Chapter 25

Shadow Dragon's Will

A statue crumbled to dust under a gloved fist. "It's been so long since I lived in this form," a man chuckled lowly. He sat on the stairs, flexing his hands while listening for intruders.

He was not rugged in appearance. A mane of black hair traveled past his neck, similar to Gajeel's. A smooth, chiseled jaw with a slightly pointed chin, combined with a sharp nose: all of these gave him an intimidating visage. Crimson eyes with slit pupils watched the shadows near the ruined entrance. He looked like he was in his twenties. Strangely, this man donned black metal armor on his upper body, with a pair of gauntlets for his arms. A dark cape rested on his back, tattered at the edge.

Faintly, footsteps could be heard approaching the throne. The man grinned, letting his arm rest on his knees as the intruder came closer. "So you came."

Armored boots stopped meters away from the man sitting on the stairs. "Your stench," Rogue spat. "You're not—?"

"So you figured it out, hm?" The man rested his chin on his hand, attached to the elbow on his knee. "Indeed. This is my original form. I am Acnologia, the Dragon King."

"That doesn't interest me," Rogue snapped. "Where's Glacia?"

"The girl?" Acnologia asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Tell me where she is."

The Dragon King was fairly impressed. Surely, this Dragon Slayer had a death wish for him to have said it in that cold tone. "I don't know."

"What?" Rogue balled up his hands, taking a step closer towards the stairs. "What did you do—"

"Now hold it," Acnologia chuckled, lifting his hands in defense. "You didn't let me finish. I know where she is...but I can't tell where her other half is."

Crimson orbs narrowed dangerously at the Dragon King. "Oh? Care to explain?"

Acnologia held up a rock that suddenly appeared in his hand. "Human minds are so fragile, don't you agree? So easily susceptible to negative emotions. And—Glacia, was it?—she's practically a goldmine of hatred, fear, and anguish. It's amazing how she held that all in until she finally—" Acnologia crushed the rock in his hand, allowing sand and pebbles to fall from it. "—crumbled away."

"What did you do to her?"

Smirking, Acnologia stood on his feet. "I spoke to her. But she chose to remember her life with her foster mother—every second of those painful four years." Dramatically, Acnologia stepped aside, allowing Rogue a clear view of the throne.

Glacia looked every bit like the princess she was. Dressed in a fine blue silk sari, adorned with accents of gold and white woven into the material; Roman sandals, and two wing-like hairclips on either side of her head, she was even worthy of her moniker.

The problem was her eyes.

Blue eyes that shown more brightly than any gem or star lost their light. Vacant eyes found shocked crimson but revealed no sign of recognition. They were as blank as a sheet of paper.

"I just broke her psyche. She's nothing more than a doll at my command." Acnologia suddenly appeared next to the throne, stroking Glacia's face. "Of course, what kind of king would I be if I didn't allow my fiancée to sit on her throne?"

A snarl broke from his lips as Rogue stepped forward in rage. "Don't touch her!"

The Dragon King raised an eyebrow, but didn't retract his hand. "And a commoner such as yourself has every right to hold a princess?"

"And you have every right to her, when you were the one who led her to where she is now?"

Smirking, Acnologia withdrew his hand. "Indeed. I killed the woman who would've been her mother. I destroyed the city she would have called home. And her title as the Princess of Fiore and the Dragon Queen: I am the king who will claim this girl as Queen of Dragons! I alone am worthy of claiming her!"

"Keep dreaming."

Acnologia narrowed his eyes in anger, before he threw his head back and laughed. "You remind me of myself in ways I can't comprehend."

"I'm nothing like you!"

"Indeed." Acnologia came to rest at the top of the stairs. "I was the king of an ancient kingdom. I have the blood royal running through my veins. As a human king, I cared more for the people of my country. And when the war between the dragons reached my kingdom, in order to protect my subjects, I learned the magic of dragons."

A scowl found its way onto Rogue's face as Acnologia continued.

"My teacher was a youngling, but a master of his own element. And for the purpose of defending the humans he taught me. I entered the war, where I killed the dragons who were in favor of killing my kind. But then I grew to desire the taste of dragon blood. So to satiate that thirst, I killed every dragon in my sight...even my own mentor," he sneered, licking his lips. "Glacia's not so different."

"She's completely different—!"

Acnologia threw his head back and laughed, to the point where he wiped a tear away. "Poor, naive Dragon Slayer. To have fallen so hard for a con artist. She told you about how her dragon mother would punish her cruelly. But did she ever say what she did to deserve it? Did she ever tell you how she tried to run away from her dragon, only to end in vain each time? And finally, did she even mention how she tried to kill her mother, and tried to kill me?"

"Whoa, so the kid actually managed to fight you?" An arrogant voice exclaimed.

A flash of yellow, and Sting landed right next to him.

"Sting?"

"Did you really think that we'd let you hog all the glory by yourself?" Sting asked, cracking his knuckles.

"We?" Acnologia repeated.

"That's right!" A bright red glow appeared in the doorway, and the Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail rushed in.

"It's payback time," Gajeel grunted.

As he looked at the Dragon Slayers assembled before him, he couldn't stop the smirk on his face. "Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel the Fire Dragon; Gajeel Redfox, Metalicana's disciple; and little Wendy Marvell, child of the Sky Dragon Grandine—"

"How do you know our names?" Natsu exclaimed.

"Even the three of you on Tenrou Island weren't enough to stop me," Acnologia continued, ignoring the most dense Dragon Slayer of the bunch. "And you two—" He directed his attention to the Twin Dragons. "If you're truly a match for me, would you care to reenact your defeat by my fiancée's hand? Sting Eucliffe, Weisslogia's son; Rogue Cheney—" He stopped, a shocked look on his face before quickly turning into malice. "Well now. This is interesting."

He figured it out now, Rogue thought. "Sting, leave him to me," he said.

"What? As if I—"

"I'll take him," he repeated firmly. "Besides, other than him...there's another enemy, wandering around the castle. Right now, he should be on the floor below us."

"But—"

"Take a deep breath, Sting." Rogue met the eyes of the Dragon King, crimson confronting crimson. "This guy reeks of Skiadrum."

Sting's eyes widened in surprise. "No way..."

"To think that Skiadrum had actually survived..." Acnologia began to descend the stairs. "And here you are, proof of his existance. Yes, you fool. I am the original Shadow Dragon Slayer!"