On the day they defeated the dragon, Erza showcased the culinary skills she had honed over many years.
Under Erza's exquisite knife work, Eclixion was carved until only a skeleton remained. She prepared the sliced meat into a series of delicious delicacies using various cooking methods: boiling, stewing, stir-frying, deep-frying, searing, and even hot pot.
As for Eclixion's heart, Darwin used the freezing abilities of his Frost Demon Form to temporarily seal it in ice. It was stored in a makeshift wooden box, intended to be brought back to Ishgar and eventually crafted into a Dragon Slayer Lacrima.
A dragon's body is massive. Even with the three of them eating meat every meal and drinking broth every day, it took three days and three nights to finish all of Eclixion's meat.
That evening.
After finishing the final meal of dragon meat, Darwin let out a comfortable, satisfied burp. His eyes were hazy with drowsiness, but he still remembered one important thing.
"So?" he asked. "Did either of you manage to learn Dragon Slayer Magic?"
Erza was the first to shake her head.
Chris closed her eyes, carefully sensing the flow of magic within her body, before knitting her brows. "Nothing at all! Is it because I didn't eat enough?"
Darwin was speechless. "You ate the most out of all of us—you didn't even let the tendons on its hooves go. And you're still saying it wasn't enough?"
Seeing that Chris still looked unsatisfied, Erza suggested, "Though the meat is gone, if you still want more, Chris, I can use the bones to brew some broth for you."
Chris's eyes lit up. "Really?! Then—"
"Hey, hey, hey..." Darwin interrupted. "Are you two demons?"
Darwin's heart was still kind. Seeing the two girls looking so eager to set upon the final remains, he immediately spoke up to stop them. "Even if this guy wasn't a 'good' dragon, we've already eaten his meat. Let's at least leave the poor guy an intact skeleton!"
Chris thought about it and found it reasonable. She hopped over to Darwin's side and, pretending to be righteous, said to Erza, "Darwin is right. Erza, you're too cruel!"
Darwin's mouth twitched. "You're literally holding a bowl and cursing the cook. Girl, can you be any more shameless?"
"Hehehe..." Chris scratched her head bashfully.
Erza also had a forehead full of black lines. "I don't want to hear that from you! You were clearly the one eating most happily just now, and you're the one complaining about it not being enough!!"
"Since you're both against the bone broth, forget it then!"
So they really weren't going to do it? Chris felt a bit of regret about missing out on the dragon-bone soup, but having had so much meat broth over the last three days, she didn't feel like she'd lost out.
Erza knew Chris's personality and didn't take the teasing to heart, turning aside to pack the cooking utensils. Seeing this, Chris took the initiative to step forward, rolling up her sleeves to "help." "Let me do it, let me do it! How can I let my dear Sister-in-law cook and wash the dishes?"
The address "Sister-in-law" made Erza's face flush red, but she felt quite pleased inside. "Shoo, shoo, little kid, go play somewhere else..."
"Roger!!" Chris didn't hesitate for a second. She did a playful salute and immediately backed away. "Then I'll go for a walk nearby to digest my meal!"
With a grin, she turned and sprinted off, vanishing in a flash. Darwin could only manage a helpless smile and stepped forward to help Erza clean up.
The next day, the three set off again. After several more days, they returned to Magia Dragon and informed Elefseria of their experiences in exhaustive detail.
"You... what did you say??!"
"You didn't just defeat Eclixion, you... you ate him?!"
Elefseria stood rooted to the spot, his face a mask of disbelief. His brain stalled like a broken machine, his eyes shook, and his beard trembled. His limbs went so numb he couldn't even grip his magic staff; it hit the floor with a clatter.
"You... you're joking, right?"
"Not at all!" the three answered in unison, shaking their heads.
"We even took many souvenirs from him!"
"This is one of them, look!" Darwin said, setting down the pack on his back. He took out the wooden box containing the dragon heart and opened it for display.
Elefseria stepped forward. Inside the box lay a massive, ice-sealed heart. Through the layer of ice, one could clearly see the vibrant red blood vessels covering its surface.
"It... it really is a dragon heart!!" Elefseria's breathing became erratic. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and his eyes widened. "Wait! Don't tell me that earthquake that swept across the entire continent a few days ago was caused by..."
"That was my magic!" Chris grinned, pointing a thumb at herself. "I used that move to give him the final blow! Of course, Darwin and Erza's attacks hurt him a lot before that."
Erza smiled modestly. "Not at all... my attacks didn't really help much. Most of the credit goes to Darwin and Chris."
Darwin, however, shamelessly took the credit. "It was mostly my doing! That one punch and one palm strike took away at least seventy percent of his health bar! Chris was just a kill-stealer!"
"Ha?! What did you say!?"
"Is it not the truth?"
"Of course not! My attack took out at least fifty percent of his health!!"
"Even if I take a step back, it was only forty percent. Definitely not fifty!!"
"It was fifty!!"
Elefseria watched the siblings argue, utterly lost for words.
So that was it? Then it makes sense! That tremor from a few days ago was strong enough to affect all of Guiltina. If it was that level of destructive power, then killing Eclixion wasn't impossible to accept...
"Like hell it is!!!!"
"That was the 'Thunder Dragon King' Eclixion! A terrifying existence that plagued Guiltina for centuries!!"
"You actually defeated him, and without a single casualty?! You aren't even Dragon Slayers!!"
"To defeat a dragon using only ordinary magic... doesn't that make those of us who practiced Dragon Slayer Magic and eventually turned into dragons look absolutely ridiculous?!"
For the first time in his incredibly long life, Elefseria felt like he had lived for nothing. He started hopping in place, having a total emotional breakdown.
Hearing this, Darwin stopped arguing with Chris and said with a grin, "Oh, so that guy was called the 'Thunder Dragon King' Eclixion? Finally, I don't have to worry about how to label him anymore."
"..."
Elefseria's expression froze again. The look he gave Darwin was full of resentment.
Kid, is it physically impossible for you to not flex for five minutes?