AN: Thank you Goku275, Wadeparker, and Ltbutterfly287.
"What is this…? My body's… getting sucked in!" exclaimed Gajeel, struggling against the tendrils of Curse Power wrapped around him. But, despite the dragon slayer's efforts, they continued to pull him toward the portal.
"You're in the portal to the afterlife…" declared Bloodman's fading consciousness. "There is no return! There is… no re…"
Gajeel's arms and legs were pulled into the portal, causing the Fairy to scream as an agony similar to that of the Spriggan's strongest Curse assailed him, only more intense.
"Gajeel!" cried Levy, forcing herself to her feet. She started to run over to the dragon slayer.
"Stay back!" Gajeel shouted, his limbs now fully consumed. Surprised, the female Fairy obeyed. "My body's… full of… Magical Barrier Particles now… If you touch me… then you'll…"
"I don't care!" interrupted Levy, resuming her dash toward the dragon slayer. "I came to save you, Gajeel, and I will!"
However, before she could reach him, Gajeel gathered his strength and pulled his right arm out of the portal. Using it, he fired manacles at Levy with his magic, pinning her to a nearby boulder.
"What do you think you're doing, Gajeel!?" she shouted, struggling against the restraints.
"Levy…" began the dragon slayer. "I… really used to be a hopeless waste. Then I met you…"
"Well, I'm not the same Levy as then!" the female Fairy retorted, using her feet to perform Solid Script: Sword and cut apart the boulder she was shackled to.
"And because of you… I might be a better man… at least a little…"
Levy made a third attempt to reach Gajeel, only to be stopped again when Panther Lily (in Battle Mode Shift) trapped her in a bear hug.
"You taught me how to love another person."
"Lily, let me go!" yelled the Fairy, tears forming in her eyes.
"Thanks to you, Levy, I began to think about all kinds of stuff — things I never thought about before!"
"No, you'll get sucked in too!" the Exceed told Levy, tightening his grip.
"Like the future… family… happiness… It's funny, huh? The great Gajeel wanting to be like everyone else…"
"Let go!" screamed Levy. By this point, the portal had sucked in everything except for the dragon slayer's head. "Gajeel's about to…"
"I want to keep walking beside you… the two of us, forever. I never knew how scary the thought of losing the future could be."
"Gajeel…" said Levy softly, her voice full of sorrow.
"So… if this fails… I'm leaving my future to you. Live it up, okay? For me."
"No! Don't go!" shouted Levy tearfully. But, in the midst of her misery, a confused thought passed through her mind, mixed with a bit of hope. "'If this fails'? Does that mean he has an id… ea…?"
It was at that moment Levy noticed something peculiar about the Iron Dragon Slayer. Across his neck, which was still disappearing into the portal, she could see glints of metal. Upon closer inspection, those glints were scales, and more of them were appearing each second.
"I've been thinking about what Future Wendy said," spoke Gajeel, the scales spreading to his face. "Natsu and her both Dragonized, so it should be possible for me too."
His face started to grow and elongate. The scales merged into a smooth surface, apart from several bumps where his piercings had been.
"And if anything can break free from a portal to Hell, a dragon can!"
The Fairy began to slowly pull his transforming body back out of the portal. His emergence caused the previously shrinking portal to stretch and start glitching out.
After his entire upper body exited, the portal exploded in a blinding flash of light that forced Levy, Lily, and all the gawking Fiore mages and Alvarez soldiers to avert their eyes. When the light faded, they saw a full-sized dragon standing where the portal had been.
"Leeevy!" roared Gajeel triumphantly. "I did it! Gee hee hee!"
The female Fairy smiled, her tears becoming tears of joy.
"Tch," went Acnologia. The dragon was currently in human form, sitting in a wasteland a short distance away from the battlefield. He had thought for a moment that another dragon was going to die, so naturally it was irritating that the dragon fully matured instead.
Not that it changed how things would end. It was just annoying to expect his work to shorten, only for it to become longer instead.
"Oh? You seem to be in a bad mood."
Acnologia looked up and saw a red-haired woman floating in the air. He hadn't noticed her because she gave off no scent, likely due to magic.
"Begone," Acnologia told her, disinterested. He did not recognize her Magic Power as any of the dragon slayers who had been active in Fiore for the past decade or so. "I have no use for you."
"How powerful you are," stated the woman as she touched down.
"You know of me, and yet you block my path?" asked Acnologia. "How arrogant. I was slaughtering dragons long before this woman was ever born."
"But of course, Acnologia," responded the woman. She began to radiate an impressive amount of Magic Power as she prepared for battle.
"Impressive for a human, at least, but not as much as a dragon," thought the Black Dragon. "Perhaps you'll offer me a chance to vent a bit of my irritation."
"Yes," said Irene Belserion, smirking. "My Enchantments appear to have worked; he doesn't seem to suspect that I am a dragon slayer." "More than a bit! So, shall we begin?"
And thus a fight began between the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse and the Spriggan with several tricks hidden up her metaphorical sleeves.
"Aaaaaaah!" screamed Mavis as Cana's latest Fairy Glitter finally vaporized her Thought Projection.
"First Master!" Cana shouted at the crystal-encased Fairy. She was panting heavily, exhausted from repeatedly casting such a powerful spell. "First Master!"
Suddenly, as if in response to her words, a large crack formed in the crystal. Several more formed in the next few seconds, followed by the crystal bursting into pieces. Mavis's unconscious true body fell, but Cana caught her before she hit the floor.
"Mavis! Are you alright!? Mavis!" asked Cana panickily, shaking the Fairy's body until she stirred.
"My muscles must have atrophied," spoke Mavis in a weak voice. "I can't move like a want to.
Acnologia was surprised to discover that the woman who had approached him was a High Enchanter, capable of enchanting everything around her. Moreover, she had enough Magic Power to push him back, albeit because her Enchantment destroyed his footing rather than because it was strong enough to harm him.
Her claims that Zeref would be able to defeat him once the man acquired Fairy Heart were amusing, too. At least until she pointed out something that made his mood plummet.
"'You humans'?" said the woman, echoing Acnologia's words. "I thought you were originally human yourself."
He was. He was a human who saved humans, until dragons destroyed everything. Then he became a dragon who killed dragons. One who would keep killing until they were all gone. Acnologia would slaughter every dragon and every potential dragon until they were all gone.
Only then, once there were no dragons, dragon slayers, or humans who could implant themselves with Dragon Lacrima, would he finally slay himself. That was how deep his hatred of dragons was.
Consequently, his unconscious acknowledgement that he was a dragon filled Acnologia with rage and self-loathing, preoccupying him as Irene continued to speak. It was only when she began a large-scale Enchantment that the Black Dragon snapped out of it.
"What is this…? Some magic I do not know?" questioned Acnologia as he observed the Enchantment. He'd killed plenty of different dragons and mages over the years, so he knew about a wide variety of magic.
The woman explained that it was a magic of her own devising, one that enchanted all of the earth that made up Fiore.
"Who… are you…?" asked Acnologia, astounded by the woman's feat. "Do I… know her? Something about this woman seems familiar…"
"My name is Irene," she answered, causing all the pieces to click together. "And I hope we meet again, Acnologia."
As Irene's Enchantment sent Acnologia far, far away, an immeasurable fury filled the Black Dragon. The moment he reappeared in the newly-reshaped Fiore, Acnologia roared.
"Irene Belserion! You're the one who started all of this! The Mother of Dragon Slayers! The one responsible for me being a monstrous dragon! I'll kill you, Irene! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KIIIIILL YOOOOOOOU!"
"What just happened!? Wait! First, where am I!?" exclaimed Blaze. She had been in the guild hall, getting some food from the backroom with Happy and Lucy, when a bright light suddenly started radiating from the ground. The next thing Blaze knew, she was in a forest.
"On top of me, for one thing," answered Lucy.
"Aye," added Happy.
The dragon slayer to look down and see that she was sitting on the Celestial Spirit Mage and Exceed. Blaze got off of them, allowing the two to stand up.
"So, what in the world happened?" asked Lucy, looking around. "Why are we here?"
"The bigger question is, where is here?" said Happy, not recognizing the forest they were in. Just how far had they been teleported. Assuming that what happened was teleportation. "And where is everybody else?"
"We're outside? Why are we outside!?"
"Where are we?"
"What the heck happened!?"
"Some people are missing!"
"What is this…?" murmured Makarov glancing over the Fairies that were with him. Most of the people who had been in the guild hall were present, along with Mirajane, Lisanna, and Romeo.
However, they had little time to ponder what had taken place, as Alzack caught sight of an approaching group of Alvarez soldiers.
Natsu flew through the sky in dragon form, searching for any of his guildmates.
"I take five minutes to use the bathroom and end up separated from everyone," grumbled the dragon.
"Huh, it really is as easy as Natsu said," observed Gajeel, examining his human form. The dragon slayer turned dragon had expected transforming into his original appearance to be a challenge, but it ended up feeling almost instinctual.
"Should you really be focusing on that right now?" asked Levy, earning a nod of agreement from Panther Lily.
"For all we know, we could be deep in enemy territory," stated the Exceed.
"I know that!" retorted Gajeel. "It's why checking out my body is so important. I don't want to get blindsided mid-fight by the discovery that some part of my body is different."
Levy and Lily exchanged glances.
"Fair enough."
"He has a point."
"The entire landscape has changed," noted Gray. He was watching over Erza (who was still injured) while Wendy and Carla search for signs of anyone else.
"Romeo! Ultear!" cried Wendy.
"Yukino! Sorano!" shouted Carla.
"Who are you?" asked Sting, somewhat accusatory. Beside him were Rogue, Lector, and Frosch. "Are you the one who brought us here? A member of the Spriggan 12?"
"I am Zera," replied the girl. "One of the very first Fairies."
"…"
The four of them stared at her blankly. Embarrassed, she hid behind a tree and covered her face.
"I knew I couldn't do this! I get so nervous in front of other people!"
"What is with this girl?" wondered Sting.
"This is bad," thought Mavis. She had regained the strength to move (sort of) and use her magic (like creating illusionary clothes for the sake of her modesty), but — following the blinding light — every other Fairy had vanished from the guild hall without a trace.
Worse, it was only the Fairies that were gone. Ajeel, Jacob, and Brandish were still present, freed from their cell by the fifth and final person currently in the guild hall.
"Why are you here?" demanded Mavis.
"Why are you alive?" responded Zeref.
Omake
"'I want to keep walking beside you… the two of us, forever,'" repeated Levy in a teasing voice. In contrast to her tone, she felt a surge of joy whenever she said those words.
Gajeel, on the other hand, only felt his face grow hotter.
"Why did I say something so embarrassing!? Sure, there was a chance I would've died, but now I have to live with the consequences of saying that publicly!"
"Argh," groaned the dragon in human form, rubbing his temples. "I should've just kept it simple and said that I love her!"
Gajeel then noticed Levy and Panther Lily looking at him, the former blushing and the latter smirking.
"…I said that out loud, didn't I?"
AN: I'm just going to say right now that not every dragon slayer will become a dragon. I thought about having the 5 Eclipse Gate dragon slayers all become dragons, but it felt a bit forced.
Also, if Acnologia's outburst seem a bit sudden and erratic, that is intentional. Like Zeref, centuries of hating his existence (among other things) has been brutal on his mental health. He now wants to kill all humans to prevent dragon slayers of any generation from becoming dragons, despite his initial motivator for hating dragons being the death of humans.
That's all for now. Bye!