"It's no use! Don't try to fight it!"
Gildarts shouted in a panic, his voice cracking with a fear that none of them had ever heard from the Ace of Fairy Tail.
Even soone as strong as him—a man who had challenged the world's strongest quests—had no desire to fight it.
His body trembled instinctively because he knew, better than anyone here, that this guy was an existence that humans simply couldn't defeat.
It wasn't a monster. It wasn't a Mage. It was the End.
Boom————!!
The Black Dragon, Acnologia, descended.
It didn't just land; it crashed into reality. The mont its claws touched the earth of Tenrou Island, the ground scread.
A shockwave of pure kinetic energy and magical pressure pulverized the ancient forest, shattering rocks into dust and snapping century-old trees like dry twigs.
The air was instantly sucked out of the area, replaced by a suffocating aura of despair.
"No way!!"
"What kind of destructive power is this?!"
"Quick, get back to the ship!!"
"Run!! Everyone, let's go ho together!! Back to Fairy Tail!!"
Chaos erupted. The mages of Fairy Tail, who had just fought a war against Grimoire Heart, scrambled over the broken terrain. The fear was primal, a biological imperative screaming at them to flee from the predator at the top of the food chain.
Carla, her small paws hitting the dirt as she ran alongside Wendy, panted anxiously: "Wendy!! You can talk to Dragons, can't you? Can't you think of sothing?! Ask him why he's attacking us!"
Wendy, terrified tears streaming down her face, shook her head violently as she ran. "It's not that I can talk to Dragons!! Dragons themselves possess very high intelligence, and that Dragon can naturally understand our language! He isn't listening because he doesn't care!"
The roar of the dragon drowned out all other sounds, a sound that vibrated in their very bones.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a shadow lood over them. Master Makarov Dreyar stopped running. He ripped off his white coat and shirt, his small, elderly fra standing defiant against the apocalypse.
"Old man!!"
"Master!!"
"Run towards the ship!! Don't look back!!"
Makarov shouted, his voice booming with authority. Golden light enveloped him as he activated his Titan Magic.
"Uooooooohhh!!"
Makarov's body rapidly grew larger, muscles swelling, bones expanding. In seconds, he transford into a giant that rivaled the height of the trees, throwing himself at the beast. He grabbed Acnologia by the neck, trying to wrestle the Black Dragon into submission to buy his children ti.
"This is too reckless!! How could you possibly win!!"
"Master!! Please stop!!"
The guild mbers stopped, horror-struck. They watched their parent, their protector, throwing himself into the jaws of death.
"If that's the case, we'll join the fight too!"
"I'm going to defeat and crush him!!" Natsu scread, flas igniting on his fists, ready to turn back.
"At least for the last ti, listen to the Master's command!! You damn brats!!!"
Makarov's roar echoed across the island, filled with a heartbreaking mixture of love and desperation. He struggled against the dragon's imnse strength, his giant heels digging trenches into the earth.
"Ren will be the next Master of Fairy Tail!! All of you, live well!!"
The declaration hung in the air, heavy and final.
"I'm a Dragon Slayer Mage! If anyone should be this guy's opponent, it should be ..." Natsu argued, tears welling in his eyes.
Before Natsu could finish speaking, a strong hand grabbed his scarf. Laxus Dreyar dragged him away, lightning flickering erratically around his body.
"Run, Natsu!"
"Laxus!! You..."
Natsu turned to scold him, to call him a coward, but the words died in his throat. He saw it—a single tear trailing down Laxus's cheek. The grandson of the Master, the man who was too proud to show weakness, was crying.
The guild mbers knew. They felt it in their souls. This guy, this Black Dragon, was utterly unbeatable. With heavy hearts and tear-filled eyes, they turned and fled toward the shore.
Makarov, seeing the guild mbers flee at this mont, felt deeply relieved. The weight on his heart lifted, replaced by the crushing physical weight of the dragon.
"Though I don't know your purpose, you are not allowed to take another step forward!!" Makarov shouted into the face of the beast. "Behind are my precious children!!"
He squeezed with all his Titan strength, muscles bulging to the tearing point.
But Acnologia... Acnologia didn't even flinch. The Dragon King looked at the giant human with bored, glowing white eyes. To a dragon, a giant human was still just a bug.
Rumble————!!
With a casual swipe of its wing, Makarov's grip was broken. Acnologia slamd him into the ground. The earth shattered.
The Black Dragon's massive claw pressed down onto Makarov's chest, pinning him like an insect.
"Uwaaahhh!"
Makarov coughed up a massive amount of blood, his ribs shattering under the pressure. The Titan form flickered, threatening to dispel.
The Black Dragon Acnologia opened its massive mouth. Blue particles of magic began to gather, swirling into a sphere of annihilation. A Dragon's Roar. At point-blank range.
Makarov looked up at the gathering light. He didn't feel fear anymore.
He smiled, a gentle, peaceful smile amidst the blood. "This is the first ti I've done sothing a parent should do. I have no regrets!!"
'Live on, everyone. Ren, take care of them.'
Looking at the energy ball in Acnologia's mouth, Makarov prepared to close his eyes and welco death.
Suddenly!
A flash of yellow light tore through the battlefield, faster than lightning, faster than thought.
A golden figure appeared before Makarov, hovering in the air between the Titan and the Dragon.
"Not on my watch."
Bang————!!
The golden figure spun in the air, delivering a roundhouse kick wrapped in dense, tangible chakra directly to the side of the Black Dragon Acnologia's head.
The sound was like a thunderclap.
Boom boom boom boom boom————!!
The impossible happened. Acnologia's huge body, a mass of scales and muscle that weighed hundreds of tons, was actually sent flying by this single kick.
The Dragon skidded sideways, its massive body sliding across the island, smashing through rocks and uprooting trees for hundreds of ters before crashing into a cliff face.
Dust settled, revealing the savior.
Ren stood there, but he looked different. He was enveloped in a shroud of flickering golden flas—Chakra. His hair stood up, glowing like molten gold, and black markings traced along his arms and chest. A coat of pure energy draped over his shoulders.
"You are not allowed to touch the old man!!"
Ren said, looking at the distant form of the Black Dragon Acnologia with an icy tone. His voice was layered, resonating with a power that wasn't entirely human.
"Ren..."
Makarov's body shrunk back to its normal size, the Titan magic fading. He lay on the broken ground, looking up at the back in front of him. It was warm. It was bright. An indescribable feeling arose in his heart—pride, relief, and awe.
Ren turned his head slightly, the golden flas licking his cheeks, and smiled faintly at Makarov.
"Old man, I've told you many tis, I don't want to be Master so early. It's too much paperwork. Don't think about retiring just like that!"
Ren reached out a hand made of golden energy to help the old man sit up, though he kept his eyes on the dragon.
"You're too old for fighting; it's not suitable for you. You should just stay with everyone else and drink your booze."
"Ren... your magic power..." Makarov wheezed, sensing the change. "It feels... different. Limitless."
Ren didn't explain imdiately. In truth, just monts ago, Ren's magic power had been completely bottod out from the battle with Hades and Grimoire Heart. Even if Ren had full magic power, he knew he wouldn't be this guy's opponent in his base state.
"It's fine, my magic power has recovered."
It was a lie, or at least, a simplification.
Just ten seconds ago, when the dragon descended, Ren was sowhat stunned. The sheer pressure of Acnologia was suffocating. But after coming to his senses, Ren realized he had zero mana left. He was running on fus.
He imdiately opened his System Interface.
[System Alert: Magic Power Depleted.]
He didn't hesitate. He began recalling the character cards he had equipped.
[System: Recalling Character Card - Portgas D. Ace.]
[System: Recalling Character Card - Tsugikuni Yoriichi.]
Ren felt the powers of the Fla Fruit and the Breath of the Sun leave his body. It was a loss. Yoriichi Tsugikuni's stats were too low for this level of combat; he could no longer keep up with the pace of a Dragon King, so recalling him was inevitable. Ace's stats were decent, and the Logia body was useful, but as a Purple Card, it had limits against Acnologia's magic-eating resistance.
The System converted the recalled cards into raw energy.
[System: Energy Conversion Complete. Magic Power Restored.]
After the two character cards were recalled, Ren's base magic power finally surged, stabilizing at a terrifying 7-Star level. After the battles on Tenrou Island, his base stats had advanced significantly. He now officially t the minimum requirents for a Ten Wizard Saint on his own rits, without buffs.
But that wasn't enough. Not for Him.
With his magic power restored and slots open, Ren didn't hesitate.
[System: Equipping Character Card - Minato Namikaze (Reanimated/Kurama Link Mode).]
A surge of golden, boiling energy flooded his veins. It wasn't Ethernano; it was Chakra. Dense, potent, and vast. To fight Acnologia, only the speed of the Yellow Flash combined with the raw power of the Nine-Tails had a chance of stalling him.
"No! Ren, run! This guy is not soone you can defeat!" Makarov pleaded, clutching Ren's energy cloak. "He is the Apocalypse!"
"Old man, I know. But we've already been targeted. There's no way to escape."
Ren shook his head, his blue eyes sharp and focused. "Unless I hadn't co to Tenrou Island in the first place, or if I abandoned everyone and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to flee alone, the consequence would be the sa. Acnologia would finish here and then turn the entire continent upside down hunting us."
"This world might fall into Chaos. And with the world in Chaos, I wouldn't be able to continue doing missions and getting stronger through completing them."
Ren's internal logic was pragmatic. He needed the plot to continue to grow. But more than that... he felt a fire in his gut.
"So, all things considered, the best way was to follow the plot. But..."
Ren clenched his fists, the golden aura flaring violently.
"Before that, I also want to tell the Black Dragon Acnologia one thing. That our Fairy Tail is not to be trifled with!"
Boom————!!
The ground exploded beneath Ren's feet.
Ren stomped his foot hard and rapidly charged towards the Black Dragon Acnologia. He moved as a beam of light, crossing the distance in a millisecond.
Acnologia was just shaking the dizziness from his head, growling in annoyance, when the golden gnat appeared again.
"Taste this!"
Before Acnologia could react, Ren spun in mid-air, montum amplified by the Kurama shroud. He kicked Acnologia's massive chest.
"Oww————!!"
This blow made the Black Dragon Acnologia let out a genuine cry of pain. Scales cracked under the dense chakra impact. The dragon's body was lifted off the ground and kicked away again, crashing into the ocean and sending a massive plu of water into the sky.
"So strong————!!"
"He... he kicked the Dragon?!"
All the mbers of Fairy Tail, who had stopped fleeing to look back, were shocked by this scene.
Especially Gildarts and Laxus. They arrived late to the cliff's edge, eyes wide. They hadn't witnessed Ren displaying his divine power against Hades earlier. To see him manhandle the creature that terrified Gildarts was incomprehensible.
Of course, those who had seen it before—Erza, Natsu, Gray—also noticed that the power Ren was now displaying seed even stronger than when he fought Hades. It was a different kind of power. Warr, yet wilder.
anwhile, high in the clouds, concealed within the stealth field of the Grimoire Heart airship.
The vessel drifted silently. Inside, the corridors were quiet. At this mont, almost all of Grimoire Heart's remaining mbers—Hades, Rustyrose, Kain—lay dead or unconscious, their life forces drained. Zeref stood alone on the bridge, looking down through the viewport.
He had no interest in those who fled or died; death was his constant companion. All his attention was now focused on Tenrou Island below.
"How is that possible?!"
Zeref's obsidian eyes widened in genuine disbelief. He watched Ren, a glowing golden speck, kick the massive form of Acnologia into the sea.
"A human... contending with the Dragon of the Apocalypse?"
Zeref clutched the railing. He couldn't believe that a human could generate enough force to make Acnologia cry out in pain. "That golden light... it isn't Magic. It feels like life force itself. Who are you?"
Back on the island.
The ocean boiled.
"Roar————!!"
A massive shape erupted from the water. Acnologia was furious. He spread his wings, blotting out the sun. He opened his mouth and unleashed a roar of pure magical pressure.
A violent impact ripped up the earth, surging towards Ren like a tsunami of force.
Ren didn't dodge. He stood his ground. He crossed his arms.
"Chakra Arms!"
Golden arms of energy manifested from his cloak, anchoring him to the ground and forming a shield. He blocked the roar, the shockwave splitting around him and tearing the forest behind him to shreds.
Ren looked up at the hovering dragon. He scoffed.
"What? You've been cooped up for too long, beco a recluse, and forgotten how to speak human language? You just scream and roar."
Ren's eyes narrowed, his pupils becoming vertical slits—fox eyes.
"Then let teach you how to speak properly! Let show you what a real beast looks like!"
Ren clapped his hands together. The golden aura exploded outward, forming a massive avatar.
"Bijū Transformation!!"
[Akarin Note:
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