It has been some time since the last update. I have been busy with my Tales of Arise story That Night in The Blizzard. If you like new characters you should check it out :)
Anyway, this chapter is longer than the others so far. It's a bit of a journey down the memory line of Fairy Tail. It would have been weird if END has been sitting around all the time, doing nothing else but twirling his thumbs right?
Also, please remember that I once warned you about consequences. Otherwise, the end of this chapter might come as a great shock for you.
Thank you all for your continued support! It means a lot to me. Hope you will like this update as well :D
END.
Only three letters but each holds an unimaginable amount of despair. They are demise incarnated, in the worst possible way. The person to whom this name belonged is the epitome of an apocalyptic catastrophe, the true embodiment of Etherion, now standing once again in front of Igneel, taunting him with his mere presence, making him remember the meaning of absolute fear.
The pressuring magical force raining down on the scarred Fire Dragon King in a relentless storm slowly subsided and Igneel gasped awake from his reminiscing. He had relived the nightmare he banned from his mind forever. With it came the utter despair he felt back then, reborn like a phoenix from its own ash.
The person for Igneel's distress still stood in the location he was, before Igneel fell into a train down his memory line. Thoughts are fast so even a long-living dragon only needs seconds to revisit its whole life. The demon could have done anything to Igneel, time has become a negligible factor aeons ago but decided to do nothing. Instead, he mused about the silly-sounding pun and only watched in amusement when Igneel's facial visages contradicted by the many emotions racing through his mind.
Besides, if he had killed the dragon no one could keep him company in this otherwise empty world of Natsu. He has lived for more than 400 hundred years inside the Fire Dragon Slayer#s soul without ever being noticed. Neither by the genuine black mage Zeref nor by the mighty Fire Dragon King. Both have messed with this aspect of Natsu but all of their attempts were and still are in vain. He hindered their meddling and prevented or repaired any damage Natsu would have taken from the harsh actions.
He came to this place moments after Zeref succeeded in resurrecting Natsu. The first thing he did was to return Natsu to his original state but without taking his life away, much to the displeasure of the God of Death and Life, none other than Lord Ankhseram himself. But the god knew better than to enrage him. He was taught his lesson a long time ago. If an animal gets snappy with you, one must give it a good old beating and it will be the most loyal companion you can wish for. Humans, dragons, devils and gods are the same.
Ankhseram had once the audacity to curse him. At that time he had achieved a long-desired dream of every mortal. He obtained immortality or to be more accurate he became immune to the grasp of time. In his preparations for his revenge against Ignis, he practised the arts of magic every day alone in solitude on an island known as Tenrō Jima. The desolated place he lived in offered everything he needed. Food and water, a warm, comfy bed, enough space for his daily exercises and no interference from anybody.
By then he had already lived for more than two hundred years but for most of it, his time had been stopped by the powerful enchantment magic of Belserion upon the command of Ignis. The Fire Dragon God did so in order to break his will but when he didn't give in he threw him away but not before burning a bracelet into his skin, enchanted with the same magic that stopped his ageing. In a morbid manner of speaking this magic protected him from the tooth of time as long as it was attached to him. But it was the handiwork of dragons so he wanted to get rid of it. He was successful but 200 hundred years had passed by then, efficiently making him the oldest human alive at that point. He found the desolated island by chance on his search for a place to retreat to and decided this wilderness would be sufficient.
Years passed fast and he grew old no longer protected from the cruel grip of time. His pinkish, spiky hair lost its colour and vitality, losing the battle against gravity and age at the same time. His chiselled body grew thin and weak and he was about to die but then he found the missing puzzle piece.
He slept peacefully when the vital thought came to his mind, out of nowhere and not even beseeched. What is ageing? Simply put cells forming vital parts of his body like bones or his brain regenerate but are not renewed. They accompany him from the moment of his birth until the day he dies.
So what if he could renew his cells? Basically, resetting them? Theoretically, he should live for eternity. He awoke and with the vast amount of wisdom he had acquired in his life, he began to test his hypothesis. Soon enough he had found the answer. Mother nature truly is a genius.
Genes hold all of the pieces of information necessary to craft his current form. However, they are highly restricted by grown-ups. He had already discovered that they can be revoked. Once he lost his left arm but using this knowledge he ordered his cells to rebuild his arm, making them think he was but a newborn infant. It took a few weeks but then he had his arm back in all its former glory. If this is possible it should also be possible to give them the order of rebirth, the command hidden within his whole body, the one command where every life begins. He was shocked at how easily he found the genetic sequence able to perform this deed. He activated it and not even a week later his pinkish and spiky hair defied gravity once again. He had turned from the appearance of a 100-year-old geezer back to his glorious form when he was 25 years old, the pinnacle of his existence.
On that day time ceased to exist for him and it was that day he was cursed by Ankhseram. Not with the curse of contradictions. No, it was the curse mightier than everyone else because that's how far he had enraged the God ruling over life and death. It was the curse of eternal death.
It stripes you of your life, lets you suffer in agonizing pain until it grants you the sweet salvation of death. Then it revives you and torture begins anew. For every normal creature, this would have been hell come true but for him? Not more than a nuisance, like hay fever pestering you once in a while. Normal didn't apply to him any longer.
By then he had created countless types of magic so the curse was useless against him. Poorly performed as it was it didn't even stand a chance against him from the beginning. Yet, he let it unreleased as to not alarm the god responsible. He had better things to do than to deal with a crying god. He continued his life on the lone island, soon had invented Slayer magic or rather the Slayer attribute and committed his revenge.
After Ignis was defeated and dead he, at last, lifted the curse weighing on him and threw it directly back at its original caster and pulled the heavens down, slaughtering the so-called divine deities with his ungodly magic. Afterwards, no god ever dared to raise the hand against him ever again so when he attached life back onto Natsu, Ankhseram did nothing.
Being sealed away inside of Natsu has its perks without a doubt but as long as he's sealed inside the young boy's body their lives are one and the same. If demise meets either of them death will grasp for the other as well. He may be immune to time but not to death. That's even something he can't do. END's ability to interfere with the outside world is highly restricted as well by the strong chains holding him in this place at the moment.
He protected Natsu back then in the Tower of Heaven when the magic Etherion, crafted and named by none other than himself, threatened to tear the boy apart and turn him into a gory mess of innards and blood. He calmed and collected the massive amount of magic and gave the boy the strength he needed to proclaim victory for himself.
Further, he negated the venom the Poison Dragon Slayer Cobra pumped into Natsu's body when the magic construct Nirvana was awakened. Watching Natsu's life was like a trip down his own memory. After all, the gargantuan apparatus was solely created to get rid of him by erasing the evil inside his body. Such folly. In this world, neither good nor evil exists. The whole concept is a mere fraud crafted by those so-called intelligent life forms such as dragons, humans, devils and gods, allowing them to justify their every action. Good and evil are merely decided from where you are looking at a person. That's all there is to it. Nothing more and nothing less. So he embraced the beam of light fired at him with mild aggravation and the result came as no surprise to him. The machines artificial magic backfired and corrupted the inhabitants of the moving city. They slaughtered each other while he watched from the sidelines. When the massacre was over he sealed Nirvana away and left the only survivor to drown in his pity and self loath for his actions.
Also, he was able to prevent Zeref from taking Natsu's life away at Tenrō Jima, blocking the accursed one's magic with his own. Seeing the island he called home a long time ago brought a strange feeling of tranquillity to him. It's not that surprising, after all, he had lived there for centuries. So when the presumptuous black dragon roared and aimed to destroy the island he was beyond furious yet unable to act the way he wanted. Instead, he used the fairies combined magic and added his own, activating the ultimate defence spell he as well had crafted. Sphere swatted away the meagre cough the dragon called an attack like an annoying fly. But with his binds END decided it was best to use his apparent skills as an actor – after all nobody had noticed his interference so far – and sank the whole island beneath the endless waves of the ocean. In order to not bust his act he sustained Sphere and froze time inside its protective walls, for the living and for the dead alike. Otherwise, Mavis Vermillion might have figured out that something was amiss. He didn't desire attention at that time so he used a bit more drastic actions in that case.
But he was not always able to intervene and funnily enough protect the sweet fairies from danger. He wonders what they will think when they discover that a demon has protected them all this time. For his part, he thinks it's hilarious. Still, one of these times he couldn't do much to assist was when the dragons he has once slaughtered with his very own hands invaded from the past and killed Natsu and most of the other members of Fairy Tail as well. Such irony! Then and there he died as well but he could still coax Natsu's beloved Lucy to use the same means and set things straight. With low whispers from hell, he directed her every step without her noticing and time has been corrected at the end.
From there one he took more of a passive role, simply watching as the fairies' tale unfolded further and further. Maybe he was doomed to stay where he was for eternity but fate was on his side and his awakening was only one step away. One single step parted the world and him but whether this one last progress would be made is for once out of his grasp. Either way, there's nothing he can do at the moment but wait. For more than 400 years he has waited so a bit longer won't matter.
He ended his crusade of memories and refocused on the dragon below him. Igneel still looked terrified even though he should have realised by now that there's no need to. If he had the intention of doing anything in this direction, Igneel would be laying on the ground in a pool of his blood a long time ago by now. The dragon has raised Natsu after all and therefore protected him to a certain extent as well. He wonders, would have Igneel done so as well if he had known who was hiding in Natsu's innermost part?
He's curious about this, not only to satisfy his curiosity but also to decide on his course of actions from here on out. Deciding it would be useless and a waste of time to further stay around it's probably best to get it over and done with. Who knows what will happen next. Outside the fight turns fiercer and fiercer with every passing second and the higher the chances rose that someone would eventually break his seal. Intentionally or not doesn't matter to him. But the sooner he gets his answer the better. Life had taught him to always expect the unexpected.
END closed his eyes so he could check the current state of warfare. He's unable to intervene on large scales and is mostly restricted to Natsu's immediate surroundings but can easily observe every event happening outside this soul container.
Blurry at first from the thick blanket of Natsu's soul he was soon greeted by the sight of a still knocked out Happy. He had the view of a bird and could shift it wherever he wanted to. His hawk-like vision would not miss even the slightest detail. So he was sure that Natsu and his beloved Lucy were not where has last seen them, entangled in their heated kiss, What would follow next was obvious but not in this kind of situation, not when your friends are amidst a war. Still, his curiosity got the better of him and he checked the next room as well. Things got interesting.
The people they had come with to the underground dungeon were all assembled in one room, tending to the wounds of the injured but there was no sign of neither the young dragon nor the celestial wizard. Now one of his eyebrows raised in disbelief.
He enlarged his field of vision, searched every room of the large underground complex crafted from the mother of Dragon Slayer frauds until he found both, princess and dragon, in the last, darkest chamber. And he snorted, amused by the carnal display he discovered. It's not the first time he happened to be in this sort of situation and most likely won't be the last time either.
"Good grief. Kids these days. Not a sense of manners anymore."
Unsurprisingly enough Natsu and Lucy were indeed together. Their lips were still tightly sealed with each other, swallowing everything the other had to offer. And more than anything these two were "All fired up!" to put it into Natsu's most favourite phrase.
A slick layer of sweat covered both of the teenagers' bodies, making them even more slippery than they already were. Lucy had caged Natsu within her arms and legs, scratching at his broad shoulders, tearing grunts of sweet pleasurable pain out of his throat as he sucked on her tongue. Her legs crushed his hips and pelvis and the balls of her feet dug into his arse, keeping him where he was and denying him escape. But by Natsu's vigorously thrusting it didn't look like he wanted to leave anytime soon and was more comfortable with staying where he was, buried deep inside Lucy's welcoming heat.
The only clothing which had covered their most private areas beforehand lay discarded somewhere on the ground nearby, the blanket from earlier now serving as a makeshift cover for the ground. They rutted against each other and repeated each other's names like a mantra when moans and grunts allowed enough time to do so. Truly, no sense of manners.
But then again, this is normal. This is instinct. In the face of impending danger where death is a possible outcome, primal instincts take over and secure the survival of the race. Not wanting to watch the scene any longer than necessary END shifted his sight elsewhere, out of the earth and high into the skies, overlooking the whole battlefield.
The screams of death and agony resonated all over the plains drenched in blood when the fairies fought their last battle. The tides were against them, threatening to swallow them any moment. They probably were aware of this but they still clanged to the small rays of hope they found in the bonds they share with each other but this will only prolong the suffering. There are enemies they can't simply win against.
One of them, the woman who tried to copy his Dragon Slayer magic and failed miserably, fought against her daughter, parent and child of Scarlet so to say. The difference in strength is obvious. The girl, often known as Titania, does not stand a chance against her mother, who is merely toying around with her child. The outcome is clear but still END holds great interest in this particular battle because the scarlet woman holds the key for the future progress of the war in her hands. Or rather, she is the key herself. Should she fall by unexpected means the events afterwards will certainly be interesting to watch. At this point, even he can't predict future occurrences. So it's better to get the answer he desires from the dragon shivering in front of him as soon as possible.
One moment he stood on top of the cliff overlooking the valley beneath and less than a blink of an eye later he was close enough to Igneel to touch him. The dragon was ripped out of his thoughts and gasped. Whether it was shock or fright END couldn't say for certain but in all honesty, he didn't care much about it anyway. His head was turned to the side, his gaze roaming across the ashen plains, thinking whether he should simply ask or coax it out of Igneel by more subtle ways. The dragon however shifted his attention elsewhere.
"How did Zeref manage to revive you?" Hearing and taking in Igneel's question he wondered if it was really this unbelievable to hear that he was still alive. He had already revealed that it was all simply an act. The stupid amphibian in front of him probably clung to its last hope but it was still annoying having to deal with such folly. The demon sighed as he narrowed his eyes, showing the displeasure he felt by the offending words Igneel has used.
"Zeref has nothing to do with me being where I am. I'm neither a ghost nor a moving corpse reanimated by anyone. I'm the same one who killed your father and brought demise to many others as well. I'm END, nothing more and nothing else. That's how it is." He intended to make it brief but his answer turned out longer than he wanted to. It almost sounded like a justification in his ears. Totally pointless if there's nothing to admit.
But Igneel apparently still didn't get it. "Impossible. I saw how my flames scorched you. You can't be him. You must be one of Zeref's creations!" Igneel even roared the last part much to his surprise. Such naivety! He should be enraged by the mindless words but he thought of them as amusing, so much that he lurched forward, holding his belly as he laughed to his heart's content.
His delighted sounds echoed across the world of fire, bouncing and swinging with every new tune he added. So much foolishness combined in but a single person is too much for him to take. Igneel remained still while the demon was hollered in front of him. He was full of openings but he knew better than to try anything. It would be in vain. He knows just how much of a monster this thing in front of him can be, irrelevant whether it's real or a meagre fake.
Minutes passed and slowly but surely END calmed down, exhausted from all the laughing while his cheeks hurt a bit, not used to the strain he had just put on them. Ignis was a serious dragon so it was hard to come to terms with that he and Igneel were related, father and son even.
Nevertheless, it offered the stage he needed to get what he wanted from Igneel.
"I'm no creation of Zeref's. Actually, it's the other way around." Seeing as Igneel was only confused by his claim he sighed and decided to just say it. "Zeref, in a matter of speaking, is my creation."
Igneel haltered for a few seconds, trying to process this new bit of information. Zeref was created by this monster? How should this be possible? While the dragon amateurish tried to solve this puzzle the demon lord looked to the sight, pondering whether he should reveal this to Igneel as well. For once his mouth was faster than his brain and the words left his lips before he even realised what he was about to do.
"END. That's how I'm known and that's how I'm called but I believe I've never told anyone except a few chosen ones what these letters actually mean. Let me indulge you, Igneel. Consider it your payment for raising and protecting Natsu." the demon softly spoke. His every word was an ominous omen terrifying Igneel beyond his worst imagination. What was this monster about to tell him? Countless scenarios played inside his head but none of them prepared him in the slighted for what the demon uttered next.
"My true name is..." Upon hearing the words riding on top of the merciless waves of bitter truth, Igneel felt as his entire life cracked and fell into shambles. Everything he did, everything he suffered, all of it meaningless and pointless since the very beginning. Just what has he done?! He should have noticed the first time Zeref introduced them to each other, he should have understood when Zeref told him what he was. The similarities were just too obvious.
He should have never raised Natsu! Instead, he should have killed the boy back then, when he had the opportunity. He should have annihilated the vile creat-
Before Igneel could finish his thought, the sky had fallen from its throne high above. Gravity crushed him into the ground as he was barely able to breathe anymore. Only that this was not the all-encompassing power. It was magic, magic so strong that it forced him to his knees, ripping apart the fabric of logic. The magical power was drenched in the purest wrath Igneel has ever sensed. It alone was enough to almost kill.
"I see. So that's who you truly are. How disappointing." The voice mumbling these words was colder than death, each syllable stripping Igneel away from his life. It was a frightening sound he wished to never hear again but the owner continued his monologue.
"How foolish I have been. To even think that you would be different from all the others. Seems like I still have a tendency to screw up greatly when it matters most." A cold shudder run down Igneel's spine. The voice became even colder than before and it turned raspy, freezing Igneel to the spot where he was.
There was only one person who could be the source for all of this. He's a fire dragon and surrounded by countless fire mountains, yet he shivers from the cold chill inside the deep thunderous voice. Bangs covered the face of the owner standing in front of him, casting shadows across his slightly tanned skin. Veins popped up and throbbed in a steady rhythm and when he slightly raised his head, enraged crimson-red eyes stared into Igneel's soul.
Igneel died a thousand times in this brief moment before the demon tilted his head elsewhere deep in thought, granting him a moment of relief but it didn't last long.
"Natsu was raised by you and you love each other like father and son. That's how he shall remember you, Igneel. Your true self is going to die now!"
Before Igneel had even processed the meaning of the demon's words thousand of swords filled Natsu's soul. The magic power rose so high that it began to tear apart the fabric of existence but the caster didn't care the least. He was solely out for the blood of the filthy dragon in front of him.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art True Flame Form: God's Demise, Ragnarok."
END clenched his hand to a fist and every last sword he had conjured darted forward, aiming to slaughter the dragon he held in high regards until moments ago. The first sword reached Igneel and tore his left wing apart. He screamed in agonizing pain, his roar echoing across Natsu's inner world. He may be already dead but matched up against the ultimate demon even a soul can die, disappearing forever from this world.
The next swords pierced through his body, opening gaping holes with blood oozing out of all of them. The demon watched as his swords did their carnal work, shredding Igneel into a crimson mess. Bit by bit was cut out of his ethereal body, each time accompanied by a gruesome scream of pain. Igneel suffered innumerable heart attacks from the sheer pain but he didn't die because the suffering always pulled him back. His physical body was killed by Acnologia but compared to what he was going through right now that has been nothing.
Igneel couldn't tell how long this torture prevailed but it was far too long. At some point he started to beg for mercy but that only enraged END further. The swords grew thirstier for his blood but after several eternities the last one of them fell from above and skewered his head, two sparks running alongside the blade until they met at the tip of the sword. Igneel's remains were torn apart by a thunderous explosion and what was left was burned by the ungodly flames of the embodiment of evil.
END observed the whole time, engraving Igneel's last moments into his memory. When nothing was left the demon turned his view skywards, a strange look of tranquillity on his face.
"This is for the best, Natsu. I hope one day you will understand. Forgive me."
