Mavis looked panicked as she called down from the second floor the next day. "Master! One of the S-Class jobs is missing!"
Everyone, including myself, looked over at the commotion being caused. They were all in disbelief at the fact one of the missions had gone missing- it was suicide and stupid to go on an S-Class job without an S-Class mage, after all.
"Ohh, that's right," Levina smirked. "I did see one of the pieces of paper being dragged away by what looked like a solid flame... Like the kind Macao tried to teach Nozomi a long time ago."
"Nozomi!?" Mavis gasped and put a hand up to her mouth. It was easy to see that everyone in the guild was connecting the dots- Nozomi had taken the job out of frustration in order to prove that she was capable.
Levina smirked as she looked down at her grandfather. "They just broke a principal rule of the guild... Hey, gramps..." She chuckled. "They'll be expelled when they get back... Right?"
She leaned back in her chair. "Though, I doubt they're coming back. After all, neither of them is S-Class material."
I couldn't help it... I covered my mouth and started to laugh in pure amusement at Levina's words.
The guild fell silent as everyone looked at me incredulously, Levina's orange eyes sparking with lightning as she stared down at me from the second floor.
"Did I say something funny, angel boy?"
"If you really think they would die on that job, you truly know nothing about Nozomi," I chuckled. "Out of everyone in this guild, she's undoubtably the one who's sheer potential frightens me the most."
"And what makes you say that?" Someone spoke up.
"She can use the Flames of Emotion," I shrugged. "That's just one thing... But on top of that, she's adaptable... She's not good at studying, but when she enters real combat... That is when she starts to grow. She'll learn more things in a single fight than you can learn in a year just studying and training."
"Tch, talking big," she scoffed.
Mavis marked over to her. "Levina, why didn't you stop her!?"
Levina just snorted. "What, is it my job to babysit brats now?" She asked... And then she froze.
Mavis looked at Levina with a dangerous look... Nobody else perhaps me and Makarov could feel it...
The pressure of Mavis's magic power was focused solely on Levina, trapping her momentarily in a nightmare of hellish illusions as Mavis exerted her power for the first time in what could very well have been decades.
Makarov took a deep breath. "This isn't good... What mission is missing?"
"..." Mavis turned away from Levina, who finally relaxed. "The Cursed Island Galuna job."
His eyes widened. "The island of demons!?"
Everyone tensed up... The Cursed Island Galuna job was an infamous job, one that had been up for nearly three years. It was considered one of the more dangerous S-Class Missions, even though it was the cheapest one on the board.
"Levina, go and bring them back immediately!"
Levina took a deep breath, pointedly avoiding looking at Mavis. "No way, I've got my own job to do. Besides, they got themselves into this mess- they can get themselves out."
"Who else but you could force them to come back!?" Makarov demanded.
"Gramps..." Gray stood up. "That's an unforgivable insult."
I just sighed... Gray was way too cocky given he was weaker than Nozomi- and her element naturally countered his.
Gray definitely liked to think that he and Nozomi were evenly matched, but that simply wasn't true. In terms of Magic Power, Nozomi was far stronger than Gray was. In sheer adaptability, Nozomi also surpassed him. Even in terms of which magic was stronger? Nozomi had him beat- of course a Lost Magic was stronger than a Maker Magic.
Gray's advantage over Nozomi was his intelligence and ability to analyse the enemy, as well as his versatility.
In the end, Nozomi's abilities ultimately came down to punching people with fire, or unleashing blasts of fire in various forms- changing depending on the situation.
But Gray's Maker Magic allowed him sheer versatility. His Maker Magic was sort of like a Green Lantern Ring when you thought about it. In the DC Comics Universe, that was considered to be one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.
While Gray's magic lacked the sheer power and was not as versatile as the ring- after all, Gray only used static maker magic rather than dynamic like Leon- it still played a massive part in letting him fight on par with Nozomi. His intelligence, analysis, and the versatility of his magic were what allowed him to match Nozomi as an equal.
And while Gray had not yet reached his full potential- neither had Nozomi.
With nobody else stepping up, Makarov agreed to have Gray go and stop Lucy and Nozomi from going to the Cursed Island. Of course, I knew it was going to fail- but I chose not to step in. My plan was to go together with Erza and also see if I could bring Levy along to get her some more experience.
"Mavis, could I get some Ramen?" I asked her.
"Sure," she nodded, still looking a bit miffed thanks to Levina. But she shook her head and focused up as she started cooking.
"I can't believe Nozomi would be that reckless," Levy sighed and then paused. "No, never mind, I can believe it... While she can stay calm, she's always been hardheaded and aggressive. When her pride is challenged, she gets angry really quickly."
"That's because she's a Dragon," I told Levy in amusement.
Levy rolled her eyes. "That's not how it works, she just uses Dragon Slaying Magic."
"Yes, and do you think such a powerful magic comes without side effects?"
Levy paused and looked at me sharply, even Makarov looked over as Mavis listened in closer. "What do you mean side effects?" Levy asked.
"There are a few ways to learn Dragon Slaying Magic," I told them. "They are split up into different 'generations.' First Generation Dragon Slayers are like me and Nozomi- we who learned our Magic either directly from a Dragon or from a book. However, this comes with a downside... The more we use our magic, the more dragon-like we become on a spiritual level. Pride, cockiness, and so much more. Of course, this also depends on the type of dragon. A gentle dragon like a Sky Dragon would become a more gentle and maybe even timid. But a Fire Dragon Slayer like Nozomi? Complete hot head."
I fibbed just a little, saying it changed us on a spiritual level rather than physically. This was because I'd yet to see any effect of Dragon Slaying Magic on myself, and Nozomi and the other Dragon Slayers all had reasons they wouldn't turn into dragons- be it because they were from the second generation, or because their parents were sealed inside of them.
"So that's why..." Mavis whispered. "I'd always wondered about why Nozomi was set off so easily..."
"You mentioned other ways to become a Dragon Slayer," Levy pointed out. "What are the other generations?"
I cast a tiny glance up at Levina- who was trying to appear like she wasn't listening- before I spoke. "The Second Generation is also what you'd call a 'modern' Dragon Slayer. With a severe lack of dragons around, Dragon Slaying Magic still managed to endure in other ways. And that was by turning a dragon's heart into a Lacrima. This Lacrima is then surgically embedded into a person's heart... However, this surgery is extremely dangerous and has a high mortality rate. Thus, not many second generation Dragon Slayers exist."
Levina gripped her table slightly, clearly annoyed but staying quiet as she didn't want to give away her Dragon Slaying abilities.
"That's..." Levy shook her head. "I can't even imagine... Embedding a Lacrima in your own heart..."
"It's dangerous," Makarov murmured, taking a swig of beer to hide his remorse. No doubt the fact that Ivan had performed the ceremony on Levina was a very touchy subject for the Guild Master.
"Moving on," I spoke, drawing their attention again. "The Third Generation is a hybrid of the first and second. First, they learn their Dragon Slaying magic either from a book or from a Dragon... And then, a Lacrima is embedded into their heart. Not only does this give them an extra boost in power from the Lacrima, but the third generation also obtain a very special benefit that both the first and second generations lack and must train for."
"And that is?" Levy voiced, looking expectant.
I just smiled. "They can access Dragon Force at will."
Makarov slammed his mug down on the table. "What did you say!?" He exclaimed in shock.
Even Levina couldn't keep her composure, dropping her own glass on the table and causing it to spill- though it went unnoticed.
"What's Dragon Force?" Someone murmured.
"I've never heard of it," another agreed. "Or at least, I've never seen Nozomi use it."
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair- a nervous tic I noticed I was picking up. "Dragon Force is essentially the ultimate state of the Dragon Slayer... They tap into the primal essence of their magic, their bodies morphing slightly in order to take on the traits of a dragon. In this state, a dragon slayer obtains incredible magic power that it is said to put them on par with real dragons."
Silence filled the guild and everyone swallowed, unable to comprehend a mere human wielding that much power.
"Of course, in truth, this isn't quite so accurate," I shook my head. "Just being able to activate Dragon Force merely puts you at the starting line. Like all things, Dragon Force has to then be trained in order to truly reach the fire power of a real dragon. It is still an impressive boost even untrained though."
"That's a relief," Levy said, regaining her voice and chuckling. "Imagine how much damage Nozomi would cause if she just went into Dragon Force..."
"Don't joke about that, I'm the one who cleans it up now," I rolled my eyes, making her laugh.
"So, that's all of them then?"
"No," I shook my head. "There is one more generation."
"What's that?" Mavis blinked. For all her knowledge, she'd never heard of someone obtaining Dragon Slaying Magic outside of the two ways I'd mentioned.
"The Fourth Generation," I told them. I didn't count those automatons from the Dragon Cry Movie- they weren't Dragon Slayers. "They are also known as Dragon Eaters."
Mavis's eyes widened. "You mean-!?"
"These Dragon Slayers obtain their powers... By eating a dead dragon's meat, drinking and bathing in their blood in order to absorb their magic power into their own bodies... Of course, stumbling on a dead dragon that isn't just bones now is unlikely to begin with- and you need to be strong enough to actually kill a Dragon in the first place too, and most people wouldn't think to do all of that."
Which did make me wonder how Georg Reizen managed to his Dragon Slaying Magic and form his guild... It meant he either got lucky, or he was already strong enough to kill dragons before he became a Dragon Eater.
I thanked her, taking the chopsticks she offered to me. "We got way off topic- the point is that Nozomi's pride was slighted, both by Erza crushing her in a single hit and then by Levina mocking her and proclaiming she was the strongest. Nozomi's pride couldn't take it, so she decided to 'prove' herself... She was probably upset that I defeated Lullaby without giving her a chance to fight it too, plus the fact her fight against Erza got interrupted."
"And all those slights to her pride led her to this recklessness," Mavis sighed and face palmed. "Well, hopefully Gray is able to stop her before they do something stupid."
I just shared a look with Mavis, who had a moment of realisation...
"... We're gonna have to wait for Erza, aren't we?" She asked in defeat.
"You said it, not me."