Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

August 17, x791.

Sitting in her office in the Fairy Tail guild hall, Mavis was sipping from a cup of tea with a smile on her face. The operation to deal with Tartaros had started early this morning. Yet, there was no worry to be seen on her face. Because she knew, the current generation of her guild could handle just about anything the continent of Ishgar could throw at them.

Meanwhile, on one of the couches in the office, Irene, swirling a glass of wine in her right hand, was holding a newspaper in her left while enjoying the company of the girl who looked much too young for her age while being the member in the guild who was closest to her in age.

"So, how long do you think it will take for those kids to come back?' Irene asked off-handedly while her eyes scanned the text on the page. "Those little demons shouldn't take long for them to deal with."

"Who's to say?" Mavis replied with a shrug. "Like Alfonzo said, his method of tracking Tartaros only indicated a direction. But there's no way to tell just how far away they might be. They could be all the way at the northeastern border of the continent for all we know. They might not even be on Ishgar. They could even be on another continent all together."

"I seriously doubt that." Irene said while shaking her head. She then took a sip from her glass of wine before laying the newspaper on the coffee table. "I know Zeref left them on Ishgar for a reason. And those little demons can't disobey any of his orders. So, they're definitely on Ishgar."

"*Sigh* You're probably right." Mavis replied as she hung her head. "How did he end up like this? He was so different when he helped me back then. But now..."

Irene opened her mouth to reply. Yet, before she could say anything...

{BGM: "Ashita Wo Narase" -- Amy B}

Mavis' phone rang, the ringtone one that Alfonzo and Elicia thought would be perfect for her. And as it turned out, Mavis loved it.

"Well look at that." Mavis said, her smile widening, knowing that her guild had completed their mission with no casualties, even if she had no proof yet.

"Yes, yes." Irene said nonchalantly. "Just answer the phone so we can hear the good news, would you?"

"Okay, okay." Mavis replied with a giggle. "You're so impatient."

After that, Mavis looked down at the lPhone she held in her hand. However, when she saw the caller's name, she was slightly confused.

"Hmm...?" Mavis hummed while tilting her head slightly. "I thought it would be from Alfonzo. Why is Fried the one making the report?"

Even though she said that, Mavis did not waste time answering the call and putting her lPhone to her ear.

"Fried, what's the situation?" Mavis asked as Irene raised an eyebrow at Mavis' previous question. "How did the Tartaros subjugation go?"

{"Tartaros has been completely annihilated."} Fried replied from the other side of the phone call, force calm in his tone. {"But we encountered a complication after defeating the Dark Guild."}

"What kind of complication?" Mavis asked, her smile vanishing quickly. "Is anyone hurt? Did you lose anyone?"

{"No, no injuries or casualties."} Fried replied, drawing a relieved sigh from Mavis. {"But Acnologia made an appearance."}

*Thud!*

Hearing that, Mavis dropped her lPhone in sheer surprise as her eyes opened wide with panic swirling in their depths. And when Irene saw that, her eyes narrowed as she stood up from the couch.

"What did he say?" Irene asked as she approached Mavis.

Irene's question snapped Mavis back to her senses as she quickly leaned down to pick up her lPhone from the floor.

"Acnologia." Mavis replied simply.

Mavis then put her lPhone on speaker, allowing Irene to hear the conversation, as well.

"What exactly happened, Fried?" Mavis asked in a serious tone.

Fried then went on to tell Mavis about the current situation, stating that Alfonzo was currently incapacitated after expending all of his magic power, though unharmed. He also mentioned that Wendy was currently tending to him.

{"The real issue is that with Alfonzo incapacitated, we have no way of returning at the moment."} Fried said, concluding his report. {"We request that someone come to pick us up. We'll need the Fairy's Tail. Also, we need someone who can fly the Blackbird, as well."}

"And where are you exactly?" Mavis asked, the relief she was feeling from not hearing the news that any of her guild members had been lost evident in her tone. "Alfonzo was not able to give us a location before departure."

"Don't worry about that." Irene said, drawing Mavis' attention from the lPhone. "Lici can track Alfonzo's location with her lPhone. Just put her on the team going to retrieve them."

Nodding in response, Mavis turned her attention back to the lPhone.

"I'll assemble a team for retrieval immediately." Mavis said solemnly. "Just make sure that you all stay safe."

{"Understood."} Fried replied. {"Then, we'll be waiting."}

With that, the call ended. Then, the office fell into silence.

"He said Alfonzo used all of his magic power." Irene said, breaking the short silence. "Do you think he meant that literally."

"Knowing Fried, he probably did." Mavis said, her tone still just as solemn. "I just hope this doesn't lead to Magic Deficiency Syndrome. All we can do is hope that he can pull through this."

With that, Mavis started going through her contact list, looking for a specific number. Finally, when she found it, she clicked the call button.

*Ring!**Ring!* *Ring!*

{"Hey, Mavis, what's up?"} Ur said with a giggle over the call.

"Ur, you're in the guild hall, right?" Mavis asked, her tone more serious than the former guild master was expecting.

{"Yes."} Ur replied, her tone turning solemn after hearing Mavis' tone. {"What happened?"}

"I've got an urgent mission for you." Mavis replied before explaining the situation with the Tartaros subjugation team.

After Mavis' explanation ended, the call fell silent for a few seconds.

{"Damn… "} Ur muttered. {"Are you telling me those kids managed to drive off Acnologia?"}

"For now." Mavis replied. "But we have no idea how injured the dragon was after Alfonzo's retaliation. So, I need you to prep the Fairy's Tail and move to extract them. Hopefully, you'll arrive before Acnologia comes back."

{"Understood."} Ur replied, the sound of footsteps cutting through the din of the guild hall audible in the background. {"The Fairy's Tail should be ready to go in half an hour."}

"Good." Mavis replied. "If Ultear is there, bring her with you. Take ren, as well. Even though Wendy is there, I know her [Healing Magic] uses up a lot of magic power. So, having someone else there who can tend to the wounded would go a long way."

{"Got it."} Ur replied, her footsteps stopping momentarily as she turned around to grab her daughter.

"Oh, and bring Lici with you, too." Mavis said, remembering that another pilot was necessary to bring the Blackbird back home, as well.

{"No problem."} Ur said as she lowered the lPhone from her ear. {"Hey, Tear, Lici! Come with me. We've got---"}

*Beep!* *Beep!**Beep!*

The call ended before Mavis could hear the end of Ur's sentence. She then put her lPhone down on her desk and turned to Irene, who was no longer standing next to her.

"Do you plan to go with them?" Mavis asked calmly, her expression loosening slightly now that a plan to retrieve the members of her guild was in place.

"Yes." Irene replied while making her way towards the elevator. "It's better than just sitting here and waiting for them to return. *Sigh* I really have changed. Back when I first came to Magnolia, I would have felt nothing if I heard that one of my so-called comrades had fought Acnologia. In fact, I would have just written them off as dead and wondered which book to read later. But now, the thought of seeing any of those kids, Especially Alfonzo, Erza, and Mirajane being hurt makes me worry to no end."

"I guess that's the benefit of being human again." Mavis said as a small smile curled her lips.

"If you say so." Irene replied with a shrug as she pressed the elevator's call button. "Anyway, I'll make sure to keep those kids safe if we run into Acnologia again."

"Are you sure you can handle him?" Mavis asked, a hint of worry making it into her tone.

"Alone? Probably not." Irene answered with a wry smile "As much as it pains me to admit. But if Belserion and I work together, we might just be able to."

At first, Mavis looked at Irene skeptically. But when she realized Irene's implications, her eyes widened in surprise. Yet, before she could ask Irene what she meant, the elevator doors closed, only leaving the image of Irene smiling mischievously as she disappeared from view.

"Could she have really reached it already?" Mavis asked as she rested her right elbow on her desk and used the same hand to cup her chin in thought. "But how is that possible? Alfonzo said it would take ten years. ON top of that, you had to completely master the partial release state, or [Shikai] as the people from Soul continent call it."

After voicing her thoughts aloud, Mavis fell into silent contemplation for the next few minutes. Her mind that was so interested in magic and magic theory trying it's best to come up with an answer to her question.

*Bang!*

Yet, before she could find an answer, Mavis' arm slackened and her head fell onto her desk, the sound of the collision echoing around the office.

"This isn't fair!" Mavis whined, sounding just as young as she looked. "Irene might have already unlocked her [Bankai]. Meanwhile, my [Soul Armament Embryo] hasn't even gone through it's first shift!"

Earth Land, Ishgar, Stella/Isvan Border.

*Boom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*

At the same time, a hilltop on the border between the two countries northeast of Bosco, Stella and Isvan, was completely blown apart when a giant black object slammed into it from high in the sky.

The collision was so powerful that instead of rubble rolling down the hillside, it flew off in all directions with enough force to destroy castle walls. Meanwhile, a cloud of dust shot up high enough into the air to be seen for miles. In fact, it had actually drawn attention from several nearby guilds. Luckily, those particular guilds were too far away to get to the scene quickly. Otherwise...

*Roar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*

... there's no doubt that they would have been completely wiped out by Acnologia, whose enraged roar was powerful enough to disperse the dust cloud with its sound waves alone.

Yet, no one alive who had ever seen Acnologia, with Zeref and Irene as exceptions, would have ever imagined seeing the Dragon King of the Apocalypse in the state he was in.

Standing up from the rubble of the hill he landed on, Acnologia's eyes were wide open in rage. On top of that, many of the scales on his head were cracked and oozing blood. Even worse than his head was the injury on his right shoulder, the one that was hit by Alfonzo's [Linear Cannon], as all the scales in the area were completely shattered while bones poked through the flesh that was usually protected underneath. As a result, Acnologia's front right leg was hanging limply as he stood up on his three remaining legs.

Even worse, because of the force behind the rebounded [Giga Flare], throughout his entire flight, Acnologia was completely incapable of righting himself. As a result, when he slammed into the hill, he landed on his back. More specifically, his wings. Meaning, like most of his body, they were also heavily damaged, leaving him without the ability to fly fast or for long distances until they were healed.

"Damn those humans!" Acnologia snarled, his bestial voice rumbling through the surroundings. "If I ever meet them again, I'll make sure to erase them from this world completely!"

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

With his anger boiling over and showing no signs of simmering down, Acnologia unleased spells on the surrounding area, completely flattening the hill he landed on while turning the rest of the area into a wasteland. However, he did manage to calm down some after there was nothing left to destroy.

"Wait... Those Dragon Slayers..." Acnologia murmured as he began to calm down. "Why did they smell so familiar? No, not just the Dragon slayers. Nearly all of those humans had familiar smells. But how is that possible?"

After asking himself that question, Acnologia began looking back through his memories. Eventually, the memory of an island, a pitiful counterattack from a group of humans with four Dragon Slayers in their midst, and the destruction of that island after he got bored of toying with the humans appeared in his memory.

When that happened, Acnologia narrowed his eyes.

"Did they somehow survive?" Acnologia asked himself, his anger beginning to boil once again. "Unbelievable. No human should be strong enough to survive what I did to them back then."

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

With that, Acnologia, once again enraged, began ravaging the wasteland. And once again, because there was nothing left to destroy, his anger calmed quickly.

"I'll just have to see for myself." Acnologia said in a low, dangerous tone. "Because if that island is no longer there, then it must be another group of humans and Dragon Slayers."

Once again, Acnologia's eyes narrowed, a dangerous light shining in their depths.

"And if they did somehow manage to survive, then I won't let them survive our next meeting." Acnologia said as he flapped his wings to take off. "Urgh!"

Yet, before he could get off the ground, Acnologia grunted from the pian flapping his wings caused. He then turned his neck to look at his wings, which, though still intact, were clearly damaged after being crushed under his weight.

"I should heal myself first." Acnologia said quietly. "I won't be able to fly that far with my wings in this condition."

*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*

With that, Acnologia once again flapped his wings, the pain of the action making him wince. Even so, he eventually got airborne before flying off towards Isvan, where he knew there were a number of mountains he could use to rest and recuperate before leaving to find the answers to his questions.

A short while after Acnologia flew away, a man appearing to be in his early twenties wearing black and white clothing while carrying a book with the letters E.N.D. printed on its front cover, seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Looking into the distance where Acnologia flew away, this young man, Zeref Dragneel, the emperor of the Alvarez Empire, spoke to himself in a solemn tone.

"To think there are humans in this day and age who could harm Acnologia this much." Zeref said quietly. He then turned his head in the direction of Bosco as he continued. "And that was after dealing with my bookshelf. Unfortunately, as strong as they are, they will never be able to grant my greatest wish."

Zeref then looked down at the book he held in his right hand. He then raised it to read the cover.

"I'll have to leave all my hopes to you…" Zeref said, an almost tender light flickering in his eyes. "Natsu…"

With that, Zeref stared at the book for a bit longer before turning towards Alakitasia and taking a step forward. However, as he raised his foot, his figure started to fade, almost like someone was erasing his presence. And by the time his other foot touched the ground after his second step, the Black Wizard had disappeared completely.