vii

Ultear explained the concept of Third Origin. A powerful way to access your abilities of the future, but at the cost of never being able to use magic again. The ultimate trump card, and the ultimate sacrifice. Only one of them could use it since the other would be needed to heal Carla in the end.

Unfortunately, it seemed both were desperate to be the ones to use it.

"I'll be the one!"

"No, I will!"

"You can't, Cheria!"

"Who's going to save Charla if you run out?!"

Their pained voices made Ultear grit her teeth. It would only be wasting time having them continue arguing; clearly, neither of them wanted the other to use the spell. Dimaria would not wait for them to decide before striking again. Having already made up her mind, Ultear called out, "Wendy! If I may, I can begin once you're ready!" The girl gave a small smile as her friend looked on in agony.

She powered her up and watched as the young teen threw herself at the god. She was more powerful, true, but that didn't mean she would be able to win.

Behind Wendy, Chelia ran up to Ultear in tears. "Please!" she begged, "I'm a god-slayer! I need to be the one to take her out." Ultear gave her a look.

"I know, this is just a distraction. While she's focused on Wendy, I can use Third Origin on you without interruptions." Chelia's eyes widened but soon adopted a serious expression. Ultear began her work on her, all the while listening to Wendy's screams in front of them. She prayed the child wouldn't be too resentful that she'd deceived her.

When she was finished, she watched Cheria take off into battle, powered up. With her natural affinity of being a god-slayer against a god, she would no doubt get further than Wendy had.

But still not far enough.

Sucking in a breath, Ultear began casting her final, real Third Origin; this time, on herself.

Chronos looked on in apathy.

Whenever Dimaria triggered it, there was always an overwhelming sense that the power was not being used properly. Centuries had passed since the last vessel truly knew what they were doing. That they themselves did not realize this and believed Chronos as they were to be complete was the true tragedy, they thought.

The girls that attacked them were mere dots of sand in the hourglass of time, small, insignificant, and easily cast aside. Even with their supposed buff given to them by the strange child, it was still little more than throwing a pebble at a brick wall. The god-slayer managed to put up more of a fight, but not by much. Chronos swatted her down without care, leaving both the dragon and god-slayer on their knees.

They wondered if anything would be as truly interesting as before Zeref came about. Perhaps if they were careful, they could keep the toddler alive, if only to extract the knowledge of how Last Ages was performed so successfully. It shouldn't have been possible, yet–

Something exploded.

Chronos didn't avert their eyes, they were above a mere light show, but the power spewing from the same direction was undeniable. Something...far different than what was going on before suddenly came to life right under their nose.

The only thing in that direction that still moved...was the toddler.

A powerful magical presence the likes of which Chronos hadn't remembered in an eon poured from the child, enough even to make the god flinch. Just who was this strange girl, who achieved the perfection of Last Ages, and who now had enough power to destroy them? No, they would finish her off before that.

Beams of light shot from their fingers towards the child, dozens appearing before her too quickly for her to even blink before they'd reach her.

If they'd reached her.

Suddenly Chronos heard a strange rending sound, like unoiled gears being turned in opposite directions for the first time. What felt like a mere instant later an explosion of light-triggered all around Chronos' body. Screams of pain, for it did actually hurt for the first time in a long time, echoed across the Age Seal.

Chronos looked towards the toddler, a tiny hand stretched out towards them. The child flexed her fingers in awe. Chronos looked on in annoyance.

"I've never been able to affect one thing in all my magic, but I wonder. Would it still work on something like you?" Ultear's mumblings shook the god out of its stupor. That's it. The child didn't have a plan, if Chronos could just overwhelm her…

"Age Scratch!" Chronos called out. The move should have made the child experience all the pain its small body had ever gone through all at once. Surely, even a child would be incapacitated by such a force. Cuts and tears appeared across her body as Chronos worked the spell.

Ultear hardly batted an eye at the effects, instead glaring at Chronos. "I don't think you understand. Your dominion over time is no longer the greatest of anyone here. That spot belongs to me." With a snap of her fingers, the blood from the cuts flowed backward, the skin resealing to perfection. Chronos took a step back. Inside they could feel Dimaria tremble. That girl never so much as quivered before an army. Things were looking grim.

Then the ripping started.

A horrible sensation of someone, something pulling, stretching the god known as Chronos back, back, backward and kept pulling. There was no adequate way to describe it.

That girl, Ultear Milkovich, was undoing the time of the god soul.

Because of Chronos' inherent dominion over time, they understood more completely what was happening. Ultear was taking the part of Dimaria that housed Chronos and pulling it back, back before the pact that Chronos made with Dimaria's ancestors even happened. Literally undoing the nearly half-century of history between Chronos and the now destroyed city. When she was done, it would be as if that history never occurred, leaving Dimaria without a god soul, and Chronos without a host.

And there wasn't a single thing Chronos could do about it.

The body had a set progression of time, but the soul was always thought of to be outside of that jurisdiction. That was how Chronos had survived despite the weakening of body's throughout the years; the soul could not be undone as easily as people assumed, especially that of a god.

I've been beaten, and within my own domain at that, Chronos thought as they sank to the ground. Dimaria's panicked thoughts raced through their mind briefly, but Chronos hardly paid them any heed. They wouldn't be around long enough to do anything about it.

"If we had inhabited a body such as yourself...who knows what wonders we could have wrought."

"I'm sorry to say you probably still would have been disappointed." Ultear gave a far too sad smile. "This is my last spell, after all."

With those words to think upon, Chronos descended into darkness. Their history being rewound to the point of no contact. They did not grieve for Dimaria, only thinking regretfully that a full potential was not reached...in this future at least.

Ultear watched as Dimaria's body fell, the process Ultear used on Chronos inevitably affecting Dimaria's soul as well, causing her to crumple from the exhaustive time rending placed on her. She drew a breath in relief and at the same time the world burst with the familiar sounds of battle. With Dimaria down, Age Seal too broke, leaving the girls right back where they started. Ultear opened and closed a fist. The magic power that had overflowed in her just moments earlier was now dried up completely, like an empty well. She knew that no matter how hard she'd try to draw from it, there would only be emptiness from now on.

Surprisingly, she was more relieved than anything. The crystal ball fell from her side and cracked as her legs gave out. The last thing she saw was the ever-increasing cries of battle before slipping off into unconsciousness.

Unseen to her, an older woman stood by her side, black hair and dark eyes, in a navy blue uniform. She smiled. Then she was gone.

Ultear groggily began to wake. She slowly opened her eyes only to notice that the sky was strangely brown. As she opened them further she came to realize it was only the ceiling of what appeared to be a small cabin. She groaned as the aches her tiny body acquired during the earlier fight sank into her like stones. Did everything really hurt more as a child?

She sensed some movement in the corner of her eye and tensed. Two figures moved towards her, eyes still red from earlier tears.

"Miss Ultear!"

"Ultear!"

Wendy and Cheria shouted at the same time. Ultear wished she had the upper body strength to put a hand to her ears. Instead, she groaned, "Yes? Where am I?'

"We took you into one of the buildings where we've been keeping the injured. You were so cold Miss Ultear, we weren't sure…" Wendy trailed off. Chelia put on a grin.

"Not to worry though, I healed you while Wendy attended to Carla. You're both alright now, thank goodness."

"Yes, thankfully…" Ultear tried to sit up but accomplished little more than wiggling her arms. She suddenly found it hard to look the two of them in the eyes. "I'm sorry, I tricked both of you. I wanted to use Third Origin on myself since you both have bright futures ahead of you, meanwhile, I…" She couldn't think of how to end that sentence. Ultear realized she hadn't properly explained her own situation. What did they think happened?

The two teens glanced at each other and went silent. Then they simultaneously crossed their arms and pouted. Ultear broke out into a cold sweat.

"I'm not mad...is what I'd like to say. You should have used it on me! I could have taken her down and you'd still be fine!"

"I don't mind that we tricked Wendy but even me! She told me you were an honorable person, but I guess you're kinda tricksy too. It would have been even easier if I'd been the one to do it!"

"Cheria! Don't call Miss Ultear dishonorable!"

"But she tricked us!"

"For our own good!"

"Nghh...still…"

The two sounded exactly like a mother hesitantly scolding a child, to the point which Ultear couldn't help but burst out into laughter. The other two soon burst into giggles as well at the ridiculousness of it all. Wendy stopped pouting and put on a genuine smile.

"Well, I'm still a little frustrated, but that doesn't mean I'm not thankful you saved us. When we meet back up with Miss Meredy and the rest, we'll have to tell them what you did for us."

Ultear's blood ran cold. Meredy? "They're here?"

"Oh, yes. They joined the battle not too long ago, according to Erza…"

She closed her eyes at the news. Why was she so surprised? If there was a war going on in Fiore against Zeref, of course Jellal and the others would be fighting against them. True, she hadn't left them on the best of terms on their end, but the thought of seeing any of them again left her with a hollow feeling inside her stomach.

Now that she had all her memories back, how was she supposed to face the person she'd once sincerely called "Mother"? Ultear closed her eyes, suddenly too tired to think about the ever uncertain future ahead of her.