Acnologia had been looking for those Dragons that had escaped him. It was like an itch that never got scratched. He simply had to destroy them. Then, he felt it. Another Dragon had appeared, seemingly out of thin air.
Flying as fast as he could toward the Dragon he was sensing, he felt a rising sense of danger. Something was different about this one. Something that made him more cautious.
Then, he saw her. For a moment, he thought he was looking into a mirror. But there were enough differences between them to differentiate. Her wings were bigger, having large, muscular arm-like limbs and claws at the ends of her wings. Then there was the shape of her head and the pronounced, curved horns. Still, if he didn't know any better, he would say she looked like his sibling.
Acnologia stopped himself just fifty meters away from her and looked into her crimson, reptilian pupils. Then, he noticed the ethernano activity around her and frowned.
If he hadn't known better, he would claim that this Dragon was loved by magic. With how dense the ethernano was becoming around her and how tightly it clung to her every scale, it was extremely odd.
Regardless, he knew only one thing mattered. A dragon was in front of him.
*ROAR!*
Acnologia bellowed as he flew at the Black Dragon, mouth open and ready to rip and tear her to pieces.
*Flash!*
A magic platform appeared right in front of Acnologia. Moments before his jaws reached Yin, she pushed off the platform and created a large arrow of flame between her claws and shot it, right into Acnologia's face.
*BOOOOM!*
The air trembled as the flaming arrow struck him in the face. But aside from irritating his eyes, he was unscathed. Acnologia growled, disappointed by the level of flames Yin unleashed. The explosion was decent but her flames were just a step below that red Dragon's.
Acnologia sped up, flying at Yin and rearing his fist back. Yin flapped her wings and met Acnologia's fist with her own, her raw physicality slightly overtaking his own as her body blazed with blue flames.
*CRASH!!*
The air howled as the black Dragons began to brawl in the sky. Acnologia felt some of his clarity return with each passing second he fought this fast, blazing black Dragon. He nearly laughed when he felt a dull pain as Yin punched him so hard his head snapped to the side.
"Nnheh.." Acnologia growled before striking Yin with the sharp edge of his tail and prepared to unleash his Arcane Dragon's roar.
'It's pure magic he's gonna shoot at me.. This is exactly what I expected from a Dragon on Dragon fight!' Yin thought, her lips parting in excitement as she combined two of her elements and unleashed them without restraint.
▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!
▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!
Acnologia's Arcane roar met with Yin's fused black flames in the air and created an extremely powerful explosion. The wind screamed, ethernano surged and the skies darkened as the extreme heat and magic created an ethernano-charged superstorm that turned the previously bright sky black.
"Gehahaha!!! MORE!" Acnologia roared, his battle lust surging as he looked around and spotted Yin, floating below the roiling thunderclouds with an excited grin of her own.
"I couldn't have said it better myself. Let's kick up a notch!!" Yin cackled as her body radiated that same sense of danger Acnologia caught a hint of when he sensed her.
A dark purple light surged forth, stemming from her chest. Purple, luminescent lines trailed from her chest until they stretched to her limbs, claws, tail and horns. Acnologia's eyes slightly widened as he watched the ethernano, which had previously clung to her like a needy child, disappear as soon as they entered within a meter of her body.
The scales on her horns cracked open as the energy channels containing that dark purple energy coursed through them as if they were newly constructed circuits being made within her body. Yin looked at Acnologia, purple sparks arcing from her black scales as she prepared another roar.
Acnologia grinned like a madman and reared his head back as pure magical energy surged forth from within him.
Arcane Dragon's Roar!/Ruin Dragon's Roar!
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"Why did you do that?" A gruff masculine voice asked.
"I felt like doing nothing would be a waste. Besides.. did you see the result of her attack?" A gentler male voice replied.
"Mm. I've never heard of that sort of magic. What was it called again? Ruin?"
"Yes. But did you notice? It destroyed even Ethernano. It destroys whatever it touches even beyond a surface level. The very space and matter it touched? Nothing touches it. Not even air. It's like a space where nothing can exist anymore. A void."
"Nngh.."
"She's waking up." The gruff voice spoke up.
Yin opened her eyes, feeling her head throbbing in pain.
"I feel like I went ten rounds with Jesus.." Yin groaned, reaching up and feeling her still scaley head. It seemed like she was still in her Dragon form.
"Hah? What strange words you say, little girl." The gruff voice stated, sounding particularly amused.
Yin looked up and saw a red Dragon laying in some grass. He was about two meters taller than her and had a rather fierce appearance. She noticed, on his back lay a pink haired boy, snoring away. Next to them was a black haired man with a young appearance and a gentle looking face.
'Ah.. Zeref, Igneel and Natsu huh? How'd I end up here?' Yin asked herself as she stood up and rubbed her still throbbing head.
"You seem a bit confused. I teleported you away during your fight with Acnologia. Though you gave him a decent challenge, his magic is extremely potent and so when your attacks collided.. you both destroyed a huge stretch of land and created a desert." Zeref clarified with a small, slightly excited smile.
"A.. desert?" Yin muttered, almost not believing it.
"Mhm. I have to give it to you though, young lady. Acnologia won't ever forget you. Not after that attack of yours scarred half his face like that." Igneel grinned, looking particularly happy about that fact.
Yin felt a hint of pride before squashing it down and looking at the Dragon King and Immortal in front of her.
"Why'd you save me though? I don't know you." She asked Zeref.
Zeref hummed for a moment before shrugging, "It felt right, I suppose. Plus, I feel like you might be able to help me. Maybe not now but in the future? Ah but overall, I'd like to avoid unnecessary deaths. Do you mind if you hang around the other Dragons, my friend and I? The way your heart interacts with Ethernano and that mysterious purple energy might be able to help us. And of course, we'd be happy to help you train and grow in exchange for the opportunity to research and observe you."
Learning from an extremely powerful Dark Wizard and Dragon Kings? Yin felt she'd be an idiot to refuse.
"Alright. As long as this 'research' isn't too invasive." Yin agreed.
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One week passed. Zeref had mainly stuck to studying Yin's heart and taking a few shed scales with her blessing. He had his own space where he meticulously studied Ruin and the dense buildup of Ethernano around Yin.
Igneel had been teaching both her and Natsu about Dragon magic. While the hyperactive Natsu sat on Yin's head and listened to his Dad with wide, sparkling eyes.
"And that's how you do 'Fire Dragon's Iron Fist'. Any questions?" Igneel asked, seeing both his son and Yin raise their hands.
"So it's just wrapping your fist in flames and punching something really hard?" Yin asked, a bit skeptical.
"Yeah! Big sis can do that. I saw her practice that move without saying it and stuff." Natsu added.
"Aah.. Yin has a command over fire that exceeds most mages and Dragons. You don't need to visualize anything first. Fire just.. listens to you. But this isn't useless to you either, Yin. A solid image in your head, plus the words to express your intent and powerful emotions should help strengthen your magic. You use your magic as an instinct and imagine certain shapes like that arrow of yours but saying it out loud acts as a sort of mental reinforcement." Igneel clarified.
Yin hummed and turned to a tree before cocking her fist back and igniting with her bright blue flames before striking it. The tree exploded into flaming splinters.
"Now I'll try it the way you stated.." Yin cocked her fist back again, aiming at another tree as she formed the image of flames in her mind and struck out.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Yin then punched the tree, seeing the bark turn to ash as it exploded.
Natsu leapt up on Yin's head with an excited gasp, "Oooh!! Big sis! Do it again!"
Yin cupped her chin thoughtfully and gave Igneel a thankful nod. Already, she had a few ideas on how to improve her flame control. The verbal shouting wasn't strictly necessary. All it did was solidify the image of the type of magic one would then use.
"Give it a try yourself, Natsu. Think of Igneel's and my own fist when you punch out. Put your emotion into it too." Yin said, letting Natsu slide down her back before he ran up to a tree.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!!" Natsu shouted as little flames emerged on his fist while he struck out and made a small dent on the bark.
Yin hummed, ignoring Natsu's disappointed pout as he scrutinized the small dent he made. The mental image actually helped quite a lot in his case. Otherwise, with how little magic was in the atmosphere and how weak he currently was, she figured it'd take a few days for Natsu to summon flames.
She looked up and saw Igneel nod in approval.
"Aw.. why's mine so weak? When you guys can KAPOW! BWOOSH and KRAKABOOM?" Natsu sulked until Yin poked his head with her large claw.
"Don't compare us to you. You're still a little kid after all. Grow big and strong, train every day, eat lots and you'll be punching mountains to smithereens in no time. You have a good teacher after all." Yin stated, noticing the prideful grin Igneel had.
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"Sis! Watch this shit!" A fiesty kid with black hair raised his hand, turning it to iron and stabbing it through a tree.
"Big whoop! You just stabbed a tree. Watch this! Fire Dragon's Claw!" Natsu shouted, kicking into the very same tree and slicing into the bark.
"Hey! Watch where you're aiming that!" The unruly black haired kid shouted, instantly igniting an argument with Natsu.
Yin sighed, her attention divided between not two but five kids. Natsu and Gajeel were trying to impress her while Wendy, Sting and Rogue were listening to her lecture about mental imagery helping with spells. Though she noticed Gajeel was pretty prideful, having executed a spell without shouting it out.
'He probably practiced for two weeks. Hasn't been that long since I met them all.' Yin noted, thinking back to two weeks ago when the Dragons essentially dumped their kids on her lap to watch like a babysitter.
"Don't beat each other too hard. Keep it above the belt. And good job, Gajeel. Keep up the mental imagery training. Now, where was I?" Yin asked, looking at the three kids laying atop her wings.
"Ah..! You were saying we needed to imagine something when we do our spells. Something easy to remember and of emotional sig.. sigmif.." Wendy tried to answer.
"Significance. Meaning something important to you." Yin corrected gently.
"Mmm... but what do we picture? It's hard to do when you have sky as your magic. And light and dark are only a little bit easier." Sting asked.
Rogue shook his head, as if to deny that.
"Actually it's easy for me to picture. Big sis has Darkness too. Skiadrum was teaching her some stuff. She can make darkness take all kinds of shapes." Rogue looked up at Yin with a little gleam of pride in his eyes.
"That's a result of my own instincts. But it's really not as hard as you're thinking." Yin added, seeing Wendy struggling.
"An image of emotional importance that you can base your spells off. Think about it. Your parents use those very same spells. Their roars, punches, headbutts, tailswipes and other moves. You can reproduce them. Just think of them." Wendy, Sting and Rogue's eyes widened to saucers as they took in her advice.
"That makes sense.." Rogue muttered.
"Um.. can you tell us another story now?" Wendy asked, her little hand grabbing onto Yin's wing-claw.
"Ahh.. okay, fine. Natsu! Gajeel! Stop headbutting each other and listen up. I'll tell you about... ah, the story of a redheaded girl who taught her brother how to be strong by playing with water. Heavily omitted, of course.."
[AN: Das a wrap. Apex coming up next for the next 3 chaps. How do you feel about Yin learning from the Dragons and becoming the older sis figure to the DragonSlayers? Lemme know if you got ideas]