Chapter 1

Year X791.

The continent of Ishgar.

Kingdom of Fiore, town of Magnolia.

This town, once glorious for a time, has gradually faded away over the past few years.

In the past, almost everyone who mentioned the Kingdom of Fiore would think of Magnolia.

Simply because, within this town,

there existed a guild famous throughout the entire Ishgar continent.

Its name is, Fairy Tail!

That was a near-legendary guild,

which once fought against Phantom Lord, one of the other strongest guilds in Fiore, and achieved a complete victory.

It also made a great splash in events such as destroying the Tower of Heaven and suppressing the Oración Seis.

Even later, during the Tenrou Island incident, it used the strength of a single guild.

It wiped out Grimoire Heart, the strongest dark guild on the Ishgar continent at the time.

Fairy Tail, worthy of the name of the strongest.

However... the turning point for all of this dates back seven years ago.

On that island called Tenrou Island.

Pitch-black despair descended!

That was a terrifying figure feared by the entire world.

That is the last dragon currently alive.

Some say that dragon is synonymous with the end.

Simply because, whenever it appears, it destroys everything within its sight with absolute, incomparable power.

That was an unimaginable disaster.

When the disaster passed, all that remained was the legend that the dragon had once been there.

Other than that, there was nothing else, not even life.

It is named the Black Dragon, the Black Dragon Acnologia!

Seven years ago on Tenrou Island, the Black Dragon descended; it destroyed Tenrou Island, including the main force of Fairy Tail that was still on the island at the time.

No one knows why the Black Dragon descended.

Just as no ant knows why a human would step on it.

Perhaps...

It was just for fun?

Who knows?

Anyway, from that day on, Fairy Tail, having lost its main force, also began to decline day by day.

The reputation of being the best in the Kingdom of Fiore had long since been stripped away.

It was replaced by a rising guild, Sabertooth.

Within the Fairy Tail guild, which had lost its main force, mages also began to leave and join other new Black Mage guilds.

Because of this, the request missions that sustained the guild also began to decrease day by day.

Not even a single S-Class mission, the highest difficulty among requests, appeared in the guild anymore.

By now, the Fairy Tail of the past with hundreds of mages,

only had about a dozen mages left struggling to hold on.

Even the original guild, which was as magnificent as a castle, had been mortgaged out.

It was replaced by an old building.

It looked similar to a farmhouse,

but the flag still stubbornly flying on the roof of the house,

proved the former strength of the guild that resided here.

But, the glory of the past had long since passed away; the only thing keeping the remaining people here.

I am afraid it is only the faith in their hearts.

And the pursuit of adventure, right?

All of this is as if it were a joke played by the god of fate.

He let a prosperous guild fall into decline overnight.

Yet, in the extreme despair, he brought a glimmer of hope.

One day, the members holding on in the guild received news that was most urgent to them.

The former Tenrou Island had actually not disappeared!

Almost everyone knew exactly what such news meant.

That is, it is possible that the main force that was once on Tenrou Island did not die under the roar of the Black Dragon.

Although such hope is very slim, it is still better than an abyss where no light can be seen.

Thus, they formed a search party and followed the people of another brother guild, Blue Pegasus, out to the vast ocean to find the Tenrou Island that had disappeared seven years ago.

Hard work pays off.

This time, heaven was no longer fooling this group of people who were holding on to the guild.

On the vast ocean, they really found the location of Tenrou Island.

However, that was the sealed Tenrou Island.

Seven years ago, in order to resist the roar of the Black Dragon Acnologia.

Mavis, the first master of Fairy Tail who was sleeping on Tenrou Island, revived.

And, borrowing the firm belief of the Fairy Tail main force to return home, she activated Fairy Sphere, one of the three great magics of Fairy Tail.

It blocked the roar of the Black Dragon Acnologia.

However, the price was that the entire Tenrou Island, including the main force members of Fairy Tail on Tenrou Island, were all sealed away.

Time fell into a standstill, and it was not until seven years later, which is now, that it was successfully unsealed.

Seven years of time for them was like a dream.

Yes, it really was like a very, very long dream.

Waking up from a sleep, the whole world seemed to have changed.

The guild of the past had become a thing of the past; all that remained was ruin and sorrow.

When the Tenrou group successfully returned to the guild.

Everything they saw could not help but make their hearts tremble and their eyes moisten.

It was like the sense of disparity of a rich man going bankrupt overnight, which almost suffocated them.

However, the most fatal thing was still those companions who remained in the guild.

Seven years of time seemed to have taken away the immaturity on their faces,

leaving only the vicissitudes after weathering the storms.

They suffered a lot, and even the guild master, Makarov, could not imagine, in the situation where the main force was completely lost.

How to preserve Fairy Tail in the eyes of countless people who were jealous.

But... these mere dozen or so mages who remained in the guild did it.

Although, for this, they almost lost the dignity they were most proud of in the past.

Looking at all this, the people of the Tenrou group fell silent.

They didn't know how to comfort this group of traumatized companions.

Because, no matter how the people of the Tenrou group asked, all they got were the indifferent smiles of their companions.

Yes, they didn't care at all how much pain they had suffered over the past seven years.

As long as... they successfully waited for the people of the Tenrou group to return.

That was enough.

The simple and unadorned thought made the people of the Tenrou group even more sorrowful and indignant.

They felt sad for the encounters of their companions over these years,

and they also felt angry at those guys who kicked them while they were down over these seven years.

But... the most angry one... I am afraid it was only themselves, right?

Yes, the ones who should be hated the most should actually be themselves and others.

The ones who should bear all this should actually be themselves and others.

If, seven years ago, they could have run a little faster.

If, seven years ago, they hadn't been so impulsive.

If, seven years ago, they had been a little stronger...

Countless possibilities flashed through the minds of all the returned Tenrou group members.

Finally, it settled on a unified thought.

If they could have possessed more powerful strength...

Could they have successfully resisted the Black Dragon seven years ago and survived under its roar?

Then... wouldn't all of this have had to happen?

Natsu slammed his fist onto the table in front of him,

and angry veins bulged on his forehead.

The sound of gnashing teeth also came out.

"Damn it! It's all my fault... even though I am a Dragon Slayer, I had no effect when facing a dragon..."

Listening to Natsu's words, the other two Dragon Slayers present, Gajeel and Wendy, also pursed their lips one after another.

Yes, the original intention of Dragon Slayer Magic was magic that existed to destroy dragons.

However, as one of the few Dragon Slayers of this era.

They had absolutely no ability to fight back when facing the descent of a giant dragon.

What exactly is this?

At this moment, deep in the hearts of the three Dragon Slayers, an unreal thought even began to emerge.

Can Dragon Slayer Magic... really slay dragons?

If it could, then why, seven years ago, were the three of them unable to leave even a tiny scar on that giant dragon's body, even after exhausting all their magic power?

It seemed to have seen through the self-doubt in the hearts of the three.

The uncle in the guild, who was also the strongest Black Mage in the guild, Gildarts, sighed softly.

He reached out and stroked Natsu's cherry-blossom-colored hair, and said, "Don't mind it, Natsu."

"It's normal not to be able to win against that kind of thing."

In his mind, he seemed to recall the time when he first saw the Black Dragon.

Gildarts sighed with emotion: "Strictly speaking, it no longer belongs to the category of living things."

"That is a monster through and through, a monster that transcends the world."

"We can already be proud that we survived from its hands," Gildarts said softly.

Yes, this is indeed something to be proud of.

You know, as the strongest Black Mage in the guild, Gildarts once only encountered the Black Dragon during a mission.

And in an instant, he ended up with a half-crippled body.

This time, it was already very good that everyone could survive the world-destroying roar of the Black Dragon.

All the guild members present who had witnessed the power of the Black Dragon nodded in deep agreement.

Echoing voices sounded one after another.

After all, the Black Dragon could indeed be said to be an existence that humans could never reach.

Being defeated by such an existence was nothing to be ashamed of.

Natsu opened his mouth, just about to say something.

But the words stopped instantly when they reached his lips.

He frowned tightly, listening with some disbelief to the voice coming from the bottom of his heart.

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