"Well, I finally understand your desire to find Mavis."
"It's not realistic to try to stop you..."
"How about this?! Letting you meet Mavis isn't out of the question, but you must agree to two conditions..."
After a moment of silence, Ian finally compromised.
"What conditions? As long as we can do it, we'll agree."
As soon as Ian finished speaking, Yuri and the others' eyes lit up.
"First! Because of the curse, Mavis absolutely cannot appear in crowded places."
"As you said, because Mavis is too kind-hearted, when she's in crowded places, the curse within her will attack people indiscriminately!"
"If you don't want to see Mavis's regret and despair, you'd better not bring her back to Magnolia Town, and especially not back to the Fairy Tail guild..."
Ian stated his first condition.
"The back mountain has few people, we can meet her there."
Yuri said in response.
"The second condition: you can go see Mavis once your strength reaches the 'Heavenly King' level, that is, the realm of 'Inhuman', then you can see Mavis!"
"At that time, your vitality will have greatly increased. Even if you are unfortunately affected by the curse inside Mavis, you won't die immediately. You'll have time to buffer and be rescued."
Ian revealed his second condition to everyone present.
"Heavenly King level? The 'Inhuman' realm?"
Everyone froze upon hearing this from Ian.
"Of course, that's just my term for that realm..."
"To give you a more concrete sense of it..."
While speaking, Ian took out an MPF tester (the machine used during the Grand Magic Games to measure magic power) from his storage space and placed it before them.
"When you can hit a score above 9,999 on this machine without using any super-magic, you'll have basically reached that realm."
Ian smiled as he explained.
"In short, it's for your own good, as well as for everyone's good..."
"Likewise, it's for the sake of Mavis, whom you miss so dearly. Work hard!"
Leaving these words with his hands behind his back, Ian turned and left.
"Above 9999 points, huh?"
After Ian left, Yuri and the others looked at the instrument before them, all silent. It wasn't because they thought it would be difficult to score 9,999 on the MPF tester—after all, they had no concept of what 9999 even meant—but rather because they were currently bound by the black magic chains. They couldn't move at all right now.
"Hey, Senior!"
"Dear, esteemed Senior!"
"We agree to all your conditions..."
"So could you please come back and undo our seals?"
"We're already reflecting on our actions. We beg you..."
After Ian left the hospital room, Yuri and the others started sweating profusely and shouted in all directions.
"Damn it!"
When no response from Ian came, Yuri and the others shouted helplessly.
As for Ian, after leaving the hospital room, looking at his gradually fading body, he muttered: "I originally planned to connect Mavis's and Precht's simulations, but it seems that won't work! Was President Mavis's only regret from the beginning just the death of Rita and Yuri? It seems she never intended for me to find her. Indeed, as Senior Yuri said, she's too kind-hearted."
"Buzz!!"
After saying this, Ian's body transformed into countless starlights and soared into the sky.
Half a month after Ian left the Fairy Tail infirmary.
April of the year X696.
Only then did Yuri, Precht, and Warrod work together to decode the black dark magic text and free themselves from their conjoined state, finally regaining their mobility.
In the same month, the three of them exerted all their strength, each using their most powerful magic to attack the MPF machine Ian had left behind—a machine far ahead of its time.
And so, their respective scores were: Yuri 3,600, Precht 3,900, and Warrod 3,200.
"Say, what score did Senior say we needed to pass again?!"
Yuri fell silent looking at the numbers on the machine.
"I think it was 9,999..."
Warrod broke out in a sweat, also falling silent.
"In any case, let's train hard!"
Finally, Yuri muttered.
"That's all we can do."
Warrod lowered his head weakly.
"Am I really this weak?"
Precht looked at his hands and sighed.
In Precht's eyes, although Ian hadn't shown his strength, he must've surpassed that so-called "Inhuman" realm.
In other words, the gap between him and Ian was at least two to three times over?!
"I must become stronger..."
"I must pursue the essence of magic."
At this moment, a deep desire for power awakened in Precht's heart for the first time.
If Ian knew he'd given Precht a push toward darkness, he would have given a single-handed thumbs-up and said, 'Nicely done!'"
Meanwhile.
Time jumped forward eighty-four years to X780.
Pitter-patter...
The rain was getting heavier in the sky.
Before the grave of Yuri Dreyar, the founder of the Fairy Tail guild, more and more people gathered.
They had come to pay their respects to Yuri.
Rumble!
At that moment, a golden lightning bolt seemed to flash across the sky overhead.
"Laxus, don't make thunder on a day like this."
Makarov looked at his rebellious grandson by his side, scolding him.
"It wasn't me."
Laxus shook his head. He had nothing to do with that lightning.
"Hmm?!"
Hearing this, Makarov suddenly felt a vague sense of unease.
"Hahaha..."
"Yo! Everyone, long time no see!"
While everyone was astonished, accompanied by hearty laughter, Yuri—who was supposed to be dead—descended from the sky stepping on lightning, appearing before everyone in what he considered a super-cool pose.
"Eh?"
"Y-You're Yuri?!"
Mavis looked at the 'handsome' old man before her with short white hair wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shock flashing in her eyes as she exclaimed.
"Yup! I'm the genuine Yuri Dreyar!"
"Long time no see, Mavis."
Yuri looked at Mavis, smiling as he greeted her.
In an instant, the four founders of the Fairy Tail guild - Yuri, Warrod, Precht, and Mavis - were reunited once again.
"Yuri, weren't you dead?"
Mavis looked at Yuri before her and asked in shock.
"So you are allowed to come back to life, but I'm not allowed to?!"
"Aren't you being too domineering, Princess..."
Hearing this, Yuri teased Mavis.
"No, that's not what I meant..."
Mavis hurriedly tried to explain, her expression anxious.
At the same time, Mavis's vision blurred for a moment, as if she saw the young Yuri from those days—decisive, strong-willed, and hot-tempered.
"Haha, I'm just kidding..."
"After that incident back then..."
"Precht, Warrod, and I joined forces to break the curse of Ankhseram! We refused to believe there was a curse with no solution. After all, someone once told us that there's no such thing as 'absolute' magic in this world."
"But information about Ankhseram's curse either lies in the Magic Council's ERA library or in various major powers' forbidden archives. These aren't places normal mages can access."
"To obtain this information, someone had to go undercover, infiltrating these libraries and stealing books. To avoid implicating Fairy Tail, I had to fake my death, hide in the shadows, and raid these major powers' archives..."
Yuri explained helplessly.
"After all, among Fairy Tail's founders, I'm the only one who got married and had a child, leaving descendants. Making some sacrifices was worth it."
"Plus, even though Precht turned out to be somewhat unreliable, he was chosen by you, Mavis, as the second Guild Master of Fairy Tail!"
"So Rita and I entrusted Makarov and the guild to Precht and set off to find a way to lift Ankhseram's curse."
"But what I never expected was that Warrod and Precht would stay single for their entire lives!"
"Had I known, I would've let them be the ones to fake their deaths..."
Yuri loudly complained.
"Yuri, you old rascal, you're still so impulsive at your age,"
Just as Yuri finished speaking, a well-maintained noblewoman with long silvery hair—looking about fifty or sixty, but very elegant—stepped out from the rain, holding an umbrella. She approached the group of Mavis, Warrod, Precht, and Yuri.
"Rita, is that you?!"
Mavis looked at the newcomer, shocked.
"Long time no see, Mavis..."
Rita gazed at Mavis with gentle eyes. Under her bright gaze, one could vaguely see glistening tears.
"Rita, Yuri, Precht, Warrod, I love you all so much!"
Mavis finally showed a radiant smile. Ever since she had been forcibly awakened from her grave on Tenrou Island by Fairy Tail's mages, she had never smiled so brightly. She threw herself into Rita's arms, shouting excitedly.
"We love you too, Mavis..."
Rita, Yuri, Warrod, and Precht exchanged glances and spoke softly.
"Hey! Everyone, this is such a rare moment. How about taking a family photo?!"
"I have a camera that can even capture souls, which means we can record Mavis and all of us together. It's a magical camera..."
Meanwhile, before starting Precht's simulation to save August, Ian suddenly appeared at Yuri's grave. Holding a camera endowed with the ability to photograph souls and thought-forms, he waved at Mavis and the others.
"Ian, you even prepared something like that?!"
Mavis and the others were amazed.
"Of course,"
Ian said, smiling.
"In that case, everyone gather around!"
At Ian's suggestion, everyone—who had been solemnly paying respects and holding umbrellas—discarded their umbrellas. They clustered around Mavis, Warrod, Precht, Yuri, and Rita, pushing Makarov, who was forcibly placed in the center, all facing Ian's camera, shouting, "Cheese!"
At the next moment of pressing the shutter, Ian joined the group.
"Three, two, one..."
Floating in midair, the camera waited three seconds before a "click" sounded, capturing everyone's expressions.
A true Fairy Tail guild family portrait was finally taken.
"Makarov, I can't believe you've grown so big?!"
After taking the family picture, Yuri somehow slipped over to Laxus, gently patting him on the shoulder as he spoke.
"Great-grandfather, I'm Laxus Dreyar, your great-grandson."
Laxus fell silent for a moment. He had heard that his great-grandfather wasn't very reliable and had a personality similar to his own, though more lively, but he hadn't expected him to be unreliable to this extent - no matter how you look at it, he couldn't be his grandfather Makarov, right?!
"What?!"
"You're my great-grandson?"
Yuri looked at Laxus, his expression shocked beyond belief.
"Then where's my son Makarov?"
Then, Yuri looked around and asked loudly, ignoring everyone else.
"Fa-father..."
"Actually, I've been here all along."
Makarov, now old and balding, raised his hand after hearing Yuri's question, signaling to him.
Yes, even Makarov himself had no idea that his father, Yuri Dreyar, was still alive. Precht and Warrod had done an excellent job keeping that secret. According to them, if they couldn't even fool their own people, how could they deceive others?
"Makarov, how did you get so old?"
Yuri asked, shocked.
"Well, you've been dead..."
"I mean, you've been 'fake dead' for eighty years."
"Of course I'm old!"
Makarov replied helplessly.
In Makarov's memories, his father Yuri Dreyar passed away when he was about three or four years old (X700), old enough to speak and remember things. He never imagined that one day his father would suddenly come back to life.
What's it like when your parents suddenly come back after eighty years? Makarov himself was utterly stunned.
However, Makarov did not blame Yuri and Rita for their "irresponsibility." After all, once you join Fairy Tail, you have a responsibility not only to your family but also to everyone in the guild. Learning that Yuri and Rita left Fairy Tail to avoid implicating the guild in the mission to resurrect Mavis, and thus left him, Makarov felt no resentment—he even felt proud.
See, he always said his parents were the best.
"By the way, Makarov..."
"Where is my grandson Ivan? Why don't I see him around?"
Just as Makarov was moved by Yuri and Rita's deeds, Yuri asked another question that stung.
"Don't bring up that bastard. I have no son like him."
Makarov's face changed dramatically, speaking angrily.
"What happened?"
Yuri still had no idea what Ivan had done or planned to do.
"That bastard Ivan, he's planning to seize the 'Lumen Histoire.'" Makarov looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then put his mouth close to his father Yuri's ear, deliberately lowering his voice to whisper: "Of course, I'm also at fault for letting Ivan know about the guild's highest secret that should only be known to Fairy Tail's successive masters! But someone who would hurt their companions to seize the 'Lumen Histoire' has no right to stay in Fairy Tail - I expelled him from the guild."
"I see..."
"My long absence from the guild neglected my grandson's education."
"When I catch him, I'll straighten him out good and proper."
Yuri frowned, speaking gravely.
"By the way, Father, why did you suddenly return to the guild?!"
Makarov suddenly thought of something and asked Yuri.
"Nothing much. The other day, while reading the newspaper, I saw that you all went to the capital Crocus of the Kingdom of Fiore, demolished the centuries-old Domus Flau stadium, and yet the King didn't punish you! Considering what you've been up to, I figured the shady things I did over the years aren't that big of a deal. So I just came back."
Yuri patted Makarov's shoulder, grinning.
"Ah...this..."
Makarov was silent. A bad feeling arose in him. He sensed that his father might be incredibly unreliable, likely a troublemaker of the highest order.
"This..."
When Makarov thought about how his father Yuri Dreyar would likely bring Second Master Precht, First Master Mavis, and Senior Warrod around causing trouble everywhere under the banner of the Fairy Tail mage guild in the future, and as their junior he couldn't scold or criticize them, he felt exhausted.
"Makarov, don't worry! Mother will always support you."
Rita approached Makarov, gently patting his shoulder and speaking softly.
"Don't support me!"
Makarov looked at his gentle mother and felt utterly exhausted.
A troublemaking father, a mother who fans the flames, a delinquent son, and a rebellious grandson, with only himself acting responsibly—give him a break!
Is it a mistake to be too understanding?