"We actually won!" Natsu cheered, though he was mummified in bandages from head to toe. He tried to pump a fist, groaned in pain, and immediately slumped back down.
"Sit still, flame-brain," Gray muttered, nursing a bag of ice against his ribs. "You're going to reopen your wounds."
"Juvia will feed Gray-sama his soup!" Juvia cooed, hovering over him with a spoon.
"I can feed myself!"
The scent of medicinal herbs and cooking stew filled the air. Wendy was running ragged as she healed guild members, but the worst was over. Grimoire Heart had been dismantled. Master Hades was defeated. Zeref was... well, gone. For the moment, the world felt safe.
Master Makarov stood on a large stump, looking over his children. He was battered, his heart heavy with the betrayal of Precht, but seeing the smiles on the young faces restored his spirit.
"Attention!" Makarov barked, though his voice was raspy.
The chatter died down.
"The S-Class Trial... was interrupted," Makarov began solemnly. "We faced an invasion. We faced a war. And you all fought with the bravery of lions."
He looked toward the group of contestants.
"However, the trial's objective was to find the grave of the First Master, Mavis Vermillion. Before the signal flare of the enemy attack was fired... one person completed this task."
Makarov's eyes softened.
"Cana Alberona!" Makarov announced. "You found the grave. You showed the wisdom to decipher the clues, and the strength to protect your friends during the invasion. As of today, I hereby promote you to an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail!"
Silence hung in the air for a second, and then the camp exploded.
"CANA!" Lucy screamed, tackling her friend into a hug. "You did it! You actually did it!"
"Way to go, booze-bag!" Natsu yelled.
Cana sat there, stunned. The weight of years of failure, of fear, of inadequacy, lifted off her shoulders. She looked at her hands. She wasn't just the drinker in the corner anymore. She was S-Class.
"I... I did it," she whispered, a radiant smile breaking through her exhaustion.
Blake walked over, his trench coat swaying. He looked barely scratched compared to the others. He placed a hand on her head.
"I told you," Blake said, his voice warm and steady. "You always had it in you. Congratulations on S-Class."
Cana looked up at him, blushing slightly. "Thanks for believing in me, Blake."
Then, a large shadow fell over her.
Gildarts Clive stood there. He looked terrifyingly strong, yet his eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
"Cana," Gildarts choked out. He dropped to one knee and pulled her into a crushing, bear-hug.
"I'm so proud of you!" Gildarts bellowed, lifting her slightly off the ground. "You've become a splendid mage! An S-Class mage! Just like me! Ha! We can go on S-Class jobs together! We can drink the expensive booze together!"
Cana buried her face in his shoulder, holding back tears. "Thanks... father."
"Enough celebrating!" Erza's voice cut through the air.
She had Re-Equipped. Gone was the armor of the Titania. In its place was a white nurse's uniform that was slightly too tight, and she was holding a giant syringe.
"Injuries must be treated with precision!" Erza declared, her eyes burning with intensity. "Natsu! You moved! That means another shot!"
"NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Natsu scrambled backward in terror.
"Gray! Take your clothes off so I can bandage your torso!"
"I'm already naked!"
"Good! Efficiency!"
The camp devolved into laughter. It was the golden hour of Fairy Tail. The moment where bonds were forged in the fires of adversity. They felt invincible.
Blake stood a little way off, leaning against the trunk of a palm tree, watching the scene with a small smile.
But then.
Thump.
His heart skipped a beat.
The smile vanished from his face instantly. His eyes, usually calm and observant, widened into saucers. His pupils constricted.
His Observation Haki didn't just warn him. It screamed.
It wasn't a sound. It was a pressure. A sheer, overwhelming malice that felt like the sky itself was collapsing. It was a predator. An apex predator. And it was moving fast.
"Blake-san?" Wendy asked, pausing in her healing of Gajeel. She saw the color drain from his face. "What's wrong?"
"Is it another enemy?" Gajeel grunted, trying to stand.
Blake didn't answer. He didn't have time to explain. Every second he wasted talking was a second He got closer.
The ground beneath Blake's feet exploded.
BOOM.
A shockwave of dust kicked up as Blake launched himself vertically.
"Geppo."
He ascended like a rocket, tearing through the canopy of the trees, disappearing into the clouds in a blur of black.
"Blake?!" Cana shouted, standing up. "Where is he going?!"
"He just... flew?" Lucy blinked.
Blake pierced the cloud layer. The air up here was thin and freezing.
He saw it.
Miles away, but closing the distance at a terrifying speed. A black speck against the twilight sky.
It wasn't a ship. It wasn't a cloud.
It was a Dragon.
Black scales that absorbed the light. Blue markings that glowed with apocalyptic energy. Wings that spanned the horizon.
Acnologia. The Dragon King.
Blake gritted his teeth. "I won't let you reach them. Not yet."
He kicked the air harder, generating a sonic boom, flying directly into the path of the oncoming calamity.
The Dragon loomed larger. It was the size of a mountain range. The wind pressure generated by its flight alone was enough to strip flesh from bone.
Blake drew Tensa Zangetsu.
"Focus," Blake whispered to himself. "Everything I have. Into one strike."
He didn't just use Armament Haki. He poured his very soul into the blade. Red lightning crackled wildly around him—Conqueror's Haki and he mixed it with Anti-Magic.
The blade turned a void-like black, deeper than night. It looked like a tear in reality.
"Black Divine Meteorite!"
The massive dragon eyes shifted. Acnologia saw the tiny insect flying toward him.
A human? Flying?
He felt the energy. It was cute.
Be crushed, bug, Acnologia thought, not even bothering to slow down or dodge. He expected the human to bounce off his scales like a raindrop.
Blake's attack collided with the dragon's snout.
CRAAAAACK-BOOOOM!
The sound was deafening, like a nuclear detonation in the stratosphere.
Blake's sword drove into the scales. The Conqueror's Haki clashed with the Dragon's immense resistance.
"MOVE!" Blake roared, veins bulging in his neck and forehead.
He pushed. He poured every ounce of his energy he had into the strike.
Acnologia's momentum was arrested. The Dragon King's eyes widened in genuine surprise.
The force was so great that Acnologia was actually knocked backward. His massive wings flailed as he was shoved back through the air, tumbling tail over head.
Acnologia righted himself, his wings catching the air to stabilize. He shook his massive head.
There was smoke rising from his nose. The impact point throbbed.
But there was no blood. No cut. The "Divine Meteorite" had hit him with the force of a falling star, but his scales were simply impenetrable.
Then Acnologia stops and looks at Blake who just pushed him with pure physical prowess.
The dragon hovered in the air, the wind buffeting his wings. He looked at the tiny human floating before him using Geppo.
For the first time in centuries, Acnologia halted his advance. He wasn't stopping because he was hurt. He was stopping because he was curious.
"I'm not done!" Blake yelled.
He kicked the air, closing the distance instantly.
"Rankyaku: Gaichu!"
He swung his legs, sending massive blades of compressed air mixed with Haki.
"Divine Departure!"
He swung his sword, launching waves of black energy.
But Acnologia takes attack on its body without much damage.
The attacks rained down on the dragon.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
They bounced off his chest. They shattered against his wings. Acnologia didn't even flinch. He just floated there, letting the human exhaust himself.
---
Back on the ground, the celebration had died.
"He went straight up," Erza squinted, looking at the sky.
"I felt something," Natsu whispered, his body trembling. "A smell. A familiar smell... but wrong."
Then, the clouds parted from the shockwave of Blake's first attack.
"What... is that?" Lucy gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
High in the sky, illuminated by the dying sun, was a silhouette of despair.
"A Dragon?!" Gray shouted. "A real Dragon?!"
They saw the tiny speck that was Blake, dashing around the massive beast, unleashing torrents of energy.
Gildarts dropped his bottle of booze. It shattered on the rocks. His face went pale—a look of pure, unadulterated PTSD. He clutched his prosthetic arm.
"No..." Gildarts whispered. "It can't be. Not here."
"Father?" Cana asked, scared by his reaction.
"That's him," Gildarts' voice shook. "The Black Dragon. Acnologia."
"Acnologia?!" Makarov froze. " The Dragon of the Apocalypse?!"
"He is a calamity," Gildarts screamed, turning to the guild. "RUN! EVERYONE RUN! DON'T FIGHT! JUST RUN!"
High above, the wind howled between the two combatants.
Acnologia opened his maw. His voice wasn't a sound; it was a vibration that rattled Blake's bones.
"Human..."
The dragon's eyes narrowed, glowing with a malevolent blue light.
"You stopped my flight. For a creature of dirt, that is commendable. It has been four hundred years since a human forced me to halt."
"I offer you my praise," Acnologia mocked. "Before I turn you to ash."
Acnologia raised his right claw. It moved with a speed that defied its size. It was like a mountain collapsing instantly.
The air pressure alone began to crush Blake's internal organs before the claw even reached him.
Blake knew this was it. He couldn't dodge. The area of effect was too large.
He sheathed his sword for a microsecond, gathering every drop of Haki, every drop of magic, every ounce of life force he had left.
He drew.
"DIVINE SLASHER: INFINITE SLASH EQUINOX!"
He swung his sword so fast it looked like he didn't move. Thousands of slashes materialized at once, creating a barrier of black cutting energy. It was a move designed to cut through dimensions.
Both blade and claw meet each other in the middle but they don't touch.
The claw came down. The slashes rose up.
ZZZZZT.
They collided.
But they didn't touch.
A sphere of black and red lightning formed between the dragon's claw and Blake's sword. The air cracked. The sky split open, the clouds retreating in fear.
It was a clash of wills.
"GRAAAAH!" Blake screamed, blood pouring from his nose and eyes. He was pushing back against the weight of the world.
Just a little more! Blake thought. If I can just deflect him! If I can buy them five minutes!
He burned his life force. His Haki flared, turning the sky red.
Acnologia looked bored.
"Is that all?"
The dragon applied a fraction more pressure.
"Boring."
And his attack lands on Blake.
The sphere of Haki shattered.
Acnologia's claw smashed through Blake's defense. Tensa Zangetsu held, but Blake's arms did not.
CRUNCH.
The massive claw slammed into Blake. It didn't cut him in half only because of his intense Haki coating.
Blake was swatted out of the sky like a fly.
He fell.
The wind rushed past his ears. He couldn't move his arms. He couldn't feel his legs. He was just a ragdoll, hurtling toward the earth at terminal velocity.
"BLAKE!" Natsu screamed, looking up.
"He's falling!" Wendy cried.
Cana didn't think. She just ran.
"I won't let him die!" Cana yelled, sprinting through the dense jungle toward the estimated crash site.
"Satan Soul!" Mirajane transformed instantly, taking flight to try and intercept him.
"Hold on, Blake!" Mira shouted, reaching out her hand. "I've got you!"
The dragon was too high, the fall too fast. Mira was milliseconds too slow.
Blake bypassed her outstretched hand.
BOOM.
He hit the ground in the center of the forest.
The impact created a crater. Trees snapped like twigs. Dirt and rock sprayed into the air.
Cana skidded to a halt at the edge of the crater. "BLAKE!"
She slid down the embankment.
Blake lay in the center. He was a mess. His coat was shredded. His sword lay a few feet away. He wasn't moving.
Pain.
That was all there was.
Blake stared up at the sky. He could see the black shape of Acnologia descending. He had failed. He hadn't stopped him, he thought he could atleast stall him until his friends escape.
His vision was blurring at the edges. The sounds of the world were fading.
"Blake! Stay with me!"
He felt warm hands on his face. That was Cana. She was crying.
"Don't you dare close your eyes!" That was Mira. Her voice was shaking.
"Wendy is coming! Just hold on!"
"Please, Blake! You promised! You said we'd go on a date!"
I'm sorry, Cana, Blake thought, but he couldn't make his mouth move. I tried.
But everything goes black.
The darkness crept in. It was cold. It was absolute.
Thump... thump...
The voices of his friends faded into a dull buzz, then into silence. He was alone in the void.
When Blake hears a sinister laugh.
Then, from the depths of his own soul, or perhaps from the abyss he was falling into, a sound cut through the silence.
It wasn't Acnologia. It wasn't Zeref.
It was something older. Something inside him that had been waiting for him to break.
Heh... heh... heh... HAHAHAHAHAHA.