Here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!

July 7, X791

Lucy was trying her best to close Eclipse as dragons kept coming from it, their footsteps shaking the very earth beneath them, all while Princess Hisui was frozen and tearing with great remorse.

"I won't let the dragons consume the world!" Lucy screamed. "The other me… I have to live on for her! I need to laugh, cry and live for both of us!"

Back in the castle, Ultear and Meredy were trying to keep Natsu and Lionel from being sucked into pitch dark shadows.

"Natsu, wake up dammit!" Ultear shouted.

Suddenly, Natsu's hand gripped Ultear's shoulder and pulled the Fire Dragon Slayer out of the void.

A dragon made entirely of fire came out of the gate.

"More dragons are pouring through the door!" Lily said.

"Hurry! We have to stop them!" Carla said.

Hisui was still immobilized in place.

"Your Highness, it's dangerous!" One of the castle guards shouted. "You must fall back!"

"Lucy! Shut the door, quick!" Happy yelled.

Lucy was pulling on the handle with all her might, but the door wouldn't budge an inch.

"There isn't enough celestial power!" Arcadios muttered aloud.

"I can help!" A soft voice called out.

Running toward them were Yukino, now in her white dress and feathery cape, and Kyo.

"Yukino!" Happy cheered.

"Kyo!" Mirajane exclaimed.

"Ms. Lucy, use your Zodiac keys!" Yukino urgently shouted. "With mine, we can use all twelve to close the door!"

Lucy turned her head behind her without letting go of the switch. "Using the spirits?!"

Yukino tossed out her two Golden Gate keys into the air and Lucy threw out her ten keys toward Yukino's. The twelve spirit keys floated in the air, formed a circle and began to release a golden glow. Lucy and Yukino knelt down in front of each other, clasped their hands together, closed their eyes and touched their foreheads against the other as they started chanting in unison.

"O spirits of the Twelve Golden Gates… grant us the power to shut out the evil that besieges us! Open! Twelve Gates! ZODIAC!"

A magic circle appeared underneath the Celestial mages and the astral projections of the twelve Zodiac spirits surrounded the circle.

"Help us!" Lucy continued chanting.

The twelve spirits turned into the same number of streams and they all pushed against the doors of Eclipse, six on each door, just as another dragon was preparing to come through the gate. The spirits pushed the doors with all their might and they were closing in on the dragon about come out. The dragon tried to keep the doors pried open with its front claws, but eventually the gate closed with a loud, metallic clang.

"It closed!" Lucy exclaimed with joy.

The soldiers began cheering at the girls' success until Arcadios's barking broke their boost in morale.

"What are you cheering for?!" Arcadios questioned his men. "How many dragons made it through?!"

"N-nine!" One soldier answered.

"I told you that you were destined to close the door." Future Rogue came out of nowhere and walked forward. "But nine dragons are more than enough!"

"Rogue?" Yukino gasped in confusion from seeing a somewhat familiar face.

"What happened to Natsu?!" Lucy wondered aloud.

"To tell the truth, ten thousand dragons would have been hard to control." Future Rogue said.

"What are you talking about?" Mirajane demanded to know.

"It's him…" Hisui muttered. "The one who told me about our future and the Eclipse Cannon…"

Arcadios stepped in front of the princess.

"HE'S the 'future man' who lied to Her Highness?!"

"You.." Lucy growled at Future Rogue. "Was this your plan all along?!"

Future Rogue only smirked and raised his arms and hands into the air. "Listen, ignorant masses!"

The nine dragons gathered in the skies around Future Rogue.

"As of tonight, the Age of Man shall end! Now begins the Age of Dragons!"

Everyone looked at the dragons in horror.

"Now, dragons, to open this new age… kill every wizard in the city!" Future Rogue commanded the dragons.

The seven of the dragons went off into different parts of the city, ready to do exactly as Rogue ordered.

"The dragons are doing as he says?!" Carla gasped.

"He said something about control…" Lily said. "He can't mean…"

"The secret spell to control dragons…" Future Rogue stated to alleviate Lily's question as a dragon with oval scales landed behind him. "Dragon Supremacy Magic!"

"Control dragons?" Happy parroted.

Future Rogue jumped into the held out hand of the dragon behind him.

"What is he after?!" Kyo asked.

"I-I don't know!" Wendy replied.

"I do not see what Rogue gains from this…" Yukino said.

"I'll leave them to you…" Future Rogue turned to an approaching dragon. "Zirconis!"

The dragon Future Rogue had set upon the castle courtyard was the same jade-colored dragon whose spirit Wendy had conjured on the night of July 4, only this one was very much alive.

"Hahaha, you humans look tasty!" Zirconis laughed heartily.

"It's him…" Happy said.

"The dragon we talked to in the graveyard?" Lucy looked at Zirconis in surprise.

In the city, where Phoenix Dawn was stationed at, one of the dragons had landed in front of them. It had a thin body, but a long neck and its back, wings, back of the neck and head, and tail covered in protruding azure crystals while the rest of its body exposed its dark blue scales.

"Humans, I am the Crystal Dragon, Auraia!" The dragon's echoing voice indicated that it was male. "Per Master Rogue's orders, you will all die here!"

Everyone readied themselves for a brutal fight.

"If that thing can fly with those heavy crystals on its body, it's a lot more nimble than it appears." Spiral surmised.

"Quite observant, human." Auraia smirked. "Lugging these crystals sticking out of my scales since birth really builds my physical strength."

"TAKE THIS!"

Out of nowhere, Haru flew in with a flaming kick towards the dragon's head. Auraia leaned his head forward and when Haru kicked one of the crystals on the back of his neck, she bounced off and was sent flying and fell on her face in front of her guild mates.

"I'm okay!" Haru's muffled voice shouted while her face was still planted in the pavement.

"By the way, these crystals are also nearly indestructible." Auraia stated.

"NO FAIR!" Haru screamed into the ground.

Elsewhere, a pure white dragon with slabs of stones protruding from its body flew down in front of the White Valkyrie wizards.

"I am Talfos." The dragon spoke. "You may have heard about me from by my other name, 'The Grave Dragon'."

"Never heard of ya!" Bryant said as he covered himself in black iron armor.

"They call you 'The Grave Dragon' because of the tombstones on your back, correct?" Leah guessed with her hood up.

Upon closer inspection, the stone slabs on Talfos's back had engravings and faces of people and creatures on them.

"Correct, any living thing I eat and digest becomes a gravestone on my back." Talfos explained.

"That is so creepy!" Momo shivered as she felt a chill crawl through her spine.

"Quite the sharp eyes, little elf." Talfos said to Leah. "I could tell by your smell."

A spear had its tip slammed into the ground and everyone looked to Kara.

"We are the White Valkyrie wizard guild!" Kara proudly proclaimed. "As such, we battle with no restraints!"

"Lady Kara!" Sora exclaimed.

"You also threaten our home!" Kara resumed. "We will protect it! Even at the cost of our lives!"

"… Very well then." Talfos said. "Just remember that I gave you a chance for your deaths to be quick and painless."

In the stadium's infirmary, Jayden could hear and feel the explosions and quakes coming from outside, but he couldn't get up to see what was happening. He turned to Wilbur, who was standing in front of the window.

"Wilbur, what's going on out there?" Jayden asked.

Wilbur turned to Jayden. *I probably shouldn't tell him. He'll try to get out of bed, even though his body doesn't have the strength. And even if he could walk out, his wounds would reopen and cause more problems.* "There's nothing to worry about, Jayden. Your friends have everything under control."

Jayden wasn't convinced by Wilbur's response, but he was stuck in his bed for who knows how long and chose not to press the issue.

Despite their numbers, the humans were severely struggling against the dragons. Everything they threw at them didn't even leave the tiniest of scratches.

"Yes! Do exactly that!" Future Rogue ordered his dragons atop the oval-scaled dragon. "Destroy! More destruction! Show them a dragon's rage!"

As Future Rogue was flying through the capital's skies, his attention turned to a couple of small figures standing at the top of a church and holding onto the crowning cross. Those two figures were a banged-up Natsu and Lionel, looking at Future Rogue with rage.

"So you both still live?" Future Rogue rhetorically asked. "Can't you even die properly? Get him!"

The dragon Future Rogue was riding dove toward the church and chomped a part of the top with its massive jaws. However, the two Dragon Slayers spun themselves around the cross, leapt off, bounced off the dragon's head and charged at Future Rogue, completely surrounded in flames and electricity. Future Rogue turned a part of his body into shadow and Natsu and Lionel passed right through him. He tried to counterattack, but Natsu shot flames from his legs that engulfed the attacking Dragon Slayer. Future Rogue seemed unfazed by Natsu's attack and the dragon turned in the air, causing Natsu and Lionel to lose their balance and almost fall off, but they caught onto a crevice between the dragon's scales while Rogue kept himself stable by sticking to his own shadow.

"Look at the city!" Future Rogue told them.

They looked down to see the dragons wreaking havoc over the capital.

"It's too late to do anything, now." Future Rogue said. "It's all over."

"What are you after?!" Natsu demanded to know.

Future Rogue smiled. "Do you remember how I said that seven years from now the world had been taken over by dragons? Well, it wasn't the dragons I had just summoned through Eclipse that caused it… It was just one, Acnologia. Just that one dragon ruled the entire world. No wizard or guild could stand against him. We spent our days in fear. Eventually, I discovered a secret spell to control the dragons, but it had no effect on Acnologia."

The dragon they were on dove into the city and flew through some buildings in an attempt to shake Natsu and Lionel off of it.

"Soon enough, only OTHER dragons could defeat Acnologia."

"THAT'S why you brought the dragons here?!" Lionel questioned.

Natsu and Lionel were forced off, but jumped off of a nearby building to get back onto the dragon.

"Not the only reason." Future Rogue replied. "Once Acnologia is defeated, I will be king of the dragons!"

Natsu and Lionel simultaneously threw a punch at Future Rogue, but he blocked them with his arm.

"I'll become the world's sole ruler!" Rogue claimed. It makes me shiver!"

Natsu sniffed the air. "I smell… Nine dragons!"

"Nine is plenty to make the world mine!" Rogue said.

"Well too bad!" Natsu set his fist on fire, eliciting confusion from Rogue.

Natsu brought down his inflamed fist onto the dragon's back, forcing it to reel back and screech in pain.

"What did you-?!" Rogue gasped.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Natsu began screaming so loud that everybody in the city could hear him. "DRAGON SLAYER MAGIC CAN TAKE DOWN THESE DRAGONS! THERE ARE ELEVEN DRAGON SLAYERS AND NINE DRAGONS! OUR MAGIC IS MEANT FOR TODAY! RIGHT NOW! THE WHOLE REASON WE DRAGON SLAYERS EXIST IS TO FIGHT FOR RIGHT NOW!"

"You seem to have miscounted." Future Rogue said. "If my memory of this time serves me right, including you two there are nine of you who can fight. The Water Dragon Slayer was rendered out of commission due to the games earlier."

"I can HEAR the tenth!" Natsu smirked.

"Good, because I'd rather punch this guy in the face than a dragon." Lionel said before thinking to himself. *What's gotten into me? All I can think about is beating him to a pulp!*

Just outside of the city, Lahar and Doranbolt stood just outside of the city with a prisoner of theirs in tow.

"No need for the details." The prisoner grinned. "I heard it all, Natsu."

The prisoner was Cobra, the Poison Dragon Slayer.

A/N: I know some of you wanted Jayden to join the fight, but I didn't want to come up with too many extra dragons. I felt like I made enough while giving everyone something to do. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!