"Turn into a human?"
Ankh looked at Selene in surprise, then gave her a careful once-over.
"You want to become human?"
"I have been considering it."
Selene smiled and nodded without trying to hide her intentions.
That only confused Ankh more.
"You were born as a dragon, one of the strongest races in the world. Why would you want to become human?"
Selene glanced at him and gave him a meaningful smile.
"Couldn't I ask the same of you? Why are you so determined to remain human?"
Hm?
There was definitely something behind those words.
Ankh frowned, but before he could question her, Selene smiled mysteriously.
"A beautiful lady told me a few things about you."
She turned her gaze toward the human armies withdrawing across the land and sighed softly.
"The age of dragons should have ended long ago."
"The Five Dragon Gods… Acnologia… none of us truly belong in this era anymore."
The moment those words left her mouth, the sky suddenly changed.
Clouds churned violently overhead, swallowing even the moonlight from the already darkened night.
Igneel, who had been busy administering some rather violent fatherly discipline to Ignia, abruptly stopped.
His eyes snapped toward the distant sky.
"This feeling…"
Sweat appeared on Natsu's forehead.
His body began trembling as he slowly looked upward.
Gajeel's and Wendy's expressions immediately turned grim, while Sting and Rogue stared at them in confusion.
Then Skiadrum raised his gaze toward the heavens.
His voice was heavy.
"Acnologia…"
Cold sweat instantly ran down Sting's back.
"The Black Dragon is here?!"
"There's no mistaking it…" Natsu muttered.
His fists trembled uncontrollably as memories of their crushing defeat on Tenrou Island flooded back into his mind.
That scent.
He would never forget it.
...
Down below, no one knew how smoothly Guiltina's retreat was progressing, but Ishgar had successfully pulled most of its forces away from the battlefield.
Hyberion stared at the center of the enormous vortex forming from the black clouds.
His eyes trembled.
"That Magic Power… it matches what we detected on Tenrou Island."
"It's Acnologia!"
Ur, who had also endured the seal on Tenrou Island, stared grimly into the black vortex saturated with the presence of death.
"He came too quickly…"
"Ankh and Natsu are still up there…"
Mirajane looked toward the sky, worry filling her eyes.
Laxus placed one hand over the Lightning Dragon Lacrima embedded in his chest.
"Get ready."
His voice was grave as he addressed the companions behind him.
"We may have to risk our lives against Acnologia again."
No one answered.
They did not need to, every one of them responded through their actions.
They were terrified.
They knew they were outmatched.
Most of them had already exhausted nearly all their Magic Power.
Even so, they could not retreat another step.
Behind them was Ishgar.
Behind Ishgar were their guilds.
Their homes.
Even if they died here, they could not allow Acnologia to rampage freely again.
...
"ACNOLOGIA!!"
Of everyone on the battlefield, Ignia was probably the most excited.
The moment the Black Dragon's presence appeared and Igneel froze in recognition, Ignia roared and unleashed his infernal flames.
He shot upward from below.
Blazing hellfire trailed behind him, painting a brilliant streak across the black sky.
Carrying the pride of the Fire Dragon God—and four hundred years of accumulated rage and humiliation—Ignia gathered something resembling a miniature burning sun around one claw.
Then he punched straight into the dark vortex.
"Don't!"
Igneel immediately rushed after him, roaring desperately in an attempt to stop his son.
But Ignia was far faster than he expected.
For one brief instant, the inferno illuminated the entire night sky.
Then darkness swallowed it again.
The fury inside Ignia's vertical pupils rapidly disappeared.
Disbelief replaced it.
"This…"
"How is this possible?!"
The dark vortex slowly dispersed.
And the nightmare that still haunted every member of the Tenrou Team finally revealed himself to the world once again.
The same monstrous, heavily muscled body.
The same enormous black wings that seemed capable of swallowing the entire night.
Yet the strange blue magical patterns covering Acnologia had become even denser and more incomprehensible than before.
The half of his body Ankh had destroyed seven years ago had completely regenerated.
But unlike the dark-blue markings elsewhere, the rebuilt flesh was pitch-black and covered in deep crimson patterns, giving the unsettling impression that molten lava flowed beneath his skin.
Compared with seven years ago, Acnologia's presence had not weakened at all.
If anything, it had become even more terrifying.
Losing half his body had seemingly failed to diminish him.
Instead, he had returned stronger.
But none of those changes were what truly horrified Ignia.
What horrified him was this—the full-power punch he had just unleashed had been caught effortlessly in Acnologia's claw.
The infernal flames capable of burning the heavens were being absorbed wholesale by the glowing blue-and-red patterns across the Black Dragon's body.
They had not even penetrated his scales.
"Impossible!"
Ignia roared in fury, his eyes nearly bloodshot.
His infernal flames intensified until they raged even more violently.
It accomplished nothing.
Acnologia continued holding Ignia's fist without moving, aside from the slow beating of his wings.
The flames that could incinerate almost anything endlessly crashed against his scales—
And were endlessly devoured by those sinister markings.
"Let go of him!"
Igneel finally caught up and charged forward with a roar, his body wrapped in the flames of the Fire Dragon King.
Acnologia glanced at him from the corner of one eye.
Then his grip tightened.
With one brutal motion, he swung Ignia's colossal body aside as easily as though he were throwing a doll.
Igneel's eyes widened.
He hurriedly extinguished the explosive flames around himself and caught his son before Ignia slammed into him.
The two dragons plummeted rapidly toward the ocean.
Mockery appeared in Acnologia's eyes.
Then he opened his enormous jaws.
Familiar Magic Power began gathering inside.
Ignia's confused expression stiffened.
He stared bitterly at the infernal flames building inside Acnologia's mouth.
The magic Ignia had used against him…
Had been taken and turned into his own weapon?
What kind of joke was this?
Almost as though he wanted to mock the very title of "Fire Dragon God," Acnologia unleashed a scorching roar nearly identical to Ignia's own.
The inferno descended toward father and son.
"The difference between us can't possibly be this great!!"
Ignia's eyes turned bloodshot.
Refusing to accept reality, he charged straight toward the Black Dragon's roar, desperate to prove that his strength had not fallen so hopelessly short.
Before the furious Igneel could move ahead of him and shield his son, a tiny figure—at least by dragon standards—shot toward the incoming torrent.
The roaring stream of fire seemed to freeze for an instant.
Then—Slash!
The raging inferno, vast as a river of heavenly flame, was split cleanly in two.
Both halves veered away from their original path.
BOOM—!
The severed flames crashed into the ocean and exploded.
Ankh tightened his grip around the Dragon God's Arsenal, its blade noticeably hot in his hand.
He looked up at Acnologia high above.
"Seven years, huh?"
A faint grin crossed his face.
"Your roar still hits like a damn truck."
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator