Chapter 703 - 703: Gathering at Magia Dragon

Raizel and Selene chose the oldest guild in the world, located at the southern end of Guiltina, as their gathering point—Magia Dragon.

Mavis looked around with obvious curiosity, even holding out a hand to catch one of the snowflakes formed from condensed Magic Power.

"So this is Guiltina! It doesn't feel that different from Ishgar. The Magic Power in the air does seem denser than it is around Magnolia, though."

The concentration of Ethernano around Magia Dragon really was unusually high.

Raizel had no idea why.

More importantly, he had never been curious enough to investigate.

After studying the strange magical snow for a while, Mavis quickly lost interest and pointed toward the distant guild building, where enormous dragon statues towered over the surroundings.

"Come on! Next stop—Magia Dragon!"

When the group reached the entrance, Raizel was just about to knock when the doors opened by themselves.

Elefseria had sensed the enormous group outside long ago.

If nearly a hundred people could approach his guild without him noticing, he might as well find the nearest wall and run headfirst into it.

Besides, they were hardly trying to be quiet.

Everyone had been laughing and talking all the way over like a sightseeing group.

Natsu, Kurnugi, Gray, and Gajeel deserved particular blame.

Those four had somehow managed to be louder than everyone else combined.

Elefseria was standing before the carvings of the Five Dragon Gods.

Beside him stood Hikage, the raven dressed in clothing, and Athena, whose entire body was pure white.

Athena had returned to Elefseria after Viernes's death.

Elefseria turned toward the newcomers and sighed.

"To think Aldoron and Viernes would return from the dead..."

Athena smiled and nodded in greeting toward Lucy and the others.

Raizel merely shrugged.

"We killed them once. We can kill them again."

He was about to explain why he had brought what looked like a small army to Magia Dragon when Elefseria bowed deeply to everyone.

"I am Elefseria. On behalf of Guiltina, I thank all of you for coming here when the survival of this continent is at stake."

Ignia's message had not been meant solely for Raizel and the others.

Elefseria had received it as well, so he was already aware of Helios and the situation surrounding the revived Dragon Gods.

At least that saved them the trouble of explaining everything from the beginning.

Raizel's expression became serious.

"So you already know about Ignia and Helios. Good. This isn't about completing the Hundred Years Quest or sealing the Five Dragon Gods anymore. Guiltina is in danger, and so are the two continents to the south."

Elefseria nodded gravely.

"I understand. Athena and I will fight as well."

Raizel nodded.

That was welcome news.

Elefseria had lost his original heart and was no longer at his peak, but he remained a formidable combatant.

At his strongest, he had been capable of killing Dogramag.

Athena, meanwhile, possessed enough power to slaughter ordinary dragons and easily belonged among the stronger fighters in their force.

"Let me introduce everyone properly."

Raizel began going through the group one by one, focusing especially on the people Elefseria had never met before, such as Mavis, August, and Zeref.

Then he gestured toward Makarov.

"This is our guild master, Makarov."

"I've heard much about you," Elefseria replied. "I've always wondered what kind of Guild Master could raise so many exceptional Mages."

He was not being polite.

He genuinely meant it.

Makarov's old face immediately reddened as he laughed awkwardly.

"You flatter me!"

He really had no idea how to answer that.

He spent half his time drinking.

Aside from occasionally giving the younger members some advice and encouragement, he had not exactly trained most of them personally.

Ur had probably taught Fairy Tail's younger generation more than he had.

Most of the guild's growth came from senior members teaching junior ones—and from everyone constantly pushing themselves because the people around them refused to stop improving.

Among the oldest members of Fairy Tail's third generation, Raizel and Laxus trained obsessively every day.

Cana had mostly been dragged into keeping up with them whether she liked it or not.

Then Raizel's habits had rubbed off on Erza, Mira, Kagura, and Ultear.

Kagura had gone even further.

She had become the sort of person who somehow always found more time to train no matter how busy her schedule already was.

If anyone in Fairy Tail could honestly claim to know what Magnolia looked like at four in the morning, it was probably Kagura.

Meanwhile, Natsu and Gray constantly competed with each other.

By the time that mentality had spread throughout the entire third generation, anyone who refused to train seriously was practically volunteering to fall behind.

Elefseria looked around his suddenly overcrowded guild and seemed somewhat at a loss.

"I'm afraid I have very little prepared to entertain this many guests. Forgive the poor hospitality."

Raizel raised an eyebrow.

"Not a problem. We brought our own."

Ultear waved a hand.

Tables, chairs, benches, beer, juice, and assorted drinks all appeared inside Magia Dragon in one enormous batch.

Elefseria's mouth twitched.

"Well... I suppose that works."

Fairy Tail had always believed that wherever its members gathered, a party could be held.

Makarov promptly jumped onto a table and thrust one finger toward the ceiling.

"All right, brats! In honor of—"

He paused.

"Actually, forget the excuse! Let's party!"

"YEAH!!!"

...

During the feast, Elefseria pointed toward the dragon carvings on the guild wall.

"These carvings contain Magic connected to the Five Dragon Gods. The ones corresponding to Viernes and Aldoron had already shattered, but both have now restored themselves."

He paused.

"However, their light is noticeably dimmer than before."

Mavis immediately understood the implication.

"So even though they've been resurrected, they probably haven't recovered their original strength?"

"Correct."

"That's another piece of good news."

Dogramag, the weakest among them, was not particularly worrying.

With all of his Dogramag Cores already destroyed, he should be relatively easy to deal with.

His defenses were no longer exceptional, and his offensive power had never been especially overwhelming compared with the other Dragon Gods.

Aldoron and Viernes were different.

Both were extraordinarily difficult to kill.

One possessed five God Seeds with completely different abilities.

The other could transmute powerful "dolls."

Aldoron was the greater nuisance.

If he had learned anything from his previous defeat, there was almost no chance he would make the same mistake of pulling Natsu inside his body and allowing the Aldoron God Seed representing his main consciousness to fight him directly.

In other words, if that particular God Seed remained protected, they would have to deal with Aldoron's actual body and its almost absurd amount of vitality.

His health bar might as well have been several hundred million points long.

Fortunately, Mavis had already anticipated that possibility.

She had prepared a countermeasure and informed the people who would be responsible for carrying it out.

...

Lucy turned excitedly toward Athena, who had been smiling throughout the gathering.

Her eyes brightened.

"How have you been feeling lately?"

Athena's lips curved upward.

"Quite good."

She thought for a moment.

"Happy."

Lucy immediately gave her a thumbs-up and winked.

"You're getting much better at understanding your own emotions. Honestly, I don't think you're any different from a normal person anymore!"

Athena's smile widened, and even her voice rose slightly with excitement.

"Really? Then that's wonderful!"

Ultear, Mira, and the others nodded in agreement.

Admittedly, telling a mechanical doll that she was becoming more like a normal person sounded a little strange.

But for this group, that barely qualified as unusual.

They already had Selene, a dragon who would rather live as a human, and Natsu, who had been given the choice between demon, dragon, and human—and had chosen humanity.

Elefseria slowly looked around the guild.

His expression softened with nostalgia.

"I never imagined this place would be so lively again..."

More than a century ago, dragons had attacked Magia Dragon.

One member after another had died in the long struggle that followed as they tried to slay those dragons.

It had been an incredibly long time since Elefseria had experienced the noise and warmth of a crowded guild hall.

Raizel looked at him with complete seriousness.

"It'll be even livelier after we finish dealing with the Five Dragon Gods."