Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
June 1, x792.
"I see..." Zeref said while scrutinizing a metal pillar driven into the ground just outside of Magnolia. "This is quite the impressive magic item. To be able to create a barrier with the other pillars then revert everything in the interior back to the moment the barrier was activated. This must be why there was no proof of the battle between Irene and Alfonzo Marcus."
While the Alvarez Empire forces were storming the kingdom from the sea and air, Zeref, having teleported to the town that housed the Fairy Tail guild, was marveling at the barrier anker points driven into the ground around the town, seeming uninterested in the invasion that he started.
"Yes, my new man is quite the talented magic item craftsman."
Calmly, Zeref turned his head in the direction of that voice. And just as he expected, he found Irene at the end of his line of sight, leaning against the pillar with her magic staff, Belserion, in hand. {Pic}
"I didn't expect you to be here." Zeref said calmly as he returned to examining the barrier anker. "I thought you'd be out there dealing with August. The one I expected to face was Alfonzo Marcus."
"IThat's a fairly good guess of our strategy based on the information you probably have." Irene said calmly. "But I doubt you truly understand the powers that the [Soul Armaments] give us."
"Hmm... So, that was what Serena was referring to..." Zeref muttered, the term [Soul Armament] enough to pull his attention away from the barrier anker. "And judging by the name, I suppose that is why Alfonzo Marcus was so certain that he could give me the end I had been searching for."
"More or less." Irene replied. "Unfortunately, he's not here right now. He went out with Mavis."
Irene noticed that Zeref clenched his fist when she mentioned that Alfonzo was with Mavis. Though, she was unsure whether it was because he was jealous that his wife was with another man or because his plan to obtain Lumen Histoire would be more difficult if he did not know where Mavis was. Either way, Irene found his show of emotion amusing.
"Well, that was the easiest way to keep her away from you, after all." Irene said while shrugging her shoulders. "Mavis was actually the one who came up with the idea. She's not sure what you need Lumen Histoire for now that you're no longer cursed, but she did not think it would be anything good."
Hearing that, Zeref's fist unclenched. But at the same time, his brows furrowed.
"She doesn't think it would be good?" Zeref asked with a hint of anger in his tone. "How could going back in time to save my family be bad?"
Zeref then turned to fully face Irene as he continued.
"If they never died in that dragon attack, I would have never been cursed trying to bring Natsu back!" Zeref shouted. "Without the curse, I would have never had to leave mavis! And she would have probably never been cursed either! How is that not good!"
Though she did not show it, Irene was surprised to see Zeref being so emotional. Still, she could only shake her head at his naivety.
"Alfonzo was right." Irene said while continuing to shake her head. "You really do have tunnel vision."
"And what would someone so young know?" Zeref asked with a frown.
"Sure." Irene said as she stepped away from the pillar, the butt end of Belserion tapping against the ground with every step. "Let's say you go back and stop that dragon. Your family lives, and you don't get cursed. Then, you all live until the end of your natural lifespans and die. That would be great for you and them."
"And what's wrong with that?" Zeref asked with his frown deepening.
"Nothing, really." Irene replied with a shrug. "But what about everyone else you affected over the last four hundred years? What about Fairy Tail? Mavis? Your son? The people your brother helped?"
"Hold on!" Zeref said, cutting off Irene with eyes widened in surprise. "What in the world are you talking about? My son? Surely you don't mean Larcade. I only gave him my family name out of a momentary sense of vanity."
At that point, the only thing Zeref and Irene could do was stare at each other, both with confused expressions on their faces. {Pic}
"Wait…" Irene muttered while rubbing the space between her eyebrows. "Are you telling me that even after your curse was removed, that old fool didn't tell you?"
Despite everything, Zeref was not stupid. After hearing Irene refer to his son as an "old fool," he could only think of one person who was in the position to reveal himself as his son.
"You… You're talking about… August, aren't you?" Zeref asked while stumbling back a step. "No, that's impossible! I mean, I could understand if he saw me as a father-figure, but---"
"Nope, that's your son." Irene said, coldly cutting off Zeref's thoughts. "We ran a DNA test. And Zeref… You are… the Father."
The tone Irene spoke in when she made that announcement made Zeref look at her funny. Irene, on the other hand, cringed slightly from embarrassment.
'*Sigh* Watching daytime television in those other worlds has corrupted me.' Irene thought to herself. 'Especially that talk show, "Maury." There are so many DNA tests on that show that I subconsciously announced the results in the same tone he uses.'
Luckily, Zeref had no point of reference for Irene's strange tone. So, he could only stare at her with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Then, after a while, he turned around and started speed walking towards the landing location of the fleet August was in charge of.
"Where are you going?" Irene asked, though she already knew the answer.
"I'm going to find August." Zeref said without turning around.
"*Sigh* And why are you walking?" Irene asked. "Can't you teleport?"
Once again, Zeref froze, a slight flush coloring his cheeks.
"To think, the great Black Wizard is so flustered that he forgot something so simple~." Irene said in a teasing tone.
"I don't have time for your sadism, Irene.": Zeref said as he started to mobilize his magic power.
"Fine, fine~" Irene said while raising her hands in a disarming manner. "But I don't' know if now is the best time to go. Alfonzo is on his way to drop off Mavis right now."
"What?" Zeref asked while spinning in place.
"Yeah, and if you just show up acting all frantic like that, he might attack first and ask questions later." Irene continued. "And I don't think it would look good if you got beat up in front of your wife and son."
"Do you actually think he can defeat me, Irene?" Zeref asked, his tone turning solemn once again. "Just because he can fight you to a stand still does not mean he is strong enough to contend with me."
"Oh, so the spies in the Magic Council even told you that much, huh?" Irene asked in an amused tone.
"If you think my influence was somehow lessened after the old Council was disbanded, you are sorely mistaken." Zeref said in the same solemn tone.
"Oh, I am well aware." Irene replied while rolling her eyes,. "I wasn't dispatched to Ishgar until after the new Council was in place, after all. But just because you have eyes in the Council doesn't mean those eyes can see everything. For example…"
*Voom!*
In the next instant, Irene flared her magic power to its limit. And when she did, Zeref's eyes widened in surprise. Because at that very moment, Irene's magic power was equal to, if not a bit more than, his own.
"How is this possible?" Zeref asked in dumbfounded amazement.
"It's one of the benefits of having a [Soul Armament]." Irene replied with a grin. "But since you're not a member of Fairy Tail, I can't go into the details."
"I see…" Zeref replied, his expression changing to one of deep contemplation.
"But I can tell you this…" Irene continued with a wide smile on her face. "Alfonzo and I did not fight to a standstill."
Catching the cue in Irene's words, Zeref's eyes widened even further.
"He defeated me." Irene said, her tone much prouder than Zeref expected when she reported her loss. "Completely outclassed me, really. When he went all out, I couldn't even react to him."
"That shouldn't even be possible." Zeref said breathlessly. "the ethernano density on Ishgar is too low to create wizards that powerful."
"Hmph!" Irene snorted disdainfully. "You should know that human imagination can make anything possible. And if you saw the training aids that young man came up with over these years, you would probably be wondering just how strong your Spriggan 12 could be if they had it. Well, the human members of the Spriggan 12, anyway. I don't think the Etherious can get any stronger."
That actually got Zeref's attention. Because despite everything he has been through, Zeref is definitely a researcher at heart. Otherwise, he would not have been able to bring his younger brother, Natsu, back from death in the form of an Etherious. Nor would he have been able to create the Etherious in the first place.
"Oh, and now that I mention the Etherious…" Irene said as she turned towards a certain direction. "It looks like the most troublesome of the bunch is on his way here. You won't mind if we take him off the board early, will you?"
Instead of replying immediately, Zeref also turned in the direction Irene was looking. Then, he focused on the powerful magic power signature approaching. And because it was one of the Etherious like Irene said, it did not take long for Zeref to identify it.
"Larcade is already here?" Zeref asked with an eyebrow raised. "He was supposed to be dealing with the defenses first. Did he get bored with that and decide to come to the enemy stronghold on his own?
While Zeref was talking to himself, Irene pulled her lPhone out of her cloak and made a call.
"Rika, Larcade is on his way here." Irene said into the lPhone. "He's coming from the west. Don't let him get too close to the town."
{"Roger that."} Rika replied from the other side of the call. {"Bisca and I will handle it."}
After speaking her piece, Rika ended the call. Then, she turned to the west and looked through her rifle's scope.
"Was that Irene?" Bisca asked as she, too, turned to the west.
"Yeah." Rika replied as she adjusted her rifle's sights. "She said Larcade is coming from the west. We need to put him down before he can get close to the town."
"Definitely." Bisca replied as she started looking for the target, as well. "His magic is a real pain to deal with. And it will get even worse with more people around."
"Exactly." Rika replied as she finally locked onto Larcade's position. "Oh, I found him. Looks like we'll get the chance to try out those new bullets Alfonzo made. Honestly, after they finished off Tartaros, I never thought we'd get to use them."
"Yeah, [Devil Slayer Bullets] are kinda useless without any devils or demons to slay." Bisca replied with a giggle.
"Exactly." Rika added. "but since the Alvarez Empire has two among their ranks, they'll get a proper field test."
"Right." Bisca said as she fell into her focused shooting state. "Well then, let's see how these bullets do against a real demon. I'll take the heart."
"Then, I'll take the head." Rika said as she, too, focused on the shot.
With that, both magic gunners fell silent as they each loaded a [Devil Slaying Bullet] into their rifles' chambers. Then, they slowly moved their trigger fingers towards the rifles' triggers before taking a deep breath in unison. {Pic}
At the same time…
"Well, I asked if you minded, but it wouldn't really matter if you did." Irene said as she put her lPhone away. "All it would mean is that you and I would be fighting until Larcade was dealt with."
"What do you---" Zeref began to ask.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
However, before Zeref could finish asking his question, he was cut off by the sound of gunfire coming from inside the town. More precisely, from the Kardia Cathedral's clock tower. In fact, there were two gunshots he could hear.
A moment later, the magic power signature belonging to Larcade disappeared, causing Zeref's eyes to widen once again.
"Was Larcade just killed?' Zeref asked in a disbelieving tone. "but he was more than three kilometers away. What kind of weapon has that kind of range?"
"Never hold magic items Alfonzo created to the normal standard." Irene said proudly. "And when you pair those weapons with two of the world's best magic gunners, this is what you get."
"Oh well." Zeref said while shrugging his shoulders. "Now that I am no longer cursed, there really is no need for them anymore. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go see August."
"Fine by me." Irene replied. "The Blackbird should have already arrived by now." Iren replied with a shrug. "And if I know Alfonzo as well as I think I do, if there were any soldiers with August, they should have already been incapacitated, too. And if none of them said anything too out there, they should all be alive, as well."
Just before he teleported away, Zeref took a quick glance at Ireen, still having trouble believing that Alfonzo could be as strong as she suggested he was. Either way, he would find out for himself when he arrived at August's location.