"What do you mean something's still alive?" Carla asked, utterly confused.
"Look over there!" Lucy pointed toward the altar in front of Gray.
Only then did everyone realize that the Eternal Flame was still burning after all—just barely, reduced to a tiny flicker.
"There really is still a little fire left."
"But it looks incredibly weak."
Wendy said with absolute conviction, "Natsu! Natsu will definitely be able to bring that flame back to life!"
For some reason, it was simply her intuition.
"NATSU!!!"
Lucy's voice reached Natsu, who was still locked in fierce battle with the flying beast.
"Leave it to me!"
"We'll handle this monster. You go revive the flame."
Erza switched into Heaven's Wheel Armor and stepped in front of Natsu.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
Flames wrapped around both his left and right hands at the same time, then merged together before slamming into the altar...
"Fire Dragon's Roar!!!"
"Hellfire Dragon's Roar!"
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"
Natsu hurled his magic power at the altar as if his life depended on it.
Lucy dropped to the ground, clutching her head and trembling. "Natsu... isn't this a bit too much?!"
"It lit up!!!" Happy shouted, leaping excitedly into the air.
The facts proved Natsu right.
The Eternal Flame had burst into a roaring blaze, and before everyone's eyes rose a towering inferno more than ten meters high.
"Happy, take me up above the Eternal Flame."
Held aloft by Happy, Natsu looked down at the sea of fire below him.
"I heard a voice in the flames."
"So that's what the lingering thoughts I sensed really were..." Wendy closed her eyes and clasped her hands tightly.
Green magic covered her body.
'Sky Dragon Secret Art: Milky Way.'
It was an extremely special Dragon Slayer secret art, one capable of allowing her to communicate with the souls of the dead.
Under the influence of Wendy's Milky Way, the flames gathered together and took the shape of a fiery dragon.
The Hellfire Dragon, Atlas Flame.
"You carry the magic of Igneel, the Fire Dragon King... and within you burns my flame as well."
"That's a dragon?" Ultear stared at the Hellfire Dragon in astonishment.
A giant dragon made entirely of pure fire was an extraordinary sight.
Raizel nodded. "That's right. The Hellfire Dragon, Atlas Flame. But he's already dead."
Laxus knew that name as well.
When he had devoured the flames before, he had once communicated with the Hellfire Dragon.
According to Atlas Flame, he had acknowledged Laxus, and so he had told him his name.
This was the first time most of them had ever seen a dragon—let alone an elemental one—and their eyes were filled with shock and unease.
Natsu's voice trembled with excitement. "You know Igneel?"
"That's right. He is the Fire Dragon King."
"Then do you know where he went?" Natsu pressed eagerly.
"Why do you seek his whereabouts?"
"Igneel's child..." Atlas Flame murmured after hearing Natsu's answer.
"I don't know. I have remained here for four hundred years, burning continuously all this time."
"So... are you still alive?"
"No. I died long ago... in the distant past." Atlas Flame's memories slowly began to awaken.
"Is your consciousness fading?" someone asked.
"Rather than consciousness, my memories are... muddled."
Wendy's answer cleared up everyone's confusion.
"Maybe it's because of the ice. Lingering thoughts like this can possess a strong will, but their magic power is very weak. And since it was frozen in ice for such a long time, part of its memory may have been damaged."
"Ice? That's right—ice! The whole world was frozen in ice!"
"You mean this village?" Ultear asked.
"What exactly happened here?" Erza followed up.
"That man seemed to mistake me for something else."
"That man?" Lucy asked.
"That's right. By his power alone, he turned the entire village into ice."
Atlas Flame's words shocked everyone.
The amount of magic required to freeze an entire village was immense, yet this had been done by a single person.
"Was all of this caused by an Ice Mage?" Gray asked urgently.
"That man mistook me for a demon. In order to destroy me, he froze the village... a Mage who exterminates demons. A Devil Slayer."
"Devil Slayer???"
"So it wasn't Dragon Slayer Magic, and it wasn't God Slayer Magic—it was Devil Slayer Magic!"
Natsu and Lucy stared at Atlas Flame in surprise.
Wendy murmured, "So it's magic specifically created to hunt demons?"
Ultear's expression turned grave. "This is the first time I've ever heard of such magic."
Gray suddenly recalled something Natsu had said before. "Devil Slayer... I get it now! That's why that guy wouldn't throw his fist directly at the ice!"
Ur stroked her chin thoughtfully. "An Ice Devil Slayer Mage? Who could it have been?"
There were many Ice Mages across Ishgar, but Ur had never once heard of Ice Devil Slayer Magic.
"Who... exactly am I?" Atlas Flame muttered, sinking into thought.
Raizel spoke up loudly, "You are Atlas Flame, the Hellfire Dragon—the guardian deity of the giant village, the flame that has burned for four hundred years."
The memories of the dead came crashing back into the Hellfire Dragon all at once...
The flames in Atlas Flame's eyes flared brighter.
"That's right! My name is Atlas Flame. I am the flame of the giants, the one who created this village."
"The misfortune of our village is my pain. The sorrow of our village is my tears."
"With the last flame left in my soul, together with the flame of Igneel's child, I shall free this village!"
"I am Atlas Flame—the dragon who guards this village!"
The Hellfire Dragon's flames continued to blaze fiercely.
"Lend me the power of Igneel's flame!"
Following Atlas Flame's instructions, Natsu used Fire Dragon's Roar, mixing his flames into the dragon's fiery body.
"So hot!!!"
Ur frowned as she stared at the blazing silhouette in the flames. "Such incredible fire...!"
"His soul is disappearing..." Wendy said sadly.
As he burned away, the Hellfire Dragon spoke:
"Igneel... the Dragon King Festival... Acnologia... Zeref... I remember now. I remember everything!"
"E.N.D., the strongest demon in the Books of Zeref!"
"Four hundred years ago, Igneel failed to destroy E.N.D...."
Centered around the Hellfire Dragon, the frozen forest, the village, the river, and even the giants trapped beneath the ice all began to thaw.
"Look! The village is returning to normal!" someone cried.
The villagers who had guarded the Eternal Flame were the first to awaken.
"Humans! Are you trying to steal the Eternal Flame?!"
"Stand down!"
The Hellfire Dragon's voice stopped them.
The Eternal Flame still burned, but these were the last words he would leave behind...
Wendy lowered her head, sorrow in her eyes. Then she closed them and offered a quiet prayer.
"Atlas Flame's lingering thoughts... have completely disappeared..."
A gentle breeze passed by, and the warmth of the fire washed over everyone.
Lucy could not help but cry.
"A soul that had only the faintest trace left in this world... and it could still release such immense power..."
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