Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
Over these three months, Natsu, Gray, and the other members of Fairy Tail had all been immersed in their respective training.
However, when night fell, the guild was as bustling and lively as ever.
"In this kind of state, can we really resist the attack of the Alvarez Empire?" Carla followed Wendy into the guild hall and, seeing Cana and the others drinking and reveling heartily, couldn't help but voice her criticism.
"Everyone works hard during the day. They only relax a bit at night!" Wendy explained with a smile, as if trying to reassure Carla.
While Carla and Wendy were talking, Natsu and Gray 'squeezed' in through the main entrance in a confrontational stance.
"You bastard, looking for a fight?" Gray, his forehead pressed against Natsu's, snarled through gritted teeth.
"Bring it on! You think I'm scared?" Natsu retorted without backing down, pressing back.
"Is this also relaxing?" Carla asked, watching Gray and Natsu tussle.
"This..." Wendy smiled wryly, feeling helpless.
"You two, stop this right now!" Just then, Erza walked up to Natsu and Gray and spoke in a tone full of authority.
Hearing Erza's voice, Natsu and Gray immediately turned to look.
When they saw the terrifying aura emanating from Erza, their faces immediately turned pale with fear.
"We were just fooling around, right, Natsu!" Gray smoothed down Natsu's clothes, a bead of cold sweat on his forehead, forcing a smile as he looked at Erza.
"Yeah, just fooling around!" Natsu immediately chimed in.
Seeing Gray and Natsu like this, Erza could only sigh helplessly before asking further, "How is your training going?"
"Don't worry! If that whatever Empire dares to come, I promise I'll punch them all away!" Natsu raised his clenched fist, full of confidence.
At this moment, Kenichi, standing behind Erza, noticed the layers of bandages wrapped around Natsu's raised arm.
Seeing those bandages, a slight smile touched Kenichi's lips. 'So he's mastered the power of the Fire Dragon King already?'
In the original work, through training, Natsu could enter Fire Dragon King Mode, using the Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist and Fire Dragon King's Roar.
Now, seeing the bandages on Natsu's arm, Kenichi knew Natsu had already learned to use the Fire Dragon King's power.
While Natsu was brimming with confidence, Gray, not to be outdone, directly activated his magic power.
As a cold air spread, a dark mark suddenly appeared on Gray's body.
The dark mark, like a tattoo, covered half of Gray's body.
"This is..." Seeing this unusual change on Gray's body, Erza was slightly startled.
"This is Devil Slayer Ice Magic!" Gray raised his fist and explained to Erza.
"I see. Inherited from your father, then?" Looking at Gray, a look of understanding appeared on Erza's face.
However, seeing the change in Gray, Kenichi's expression remained unchanged from start to finish.
After all, when Kenichi had Silver train Gray, his intention was for Gray to inherit Silver's Devil Slayer Ice Magic.
Seeing that both Natsu and Gray had made progress, a smile curled on Kenichi's lips. He then raised the glass in his hand and downed the alcohol in one go.
'It's about time, isn't it? The Alvarez Empire.' Kenichi placed the empty glass on the table and thought to himself.
…
Shifting the scene to the Western Continent.
Alvarez Empire, Capital.
This complex of buildings was none other than the imperial palace of the Alvarez Empire.
At this moment, a number of mages were gathered in a solemn and dignified hall within the palace.
If any mage from Ishgar were here now, they would be too terrified to move.
Because every mage gathered in this hall possessed a staggering, tremble-inducing amount of magical power.
These mages were none other than several members of the Spriggan 12.
"What did the Emperor summon us here for?" A man with brown hair and dark skin, his feet propped up on the table, asked with an unrestrained grin.
"Ajeel, didn't I tell you before?" Invel, wearing his glasses, addressed the man named Ajeel.
"How am I supposed to remember all that stuff?" Ajeel retorted upon hearing Invel.
"How noisy. His Majesty will be here shortly. Could you please pay some attention to etiquette?" While Invel and Ajeel were talking, an aged voice suddenly came from the hall's entrance.
Hearing this voice, Invel, Ajeel, and the others in the hall all looked towards the source.
They saw an old man with white hair, holding a staff, slowly walking in.
If Kenichi were here now, he would definitely recognize this old man.
He was none other than August, the Magic King.
Back when Kenichi was on the Western Continent, he had always wanted to find August, because August possessed Instant Copy Magic.
Kenichi's idea was that if he could obtain August's Instant Copy Magic attribute, he wouldn't need to rely on the system to collect magic.
After all, the system only dropped magic attributes probabilistically.
If he had August's Instant Copy Magic attribute, Kenichi could copy any magic he witnessed.
But unfortunately, Kenichi searched the Western Continent for two years but never managed to find the Magic King August.
When Ajeel saw August enter, he very consciously lowered his feet from the table.
August walked to the table, scanned everyone present, and then asked, "Is Irene not here?"
"I have already notified Irene," Invel pushed up his glasses and explained in response to August's question.
Not long after August took his seat, Zeref, dressed in black clothes with a white cape draped over his shoulders, approached in his capacity as the Emperor of the Alvarez Empire.
"Your Majesty!" Seeing Zeref approach, all the Spriggan 12 present, including August, stood up.
"Hmm. Irene has already been in contact with me. Let us begin this meeting regarding the invasion of Ishgar," Zeref said to August and the assembled Spriggan 12.