Chapter 705 - 705: Battle Against Helios

Ignia had taken Natsu's enraged Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist directly to the head, yet instead of looking furious, his mouth split into what almost seemed like a grin.

His crimson eyes snapped open and locked onto Natsu.

"Again! Again! Let's fight until one of us burns away completely!"

Natsu's flames surged in answer.

"NOW I'M FIRED UP!"

...

At the same time, Helios saw Raizel flying toward him and opened his jaws.

White fire erupted from his mouth.

The flames became a gigantic white dragon as they tore through the sky toward Raizel.

Their temperature seemed even higher than Ignia's, perhaps already comparable to Igneel's own flames.

The heat was so extreme that the surrounding space appeared to distort.

Raizel did not dodge.

He tightened his grip on the enormous Ultimate War Dragon Spear Ambrosius and thrust directly into the incoming flames.

The terrifying torrent of white fire split around the spear.

Flames exploded to either side, and the snow covering the nearby mountains immediately began to melt.

As Ambrosius continued toward Helios, however, the Sun Dragon God abruptly beat his wings and shot higher into the sky.

He had sensed something from that spear.

Death.

Ignia had already told Helios about Raizel—a human who possessed numerous different forms, including a gigantic dragon form that Ignia himself had never seen before.

Helios had dismissed the warning at the time.

Now, after personally watching Raizel cut through his flames without suffering so much as a burn, he realized he had been wrong.

The last creature who had dared ignore Helios's flames and emerge completely unharmed had been Acnologia.

And that had been four hundred years ago.

Helios's flames had only grown hotter and more destructive since then.

He genuinely could not understand humanity.

Four centuries ago, that race had produced the Black Dragon.

Now, four hundred years later, another monster had appeared.

Raizel, meanwhile, was mildly surprised for an entirely different reason.

Helios was not quite as overwhelming as he had expected.

If Raizel had to rank the strongest dragons he had personally encountered, it would currently be—

Acnologia.

Then Igneel.

Then Helios.

Then Ignia.

Still, Helios was already extremely close to Igneel's level.

Raizel aimed Ambrosius toward him.

A white beam shot from the spear like a meteor, streaked with several different colors.

Helios immediately beat his wings and dodged.

The beam continued past him and struck the summit of a snowy mountain.

The peak began to soften almost as though it were being dissolved.

Helios caught an unfamiliar scent coming from the melting stone.

His pupils contracted sharply.

'Poison?!'

He stared at Raizel in disbelief.

'You're built like that and you fight with poison?! Where's your warrior pride?!'

No wonder that enormous spear had felt so dangerous.

The weapon contained an extremely potent toxin.

Wariness flashed through Helios's eyes, but he quickly forced it down and sneered.

"I am Helios, the Sun Dragon God! I will not lose!"

Raizel had no idea Helios had once lost to Acnologia, so as far as Helios was concerned, he could say whatever he wanted.

Raizel had no interest in arguing with him.

Magic Power erupted around Examon X.

His wings beat once, propelling his massive body directly toward Helios.

This time, Helios did not dare underestimate him.

Golden light gathered between his claws and condensed into a blazing disc resembling a miniature sun.

He hurled it toward Raizel.

Helios expected him either to evade or cut it apart with Ambrosius.

Raizel did neither.

Examon X simply extended his left claw.. and crushed the golden disc in his hand.

BOOM!

The miniature sun burst apart in midair like fireworks.

Golden light flooded across the mountains, illuminating Aldoron, Dogramag, Selene, Irene, and the others fighting across the battlefield.

Laxus, whose body had been enlarged into a giant by Brandish's Command T, slammed a fist into the side of Aldoron's face.

"Looks like Raizel's still got the advantage."

He glanced toward the enormous Wood Dragon God.

"And Aldoron definitely hasn't recovered to his peak."

Laxus had already fought the revived Aldoron once before.

The difference was obvious.

Aldoron was weaker than he had been previously.

Of course, his absurd durability seemed to have survived resurrection perfectly well.

And there was still the problem of his five God Seeds.

Just as Mavis had predicted, only four of them had appeared on the battlefield.

The main Aldoron God Seed had apparently learned its lesson and refused to show itself.

Fortunately, Mavis had planned for exactly that possibility.

...

Ultear, Mira, Erza, and Cana reached the area on Aldoron's back where the city had once stood.

Cana had already used Tarot divination to locate the God Seed's approximate position.

She pointed downward.

"It should be around here."

Ultear looked toward the other three women.

"All right. Everyone ready?"

"Ready!"

Before moving, Erza, Mira, and Ultear all glanced toward the distant battle between Raizel and Helios.

They saw the two enormous dragons collide physically in midair.

Helios was clearly losing even that contest of raw strength.

The three women visibly relaxed.

Cana gave them a teasing look.

"You can stop checking on him. Raizel's winning."

She pointed down again.

"Our job is to hurry up and deal with Aldoron's God Seed."

"Let's go."

Ultear swept one hand forward.

A magical water mirror appeared across Aldoron's back.

Erza Requipped into the Heaven's Wheel Armor while Mira entered Satan Soul, and the two stepped through first.

They emerged from the opposite side of the mirror and immediately scanned their surroundings.

The entire area was bare and filled with enormous networks of plant roots.

They were inside Aldoron's body.

And somewhere within this place, the Aldoron God Seed was hiding.

"To think humans would actually find a way in here."

Aldoron's voice emerged from the darkness.

Ordinarily, there were only two ways to enter this place.

The first was for Aldoron himself to bring someone inside.

The second sounded simple but was vastly more difficult in practice, tear open Aldoron's body and enter through the wound.

Considering how absurdly thick Aldoron's defenses were, very few people were capable of doing that.

Even Natsu's Fire Dragon King's Demolition Fist had only managed to blast a relatively small crater into his body.

Ultear's method was far simpler.

Spatial Magic.

Her magical water mirror had allowed them to bypass Aldoron's outer defenses entirely and enter his body directly.

When the God Seed realized Natsu was not among the four intruders, disappointment mixed with obvious relief.

"A pity Natsu Dragneel isn't here. I would have enjoyed repaying him for our previous battle."

As far as Aldoron was concerned, he had only lost to Natsu because the Dragon Slayer had possessed three extraordinarily powerful types of dragon flame—the Purgatory Dragon's flames, the Hellfire Dragon's flames, and the Fire Dragon King's flames.

Surely Ultear and the others could not reproduce something like that.

Without overwhelming firepower, Aldoron believed himself practically unbeatable.

People liked to say that one learned from painful mistakes.

Unfortunately, Aldoron was a dragon.

Apparently, the lesson had not stuck.

Mira narrowed her eyes slightly.

"It sounds like someone's underestimating us."

White light wrapped around her body.

Satan Soul vanished as her form changed.

[Take Over: Flame Demon.]

A flame-shaped mark appeared on Mira's forehead.

Two curved dragon horns emerged from her head, while wings composed entirely of fire spread behind her.

The half-dragon-head armor missing its lower jaw formed over her right arm.

Orange markings spread across her limbs, and flames ignited over her razor-sharp claws.

Even her gaze changed.

The usual gentleness vanished, replaced by something far more vicious.

Mira smiled.

"Let's fix that."