The Birth Of The Scarlet King... Fear The Scarlet King!

{Bonus chapter for the 300 power stones, there would be no second extra chapter. The author is tired. The author needs rest... enjoy.}

"Why is the snow melting?" On a mountain covered in snow, a young man frowned while looking at the snow melting. He wasn't alone, a young woman also nodded confused as to why this mountain was heating up.

"Let's start heading down." The girl said, feeling uneasy. First, this mountain appeared out of nowhere 10 years ago, and now it was acting weird. So, it was best they leave to avoid trouble. The young man nodded, even with the use of magic, it took them 6 months to reach the peak of this mountain. 

They began packing up and heading down, but as the days passed and they got closer to the bottom, they noticed that it was starting to heat up, the ground was getting hotter and hotter with every passing day. With the mountain over 100 thousand meters, it would take a long time for them to reach the ground. They tried to rush as with the ice melting, it was getting more and more dangerous with every passing second, causing the ice to slide down.

They ignored the lifeless bodies of those who tried to reach the peak of the mountain, they rushed down towards the bottom of the mountain as quickly and safely as they could. It was going to take a month for them to do so if they were lucky.

With every passing day, the heat of the mountain grew worse, and an avalanche soon formed, forcing them to jump behind a rock to shield them. But things kept getting worse, and the Avalance kept getting worse with every passing day, the ground began caving in as if the mountain was hollow. 

They tried to run with everything they had, escaping the mountain, they managed to see down the caving in mountain, and all they saw was a sea of magma, so hot that when the heat touched them, they were burnt instantly. They fled with everything they had... but they would never get to see the next day.

Floating above the magma, fire floated. It was the size of a football, but it was extremely hot and the heat was only growing... but it had stopped, and slowly it began floating into the sky. Its speed slowly picked up, and as it neared the peak of the mountain, it grew in size, while transforming into a phoenix.

It burst into the sky with a cry, before shooting towards Dragnof at blinding speed. Slowly, the head of the phoenix began to transform, taking on the shape of a human head, long pinkish-red hair, and the appearance of a teen... I appeared, worry and unease filling my eyes.

I had died, that mountain had crushed me, and since I was low on magical power, I died. But I went through rebirth, and I even absorbed the magical power within that mountain. I soon landed within Dragnof... which was no more.

I dropped to my knees, looking at the destroyed walls, the signs of battle, the skeletons of dragons and humans that lay all over the place. I bit my lips, tears gathering in my eyes... but after a moment, I steeled my heart and headed inside the destroyed empire.

Tears fell from my eyes, even after who knows how long since they died, I could smell the many people who had passed. I walked past my home, which was destroyed. Next door, one would find Tom's skeleton in the basement. I walked by Elsa's shop, destroyed. I walked past the library, also destroyed. 

Everything was destroyed, and although some buildings stood, they were the small ones. In the end, I stopped inside a cell. A cell that was covered head to toe with Irene's blood, 

My flames shot outwards, slowly turning black... but there was a chance she was alive, I couldn't jump to a conclusion. Yes, I couldn't jump to conclusions and went on to use my flames, to summon the soul of someone close by who died.

I looked at Rung's soul, hatred overflowing my eyes. But I took a deep breath and went on to search Rung's memory. 

What happened? 10 years ago after I was gone, Rung made his move to overthrow Irene. Watching through this guy's memory as Irene was publicly humiliated, the people she once loved branding her a criminal, wishing for her death... I suddenly didn't feel upset that this empire was destroyed.

But I kept watching, hoping that Irene somehow survived. She was imprisoned, although Erza and the others soon arrived after their battle with Acnologia, although they didn't kill Acnologia, they forced him to flee.

But upon finding out what Rung and the others did to Irene, the group got that last push to transform into dragons. This of course made them the villains in the eyes of the whole empire, and with thousands against them, they were quickly captured and imprisoned.

What happened to them? Rung wanted to enslave them, but he needed them to first turn into dragons. Using means given to him by the gods, after a dragon slayer turned dragon, their soul, and mind were off, which allowed him to be able to enslave the dragon slayers. Elsa, Levi, and all were enslaved, all but Erza who managed to hold on to her sense of self for a year before she cracked under the torture.

Irene also had to turn into a dragon... so they tortured her, pushing her towards becoming a dragon. Rung didn't want to kill the child inside Irene knowing that it could be a good weapon with its genetics, so for 3 years, Irene endured the torture.

She endured it all, all of her magical power focused on protecting her child, all while she waited for her knight... until she couldn't wait any more when Rung tried to cut her stomach open to see the child, so she transformed into a dragon, where she went berserk, slaughtering everything in her path. That's the last Rung saw as he was killed.

Through tears, I looked at Rung, before my flames covered his soul. Rung who regained his senses froze for a second seeing me, before he suddenly screamed in pain. My flames were slowly losing their pure color, stepping towards darkness, but I forcefully held on, having the soul heal him, before burning him again. The pain was unimaginable, and any damage that happened to his mind, driving him insane was healed, keeping him fully awake to endure the pain. His mind would not get used to the pain, for this was a different form of healing, as it was like reversing his mind to its peak state. Meaning the pain shall remain hellish for him.

"That was my family," I said coldly, my flames spread out, reaching to the souls of everyone responsible for this, having them all endure this same hell. After, I sealed them all within a stone, where my flames created a space within. Since my flames could burn forever thanks to time not affecting them... well, they would enjoy eternity within that stone.

I stored the stone within my requip space, while I walked off, heading towards a soul outside where I got to see what happened with Irene. The Dragon Irene had to fight Erza, Elsa, and the others, but it seems like during combat, she regained her sense of self and quickly tried to help them break free from the mind control. This knocked them out, but Irene was left with life-threatening injuries and escaped with dragons running after her.

She was already weak after 3 years of torture, and that battle didn't help. I rushed after her traces and soon saw that one of the Dragons after Irene fell at Irene's power... well, it was knocked out, but as it fell, it made Irene fall towards a forest. This dragon later died at Acnologia's hands.

I ran to where Irene fell, but all I found was a skeleton. My hands were on my head, unable to accept that she was dead. I pulled out bits of my hair, I left her to endure all of this. I should have been stronger, I should have gone through rebirth faster... my queen, my love, my soon-to-be wife. I failed her, not only her but our child. 

I waved my hands, summoning my flames, and to my joy, the flames were not completely black. I tried to summon her soul... but I couldn't find it. I tried to find it and searched everywhere, but even after searching the whole forest, she wasn't anywhere to be found... I broke down, and once again I lost a family.

With everything I had, with all of this power, what good did it give me when I couldn't even save those close to me? Here I was, back in the same position after coming back to life thanks to Zeref... wasn't this just funny? Everything I built for myself, was proven to be meaningless right now.

"HoLy LiGhT EmPiRe!" My voice turned demonic, black-red flames forming around my body, my scarlet armor slowly forming, fusing with my being. My hands turned sharp, my teeth grew sharp, and I grew in size.

I slowly stood up, before I felt the newfound power flowing through my being. The armor has truly fused with me... No, it had wanted to fuse with me during the battles with the lesser gods. But I had rejected it, but now I have accepted it.

My flames gathered in front of me, forming a portal which I stepped into and appeared in the sky above the Holy Light Empire... but to my horror, it was already destroyed. This caused me to snap, I needed something, someone, anything to vent my rage towards, but the empire and its people I wanted to give hell... they were already destroyed?

I let out an unwilling roar, a demonic roar that was filled with defeat. I sat down in the center of the destroyed empire, my eyes blank for some time. What happened? Where did we go wrong? Irene was perfect, what did she do for her people to betray her like that? Knowing Irene, she never felt any hatred towards them, and instead blamed herself, knowing that they were just being manipulated by Rung.

"Y-yes... they didn't know what they were doing. They wanted peace, but they were led down the wrong path. People are sheep, you can't lead them thinking that they know where they are going or how they will get there. They know what they want, but don't know what they need." I said softly, but this wasn't limited to just humans, but even gods.

The world in itself was chaotic, even if you have a group of people who purely want peace, how would they go about gaining peace? They didn't know how to, Irene knew, but she overestimated the brains of her sheep. To look at a sheep and hope it was as smart as a monkey... well, bad things would happen.

"R-Ryu?" A voice sounded behind me, and I turned around to see A huge light pink dragon. It looked at me, unsure since my armor was different from the last time she saw me.

"Erza... you're alive," I said in a soft voice, unable to muster any joy right now. The huge dragon head eyes teared up before she threw her head into me, this shocked me as the last person I ever expected to see cry was Erza.

"I'm sorry, I failed you all. I should have come here sooner." I said through tears,

"No. You were fighting the gods, yet we couldn't protect Irene as you entrusted us, I'm sorry." Erza said to which for a moment, I paused as she had a point this was all her fault... no, it wasn't just her fault.

"It's all our fault... we failed Irene," I said to which Erza pulled her head back, looking at me with confusion about where I have been for the past 10 years,

"I died 10 years ago, I went through rebirth not too long ago. and rushed back... don't worry, I took the gods down with me," I said lightly, stunning Erza.

"I see... Elsa and the others destroyed this empire, we're currently in hiding from Acnologia. I knew I sensed something familiar, so I took the risk to come find you." Erza said to which I nodded lightly. She went on to explain how in the past few years, Acnologia's strength had truly stepped into the Dragon God level, over 200,000 dragons have fallen at Acnologia's hands.

"Many died... Sorry, you just came back. My humanity is fading thanks to this, we are not real dragons." She said with a downcast look, I patted her head while getting up.

"I should have killed Acnologia when I had the chance... where is everyone?" I asked while standing up, and to that she held out her palm, for me to get on. I did just that before she took off into the sky, taking me to where the few remaining dragons and Dragon Slayers were living, getting ready for a counterattack.

Along the way, she told me of everyone who died. Jaden was gone, leaving her as a widow. Elsa has died, leaving Levi behind. Many more died at the hands of Acnologia, and the more I heard, the more I grew colder.

"I want to target the root of this problem, and for that, I need a test subject," I said stunning Erza but said nothing as we appeared in the underground world, overflowing with dragons of all sizes, colors, and ages. They were mostly children, who stayed near their parents with a look of fear.

As we appeared, I spread out my magic pressure, pressure which made everyone horrified for not even Acnologia gave off such might. After getting everyone's attention, my eyes landed on my soldiers for some time, before I sat down on Erza's palm, where my armor slowly disappeared, revealing my image. I looked far younger than the last time those who knew me saw me, for I was purified from every inch of my being.

"I'm Ryu... No, I'm the Scarlet Knight." I said while putting my armor back on, Ryu was dead... no, I was just a knight without a king or queen. A knight without a master.

"No... you should be the Scarlet King. You're the King Of Dragons." Erza said stunning me, I looked at Erza, and she looked at me with a nod of her head. I looked toward everyone, and I saw a purple dragon kneeling, that was Levi. With him leading the way, the former homeless men took a knee before their king, and the other dragons followed.

"... I don't know if I would be a good king or not. But I did promise the Dragon Emperor to ensure dragons don't go extinct, and I wish to return you all to your former glory. He knew that if Dragon Slayer magic became a thing, there was a good chance dragons would become no more. His dying wish wasn't only regret for the war, but his wish to save you all." I said while looking at all of them, and those few dragons who knew of the Dragon Emperor were shocked,

"I'm the Scarlet King... this is my story," I said while putting them all in an illusion, and showing them my life... I didn't start from this life, but earth. I didn't show them everything from my past life, just things they needed to see. How the world ignored the part of the world in trouble, how we in the end were caught in such a war, the screams I heard that day, my screams of pain as I was burned alive, before I found myself before the fire phoenix.

My training within the new life upon remembering my past life memory, my happy family until it was taken from me... they saw it all until I came back to find my world taken away from me. They all felt my emotions, and even after the illusion was gone, they could feel my heart.

"I came to understand one thing, peace is something everyone wants, people just don't know how to gain it... but I do. Acnologia is dangerous, but as I see it, there would be thousands of Acnologia that would come, I almost became him, and in the future, there would be those who would follow in his footsteps and more. There would always be An Acnologia." I said 

"What is the way?" A dragon who was with her son asked, to which I nodded at the mother dragon.

"It's something called Nirvana, and Acnologia shall be my test subject to change the world," I said sending the information on Nirvana into their minds.

Nirvana is a legendary Magic Item created by the Nirvits. It is a legendary Magical item which, according to Hibiki Lates, has the power to turn light to darkness and vice-versa. This works when people are wavering in their emotions and forces people to change alignments between light and darkness. However, for all the darkness it turns into light, and the same amount of light is turned into darkness.

"I will take in all of the darkness of this world before I go join Irene and my child, I will leave this bright world to you all," I said lightly, shaking everyone who heard my words.

"N-no, let me take your spot. I have no reason to live, let me go join my beloved." Erza said stunning me for some time.

"No! I owe you my life, let me." Levi roared, just to be knocked aside by an old dragon who wanted to take the spot, it was getting old, and was near death, so what would happen if it died? But it was knocked over by one of the homeless men I saved, and this continued until I stopped them.

"... how about I throw all of the darkness into Acnologia?" I asked while standing up, to which everyone nodded in understanding. That they could get around.

"Then, I shall go capture Acnologia," I said before floating up into the sky with the help of my black wings. With a flash, I shot off, to get Acnologia... which didn't take long. It was easy, I easily knocked him out and used his body to motivate everyone.

From there, we began the search. That's when the name of the Scarlet King spread, the king of the dragons, and the devil who tortured countless kings to get information out from them to find Nirvana. A king who commanded dragons, and led them across the country, searching for the weapon which was sealed away...

{A/N: Who can guess how the MC would gain those eyes on his armor... and yes, the name is off SCP-001 the Scarlet King. The armor is still evolving by the way.

I overlooked explaining why MC never purified himself after purifying himself. He didn't do it in the past because...

Yeah, I think that's everything I didn't go into deep detail about in this chapter. Acnologia was knocked out with MC giving no words, so there was nothing to write about. I'm sure many might be turned off by the sight of MC just kicking down the door of a king, and walking up to the king without care if he is good or not before painfully getting the news out of them even though it could just read their minds. He is venting on the world...}