Chapter 496: So That Was Just a Casual Greeting?
High in the sky, right where Noah and the others were staring, the clouds began to violently churn and boil.
Suddenly, a colossal black claw tore through the cloud cover, the sheer wind pressure it generated violently blowing the surrounding mist away.
Immediately after, the rest of the monstrosity rapidly emerged: thick arms, a terrifying head, a massive torso, sprawling wings, and a tail longer than its entire body ending in a sharp, stinger-like tip.
The gargantuan creature's descent generated an endless gale that completely cleared the sky, leaving a massive, gaping hole in the cloud cover.
It had a robust, muscular build and sprawling, draconic wings. Its back was covered in pitch-black scales adorned with glowing, ethereal blue markings, while its chest, underbelly, and inner limbs were a stark, ashen grey.
ROAAAAAAR!!!!!
The beast opened its massive maw and unleashed a deafening, world-shaking roar. The sheer sonic force caused everyone's hearts to skip a beat, an instinctual, primal terror gripping their chests.
"Is that... a Dragon?! It's huge! And terrifying!"
Everyone stared up at the colossal creature, their faces pale with absolute shock. Even though they had mentally prepared themselves after being warned of a Dragon's arrival, seeing the genuine article in the flesh shattered all their preconceptions.
Even from such a massive altitude, its casual movements exuded an apocalyptic aura. It was unfathomable to imagine how terrifying it would be up close. But they were about to find out.
"It's coming!!!" Bickslow screamed.
Matching his shout, the gargantuan beast flapped its wings, generating a hurricane-force gale as it dove straight toward the artificial landmass Noah had created just off Tenrou Island's coast.
Just by nearing their altitude, the wind pressure kicked up a massive sandstorm, blinding the Fairy Tail mages. However, the beast didn't land immediately. It circled menacingly overhead, the downdraft blowing grit and dirt into everyone's faces.
"So it's true... Dragons really are still alive..." Natsu murmured. Despite the blinding dust, his eyes were blown wide open, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks as he stared unblinkingly at the descending Black Dragon.
"Is that the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse... Acnologia?" Makarov asked, his voice grave and trembling slightly.
"Yeah. That's him," Gildarts confirmed, his expression dead serious. This was the exact monster that had nearly killed him, forcing him to hide in the wilderness for months just to survive.
"HEY! DO YOU KNOW WHERE IGNEEL IS?! WHAT ABOUT GRANDEENEY AND METALICANA?!"
Natsu cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed at the top of his lungs. He couldn't help himself; this was the single most important question of his life, and he couldn't even wait for the beast to land.
Given a Dragon's god-like senses, Acnologia absolutely heard Natsu's shout. However, the Black Dragon offered no verbal response.
Instead, it responded by adjusting its trajectory, diving straight down toward Natsu and the others like a dark meteor.
"It's dropping right on top of us!!!" Freed yelled in alarm.
"Fall back!" Noah ordered sharply. Seeing the massive beast blotting out the sun as it plummeted directly toward them, he knew standing their ground was suicide.
Hearing Noah's command, the Fairy Tail mages scrambled backward at top speed, clearing a massive circle in the center of the battlefield.
KABOOM!!!
Acnologia didn't bother slowing down. It slammed into the earth with catastrophic force.
The colossal impact instantly cratered the bedrock. A devastating hurricane of pulverized stone, dirt, and shockwaves blasted outward in all directions, sending massive, lethal boulders flying straight at the retreating Fairy Tail mages.
But for a moment, they didn't even care about the incoming shrapnel. Their minds and bodies were entirely captivated—and paralyzed—by the sheer, overwhelming presence of the titan before them.
Seeing it up close finally hammered home just how terrifying the Black Dragon truly was. The suffocating magic power and the aura of absolute death radiating from its scales made their bodies tremble involuntarily.
Noah was the only one entirely unaffected. He recovered almost instantly, having already mentally prepared himself for the world's strongest apex predator.
Right behind him, Gildarts, Makarov, and Ur snapped out of their daze. They swiftly shattered or deflected the massive boulders flying toward the group, their eyes locked grimly onto the behemoth.
The rest of the mages slowly regained their senses, though some reacted a split-second too late and were struck by the flying debris. Groans of pain echoed as the impact bruised and battered them, but the sharp sting of physical pain actually helped snap them out of their paralyzing, primal fear.
BAM!
Acnologia raised its left front claw and slammed it casually into the ground, instantly creating another massive crater.
It then took a deep, shuddering breath, its massive chest expanding as it tilted its head back.
"It's coming! Brace yourselves!" Noah roared, his eyes locked onto Acnologia's maw. He was ready to forcefully interrupt the Dragon if it prepared a genuinely unblockable, lethal attack.
Hearing Noah's desperate warning, everyone snapped to attention, throwing up their strongest defensive stances.
ROAAAAAAR!!!!!
Acnologia snapped its head down, opened its maw, and unleashed a catastrophic roar directly at them.
It wasn't a magical breath attack—it was pure, unadulterated sonic and kinetic force. The sheer power of the shockwave physically ripped the earth apart, peeling the bedrock back layer by layer in a massive, expanding fan shape.
Countless tons of shattered rock joined the devastating shockwave, hurtling directly toward the Fairy Tail mages like a literal tidal wave of destruction.
"GAAAAAH!"
Most of the mages only had time to shatter the first few rocks that reached them before the overwhelming shockwave caught them. They were violently blown away, tumbling helplessly through the air alongside the debris.
Only a handful of the absolute strongest mages managed to stand their ground, and even they were forced to hunker down and brace fiercely against the apocalyptic gale to avoid severe injury.
"What the hell just happened...?"
Natsu groaned, peeling himself off the ground and rubbing his dizzy head. He opened his eyes and blinked in confusion.
He was staring at two sheer walls of earth on either side of him. Hadn't he just been standing on a flat battlefield? Why was he suddenly at the bottom of a trench?
Then, the horrifying reality set in.
"You've gotta be kidding me..."
"What kind of absurd destructive power is that?!"
"It just roared... How is that even possible?!"
The rest of the Fairy Tail mages also picked themselves up, their faces turning completely ashen as they processed their new surroundings.
They were indeed standing at the bottom of a massive, fan-shaped trench bordered by sheer earthen walls. Acnologia's roar hadn't just blown them away; it had literally excavated the earth beneath their feet, carving a massive canyon into the solid bedrock purely through sonic force.
Gildarts lowered his arms, shaking off the dust, and looked up at Acnologia. The Black Dragon had taken to the sky again and was currently hovering above them, staring down with cold, apathetic eyes.
"Tch. That overgrown lizard is looking down on us," Gildarts scoffed in annoyance. He knew Acnologia was an apocalyptic threat, but being looked at like a pathetic insect still pissed him off.
He glanced around. While everyone was covered in dirt and looked incredibly disheveled, no one had sustained any critical injuries.
"So, in the end... that was just a casual greeting?" Gildarts muttered, a bitter smirk on his face.
"WHAT?!"
Cana, who had been shielded behind Gildarts the entire time,'s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. She looked back at the massive, excavated canyon stretching for hundreds of meters behind them. That level of catastrophic destruction was just a "greeting"?!
The other mages who had fallen began to pick themselves up, many of them trembling uncontrollably.
Facing Acnologia head-on forced them to understand exactly what it meant to be stared down by a creature sitting at the absolute pinnacle of the food chain. The endless, suffocating malice radiating from the Dragon made their bodies scream at them, their survival instincts overriding their rational thought: Run! Flee! You are going to die!
Their minds grew sluggish, paralyzed by the sheer weight of the Dragon's presence. Only when Gildarts's familiar voice echoed did they regain a shred of their cognitive function.
But understanding Gildarts's words only deepened their despair. If that was just a greeting, what would happen when it actually decided to fight?
"He's right. That was just Acnologia saying hello. Remember, you only have one chance to launch an attack," Noah's voice cut through the panic, calm and authoritative. "Whether your attack succeeds or fails, you will instantly be teleported into the Tenrou Island barrier. Do not linger. If it gets even slightly serious and retaliates, you will die instantly."
Noah hadn't taken his eyes off the hovering Black Dragon for a single second. The golden analytical arrays spinning in front of his eyes had been operating at maximum capacity since the beast appeared, desperately gathering and processing every scrap of data possible.
"Dammit! Don't you dare underestimate Fairy Tail!" Natsu roared, snapping out of his terror. Roaring flames erupted around his body, burning away the fear.
"Damn right. We are the mages of Fairy Tail!" Laxus snarled. Golden lightning violently arced across his muscular frame, the crackle of thunder echoing around him.
"No matter who the enemy is, when the time comes to fight, a mage of Fairy Tail never backs down!" Erza declared with absolute resolve. In a flash of light, she equipped her ultimate, pink-hued armor—the Armadura Fairy.
"Naturally. Since the stage has been set so grandly, it would be rude not to deliver our absolute strongest performance," Sorano smirked, summoning a host of heavily armed Angels to her side, her eyes locked on the Dragon above.
"Exactly. It's a rare opportunity. Let's see exactly how vast this world truly is," Ultear smiled fiercely. Freezing mist poured from her body, instantly coating the surrounding trench in a layer of thick ice.
"Let's test the difference in power between a Demon and a Dragon," Mirajane added, her voice echoing with a dark, metallic resonance.
She was currently clad in a striking blue and white outfit, a dark cloak draped over her shoulders. Her hair had grown long and wild, and two massive, curved demonic horns sprouted from the sides of her head. Blazing flames erupted around her feet. She had activated her absolute strongest form: Satan Soul: Sitri.
Encouraged by their peers, the rest of the guild snapped out of their paralyzing fear, shouting their own battle cries and channeling their magic to its absolute limits.
"We are the mages of Fairy Tail! Don't you dare look down on us!"
At that exact moment, the Fairy Tail guild marks stamped on their bodies began to glow with a faint, warm light. The innate magic infused within the crests resonated with their unified resolve, washing over them and dispelling the last remnants of their terror.
They felt energized, hyper-focused, and stronger than ever before. With their absolute conviction restored, they glared defiantly up at Acnologia.
Seeing the guild overcome their primal fear and prepare to strike back against an invincible god, a proud, genuine smile spread across Noah's face.
To rekindle one's courage while staring directly into the abyss was a profound baptism of the soul. Acnologia was, as far as Noah knew, the absolute strongest entity in the world—barring any hidden, literal gods. It was a beast that had slaughtered the Dragon race to near-extinction and lived for over 400 years, growing stronger every day. Even Zeref had spent centuries desperately searching for a way to defeat it.
Finding the resolve to stand and fight against a monster of this caliber would grant his guildmates an unimaginable psychological and magical breakthrough that would benefit them for the rest of their lives. Noah's meticulous planning and safety nets had absolutely paid off.
"Here it comes," Noah announced coolly, watching Acnologia fold its wings and begin another dive.
KABOOM!!!
Acnologia plummeted back to the earth, smashing into the ground without slowing down and excavating yet another massive crater.
A hurricane-force gale exploded outward, kicking up a blinding, suffocating cloud of dust and pulverized rock that completely obscured the Fairy Tail mages from view.
"LET'S GO!"
Suddenly, a massive hole was blasted straight through the dust cloud. A blazing silhouette rocketed forward, charging head-on toward the Black Dragon.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art - Hidden Fire Form: Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Sword!"
Natsu, completely enveloped in a roaring, phoenix-shaped inferno, threw himself forward like a blazing missile, aiming straight for Acnologia's chest.
Earlier, when Noah said they only had one chance to attack, Natsu had been slightly annoyed. But after witnessing Acnologia's apocalyptic greeting, all his complaints vanished. He poured every single drop of magic he possessed into this singular, ultimate strike.
He knew exactly how strong Dragons were. His father, Igneel, was unfathomably powerful, but Acnologia's aura felt even more oppressive and malevolent than anything Igneel had ever shown him. While Natsu inherently believed Igneel was stronger, he knew Igneel had always held back to avoid hurting him.
But this beast wasn't holding back. It was an apocalyptic threat entirely beyond his current level. Just as Noah had warned: one strike, and then retreat. If this failed, standing around meant death.
"If we're fighting a Dragon, leave it to the Dragon Slayers! Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Karma Demon: Iron God Sword!"
Gajeel burst through the smoke right beside Natsu. He clasped his hands high above his head, transmuting them into a colossal, devastatingly heavy iron broadsword, and swung it down with all his might toward Acnologia.
~~~
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