Black Clover: The Son of Fire Dragon Igneel

"Resolution and the Future"

Although Deliora had self-destructed, the S-class mission wasn't complete.

Galuna Island's curse wasn't caused by Deliora, but by the residual energy from the Moon Drip ritual and the islanders' true identities.

Drake explained to the others, "The Moon Drip ritual is over; the source is gone. Now we just need to deal with the side effects!"

Natsu, like a child, raised his hand. "How do we do that?"

Drake pointed to the sky. "Simple; destroy that."

Everyone looked up; only a strangely colored moon was visible.

"No way! You really mean destroy the moon? That's impossible!" Lucy exclaimed.

Drake said, "Don't worry; it's not that dramatic!"

Drake spread his Fire Dragon Wings and flew up, quickly becoming a small red dot in the sky.

Drake knew the truth: Moon Drip's waste gas affected the villagers' memories, not their bodies.

The villagers weren't human; they were rare demons, unlike Zeref's magical creatures; they were a unique race with demonic appearances.

Moon Drip's waste gas made them believe they were human.

At night, the ritual's power reversed their transformations, revealing their true forms, causing the demonic curse.

Drake looked at the red magical film above and began to gather power.

In the original story, Erza used a holy spear to break this film; but Drake's flames were just as effective.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

To the astonishment of Natsu and the others, a massive pillar of fire shot out, but it spread in mid-air as if it had struck something.

From their perspective, it looked as if the fire pillar had actually hit the moon.

"No way…" Gray muttered incredulously.

Happy spun around in circles. "Oh no! Drake's going to burn down the moon!"

But Lucy suddenly said, "Wait, look."

Within the spreading flames, the moon's red hue was disappearing, with traces of the flames extending to its edges.

"Burn it to ashes!"

The speed at which the flames spread suddenly increased, forming a hemisphere encompassing the entire island.

Within three seconds, the waste gas above the island was completely incinerated; with no more fuel, the flames died down.

A clear night sky appeared before them.

Drake returned to the ground but didn't rejoin Natsu and the others.

Ultear looked up at the night sky; the magnificent flames had brought a certain brightness to her face.

Drake landed beside her, retracting his Fire Dragon Wings.

Ultear smirked. "No need to be so wary; I'm no longer your enemy!"

Drake said, "I knew that already. I wanted to ask about your plans."

Ultear looked at her hands. "I wanted to change everything, go back to the beginning.

Unknowingly, I made many foolish mistakes; even if I could return to the past, these bloodstained hands couldn't embrace Mother again!"

Drake understood Ultear's feelings; he knew the meaning of her name from Ul's memories.

Ul's tears were shed out of overwhelming emotion for the power of life and boundless hope, while Ultear, bearing the Demon Heart, had always been surrounded by lies, death, and despair.

Drake had previously been averse to the idea of "laying down one's sword," but with his increased experience, he had come to understand the true meaning of this phrase.

To "lay down one's sword" meant to relinquish not the physical weapon, but the sword within one's heart; it meant to sincerely repent for one's past wrongdoings.

And didn't imply escaping the consequences of one's sins; instead, it meant to carry the burden of all one's sins within one's heart, filled with remorse, and to dedicate oneself to atoning for those sins to the best of one's ability!

Drake wouldn't forgive Ultear on behalf of the victims, but he didn't dislike those who were willing to pay the price for their mistakes.

In the original storyline, Rogue from the future world deceived the king of the Fiore Kingdom, opening the Eclipse Gate in an attempt to return the world to the age of dragons.

To prevent this disastrous future where the world was ravaged by dragons, Ultear risked her life, using Arc of Time to rewind the entire world by one minute.

Although it was only a single minute, it saved countless mages from death and served as the starting point for humanity's counterattack.

However, the backlash from the magic caused her to lose a significant amount of her lifespan, transforming her into a frail, elderly woman.

Ultear looked at Drake's peculiar expression. "What's with that sympathetic look? I'm not that pathetic."

Drake put aside the thoughts stirred by the events of the future storyline and said, "If you haven't decided where to go, how about Fairy Tail?"

Ultear shook her head. "I'm not worthy of standing in the sunlight right now, but… perhaps after I've taken care of some other matters, I'll consider it."

Drake said nothing further; it was Ultear's own decision, and he had no right to change it.

Ultear stood up, looking at Drake. "Aren't you going to ask what I plan to do next? It might concern you, you know."

Drake was taken aback. "Are you going to tell me?"

Ultear said, "As expected, you knew my identity from the start, and it seems you know more than that.

Otherwise, you wouldn't have made even the slightest attempt to extract information from me."

Drake chuckled wryly; suddenly, he realized that women were truly the most unpredictable beings. Ultear was the first to notice his unusual behavior.

Before Drake could speak, Ultear said, "There's no need for explanations; I'm not curious about how you know so much."

Drake sighed, then smiled. "Truly understanding women is the most fascinating thing in the world!"

Ultear rolled her eyes at Drake and turned to leave.

"One more question, why did you help me? Were you truly captivated by my charms?"

After witnessing how Drake incinerated the film of evil energy, Ultear knew that he hadn't used even a fraction of his full power in their previous fight.

Therefore, she couldn't understand why, after knowing the extent of her past sins, Drake was still willing to help her.

Drake fell silent for a moment, then said, "You said you wished you could go back to a time when nothing had happened! It's precisely because we can't do that that regrets are born.

We can't undo past regrets, but we can prevent future regrets! I don't want to see any regrettable futures unfold before my eyes."

"Unclear meaning," Ultear said, striding away with long legs, but a thoughtful expression on her face.

The past cannot be changed; only the future can be altered! No one understood this better than Ultear, the wielder of Arc of Time.

Watching Ultear disappear, Drake made a silent vow to himself!

"I will change all those regrettable futures!"

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