A/N: Whoo! We're finally entering the Eclipse Arc!

AccurateGap1: I'm taking your review as constructive criticism (because I'm pretty sure you weren't trying to be rude in any way). Unfortunately I do have a habit of slipping into canon whenever canon events happen - My Haikyuu fanfics on Wattpad are a great example of that. But I am trying my best to avoid that. I will be diverting from the canon (such as Sting going with the Rescue Team and meeting Future Rogue, as well as Zirconis not being the Dragon they talk to in this chapter, due to the whole Dragon Soul Technique thing. And having more Dragons appear from the Eclipse Gate, for obvious reasons).

It's one of the main reasons why I asked for OC's for the Tartaros + Alvarez Empire Arcs. To avoid stealing the main battles in the anime. But I promise it'll get better. Blame my trashy planning.

Also fair warning! I will be mentioning a Dragon that appeared in the 100 Quest Arc that takes Zirconis's place!

Now, enjoy!

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: THE DRAGON KING

Lucas was currently sitting in a bar with the rest of his guild members. "What's got you so down? Aren't you supposed to be partying like the rest of us?" Atlas asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Sorry... I'm just worried about Sting and Rogue..." Lucas mumbled.

"Why not go and check on them?" Ace suggested, making Lucas scoff at his partner.

"Pretty sure I'm not welcomed there anymore. We did completely trash our alliance with them, after all." Lucas reminded him.

"And who's fault was that? If you and Atlas didn't butt into what happened during the competition, it would've been fine." Shiro pointed out.

"Are you saying we should've just let them think torture was acceptable? Hell no." Lucas argued.

"Besides, our alliance would've gone to shit eventually. There can only be one victor in the tournament, after all. We just sped up the process." Atlas added.

The door to the bar suddenly slammed open, causing everyone to turn and see a very angered Natsu. "Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you disappeared off to." Lucas stated.

"Bastard... Thanks to your stupid stunt you pulled I found myself under the arena." Natsu growled.

"Sorry about that." Lucas apologized.

"Forget about it. I'm gonna pay you back later. Right now, I need you and the other Dragon Slayer on your team to come with me." Natsu informed. "I found something that you both need to see. Gajeel and Wendy are with me as well."

Lucas and Shiro shared a look with one another.

Outside in the town, the citizens were looking at the rankings.

The Grand Magic Games Daily Results.

1st Place: God Pegasus.

"God Pegasus is doin' great!"

"I bet they'll win it!"

"Nah, no way!"

"Maybe Saber's lost its edge?"

"I saw it!"

"Nah. I highly doubt Sabertooth will let it end like this."

Inside Crocus Garden, the Sabertooth guild was having a meeting. Sting and Rogue were in front of Jiemma while Orga, Rufus, and Minerva were behind them. "Sting... Rogue... What the hell was that?" Jiemma questioned as Sting and Rogue stayed silent.

"Hey, you two are Dragon Slayers. You shoot your mouths off about how strong you are on a regular basis, don't you? But you were disgracefully beaten up, and by a fellow Third Generation no less. Are you listening to me?!" Jiemma exclaimed.

"I have no words. We were completely defeated. Luke overwhelmed us entirely." Rogue muttered, clenching his fist.

Jiemma stood up angrily, making a dent in the ground. "Are those the words of a wizard from Sabertooth, the strongest guild?! Who told you to go out there and look like a pair of pathetic fools? Who told you to fail? You sullied the name of the strongest guild!" He began exerting his magic power, causing Sting to roll on the ground and Rogue to crash into the wall.

"Sting-kun!"

"Rogue-kun!"

Both Lector and Frosch ran to their partners in worry.

"You bastards aren't fit to be members of Sabertooth!" Jiemma exclaimed, throwing Sting and Rogue to the wall again. Sting collapsed to the ground. "Wipe it out! Wipe out the crest of our guild! My guild doesn't need weaklings! It doesn't need losers!"

Lector raised his paw in the air. "Okay, okay, Master, but Sting-kun and Rogue-kun did their best." He informed.

"Huh?"

"This time he lost, but I'm proud of Sting-kun." Lector claimed.

"Lector..." Sting muttered.

"I think that people can also get stronger by experiencing failure. Sting-kun learned a lot in this battle. So I think you should..." Lector continued on.

"Who are you?" Jiemma interrupted.

Lector lifted up his vest, revealing the Sabertooth guild mark on his back. "C-Come on, Master... After all, I've got the Saber crest right here, proving... I'm a..." He trailed off as Jiemma exerted his magic power again.

"Why would the likes of a cat bear the proud crest of Sabertooth?" Jiemma asked. "Begone!"

Jiemma used his Magic to attack Lector. "Sting-kun!" Lector called out before completely vanishing.

"Lector!" Sting screamed out his name.

"Lector is... gone..." Frosch teared up as tears rolled down Sting's cheeks.

"Frosch!" Rogue exclaimed, holding Frosch close to him.

"This is an eyesore. I suppose it's what I get for letting cats bear the crest of my guild." Jiemma commented as Sting cried loudly.

"Keep it down, Sting." Jiemma ordered.

"What did you do?! What the hell did you do?!" Sting exclaimed.

"Silence! Bawling over a stupid cat!" Jiemma said.

Sting sent him a dark look before striking him in the chest with a blast of holy light, shocking everyone. Jiemma collapsed to the ground with a hole in his chest. Minerva smirked at the sight. "This is good." She said to herself.

"What?! Is that true? There's no way I can believe that..." Ultear stated.

"While we've been laboring under a grave misconception, an irresistable fate has locked us inside. Eclipse, the portal that can change the world... And the festival of the Dragon King." Jellal said.

"What exactly is down here, Natsu-san?" Wendy questioned as the Dragon Slayers were walking underneath the arena.

"Just follow me." Natsu replied.

"Why only us?" Shiro questioned.

"Does it have something to do with Dragon Slayers?" Happy wondered out loud.

"Probably." Lily responded.

"Although we do have spectators..." Carla added, referring to Gray, Lucy, and Atlas.

"There's some guy named "Spector" here?" Gray asked.

"After all, I'm curious." Lucy smiled sheepishly.

"Actually, I am, too." Atlas agreed.

"This is it." Natsu informed, finally stopping.

"What is it?!" Wendy questioned.

"What the hell is that?!" Gajeel wondered.

"Animal... bones?" Lucy said.

"Dragon bones..." Shiro corrected. "It's a dragon graveyard."

"Are all of these dragon bones?" Happy questioned.

"There are so many!" Carla exclaimed.

"This place confirms the existence of dragons." Lily said.

"What's it for?" Gray asked.

"Hell if I know." Natsu responded.

"Looking at the coliseum from the outside, you never would guess all this is underneath it." Lucas stated as Shiro hummed in agreement.

"I wonder if something happened here." Lucy said.

"Maybe Igneel is here, too..." Happy stated.

"Happy!" Carla scolded.

"Sorry!" Happy apologized.

"That's okay. I already know he's not here." Natsu reassured.

"Zirconis isn't either, thankfully." Lucas sighed in relief before turning to Shiro. "Shiro, what about..."

"Don't worry, I can't feel Zeldris's energy. He's not among these bones." Shiro said.

"Our dragons disappeared 14 years ago. The remains at rest here are much more ancient." Natsu informed.

"Milky Way..." Wendy suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong, Wendy?" Lucy asked.

"Milky Way! It's one of the Secret Dragon Slayer spells that Porlyusica-san taught me. 'Listen to the voices of the dragon souls that continue to the heavenly river.' I thought it was a kind of attacking magic, but maybe this is what it referred to. Milky Way may be magic that lets me hear the voices of dragon souls." Wendy explained.

"What?" Gajeel said.

"Then..." Natsu trailed off.

"If I can hear the voices of these sleeping dragons, maybe we can find out what happened here. And learned what happened to our own dragons that disappeared." Wendy stated.

Somewhere else in the city, the same hooded figure walked into a nearby alleyway, seeing the person they were supposed to meet. "Thanks for meeting with me. Glad to see that you're safe." The male spoke.

"You're late..." His companion informed, taking off the lid of her pen with her teeth.

"Sorry. I ran into Jellal Fernandes, and I had to spill everything." The male sighed, rubbing his neck with his hands. "More importantly, I had spent some time tracking down him. The damn bastard is deceiving my sister more and more."

"I have to ask... Why not just kill his present self?"

"Because his present self has no damn clue what he's capable of. It wasn't his fault that he died. It was his. Either way, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands if it's the last thing I do." The male replied. "Don't do anything stupid while we're here."

"Are you sure you should be telling me that?" The female spat back, writing something down in her journal.

"Hey, you two! This area is restricted!"

The two hooded figures took off with the second figure dropping their notebook.

"Wait!"

The two figures disappeared as the citizen picked up the dropped journal.

"What is this? Awful handwriting..." He began to read the contents. "July 7th... Eclipse Project? Festival of the Dragon King? What is this?"

Wendy finished drawing a symbol. "I was right. I thought it was an attacking form of magic, so these characters are different." She said.

"Magic runes?" Lucy questioned.

"What are you doing, Wendy?" Natsu asked.

"Weren't you listening?" Carla asked him.

"She said it's called Milky Way." Happy answered.

"That'll do it. Everyone, please back up a bit." Wendy said.

Wendy was kneeling on the ground with her arms raised. "Wandering dragon souls, I would receive your voices. Milky Way!" She chanted as the symbol glowed green and a green beam appeared.

"It's beautiful!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Stars!" Happy said.

Green orbs soon began floating around the bones as they began to shake. "The bones!" Lucy exclaimed, hiding behind Gray.

"Are you okay, Wendy?!" Gray asked in concern.

"Let her focus, idiot." Atlas scolded.

"I'm looking for the dragon souls. The wandering residual thoughts here are so ancient and tiny..." Wendy suddenly opened her eyes. "I found one!"

Wendy clasped her hands together, concentrating hardly. "Is that a soul?" Lily wondered out loud.

"Wendy!" Happy shouted.

"It looks like she's concentrating." Carla pointed out.

A dragon hand came from the vortex. "That's..." Gray trailed off.

A yellow dragon soon revealed itself as it roared, causing everyone to exclaim in shock and the dragon to laugh. "Seeing that shocked look on human faces never gets old." He spoke. "My name is Elexion, but I'm also known as the Yellow Dragon or the Lightning Dragon King."

"Lightning Dragon... King...?" Shiro muttered to himself.

"The spell you used to summon my soul belonged to Grandeeny, the Sky Dragon, yes?" Elexion looked around. "Where are you? Hm?" He looked down to see Wendy. "Cute! This little Dragon Slayer summoned me?"

"Hey! Get away from Wendy!" Natsu demanded.

"I am Elexion, otherwise known as the Yellow Dragon or the Lightning Dragon King." Elexion repeated himself.

"You already told us that!" Atlas exclaimed.

"What happened here?" Carla asked.

"There are a lot of dragon remains here." Happy said.

"We summoned your soul so we could learn the truth." Lily informed.

"I have nothing to say to humans. Go away!" Elexion said.

"I'm a cat!" Happy stated.

Elexion hummed as he glanced over at Shiro, causing raven-haired male to flinch back when Elexion got closer to him. "Zeldris...?" He questioned.

"Huh? You know my father?" Shiro asked as everyone was staring at him.

"Zeldris was my brother..." Elexion responded.

"Oh, I guess that would make you my uncle!" Shiro said.

"Does that even work for dragons as it does humans?" Lucas questioned more to himself.

"Okay, then. It happened over 400 years ago." Elexion began.

"Your absolute rules are pretty loose." Gray commented.

"Dragons were once rulers of this world. We thrived, flying through the air, racing across the land, and swimming in the sea. Everything in this world belonged to us." Elexion continued on. "Humans were no more than our prey. But there was a foolish dragon who objected to our reign. That one spouted nonsense about building a world in which we could coexist with humans. Eventually, the dragons who agreed and those who disagreed, a war began. I fought as one who disagreed."

"You disagreed... Then..." Lucy paused.

"I have no fondness for humans." Elexion claimed.

"So what happened with the war?" Carla questioned.

"It heated up. The battles between dragon and dragon tore up vast areas of land. Eventually, the dragons who were for coexistence devised a stupid strategy. They involved humans in the war by giving them Dragon Slayer Magic, which could destroy dragons." Elexion responded.

"And that's the origin of Dragon Slayers?" Happy asked.

"Dragon Slayers had tremendous power. Victory for the dragons who chose to coexist with humans was imminent. However, they had made one miscalculation. The Dragon Slayers, who had been given too much power, killed even the dragons who wished to live peacefully with them. And there was one man among the humans who bathed in the blood of too many dragons. I fear to even say that name. He continued to destroy dragons and bathe in their blood. Presently, his skin turned to scales, his teeth to fangs... he transformed into a dragon himself." Elexion answered.

"A human... became a dragon?" Lucy quoted.

"That's what Dragon Slayer Magic leads to." Elexion stated.

"Holy shit..." Lucas mumbled.

"The dragons resting in peace here were all murdered by that man. Though human, he became the Dragon King. The Dragon King initiated another war. That was the Festival of the Dragon King. The king's name was Acnologia. A dragon with pitch-black wings unlike any other dragon..." Elexion spoke, getting the Fairy Tail members attention.

"He was originally a human?!" Gray asked.

"Ridiculous!" Gajeel added.

"He slaughtered most of the dragons. That was 400 years ago. You people did this..." Elexion's voice faded as he disappeared, the spell wearing off.

"Hey!" Natsu called out.

"He vanished." Gray said.

"You didn't tell us everything!" Gajeel shouted.

"Wendy!" Happy and Carla shouted in unison as Wendy stopped glowing.

"That's it. All of the souls in this place have gone. In Eastern terms, I suppose it would be called 'entering Nirvana.'" Wendy stated.

"That was a hell of a history lesson." Gray commented.

"You got that right." Atlas agreed.

"The scale's too big for me!" Lucy exclaimed.

"If you use too much Dragon Slayer Magic, you turn into a real dragon?!" Natsu shouted in excitement.

"That isn't supposed to excite you!" Lucas and Shiro exclaimed in unison.

"That would be bad!" Gajeel informed.

"What should we do?!" Wendy questioned in worry.

The sound of armor was soon heard. "That's impossible." A voice said.

"Who are you?!"

"I overheard everything. Our research is in accord with historical fact. You people know about Zeref's Demons, don't you?"

"Deliora!" Gray thinks to himself.

"Acnologia is similar to that. We believe that Zeref turned a Dragon Slayer into Acnologia."

"Zeref did it?!" Happy repeated.

"In other words, destroying Zeref, the root of all evil, will be the first step in the subjugation of Acnologia."

"Who are you?!" Lucas questioned.

"Destroy Zeref?!" Natsu added.

"You're Yukino!" Lucy exclaimed.

Carla widened her eyes upon seeing a white knight near the Eclipse Gate. "I saw it in a prophecy... A white knight... A castle being destroyed... and Lucy singing!" Carla recalled.

A/N: Another chapter is completed!

Thanks for reading!

~ Kaleb.