"Invincible?"
Acnologia didn't quite agree with that statement. Instead, he said, "Magic is diverse. Killing someone sometimes doesn't require casting magic on the person themselves, but rather creating the conditions for their death."
"For example, crossing through time and space to kill me before I've grown, or someone destroying the entire world along with me—if that happened, I might not necessarily survive."
This was the method Zeref used to defeat him in the original story. Whether it would actually succeed remained an unknown.
Perhaps Zeref would only end up in a parallel timeline, unable to affect him.
Erza dismissed the idea. If time and space were destroyed, individual strength would naturally lose its meaning. But did an existence capable of destroying time and space really exist?
Even if time and space could be destroyed, the caster likely wouldn't survive either.
She believed no one would do something so suicidal; such a means would be better used as a deterrent.
Irene added, "There are other dragons in this world. Naturally, the ones most likely to kill us are other dragons."
"Dragons?"
Erza immediately thought of that terrifying Red Dragon King. If it were an existence like that, it might truly pose a threat to her father.
"Right!"
She suddenly remembered Natsu's father, Igneel. Her father and mother had lived since ancient times; perhaps they would have clues.
Natsu had been searching for Igneel for many years without any news.
Erza brought up Igneel. Acnologia pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, I know Igneel. Do you know how you crossed four hundred years of time and space?"
Erza shook her head. Although she knew some details from the history of the Dragnof Kingdom, there was no specific description of how it was achieved.
Acnologia led the two of them to sit under a tree and began to recount that past.
"That was during the Human-Dragon War four hundred years ago. Humans and dragons were in a chaotic war divided into two camps. One was the camp of Evil Dragons led by Osta, who was outside the Red Dragons, and the other was the alliance of Good Dragons and humans."
"The Good Dragons and humans joined forces to fight the Evil Dragons, but they were constantly being suppressed..."
"At that time, because I had slaughtered too many Evil Dragons, I fell into a state of irrational madness. Both humans and dragons were within my hunting range, and both sides suffered heavy losses."
"It was then that the Black Wizard Zeref met the Fire Dragon King and entrusted his younger brother, Natsu, to him..."
Erza's eyes suddenly widened. "You're saying Natsu is the younger brother of the Black Wizard Zeref?"
That was the most sinister and evil existence in legend, even more famous than her father, the world-ending dragon king.
Acnologia nodded. "Yes. I'll tell you more about that later."
Seeing Erza fall silent, he continued, "After hearing of my deeds from the Fire Dragon King Igneel, Zeref remembered a prophecy he had once seen. It said I was the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, the Black Wings of the End, who would completely bring this era to a close."
"Thus, the man and the dragon devised a plan: to train five Dragon Slayer Mages and then use the Eclipse Gate created by Zeref to travel to a future era rich in magic to find a way to defeat me."
Seeing Erza's curious gaze, Acnologia said, "The Five Children were Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Rogue, and Sting. You came along with them."
"Later, I regained my sanity, joined the human camp, and met the Fire Dragon King Igneel and the other Five Dragons. After they realized I wasn't irredeemably evil, we became friends."
"Later still, as the Dragon Slayer Mages bathed in dragon blood, they began to turn into dragons and lose their sanity."
"Igneel and the other Five Dragons went to learn the Dragon Soul Technique from the Black Wizard Zeref. That is, entering the bodies of The Five Children to nurture Dragon Seeds, which is the only way to prevent Dragonification in Dragon Slayer Mages."
Erza was shaken to her core. The information was so vast that she couldn't digest it all at once, but she caught one point.
She asked hurriedly, "In other words, on July 7th, X777, all the dragons disappeared because they entered the bodies of Natsu and the others."
Acnologia nodded slightly. "Yes. As for whether they are still inside Natsu and the others now, I'm not certain."
Erza pondered for a moment and then asked curiously, "What happened after that?"
Acnologia felt that since his daughter wanted to know, he might as well explain it all at once. He continued, "In the middle of the Human-Dragon War, after I won a battle on the front lines, I returned to the Dragnof Kingdom. At that time, Irene had just given birth to you."
"Although I could suppress and kill Dragon Kings, there was still a risk of death when facing a siege of Evil Dragons, let alone protecting you in the midst of war."
"So, I discussed it with Irene. We disbanded the Dragnof Kingdom and sent you along with The Five Children to the future, to a peaceful era far away from the war."
"Crossing time and space required not only the Eclipse Gate but also the power of the Celestial Spirits of the zodiac signs. Anna Heartfilia, as the head of the family at the time and the strongest Celestial Spirit Mage, was willing to sacrifice herself to be the final executor of this plan."
"At the same time, she left a message for her family to guard the Eclipse Gate for generations and open it in an era with sufficient magic."
"Afterward, Anna brought you, Natsu, and the others to this era. On July 7th, X777, Lucy's mother, Layla Heartfilia, opened the Eclipse Gate."
"In the later stages of the Human-Dragon War, except for one or two kingdoms that got lucky, all other kingdoms were destroyed."
"Irene and I entered the final stage of dragon slaying. The destruction caused nearly collapsed the entire continent. Some Dragon Slayer Mages who had turned into dragons could no longer distinguish between good and evil, and we slaughtered them all as well."
"After I could no longer sense the aura of dragons, Irene and I came to the edge of the continent and remained silent for four hundred years without appearing in the world."
"Because I had bathed in too much dragon blood, I was on the verge of falling into madness. So, I devoured all the dragon souls and slept in the depths of the ocean to digest them. Your mother built a wooden hut on the shore and guarded me the whole time to prevent anyone from disturbing me."
"That is roughly what happened in the past."
Acnologia paused and said, "As for the question you asked earlier about Zeref and Natsu."
"Let me tell you about that simply."
He began to recount Zeref's past: the death of his family, his research into resurrection magic, being cursed by the Ankhseram God, and then creating demons to seek his own death.
"As Zeref's younger brother resurrected as a demon, Natsu is also the strongest demon, END, which stands for Etherious Natsu Dragneel, representing the end of everything—and this 'everything' includes Zeref himself."
Erza leaned into Irene's embrace, her mind in a state of chaos. Whether it was the fact that Natsu's brother was the Black Wizard Zeref, the four-hundred-year time jump, or the slaughter of all the Evil Dragons, it all gave her a massive shock.
The purpose of Natsu and the other four being sent to this era was actually to defeat her own father—perhaps even to kill him.
And that prophecy of the Apocalypse saying her father would completely end an era—who was the person who left that prophecy?
Did the Ankhseram God truly exist?
Was the Black Wizard Zeref, who sought death, ultimately a friend or a foe?
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