Chapter 21: End of the Battle, but Not the War

NATSU POV

I barely even understand what is even happening at this point.

In the middle of my fight with Mard Geer, Gray shows up out of nowhere, his body emanating the same type of magic as the enemy who had frozen me solid before. He called himself an Ice Devil Slayer, one who can defeat demons, the magic inherited through the demise of his father.

So that's who that guy was…and it explains why Gray smelled like him…

Together, we took on Mard Geer while Sting and Rogue fought a demonic Jiemma, their previous guild master. Mard Geer used some kind of forbidden spell that should have put us six feet under, but when the smoke cleared, I could see Gray in front of me, half of his body transformed by this evil blackness. He looked just like a demon itself. It reminded me of something I had discovered during the dragon attack after the Grand Magic Games. Future Rogue had come from the past to enslave dragons and defeat Acnologia. He tried to kill Lucy, only for the future version of herself to take the full blast and die herself.

The Future Rogue and I battled harshly after that. I was so angry, I wanted to kill him myself. To make him pay. Instead, I ended up destroying the gate he came through, and as he was shimmering away, he told me that he wasn't always consumed by darkness. The event that triggered his fall was his partner Exceed Frosch's death, followed shortly thereafter by the death of the one he loved most. Frosch's death was to occur one year from then…by the hands of Gray Fullbuster. I didn't believe him at the time, but seeing Gray now, covered in this evil blackness, a mad and furious look in his eye, I realized that there could be some truth in Future Rogue's statement. If Gray was possessed by those shadows, who knew what was going to happen?

Gray collapsed though, leaving the rest of the fight to me. As a result, I somehow managed to enter Dragon Force, and through Gray's cunning and our combined strength, we were able to defeat Mard Geer. Sting and Rogue took down their enemy too.

Even so, Mard Geer still taunted us with his mind, speaking of Yaseika and how she had countless secrets. Then my strength began to fail me. I collapsed, only to see the others in a similar position. Mard Geer began to cackle about Face being activated momentarily, and that magic was about to vanish and END would rise. A sudden crash nearby turned my attention away from Mard Geer. When the dust cleared, I could see my dad towering over the unconscious body of Acnologia. A fierce claw came down upon the Black dragon's chest, pinning him to the ground. Looking up, I could see the other dragon hovering high above the ground, far enough away for me to not be able to distinguish it very well. But I could sense it was there.

Igneel told us to not lose faith, and a moment later, our saviors arrived. The other dragons appeared, clearly the other foster parents of the First and Third Generation dragon slayers. With quick but strong strikes, they managed to defeat the thousands of Face statues across the continent within minutes. Igneel began to speak, explaining that he and all of the other dragon parents had been lying dormant inside the slayers' bodies in order to prevent us from transforming into mindless cruel dragons like Acnologia. He seemed troubled when he said this and his eyes flickered up to the sky. Before I could even react, Acnologia had forced himself up from the ground, resuming the battle. The third dragon charged as well, joining the violent fray. Igneel yelled for me to get the book that Mard Geer was holding. He would answer the rest of my questions later.

That reminded me. I turned around to see that Gray was holding the book, a dark look in his eye. He said that he would destroy END without fail. He made that promise to his father. We glared at each other for some time, each waiting for the other to make a threatening move. I couldn't let Gray destroy that book. Igneel told me not to, so I will not let it be destroyed.

I could sense that Sting and Rogue were both worried about us. Then before anybody could say a word, the book shimmered in Gray's hand and vanished into thin air. I thought for sure that he had somehow destroyed it without my knowledge, but he said he hadn't done anything. Then I felt a familiar dark presence, the feeling crawling over my skin.

I heard his voice before I saw him, "This is my book…I'm taking it back now." Before I turned around, I could hear the gasps of everyone, as well as eyes widening. I turned around to find him standing there, his hand closed around the book tenderly, "This is a very important book."

I gasped, "Zeref."

I could hear Sting and Rogue gasp in shock. This was their first time meeting the Black Wizard after all. Zeref slowly walked towards us, acknowledging Mard Geer, whose eyes and mouth were frozen open in shock. He praised Mard Geer for only being one step away from reviving END, and added that the Demon of Chaos was awakening herself slowly as they spoke. I gasped. No…Yaseika…

Zeref told Mard Geer to sleep now. The demon attempted to offer his services to Zeref but all he got in reply was, "No. You can't." He snapped his fingers. A brilliant flash of light later, where Mard Geer was once lying was a book, similar in style to that of the book of END. A moment after that, the book burned into a pile of ashes. I was aghast. I didn't like Mard Geer, but Zeref just tossed aside someone willing to serve him like a piece of trash. You don't do that to people.

Gray ended up speaking my thoughts, but Zeref calmly replied that Gray was right, but he no longer had a need for Mard Geer anymore. He turned to me and spoke, "I came here to settle things between us," he looked up to the sky, "But Acnologia got in the way." The last bit he almost muttered to himself, "Will Acnologia end yet another era? Or will some miracle happen? Even I can't tell."

He returned his gaze back to me and he said, "If you can survive these circumstances, then…" his eyes turned blood red, "I shall give you even more despair." Gray, Sting, Rogue and I could do nothing but stare and ponder his statements as he turned away from us and vanished into the air. It was only after he left that we realized that he had taken the book of END with him.

I could hear a large crash onto the ground nearby and I could hear Igneel inside my mind once more. Without thinking, I took off in the direction of the destruction, without paying any regard to Gray shouting my name. Acnologia was attacking Igneel harshly, barely giving him any time to react. Dad explained that he remained inside of my body in order to create the antibodies to prevent me from turning into a dragon, but he also stayed hidden in order to wait for the right time to attack and defeat Acnologia. I didn't want to hear this now. He sounded like he was planning on going away again. I would help him. I would help him fight.

The other dragon pummeled into Acnologia, who had been pinning Igneel down. All three dragons rose into the sky and as the third dragon flew up, I noticed that it looked at me briefly with its left eye, golden yellow regarding me, only to ignore me. However, this was enough time. Enough time for Acnologia to charge at the dragon unawares. I tried to cry out in warning, but Igneel did something that would haunt my memories forever. He managed to shove the other dragon out of the way, his teeth baring as Igneel and Acnologia collided. When they parted, I could see that Igneel was holding one of the Black Dragon's arms in his jaw. But upon closer inspection, I could see that dad had fared way worse. Half of his body was gone. The shock of the pain seemed to wear off quickly as he dropped the arm that he was holding and began to lose altitude, plunging headfirst to the ground. Acnologia simply continued on his path, flying away from the fight.

The other dragon raced after Acnologia, but he simply knocked the unfamiliar dragon down as well, landing far away from the wreckage of the cube. Most likely just outside of Magnolia. The sun was just beginning to peek out over the mountains in the east. I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say. Igneel landed hard on the ground, and it didn't look like that he was moving. I could feel the tears welling up inside of me and eventually it all came out in one big scream, "IGNEEL!"