I had been walking for many hours, it may have been days, and I was almost back at full strength. Contemplating on what was happening to me. You see, I did like the fact that I was changing back from the dragon that once roamed the skies to do nothing but kill, maim and destroy. However I didn't understand how it was all happening so fast, Atlas Flames speech had surely affected me in many ways...but that couldn't have been enough to stray my mind from over 400 years of experience and a fixed mindset. All of it felt, unnatural, and yet it was happening...something was going on with me, perhaps someone did something to me. I can't say for sure to be honest, all I had was time to reflect on what had transpired, as well as the dragon I had seen in my dreams.
Something was happening, going to happen to be more precise. something that may have not been supposed to happen. I could feel it in the atmosphere, due to my magic power, I was highly sensitive towards the feel of the ethernano within the air, and whenever something terrible or wrong was going to happen in the world the ethernano would move slightly more rapidly than usual, almost as if god wanted his creations to be ready in case something happened. I looked up at the blue sky above me, the sky I had flown for so long, I knew that sky well.
'What's wrong with me?' I thought, it was a simple question really, but nevertheless a valid one at that. I held a hand up to my head, why...why was I even still angry at the dragons? They had been extinct for centuries, the only ones remaining being the four dragon gods and that other man who wants them all dead. Albeit they aren't real dragons, kind of like myself...No, there were still those to be angry at, however they were long dead now..so why, do I still feel the same rage I did when they were still alive? Then I had a surprising thought, maybe some of them were. It was only a myth I had come across about fifty or so years ago in some ruins at Giltena, but they spoke of an ancient spell that had the power to send the souls of dragons into the bodies of humans.
My thoughts however, were interrupted once more. When I saw the sky darken above me, a very powerful spell was about to be cast. I walked along a massive wasteland, unsure of where the spell was being cast exactly until I saw the dark purple clouds swirl around one area in particular.
"Sema." I said to myself as I recognized the spell, I have only met a small handful of wizards who could pull that spell off. Most of which used some form of celestial magic, like heavenly body magic. I've never seen a celestial wizard capable of such a damaging spell, however I wouldn't put it past one to be able to pull it off with enough training. It was meteor magic to be precise, and just like the name implied a massive flaming meteor shot down from the sky and created an explosion that even I was mildly impressed by. I walked towards the center of the explosion and it didn't take me much time to find who had done it. I was standing at the edge of a massive crater, where 4 wizards lay defeated by the spell but not dead, and one other with shoulder length long hair and a blue cloak. The man who had cast Sema no doubt, for I remembered him from the dragon attack. I smelled the air, and was surprised to smell a poison dragon slayer down there as well.
The blue haired wizard, I believe his name was Jellal, grabbed a black and white haired wizard who he had defeated and spoke of some "common enemy" and I was once again moderately surprised to hear him ask his enemy to help him defeat Zeref of all people. I watched on in silence, and simply waited for his reply before hearing the large man next to me speak.
"Um...who..are you?" He asked, I gave him a questioning look, he was now doubt terrified by the power Jellal had just displayed earlier. I gave him no form of answer as I looked onto the wizards before me before simply sighing and turning to leave them be, I had no more form of interest in the dragon slayers anymore, in truth, all they have done is help me, or at least the lightning slayer has. I can't say the same for that future slayer or the fire slayer.
"Wait, who's up there!? I can sense your energy!" I heard Jellal exclaim, I paid him no mind as I began to leave the site of the meteor until I felt something odd go through my mind, it felt like a strange form of magic travelling into my mind. Using my dragon slayer qualities I quickly absorbed it to prevent it from doing anything particularly harmful, however soon after, I felt a massive disturbance within the ethernano, it was shaking more rapidly than ever, almost as if it was afraid of going out of existence forever, and putting two and two together I quickly deduced who would benefit from such a thing.
'This has Tartaros written all over it, but what could they be doing to create such a reaction within the air?' I thought as I looked up towards the sky, however I was rudely interrupted by none other than Jellal whom had tried to use a weak spell on me to get my attention. I dodged the attack by flipping through the air and stood to confront him, he had seemingly blinded himself and was only going off my intense magic energy.
"You, I've only felt the way I do now after meeting one man. Is that truly you...Acnologia?" He asked, I didn't want to have a full on conversation with this wizard. There were things that needed my attention right now.
"...I am...Now then heavenly wizard, I bid you farewell...for I was simply passing by." I said, he looked at me in a small form of shock before a smile played onto his lips.
"So if even you of all people are capable of change, perhaps deep down we all truly are." He said to himself quietly, I merely grunted in response before walking away. He did nothing to try and stop me or incapacitate me, he simply let me walk away. Once I was far away enough, I decided to do something about the reaction in the air, for it was bothering me immensely now. I inhaled a large amount of air and put one hand towards the ground and raised the other one up towards the sky before releasing all my magic at once creating a tornado of pure magic energy to swirl into the sky around me and shake the very earth beneath me. My body slowly shifted and the world slowly grew smaller around me, my senses sharpened by ten fold and my way of thinking changed ever so slightly. I opened my eyes to see a small world underneath of me, and remembered how tiny the world truly was compared to me in this state. I let out a massive roar that tore apart the earth and pushed back the clouds above before creating a hurricane as I beated my wings and took to the skies.
As I flew I made it a point to fly above the clouds as to not alarm someone such as Tartaros of my presence so they would not instantly flee. Demons were often a cautious and cunning bunch, they did however lack a lot of free will as they were driven by instincts alone. I flew above the clouds growing more agitated as every second passed and I saw nothing happening, it was only when I flew by Magnolia that something had caught my eye. It was a massive floating cube with what I could only assume to be the headquarters of none other than Tartaros on the top, instantly I reverted out of my dragon form and landed on top of the cube safely. Only to feel that a battle was taking place on the other side of the cube, I cracked my neck and then my knuckles to get ready to fight before walking towards where I sensed the most magic.
Before I had even seen a proper wizard as I walked along the massive floating cube with its own artificial gravity. I was quickly confronted by a small armada of regular foot soldiers from Tartaros.
"Hey he must be with Fairy Tail! Kill him!" The soldiers yelled, I decided to end the fight quickly by using an attack I hadn't flexed in a long time. I raised my hand and sent a small vibration through the armada stopping them in their tracks, not even a moment passed before they all exploded individually. I had simply poured so much magic into them that their magic containers actually imploded in on themselves, it was messy, but honestly refreshing as I was feeling like my old self once again.
I walked until I reached the edge of the cube and stepped onto the side to have my field of view flip completely upside down, I looked ahead to see none other than the wizards of Fairy Tail fighting off more foot soldiers of Tartaros, albeit not killing them as brutally as I had been. After identifying them I returned my attention towards the cube, I raised my hand and let magic build up into my palm before simply punching the cube so hard it practically fell apart as pieces of it flew all over the sky as my punch had left a mushroom cloud of sorts behind.
"Who the hell just broke this thing open like a tin can!?" I heard a wizard yell behind me, I paid them no mind as I made my way inside. Many foot soldiers and lesser demons attempted to stop me, I made quick work of them as I made my way through the base of Tartaros.
'So this is the guild of E.N.D. huh? I expected a greater challenge than these goons they're sending my way.' I thought to myself, I decided to try and go higher up as that may be where the current leader for Tartaros is as E.N.D was not present at the time. As I was doing so I ran into none other than the brother of Zeref himself running up the same flight of stairs I was about to head up. Once he caught sight of me though, I saw that he seemed very conflicted over what he should do.
"Why are you here?" He asked me, there was a white haired girl behind him who seemed very scared of my presence. I wasn't too sure who she was to be honest so I paid her no mind. I was about to answer before I felt yet more foot soldiers behind me, the fire slayer growled and leaped past me.
"I am trying to have a conversation here! Get lost you buncha freaking losers!" He exclaimed, I couldn't help but find myself amused by the fire slayers antics before something strange happened. The foot soldiers suddenly froze, and the world was now shrouded in a gray tint. It only took me a moment to find out who the perpetrator was.
"Hello again, Black wizard. Here to speak to your..actually I'm not quite sure what he is to you at this point." I said as I saw the immortal wizard himself materialize in the distance. The black wizards brother whirled around and was shocked to see none other than Zeref himself standing before him.
"Acnologia, I didn't think you would be contending in Mavis's side of the war." Zeref questioned.
"I am doing no such thing, I am here on my own terms black wizard, whatever your demons are trying to do is troubling to magic itself, I intend to find out what it is." I said to the black wizard, showing off my teeth as I stared him down. He seemed uneasy around me, good. However he turned his attention to Natsu, and I just remembered that I was in the center of a brotherly meeting.
"Hello again, Natsu. Welcome to my own library." Zeref said, Natsu growled and to my surprise he swung a sword at his own brother. The sword was cut clean in half as it struck Zeref of course, but that was the last reaction I expected between seeing his own brother again.
'Does he not know?' I thought as I watched the brotherly exchange, Zeref never even flinched at the attack delivered onto him, such an attack wouldn't be fitting for a dark wizard in my opinion. Natsu looked rather confused as he raised up his now broken sword.
"This is the place where I created E.N.D you know...I heard that Igneel found it rather difficult to kill him." Zeref claimed smoothly, the fire slayer gritted his teeth and put his fist into the air.
"If he couldn't then I will, I'll carry on my father's will!" Natsu proclaimed, I scoffed.
'Right, this lowly dragon slayer-'
"I know you can do it." Zeref suddenly stated as I was thinking, I froze in place taken by actual surprise. Zeref fully believed that this person could take down E.N.D? How? He was so..weak. Especially compared to someone like Igneel.
"However, even though E.N.D is my strongest creation. Igneel couldn't kill him not because he lacked the power, but because he was confronted with a choice...to let live or to kill. Igneel chose to let him live." Zeref said, in that moment the black wizard began fading away.
"Wait! I have more questions for you!" Natsu yelled out.
"Tartaros is doing all of this to see me, it would spoil the fun if I were to just appear in front of them...also, Acnologia." Zeref said, I grunted in his general direction.
"The war is beginning soon. I suggest you choose a side, otherwise I'll be forced to wipe you off the face of the planet." Zeref told me, then he vanished and the world became real once again. Natsu seemed conflicted.
"War?..What war?" Natsu asked himself, he the turned towards me and walked up, his hair shadowing his face, and then he reared his fist back and tried to strike me in the face, I leaned back and grabbed his arm mid strike stopping him dead.
"What war is he talking about!? Tell me!" Natsu screamed, I activated a bit of my magic and gave him a hard blow to the stomach, he went soaring into a wall.
"Don't forget who your speaking to slayer...the promise I made towards your scarlet haired friend has long since passed..now then, if you'll excuse me." I said to him before turning away and walking upstairs. I came across a large room filled with many pods, pods attached to black vines on the ceiling and had blue liquid coming out of them.
'Disgusting demons are using a resurrection chamber, well not while I'm around.' I thought before releasing my magic, I then waved my hand to the right and a massive wave of magic spread throughout the room and caused every pod to explode, I heard some screams in the distance but I was in no mood to check it out.
"How dare you interfere with our plans." Someone then said to me in a rather monotone voice, I looked to my left and saw a rather feminine looking demon with the largest horns I've ever seen on top of her head, she looked rather passive honestly if not for the glare she was sending my way. Next thing I knew she was throwing books at me with telekinesis. I swatted some away, seriously, who attacks people with books of all things?
"Are you quite done? I have no business with you, I'm looking for your leader." I said to her, she looked a little surprised that her attack didn't faze me and retracted her books back.
"Mard Geer is far too powerful for the likes of-"
"Don't give me that bullshit now where is he? Or are you gonna explode like the last one did?" I asked, the demon didn't respond at first and then gasped.
"Wait, you were the one who overpowered Tempester? I've choice now, I order you." She said, I felt a strange impulse of curse energy well throughout my body. Then I felt my body try and move on its own, I used my own magic to resist the effect but now I was trapped in some weird state of limbo.
"This is Macro, my curse for controlling people...why isn't it working on you?" She asked me, I grinned in with a bit of arrogance.
"Did you honestly believe you could control me with that pathetic power? Acnologia!? King of the dragons!?" I bellowed out in a draconic tone of voice before releasing most of my magic, a tornado of white and blue energy spun around me and I felt the curse retreat from my body. The entire fortress shook as I displayed my power, I thought I heard the demon say something before her skin turned black and her eyes became yellow. She lunged forward and tried to claw my face off, I avoided the attack and grabbed her arm before breaking it in my grasp, I heard the demon squeal and I laughed a bit before sending my hand straight through her ugly head.
The battle was over before it had even begun. I heard someone whimpering and looked down to see two Fairy Tail mages with white hair cowering a ways back. The older one was standing in front of her sister in a protective stance. I sighed before dropping the body down, I guess I got too carried away.
"Get somewhere safe already, this place is about to go down." I said casually, the two appeared confused.
"What do you mean by that!?" The elder one cried out, I let out a small chuckle.
"It means that I'm destroying this place myself. Get your guild out of here, this is no longer your concern for the time being."
"It is our concern! You can't just destroy this-"
"I will do what I must girl. And there is no way in hell that I'm letting your little guild dictate my decisions any longer, leave and if you're not out in the next ten minutes brace yourself for the crash." I said, she didn't argue and I decided to cut my search short by sensing out the entire cube at once. I was a little vulnerable like this, but I trusted them not to attack me. I closed my eyes and saw a few fights going on throughout the cube as Fairy Tail broke through Tartaros, however at the top of the cube I sensed someone with great power lurking at the top. Now knowing where to go I leaped up and broke through the floor as I ascended. I had to use my magic to stop myself before launching straight through the roof of the establishment. As I landed I realized I was in some sort of throne room, and sitting ahead of me was a man that simply radiated power and authority despite his odd appearance.
"My my, not even I predicted your intrusion of my plans, king of dragons Acnologia. I heard that one of my demons gave you quite a bit of trouble." He said, I grunted and crossed my arms.
"Please, I was out for five minutes at what the hell do you mean by your demons? These are Zeref's demons, anyone with half a brain could figure that out." I questioned, the mans absurdly long dark purple hair shadowed his eyes as he spoke.
"Why I am the leader of Tartaros, Mard Geer." Mard said with a smile, I frowned and looked towards his lower half. He was holding a book in his arms, and he didn't seem to like it when I noticed it.
"What of E.N.D?" I asked.
"E.N.D? Why he is sealed currently." Mard said. That's when it clicked.
"So you're getting rid of this worlds magic in order to release him?" I asked, Mard geer smiled deviously.
"You're certainly far more perceptive than I would have anticipated. However I am still wondering as to why exactly you care so much about this ordeal."
"Don't give me that bullshit. You know that dragons didn't just die out because of me." I said, after that Mard geer stood up and walked down the stairs to confront me. His ioda of confidence never truly wavering. I could still hear the sounds of the other wizards fighting in multiple parts of the guild hall.
"Ah yes, the ethernano depletion from a almost 400 years ago that sent you into a hibernation. I suppose you would not like another case of ethernano depletion now would you?" Mard geer asked, I decided in that moment to take the interrogation up a notch and I slammed my fist into Mard Geers gut. Mard Geer was taken off guard and keeled over.
"There's something more to this. This isn't just about E.N.D is it?" I asked, Mard Geer slowly raised his head.
"No, but I believe the time for (Cough)...idle chat is done." He claimed before raising up his hand. I leaped out of the way before a bunch of massive thorns sprouted out of the ground and surrounded Mard Geer. I was wondering where his unwavering confidence was coming from before he threw his right hand out to the side and uttered a strange enchantment.
"Alegria". Is what he chanted, and in a moments notice I could feel the cube changing. Fleshy tendrils began to seemingly come out of nowhere and adhere to whatever they touch, one latched onto my arm and held on quite well, I actually had to strain quite a bit before I managed to tear the tendril in two. However once I did the cube itself bellowed out in pain and about 100 tendrils covered me all at once, I looked forward at Mard Geer who was simply smiling before my vision went dark.
