"Yukino, stay here. Do not move. I will go take a look."
Rufus spoke as he rose to his feet and jumped down from the carriage, his body quickly gathering magic as he landed. His gaze turned toward the source of the approaching sound.
On the path ahead, a long haired young man was slowly walking toward them.
"That is Geno big brother."
Once Rufus saw who it was, he relaxed and let the magic he had been gathering quietly disperse.
"Yukino, look, Geno big brother is coming down the mountain."
Hearing that, Yukino's face instantly brightened with a hint of joy. She smoothed her clothes with a small, nervous motion, then stepped down from the carriage.
"It really is Geno big brother."
Watching Geno walk toward them, Yukino showed a small, gentle smile.
"Yukino, Rufus, sorry to have kept you waiting."
Geno walked along the narrow path, lifting a hand as he greeted the two of them.
"Geno big brother, did you find what you were looking for?"
Yukino looked like she wanted to speak, but Rufus was slightly faster and asked first, so she quietly swallowed her words for the moment.
Geno nodded and walked up to them, a faint smile on his lips.
"I found something, but it is not exactly what I wanted."
He reached into his pocket and took out the Ice Magic Lacrima.
"What I am looking for is an Ice Magic Lacrima that has been nurtured for a hundred years. Judging by the color, this one has only been growing for a little over ten years. It is not the one I came for."
"Finding a lacrima that has been nurtured for more than ten years is already impressive. Do not worry, Geno big brother, I am sure you will find the Ice Magic Lacrima you are looking for."
Rufus might still be young, but his way of speaking was steady and mature.
"By the way, Geno big brother, where are you planning to go next? Are we heading back to the guild, or do you have other plans?"
"Back to the guild..."
Hearing Rufus mention the guild, Geno shook his head.
"No, there is no rush to go back yet."
On his way down the mountain, he had been turning many things over in his mind.
The town they were currently in was Magnolia, the town where the Fairy Tail guild was located.
At first, he had never really thought about deliberately approaching the familiar faces of Fairy Tail. But after this unexpected encounter with Macao on Mount Hakobe, and after seeing more clearly what kind of person Macao truly was, Geno found himself wanting to visit Fairy Tail.
Not to see any specific person, and not to pry into anyone's life. He simply wanted to visit the Fairy Tail guild itself, to see with his own eyes the place he had loved on a screen, now alive in front of him, even if only for a single passing glance.
"Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Mirajane, Laxus, Wendy, Cana, Elfman, Master Makarov..."
"There really are quite a lot of people I still remember from the guild."
Muttering to himself, Geno walked toward the carriage.
"Do you two know about Fairy Tail, the mage guild that ranks among the very best in Fiore? I have heard it is a very interesting place. Since we are already in Magnolia, where Fairy Tail is located, if you are willing, you can come with me and take a look."
...
Rumble...
In the Magnolia region, near Ryuzetsu Village, within a wide magic forest, Geno guided the carriage slowly along the path.
Rufus and Yukino sat together in the back of the carriage.
Boom...
Because this was a magic forest, ripe magic fruits occasionally fell from the branches, exploding loudly when they hit the ground and releasing a burst of magical energy.
"For such a small village, this is quite a wonderful place. As expected of the area around Magnolia where Fairy Tail resides, the ambient magic here is not only dense, it is also incredibly pure."
Holding the reins, Geno absorbed the natural magic drifting through the forest as he steered the horse forward.
"This really is a great place. If I used my Copy Eye here at full power, I do not even want to imagine the result..."
He exhaled softly.
Just as Geno was quietly talking to himself, far above in the distant sky, a colossal shape was flying rapidly toward the forest.
Wherever it passed, gales tore through the treetops, and the air trembled beneath an overwhelming aura of destructive darkness.
From a distance, the shape looked like a black dragon.
Huge fangs, wings that were more like dark, twisted appendages than the wings of a dragon, and a body covered in black scales marked with mysterious patterns.
It was...
Acnologia, the Black Dragon.
The only Dragon Slayer in Fairy Tail's history to have fully transformed into a dragon. Four hundred years ago, he exterminated the entire dragon race.
Zeref called him the "Embodiment of Evil," a dragon that destroyed everything and brought only despair and pain. His arrival signaled the approach of an era's end, and people called him the Black Wings of the Apocalypse.
To humanity, he was known as the Dragon King.
"The magic in this forest is plentiful. I can rest here and replenish my power."
Still in his dragon form, Acnologia lowered his head to look down at the forest below, then gradually reduced his speed.
Thud...
Whoosh...
He beat his dark wings and descended, landing in the middle of the magic forest. The force of his landing whipped up a violent storm of wind.
Boom... boom...
Boom... boom...
The gusts shook the trees, and the ripe magic fruits, already close to dropping, fell all at once in a sudden storm of explosions. The forest roared with sound, then slowly slipped back into silence.
Once the last fruit had detonated, nothing more fell. The forest grew eerily quiet.
In that silence, the dragon form of Acnologia began to change. His enormous body shrank, the silhouette compressing and reshaping.
After a short while, the massive black dragon had become a human figure.
Long hair spilling over his shoulders, a vicious glint in his eyes.
Brown skin covered in inked markings. A black cloak draped loosely over him, his upper body bare, his feet bare on the ground, a necklace hanging around his neck.
Although he was now in human form, the dark magic aura around him had not diminished in the slightest.
"Excellent. The magic here is very rich."
Acnologia sat down cross legged at the base of a massive magic tree, his back against the trunk. He closed his eyes and began to draw in the natural magic around him.
"This is a good place. And there are no disgusting human insects hopping around."
Under his absorption, the natural magic of the forest drained away at an alarming rate.
The once lush and vibrant magic trees began to wither. Leaves shriveled and fell, branches dried and cracked.
It did not take long before the richly green forest turned black and lifeless. Death and darkness spread from tree to tree, their auras mixing and seeping into the air.
"Good... very good..."
Acnologia's grin twisted into something savage.
"Continue..."
He devoured the magic of the forest even faster now.
Then his expression suddenly twisted with disgust.
"Damn it."
"There are still filthy human insects moving around in this forest."
He opened his eyes. His gaze sharpened, and in an instant, everything in the area was within the range of his perception.
It did not take long for him to locate the source.
Geno, along with Rufus and Yukino in the carriage.
Though his eyes could not yet see them directly, Acnologia could easily grasp their actions, as if they were moving within the palm of his hand.
"Three brats and a carriage."
"Nothing but little worms. No wonder I did not notice them before. The two in the carriage are barely decent as insects go."
"As for the one driving the carriage, his magic is so pathetically weak it does not even qualify as garbage."
His lips twisted, the corners of his mouth curving into an even more terrifying smile.
"Heh..."
"Either way, trash is still trash. Trash should be erased."
Acnologia stretched out his right hand, claws half curled. Dark magic quickly gathered in his palm, swirling into a dense mass.
With a light flick of his hand, that magic exploded outward. In an instant it became a wave of pure darkness, a black shockwave rushing toward the part of the forest where Geno's carriage was moving.
Every magic tree the black wave touched turned to ash in an instant.
Inside the forest...
"What is..."
The dark shockwave was incredibly fast.
Even so, Geno, who had been quietly absorbing the natural magic around him, sensed it almost immediately as it tore through the forest toward them.
However, Rufus and Yukino in the carriage seemed completely unaware. They sat quietly where they were, letting the carriage roll onward as if nothing had changed.
"This darkness... this magic is so powerful... this is not something that a mere Ten Wizard Saint level mage could unleash. Just what is going on..."
"Could it be that we have run into the black mage Zeref..."