chapter 25 : Igneel

Later, Gray isolated himself to study the second half of the great multi-millennial grimoire, he had started it a few weeks ago and he was quite surprised by what he read inside.

 According to the book, magic was not the only energy exploitable by living beings, vital energy was in much more limited quantity than magic but unlike magic, everyone could use it unconsciously for the very large majority.

 This second part talked about the life force but also the purification of magic he started to dive deep into the book when he was interrupted by Kevan.

 Kevan: Please forgive me, sir, but it seems that some very disastrous news has reached us.

 Gray: I'm listening.

 Kevan: The council was attacked in Era, the building exploded and collapsed thanks to lachryma bombs. It seemed that one of the council members was a traitor and terrorist, he manipulated the council into using the etherion to power an R-system.

 Gray: Siegrain... 

 Kevan: This is what Master Yajima reported.

 Gray: How is he?

 Kevan: He got through it, I'll let you see the details with him. That's not all, there's something else...an urgent message from Erza.

 Gray: ERZA?! This is the first time she uses the communicator I gave to the S ranks of the guild for extreme emergencies. Why didn't she reach my communicator directly ?!

 Kevan: You left it in your room.

 Gray: That's right, I took it off when...well anyway, what's the emergency?

 Kevan: Well, you see…

 A few moments later, in a large room in one of the buildings in the coastal city of Hargeon, Erza, Lucy and Loke were sitting waiting and worry was clearly visible on their faces.

 They were near a bed where Natsu was lying, his body looked like it had taken heavy damage but the strangest thing was the fluorescent blue substance that seemed to be running through his veins as Natsu groaned in pain on the bed.

 Happy at the edge of the bed was in tears begging Natsu to wake up while Erza looked at him with immense fear and guilt.

 Suddenly the door opened and Gray rushed in.

 Gray: Where is he?

 Loke: Gray ! Finally you are here.

 Lucy: Gray !

 He saw Natsu on the bed with Erza completely helpless and desperate so he rushed towards him.

 Happy: Gray...Natsu is going to die...save him...you're super strong, you can save him...

 Gray: His veins...what exactly happened?

 Erza : He sacrificed himself to save my life from a big explosion of unstable ethernano, he absorbed a lot of the substance and...

 Gray: It's okay, I understand.

 He placed his hand on Natsu's forehead before concentrating and connecting his magic to his as a green glow enveloped Natsu.

 Gray was carefully examining Natsu's body from head to toe to locate any problems, this was extremely advanced healing magic.

 "I see, Natsu's case is extremely serious, the substance in his veins is unstable ethernano which has merged with his blood and this mixture is changing into lachryma in Natsu's veins.

 Not only does he have an overabundance of magic in his body, but his blood is barely circulating. It'll kill him…" He said keeping his eyes closed.

 Lucy: NO!

 Loke: Is there nothing we can do?!

 Erza: Natsu...

 Gray: I can save him but it's going to be tricky and we don't have time to waste. What I'm going to do risks either killing him or making him even more powerful.

 "SAVE HIM…SAVE NATSU, I BEGG YOU…" Happy begged crying profusely and Gray stroked his head…

 Gray: Natsu is a moron but he's like my own brother, of course I'll save him.

 He immediately took out a small pouch from his storage and inside were some very high quality lachryma cores that he had created himself to forge his enchanted swords.

 They could store a colossal amount of magic and were very durable indeed.

 Then, he pulled Natsu up into a sitting position before sitting behind him himself and putting one of his lachrymas in front of Natsu.

 Gray: Don't let anyone interrupt what I'm going to do because the operation will be really delicate. I'm going to drain him of all his magic dry to store it in a lachryma and implant it in him later, emptying it will clean him but it will be so sudden that it risks killing him, I have to do that very quickly and well .

 Lucy: You will succeed, I know it...

 Loke: We're counting on you.

 Happy: If you save Natsu I'll give you my most beautiful fish.

 Erza: Please Gray, save him.

 He placed both of his hands on each of Natsu's shoulder blades before the green glow enveloped them both he plunged his consciousness into Natsu's internal magical dimension because of the connection, it was an extremely hot volcanic field and strangely, he felt like something was watching him inside.

 He started the process and from the outside, the others started to see a large magical flow of red-orange color leaving Natsu's body to be absorbed by the lachryma, the flow was large and extremely fast, it looked like wind at very high speed.

 For nearly six minutes this flow was maintained, showing the colossal amount of magic Natsu had within him and the lachryma reached its storage limits.

 " Not good !" Gray said before in thought, he brought out a second lachryma from the pouch which began to float and accommodate the excess magic.

 After another three minutes, the glow in Natsu's veins disappeared. Seeing this, the others' faces lit up with hope but for Gray, it was the trickiest part.

 Indeed, Natsu's magic reserves were at their last portions but while everything was about to be emptied and Gray concentrated more, another source of cold, dark and harmful magic appeared to invade Natsu's internal magical space.

 Gray looked at where this energy came from that he could describe as demonic and it came from a kind of purple and black core (E. N. D).

 The energy rushed towards Gray to try to corrupt him but he immediately began pushing it back with his own magic.

 They struggled for a while and as Gray began to gain the upper hand, something gigantic arrived near him, released its own magic to repel with Gray the demonic energy that they ended up sealing away.

 Gray turned towards the thing that helped him and it was a large red dragon, imposing and majestic but he was no stranger to Gray, it was Igneel the dragon who had educated Natsu and had disappeared without leaving of trace.

 Gray: Igneel...

 Igneel: You seem to know me, human. First, finish saving my son and I'll talk to you. I'll stop the sudden, abrupt lack of magic from killing him, but you have to act quickly.

 Gray didn't say anything else and nodded before exiting the inner magical dimension.

 Out of breath and drenched from sweat, Gray laid Natsu on his back on the ground where he clasped his hands and a magic circle appeared on the ground where Natsu was lying.

 He took the Lachryma that had stored the most magic and with both hands, he placed the sphere on Natsu's chest as runes appeared on Natsu's body to match the magic circle below.

 The lachryma began to embed itself in Natsu's chest under the palms of Gray's hands.

There was no blood, it was advanced magical fusion hence the presence of the magic circle on the ground and the runes on Natsu's body.

 This lachryma would now become entirely part of him in the same way as his basic bodily magical core which would begin to fill with ethernano normally again.

 It was necessary to understand that Gray had not deprived Natsu's body of magic indefinitely, he had not removed his core but had just emptied it completely.

 In other words, With a lot of rest, Natsu would have regained all his magic but now in addition to his core, Natsu had this lachryma in him. This was a Dragon's Slayers from a whole different generation.

 Once everything was done, the magic circle and runes disappeared and he placed the sleeping Natsu back on the bed.

 Gray: It's done.

 Happy: It worked ?

 Gray: We have to wait a bit to confirm it but I think it will be fine.

 Erza: We'll stay here to watch over him and monitor him. Thank you Gray...thank you very much...

 Lucy: Yes, thank you Gray.

 Loke: Nice job buddy.

 "It's nothing but I'll have to check some more details with him..." Gray said, returning to Natsu to place his hand on his forehead.

 Erza: What details ?!

 Gray: Nothing special, his magical constants and the state of his blood vessels, a light check-up so as not to neglect anything.

 Erza: hum, that's important. Please do it…

 He once again dove into Natsu's internal magical domain where he went to find Igneel, he was going to have a little chat with the dragon .