Time to go back to the future

After his vision cleared, Kaoru found himself standing in the middle of a forest.

However, something felt strange. As he surveyed the area, everything was just an expanse of trees with no cities or villages in sight for several kilometers.

And miraculously, there in front of him stood a small child, probably around 9 or 10 years old, with striking white hair and very dirty clothing.

Kaoru tried to recall any white-haired children from the *Fairy Tail* series, but none matched this boy.

"What's your name, kid? And why are you here alone? Where are your parents?"

Kaoru finally gave up and chose to search for answers manually by asking the source directly.

The boy looked at Kaoru with a confused expression, and after a while, he gave an answer that shocked Kaoru.

"August... abandoned... don't know..."

The boy answered with very brief words, but just from that response, Kaoru could only slap his forehead.

"Of course, so that's the reason."

Now Kaoru understood why August had been so polite to him back then; it turned out that his role this time was to care for and educate August.

Then, at the same time, Cronos suddenly appeared in front of Kaoru and August.

"Yo, Kaoru-kun... it seems you two have already met, so I guess no further explanation is needed, right?"

Cronos greeted them, and for some reason, Kaoru felt that Cronos had a smug look on his face, as if saying, 'I'm great, come on, praise me!'

'No wonder Irene attacked me without hesitation back then; even though I'm in the *Fairy Tail* era, I still haven't been able to meet her.'

"You know, I really want to punch you in the face, Cronos!"

Even though Kaoru said that, he still tried his best to hold back his emotions.

However, Cronos's actions made Kaoru even more upset, and he finally lost control.

"Hahaha, how amazing, right? You just need to teach this kid until he's strong enough to survive. It's not difficult, is it? Oh, by the way, it's not yet time for Erza-chan to be born—"

*Boom...*

Kaoru punched Cronos in the face, sending him flying, but Cronos didn't get up again; instead, his body disappeared, followed by laughter that made Kaoru even more annoyed.

'Whatever, at least I don't have to worry that August in this world would kill Erza.'

"You heard that bastard, didn't you, August-kun? So, what do you think?"

Hearing Kaoru's question, August only nodded in response.

In the end, they left together, where Kaoru would teach various things about magic to August, the prodigy who was the son of Zeref and Mavis.

----

Days passed, and August continued to grow stronger.

*Swosh... Boom*

Now the two of them were attacking each other, throwing various types of magic.

Fortunately, their training ground was very far from any villages or cities.

Unlike most wizards who usually focus on one type of magic, Kaoru knew that August's talent would be wasted if he only mastered one kind.

That's why Kaoru taught August many types of magic that he knew.

The first magic was enchantment magic, and Kaoru taught him how to strengthen his body with magic.

After that, Kaoru taught him the close-combat techniques of Madara, which he had improved upon.

Kaoru also utilized the monsters in the forest as training partners for August.

Once there were no more monsters daring to challenge August, Kaoru himself took on the role of his sparring partner.

Now, after several years had passed, August had grown into a fairly handsome young man. Although he couldn't surpass Kaoru's beauty, the genes of Zeref and Mavis were truly remarkable.

August created a giant fireball and hurled it at Kaoru, who easily nullified the magic by sending it into a void dimension using his spatial manipulation powers.

But this was exactly what August had been waiting for; he knew that fighting Kaoru from a distance was tantamount to suicide.

That's why he deliberately used flashy magic to lure Kaoru into opening a dimensional portal, and he took advantage of the blind spot in that technique to dash toward Kaoru.

August could have used spatial magic to teleport, but he refrained from doing so because only a fool would use spatial magic against someone with authority over all types of space and dimension manipulation.

That's why he believed the best way to fight Kaoru was to manually run toward him and engage in close combat.

But August was gravely mistaken; he forgot one thing: the last time Kaoru fought in close combat was when he was teaching him Madara's wardance, and that was when he was very young.

After living long enough and meeting various types of people, even though Kaoru still looked like a beautiful young man, he had grown into a cunning old fox.

Kaoru deliberately guided August's assessment, making him believe that Kaoru wasn't very skilled in close combat and only knew a little about wardance, a misconception that would lead to August's defeat.

August made a claw-like motion with both his arms, enveloping them with enhancement magic, and didn't forget to coat each of his fingers with ether, forming them into sharp claws.

When August was about to grab Kaoru's body, he was shocked by Kaoru's expression, who was smiling widely, and this time he realized he had fallen into a trap.

'I'm done for!!'

Kaoru easily evaded August's attack by shifting one of his legs back, lowering his body.

But that wasn't all; Kaoru spread his arms, one positioned much lower than the other.

Kaoru's current stance was one of the moves in Tai Chi.

At the same time, for some reason, August felt as if he could see the shadow of a Tai Chi symbol on the ground, accompanied by strange writings he didn't understand.

"Jūkenhō: Hakke Rokujūyon Shō"

Just before August could react, Kaoru delivered the first strike, rendering August immobile.

It was followed by the second and fourth strikes, disrupting August's balance.

By the eighth and sixteenth strikes, the ether-nano throughout August's body began to go haywire, and all the enhancement magic he had been using was undone.

By the thirty-second and sixty-fourth strikes, the final ones, August lost all control over his body and the ether-nano within it, leaving him completely unable to use any ether to defend himself.

After the final strike, August's body was sent flying, and he fell, unable to stand, as the flow of ether-nano within him became utterly chaotic, realizing he had been utterly defeated.

*Clap clap clap*

Kaoru clapped, acknowledging August's attempt to exploit his opponent's weakness to win.

"Well, you're smart enough to find your opponent's weakness, but it seems you forgot that I'm the one who taught you wardance, August-kun."

But of course, a simple tactic like that wouldn't work on Kaoru.

"Hahaha, sensei is really terrifying. *Sigh... I lost completely!"

With his talent and potential, August had every right to be arrogant, but after hearing stories from Kaoru many times, August realized there were at least three people he could never defeat with just talent and potential.

The first was his father, Zeref Dragneel, known as the Black Wizard, whose knowledge alone was enough to make August feel like a toddler standing before a scholar.

The second was Irene Makoto Belserion, his teacher's wife, known as the Scarlet Witch and the strongest female wizard in the world. Even though August had never met his teacher's wife, the stories of the Scarlet Witch that spread throughout the world were enough to prove her strength.

And the third was his own teacher, Makoto Kaoru, known as the Herrscher of the Void, with space and dimension manipulation abilities at an extreme level, who never stopped training and honing himself, making Kaoru someone August deeply respected.

After that, Kaoru released the lock from the gentle fist technique and continued advising August.

"Remember, August-kun, no matter how strong you become, there will always be someone stronger. Simply put, there's always a sky above the sky."

What Kaoru never wanted was for those around him to become arrogant and eventually fall because of their arrogance.

For Kaoru, it was better for them to be cowards who always prepared for the worst than to be arrogant and end up dying from something foolish, like being sliced in half or trying to mimic the power of a much stronger opponent.

That's why, when training with August, he always crushed and destroyed any arrogance within him, teaching him that there were still many forces stronger than magic in their world.

But when August asked what those forces were, Kaoru turned it into homework for August, which, of course, left the young man very confused.

----

A few months later, Cronos came to Kaoru and informed him that it was time to return to his own time.

After learning that he would soon leave, Kaoru then tasked August with traveling the world and learning from everything he saw.

As for the unresolved homework, Kaoru asked August to find out what power was much stronger than magic, and when he was sure of his answer, he could come to Kaoru and provide his best answer.

Once everything was ready and Kaoru had finished sending August off on his adventure, Cronos appeared again and warned Kaoru that after sending him back to the present, Kaoru would receive all the memories and knowledge from various versions of himself across different universes.

But Kaoru, who had been ready for a long time, unhesitatingly told Cronos that he was prepared.

Seeing Kaoru's seriousness and readiness made Cronos admire the young man.

Because all the happiness and trials experienced by various versions of Kaoru would be united within this one body, which might destroy Kaoru's current personality and turn him into someone unrecognizable to those closest to him.

Since Kaoru was ready, Cronos finally sent him back to his original time without hesitation.