POV: Elior
For several seconds after Divine Judgment pierced Deliora, the entire valley seemed to freeze.
The gigantic Light Sword remained buried through the demon's chest, its radiance pouring into the darkness surrounding its body.
Then everything erupted.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A colossal pillar of Holy Light burst from Deliora and shot toward the heavens. The valley disappeared beneath the brilliance as the darkness around the demon began to disintegrate.
Every wound I had inflicted throughout the battle suddenly ignited with Light.
The cuts across its chest.
The wounds on its arms.
Its damaged hand.
Every single one became a pathway for my magic.
Holy Light spread through Deliora from within, tearing apart the dark magic that had made the monster so terrifying.
Deliora opened its mouth.
No roar came out.
Only Light.
Cracks of radiance spread across its enormous body as the darkness holding it together began collapsing.
Its monstrous presence, which had dominated the valley for so long, was disappearing.
Deliora's eyes remained open for one final moment.
Then the Light swallowed them.
The giant finally fell.
BOOM!
The ground shook violently beneath us.
Dust and debris rose into the air.
And then, after all the noise that had filled the valley for so long, there was nothing.
Silence.
The enormous Light Sword dissolved.
The clouds above slowly began drifting back together.
I remained suspended in the air for a few seconds, staring down at the battlefield.
It was over.
Deliora was dead.
The voices I had heard during the fight were gone as well.
The cries.
The grief.
The agony of the people who had died because of that monster.
Everything had finally become quiet.
I slowly descended.
The instant my feet touched the ground, my knees nearly buckled.
"Whoa."
I caught myself before I fell.
'Okay… maybe Divine Judgment took a little more out of me than I expected.'
A moment later, Laxus landed nearby.
He looked like he had gone through a war.
His clothes were torn, blood covered his face, and his breathing was heavy.
He looked at me.
"You alive?"
I glanced at him.
"Unfortunately."
He laughed.
"Good."
Then he nearly fell over himself.
I grabbed his shoulder.
"You were saying?"
"Shut up."
I laughed quietly.
Neither of us had much left.
A short distance away, everyone else was still frozen in place.
Gildarts stared toward the crater where Deliora had fallen.
Ur hadn't taken her eyes away from the battlefield.
Ultear stood with tears running silently down her face.
Gray simply stared.
Leon stood beside him, equally speechless.
Finally, Gray whispered, "It's really over."
Ur placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
Gray looked toward her.
"That thing…"
His voice shook.
"That thing killed my parents."
Ur didn't try to answer.
She simply remained beside him.
Ultear eventually walked toward me.
"You did it."
I looked at her.
She was smiling despite the tears on her face.
"You really did it."
I shook my head.
"Not alone."
I glanced toward Laxus.
"He helped."
Laxus shrugged.
"Would've been pretty boring without me."
That earned a weak laugh from everyone nearby.
Gildarts finally approached.
For once, there was no carefree smile on his face.
He looked from me to Laxus and then toward the ruined battlefield.
"That was one hell of a fight."
Laxus gave him a tired grin.
"That's your way of saying we did well?"
Gildarts laughed.
"No. That's my way of saying you two are completely insane."
He stepped closer.
"But you did exactly what I needed to see."
I raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"You adapted."
Gildarts gestured toward the destruction around us.
"You didn't just keep throwing stronger attacks at Deliora and hope something eventually worked."
His eyes moved to Laxus.
"You figured out that your Lightning could disrupt its movements."
Then he looked at me.
"And you recognized that your Light could prevent its regeneration."
He folded his arms.
"After that, you built your entire strategy around those two advantages."
Laxus nodded.
"We've trained together for years."
"It showed."
Gildarts smiled.
"When one of you created an opening, the other was already moving. When something went wrong, neither of you panicked."
His expression became more serious.
"That matters just as much as raw power."
Ur approached us next.
Her eyes were still fixed on the remains of Deliora.
Then she looked at me.
"Elior."
I turned.
She gave me a faint smile.
"Thank you."
I knew what she meant.
It wasn't only about Deliora.
It was about Ultear.
About the years Ur had spent believing her daughter was dead.
About getting another chance to stand beside her.
I smiled.
"You're welcome."
Ultear suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.
I froze for a second before placing a hand gently on her head.
"Thank you."
"You're part of our family now," I told her.
She nodded.
"Yeah."
Then a strange crackling noise came from somewhere nearby.
Everyone turned toward it.
Gildarts' expression sharpened.
"What was that?"
Laxus walked toward a pile of broken rocks and pulled out a small glowing Lacrima.
"What is this?"
Gildarts examined it.
"A communication Lacrima."
I walked closer.
"Someone was recording?"
Gildarts turned the device in his hand.
"Looks like it."
Laxus frowned.
"The entire fight?"
Gildarts activated the Lacrima.
A distorted image appeared above it.
The recording began with our opening attack.
Laxus and I kicking Deliora away from the nearby settlements.
Then the battle.
Light Swords.
Lightning.
Enkidu.
Deliora's attacks.
Our final exchange.
And then…
The image showed me floating high above the battlefield.
The clouds split apart.
The enormous Light Sword appeared in the heavens.
Everyone became completely silent.
My recorded voice echoed from the Lacrima.
"You have brought darkness upon this world."
The image shook under the pressure of the magic.
"Now… vanish beneath its Light."
Then my final words.
"Divine Judgment."
The recording was swallowed by Light.
The image disappeared.
Nobody spoke.
Gildarts stared at the Lacrima for several seconds.
Then his expression changed.
"That isn't good."
Laxus frowned.
"Why?"
Gildarts examined the device again.
"Because this wasn't only recording."
He looked toward the distant horizon.
"It was transmitting."
I stared at him.
"To where?"
His answer was simple.
"Anywhere the signal could reach."
Far from the battlefield, in a crowded northern tavern, a communication Lacrima suddenly flickered to life.
Travelers turned toward it.
The recording began.
At first, nobody paid much attention.
Then Deliora appeared.
The room gradually fell silent.
People watched the monster fight.
They watched Lightning tear through the darkness.
They watched Light flash across the battlefield.
Then the heavens opened.
A gigantic sword of Light appeared above the valley.
The entire tavern went silent.
When Elior's recorded voice echoed through the Lacrima, nobody moved.
And when the sword vanished from the heavens and appeared inside Deliora's chest, several people instinctively stepped backward.
One man finally whispered, "What the hell was that?"
Nobody answered.
Hundreds of kilometers away, another group of mages watched the same recording.
One of them slowly lowered the cup in his hand.
"That was Light Magic?"
"I think so."
"That's impossible."
Another mage shook his head.
"No."
His eyes remained fixed on the fading image.
"That isn't normal Light Magic."
The recording continued spreading.
Guilds received it.
Traveling mages saw it.
Nobles watched it.
News networks began replaying fragments of it.
And rumors followed almost immediately.
"Fairy Tail has another monster."
"No, that's Saint Elior."
"Saint Elior?"
"You haven't heard of him?"
"They're saying he killed Deliora."
"By himself?"
"No. There was another kid with Lightning Magic."
"Two children?"
"That can't be right."
"I heard the kid summoned a sword from heaven."
With every retelling, the story became more exaggerated.
Some claimed the sword had been the size of a mountain.
Others claimed Elior had called down a weapon from the heavens.
Some refused to believe the person in the recording was a child at all.
But one part of the story remained unchanged.
Deliora had fallen.
And the world had seen who brought it down.
In Magnolia, the recording eventually reached Fairy Tail.
Makarov stood before the Lacrima as the guild watched in silence.
He had seen Elior grow.
He had watched his magic develop year after year.
He had witnessed him defeat powerful enemies before.
But when Divine Judgment appeared, even Makarov's expression changed.
"Elior…"
He stared at the fading image.
"What have you done?"
At the villa outside Magnolia, Irene stood beside the window.
She had already sensed the enormous magical surge from far away.
Now she watched the recording.
For a brief moment, pride appeared in her eyes.
Then concern replaced it.
"That much power…"
Her gaze narrowed.
"You idiot."
She knew her son well enough to understand what using a spell like that must have cost him.
Elsewhere in Fiore, powerful mages watched the same footage.
One simply leaned back in his chair after seeing Divine Judgment.
"A child…"
He stared at the empty Lacrima.
"Interesting."
Farther away, another powerful presence had already sensed the magical fluctuation before the recording reached him.
Light.
Pure, overwhelming Light.
He opened his eyes and looked toward the distant horizon.
"That wasn't ordinary Light Magic."
He remained silent for a moment.
Then a faint smile appeared.
"I wonder who you are."
Elsewhere, in a quiet and isolated place, another presence felt something different.
A connection had vanished.
One of Zeref's creations was gone.
Zeref slowly opened his eyes.
"Deliora…"
He remained silent.
His gaze shifted toward the distant direction of the magical disturbance.
Something about it had caught his attention.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Curiosity.
Back at the battlefield, we had no idea how far the recording had already traveled.
I looked at the broken Lacrima still in Gildarts' hand.
"So… everyone just saw that?"
Gildarts gave me a tired smile.
"Looks like it."
Laxus laughed.
"You're famous now."
"I was already famous."
"More famous."
I rolled my eyes.
Then something beneath Deliora's remains caught my attention.
A dark object was partially buried among the rubble.
I walked toward it.
The moment I got close, my magical perception reacted.
Dark magic.
Familiar dark magic.
I crouched and pulled the object from the debris.
A black book.
I stared at the cover.
My expression immediately became serious.
I knew exactly what it was.
Another Book of Zeref.
I slipped it into my ring.
Gildarts noticed.
"Another one?"
I nodded.
"Yeah."
He stared at the ring thoughtfully.
Before anyone could say anything else, Ur turned toward Ultear.
Her expression changed.
"We still have something to finish."
Ultear understood immediately.
The research facility.
The place that had taken her away from Ur.
The place where she had been experimented on.
The place that had convinced her mother she was dead.
Ultear looked toward the distant horizon.
This time, there was no fear in her eyes.
Only determination.
I glanced at Laxus.
He was exhausted.
So was I.
But our mission wasn't finished.
We had defeated Deliora.
Now there was another darkness waiting for us.