, and it showed signs of growing larger and larger.
When Raizel had been speaking with Gray, Lucy, and the others earlier, he had also informed the others of this through Super Archive Magic.
Naturally, Ultear and the rest had also come to the meeting room.
Although they could not do much, they would let Lucy know one thing.
They were all here with her.
Lucy had no time to respond to them. She focused entirely on writing, stroke by stroke.
Finally, she slowly wrote down—
E.N.D.
The entire book once again began radiating red light, and the words floating in the air slowly returned to the pages.
"The words are going back into the book!"
"I did everything I could. I wrote our memories into the book, including everyone here in this moment..."
After Lucy finished speaking, she slowly closed the Book of E.N.D. and quietly waited for the sleeping Natsu to wake up.
Once she finished, Lucy's body swayed, and she nearly fell from the chair.
Fortunately, Levy and Gray hurriedly supported her.
The good news was that the red markings on Lucy's body were slowly fading.
"She'll be fine after resting for a while. The demon power inside her body has already been separated out. This should be something useful for you. You should be able to develop some kind of Flame Demon form from it."
Red patterns appeared in Irene's pupils as she roughly inspected Lucy's body.
Then she tossed the red demon crystal to Mira and left.