Faced with the combined attack of three dragons, Sorda barely acknowledged them.
What truly irritated the God of Souls was Natsu's furious declaration.
At the same time, Sorda recognized them.
These were some of the same humans who had interfered with his plans in the royal capital.
"Fools who don't know when to die."
The mass of soul light immediately shifted form. The moment Sorda's newly created spiritual body took shape, both Natsu and Gajeel froze.
"Acnologia?!"
"Isn't he still fighting Metalicana and the others?!"
The creature before them looked exactly like Acnologia, only fashioned entirely from soul energy.
Natsu gritted his teeth and charged without hesitation, with Gajeel right behind him.
Sorda, wearing the Black Dragon's form, simply extended both claws and caught their punches head-on before violently hurling them away.
Crushing an opponent with a superior version of their own power was one of Sorda's favorite forms of humiliation.
Without wasting another second, the God of Souls turned and rushed after Laxus.
Killing intent burned in Laxus's golden dragon eyes, but with Ankh barely conscious in his grasp, protecting him came first.
He immediately began retreating.
"Run?"
Sorda raised one hand.
"Do you truly think you can escape?"
Soul Divine Power erupted outward and transformed into countless shrieking dragon spirits.
They descended upon Laxus like a tidal wave of living dragons.
These were no pale imitations.
Each possessed combat strength comparable to a genuine dragon, and when the entire swarm surrounded him at once, Laxus had no choice but to grit his teeth and throw himself into yet another battle far above anything a sane person would willingly endure.
By the time he finally tore his way out, many of the golden scales covering his body had shattered away.
Even his draconic form had begun turning translucent, threatening to collapse at any moment.
Natsu and Gajeel were in even worse shape.
They could barely get close to Sorda.
Without divine power, even humans who transformed into dragons still existed on an entirely different level from a true god.
Laxus desperately searched his mind for some way out of the situation when a beam of moonlight suddenly descended before him.
A graceful, foxlike dragon landed in his path.
Then the Moon Dragon God transformed into the seductive figure of a woman.
"If you're willing, could you give him to me?"
Laxus immediately recognized her.
"You're the dragon who helped Ankh fight Acnologia!"
He had seen Selene earlier on the battlefield. A dragon who barely looked like one was difficult to forget.
"He exhausted himself completely, then fell into a trap that drained part of his divine power. Sorda's Soul Divine Power is still eating away at him as well."
Selene spoke quickly while opening a silver-blue portal behind herself.
"He needs treatment immediately. I can teleport—let me take him somewhere safe first."
Laxus hesitated.
Ankh had fought alongside Selene earlier, while the so-called god pursuing them was rapidly closing in. There was no time to be overly cautious.
He made his decision.
"I'm trusting you."
With something like Sorda hunting Ankh, Laxus did not want to leave him with ordinary people anyway.
Judging from Selene's abilities, she should at least be capable of keeping him safe for a while.
Selene took Ankh from him and glanced toward the approaching God of Souls before retreating through the portal.
The ring of silver-blue light vanished along with both of them.
Sorda watched them disappear.
Natsu and Gajeel were still battered almost beyond recognition yet clinging to him like stubborn pests, while Laxus had once again gathered himself and looked ready to fight until his last breath.
For the first time, Sorda seemed to lose interest.
"If you insist on offering me your souls, I suppose I can accept them."
Soul Divine Power began gathering again as Sorda prepared to unleash an even greater tide of spirits.
Then a familiar black shadow came crashing down near the coast.
BOOM—!
Acnologia landed with a furious roar.
His battle against Igneel and the others had been interrupted by an unexpected intruder.
A dragon calling himself Mercphobia—the Water Dragon God—had suddenly appeared.
With the ocean as his home territory, Mercphobia had dragged every severely wounded dragon beneath the waves and escaped before Acnologia could stop him.
For the self-proclaimed master of dragon slaughter, it was an unprecedented humiliation.
Acnologia returned absolutely furious.
Then he noticed three Dragon Slayers who had somehow transformed into dragons.
Perfect targets.
His murderous gaze immediately settled upon Laxus, Natsu, and Gajeel.
Sorda looked between the overwhelmingly powerful Black Dragon and the three battered Dragon Slayers, then shook his head in boredom.
The enormous, eerie manifestation of the God of Souls vanished from the air.
Compared with wasting time on three insignificant mortals, finding out where Ankhseram had been taken was far more important.
Zous was certain Ankhseram could not truly die.
But humans and gods were different.
Immortality did not mean freedom from pain.
Ankhseram's condition had already been extraordinarily complicated.
He had exhausted almost all his divine power protecting humanity, after which Zous had used the Black Dragon as a conduit to suppress and weaken both the strength and recovery of his Death Divine Power.
Now Sorda's Soul Divine Power was continuously eroding him on top of that.
Unless another god helped treat him, Ankhseram might survive, but there was no chance he would be able to fight at full strength anytime soon.
With the god whose presence had oppressed the entire continent gone once again, the humans across the battlefield finally felt as though a storm cloud had been lifted from above their heads.
Only one enemy remained.
Acnologia.
Unfortunately, that was still more than enough.
Laxus, Natsu, and Gajeel fought the Black Dragon with everything they had left, trading injury for injury until their transformations finally collapsed and all three returned to human form.
Even then, just as Acnologia was about to finish them, someone stopped him.
The legendary Black Dragon had transformed into the appearance of a young human man.
He stared down at the three unconscious Dragon Slayers and raised one hand to end their lives.
A slender arm caught his wrist.
Zeref stood beside him, preventing the killing blow from falling.
For a moment, man and dragon simply stared at one another.
There was disgust in Acnologia's eyes.
There was pity in Zeref's.
No one else heard what the Black Wizard said to him.
Whatever it was, Acnologia eventually turned away and flew north toward Guiltina.
The three unconscious Dragon Slayers naturally had no idea that Zeref had just saved their lives.
Zeref bent down and gently lifted Natsu.
He carried him over to a nearby tree, carefully propped him against the trunk, and placed him beside his companions.
Looking at Natsu's unconscious face, still faintly creased in a stubborn frown, Zeref's lips curved into a small smile.
It quickly faded into a sigh.
He raised his eyes toward Acnologia's distant silhouette disappearing into the northern sky.
"Irene."
His voice was quiet.
"You were the one who asked Selene to help, weren't you?"
Behind the slender black-haired young man, a beautiful witch slowly emerged.
She wore an enormous mage's hat and a revealing outfit, her long crimson hair framing eyes that looked unusually subdued.
"Yes."
Irene's voice was soft.
"They should be somewhere safe by now."
Zeref glanced at her, then turned and began walking away.
"You should go see for yourself. If you aren't there, Selene may have trouble handling what comes next."
The eyes beneath Irene's crimson hair shifted slightly.
She said nothing, merely giving a slow nod.
"Fortunately," Zeref added, apparently noticing her troubled mood, "things are still moving in a better direction for now."
"I hope so."
With those words, Irene's figure gradually blurred and disappeared.
Only after both of them had left the battlefield did this chaotic war—one involving multiple continents, countless factions, and one powerful enemy after another—finally reach a temporary conclusion.
But the battle itself may have ended.
The changes it had unleashed upon the balance of the world were only beginning.