Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
June 4, x792.
With Acnologia's death, the Alvarez invasion was officially over. Though, Acnologia's attack had nothing to do with the war. Either way, that marked the end of the war in the history books.
After that, Alfonzo, who was completely exhausted, was brought back to Magnolia for rest and recovery. Meanwhile, the other wizards of the war went around Fiore to deactivate the barriers that kept collateral damage from being a concern.
Unfortunately, as soon as the barriers were deactivated, all of the anchor points crumbled into metal shavings. And although it could not be confirmed, when a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer saw that, his cries echoed around Hargeon for several hours.
After that, two days have passed. The Royal Family has had their knights assessing battle reports and the damage the kingdom has taken. Apparently, they plan to reward the guilds and their wizards by contribution.
Also, the Magic Council has been discussing how they should deal with Zeref and the members of the Alvarez Empire who were captured during the invasion. Though, to be honest, if Zeref wanted to leave, there would be nothing they could do about it.
As for Zeref, he has been spending all of his time with Mavis, August, Natsu, Lisanna, and his niece, Miyako. Unsurprisingly, getting the chance to live a life like this has had the Black Wizard smiling almost non-stop for the first time in over four hundred years.
Fiore's wizard guilds were also planning to get back to their usual activities today. With the exceptions of Mermaid Heel and Final Fantasy, who had to face off against four fleets at Cedar, most guilds did not take much damage during the invasion. And Fairy Tail was no exception.
As the kingdom's strongest guild by a large margin, they did not suffer any substantial losses of personnel. So, most of them actually got back to work the day after Acnologia was slain. Especially Ur, who was so frustrated that she was not able to fight or find Gildarts during the invasion that she jumped right into a Dark Guild subjugation quest the moment Mavis allowed the wizards of Fairy Tail to start taking quests again.
However, there was one wizard from Fairy Tail who had not been seen since the fight with Acnologia ended. And that was the man who delivered the killing blow to the dragon who had been terrorizing Ishgar for the past four hundred years, Alfonzo Marcus.
Ever since he passed out at the end of the battle, Alfonzo has not woken up. Though, none of his comrades were particularly worried about him. Because after the battle, he was rushed back to Magnolia where both Porlyusica and Retsu each examined him. And they both came back with the same prognosis.
Alfonzo was low on magic power and had suffered several injuries that were nowhere near life threatening. But other than that, he was in perfect health.
So, ever since then, Alfonzo had been mostly left alone. Though, his wives, lovers, children, and the maids checked on him from time to time.
"Mmm…" Alfonzo groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. A moment later, however, he closed them quickly, as the sun was shining right on his face. "My body feels so heavy. Then again, I guess that makes sense. I took a serious beating while fighting Acnologia."
After speaking his thoughts, Alfonzo tried to raise his arms to stretch. However, he noticed that, although they felt heavy, they were much harder to raise than he expected. On top of that, he noticed that the warmth on his body was different from that of a blanket, as it did not cover his whole body.
A moment later, after his brain completed its boot process, Alfonzo realized what the strange feelings were. And that brought a wide smile to his face.
Opening his eyes for the second time, Alfonzo ignored the discomfort from the sunlight and looked down. When he did, he saw Amar'e, Bianca, and Calvin all sprawled over his body, sleeping peacefully. {Pic}
"These are the reasons I fought so hard." Alfonzo said with a content smile while gently stroking Calvin's head. "These three and the two with Grayfia are everything to me. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna let anything happen to them."
*Click!*
At that moment, the sound of the doorknob turning drew Alfonzo's attention away from the three children. A moment later, the door was pushed open and through it Mey-Rin, clearly there to check on Alfonzo's condition, walked in.
"Ah!" Mey-Rin gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Shh!" Alfonzo gestured with a finger in front of his lips. {Pic}
Immediately understanding that Alfonzo did not want to wake up the children, Mey-Rin pressed her hands over her mouth even harder while nodding her head fast enough that he was afraid her glasses would fly off. Then, she stepped backwards through the door and closed it gently.
"Master Alfonzo is awake~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!" Mey-Rin's jubilant shout, accompanied by her hurried footsteps running away from the door, traveled through the door with little issue.
"*Sigh* What was the point of all that if you were just gonna scream at the top of your lungs just outside the door?" Alfonzo muttered to himself while wearing a smile filled with fond exasperation.
A moment later, Alfonzo felt stirring on his torso. Looking down, he saw both Amar'e and Bianca starting to wake up. Maybe because they were his own children, he could not help thinking the way they rubbed their eyes was one of the cutest things in the world.
Calvin, on the other hand, was still sound asleep. Though, he did stir a little, as well. However, instead of starting to wake up, he only snuggled closer to Alfonzo while rubbing the side of his head against his father.
"Dad?" Amar'e asked in a sleepy voice. "You woke up."
As soon as Bianca heard what Amar'e said, her eyes, which looked as if they might close again at any moment, shot open and she turned her head to look at Alfonzo's face. Then, like Mey-Rin, her eyes filled with tears before she jumped towards Alfonzo's face and wrapped her little arms around his neck with all the strength she had.
"Daddy!" Bianca shouted loudly. "You're awake!"
"Yeah, I'm awake." Alfonzo said with a gentle smile as he slowly combed his fingers through Bianca's hair. "I was really sleepy after fighting the dragon. But everything's all good now."
Unfortunately, Alfonzo's reassurance was not enough to stop Bianca from crying. But at least she did not sound sad. Though, she was wailing at the top of her lungs. So loud, in fact, that Calvin was awoken by it.
Meanwhile, Amar'e was all smiles. And after hearing Alfonzo mention that he fought a dragon, he started clamoring to hear the story. Calvin, on the other hand, was just happy to see Alfonzo. So, like Bianca, he threw himself into Alfonzo's arms and just enjoyed the affection.
*Bang!*
Before long, while Alfonzo was telling his children about his epic battle with the evil black dragon, the door to his bedroom flew open, slamming against the adjoining wall. Then, before Alfonzo could register who just entered the room, he was knocked onto his back.
"Fonzie! You're awake!" Shizuka, who was now sitting on Alfonzo's abdomen, shouted happily as she looked down at Alfonzo with a smile.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo could only stare up at his ditzy wife while blinking in confusion.
'How in the fuck did she move faster than even I could follow with my eyes?' Alfonzo asked himself dumbfoundedly.
["This is an anime world, right?"] Bedlam asked rhetorically. ["So, it's definitely the Power of Love."]
'Yeah, sounds about right.' Alfonzo replied internally.
["Tch! Why wasn't it Lici?"] Riot asked in a disgruntled tone.
["Simp."] Bedlam shot back ruthlessly.
And just like that, Alfonzo's [Armament Spirits] started another fight, and Alfonzo decisively cut off his connection to them in favor of talking to his family.
"Yeah, I'm awake." Alfonzo replied to Shizuka with a smile. "I get the feeling I'm gonna end up saying that a lot today."
Instead of replying to Alfonzo's joke, Shizuka chose to flop forward, wrap her arms around his neck, and plant a kiss on his lips to convey just how happy she was that he was finally awake.
Meanwhile, Bianca and Calvin, not wanting to be left out of the affection, climbed onto Alfonzo and Shizuka while trying to insert themselves into the moment. Amar'e, on the other hand, turned to look at the bedroom door, having a feeling that his mother would be showing up soon, as well.
And just as Amar'e expected, Elicia came running through the door not even five seconds later. Then, like Shizuka, she leapt towards the bed, her landing point clearly being Alfonzo.
However, before landing, threads extended from Elicia's hands and wrapped around Shizuka, Amar'e, Bianca, and Calvin. Then, as she landed, she placed herself in Alfonzo's right arm, Shizuka in his left, and the three children on his chest before pulling everyone into a group hug. {Pic}
"Hehehe, that was fun." Shizuka said while snuggling into Alfonzo's side. "Lici, can we do it again?"
"Yeah, I wanna do it again, too." Bianca said while giggling happily.
"Again! Again!" Calvin cheered in agreement.
"Mom, I wanna do it from higher!" Amar'e shouted excitedly.
Hearing that, Alfonzo turned to Elicia.
"You didn't tell him about your little sky dive, did you?" Alfonzo asked.
"Uh huh, sure did!" Elicia replied excitedly. "I thought it would be a fun family outing."
The stare Alfonzo gave Elicia in response was the driest he had ever given her in either of their lives. Yet, before Alfonzo could start talking about how bad an idea telling little kids about such extreme sports was, the rest of his wives, lovers, and the maids stormed into the room, saving Elicia from being lectured in front of her son.
The rest of the day in the Mansion on the Lake passed in a warm atmosphere. And at some point, the news that Alfonzo was awake made it to the guild hall. As a result, the celebratory atmosphere was raised to another level.
"Hey! We should drag Alfonzo over here to cook for the party!" Wakaba shouted while raising a mug of ale, splashing its contents all over himself in the process.
"Hmph!" Macao snorted disdainfully. "You really think you're strong enough to drag Alfonzo anywhere? You must still be riding off that one time you knocked him out after the first time he beat Laxus."
"Hey! Why the hell are you dragging me into this?" Laxus shouted back.
"Hmph!" Wakaba snorted back. "At least I can say I've knocked him out once. Unlike you, or Laxus, or anyone who isn't named Gildarts, I've done it. So, that makes me better than all of you!"
"Seriously, stop dragging me into this!" Laxus shouted again, yet no one was listening.
Even Chico and Saya found themselves laughing at their husband.
*Bang!*
"Oh yeah?" Macao asked angrily while slamming his own mug onto the table he and Wakaba were sitting at. "Why don't we put that to the test?"
*Bang!*
"Any time!" Wakaba shouted back while slamming down his own mug.
With that, the two started fighting. Naturally, their fight spread to the rest of the guild, as well. And just like that, a guild-wide brawl started in classic Fairy Tail fashion.
Meanwhile, as the guild hall devolved into a chaotic mess, several people, Gildarts, Mavis, Ur, Zeref, and August were sitting at the bar, sipping drinks as if the brawl had nothing to do with them.
"It's hard to believe the emperor of the invading side is sitting here having drinks with us." Gildarts said after taking a swig from his drink.
"Honestly, there's no reason for us to be enemies anymore." Zeref replied calmly.
"Still, you'll have to take responsibility for everything you've done." Mavis said sternly.
"I know, and I plan to." Zeref replied. "I'll spend as much time in prison as I have to. That's the least I can do after everything I've done."
"And I will accompany you, Father." August said.
"No, you've grown old, August." Zeref said while shaking his head softly. "You should spend the time you have left with Mavis. I'll take full responsibility for everything. Hopefully, I can get the other's sentences reduced if I do that."
"As long as Alfonzo vouches for you, that shouldn't be a problem." Ur said after taking a sip of her glass of wine. A moment later, she turned to glare sharply at Gildarts. "More important than that, where the hell were you when everyone else was fighting?"
"Well... You see..." Gildarts said sheepishly. "Alfonzo told me not to come near any of the towns where the barrier anchors were set up because he didn't think I could go near them without destroying them."
"I never understood how someone so powerful could have such poor control of their magic." Zeref said, his tone making it clear he was genuinely confused.
"It's not that he can't control his magic." Ur replied in an exasperated tone. "Rather, it's because he's careless. Honestly, he's just as bad as Natsu. His daughter inherited the same issue, too."
With that, Ur, Mavis, Zeref, and August looked at Gildarts incredulously. Meanwhile, Gildarts could only look away awkwardly. Luckily, before things could get too awkward, the guild hall's doors slid open, and the residents from the Mansion on the Lake stepped inside.
"Fairy Tail!" Alfonzo shouted, his voice overshadowing the ruckus from the brawl. "I'm ba---"
*Bang!*
Unfortunately, before Alfonzo could finish his declaration, he was hit in the face by a flying mug of ale, the contents splashing all over him in the process.
In the next instant, Alfonzo's magic power flared, pressing down on everyone in the main hall. And when all the Fairy Tail wizards saw the look on Alfonzo's face, most of them started to shiver.
Of course, there were some people who did not know the meaning of the word fear, as well.
"Good, Alfonzo's here!" Natsu shouted as he flared his magic power, coating himself in flames. "Now, fight me! I'm gonna show everyone that I'm the real strongest wizard in the guild!"
*Boom!*
A moment later, Natsu's head was slammed into the floor, and Alfonzo was kneeling over him with his right hand gripping the back of Natsu's head.
"I'm gonna make all you mother fuckers pay for this." Alfonzo said while pointing at the ale drenching his hair and clothes.
With that, the brawl got even more intense. Though, it was quite one-sided, as Alfonzo thoroughly beat up every other wizard participating in the guild-wide brawl. Then, once he was satisfied, he walked back into the guild's kitchen without a word and started cooking for the celebration party. An action that brought everyone back to life as if they had never been beaten up.