Upon night time, Yukino is by a tower area of Mercurius as she looks at the Domus Flau from afar.
"so… Sabertooth has been defeated by Natsu-san?" said Yukino while feeling a bit pity for her former guild.
"must be feeling mixed about your guild, sergeant?" asked a soldier behind Yukino.
"not really, I have no regrets about that guild" said Yukino while shaking her head before looking at the soldier. "anyway, I can't really get used to being called sergeant"
"I'm sorry, but to take part in the Eclipse Project. You need a rank even just temporary" replied the soldier.
"the Eclipse Project…." Muttered Yukino before she looks at the moon above in the night sky. "I'm ready to pour all my efforts into it if it can be of any help"
Meanwhile at the Crocus Garden
The entire Sabertooth guild members stood in line while Sting and Rogue stood in front of Jilemma who sat with an emotionless look in front of them.
"Sting. Rogue." Bellowed Jilemma with a deep voice. "Do you have any words to explain what happened yesterday?"
"There is nothing we could say that would help our situation." Said Rogue with a regretful voice. "We have failed. Natsu's….his power was beyond what we could apprehend….he was too strong"
"Does being the strongest mean nothing to you?! Have my words fallen on deaf ears or are you two just idiots?!" Jilemma angrily asked. He stood up, knocking over the table in front of his chair and the items on it. Jilemma towered over Sting and Rogue as the man's aura is raging in anger. "Your lack of resolve has embarrassed this entire guild! You are supposed to represent Sabertooth and our dominance, but instead you went out and lost!"
"But Master we…" uttered Sting
"SILENCE!" Jilemma roared as his magic sends a shockwave before he sends a punch and a kick at the two Dragon Slayers that sends them flying away. "You have insulted us long enough! You no longer have the right to call yourselves Sabertooth! Remove your guild marks you sniveling weakling"
"H-hold on, Master." Lector spoke up, his voice and body quaking with fright. "Both Sting and Rogue, tried really hard."
Jilemma's gaze cut towards the exceed.
"Lector…" Sting groaned in pain as he clutched his ribs.
"I think that we still have a chan-" said Lector before Jilemma cuts his words off.
"Who are you?" said Jilemma with a bellowing voice.
"C-come on, Master. I'm Lector, remember?" said Lector with a nervous voice before he showed the Sabertooth mark on his back and under his vest "I'm a member of Sabertooth after all…."
"why is an animal sporting the noble crest of Sabertooth!?" shouted Jilemma before he raised his hand towards Lector and a powerful magic force came flashing towards the small feline. "VANISH!"
Suddenly Lector was engulfed in an explosion that flash brightly.
"Lector!" screamed Sting in horror
"Sting-ku…" Lector said before fading away into nothing.
Everyone saves for Minerva looked on in both shock and horror at their master's actions as Lector is gone from existence.
Sting could say nothing; all his words had escaped him. He could only look on, his eyes widened in disbelief as his tears began to flow.
"L-Lector…" Frosch said, tears flowing down his small cheeks. "H-he's gone…he..."
Rogue ran to Frosch's side and held him tight, afraid that he would be the next one to face Jilemma's wrath.
"Disgraceful." Jilemma angrily scoffed, feeling no remorse for his actions. "Such a lowly beast having the mark of my guild."
Sting soon wails in tears as he lost his one best friend in the whole world.
"Quit that infernal whining, Sting." Jilemma ordered the mourning blonde man who slowly stood to his feet while endless tears rages down his eyes.
"how could you….Lector…..how could you do that to Lector?!" wailed Sting.
"silence! It was just a cat!" shouted Jilemma before his eyes widen and blood coughs out from his mouth as Sting unleashes a powerful magic blast that went straight through the Sabertooth Master's stomach. Once again everyone in the guild looked on in shock, even Minerva. Although hers was more of a look of intrigue.
Jilemma's eyes widened in shock as he fell backward. He spat up blood, the red liquid clogging his throat as he tried to breathe.
"good" said Minerva with a smile and a few chuckles
meanwhile at Honeybone inn, the Fairy Tail guild is having a crazier party than yesterday as they had truly secured their tittle as the number one guild of all Fiore.
"PARTY TIME!" shouted Makarov by the bar while raising a mug of beer high in the air as everyone else did the same while roaring in agreement
"a celebratory dance!" said Vijeeter while spinning around in an odd dance.
"nobody wants to see your weird dance, Vijeeter" said Max while sighing to the old antic of his friend.
"we are number one again!" cheered Elfman as he lifted Haruka and Haruo on his shoulders in celebration, the twins cheering in agreement with the big man.
"be careful with them or you get in trouble with Natsu" said Evergreen, warning the Strauss man about what will happen to him if the twins get hurt by accident.
"after tomorrow's holiday, it's going to be the last match!" said Mira with a grin.
"you're not even in the team, remember" said Cana while drinking a mug of beer.
"since when did you started to do things as fast as you can? And since when you only use chi and magic only on sometimes" asked Gray to Natsu as the two were sitting by a table with Ikaruga, Wendy, Charla, Juvia, and Lily.
"during the 7 years, you and the others were gone" said Natsu while having Ikki in his arms, the father lifting the child up and down repeatedly that made his youngest son giggle and laugh happily. "things in the guild were hectic when I was the guild master"
"now that you mention it, must've been the tons of paperwork, huh?" said Juvia with an awkward smile.
"even Master is in pain from them" added Charla while Wendy smiles with a few giggles.
"that and now is something, but where is Gajeel?" said Lily as he is curious on where his partner is of now.
"who knows?" said Natsu before Kiara came climbing up his shoulder and squealed to Ikki who babbles and giggles while reaching his little hands to the small pop fox. "he just disappeared"
"you mean you don't know that he got on a mining cart by accident and went to who knows where?" said Gray with a sweatdrop.
And by the speak of the devil, Gajeel came into the bar upon mention.
"you're back!" said Lily as Gajeel nodded before he gives Natsu an angry glare.
"thanks to this guy, I got to walk my way back to the inn!" said Gajeel with an angry glare before Haruka with Haruo came jumping to his back while laughing in giggles. "hey! I ain't here to play!"
"Gaji is a fun killer" "yeah, fun killer" said Haruka and Haruo while puffing their cheeks and sticks their tongue out at Gajeel.
"it's Gajeel! When will you two brats get it right!?" shouted Gajeel while Haruka and Haruo ran away with laughing giggles. Gajeel growls at the twins before he signs and looks at Natsu. "any who, I found something under the arena that you might want to see"
"something?" said Natsu while passing Ikki back to Ikaruga.
"yeah" replied Gajeel before he looks at Wendy. "you too"
"me too?" asked Wendy while pointing a finger at herself with a confused face.
Moments later, Gajeel brought Natsu and Wendy with the addition of Gray, Lucy, Lily, Charla, and Kiara along with to the underground tunnel of the arena.
"just why are you guys coming with?" said Gajeel regarding about Gray and the others. "I told you that it's something Salamander and the little girl needs to see"
"we're curious" said Lucy with an awkward look.
Gajeel sighs before he leads the group to the tunnel cave opening where the Dragon bone graveyard is located upon.
"t-this is?!" said Wendy in surprise to see the Dragon graveyard.
"animal….bones….but they're so large!" said Lucy with a surprised face.
"a Dragon Graveyard" muttered Natsu before he glanced at Gajeel. "and you found it?"
"yeah, but I have no idea on why there's a graveyard like this one here" stated Gajeel while having his arms crossed.
"these…..remains of Dragons..just how long have they been here for?" asked Gray while looking at one skeletal dragon head from up close.
"a very long time" said Natsu as he picks up a small bone shard that shatters to pieces after he picked it up. "dragon bones need nearly 2 centuries to erode. These ones have been eroding for an even longer time"
"I wonder what had just happened to these dragons" said Charla in curiosity before Wendy made a surprised noise that caught other attention.
"Milky Way" said Wendy as this got everyone curious.
"what's that?" asked Lily.
"it's Milky Way, another of one of the two Dragon Slaying Technique that I received from Porlyusica-san" explained Wendy before she looks at a nearby Dragon skeleton. "I couldn't use it as an attack magic, but maybe it's a magic that helps one to listen to the voice of dragons who became souls"
"is that something even possible?" asked Gray in surprise.
"are you sure that this magic is capable of summoning a Dragon's Soul, Wendy?" asked Natsu as Wendy nodded.
"It's worth a shot" replied Wendy. "we might know what happened to these dragons and ours too"
"what we got to lose?" said Gajeel to Natsu who sighs before nodding to Wendy who nodded back.
A minute later, the group looks at Wendy who is drawing a large magic circle with a long stick in hand.
"this magic circle will summon a soul of a dragon?" asked Lily while looking at the magic inscription.
"more or less" replied Charla while Kiara let out a squeal beside her
"done!" said Wendy as she finished drawing the symbols of the magic circle before she placed away the long stick that she was using before holding a hand towards the others. "please move back, I'm going to call the soul of a dragon here"
Everyone did as she asked, everyone looks at Wendy who kneels on the ground in the middle of the magic circle.
"wandering soul of the dragons, I am ready to hear your voices" chanted Wendy before she placed both her hands together in a prayer and the magic circle around her glows green. "Milky Way"
Green energy of stars rises into the air and spreads everywhere.
"this is Milky Way, huh?" said Gajeel in seeing the rising energy.
"it's like stars" stated Lucy with a small smile.
Natsu looks at the glowing magic circle surrounding Wendy before he felt a warm sensation in his vest as he looks down and sees that the octagon diamond gem that is in his vest is glowing a golden color.
"this is?" thought Natsu before hearing Lucy letting out a surprised shriek from the rattling dragon skeletons.
"the bones!" shrieked Lucy while hiding behind Gray.
"is this okay, Wendy?" asked Gray with a sweatdrop.
"I'm looking for the souls of a dragon here. The residual thoughts of the Dragon's soul within this area are extremely old and small" said Wendy before she opened her eyes in surprise and said, "I found one!"
The magic circle glows even brighter before surrounding Wendy in a green mist like veil.
Everyone looks at Wendy before they see green steam energy that is swirling around above the young Dragon Slayer.
"what is that?" said Gajeel in surprise.
"that's….a soul?" stated Lily in guessing.
Everyone looks at the swirling energy above before a large green reptilian claw came out.
"ah! That's!" Lucy shrieked out as a large creature came out of the swirling energy before revealing itself as transparent green dragon.
"a Dragon!?" Gray and the others shriek in fright while Natsu looks with wide eyes in seeing the green transparent dragon.
"hahahahaha! No matter how many centuries passed, you humans' shocked faces is always funny and will never get old!" said the green dragon in laughter while everyone looks at him deadpanned. "my name is Zirconis, I'm the Dragon of Jade"
The now named Zirzonis looks at the group before looking around.
"this is Milky Way, a technique that belongs to the Sky Dragon, Grandeeney. Where is the one who summoned my soul?" asked Zirconis looking around before he looks down and sees Wendy. "so cute~! This little Dragon Slayer summoned my soul?"
"hey! don't get too close to Wendy!" shouted Charla in fury.
"so you have died centuries before as I had thought, Zirconis" boomed out an echoing voice as everyone looks to Natsu where on his right shoulder has light gathering around and formed Draco in his small reptilian form.
"this is a surprise, who would've thought we would meet again after 400 years, Draco" said Zirconis with a sneering look. "and you have such a disappointing form for a Dragon"
"they know each other?" asked Lucy with a surprised face.
"Draco. You know this Dragon?" said Natsu to Draco who nodded.
"Regrettably, yes." Replied Draco as he growls at Zirconis. "I was like a brother to him before"
"you brought shame to the Dragon Kind for 400 years, Draco! You sided yourself with humans who brought your own kind to near extinction!" said Zirconis with a bellowing voice.
"I brought shame to none, I already told you before that 400 years ago that siding with humans will bring true coexistence upon this world!" stated Draco with glowing yellow eyes. "you and the rest brought it upon yourselves when you believe that we could reign supreme on the world for all eternity!"
Draco and Zirconis growls at each other as the others can feel rage from the two.
"uh…I think these two aren't on the good connection of friendship, don't you think?" asked Charla with a sweatdrop.
"you were always such a weakling! You gave your loyalty and pride to that human woman, Kaguya at the southern continent! You were turned into a Celestial Spirit and was given an eternal duty to protect the humans there! Such a disappointment!" growled Zirconis. "if I with Animus and Streamius were still alive those centuries ago, we would've killed you for bringing such shame to dragon kind!"
"a mouthful of words from one who has lost his life for centuries. And I never regret giving my loyalty to Kaguya-sama! That is my truthful loyalty and pride from when I was a dragon of this world!" roared Draco in anger.
"Draco was a dragon of this world? You mean he was a Dragon who was turned into a celestial spirit?" said Lucy in surprise.
"that human woman; Kaguya had a very unique and talented skill in Celestial Spirit magic those centuries ago. She could perform feats that no ordinary mage of the past could ever do" stated Zirconis. "one of those feats happens to be turning living beings of this world into that of Celestial Spirits"
"a Dragon turned into a Celestial spirit…." Said Gray "that Kaguya named person must've been a really strong Celestial Spirit Mage"
"I never heard of a Dragon being turned into a celestial spirit before" added Gajeel. "does that mean the same for Enra and the others? Were they living beings of this world before turning into celestial spirits?"
"enough of that" said Natsu as he looks at Draco and Zirconis, both Dragons growling at another. "your name is Zirconis, right? What happened to the dragons of this graveyard? We want to know"
"I have no liking to humans for 4 centuries nor do I have the liking to talk to one!" roared Zirconis "be gone!"
"what about us? We're cats and a fox though" said Lily, pointing out that he, Charla, and Kiara were animals.
"right…it happened 4 centuries ago" said Zirconis in answer as this made some sweatdrop.
"he changed his mind so quickly" said Gray with a sweatdrop.
"he was always the talkative type after all" stated Draco before huffing.
"centuries ago, Dragons used to be the kings of this world. We rule the sky, land, and the sea. It was the age where Dragons prosper for centuries" stated Zirconis in revealing the Dragon history. "everything in this world belonged to us Dragons, while humans were nothing than food for us. hehehe"
"then? Did something happen?" asked Natsu as he felt that the story was about to change.
"yes. There was a foolish Dragon who believed that we dragons could coexist with you humans," said Zirconis with a sneer at Natsu and the others. "his stupid philosophy got many dragons to believe that there is such thing, but there are some who did not. And it started, the century war of the Dragons, the Dragon Civil War. Dragons who approve of his ideals against dragons who were against it. I too was against the philosophy"
"against it? Does that mean you didn't like humans?" asked Lucy with a nervous face.
"I don't like humans, but as food I do" said Zirconis with a smirk before glancing at Draco. "and so was this shameful dragon spirit too when he was once a proud dragon like us those centuries before"
This got Gajeel and the others to back away from Natsu who had Draco on his shoulder as to be on the safe side if he did get cravings for human flesh.
"don't be so cautious. That was me from 4 centuries ago. I have changed" stated Draco with an angered look.
"then? what happened to the war?" asked Charla, wanting to hear the continuation of the history.
"the war brought ruins to many places, and as the war was about to end in the victory of Dragons who were against coexistence with humans. The dragons who wanted coexistence came up with a foolish strategy" said Zirconis before squinting his eyes. "they taught humans the magic to slay Dragons, Dragon Slaying Magic that is able to harm dragons and then humans joined the battle"
"so that's how Dragon Slayer magic was born?!" said Lucy in surprise.
"the power of the Dragon Slayers was immense, it turned the tide in the war, but they didn't foresee one miscalculation," said Zirconis as this got everyone's curiosity. "the Dragon Slayers who had become too powerful, started to kill the Dragons that were on their side too"
"what?" said Natsu as everyone looks surprised to hear it.
"and among those humans, there was one who bathed in too much Dragon blood." Added Zirconis with a scared look. "that man murdered countless of Dragons and bathed in their blood. eventually, his skin became scales, his teeth became fangs, and he gradually became a Dragon"
"a man….became a Dragon?!" said Lucy in pure shock.
"that is how Dragon Slaying Magic evolves.." stated Zirconis. "all the Dragons sleeping here are all murdered by that one man, despite him being a human; he became the king of Dragons and the war ended in no one's victory. The war gave birth to the King of Dragons and was called the Dragon King Festival. the name of the king is Acnologia. While being a Dragon, he had pitch black wings unlike that of any Dragon"
"A-Acnologia!?" gasped Lucy in shock.
"that monster was human?!" exclaimed Gray.
"that was what happened 400 years ago" said Zirconis has he started to fade away. "because of you…humans…."
Zirconis soon fades away as he disappeared.
"hey! he vanished!" exclaimed Gray.
"we still wanted to ask something else!" shouted Gajeel but Zirconis is gone.
"he's gone" said Charla.
"what happened?" said Lily as Wendy stopped her magic and stood up.
"his soul had passed off to the next life" said Wendy with a frown. "there's no trace of it left"
Natsu had a skeptic look as he crossed his arms before sighing once.
"maybe Draco knows something else?" asked Lucy as everyone looks at her then to the small Dragon spirit.
"if you are asking regarding the disappearance of Natsu and the other's Dragons, I'm afraid to say that I do not know" stated Draco while crossing his arms. "I had left Ishgar before the start of the war and went to Lingyue where I encountered Kaguya-sama who had turned me into a Spirit. I know nothing of their disappearance nor anything of the war from before"
"guess we're stuck with our questions" said Gajeel while crossing his arms.
"but….i'm scared" muttered Wendy while trembling. "if we use too much of our magic…we would turn into Dragons!"
"a Dragon…Wendy" said Lily while imaging Wendy as a sky Dragon in an imagination bubble that Charla ripped to shreds.
"don't imagine it!" shouted Charla.
"that would be impossible" said a voice echoing from a nearby tunnel as everyone went hostile for a moment.
"who is there!?" said Gray as he, Gajeel, and Natsu get ready to attack.
"I listened to the whole story from here, and I find that the historical fact matches what we have researched" said the voice as footsteps is heard coming towards the group. "do you all know the demons of Zeref's book? Acnologia is similar to them. In terms of explanation, it was Zeref who transformed a man into Acnologia. Therefore, by destroying Zeref, the origin of all evil would be the first step in defeating Acnologia"
Soon enough, Arcadios with Yukino came into view as the two stood by each other side while looking at the group.
"Yukino?!" said Lucy in surprise to see the white haired celestial spirit mage again.
"you are!" said Charla before she saw a vision of a white knight from her dreams.
"let us talk, shall we?" asked Arcadios with a small smile.
That's a wrap!
Bye bye