A Story Worth Telling
The sea breeze poured into the hall through the open doors of Fairy Tail, while outside, the towering Parasol tree on the sea swayed its lush branches, scattering warm, verdant dapples of light.
On the thick main branch high in the tree canopy, only three large gourds remain hanging there, swaying back and forth in the sea breeze. As for which one will ripen and fall first, even Riyao himself, who planted them, is unsure.
On the bench in front of the bar, Riyao was sitting with his legs crossed, casually swaying a glass of chilled juice in his hand.
"Eh, even you don't know? Mavis and Zeref have both woken up; they must have landed first, right?"
Irene sat on the high stool next to her, her two short, dangling legs barely touching the ground. She tilted her head, her big eyes blinking.
She has now completely mastered the secrets of online traffic, and relying on her appearance as a delicate twelve-year-old loli, she spends her days in the guild using all sorts of cute tricks to freeload.
Sitting next to her, Erza looked at her mother's new little dress adorned with lace trim, then touched her own nearly empty pockets, and her heart ached.
To support her picky, stepmother, she recently cut her budget in half for even the purchase of new armor.
As the saying goes, red and blue make a perfect couple, and now the scarlet-haired Irene and the dark blue-haired Wendy are always together, whispering and sharing snacks.
They've become the new generation of Fairy Tail's "Enchantment Magic Sisters" duo. The two little ones Coco when they sit side by side, making the group of rough guys in the guild completely swoon.
Riyao took a big gulp of juice through the straw and lazily shrugged.
"I don't know. I initially thought August would land first, but you landed first. Magic is really unreasonable."
Riyao's words were not just empty talk. Of the six people hanging in the tree, although August's magical power was terrifyingly vast, he was essentially still a pure human body, without any mutations or evil influences.
Logically speaking, given the difficulty of physical modification and the mental resistance required, he should have been the first to hatch.
In contrast, the other stubborn holdouts are Irene and Acnologia, who are completely mutated dragons, Larcade, who is a demon body created by Zeref. As for Zeref and Mavis, they are even more extraordinary, possessing special bodies that bear the immortal curse of the god Ankhseram.
The [Life Profound Meaning - Rebirth] that Riyao unleashed was not simply a crude act of grinding the old body to dust and then molding it into a clay figure.
Instead, they stuffed them into gourds, mobilizing endless life essence to wash over every inch of bone and flesh again and again, forcibly washing away the curses and alien powers embedded deep in their souls, and thus reshaping the purest human body.
In terms of workload, August was originally the easiest project to complete, but Irene snatched it away. This was obviously mixed with unknown variables such as the strength of the parties' obsession.
Riyao muttered to himself, "This magical world, where idealism reigns supreme, doesn't care about any scientific principles at all; it just releases items based on its mood."
At the long table not far away, Natsu has completely transformed into a professional waiter these past few days, even refusing to accept his favorite fighting requests.
He would squat by the guild gate every day, staring at the Parasol Tree outside, just waiting for Zeref to land so he could rush up and immediately acknowledge him as his younger brother, indulging in the glory of being the eldest brother.
At the very center of the long table, the dragons, who had fallen into Sleep due to exhaustion, gradually regained their strength.
The Fire Dragon King Igneel and the Iron Dragon Metalicana, shrunk to the size of cats, are currently lying sprawled out on the table, belly up, completely lacking any decorum.
Two dragons, who have lived for over four hundred years, have finally settled into a life of retirement. They hold a handful of sunflower seeds in their claws, cracking them open and chatting as they go.
"I'm really curious to see how the Black Dragon will react when it comes out. Will it burst into tears? Haha..."
Igneel spat out the sunflower seed shells from his mouth, crossed his legs, and chuckled as he thought about it.
The thought of Acnologia, the once invincible Black Dragon of the Apocalypse who struck fear into the hearts of the entire dragon race, soon becoming a harmless, naked little kid with not even fully grown feathers made it laugh so hard it rolled around on the table, tears welling up in its eyes.
Metalicana, standing nearby, snorted coldly. It didn't have the same magnanimity towards Acnologia as Igneel, after all, that guy was the culprit who personally slaughtered most of the dragon race.
It's one thing to know that there were other hidden stories behind that tragedy four hundred years ago.
But getting it to completely let go of its resentment and accept it with a smile is another matter entirely. However, out of respect for Riyao, Metalicana just kept eating sunflower seeds and didn't say anything more to disagree.
Lucy, sitting to the side, listened intently for a long time, her novelist's gossip spirit already burning brightly within her.
She pulled out two pieces of high-quality charcoal-grilled beef jerky from her small bag, smiled, and offered them to Igneel as a bribe.
What exactly happened four hundred years ago? Tell us.
The question was like a depth charge dropped into a calm pond. The guild members who had been drinking and bragging in the hall fell silent instantly, and a large group of them swarmed around.
Macao, Wakaba, Gray, and even Gajeel craned their necks, their eyes wide like copper bells. This was an ultimate secret that hadn't even been recorded in history books four hundred years ago.
This is a top-secret document that is unique in the entire mainland. If you understand this, you'll have an unbeatable topic to brag about to your colleagues in the outside world for a whole year!
Igneel sniffed the air, took a bite of the beef jerky without hesitation, chewed it quickly, and swallowed it. Then, he spread his paws and gave a very perfunctory, economical summary.
"It's nothing much. Just like you humans, dragons have good dragons and bad dragons. There's a super evil dragon that wants to conquer the whole world and is launching indiscriminate attacks on humans and good dragons."
Lucy watched helplessly as her expensive high-end beef jerky was exchanged for such a bland and meaningless remark. She froze on the spot, clutching her empty wallet and silently lamenting in her mind that this gluttonous Fire Dragon was even more of a shrewd businessman Natsu!
Fortunately, Irene couldn't stand it anymore. She swallowed the strawberry cream in her mouth, shook her little head, and took over Igneel's words.
"Dragon Slayer Magic was born at that time. The battles between dragons were evenly matched, and with the opponent's Dragon Control Magic, the good dragon camp suffered a series of defeats."
"Dragon Control Magic? Is that the magic that Future Rogue used before?"
Lucy's eyes widened suddenly, and she almost dropped the quill pen she was holding. She had originally thought that the Dragon Control Magic that Future Rogue used during the Grand Magic Games was a dark art that he had just made up himself. She never expected that this thing already had a legitimate origin four hundred years ago.
"It's not the same magic, just a poor imitation. I've seen the information from that battle; based on the description of the effect, it only allows communication, not any forced binding effect."
Irene waved her hand dismissively. As the pioneer of High Enchantment Magic, she had absolutely no interest in the Future Rogue's half-baked tricks of barely managing to fool a few wild dragons with a bit of dragon malice.
She picked up the hot black tea Wendy offered her to moisten her throat, and continued speaking slowly and deliberately.
"Alright, let's continue. Dragon Slayer Magic was developed by me in collaboration with Sage Dragons using Enchantment Magic. The expected effects were indeed achieved, with the good dragons gradually gaining the upper hand over the bad dragons. However, no one anticipated that Dragon Slayer Magic would have such drawbacks, leading to the worst possible outcome."
At this point, Igneel, Metalicana, who were lying on the table, and Grandine, who was nestled on Wendy's head, all let out a muffled sigh.
Back then, they only wanted to provide their human allies with a weapon for self-defense and counterattack, and maintain the balance between the two races. Who could have imagined that once mortals mastered the power to slay dragons, they would be driven completely mad by the raging Dragon Seed?
Especially Acnologia, that complete freak, who took the dead end of Dragon Slayer Magic to its extreme.
In that era when magic was scarce, the Black Dragon, with its terrifyingly invulnerable body, was practically an invincible natural disaster in the world.