The scent of ash and rusted metal fills my nostrils as I sit there, moonlight illuminating my surroundings as I sneak a terrified glance at the crumpled figure lying in a pool of blood in the distance.
I didn't have much time to look because a tall, dark figure loomed overhead.
—'I have to live.'
My would-be killer lets out a deep guttural sound and looks at me with a certain glint in their eye as if my presence amused them.
Calling for help would be futile in this situation. They were both dead already, and I knew I would be next if I didn't act.
My mother's dying wish echoed in my mind.
—'I have to live. 'I have to live.'
I had one shot. It was all-or-nothing. I readied myself and stood up straight on the spot, looking them in the eyes, and—
I woke up sweating, looking around to see I was in bed. I looked around to see a nightstand holding a lit candle and my helmet. On the other side was a glass window through which I could see a mountaintop slowly passing by in the distance.
I shook off the last remnants of sleep, feeling a surge of determination as I quickly got out of bed. There was no time to be idle; an important mission awaited.
Grabbing my helmet from the nightstand, I swiftly exited the room and descended below the main deck, where the rest of the squad was waiting for me. Guardians and handlers were running between the tables, readying our weapons as well as other equipment.
A heavy bowgunner, a long sword wielder, and a great sword user sat around one of the larger tables, their expressions looking grim yet determined, preparing for the mission.
"Anyone manage to get a good night of sleep?" I greeted the hunting squad, took my seat, and adjusted myself to get a good look at the table.
"If anyone could, well, kudos to them since they would make us master ranks look like wimps." The great sword user responded a bit playfully, yet hardened up again immediately and gestured down. "The scholars managed to get us the blueprints of the layout of the castle."
"Attention!" A commanding voice boomed throughout the room, drawing our attention to the general and the commander, who both stood at the center table. "Has each group been given a copy of the blueprints for Castle Schrade?"
The room nodded at him.
"Then listen. Weapons from the last battle remain on the site; there are cannons found in the southwest and northeast corners, as well as ballistae, one on a platform to the west and one on the southeast corner. Hopefully, there are some workable binders to use.
Towards the east wall is some railing, so there may be a roaming ballista available. Our ace in the hole will be a dragonator in the north. It's dated and will need to be manually fired.
Finally, further north is a barricade. That will need to be triggered manually as well. We'll need it in case of an emergency. That's all. Carve this information into your brains!"
"Yes, sir," all of us in the room answered before everyone went silent.
It was one of the handlers that finally spoke up.
"Fatalis… Castle Schrade. This still feels like a dream. I know it's cliché, but it's one of those bedtime stories our parents told us."
"I know what you mean," the general followed up. "The legend of Fatalis has been passed down from generation to generation to generation."
Many of us knew The Legend of the Black Dragon. It was a famous poem and song about how a monster fell the kingdom of Schrade in a single night, sung to us as children by our parents to get us to behave.
When the world is full of wyverns
The legend is revived
Meat is eaten, bone is crunched
And blood is sucked up dry
He burns the earth
And melts through iron
He boils the rivers
And mows down trees
He awakens the winds
And lights an inferno
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destiny
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destruction
Call for help
Run for your lives
And don't forget to
Pray to the skies
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destiny
He is called Fatalis
The wyvern of destruction
Fatalis, Fatalis
Heaven and Earth are yours
Fatalis, Fatalis
Heaven and Earth are yours
"We'll be arriving at the castle soon. Steel yourselves," the general called out, breaking me from my thoughts, and gestured for the hunting squad to follow him to the deck to await our landing at Castle Schrade.
After disembarking the airship, we made our way to the inside of the large castle towards a spacious court area. All about were chunks of stone that had fallen off the walls that now lay among various piles of metal and other rubble, showing us its age. The red sky and purple clouds above, as well as the falling rain, only highlighted the eerie feeling it gave.
"That wasn't in the blueprints," said the commander, gesturing towards the north, where a gate was set up.
From the way it was placed, it blocked us from using the dragonator, a cannon, the roaming ballista, a regular ballista, and the barricade.
"We have to tear it down. Bring people in now." The general gave out an order, gesturing towards the guardians who accompanied us.
That dragonator and barricade were essential for our mission, and they all knew it as they immediately designated someone to head back while the rest began to survey the gate.
"I've got a report that our forces are about to arrive shortly," one of the handlers said, then pointed up toward one of the castle's towers. "Also, since we've also brought wingdrakes, we've decided on a spot to set up ca—"
She paused suddenly, looking around.
"What's wrong?" another of the handlers asked.
Yet, before the first could respond, we all felt something. The ground began to shake wildly. If it was an earthquake, now would be a very bad time. Yet upon closer look, the wingdrakes above were restless, letting out shrill, terrified cries.
—'This isn't an earthquake.'
"What!? Already!? EVERYBODY! GET OUT!" The general noticed it too, as he quickly ordered a retreat. The guild knights and handlers put down what they were doing and immediately ran back towards the airship as more of the castle walls started falling apart around us.
"Commander, our main force is about to arrive, correct?" The heavy bowgunner called out. All of us in the squad knew what he was insinuating.
"Right," the commander responded.
The heavy bowgunner gave everyone in our squad a look, and we nodded back.
"Your odds?" questioned the commander.
"In my favor, as always! We'll buy everyone time to escape!" The four of us turned away from the exit.
"No, this is madness! Retreat now!" The general, however, seemed to disagree. "We can't have any missteps!" We were going to make a case for ourselves when…
"Get it done then," the commander called out.
"Yes, sir!" We responded to our official orders and resolutely got into formation.
The commander turned to the general.
"Underestimating those hunters will be your biggest misstep. Believe me, I know all too well." The commander and the handlers whistled for their wingdrakes, flying off towards the campsite. The general hesitated briefly, scanning the situation before decisively calling for his wingdrake.
I unsheathe my weapon, taking comfort in the familiar grip of my preferred hunting horn before the ground starts to shake again.
This time it was stronger, and I could hear the familiar sounds of a large monster's footsteps coming closer. One of the walls collapsed, then it appeared.
And I froze. The tremors threatened to knock me over. I squeezed my weapon as my heart began to race, drowning out the sounds of the quaking ground and threatening to burst out of my chest.
It was large, standing tall on four limbs without even stretching its long serpentine neck. There were four twisted, backward-facing horns on its head, which housed rows of large teeth.
Its body was covered in scales, which were dark black except for its paler underbelly. Two large muscular wings sat on its back, which was lined with spikes to the tip of its long tail.
Yet it wasn't any of those that made me pause. It was the suffocating pressure it gave off. Its eyes looked at us with a hatred so heavy it became physical.
A hatred for anything and everything that it could see. I began to choke upon the vile aura this thing was giving off.
It gave off a deep, piercing roar, and I moved before thinking, rolling away from a scorching blast of fire the Black Dragon sent my way. I couldn't hesitate; if I did, then I would die. And then my squad would die. And then the entire team that was sent here on the airship.
I couldn't have that kind of line in the tales of my adventures after I die.
The dragon, which had gotten onto its hind legs when I wasn't paying attention, spat out two more blasts at my squad mates who were in a similar stupor before they also managed to dodge out of the way. Reorganizing myself, I prepared to engage head-on with it.
The long sword wielder ran ahead of me, giving the monster an overhead slash to its front left arm and gaining its attention before performing an insight slash against an incoming slam from the dragon.
I took the chance and raised my horn above my head before slamming it down towards the dragon's hind right leg, trying to get it back on all fours so I could reach its head and load a double note.
Fatalis quickly turned towards me and swiped at me with its arm. I dived over the approaching limb and dashed towards my new target, landing two upward swings on the dragon's chest and loading two more double notes before rolling away; it was a routine to me at this point, treating the back-and-forth as a sort of dance.
Immediately, the heavy bowgunner started shooting out some ammo that stuck onto the dragon's face before exploding and covering its eyes with smoke.
The Black Dragon raised itself further up before going down onto its arms with a slam that would have crushed me had I not already rolled away.
The great sword user approached the dragon, which had lowered its head, raising his blade above his shoulder for a charge attack, and the rest of us positioned ourselves accordingly.
The long sword wielder stabbed into the monster's arm before launching himself straight up into the air. I targeted the head with another overhead slam in time with the two of them, who then swung down with their weapons, staggering the monster who tried to stand back up as the heavy bowgunner repeatedly unloaded wyvernsnipe shots into its chest.
I took this opportunity to unleash my recital, kicking up my still-lowered weapon with an audible burst and using the earlier double-notes to play both the self-improvement and attack boost melodies, simultaneously improving both my speed and the hunting squad's damage.
"Keep it on all four limbs! I see a binder!" called out the heavy bowgunner, sheathing his gun and running to load the available ballista.
The long sword wielder and I continued to draw the monster's attention when it suddenly shot up into the air. It flew forward and sharply turned and began to charge up some flames in its mouth, with its chest beginning to glow in turn.
All four of us began to run to the opposite side of the arena as a precaution. However, we knew something was wrong as it continued to charge whatever attack it was about to do.
The monster then tilted its head back and…
"Oh man…"
BOOM
With a deafening burst of sound, flames spewed out of the dragon's maw and started to engulf the entire area, scorching everything in its path to reach us.
"Run for it!" The heavy bowgunner shouted out, and we followed his lead, running toward a large shroud of metal on the far right side of the field.
The flames began to lick at our heels as we ran for our lives when, suddenly, the already hot arena turned scorching as the dragon began to send out a larger torrent of fire across the entire castle.
The long sword wielder and I were able to reach the cover in time, yet the other two were a step behind.
We looked back to see the heavy bowgunner push the great sword user forward into the cover before being engulfed in flames.
The flames proceeded to grow even hotter as they started to melt our makeshift barrier. Sweat poured from all over my body, and my sight grew blurry before everything turned white.
Luckily, our cover was barely able to hold. Yet flames lingered around the entire arena, and the Black Dragon circled the air above.
We hurried to retrieve the heavy bowgunner's charred body and carefully dragged him to safety behind the remnants of our protective barrier.
The skin visible around his armor was scarred heavily, and he was only barely holding on thanks to his tough armor, which we were unable to remove, having been partially welded onto his skin.
"Damn, it looks like I'll never be like him," he managed to get out in-between gasps for air.
"Hey guys!" Two handlers flew down to us on their wingdrakes.
"First! That fire burned down the gate, and the roaming ballista and barricade can now be used. The dragonator is being prepped. Use it when the time comes."
The handler then pointed in the direction of the airship.
"Second! The main group is here, and we can now call for help."
"Heh," the heavy bowgunner let out a small chuckle and gave a fistbump to the long sword wielder before collapsing.
"Go. We'll take care of him." The two handlers propped him up on their shoulders and called for their wingdrakes to take them away.
The three of us stepped out of our cover towards the middle of the arena, the fires having died out now, and gathered the attention of the dragon.
The main force was close, just minutes away from reaching us. Then, we could leave the rest to them.
"We just need to stall it!" I called out, running towards the other side of the arena. The two moved out, understanding my plan.
The Black Dragon flew closer above us and quickly started sending out sweeping streams of flame as we dispersed, the great sword user going north for the roaming ballista, me going towards the southeast ballista, and the long sword circling the center of the arena.
The long sword wielder grappled onto the monster's hind leg with their clutch claw before giving it a slash and thrusting their sword through the leg down towards the ground.
The dragon immediately set its sight on them, swooping down towards them and cracking the ground with its weight.
As the long sword wielder distracted the dragon, I ran to the southeast to check the ballista and found the heavy bowgunner managed to load it with a binder before the big attack. I steadied my aim on the Black Dragon.
"Give me an opening to bind it!" I shouted towards the long sword wielder, who immediately latched onto the dragon's face and shot their slinger ammo to send it careening into the wall next to me and causing it to flinch. I fired the ballista, tying the dragon down as it roared and tried to free itself from its bindings.
The binder wouldn't hold it down for long, so I jumped off some piled-up rubble and mounted the dragon's head. I took out my trusty knife and plunged it into one of the beast's eyes. It met resistance and bounced off, the eye seemingly composed of a hardened material.
'Damn it! I needed to blind this dragon.'
Shifting gears, I instead moved to gouge out the eye, repeatedly stabbing my knife into the beast, freeing it from the socket when, suddenly, I was knocked to the ground. The dragon had freed itself faster than I thought and shook me off, leaving its other eye remaining to glare at me.
I picked up the severed crystal-like eye that fell to the ground beside me and put it in the pouch on my hip. I wanted it known that if I met my end here, I had taken one of the Black Dragon's eyes with me as a trophy.
This dragon was sturdier than any other monster I've encountered. By this point, I expected it to have been knocked down at least once by now. Yet here it was, still standing tall.
The long sword wielder silently moved to my side, sword at the ready, prepared to engage the monster. We moved towards the Black Dragon, who lashed out with its flame. We dodged to the side and went in for a counterattack when the area behind us exploded, knocking us down to the ground and searing our skin.
We landed right in front of the monster, who, before my eyes, brutally slammed its full weight down onto the defenseless long sword wielder.
It raised its body, revealing a flattened body in a puddle of blood. I knew at that moment that I was next. But, suddenly, there came a whirring sound, as the roaming ballista came to life.
"Over here, you ugly freak!"
The great sword user rode the ballista down from the northern end and continuously shot at the dragon's pale chest before moving back up. The dragon let out a deafening roar as it moved to annihilate the siege weapon.
It lay its body low, opened its jaw, and began to speedily crawl at the great sword user, swallowing the ballista whole, and it was about to do the same for him.
I gathered my bearings before following suit, chugging a max potion before charging towards the dragon with my horn over my shoulder. We couldn't split its attention well with only the two of us now.
I threw a flash bomb between the great sword user and the beast, which exploded in a bright flash of light, dazing the dragon and causing it to stop its charge.
However, the Black Dragon quickly recovered and lashed out, its swiping tail sending me hurdling into the nearby wall and knocking the air out of my lungs.
It followed up by sending a cone of fire spewing forth from its mouth in the direction of the great sword user, who couldn't escape in time. The scorching heat of flames engulfed him in a second, the great sword user letting out a scream as he fell, writhing on the ground.
The dragon spat out another ball of fire that exploded upon contact with him. The blast propelled his body, tossing it to the side, unmoving.
The monster slowly turned its gaze towards me, its eye locking onto mine.
Ash and burning metal permeated the air. The moonlight shone through the dark red sky. In my peripheral vision, I could see a corpse flattened amid a pool of blood.
A tall, dark figure approached, casting a shadow over me.
My mind screamed at me to stop fighting— that there was no way that I could stand up to that thing.
Its flames' strength shattered all hope of fighting back. My breath was hurried.
It refused to be put down. My body refused to move.
From the creature comes a rough, throaty growl. It looks down at my battered body, its lone eye shining in amusement.
I could call for help, but it would be useless. The two of them were dead. And I would be too in a matter of moments.
—'Give them something worth smiling for.'
The words I saw in my teacher's last letter came to mind, and I took a deep breath.
I had to keep going. I may not have a chance, but I must keep going. I stood on my wobbly legs, staring at the monster in its eye. Limping towards the monster, I raised my weapon.
But…
My swing was interrupted as the dragon grabbed me.
It lifts me into the air and towards its face, where it gives me a sadistic grin.
Its chest begins to glow, and I expect a familiar breath of fire.
—Instead, it brings me towards its chest, glowing as bright as lava.
It pushes me against its molten chest, where I feel heat like no other encompassing me. My armor melts, and my body fuses with the monster. All I could see was white.
As everything faded, the faint cry of a warhorn lingered in my mind as the last sensation. The main force has come.
POV: ?
The forest was eerily quiet today, devoid of the usual birds' chirps and the turtles' squeaks. I didn't encounter either of the species on the way to gather herbs, or any other species for that matter.
Animals tended to be more sensitive to various minute happenings. That means that something had to be amiss.
"Haaa," I let out a sigh. There was probably a Gorian that wandered from deeper in the forest.
In such a case, I better chase it off before some fool gets themselves possessed by its Take Over magic.
Upon entering a nearby clearing, however, I seemed to spot the real cause of the animals' unease.
In the center of the clearing was a smoldering crater.
The overpowering smell of smoke entered my nose as I approached to get a closer look.
'Did that pink-haired brat get into a fight with one of the monsters here? Makarov should really teach that fool about taking care not to cause collateral damage.'
"Hmm, what the…"
Inside the crater was an armor-clad figure, yet what was striking were the signs of battle-damage.
The armor looked completely deformed, as if something had taken this person and bathed them in a large forge for a while before taking them out, causing everything to partially liquify around its wearer's body.
I quickly brought them out of the pit and slung them over my shoulder, ignoring the heat I could feel on my body. I could sense a very faint heartbeat emanating from the figure.
I had to hurry or else.
I opened the ornate door to my home, a hollowed-out tree in the local area that I had lightly decorated, and brought the figure inside.
I immediately placed them on my bed and ran the pump for water, before I began to assess the full scope of the damage.
Right away I could see the deep black coloration on their hardened hands, which had burned down to the muscle.
Luckily, there seemed to have previously been a large opening for the wearer to breathe, but their mouth was in just as horrible condition as their hands, and I suspected they inhaled a large amount of smoke.
The rest of the body, however, was covered with the melted armor, including their eyes.
I tried to remove the helmet, but I stopped as I could feel it tear at their face. Checking around the neck area, I gasped as the helmet had horrifyingly been welded together with their skin.
The rest of the armor had, however, been in the same condition as the helmet, having joined with the person's body.
Whatever happened, the burns had to have run deep. Their nerves and probably even internal organs had to have been badly damaged.
I expect they wouldn't be able to move, let alone speak, before a long series of treatments.
'Natsu was a bit of an idiot, but he would never stoop to being this cruel.'
Something did this on purpose; it clearly wasn't a monster trying to eat him. This poor person must have been in ceaseless agony.
I have to do something, whatever it takes. And then I needed to get answers as to what would do this to them.
.
.
.
I had to call in a couple of favors for this one. Burns from fighting a wyvern were one thing, but being practically fused with your armor was another.
It would be a tedious process: slowly peeling away the armor, treating the layer of skin underneath with an ointment to prevent infection, and grafting on a set of donated skin.
I loathe to admit it, but if I didn't ask for the help of acertain wizard, I wouldn't be sure the poor person would survive the hours-long procedure.
In the northern region of Fiore, there was a skilled practitioner of healing magic from a guild named Wendy Marvell, known for her ability to heal people with fatal wounds.
The name rang a bell, but I couldn't dwell on it while preparing for the treatment.
Anyways, Makarov managed to have her sent here within the day. With her help, most of the internal damage should be fixable.
Before then, I cooled the body with water and prepared ointment and other supplies.
A light knocking sound came from my door, and I hastily opened it to find a young girl with long, dark blue hair along with a short, white-haired bipedal cat.
She opened her eyes wide, looking a bit startled, probably from the speed at which I answered the door, and started stammering out an introduction.
"H-hello… I-I'm W—"
"How long are you going to stand there!? Hurry and get in!" I hurriedly pulled her inside before she managed to kill my charge from idleness.
I pointed toward the armor-clad figure still lying on my bed. "I found this person in a crater earlier with horrible burns. Their armor has melted onto their skin, so I'm going to need you to heal him as I peel it off and apply burn treatment."
"Wait… is that… No, nevermind. Alright," she managed to say after looking at my patient.
The girl seemed a bit slow to catch on, but I was relying on her in this situation.
"I'm going to start; prepare to cast your magic." I slowly started to peel off the helmet, which removed a layer of the figure's damaged skin with it.
The young girl immediately held out her arms, which glowed as she cast her healing spell, causing the body to begin regenerating at a visible pace as I applied an ointment made to prevent an infection.
Eventually, the helmet was completely off, and I could see the extent to which their face was injured.
The lower layer of skin covered by the helmet was hard and swollen and sported various colors of red, black, brown, yellow, and white.
Most of their hair was also gone, and, worst of all, their eyes were irreparably damaged.
It was nothing I couldn't fix, having made an artificial one for that red-haired brat before, but it would take time for two.
"Keep up the spell! I'm going to start to graft on new skin." I called out, reaching for a cooler left to the side. Opening it let out a burst of freezing air, revealing its stock of artificial skin.
'Should I consider myself lucky we have so many fools deciding to fight wyverns these days?'
Nevertheless, I slowly grafted the new skin onto their face. This skin was made in a way to prevent victims from having to deal with deformities, but it could do nothing to save the nerves damaged underneath.
From the looks of it, they might have forever lost their sense of touch.
.
.
.
After removing the rest of the armor, I proceeded to wrap the now-confirmed boy in bandages. The only other clue I could gather about their identity came from a lacrima embedded into their hip. Some sort of wizard, I suspected.
"Um… I was wondering something." The girl hesitated for a moment before gathering the courage to speak up.
"Are you… by any chance… Grandeeney?"
"Haa? What are you talking about, child?" That name also rang a bell in my mind.
"Your voice… and your smell, they're the exact same as my missing parent's." Tears welled up in the corners of the girl's eyes.
I remembered now. So that was why her name was so familiar.
"I'm not the Grandeeney you're looking for..." It's best to nip this in the bud before she cries even more.
"My name is Porlyusica. The Medicinal Advisor for the Fairy Tail Guild."
—End of chapter—
(Sep 8, 2024) Author's notes:
New author here, please be gentle.
So, I saw that the final boss of both Fairy Tail and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne had "Black Dragon" as their title and thought "why not?"
This is the result of me reading up on the lore of the two series and the encouragement of a friend.
Apparently the Fairy Tail author also had a manga loosely based on Monster Hunter published two years after Fairy Tail. So yeah, there's already a connection there.
To OG: What the fuck have you got me doing?
(Dec 29, 2024) Author's notes:
Porting this over because my said friend is having trouble accessing QQ from his laptop. Just like on there, updates will be sporadic. Whenever I manage to get time to work on this.