The Heir Of The Exiled

by One Half

Same world, same guild. Only one difference - it was not Igneel who raised Natsu. What could have changed if another person raised him? May be nothing, may be everything. Let's find out, shall we? NatsuXErza at the foreground, Rated T to be safe.

35. Reliable Helpers?

Greetings, people! One Half here!

Since now the Nirvana's arc (the first arc that was really different from its counterpart in original anime/manga) came to a conclusion, I guess it's the proper time to write about differences between canonical world and enhanced version I'm using in my story.

Here's not everything that I've changed, but I didn't want this chapter to become too big – here's already quite a lot of information. I've decided to leave something for the next chapter – there we'll talk about elementals, and about why, unlike gods, for whom being the "god of [something]" is mandatory, for dragons – being the "[something] dragon" (like 'rock dragon' or 'dark dragon') is not good at all.

Now, answers for the reviewers:

RKingQway: Thanks! I really believe that only 'important' chapters can make the story to look monotone.

Guest: Thanks for the note, but that's just a misprint. I must admit that my story has no shortage of those…

JNDragneel: If you liked the previous one – then this chapter is for you! And about Lucy's bloodline… really, how such a thing could happen? xD

AdstrumXIV: Thanks for the review, here's the new chapter!

Rajo: It's not out of nowhere, it's more like out of netherwhere… As for Wendy – I personally see no reason to change her character. Natsu and Erza are mandatory. Mira's and Lucy's characters are "what if?" sort of experiment. Maybe I'll also slightly alter Gray and Lisanna, I've not yet decided, but I see no need and no reason to alter anyone else. And I'm glad you've liked the omake.

FanFictionHunter: Seriously, man, I'm fascinated with your ability to 'get' something I've never even thought of… Thanks for the review!

Goal be Quick: Thanks for being my reader, and here's an update!

I hope I haven't forgot anyone, if so – my deepest apologies. Now, let's go to the chapter. Here are tons of information, so please, take your time. More than half of a chapter are omakes with different info, while the rest is also an omake, I just decided to call it a chapter to not mess with chapters' numeration. Good reading!

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Omake I – The Path of Sorcerer

Flashback: November 4, X784, 19:20. About three weeks since Natsu and Erza have returned from their expedition to 'Nexus temple'

Those three weeks Erza spent training and meditating, since she experienced quite a shock when she saw her sworn enemy's power with her own eyes. However, one cannot train continuously, without rest – that will only make things worse. And today was one of those few days that Erza spent resting, together with Natsu.

At this peaceful evening, Natsu sent Sin to take a look at the situation in the guild, while he and Erza were at home, and latter, with a bit dreamy face expression, was listening to the story from millennia ago. However, as she heard an unfamiliar word, Erza interrupted her husband and asked, "Wait, Natsu, what's a 'Magical Avatar Physique' you just mentioned?"

Natsu smiled lightly as he heard her question. Since she grew up in the backwater village, before she was kidnapped, it was literally impossible for her to acquire an advanced knowledge about sorcery. Actually, she couldn't get even a basic knowledge about magic. But even after she was kicked out from Tower of Paradise by Jellal and joined Fairy Tail shortly after, the information about magic that she got was very shallow (by Natsu's standards, at least). All that power that she had as an S-class mage of Fairy Tail she acquired thanks to her immense talent and continuous hard work. Magic on continent of Ishgar heavily degraded during last few thousand years and ended up in quite a primitive state, so of course here were no advanced magical science to begin with. Incomparable with someone, who was carefully nurtured by supreme Goddess of War and Magic, and thus had the access to an almost infinite library of Arx Tenebris since his very birth…

"A bit of fundamental theory then," Natsu said as he began to answer Erza's question. "Humans cannot become the true masters of magic, that is a given," Natsu stated. Erza blinked in slight shock. She heard such sentences from him before, but never paid much attention to them, right now, however, that direct statement startled her a bit. Yet, she didn't say anything, listening attentively. "There are two reasons for that. First – human's body cannot contain enough magic for really advanced arts. Second – human's body simply can't last long enough, its lifespan is too short for its owner to gain the true proficiency with magic."

Natsu looked into the window and continued, "Angels, demons, gods, magical beasts, elementals – all of us can live for hundreds and thousands of years, as our Mahosui [Magic Sleep] can contain vast amount of ethernano, such an amount can cause a common human mage to simply melt down. If you need an example – then look at Gildarts – now he's very close to the limit of what a normal human can achieve."

Natsu turned around and looked at his beautiful wife as he snorted a little, "The likes of us have the inborn ability to become powerful, and humans do not. Could the most ambitious race accept such a disparity? Of course not! As such, ancient human mages spent an immense amount of resources, time and efforts to solve the aforementioned 'injustice', and in the end they've developed a 'Magical Avatar Physique'. Basically – that's a method, using which a human wizard can create and refine a new body for himself (or herself), using magic and special resources, effectively discarding his or her human's body and replacing it with the one he or she has refined, using rare materials instead of common human's flesh."

"Something like that is actually possible?!" Erza exclaimed with widened eyes, that was quite a shocking revelation.

"With enough resources, talent and willpower – everything is possible," Natsu shrugged. "But of course, in this case – 'replace' is just a very rough simplification. In fact, the process of body's recombination is long, difficult and very dangerous – there are no place for mistakes. But anyway, those ancient mages did quite an astonishing job, I have to admit," God slayer praised those magic scientists. "Several kinds of sentient magical entities have sufficient physique since birth, they only need enough talent and willpower to raise to the very heights of the world of magic. Of course, a lot of magical entities doesn't have what it takes to become a real powerhouse, but there's nothing they can do about it, so their ambitions are low to begin with. However – ambitions are the only thing that humans have since birth. As such, they must put much more efforts to prepare themselves for the ascension as the creation and refining of a 'Magical Avatar Physique' requires quite a skill and a lot of rare resources, but result is definitely worth all the efforts. The lifespan will increase hundredfold or even more, and Mahosui limitations will be lifted. Most importantly, though, is the fact that humans got an enviable variety of those physiques."

Natsu looked at peerless beauty, which now was staring at him with her silver eyes, glowing with curiosity. Seeing her undivided attention, he pointed downwards, meaning a library in their house, "I have a copy of an ancient grimoire, 'Profound Avatars Catalogue', essentially that is a list of all known types of 'Magical Avatar Physiques', and there are almost a thousand of them. Besides, it is possible that more types of 'Magical Avatar Physiques' were invented since that book has been written. All those physiques have different special powers, as well as overall strength, but of course – the stronger the physique one wants to refine – the higher the price he or she must pay."

God slayer again turned towards the window, "The main advantage of the 'Magical Avatar Physique' users over the likes of us, who have an inborn powerful physique, is that they actually can change their attributes combination. Construction of 'Magical Avatar Physique' actually doesn't require 'magic' as such, it requires some specific materials (as construction materials) and an immense amount of raw ethernano, to shape those materials into desired form. Due to this, the resulting attributes combination depends on materials used during the process. Of course, usually wizards are trying to refine a 'Magical Avatar Physique' with the same attributes that they already have – otherwise they'll be needing to learn a new type of magic from the scratch. However, in rare cases it is the actual goal – if someone really wants to learn the specific type of magic – he can refine a 'Magical Avatar Physique' with required attributes combination. And here's more to it – It is possible to replace the existing 'Magical Avatar Physique' with more advanced one, and that new one doesn't require to have the same combination of attributes as the one that will be replaced, so, essentially, humans can change their attributes combination several times. Of course, that's an extravagancy comparable to foolishness…"

Natsu added, "There are few other things there as well – for example – when applied, a 'Magical Avatar Physique' will affect the wizard's physical appearance, sometimes granting some weird external features to the owner, like replacing legs with lamia-like tail, for example. Other types can make owners more beautiful, or strengthen mental power. By the way, almost half of those 'Magical Avatar Physiques' listed in 'Profound Avatars Catalogue' are for females, so those, who still thinks that there is some inequality in magical ability between men and women, should just shut up."

"Humph!" Erza snorted loudly. "I knew it long ago," She stated – she always despised people, which were trying to cover their own laziness with that nonexistent (when it comes to magic, at least) 'disparity' between men and women. However, just as she said that she also felt a hidden subtext un that last phrase that Natsu just spoke out. She asked curiously, "There are no 'unisex' physiques, right?"

"Of course not. Unlike elemental attributes combination, males' Yang and females' Yin internal energies are mandatory for the given 'Magical Avatar Physique'," Natsu replied as if it was completely obvious.

"Yin and Yang… There's quite a lot of conditions…" Dragon slayer muttered to herself.

"Do not underestimate the preciousness of that treasure. For a human mage – a 'Magical Avatar Physique' refining art – is the most precious thing in the world. Acquiring it means unlimited potential and thousand years-long life," Natsu noted. "Since we have 90 attributes combinations per yin and yang, it makes it 180 combinations in total. Since we have a thousand of different Magical Avatar Physiques, we have roughly five different avatars per combination."

"When we began dating, you actually began to look for a 'Magical Avatar Physique' for me, are you?" Erza asked her husband with somewhat playful smile.

"Not really," Natsu shook his head, "Shortly after I've proposed to you, I remembered about that dragon slayer crystal and flame dragon slayer grimoire in my possession," Natsu explained. "That flame dragon's bloodline was quite diluted, but since I used to believe that the crystal and grimoire are a set, I decided to go with it and find a way to strengthen that bloodline later."

"In fact, I already have three different recipes for 'Magical Avatar Physique' in my possession," God slayer admitted. "And I found all of them in quite unexpected places, I'm absolutely sure that their previous owners actually had no idea what those things were. If some mages from outside of this continent would've learned that such treasures were in possession of rural dark mage guilds, they'd hang themselves… You can take a look at those three recipes, though they're just mid-grade. Besides, their attribute combination doesn't fit you at all – I just can't imagine you using the darkness-based or water-based magic. So, I decided to go with Dragon Slayer method – it is virtually foolproof."

"I love you," Erza smiled warmly – she actually was touched with Natsu's throughout thinking about her feelings.

"Now you do understand how fortunate we were to discover the true origin of that crystal so you've actually managed to inherit Andromeda's bloodline, the primordial dragon's bloodline?" Natsu teased his wife. Though, he didn't let her reply as he continued, "Anyway, I have a God's physique, you're in process of refining a primordial dragon's physique, so for us that 'Profound Avatars Catalogue' ain't really important, however, you should still take a look into it, since we, sooner or later, encounter one of those 'Magical Avatar Physiques' in battle as we'll continue to travel across the world. On the other hand…" Natsu again looked into window as now he seemingly was thinking aloud "…those few people from our guild, which have good potential, probably should start thinking about such means. Mirajane, Gray and Lucy, and maybe a few others, relatively soon they'll bump into a human's body limitations, which, as I said before, lies somewhere around Gildarts's level. I can provide some advises and information, but the rest will depend on their own talent, willpower and willingness to advance further along the path of sorcery…"

Erza's crystal-clear, silver eyes were focused on her husband as she was in her own thoughts. Not that accepting Andromeda's inheritance, which meant her inevitable transformation into a dragon, was a completely deliberate choice, but she never had any regrets about that. That's okay… no, that's really great – she will stay with Natsu till the end of times. But other people aren't so pragmatic and open-minded. Some may think that discarding their humanity is too big of a price for power. But, in the end, there's not much she can do about that anyway. 'Still, I need to take a look at that 'Profound Avatars Catalogue'…' She decided after some thinking.

"Alright, I understand," She nodded in the end and smiled to Natsu, asking him to continue the story that she interrupted with her question.

A/N: The huge scroll that Natsu gave to Mirajane was one of those three "recipes" he found – Blood Shadow Valkyrie Physique.

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Omake II – Natsu's notes

As Natsu have the ability to see mages' inborn attributes, naturally, he of course knows about attributes of all Fairy Tail mages, as well as few others that he's met during his quests and travels. Here are his notes: name, attribute, magic/attribute compatibility with comments. Warning: not for public discussion, comments may look harsh.

1.1 Makarov. Attribute: Excalibur – Light/Metal combination, 73% bias toward light. Compatibility: very good. Comment: his attribute has high compatibility with master's 'Fairy's light' magic school, and with his signature 'giant' spell (which belongs to enchantment-type magic). No surprise he's quite formidable. Too bad, but he's already at the limit of his body's capabilities, and way too old to attempt any type of evolution.

1.2 Gildarts. Attribute: Izanami – Void/Wood combination with 81% bias toward void. Compatibility: excellent. Comment: very high compatibility with his 'Crash' magic school. However, he's almost at human's limit right now, without 'Magical Avatar Physique' he can't improve further, but for that he's probably too old already.

1.3 Laxus. Attribute: Izanagi – Thunder/Wood combination, 68% bias toward thunder. Compatibility: good. Comment: I doubt that someone actually did some research about his elemental attribute, he probably just got lucky. Nevertheless, his potential is high, but he'll need a 'Magical Avatar Physique' within next 7-8 years, the earlier the better. No way I'm gonna help with that… As for his dragon lacrima crystal – I think his mind is too shallow to properly refine it and improve his body using that thing.

1.4 Luciferona. Attribute: Abyss – Darkness/Void combination, 61% bias toward darkness. Compatibility: perfect. Comment: Her new 'Summoner of Woe' magic school seems to be perfectly compatible with her attribute, and with her Byakko's bloodline her future is limitless. If her suddenly acquired power won't drive her insane – she won't get lost in this world.

1.5 Mirajane. Attribute: Abyss – Darkness/Void combination, 79% bias toward darkness. Compatibility: excellent. Comment: her bias toward darkness is a bit too big, but still, she's excellently compatible with her 'Satan Soul' Take-Over magic, since it is a summoning magic. She's still young enough to take the right path and become a top-tier mage, for that she has to do three things. First – stop pitying herself, second – find and refine a 'Magical Avatar Physique', third – get some high-grade souls to summon. Her current souls, despite their brand names, actually are copies from copies of parts of partial copies – a waste of mana, in other words.

1.6 Elfman. Attribute: Stratos – Wind/Void combination, 63% bias toward wind. Compatibility: neutral. Comment: his attribute is perfectly suited for assault-type wind magic, yet he also learnt summoning-type, 'Beast Soul' Take-Over magic. He's a fool, but in terms of Mahosui's capacity and meridians conductivity he's not inferior to his elder sister. His magic's neutral compatibility is the main reason why he's much weaker than Mirajane.

1.7 Lisanna. Attribute: Cloudlight – Light/Wind combination, 59% bias toward light. Compatibility: rejection. Comment: she's gone, why am I even writing this? Due to my fury about people's ignorance, perhaps… Her 'Animal Soul' Take-Over was a summoning magic, summoning is a darkness-based art. Wind is useless for that, and light is the opposite attribute. Honestly, of three siblings she had the largest Mahosui capacity, but still she was the weakest, not because she was the youngest of three, but due to her ambitionless and carefree character, and her very poor choice of magic school.

1.8 Gray. Attribute: Glacier – Wind/Water combination, 63% bias toward wind. Compatibility: OK. Comment: Another lucky one, huh? Ice magic is based on water with some additional wind-based elements. Thought bias toward water would've been better, Gray's attribute is good for his magic. The wind part of his attribute accelerates the molding process, but that's not enough. Gray still needs to learn an additional air/wind-based magic to compensate his molding magic low invocation speed. Another type of ice magic, without molding component, will do as well…

1.9 Juvia. Attribute: Ocean – 100% Water – single element attribute. Compatibility: perfect. Comment: as expected of half-human, half-water elemental. And she's quite talented. In the future, she can either discard her elemental nature and refine a 'Magical Avatar Physique' or discard her humanity and became a Renia Nui class water elemental or even better. Her main disadvantages are her weird imagination and that she has too, too many unneeded thoughts.

1.10 Gajeel. Attribute: Adamantum – 100% Metal – single element attribute. Compatibility: perfect. Comment: I can imagine how difficult it was for a dragon to find a human disciple with such a rare attribute and sufficient magical talent. His main issue – his Dragon-master's bloodline is quite diluted, he'll need a way to strengthen it. Secondary issue – I'm not really sure that he'll be willing to discard his humanity and become a dragon.

1.11 Wendy Marvel. Attribute: Whirlwind – 100% Wind – single element attribute. Compatibility: perfect. Comment: she's a dragon's disciple and talented mage, so there's no serious concerns about her. Her drawbacks are the same as Gajeel's – her dragon-master's bloodline is quite diluted, so she'll need a way to reinforce it. Also she's too timid, and I'm not sure about her willingness to fully accept dragon's heritage.

Secondary List. I'm not really interested in those people, those notes are just in case.

2.1 Levy. Attribute: Catalyst – Fire/Wood combination. Compatibility: neutral. Comment: Her magic is a subtype of enchanting magic, and enchanting is light-based magic, which has nothing to do with her attribute. She could become an alchemist, though, her overall magical talent is low. She'll never be a real mage.

2.2 Cana. Attribute: Shrapnel – Void/Metal combination. Compatibility: neutral. Comment: her card magic is alchemy-based, nothing to do with her attribute. Her magic and her hopeless personality won't allow her to become a good wizard, despite her pretty good talent.

2.3 Mystogan. Attribute… he actually doesn't have an attribute. I'm seeing this for the first time since I've got the ability to read people's attributes. And his face that looks exactly like a face of that punk… what a strange guy. Too bad I don't have a time to investigate him, besides, he has a soul of noble person… I'd better just leave him alone, at least for now.

2.4 Freed. Attribute: Obsidian – Darkness/Rock combination. Compatibility: very good. Comment: his talent isn't bad. His attributes' combination fits his magic quite nicely. And yet he's lacking… His problem is the exact school of magic he's using. His formulas are clumsy and unbalanced, he wastes a lot of ethernano during his casts. I could've fixed those formulas, but I see no reasons to bother.

2.5 Alzac. Attribute: Quicksilver – Fire/Metal combination. Compatibility: excellent. Comment: really nice combination for a magical gunner. Too bad that he's a hopeless, talentless loser – his talent for magic is awful, and here's nothing more to say.

2.6 Bisca. Attribute: Lightveil – Light/Wood combination. Compatibility: rejection. Comment: another masterpiece, created with the art of ignorance! Magical gunner is metal-based magic, wood is its opposition, while light is just useless. Due to this she's on the same level with Alzac despite she's much more talented than him. They're using the same magic, one has very good compatibility but awful talent, another one has very good talent but her magic was an awful choice. As a result – both are equally weak. What a weird irony…

2.7 Evergreen, Bickslow, Macao, Wakaba, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren, Lacky… and more than a hundred more current members of Fairy Tail – there are so many of them, and they're so unremarkable that I don't see a reason to bother with any of them.

Extra List. Those people are not from my guild, but they're interesting.

3.1 Haru Dragneel. Attribute: Efreet – 100% Fire – single element attribute. Compatibility: perfect. Comment: same as above – he's a dragon's heir, and talented wizard. Besides, his dragon's bloodline is stronger than of other dragon slayers I've met, even if just a bit, and he seems open-minded. He won't get lost in this world.

3.2 Nelliel Tu Odel. Attribute: Thasaidon – 100% Void – single element attribute. Compatibility: perfect. Comment: Again, same as above. Very talented girl and a dragon's heir. I'm sure that, among all of dragon slayers I've met, she'll be the most willing to accept her dragon's inheritance and become a dragon. Only thing she'll need is a way to strengthen her bloodline, to make sure that she won't turn into a mediocre dragon. It's her daughter who really concerns me – she has neutral compatibility with her mother's magic – it's not nearly enough for such a talented child. Nelliel made a very good job during that Nirvana incident, so I owe her one. Maybe there's something I can do to help Luminel?

3.3 Lyon Bastia. Attribute: Kraken – Water/Darkness combination, 71% bias toward water. Compatibility: OK. Comment: Also a lucky guy. Strong water bias is good for ice magic while darkness is neutral. His talent also on par with Gray's. Just like his co-pupil, within next 8-10 year he'll be qualified to refine a 'Magical Avatar Physique'. Too bad that here, on continent of Ishgar, almost no one has knowledge at least about its existence.

3.4 Jura Nekkis. Attribute: Magma – Fire/Rock combination, 61% bias toward rock. Compatibility: good. Comment: good talent, good choice of magic. He's still young enough to improve himself and refine a 'Magical Avatar Physique'. If he'll be able to learn about its existence and get one, then, maybe…

3.5 The rest, including Shelly, old fool Ichia and his foolish 'trimen' subordinates, are not interesting enough to write about them. And those who were defeated and/or died by my hand or by hands of my comrades are even less interesting.

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Omake III – The World of the Exiled

I'll be writing this omake from my own (authors) point of view, without involving story's characters, so readers could be sure that the provided info is not one of character's opinion, but solid facts.

War of Saints – the most devastating conflict in Earth Land's history, at least within last 10000 years. That was a war between Tower of Din inhabitants and the rest of the world, which began about 8500 years prior to current events. During the war – the entire world was in flames. Few lesser continents were completely obliterated. Another few appeared as a result of devastating battles. After almost 200 years long conflict, the world emerged victorious, but that was a very bitter victory. The world's top powers suffered catastrophic casualties – three demonic orders, two angelic orders, five elementals' tribes, four magical beasts' tribes and one pantheon (gods tribe) were completely obliterated. The rest lost their leaders and most powerful warriors. Even after 8300 years have passed since the end of the War of Saints, the world is still far from complete recovery.

The Great Schism. However, the most catastrophic event happened at the very end of the war. When the last of Tower of Din's powerhouses has been neutralized, apparently it triggered some kind of a last resort measure. A barrier appeared, and isolated the Tower of Din and three continents in its closest vicinity – Ishgar, Alakitasia and Guiltina. No matter how hard and how long the world's forces tried to shatter the barrier – it showed no signs of weakening. The barrier appeared around and over three continents, not allowing anyone to come in or out. Before the war – those three continents officially bore the name of Southern Cluster. However, after the Great Schism, that place got its current name – the Magicscar Triangle.

Since the moment when barrier appeared – the activity rate of ethernano inside of the barrier began to decrease. All three continents suffered from it, but continent of Ishgar suffered the most severe drop in ethernano activity, probably because the Tower of Din is located on it. Due to this – all magical beasts and elementals' tribes moved to other two continents – Alakitasia and Guiltina. Still, even though they've moved from Ishgar, the birthrate among members of those tribes dropped down significantly. But worst of all – due to complete isolation – both general science and magical knowledge inside of the Magicscar Triangle began to degrade.

Since three continents of Magicscar Triangle could be called as Tower of Din's domain, the most catastrophic battles were raging here. Due to this – no powerful wizards guilds or great magical beasts' tribes remained here. Only secondary branches and magical beasts with quite diluted bloodlines remained over there, including dragons. During the following years, those who were the real witnesses of the war and the pre-war world, were passing away, slowly but certainly. Even magical beasts, such as local dragons, have much shorter lifespan, comparing to their primordial counterparts. If we'll add here the constant strife between tribes from different continents – the current result was inevitable. Due to this, within 3000 – 3500 years after the war, the locals got used to believe that these three continents actually are the entire world.

In the end, the Magicscar Triangle came to its current condition. Isolated from the outside world, with lower ethernano activity and degraded knowledge about the world in the whole and about magic in particular. End of story? Will the Southern Cluster exist like this till the end of times? Known as Magicscar Triangle, lost and forsaken place, isolated from the world? With Tower of Din, the place where all sorrows are sleeping, in the very middle, unaffected by time and forgotten by everyone… Not necessary.

Seemingly, there's still a way to get inside somehow. As a 13 years old boy, wielding a sword and having an order from his mother to become a peerless expert, definitely came from outside. Why he came? What was supreme goddess thinking, giving her only son a one-way ticket into this ass of the world? Why she let him to learn about Tower of Din and how to find it? And finally, was Natsu the only outsider who managed to get inside of Magicscar Triangle?

A/N: Morrigan can appear inside of Magicscar Triangle in form of a thought projection, for a short time, using her son as a navigation beacon of sort.

A/N: Natsu's servants, Shinryō no Setsuma, which he summons using his domain, appears in their physical forms, but they are still counted as summoned beings, and can stay inside of Magicscar Triangle for a limited time, if there's no magical formation that supports their existence, but in that case the area of their operation is limited by formation borders.

A/N: Natsu learnt about Tower of Din when he was seven years old, and that happened by pure chance, despite what he thinks himself. In fact, Morrigan was intending to hint him about the tower only after he'll become much stronger, preferably after he'll unlock his first domain…

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Omake IV – Magical (Divine) Beasts tribes.

1. Three primordial dragons' tribes:

1.1 Ancient Deepsea Dragon tribe. They are descendants of One of the four Guardian Deities – guardian of the east – the Azure Dragon – Soiryū. Also known as sea serpents, this far eastern tribe's members have some characteristic traits: their limbs are shorter, compared to western dragons, but their bodies are longer (the bodies of most ancient and powerful members of the Ancient Deepsea Dragon tribe can be almost a mile long). Their heads are crowned with branching horns, and their bodies completely cowered with scales, usually of blue-green or silver-green shade, and those scales shine mysteriously with metallic luster. They are wingless but capable of flying via magic. Bearers of this bloodline have water and light inborn attributes. The tribe lives on Nine Hundred Islands archipelago, which is very far away to the east from what became a Magicscar Triangle, as such, even the far relatives of the tribe were almost never been seen here, even before the Great Schism.

1.2 Demonic Windstorm Dragon tribe. They are called like that not because they have anything to do with demons (as they don't), but because tribesmen's inborn attribute is darkness, combined with wind. Members of this tribe are descendants of Dragon of Chaos, who once was known as Apophis. This tribe resides In Great Gale Valley, which is relatively close to continent of Ishgar, as such, most likely all of the dragons, which were living on the continent after the Great Schism and prior to Dragon's King Festival were far relatives of the Demonic Windstorm Dragon tribe. More to it, probably all dragons (or at least the vast majority of them) that still live within the borders of a Magicscar Triangle are relatives of that tribe. Thus, Demonic Windstorm dragons' appearance is similar to those that were living in Fiore, though they were generally larger. Just imagine a bigger Igneel, with dark purple scales instead of red, and slightly longer horns – that is the typical Demonic Windstorm Dragon. The tribe is quite ancient – it is second only to one of Kirins' tribe in terms of length of clan's history.

1.3 Golden Eternity Dragon tribe. The tribe that resides far to the northwest from Magicscar Triangle. The legend says that tribe's ancestor, at such time as his almost hundred thousand years long life finally came to an end, refused to just rot and disappear. Instead, he turned into an enormous piece of land in the middle of the ocean. Throughout the world that land is known as Eternal Mist Island. Though, the members of the tribe prefer to call their land by the name of their legendary ancestor – Avalon. Within the borders of a Magicscar Triangle – there was only one known member of the tribe, the one to whom local dragons gave an alias – Holy Dragon Empress, while humans were calling her Golden Dragon Queen. Among her own tribesmen she was known as the imperial princess of Golden Eternity Dragons tribe – Andromeda the Starbinder. How and why she appeared inside of the Magicscar Triangle – that's quite an interesting question.

2. Nine-tailed foxes' tribe. All of the members of this tribe are descendants of Jiuwei Meishén. About 170 000 or so years ago, not only she was one of the pinnacle experts in the world, but she was also known as the First Beauty of the Erath Land. Only heaven knows how many powerful men were trailing after her skirt, including several gods. However, as an evil joke, her peerless beauty became the reason of her demise. Legend says that three goddesses, which were especially envious of Meishén's charm and popularity, ambushed her. However, they definitely underestimated her combat prowess. Two died and one barely escaped with heavy wounds (and later killed by one of Meishén's lovers). However, Meishén also was mortally wounded. Legend says that at the place where she fell, a huge valley appeared as her body itself turned into an enormous Sakura tree, that grows in the middle of gigantic lake that appeared in the middle of the valley. This valley became home for all of her descendants, as they live on both sides of the lake, which now is called the Meishén lake. According to the legend – the soul of Jiuwei Meishén still dwells in that great tree, which sometimes called the Great Fox Tree, as she still watches over her descendants. There are two subtribes of nine-tiled foxes. The one that lives on the right side of the river – its members have fire/wind attributes combination and fiery red hair and fur color. Other subtribe lives on the left side of the river – they have snow-white fur and hair, and water/wind attributes combination. As descendants of Jiuwei Meishén, women of both tribes are charming and beautiful, but no one should underestimate their strength and ferocity. They prefer to stay in humanoid form, but their true form is that of a fox-like creature, usually more than 1000 feet long, with several tails (the strongest have nine). On a side note – lady Meishén herself had 100% wood attribute, which means that first generation of both Nine-tailed foxes' subtribes inherited their attributes from their fathers… Nine-tailed foxes' tribe probably is the youngest among all of Divine Magical Beasts tribes.

3. Sacred Snow Tiger tribe. Another tribe, members of which are descendants of One of the four Guardian Deities – guardian of the west – the White Tiger – Byakko, who is also known as king of all beasts. Sacred Snow Tiger tribe dwells on Nix Alebastrum mountain, which located very far away to the west from what became a Magicscar Triangle, as such it is almost impossible to meet any relatives of the tribe here. Just like their ancestor – the newborn Sacred Snow tigers actually black in color. They are becoming white as they mature, starting with their tails, which will turn white when tiger reaches the age of 500 years. Also, seemingly the tribe experienced some sort of mutation, as its members have water/void attributes combination, unlike their ancestor, who had darkness/void combination. As for Byakko himself – he mysteriously vanished about 234 000 years ago. Rumors says that he fell victim of mass betrayal of his own descendants, but since those are just vague rumors – it is not possible to say – what were the reasons and how it played out.

4. Two primordial kirins' tribes:

4.1 Heavenly Thundercloud Kirin tribe. The tribe dwells on Neraya Mountain Ridge – it is far away to the south from continent of Ishgar, which became a part of Magicscar Triangle. The tribe is very ancient, so much that even the name of tribe's ancestor has been forgotten. Rumors have it that this tribe is more than a million years old, as it has more than 40 generations. The tribesmen have feathery wings with sky-blue feathers, and their scales are of the same color. Kirins of that tribe has two pairs of horns – upper one resembles those of an antelope, and lower pair resembles those of a ram. Heads and tails of tribesmen are similar to those of dragons, whilst their forepaws resemble falcons' legs and hind legs resemble those of tigers. Tribesmen have thunder/wind attributes combination. Because the tribe's dwelling is very far, and their lifestyle always was quite seclusive, not even far relatives of the tribe could be found within Magicscar Triangle… with exception of one specimen, of course, who turned into a horrible fleshless monster.

4.2 Serene Seven-colored Kirin tribe. They're occupying the Kōnichiki Meadows, a place that is not too far away from Magicscar Triangle. Serene Seven-colored Kirin tribesmen have an ox-like, scaled bodies, and they are wingless (though they still can fly via magic). They also have hooved legs, lion-like heads and deer-like horns. However, their most distinct feature is that their scales shimmer with different colors, making a member of the tribe to look majestically. Besides, the most powerful members of the tribe actually can evolve and become a Dreamy Nine-colored Kirin, becoming an even more majestic sight. Since tribe lived not too far, and isn't too seclusive, probably some relatives of the tribe still can exist within the Magicscar Triangle, though, most likely not on Ishgar continent. Members of the tribe usually possess a water/wood combination, with strong bias towards wood.

5. Mysterious Flamehail Birds' tribe. Yet another tribe, members of which are descendants of One of the four Guardian Deities – guardian of the south – the Vermilion Bird – Suzaku, who is also known as king of all birds. The members of the tribe reside very far in southeast, on enormous volcano, known as Amehiyama. The tribesmen can be described as red birds that resemble a pheasant with a five-colored plumage (colors changes from orange to crimson) and is perpetually covered in flames. There are no particularly interesting rumors about the tribe, aside from one that says that one of tribesmen joined the ranks of seven guardians and brought a great shame upon the entire tribe with that act. Since the tribe's home is located very far away to the southeast from what became a Magicscar Triangle, it is very unlikely that someone can meet any relatives of the tribe here.

6. Four-winged Ice Phoenixes' tribe. The descendants of the primordial undying bird, Simurgh, the tribesmen reside on Shimmering Glacier, which is located to the north from Magicscar Triangle. The tribesmen can be described as a four-winged falcon with peacock-like tail and head plumage, which was carved from bright blue ice. The lower pair of wings about 30% smaller than upper pair. The water/metal attributes combination is native for this tribe. The main characteristic of this tribe's members is their nearly endless vitality – the legend says that even if just one limb of a bird will survive – the entire Four-winged Ice Phoenix will be reborn from it. The Shimmering Glacier isn't too far away from a Magicscar Triangle, so it is possible that some relatives of the tribe can be found here somewhere, but again, probably not on Ishgar.

7. Wise Abyssal Leviathans' tribe. Unlike other 'directions' (actually, constellations), the North has two guardians, despite they're counted as single Guardian Deity, known by their alias – Genbu. This tribe is descendants of one of two guardians – black tortoise – Kurokame. In appearance they look similar to Protostega, with their pitch-black shells and dark-brown limbs being covered with spikes, and there's a single horn on their heads. Their inborn attributes combination is water/rock, the tribe dwells in Margena Abyss, which is far off to the northeast from a Magicscar Triangle, so even far relatives of the tribe hasn't been seen here, especially after the Great Schism.

8. Nine-headed Heavenly Pythons' tribe. Descendants of second Guardian of the North – the black snake, Gendaī. Actually, most of the tribesmen can have only seven heads, and they are called Seven-headed Earthly Pythons, and only the most prominent members of the tribe can evolve and become Nine-headed Heavenly Pythons. As with Nine-tailed foxes and their tails – the number of heads reflects the tribe member's power. In their true form the tribesmen look like massive black snakes with metallic scales, spiked spines and horned heads. Their attributes combination is darkness/water. The tribe dwells on Saderra Island, far to the south-east from what became the Magicscar Triangle, but not extremely far, so maybe, just maybe, some relatives of the tribe still live here somewhere. It is mandatory to note that, despite the number of heads, the creature has only one consciousness, because the tribesmen brain is located slightly below the point from where heads are growing. In human's form, the tribesmen always have one head.

A/N: All members of eleven aforementioned tribes can assume humanoid forms after they've matured enough, usually this age is about 900-1100 years old.

A/N: White Netherworld Tigers' tribe (another branch of Byakko's descendants), Purgatory Flame Birds' tribe (another branch of Simurgh's descendants), Fiery Great Apes' tribe (descendants of Wukong) and Holy Dark Wolves tribe (descendants of Fenrir) – those are four tribes that suffered the most during the War of Saints. First three suffered too much losses and no longer counted among Great Divine Beast tribes, while the last one mysteriously disappeared, without a trace, right before the war – rumors have it that entire tribe has been kidnapped and sent to the Tower of Din.

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Omake V – Artifacts

All the items in this world belong to five classes:

1. Normal (common) items. That's just this – your common, plain stuff for every day's use. Has no magical properties at all.

2. Magical items. Items with different magical properties. Magical items divided into three tiers – low, middle and high. Here's several examples:

2.1 Silver Key of Canis Minor (Nikola), Light Pen, Gale-Force Reading Glasses – those are low-tier magical items.

2.2 High Quality Magic Headphones, Standard Magical Vehicle, Normal Magical Sword (Erza had hundreds of them) – those are mid-tier magical items.

2.3 Heart Kreuz Armor (once owned by Erza), Hi-speed Sport Magical Vehicle, Magic Radar – those are high-tier magical items.

3. Magicforged items. Items with strong magical properties – they're not just imbued with magic but also made of special materials, usually by famous masters. Magicforged items also divided into three tiers – white, red and black.

3.1 Magic Sniper Rifle (belongs to Bisca), Morning Star Armor (once owned by Erza), Golden Key of Giant Crab (Cancer) – those are your typical white-tier magicforged items.

3.2 Purgatory Armor (once owned by Erza), Mugetsu-Ryu (Ikaruga's sword), Golden Key of the Heavenly Scales (Libra), Magical Bomber Cristina – those are typical red-tier magicforged items.

3.3 Archenemy (Kagura's sword), Armadura Fairy (once owned by Erza), Golden Key of the Lion (Leo) – those are black-tier magicforged items, the pinnacle of those, which normal humans can get.

Beyond that level there are items that transcends the realm of mortals, as these items actually possess their own consciousness, thus they're counted as living beings. These can no longer be called 'magical items' – they're called sacred artifacts. There are two classes of them:

4. Indestructible-grade sacred artifacts. Such artifacts divided into two tiers – moon and sun, but these tiers don't reflect artifacts power, tier actually reflects artifact's status.

4.1 Moon-tier indestructible-grade sacred artifacts – sacred artifacts in their initial state. Igneel's scarf (given by fire dragon to his foster child), Nelliel's sword Dream Slicer and Erza's swords Astrum and Eclipsis – those artifacts are powerful, they can be used to perform (or ward off) various killshots, but their personalities are still those of children. Owners of these artifacts will need to put a lot of efforts in their own training and evolution for artifacts to also evolve and display what they're truly capable of. Such artifacts usually called Indestructible moon artifacts for short.

4.2 Sun-tier indestructible-grade sacred artifacts – sacred artifacts in their evolved state. The artifacts that managed to evolve thanks to continuously gathered experience. Their consciousnesses have matured and ready to display all the power their makers could hope for. However, most important difference compared to moon-stage artifacts is that sun-stage artifacts can manifest themselves in humanoid form. Such artifacts usually called Indestructible sun artifacts for short. And one more thing – since such artifacts already have developed consciousness – there is quite a possibility that they may dislike the new owner, in case of ownership change… By now, only one such an artifact has been mentioned in the story – Natsu's former sword Gladius Terminus.

5. Saint-grade sacred artifacts. The pinnacle of artifacts evolution – when sacred artifact is finally ready to open its soul to its owner, and owner is ready to form a soul bond – the indestructible artifact will become a saint artifact, displaying power far beyond from what its maker could imagine. If it's a sword – it'll get additional properties, if it's a book – it will get additional chapters, which were never written there by anyone. Usually the sun-tier indestructible-grade sacred artifact can become a saint-grade sacred artifact after forming a bond with its owner for hundreds of years, however, on very rare occasions, moon-tier indestructible-grade sacred artifact can evolve directly into saint-grade sacred artifact, skipping the indestructible sun stage, but that requires very special circumstances.

5.1 Honorbound saint-grade sacred artifact, or just a honorbound saint artifact for short. After the soul bond with the artifact's owner is formed, the artifact is ready to display its tremendous power. There is a price, however – there can be only one soul bond. One person can have only one saint-grade artifact (pair swords or armor set will be counted as one artifact, of course, if they were created as set items). In theory, it is possible to dissolve the bond, but of course – artifact will be greatly offended with that act. As such, the one, who, for some reason, decided that he absolutely must get rid of his soulbound saint artifact, must prepare himself for a battle of wits. Statistically, the artifacts have about 75% chances of winning, so dissolving the soul bond is not recommended. By now, only one such artifact has been mentioned in the story – Natsu's new sword – Magna Ruina.

5.2 Ascended saint-grade sacred artifact. The power of such artifact lies beyond imagination. However – will the honorbound saint artifact be able to reach that stage or not – that mostly depend on the owner. That evolution, unlike all previous, requires external power source and a lot of rare resources. Usually, only the top-tier gods, grand elders of magical beasts' tribes, or similarly powerful individuals are strong enough to provide to their soulbound artifacts the sufficient assistance. For example, when Natsu's mother attempted to help her trident, Caelum Lacerator, to evolve, she spent two months in the world of will of her artifact. And, despite her ultimate power – they failed their first attempt, only succeeding in second time. Aside from aforementioned trident – no ascended sacred artifacts were mentioned in the story.

6. The saint-grade sacred artifacts are the pinnacle of artifacts evolution… but there are more. Mythic artifacts. As name suggests – they can only exist in mythos. Those are no items – there's much more. For now, only one mythic artifact's existence has been confirmed in the world – its name is Tower of Din…

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Omake VI – Miscellanies

About re-origination:

A general name of the process, during which one's humanity will be discarded and replaced with more powerful essence. Only humans can and have a need to pass through re-origination. No matter which method has been chosen – bloodline's inheritance or 'Magical Avatar Physique's refining – there will be three re-origination stages.

First stage: body construction. At that stage a human has to re-create his skin, muscles, internal organs and bones on cellular level – through complete reconstruction of his DNA. The flesh will turn into a mass of ethernano, and then will be reassembled according to new "blueprints". The bloodline's inheritance method's advantage is that additional materials will not be needed – the original body and ethernano from surrounding space will be enough. Disadvantage – the human will need to wait for several years after he's accepted the inheritance so his body will get used to new powers first. 'Magical Avatar Physique's method advantage – the re-origination can be started at will – when mage thinks that he is experienced enough and all materials have been gathered – he can proceed with re-origination. Disadvantage – rare materials are required for new body's construction. After first re-origination stage is completed – the physical strength and endurance of a mage will grow drastically. Also, those who are performing 'Magical Avatar Physique's refinement must remake their flow transformation point – Mahōhenkō [Magic Change] – if they're refining a physique with different attribute. Depending on bloodline's strength or magical avatar's properties, the first stage usually takes 4 - 8 weeks.

Second stage: ethernano conducting system laying. At that stage a human has to lay down a new ethernano conducting system (ECS) – a human has to create a new, high-capacity manapool, reform his or her Mahōhenkō [Magic Change] and Mahōton [Magic Release] to increase their bandwidth, and make new meridians with high mana conductivity. Advantages and disadvantages are the same as with the first stage – the bloodline's inheritor must wait several years after first re-origination for more solid fusion with new bloodline, while magical avatar just have to gather resources and get enough knowledge about magic in general. After second re-origination is completed – mage's maximum ethernano capacity will grow tremendously while his new meridians will allow him to release much more dense mass of ethernano within given time, thus allowing the use of much more powerful spells, or even several spells at once. Second re-origination is more difficult and dangerous than first stage, but shorter one, it usually takes 3 - 5 weeks.

Third stage: soul adaptation. Though it called like that – it actually has nothing to do with the soul itself – soul is a fundamental essence and it cannot be tampered with in any way. During this stage a mage can make some adjustments to the result of two first stages – it is possible to make some minor alterations to DNA and ECS according to 'operating experience', so to say. However, it is not mandatory. The main goal of this stage, however, is to accept all the changes and realize that you're no longer a human. After this stage – the dragon slayer will completely turn into a dragon and will be able to assume dragon's form. Magical avatar will realize that he's essentially a part of magic itself from now on. And this is why this stage is so tricky. If a mage doesn't see any need to adjust anything, and if he was preparing his mind properly ever since he accepted the bloodline or chose the 'Magical Avatar Physique' he wants – the third re-origination will be completed within just a few hours. But if not… The third re-origination can end with only one result – humanity will be discarded. As such, if a human is still hesitating, if he's still afraid that stopping being a human means something horrible… then third re-origination will never end. The mage will be entrapped into a loop of hesitations and fears, until the barrier that holds his disassembled body together will dissipate, and body will dissipate as well, leaving the fleshless soul alone with its hesitations. However, those are extreme cases, of course. Usually, since the mage already reached the third re-origination – he's quite prepared, but also mages usually do want to make a few final adjustments here and there, to both their DNA and ECS, as such, third re-origination usually takes 2 - 4 weeks.

Final note. The "bloodline's inheritance" and "Magical Avatar Physique" are quite similar during the process, but after it is done – the differences will begin. After bloodline has been accepted – there's no longer possible to change anything. All significant changes must be made before third re-origination, because, as it was said, only a human can pass the re-origination. After it was completed – the being is human no longer. It is still possible to strengthen and purify the bloodline, but essence will not be changed. For example, if the one accepted an inheritance of a dragon, who was a far relative of the Demonic Windstorm Dragon tribe – there are specific methods to remove the impurities from the bloodline, and, thus, become closer to the primordial dragon, but there are absolutely no ways to became closer to Ancient Deepsea Dragon tribe's members, for example, let alone to turn into another kind of magical beasts.

Magical Avatar, on the other hand, actually can replace his current body with more advanced one (with the same or different attributes combination), however, in that case he will need to pass all three re-originations once again, and spent a new bunch of very rare resources. After all – magical avatars were created for humans by humans… Of course, re-origination stages during second and later body upgrades take less time. There are rumors that some people, during their third and fourth upgrades, managed to pass third re-origination within 15 minutes…

And one last thing – if someone has accepted the bloodline's inheritance – his or her children will inherit that bloodline, without any traces of parent's humanity, which is obvious. But it is different for those who become magical avatars – despite they've essentially turned into advanced golems – they also still can have children. But those children will be pure humans, who will need to refine their own magical avatars in the future.

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About types of ethernano processing: In the world where my story takes place – everything has a reason. For example, here dragons are almost invulnerable to common human's magic not because dragons are dragons and that is mandatory for the story. Let's talk about these reasons.

Ethernano is not magic. It is a fuel to power it, but there's different ways to process it. In our world – raw oil can be processed into different types of fuel, in the world of magic, there are various ways to use ethernano.

A. Magic (mahō) – the most common and standard way of ethernano processing – there's an immense variety of ways to use magic. Due to this, as well as due to its relative simplicity – the magic is so widespread, but countermagic measures are widespread as well.

B. Curse (juhō) – is the main form of ethernano processing utilized by fallen angels, demons and sentient undead. Whilst similar to magic in several regards, curses are more foul in nature, since curses are run off of negative emotions. Curses have advantage over magic in the regard that they, and those who utilize them, are unaffected by magic-canceling/nullifying techniques, whilst curses themselves have native magic-disrupting properties. There are special arts to counter curses, but they're not too wide-spread. However, curses have big disadvantage – the emotions, especially negative ones, are easily manipulated, and that applies to those who use them as well.

C. Pure Weave (kihō) – is the main form of ethernano processing utilized by angels and elementals. In contrary to curses – this method requires user to cast aside all emotions and use power with calm mind. Since it is not magic, the pure weave is unaffected by magic-canceling/nullifying techniques, and since users usually have excellent control over their emotions – disrupting pure weave spells is quite a difficult task. However, since pure weave is emotionless – it lacks vividness of magic, so pure weave's raw power is slightly inferior, comparing to normal magic.

D. Mystic Weave (kahō) – can be called an advanced form of magic, which utilizes certain parts of user's subconsciousness. This method has faster invocation speed, its offensive spells have native anti-magic-resistance properties, while defensive spells, in contrary, have improved magi-resistance properties. This method's main disadvantage is that only members of primordial beasts and gods' tribes with pure bloodlines can use mystic weave, thus limiting its use to members of royal lineages among magical beasts and core members of gods' pantheons.

E. Wicked Weave (jahō) – this ethernano processing method can be called an advanced form of curse, or a twisted and wicked form of mystic weave (hence the name). This method was developed in Tower of Din specifically to counter mystic weave. Wicked weave spells are more powerful than curses of the same type and have native ethernano-disrupting properties, interfering with target's ability to use its own power. Unlike curses, wicked weave doesn't require negative emotions – it requires the user to have special imprints in his blood. As such, normally, only the top-ranked servants of Tower of Din can use wicked weave.

F. Killshot (Saikō) – can be used only in conjunction with indestructible- or higher-grade artifacts. The killshot's effect is a result of artifact's interaction with its surroundings, as such – it is not possible to counter the killshot with any type of magic or weave-disrupting technique. But, again – a high-grade artifact is needed to perform a killshot.

A/N: Dragons that remained inside of Magicscar Triangle cannot use mystic weave, only common magic. Still, their magic has some properties of mystic weave – an anti-magic-resistance properties, for instance. Due to this, dragons' magic is effective against targets with natural magic resistance, such as other dragons.

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Chapter XXXV – Reliable Helpers?

…

December 16, X784, 19:20, Shirotsume town.

Once a home for a week-minded and corrupt aristocrat Everlue, now this town became a base of operation for a newly founded wizard's guild – Aurora Présage. And right now, Natsu was standing in front of a two-floor house in town's suburbs, which looked unexpectedly normal. "I guess it wasn't specially ordered, huh?" Natsu noted to himself as he examined the house. 'Well, I didn't come here to impose my architectural preferences,' He shrugged and pressed the bell push.

Natsu pressed the button twice, just in case, and began to wait. About twenty seconds have passed, but still no one came out. 'I'm at a wrong time?' Natsu thought. Today was Sunday, shouldn't a mother be spending her Sunday's evening with her daughter? Natsu actually came counting on that assumption. Someone's definitely home – there are lights inside of the house and smoke is coming out from the chimney (nowadays, lacrima-powered stoves are usually being used for cooking, but magic cannot replace the good old cozy fireplace). Natsu was about to stop holding his eyes' power and take a look at souls inside of the house, but at that moment house's door opened and its owner came out to the yard.

And Natsu was surprised a bit as he saw the one who came out. No, of course he wasn't surprised to see Nelliel, since it was her house – it was her looks that confused him. She was wearing silken, pale-brown, short-sleeved blouse with laced edges, emerald-colored, knee long skirt, made of some light material, and open-toe sandals, with good matching color with her shirt. And those sandals were demonstrating her carefully made pedicure. Those clothes seemed cute and stylish, they'd been quite suitable on a date, but why she's wearing those at home?

Nelliel also seemed surprised to see Natsu, and it doesn't look like it was a pleasant surprise. "What are you doing here?!" She asked, with quiet voice, as she quickly approached, and for some reason she became worried as she saw who's come. She thought that Natsu got some intel on enemies he told her about, and came looking for help…? No, that doesn't seem to be the case… Then why she's worried? And why she's talking with quiet voice? She doesn't want Luminel to hear something that may scare her? Unlikely – she's a smart kid, but she's just four years old – she's too young to fully realize what's going on. So…

"Why you're so surprised? I've told you that I'll come to visit you," Natsu asked as he examined her looks one more time.

"Yes, I remember that, but why now?!" Nelliel asked when she got closer to god of ruin as her voice turned into a whisper.

"Why not?" Natsu wondered. No, he already realized that now is a wrong time for a visit, but now he was curious to know why. "Now's Sunday's evening – I decided that you're probably at home," He explained.

"Listen, I don't want to look unhospitable, but now's very bad time for a social visit, so can you please get lo…" She urged Natsu to leave but she couldn't finish her phrase as someone else came out from house to look what's happening, and that wasn't Nelliel's daughter.

A silver-haired boy with dark grayish blue-purple eyes came out from the house. He was dressed in white pants, black vest trimmed with golden pattern, and brown boots, but the most noticeable item was his white scarf, decorated with scale-like patterns. That man was no one else but Haru, a fire dragon slayer with whom Natsu met on Galuna Island. "Nelliel, who is it?" He asked, but then he froze in surprise as he recognized the visitor, "Natsu?!"

"Haru?" God of ruin also recognized a person he didn't expect to see.

In the meantime, Nelliel's worried look turned into confused one as she was moving her sight from Haru to Natsu and back, "You two know each other?" She asked.

"Yeah, we've met about five months ago," Natsu replied, "We were on mission and bumped into him when he was planning to commit an act of terror with his accomplices. You actually saw one of them – that guy named Lyon."

Nelliel's eyes widened in shock as Haru paled a bit. "I… we just… He wasn't my accomplice!" He shouted, but Natsu didn't give him a chance to justify himself.

"Then who he was to you? You said yourself that you guys weren't friends. And don't get strained up. Even though this one…" he pointed at Nelliel… "…actually committed an act of terror, it doesn't' mean you need to feel yourself inferior," God of ruin 'supported' Haru, who now also seemed shocked.

At that moment, Nelliel seemingly regained her wits, "Have I mentioned recently how much I hate you?" She asked with sweet smile, "Why did you come? Aside from desire to ruin my life, I mean," Dream dragon slayer inquired.

"I have your bounty for that annoying insect here," Natsu replied as he took out some peace of parchment and handed it over to Nelliel. That was a certificate for 7 800 000 Jewels.

"Wow! That's a whole lot of money!" Haru exclaimed as he also saw the sum. Even Nelliel seemed surprised – Natsu told her about the bounty but she didn't expect to get this much. "Wait, you two actually were doing a bounty contract together? And what all of that has to do with Lyon?" Gray-haired boy suddenly realized something, and he became worried for some reason.

"No, that was just a target of opportunity for our temporal wizard guilds' alliance, don't bother with it," Natsu waved his hand casually. "Speaking of which," He added as he looked at some symbol on Haru's right elbow – you've joined Aurora Présage?" There was a red-orange Aurora Présage's guild mark. That seemed strange – Haru's definitely strong – if he's a member of Aurora Présage, why he hasn't been sent as a guild's representative together with Nelliel?

"Ugh… yeah…" Haru stuttered for some reason, "I've joined about a week ago…"

"Oh," Natsu nodded. That explained why he wasn't sent as a representative – the operation was already planned at that time. "Wait, didn't you say that you're actually thinking about joining a guild during that party after the situation on Galuna was resolved? You were hesitating all that time?"

"I was selecting carefully!" Haru retorted.

That answer obviously was a lie, as Natsu noted with narrowed eyes, "…Or you were still hesitating, but then you saw a nice girl in the magazine and decided to join. Fairy Tail got a lot of useless people in that way…"

"Oh, c'mon man, give me a break!" Gray-haired boy exclaimed, but Natsu just couldn't settle down.

"And I guess she invited you to a 'family dinner' to 'properly' welcome you in the guild?" Natsu sighed, feigning a disappointment. "But you could at least prepare a bit – look how she's dressed up for this evening, but those are clothes you're always wearing. Although…" Natsu turned to Nelliel, who already was almost boiling with fury "…instead of dressing up, you would've better stripped down, the impact would've been much stronger."

"Get out from my house!" Dream dragon slayer finally couldn't take it anymore and exploded with rage.

"Alright, alright…" Natsu raised his arms as if giving up. Nelliel's cheeks were pink due to her anger, and Haru's were pink because he probably imagined how it would've been if Nelliel actually would've done as Natsu suggested. "However, just so you two would know, what you people are doing now is laughable. At that point it is so obvious that you can skip the phase of uncomfortable silence and embarrassed smiles – just jump into the bed and do each other. If you'll be able to endure until morning – go to the church and get married…"

""GET LOST!"" Both Nelliel and Haru screamed at the same time… and looked at each other in embarrassment after that.

"What a good match you two are…" Natsu snorted as he turned around, preparing to leave. In his eyes, everything really was so obvious that he sincerely couldn't understand what these two are doing.

Nelliel's photo actually appeared in the last issue of Sorcerer's weekly, which was a photo for guild's promotion. Haru, on the other hand, was still hesitating about the idea of joining a guild, even after five months of thinking. If, after all that, he really came to the guild, wanting to join, after he just saw a girl's photo, then that's more than just an ill interest. Natsu had no idea what happened between the two of them within last three days, but when Haru came out to look what's happening, he called Nelliel by her first name and without honorific – seemingly they became quite close within that short time.

Haru is a reckless moron, but when it comes to a daily life – he's not a fool. He should know that a woman won't invite just anybody from her guild to share a Sunday's dinner with her. On the other hand… Nelliel's intentions were completely obvious – she not only bothered with manicure and pedicure, she also doesn't have a bra under that blouse of hers. In Natsu's opinion – that what the two of them were doing now was just a waste of time. However, that doesn't concern him.

God of ruin turned around with intention to leave, but at that moment… "Natsu oji-san!?" Child's clear voice called from behind. Natsu turned around and saw a little girl, who had shoulders-long hair of the same color as her mother's. She just ran out of the house, and quickly came closer to others. Seemingly, she was very bored while her mother and Haru were having dinner, and now when two of them came out and started a commotion with Natsu's help, she was just glad that something is happening, no matter what it is.

"Oh, hello, little one," Natsu smiled to a kid as he squatted down and ruffled her hair, "I hope you're doing well?"

"Yes! I'm alright!" A girl replied cheerfully.

"Even you know him?" Haru asked. Nelliel is one thing, but this little girl as well?

"Yes," Girl nodded with serious expression, "Natsu oji-san showed me how to use magic!"

"…And for that I'll never forgive him…" Nelliel whispered resentfully "…now he's her hero…"

Haru seemed puzzled, as he couldn't comprehend what exactly happened, but at that moment Natsu looked at Nelliel and Haru, then at Luminel, and then sighed heavily, "Ah, all right." He seemed as if Nelliel and Haru actually asked him to do something for them, and he had no choice but to agree, "I came here not just to see you, I also wanted to exchange a few words with colonel Jiraiya, but I've been told that he only will be back tomorrow. As such, I probably will be staying in the town for tonight, and I can keep this little sprite busy for a few hours…" Natsu looked at a little girl, "What will you say, Luminel. Want me to show you a couple of spells?"

"Hey, wait a mi…" Nelliel tried to refuse but then a hidden meaning of Natsu's words reached her mind and she quickly shut her mouth.

"Huh?!" Haru seemed taken aback with Natsu's sudden proposition.

"Really?!" Kid's eyes shone with excitement, "Okā-san, can I go?!"

Both Nelliel and Haru knew one thing – while Luminel is at home, they can't cross certain lines. But if Natsu will take her away… Two dragon slayers looked at each other, their eyes now were reflecting fear and excitement at the same time. Right now Nelliel was feeling fear because she may be left alone with Haru, she was feeling excitement and desire because she may be left alone with Haru, she also was feeling strong reluctance to leave her daughter alone with Natsu, and there was her daughter who was looking at her with puppy eyes. Those contradictive feelings were tearing her apart.

"C'mon, I'll tell you a story when I found an unusual spell while I was on mission, and then I'll show you the spell," Natsu announced as he picked up Luminel, without waiting for her mother answer, and headed… somewhere.

"Hey, wait!" Nelliel tried to stop Natsu, but that attempt was so unconvincingly weak that Natsu didn't even bother to reply.

"Calm down," Haru tried to soothe a worried mother, "He's strong, that's for sure – he definitely can look after her."

"It's not Luminel's safety I'm worried about," Nelliel admitted, "I'm worried because he's a damn psycho!"

"He still seems better than our guildmaster…" Haru mumbled. And as he said that – an uncomfortable silence hung up. Mentioning of their guildmaster reminded them about the erotic books he wrote. And that, in turn, reminded them that now there's only two of them.

"Damn, he messed up everything…" Fire dragon slayer complained as he finally dared to interrupt the silence.

"What a jerk," Dream dragon slayer agreed. "…On the other hand…" She added carefully "…since he already took her away…"

"…yes… we… can continue… our dinner…" Haru nodded slowly.

"…yes… dinner… surely…" Nelliel agreed, at that moment their eyes were already glowing with excitement. They almost ran inside of the house, and obviously that what is going to transpire there will have nothing to do with dinner.

---

December 17, X784, 10:15, Shirotsume town.

Natsu spent entire night with Luminel, teaching her about magic and telling her stories from his past. Smart and very curious, she was absorbing information like a sponge. However, she still was just a four years old kid (actually even younger – there's still about two months until her 4th birthday). She stayed awake until almost 3 AM of today, but then fell asleep. Now she was soundly sleeping in Natsu's arms as he approached Nelliel's house. Actually, he already been here at about 8 in the morning, but windows of the house were still dark (December days are short), so he used his eyes' power and looked for the souls inside. And he actually saw two souls very close to each other – apparently those two were still in bed. That was strictly against Natsu's nature, but he decided to not ruin the end of their first night together, and took a stroll around the town. Of course, his time is very precious, so later he'll definitely ask for compensation.

Now, however, there were no people at all inside the house. "Don't you guys think that you're going overboard?" Natsu thought aloud. Nelliel not just allowed some shady man to take away her daughter so she could have sex with her boyfriend in the meantime, but she also doesn't seem to be waiting for Luminel's return. But before Natsu could expatiate about irresponsible parent, he actually heard hurried steps behind his back. He turned around only to see Haru and Nelliel, who were quickly approaching him.

"Luminel!" Dream dragon slayer called for her daughter.

"Shhhh!" Natsu shushed at her as he turned around, showing the sleeping kid. Nelliel quickly quieted down as she and Haru approached Natsu. "Where have you people been?" Natsu wondered with quiet voice. "I hope you weren't in the church? The part about marriage was a joke, you know?"

"Shut up!" Nelliel snorted with loud whisper as her cheeks flushed a little. Haru seemed a bit tired but very satisfied while Nelliel seemed five times livelier than yesterday. Last night definitely was successful. "We were looking for my daughter!" She added.

"Don't lie to me," Natsu narrowed his eyes. "You are both dragon slayers, you could pick up her scent even from other side of the town."

Nelliel made a deep breath, seemingly she was about to argue with Natsu, but Haru replied before she could start, "We were in local bank to cash out that certificate you've brought. Then we've visited a town hall and Nelliel paid the rest of the house's price. And then we came looking for Luminel, just the way you've described."

'Was this guy always this rational?' Natsu asked himself as he listened to Haru's explanation, 'Or Andromeda-san ability to knock some sense into people is that powerful? If so – that's a nice trick…' Then god of ruin looked at Nelliel again. "Anyway, since the two of you have sexied for entire night, I hope you've got rid of some lustful thoughts and freed a bit of space in your heads for a few important things?"

Instead of a reply Nelliel took off one of her boots (now she was wearing her normal white clothes), and raised it up, with explicit intent to throw it at Natsu. "Hey, hey, cool down a bit, I still have this!" Natsu warned as he moved his arms slightly, pretending that he's going to use Luminel as a shield.

"You, dastardly…" Nelliel growled furiously.

"Can anyone tell me what you guys were doing on that 'joint mission' of yours?" Haru asked as he scratched his head in confusion, "Since when you became such good friends?"

"Are you insane?!" Nelliel almost jumped due to that question, "No way we're friends!"

"We're not?" Natsu inquired with calm voice, "So you always ready to entrust your only daughter to some stranger?"

"Ugh…" Nelliel grunted resentfully – that definitely was Natsu's win.

"Umm… Okā-san? Haru onii-san?" A sleepy kid's voice asked. Seemingly, that commotion finally woke Luminel up.

"Oh, sorry, sweetie…" Nelliel said guiltily as she came closer to Natsu and he gave the girl to her mother.

"Uum…" Luminel shook her head, meaning that she no longer wants to sleep.

"So, how was your evening?" Nelliel asked as she made sure that Luminel's alright.

"It was so fun! Natsu-san knows so much stories!" Kid's eyes shone. For some reason, Luminel's answer reminded Natsu about Wendy's reaction on question about their little journey to Onibas, despite two girls had quite an age difference. Wendy really grew up in too sheltered environment… In the meantime, Luminel seriously looked at her mother, "Okā-san, when I can join a guild? Being wizard is so much fun!" Seeing this sincere sight of her daughter, Nelliel could only roll her eyes helplessly.

"Anyway," Natsu interfered into that lovely parent-child bonding, "I wasn't joking about important things I want to discuss, so maybe it's time to invite me to the house?"

Nelliel looked at him for several seconds, hesitating, but then sighed. "Alright, come in," She said, as she decided that a catastrophe have already happened, so there's nothing more to fear. Naïve girl… She headed towards the house first as Haru and Natsu followed her.

---

December 17, X784, 10:35, Shirotsume town, Nelliel's house.

"So, what you wanted to talk about?" Nelliel wondered. Natsu, Haru and Luminel were sitting at the table, while dream dragon slayer was busy brewing a coffee.

"Wait a moment, I forgot to give her that thing," Natsu replied as he turned to Luminel. "Remember what we were practicing?" God of ruin smiled to a kid. Luminel's eyes shone as if she remembered something exciting. "Here," Natsu nodded as he took out and gave her a big, no, huge lollipop.

"Hey, stop! She didn't eat her breakfast yet!" Nelliel demanded as she noticed what Natsu is doing. "Sweetie, give me that thing," She addressed her daughter as she came closer to take away the lollipop Natsu gave her, "You must eat a breakfast first." However, just as Nelliel was about to take the sweet away, Luminel disappeared from where she was. Nelliel blinked several times as she grabbed thin air.

"I don't want porridge, I want this lollipop!" Luminel announced as she mysteriously appeared on the windowsill. Nelliel was looking at her daughter with saucer-wide eyes, she couldn't understand what happened.

"That's called a 'shadow step'," Natsu explained. "A universal, attributeless movement technique, very suitable for children who didn't choose their magic school yet – very useful to develop child's coordination and reaction. I've taught her this technique yesterday," He added.

At first, Nelliel shock only grew deeper as she couldn't realize how Natsu managed to teach a four years old kid something like this within just a few hours (and Haru also seemed shocked). But few moments later she again began to boil with fury, "We'll talk about that later…" She hissed, before looking at her daughter again, who, in the meantime, already unpacked a lollipop and began to eat it. "Luminel, give me that thing!" Nelliel demanded as she jumped to the girl.

"No!" Luminel refused as she disappeared again.

"Stop! Get back!" Mother exclaimed as she rushed after the girl to the bedroom.

Of course, Nelliel could easily catch her daughter if she'd used her magic, but she didn't want to use magic, because she didn't want to accidentally destroy the house, for which she paid about just an hour ago. As a result, the 'great chase', accompanied by kid's cheerful laughter and mother's angry screams, lasted for about five minutes. Fortunately, Luminel was just a four years old kid, so she got exhausted quite quickly and now she was sleeping again. Nelliel carried her to the bedroom.

And as she glanced at her precious child, who now was sleeping peacefully, Nelliel was steaming with fury. "I'll kill him, even if that will be the last thing I'll do in my life!" She roared angrily, though Natsu wasn't here – he remained in the dining room. Not only he spoiled her daughter, because of that commotion the coffee she was brewing ran away and flooded the stove.

"Please, calm down," Haru gently grabbed her shoulders. "I'm sure you realize that he taught her that spell not to infuriate you, but to give Luminel a method to get away from enemies, in case of emergency. You know that, are you?" He asked.

"Sigh… I know…" She sighed, trying to calm down, "But I'm sure he intentionally gave her the lollipop to make all that commotion! I swear – with a friend like him – one doesn't need enemies…" She sighed again, getting her thoughts in order. "Alright, c'mon. I don't care anymore what he wants to say – I want to kick him out of here," She declared and headed downstairs, to the dining room, where Natsu was still waiting.

However, as she and Haru entered the dining room, even before Nelliel could open her mouth, Natsu looked at two dragon slayers and pronounced, "Now, since she's asleep again, let's discuss how we can avoid a bleak future for Luminel."

"What?" Nelliel froze as her bellicose spirit abruptly cooled down.

"Take a sit, this may take a while," Natsu waved at two other stools near the table. Haru sat near the table, but Nelliel remained standing, looking at Natsu worriedly. "Sit down," Natsu insisted, "Nothing bad has happened yet, and nothing will happen if you'll listen to what I have to say."

As Nelliel finally sat down, Natsu addressed both dragon slayers, "Have you ever heard about attributes?"

"Attribute?" Nelliel repeated Natsu's question as she and Haru looked at each other.

"I think… father mentioned something like that once…" Haru mumbled, straining his memory.

"Yeah… I remember mother once told me that I have a matching attribute…" Nelliel also remembered something.

No doubts, Igneel and Somniara knew about attributes – this is why these two were chosen to be their inheritors. However, vague memories are definitely not enough. "Attributes are the very fundamentals of magic, but before I explain about it," Natsu turned to Haru, "If you wish to stay and listen – you must promise that nothing from what I'm about to say will leave this room. And, don't take it personally, but just a word isn't enough…" God of ruin's eyes flashed with eerie light.

---

December 17, X784, 12:10, Shirotsume town, Nelliel's house.

After Haru agreed to sign a non-disclosure pact with Natsu, the talk about attributes began. Actually, Natsu also could tell Haru about Tower of Din – after all, Haru and Nelliel are both dragon slayers, and their level is relatively advanced. They've already got enough of dragons' traits. And since that's the case – if these two actually fell for each other – then that's it – they're together for the lifetime, essentially, they're a package deal now. But after some thinking, he decided to not bother Haru with the guardians and other stuff just yet – he already has a lot of things to take care of.

"Well, I think I got it…" Haru nodded after more than an hour-long talk.

"So…" Nelliel mumbled uncertainly "…you're saying that Luminel cannot learn magic from me?"

"I'm not saying that she can't – I'm saying that she shouldn't," Natsu clarified. "When she has born, you weren't at such an advanced stage of dragon slayer's magic development at which you're now. That means that, aside from some personality traits, this girl is a human now. As such – she can learn any magic in the world. She just needs help in choosing the right one."

Natsu looked up, towards the bedroom where Luminel now was sleeping. "Yes, her attribute is rare – 100% wood – Yggdrasill. So what? It is up to us, her seniors, to not let it become an issue. You experienced that yourself – she was running from you for five minutes, using magic – she has very rare talent. We may not waste it with unfitting magic, as well as we cannot let her learn some trashy wood magic, like wood-make or something similar," Natsu declared. Of course – the best solution would've been to acquire an inheritance of some powerful bloodline – Serene Seven-colored Kirin's bloodline would've been an excellent option – but it is easier to say than do, much easier…

"So, what should I do now?" Nelliel asked. Seemingly, Natsu successfully reassured her, but she still was uncertain about what to do.

"Let her learn this," Natsu replied as he handed over a handwritten scroll. "Those are spells I was using when I was of her age. They are attribute-neutral and useful for children to learn basics about magic, as well as to develop their bodies and meridians. We still have about five years before she'll need to start specializing in a certain school of magic. I'm sure we'll find something good during that time."

Nelliel took the scroll and looked at it thoughtfully. Then she looked at Natsu, "Listen… I don't want to look unthankful… because I'm really thankful to you," She clarified, bowing to god of ruin, "But tell me… why are you helping us?"

"I always trying to help talented mages to awake their potential," Natsu shrugged, "And that girl has a great power sleeping within her tiny body. Besides, you did a good job back then, so I can spare a few scrolls and a bit of information to show my personal gratitude… by the way, you may tell him about Oracion Seis," Natsu reminded as he nodded towards Haru. Nelliel was bound with non-disclosure pact – she couldn't tell anyone about Amentiana's part in Nirvana Incident, but she can tell anyone about the rest of battle.

"Oracion Seis?!" Haru almost jumped when he heard those words, "Wait, don't tell me you people actually were participating in that battle?!" Of course he heard about Oracion Seis, and about that the dark guild was destroyed a few days ago.

---

December 17, X784, 12:25, Shirotsume town, Nelliel house's yard.

"Damn, I can't believe I've missed such a fight!" Haru couldn't stop complaining as he learnt about what happened. However, worst of all, in his opinion, was the fact that Lyon actually did participate in that operation. "If only that magazine would've come out a week earlier…" He mumbled, no doubts he meant a Sorcerer's weekly issue with Nelliel's photo.

"Well, you can discuss it without me," Natsu noted as he turned towards yard's gate.

"I also will go, I need to visit a guildhall," Haru informed Nelliel and then looked at her uncertainly.

"Oh man, kiss her already, you really think that you have to be embarrassed in my presence?" Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, you're the worst friend ever!" Nelliel announced before she grabbed Haru's head and kissed him herself. "See you later," She smiled softly as he released his lips. Haru seemed a bit shocked but pleased.

In the meantime, Natsu was already half-way towards yard's gate. Haru quickly followed him. "Hey man, I really must admit – I was shocked to see how easily you're communicating with Luminel…" Fire dragon slayer noted.

"Instead of being shocked, you would've been better memorizing how I'm doing this," Natsu replied. "You should know that you cannot get this…" Natsu pointed at Nelliel "…without getting that…" He pointed at the bedroom where Luminel now was sleeping. "Seducing a lustful MILF is one thing, but befriending her kid is a completely different story…"

"Ugh… Yeah… I know…" Haru mumbled, as both men had to dodge two white boots that were thrown at them.

"Get out from my house, both of you!" Nelliel's angry voice resounded in the air as Haru and Natsu quickly closed the yard's gate behind themselves.

"Really, men are all alike!" Nelliel stomped her bare feet on the floor as she closed the house's door from inside. One is mocking her in any way he likes, while her supposed-to-be-boyfriend don't even tries to stand up for her. "They all useless!" She snorted. Only one thing she couldn't explain, even to herself – if she's so displeased with those guys behavior – why's she's smiling so happily now?

---

December 18, X784, 8:00, Natsu and Erza's house.

"You've woke up early today, what's up?" Sin asked Natsu as he returned to the house. Sin spent last day and night in Magnolia, as Natsu asked him to 'make sure that nothing abnormal is happening'.

In the meantime, Natsu improved the artifacts formation in his house as he added a few other things to the Nine Golden Keys, which were already supporting formation. He wanted to make sure that his subordinates, Shinryō no Setsuma, can do their best to protect the house. Then he went to check on his wife, though, since he actually couldn't do anything – he just looked at that golden cocoon for a few minutes and left. All that seemed as if Natsu and Sin are going to be absent for some time…

"Are we going somewhere?" Familiar inquired.

"Yes," Natsu replied as he looked somewhere with mysterious face expression. "It's been a while since we've visited that place…" God of ruin added as he checked his notes for the last time. "C'mon Sin," Natsu waved his arm, "Let's go back, to the Tower of Din…"

---

And that's it for now! See you soon people, don't forget about a review!