u/Ninja_SurgeFairy

This is a point I've talked about before, but I've still wanted to say more about it on its own. In Chapters 118 and 170, Lucy hinted at something bad to come; the first time saying something would come about due to the collapse of the Great Labyrinth of Dogra and the ensuing earthquake, and the second time saying something would happen that'd make her wish she'd been more emotional about reuniting with Aquarius. Since then, two major, seemingly awful events have happened; the appearance of the Calamity Bloods and the Revised Universe Omega turning Guiltina itself into Dragons. I believe neither of these things are what Lucy was referring to in either narration and I'll lay out my reasoning for why I personally believe this.

#Calamity Bloods

For starters, the emergence of the Calamity Bloods isn't caused by the collapse of the Calamity Bloods. In fact, the revival of the Calamity Bloods is unrelated to the Great Labyrinth at all. While Universe Omega was caused by roots spread through the creation of the Great Labyrinth, the roots used to gather power to revive the Calamity Bloods were spread 400 years ago; 300 years before the Great Labyrinth was created. So that cancels out any connection to Ch. 118's narration.

But what about Chapter 170's narration? The simple answer is, the Calamity Bloods have yet to do anything that'd cause or has caused that emotional impact. There was worry for Natsu and Juvia for a bit, but both are okay. The Calamity Bloods will definitely be hard opponents to beat and maybe things won't go well. But I don't know if I see that given there's so many heroes with the power to fight Dragons in some way around, including multiple Dragon Slayers, a Dragon Slayer Guild if they show up, two Dragon Gods who can still fight despite being weakened, a Dragonized Elefseria who could kill a Dragon God and was recently shown to still have immense power now, and even a Dragon-slaughtering force in Athena if she still has her power and gets it back.

#Revised Universe Omega

While the roots behind Universe Omega did come from the Great Labyrinth, they came from its creation, not its destruction. And while Aldoron's Magic mixing with it has caused Guiltina to collapse into many Dragons, that collapse wasn't caused by the destruction of the Labyrinth or the earthquake, but by the different parts of the Continent's structure becoming separate Dragons. So again, that rules out this being connected to the Chapter 118 narration.

But what about the Chapter 170 narration? Well, Lucy and everyone have been seeing what's been happening to Guiltina for some time now, Wed just laid it out to a group including Lucy; does Lucy look like she's so distraught she wishes she'd been happier when reuniting with Aquarius? She and the others probably see it as awful, there doesn't appear to be a clear way to stop it, but it's not having the kind of emotional impact Lucy described there. And in fact, it's hard to tell the impact on human lives this has even had. In Chapter 208, Ignia said "these are the last Humans who remain on this Continent". Were all other Humans Dragonized still somehow deslpite Natsu's interruption? Probably not given how Ignia and Wed talk. So did they die to the Dragons? I feel like there'd be bigger attention to that if it was the case. Did they all evacuate the Continent somehow? Not sure how. We don't understand what impact it's had on people yet, it'll probably get worse, but it's so far yet to have that kind of emotional impact on Lucy!

#Ignia burning the Continent

A 3rd potentially awful event has presented itself; Ignia using the Sun to burn the Continent. The thing is, that's almost entirely unrelated to the Great Labyrinth other than the Dragonization Magic restoring Ignia's full power which is a small part of what's happened and has nothing to deal with the earthquake. And Ignia will almost certainly fail to burn the Continent so that's unlikely to make Lucy feel the level of sadness she described in Chapter 170.

#Character death

A common theory on this is that a character will die and this will make Lucy feel the sadness she describes, or that Aquarius' Key will be broken again. That'd be repetitive and make certain moments from throughout 100 Years Quest pointless. I also don't see why Lucy would want to summon the Celestial Spirit King again and repeat an old, big moment when she has a new Key that could summon a more relevant ally and lead to a new, big moment. A death is possible, though it wouldn't really relate to the earthquake. But who would it be? Selene? Then why have Irene sacrifice herself to save her? So she can land the final blow on Aldoron and distract Viernes? Mercphobia would be weird because why give Lucy his Key and than just kill him off after one summon? It's possible, but it feels unlikely.

#Conclusion

The earthquake is the biggest question because that hasn't come up again since Chapter 118. While it's possible Lucy just meant that the earthquake isn't the only aftershock of the Labyrinth and that it'll have more. But the way she narrates it is seemingly framed that something will come about from the collapse of the Labyrinth and the earthquake. Either way, the way things have been going I really don't feel like we've seen the pay off of that or of Lucy being impacted in the way she narrated from any of what's currently going on. But I could be wrong and I'm not sure what I think will happen to payoff either of Lucy's narrations. But I personally feel like it's none of the current events, though I respect if people disagree.

As we march forward with the battles between Fairy Tail and co and the Calamity Bloods, and grow closer to Mashima's 250 Chapter estimate, it'd seem likely to some that we're in the final Arc and nearing that Arc's end. While I respect this view, I still have my doubts. The reasons I'm about to list are things I've thought of for some time now and have also seen others talk about.

#Lucy's warnings

I've talked about this a number of times. Since Ch. 170, many have speculated on what was the bad event that was going to make Lucy wish she'd been more emotional when reuniting with Aquarius. But what is sometimes forgotten is that this is the second of these foreshadowing narrations; the first being in Ch. 118 after the collapse of the Great Labyrinth. Lucy talked about how this caused an earthquake that reshaped the Continent and says "if only we knew" what would come about due to the collapse of the Labyrinth and the earthquake.

So this means for nearly 100 Chapters, there's been this setup for something bad that's going to happen and yet here's the thing, it hasn't. Because whether we assume these 2 narrations are about the same thing or not, the first one has yet to come true. The earthquake hasn't come up since Ch. 118, the Calamity Bloods have nothing to do with the Great Labyrinth, and even Aldoron's attack that has turned Guiltina into Dragons which is a big, catastrophic event that relates to the Great Labyrinth; that has nothing to deal with its destruction and is in fact tied to its creation since it's based on Universe Omega which was a Magic based on roots spread by the Labyrinth's creation.

#Faris and her plans

While Faris' introduction was sudden at the time, she has since been a decently prominent part of the story for the last 2 years now. And yet, despite being absorbed by Ignia, it doesn't seem like her story is over yet. Instead of using that to write her out, Mashima had her pop back up immediately the next Chapter and so far, has made 2 definitely intentional references to her intent to eventually strike out on her own; once literally saying she was only with him temporarily and a second time mocking the world he desires and the idea that there could be such a world without Acnologia. It's clear that this arrangement between Ignia and Faris has an expiration date and I can already see what it is.

Yes, Ignia's goals have "shifted to destruction", but that destruction is in the form of the Continent becoming Dragons. Faris doesn't want a Dragon World; she hates Dragons so I don't think she's just gonna be like "look at all the cool Dragons!" if Ignia were to win; she'd wanna do something about it. And how she'd do that; I don't know. But I don't think Mashima would have her talk about this being temporary and then do nothing with that when he could've just ended her story there. I once thought she'd be separated and redeemed, but not sure if I see that right now. But with her having an unexplored backstory and gial to make a Black Magic World, I don't think her story has been explored to the full extent it's been meant to yet.

#The Books of Faris mystery

Whenever one of the Oración Sechs has been defeated, they've become a book. While I could see this being a way to show us that they're actually made from books, I don't think that's all it is because the series kept going over it. There wpuld've been no reason to show Bird's because yes, the completionist in me would've dreaded not seeing one of the books, but it wouldn't have added anything too significant unless it was just so we were sure he was defeated. But it's not just that, the time these books are given is framed with characters talking about the books inquisitively, such as Merudy saying she doesn't think them becoming books is trivial or Elfman and Richard's talk about them; Mashima kept drawing our attention to the books.

This has to mean something. For various reasons, I don't think it'll be the return of the Oración Sechs, so I feel there's something else at play here. Maybe it could mean nothing; there was the time Mashima drew our focus to Rogue finding that puppet in the Gold Owl Guildhall and it meant nothing (maybe it could've just been to show that all of Gold Owl were fake, but the Dolls were presented as either mechanical or illusions, so the puppet thing was never really elaborated on). But this gets enough focus where I feel like it woll amount to something. But it just hasn't yet.

#New Characters

I know this one will frustrate people because there's already so many characters in this Arc. But again, this wouldn't be in the same Arc (if my theory is right). In a previous Twitter Space, Mashima said that there'd be new characters before the series ended. And yet, since then, the only "new" characters have been the Calamity Bloods who aren't new at all and this Arc, as many would tell you, doesn't need anymore new characters, nor do I even see where there's room for them in the story. Considering Mashima said "new characters" plural, I'm assuming there's gonna be multiple. And assuming Mashima actually means new characters and wasn't just talking about the Calamity Bloods or something, I can't see those new characters debuting in this Arc (I hope they wouldn't at least).

#Why I think all this means one more Arc

Everything I said could still just be saved for later in this Arc. After all, many of Mashima's stories have two major villains; Rave Master had Lucia and the Endless, the original Fairy Tail had Zeref and Acnologia, and Eden's Zero had Void and the Chronophage. A common aspect is that both of these villains will be dealt with in the final Arc; the destructive force of nature (Endless, Acnologia, and the Chronophage) doesn't get their own Arc, but is a part of the final battle with the other overarching Antagonist. Faris could end up being the same, these new characters could end up being a minor part of the story or just more crammed into this Arc more (please no), and this tragedy Lucy's teased could've already happened and just been described in a weird or forgotten way, or not be the big turning point it seems like it's being set up to be.

The problem is the focus of this Arc and the role of Faris compared to others. Even with the presence of Faris and the focus on the fights with her Oración Sechs, the True Dragon King Festival Arc has mostly been about Ignia and his goals; the Dragonization Magic, Universe Omega, and the Black Flame Dragon and Revised Universe Omega. Even with the focus Faris and the Oración Sechs have had, it's been reactionary to Ignia's goals and then Faris' power literally became a power up for Ignia. This is Ignia's story. But Faris hasn't been portrayed like Endless, Acnologia, or Chronophage where she's a destructive force that brings Arcs to a catastrophic end to setup her role in the final battle; she's another faction introduced here with her own machinations beyond destruction (creating a Black Magic World); the Arc has setup a lot around her, but hasn't addressed it almost seemingly intentionally.

So there's been a lot of setup around a villain who wants to threaten both sides that has yet to be explored, whatever tragic event Lucy has talked about which has almost certainly not happened yet, and new characters teased by the series' creator in an Arc with no room for them. That makes me think there'll be at least another Arc, but I respect if people disagree.