Laxus spat out a mouthful of blood and crashed heavily onto the floor.
"Now, Elexion!"
Kirin swung the chain, sending the coffin hurtling toward Laxus.
The tightly sealed lid suddenly flew open and swallowed him whole.
Standing beside the coffin, Kirin broke into a triumphant grin before throwing his head back in wild laughter.
"This time, you can devour your own heart!"
"Eat Laxus and become whole again!"
"AAAAAGH!!!"
Laxus's agonized roar echoed from inside the coffin as lightning engulfed his body.
...
A little over twenty years ago, the Lightning Dragon King Elexion had been gravely wounded in a battle against other dragons.
While Elexion lay dying, Georg Reizen, the master of the Dragon Eater guild Diabolos, found him.
A brutal battle followed, but Elexion had already been wounded beyond recovery.
With nothing left to do but await death, the Lightning Dragon King ultimately fell.
Kirin, not yet ten years old at the time, witnessed the entire battle.
Afterward, Georg ordered him to eat Elexion's flesh.
The young Kirin had looked at the dragon's remains and asked,
"Aren't we eating the heart?"
Georg held the enormous heart in one hand and answered casually,
"This will fetch a high price on the southern continent. I've heard there are Mages over there who can process a dragon's heart into a magic crystal."
After consuming Elexion's flesh, Kirin began suffering from constant nightmares.
A voice echoed endlessly through his mind.
'Give me back my heart...'
Eventually, Wraith, the Spirit Dragon, helped him deal with the problem by sealing Elexion's soul inside a box.
Kirin later transferred the soul into the coffin he now carried and bound it shut with chains.
Even then, the same words continued to haunt and torment him.
'Give me back my heart...'
"The time has finally come, Elexion!"
A crack appeared across the coffin lid.
Kirin, lost in his frenzy, did not notice.
"This is what you've always desired—the man who possesses your heart!"
A clenched fist burst through the lid and shattered it.
Blood ran down Laxus's arm, and his chest was drenched red.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, the terrible wound there was already healing at a visible rate.
"!!?"
Kirin stared at him, frozen in place.
'What kind of monstrous willpower and resolve does this man have? He dug the Dragon Slayer Lacrima out of his own body...'
Laxus held the Lightning Dragon King's Lacrima in his bloodied palm.
"I told you, didn't I? I have no attachment to the magic crystal that was buried inside me."
"That's impossible...!"
Cold sweat ran down Kirin's forehead. He was so shocked that he instinctively took a step backward.
"That's the source of your Magic Power! How could you possibly remove it...?"
"Because it wouldn't shut up about devouring me, so I pulled the damn thing out."
As Laxus spoke, he opened his hand.
The Lightning Dragon King's Lacrima—the treasure Kirin had obsessed over for years—fell from his palm as though it were worthless and struck the floor.
It should have been the source of Laxus's power.
Yet after removing it, the Magic Power raging around him became even more violent than before. It condensed into a tangible vortex that spiraled around his body.
"You got one thing completely wrong."
Laxus's voice reached Kirin through the storm of Magic Power.
"What?!"
"I heard Elexion's voice inside that coffin. After spending so many years together, maybe you developed some kind of attachment to him."
"But Elexion felt nothing for you."
"He was the proud king of the Lightning Dragons, merely following his instincts as he searched for his missing heart."
"To preserve his dignity—and destroy the man who desecrated and devoured his body—his soul continued wandering this world."
Kirin's expression stiffened.
"You're saying... he wants to kill me?"
"And now he's found someone capable of doing it."
Laxus opened his mouth.
Magic Power rumbled like thunder as it began pouring into his body.
The soul of Elexion rose from the shattered coffin and streamed into Laxus's mouth along with the remaining lightning Magic.
Although Laxus had removed the Dragon Slayer Lacrima, his body had long since been fully assimilated by Dragon Slayer Magic.
"You... You're devouring Elexion's soul?!"
Kirin's entire understanding of the world began to crumble.
Diabolos had eaten countless dragons, but even they had never witnessed anything as absurd as someone devouring a dragon's soul.
"Lightning Dragon King—Crimson Imperial Lightning!"
Laxus's blood-red lightning merged with the remaining Magic Power of Elexion.
The resulting torrent erupted outward and swallowed Kirin whole.
When the thick smoke cleared, Kirin stood completely charred, his eyes vacant and white smoke spilling from his mouth.
He had already lost consciousness.
His body slowly toppled to the floor.
Laxus looked down at him and muttered, "I heard Elexion's voice? Heh. That was all bullshit."
"There was Magic Power in there, so I ate it. That's all."
"And I've been looking for a chance to free myself from the curse that bastard father of mine forced on me."
What Laxus had consumed was indeed the remnants of Elexion's soul and Magic Power.
However, much like Atlas Flame after becoming the Eternal Flame, Elexion's lingering soul had lost its consciousness long ago.
The mysterious attraction between the coffin and Laxus had been nothing more than an unconscious reaction, not a deliberate choice made by Elexion's will.
Laxus left Kirin where he had fallen and returned to the chamber where he had encountered Lucy and Kiria.
Kiria was still unconscious.
Lucy had exhausted nearly all her strength and was leaning against the wall, regulating her breathing as she slowly recovered her Magic Power.
Laxus looked unharmed at first glance, but tearing open his own chest and ripping out the Lacrima had been agonizing even for him.
"Let's rest for a while before moving on."
"Okay."
...
Erza and Kagura, meanwhile, had encountered another member of the Black Dragon Slayer Knights—Misaki, the Azure Dragon.
"Neither of you interfere. I can handle her myself."
Erza now understood that Misaki's earlier use of Spatial Magic had been intended to humiliate her.
She had only escaped because Kagura had recognized the danger and acted in time.
"I'm curious about that sudden heat we felt earlier, but Erza's killing intent is even more worrying..."
Cold sweat poured down Gajeel's forehead.
He had been furious after Misaki's surprise attack, but one look at Erza told him she was far angrier than he was.
Trusting his survival instincts, he quietly backed away several steps.
"Be careful," Kagura said before retreating to Gajeel's side.
Misaki placed one hand on her hip and laughed softly.
"My, my... You're certainly looking down on me."
"Personally, I wouldn't mind if all of you attacked together."
Gajeel immediately snapped back,
"Who's looking down on who here?!"
Misaki turned sideways and extended one palm.
"Regardless, if you insist on fighting alone, I'll indulge you."
"I'll finish you in five seconds."
Blue Magic Power surged around Misaki and gradually enveloped both women.
Erza's figure began to fade.
A moment later, Misaki vanished as well.
---------
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