Arthur lay in his bed staring upwards towards his left arm. He held it over his face, wiggling its fingers and waving its hand in front of his face. Or well if he had been wearing a prosthesis his fingers would have been wriggling, and there would have been a hand. He could still feel his fingers move, even though he knew very well there was no hand there, just a burned and scarred stump.
Minerva and Tabby were exploring Alvarez’s capital city, but he had remained behind in the castle with his thoughts. Irene and August had given him things to think about.
Irene had offered to give him Heine and Juliet, or teach him how she made them, or “do anything he desired” which he was pretty sure if he took her up on would upset Selene more than it was worth. Lewd thoughts aside, it wasn't her desire to repay him which had him staring upwards thinking. It was the news she’d given him that morning.
Zeref was on his way here. He’d been contacted about Irene’s change, and Arthur in general. It was just as well with Arthur. He’d been here to prove he could help Irene, to validate his own existence by helping someone, and lighten the specter that hung over his shoulders about how much of his power was a cheat by at least using that cheat to help someone; he was introspective enough to recognize that his altruism was both more real than Irene and August had been willing to believe and that it was still fake. But with Irene helped, he did have other things to do here. He hadn’t lied to Selene when he said he wanted to get Emperor Spriggan and his forces to help bring Acnologia low.
That was not what he was thinking about. Irene had said that she was certain Zeref would offer him a position within the Spriggan Twelve. It was the warning that Zeref did not like that offer being removed and he could be capricious at times that had Arthur worrying and thinking. He might be an exception, Irene had said it was a possibility; his power and skills were enough that he might be able to make an arrangement with Zeref as an equal. But if he did not want to bend the knee, or risk a battle against those he sought to ally with… She had told him to leave the castle before Zeref arrived.
Arthur would risk the danger. He knew as much as he was waffling and brooding over the decision, that he had already decided to stay. But that didn’t stop him from second guessing.
Then there was what August told him. The Wizard King could regrow his arm and make him whole again.
He wanted it. But he had told August he needed to think about it.
A hand white as alabaster and accented in gold formed on his stump. It was high quality porcelain, reinforced by the magical energy of the lacrima set into it. He had some tactile sensation from it. But it wasn’t total.
His hand changed, silvery scales replacing alabaster porcelain. Claws tipped its fingertips, the hand inhuman and monstrous. It was made from bone and scales, bits of meat included. A dragon didn’t decay easily. He could feel from the prosthetic. Not a full range of sensation - the scales were armoring and kept out a fair bit of sensation - but it was more sensitive than it should be for a dragon’s claw. But it wasn’t human.
His hand changed again and again, cycling through his prosthetic options. If he was honest, none of them were truly close to an appropriate replacement for his flesh and blood. He was incomplete.
And August had given him the option to be whole again.
But incomplete or not they were useful. He could pack far more magic into a prosthesis than a gauntlet. He couldn’t replicate the Fist of God or Demon King’s Hand as a gauntlet. They were useful weapons and tools.
So was Irene’s dragon form.
Arthur immediately chided himself for that thought. Dragonification was powerful. If he just tapped into the dragon force till he changed he would become much more powerful. But he’d seen Georg degrade mentally as it progressed. He’d seen the savage, half-crazed beast which was Irene, and how much happier and different she was now. He’d felt the power which assaulted his mind when he’d gotten close.
To compare the hand to it was like comparing burning your shirt for light to burning your house for light. The latter provided more light, but losing your shirt hurt a lot less than losing your house.
His fake hands worked. They functioned. They could serve as a replacement. And they gave him abilities he’d lose if he regrew his arm.
Which was worth it. He could always cut his arm off again if the power was that important. So it should be simple: tell August yes.
But Acnologia still loomed. And as long as the dragon king was out there, he needed to be ready. For now the answer was no. Hopefully he’d have a chance to change it after he had dealt with the dragon king one way or another. And if not, he’d find his own way to restore it. Compared to dragon takeover that should be relatively easy.
There was a rapping on Arthur’s chamber door. When he opened it he saw Heine, the dark haired ninja-girl who served as one of Irene’s personal servants and weapons. Well actually she was a sword enchanted by Irene with human form and personality, a sort of magical AI. It approached living magic in its way, though she was not a demon.
She was a straight-laced girl, one who didn’t flaunt her emotions, but she wasn’t meeting his eyes and for the first time since Irene had her humanity restored, she didn’t have a hint of a smile on her face. “I am to report to you that your presence is requested in the imperial chamber immediately,” She said.
“Zeref’s returned?” A small panel manifestation of his Archive appeared by Arthur’s hand. It was more effective to summon it to make changes, and if he was going to go see Zeref he wanted his Archive running at full power, and overclocking fully activated.
“Yes,” Heine said. “He requested your presence. He does not like to be kept waiting.”
“Impatient for an immortal isn’t he.”
Heine nodded lightly, then froze a little. “How did you know the Emperor is Zeref?”
Arthur winced. While here no one had called Zeref by name, always referring to him as Emperor Spriggan. “I am well informed.”
The sword-turned-girl looked at him for a moment with a quizzical look on her face. After a few moments, she said, “Shall I lead you there?”
“Alone? Shouldn’t I get my apprentices?” Arthur asked.
Arthur walked into the imperial chamber. Zeref sat at a throne, a round table before him with seats for the Spriggan 12. Arthur noted immediately that Brandish was not among those seated at the table; he had seen her, she was in the castle, so she was unlikely to be the owner of one of the 4 empty seats.
Arthur had expected Irene and August to have the two seats besides the emperor, but they did not. In fact August was seated nearly opposite, next to the chair which was offered to Arthur himself. Instead two Spriggans he didn’t recognize flanked Zeref.
It’d been a while since he read the Spriggan arc, he wasn’t certain he’d recognize most of the Spriggans. But Seilah’s memories ensured he could recognize Zeref himself. Another bore something of a familial resemblance to Natsu and Zeref, but his hair was a pale blonde like Selene’s, and his scent was disturbingly close to Natsu’s; that was enough to identify him as Larcade. The red and black hulking brute next to him was obviously an etherious which would make him Bloodman.
The man on Zeref’s right had pale, gray hair and glasses, which probably meant he was the ice mage who fought Gray; the ice general or shogun or something like that. Arthur couldn’t remember his proper title, and just thought of him as the Frost General. He tried to place the other three. The short haired blonde who wore a shirt that was little more than a bikini top would be the time goddess vessel who used a variation of takeover magic. At least he could only remember three female members of the Spriggan 12 and he was pretty sure she’d been blonde and liked showing skin.
He couldn’t narrow down the other 2. In the manga there’d been a sand mage but he had huge hair and a dark tan, which neither had. There’d also been a robot man, but he was fat and neither were. He remembered an assassin with a skull on his head, but he wasn’t here. He’d met Brandish and she wasn’t here. That left God Serena, the guy who countered spatial magic, and the guy who had the ability to bring back phantoms of the dead from people’s memories. Except that God Serena was dead, and since he’d remembered 13 members of the Spriggan Twelve he was pretty sure that the guy who countered spatial magic wasn’t a member.
By the process of elimination the remaining two people both had to be the memory-necromancer.
Presumably one of the two was someone replaced by Brandish or God Serena before their first appearance in the manga. Maybe both of them. Arthur had no way of knowing.
Despite there still being 3 unoccupied seats, Minerva and Tabby were not offered chairs. Instead Zeref fixed Arthur with an intense stare.
He was dressed in a high collared black robe, with a white toga-like cloth wrapped around his chest. His look towards Arthur was like how someone might look at an interesting insect… before beginning to tear its limbs off one at a time.
Maybe he should have run. Was the Dragon King actually more dangerous than the Black Wizard?
“I welcome you, Arthur Mage of the North, to the court of the Emperor Spriggan,” He said, his face eerily impassive. “I have heard quite a bit about you. You appeared and immediately solved a magical problem which I had stumbled over for years. You killed one of the Wizard Gods who had stood against our invasion of Ishgar, as a successful bulwark. You remade one of the demons of Tartaros as your personal servant.”
The etherious, Bloodman, slammed his hands on the table then, his eyes shooting wide. Rage and injured pride burned across his face. Arthur could remember him from the manga; he was made by combining all the powers of the demons of Tartaros into one demon. Arthur wondered what he thought about things.
He had plenty of time to wonder. His overclocking left his mind moving at vastly increased speeds. Though he was wondering more about whether Zeref actually knew he had killed God Serena or was trying to gauge his reaction to the statement. The suspicion was certainly there, but that wouldn’t be surprising. The suspicion was far from uncommon.
Zeref didn’t deign to notice Bloodman’s outburst, but continued as if it had never happened. “A dragon god has recognized your power as her personal knight, and lover, and yet I must wonder if that’s not to cover her fear of you. She’s been coordinating enemies of yours; arming them to kill you.”
Zeref paused. Arthur was doing his best to keep his own face impassive, and to react to nothing. It was a lot easier when running your mind through a magical computer. The silence dragged on till Arthur was just beginning to think that Zeref was waiting for him to say something when Zeref continued again. “Any one of these things would be enough that I would have to consider you for a position among my Shields. All of them put together, and well you certainly have my attention. So, will you accept and become one of my 12 Shields of Spriggan, my personal imperial bodyguard?”
“I cannot answer such a question lightly. I am after all already in another’s employ, and on a mission of my own. Until I have dealt with the Dragon King I do not have the time to play games of soldiers and kingdoms,” Arthur answered, his eyes on Zeref’s face, trying to find something in the emotionless mask of flesh. “If it is for the task of removing the threat of Acnologia, and you have a capable plan, I will consider it.”
Arthur wished he had Cobra’s hearing magic to hear people’s thoughts. He felt like he was walking through a minefield and one wrong move might trigger Zeref to go into killer mode.
“How dare you speak to the emperor in such a tone,” Larcade said, rising to his feet as his palms slammed on the table. “Father, allow me to teach this arrogant fool a lesson.”
“Larcade, sit down,” Zeref said in a voice that overflowed with malice. Arthur could see Irene shudder out of the corner of one eye. Arthur couldn’t completely resist a shudder as well.
Zeref turned back to face Arthur. “Why are you so concerned with killing the Dragon King?”
“Because he’s a destroyer, and a threat to the world at large.” Arthur’s answer came quickly and easily enough.
“So am I.”
Arthur would have hesitated, and mulled for a moment, showing obvious discomfort, but his overclocked brain provided him with the ability to hide his natural slowness. “You’re a conqueror and a king. You can be reasoned with and don’t make a habit of wiping out entire towns just for entertainment.”
“You seem misinformed.”
“Acnologia doesn’t destroy towns at near random?”
“He does, but when one is bored enough… Well I can’t say I haven’t before.”
“Look, if you want me to put you on the list after Acnologia, I can see about doing what your book project couldn’t. Or maybe even breaking your curse. But Acnologia is the more pressing concern at the moment.”
“What did you say?” Zeref rose to his feet, looking down at Arthur from across the - rather large - circular table.
“I figured out how to restore humanity to a dragon. I might be able to figure out how to break your curse, and failing that I suspect I have the means to kill you if you’d like.”
Zeref looked at him. The impassive mask had cracked just a little, but Arthur couldn’t pinpoint an emotion on his face. He simply looked crazed. The Spriggans were scooting their chairs away, giving Zeref more space around him. Arthur realized then he had misinterpreted the space around Zeref’s throne. It wasn’t a sign of respect, or at least not entirely one, it was keeping distance between them and his curse.
“There is nothing in this world that can kill me. I have tried,” Zeref said.
“I have a sword for killing immortals, it’d be worth a shot,” Arthur said, his words coming faster than his consideration of whether they were a good idea even despite his overclocking.
“Don’t lie to me.” Zeref’s voice cracked with broken hope and mad rage. “I have traveled the entire world looking for any such weapon. It does not exist,” Zeref said, his voice holding the murderous edge of an unsheathed blade. “If you’re going to lie to me, you will not last long here.”
“It’s from another world,” Arthur said, barely managing to hold back from adding at the end ‘dumbass’.
Zeref stopped then staring at Arthur silently for a moment. “The Edolas incident?” He asked.
“Not Edolas, but I’ve been to many worlds. The sword itself is a demon in the form of a blade, pulled from a space beyond even the worlds I can traverse,” He was meticulously telling the truth; Irene had told him about the lie detection spell August liked to use, and his Archive’s pings did warn him that August was in mental rapport with Zeref.
“Leave! All of you! You are dismissed!” Zeref suddenly ordered in an imperious tone, and the Spriggan rose and backed away. They didn’t run, they were calm and orderly, but Arthur noticed they were walking quickly. The retreat from the chamber was fast, smooth, and efficient. Even so before they had left it Arthur could see the black, life taking force eating away at the space around Zeref. Even his friendship was going to be dangerous.
And once they had left the room, Arthur was at the center of attention.
Bloodman and Larcade were glaring daggers at him. He’d made enemies there when he ‘stole’ Seilah; even if he didn’t get to keep her. He wondered briefly if Zeref would destroy their books if he stole them the same way. Then he remembered how callously Zeref had treated Tartaros in the manga, and how Larcade had died; Zeref wouldn’t hesitate to kill them if they annoyed him much less were turned into another’s tools.
August was the same black box that he always was. The Frost General was likewise completely unreadable, other than that Arthur definitely had his attention. Irene at least Arthur felt was on his side. Her looks towards him were worried and emotional.
The other three were nakedly curious. One of the men, a guy with a girly face, purple ponytail, and a foppish outfit, started to step towards him, but it was the woman behind him which caught Arthur’s attention.
One instant the two men were between her and him. And then things were weird. He felt something washing over him. It was hard to say what it was, but the world dimmed, growing almost black through the filter of his territory armor.
His Archive had brought up a warning about time magic, but this was on a whole other league than Sawyer’s. Time had effectively come to a standstill. He could guess why he was able to perceive things; his sheer magical power. He barely caught a shape which he thought was August moving backwards, backing up a step to return to the position he was in when time froze, and hide his own ability to act. He seemed a little slowed, though.
There was another much faster shape. It would be the blonde-haired Spriggan. She was a blur, and the sheer lack of light was not helping. He had gone from effectively wearing sunglasses in doors to wearing sunglasses in a poorly lit dungeon. But he could feel the drain of energy on his Territory Armor from the blows against it.
He remembered her power from the manga. She had time magic courtesy of fusing with the time god Cronos, and she could freeze time with it. He wondered what would happen if he was actually pressing his magic to its limits at that moment. There was a big difference between active power level output and passive one. But in that time of consideration she had already struck dozens of times.
Arthur began to simply feed a steady flow of power into his territory armor. He could observe the Spriggan slow down - at least from his perspective - as he did so. She was still moving at a speed that looked like you were playing a video at a high fast forward, 10 or 20 times normal speed, but he was only using a trickle of magical power. Maintaining his Archive link was something he had grown accustomed to doing almost passively, and the same with keeping up his Territory Armor. The rate of her blows attriting it was not much either; he suspected she was holding back, not wanting to risk a lethal blow and merely testing things. If his magic was fully active he felt he could probably break free and act normally in this island of frozen time. Still it was a dangerous assassination tool. If she’d used full force and takeover would he still be standing here? If she’d gone straight for the kill could he have flared his power fast enough to escape and survive? He didn’t want to find out.
He did his best to stand still, and give away nothing. If he was going to find a counter he needed to let his Archive observe and study. His best was not good enough. He moved. Not much, but his position shifted as she hammered away blow after blow. 10 or 20 times normal speed had fallen to 3 or 5 times as he had increased his Archive’s power to record events. And even then another 8 minutes passed, before the lights turned back on.
The god-vessel was breathing hard. She’d just spent a good hour or more from her subjective time holding time frozen and hitting him in the space between seconds.
“What the ****ing hell is your skin made of?” She asked, her brown eyes staring straight up towards his face.
“That’s my secret,” Arthur said. His territory armor was visible to those who knew to look for it. It dimmed his vision because it was partially opaque to light, or polarized it; he wasn’t sure which. Either way looking through it was like looking through a darkened pane of glass, and it didn’t only apply to him looking out. But if you didn’t know how he looked without it, well it just made him have a touch of swarthiness. “Time magic, right?”
The woman flinched. “You could perceive it?”
Arthur wondered if she’d realized August could too. But August had been slowed even from Arthur’s perspective and he must have been slowed from Dimaria’s. Was it because Arthur was stronger? His purchases shouldn’t have made him so, but the lacrima implanted in his body might have tipped the scale. Or was it because Arthur had been using magic and August had not been? And given the panic in her eyes, Arthur didn’t think she realized that August could.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I’ve encountered similar magic before.” It was true, but it was also a non-answer just in case August was still playing at being a living lie detector. He tried to sound unperturbed. The woman was dangerous. Kind of cute, but just dangerous enough to be wary around. He didn’t want to confirm he was a threat to her, dangerous and scared was doubly dangerous. “Still it does interest me, I’d be happy to have a discussion about it with you sometime.”
“Think I look that stupid?” The Spriggan said. “You just want to learn my secrets.”
“Well of course. I mean when a cutie keeps her name a secret, the air of mystery makes me just want to know.”
“My name is not a secret.”
“It’s not? Well I can’t say I know it.”
She groaned a little. “Dimaria, and yours was Arthur wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Now, what’s up with your body?”
“Maybe we can discuss it and time magic sometime.” Arthur wasn’t going to be dropping his territory armor any time soon in this country, but he was calming down a bit.
Dimaria chuckled lightly. “Maybe,” She said, and then she looked at the two Spriggans Arthur hadn’t been able to identify. “What are you gawking at?”
It was Irene who extracted Arthur from the group, stepping up to Arthur and taking his arm. “I grow bored with this, Arthur would you care to accompany me to my chambers. I thought perhaps we could have a discussion about our magics.”
She shot a withering glare at the other members of the Spriggan 12 and began to walk, pulling Arthur by the arm as if she did not intend to take no for an answer.
Heine and Juliet were at work in Irene’s chambers when they arrived. They were carrying in furniture, awkwardly maneuvering a couch through the doorway. Arthur didn’t even feel the expenditure of magical energy as he teleported them both and the couch through the doorway.
Irene’s chambers were large, but spartan, the furniture an odd mix of the fine - like what Heine and Juliet were currently carrying - and the most simple and pragmatic - wooden chairs and stools.
“I apologize for the state of my chambers. I found that they were in grave need of redecoration,” Irene said. “I haven’t sat for reasons other than etiquette in quite some time.”
Arthur nodded. “It’s understandable,” He said.
“I should have thought of somewhere better, but you looked uncomfortable among the Shields of Spriggan, and I thought you’d appreciate somewhere they wouldn’t dare to follow,” Irene stated.
“Yeah,” Arthur said somewhat weakly. “Felt like I was surrounded by a pack of wolves.” It wasn’t just being the center of attention - though that hadn’t made Arthur comfortable - but the way they were going about it. Heine and Juliet were staring at him; or well Heine was stealing glances and pointedly looking away most of the time, while Juliet was openly staring at him with a strangely adoring smile. The two sword-girls were not making him comfortable, and actually Juliet’s fixation had him creeped out just a little. But it was nothing compared to the hostility in the Spriggan’s stares, even before Dimaria’s naked testing of his abilities.
“Do you know what a spriggan is?” Irene asked.
“A twisted wood sprite,” Arthur said, then shook his head. “No, that was only in a game. They were the ghosts of giants, wizened and twisted fairies which haunted old ruins and burial mounds.”
“I couldn’t say for certain about those details, but what the Emperor has said was that they were twisted, predatory fairies. So we Shields are not too far removed from a pack of wolves gathered around a single alpha beast who commands through his sheer, naked power.”
“Sounds wonderfully pleasant, I can definitely see why you attract new applicants,” Arthur’s voice dripped with naked sarcasm, and then he regretted it as he saw Irene flinch away. It was hard to remember in the last few days that she was one of their leaders. He blamed it on the smiles she kept having.
Though she frowned at the moment. “That was not the impression I… That was… Zeref asked me to make certain that you do not oppose us.”
“That sounds like he thinks I have reason to do so.”
“He may. He has never been one to particularly share his goals with us.” Irene said. “He always called it a game to keep us inhuman immortals entertained…”
“This is a pretty great sales pitch you’ve got here. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t consider myself inhuman, and I’m certainly no immortal.” Arthur didn’t press at the idea of playing games with the lives of mortals. He was trying to ensure that there was enough of a wedge between Irene and Zeref that if push came to shove she’d side with him over Zeref. Guilt tripping her for her actions wouldn’t help with that. Reminding her that she was no longer a ‘player’ in Zeref’s game but a mortal pawn would.
Meeting August and Dimaria had convinced Arthur that the Spriggan 12 could potentially kill him. Meeting Zeref had convinced him that the Black Wizard was as much of a threat to the world as Acnologia. More of one than any of the 5+1 Dragon Gods. And having upset the natural flow of the world, Arthur would have to kill Zeref lest he kill the world. And when it came to that; even if he could deal with Zeref, he’d need help to deal with the Spriggan 12 at the same time.
“I was,” Irene said. “And like you, he helped me, in a way I can never repay. He saved me when I needed him. I had spent nearly 400 years trapped in the form of a dragon, filled with the sheer, maddening power of that form.” There was pain in her voice, and when she raised it, it was printed clear on her face. “When your magic gives you the shape of a dragon, how much does it truly make you one?”
“As much as I dare allow it, which is already more than I’d like,” Arthur answered. It was painfully true. “I have no wish to cross that line. I’ve gotten too close to it before, and it messed up my head.”
Irene nodded. “I spent 400 years as a dragon. But Zeref gave me human form, and even if it was flawed and imperfect, it gave me the chance to give birth to my daughter as a human,” Her voice cracked, pain and sorrow in it. “Even if the madness still was twisting my mind, making it unsafe for me to be near her lest in a moment of weakness I did something monstrous to her, my daughter wouldn’t have even been born if not for him. I owe him, almost as much as I owe you.”
“Your daughter… where did you leave her?”
“Why?” Irene asked, the hurt of the memories still in her eyes and on her face.
“Because when I was in Fiore I knew a young lady who looked like she could have been your little sister.”
Irene’s hands clenched, fingers digging hard into her palms, her face turning towards him. “In Fiore? It’s possible. I… I tried not to remember where I left her.” Her face was hopeful and pleading as she looked at him. “Tell me about her.”
“Her hair was the same scarlet as yours, and she was freakishly strong as a mage. Still far from fully developed but in raw power probably one of the top 10 in Ishgar. Her face looked like yours as well.”
“How was she? Was she well? Was she happy?”
“Her life wasn’t without hardships. She spent years as a slave,” Arthur felt a little guilty. He was choosing his words knowingly to manipulate Irene’s feelings, and she was wearing them on her sleeve. A naked fury built on her face when he said those words. “Of the cult of Zeref.” She bit onto her lower lip, her face going a terrifying white, the look on it like she was going to kill someone. “She escaped, but not without losing friends and loved ones. But she found a guild, Fairy Tail, and found a family of a sort there. They make her smile, and I’d say on the whole she’s well and happy. Some parts of her life are complicated - the boy she likes was used as a vessel for ‘Zeref’s spirit’ by the cult and that left his life derailed, which isn’t helping hers, but she has friends and people who will support her, and things were looking up between them last I knew. My sources say he’s close to getting a pardon.”
“You said the Cult of Zeref did it?” Irene asked, a cold, fury in her voice.
Arthur noted she didn’t seize on Fairy Tail, but the cult. He wondered if that was rage, or if Zeref’s attack on the guild was as of yet unknown to Irene. Even so, he fought back the urge to smile. She’d still taken his bait hook, line, and sinker. “Yeah, a group of religious fanatics to serve Zeref’s will as they were guided into it by Tartaros.” Well Tartaros and Grimoire Heart, but Seilah had been intimately involved in their creation, and Grimoire Heart was only opportunistic.
“You’re sure they were controlled by Tartaros?” She asked.
“Created,” Arthur said. “I don’t think Tartaros bothered with hands-on management, but I stole one of Zeref’s books. Her life was, if you’ll pardon the pun, an open book to me. She manipulated it into existence to generate suffering so she could swell in power and be of more use to Zeref.” Primarily to kill him, but Arthur didn’t feel the need to include that.
Irene clenched her hands. “Does it make me an utter monster that I’d simply shrug and say perhaps humanity deserves such plagues if it hadn’t impacted my daughter?”
Arthur didn’t like this question. He was trying to be manipula… diplomatic, however. A yes or a no wouldn’t serve his purpose. “Humanity drove you out after everything you had done for them during the dragon war. It is not admirable to feel that way, but it is understandable.” Not truly the best answer, but even living in a world where everything seemed to be moving in slow motion - including his own body - figuring out the best answer to something like that wasn’t easy.
Irene nodded meekly, but then she shook her head. “It’s far from admirable. I was better than that once. Even when they had driven me out. I mastered the initial rage. The fury. The thrill of destruction. But somewhere along the way I forgot that.”
Arthur simply put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. He said nothing. To speak would be to claim a knowledge of her pain he could not even pretend to lay claim to. He could have asked when she forgot, and tried to steer it towards Zeref being a poisonous influence, but that would be ham-fisted and too overt. The sort of thing that’d only work in a comic book.
The silence seemed to drag on and on. Arthur let his overclocking tune down to a more non-combat level.
And then Irene’s head rose. “Take me out on the town,” She said. “I’ve not had a proper excursion in four hundred years.”
“As you wish,” Arthur said.
Between the horse drawn carriage ride, a show, fine dinner, and now dancing, Arthur was a little worried that this was a date. Selene had told him to do whatever he deemed necessary to obtain the forces needed to ensure Acnologia’s destruction, but he was fairly certain she’d frown on him dating other girls. And he did not want to make Selene frown at him.
It was probably bad for one’s health. Maybe one’s friends’ health. Even if he could handle Selene it was probably bad for Georg’s health. Still as long as things stayed platonic, it was probably fine. Selene would understand Irene had a need to be made to feel human again. Hopefully.
Irene was an attractive woman. Especially since she’d begun softening after regaining her humanity. It was particularly noticeable here, out on the town. She was stiff in the castle, her movements reminiscent of a soldier on parade. Here she could let her hair down; literally as she’d undone her braids, allowing her hair to be a wild mass that ran down to her waist.
It was while they were dancing that Irene asked Arthur a question which almost made him trip. “How much can you feel through that defensive spell?”
She wasn’t the first to ask him this. Selene got annoyed that he kept the spell active as often as he did. She’d begun to deny him the chance to touch her with it up, though eventually she’d yielded on when they were actually sleeping; Arthur had difficulty sleeping with it down.
“Enough,” he said. “Pressure, and a dulled sense of temperature.” It was, normally, mostly permeable to gasses, meaning some temperature exchange passed through it.
“Is that really enough for you? That sort of containment drove me crazy.”
“I can turn it off when I want to.”
“And you don’t want to now?” That was the one that almost tripped him. It was hard to answer. No, I don’t want to because last time I lowered it in a public mass I ended the night with a knife in my back, was not a good answer. It made him sound paranoid. But around Zeref and the Spriggans he had good reason to be paranoid.
“I wouldn’t want to make my girlfriend jealous,” he answered. It was technically true. He had just been dwelling on that. It let him confess that feeling her body under his hands as they danced might be pleasurable, while also making clear he didn’t seek to pursue that.
“So you’re just keeping it up to keep away from me?” She asked with a smile that Arthur took as teasing and playful.
“Or in case Dimaria tries to kill me again.”
“She wasn’t trying to kill you. If she really wanted to kill you, she has far more effective weapons than her sword.”
“Or in case Zeref tells someone to kill me.”
Irene didn’t have a counter argument there. She was silent for several seconds, before finally admitting: “That’s rather wise of you.”
There was more space between them on the ride back to the castle than on the way out. Arthur wasn’t sure if he had messed up somewhere along the night, or if it was just Irene realizing he was spoken for and that her pressing against his arm was probably not desired.
He wasn’t sure if her realizing that was a good thing, or if he had messed up there. Arthur wasn’t even certain if he was thinking about this strategically, or with the wrong head. He was still scared to trust Selene; but he was just as scared to trust Irene if he was honest. He was confident he’d beat either one in a head on fight; but that both were smart enough to go for something more subtle.
“What is your plan to deal with Acnologia?” Irene broke the silence, looking back into the carriage and ceasing her staring at the stars.
“Ideally the same as to deal with you. Offer him the chance to become human again.”
“And if he refuses, or that fails?”
“I’m not a legendary tactician. I came here for advice on that matter.”
Irene laughed softly, cutting him off. “The emperor is not what his legend makes him out to be. He’s a scholar of war more than a genius of it.”
“Still, I had hoped to discuss options, but hopefully Igneel’s faction of dragons will be available to fight him. And if they should fail,” His black sword materialized in his hand. “I just need to get this in a chink in his armor. Or hopefully you could enchant it with dragon slayer magic so that it could push through.”
Irene looked at the sword. “Is it even a magical bla-” She stopped. She had reached forward and touched the sword’s blade with her finger, and she shuddered when she did, pulling her hand from it. “It is-”
“Not of this world,” Arthur finished for her.
“I don’t know if I could enchant it,” Irene said. “Honestly, I can tell you nothing about the sword, other than that it is unnerving.”
“It is an evil blade. It consumes the soul itself and ends those it kills permanently.”
“It’s the sword you believe could kill Zeref?” Arthur merely nodded as an answer, and Irene looked at the blade. “Do you really believe it would work?”
“For Zeref? I’m fairly certain.”
“And Acnologia?”
“There’s a spell for the blade. A magic not of this world, and one I can’t be certain I can manage, but I think even if I can’t use it properly I can use it well enough. It will summon a multitude of its brothers, from across worlds far distant. Together they can permanently banish beings of higher realms. It should be enough to kill Acnologia. I’m not sure I could pull it off in battle, or control it if I did, but it will serve as a final card to play if all else fails.”
“So why do you need us?”
“I came here to help you,” Arthur said, looking her straight in the face. He wanted to drive that idea home, without it feeling like he was trying to sell her something. “Help to fight Acnologia was only secondary. But, well like I said I’m not sure I can succeed with that. I might be better off just becoming a dragon to grapple him. And any of your enchantments, August’s power, or Zeref’s death magic could prove the necessary hand on the scales to tip the balance of that fight. There are allies from before in Fiore that I intend to seek out.”
“My daughter?” Irene leapt to the idea quickly, and Arthur almost winced. He was fairly certain that her thinking he was trying to directly embroil her daughter in this fight would be counter productive.
“She’s not who I meant, nor who I’d seek out,” He said honestly. “Draculos of the Four Gods of Ishgar.”
“Worthless for such a fight,” Irene said derisively.
“Maybe so,” Arthur said, “But I’ve worked with him before, and I trust him to have my back. And then there’s the Thunderbolts.”
“Thunderbolts?” Irene asked.
“It was a team of reformed dark mages I led for a time in Fiore. Their current leader is a second generation dragon slayer, and a powerful one at that.”
“Laxus Dreyar?”
“Yes.”
“He could be useful.”
“They also have Jellal. He is the greatest magical genius I have met among mages native to this era, and while I don’t think he has the power to kill the Dragon King or even significantly harm him, I’m confident he could distract him.”
“Does that statement include yourself as a mage native to this era?”
“No,” Arthur said, quickly adding - to divert the subject - “And I left the Thunderbolts with a suit of armor from Edolas, one that could be called an artificial Acnologia. I doubt it could stand long against the real thing, but a skilled mage in it might be able to influence the outcome. And I can’t call him an ally, in fact he’s more of a sworn enemy who has vowed vengeance upon me, but Master Hades of Grimoire Heart built a machine that provided unlimited magical power; his knowledge might provide a means to help fight the dragon king.”
“On the subject of sworn enemies, your ‘girlfriend’ is among them.”
Arthur found himself getting mad at the suggestion, or maybe it was the verbal quotation marks around girlfriend, before remembering that by her own confession she had been presenting herself as his sworn enemy to his sworn enemies while helping said sworn enemies become stronger for the explicit purpose of killing him. His love life was messed up.
“On what evidence?” He said at last.
“I believe you are familiar with the etherious guild of Tartaros. He keeps tabs on them. Selene’s agents have been channeling resources and individuals towards them in preparation to kill you.”
“Let them try,” Arthur said. “I’ll consume them and grow stronger from the meal.”
It was only when Irene looked away that Arthur realized that was perhaps a bad thing to say. “You really are a dragon slayer,” She said.
“I have to be if I’m going to kill Acnologia. It’s the sad truth of the matter.”
There were a few moments of silence. “Still, you do not owe loyalty to one who would seek your death.”
“Me and Selene have an arrangement. I offered to kill Acnologia for her in exchange for her teaching me magic. The magic I used to help you? It was based on stuff I learned working for her. But her teaching methods are a little bit murderous.”
“I thought you were her lover not her student,” Irene said.
“I am the latter. I was the former first though. I grew on her like a wart.”
“And she still tries to arrange your murder despite this?”
Arthur’s first instinct was to admit the fact that once they became entangled she’d confessed and began to undermine the very group she’d built up. Or at least claimed to. The fact that they hadn’t attacked him on the way said that she was on the level, and that left him feeling guilty for suspecting her. But anything he told Irene could get back to Zeref and from there it could get back to Tartaros.
“If Tartaros, and a bunch of individuals I beat already, can murder me, what chance do I have against the Dragon King? Either I will get stronger from the conflict, and it will force me to find which allies I can trust, or I’m already as good as dead.”
Irene started to say something and stopped only to start again. “Is that what you believe or something she said?”
“Paraphrasing, I think. But I can accept the reasoning. ”
Irene breathed. “A week ago, I’d have agreed with it.”
“A dragon’s logic,” Arthur said with a shrug.
Irene nodded. “And you can love her despite that?”
“She’s beautiful. She’s powerful. And we’ve known each other for almost 4 years, and during that time she has consistently supported me, helped me, and attempted to be a better person than she was the day before. I can’t claim that last one. Or the first one for that matter. Not that it’s as important as the latter.”
Irene’s face had started out irritated, growing only more at each of his first two statements, but he could watch the urge to object drain from her face as he said the third. Instead of some attempt at refutation, she just asked the question: “And her being a dragon really doesn’t bother you?”
“Like I said when August was asking, no.” A part of him wanted to blurt out that dragons were awesome, but he wasn’t so stupid as to think that was a good thing to say to Irene. Besides his experiences with the dragon force and the things that even just using Dragon Takeover did to his mind had dampened that belief in him a bit. “She’s trying to be more human. To meet humanity halfway. She might be a dragon but it doesn’t stop her from being a person.”
“And she’s beautiful? I mean Belserion was beautiful, but I’d have never looked at him and thought about him in that way.”
It was Arthur’s turn to flush. “I meant her human shape. Not her dragon one.”
“More beautiful than me?” Irene asked.
“I plead the fifth.”
“The fifth what?”
“Uh… nevermind. Local laws from my homeland. I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that any answer I give will end badly for me.”
Irene laughed a little. Then her face grew serious again. “And what about the other Dragon Gods? Zeref had dismissed them as a possible resource because only one of them had been seen for decades, and the sea god was clearly no match for Acnologia alone, and should he eat the dragon king we’d have just traded one danger for another. But 3 years ago they…” She broke off. And then she looked at Arthur again. “That was you. The dragon that Acnologia was chasing was you, wasn’t it?”
“Me, or my guild master. Probably me. Wasn’t the first time I’d gotten the Dragon King on my tail. It’s why I’ve tried not to use much of my magic since coming here.”
Irene looked at him for a few moments. “So you’ve encountered the Dragon King before. Was that how you lost your hand?”
“Nah, that was that armor I mentioned before. It was on Edolas back when the ambient magic was way less, and it fueled itself by draining magic from the surroundings. As the biggest source of magical energy nearby it drained me and my spells pretty nasty. Come to think of it, if I could lure Acnologia to a world without much magical power I might actually be able to use it to kill him.”
Irene nodded. “So the Dragon Gods gathered to save you?”
“Eh? As far as I can gather Mercphobia sounded the alert that Acnologia was coming and Selene and Ignia came to ward him off. Far as I can tell the only one who knows I exist is Selene.” Arthur realized that was probably a lie a few moments later. The Gold Dragon God definitely knew who he was.
“Mercphobia is the sea dragon god, correct? And Ignia would be Igneel’s son, so that’s the fire god?”
“Correct, on both counts.”
“What about the other two are they dead or?”
“Viernes, the Gold Dragon God, turned himself into an alchemists’ guild. They arrived there too, though I’m not sure how much they could help. Selene considers him mostly self-removed for the time being, and extremely dangerous in the long term since he’d not have done that without a reason. Aldoron, the Wood Dragon God, has divided up his magical power and put himself in a coma in a ploy to gain power.”
“And as long as those two remain threats to them, and unable to share in the danger of confronting Acnologia, the other three will refuse to act.”
“Good ol’ self-interest.”
“I had hoped we could get them to kill Acnolgoia and each other in a way that’d leave them weak enough to finish off the…” Irene looked down. “Sorry. I shouldn’t talk thus about killing Selene, should I?”
“In front of me, you mean?” He asked.
“No. You said she was doing her best to be more human. To even be a good person. I shouldn’t assume she needs to die without at least meeting her first. I mean. I should know that being a dragon doesn’t automatically make you a monster. I knew good ones, and then…” Tears were forming in her eyes, and Arthur realized she was still processing a few metric shit tons of trauma.
He reached forward. “It’s alright.” He didn’t know what the right thing to say was. Or if there was anything he could say to avert a melt down. “You went through a lot. The old rage, and pain won’t just disappear overnight. But that’s the past now.”
“Thank you. Still, I will try to get Zeref to listen and consider things. Hopefully we can all work together to deal with Acnologia.”
“Hopefully…”
From there the conversation soon ended as they arrived back at the imperial palace.