Ben comes out of a black portal that appears in the woods. It's night now, so this place is really dark and eerie. It doesn't bother Ben though because he can sense his surrounding just fine.
"Hmm, I thought the portal would appear in the lab too. But it seems the coordinate changed, so I arrived in a forest. Well, it doesn't matter as long as I arrive at the correct timeline. I don't want to cause more changes by entering the wrong timeline."
Ben ponders it while looking at the portal that disappears slowly. Then he looks around and closes his eyes to sense his surroundings. He senses many magical creatures a few kilometers around him, but they all are average creatures.
"There is no Dragon near me. Damn, I hope I am in the correct timeline now."
Ben flies high into the sky and looks around the dark area.
"Quorra, find my lab."
[Searching hidden lab.....]
[Hidden lab has been found.]
[Location: 1,286.86 km West]
"So we are quite far. Alright, let's-!"
Ben suddenly gets alerted because he senses something getting closer. He looks to the left and sees a massive blue-white creature flying in the sky. It's a Dragon that flies alone in the sky, but it doesn't fly toward Ben because he has hidden his presence very well since he arrived.
"A Dragon, that's a good sign because it means the chance that I am in the correct location is high."
Although he wants to check the Dragon, Ben's priority is reaching his lab. He needs to find the survivors immediately and sees his children. So Ben flies to the location that has been marked by Quorra in his mind.
With his current speed, Ben can fly very fast, and no one in Earth Land can match him. He covers the whole 1,286.86 km in just 5 minutes. So his speed is around 4.29 km/second, and he could move faster if he didn't need to hide his presence & power.
On his way to the lab, Ben senses many Dragons scattered on the land. Most of them are average Dragons, but they are still very powerful for most Mages. Other than Dragon, Ben also sees destroyed civilizations everywhere which makes him click his tongue.
Ben arrives above the forest near Cait Shelter where his hidden lab is located. The forest and village don't look good at all because they are devastated. He assumed the enemies found out the lab's general location and tried to destroy it, but Ben made that lab very sturdy, so it should be fine.
Now that he is close to the lab, Ben can teleport inside it, and that's what he does. He teleports right into the lab and appears in the special room he made to enter the lab. It's just a small room for his teleportation, so he opens the door to enter the lab's main room.
When he opens the door, Ben suddenly hears a pan falling sound on his left, so he turns his head. What he sees is a short-haired Wendy that looks buffed and has some scars on her body & face. She is looking at Ben with wide eyes and a very shocked expression as if she is looking at a ghost.
{Welcome to the lab, Master.}
Jarvis suddenly welcomes him, making Wendy's eyes get even wider.
"Wendy?"
Ben asks to make sure if she is Wendy, but she doesn't answer and just runs toward him. Wendy jumps onto him and hugs him very tightly as tears flow out of her eyes.
"Even if this is just a dream, please, let me have this dream a little longer."
Wendy cries while saying that, so Ben smiles sadly and hugs her back. It's been so long since he sees his sister being a crybaby like this. He pats Wendy's back and holds her in his arm without saying anything while she cries out loud.
Her cry is heard by others in the lab, so they all come to check it. Ben looks at them and sees who he wanted to see, his other 2 sisters and twin children. There are also some other people including Lucy who are there.
Their reactions are not that different from Wendy's first reaction. Everyone is surprised to see a man who should've died protecting them suddenly appears here. Then Bella, Carla, Ariel, & Gabriel run toward him to hug him while crying like Wendy.
He accepts them all and now he is standing while holding 5 people on him. The others surround him and now Ben can take a better look at them. Other than Lucy & Wendy, the others here are very young Mages who were still juniors at the time of the Grand Magic Games when the Dragons appeared.
Ben then looks at Lucy for a while and she nods while showing a magic mark Ben made on the back of her hand. It confirms that Ben is in the correct timeline now because this Lucy was the one who returned to his timeline at the Grand Magic Games.
After some time, Wendy suddenly realizes that it has been too long, but Ben hasn't disappeared from her 'dream'. So she gets down and looks at him seriously now. She pinches his face and plays it to check if he is really just an illusion.
Her actions make the others who hug Ben confused. Ben just smiles seeing the confusion around him. "Do you want to check if I'm real or do you want to rip the skin out of my face? It starts to get hurt, you little crybaby."
Now Wendy really gets surprised, and so are the others. "Y-You are real?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Ben smiles, but Wendy cries even louder instead. She hugs him while crying again, so he sighs and hugs her back too. The other 4 follow suit and they just keep hugging each other for a rather long time. Ben looks at Lucy and she just giggles happily because they haven't been happy for a rather long time.
It needs more than an hour to calm Ben's family members. His sisters let him go, but his children are still holding him tightly. Ben just smiles and lets them do what they want. Now he can finally explain who he is after they all calm down and are ready to listen.
He tells them that he is Ben from another timeline, the timeline that Lucy visited and gave a few things through her. Surprisingly, Wendy & co aren't surprised although they are quite disappointed. It's Ben who gets surprised instead.
"You don't look surprised."
"Why should we? We know you longer than anyone and know exactly what you would think when you heard about our situation from Lucy-san. Ben nii-san, we know you would never abandon us despite being in different timelines. You care about your family more than yourself and that was always the reason you seek power so much."
Ben smiles when he hears Wendy. She knows him more than anyone else, even Mira because she has lived with him longer than anyone in this world. So Wendy knows what Ben would think after hearing the situation here.
"Besides, I saw your death with my own eyes, and tried to heal you, so I know for sure that you of our timeline won't come back to us."
Ben rubs her hair as she looks down very sadly. "You have done well. Surviving this long and even making sure the others are alive too. Both I and this timeline's me are very proud of you, Wendy."
"What about Bella?"
"Of course, we are proud of Bella & Carla too. We are also proud of every one of you who managed to get through this hard time that took many people's lives."
Everyone is happy after getting complimented by someone they always think of as the Greatest Hero in this tough time. Ben rubs his children who are still very young in this timeline. They should be around 11 years old now, so they are still very young.
"Alright, let's talk about something more serious now. I'm sure you know why I came here. I will make you free and make sure all the Dragons under Acnologia get slain."
"Will it be fine? I don't mean to doubt you, but those Dragons are very powerful."
"No need to worry. I have prepared myself thoroughly and tested my power by slaying my timeline's Acnologia."
Ben grins, but the others are very shocked when they hear it. They all know well how powerful Acnologia is because he was also the one who killed Ben in this timeline. So hearing that Ben has slain Acnologia is very surprising to them.
"You don't believe me?"
"We believe you!"
They all answer hastily for an unknown reason.
"W-we believe you. But we are still surprised to hear you slay Acnologia."
"Well, he surely was strong, and it was the most difficult battle I've ever done in my entire life. But I've done it and will repeat it in this timeline. Now, let's rest first because we will prepare everything we need to take this world back from those Dragons starting tomorrow."
They all nod, but they just stay there without moving. Ben wants them to sleep, but it seems they won't do it because they are too excited to see him. So he sighs and decides to start their preparation immediately.
"Sigh, this Guild never changed, huh?"
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Hi guys, just a little announcement. Fairy Tail: Sun Eater has reached the last chapter in Patreon. You can read it faster there, but don't worry, I'll still upload here until the last chapter,
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You can read more chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 443. The End (Fairy Tail: Sun Eater)
2. Chapter 460. Haki Training
461. Cutting Red Line (Transcended as Lord Buggy)
3. Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)