Chapter 367: Only I Am Supreme
Two cataclysmic forces collided mid-air, unleashing a devastating shockwave that obliterated the ruined landscape of Tartaros. The sheer kinetic force of the impact shattered the bedrock, sending massive boulders hurtling into the sky.
Bang!
Ren was violently forced back by the overwhelming pressure of the dragon's strike.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
His boots tore through the earth, carving twin trenches across the battlefield as he skidded backward across the ruined terrain. To halt his momentum, Ren plunged the golden blade of Divine Axe Rhitta deep into the ground, sparking a shower of crushed stone before finally coming to a screeching halt.
Ren rolled his shoulders and rubbed his aching wrist, feeling the lingering numbness from the exchange. "As expected of the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse," he muttered, his lips curling into a feral grin. "That was one hell of a strike!"
While he had been at a slight disadvantage in that clash of raw physical might, he wasn't seriously injured. Instead, the overwhelming pressure only served to ignite his fighting spirit to new, dangerous heights.
Golden flames of pure chakra burned brightly in Ren's eyes as he leveled his gaze at the towering beast. "Come on, Acnologia! Let's make this a fight to the death!"
Boom!!
The ground shattered completely beneath Ren's boots as he launched himself back into the sky, hurtling toward the Black Dragon like a golden meteor.
While the sky was consumed by the earth-shattering battle between man and dragon, Natsu sprinted frantically across the fractured terrain below.
"Igneel!" Natsu screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of desperate relief and terror. "Igneel! Are you alright?!"
He scrambled over the jagged debris, finally reaching the massive, scale-covered claw of his foster father. The Fire Dragon King lay heavily against the ruined earth, his chest heaving with deep, ragged breaths that expelled plumes of dark smoke.
"How could I be alright?" Igneel grumbled irritably, his deep, resonant voice rumbling like an earthquake. "That monstrous bastard nearly killed me!"
Igneel shifted his massive head, his fiery golden eyes tracking the explosive shockwaves rippling across the sky above them. "Sure enough, Acnologia is even stronger than I anticipated..."
Natsu gripped the dragon's scaly claw, his mind swirling with 14 years' worth of unanswered questions. "Igneel, why did you disappear on that day?" Natsu demanded, his voice thick with emotion. "Why were you hiding inside my body all this time? Are the others... are Gajeel and Wendy's dragons also hiding inside them?!"
Igneel let out a heavy sigh, a puff of embers escaping his jagged jaws. "You guessed correctly, my son. Metalicana and Grandeeney are indeed still alive. They have been lying dormant inside Gajeel and Wendy's bodies, just as I was in yours."
Natsu's eyes widened, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. "I knew it! But why?" he yelled, frustration and confusion warring in his chest. "Why would you do this?"
"There are two vital reasons for our actions," Igneel explained, his tone shifting to a deadpan seriousness that demanded Natsu's full attention. "The first was to prevent you children from completely turning into dragons. We sealed ourselves within you to create a biological antibody."
Igneel's fiery gaze softened slightly as he looked at Natsu's bewildered expression. "This way, you will never face the danger of undergoing Dragonification in the future. We never showed ourselves, no matter what mortal peril you faced until now, because we were entirely consumed with cultivating that antibody within your souls."
Natsu blinked, utterly thrown off by the terminology. "Turning into dragons?!" he echoed, tilting his head. "What do you mean by 'turning into dragons'?"
"Ah, right, I suppose you wouldn't know about the side effects of your magic," Igneel rumbled, shaking his heavy head. "Listen carefully, Natsu. We dragons personally implanted Dragon Seeds into the bodies of the first generation Dragon Slayer Mages."
[Akarin's Note: The 'Dragon Seed' is a magical tumor that grows inside the bodies of Dragon Slayers as they overuse their magic. If left unchecked, it alters their physiology on a cellular level, inevitably mutating them into actual Dragons.]
Igneel's expression darkened as he continued. "As your mastery over Dragon Slayer Magic deepens, the seed takes root. Your mind and body will eventually align with the biology of a true dragon, mutating you until you lose your humanity entirely."
He gestured upward with a massive claw toward the raging battle in the sky. "That is exactly what happened to Acnologia. He was once a human, just like you."
Natsu's eyes lit up, completely missing the horrifying implications of Igneel's warning. "Really?!" Natsu gasped, clenching his fists in excitement. "I could become a dragon?! That's so cool!!"
Bang!
With a sudden, blurry motion, Igneel raised a massive talon and mercilessly flicked the top of Natsu's head.
"Ouch!" Natsu yelped, tumbling backward into the dirt and clutching his throbbing skull in pain.
"What are you thinking, you idiot?!" Igneel roared, though a hint of fatherly exasperation leaked into his tone. "Turning into a dragon is not a good thing! You would lose your humanity, your sanity, and everything you hold dear."
The Fire Dragon King narrowed his eyes. "Just look at Acnologia. Do you want to become a mindless engine of destruction like him?"
Rubbing the growing lump on his head, Natsu glanced up at the terrifying black dragon tearing through the clouds. He swallowed hard, quickly reconsidering his enthusiasm. "...Okay, yeah, that doesn't seem so good."
"The second reason we hid within you was to defeat our greatest shame, our negative legacy: Acnologia," Igneel continued, his voice dropping to a solemn rumble. "We have been biding our time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike."
Igneel closed his eyes, the memories of a blood-soaked past flashing behind his eyelids. "In our original era, Acnologia was already a walking calamity. He was invincible, with absolutely no possibility of anyone defeating him in a direct confrontation."
The Fire Dragon King exhaled a long breath. "So, we devised a desperate plan. We extracted your souls, hid inside your bodies, and utilized the power of the Eclipse Gate to transmigrate to this era."
"The Eclipse Gate?!" Natsu's breath hitched, the sheer absurdity of the statement short-circuiting his brain.
He vividly remembered that massive, ominous doorway from the Grand Magic Games. It was the very same portal that had connected their present to the world 400 years in the past, unleashing the Seven Dragons upon the capital of Crocus.
[Akarin's Note: The Eclipse Gate is a massive time-travel device powered by Celestial Spirit Magic. It was designed by the ancient Celestial Mage Anna Heartfilia in collaboration with Zeref and the Dragons, specifically to send the five Dragon Slayers 400 years into the future to an era rich with Ethernano.]
Natsu suddenly pieced the puzzle together, his jaw dropping in absolute disbelief. "Wait... Igneel, are you saying..." He stammered, his mind struggling to process the monumental weight of the revelation. "Are you saying that we came to this era through the Eclipse Gate?!"
Igneel looked down at his son, seemingly able to read the storm of emotions swirling in Natsu's eyes. He nodded slowly, the movement sending tremors through the ground. "You guessed correctly. You, Gajeel, Wendy, and the others... you are not children of this era."
Igneel's voice was gentle, yet impossibly heavy. "You yourselves are humans from 400 years ago."
Gasp—!!
Natsu stood frozen, utterly stunned into silence. His entire understanding of his own existence was crumbling around him. What was going on? Was he actually a relic from four centuries in the past?
"Haven't you ever noticed the inconsistencies?" Igneel asked softly. "Think about it, Natsu. The first generation Dragon Slayer Mages—how could such mages naturally appear in this era?"
Igneel gestured to the surrounding devastation. "Only those who are personally taught by living dragons can be considered first generation. And the Great Dragons have been entirely wiped out from this era for 400 years."
Natsu remained silent, his mind racing. He had long realized that he always felt a strange disconnect, like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit into the modern world. In his desperate, years-long search to find Igneel, he had scoured countless ancient texts.
Some scholars had claimed the Great Dragons were mere myths, fabricated creatures of folklore, while others insisted they had gone extinct centuries ago. Natsu had fiercely rejected all of those books.
After all, his very existence proved that the Great Dragons were real. He had grown up with his scaly father, felt his warmth, and learned his magic. How could it be fake? But he had never, in his wildest dreams, imagined that the reason the dragons were gone was because he had leapfrogged across 400 years of history.
"I have also been waiting for this exact moment," Igneel growled, his golden eyes igniting with a fierce, ancient hatred. "The moment I could finally emerge and personally bury Acnologia in the dirt."
The Fire Dragon King grimaced, fresh blood oozing from a deep gash on his shoulder. "It's a pity, though. Even after four centuries of preparation, I still underestimated that monstrous bastard."
Igneel had known of Acnologia's terrifying reputation long before they executed the time-travel plan. During the ancient Dragon King Festival, Acnologia had been an unstoppable force of nature, a harbinger of absolute death. No single human or dragon could withstand his fury.
During that catastrophic war, almost the entirety of the Dragon Clan across both the Eastern and Western Continents had been mercilessly slaughtered by Acnologia's fangs. The only dragons who survived the initial massacre were the pacifists who had refused to participate in the war.
But even their survival was fleeting. Driven by a maniacal hatred, Acnologia had relentlessly scoured the continents, intent on hunting down and exterminating every last remnant of the Dragon Clan. It was out of absolute, desperate necessity that this 400-year transmigration plan was born.
What truly shocked Igneel was the sheer, suffocating density of the Black Dragon's current magic. Even though Acnologia's power was seemingly far below his ancient peak due to the ravages of time, he was still in a completely different dimension compared to the other Great Dragons.
If Ren, a mere human, hadn't dramatically intervened just now, Igneel knew he might have already been torn to shreds.
"Natsu, you need to leave this place immediately and meet up with your guildmates," Igneel ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I need to get back in the sky and help."
Igneel simply couldn't stand by and let Ren face the apocalyptic dragon alone. While lying dormant inside Natsu's soul, Igneel had witnessed everything his son had experienced. He had watched closely during the clash on Tenrou Island, observing Ren's earlier confrontation with Acnologia.
Igneel knew that Ren's physical strength and combat instincts were genuinely immense. For short bursts, the golden-shrouded human was even capable of fighting on par with Acnologia.
However, Igneel had identified a critical flaw. Ren lacked the limitless reserves of Magic Power that dragons naturally possessed. In a prolonged battle of attrition, Ren's endurance would eventually falter, and it was only a matter of time before he exhausted his reserves.
Natsu furiously shook his head, his fists igniting with blazing magical flames. "No! I'm going with you!"
After sacrificing his entire childhood searching for Igneel, there was absolutely no way Natsu was going to just stand on the sidelines and watch his father fight a battle to the death.
"Stop fooling around, you stubborn brat!" Igneel roared, his voice vibrating with a mixture of anger and protective panic. "You are still far too weak right now! Acnologia is a completely different breed of monster compared to those Seven Dragons you fought!"
"But I can't just—!"
Rumble————!!
Just as the father and son were fiercely arguing, a deafening sonic boom ruptured the air above them. A colossal figure plummeted from the heavens at terrifying speed, crashing violently into the ground just a short distance away.
The sheer force of the impact triggered a localized earthquake, smashing a massive, smoking crater deep into the scorched earth. Both Natsu and Igneel whipped their heads toward the dust cloud, their eyes widening simultaneously in absolute disbelief.
"Acnologia?!" Igneel gasped.
The massive, battered figure lying at the center of the crater was none other than the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. They hadn't expected that in the brutal airborne clash, Acnologia would actually be the one sent flying.
Crash!
A fraction of a second later, a radiant, golden figure plummeted from the sky, landing lightly on the jagged edge of the crater just yards away from the downed beast.
Natsu's jaw dropped as he stared at the glowing warrior. "Ren!!"
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me!
Want to read ahead on our official home, or unlock 50 advanced chapters (plus an Ad-Free experience) to feed your addiction? Help keep this shameless translator alive here:
(P.S. Replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
🌐 Official Website: elysianreads[.]com
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters & Ad-Free): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]