The 3 Wizards Ultear, Meredy and Jellal stared at their unexpected guest Citrine with confusion they had all just realised they shared a common link through Zeref and were now in the process of trying to sort out where each other stood.
"Ok I think we all need to take a breath here" Citrine said as he calmly took a seat at a nearby dining table. "Oh and hi... Ultear was it?" He smiled and waved.
Ultear with her eyes fixated on Citrine's arm pointed at it while making a circular motion with her hand "So, what's going on with that? Citrine" She questioned trying to get up to speed with the situation.
"Oh yeah I didn't tell you the other day but I'm a Dragon?" He smiled before adding "How else did you think I was able to give you my life-force without killing myself in the process?"
"I... Suppose... That makes sense..." Ultear responded with her jaw now swaying freely in the wind as she blinked.
"OK I think I should try to fill in a few blanks here" Citrine stated trying to clear the air.
"Firstly, I am a Dragon. ARM, CLAW, SCALES with lightning. Clearly not human"
All 3 of the humans in the room gave a quick double nod in unison reaffirming the obvious reality.
"Now what I am is what's called a Dragon Pillar, Specifically I'm the Dragon pillar of Light... Now if there is a light, there is also a Dark... This would be a Black Dragon known as Obsidian" Citrine quickly followed up with "And before you ask what a Pillar is, think of me as the Dragon equivalent to one of your Wizard Saints".
All 3 of them now just stared blankly without saying a word either because they didn't know what to say or were too stunned to argue.
Citrine raised an eyebrow but could see they were still with him so he continued
"Now, what you don't know is that Zeref is actually a shell entity created by Obsidian, which houses his consciousness similar to how I am before you now but there is a difference."
"Wait a minute Zeref's a Dragon?!" Ultear interrupted.
"Not exactly..." Citrine vaguely responded before clarifying...
"You see as it stands, I'm a Dragon in human form but at my core I'm 100% dragon. I'm sealing my power to not hurt those around me who can't handle my existence, but I'm capable of releasing those seals, returning me to my original Dragon form. This is where Zeref and I differ"
"Zeref is a human with Dragon Attributes, what Obsidian did was split his being into two, he placed the majority portion roughly 70% of his power into what you know as Zeref this included his immortality as a Pillar and consciousness. So Zeref is Obsidian without the dragon."
Citrine stopped for a minute to take a breath while considering how to word the next part of his story.
"So Zeref is 70% of this Dragon Obsidian?! But what about the other 30%?" Meredy asked while trying to wrap her head around everything said so far.
Citrine knew this was coming and could only respond with sadness "Acnologia..."
"Now it makes sense why Acnologia's power is so unimaginable even compared to that of the Dragons we saw yesterday." Jellal responded as it started to click in his mind.
"But... Acnologia... Isn't a Dragon like Obsidian in fact he wasn't a Dragon at all. Acnologia... Was the Human King of the time that I had given Dragon Slaying Magic" Citrine responded with regret
Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy all yelled "He was human?!"
Citrine lowering his head in shame as he continued his story
"The 30% portion of Obsidian consisted entirely of his Dragon Essence and Form but there was no consciousness to govern that power. It was pure Dragon predatory instinct and because of the magnitude of the power a Human had no chance to control it. Because of this Obsidian has effectively possessed Acnologia, his essence twisting the King's human body into that of a Black Dragon."
Citrine eyes welled up with tears as he tried to contain his emotion on the subject
"Acnologia himself was every bit the King the humans deserved... but what he has become now is a perversion. The Black Dragon known as Acnologia is now nothing more than a Prison, I don't know how much of the original King is left but what I do know is it's my fault for letting it get as far as it did."
"Why didn't you simply kill Obsidian when he split his essence? Wouldn't his demise benefit all the Dragons?" Jellal bluntly asked.
"Your right that since Obsidian split his essence the balance of power has shifted in my favour and I could've and can put an end to this madness. Although it would have meant killing the Human King as well, but I could have brought down Acnologia myself before countless lives were lost... However that in itself creates a new problem."
"If I had killed Acnologia, Obsidian 'should' have to reabsorb the lost 30% of his essence into Zeref, returning him to his original form. But, If he didn't he would forfeit the other 30% of his power... and the problem here would be the latter"
The 3 wizards were confused by this statement.
"Why would you prefer Obsidian to reabsorb the power?" Ultear asked confused
"Although in essence Obsidian and I are diametrically opposite we exist symbiotically. We both have the capacity for untold destruction however when we are in close proximity our 2 forces start to cancel out, this creates a calming effect on both of our powers, but that only works when our levels are equal.
"So right now without Obsidian, I exist in a very unstable state because I'm 100% whole. To compensate for this I'm maintaining seals on my power in an effort to keep the balance but I'm currently forced to release a lot of energy periodically to alleviate the stress on those seals. Eventually those seals will collapse and I will have to return to my full form."
"When that happens and Obsidian isn't there, I will have no choice but to also split myself like what Obsidian has done. I would return to my pocket dimension to rebuild the seals on my power, before I can return to the world to try again. As much as I want to kill Obsidian for everything that he has done, the balance must be maintained."
"I can kind of understand when you put it like that that, but what happens if he forfeits the power?" Ultear responded
Citrine thought for a moment on how to word the scenario so that the humans would understand.
"If I killed Acnologia and Obsidian didn't recombine his essence into Zeref, there would be a chance the next Dragon in line, one of the lesser royals in his ranks would inherit it by right of succession. If this were to occur that dragon would gain the 30% power and effectively become a New Black King, however that still means Zeref would remain and because of his 70% hold of power he would still be superior to the New King."
"In this scenario, in order continue the symbiotic state between the powers of Light and Dark, I would need to deal with both of the Kings at the same time and that is not much better than the current situation. It would still be Obsidian's choice to recombine the power by killing the lesser king, as the 30% king would lack the power alone kill Zeref for the remaining 70%... without assistance."
"If I was forced to assist the 30% king, because of my dominance I would inherit the 70% share instead... Likewise if no one succeeded the 30% of power in the first place that would mean I would also get it by default as I killed Acnologia..."
"But that sounds like a good outcome? Why wouldn't you having that power be favourable?" Jellal interrupted
Citrine shook his head before responding "Unfortunately you don't get it, right now I can't even contain my own power." Citrine placed his dragon arm on the nearby table ensuring the 3 wizards could clearly see it.
"This lightning you see, arcing over my scales, that is involuntary, it is my own power that I have no control over as my body can no longer contain it. As a Dragon, my form and Obsidian's for that matter are at their limit, that is the real reason for our symbiosis between the light and dark, it is the only way to balance our power."
After saying this Citrine took a moment to change his arm back to its human form.
Meredy, Ultear and Jellal all looked at each other as the seriousness of situation was becoming clear.
"So what happens in the event that Zeref and Acnologia are killed and no one is around to inherit it?" Jellal asked concerned as Dragons for the most part no long exist.
"If I was forced to take his power in... Effectively placing all Dragon Aspect Power into 1 container... Me..." Citrine thought for a minute about the realistic possibilities.
"If my body didn't simply explode wiping out this existence as the shock would destabilize our dimension or the reverse option of the 2 forces cancelling each other out so I as well as all magic would vanish, Honestly the latter would be ideal considering..."
Citrine paused for a second before continuing
"In the event my body did maintain its form... Right now 7% of my current power will kill a human that hasn't been touched by magic but they would need to be rather close to me... However at my current 100% unsealed form I kill all but 1% of beings around me for about 1KM, however my presence would greatly affects things beyond that radius."
Meredy, Ultear and Jellal all gasped in shock, as they considered their current proximity to Citrine.
Citrine paused again as he followed this path in his mind.
"I would have no way to contain my power... my seals wouldn't be able to function at that level so I would be forced to be 100% on, at 200% of my current... At 200% there wouldn't be a 1% meaning everything would die... But the radius could easily be 10KM. I can't even fathom the destruction inside that... But outside, it and probably for up to 100KM or more my presence would slowly poison everything draining everything of life."
The 3 wizards were lost for words, it was too much for them grasp.
"The only option would be to isolate myself away from everything that my presence would destroy; I would most likely go to another dimension to achieve this. Assuming that new dimension didn't collapse from my presence... Eventually I would be driven mad in my solitude, and end up returning to the world to destroy it. At that point I would be much worse than Obsidian ever was."
The 3 wizards just looked at Citrine and blinked
"HOWEVER!" Citrine exclaimed getting the attention of the 3 wizards, snapping them out of their depression. "There is a solution to that today that wasn't available back then"
"Oh? So there is hope?" Meredy said trying to show some enthusiasm
"Yes, the Dragon Slayers" Citrine responded proudly
"Wait, how is that any different from 400 years ago? You said yourself that Acnologia was a Dragon Slayer!" Ultear argued
"Acnologia became a Dragon Slayer by use of a Lacrima, as well as nearly all the Slayers of that Era, the concept of Dragon Slaying Magic was still in its infancy. The true power of Slayer magic could only be acquired by humans infused with Dragon Magic as children. In other words those raised by Dragons themselves."
"The First Generation Slayers? Like Natsu?!" Jellal exclaimed
"Yes he is one of the four, but there is much I must do... However, that will be between them and I" Citrine said with some authority to avoid the subject.
"Well I guess I have spoken for a while and clarified the existence of Acnologia and Zeref, Also I guess I explained why Ultear mistook my presence for Zeref's" Citrine said while stretching his arms.
"Well not exactly, why do you feel like Zeref? If you are his opposite wouldn't you feel nothing like him?" Meredy said still confused.
"The reason I feel like Zeref is because we both represent what you call One-Magic. We are not confined to any elements perse and we embody all magic in existence. I am the Yin to his Yang, I'm the Light in the Darkness and Obsidian is the Shadow that cannot exist without the Light.
"Together we maintain the balance, without one reality will be drowned out by the other. Without Me or another Light Pillar in my place, the world would be consumed by Obsidian's darkness becoming nothingness. Additionally without Obsidian or another Dark Pillar My radiance would scorch the world drowning it in the light and ultimately purifying everything into nothingness."
Jellal couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this. "So Zeref, no wait, Obsidian is the embodiment of what we could simply term as 'Evil' making you what? Good? Love? Happiness? Seems a touch cheesy..."
"I suppose... But as of right now let's simply look at it as ally and enemy shall we" Citrine said while smiling at the 3 wizards.
"Ok I have one final question?" Ultear asked while staring at Citrine, who gave her a little nod before Ultear followed up with "Why did you come here again?"
"Oh yes... I almost forgot... I need to borrow your time magic, I personally could do it but I'd rather not scare the locals with another Dragon as I gather sufficient energy to tinker with time." Citrine explained while scratching his head.
"Fine... But I would like to avoid crowded places... I'm not exactly a model citizen" Ultear said while putting on a hooded cloak.
"No problem, we just need a relatively central location in town with some elevation" Citrine responds.
Ultear had already deduced that she will be repairing some damage on a large scale but Citrine was the only reason why she is still alive, so she couldn't say no.
"Ok the Arena that the Grand Magic Games was held on is in a relatively central location at least it's elevated we can figure the rest out when we arrive." Ultear said, opening the front door.
