The Evil Dragon
The six gourds swayed back and forth on the branch, Riyao felt a great sense of accomplishment, having become a grandfather at such a young age.
The sea breeze rustled through the broad leaves, causing the six large gourds—red, white, black, gold, blue, and yellow—to sway from side to side, their surfaces glossy and smooth.
A steady, strong heartbeat could be faintly heard from inside, just like the six chubby little boys that had just grown on the vine.
Riyao stood with his hands behind his back, raised his chin slightly, and looked as if he were about to stick a white beard on his chin, pick up a pipe, squat on a tree branch, and shout "Children!"
He observed for a moment, and the gourd would fall to the ground in a few days.
He tapped the fiery red gourd shell on the far side with his finger, and a muffled echo came from inside. The life force had been completely stabilized, and it would only take three or four days for the gourd to ripen and fall.
"Let's stay here for a few days. Once the gourd has fallen to the ground, I'll collect the Parasol Tree."
Riyao withdrew his hand, turned around, and sat cross-legged on a broad tree branch. He then patted the spot next to him, gesturing for Mirajane to sit down.
Lucy and the others were still discussing the Black Dragon; they didn't quite understand why Riyao wanted to leave Black Dragon behind.
The girls circled the large, dark gourd several times. Lucy, in particular, shrank her neck, not daring to get too close, for fear that the gourd would suddenly crack open and a ferocious, destructive dragon would emerge and swallow them all whole.
In their eyes, Acnologia was the ultimate demon king who almost turned the whole world upside down. Keeping such a time bomb around meant they had to sleep with one eye open at night.
"Acnologia himself didn't harbor much ill will towards us humans. In other words, if he hadn't wiped out the dragons four hundred years ago, it's uncertain whether we would even exist now."
Riyao rested his chin on his hand, watching the group of people still pointing and gesturing at the black gourd, and slowly began to explain.
What kind of world was it four hundred years ago? The dragons of the Western Continent treated humans like sheep. If Acnologia hadn't gone berserk and completely reshuffled the dragon race, humans might still be in some cave serving as food for the dragons.
"But... Grandine and the others were also caught by the Black Dragon..."
Wendy clutched the hem of her clothes with both hands, muttered something under her breath, her little face full of distress.
Wendy didn't have much affection for the Black Dragon; in fact, nobody had much affection for Black Dragon.
After all, the dragon elders who raised them from childhood had their souls extracted by this guy one by one. Anyone would have a grudge in their heart.
After the previous great battle, Grandine and the other five dragons fell into Sleep and will need some time to awaken.
The tiny dragons, no bigger than a palm, had exhausted their accumulated power during the final battle and were now all fast asleep inside the Dragon Slayers ' bodies. Even Weisslogia was usually the most greedy, was not moving.
Riyao still doesn't understand what exactly the dragon soul that was extracted was.
He scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit uneasy himself.
When the Black Dragon drained its dragon soul, Igneel and the others, who were hiding inside Natsu and his friends' stomachs, were not only alive and kicking, but when they came out, apart from shrinking to the size of mascots, they didn't seem to have lost a single piece of flesh.
Those dragons in the Northern Continent are doing just fine, aren't they?
Whether it's the Five Dragon Gods or some other ancient relic, they're all thriving on the continent of Guiltina, showing no signs of having their souls drained.
Grandine and his group probably just made up an excuse.
It's highly likely that back then, these old guys couldn't beat Black Dragon, and they were too ashamed to admit to their own kids that they were weak, so they simply came up with a sophisticated reason—that their "souls were taken away"—and hid inside their kids' bellies to relax and enjoy their retirement!
He reached out and ruffled Wendy's hair.
He ruffled the little girl's long, smooth, dark blue hair into a mess, and looking at her puffed-up cheeks, Riyao smiled and gently stroked her hair.
"The person who underwent the dragon transformation was tormented by the Dragon Force at all times. He had no taste for food, couldn't sleep well, and his entire dragon's mind became unstable, which led him to indiscriminately kill all the dragons in the end."
That violent Dragon Force rampaged through human blood vessels, stripping away all five senses. For hundreds of years, they couldn't taste the aroma of food or get a good night's sleep. Anyone would go completely insane.
"Erza's mother, Irene, was like that too."
Mirajane sided with her husband, agreeing with what Riyao said.
She leaned on Riyao's shoulder, recalling the red-haired woman's crazed appearance on the battlefield, and sighed softly.
To have endured four hundred years of inhuman torture and still retain the last shred of sanity without going berserk on the spot is already an astonishing display of willpower.
In a sense, the Black Dragon is a hero of humankind.
Although this hero was a bit too ruthless, and even sent all the dragons of the era to their graves, the result was that it made room for humanity to thrive and multiply.
As far as they knew, the only time the Black Dragon had injured someone was with Gildarts. Even before the dragon actually attacked, the residual force of its attack nearly killed Gildarts.
Gildarts himself got himself into trouble by accepting the 100-Year Quest; the Black Dragon didn't even give him a second glance, casually dismantling this Fairy Tail ace into pieces.
Behind them were either giant dragons or Dragon Slayer.
Whether it was the time on Tenrou Island, or the Tartaros and the final battle, this guy is like a precision-guided missile that comes smelling dragons. As long as ordinary people don't deliberately crawl under his feet, he won't even bother to step on an ant.
The more she thought about it, the more it made sense, but she was still a little uneasy.
Mirajane raised her eyelids, glanced at the black gourd that was still swaying slightly, and gently tapped her cheek with her finger.
"Won't the Black Dragon be in danger if it re-emerges?"
If this Calabash Brother pops out with maxed-out combat power, able to take down everyone with a single punch, that would be hilarious.
"No, he's completely cleansed of his Dragon Force. He can learn magic normally now, even Dragon Slayer Magic. There's no dragon blood for him to bathe in now."
Riyao grinned slyly as he learned from Igneel about the Black Dragon's growth, including how the Black Dragon was a healing mage when it was still human.
We're all in the same industry!
Four hundred years ago, he was a healer who saved lives with herbs; four hundred years later, he has been reborn as a new-era physical healer.
Once he falls out of the gourd, he'll be nothing more than a little kid with slightly better physical abilities; he won't even have the potential to become the ultimate bug again.
The Black Dragon isn't actually the most troublesome; the most troublesome are Zeref and Mavis. Ankhseram's curse will punish every mortal who tries to jeopardize life and death.
Riyao turned to look at the two gourds, one black and one white, hanging beside him.
When they stuffed those two star-crossed lovers into the tree, the disgusting black mist was like chewing gum, impossible to shake off no matter how hard they tried.
It's easy for Riyao to break the curse, but once it's broken, the curse will come back again, endlessly repeating itself.
As long as that petty god Ankhseram doesn't give in, the moment he cleanses the death energy, the curse at the level of laws crawls back along the causal line, making it a never-ending tug-of-war.
He paid the god Ankhseram with his Life Magic as payment, and finally relented.
Then, using [Life's Profound Meaning - Rebirth], they reversed their bodies again, washing away the death aura, Dragon Force, old age, and demonic power, so they could now be human again.
Whether they were a black mage who had lived for four hundred years, a monster whose whole body had turned into a dragon, or an old man who was about to die, after being reborn by the Parasol Tree, they all emerged as clean, pure, natural human cubs without any side effects.
Unexpectedly, he now possesses Life Magic, making a huge profit this time.
Riyao clenched his fist with a smug look on his face.
He used someone else's blessing to pay off a debt, and then that silly goddess who was afraid of losing performance bonuses gave him a brand new set for free. If God Ankhseram knew about this scheme of getting something for nothing, he would probably be so angry that he would jump off his throne!
He had already planned to learn other magic to play around with, but he was always eyeing that Lost Magic, Arc of Embodiment, which could materialize a powerful spell to crash into people—just thinking about it was thrilling.
Imagine this: in the future, when you fight someone, you won't need to use any magic or emit any green light. You can just point your finger, and an eight-wheeled dump truck loaded with mud will appear out of thin air. With two beeps, you can send the villain to another world to be reincarnated. That scene would be absolutely amazing!
Just as Riyao was chuckling to himself, lost in his fantasy of the mud cart Iaijutsu, a soft white light suddenly shone from Wendy's body.
Grandine, inside Wendy, sensed her confusion and woke up early. After learning about Riyao's actions, she didn't have much resistance.
A small, chubby dragon, about the size of a palm and entirely white, slowly emerged, yawned widely, flew to Wendy's head, and settled down, its tiny eyes glancing at the black gourd on the branch.
"Wendy, Riyao is right. The Black Dragon was just a tragedy caused by the dragon race. There was an evil dragon who tried to rule the whole world. Dragons that didn't obey were killed and controlled."
Grandine flicked her little tail, her voice gentle, carrying a hint of wistfulness from the dragon.
Years ago, Acnologia was controlled by that evil dragon and slaughtered the village it was protecting. Now, the Black Dragon has inherited the name Acnologia and embarked on a journey to slay the dragon.
Is there another hidden story behind this?
Riyao looked confused. He didn't remember such a plot in the original work, or perhaps he hadn't paid attention while watching the anime and hadn't remembered it.
He blinked twice, stroking his chin as he tried to recall memories of his past life.
After hearing the whole story, Wendy's little bumps on her face completely disappeared. She even mustered up her courage and went closer to the black gourd, gently poking its belly with her little finger, her eyes sparkling with anticipation for the day her former companion would hatch.