Since the battlefield had been the Eastern Plains, there were not many serious losses.
At most, the Eastern Plains could probably be renamed the Eastern Grand Canyon now.
Ultear decided to restore it with Arc of Time, while the Magic Council provided enormous lacrima crystals as support.
With a supply of Magic Power available, she did not need to worry about running dry.
Besides, the Eastern Plains were mostly grassland, so the cost of restoring them was relatively small.
Ultear pushed Arc of Time to its limit, and nearly a hundred white Magic Circles appeared above the Eastern Plains.
The destruction had simply been too great.
A battle between dragons was practically no different from reshaping the terrain itself, so restoring it would take some time.
...
Two days after the Tartaros War—
The betrayal of the former Magic Council chairman placed yet another scandal over the Council's head.
On top of that, the new councilors who had only been selected in the middle of the year had all died.
A new Council was reorganized under the leadership of the Four Gods of Ishgar.
Because Jellal had contributed greatly during the battle against Tartaros by protecting former councilors such as Org and Belno, and because he was still currently one of the Organic Link Magic keys to F.A.C.E., his and Meredy's arrest warrants were withdrawn.
Org and Belno returned to their positions as councilors.
Jellal and Precht also became new members of the Council.
Yes.
Precht.
Aside from Fairy Tail's members, only Jellal and Meredy knew that Precht had once been the guild master of Grimoire Heart.
Among the former Oración Seis, only the now-dead Brain had ever seen Precht, and even then, he had only seen him wearing the horned helmet as Hades.
Brain did not even know that he had been Fairy Tail's second guild master.
Hades, wearing that horned helmet, had a completely different presence from the reformed Precht of today.
Hades's eyes had been cold, sinister, and ruthless.
Precht, by contrast, looked like a wise old scholar.
With Warrod Sequen's recommendation, Precht became one of the new councilors and also took on the title of one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
If they judged purely by strength, then Precht with his Devil's Eye open would be qualified to become the second seat among the Four Gods of Ishgar.
But the current Precht no longer cared about that.
What he wanted to do now was atone.
As for the first seat, Precht had never fought God Serena, so he could not say who was stronger between them.
Looking at the current Ten Wizard Saints, one would not realize it without counting—but once counted, it was honestly shocking.
Warrod, Precht, Jellal, Ur, Jura, and Makarov.
They were all on the same side.
The three Organic Link Magic keys for F.A.C.E. had now been modified by Raizel using Super Archive Magic.
One key was with Jellal.
One was with Raizel.
The last was with Laxus.
And so, Raizel and Laxus became honorary councilors.
Unlike the chairman and the nine councilors, they did not need to attend regular meetings.
In practice, their function was quite similar to the Ten Wizard Saints: when Ishgar faced a crisis, they would step in.
As for the former Oración Seis, the ones Doranbolt had asked permission to release had been approved by the Four Gods of Ishgar.
After Cobra, Sorano, and the others left the Council prison, they joined the fight against Tartaros, and with that, they had already been granted their freedom.
Jellal proposed that he lead Cobra, Sorano, and the others.
With Warrod Sequen's approval, Jellal and Meredy personally went to persuade them.
Richard and Sorano quickly switched to Jellal's side and helped with the persuasion.
Cobra, Racer, and Midnight were also moved by Jellal's determination and sincerity.
In the end, they decided to join under Jellal's command, which meant they were now technically affiliated with the Magic Council as well.
At present, they were mainly stationed at the Council branch in the Kingdom of Fiore.
The reason was simple: it was close to Magnolia.
In the past, joining the Council might not have been a great choice.
But now, with Warrod Sequen and Jellal there, along with Wizard Saints like Jura, Ur, and Makarov, joining the Council might actually be a pretty good option.
No matter what, the Magic Council still represented the righteous side of Ishgar.
...
Everyone had their own things to do.
Gray decided to send Silver's remains back to the northern lands and bury him together with his mother.
Juvia secretly followed him.
After arriving in the north, Juvia also told Gray that she had been the one to kill Keyes.
The thing she feared—being hated by Gray—did not happen.
Instead, Gray leaned against her and covered his face as he cried.
Kneeling before his parents' graves, Gray swore, "I will defeat E.N.D. with my own hands."
...
Makarov and Ur went to the Magic Council to report on the battle.
The greatest beneficiaries of this battle were Natsu, who had obtained Fire Dragon King Mode—though he still needed to train it—Gray, who had inherited Ice Devil Slayer Magic, and Mira, who had taken over the Nine Demon Gates and the Underworld King.
Mira could now transform into Mard Geer's Etherious Form as well, though the Take Over looked rather like she was wearing a tight bodysuit.
Her figure in that form was honestly a little criminal.
Of course, the most criminal one was still her Take Over of Seilah!
Raizel's evaluation was simple: Beautiful. Love it. More, please!
Having taken over the Nine Demon Gates and Mard Geer, Mira now had something of Grim Reaper Bloodman's vibe.
People could call her 'Grim Reaper' Mira.
But Raizel always felt that Mira was stronger.
In the future, Bloodman might as well be called 'Mira's bitch' instead.
Most importantly, Mira was not affected by Zeref's brainwashing or any gene-level instinct.
She had merely obtained the Nine Demon Gates' abilities.
As for the Nine Demon Gates themselves, their bodies and souls were already completely gone.
After being taken over by Mira, the books of the Nine Demon Gates and the Underworld King all turned to ash.
And then there was Raizel.
He might have gained the most.
He had received the soul power of all five dragons, including Igneel, resulting in an outright epic-level enhancement.
It could even be said that if he met the Black Dragon Acnologia now, he would have a real chance of killing him.
Especially since Blackie had lost one arm to Igneel's desperate final attack, suffered serious wounds, and had his strength reduced again.
...
"What is this?!!!"
Lucy had been humming a song when she returned home, only to find the lights on inside.
At first, she thought Natsu and Happy were launching another surprise ambush.
But instead, all she found was a letter Natsu had left behind.
The letter was full of scribbles that looked like ghost writing, along with the only sentence she could actually understand.
[Happy and I are going on a training journey. We'll probably be back in about a year, so please tell everyone for me. See you, Lucy.]
When Lucy brought the letter to the guild and showed it to everyone, Raizel wore an expression that said he had expected this.
"The power Igneel left him can only be mastered through training. We'll just have to wait until he comes back and pray for him."
The Book of E.N.D. was still with Raizel.
Raizel had originally planned to deal with that hidden danger first.
He had not expected Natsu to run off so quickly.
It was only the second day!
Natsu was not worried about the Book of E.N.D. either. Igneel had said that it could be left with Raizel for the time being.
When Raizel and Igneel were fighting Acnologia in the sky, Raizel had already sent Igneel a message.
He told Igneel that he knew Natsu was E.N.D., and that he had a way to sever the connection between Natsu and E.N.D.
Of course, as for actually cutting that connection...
Raizel was a hands-off manager.
That part would have to be left to Lucy and Levy to study and solve.
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