Charles hadn't expected the farewell to come so soon.
Originally, he had planned to leave only after the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival concluded—but now that plan had been completely thrown off.
He had to admit, Tsukikage Maya's maneuvering was remarkable. Even in such a situation, he managed to persuade the League's headquarters to exclude Charles from the festival.
After all, Charles came from Shindou Temple and stood on the Alliance's side. Since the League wanted to prove itself, it had to defeat Akatsuki Academy using its own members.
And compared to Akatsuki Academy, the League was far more wary of the Alliance.
Thus, the League conveyed through Kuromi Shinguuji that it hoped Charles would compete under their directives during the festival.
But Charles had no intention of being a puppet—much less of throwing matches. So he chose to withdraw from the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival altogether.
Both Tsukikage Maya and the League accepted this result, and Charles decided to leave immediately.
Of course, he told Stella everything—about his powers and the truth of his travels.
To his surprise, Stella was even stronger than he'd imagined. Though she was downcast for a while after learning everything, she quickly bounced back.
She told Charles that before he returned again, she would become stronger.
Charles believed in the resolve of that girl—if she said it, she would surely do it. And he would absolutely return to this world one day.
…
It wasn't his first time traversing worlds anymore—Charles had become quite accustomed to it.
He journeyed through a starry sky composed of countless worlds, finally drawing near the one emanating a familiar aura.
Passing through its outer layer, Charles saw a vast expanse of land.
Once inside, he immediately activated Fire Dragon's Wings to halt his fall and hover midair.
He hadn't forgotten that it was during his passage through the Eclipse Gate that the world-traversing magic was accidentally triggered, sending him elsewhere.
So now, he needed to determine where he was, and more importantly, when he was.
If he remembered correctly, the other side of the Eclipse Gate should have been July 7th, X777. He could only hope he hadn't deviated too far from that time point.
Scanning the landscape from midair, Charles confirmed his direction and flew toward the distant town.
Outside the town, he retracted his flame wings and entered on foot.
Here, he finally learned the answer to his biggest question.
The current year was X784—not too far off, and if he wasn't mistaken, the original story officially began this year.
And this town was Oshibana, one of the most ordinary cities in the Kingdom of Fiore.
For Charles, the most important thing now was to find Natsu. If nothing had changed, Natsu would surely be at the Fairy Tail guild in Magnolia.
Though this world had convenient rail transport with direct trains to Magnolia—
Charles flatly refused.
There was no way he'd subject himself to that torment, and besides, he didn't even have the fare.
So his reason for heading to the station wasn't to ride—but to use it as a launch point to fly along the railway straight to Magnolia.
But as he arrived at Oshibana Station, he found it surrounded by a crowd. More importantly, he sensed a very familiar magical presence inside.
One extremely similar to his own—roughly 70–80% identical in nature.
"Well, isn't this convenient!"
There was no one else in this world who shared that kind of aura. Natsu was here—in the station.
To think, he didn't even need to go to Fairy Tail. He could meet Natsu right here.
Charles couldn't wait to see if his foolish "Onii-chan" had grown into the person he remembered.
He pushed through the crowd and walked straight to the station entrance.
A uniformed guard stepped in to block him.
"Hey! Young man, don't go any further! There's a dark guild causing trouble in there!"
But his hand grasped nothing—Charles had already blinked past him and reached the doorway.
"Thanks for the warning, but I'm really strong."
The guard retracted his hand and watched Charles's back in silence. He could tell this guy wasn't someone who needed protecting.
Inside, Charles found many people in staff uniforms lying on the ground. Clearly, this was the work of those dark guild members.
In this land, all mages who wielded magic were overseen by the Magic Council. Aside from official guilds registered with the Council, there were also dark guilds—those who refused to follow the Council's rules or were stripped of recognition for committing crimes.
The biggest difference between dark and official guilds lay in the jobs they took. Dark guilds performed all kinds of "dirty" work the Council forbade.
That was why, despite Fairy Tail causing more destruction than most dark guilds combined, they were still recognized as an official guild—they still followed the rules (mostly).
Though the damage they caused wasn't that different.
Hunting down dark guilds was also the duty of official guilds. Which was probably why Natsu was here—on a mission.
Charles swaggered into the central hall but didn't see Natsu. Instead, he found a group of people surrounding two girls and a blue cat.
And his sudden entrance drew all their attention.
One girl had long scarlet hair and wore a suit of knightly armor. She quickly called out:
"Young man, please leave at once! A battle is about to begin!"
The blonde girl beside her had her hair tied back, looking exactly like Teacher Anna, who had taught Charles basic magic theory. She even carried Celestial Spirit Keys on her belt.
The blonde spoke up too. "She's right! It's dangerous to stay here!"
And most peculiar of all—the blue cat standing upright, wearing a small pack on its back, suddenly spoke.
"Aye! You'll get blasted away with Erza! But that's weird... I thought Natsu was back!"
Such a distinctive pair of girls and a talking cat—Charles immediately recognized them.
The strongest female mage of Fairy Tail, the Titania: Erza Scarlet. The main heroine of this world and Anna's descendant, wielder of Celestial Spirit Magic: Lucy Heartfilia. And the blue cat, the interdimensional Exceed named Happy, who had been adopted and raised by Natsu.
Charles waved and asked, "I'm looking for someone. Could you tell me where that brat Natsu went?"
Lucy blinked. "Huh? You know Natsu?"
Happy scratched his head. "Aye! Never heard of him before."
Erza furrowed her brow. She said nothing, but her wariness increased. Not knowing if this stranger was friend or foe, she became more alert.
Charles stepped forward. "Looks like now isn't the best time to chat. These guys are the enemy, right? If you don't mind, I'll lend a hand."
Sensing no ill intent from Charles, Erza relaxed a little.
"These people are members of the dark guild Iron Forest. If you're willing to help, we'd be most grateful."
Charles cracked his knuckles. "Got it. Leave the rest to me!"
Erza summoned a magical sword. "This is still our mission. We can't let you handle it alone."
But Charles replied, "I don't know what you've been through, but I can tell your magic is mostly depleted. You should take it easy. These guys aren't even a warm-up."
Lucy suddenly realized, "That's true! Erza used a lot of magic powering the magic vehicle to get here fast. Erza, are you okay?"
Erza shook her head. "Don't worry. I can still fight."
Charles approached the group of obvious small fry mages.
"If you surrender now, I'll let you off easy."
The goons immediately exploded.
"Hey! Brat, are you dreaming?!"
"How arrogant! Do you know who we are?!"
"Bastard! We'll crush you!"
"Even if you beg, we won't forgive you!"
…
Charles picked his ear. Trash talk sounded the same in every world.
"In that case, I won't hold back!"
Flames erupted from his body, making the scarf at his neck billow.
Watching from behind, the two girls and one cat were stunned. That back… looked far too familiar.
"So fast!" Erza, who had been watching Charles carefully, suddenly lost sight of him.
In an instant, Charles appeared among the Iron Forest mages.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Flames shot from both arms as he swung them, blasting away all the surrounding mages.
Lucy's jaw dropped. "That's…?!"
Happy, who knew Natsu best, said, "It's the same Dragon Slayer Magic as Natsu… but even stronger!"
"You little brat!"
The Iron Forest mages charged forward.
Charles kicked the bald one in front with a "Fire Dragon's Talon", sending him flying—right into a cluster of others, knocking them all down.
He caught two incoming weapons with bare hands—flames instantly melted both a morning star and a sword.
The men stumbled forward from the force—only for Charles to grab their heads and slam them into the floor.
"You two… wanna dance, too?" Charles mimicked a certain dancing king.
"Use ranged magic!"
Someone shouted, and they all fired spells at once.
"Fire Dragon's Blazing Flame!"
Charles hurled a torrent of flame that incinerated every single spell—then continued forward, sending the rear ranks flying.
BOOM!
A hole blasted open in the station, half the roof blown clean off.
"Aye! Even the destruction looks just like Natsu!" Happy exclaimed. Lucy nodded vigorously in agreement.
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