The lack of fanfare after Acnologia’s death disappointed Arthur. Oh, he knew to some extent that there was a general lack for Fairy Tail as well. Lucy publishing a book had seemed to get more celebrations than the world being saved. Even so he had hoped for something more. The Magic Council of Ishgar had paid up for the 100 Year Quest to end Acnologia, there was that. He could retire and not be dependent upon Selene for money. For Diabolos it was marred by the fact that he’d had to rely on not just dragons, but one of the dragon gods they were formed to kill; it wasn’t proof that their great purpose was about to be completed. To the world at large Acnologia was considered more of a myth than a creature. He had saved the world, and those closest to him knew it; but somewhere inside he’d hoped for the adoration and acclaim of the masses.
He did not get it. He did get a multi-month long tour of Ishgar, Alakitasia, and Guiltina. It was hectic in and of itself, but it was a vacation. Mostly. Arthur still lived in interesting times, he couldn’t go a month without stumbling onto some sort of fight, crime, or dark alchemist guild plotting to overthrow the local government.
He had other things to do, as well, before he was ready to take the fight to the Dragon Gods. Two bounties promised him the chance at training; he had to wonder how much that was affecting his potential to learn and how much it was compelling action from the individuals. The powers of those who had sent him on this journey were outright terrifying.
Irene was happy enough to teach him more enchantment, and it definitely felt easier than when he had practiced before on the boat. It didn’t take him long to reach the level where he could be called a high enchanter.
And then came approaching Grandeeney about learning how to devour the sky. He had gale dragon slayer magic. Iron was the most different from the dragon slayer magics he had mastered without recourse to Takeover, but Sky was the one which helped him to understand Healing magic; and Healing was the magic he really was going to Grandeeney to learn. He had helped Wendy when she had needed it most; even without the battle with Acnologia, Grandeeney felt indebted for that. With the fight against Acnologia, Grandeeney was not afraid that he would become a rampaging danger with what she could teach him. One could say it was small potatoes compared to what power he already possessed.
When he managed to - through the use of Gemini - regrow his arm, he was considered to have graduated from what Grandeeney could teach him of healing magic. And then he had to practice dragon slaying. He still needed to master soul and space dragon slayer magic. His two great works of power. More than any other bounties he wanted to complete them. And they were ones that would help him deal with the coming fights against the dragon gods.
It had taken help from Wraith and Georg, but as months piled on he was confident he had the power he needed.
“Arthur, you can’t be serious. This is what you were ‘training’ with your little dragon hunters for?” Selene was hurt. It was audible in her voice.
Arthur knew it was possible. He’d decided it was better to tell her then just implant a piece of Acnologia’s lacrima into himself without doing so. The Black Lacrima was a massive thing. Larger than any he had encountered from any dragon. Too large to implant directly. He would be taking only a piece of it. And only once he was certain it was purified.
“You want me to face the other dragon gods,” He said. “I needed every ace I could stuff up my sleeve for Acnologia. I don’t see a good reason not to stuff them up my sleeve for the dragon gods too.”
Selene glared at him. “I forbid it. That power is dangerous.”
“I will eat his hate. I will cleanse Acnologia’s will before implanting it. I will be fine.” He had eaten Elexion’s soul, granting Kirin peace at last. He could eat Acnologia’s.
“And if it doesn’t go down easy?” She asked, looking at him. “Even if it does. The Dragon King’s power isn’t a power the world was meant to handle.”
“I’m not planning to stay in this world.” Arthur watched her as he spoke. This wasn’t the first time he’d told her about his journey. She knew he was leaving eventually. She knew he only had a few more years here. She knew she was free to join him.
And she had refused that offer point blank.
“I do not want that power revived,” She stated in a firm tone. She didn’t mind someone with the guts to actually oppose her. Not really. Not normally. Here, though, even dense as he was socially Arthur knew she meant it.
“I need it. Not for this world. But for others. I didn’t want to do this behind your back, but I’m not asking permission, I am telling you what I am going to do.”
“I could kill you while you’re recovering from the surgery,” Selene said.
“I don’t think you will.”
“I won’t be able to look at you without seeing him,” Selene continued.
That one gave Arthur pause. They’d been together for some time at this point. He enjoyed her company. The honeymoon period had passed… and he knew they’d be breaking it off when he left the world behind because she didn’t want to risk the danger of returning to his world full of whatever post-human god-beings returned to it. But breaking up with a long term girlfriend wasn’t easy. And doing it for power was harder still. He wasn’t the sort who craved power above anything.
“We always knew it was going to end.” He forced the words from his lips. He hid his emotions as much as he could, using his mental link to his Archive to help off-load them from physical responses. “So what if it ends earlier?”
Selene looked at him. She was hurt. “You’re dumping me?” She spat out.
Arthur forced himself to nod. He enjoyed her. But… she wanted the finer things in life, she was flashy, she was… he could think of more reasons it was doomed than not. “It was always something of convenience.” And physical lust. She was beautiful. And he didn’t hate her. She just was ultimately never someone who he’d marry. And he’d known it.
“And it’s no longer convenient to you. But what about me?” He could feel her power. The fury of her rage. He was confident he could win. She still held more raw magical power, but he held all the edges. He knew her magic. He had taken it and improved upon it. But she wasn’t actually going to attack. She was just hurt. And scared.
2 years ago he’d have caved to her. He knew that. He’d have caved to avoid the risk of having to fight her. But he had fought so often now. It’d left him with trouble sleeping. He couldn’t turn off his urge to be on guard. It left him tired but unable to sleep. At the same time it made him just not want to care. If he was good. If he played polite. He still had to fight. People were unreasonable. And at this point he had the power to be unreasonable himself. If it came to a fight he felt confident he wasn’t the one who’d be in danger.
“I’m still going to deal with the Dragon Gods. Don’t worry about that.” He said rather callously.
She looked aside. “It’s not just that,” She said. “I thought we’d have more time together.”
“We could.”
“Will you delay implanting that thing into you?”
Arthur shook his head. “No. I want it before I go for that battle. I want every edge I can get. I’m a coward, we both know that. I am not going to pick a fight without every edge I can get. Besides, if something goes wrong this world gives me the best tool to fix it. I don’t know what the next will bring.”
“Then we can’t,” She said.
“Then we can’t,” Arthur seconded.
Cleansing the black lacrima formed from Acnologia’s heart was no easy task. Arthur had crafted it himself. He could remember the way it had twisted in his hand. The hate and darkness which had leaked from it all the while. Purifying it was infinitely simpler, and much more difficult.
He cut a piece from it with his magic. A mixture of edge dragon slayer magic and space to create a blade of space. Then he polished it. The lacrima as a whole was larger than his torso. One did not simply implant Acnologia’s lacrima into their body. He had to cut it down to the proper size. It would be his 7th. And then he polished it. Smoothing off the jagged edge where it had been cut with monomolecular closeness. He would need to smooth it out so that it could be implanted.
His head was filled with his recent argument with Selene. It was dangerous to be distracted here, but… hormones. Ending a relationship had a psychological effect. Being on edge for 6 years had a psychological effect.
But the task at hand helped somewhat. It was something he knew what he was doing with. He could feel the magic. His magic. The lacrima’s magic. He could feel the magic flowing through the system and he knew instinctively how to shape it. It was a relaxing thing.
He used his territory magic to polish the lacrima into the proper shape and size. And all the while he was concentrating its power. He wasn’t just cutting off pieces; he’d cut off one, but as he ground the rest away he was kneading the magical energy inside forcing it into a more concentrated form. It’d get smaller inside of his body. But that was because his body would leech it of its magic, and make it part of him. He had no idea how long it would take with this black lacrima. Serena had far from finished with any of his, but they had shrunk. Even Arthur’s own had shrunk, but only slightly.
Finally he had it small enough and he pushed it into his mouth. It wasn’t easy. It forced his jaws wide. But he forced it in like a giant jawbreaker and then he sucked on it. He could feel the hatred. The anger. The dark living curse which was all that was left of Acnologia. And he drank it down and digested it for power. The taste was bitter.
Still when he was done, it should be safe. Magical power cleansed of the lingering soul which haunted it.
Arthur would have preferred to test his new lacrima against someone other than Viernes. The Gold Dragon God had transmuted itself into a concept. And Arthur had asked around about this. Selene had been the most informative, even suggesting he try and find the philosopher’s stone to reverse it, but just like Irene and August she didn’t really know details. Only that short of the philosopher’s stone there was nothing that could turn Viernes back to flesh and blood.
Arthur had put together a plan for destroying the concept that Viernes had become. Viernes had become Gold Owl. It was the concept of the guild. And if the guild ceased to exist that would have to hurt it. Destroying the guild had never been an option for Fairy Tail, they were too shonen. The manga was unfinished when he left, they were just facing off against Gold Owl to get to Viernes, so maybe they’d end up destroying the guild, but Natsu and the others were just plain incapable of destroying a non-criminal guild in cold blood, or even deciding to. It’d never make it past the editor.
But he wasn’t a shonen hero. And if he was, he’d be one from the 80s. He could murder.
He wasn’t certain he would. Gold Owl hadn’t done anything actually villainous that he knew of. Well in the manga they started abducting Fairy Tail to steal non-tainted dragon slayers. But so far Viernes had done nothing wrong. Gold Owl was a legitimate guild. Viernes could be like Selene and Mercphobia. He’d have to talk to him.
Arthur just intended to bargain from a position of power for a change.
“Why do you want to talk to me?” Duke Barbaroa stood across from Arthur in the guildhall. The Signario sisters flanked him, and several lower ranking members of Gold Owl. “It’s not often the guild master of the world’s strongest mage’s guild comes asking to talk to his betters.”
“I know you’re Viernes the Gold Dragon God,” Arthur said.
“I assume Selene told you.” Arthur nodded. “So what about that brings you here?”
“I killed Acnologia.”
“I am aware. I am insulted that you thought I wouldn’t be.”
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“I killed Acnologia. And now it is time to cleanse the world of the Dragon Gods who still present a threat to humanity. So, why are you here? What’s the plan with turning yourself into the concept of a guild? Why are you seeking the weapon Athena?”
Duke Barbaroa looked at Arthur. A muscle in the alchemist’s cheek twitched aggressively. “Just because you managed to get some ancient dragons to help you kill the Dragon King don’t get overconfident. You face no mere king. You face a dragon god and you have walked directly into his domain. You can’t kill me, dragon slayer. Go home and tell your master that I am not scared of her pet dog.”
“No,” Arthur said.
“No?”
“No.”
Duke laughed. “You realize I am no longer a physical being. I have become a concept. You cannot kill me.”
“No,” Arthur repeated.
“Are you dense?”
“Sorry. Yes, I realize you’ve ascended beyond the physical form to become one with the guild. No, that doesn’t mean I can’t kill you. I wonder what would happen to the concept of Gold Owl if I deleted the guild hall and everyone in it.”
Duke looked at Arthur. Some of the guild members were doing something more productive. They were looking out the windows to see why it had suddenly gotten so dark outside. Duke’s face changed as it dawned on him what Arthur had done. The entire guild hall was in a dimension of darkness, completely separated from Earthland. His jaw dropped.
“Do you know how many innocent souls you’d end, if you deleted this guild hall? Are you the same sort of monster as Acnologia?”
“No. I don’t know how many souls. I only smell three.” He’d made a purchase before arriving here. A perk from the document, a new little cheat power. One which would let him detect what sort of magic people used; he imagined it’d be useful in future worlds if he met any magic users. And it would help him avoid unpleasant surprises.
He didn’t need it. The ability to smell souls as a soul dragon slayer told him enough. There were only 4 individuals in the room. Himself, the two women flanking Duke, and everyone else was Viernes.
Duke scowled. “Selene tell you that one too?”
Arthur tapped his nose. “Your stink did.”
“Yes, I am the guild. You want to know my grand plan? Fine. I will tell you, Dragon Slayer. I seek to do one better than you did. You killed Acnologia, but with Athena I will wipe out all dragons.”
“And then you’ll be the only one, with a dragon slaying super weapon,” Arthur said.
“I am unsure what you mean. I do not, after all, possess Athena. And if you’re going to kill the Dragon Gods I see no reason to track her down. No, then humanity will have peace with no need to fear dragons.”
Arthur looked at Duke. It didn’t sit right with him. This was just Selene’s motivation all over again. A manga wouldn’t do that twice in a row. It felt wrong. Real life might, but not a manga. It didn’t follow the rules of narrative. And he left in the middle of the Gold Owl arc, but Duke tried to kill Athena for being flawed and not wanting to murder innocents. In the manga Selene had traded her dragon power to create the chance to stop Ignia, because he was a threat to humanity. She’d proven her words despite the villainous way she’d gotten to that point.
Duke’s actions in the manga… Were still mid arc when Arthur had left. He hated this feeling of not knowing. This lack of confidence in what to do. He’d expected it. It was ultimately why Viernes was first. He didn’t know what would happen one way or another.
“So you’ve got no ambition to rule over the puny humans?” Arthur asked.
“No more than Selene does. I hear she’s the empress of some otherworldly realm now. I would live as a guild master, and enjoy the prosperity which comes with eternal peace.”
“You do realize that humanity goes to war with humans a fair bit.” The need for the Magic Council alone proved that.
“They won’t in my world,” Duke said.
“And why won’t they?” Arthur asked.
“Because I won’t give them the choice, Gemini,” Duke said with a smile. “You had to know I’d have done my research on y…”
There was an explosion outside, and a massive section of the guild hall was blown away. Gemini, still wearing Arthur’s face, grinned. “That wasn’t very nice.”
The real Arthur waited outside of the guild hall. He wasn’t really certain he was hidden from Viernes. The link with Gemini would be obvious to a sufficiently skilled mage. He was watching and guiding Gemini’s actions. Well some. Gemini’s responses were sometimes better than his own - the spirit knew infiltration, and Arthur was willing to let it take the lead. He remembered that Duke had White Out Magic. Or maybe that was just Athena? Either way they were dangerous. The alchemists had a lot of options. It was better to let Gemini eat their alpha strike and let him see what they could do and counter it.
Unfortunately one of the alchemists had slipped away. Sai wasn’t particularly large - actually he leaned on the light and wiry side - but he had something thuggish about his look. It wasn’t the tattoo on his face, on the way he kept the sides of his head shaved closed. It was how he moved and his demeanor.
Not that Arthur saw either until it was already too late. Sai had approached covertly, and his alchemy might not be capable of a single decisive attack, but he could ruin Arthur’s ability to use magic.
Sai’s alchemy was Bond Alchemy, allowing him to switch an individual’s body with another’s based on their bonds. Love, Rivalry, belief in a target’s weakness… These were all possible. But not all were as easy as others. Weakness required them to be actively thinking of someone they saw as weak. Given the current situation that was at best one of Sai’s guildmates and the bond alchemy switched their body giving the opposite theirs. Which if his guildmate could instantly master the Dragon Slayer’s magic would be an awesome, epic win. But swapping their bodies wouldn’t instantly dismiss the celestial spirit, and with their magical power they could be a problem. And Sai wasn’t certain he wanted to try facing off against his guildmaster at the moment.
Rivalry… he didn’t want to face who the Dragon Slayer could consider a rival. The mage had killed Acnologia.
That left Love as the most available and convenient. What sort of weak chick did they have a thing for?
Sai worked his transmutation, watching as the man outside of the guild hall became a woman. He had hoped that’d be enough to make the man fall - he’d teleported a sizable chunk of the ground around the guildhall with it, so he’d not fall into the frankly somewhat terrifying darkness outside, but he’d hopefully injure himself. Even better, his spell creating this darkness might end.
Neither happened. The platform constructed from Arthur’s Territory didn’t need him to be actively sustaining it constantly. Nor did the dimension they were within. Adding to Sai’s mounting worry, Arthur’s magical power had barely changed; it was still enough above Sai’s reasoning that he couldn’t tell if it had gotten lower at all… or a bit higher.
The buxom, blonde woman standing before him was one he recognized: Selene, the Moon Dragon God. Or Arthur as her. And she was looking at him. Sai couldn’t even comfort himself that Arthur would be confused by her magic. Viernes, as Gold Owl, had known she had taken him as an apprentice, even declared him consort. But the idea that a dragon god and a mortal would actually form a love relationship didn’t occur to Viernes, much less a subordinate illusion with only a fraction of his knowledge. But the fact that she had taught him moon dragon slayer magic to make him her weapon against Acnologia was well known to Viernes, and to Sai.
As the scything blade of moonlight cut Sai in half and removed a whole wing of the guildhouse, his alchemy would fade, restoring Arthur to himself.
The battle inside the guild was frenetic and hectic. It was also short. They were playing the magical equivalent of nuclear rocket tag. Gold Owl was a powerful guild. Duke was a powerful mage wielding white out magic which allowed him to steal the magic of other mages; he might not have the experience and skill with it of a white out priestess but he was still dangerous in the extreme.
And Gemini was copying Arthur, replicating his magic in its entirety. The two women behind Duke began to use their World Alchemy, transforming the world around them into their personal domain. It was too little, and too late.
Darkness magic flared from Gemini blasting the room. Only Duke - barely - held back the shadows with his own magic. Only the two women remained physically intact as the sheer force of the magic wiped out the illusions forming the others.
And then Arthur walked into the guildhall’s main chamber. “So I take it that negotiations have failed.”
“Even if you destroy the guild. I won’t be slain. I will return. I can outlast you by eternities,” Duke - still acting as the voice of Viernes - said looking between his two identical foes. He was not just talking, but turning his white out magic towards the real Arthur, attempting to blot away his Celestial Spirit Magic.
Gemini vanished as Arthur’s internal gate did. And in a flash of light Arthur was on Duke, his hand glowing red. Fire erupted and what remained of Duke fell to the ground.
And then Arthur’s territory armor surrounded him. When he’d transported the guild he’d surrounded it with a territory barrier. It’d been fading since he was temporarily transmuted as the dimension around them ate away at everything within. He did nothing to stop it now. He let it consume. The guild would be gone soon enough. And with nothing left to possess, Viernes would be no more than a wandering soul.
Arthur stepped from the world, leaving Viernes and Gold Owl behind.
Hopefully the Guiltina authorities would be unable to ascertain for certain who or what had disappeared Gold Owl. Arthur would hate for Diabolos to be punished for his action. Still with Viernes gone, that left Aldoron, and Dogramag to deal with. And Mercphobia and Ignia but they could both wait.
Arthur was trying to move quickly. He didn’t want Ignia getting wind of his actions and waking them up. Dogramag was first. And he teleported to the great labyrinth where he laired; he’d already been preparing this, making certain all the pieces were in place to do this quickly. Before Ignia knew he was killing Dragon Gods he’d have killed 3 of them, and talked to Mercphobia. Of course, that still left Ignia, whose location he did not yet know.
Minerva and Taberius were already waiting at the entrance, along with several of his swords. He’d been studying under Irene; and he’d woven personality enchantments into his blades. They weren’t truly top tier mages, but they might be able to be called S class.
Dogramag was dead. Slain by the founder of the first Mages’ Guild, the Law Dragon Elefseria, though he had taken the Law Dragon’s heart at the same time, and where he died had become the great labyrinth. Of course, he wasn’t actually dead, merely playing possum while spreading his magic through the continent.
The labyrinth was Earthland’s great monster-filled dungeon. The four sword and his 2 ex-apprentices speed ran it. They were seeking the spheres which held Dogramag’s divided power, Enif and Altair helping with scout duties, while Arthur went to the center.
The fact that he was possibly the only human with the combination of dragon slayer magic and magical power needed to cut through the walls of the labyrinth made things simpler.
The moment Arthur began to crush the spheres that made up his main power the dragon rose, forming a body of stone. The Earth Dragon God. Of all of the Dragon Gods, his heart was the one Arthur wanted most. Though his heart was not the most important dragon’s heart here.
Dogramag was not the first dragon Arthur had slain. And with his cores destroyed he was no longer the most powerful. He was just… a dragon. Arthur allowed his takeover magic nearly free-reign, his body growing and shifting. The dragon shape he was taking had always been black, but reinforced with the magical energy from the Black Lacrima marks of blue formed across it. It was not the shape of any dragon he had slain. It had elements of Acnologia and the Darkness Dragon but it was not theirs. It was his. It was his dragon slayer art given a physical form: the Space Dragon which ate dimensions.
The battle was over quickly. With so many cores shattered Dogramag was not able to surmount Arthur’s defense, and Arthur’s teeth sank into Dogramag’s throat crushing stone and ripping it out. Dogramag tried to reform, but a smashing blow to his back shattered him as he reformed.
To Arthur’s disappointment, however, Dogramag’s reformed body had not had the time to form a heart. And his reformation had used the Law Dragon’s Heart as its fuel. There was no lacrima to be gained from here. And given it was only a half-reformed golem of earth and dirt there was no real dragon meat either.
Aldoron went better. The Wood Dragon God was a sleeping city. A natural disaster waiting to happen. Evacuation was quite possible with his territory magic. And Aldoron had divided his power into 5 spheres. Destroying them was not easy - he had formed guardian deities for them - but his enchanted swords could match them, and Minerva and Taberius could tip the balance. The fact that Diabolos had volunteered to help made it easier.
Like Dogramag, with his power divided Aldoron died rather easily, but this time his guild would feast upon a dragon god. It was a rather large celebration for Diabolos. Even if Selene, and most likely Mercphobia, would survive, in 1 day 3 of the Dragon Gods had died. Arthur did not have time to stay at the celebration. Diabolos would eat. He would collect the heart for a lacrima later, but for now he would go meet with Mercphobia.
The Water Dragon God had settled down to be worshiped as a god and protector, ruling over a human settlement. He was on guard when Arthur arrived, already in full dragon form. Evacuations were visibly progressing when Arthur approached riding on Enif. A massive torrent of water ended Enif’s summon and nearly shattered his territory armor. Mercphobia was ready for a fight.
Arthur managed to teleport to the ground, shedding his velocity in the process. He didn’t want to kill Mercphobia. The town was evacuating, and the dragon was leaving the shore behind to face him away from it. It was easy to guess that Mercphobia had felt the battles - the sort of magical power Arthur had thrown around against Dogramag had to have been felt across much of the continent - and assumed Arthur was here to kill him. But he wasn’t retreating to the sea. He was buying time for the people to escape.
It sort of would leave a terrible aftertaste to dine on Mercphobia when he was doing so. But to talk to the dragon god would require something more than just sitting there.
Arthur teleported himself forward to dodge the next massive blast of water. It scoured away a hill, but Arthur was moving again. Three teleportations later he was on Mercphobia’s head, his black sword at the dragon’s eye. “I come to talk.”
The discussion with Mercphobia did not go extremely well, but it served its purpose. Arthur’s approach had made a bad first impression. He had come off as a violent thug, who was threatening a dragon god. It stung the pride.
Mercphobia swallowed back that pride for the sake of his people. He had adopted the city as his, and he would protect them. He had grown to value the little, interesting lives of humans. He didn’t want them to die, and he saw no reason to fight Arthur for killing 3 of the Dragon Gods; they were not friends of his, and he’d already known sooner or later he might have to kill them. Arthur had left a bad first impression, and possibly left Mercphobia forever thinking of him as a violent thug, but they were ultimately on the same side, and morally compatible. They did not fight, and parted as much as allies as the dragon gods ever had been.
Ignia alone remained. And once the Dragon Gods had died, Arthur would be able to leave without regrets. But before he fought Ignia he would implant his new lacrima.