Chapter 363: Igneel
"Ren! Right! We still have Ren!"
Someone in the trembling crowd suddenly shouted, their voice cracking with a desperate spark of hope. The memory of their strongest mage pierced through the paralyzing blanket of fear that had settled over the ruined landscape.
Ren was the First Seat of the Ten Wizard Saints of the Ishgar continent. The guild members eagerly recalled the aftermath of the Grand Magic Games, where he had single-handedly crushed 7 towering dragons without breaking a sweat.
If it was Ren, the man who had effortlessly defeated an entire flight of ancient beasts, dealing with just one more dragon should be no problem at all.
The newer recruits in the guild clung to this optimistic lifeline, their eyes desperately scanning the rubble for their savior. However, the seasoned veterans from the Tenrou Island team and those who endured the 7-year gap did not share this sudden wave of relief.
Their expressions remained cast in shadow, their eyes wide with a deeply ingrained terror. They all knew the bitter truth of what had transpired 7 years ago when Ren first clashed with the Black Dragon, Acnologia.
Although it hadn't been a one-sided slaughter back then, even Ren with all his monstrous power couldn't inflict any lasting damage on the beast. If he could have, the Black Dragon Acnologia would have been killed that day, and Tenrou Island would never have been erased from the map.
The Black Dragon Acnologia was fundamentally different from the beasts they had fought at the capital. This creature was a cataclysmic anomaly—a walking apocalypse.
"But Ren just split into 3,000 Clones! I'm afraid..." someone whispered, raising a terrifying point that caused everyone's hearts to instantly sink.
That was the harsh reality of their situation. Ren's individual strength was undeniably absolute, but he had just expended a monstrous amount of energy to summon 3,000 physical copies. He had exhausted himself destroying the continent-wide Face pulse bombs and executing the Guild Master of Tartaros.
By all logical metrics, his magic power should have completely bottomed out by now. For any Mage in this world, magic power was directly tied to their life force and physical stamina.
A Mage completely drained of their magic was often weaker and more fragile than an ordinary civilian. How could an exhausted Ren possibly stand against the Black Dragon Acnologia in its absolute prime?
"In any case, Ren definitely has a way! He's a real man!" Elfman roared, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He harbored an almost blind, unwavering trust and admiration for the First Seat. Even standing on the precipice of absolute destruction, he wholeheartedly believed Ren would pull a miracle out of thin air.
Just then, the sky darkened as a massive shadow blotted out the sun. They looked up to see the colossal Black Dragon hurtling directly toward them like a living meteor.
Makarov's eyes bulged with panic as he desperately waved his arms. "Run away—!"
"Don't gather in one place! Spread out as much as possible!" the Guild Master shrieked, his voice tearing at his throat.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
"Uwaaaah!"
The Black Dragon Acnologia didn't even pay the slightest attention to the scrambling Fairy Tail members below. He merely skimmed past them at a low altitude, entirely indifferent to their existence.
Yet, simply from the sheer, apocalyptic wind pressure of his flyby, the surrounding ground violently caved in. The remaining ruins of the Tartaros headquarters shattered into fine dust with a deafening bang.
"No way!" someone screamed over the roaring gale.
"Just passing by has such horrifying destructive power!"
"Is it... is it really all over?"
"It's hopeless!"
Cana collapsed to her knees, her eyes hollow and filled with profound despair. Hot tears flowed endlessly down her dirt-streaked cheeks. "What did we do wrong... why does it always end like this?"
She simply couldn't understand why Fairy Tail was constantly subjected to these endless, suffocating nightmares. It had been the same when the Oración Seis threatened to unleash Nirvana, when Grimoire Heart invaded their sacred ground, and now during this devastating war against Tartaros.
They had just sacrificed everything to defeat the demons and save the entire continent from losing its magic. And now, as their reward, the Black Dragon Acnologia had descended from the heavens to wipe them all out.
A short distance away, Ren calmly looked up at the charging Black Dragon. His expression remained entirely impassive as he opened his holographic `[System]` panel. His finger hovered steadily over the glowing recycle and rank-up button.
Thump... thump... thump!!
A sudden, jarring sensation washed over Natsu, completely different from the despair gripping his guildmates. He clutched his chest, feeling as if his wildly beating heart was about to physically rip its way out of his ribcage.
Then, an impossibly familiar, deep voice echoed directly within the confines of his mind.
"Natsu, it seems the time has come."
Natsu gasped, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "Igneel?!!"
He immediately whipped his head around, frantically scanning the devastated landscape. He had vaguely heard that warm, rumbling voice just a moment ago. Could the sheer stress of the situation be causing him to hallucinate?
"I believe you can definitely defeat E.N.D."
[Akarin's Note: E.N.D. (Etherious Natsu Dragneel) is the absolute strongest demon created from the Books of Zeref, and the central, mythological figure the dark guild Tartaros was trying to resurrect.]
"Igneel! Why can I hear Igneel's voice?!" Natsu screamed into the roaring wind.
If the first whisper had been a trick of his exhausted mind, the second sentence was undeniable. He was absolutely certain he had heard it with crystal clarity.
"Leave Acnologia to me!"
As soon as that thunderous declaration fell, Natsu gasped as an unbearable heat concentrated in his core. He looked down to find his abdomen emitting a blinding, searing crimson light that threatened to outshine the sun.
"Uwaaaaaah!!" Natsu screamed in agony and shock.
A visceral, tearing sensation erupted from his stomach, as if an immense physical force was ripping its way out of his very soul. The sheer magical pressure radiating from his body pushed the surrounding guild members back.
Then, a towering storm of blazing flames enveloped the area. From within that blinding inferno, a colossal, crimson Fire Dragon materialized out of thin air, its majestic wings unfurling to cast a massive shadow over the ruins.
"I have always felt guilty about this, Natsu. I, Igneel, have been inside your body this entire time!" the Fire Dragon King's voice boomed, shaking the very earth beneath their feet.
"It's not yet time to tell you the whole story. I must first go and eliminate Acnologia. You must live, Natsu!"
With those parting words, Igneel crouched low, shattering the bedrock beneath his massive claws. With a deafening roar, he launched himself into the sky, charging straight on a collision course with the Black Dragon.
Natsu fell to his knees, his throat tight and his vision blurring. "Father!"
He had finally seen Igneel with his own eyes again after searching the entire world for over a decade. His bruised body trembled uncontrollably as large, heavy tears spilled from his wide eyes. He had finally found him.
Happy hovered nearby, his paws clutching his head in absolute disbelief, his eyes comically wide. "This is Natsu's... father... actually inside Natsu's body all this time... what on earth is going on..."
For his entire life, the little Exceed had accompanied Natsu everywhere, chasing endless rumors across the continent to find the legendary Igneel. To think that the very dragon they had spent their lives searching for was hitching a ride inside his best friend's stomach was almost too much to process.
The rest of the Fairy Tail Guild was left in a daze, their jaws practically hitting the floor as they witnessed the impossible spectacle.
What in the world was going on today? When did these colossal creatures, legendary beings that were supposed to be long extinct, start casually appearing one after another?
"A Dragon!!"
"Another Dragon has come!!"
"Look!! That crimson Dragon is flying up to fight Acnologia!"
The panicked screams of the guild members shifted from pure terror to utter bewilderment.
"What on earth is happening!"
"Is this new Dragon on our side?!"
Erza stared up at the sky, her sharp eyes tracking the trail of brilliant crimson flames. "The Fire Dragon... could this be..."
Seeing the unmistakable scales and the familiar magical signature, Erza quickly formed a suspicion. If her deductive instincts weren't completely wrong, this magnificent beast had to be the foster father Natsu had been relentlessly looking for—Igneel.
Down below, Ren watched Igneel's majestic ascension with a calm, calculating gaze. Slowly, he lowered his hand, temporarily pulling his finger away from the holographic rank-up button on his `[System]` interface.
Every time he utilized the system to rank up, even if it was just by half a star, his magic power, physical stamina, and spiritual energy would instantaneously recover to their absolute peak state.
It was a mechanic perfectly mirroring the level-up systems in an RPG, where a character's status was fully restored upon hitting the next threshold. It was essentially a passive skill equivalent to a second life at critical moments, and he already had the necessary star-up experience character cards stockpiled.
He had been patiently waiting for just such a desperate crisis to directly rank up, instantly replenish his drained magical reserves, and aggressively increase his overall strength to fight Acnologia. But it seemed the Fire Dragon King had beaten him to the punch.
"Igneel..." Ren murmured softly to himself.
He had actually known Igneel was slumbering inside Natsu long before he had even formally met the fiery Dragon Slayer. The dynamic was somewhat akin to a Jinchuriki from the shinobi world, housing a massive beast within a mortal vessel.
The distinct difference here was that Natsu couldn't consciously borrow power from Igneel like a shinobi could with a Tailed Beast. Instead, Igneel simply accompanied Natsu silently as he grew, waiting patiently in the shadows. His singular purpose was to intervene only if a true, world-ending crisis occurred.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The heavens trembled violently as the two massive dragons collided, their deafening battle instantly igniting the darkened sky.
At this moment, Gajeel sprinted over to where Natsu was kneeling, his iron-studded boots kicking up dust. "Hey!! Fire Dragon!! Is that Igneel up there?! Why the hell was he hiding inside your body?!"
Gajeel's mind was racing a mile a minute. He really wanted to confirm one incredibly important thing at this exact moment: whether his own foster father, the Iron Dragon Metallicana, was currently freeloading inside his own guts too.
Natsu aggressively scrubbed the tears from his eyes, his grief rapidly boiling over into burning indignation. "How the hell should I know? I've been looking for him forever, turning the world upside down, and yet he..."
The raw emotion in Natsu's chest ignited into pure, explosive magical energy. Blazing flames abruptly erupted from the soles of his feet. "Are you kidding me—!!"
"Igneel!!!" Natsu roared at the top of his lungs.
The intense flames propelled Natsu off the shattered ground. He shot upward into the sky like a supersonic rocket, completely disregarding the apocalyptic clash of the two titans above.
Hearing the familiar, reckless scream rapidly approaching, Igneel glanced down and couldn't help but feel a sudden spike of parental anxiety.
"You idiot! Didn't I just say I'd explain it to you later?!" the Dragon King bellowed, dodging a massive swipe from Acnologia's claws.
"Explain it to me right now!!" Natsu screamed back.
Using his momentum, Natsu miraculously maneuvered through the chaotic crossfire and climbed directly onto Igneel's massive, scaly back.
"Why did you suddenly disappear without a word?! And yet you've been inside me this whole time?! Where the hell did Gajeel's and Wendy's dragons go?!" Natsu demanded, his hands gripping the burning scales to keep his balance.
"What exactly happened on July 7, Year 777?!" he relentlessly questioned, refusing to let the giant beast deflect him this time.
"Shut up!!" Igneel roared in exasperation.
Without missing a beat, Igneel swung his massive tail, slapping Acnologia directly across the face and sending the Black Dragon stumbling back through the clouds.
Then, utilizing his massive claws, Igneel swiftly snatched the screaming Natsu off his back while simultaneously drawing in a deep breath.
Boom—!!
[Akarin's Note:
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