Everyone was shocked to watch the most primitive clash of the two strongest creatures in the world.
It felt like nothing could be more shocking than this.
Su Yan, who had turned into a blue dragon, and the black dragon Acnologia tore into each other—from the sky to the sea, and back again from the sea to the sky.
Just then, Gildarts arrived with Freed and Bickslow.
"Everyone! Get on board!!" Gildarts shouted to the Fairy Tail members.
"Gildarts?! How did you guys get back?!"
"We hurried back the moment we saw the red flares launched on Tenrou Island, but we ran into huge waves that caused a big delay."
"Hurry up and leave by boat while Su Yan holds Acnologia off!"
Su Yan and Acnologia were both seriously injured.
"Ah—!"
They separated at last.
"Eternal Ray!!!"
Acnologia spread its wings, sending out dense, dark rays at Su Yan.
"Boom boom boom!!!"
Su Yan tried to evade, but was still struck multiple times.
"Ahhhhhh!!"
Before this, Su Yan might have been able to shrug off such attacks, but now that he was injured, they caused real damage.
Su Yan opened his mouth, launching three fireballs.
Acnologia dodged them all and rushed toward him at high speed. Its claws slashed for Su Yan as a powerful magical force gathered in its maw.
Su Yan's expression hardened. Part of his scales darkened, turning black with Armament Haki hardening.
"Boom!!!"
"Ah!!" Even with Armament Haki, Su Yan's defense was breached. Armament Haki can boost attack and defense, but its effectiveness depends on the user's skill. Su Yan wasn't weak at Armament Haki, but he wasn't overwhelmingly strong either.
He had put most of his effort into strengthening his Conqueror's Haki. On the bright side, that allowed him to break through Acnologia's scales—something only the Fire Dragon King Igneel had managed in the original story. Igneel had given his life to tear off one of Acnologia's arms. No one else could even breach its scales.
However, using both Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki so intensely was leaving Su Yan drained. He hadn't quite awakened his Devil Fruit fully, so while his natural recovery was tremendous, it wasn't enough to offset all the damage yet.
Still, he wrapped his tail in compressed Conqueror's Haki and struck Acnologia.
"Crack–!!!"
Several of Acnologia's ribs were shattered.
"Roar—-!!!" Acnologia screamed in fury, glaring at Su Yan. Powerful draconic energy swirled around its body.
"Eternal Ray!!!"
Again Acnologia unleashed a barrage of magic beams.
Su Yan considered dodging, but realized Fairy Tail's members were right behind him—and he immediately stopped.
"Boom boom boom boom!!!"
Those devastating rays hammered Su Yan's dragon body in a series of deafening explosions.
"Wow ah ah ah!!"
He let out a pained cry and plummeted down onto Tenrou Island.
"Boom—!!!"
His immense form flattened trees and tore up the ground. Then he reverted to human form.
"Boom—!!"
Acnologia landed not far from Su Yan.
"Human, I don't know why you can become a dragon, but your power is no weaker than a true one. Still, anyone and anything connected to dragons must die!!"
Acnologia prepared to kill Su Yan on the spot.
Suddenly, a magical blast struck Acnologia.
"I won't allow you to harm Su Yan!"
Su Yan glanced toward the voice to see Mira, in Satan Soul form, attacking Acnologia with dark magic.
"Mira..."
Immediately, more magic bombarded Acnologia. Everyone in Fairy Tail was attacking.
"Go—!!"
"Take it down!!"
"Don't let it hurt Su Yan any further!!"
Su Yan looked on in awe. But Fairy Tail's combined barrage had zero effect.
Acnologia paid no heed to these "insects," beating its wings forcefully.
"Boom!!!"
"Wow!"
"Ughhhhh!!"
The shockwave flung the Fairy Tail members back.
Makarov suddenly enlarged himself and stepped forward to block Acnologia.
"I don't know what your goal is, but I won't let you advance a single step farther!! My children stand behind me!!"
Acnologia crashed into Makarov, slamming him to the ground. With a follow-up blow to Makarov's chest, it sent him coughing up blood. Even a casual strike from the black dragon carried enough power to be lethal for any human mage.
Acnologia readied its final blow—
Then, "Crack—!!!"
A bolt of golden lightning struck Acnologia on the head.
Acnologia shook its head, momentarily dazed, and a short, blond-haired man appeared before everyone.
"You bastard—get your claws off the old man!!" he roared at Acnologia.
"Laxus!!"
The Fairy Tail members were astonished to see him. None had expected Laxus to show up there.
They crowded around in surprise. "Laxus, why are you here?"
"We can talk about that later. Now tell me—why the hell is there a black dragon on Tenrou Island?!"