Two powerful forces collided, destroying everything around them.
Bang!
Takeshi was forced back.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
His feet slid a long distance across the ground. Takeshi plunged Rhitta into the ground, stopping shortly after.
He rubbed his sore wrist, looking at Acnologia. "As expected of Acnologia, that was powerful."
He was slightly at a disadvantage in the recent clash, but he wasn't seriously injured. Instead, this strike ignited his fighting spirit.
Flames burned in Takeshi's eyes as he said, "Come on! Let's fight to the death!"
Boom!
Takeshi stepped down and charged toward Acnologia again.
Just as Takeshi and Acnologia were fighting, Natsu ran over to Igneel.
"Igneel!"
"Igneel! Are you alright?!"
Igneel said irritably, "How could I be alright? That guy almost killed me! Sure enough, Acnologia is even stronger than I anticipated."
As he spoke, he looked toward Acnologia and Takeshi.
Natsu asked, "Igneel, why did you disappear? Why were you hiding inside my body all this time? Are Gajeel's and Wendy's Dragons also inside their bodies?"
Igneel said, "You guessed correctly. Metalicana and Grandeeney are indeed still alive and are both inside Gajeel's and Wendy's bodies."
"I knew it. Why did you do this?"
"There are two reasons for doing this. First, to prevent you from completely turning into dragons. We created an antibody. This way, you won't face the danger of becoming dragons in the future. We never showed ourselves, no matter what happened until now, because we were busy making the antibody."
"Turning into dragons?!"
Natsu blinked after hearing that.
What did 'turning into dragons' mean?
"Oh, right, you don't know this. We personally implanted Dragon Seeds into the bodies of the first generation Dragon Slayers. As your Dragon Slayer Magic deepens, your mind and body will eventually align with a true dragon, eventually turning you into one, just like Acnologia."
"Really?! That's so cool!" Natsu's eyes lit up upon hearing this.
Bang!
Igneel raised a finger and flicked Natsu's head.
"Ouch!"
Natsu clutched his head in pain.
"What are you thinking? Turning into a dragon is not a good thing. Just look at Acnologia."
Natsu looked at Acnologia and also felt that it didn't seem good.
"There is also another reason: to defeat Acnologia. We have been waiting for the right moment."
"However, in that era, Acnologia was already invincible, with no possibility of anyone defeating him. So we hid inside your bodies and used the Eclipse Gate to arrive in this era."
"The Eclipse Gate?!" Natsu's eyes widened.
He had witnessed the Eclipse Gate. It was the thing that connected to 400 years ago after the Grand Magic Games, allowing seven dragons to emerge from it.
Natsu suddenly thought of something and asked in disbelief, "Wait! Are you saying... we came to this era through the Eclipse Gate?"
He had an unbelievable conjecture.
Igneel seemed to see through Natsu's thoughts and nodded. "You guessed correctly. You, Gajeel, and Wendy are not people of this era. You yourselves are humans from 400 years ago."
Natsu gaped, utterly stunned.
What was going on? Was he actually a person from over 400 years ago?
"Haven't you noticed? How could first generation Dragon Slayers appear in this era? Only those personally taught by dragons are first generation, and dragons have been gone from this era for 400 years."
Natsu had long realized he felt out of place in this era. To find Igneel, he had looked up ancient texts, some of which claimed dragons were fake, fabricated creatures, while others said they were long extinct.
He didn't believe any of that. After all, his existence proved that dragons were real, and he had seen his father with his own eyes.
How could it be fake?
But he never imagined he was from 400 years ago—that was utterly preposterous.
"I have also been waiting for this moment, the moment I could personally bury Acnologia. It's a pity, though. I still underestimated him."
Igneel had heard about Acnologia from others long ago, but at that time, Acnologia was invincible, and no person or dragon could resist him.
During that war, almost all of the dragons across the Eastern and Western Continents were slaughtered by Acnologia. The only survivors were those who hadn't participated in the war.
But they were all just barely surviving. At that time, Acnologia wandered across both the Eastern and Western Continents, intent on killing all dragons.
Out of necessity, this 400-year plan was born.
It was just unexpected that even though Acnologia's strength was far below his peak now, he still couldn't be compared to by other dragons.
If Takeshi, this human, hadn't intervened just now, he might have died already.
"Natsu, leave this place and meet up with your Guildmates. I need to go help."
Igneel couldn't let Takeshi fight Acnologia alone. While hidden inside Natsu's body, he had watched Takeshi's fight with Acnologia on Tenrou Island.
Takeshi's strength was immense, and for a short time, he was even on par with Acnologia, but he lacked a bit in terms of Magic Power, specifically endurance.
Before long, Takeshi would lose due to insufficient Magic Power.
Natsu shook his head. "No! I'm going with you!"
After finally seeing Igneel, how could he just watch his father fight to the death without helping?
"Stop fooling around! You are still too weak right now! Acnologia is completely different from those seven dragons."
"But I can't just..."
Rumble!
Just as the two were talking, a massive figure crashed onto the ground not far away, smashing a huge crater into the earth.
The two looked over, their eyes widening simultaneously, filled with disbelief.
"Acnologia?!"
That massive figure was none other than Acnologia. They hadn't expected that in the fight between Takeshi and Acnologia, Acnologia would actually be the one sent flying.
Crash!
A golden figure landed not far from Acnologia.
"Takeshi!"
***
New Book:
Crossover: Plunder System
Transmigrating to a crossover anime world, Minoru activated the Plunder System. By seizing opportunities, he could gain abilities, attributes, and even exclusive skills.
Fujimiya Amane wants to give Shiina Mahiru an umbrella? Sorry, I'll make a move first.
Has Yuji not swallowed the Sukuna finger yet? I'll gladly accept Sukuna's finger.
[Ding! Detected that the Host has altered Itadori Yuji's core fate line!]
[Successfully obtained: One Finger's Worth of Ryomen Sukuna's Power — Grants 60 seconds of usage of 5% of Ryomen Sukuna's strength, without being controlled by Sukuna. Cooldown: 1 Day]
[Ding! Detected that the Host prevented Kuchiki Rukia from transferring her Shinigami powers.]
[Successfully obtained: Shinigami Power]
While one "main character" after another was still standing still, Minoru had quietly seized countless opportunities.