Happy carried Natsu through the sky as the Fire Dragon Slayer panted heavily, feeling how little Magic Power remained inside him.
"Damn it! We're still too slow!"
Wendy was equally exhausted. Carla held her aloft and said worriedly,
"There are three thousand Face units. Destroying them would take time even if they were all gathered in one place, but they're scattered everywhere…"
Face was a Magic Pulse Bomb capable of erasing all magic across the continent. Naturally, its durability was just as formidable.
Every time the Dragon Slayer team found one, they had to use techniques on the level of their Secret Arts just to destroy it.
Gajeel held a Communication Lacrima and spoke gravely.
"Jellal's group found another cluster. Let's move."
"We need another plan," Rogue said darkly. "We'll never destroy them all like this."
There were three thousand Face units.
The problem was not whether they possessed enough power to break them.
Their locations were uncertain, and the time and Magic Power spent traveling between them was already becoming an unbearable burden.
The Dragon Slayers might have gained exceptional mobility from their Exceed partners, but the cats had limits too.
After carrying them from one site to another without rest, they were already close to collapsing from exhaustion.
Natsu tried to calm the emptiness pulsing through his Magic Power reserves and looked down at the Lacrima in his hand.
Ankh's final words before they parted echoed through his mind.
"Igneel…"
The thirty-minute deadline was rapidly approaching.
It was time to make a decision.
When Natsu brought out the Lacrima, everyone around him fell silent.
They had already heard what it was meant to do.
Breaking it would release the dragons hidden within their bodies so they could help destroy Face.
When Sting and Rogue first learned the truth, neither of them believed it.
They had rejected it so violently that they almost became hysterical.
According to their memories, their foster fathers—Weisslogia the White Dragon and Skiadrum the Shadow Dragon—had both been terminally ill and personally asked their sons to kill them.
Natsu and Gajeel, who trusted Ankh completely and had already seen proof for themselves, responded by punching the pair hard enough to knock some sense into them.
Every dragon who had raised a Dragon Slayer still existed within their adopted child's body.
That was an undeniable fact.
Gajeel stared at the Lacrima and forced a bitter grin.
"So after all this, we still have to ask them for help. Pisses me off…"
Natsu and the others said nothing.
They clearly felt the same way.
It was like leaving home to build a life of your own, believing you had finally achieved something worthwhile—only to encounter a crisis so great that your sole remaining option was to beg your parents to save you.
That mixture of embarrassment and frustration was exactly what the young Dragon Slayers felt now.
"Do not hesitate, Natsu."
Just as Natsu silently prepared to crush the Lacrima, a voice descended as though from the heavens.
It was dignified and commanding, yet filled with warmth.
Natsu's entire body trembled.
He shot to his feet and cried out,
"Igneel! Is that you?!"
The others quickly understood what was happening. Excitement and anxiety filled their faces as they watched him.
The voice within Natsu's heart carried the same familiar dominance he remembered, softened by boundless affection.
"There is nothing more wonderful than humans and dragons standing together through life and death."
"But losing your will to fight simply because your strength has reached its limit…"
"That does not sound like my son!"
Natsu remained speechless for a long time.
Before long, tears began pouring from the eyes of the boy who normally faced everything with a carefree grin.
The Lacrima in his hand shattered on its own.
Blazing red light erupted from Natsu's body.
The surrounding earth sank and melted beneath the tremendous heat, yet the light washing over his companions carried a strangely gentle warmth.
Then the colossal figure Natsu had longed to see every day of his life slowly emerged from within the crimson radiance.
Two enormous red wings spread wide enough to blot out the sky.
Terrifying muscles covered his immense body, protected by deep crimson scales. Several savage scars crossed his monstrous head, making his appearance even more fearsome.
To any stranger, he looked like the perfect image of an evil dragon torn straight from an old legend.
To Natsu, however, that terrifying form was achingly familiar.
It felt like home.
"IGNEEL!"
Natsu launched himself into the air, landed on top of Igneel's head, and immediately began hammering him with both fists.
"Damn you, you crappy old man! Why did you suddenly disappear on me?!"
There was none of the tearful, sentimental reunion one might expect after years of separation.
Natsu expressed his love exactly as he had when he was a child.
Igneel barely felt the punches and kicks landing against his head. He bared his terrifying fangs, yet somehow wore an unmistakably affectionate smile.
"I'm sorry, Natsu. We had our reasons."
He paid no attention to Natsu's tantrum and instead laughed even more loudly.
When Igneel failed to react, Natsu's face turned bright red and he began punching even harder.
Despite all the angry words leaving his mouth, Gajeel, Wendy, and the others knew him well enough to notice the smile he could not keep from forming.
Natsu was happier than he had been in years.
Gajeel and the others hurried toward Igneel's feet, desperate to ask him about Metalicana and their own foster parents.
They did not have to wait long.
One burst of light after another began emerging from their bodies, releasing powerful currents of Magic Power.
Soon, several enormous figures the young Dragon Slayers had missed beyond words appeared before them.
Grandine, the Sky Dragon, emerged in all her gentle elegance, her body covered in soft white feathers.
Metalicana, the Iron Dragon, appeared clad in heavy metallic armor, radiating tremendous strength.
Weisslogia, the White Dragon, was likewise covered in white fur and carried a kind, sacred presence.
Skiadrum, the Shadow Dragon, resembled a bottomless patch of darkness, remaining ghostlike even after fully revealing himself.
All five dragons had gathered.
After years apart from their foster parents, the Dragon Slayers broke down in tears and rushed toward their families.
Wendy buried herself in Grandine's soft feathers and sobbed uncontrollably. Grandine gazed at her with endless affection and gently cradled her against her chest.
The moment Sting reunited with Weisslogia, he began angrily demanding to know why the dragon had altered his memories and lied to him.
Weisslogia casually poked and pushed him around like a child playing with an insect, causing Sting to lose his temper and start biting him.
Rogue and Skiadrum merely stood together in silence, staring at one another without managing to say a single word.
They looked exactly like an intensely withdrawn father and son who had no idea how to express their feelings.
Gajeel's reunion was even more awkward.
The instant Metalicana appeared, he began mocking Gajeel for struggling so badly to win over his little girlfriend.
Gajeel's face immediately turned red with fury. He wanted to argue back, but could not think of a single response.
Once their long-awaited reunions had settled, Igneel looked toward Natsu.
His voice was warm yet solemn as it entered his son's ears.
"Humans and dragons were always meant to coexist in peace. This continent does not belong to any single race."
"When humans cannot accomplish something, dragons should lend their strength."
"And when dragons cannot do something, we should entrust it to humanity."
Natsu hugged Igneel's enormous head and smiled as brightly as the sun.
"I understand…"
Igneel spread his wings.
"Leave the destruction of Face—and the salvation of Ishgar—to us."
The other four dragons unfurled their own colossal wings beside him.
The sight was terrifying enough to shake the entire world.
From this day onward, after vanishing for four hundred years—Dragons had returned to the continent of Ishgar!
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