327 327. Dragon Graveyard

Gajeel leads the 1st Generation Dragon Slayers to Domus Flau's underground room where he fell before. It's quite deep and not many people have entered this place. Even Ben never went here as he never bothered to do it.

Lucy, Gray, & the Exceeds also join them because they are curious. The other guild members aren't too interested in this, so they stay behind. Ben's kids wanted to join, but Mira stopped them because it was their time to sleep.

Sometime later, they finally arrive, and to their surprise, there are many Dragon Bones here. Natsu wonders if their Dragon parents are here too. But Gajeel thinks it's impossible because these Dragons seem to have died a long time ago.

Ben doesn't join their conversations and just walks around with Bella. Unlike them, he never met his Dragon, so he doesn't have any attachment, and never has a reason to find Escanor. Also, he knew from Quorra that Escanor has died, and nothing was left from the Sun Dragon.

He checks the Dragon bones and touches them one by one. Others will think that he is just curious, but Ben is actually trying to feel the Dragons' left-over magic. They've died hundreds of years ago, but Dragons are strong magical creatures, so there should be magic residue in their bones.

His assumption is correct as he can feel slight magic power in the bones. Their magic power is very weak, but he can at least tell their types of magic. It doesn't seem much, but by feeling Dragons' magic power, he can understand more of Dragon Slayer Magic.

As he goes around, he suddenly feels the surrounding's magic power increase. He looks at the source and sees Wendy uses a spell to call a Dragon's soul. It's a spell named Milky Way that was given by Grandeeney through Porlyusica who is the Sky Dragon's Edolas counterpart.

The Dragon soul that Wendy called is a Dragon with a greenish color. Ben sees the Dragon soul trying to intimidate the others, but he doesn't do anything. He just stays in the dark and watches as he knows everything will be fine.

This Dragon soul can't do anything to them because it doesn't have any power, unlike Atlas Flame. This Dragon is also called by Wendy using a spell to simply has a conversation. So Ben stays behind to observe this Dragon Soul.

The Dragon introduced himself as Zirconis, the Emerald Dragon. He has a rather irritating personality, especially toward humans. Zirconis was a Dragon who went into war against humans in the era of Dragons, so he hates humans.

He also looks down on humans and even tries to eat Wendy who calls him. Natsu & co are startled by it and tries to attack him. Zirconis also tries to attack them, but none of them can touch each other.

Ben just sighs because he knew this would happen. The Dragon was just playing with them who don't know that his spirit can't touch physical matters like living beings. But even if they can't touch each other, Ben still can feel the power inside Zirconis's soul, which can give him valuable data.

Ben just watches as Zirconis teases the others before finally teaching them history. It's basically the same as what Ben heard from Smog the Heat Dragon. Zirconis tells them about the war between humans & Dragons, then how some Dragons support humans, making the Dragons split.

Then he also tells them about Acnologia, a man who became a Dragon after killing numerous Dragons in the past. All Dragons that were buried in this place were killed by Acnologia. Acnologia became the Dragon King and then Dragon King Festival was created, which now becomes Grand Magic Games.

Not long after telling that story, Zirconis's soul vanishes and returns to the spirit world. The Dragon Slayers mull over the information they've just got. They wonder if they will become Dragons too. Ben never told this to them because they will be too worried about it.

Then as they talk about it and Ben continues to inspect the Dragon bones, someone suddenly appears and tells them that they don't need to worry about it. The one who comes is Arcadios, the Kingdom's Holy Knight Squadron Chief. He is also accompanied by a familiar face, Yukino.

Ben stays hidden to know what Arcadios wants because the guy might change the topic if Ben shows up. So he just hides in the dark while observing their conversation. He hears Arcadios tell them the plan to kill Zeref.

It makes Ben quite confused about why they want to kill Zeref. But then Arcadios says that killing Zeref is the first step to stop Acnologia. The Kingdom believes that Zeref's death will weaken Acnologia or something.

Arcadios then explains that his Knight group was the one who tried to kidnap Lucy a few times. They mistook Wendy for Lucy at first, that's why Wendy also became a target. But all their attempts fail because someone always disturbed them.

Ben was the one who did that, so of course, they didn't succeed. Now Ben understands why he couldn't find the culprit. It's because they are knights, and he never suspects them because they are everywhere in the city.

Arcadios then leads them to the castle as they talk about it and Ben follows them stealthily. Luckily, the Fairy Tail Mages aren't searching for him, so Arcadios doesn't find out. They continue to talk and Arcadios tells them that the Grand Magic Games are actually an event to collect a lot of magic power for the plan that they're about to do.

He then tells them that the plan is to open the massive ancient door that they see now after walking quite deep into the castle. It needs the 12 Zodiac keys and a massive amount of magic power to be activated.

This door is connected to the past, 400 years ago to be precise. The plan is to go back in time to change the past by killing Zeref before he gained immortality. If Zeref didn't become immortal, then Acnologia won't be a Dragon too, that's what the Kingdom thinks.

Arcadios is about to ask for Lucy's assistance as she has the other Zodiac Keys. But then, a lot of Royal Guards suddenly appear and surround the group. The Royal Guards are led by Darton, the Kingdom's Minister of Defense, which is just a hunched old man.

Darton is displeased that Arcadios tells outsiders of their plan. Then he says that it's too dangerous to change history. So he can't let Arcadios go with the plan of going back to the past using Eclipse Door.

Darton then orders the Royal Guards to catch Arcadios & Yukino for treason. Then they also catch Lucy because she is an important part of the plan. Natsu tries to save her, but then his magic power gets sucked completely by the Eclipse Door, making him fall unconscious.

Then, the Royal Guards kick the other Fairy Tail members from the castle. Darton says that the King has taken a liking to them, so he wants to see their battle on the last day. If they can show exciting battles on the last day, they will get a chance to talk with the King and ask for Lucy's freedom.

The Fairies are angry but they can't do anything for now. Their opponent is the Kingdom, after all, and they are just a Guild in that Kingdom. Makarov also thinks that it's not wise to go against the Kingdom now after they returned and told him what happened.

"We can't just fight against them because it won't be just the Kingdom that we face. Other Guilds will also go against us once the Kingdom labels us as traitors. But we can't just believe what the Kingdom said, we need to make a plan to save Lucy on our own," says Makarov.

Everyone nods and agrees, but then Mira asks, "Uhm, I agree with that, but where's Ben & Bella?"

Everyone has just remembered that Ben & Bella went with the Dragon Slayers before. Even the Dragon Slayers also have just remembered because they've disappeared since they arrived in the Dragon Graveyard. They don't realize that the 2 have gone because they were too focused on the Dragons and Arcadios's story.

In the castle, Darton returns to the Throne Room after kicking the Fairies out. He wants to meet the King and report his task. But then he stops in his track and widens his eyes as he sees his King in the Throne Room.

"MY KING!?" shouts Darton as he tries to run.

But then, "Whoa, stop there little geezer. I'm sure you don't want your King's head to roll on the floor, right?"

The one who asks is Ben who is being searched by his guildmates. He is sitting on the throne with Bella on his lap while holding his old Pendragon Sword that gets stabbed on the floor. And right beside that sword is the King's neck. The King is lying on the floor, facing downwards as Ben steps on his back.

Ben then angrily says, "I don't know what made you so brave to do all those things to my friends. But you should know that I can destroy this whole city before you can ask for help. Now, let's have a serious talk, old bastards."

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