Half a year later.
The news of the Black Dragon's death spread across the entire continent of Ishgar, and it did not travel quietly. The Magic Council, which had long kept records of this destroyer under strict classification in the Book of Apocalypse, finally released the information to the public.
Only then did people come to understand that there had existed in this world something even more terrifying than the Black Wizard.
But that was already the past.
The Mage guild known as Fairy Tail had defeated the Black Dragon Acnologia in the mountain range of Mount Zonia. Several great dragons, it was said, had also taken part in that battle.
When the battlefield images published by the Magic Council circulated — showing that entire mountain range transformed into a chasm thousands of meters deep — no one questioned Fairy Tail's strength.
For a time, all of Ishgar buzzed with talk of the guild, and countless young Mages dreamed of joining its ranks.
Fairy Tail, naturally, declined all of them.
The flood of membership applications and damage compensation requests gave Makarov a headache. He solved the problem by taking advantage of Gildarts being thoroughly drunk and dumping the position of Guild Master, along with every last stack of paperwork, squarely on him.
Poor Gildarts. One drunken night, and he woke up as the new Guild Master of Fairy Tail, staring at a mountain of tasks demanding immediate attention, and doing his very best not to cry.
Makarov, meanwhile, had already left for the western continent on vacation.
The old man who had given his entire life to the guild could finally put down his burdens and enjoy the sun, the beach, and the enthusiastically dressed young women thereof.
Under the new Guild Master, life in the guild continued largely unchanged.
Everyone ate and drank and picked fights as they always had, while only Gildarts was perpetually buried in work.
With the northern continent of Guiltina now within reach, an impatient Natsu grabbed Lucy and Happy and tried to set off for an adventure — and was promptly reined in by Kuro and Igneel.
The Five Dragon Gods had left a very bad reputation in Guiltina, and the Hundred-Year Quest had originated precisely because of them. Both Kuro, who had taken up the path of Dragon Slayer once more, and the Fire Dragon King, who happened to be the Fire Dragon God's biological father, wanted to investigate the situation in the north firsthand before anyone else went charging in.
There was also word of a guild of Dragon Eaters active there, which was its own point of interest.
In short, with Kuro and Igneel turning their attention to Guiltina, the northern continent was likely to remain turbulent for some time. Natsu's team would have to wait for the dust to settle before making their move.
Natsu did not seem particularly bothered by this. He had plenty to keep him occupied in the meantime.
A wedding invitation had arrived from another Natsu and Lucy in Edolas, and he excitedly dragged his own Lucy along to attend the celebration.
One pair had already made it to the altar. The other two remained oblivious as ever.
Happy, who saw through the whole situation perfectly well, found it exhausting.
The same could not be said of the rest of the guild's couples, whose relationships were progressing at a far healthier pace.
Through persistent effort and a great deal of determination, Juvia had successfully moved into Gray's home, and things between them were going very well indeed.
Gajeel and Levy's relationship was flourishing with every passing day.
Elfman and Evergreen, with sustained encouragement from Mira and the Thunder God Tribe, finally brought their long-concealed romance into the open.
Zeref returned to the Alvarez Empire, transferred the duties of the state to Invel Yura, the Winter General, and then departed with Mavis and their son on a journey around the world.
The other members of the guild each set out on their own paths as well.
Laxus had a battle with Gildarts, recognized plainly that the gap between them was real, and went off alone to train.
Cana took over Mira's duties as the guild's hostess, and could now openly drink on the job without a word of complaint from anyone. If anyone asked, the answer was simply: "My dad's the Guild Master."
Éclair, having finally resolved the matter of the Phoenix Stone, lost her immortality in the process — but in doing so, the Magic that had been suppressed by the Phoenix Blood awakened within her. She and Momon lived happily, together, as Mages.
The Sky Dragon, the Iron Dragon, the Light Dragon, and the Shadow Dragon, their souls made whole at last, departed from their human foster children. In their true forms as Dragons, they entered into formal communication with the Magic Council and the nations of Ishgar, and the Magna Carta was signed anew.
The world was at peace.
Every shadow that had lurked beneath the surface seemed to have lifted.
The long darkness cast by Dragons, Gods, and Demons had passed, and the story of Fairy Tail went on.
A quiet stretch of natural coastline.
Cheese and Shirayuki — one a flying cat, one a hamster — each clutched a small surfboard and bobbed along on the gentle waves stirred up by the sea.
Noah lay stretched out on a beach chair, eyes half-closed in the sun, a glass of iced juice sitting on the table at his side.
Erza and Mira occupied the chairs to his left and right. One had a magic magazine open in her lap. The other was experimenting with a new recipe for something she had just invented.
"So all your powers really did come from Wish Magic?" Erza set down her magazine and looked at Noah, who made no attempt to dodge the question.
"Who told you that? Everything I've achieved is entirely the result of my own hard work, thank you very much."
Noah replied with complete conviction. "Once I'm done enjoying this world, I'll take you all with me to explore others. It'll be a chance to fulfill Wish requests and find powers that suit each of you."
"Knowing how lazy you've gotten, any Wish request you received would expire before you ever looked at it," Mira said pleasantly, handing Noah whatever she had just finished making.
Noah accepted it, took a sip, and gave an approving thumbs-up without hesitation. "As expected of Mira, you've got it exactly right. I haven't thought about Wish orders in a long time."
"Ever since I mastered the Magnetic Field Power, everything else started to feel a bit... dull."
Erza and Mirajane exchanged a look, then simultaneously expressed their feelings on this through a chorus of unimpressed groans.
Noah, comprehensively ignored by both of them, turned his gaze up to the open blue sky, a straw between his lips, and felt a smile settle at the corner of his mouth without his doing anything about it.
The sun was warm and even. The breeze was gentle.
Once, all he had wanted was a quiet, unhurried life. Somewhere along the way, without his fully noticing, he had acquired a great many people and things he wanted to protect.
For Noah, a leisurely life like this one, spent alongside the people he cared about, was the only ending worth having.
As for what challenges might still lie ahead somewhere down the line?
Who could say.
But with him here, and with Fairy Tail here, whatever storms came would just become another part of the story.
(The End)
Thank you to everyone who has accompanied me on this wonderful journey.
Sharing this story has been a genuinely meaningful experience, and none of it would have felt the same without the readers who came along for the ride. Whether you followed from the very beginning or joined somewhere along the way, your presence made this adventure worth telling.
Until the next adventure.
— With gratitude