The Strongest Demon, E.N.D.!

Gray reached out and pressed down on Natsu's shoulder, who was jumping around wildly. He turned to look at Jiang Bai, his brows furrowed tightly.

"There's actually an existence of this caliber hidden on the mainland?"

"Could this be a hidden tactic by the Magic Council?"

Wendy blinked her clear, big eyes, her face full of curiosity as she waited for what would happen next.

Atlas Flame, suspended in mid-air, also thrust its massive fiery head forward, its eyes, filled with lava, gleaming with extreme astonishment and scrutiny.

He was an ancient god who had fought his way through four hundred years of barbaric warfare.

The dragon frantically searched its mind for all relevant memories of that era.

In that primitive era when humanity lacked Dragon Slayer Magic and could only be slaughtered and fed by dragons, could there truly have been a second human prodigy who defied dragons using other means?!

Faced with his companions' barrage of questions, Jiang Bai raised his right hand and gently scratched the tip of his nose.

"Alright, stop projecting your wild ideas onto those Magic Council members. Those old men sitting in offices can't even catch a sneeze from this giant Fire Dragon, let alone beat it up. They wouldn't even want it as a midnight snack."

"That person... you're actually quite familiar with him."

A meaningful, playful smile played on Jiang Bai's lips, and his calm voice echoed clearly above the altar.

"Zeref, the most vicious black mage in history, the originator and creator of all demons and black magic."

Zeref!!

This taboo name, like a mark etched on the historical tombstones of the entire continent, suddenly popped out.

Lucy gasped in fright, covered her mouth with both hands, and took three steps back.

"Zeff... Zeref?! The progenitor of dark magic from four hundred years ago?!"

"Are you kidding me! Isn't he the villain who only exists in legends and fairy tales?!"

Gray unconsciously clenched his fists, his face becoming unusually solemn.

"If it's that man... then we really can't judge him by common sense."

"Even a calamity demon like Deliora was merely a toy he created while casually flipping through a book..."

Natsu stood there, his hands clenched into fists, flames flickering in his palms, a complex and inexplicable feeling rising within him.

Upon hearing the name "Zeref," the Atlas Flame the Hellfire Dragon, suspended in mid-air, suddenly roared violently across its massive fiery body.

"Zeref... so he's the immortal one cursed by the god Ankhseram."

The dragon raised its massive fiery head and let out a long sigh, a mixture of fear and lament.

"If it is that forbidden being who wields absolute power over life and death through dark magic... then it certainly has the ability to overcome the barriers of Dragon Slayer Magic and drag dragons into the River Styx of death."

Four hundred years ago, that man had already unleashed a reign of terror across the continent.

Atlas Flame lowered his head and stared intently at Jiang Bai.

"However... Lord Jiang Bai is completely different from Zeref."

"Zeref relies on extreme dark magic that strips away the laws of life, while what you have displayed is a pure power that even the ancient gods would marvel at."

Jiang Bai glanced at Freya, who was still in a state of great shock, standing at the bottom of the stone steps.

"Alright, let's end this nostalgic chatter here."

Jiang Bai lightly tapped his toes on the hard altar stone slab, breaking the solemn atmosphere with a casual tone.

"Uncle, those giants frozen solid outside the village are counting on you, their guardian deity, to come to their rescue."

"Quickly spread your fiery essence along the earth's veins and completely melt away the demonic ice of the entire Sun Village in one go."

"We're in a hurry to get back to the guild to collect our bounty."

Freya, who was below the steps, suddenly knelt forward two steps, clasped her hands together in front of her chest, and shouted loudly at the huge fire head in mid-air.

"Guardian Deity! I beg you! Please save this village!"

Atlas Flame's massive, flaming skull slowly turned, and a long column of scorching air billowed from its wide mouth.

"These giants were destroyed because I resided here; I shall personally break the seal upon them."

The massive, fiery body began to compress wildly, and all the remaining flames inside the stone platform flowed upwards, surging into the enormous phantom of the Fire Dragon.

The dragon spread its fiery wings, which blotted out the sky, and roared to the heavens.

"I am Atlas Flame the Hellfire Dragon! The founder and guardian of this village!"

"Today, with the last glimmer of my remaining soul, I will utterly quell the calamity that has frozen this village!"

"I am the guardian dragon of this village!!"

The Roar unleashed a torrent of heat, and the Fire Dragon transformed into a massive net of fire that blotted out the sky. It crashed down from the top of the altar and poured into the depths of the earth through the crisscrossing fissures in the veins.

The crimson torrent of flames spread rapidly along the main street, and wherever it passed, the thick ice covering the soil, stone houses, and trees quickly softened, turning into surging waves that rushed out along the drainage ditches.

The surfaces of those enormous ice sculptures, some reaching tens of meters in height, were cracked with fine lines.

As large swathes of ice crumbled and melted, the giant dragon's Hokage in mid-air began to thin and become transparent, with sparks at its edges peeling away and dissipating like fallen leaves in the sunset.

This is a sign that the soul has burned out.

In the final moment before its form was about to completely vanish into nothingness, Atlas Flame's dragon head, suspended in mid-air, lowered slightly, and a deep, resonant echo carried by the wind to everyone's ears.

"By the way... with the help of this heat, I finally recalled some frozen, fragmented memories."

"The culprit who sealed me in this ice vault... is a rare human Devil Slayer."

"That man mistook me for a demon threatening humanity and unleashed a pure Ice Devil Slayer Magic, plunging me and the entire village into a frozen abyss of absolute zero."

Gray's hands, which were originally clasped to his chest, trembled slightly.

Devil Slayer?

And it's the same ice-attribute Ice Devil Slayer Magic as mine?

Besides Dragon Slayers, there are actually some niche lineages in this world that specialize in slaying demons.

The dragon's almost translucent fiery eyes slowly swept across the void, revealing its final, earth-shattering secret.

"And... when that man was freezing the village, I also heard him muttering the name of a demon."

"The strongest and most ferocious ultimate demon in the Book of Zeref —a being codenamed 'END'."