Last chapter of this story! It was truly a long journey, having started this story so long ago. The ending will be interesting. This sort of ending is my first since The Silence Uprising. Anyways, here is the last chapter! Enjoy.

The Clouded War was over. Finally, peace was restored. With the elimination of Tartaros and the disbanding of Snake Fang, the citizens of the world could finally rest. The peace treaty was formally signed and Angkol forces left the middle continent. However, there was a terrible cost. Most of the Hohenheim cities were destroyed. Millions had died in the conflict and the people of the Hohenheim Empire were traumatized at the death of an entire line of young men. The Garlan Empire enacted a program of financial support to their sister empire and slowly but surely, the Hohenheim Empire recovered.

But it was not over. Even with the problems erased from the world, the attacks continued. Magical attacks struck the city of Magnolia for an entire week. Nobody left the city alive, and many were killed by an unknown magical force. The remaining population huddled inside their homes, desperately praying to the goddesses for aid. But no help came. The goddesses were busy rebuilding their own fallen kingdom and could not provide any help. The guild of Fairy Tail was seriously concerned by these attacks and were more than certain that there was still one more person who held a grudge against them.

?

Julius stared up into the sky, observing the stars that sparkled above him like hundreds of crystals in a chandelier. The wind blew across the dry plains of Asarabia as Julius looked across the cold desert to see a trading village. It was a village he had visited before. He had come to pay his respects to someone who had been close to him. He stared at the village, recounting how his "life" had come to be like this. He had been nothing more than a pawn throughout this entire struggle, but now he had a purpose. He had tried his hardest to prevent such an event from happening, but he had been too late. Jack had been sly, only pretending to merge the memories of Fairy Tail into his body. In truth, he had done this far before his body had been resurrected, having once been a member of Fairy Tail himself. He had simply wanted to remove Bael from the group. After Ferdinand, Bael was the only one strong enough to challenge Jack.

The lights of the village were bright although not many were shining. The village had once been a medium sized town but that was many years ago. Julius made a fist when he thought about what he now represented. He represented the happiness of Fairy Tail. The dear memories of the legendary guild had been stored inside of him. Julius let out a slow sigh, the sound quickly being absorbed by the sand dunes that were around him.

"I will live on, for Fairy Tail." He said to himself as he started to walk towards the village, his mind crowded with the things he could do, free from the control of anyone.

First, he would pay his respects.

Fairy Tail

The guild was loud in celebration. It was the first day without a magical attack! The city was largely destroyed, but the people of Magnolia were hardy and formed their own civilian militia. Meanwhile, the mages and civilians helped rebuild the city. But right now, it was a time for a little bit of celebration. They had managed to defeat the evil that had threatened them! Fairy Tail was being hailed as the heroes of the world and their rivals were green with envy. The guild members were laughing, drinking, and playing games as everyone celebrated their victories. Azami and Azura had found seats with Team Natsu and they were engaged in a lively conversation about Saber Tooth and the other guilds. Raymond was sitting beside Azami and Wendy, wondering how his parents were doing. Raymond grabbed his head and grit his teeth suddenly. He had been having pounding headaches recently, but they always passed within seconds.

"Time is running out for you…"

Raymond shook his head violently and took a sip of the water he had in front of him in a glass. Everyone else seemed to be having a great time, but Raymond was feeling a bit sick. It was near the end of the day and Makarov suddenly stepped up to the podium in the center of the lunchroom to speak. He looked like he had too much to drink, slightly off balance and face growing red. The guild grew silent as Makarov coughed.

"This guild dah best! Yeah!" Makarov shouted, completely intoxicated.

The guild burst into laughter as Makarov stepped down from the podium and went to get more beer, Mira taking the beer from him as soon as he filled his mug back up. Everything was great, until the doors to the guild slammed wide open.

Everyone stopped talking and looked who had entered. It was stranger, holding some kind of plate like object. The stranger was dressed in a ruby red robe that split at his feet so he could walk. His hair was blonde, but he had brown eyes. On closer inspection, the plate was made of gold and silver, several runes carved into the silver pieces that surrounded a golden centerpiece. The man smiled as Makarov peered at the man with curiosity.

"Ah, hello! Who might you be?" the guild master asked as the man replied warmly.

"My name is Lester Gitz. I am the leader of Snake Fang." He said, his smile completely devoid of any sort of hatred.

Everyone started to look at each other in confusion. Wasn't Zeref the leader of Snake Fang? Raymond froze in his seat, too afraid to move. The others at the table started to stand up, ready to fight. Gray pointed his finger at Lester who looked at Gray with a smiling face.

"You, you aren't a friend that is for sure. You'll regret coming in here!" Gray shouted, "Ice Make: Lance!"

The icy cold lances shot across the room, threatening to pierce straight through Gray. Lester's facial expression changed dramatically as the lances approached his body. His face became serious, unsmiling as he held out a single hand and the lances suddenly turned around and shot back at Gray! The ice mage was too surprised to move as the lances smashed into Gray much stronger than Gray had originally cast them as. Erza let out a roar of anger as she burst from behind Lester, having snuck behind him. She let loose a hail of swords as they all smashed towards Lester with blinding speed.

"I don't think you realize…," Lester said calmly as the swords smashed around him, not a single one hitting on target, "that I am a mage of incredible powers. I am, a Mirror Mage."

The guild let out a gasp of surprise and Natsu and Gajeel were slightly confused. They had never heard of Mirror Mage, but Gildartz definitely knew what was going on. The guild ace stepped forward, ready to challenge the dark mage as Erza landed and held out a sword. Gildartz faced Lester and narrowed his eyes.

"You are a mage that can copy anyone's attacks and send them right back at the caster with your own level of power. Very well, I will be your opponent. If you came here looking for a challenge, you will get it!" Gildartz roared as he charged at the Snake Fang master.

Lester grinned as he dodged Gildartz's fist, but the dark mage let out a scream of pain as the second fist smashed hi across the jaw. The dark mage went flying against the wall of the guild as Gildartz grabbed his head, and slammed into the floor, the wood cracking, sending splinters everywhere.

"What's wrong? Can't block physical attacls?" Gildartz taunted angrily as Lester struggled to get up from the floor.

The dark guild master was still holding onto the plate of gold and silver and he smiled weakly as it glinted slightly. Gildartz suddenly let out a growl as he staggered back in pain. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his knee. The guild ace grabbed his knee, growling as he saw Lester start to walk towards him. He was smiling darkly as the other guild members were too afraid to move besides Erza who quickly tried to cut Lester's head off with her sword. The dark guild master swung around, blocking the sword with his plate of precious metal. Erza let out a cry of pain as she was smashed against the floor of the guild, unable to move. She was paralyzed! Lester turned his attention to Gildartz who was slowly rising to his feet. The plate of precious metal was raised above his head and it glowed with light as Gildartz froze and fell back. He was frozen like Erza.

"Now, who will challenge me! I did not come all the way here to play with weaklings! You will all die anyways so why die like cowards?" Lester taunted as everyone grit their teeth and tried to overcome their terrible fear.

Mira moved to face the enemy and Makarov was about to fight as well, when everyone saw Raymond stand up and walk towards Lester. The young boy's left eye was red and everyone started to shout at Raymond not to fight. He was too weak! Lester raised his eyebrows when he saw the child.

"Trying to defend your precious guild eh? That is honorable, but I will kill you, even if you are a child." Lester said as he looked at Raymond.

The child began to laugh, the laugh one of malicious intent. The child continued to laugh as he looked at Lester.

"Fool! You are but a mere mortal! I am nothing short of a god!" Raymond roared as he moved quickly, bringing his hands together.

Lester scoffed at his statement as he quickly ran towards Raymond, expecting the battle to be over quickly. The dark guild master slammed his fist into Raymond's body expecting the kid to fly backwards, but the fist sank into the child's body! Raymond grinned as he came face to face with Lester. Traces of fear started to show on Lester's face as Raymond chuckled.

"My motives are the same as yours. I am here to cause trouble. So are you. But the real difference between us is, I can kill you as much as I want. You, however, can never kill me!" Raymond laughed as Lester pulled his hand out from Raymond's body, "Stardust Barrage!"

The reaction was instantaneous. Lester could not even move before huge yellow shards smashed into him. The dark guild master let out a scream of pain as every shard burst into hundreds of other shards that bored into Lester's body, causing pain to root itself deep into every corner of his body. Raymond smiled slowly as everyone behind him gasped in horror. Was this really Raymond? Asura and Azami were especially horrified. Raymond was a demon!

Raymond watched with interest as Lester started to slowly stand up, still clutching the Circle of War in his hand. He smashed it into the ground, and light engulfed the ground where Magnolia stood. Lester laughed and coughed as his wounds bleed heavily. Lester nodded his head in satisfaction as Raymond came up to his broken body.

"You will all die. The Magnolia fault…I have created…." Lester coughed as Raymond nodded his head.

"An interesting plan, but I have no intention to stay with this guild of pathetic weaklings. You were my final test, and it seems that I have passed. I would never touch on of Matsu's work, but this is an exception. He seems to want it back anyways." Raymond said happily as his hand grew into large metal claws and slashed across Lester's chest, killing the leader of Snake Fang immediately.

Lester's dead body thudded against the wooden floor of the guild as silence engulfed the guild. Everyone was too horrified to even speak. The sweet little child that had been Raymond…had become a monster. Raymond picked up the Circle of War as he looked down at Lester's body.

"You can manipulate Zeref, but you can not manipulate me." Raymond whispered as he turned away from Lester's bleeding body and walked to the middle of the guild, the guild members backing away in fear.

"Give me what I want you foolish goddesses!" Raymond roared at the huge hole that was created in the ceiling from Star Dust Barrage.

The guild members of Fairy Tail gasped as a woman dressed in white robes appeared before Raymond. Her face was wrinkled and she was many years old with a hunched back. However, her eyes were fierce as she regarded the demon that stood before her.

"Very well. You have done everything we have ordered you to do. As decreed, I will make you the first god!" The old woman shouted as she touched Raymond's head.

A golden light surrounded Raymond, young child screaming in terrible pain as electricity shocked through his body. There was bright flash of light and the members of the guild covered their eyes. When they opened them, Erza and Gildartz were starting to walk again, and Raymond was standing in the middle of the guild, wearing a crown made of black iron and dressed in elaborate black robes. He smiled happily as he opened his palm to reveal a lacrima. He walked over to Azami and Azura who were frozen in fear. He dropped the lacrima in front of them and chuckled.

"That is your friend Raymond. He was nothing more than a parasite. He lived within my body, but repressed my soul! Now, I have regained control of my entire body! Perhaps you will find a body for your friend, maybe not." Vincent laughed cruelly as he rejoined the old woman in the white robes.

She held out her hands over the wooden floor of the guild and spoke quietly.

"Those who have died too early must be brought back for their work is not done," the old woman said quietly as she looked up at the members of Fairy Tail, "We also have high hopes for you, Fairy Tail. Do not let us down."

The old woman and Vincent started to fade away and were quickly gone. Asura picked the lacrima off the floor and the two of them looked at the lacrima with burning determination.

"Don't worry Raymond. We will find a body for you not matter what!"

The Fortress, Arcana

The large bronze bells that hung inside the huge gates of The Fortress started ring, sending their warm earthy tone over the fortress as everyone started to wake up in the fortress. The generals all ran towards Lidia's room. There were rumors that Tadaaki and Hitoshi had not in fact died in the battle against Zeref! They were flesh and blood! They talked with the soldiers they met and they laughed, but the bells continued to ring. They realized that Tadaaki and Hitoshi's return was not what was setting off the bells. There was only one reason the bells could be going off! The queen was in danger!

Tadaaki and Hitoshi led the charge as generals and soldiers stormed up the stairs with Lucia following close behind the two as they eventually came to Lidia's door and barged straight through into the room. Tadaaki drew his sword but lowered it when he saw who was standing next to the bed where Lidia was lying. Hyde had his hand on Lidia's stomach, his face one of pure joy. Lidia had her eyes closed and Bartholomew and Cyrus quickly pushed through group of soldiers and officials that were standing in the rather large chamber.

"Her majesty is pregnant! All hail Crown Prince Xalender!" Hyde shouted he knelt at the side of the bed.

Every soldier in the room drew their swords and knelt where they stood, their sword point touching the ground as they bowed their head. Everyone knelt but Cyrus and Bartholomew refused to kneel.

Lidia was pregnant with the next monarch of the Garlan Empire.

…

And that is the end of the story! I thought the ending was mixture of both sadness and happiness. I hope you guys liked the story! It is my longest story and I think that is the last big project I will be doing for a while! I will see you all later! FF