Kaoru arrived at a temple where the sage dragon lived.
His goal was to find out what he could do to help in this era.
The title of Sage Dragon Belserion was not just an empty boast; his very old age and the knowledge he possessed made Belserion very wise.
In the original story, it was never mentioned how strong and intelligent Belserion was, but as a holder of the title of sage, Kaoru was sure that Belserion was not a foolish child like Acnologia.
And this was proven in a very short time.
When Kaoru set foot at the temple's gate, he received a telepathic message from Belserion.
[Welcome, old friend from the future and another world, I have been waiting for your arrival.]
The voice of an old man filled with knowledge and wisdom echoed gently in Kaoru's mind.
Even though Kaoru had never said anything, Belserion could tell that he was a time traveler and also from another world.
Without wasting any time, Kaoru went straight inside the temple, and he could clearly see Belserion's true form.
A western dragon with a pair of large hands, feet, and wings, even Kaoru's size was not larger than one of its hands.
"So you have come, old friend. It seems the wheel of fate will truly turn this time."
Upon hearing that sentence, for some reason, Kaoru felt as if Belserion was smiling happily.
However, when Kaoru wanted to speak, Belserion preceded him because he already knew what Kaoru wanted to talk about.
"Well, you are an irregular, in various timelines there are many versions of you, but thanks to a power even I do not know, you became an irregular of time and fate."
"As a result, all timelines connected to your version stop at a certain point, which is in this world, more precisely when you will return to your time."
"After all those timelines merge, fate will be engraved into a straight line again but with greater power, as well as your version from various timelines, all will turn into one and form you as a singularity."
Kaoru could only nod as he listened to Belserion's lecture, but in his heart, he was very surprised because he knew the meaning of singularity and he was also worried about the people associated with other versions of himself.
If they were allies, Kaoru would happily accept them, but his enemies would certainly increase in the blink of an eye because they would all be connected to one Kaoru who had become a singularity.
"Do not worry, my friend, all the bonds you have built cannot be broken so easily. Moreover, there are many strong entities willing to support and become your companions in this endless journey."
"That is why if you lose your way, get lost, and feel exhausted, lean on and trust your companions."
Surprisingly, it did not take long for Kaoru, who felt confused by the facts he learned, to find a way out very easily.
And it was given by the same person who made him confused and doubtful about the future.
Even if it was not too obvious, Kaoru had companions he could trust.
He had the multiverse hunter guild, his company, many childhood friends with strong bonds, a loving girlfriend, and in this world, he found himself with a wife and a daughter.
"Thank you for the guidance, Belserion-san."
"No need to be so formal, my friend, I should be the one thanking you for saving that girl, as she is also my friend."
While Kaoru and Belserion were engrossed in conversation, suddenly their discussion was interrupted by someone.
That person quickly attacked Kaoru with her sword.
A sudden attack that an ordinary person would not be able to avoid.
And if Kaoru were not skilled in spatial manipulation, he would at least be hit by that attack even if he did not get injured.
After retreating a few steps, Kaoru could finally see the figure attacking him.
Straight red hair, with a braid on the right side, sharp eyes yet still friendly, and a very beautiful figure.
Kaoru had seen the adult version of the girl in front of him and the beauty exuded like a devil's temptation dragging anyone into the abyss of lust.
While the beauty before him now was pure and full of happiness.
Kaoru remembered the original story where Irene became evil, cruel, and brutal because of various tragedies that befell her.
"Who are you, and what is your purpose here?"
Young Irene pointed her sword, which she had enchanted to increase its power and speed, at Kaoru.
"Calm down, Irene. This young man is my friend. Haven't I often told you about him?"
"???"
Irene looked at Belserion, then at Kaoru alternately, and faster and faster.
Until finally, her face turned very red.
Seeing Irene's reaction, Kaoru had a bad feeling, so he asked Belserion, and as he suspected.
"Yes, since Irene was little, I often told her stories about you, about how you fought and so on."
[Even I suggested she become your wife, so such a reaction is not strange. Am I not great?.. hahaha as expected of me....]
Kaoru could only facepalm upon learning that the main reason why he and Irene could become husband and wife was because of Belserion.
----
A few years passed and the relationship between Irene and Kaoru became better, besides, Irene's engagement to Rung had been canceled because of a strange incident where Rung suddenly became very afraid of women, even firing all female servants in his house.
As for Irene herself, where she previously always challenged Kaoru to duels because she did not trust Belserion's stories.
But after several sparring sessions, Irene had never once won against Kaoru.
And because they sparred so often, their relationship became closer, and thanks to Belserion's strange stories, Kaoru did not need much time to win Irene's heart.
"Hey Kaoru, why do all your techniques have such long names?"
Kaoru, who was enjoying the snacks made by Irene, tried to recall why he gave cool names to all his techniques.
"Hmmm, well, there is no other reason than because it is cool. The longer and more powerful the nuance of a technique's name, doesn't it make it cooler?"
"Just imagine if there was a technique capable of splitting anything from solid objects to abstract things like space and time over hundreds or even thousands of kilometers, but because the owner was too lazy to think of a cool name, they just named it like 'cleave,' 'dismantle,' 'cut,' 'slash,' and the like. That would be like an insult to the technique itself."
Irene nodded in agreement because she thought powerful techniques also needed cool names at least worthy of representing the technique's strength.
At that moment, Irene remembered she had a new technique she wanted to show Kaoru.
The technique created a kind of physical form of the bond or connection between the user and the desired target.
And with her enchantment, Irene could determine whether she wanted to perform an attack or support by utilizing that bond.
If it was an attack, she just needed to attack herself, and the target she had bonded with would suffer the injury.
Whereas if it was support, Irene only needed to transfer the injury suffered by the target to herself or cast healing magic on herself.
Irene claimed to have gotten the idea for the magic from Kaoru's weapon, which could ignore the law of cause and effect, making her want to learn more about cause and effect relationships, and this magic was one of her research results.
Upon hearing Irene's explanation, Kaoru finally realized that the magic Irene used when defeating him was the same magic Irene created when she was young.
'She truly is a genius, perhaps in this world right now only Zeref can be said to be smarter than Irene.'
In times of war like this, Irene's magic could become strategic magic capable of influencing the battlefield.
Kaoru really want to helped Irene win the war easily, especially since Kaoru could have turned the traitorous dragons into dinner as Belserion himself also allowed it.
But unfortunately, when Kaoru wanted to participate, he was suddenly visited by Ankhseram who gave a warning that Irene's kingdom must indeed be destroyed and Belserion must still die to prevent chaos in the timeline.
And when he met that god, Kaoru got a glimpse of how strong the gods were, knowing that to defeat one, Kaoru had to use all the trump cards he had, and that would only defeat without killing.
On the other hand, a god like Ankhseram, who had dominion over curses and death, could kill Kaoru if he were not afraid of the entities backing Kaoru.
Therefore, Kaoru reluctantly had to let everything run according to the arrangement of fate.
And sure enough, a few weeks later, Kaoru heard news that Belserion had fallen in battle.
But what shocked Kaoru was the fact that Belserion was not killed by humans or traitorous dragons but by a creature considered a disgrace by dragons.
The dragon of destruction, Acnologia.
He had gone mad and fully turned into a dragon now hunting other dragons, and Belserion, knowing this, decided to hold Acnologia off by himself.
But unfortunately, Acnologia was slightly stronger than Belserion, and when he managed to devour Belserion, Acnologia grew stronger.
Upon hearing this news, Kaoru ordered everyone to keep it secret from Irene, and he alone decided to go down and take on Acnologia.
Kaoru did this because, as far as he remembered, Acnologia did not interfere in the war between humans and dragons, but this time Acnologia came and caused havoc.
Kaoru no longer cared whether his actions would disrupt the flow of time or not, but if Irene heard the news, she would surely seek revenge on Acnologia and end up dead.
-----
In an instant, Kaoru warped and arrived at the battlefield.
He saw the destruction and sorrow caused by the war, millions of human corpses and hundreds of dragon corpses scattered on the ground.
The ground was soaked with a sea of blood, and worse, there was a mad creature flying in the air slaughtering dragons and humans indiscriminately.
Kaoru saw Acnologia going mad with a cold gaze.
And without warning, Kaoru snapped his fingers, and in an instant, the space around Acnologia exploded.
The explosion was so strong that it even began to distort space throughout the battlefield.
Then with a wave of his hand, Kaoru released a spatial slash intending to behead Acnologia.
But thanks to his strong instincts, Acnologia immediately dodged and only lost one of his arms.
Acnologia finally found the enemy attacking him and spewed his dragon breath right at Kaoru.
But unfortunately, Kaoru easily deflected the attack by creating a portal connected directly to Acnologia's belly.
A scream full of pain echoed across the battlefield, causing the remaining humans and dragons to tremble as this was the first time they witnessed a human easily toying with a dragon.
Kaoru, feeling fed up, decided to end it all.
He condensed the space around him, then turned it into thread-like forms that were woven into several pieces of cloth, which he eventually folded into spear-like shapes.
Kaoru raised his hand, and when he felt it was time, he swung his hand, and the spears woven from space shot towards Acnologia.