Conspiracy! The Shadow from the Future

Night had completely enveloped the streets of the royal capital, Crocus.

While Jiang Bai was still working hard.

At the same time.

Deep within the royal palace of the Kingdom of Fiore.

The heavy mahogany door was gently pushed open.

The royal guards, clad in gleaming silver armor, strode into the main hall, their iron boots making a crisp, rhythmic sound on the polished floor tiles.

The soldier walked through the ornately decorated corridor, knelt on one knee, and presented a gilded scroll with both hands.

"Your Highness, the results of the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games have been compiled."

Princess Hisui E. Fiore, the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Fiore, sat at her desk and closed the book in her hands.

Princess Hisui did not look up at the scroll.

Have there been any changes to the standings?

The Imperial Guard soldiers lowered their heads even further.

"Your Highness, there has been no situation where they have overtaken others."

Fairy Tail scored a perfect score again in the afternoon's doubles battle, bringing their total score to 55 points, maintaining their first-place position.

"The second-place team, Blue Pegasus, only has thirty-one points, and the gap between the two sides has widened to twenty-four points."

Princess Hisui tapped her fingers lightly twice on the table.

"I understand. Leave the documents here, you may leave."

"Yes, Your subordinate takes his leave!"

The soldier placed the scroll neatly on the edge of the long table, quickly stood up, bowed his head, and backed out of the hall, closing the heavy wooden door behind him.

The door's locking mechanism clicked softly as it closed.

The only sound in the entire palace was the occasional crackling of candlelight.

Suddenly, without warning, the shadow in the corner of the hall began to twitch.

The once smooth stone ground now rippled with black waves, like the surface of water.

A tall, slender figure slowly emerged from the black water.

The man was covered from head to toe in a large, heavy black hooded cloak, his face completely hidden in the deep shadow of the hood, and even his knuckles were wrapped in dark cloth.

The man in black robes stepped out of the shadows and stopped five steps in front of the beaded curtain.

The man in black robes broke the silence by speaking first.

"How is it, Your Highness?"

"I hope my previous account of the situation's development was accurate."

Princess Hisui did not stand up; her hands rested flat on the edge of the rosewood table.

"Before the first day of the competition, I really found it hard to believe what you were saying."

Princess Hisui recounted her previous emotional journey.

"Because for the past seven years, Fairy Tail has consistently held the last place position."

"Moreover, after the Tenrou Island incident, all of their guild's top combatants went missing."

"How could a down-on-its-luck guild that has lost all its core members possibly sweep through the kingdom's top teams in just a few days?"

Princess Hisui raised her head, her gaze passing over the beaded curtain to the man in black robes.

But things are different now.

"All the key members who had been missing for seven years returned to the capital unharmed."

"More importantly, among the contestants is Jiang Bai, a figure of unfathomable strength."

"Given Fairy Tail's current dominance, their crushing victory to claim first place is a perfectly reasonable and realistic outcome."

Princess Hisui pushed aside the official documents in front of her.

The only reason I'm still willing to listen to you now is because, before the tournament started, you accurately predicted that Fairy Tail's main players would all return to participate this year.

"Besides this, there's no proof that the other doomsday prophecies you mentioned are true."

The man in black stood still, offering no rebuttal to these questions.

Beneath the shadow of the hood, the man in black robes repeated the name he had just heard in a low voice.

"Jiang Bai..."

After a brief pause, the man in black robes raised his right hand and made a gesture in front of him.

"That mage named Jiang Bai is indeed extremely powerful in individual combat, even far exceeding the level of a normal human mage."

The man in the black robe spoke with extreme gravity.

"However, he alone cannot save this world from destruction."

"The catastrophe that is about to descend will be far more brutal than any mortal can imagine."

"Before that horde of monsters that blot out the sky, any individual's bravery is nothing more than a moth drawn to a flame."

The man in black robes took a step forward, approaching the beaded curtain.

"The only person who could truly save this country and the lives of millions has always been you, Princess Hisui."

"Only by relying on the miraculous gate passed down through generations of the royal family can the outcome be completely reversed before disaster strikes."

A brief stalemate ensued in the main hall.

The man in black robes slowly withdrew his arms, pulling his hands back into the wide sleeves of his cloak.

"There's still a buffer period before the final moment; you have plenty of time. You can stay here and consider it at your leisure."

The man in black robes took half a step back, his body once again drawing closer to the shadow on the ground.

"Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, the world I originally lived in was reduced to scorched earth by the claws of the black dragon and its horde, and all my companions perished."

"To change this predetermined, hopeless future, this is the third time I've traveled through time to this point to offer my advice."

This is our last hope.

"The fate of the entire Kingdom of Fiore, and indeed all of humanity on this continent, now rests entirely on your decision."

The words had barely left his mouth.

The shadow beneath the black-robed man's feet suddenly rolled upwards.

The entire pitch-black body instantly transformed into a scattered wisp of inky mist, disappearing completely into the darkness between the stone slabs and bricks.

The main hall was once again empty.

Princess Hisui sat at the desk, gripping the armrests of the chair tightly with both hands.

The horrific destruction of the future, dragons that blot out the sky, and thousands upon thousands of collapsed city walls.

The terrifying scenes the other party had described earlier weighed on my heart like huge rocks.

Princess Hisui stood up, walked to the huge map of the capital, and fell into a long and intense internal struggle.

However, Princess Hisui was unaware of this.

The black-robed figure who claimed to have traveled through time and space had never actually left the enormous palace.

In the shadow of a load-bearing beam at the top of the main hall, the man in black robes stared intently at Princess Hisui.

The man in black robes needed to personally monitor the princess's every move.

We must ensure that the launch plan for the Eclipse Gate proceeds according to the established track, and absolutely no deviations are allowed along the way.

But under Hidden of surveillance, the man in black robes was lost in a frenzy of thoughts.

Jiang Bai.

This name is like an indelible thorn, looming over the core of the man in the black robe.

Why?

The man in black robes had already mentally rehearsed the original timeline he had experienced countless times.

In that future filled with despair and death, Fairy Tail did indeed make a powerful comeback in the Grand Magic Games.

Natsu, Gray, Erza, Laxus.

Every familiar name died or was crippled in the fierce battle against the dragons.

But this man named Jiang Bai was the only one who left no trace in any of the black-robed man's past fragments of memory.

This person seems to have appeared out of nowhere, as if they had emerged from a crack in history.

Why wasn't he included in the original history?

Why is someone with the power to instantly kill the Ten Wizard Saints completely unknown in the future Dragon King Festival War?

The man in black robes clenched his fingers, forcibly suppressing the unease deep within his mind.

During the few days he infiltrated the capital to gather intelligence, the man in black robes also secretly reviewed the secret files that the Magic Council transferred to the royal archives.

The top-secret report, signed by the highest-ranking senator, recorded the final conclusions of the Tenrou Island incident in black and white.

The case file claims that Jiang Bai, the special advisor to the Magic Council, directly confronted the Black Dragon Acnologia in the waters off Tenrou Island and forced him to retreat.

"Absolutely absurd."

The man in black robes let out a chilling sneer in his heart.

Can humans defeat the black dragon head-on?

That's Acnologia, the ultimate destroyer who slaughtered the entire Dragon Continent, turning all dragons into nourishment.

The man in black robes had witnessed the despairing scene when Acnologia descended; it was a power beyond human comprehension.

That file was a fabricated propaganda tactic by Magic Council to maintain its rule and cover up its incompetence on Tenrou Island.

There is a limit to the extent of human magic.

No matter how strange Jiang Bai's methods were, he was still just a mortal at heart.

Dragons can only be defeated by dragons.

The man in the black robe closed his eyes beneath his hood, and a faint, violent surge of dragon magic emanated from his palm.

"Whether it's a variable or a pretender."

"The Eclipse Plan must proceed smoothly."

No one can stop my future.