Macao didn't know much about what had truly happened on Tenrou Island.
According to the Magic Council, Fairy Tail had been attacked during the S-Class trials by Grimoire Heart, one of the three major dark guilds. The guild had fought them off successfully. That wasn't what erased the island.
What came after was worse.
A black dragon had appeared.
After Tenrou Island vanished, the dragon departed as suddenly as it had arrived. Macao and the Council fleets had searched the surrounding waters for four straight days. They hadn't found a single survivor.
"So it was him," Rowan said quietly. "Acnologia."
He hovered above the empty stretch of sea where Tenrou Island should have been and extended his senses, sweeping the area inch by inch. He wasn't optimistic. Against Acnologia, Makarov and the others would have had no chance. Even sacrificing everything to cast Fairy Law wouldn't have slowed that monster.
Rowan had already tried tracking spells back at the guild. They had all failed.
Still, he searched.
He owed them that much.
Then something brushed against his awareness.
His eyes snapped open.
"…Fairy Sphere."
He hadn't mastered the spell, but his understanding of time-based magic was deep enough to recognize its footprint. The space where the island had been carried the faint residue of frozen time.
Fairy Sphere was absolute defense. A spell that locked everything within it outside the flow of time, immune to any attack.
"Did the old man…" Rowan murmured.
If Makarov had managed to cast it in those final moments, it would explain everything. The vanished island. The missing people. The failure of all tracking magic.
But questions remained. Days had passed. Acnologia was gone. Why hadn't the spell been released?
Rowan withdrew, deep in thought. Fairy Sphere was still a mystery to him. If something had gone wrong, understanding the spell might be the only way to undo it.
He returned to the Council ship and told Macao what he'd found.
Hope flickered across tired faces.
"Rowan," Macao said after a moment, voice heavy, "when you left, the Master said that when you came back… you'd be the next Guild Master. Now that he's trapped, that makes you our Master."
Rowan didn't argue.
"Fine. I'll take the title," he said. "But day-to-day operations are yours. I need all my time focused on one thing. Figuring out Fairy Sphere and bringing them back."
That decision wasn't questioned. Nearly every capable mage had been caught up in the S-Class trials. Among those left, Macao was the strongest, and more importantly, the most experienced. He knew the guild inside and out.
After Macao formally coordinated with the Magic Council, Rowan led the remaining Fairy Tail members home.
And then he disappeared into research.
In another world, beneath a storm-dark sky, Rowan sat in a Hogwarts classroom as thunder rolled overhead.
Lightning flashed.
That was his signal.
He slipped out under invisibility, flew to the Forbidden Forest, and unearthed the potion he had buried months earlier. Inside the crystal vial, the liquid had turned a deep, blood-red.
Perfect.
He moved beyond the castle's anti-teleportation boundary, jumped to a prepared warded zone, and raised his wand to his chest.
"Amato… Animato… Animagus."
He drank the potion.
Agony detonated in his heart. His pulse surged to impossible speeds as magic flooded his body. Bone, muscle, and flesh expanded violently. The transformation lasted only seconds, but it felt eternal.
Then it stopped.
Rowan exhaled, staring at the massive shadow his body cast across the ground.
He had become a dragon.
Not a known kind. Not any single world's creature.
His scales were deep green, like the Wood Dragon's. His wings carried the structure of a fire dragon, streaked with gold reminiscent of the ancient magic dragon he'd once faced. His body stretched nearly five hundred meters long. Vast, but still dwarfed by the Wood Dragon's true form.
This was no imitation. No illusion.
It was a fusion.
Flame and wood intertwined in his core. And beneath it all, lightning still answered his call. Not dragon magic, but something older. Something personal.
In this form, his vitality and magical output soared. His physical strength was overwhelming.
If he'd had this body during his fight with the ancient magic dragon, he wouldn't have needed help. He could have crushed it with sheer force.
Even now, though, Rowan knew his limits. Ignia in human form might be possible. Ignia as a dragon was another matter entirely.
As for Acnologia…
Rowan lowered his head, wings folding slightly.
That monster devoured magic itself. Fairy Law wouldn't touch him. Only brute force could. And Acnologia's magic could still wound Rowan in return.
Revenge would have to wait.
For now, there was work to do. Time to study. Time to prepare.
The road ahead was long.
But Rowan Mercer was no longer walking it as a man.