Time until Etherion fires: 5 Hours.

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"What do you mean Cynthia won't make it!?" Natsu shouted rather aggressively towards Mii.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Mii tilted her head, wondering if Natsu really didn't understand or if he was just angry she stated it so bluntly. "Holding that girl for a few seconds told me that she's a walking miracle, and do I have to mention that her body is literally scorching hot right now? I saw Wendy holding her on the ship and I can only imagine how much pain she's putting herself through just lightly touching that girl…Nobody should be alive with those kinds of injuries."

"But she's walking and moving just fine…even fighting, too…" Lucy found this hard to believe. "I know she's taken hard hits in the past…"

"And the fact she's been bitten only makes it worse…you know what? I'm actually surprised she hasn't turned by now…we'd most certainly know about it if it happened." Mii was voicing her thoughts aloud now. "That infection spreads pretty fast from what I've seen and Wendy's healing magic can't keep it at bay forever…she can't be…willing herself not to get sick…? It doesn't work that way…"

"You'd be surprised…" Cana said while taking a quick swig from her flask. "If it comes to Wendy's or any of our safety, that girl can do anything…" Her mind flashed to when she tanked that blast from King just to keep Wendy safe; a blast that would've killed anyone else and Cynthia got up to assist in the final battle moments later. That girl was truly a miracle worker in some way or another. "But I got faith in Erza's team so save her and those other dragons before it's too late."

"Mmm…you have that faith," Mii quipped. "I can tell you're not done questioning me yet, so keep 'em coming. This rain doesn't look like it will be stopping just yet."

"Tell us about Dhegensea's dragons." Sting spoke up.

"Ah, his generals, so to speak." Mii nodded. "Well…there's Gaius, Nasir, Venoma, and Drake…we've already spoken about them. However, there are two more that didn't show up when we were here the first time; Edna, the Crystal Dragon, and Eizen, the Silver Dragon. But I was told you already had an encounter with Eizen."

"Crystal Dragon?" Selene blinked, leaning forward as though she were expecting Mii to say more about this.

"Yeah, Crystal. Hard stuff, ya know? Kinda like those diamonds of yours but possibly harder considering she's a dragon." Mii glanced towards Selene who now pouted.

"Nothing is stronger than my diamonds…" Selene muttered.

"And the missing mages?" Lucy prodded. "Luke is safe as we can see…Laxus was found by Levy's team…but we're still missing Leon, Takeru and Mira…"

"Yeah, where are they?" Draco asked Luke who only shrugged.

"I got separated from them trying to run and hide after you all left." Luke responded. "I do know they're alive, though. Those two have been through worse."

"So what about Mira?" Happy turned to Mii.

"Mirajane…" Mii's eyes averted slightly. "I don't know what happened to her. Like I said before, I tried to help bail her out of trouble when she was pinned down. I thought she was in the clear, but I heard a bloodcurdling scream…and Nasir comes back to the palace with her blood on his hands. He keeps saying she's dead, but there's no body…unless it fell into the ocean…" She realized that last thought was something she should've kept to herself. The looks she got told her this and she refrained from saying anymore by biting her tongue. She may not have always been the most serious person but even she knew when the tension was thick. "Sorry."

"We'll just find her." Natsu spoke as though Mii's comment didn't even faze him. "She's alive somewhere around here. I know she wouldn't leave Elfman and Lisanna behind like that!"

"Yeah!" Lucy grinned at Natsu's words. "Everyone's still fine. We just have to believe."

"The bond of love cannot be broken so easily," Chelia had a matter-of-factly tone to her voice.

"Right…" Mii rolled her eyes. "Anyways, that's all I know. Take it or leave it."

"We appreciate your help," Yukino said with a soft smile, once again throwing Mii off guard.

"K-knock that off…!" Mii shouted. "We're not exactly chummy here, you know. We're just looking for the same person."

"She's a real piece of work…" Luke shook his head. He then took a glance at Kagura, who was still unconscious. "Is she still out…? This could be a problem…"

A few moments of silence passed before Natsu, Sting, Rogue, and Selene all started to seem a little on edge. Lector was the first to notice and gently tugged at Sting's pant leg. "Sting-kun, are you okay?"

"You all seem a little odd…" Yukino pointed out.

"It's just…" Sting couldn't put his finger on it. "Since we've been on this isle, there's been that overwhelming presence…"

"That's Dhegensea…" Natsu grunted. "I know that presence anywhere…but after that strange darkness faded, that presence faded. Is that what you were going to say?"

"Yeah." Sting nodded. "It's been bothering me…what could possibly have happened to make such a presence vanish…"

"Ah…" Lucy inhaled softly, recalling the events all too well. It was the Spirit King who was the cause for this…she wanted to say it, but she choked up because everyone's safety now costed her Aquarius.

"Are you okay…?" Happy asked Lucy, but she didn't seem to respond.

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"Dragon Gods, please hear my voice. I use this in order to free my King whom has been trapped within a prison of light. The Kingdom needs him here and now, so please listen to my voice!" Venoma spread her arms apart, clearing her throat before beginning to sing. Her voice was rather glorious and it was clear she held a high standard for herself when it came to this. The Dragon's Melody was a sacred tune passed down to only a few select dragons every generation (hundreds of years in their case). It was no wonder Dhegensea selected Venoma for a general if this was the cause.

Eizen crossed his arms, a sweat drop appearing on his forehead. The Dragon's Melody was nothing to make light of. "We must really be in a bind if she's forced to resort to this…" He spoke to himself before glancing at the shell of light around Dhegensea. He noticed some of the cracks around it, which meant the seal was already being undone by the King himself, but at too slow of a rate. "Hmm…"

Venoma's song began to resonate through the entire field of magic that surrounded Isle, and as a result the very island itself began to quiver violently. The cracks on Dhegensea's shell began to spread, growing larger and larger. The shell was beginning to crack! At the end of it all, Venoma exclaimed; "AND NOW, MY KING! ARISE FROM YOUR FORCED SLUMBER TO LEAD US TO OUR DESTINY!" With this final shout, the shell of light completely shattered like glass; the bright light causing Eizen to shield his eyes. Venoma panted heavily, blue sparks dancing around her body before she fell to a knee, staring at Dhegensea hopefully.

Dhegensea laid still on the ground, the shocked expression he wore from before imprisonment faded. His eyes returned to normal and he remained motionless for just a moment. He then sat up slowly before standing up on his feet….and the first thing Dhegensea did upon awakening…was roar. A loud roar that shook the very skies itself, forcing the clouds above to disperse and the rain completely halted as a result. The setting sun was shining on the island once again…but dusk was soon to come shortly after.

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"Oh…!" Lucy realized one vital detail everyone had yet to bring up and of course it concerned Mii. "There's one more thing we have to ask you, Mii."

"What is it?" Mii turned to Lucy with a quirked brow. She had no idea what else they wanted to know.

"Who are you? Where do you come from? Why are you so important to this place…!? You said you were the daughter of Yggdrasil, but...!" Okay, so Lucy had more than one question but they all boiled down to the same thing.

"Oh…me…" Mii awkwardly looked away, unsure how to answer at first. "Well…I don't know why this place and I are connected, but it's just fate. As for where I come from? I already told you. The Pergrande Kingdom."

"How did you even come about this place?" Yukino asked. "You knew about this island long before anyone else..."

"Simple." Mii held up an old, tattered book. "This book here, is a story about the Island. I've had it with me ever since I was a child. I dunno who wrote it, though. But it had to be a dragon resident."

"Simple, she says..." Gray rolled his eyes. Obviously, he still had no plans on trusting Mii so easily. Her motives and actions continued to flip at a moment's notice.

"I already told you I was looking for someone, too. My mentor. His name is Kogoro. He taught me a lot, and the last I heard, he was on this island. I wanted to see him one final time before I..." She sounded like she was actually going to finish speaking, but she halted when the earthquake, which was accompanied by Dhegensea's roar soon after. "H-Huh!?"

"T-That voice…!" Natsu's eyes widened before his hands suddenly went to his ears; Selene, Sting, and Rogue had a similar action in a strange attempt to block out the noise. "He's back!?"

"N-No way…!? Just what was that old fossil doing this entire time anyway…!?" Mii was just as shocked as everyone else.

"This isn't good! I think we've had enough of a break, we have to get moving!" Luke exclaimed.

"What about Kagura-sama!?" Yukino asked. "She's still unconscious and we can't carry her and fight at the same time…!"

"I got it," Cana nodded while pulling out a card. In a flash of light, Cana sealed Kagura within the card for safe keeping. "There. Now we can keep her safe without having to worry about it. Whenever she wakes up we'll see if she can fight, but for now…" Cana slipped the card into her pant pocket, patting it gently. "I'll keep a close eye on her!"

"Where did you..." Lucy was about to ask.

"Oh, I ran into some guy a while back. He taught me that neat trick!" Cana winked. Lucy did have a pretty vague idea of who could do such a thing, but that was neither here nor there now.

"Perfect, now let's get moving before things get out of hand…!" Sting was quick to be the first out of the cave, already noticing that the sun that just arrived was setting. "When did time pass so quickly…?"

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"Thanks for finally doing something about this rain…" Cygnus said to Jaxon while patting his wet hair. "It was really starting to mess up my gel."

"What?" Jaxon blinked as he stared up at the parting clouds. "Cyg…that wasn't me…"

"What? Then who…" Before Cygnus could finish, Dhegensea's roar finished his sentence; he stumbled slightly as the isle shook violently. "Well shit…looks like the old fossil woke up from his little dirt nap…!"

"This roar is too intense…" Heather mumbled while placing her hands over her ears to block out the sound. It looked like it was bothering Dragon Slayers more than anyone else. "We must hurry…"

"We've still got time…" Hibiki said while using his Archive Magic to check the time. "Based on the setting sun and the time we arrived on the isle…it appears as though we have roughly five hours left…"

"That's less than half the time…!" Melody shouted. "We've barely gotten anything done in the time we've been here…! The only thing we managed to do was lose the Princess and get deeper into the Isle…and then there's Kagura, I have a bad feeling about her, I hope she's okay."

"Stop worrying," Reve spoke, causing the others to turn to him. "We're fine. We knew coming into this that getting in was going to be the difficult part. We're in now, so we just have to keep going. We're going to find Takeru and Leon and shut this down before time runs out, and I'll be sure to shoot Dhegensea right in the head when it's all over."

"How can you say such a thing at a time like this…?!" Milliana questioned.

"Because…" Reve then flashed that patented cocky grin of his. "I'm Reve Volver."

"There it is…" Heather said while rolling her eyes in an annoyed fashion, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips.

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"T-That roar…" Ultear stared in the direction of the city. "I've never heard anything like it…it almost reminds me of…"

"Loud enough to wake me from my slumber…" Midnight grumbled, though even he could not hide his shock at the roar's might.

"Erik, is that…" Hoteye began and Cobra simply nodded.

"That's right…the voice of Dhegensea. I've not heard it before but there's no mistaking it…that's the Dragon King…" Cobra shut his eye, silently gritting his teeth as the roar tugged at some instinct within him.

"Such a vile noise…" Angel grumbled.

"It seems be better hurry…" Racer grunted.

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"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Between Cynthia and Wendy, Cynthia was suffering the worse from the result of Dhegensea's roar. Their tiny bodies weren't able to handle something of such intensity; they were on the ground, writhing around in agony while attempting to cover their ears to block out the sound.

"G-Geez…what do we do!?" Diamond was freaking out and the earthquake wasn't helping any. "T-They're suffering…!"

"There isn't anything we can do…" Tia grit her teeth while turning her head away from the suffering girls. "The other dragon slayers are probably suffering the same way…we just have to wait…"

"Wendy…Cynthia…!" Carla shouted worriedly for the two girls.

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In the clear skies above the Isle, Ena and Kurthnaga were still doing battle. Only they both halted the very second Dhegensea's roar echoed through the land for miles on end, eyes widening. "That's Father!" Ena shouted before turning to Kurthnaga. "We have to stop this needless fighting, Kurth!"

"I agree…" Kurthnaga nodded. "So give up and come back to our side, Sister. Father is in need of us now more than ever, and we cannot complete our dream without you by our side!"

"No!" Ena snapped. "You don't understand what you're doing! I know Father has you under his spell like he had me…you're just as compassionate as I am…so please…"

"I never thought I'd be standing on opposing sides with you…I'm sorry, but I must make this quick. I have to return to Father's side as soon as possible, even if it means disposing of you, my sister." Kurthnaga shook his head before lunging at Ena once more. The siblings combat was never going to end at this rate.

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"G-Geez…!" Blues groaned while covering his ears. "That roar…!"

"Blues-san, are you all right?!" Juvia questioned worriedly while looking over the water dragon.

"My ears…" Blues whined.

"This isn't good…" Meredy said while pointing to the blue-orange sky. "The sun is beginning to set…that must mean we're running out of time…"

"We have to hurry to the Lake!" Erza gave a firm nod and after that everyone started to run as fast as they could.

"I thought the rain was a bad omen…" Kuro muttered to himself.

Aira shook her head. "Usually, the sun breaking through the dark clouds is a good omen…but today, this is anything but…"

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Slowly, Dhegensea stopped his roar, letting out a heavy exhale afterwards. He turned to his partially broken castle before noticing Venoma on the ground. "Venoma…you used the Melody, didn't you?"

"I-I had no choice…" Venoma said while putting herself into a sitting position. "We were stuck…and there were…so many things happening at once…we didn't know what was a boon and what wasn't."

"I see…" Dhegensea nodded. "You've done well…I apologize for making you go through such an ordeal. I was careless against the Spirit King, however I will not falter from here on out."

"It's good to have you back, my liege…" Eizen took a knee before Dhegensea's presence.

"What have I missed? Where are Gaius, Edna, Nasir, Drake, and The Chosen?" Dhegensea questioned while motioning for Eizen to stand.

"Gaius is still stationed at the Lake, Edna went off on her own as usual…Nasir went to eradicate some of those humans while Drake decided to find that human he infected to bring her back here. As for The Chosen, I'm afraid I've no clue of her whereabouts. She went to investigate those white coat wearing humans and she hasn't returned since. I'm not quite sure what she may be thinking staying aloof for so long…As for your two children…they are fighting in the skies above just as you claimed they would. This is all Drake's soldiers have to tell me." That was all Eizen had to report.

With all that information, Dhegensea nodded slowly before crossing his arms. "I see…My absence has thrown the course of fate off balance slightly. But no matter, I am here to rectify that mistake. The first thing we will do is find The Chosen to bring her back here…and secondly; we must dispose of potential wielder of the Eternal Sword." Those words brought shock to Eizen and Venoma.

"P-Pardon, sire?" Eizen stammered.

"I thought nothing much of it at the time, but The Chosen told me that there was someone among those group of humans that had the potential to wield the Eternal Sword; the blade of our bane. While it is Yggdrasil's greatest weapon, that sacred blade's existence is exactly what keeps us in check…it is why I refused to make a move for so long. A blade that is capable of anything and one human on this island is capable of using it under the right conditions."

"But my liege..." Venoma frowned. "Isn't The Chosen the only one who can wield the sword? Granted, she never actually attempted to pull it, did she?"

"The sword can choose, so I believe." Dhegensea didn't sound so sure, and that was the thing that worried him. Before, I refused to think such chance would play a large role, but with the Spirit King's actions…I was proven wrong. So we must do whatever we can to ensure a complete victory! I will no longer leave anything to chance!"

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In a cave in an undisclosed location, Acnologia sat against a rock in his human form. His mind was wandering to various events, especially those that were most recent, such as the incident with Demons and King. He was infuriated that a human dared to take over his mind to use him like some puppet…just another reason he had to destroy humanity when the time was right. But that's when he heard it. Dhegensea's roar. His eyes shot open, a different kind of rage flowing through him now. "So you've finally decided to come out of hiding, have you?" Standing up, the Black Dragon took a few steps forward, his entire being seething in anger. "Dhegensea…the 'Dragon King'…" Acnologia scoffed at this title. "That is a false title you've held for far too long!" With a roar of his own, the apocalyptic dragon shifted to his own dragon form, completely destroying the mountain he was residing in. "I will ensure that there will be not a single dragon remaining, DHEGENSEA! FOR I AM THE TRUE DRAGON KING, AND THERE WILL BE NOTHING BUT DESTRUCTION!"

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Fairy Tail: Isle of the Dragons Part 2: END

Next Time: The Tartarus Ambush