The Eve of the Final Battle

On the hilltop behind Magnolia, a fierce wind whipped up pebbles and blades of grass, sending them flying everywhere.

Neinhart stood on the edge of the guild's dilapidated roof, his hands pressed to his chest, muttering incantations.

Thick, purplish death energy surged in his palm, and the shadows on the ground twisted and turned, slowly crawling out three figures.

God Serena, with her twin ponytails, shook her head; the deadbeat Bloodman was shrouded in black mist; and the innocent-looking Jacob adjusted his sunglasses.

Neinhart wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, the magic circle in his palm lit up again, and he made a few grabbing motions in the void, but apart from a cold wind, there was no sound at all.

"Ajeel and Dimaria are both still alive, Wahl is considered alive in this situation?"

Zeref stood at the guild's threshold, looking down at the small, cold-looking glass bottle in his hand.

The bottle contained a pale blue core spark belonging to Wahl the Mechanical Spriggan, its internal data stream flickering wildly, stuck between a crash and a restart.

Zeref looked at the bottle in his hand, then suddenly crushed it to pieces.

With a crisp sound, the glass bottle turned into crystalline powder, and the core spark was exposed to the air. It was then gently extinguished by the death energy in the black-robed emperor's palm.

Wahl, who had only crashed, was now truly dead, and Neinhart successfully summoned Wahl's phantom.

Wahl scratched his head, completely unaware of how his system had crashed. The memories of the deceased phantom also depended on the summoner's understanding of the deceased.

Meanwhile, atop a towering cliff not far from the guild.

The terrain here has been raised hundreds of meters by Irene, and standing on the edge of the cliff, you can see the entire basin below.

"The guild has moved to a mountain, where the Imperial army is gathered in a basin below."

Erza knelt on one knee on the edge of a protruding rock, holding up her binoculars to observe the situation at the guild.

The valley floor was filled with a massive black army, spears like a forest, heavy armor like a mountain, and battle flags fluttering in the wind.

Erza put down her binoculars and turned to look at her companions behind her.

"According to the intelligence, there should only be six Spriggan left now. The four extra ones should be the phantoms of the dead summoned by Neinhart, whom I encountered before."

Those around them exchanged bewildered glances, all feeling that the magic of the Spriggan 12 was increasingly unreasonable.

"They're even dragging out a dead person to fight again? That's just too shameless!"

Gray put his hands in his pockets and kicked at the gravel with his toes.

Mages from various guilds gradually gathered on the cliff. Although their faces showed signs of fatigue from the journey, their magical power surged within them.

Lucy tiptoed and scanned the crowd.

"Natsu, Happy, and Igneel haven't returned yet?"

"We've made contact. When the situation changed, they were in the air; now they're at sea and are heading this way."

Warren took a moment to reply to Lucy, pressing two fingers to his temples as he contacted the members who hadn't yet arrived.

A strong gust of wind blew by.

The clouds overhead were torn apart, and thick vines wove together to form enormous dragon wings. The massive body of the All-Creation Giant Dragon parted the thick clouds and descended.

Soil and grass clippings were lifted several meters high by the airflow.

Lucy was startled and hurriedly backed away.

She covered her windblown hair and shouted towards the top of the dragon head.

"Hey, what are you doing, you idiot?! So blatantly doing this, aren't you afraid they'll spot you?"

"What are you thinking? It's only this short distance; the enemy has already spotted us. They're giving us time to regroup and start the final battle."

Riyao rolled his eyes at her, slowly stood up from the dragon head, and casually patted the dust off his floral shirt.

With so many people here, and their combined magical power so immense, do they think we're blind?

It's obvious that the opposing side is waiting on the mountaintop for Fairy Tail to gather all their forces before launching a decisive battle.

The All-Creation Giant Dragon lowered its wings gently, and Mirajane jumped off and ran to All-Creation Giant Dragon 'Erza side.

She had an excited smile on her face, her bright blue eyes sparkling, and her hands behind her back.

"Erza, Riyao said he saw your mom!! She's right across the street!"

The once noisy cliffs are now so quiet you can hear the wind.

Gray's half-undressed clothes got stuck on his shoulder, Cana's wine bottle, which was hanging in mid-air, stopped, and the carrot in Lily's hand fell directly to the ground.

The silence didn't last long.

"Ah!!"

A gasp of amazement echoed through the sky.

"Erza's mother?!"

"Erza has a mother? No, the important thing is that the person opposite her has her mother?!"

The group of guild members started jumping up and down, causing chaos on the cliff.

Brandish was sitting in a corner of the guild, rolled her eyes.

These idiots.

At this moment, Erza stood frozen on the edge of the cliff, her binoculars crushed to pieces in her hand.

Erza's mind went blank; she was clearly deeply affected by Mirajane's words.

What?

I have a mother?

So who is my father?

Am I not an orphan?

Orphaned at a young age, she lived in an unknown village before being captured and taken to the Tower of Heaven. Later, after joining the guild, she made it her only home.

Now, out of the blue, you tell her that she has a mother she's never met.

In just a few seconds, countless thoughts flashed through Erza's mind.

She slowly turned her head and stared intently at Riyao.

"Yes, it really is your mom. The essence of life is almost exactly the same, just like Cana and Gildarts."

Riyao spread his hands, his tone somewhat casual.

When Cana heard Riyao talking about the past, she was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

If that bastard hadn't exposed my identity back then, I wouldn't have to have my face pricked by my stinky old man's stubble every day.

She thought for a moment and then threw out a card, directly at Riyao.

Riyao reached out and slapped open the card.

It smacked and landed on Lucy's face.

"Waaah! It's me again!" Lucy covered her face, tears welling up in her eyes.

Erza stared blankly in the direction of the guild, unsure of how she was feeling.

This is the first time I've realized I have a mother; it's such a strange feeling.

A strange, indescribable feeling welled up deep in my chest, a mixture of sourness and bloating.

Riyao raised an eyebrow and reached out to pat her shoulder.

He cleared his throat, deliberately lowering his voice to an extremely kind tone.

"Child."

"Mom..."

Erza instinctively cried out, then realized her mistake and became furious, her fair cheeks instantly turning bright red Requip two longswords into her hands.

"You bastard, die!"

The wind from the sword tore through the air as Erza swung her longsword with both hands, chasing after Riyao and hacking wildly.

Riyao picked up Mirajane and ran, leaving the girl in his arms speechless.

"If you're going to run away, why did you have to take me with you? I was making arrangements for the battle."

Riyao deftly dodged the attack by stepping on the rocks, and replied confidently.

"When someone runs away, they usually take everything with them, right?"

Mirajane smiled helplessly and buried her face in his shoulder.

The tense atmosphere before the battle on the cliff was largely dispelled by this sudden commotion.