The rain poured heavily over Magnolia, drumming relentlessly against the cobblestone streets.
Natsu walked out of Gildarts' house, his head lowered, the usual fiery bounce in his step gone.
Happy flew quietly beside him beneath a shared umbrella.
The image of the strongest mage in Fairy Tail missing an arm and a leg was burned into Natsu's mind.
The black dragon, Acnologia.
It was a terrifying reality check, but it also stoked a fierce, unyielding fire in his chest.
Dragons were still out there!
...
At the Fairy Tail guildhall, the party was finally winding down.
The members were passed out on tables, snoring loudly, or sweeping up the broken wood from the day's brawls.
Ace sat on the roof of the guildhall, letting the cool rain wash over his coat.
His D-Tector pulsed faintly in his pocket, radiating a steady warmth that warded off the chill. He wasn't tired. His digital soul provided endless stamina, keeping his mind sharp and his body energized even after the long day.
Suddenly, the air pressure dropped.
Ace stood up, narrowing his eyes at the sky.
The heavy rain didn't just stop as the droplets began to float upward, defying gravity.
A massive, swirling vortex of sickly purple and black energy tore through the clouds right above Magnolia.
The sheer size of the portal was staggering, blanketing the entire city in an eerie, pulsing light.
"What the hell is that?" Ace muttered, his hand instinctively gripping his D-Tector.
Down in the streets, panic erupted.
Citizens pointed at the sky, screaming as the gravitational pull of the vortex intensified.
Buildings groaned, the wood and stone splintering under the immense, unnatural pressure.
At the edge of town, Natsu looked up.
"Happy! Look!"
"It's a giant hole in the sky!" Happy yelled, fighting against the sudden updraft.
Before anyone could react, the vortex descended.
It absorbed the city.
The buildings, the streets, the restaurants, the boss serving late-night food, the people—everything was pulled up into the swirling abyss like dust into a vacuum.
Ace felt the spatial distortion grab him.
It was a suffocating, tearing sensation, trying to rip his physical body from the Earthland dimension.
But his D-Tector flared with a blinding fierce light.
The digital code in his soul acted as an anchor.
It was a foreign energy source that the portal couldn't process or absorb.
The D-Tector projected a localized barrier around him, anchoring his existence to the physical plane.
The blinding light consumed the world as the roar of the vortex drowned out the screams.
And then... silence.
Ace opened his eyes.
The rain was gone.
The swirling portal in the sky had vanished, leaving behind a clear, starry night.
He looked around and let out a sharp breath.
Magnolia was gone. The towering Fairy Tail guildhall, the bustling streets, the houses, the people—all vanished.
There was nothing left but a massive, perfectly smooth crater in the earth, stretching for miles.
"HEY! WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!"
Ace turned around.
Down in the massive dirt basin, Natsu was standing near the edge of where the city limits used to be, looking around in pure panic.
Happy hovered above him while trembling.
A few yards away, Wendy was sitting in the dirt, clutching Carla and crying.
"Natsu! Wendy!" Ace called out, sliding down the steep dirt embankment to join them.
"Ace!" Natsu ran over, grabbing the front of Ace's coat. "WHAT HAPPENED?! WHERE DID THE GUILD GO?! WHERE'S GILDARTS?!"
"Calm down," Ace said, his voice steady, though his eyes scanned the empty horizon. "The city was absorbed by that portal. I managed to anchor myself, but everyone else is gone."
"Why didn't we get sucked up?" Wendy sobbed, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. "Why are we the only ones left?"
"Because you're Dragon Slayers," a new voice echoed across the empty crater.
They turned.
A man wearing a dark blue cloak and a wide-brimmed hat walked toward them.
Thick bandages wrapped around his lower face, and five wooden staves were strapped to his back.
"Mystogan!" Natsu shouted, his fists igniting with flames. "Did you do this?! Where's our guild?!"
"I didn't do this, Natsu," Mystogan said, stopping a few feet away. His eyes were heavy with profound guilt.
"I tried to stop it, but the Anima portal grew too large. I failed."
'Anima huh..' Ace asked, crossing his arms.
"It's a dimensional spell," Mystogan explained, looking at the empty dirt where his home used to be.
"It absorbs magic power from Earthland and transfers it to a parallel world called Edolas. Magnolia and everyone in it has been turned into a giant lacrima crystal to power their world."
"Edolas..." Natsu gritted his teeth.
The flames around his fists burned hotter. "Then how do we get there?! I'm gonna smash their world and bring our family back!"
"You survived because Dragon Slayer magic is ancient and dense, resisting the Anima's pull," Mystogan said, glancing at Ace.
"And you... your magic is... weird. It doesn't register on Anima's frequency. But getting there won't be easy."
"I don't care about frequencies," Ace said.
He pulled out his D-Tector, the screen glowing with a fierce, determined light. "Tell us how to get to this parallel world. Nobody steals my guild."
Mystogan reached into his cloak and pulled out a small, glowing crystal. "I can open a small, temporary path to Edolas. But be warned. In that world, Earthland magic is extremely limited. You won't be able to use your spells freely. You will be at a severe disadvantage."
Natsu grinned, a feral, unyielding light in his eyes. "I'll beat them up with my bare hands if I have to."
Wendy nodded, standing up with a newfound resolve.
She wiped the dirt from her dress. "I'm going too. I won't lose my family again."
Ace didn't say a word.
He just stepped forward, ready to face whatever this new world threw at them.
If Edolas thought they could steal Fairy Tail and get away with it, they were about to learn a very painful lesson.
Mystogan tossed the crystal onto the ground.
A small swirling portal opened, crackling with strange otherworldly energy.
"Go," Mystogan said. "Save our guild."
Without hesitation, Natsu jumped into the portal, Happy flying right behind him. Wendy took a deep breath and stepped through with Carla.
Ace looked at the empty crater one last time, his eyes hardening, before stepping into the light.
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