Irene watched in complete shock at how the battle had changed from before. At first, the battle was impressive—more than what she would have accomplished in a fight with the black dragon. But the moment she saw the black dragon become serious, she expected the fight to end soon.
And seeing the way the boy's arms shattered, she was prepared to retreat so that the sights of the black dragon would not land on her next.
But the next instant, she froze.
"How.." she asked, while knowing there was no one to answer.
She knew who Karna Vermillion was. As one of the main generals of the Alvarez Kingdom, she had made sure to investigate all potential enemies along with the intelligence division headed by the assassination units of the Alvarez Kingdom.
Karna Vermillion was considered the topmost threat Alvarez would face if they were ever planning on restarting the war against Ishgar. His capabilities and talents were so high that they believed he could become a member of the Spriggan Twelve very easily.
The only reason they chose God Serena over Karna was because Karna Vermillion was a guild member of Fairy Tail, their prime enemy in their main plan to acquire the Lumen Histoire.
"How can a child who's not even three decades old reach such a level?" she muttered as she saw Karna battling the black dragon evenly. All she was able to sense was the increase in the dragon slayer magic in the armour worn by the boy. Other than that, she was unable to provide an explanation for the increased speed and piercing power now exhibited by the child.
As she kept observing, Karna was gaining more and more strength by the second—so much so that the wounds he was currently inflicting on Acnalogia were not healing as much as before.
"Is there a chance that he can succeed?" she had a thought that seemed unbelievable even to herself.
At the same time, Karna was gaining more and more in the fight against Acnalogia.
'Alright, I need to make sure that I don't die while pushing myself to the limits in this battle. Even though I have a one-time chance to gain with every limit I cross, all of it will become useless if I die in the end,' Karna thought as he prepared the strongest attack he was capable of performing right now.
He summoned his bow and made an arrow using the densest death energy he was able to control and aimed it at Acnalogia.
That, along with the increased strength, speed, and power from multiple abilities, was stacked to create this new move.
This attack combined the effects of every power Karna had within him: the strength of the Ox Talisman, the speed of the Rabbit, Black Flash, death energy, dragon slayer magic from his armor, the drakon slayer energy within himself, and finally, the Pierce Rune of his archery magic.
Unlike others who create secret arts with different effects, Karna made his based on his archery. The only thing it did was concentrate the entire power he put into this move to a single point aimed at penetrating any sort of defence.
The moment he conjured this move, he was able to feel Acnalogia's changing demeanour.
'Good, feel threatened by this and fall into my trap,' Karna thought as he thrust forward with his final attack.
All the others who were watching the battle held their breath as they realised this was going to be the attack that decided the battle.
Either the attack would be strong enough to defeat Acnalogia, or Karna would die in the subsequent attack launched by the dragon after being hit back from the expenditure of using such a strong attack.
The council Rune Knights on the ship, the members of Fairy Tail on the island, and three of the strongest existences in the world watched with bated breath as the strike was about to land.
And just as the attack was about to land, Acnalogia disappeared and appeared right behind Karna, escaping from the direction where the attack was about to land.
The moment it happened, every individual who saw it felt their hopes crash to the ground.
But the next moment, Karna disappeared and appeared right in front of Acnalogia's face.
"I WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO DO THAT, YOU BASTARD!!!" he shouted as he drove the attack straight to Acnalogia's face.
Karna never forgot. Frostborn had told him about how he and Raijin had died at Acnalogia's hands before. So Karna had made the attack plan around Acnalogia's teleportation ability. In the early battle, where he was attacking Acnalogia's body using his speed, he had made sure to mark the Flying Thunder God symbols all around its body, making its teleportation ability inert.
Karna pushed the attack straight through its eye, easily piercing through the protective membrane and the flesh beneath it. But at the last moment, the dragon tilted its head, escaping from having its brain pierced by Karna's attack.
The attack then went straight toward the horizon before dissipating.
But it had done what Karna had intended to do. It made the invincible dragon suffer an injury that proved it was not invincible.
The dragon, who had healed from thousands of injuries for centuries, finally had a wound that it could never heal as long as it lived.
A mark that would stand as proof that even the apocalypse could be taken down.
"I WILL REMEMBER YOU, HUMAN," a deep voice came from the wounded dragon, "AS THE ONLY BEING EVER STRONG ENOUGH TO PUSH ME TO THIS LEVEL."
The dragon's acknowledgement reverberated across the skies, giving out the message that there was a being who had reached its level.
"BUT IT'S TIME IT ENDS." Suddenly, the dragon's scales started shining.
"ARCANE DRAGON ETHERION BLAST," the dragon spoke, and suddenly an explosion detonated with the dragon as the centre.
Karna was caught in that blast and crashed straight toward the island. He had expended too much in the last attack; he had nothing left within him due to his body's condition.
"ARCANE DRAGON KING'S ROAR." Acnalogia did not hesitate in launching the next attack.
Selene wanted to save Karna, seeing that he was the only being who had come close enough to kill the dragon. But the fluctuations of Acnalogia's attack prevented any sort of interference with spatial magic.
"Damn it," she cursed in frustration.
By that time, Acnalogia's attack reached the island, and in the next moment it disappeared from the surface of the sea, leaving only a crater that got filled up by the seawater within a few seconds.
Acnalogia stood in the air for a few more seconds before flying in the direction opposite to Ishgar.
The soldiers of Ishgar felt the sea grow calm as the unbelievable battle kept replaying in their heads.
Year 784, December 16. After a battle with Acnalogia the Calamity Dragon, twenty Fairy Tail members, including their guildmaster, vanished along with their island due to the dragon's attack.
Or so the general population believed.
A/N — Hope you like it.