Dragon Slayer VS Dragons VS Acnologia... Vs Gods? 3

Shooting through the sky, Acnologia rained breath attacks down upon the sea of dragons the light dragon had flown into. His power was great, slaughtering dragons left and right, all while reaping their souls, allowing him to grow stronger.

It was a bloodbath like no other. The rain of blood rained down from the heavens, striking fear into those who watched. Samuel and the other stood there, watching the fight while growing unease as I was nowhere to be seen,

"Report, The Scarlet Knight had sent news that the 4 dragon kings are currently attacking the Fire Dragon King, he went to land support. He said to buy him as much time, for this might be a chance to get the Fire Dragon King on our side." Levi reported to the group shocking them.

"He can't just do this out of the blue." The King of Great Men said with annoyance, but Samuel stopped them.

"No, don't you remember how the dragons under the Fire Dragon King Igneel were making a move to support the humans? Ryu made the best move, lets buy him time here, although a 2 vs 4 would not be easy." Samuel said seriously, to which they all nodded with serious looks.

"..." Igneel flapped his wings, looking at the 4 dragons that surrounded him... this wasn't going to be an easy battle, and he was sure he might die. But who do you think he was? Igneel feared none.

With a roar, Igneel made the first move, shooting towards the strongest of the 4 dragons, the dragon emperor, the dragon emperor moved along with the others. But Igneel suddenly shoots into the sky, trying to escape their encirclement. They would of course not make it so easy, as they wanted to end this battle as soon as possible... and they only began to rush things when they sensed the rocketing fireball shooting towards them at an unthinkable level of speed.

"Kill Him!" The Dragon Emperor said while shooting towards the fireball, who could this fireball be if not for me? He instantly went to clash with me, and I wasted no time, trading countless blows in a matter of a few seconds,

Igneel teeth bit down on the Apocalyptic Dragon's neck, and quickly moved to use it as a shield against the strange element of the 5 headed dragon, all while taking the heat coming from the sun created by the Sun Dragon, heat so high that it rivals the core of the sun. But he was a fire dragon, which he could endure although it hurt like hell.

This battle wasn't taking place above the ocean, and we were fighting a bit too close to the ground, which greatly damaged the land below. It would take countless years for it to recover. But our battles didn't stay in one spot, as we flew from country to country, leaving chaos in our path.

"Fire Dragon King!" I roared while I exploded into a sea of flames, seeing how Igneel was losing the 1v3. My flames flew like water, not like flames, a stunning sight. Igneel was about to eat my flames, but I stopped him from doing so as I spoke into his mind, letting him know to instead let the flames bath him as they were phoenix flames.

Although unsure, that slight window where Igneel was unsure was more than enough time for me to control my flames, having them swallow him. The Apocalyptic dragons and the others wanted to stop this, but Igneel exploded out of the fire, roaring at the sky feeling he was more than twice as strong. As of now, he might as well have stepped into the true tears of Dragon Gods.

As For me? I rocketed to the ground from the Dragon Emperor's claw attack, which injured my body badly. But I took the damage for the chance to strengthen Igneel... I could sense he truly loved humans. Although that was confusing, why didn't he join the war sooner?

The Dragon Emperor wasted no time, following up with attack after attack, and although I healed almost instantly to all of his attacks, that didn't mean my magical energy wasn't dropping thanks to the damage. Plus, the injuries he caused weren't so easy to heal. For the price of having no element to eat, his magic did gain a lot of benefits.

I slammed through mountain after mountain, before I could even stabilize myself, I had to cross my arms as the dragon emperor claw slammed into me, sending me rocketing up into the sky toward the moon. The impact had shattered all of my bones and inner organs, but I healed the next moment, and upon snapping back to reality, all I could do was cross my hands once more to shield myself against the Dragon Emperor's breath which shot me into outer space, sending me rocketing out and into the moon.

I struggled to get back up, my injuries already healed up. I had to use my flames to help me breathe in space. This was just one of the benefits of having the flames of life. I looked towards the huge blue planet down below, before rocketing down with everything I had, using all of my magical power for one good clean attack that should hopefully allow me to touch the Dragon Emperor. All I needed was to touch the damn dragon, and I won.

While I rocketed down, I didn't notice the dragon eyes that opened on the moon, watching me with interest... to think dragons were living on the moon.

"Just Die!" The Dragon Emperor said in annoyance seeing as I was still alive. In all of our battles, I always have to play defense, for even the lightest slip-up meant what just happened today, the Dragon Emperor beating me black and blue with me having zero chances to counter. The Dragon Emperor roared towards me, seeing that if he dodged, I would land towards Igneel and the others, he gathered his magical energy for another blow, this time aiming to send me far away, towards the sun.

"Life Phoenix Secret Art: Scarlet Blade," I said softly as all of my magic power turned into flames that entered my sword. I breathed out slightly, the flames were being infused into the sword, making my sword look all dried up, and as if it would break apart.

'I just need to scratch him.' I thought as I pointed the sword forward, and falling head first, my blade pierced towards the Dragon Emperor, his magic and claws were glowing with magic energy, rocketing towards me at blinding speed.

This was the final blow, for if I missed, I was surely going to die since I didn't have any magical energy right now. I put it all into the attack, and then again, I could eat the flames I put into the blade before I hit the ground, but I would have to be quick.

Igneel and the other dragons all paused to look at this clash, but it was hard to tell who won as we both seemingly flew past each other, with me continuing to rocket down while burning up... my sword flying out of my hands, before turning to dust.

The Dragon Emperor floated in the sky, slowly turning back to watch as I hit the ground with a huge explosion, before letting out a roar... not a roar of victory, but of a battle that was still ongoing. All of its magic energy was combating my flames, madly trying to prevent itself from being erased out of existence. 

Its body began to turn to ash while it crumbled away, even the ashes disappearing. All of this should have been instant, but fighting this allowed it to stay alive, and shockingly only lose an arm, a good part of its lifespan, its soul, and lastly 10% of its magical power.

It roared unwillingly sensing all of this, before turning around and quickly fleeing, wishing to go recover.

The other 4 dragons also began to flee, for Igneel alone was able to hold the 3 of them back thanks to the boost of power he had gained after being purified. Igneel didn't fly after them, instead flying to my side while he picked me up.

"Are you alright?" Igneel asked to which I shakingly gave him a thumbs up, I was lucky as I ate the flames that were burning me while falling towards the ground. But the magical energy I had gained was instantly used up, some to heal the damage from the Dragon Emperor, and the remaining to heal my body from the fall.

Igneel breathed out, his dark red flames swallowing me, which I quickly devoured, which quickly healed me of all remaining injuries. I sighed softly while getting back up to my feet.

"Are you joining the battle?" I asked to which Igneel nodded, while flying up into the sky, shooting towards where Acnologia should be at the moment. But as we neared, we quickly sensed that Acnologia's power was not simple, for the guy seemed to be nearing the Dragon God level as well... but he was a dragon slayer, how could he grow so quickly?

'Such deep hatred.' I thought while sensing Ancologia's burning hatred towards dragons, it made me remember the time before I met Irene, all I could think about was killing dragons, and making them pay.

'Is this what I was like?' I thought realizing if I never met Irene, the thing before me could have been me, swallowed with so much hatred, his sense of reason was gone... I saw a lost version of myself in this dragon,

I closed my eyes before sighing at the plan I was thinking of... I wanted to save him from that hatred. Whose best for this task than me? The Life Phoenix?

"Let me go speak with it first," I said before rocketing out of Igneel's palm, leaving Igneel stunned as I seemed to have grown stronger. I shot after Acnologia who was running after the fleeing army, slaughtering them like the ants they were.

As I neared, Acnologia turned a sharp glare towards me, just to be confused as he never saw the form of magic I was using. I stopped before him, and after looking deeply at him, I spoke.

"Why do you fight?" I asked to which Acnologia frowned, he had no problems with humans, so he calmly answered.

"That is no business of yours," Acnologia said coldly.

"But it does, we have been fighting here for months now, and your act of killing those on our side has only made things worse for us," I said to which Acnologia sneered, still not seeing where it was any of his business. 

"I can sense your hatred towards dragons, that hatred has swallowed you," I said enraging Acnologia, who clawed towards me, but I flew backward.

"What did the dragons do to you to make you hate them so much?" I said to which Acnologia laughed seeing as I was trying to reason with him.

"These dragons you team up with, the same things I saved, I healed and cared for when they were injured. But how did they repay my kindness? Those dragons slaughtered the whole village for fun, seeing us humans as nothing more than insects." Acnologia roared, growing enraged by the thought of the past. But that wasn't everything, even then he could have put his hatred aside and seen that not all dragons were the same.

But when he saw a group of dragons playing with an innocent girl, dragons which were on the side of humans, those same dragons killed her... it was then he realized that all dragons should die. He promised before her lifeless body after seeing he couldn't save her, he promised that from that moment onwards, he would slaughter every dragon.

"You and I are not too different you know..." I said softly looking him straight in the eyes, where I trapped him in an illusion. There, he paused seeing the young version of myself living happily with my family and brothers, he watched as I trained hard, he watched as one day a dragon came and destroyed my whole village. He watched as my parents sacrificed themselves for me, how I died at the hands of the dragon, how I was brought back to life swallowed with hatred towards humans, before realizing not all dragons were the same. There he saw my time in Dragnof, seeing how dragons and humans could live together as one... but that's when Acnologia forcefully shattered the illusion, unwilling to see any more of that.

"You're running from the truth, you're a lot like me. The only difference is that I had Irene, and you had no one." I said to which Acnologia gritted his teeth, 

"Look at yourself, You're a dragon. You became the thing you hate most, you were so blinded by hatred, that you became blind to the fact you are now a dragon. Humans fear you, dragons fear you, you have become a king amongst dragons." I said shaking Acnologia who looked at his dragon claws, and for the first time since ever, he realized that he wasn't a human anymore.

"I aim to transform this world, enough fear and evil are going around. Why can't we use our pain as motivation to ensure others in the future can't feel that pain, be it humans, giants, and so on? We can make a difference. Killing would only continue the cycle, and the more you kill, the more you lose yourself. Let's change this world." I said to which Acnologia lowered his head, unable to think for some time.

"I'm too far gone..." He said gathering his magical power.

"What is too far gone? How far is it until you can't take a step backward? It's never too late, no matter the sin, and no matter the crime... you can always take a step back and do something about it... unless you stop yourself. You were fighting for the sake of the world, you just lost your way. I did too, let me pull you back. And Let's do something about this dark world." I said leaving Acnologia gritting his teeth for some time before he suddenly roared at the sky...

Elsewhere, The Dragon Emperor was in hiding as he tried to heal his injuries when he sensed something. He looked towards the moon, and saw a beautiful dragon landing before him, smiling at his injuries.

"Y-you!" The Dragon Emperor said angrily, not liking this dragon. The Holy Dragon was a dragon that tried to spread the teachings of the gods to the dragon race, which led to a war between the dragons not too long ago.

"The gods wish to descend to our world, and for that, they need a sacrifice, your death would not only allow the gods to bless us with their existence, but they would be able to erase the one known as Ryujin. So, don't be sad, for you're lucky to be the sacrifice for such a great cause." She said with a grin, making the Dragon Emperor's face darken in hatred, seeing as the dragons he had banished to the moon were gathering, all looking at him with smirks...

And so, time passed. The war between the dragons and dragons slayers improved, with Igneel and Acnologia on the side of the humans, I had more time to be by Irene's side. TIme which allowed me to see just how many nobles were starting to fear her, and even the citizens were growing to fear Irene. 

Acnologia wasn't the only dragon slayer to turn into a dragon, as many were captured before they could become dragons. Rung, a new noble of the empire was truly a kind soul, not wanting them to be killed as he had full hope in Irene to save them, so he pushed them to be locked up instead... I of course knew he was keeping them alive so that everyone could fear Irene even more, leading to many people pushing her away.

"What's wrong?" Irene asked with a gentle smile seeing me enter her office,

"It's nothing, just the people are wishing you support," I said lightly, to which Irene laughed seeing how bad of a liar I was.

"It's okay... the people are scared. I'm scared as well, this isn't something so simple... just so you know if I do become a dragon and lose my mind. Kill me, I don't want to kill my people." Irene said with a soft smile, which shocked me.

"Irene, please don't joke, even the dragon slayers can regain reason. Look at yourself, though all of this you show no sign of being a dragon, and even if you did, your pure soul would shine." I said to which Irene smiled,

"... Let's have a baby. If I do end up becoming a dragon, I want to have a child while I'm still human. I don't want the royal bloodline to end with me." Irene said lightly, leaving me stunned.

"If I do die, I want you to have something more to live for. So, if I do end up dying, you're ordered to look after our child. You're also not allowed to die and leave me as a single mother." Irene said causing my heart to drop as I realized something.

"What happened?" I asked to which she shook her head.

"My instincts are telling me something big is coming, if this thing takes me, I want you to have something to push you forward. If it takes you... well, I know you would not die knowing I'm pregnant and waiting for you." Irene said with a smile, a smile that was built off the fear of what was to come...