Friend

After pulling out Zeref, who was stuck in the wall, Damian looked at him and noticed the mage in front of him was a bit exhausted.

"So that curse takes a toll on your body as well?"

"No, I am in this state because I tried to fight back against it." said Zeref.

"Hmm....no matter it is still a bother. Well looks like I am not affected by that curse of yours so you don't need to worry about me." said Damian.

"Yeah, looks like we really were fated to meet. I really am getting curious as to why you are not affected by that curse." said Zeref.

"I don't know and currently I don't have time to think about that. So shall we go back to the reason why you brought me here?" asked Damian.

"Yeah, let's not lose sight of our immediate objective." said Zeref as he stood up and dusted of his clothes.

He then started walking towards a different room with Damian following behind him.

"It is a bit more messier than the room you just saw so mind your step." warned Zeref as he entered the room.

"You call this a bit." remarked Damian as he entered the room which seemed like a lab to him.

With all the things that were scattered around the room Damian looked around a bit but seeing that most of them were items unknown to him, he stopped focusing on them and followed Zeref who was going through some books.

"You see since our last meeting, I did some background check on you." said Zeref while still going through the books.

"Oh, and what did you find about me?" asked Damian.

"Lots of stuff, both the things that you did in the light and the things that you did in the dark.....but you see I cannot find anything about your origins, that is the thing that surprised me the most. How could a talented mage like you was able to lay so low." asked Zeref.

"Well just like you I have a hobby of living in between of nowhere back then. So...."

"Hmm....still I should have some info on you even if you used to live that secluded..... whatever not that it matters much. Remember that I told you that I might have some info that you are interested in?"

"Yeah."

"Since you are from Dragonof, you most definitely know about dragon slayers. Now, what if I told you that the dragon king Acnologia is a dragon slayer as well." said Zeref.

"Well.... surprising but not that much. I was expecting that for a while as well. Specially seeing how dragon slayers transformed into mindless beasts." said Damian.

"Yeah, the dragon slayer magic that the queen of Dragonof developed indeed has that drawback. It turns people into dragons which are no different than mindless beasts if that power is used too much. However what if I told you that Acnologia is a dragon slayer that transformed into a dragon, but instead of a mindless beast he still possess his intelligence." said Zeref.

Hearing that Damian turned silent and stared at Zeref.

Zeref who noticed that Damian was totally focused on the topic smiled and said, "Seems like it did catch your attention. Should I go a bit deeper in this topic. I can share with you what I know about him?"

"...What do you want in return?" asked Damian.

"Fufu, don't make it seem like that I am agreedy man. Let's just say that it is free on account of usbeing friends from now on." said Zeref.

"Huh, when did I become your friend?" asked Damian.

"Hmm, I didn't hear it correctly did you just say that you don't want the information?" said Zeref with a smile.

"...What is this pointless blackmail? Do you really just want a friend in return for that info?" asked Damian with a confused look on his face.

"It's not a friend. What I want is you...as a friend of course!!" said Zeref as he hurriedly added the last part as he saw Damian was about to throw something at him.

Damian fell silent as he began thinking if Zeref was planning something but after thinking about it for a while he saw that Zeref was staring at him intently and somehow he felt that Zeref was looking pitiful.

'What is this? Is he using some kind of magic?" thought Damian.

"...You are not going to make me sign some sort of contract or something like that, right?" asked Damian.

"No not at all. Friends don't do that now do they."

"They usually don't, but how come you are being so selfless. Or is it that you were too lonely before." asked Damian.

"Hmm....I was not going to ask you anything in return for this since your goal of dealing with Acnologia aligned with mine to begin with. But after seeing how you were not affected by my curse made me think of this condition. I will still relay this info to you regardless if you decline...but I though that having a friend who was not afraid of me will be good." said Zeref.

Damian looked at Zeref for a while and seeing that he was not replying Zeref assumed that Damian was not willing to interact with him more than necessary and just focused back on the book.

"Anyways let's get into-"

"All right, let's get along from now on. Even though I still think you are creepy." said Damian and walked towards the other mage.

Zeref stood silently and stared at Damian but soon a big smile appeared on his face as he nodded his head and said, "Yeah, let's get along."

Damian sighed seeing the over cheerful Zeref and thought, 'He must be way too lonely if just having a friend is able to make him this happy.'

"Now onto the info."

Zeref who was smiling immediately snapped out of trance and turned back to his normal self and started showing the text written on the page.

"I looked into Acnologia's background as well and-"

Zeref started explaining Damian about the details that he found out about the black dragon and after explaining and clearing some of Damian's doubt both of them sat down silently on their chairs.

".....Despite what you told me, do you not know how he got a hold of his dragon slaying powers?" asked Damian.

"Yeah, his origins are a bit better than yours but still it is very troublesome to get a hold of some info about him since he destroyed everything on his path their is nothing left to gain some knowledge from about him." said Zeref.

"And the fact that he turns stronger after defeating dragons?" asked Damian.

"Yeah, I am still unsure about it, but I observed that happening with my own eyes." said Zeref.

"Hmm....rather than getting stronger after defeating a dragon, I think that he is slowly reaching his true potential. Otherwise considering the number of dragons he killed, he should easily be able to destroy everything in his sight." said Damian.

"....That theory seems good as well."

"But what about him possessing intelligence even after undergoing dragonification. How is he able to achieve that?" asked Damian.

"That is something that I don't have any knowledge about. But considering how he is not same as the dragon slayers from your kingdom. I can only presume that his way of gaining his powers is different from yours." said Zeref as he thought about it for a while.

"In fact I was researching on this dragon slayer magic as well." said Zeref with a smile.

Seeing his smile Damian narrowed his eyes and asked, "What are you getting at Zeref?"

"You see while researching I stumbled upon a factor that I think is the reason why the Dragonof dragon slayers are undergoing dragonification." said Zeref hearing which Damian just looked at Zeref with serious look on his face.

'....Seems like I really did make a great friend today.'