Looming Threat
December 16, X785
Meliodas and the rest of the guild celebrated his promotion at the base camp the previous day, with Meliodas summoning dozens of bottles of ale as they drank and relaxed. At this time, they remained on the island to relax for a day longer before heading back to the guild.
"I assume you'll be going on a lot of S Class missions now that you have access to the board now." Erza asked as she sharpened one of her blades nearby.
"Yup!" Meliodas replied.
"Don't forget, we're supposed to go on an S rank mission together sometime." Erza added.
"Of course!" Meliodas said with a grin.
"Meliodas!" Natsu shouted from a distance as he and Gildarts were about to walk away, the two of them holding fishing rods. "I demand a rematch once we get back!"
Meliodas gave Natsu a thumbs up before the two of them walked away into the forest.
"Meliodas…" Carla said. Meliodas looked towards her and noticed the worry in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Meliodas asked.
"This celebration time is great and all, but don't you remember what the Queen said?" Carla asked silently. "This place...I think it might match the description of what will happen…"
"Oh that? I thought about that when I fought Hades. We were fighting on a ship next to the water and it never happened. I guess I changed the future?" Meliodas replied. "Although…"
"Although?" Carla asked. Meliodas remained silent as he went into deep thought. He thought about the magic he had sensed initially while he and Lily were looking for the first master's grave. 'I wonder if that has anything to do with it…'
"Actually it's nothing." Meliodas replied. He got up from his seat and stood up, stretching his arms and looking up at the massive tree. He stared at the tree silently for several moments. 'I wonder if I ran into a fairy here, if they would look like King or Elaine…'
Suddenly he felt a shiver go down his spine. His eyes opened wide as he sensed an enormous magical presence, one greater than he had ever sensed in his time in Earthland. He looked around the camp at everyone else who was there, wondering if they felt it too. At one end, The Thunder God Tribe was relaxing with Laxus, Wendy, Mirajane, and Lisanna. At the other end, Gray was sitting down with Juvia as Erza polished her armour.
"What's wrong Meliodas?" Makarov asked as he approached.
"Do you feel that?" Meliodas asked. Makarov's eyes widened as he realized what Meliodas was talking about, having just sensed the magic at that moment.
"What is-" Makarov's comment was cut short as the sound of a deafening roar echoed through the island. The other guild members who were relaxing looked up at the sky in shock as they covered their ears.
"That's the cry of a dragon!" Wendy exclaimed. From the forest nearby, the rest of the guild members began to run in, also perplexed by the roar they had heard.
"He must be from back then…" Gildarts mentioned.
"Up there!" Pantherlily yelled as he pointed up in the sky. The rest of the guild members there looked up in the sky in disbelief.
"What is that?!" Gray shouted.
"It's massive!" Elfman yelled.
"This can't be real…" Gajeel commented nervously.
"That's the Black Dragon of Apocalypse...ACNOLOGIA!" Makarov shouted in disbelief. Meliodas looked at the jet black dragon. He could feel its tremendous magical power from where it was flying above them. The Tyrant Dragon's in Britannia were nothing compared to this one.
"HEY YOU!" Natsu shouted as loud as he could to the dragon. "YOU KNOW WHERE IGNEEL IS DON'T YOU?!"
"Natsu, knock that off!" Gildarts interjected. Suddenly, Acnologia changed directions, landing on the ground in front of them with a crash, destroying the forest and boulders underneath it in a massive shockwave that radiated outward. From where it stood, it let out another mighty roar.
As the deafening roar shook the Fairy Tail members up, Meliodas looked towards Carla with a serious expression. Carla noticed Meliodas' gaze and looked back at him in horror, with both of them realizing what this dragon's appearance meant.
"Meliodas! You absolutely cannot fight that!" Carla screamed.
"No one is going to fight that!" Gildarts shouted. "Everyone run!"
The guild members immediately ran back, away from the large dragon. The dragon flapped it's large wings, the gust generated from it tearing up the landscape, uprooting trees and breaking rocks. Several guild members fell down from the sheer force as others continued running. Meliodas braced himself and remained in place as the fierce gust bombarded his body.
"We need to get to the ship!" Gildarts shouted.
"Wendy, can't you talk to it?!" Carla questioned.
"Dragon's have high intelligence. They should all be able to understand us already!" Wendy responded.
"Run! Get to the ship!" Makarov yelled as he remained standing firm between everyone else and the dragon. His body began to grow rapidly, to nearly the size of the black dragon. He rushed forward, holding the dragon by the neck as he tried to keep it back.
"There's no way he can fight that!" Gray exclaimed as he stared in awe at the two titans fighting.
"At least not alone!" Meliodas shouted. Everyone turned their heads to Meliodas as they felt a monstrous dark magical power coming from him. His eyes turned dark as a spiral shaped henna formed above his right eyebrow. Wings of darkness sprouted from his back as he put his hand on the handle of Mel Force. He leaped forward at blinding speed past the rest of his guild mates towards Acnologia and Makarov. 'I'll clip it's wings first!'
"Divine Thousand Slashes!"
Meliodas reappeared on top of Acnologia with his blade drawn. Suddenly, he heard a loud cracking sound as the front part of Mel Force's blade chipped off. He looked back at the dragon with a surprised expression. 'Those scales are too tough.'
"Meliodas! What are you doing!" Makarov yelled as blood gushed from his mouth as he continued holding onto Acnologia. "Get out of here now!"
The dragon let out another mighty roar as it flapped its wings. Meliodas attempted to stay in the air above Acnologia as the massive gusts of wind blew him back. Suddenly, he felt a powerful force slam into him, as the tip of Acnologia's wing hit Meliodas. Meliodas grunted in pain as he fell straight to the ground below in the forest away from Acnologia, knocking over several trees in the process.
"We can't let Meliodas continue fight that thing!" Carla screamed. "It will kill him! That has to be what caused the Queen's fortune!"
The other guild members looked at Carla in shock, remembering the fortune that they had discussed briefly after their return from Edolas.
"Well we got four dragon slayers here! Like hell we're gonna lose! We'll save both Meliodas and the Master!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically as he charged forward. As Acnologia knocked Makarov onto the ground, Makarov turned his head back with a look of shock on his face as the members of Fairy Tail were rushing towards Acnologia.
"We won't let this dragon win over Fairy Tail!" Erza yelled. "Everyone hit it with everything you got!"
The guild members immediately lined up in front of the dragon, charging their attacks before firing it all at once. A multitude of various elements and weapons struck the dragon, engulfing it in several large explosions and covering it with smoke.
"Did that do it?" Lucy questioned.
"No...it's just playing with us…it hasn't even begun to reveal its real power…" Gildarts said dejectedly. From the smoke cloud, everyone noticed Acnologia's figure fly out and up high into the air. In its mouth, it began charging a large amount of magical energy.
"It's a breath attack!" Gajeel yelled.
"With all of that magic, that attack can blast away the entire island!" Cana exclaimed.
"Everyone who can use defensive magic, put up your strongest barrier!" Erza ordered.
"I don't have enough time to draw the seals!" Freed replied.
"There's plenty of defensive magic that doesn't require writing symbols or seals!" Levy interjected.
"Everyone, focus your magical energy on Freed!" Lisanna yelled out.
"We'll join hands!" Mirajane added as she extended a hand out. The guild members immediately joined hands together, standing in a circle as they braced for the incoming attack.
"We'll show this dragon the bond of our guild!"
From its mouth, Acnologia released a large blast of magical power that nearly engulfed the island. Fairy Tail closed their eyes as they prepared to take the oncoming blast. Suddenly a figure jumped up above their circle, right in the way of the blast.
"Full Counter!"