CHAPTER 603: 603

The Purgatory Dragon flapped its wings, chasing toward the shore.

It discovered that the sturdy human was still alive and even making a gesture to attack it with magic.

The Purgatory Dragon unceremoniously opened its mouth and blasted another stream of dragon’s breath at him.

As a result, that person, along with a lot of magma, sank into the sea, his figure obscured by the vast steam, and there was no longer any sound.

The Purgatory Dragon scratched its chin in a very human-like manner.

"This...this isn’t right. It seems to be a fake?"

It looked around, sniffed with its nose, but couldn’t smell Precht.

Seeing the fire on the island growing larger and larger, the Purgatory Dragon chose to put out the fire first.

It first extinguished the fire sources it could control, then flew over the sea, spread its wings, and spun its body violently a few times.

The waves on the sea churned, and a large amount of seawater gathered into a waterspout, flying toward the spreading sea of fire on the island.

"The ocean guy should be doing this kind of thing," it complained, before preparing to continue searching for Precht.

If it weren’t worried about being scolded by the Mountain Dragon after returning, it wouldn’t bother with putting out the fire or not.

The Purgatory Dragon’s guess was correct; Precht had only left a Thought Body behind to put on a show.

Meanwhile, he himself had already quietly gone ashore, continuing to track Zeref’s aura.

He had cast a series of magic spells on himself to conceal his magic power and hide his aura, intending to quietly get Zeref first; Fairy Tail could wait until later.

However, what Precht had not anticipated was that Zeref had actually found the Purgatory Dragon on his own.

"Unknown Dragon, can you kill me?" Zeref looked at the Purgatory Dragon with eyes full of anticipation.

It was as if he truly wanted to be killed there.

"Huh?" The Purgatory Dragon knew it didn’t have much time and was only thinking about continuing to cause trouble for Precht.

It hadn’t expected someone seeking death to suddenly pop out.

Zeref rested a hand on his forehead and spoke to himself,

"Lately, I’ve been trying hard to forget the preciousness of life. I’ve forgotten many things, many spells, but I can never forget that one point. And if I can’t do that, I will continue to deprive lives around me. I’ve had enough. Rather than letting countless lives die because of me, it’s better for me to die myself.

"But I also can’t do that. I can’t kill myself. I still remember that dragons are very powerful creatures.

"Can you completely destroy me?"

The Purgatory Dragon felt a little confused. What was all this nonsense?

"Lord Zeref!" Precht, seeing the person he had longed for day and night, could no longer hold back.

He didn’t care if the Purgatory Dragon was there or not; he just jumped out and said excitedly,

"Please lead us to the great magic world!"

"Hmm..." As if some memories were awakened by Precht’s words, Zeref covered his head.

"Right, you are, Grimoire Heart. It was you who brought war to this island to find me..."

Precht said excitedly,

"Yes, Lord Zeref! Everything we do is for you! To achieve..."

"I’m sorry," Zeref interrupted Precht, slowly raising his head.

"I don’t plan to do anything in this era. I’ve seen too much conflict and death, and I don’t want to see anyone else die.

"In other words, I don’t have what you want here. Leave this place. Don’t disturb the peace of this island anymore."

"How could this be...oh, right!" Precht suddenly realized that he had been too excited to see Zeref and almost forgot that he was still ’asleep’!

"Please rest assured, I have gathered all the ’keys’ needed to awaken you. I will get them immediately!"

Zeref’s expression instantly turned grim.

He knew that many people worshipped him and always wanted to ’resurrect’ him, to ’awaken’ him.

They even made up many bizarre ’settings’ for this purpose.

The so-called keys were fabricated two or three hundred years ago and were one of the most secretly circulated myths.

And precisely because it was secret, those who learned about it believed it deeply.

To obtain such things, many ancient tribes or villages had to be destroyed, and many, many people had to be killed.

The current Zeref, unable to forget the preciousness of life, greatly cherished life.

He had always detested such evil deeds.

"For that ancient lie, how many people have you killed?"

"A lie?!" Zeref’s words almost made Precht collapse.

Had all his efforts over so many years been in vain?

Zeref’s robes billowed without wind, and his eyes changed from hazy to sharp. "I’m angry."

"I’m f***ing angry too!" The Purgatory Dragon, listening to the two people say things it completely didn’t understand, swooped down from the sky in a fit of rage, adjusted its angle, and swept its wing fiercely towards Precht.

It felt that its breath was useless against this guy, so it might as well try other attack methods.

Zeref immediately pushed Precht aside and crashed into the Purgatory Dragon’s wing.

A strong firelight erupted at the point of impact, accompanied by a violent explosion. Zeref’s body flew out, his clothes caught fire, and he, like a fiery meteor, drew a secant line across the circular Tenrou Island.

And even though Precht was pushed aside by Zeref, he was still affected, flying out and breaking two large trees before stopping.

"How dare you hit Master Zeref!" Precht was furious, not because of the physical pain, but because Zeref had been sent flying.

Magic power surged around Precht, black magic orbs, purple magic chains, intricate magic circles, various magic spells continuously struck the Purgatory Dragon in the air as if they were free.

The Dragon’s figure disappeared instantly.

This made Precht even more convinced that it was a fake dragon and that everything was Rhodes doing.

He cursed, "Damn brat!"

The magic power that erupted from his anger destroyed a small patch of forest nearby.

Precht had no choice but to chase in the direction Zeref had flown.

At this moment, Zeref was lying face up on the sea, his clothes, though somewhat damaged, and his body, though bearing some scars, were rapidly healing.

He gazed somewhat blankly at the gradually darkening sky. "Even a Dragon can’t kill me. Indeed, only Natsu can."

"This is..." Zeref’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted. He felt a terrifying presence approaching.

"It’s like this again."

"In endless conflict, people’s evil intentions will be reflected. And people’s strong evil intentions will attract Acnologia."

"He will destroy everything; he will declare the end of an era."

Zeref recited a few lines from the ’Apocalypse.’ He had seen such things more than once.

This time, Grimoire Heart’s evil intentions were so powerful that merely the conflict between two guilds had attracted him.

"Tenrou Island, Natsu, farewell."