Although Deliora self-destructed directly, that didn't mean the S-Class mission was completed.
To explain, the curse on Galuna Island wasn't caused by Deliora, but by the overflowing energy from the Moon Drip ritual and the true identity of the island's inhabitants.
Charles explained it this way to the others: "Now that the Moon Drip ritual is over, its source has vanished. All that's left is to eliminate the side effects!"
Like a grade schooler, Natsu raised his hand and asked, "So how do we fix it?"
Charles raised his finger and pointed toward the sky. "It's simple. Just destroy that!"
Everyone looked up. All they saw was the eerie-colored moon.
"No way! Are you really going to destroy the moon? That's impossible!" Lucy said.
Charles replied, "Relax! It's not that outrageous!"
As he spoke, Charles unfurled his Fire Dragon Wings and soared into the sky, quickly becoming an unremarkable red dot in the sky.
Charles knew the truth about the curse. The fumes generated by the Moon Drip ritual did indeed affect the villagers, but not their bodies—it affected their memories.
The villagers weren't humans but rare demons. Different from the magical beings created by Zeref, these villagers were a special race that only bore demonic appearances.
But under the influence of the Moon Drip fumes, they came to believe themselves to be human.
And at night, the residual power of the Moon Drip ritual would cancel their transformation magic, revealing their true forms—hence the appearance of the demon curse.
Charles looked up at the red magical membrane overhead and began to gather power.
In the original story, Erza used the Purification Spear, which could dispel evil, to shatter that membrane. But Charles' flames were no less powerful.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Before the surprised eyes of Natsu and the others, a massive pillar of fire shot forth, but seemed to collide with something midair and spread outward.
From their angle, it really did look like the fire had struck the moon.
"You've got to be kidding me," Gray muttered under his breath.
Happy spun in the air. "Oh no, this is bad! Charles is going to burn the moon!"
But Lucy suddenly said, "Wait, look!"
Within the spreading flames, the red hue of the moon vanished, and the edges showed traces of flame.
"Burn it all away!"
The spreading flames suddenly accelerated, forming a hemisphere that enveloped the entire island.
In three seconds, the flames had burned away all the fumes above the island, and once they ran out of fuel, they died out.
What appeared before everyone's eyes was a clear and crisp night sky.
Charles returned to the ground but didn't go back to Natsu and the others.
Ultear looked up at the sky; the dazzling flames just now had brightened her face.
Charles landed beside her and retracted his flame wings.
Ultear curled her lips and said, "You don't need to be so wary of me. I'm not your enemy anymore."
Charles replied, "I've known that for a while now. I just wanted to ask what your plans are going forward."
Ultear looked at her hands and said, "I used to think about changing everything, about going back to the beginning before anything had happened.
Without realizing it, I committed a lot of foolish mistakes. Even if I could really go back, these blood-stained hands couldn't embrace my mother anymore."
Charles understood Ultear's feelings. Through Ur's memories, she had learned the meaning of her own name.
Ur's tears were shed out of the awe for the power of life and infinite hope, whereas the Ultear who had joined Grimoire Heart had only known lies, death, and despair.
Charles used to dislike the idea of "laying down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha," but as he gained more experience, he began to understand its true meaning.
To lay down the butcher's knife isn't to let go of the blade in your hand, but the one in your heart. It's about sincerely repenting for your sins.
And becoming a Buddha doesn't mean escaping evil—in fact, it means bearing all one's sins in the depths of regret and doing everything possible to atone.
Charles would never forgive Ultear on behalf of her victims, but he didn't dislike those who were willing to pay the price to make amends.
In the original story, Future Rogue deceived the King of Fiore and opened the Eclipse Gate in an attempt to bring the world back to the era of dragons.
To prevent a future where the world would be ravaged by dragons, Ultear risked her life and used Arc of Time to rewind the entire world by one minute. Though it was only one minute, it allowed countless mages to avoid death and became the turning point of humanity's counterattack.
But as a result of the magical backlash, she lost a great deal of her time and became an old woman in the twilight of her life.
Ultear looked at Charles with a strange expression and said, "What's with that sympathetic look in your eyes? I'm not so pitiful that I need to be looked at like that."
Charles dismissed the thoughts of future plotlines and the emotions they stirred, and said, "If you haven't decided where to go yet, how about joining Fairy Tail?"
Ultear shook her head and replied, "I'm not qualified to stand in the sunlight right now. But maybe... after I settle some other things, I'll consider it."
Charles said nothing more. This was Ultear's decision, and he had no right to change it.
Ultear stood up and looked at Charles. "Aren't you going to ask me what I plan to do? It might even be related to you guys."
Charles was caught off guard. "Do you plan on telling me?"
Ultear spoke. "As I thought, you've known my identity from the start. And it seems you know more than just that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have shown no interest in getting intel from me."
Charles gave a wry smile. The one thing he had learned to never underestimate was a woman. The first person to notice something strange about him had been Ultear.
Before Charles could say anything, Ultear continued, "You don't have to explain anything, and I'm not curious about how you know so much either."
Charles sighed, then smiled. "As expected, the most charming women are the ones who understand others."
Ultear rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave.
"One more thing—why did you help me? Don't tell me you were actually charmed by me?"
After seeing how Charles burned away the evil membrane, Ultear had no doubt he had held back just as much during the earlier battle as the ocean holds water.
So she couldn't understand why, after knowing how many sins she had committed, Charles would still choose to help her.
Charles was silent for a moment, then said, "You once said you wanted to go back to when nothing had happened. It's exactly because none of us can do that that regret exists.
We can't make up for past regrets. All we can do is prevent future ones. I don't want to see regret in the future."
"Meaningless," Ultear said as she walked away with long strides, though a pensive look had appeared on her face.
The past can't be changed; only the future can. No one understands this better than Ultear, who bears the Arc of Time.
Charles watched Ultear vanish from sight and silently made a resolution.
"All those futures filled with regret—I'll change every one of them for you."
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