The dazed sensation ebbed away like a receding tide, and Shane's consciousness dropped back into something solid.
"...Where is this?"
He found himself standing in a strange space.
Beneath his feet was cracked black ground. Crimson magma seeped slowly through the fissures, casting everything around him in a dim red glow.
The sky hung low, as if smothered by a heavy curtain of darkness. The air reeked of sulfur, and there was an invisible, oppressive pressure—so heavy it was almost suffocating.
"This feels even more like a world of fire than the Flame wasteland in my Reality Marble…" Shane murmured instinctively, his tone edged with awe.
But then his expression turned odd.
Was that surge of heat what dragged him here?
And why?
He couldn't tell. The only thing he could be sure of was that it had to be connected to Natsu's karmic line.
"Human."
A deep, majestic voice rolled through the space, echoing not in the air but directly inside Shane's mind.
Shane followed the sound.
Ahead, inside an enormous cavern illuminated by the magma's glow, a mountain-sized head slowly emerged.
Dark-red scales plated a colossal body. Folded wings pressed tight along its sides. And those sovereign dragon eyes reflected his tiny figure with perfect clarity.
Igneel?
No thinking required—Shane recognized the fire dragon he'd glimpsed before.
So… is this inside Natsu?
"Human," the dragon's low voice carried scrutiny but no hostility—more like a deep, ancient curiosity. "Your eyes… what are they? That you can perceive me—Fire Dragon King Igneel—within this place."
It, too, recognized him: the young man whose gaze at the Eclipse Gate had pierced the dragon-soul magic and discovered it residing within Natsu.
Igneel wasn't even trying to pressure him.
Yet the sheer weight that naturally spilled out with its words still made Shane's breath tighten.
So this is… draconic intimidation.
His thoughts spun. He suppressed the rush of excitement at seeing a living dragon and switched into the Lancer class.
The water-blue twin spears appeared in his hands. A calm, deep-lake steadiness spread from him—tough as tempered steel—pushing back the omnipresent dragon pressure and keeping his mind crystal clear.
"Forgive my intrusion," Shane said with a small nod, neither servile nor arrogant.
"My name is Shane. I'm… Natsu's companion, in a sense. These eyes can see certain 'threads' of causality and karma."
He tapped his now-normal eyes lightly. "Natsu misses you. I only wanted to help him find you."
"Natsu…"
At that name, something almost imperceptibly gentle softened Igneel's thunderous tone.
"That child is always the same—stubborn… and ignorant of how to give up."
Watching Natsu foolishly search for a dragon that wanted to remain hidden had made Igneel, despite itself, almost amused.
A human trying to find a dragon that chose to disappear… it was that kind of stupidity.
"Then why won't you answer him?" Shane asked—voicing what Natsu most wanted to know—his gaze steady against the massive dragon eyes.
And right then, the calm "lake" of his mind rippled.
This feeling… it was familiar.
Shane sensed it and reacted immediately.
Wasn't this the same kind of resonance he'd felt when he'd been close to Muramasa's life—when forging steel had aligned him with the Heroic Spirit's past?
That was it.
Igneel was a real dragon, and this Lancer's life was clearly tangled with dragons as well.
So being this close—breath and presence intermingling—naturally triggered the same kind of "heartlight" resonance.
"Does that mean… if I stayed here every day…" A thought sprang up uncontrollably. "...I could trigger the Lancer's second vision quickly?"
While Shane's mind spun in a sudden burst of analysis, Igneel—silent for a long moment—finally spoke again.
"It is not that I will not," the Fire Dragon King said, a trace of helplessness in its gravity. "It is that I cannot. I must not."
"You witnessed the Eclipse Gate. Then you should understand—we crossed time bearing a mission that must be fulfilled.
"For that purpose, I cannot appear before Natsu.
"And if I manifest… I may draw eyes that should not find him yet."
At the word "eyes," Shane's heart twitched. He immediately thought of the other karmic line on Natsu—the one so dark it was nearly black, thick with ominous weight.
Was there a connection?
Igneel continued, sounding like a father planning far beyond the child's sight.
"My silence is also to let Natsu grow as a human—not as 'the dragon's child.'
"To grow stronger. Strong enough to face the storms ahead alone."
Shane fell quiet.
He could understand Igneel's dilemma.
Not just some hidden purpose, but the heavy, unseen protection of a parent.
Far more complicated—and far more painful—than simply "leaving."
"Then you pulled me here because…" Shane asked cautiously, already half-guessing the answer.
"Human," Igneel said, "my existence—and today's conversation—remain concealed from Natsu for now.
"When the time is ripe, he will learn everything."
"So that's it…" Shane understood.
He agreed it was too soon to drag Natsu into something this tangled.
No wonder Igneel had yanked him into this mental space—stopping him from blurting out the truth.
Shane nodded solemnly. "I promise. Natsu is already a member of Fairy Tail. That place will be his new home."
"Good…" Igneel's voice carried a hint of approval. "Human stained with the scent of dragons… you have earned the friendship of Fire Dragon King Igneel."
Dragon scent? Shane's brows lifted.
Is that because I manifested the Lancer's noble phantasm?
Before he could dig into it, Igneel's enormous form began to blur. The heavy voice drifted farther away, and the entire world of magma and flame collapsed like a retreating wave.
A violent falling sensation seized him—
Shane swayed, and his vision snapped back into focus.
He was standing where he'd been before. Across from him was Natsu, head tilted, face tight with worry and confusion.
"Hey! Shane! What was that?! You just stopped talking, and the fire in your eyes went out! Did your magic fail?"
Natsu immediately crowded him.
Seeing that raw, unfiltered hope, Shane let out a small sigh inside.
Sorry, Natsu.
"Quit guessing." Shane pushed Natsu's face back before he got too close. "The magic didn't fail. It's just… what I saw was more complicated than I expected."
Before Natsu could demand more, Shane added quickly, "I didn't see Igneel's exact location. But—"
"But what?"
"But I saw the line between you."
Shane looked straight into his eyes, voice steady.
"That line is very strong—brighter and sturdier than most bonds I've ever seen. Which means your connection to Igneel has never been severed.
"He's still out there somewhere. And there's no doubt he's thinking about you."
It wasn't a lie—just missing the most important piece.
The panic on Natsu's face melted into blazing hope.
He grinned and clenched his fist hard. "I knew it! Igneel's too strong to just disappear!
"He has something important to do! Just wait—I'll get stronger, and I'll find him myself and scare the heck out of him!"
In the magma world—
Igneel watched Natsu's spirit reignite, and a fierce, familiar grin spread across its own draconic face.
"Keep that flame burning, Natsu. Live well in the world four hundred years later."
Its low voice carried unmistakable pride.
But as its gaze shifted to where Shane had vanished from, doubt flickered in those ancient eyes.
Igneel was Fire Dragon King—among dragons, near the peak. It rarely treated even its own kind gently, much less spoke evenly with an outsider.
And yet it had.
Not only because of Natsu.
But because on that human, it had sensed something else—something pure enough to make even it hesitate.
A dragon's aura… so intense that, even with its pride, Igneel could not lightly claim certain victory over it.
"…So what?"
After a brief pause, Igneel lifted its head and roared—breathing a torrent of flame that painted the dark sky blood-red.
"I am Fire Dragon King Igneel!"
"How could I ever lose?!"