The Eclipse Gate is a device used to connect two eras, and it was once created by Jellal.
By opening the gate correctly, Natsu and the others were sent from four hundred years ago to the present, which began the main events of the Fairy Tail world.
If the gate is opened incorrectly, it will connect to the world four hundred years ago and bring countless dragons into the present.
When Caesar first read about this, he felt it was confusing, but after thinking it through, everything became clearer.
The correct opening of the gate refers to opening the time gate of this world. For example, Natsu and the others are the same as Zeref himself.
As for the incorrect opening, Caesar believed it was caused by interference that made the time and space lines unstable. In simple terms, it connected to a timeline in a parallel world.
This led to the later events where Future Lucy and Future Rogue traveled to this world, both trying to change the future.
In one future, the gate was closed and the dragons did not appear, but the world was destroyed by Acnologia. Later, Rogue learned the truth about the gate—that it could connect to four hundred years ago, could be opened with keys, and could be closed by a Celestial Wizard. He also learned Dragon Taming Magic and used the gate to travel back in time.
He tricked the King and Princess of Fiore into gathering magic power to open the gate.
That action created another future, one where ten thousand dragons appeared.
So, Future Lucy also came back to close the gate.
Although that event hadn't happened yet, Rogue's actions created a new future.
It was a shame Caesar didn't exist in their world—otherwise, things would never have gotten so bad.
"The future that Carla predicted was very vague, only full of dragon roars."
Caesar stood in front of the window, looking at the night sky as he thought, "If it were me, I'd never let the dragons out. So this can't be my world's future. Knowing my personality… could it be that I used the Eclipse Gate to travel to Lucy's future world?"
He felt that was very likely.
Caesar and Lucy were close friends, and she often came over to eat with him.
So even if it wasn't the same Lucy, but her from another time, asking for help—Caesar would never just stand by.
It was very possible he would travel to save Lucy's future world.
After all, Caesar had once fought Acnologia head-on and forced him to retreat.
Ten thousand dragons would be difficult to handle, but defeating them one by one wouldn't be a problem.
Not to mention—
Ten thousand dragons meant ten thousand experience packs.
The thought made Caesar's eyes shine.
After defeating Acnologia, his level had reached a bottleneck. He was just one step away from being promoted to a Red Card.
If everything went well, he could reach that level in that world and then collect Merlin Cards to unlock infinite magic.
With infinite magic power, Caesar would be truly invincible.
Even if there were another ten thousand dragons, it wouldn't matter.
After that, he could return.
He remembered Acnologia's magic aura clearly.
With infinite magic as his base, he'd show that dragon exactly who was stronger.
If he didn't crush him completely, he'd consider it mercy.
...
In the future world of Rogue.
Some time had passed since he had deceived the King and Princess of Fiore. Like a shadow, Rogue hid among the ruins, collecting magic power.
He needed a massive amount of it to open the Eclipse Gate again.
But after the last time, Acnologia had become alert, and Rogue had only one chance left.
If he gathered enough power, he could use the gate to travel back once more, control the dragons, and end Acnologia's reign.
If he was discovered, death would be his only outcome.
"This madman…"
To Rogue, Acnologia was exactly that—a madman.
He only knew destruction, destroying everything without care.
Didn't he realize that once everything was gone, he'd have no reason to exist?
Yet that same madman ruled the entire world.
Rogue was the only survivor, the last Dragon Slayer.
He didn't know how Acnologia was created—if he did, he'd stop thinking about resistance and accept his fate.
But when someone is drowning, they'll cling to even the weakest straw.
Because there's no other choice.
In another possible future, a new timeline began. Just like in the original story, the Fairy Tail guild was sealed in a magic sphere for seven years.
When they returned, they began preparing to face the Grand Magic Games.
But they didn't realize that an even darker future was waiting for them.
...
The vacation ended quickly. After spending a fortune, Caesar and his friends returned to the Kingdom of Fiore.
When everyone got back to work, Caesar brought the Ten Wizard Saints to the Council.
As soon as he arrived, Makarov threw a stack of papers—over twenty centimeters thick—onto the table.
"Is this our assignment?" Caesar asked while flipping through it.
"No, that's yours, Caesar," Makarov said.
Caesar froze, staring at him wide-eyed.
Makarov ignored his look and handed similar stacks to Jellal and the others.
They opened the documents and were horrified to find that almost every page was a new task.
A single page was thin—but twenty centimeters of them meant thousands of jobs.
"There's no one else in the Council?" Caesar groaned.
Even if he used teleportation magic nonstop, it would take half a year to finish that list.
For Jellal and the others, it might take one or two years.
So Caesar complained to Makarov, "You seriously expect us to do all this?"
"Do you think I'd ask you if there were anyone else left?" Makarov sighed.
The Council was in chaos. Cleaning it up properly would take four or five years.
That meant for the next several years, Caesar and the others would be summoned often to help.
At that moment, Caesar regretted letting Makarov return to work.
If he had known, he would've let the old man stay retired peacefully at the guild.
Now, his dream of a quiet, carefree life was completely gone.