"So that settles it!"
Even though she knew perfectly well that Shane was never going to refuse, the moment she heard him give an actual yes, the brown-blue light in Mirajane's eyes visibly brightened.
"From what I've observed, Mystogan comes to the guild regularly to take high-difficulty jobs. If I'm counting right, he should show up sometime in the next few days!"
Caught up in her excitement, the girl leaned in without a trace of hesitation and naturally looped both arms around Shane's neck, pulling him toward herself.
The faint fragrance in her hair instantly filled the air around his face.
Shane leaned back slightly, a flicker of something strange passing through his eyes.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but ever since waking up, he had felt like Mira had been getting more and more casual with him physically.
"We can't just sit around waiting stupidly at the guild. That'd be a waste of time."
Shane lightly patted her forearm, signaling for her to let go. "My Eye of Karma can trace causality. Do you have anything on you that carries his aura?"
"Oh right, your eyes can do something that convenient."
Mira suddenly remembered and obediently released him.
She rummaged around inside her clothes for a moment, then took out a Lacrima crystal giving off a faint glow and handed it over.
"This contains the strange magic I collected back then—the residue from Edolas. It should be useful."
Shane nodded and carefully tucked it away inside his clothing.
With the next step of the plan settled, he finally turned and looked at Wendy, who had been quietly sipping tea the whole time.
She was the third Dragon Slayer he had met.
Shane thought to himself.
Earlier, Cobra from the Oración Seis had used Poison Dragon Slayer Magic, but Shane hadn't sensed in him the aura of the five dragons that had passed through the Eclipse Gate.
Back then, he had deliberately spared the guy's life. Who knew what had happened to him after that.
If no one had stepped in, he'd probably been reduced to ash—along with everything else—by Acnologia's dragon breath.
"And then there's that bastard Brain… though with Ultear watching him, he's definitely dead."
Perhaps sensing the faintly appraising edge in Shane's gaze, Wendy instinctively tightened her grip on the hem of her dress, her legs drawing slightly back on the blanket.
"W-What is it, Brother Shane?"
"Mm…"
Shane pulled himself out of his wandering thoughts and asked gently, "I want to get a better feel for your magic. Could you come sit a little closer?"
"Oh, okay… what should I do?"
Wendy put down her teacup with an innocent nod, then shuffled over on her knees and sat obediently beside Shane.
Seeing the two of them getting closer, Carla immediately became tense again, her cat face stiffening. But remembering the misunderstanding from earlier, she held herself back and didn't interrupt.
"Just use that emotion-healing spell on me once, the same way you did to calm Carla down," Shane said.
"Hey!" Carla finally couldn't hold back anymore and glared at Shane. "That healing spell uses a ton of magic! Wendy already used it once just now!"
"It's okay, Carla. I'm not tired."
Turning around, Wendy gave the white cat a soft, fluffy little smile, then raised both hands. A pale greenish-blue light began glowing in her palms.
A cool breeze like early spring swept through the room again.
"Feels really nice…"
Bathed in that soft light, Shane closed his eyes and carefully felt it out.
This magic was full of life and healing. It was completely different from Natsu's fiery restlessness or Cobra's cold poison.
He replayed old memories over and over in his mind, trying to compare Wendy's magic to the five dragon silhouettes that had passed through the gate.
But back then, it had only been a quick glimpse. The outlines of their auras had been too vague.
To get a clearer feel for it, Shane opened his eyes and held out both hands, palms up.
"Can you use it on me directly?"
"Yes, I can."
Wendy nodded and placed her small hands on top of his palms.
For some reason, the instant their skin touched, the girl felt an odd tension rise inside her.
She instinctively squeezed her eyes shut and slowly poured her magic in.
Then, the moment their magic connected—
Wendy suddenly felt the hand beneath hers turn burning hot!
As if something there were swelling, growing larger.
"Huh?"
Startled, Wendy quickly opened her eyes. "What happened?!"
And then she froze.
The human hands were gone.
In their place was a pair of monstrous black dragon claws, their surface hard and cold like some kind of machine.
Wendy's own little pale hands resting on top of them looked like two white butterflies caught between the teeth of some giant crocodile—so tiny it felt like one careless movement would reduce them to dust.
"Heh… haha…"
Shane stood there stiffly with those terrifying weapons raised in front of him. For a moment, all he could do was laugh awkwardly, unable to decide what expression he was even supposed to make.
Mira and Carla beside them were also drawn in by the sudden transformation, their eyes widening.
Mira had already glimpsed the flicker of Shane's dragon tail back in the forest. Seeing something this much more dramatic now, her curiosity immediately overwhelmed her surprise.
"Oh? A new form?"
She leaned in, unable to resist teasing him.
"So you lost control? Want to ask your dear student for advice on how to control your magic?"
"Even if it looks similar, this thing has absolutely nothing to do with your Take Over magic."
Shane let out a helpless sigh.
"Then what is it?"
Mirajane boldly reached out and tapped the back of one claw twice with her fingertip.
The black dragon claws felt cold, almost metallic, but beneath those silent scales, Mira could clearly feel an enormous power lurking there, as if it might erupt at any moment.
"…"
Shane's eye twitched awkwardly.
He was in no less of a daze than anyone else. There was no way he could explain this properly.
"My guess is… Wendy's magic carries such a pure draconic aura that it resonated with something inside me and triggered this on its own."
It was the most reasonable explanation he could come up with.
As he spoke, he noticed that because Wendy had used healing magic several times in a row, a fine sheen of sweat had already formed on her pale little face.
"That's enough. Stop and rest."
Shane quickly pulled the claws back, afraid he might accidentally hurt her.
"I'm not tired…"
But Wendy shook her head as if it didn't matter, wiping the sweat off her forehead carelessly with her sleeve, her eyes full of curiosity.
She was just about to say something—
When, without any warning, the light in the girl's eyes suddenly went dim, as if her soul had been pulled out of her body in an instant.
At the same time, a massive, suffocatingly pure dragon aura—too enormous for ordinary people to even perceive—burst out from her center!
Riiip!
Stimulated by that dragon aura, which had abruptly multiplied several times over, a thick dragon tail exploded out behind Shane and instantly shredded the trousers he had only just materialized.
But Shane didn't notice any of that.
Because the exact same second Wendy's eyes dimmed, the world in front of him shattered.
All sound and color around him were stripped away in an instant.
And when his senses finally focused again, he found himself suspended in a high, cold, silent sky. Beneath him was emptiness. Above him, endless blue.
In confusion, he lifted his head.
Floating there in the blue heavens was a massive being, its entire body covered in snow-white feathers and scales, staring down at him in silence from above.
"Child… the dragon aura inside you has already reached the brink of overflowing."
A woman's voice—gentle, yet heavy with concern—rippled directly through Shane's mind.
"Your current state is far too dangerous. If you let it continue unchecked, it may very well bring about an irreversible disaster."
Faced with being suddenly yanked into what was effectively a forced private chat, Shane was only stunned for a moment before he calmed down.
He had been through this twice already. He immediately realized that he had been pulled into Wendy's subconscious space by the dragon before him.
So Sky Dragon Grandeeney really was one of the five dragons that passed through the Eclipse Gate back then.
Because he had dealt with the Fire Dragon King Igneel before, Shane could more or less guess why she had appeared to warn him.
"Sorry."
Looking directly into those huge dragon eyes, Shane spoke frankly. "This power only appeared recently. I probably need more time before I can fully control it."
"I saw the magic you used four years ago…"
Grandeeney's tone stayed calm, but her words carried an unmistakable trace of caution.
"And what it drew afterward… if your aura continues to spiral out of control, the forest that was burned to nothing because of it may very well become your own future."
"Please take this seriously."
Please? Shane found himself muttering inwardly.
This Sky Dragon's personality was nothing like Igneel's terrible temper. She was actually using polite language with a human.
Still, despite how lively his thoughts were, none of that showed on his face.
"Acnologia, right? I know."
Shane put away his usual casualness and answered seriously. "Igneel already warned me about him."
"You… have met Igneel?"
Hearing that name clearly shocked Grandeeney.
Her huge dragon head lowered several degrees in disbelief, a clear wind brushing across Shane's face as she seemed to be inspecting him more closely.
"That violent sulfurous smell of flame… it's definitely him."
"Yeah. He more or less already told me about your mission in this era."
Shane answered honestly. "Don't worry. I won't interfere with your plans."
"Igneel… actually spoke to a human about such things? Why?"
Now Grandeeney looked even more stunned.
Even among dragons, Igneel had always been famous for his foul temper and arrogance.
And yet he had actually sat down and spoken to a human as an equal?
"Uh… maybe because I'm a 'friend' he personally acknowledged?"
Shane scratched his cheek and cautiously offered the explanation.
"Igneel? A friend?"
A complicated light passed through Grandeeney's gentle dragon eyes.
She simply couldn't picture those two words going together.
But on second thought, the power inside the young man before her had already reached the verge of dragonization. He clearly couldn't be judged by human standards anymore.
"Since Igneel has already explained the danger to you, I won't repeat myself. But you must remember this well—Acnologia is absolutely not the kind of existence that can be fooled so easily."
The white dragon stared at Shane, her gaze weighing like a mountain.
"History has already proven that provoking and toying with him again and again can only bring one end."
"The most complete and absolute death."
What she didn't say was that it wouldn't only destroy the arrogant fool himself. Everything near him would be swept into that death too.
If she weren't worried about Wendy, Grandeeney would never have pulled Shane in here so abruptly.
"I understand."
Shane nodded hard.
Last time, Acnologia had been drawn by the sword-light and had crossed an endless distance in only one or two hours.
That meant Shane absolutely had to reduce how often he used Arondight—and solve this uncontrolled dragonization as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, if it worsened to the point where even switching to Assassin couldn't suppress the aura anymore…
then the situation would become a real disaster.
Seeing that he genuinely understood the warning, Grandeeney relaxed slightly.
The huge white dragon gently lowered her eyelids, withdrawing the oppressive atmosphere that had blanketed the space, and her tone returned to its original gentleness.
"I cannot speak to you for long. I'm sorry for pulling your consciousness here so suddenly."
"It's fine."
Shane waved it off.
As the white dragon's form gradually faded, the mental space around them began collapsing.
"Oh, and… if possible, please look after Wendy."
Along with that final request, almost like a sigh, Shane felt the world spin.
When his senses locked back onto the room again, only a single breath had passed in real time.
Whether by Grandeeney's doing or not, all of Wendy's dragon aura had already sunk back into her body.
And once the source of the stimulation vanished, the black scales on Shane's arms faded away like a dying image.
Still, just to be safe…
Shane looked down at his hands, now normal again, and made a decision in his heart.
Until he figured out the dragonization, it would be best to keep some distance from these Dragon Slayers and their built-in dragon aura.
Without changing expression, he used magic to recreate a proper pair of trousers.
After covering up that embarrassing situation, he stood up and slightly tilted his head toward Mira.
"Business is done, so we'll be going now."
"Ah? Oh… okay."
Wendy had only just come back to herself and was still inwardly flustered over having blanked out in front of guests. It felt terribly rude.
So when she heard Shane say he was leaving, she immediately stood up properly to see them off.
But just as Shane stepped toward the door, he suddenly seemed distracted.
After only taking half a step out of the room, he stopped dead.
For a moment, it was as if his soul had left his body. He just stared blankly into the empty air ahead in the hallway.
Right there, in the center of his vision—
accompanied by the soft rustle of turning pages—
a long-absent line of pale red text slowly appeared:
[Phantasmal Trial · Third Ring: Echoes of an Age]
[Gain recognition from one of the Five Dragon Souls that crossed the "Eclipse" Gate (1/5)]