After a predictably chaotic bout of noise and commotion, everyone finally settled down and gathered in a circle to discuss the current situation.
"So, old man, what exactly is going on here?"
Chase looked up at the Tenrou Tree standing tall at the center of Tenrou Island.
While he had been unconscious, Makarov had taken Gildarts and the others to briefly survey the island's condition.
"I know this is hard to believe, but this is indeed our guild's sacred ground, Tenrou Island," Makarov said in a grave tone.
He visited Tenrou Island every year to pay respects at the First Master's grave, and he knew the island's environment like the back of his hand. There was no possibility of a mistaken judgment.
However, the abandoned exam sites set up for the S-Class trial were strange. Not only were they all clustered together, one of the passages was missing as well. Gildarts picked up the explanation. And the location of the temporary campsite was off too.
Although there were traces of destruction caused by Acnologia, the damage was significantly lighter than the torn earth he remembered. Freed frowned deeply, completely unable to make sense of it.
"To have completed self-repair in such a short time, truly worthy of Tenrou Island! That's what it means to be a man!" Elfman declared loudly.
"Can you please stop attaching those three words to absolutely everything?!" Evergreen shot him a disgusted glare.
"How strange. Igneel definitely doesn't have this kind of ability," Natsu said, scratching his head in confusion.
"That has absolutely nothing to do with Igneel..." Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Even now, she remained highly skeptical of Natsu's claim that he had heard Igneel's voice back then.
"Metalicana can't do it either."
"Hey! I said—!"
"Could it be the influence of time?" Éclair calmly offered her analysis.
As the person with the greatest actual age present, her thinking was naturally bolder.
That was one direction to consider, but were things really that simple? From their conversation, Chase had roughly guessed at a certain possibility.
Just then, the vanished Mavis slowly walked over from the direction of the Tenrou Tree. "No. This place is not Tenrou Island."
"First Master? Thank goodness, you're safe too!"
"Aye! I was just worried you might have died back there."
Lucy retorted, "Is there a possibility that the First Master was already in spirit form to begin with?"
"Wait, First Master, you're saying this isn't Tenrou Island?" Makarov asked, his eyes filled with bewilderment.
"To be precise, it's not the Tenrou Island I know."
Mavis glanced back at the Tenrou Tree and spoke her perception with a slightly strange expression. "There are still traces of Fairy Sphere's magical energy lingering in the air, but I haven't cast that spell recently. What's even stranger is that here, I sensed my own presence."
"What do you mean by 'sensed your own presence'?" Lucy's mind struggled to process it.
"Exactly. Another version of me once existed here!" Mavis stated with conviction.
"WHAT?!!" Everyone was startled.
So it really was that kind of development.
After hearing Mavis's account, a glint of certainty flickered deep within Chase's eyes.
The completely intact Tenrou Tree, the concentrated exam sites, the battle scars scattered across Tenrou Island, Fairy Sphere, two First Masters. Although it sounded utterly fantastical, when all the factors were combined, they pointed to only one truth: under the influence of the time gaps and spatial fissures, they had accidentally traveled to Tenrou Island after it had been unsealed in the original timeline.
From the fact that the "local" Mavis was not on Tenrou Island, it could be inferred that they were currently around the time of the Grand Magic Games.
The only question was which future they had traveled to.
The happy ending of the original main storyline?
The despairing future where ten thousand dragons destroyed the world?
Or the future where Rogue was corrupted, leading to Acnologia's world-ending rampage?
More importantly, how were they supposed to return to their original world?
"What's wrong, Chase? Did you find something?" Makarov noticed the odd expression on Chase's face.
"If I'm not mistaken, I think we've arrived in a parallel world similar to Edolas."
Chase used a description that his comrades would understand the fastest, essentially giving them a preemptive warning.
"Edolas?"
"I see. That's why there are similar places and two First Masters."
"Now that you mention it, when Exodia blasted that black hand, I did see a white light similar to Anima."
"But isn't the environment here almost identical to ours?"
With their previous experience in Edolas, everyone quickly accepted and acknowledged the idea of traveling to another world, buzzing with discussion among themselves.
"Old man, why don't we head back to Magnolia first and take a look?" Gildarts suggested.
Staying on the island wouldn't yield any useful information.
"I was thinking the same thing," Makarov nodded.
Since there were no usable boats around Tenrou Island and they were eager to figure out what was going on, with Makarov's approval, Chase used his magic to pack everyone into his cards, then summoned Guardian of the Fortress and flew toward Magnolia at top speed.
This world was naturally abundant in magic power, so his Card Magic could be used normally, unlike in Edolas where he had to take pills.
During the journey, Chase didn't remain idle. After pointing out the direction to Guardian of the Fortress, he sank his consciousness into the Card Space and arrived at the Dark Castle where Dark Magician resided.
At that moment, Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Dark Magician of Chaos, and Silent Magician were all present.
Various magical tomes floated in the hall, with magical arrays rotating and emitting a unique radiance.
"So, any leads?" Chase asked.
The moment he realized they might have traveled to the original timeline's world, he had contacted Dark Magician to begin the relevant investigation.
"This is indeed not our original world," the ever-reliable Dark Magician said in a low voice.
Back in Edolas, in order to find the world of Elentear where the Moon Dragon God Selene was hiding and transport the excess magic power from that world to Edolas, Chase had obtained the complete transdimensional magic Anima technology from Mystogan.
During this time, Dark Magician had been studying it periodically.
Although he had been sidetracked by the Heart Magic and Hades's magic library, he was still highly knowledgeable about Fairy Tail's parallel worlds, at least the Earthland that Chase was from.
And the spacetime coordinates here had clearly deviated.
The magical theory involved was far too complex, and Dark Magician knew that Chase wouldn't be able to absorb it all.
So he got straight to the point: "With the right coordinates, we can go back. However, transferring everyone in the guild will require an enormous amount of magic power."
Chase and the others had been accidentally "sucked" here through the spacetime rift created by the collision of Exodia's and Ankhseram's powers.
To return, they would naturally need a corresponding energy source.
"Huh? So that means the stupid master has to fight that god again?" Dark Magician Girl said with a hint of fear.
It wasn't just Mira and the others. The Card Spirits had also been badly shaken by Chase's earlier act of burning his own life force.
"Idiot. Did you not listen to any of the research just now?" Dark Magician shot her a cold glare.
Dark Magician Girl shrank her head and quickly hid behind Chase, not daring to speak.
"Theoretically, yes. But if we build a point-to-point Anima device, we can reduce the energy threshold to a minimum," Dark Magician of Chaos took over the explanation. "According to preliminary calculations, it would require approximately 10 billion units of conceptual magic power."
Hearing this, Chase finally let out a sigh of relief.
Ten billion units of conceptual magic power, equivalent to just over three blasts of Etherion. At his heart magic's natural storage rate alone, he could accumulate that amount in about a hundred days.
As long as they could get back, that amount of time was completely acceptable.
After chatting with the four Dark Magicians for a while, he stepped out of the Dark Castle feeling at ease and looked up at a mysterious region in the sky, right next to Slifer.
There, chaotic light swirled, and dense divine energy continuously spilled through the cracks, spreading across the heavens.
As if sensing Chase's gaze, deep within the chaos, a majestic blue giant slowly opened its crimson eyes.
That's right. The new card that had dropped from the battle with Acnologia was none other than Obelisk the Tormentor, one of the Three Egyptian Gods alongside Slifer the Sky Dragon.
***
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