Branching Timeline

A blinding crimson light, like a boiling fire, swept across the entire land, covering the whole Kingdom of Fiore.

That's Super Magic capable of turning the world upside down.

[High Enchantment Magic: Universe One]

The earth's veins trembled violently as if their very bones had been drained, causing mountains to collapse and rivers to flow backward.

The entire kingdom was kneaded and molded by Irene like clay, reshaped into whatever form she desired.

The once vast and boundless land was compressed twenty times in an instant.

All the continental plates were shattered under the pressure of magic, and then pieced back together into a completely chaotic and bizarre new map.

She reconstructed the landscape of the kingdom; lush trees grew in the northern snowfields, and the southern forests were covered in snow—everywhere was an illogical scene.

Common sense was utterly trampled underfoot at this moment.

With Irene's precise coordinate manipulation, the entire war's landscape was instantly rewritten.

She moved all the Imperial faction members to the vicinity of the Fairy Tail guild, disrupting and scattering the Fairy Tail alliance.

The remaining forces of the Spriggan 12, along with hundreds of thousands of heavily armored soldiers, were neatly arranged around Fairy Tail, completely surrounding the guild.

Meanwhile, the mages from Fairy Tail and its various allied guilds were randomly thrown into the wilderness.

Zeref arrived in front of Mavis as he had hoped.

In the empty Fairy Tail hall, broken wooden tables and chairs were scattered all over the floor.

Inside the Fairy Tail guild, only Mavis and Zeref remained; everyone else had been taken away by Irene.

The black-robed emperor stood quietly before the threshold, looking at the petite blonde girl in front of the sand table, his eyes swirling with complex emotions.

Both Riyao and Acnologia were sent to the ends of the world by Irene, falling from the sky to the sea.

The howling wind and roaring waves filled his ears as Riyao plummeted downwards, his lips twitching involuntarily.

"Speechless, family."

He patted his floral shirt and let out a long sigh.

The dark-skinned youths who were falling side by side suddenly erupted from their bodies with a thick, ink-like dark torrent. The jet-black dragon scales pierced through their flesh, and a pair of sky-covering, dark blue bone wings suddenly unfolded!

Roar!!

Acnologia opened its mouth and bit at the Riyao.

The chilling, interlocking dragon teeth, each ten thousand feet long, with a terrifying bite force capable of crushing gods, slammed down upon it!

Riyao's figure moved like a piece of origami, gliding sideways in a fraction of a second, narrowly avoiding the sharp dragon teeth that grazed his nose.

"Hey, it's not like I threw you this far away!"

Using the downward wind pressure, he did two somersaults in the air and hovered steadily in the midst of the towering waves.

Looking at the raging, roaring black Dragon of the End before him, Riyao's initially mocking gaze gradually darkened.

The words of the White-Haired Riyao echoed in his mind.

That was a fragmented memory that flooded into the depths of his mind the instant he activated [Interwoven Fates] and resonated with his future self—

Year X799.

Seven years have passed since the final battle.

Beneath a gray, deathly silent sky, the entire Continent of Ishgar is overgrown with weeds, and everywhere you look are collapsed ruins and weathered skeletons.

His White-Haired Riyao, his eyes were empty and lifeless.

His long, snow-white hair was dry and brittle like weeds, he wore a tattered gray robe, his left eye was the setting sun, his right eye was the crescent moon, and he was surrounded by an intense, impenetrable aura of Ankhseram's death.

"Riyao! You are doomed to die today!"

The Magic Council's army blocked the path of the White-Haired Riyao.

Thousands of fully armed elite mages of the Magic Council formed a massive army, wielding various magical cannons and forbidden sealing chains, their eyes filled with fear and determination.

The White-Haired Riyao raised his eyes to look at the swarm of ants before him, and waved his staff made of Parasol Tree.

In an instant.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a layer of black and white ripples of time sweeping across the void.

The entire army of the Magic Council was reduced to a bloody mist.

Thousands of lives were stripped of all vitality in half a second, their armor and flesh disintegrating into fine red dust that dissipated with the wind.

The White-Haired Riyao stood in the thick pool of blood, leaning on his staff, his eyes showing not even the slightest ripple of emotion.

There's still a chance.

He looked down at his withered, dry fingers, his voice hoarse like rusty iron scraping against each other.

But I can never go back to the way things were before.

"Zeref, you deserve to die, but you died too soon."

On that original timeline.

In that final battle, Zeref was killed prematurely by Natsu, who had merged with Igneel.

Zeref's death did not bring peace.

Without a leader, the Spriggan 12 descended into madness and rampage, and the Imperial Legion, in grief and frenzy, completely tore away all restraint.

The Spriggan 12 and their massive army utterly overwhelmed the allied forces, escalating the war to a brutal level.

What began as a war to seize the Fairy Heart quickly escalated into a bloody purge on a racial and continental scale.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties.

But an even crueler chain of cause and effect unfolds in the next second.

At the same time as Zeref's death, Natsu also died, and Igneel, who depended on Natsu for survival, also perished.

The entire Kingdom of Fiore was transformed into a hellish inferno.

Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, Crime Sorcière... most of them were killed or wounded.

Corpses littered the fields, and blood flowed like rivers.

Fueled by the intense battle, the Scarlet Despair unleashed its dragon-like savagery on the battlefield, accidentally killing Erza.

As Gray watched his companions die one by one, he too became a demon, indiscriminate in his killing of Ur, Juvia, Ultear, and Silver. They couldn't bring themselves to harm Gray.

Having lost all attachments, the Magic King unleashed his full range of ancient mimicry magic in the center of the battlefield, completely leveling the surrounding area for dozens of miles.

To protect the last few surviving young disciples, Makarov transformed his withered body into the final ray of Fairy Law, and stood there until his heart stopped beating.

Besides...

Wailing and death were the main themes of this final battle.

As all this happened, the White-Haired Riyao and the Black Dragon were transported to the ends of the world by Irene.

The White-Haired Riyao first tried to return using the Celestial Spirit Key, but after failing, it transformed into Azure Dragon Form and charged towards Ishgar.

As a result, they were entangled by the Black Dragon, and the two dragons fought each other.

Acnologia, driven mad, bit down on the Azure Dragon's throat, relentlessly fighting it to the death in the raging storm.

Unable to return to Ishgar.

By the time he finally escaped the Black Dragon and returned to Ishgar, it was too late.

When the Azure Dragon, covered in blood, crashed onto the ruins of Magnolia, all he saw were bones scattered everywhere and charred, broken flags.

The White-Haired Riyao, clutching Mirajane's corpse, frantically cast Life Magic.

Before the resurrection came the curse of the god Ankhseram.

His illusions were shattered completely.

The body in his arms, which had finally regained a sliver of warmth, was completely reduced to ashes in the black mist of the Curse of Contradiction.

The White-Haired Riyao went completely mad, transforming into Azure Dragon to fight a deadly battle with the Black Dragon.

He stopped dodging, stopped defending, and stopped using any techniques.

Relying on its reckless fighting style, it entangled the Black Dragon in a fierce battle for a long time, tearing the Black Dragon to shreds with each claw and bite.

The entire sea was stained deep purple by the Black Dragon's blood. Even with its horns shattered, Azure Dragon broken, and flesh torn, the blue dragon still managed to bite Acnologia's head in two with its chilling dragon teeth.

After the Black Dragon died, the White-Haired Riyao looked towards the Alvarez Empire.

He dragged his battered dragon body step by step toward the Western Continent.

Ironically, Invel suggested that Riyao become the new king.

The White-Haired Riyao laughed out loud, and as he laughed, he slaughtered the entire Alvarez Empire.

He left not a single one of the Spriggan 12 or the Imperial army; he razed the entire Western Continent, turning it into a living hell.

The entire Western Continent was completely erased from the world map.

After he finished doing all this, he didn't go back.

Because Ishgar no longer had that white-haired girl who would smile and hand him red tea, nor those noisy companions who would smash tables.

They wander aimlessly, earning them the title of "moving natural disaster" from the Magic Council.

One day, he felt a little dizzy.

History has been changed.

His eyes lit up again, and he headed straight for the Northern Continent.

"If the key hadn't been lost, if Natsu hadn't killed Zeref prematurely, if they had used Moon Dragon God's blood instead of Minerva's, then everything would have been alright."