The colossal mechanical dragon breached the clouds, casting a massive shadow over the Royal Capital.
It wasn't just a cannon, but a towering heavily armored suit of mechanized dragon armor.
King Faust sat inside the glowing cockpit embedded in the machine's chest, his eyes manic and wide.
"You think you've won?! I won't let a bunch of Earthland rats ruin my kingdom! Behold the Dorma Anim!"
Airdramon held its position in the sky, banking smoothly to avoid the turbulent winds generated by the mechanical beast.
"That thing is huge," Natsu gritted his teeth, gripping the broken hilt of his black-market sword. "And I'm still can't use magic!"
"Not for long," Gray said.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a handful of small, glowing red pills, tossing them to Natsu and Wendy.
"Catch. Mystogan called them X-Balls. They alter your internal magical frequency so you can process the atmosphere in Edolas."
Natsu caught the pill and tossed it into his mouth without a second thought. He chewed loudly and swallowed.
A second later, his eyes widened.
The air around him shimmered. He clenched his fists, and a massive, roaring pillar of bright orange fire erupted from his hands.
"I'm back!" Natsu roared, tossing the broken sword hilt away. "I got my fire back!"
Wendy swallowed her pill, taking a deep breath.
A swirling vortex of sharp, healing wind wrapped around her body.
She smiled, the heavy burden of the alien atmosphere lifting from her shoulders. "I can feel the air again!"
"Good," Erza said, drawing her twin swords. "Because we have company."
A sonic boom shattered the air above them. Erza Knightwalker dove from the clouds, riding a winged mechanical Legion.
Her silver armor was dented and scorched from her fight in the armory, but her eyes burned with killing intent.
She leveled her shifting spear, aiming directly at Earthland Erza.
"I'll carve that smug look off your face!" Knightwalker screamed.
Earth-Erza leaped off Airdramon's back, intercepting the strike mid-air.
Her swords clashed against Knightwalker's spear, sending a shockwave rippling through the clouds.
"I'll handle my counterpart!" Erza yelled over her shoulder, locking blades with the Fairy Hunter.
"Take down the King and save the guild!"
"You heard her!" Natsu grinned, his fists blazing. "Let's smash that tin can!"
Before anyone could move, a massive chunk of crystal debris flew past them, followed by a wild laugh.
"Don't start the party without me!"
Gajeel Redfox landed heavily on Airdramon's tail, his arms transformed into jagged iron clubs.
He smirked, cracking his neck. "I spent the last hour breaking everyone out of the lacrima and dealing with the weird panther guy. Now it's my turn to break something big."
"Gajeel!" Wendy cheered.
"Three Dragon Slayers," Ace noted, his posture relaxed despite the sheer scale of the Dorma Anim rising before them.
He looked up at his Mega-level partner hovering nearby. "CresGarurumon, keep the King grounded. Don't let him aim his main weapons at the lacrima."
"Understood, Ace!" CresGarurumon replied, his deep voice carrying over the roaring winds.
King Faust laughed from his cockpit, the Dorma Anim shifting its massive mechanical arms
"Fools! The Dorma Anim is constructed from wizard-canceling armor! Your magic will only fuel its core!"
"Let's test that!" Natsu roared. He leaped from Airdramon's back, propelled by a massive burst of fire from his feet.
He crossed the distance in a heartbeat, pulling his blazing fist back.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
His punch connected dead center with the Dorma Anim's metallic snout.
A massive explosion of fire engulfed the machine's head.
But as the smoke cleared, the flames were sucked directly into the dark metal plating. The armor didn't even have a scratch.
"He absorbed it!" Happy panicked from a safe distance.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!" Gajeel followed up, unleashing a devastating tornado of razor-sharp iron shards from his mouth.
The metallic hurricane struck the Dorma Anim's chest, but the wizard-canceling armor simply deflected the iron, absorbing the magical kinetic force behind it.
Faust sneered, pulling a heavy lever inside his cockpit. "Pathetic! Eradicate them!"
The Dorma Anim opened its jaws, gathering a terrifying, concentrated sphere of dark energy.
It aimed directly at the falling Dragon Slayers.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy countered, blasting a massive hurricane of wind from Airdramon's back to push Natsu and Gajeel out of the cannon's direct line of fire.
The dark energy beam missed them by inches, striking a distant floating island and obliterating it in a blinding explosion.
"His armor negates magic," Ace said, his eyes tracking the machine's movements. "So we hit him with something else."
Ace raised his D-Tector, commanding his partner through their shared bond.
"CresGarurumon! Break the armor!"
The golden knight didn't use a ranged attack. He fired his back thrusters, rocketing forward like a gilded missile.
He closed the gap instantly, gripping his massive crescent halberd with both hands.
"Yellow Crescent!"
CresGarurumon swung the colossal weapon in a devastating horizontal arc. The blade wasn't forged from ethernano... it was pure unadulterated Chrome Digizoid, the hardest digital metal in existence!
The halberd slammed into the Dorma Anim's side!
The wizard-canceling armor tried to absorb the impact, but there was no magic to drain!
The dark metal shrieked and buckled.
A massive dent caved into the dragon's ribcage, sending the colossal machine stumbling backward through the sky.
Faust grabbed his console as sparks rained down inside the cockpit. "What?! The armor didn't absorb it! What kind of force is that?!"
"Its not magic for sure," Natsu grinned, wiping a smudge of soot from his cheek.
He ignited both fists, glaring at the staggered machine. "And if your armor just cracked, that means we can break it!"
Gajeel slammed his iron fists together, a feral smile crossing his face.
"Now you're speaking my language, salamander. We just gotta hit it harder than it can handle!"
"Wendy, give us a boost!" Natsu yelled.
"Right!" Wendy raised her hands, a gentle, swirling green aura surrounding her. "Vernier! Arms!"
She cast her supportive enchantments, wrapping Natsu and Gajeel in lightweight, strength-enhancing wind.
The two Dragon Slayers felt their physical power double.
They launched themselves at the Dorma Anim in unison.
"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Natsu ignited his entire body, turning into a human missile of white-hot fire.
"Iron Dragon's Lance!" Gajeel transformed his arm into a massive, jagged iron polearm.
Faust scrambled to regain control, swinging the mechanical dragon's massive tail to swat them away.
"Not happening," CresGarurumon declared.
The golden knight spin his halberd, catching the massive tail mid-swing.
The physical strength of the Mega-level Digimon halted the Dorma Anim's momentum entirely, leaving its chest wide open.
Natsu and Gajeel struck at the exact same moment, right on the dent CresGarurumon had created.
The wizard-canceling armor tried to absorb the dual Dragon Slayer attacks, but the structural integrity of the plating was already compromised.
The magical threshold shattered.
The armor cracked, glowing red-hot before splintering outward in a massive explosion of fire and iron.
The Dorma Anim let out a mechanical screech, falling backward into the ruins of the Royal Courtyard below.
It crashed into the cobblestones, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and shattered masonry.
Airdramon circled above the crater, allowing Natsu and Gajeel to land safely on its broad back.
"We got him!" Happy cheered.
"Don't celebrate yet," Ace warned, looking down into the dust cloud. The ambient magical pressure in the air was spiking to dangerous levels.
The dust parted, revealing the Dorma Anim. It wasn't destroyed.
The cracked, dark armor was shedding, peeling away to reveal a sleek terrifying inner frame glowing with intense, blood-red magic.
Faust's voice echoed from the exposed core, no longer arrogant, but twisted with a desperate, raging madness.
"You force my hand! I will drain the entire planet if I must! Dorma Anim: Black Sky!"
The mechanical dragon's eyes flared crimson.
The air around it warped and distorted as it began pulling in every single drop of magic from the surrounding environment, turning the sky a deep, bruised purple.
Natsu's fire flickered, and Gajeel's iron arms felt heavier.
"He's sucking up our magic again!" Gajeel growled, struggling to maintain his stance on the serpent's back.
"CresGarurumon," Ace said, his voice cold and unwavering. "End this."
The golden knight raised his halberd, the blade catching the dim light as he prepared to deliver the final crushing blow.