Ten minutes earlier.
On the Alakitasia Continent.
In the capital of the Alvarez Empire.
On the top floor of the imperial palace castle in Vistarion.
Zeref, under the alias Spriggan, stood alone on the spacious balcony.
He wore a black high-collared robe, the long white cloth fluttering faintly in the night wind.
His deep, cold black eyes quietly gazed up at the boundless starry sky, as if lost in thought.
"Anna and Natsu should have arrived in this era by now."
Zeref's thin lips parted slightly.
He murmured softly in a voice only he could hear.
Today was July 7, X777, the day the sun and moon met.
The Eclipse Gate he had created four hundred years ago to "return to the past and kill his younger self" would be opened tonight by the combined efforts of two Celestial Spirit mages.
It was a gate that could connect the past and the future.
A few minutes later.
Zeref keenly sensed five familiar magical presences suddenly appear in the direction of the distant Ishgar Continent.
When he felt Igneel's presence among them, A faint smile, rare for that usually expressionless face, appeared on it.
It was the anticipation of finally seeing the first light of hope after crossing four hundred years of time.
However.
Before that smile could fully bloom, A sudden change occurred.
Zeref abruptly discovered that his consciousness had grown blurry.
His spirit seemed to be torn away in an instant by some irresistible mighty force.
Before this man, known to the world as the "founder of black mages," could make any response, The night sky and the scene of the palace before his eyes twisted like rippling water.
When his vision cleared once more, He found himself already seated before a peculiar Star Round Table.
Faced with this