[Life Mimicry: Azure Dragon]
Dragon scales emerged on Riyao's arm as he grabbed Jellal, radiating an ancient and powerful aura of life, with a faint emerald glow emanating from the gaps between the scales.
The steam dissipated, revealing Riyao's current appearance.
His dark green hair fluttered in the sea breeze, and a pair of winding dragon horns stood upright on his head. The surface of the horns had fine textures, recording the traces of time like tree rings, with the tips glowing with a faint emerald light.
Riyao opened his eyes; his golden slit pupils were particularly striking in the night, exuding a sense of pressure from ancient times, as if being watched by a dragon that had been sleeping for thousands of years.
He released his right claw and turned nimbly, whipping his dark green dragon tail out from behind him. It struck Jellal with a fierce whistle of wind.
Bang!
Like a baseball being hit, Jellal flew sideways, crashing through the railing at the top of the tower and smashing a large crater into the Magic Crystal tower wall, sending gravel and crystal shards flying in all directions.
Riyao stood at the top of the tower, his dragon tail swaying slowly behind him, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned.
"You are lucky; you are the first person to see me in this form. Even Mira hasn't seen it yet." ╰(´︶`)╯
Jellal crawled out of the pile of rubble and spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt that several of his ribs were broken, and every time he breathed, his chest felt as if it were being cut by a knife.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at Riyao. Seeing those dragon horns and slit pupils, his pupils contracted sharply. What is this? Not a demon, not a Celestial Spirit, but a dragon?
He saw Riyao charging at him and immediately flew up to leave the ground, thinking that Riyao shouldn't be able to fly without wings, and he would be safe as long as he stayed in the air.
As if.
With Riyao's deepening understanding of Life Mimicry, it was no longer as monotonous as the initial Celestial Spirit form.
The initial Celestial Spirit form only absorbed the life information of Virgo and had a single ability, which could be considered version 1.0.
By the time he reached the Demon form, Riyao had absorbed the life information of Mirajane and the END demon Natsu, giving his Demon form the abilities of darkness and fire. Riyao fused these two powers into Ink Flame.
That was why Natsu always felt a sense of familiarity when he ate Riyao's flames previously—how could he not be familiar with fire that originated from his own?
This also made Riyao realize that he could craft a dragon form himself.
Riyao had long thought that dragons were too ugly—big lizards and such—and that Eastern divine dragons were much cooler.
Using his Life Magic as a foundation, he crafted the Azure Dragon posture. Based on his own understanding of the Azure Dragon in his mind, he collected the life information elements related to the Azure Dragon's abilities.
He had long been eyeing that muscular, macho owl that could devour others to gain their abilities.
Other Dragon Slayers could eat magic power of their corresponding attributes; it would be embarrassing if the Azure Dragon could only eat life-attribute magic power.
Having solved the final step of devouring, Riyao finalized the Azure Dragon form.
The air beneath Riyao's feet twisted. He didn't need wings and flew directly, as if stepping on invisible stairs in the void, his figure light and swift.
Jellal's eyes widened, looking at the flying Riyao in disbelief. "What kind of magic is this?!"
Jellal activated [Meteor], his body turning into a golden streak of light, quickly putting distance between them. He figured Riyao should be like the previous Demon form—fast in a straight line but lacking agility in turning—and as long as he kept changing directions, he wouldn't be caught.
Riyao's golden slit pupils followed Jellal's movements, like a hawk locking onto its prey, capturing every subtle displacement.
He turned his body and immediately followed, closing the distance rapidly, more than twice as fast as his Demon form.
Jellal felt the pressure from behind, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. While flying, he cast magic to attack Riyao, attempting to delay Riyao's speed; a close-quarters battle was absolutely out of the question.
[Nine Lightning Stars]
Nine golden lightning swords whistled out and shot towards Riyao. The lightning swords exploded on Riyao, with golden lightning crackling across his body, but Riyao didn't even frown; the dragon scales reduced the damage from the lightning swords to a minimum.
However, this brief obstruction bought Jellal the opportunity to unleash his ultimate move.
Jellal crossed his arms above his head, magic power condensing frantically in his palms. The surrounding shadows were absorbed and expanded continuously, forming a black hole that devoured everything. [Dark Paradise]
The dark magic power was like a giant mouth, enveloping Riyao and attempting to devour him.
Unfortunately, Riyao opened his mouth and took a sharp breath. The remnants of the golden lightning swords and the magic power of the black hole were all sucked into Riyao's body, as easily as eating a snack.
The magic power on his body surged again, the emerald light on the dragon scales became even more dazzling, and steam gushed out from the gaps between the scales.
Seeing this, Jellal's mouth hung wide open, his jaw almost dropping. "You are a Dragon Slayer?! How can you devour two different attributes of magic power!"
Riyao grinned, revealing two rows of neat teeth. His dragon horns glowed with emerald light under the lights, and his slit pupils were full of mockery. "You could say that. Azure Dragon Slayer—does it sound good? A gift in return!"
He puffed up his cheeks just like Natsu, the magic power in his mouth condensing to the extreme. Emerald light flickered in his mouth, and cyan lightning crackled between his teeth. [Azure Dragon's Roar]
Boom! A majestic dragon breath glowing with cyan light erupted from Riyao's mouth, wreathed in cyan lightning, and slammed directly into Jellal with destructive power.
The emerald beam of light pierced the sky, boring through the dark clouds. After the beam dissipated, a huge void remained in the sky, and even the stars could be seen more clearly.
Several people were crowded onto a small boat. Lucy and Juvia sat on the gunwale, Gray and Erza sat in the middle, Natsu was there, and Mirajane stood at the bow, her eyes fixed on the direction of the Tower of Paradise.
When that emerald beam of light shot into the sky, everyone was stunned. Seeing this familiar emerald green, Mirajane's tense expression finally relaxed, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, revealing a look of relief.
Natsu lay on the bottom of the boat, shouting something muddled, but because Owl's slime still remained in his mouth, his speech was slurred. "!@#!!@￥"
Lucy looked at Natsu speechlessly and rolled her eyes. "What are you saying?!"
Happy flew to Natsu's side, tilted his head to listen, and then translated. "Natsu says, that's a Roar! A Dragon's Roar!"
Gray stood up in surprise, almost capsizing the small boat. "What?! When did Riyao learn Dragon Slayer Magic?!"
Erza was also shocked, her reddish-brown eyes full of disbelief. "A green Dragon Slayer Magic? Wood Dragon Slayer Magic?"
Mirajane looked at Erza, reached up to support her forehead, and sighed helplessly. "Could it be related to life?"
Erza was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized. "Life Dragon Slayer Magic?"
The corners of Mirajane's mouth twitched; when Riyao returned, she would personally give him a nice-sounding magic name!
On the other side of the boat, Simon, Sho, Wally, and Millianna also saw the emerald beam of light. Looking up at the traces of the beam left in the sky, they were all amazed.
Sho's mouth was wide open in an 'O' shape, unable to close for a long time. "What kind of magic is that? So strong!"
Wally rubbed his square head, looking relieved. "It's a good thing we evacuated early, otherwise we would have been done for if we got caught up in that."
Millianna hugged her cat-ear headband, tilted her head, and muttered. "Green, so pretty, meow."
Simon looked into the distance in silence, his gaze complex. For the first time, he realized that the Mages of Fairy Tail were far more powerful than he had imagined.