At Magia Dragon, the oldest Mage guild in existence, Elefseria suddenly sensed a change in the stone monuments he had created to maintain a faint connection with the Five Dragon Gods.
Leaning on his staff, the Law Dragon slowly made his way toward the carvings.
The stone orb representing Viernes, the Gold Dragon God, had cracked apart.
Aldoron's orb had already gone dark.
Now, only the orbs belonging to Selene, the Moon Dragon God, Mercphobia, the Water Dragon God, and Ignia, the Fire Dragon God, still retained their light.
Elefseria stared at them for several long moments before tears began running down the deep lines of his aged face. His entire body trembled.
"Finally... Finally, after all this time, someone is finally going to complete the Hundred Years Quest..."
The mission to seal the Five Dragon Gods now effectively had only one target left.
Ignia.
Elefseria had already visited Ermina, the city where Mercphobia lived.
The Water Dragon God and his human attendant Karameel had even welcomed him warmly.
As for Selene...
She had outright joined Fairy Tail and was happily spending her days with its members.
...
After Selene pointed out that standing around outside Gold Owl would inevitably attract a crowd, Raizel and the others quickly relocated.
The guild airship Destiny landed on an open plain, and everyone gathered on its upper deck to talk.
Fairy Tail's members were not alone.
Sting, Rogue, and Minerva of Sabertooth had come with them, along with the Signario Sisters, whom Erza had suggested taking along.
At first, Enny and Luso still looked resentful and defiant.
Then they saw Selene and Irene.
Their attitude changed immediately.
Selene, the Moon Dragon God.
And the woman with four braided locks of hair who was chatting casually with her as though they were old acquaintances clearly was not someone to provoke either.
Once Viernes died, the sisters had also recovered the memories that had been suppressed.
They remembered the truth.
They were actually subordinates of Ignia, the Fire Dragon God.
With her hands still bound, Enny stared at Fairy Tail in disbelief.
"So you had forces like this hidden in reserve all along..."
Raizel had already killed the Gold Dragon God by himself.
And then there were Selene and Irene.
Even though the Signario Sisters served Ignia, neither of them could honestly say they believed their master would have good odds against this group.
Raizel ignored them for the moment and instead looked toward Rogue and Minerva.
"Let's start with you. Why did you come to Guiltina in the first place, and how did you end up getting captured?"
Minerva answered on behalf of the group.
"After you visited the Sabertooth Grand Library, we became curious about Guiltina ourselves, especially its alchemy. Since we didn't have anything particularly urgent going on, we decided to come here and travel for a while."
"As for how we were captured, it was because of Athena II. She appeared in front of us together with the Signario Sisters and used Whiteout to strip the dragon power from Sting and Rogue. Once that happened, I couldn't even use my Spatial Magic, Territory."
Lector nodded.
"That's exactly what happened."
Frosch raised one paw.
"Frosch thinks so too."
Raizel nodded in understanding.
Getting caught off guard by Whiteout without knowing how it worked was hardly embarrassing. It was exactly the sort of ability that could end a fight before someone even understood what had happened.
Faris had almost done the same thing to Fairy Tail when she first infiltrated the guild while posing as the White Mage.
Selene had been the one to intervene before everyone was completely Whiteout-ed.
"So what are you planning to do now?" Raizel asked.
Minerva shrugged casually.
"We'll probably keep traveling. Surely something like this can't happen every single time we visit somewhere."
Ultear glanced toward them.
"You brought portable communication Lacrima with you, right?"
"We did."
Ultear lifted the communication Lacrima in her own hand.
"If you run into trouble while you're still in Guiltina, need assistance with anything, or hear information about Ignia, contact us."
Minerva rested a hand beneath her chin and thought for a moment before nodding.
"Ignia, the Fire Dragon God... Understood."
"All right, everyone. Let's talk while we eat!"
Mira, Lucy, Kagura, and Wendy brought out the food they had prepared.
Raizel gestured for Erza and Kagura to untie the Signario Sisters before turning toward Erza.
"So what exactly were you planning to do with these two?"
Erza shook her head with complete honesty.
"I don't know. During the fight, I just got the feeling that their fixation on dragons came from something that happened to them personally. They kept talking about 'transmuting history' and creating a world where dragons had never existed."
Selene froze for a second when she heard that.
"That goal is surprisingly similar to something I once wanted myself."
Enny and Luso fell silent after looking at her.
Kagura and Erza pushed plates of food toward them.
Enny pressed her lips together, visibly conflicted.
Luso eventually sighed.
"Enny-nee, we should just tell them. I don't think Ignia-sama can win against them anyway."
The moment she said Ignia-sama, everyone's attention immediately sharpened.
Enny remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"We're actually subordinates of the Fire Dragon God. Viernes erased our memories."
"What?!"
"We originally had parents and a home," Luso continued. "Then one day, a dragon suddenly attacked our village. Our parents were killed, and the entire settlement burned to the ground."
"To avenge them, we joined Ignia-sama."
"Did you get your revenge?" Lucy asked.
Enny shook her head.
"Not yet. Ignia-sama said the time wasn't right."
Raizel's expression turned serious.
"First, I'm sorry for what happened to you. I can also understand it to some extent. The village I came from was destroyed by magical beasts."
His own home village really had been wiped out by a magical beast attack, and that was when Raizel had been forced to flee.
Years later, he had gone back and exterminated the same species of beasts living in that area.
In a sense, he had already taken his revenge.
Did the memory still make him deeply emotional?
Not particularly.
He was mainly telling the sisters because sharing a similar experience might help them lower their guard and recognize that he was not dismissing what they had gone through.
It worked.
Both Enny and Luso visibly softened.
Raizel continued.
"Let's make a deal. Tell me where Ignia's base is. In exchange, I'll help you avenge your parents first, provided you can tell me where the dragon that killed them is."
"We don't know where that dragon is anymore," Enny admitted. "But Ignia-sama's base is in northern Guiltina, at the City of the Fire God. However..."
"Wait."
Raizel frowned.
"A human city? I studied Guiltina's cities before coming here, and there was nothing by that name."
Before setting foot on the continent, he had gone through every city he could find on the map in hopes of uncovering clues connected to the Five Dragon Gods.
Aside from Drasil having some connection to Aldoron, there had been nothing useful.
Enny shook her head.
"It isn't actually a city. That's simply what we call it. The City of the Fire God is really a volcanic region."
Erza narrowed her eyes.
"We searched the volcanic regions too. Don't try to lie to us."
"That's what I was about to explain," Enny replied. "When Ignia-sama sent us out, he also dispatched several other people. He said he had something else to take care of, and he rarely stays there for long anyway."
"So the City of the Fire God should currently be completely empty."
Ultear slowly nodded.
"I see. That explains why we couldn't find any trace of Ignia when we searched both active and dormant volcanoes."
Selene suddenly tapped the table with her fan.
Her expression had become distinctly strange.
"How old were the two of you when your village was attacked?"
She paused.
"And how exactly did Ignia find you afterward?"