A mischievous child dumping a bucket of water on an unsuspecting ant, perhaps that's the best way to describe what was happening now. And to Zero, he was the ant.
But what crashed down on him wasn't water, it was a tidal wave of roaring flame and molten lava from the skies.
The Purgatory Dragon's breath engulfed him entirely. The heat was unbearable, and the flames weren't just hot, they detonated violently upon impact.
The ground boiled, buildings caved in, and the streets blazed like rivers of fire. The once-proud cityscape of Nirvana had been reduced to a scorched wasteland under a crimson sky. Nothing remained untouched.
Even Natsu, who was flying away on the back of his raptor, couldn't help turning his head and licking his lips. "That smells tasty…"
Everyone else could feel the searing heat even from afar, like the flames were trying to chase them and burn holes through their cloaks.
Beads of sweat formed on Zero's forehead, only to evaporate before they could fall. His shield lasted barely a second longer than the buildings around him before it too shattered under the onslaught.
"This… is a dragon…"
Zero's voice was faint as the red flames consumed his vision. The next instant, the sheer impact of the breath slammed him into the earth.
His body surged with magic power, fighting desperately to push the flames away, but it was hopeless.
The weight of the flames crushed him deeper into the scorched ground, warping the stone streets, melting debris into magma. Some materials dissolved instantly, others simply ceased to exist, vaporized in the heat.
A crater formed, massive and deep, breaking through the outer shell of Nirvana and threatening to punch through to its inner core. If the base hadn't been reinforced with ancient magic, the entire structure might've cracked apart.
As the dragon's breath tapered off, only a small flicker of flame remained at the edge of his mouth, like a street performer's finishing puff of fire. It danced briefly, then faded with a wisp of smoke.
The Purgatory Dragon looked toward the retreating figures of Wendy and Natsu, tilting his head in amusement.
"Wait a sec… were those two dragon cubs I just saw? Huh. I definitely didn't look that cool when I made my debut…"
He scratched his chin thoughtfully with a claw, genuinely troubled by the realization.
Just then, a small humanoid figure emerged from the blazing crater, limbs scorched and flickering with residual fire. The dragon squinted, about to applaud the tenacity, until the figure raised a hand and flung a beam of green magic straight at him.
The beam spun and struck the edge of the dragon's mouth, causing a sharp burst of sparks to fly.
The Purgatory Dragon blinked, rubbed his chin, and felt a small chip in one of his scales.
"Oh, you little—!"
With an elegant curse and a mighty roar, the Purgatory Dragon flared his wings and dived.
Zero had thrown everything he had into that last attack, and all he'd managed to do was chip a scale.
His expression collapsed into grim acceptance.
He let the flames consume him once again.
In that moment, his thoughts wandered, not to the battle, but to Cobra, the Poison Dragon Slayer of his guild.
'Were humans really capable of slaying dragons? Could even a Dragon Slayer's magic measure up to this?'
'How did humans even survive the ancient Dragon War?'
No… maybe today, Zero would finally return to what his name truly meant: nothing.
BOOM!!
A thunderous crash echoed across the ruined city. The Purgatory Dragon smashed down with full force, his version of a punishment for daring to fight back.
Waves of flame surged outward like a tidal flood, the ground fracturing beneath them. The blaze masked the impact, but the sound alone was enough to shake the sky.
The dragon slowly rose again from the inferno, his scales glowing like molten metal.
He let out a monstrous roar.
Then, wings wide, the Purgatory Dragon surged down the burning avenue, flying low across Nirvana.
How many seconds does it take for a dragon to cross a city?
No one was there to count.
If anyone had seen the scene from afar, they would've witnessed only a blur, a colossal beast soaring low through the air like a bolt of lightning, while buildings along both sides of the street erupted in explosions one after another.
Flames and shockwaves swept outward, engulfing two parallel avenues. It looked as if someone had taken a thick brush dipped in red paint and drawn a fiery line across a circular canvas, fast, furious, and precise.
And that line… was still expanding.
The Purgatory Dragon turned, gliding sideways, its wingtip slicing across the rim of Nirvana. Like a skybound bomber with infinite firepower, it etched a blazing red circle around the ancient mobile city. With every beat of its wings, more explosions lit up the streets like fireworks from the underworld.
The entire city was slowly engulfed in a roaring sea of fire.
As damage spread across such a vast scale, Nirvana's magic reserves struggled to keep up. Its ability to repair itself slowed dramatically, and the great machine-city staggered. The speed of its advance and the rhythm of its six legs faltered.
And just as Hibiki's mental countdown struck zero;
Boom!
Explosions erupted at the base of all six legs, perfectly timed.
Nirvana ground to a halt.
The coalition forces burst out from the control cabins. Some were lifted to safety by razoptors, others helped by Cats like Carla, and Mira even carried a few herself, flying fast to escape the impending blaze.
The Purgatory Dragon hovered above the chaos, watching the little ones flee one after another. And somehow, that only made him more amused.
Sparks flew. More explosions rocked the structure. Nirvana began to tremble violently, and then, collapse.
Chunks of its grand architecture broke off and rained into the forest below. Some pieces were still burning, setting the trees ablaze as they fell.
And then, from the sky above, a crimson figure streaked downward, trailing a comet-like tail of fire; Rhodes atop the Purgatory Dragon.
He dove like a falling star, driving straight through the center of Nirvana's core. The flames ripped through the structure like a lance, tearing through its upper towers and base mechanisms.
That final strike marked Nirvana's end.
One by one, its six flaming legs crumbled and fell. The city itself broke apart into jagged, burning fragments and plunged toward the earth.
From a safe distance, the alliance regrouped and watched in stunned silence as the once-mighty walking city disintegrated into flames and ash, setting nearby forests ablaze and shaking the ground beneath their feet.
The Purgatory Dragon let out one last triumphant roar before vanishing into the clouds.
Rhodes grinned, guessing the meaning behind the dragon's final call:
"Awesome! If this happens again, just call me, little brother!"
"We did it!" Wendy shouted, her eyes sparkling. Carla hovered beside her, equally overjoyed.
Jura, Hibiki, Lyon, and the others smiled too, but their expressions also showed a mix of awe and lingering shock.
"This… this is the power of a dragon," Jura murmured.
"What a terrifying creature…" Lyon echoed, his tone reverent.
Erza let out a soft, contented sigh. "In any case… our mission was a success."
But Rhodes didn't quite relax yet.
"We're not done," he said, summoning his Sentinel once more. Though exhaustion was clearly catching up to him, he remained focused.
Two glowing blue buffs materialized in his hands, one for himself, and the other he passed to Wendy.
"Wendy," he said, "please go help Gray. And after that, we'll need to put out the forest fires before things get worse."
"Yes!" Wendy hurried over to Gray's side and began casting her healing magic.
Only then did everyone truly realize, though Nirvana had been destroyed, their work wasn't over yet.
The inferno now raging across the land was as vast as the entire city that Nirvana had once carried on its back. And it was growing larger by the second.
If they didn't act fast, the entire mountain range could go up in flames.
Rhodes placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder and said calmly, "Once Nirvana finishes burning, it'll be up to you, Natsu. We need to find a way to contain this fire."
"Leave it to me—wait, what?!" Natsu agreed without thinking, then gawked at the sheer scale of the blaze. "That's way too much!"
Still, his body didn't hesitate. He dashed straight toward the sea of flames.
"If we're going to keep it under control, let me assist," Jura said. His rock magic could be used to construct firewalls. "Also, Miss Wendy, please tend to Lyon as well. He can help too."
"Understood!"
A few minutes later, both Gray and Lyon were back on their feet. Though not fully healed, they immediately joined the effort to combat the blaze.
Towering walls of stone and thick ice began rising throughout the forest, helping block off and limit the fire's spread. Still, trying to encircle the entire inferno that engulfed what had once been a moving city was no small feat.
While Rhodes quietly added buff to the three mages and waited for his magic to recharge, the fire suppression continued.
"Aaahhh... gwaaaah... damn ittt...!"
Natsu was sprinting wildly through the blaze, making all sorts of odd noises. For some reason, shouting while inhaling flames didn't stop him from eating them.
Each time he passed by, a path about the width of a street was left completely scorched out, as if someone had taken an eraser to the sea of fire.
Then came the second dragon of the night.
As the ground rumbled beneath their feet, two massive walls of fire rose up on either side of the battlefield, taller and more solid than anything Jura had created. These flaming barriers completely hemmed in the inferno.
Though the ice walls continued to melt and the stone walls cracked from the heat, nothing escaped those blazing perimeters.
Unlike the Purgatory Dragon, the Mountain Dragon didn't let out a roar or make a grand entrance. He simply appeared, completed his task, and vanished again in silence.
But whether it was real or not, everyone swore they heard him sigh.
He had once granted his Dragon Soul to Rhodes, introduced the Purgatory Dragon to the world, and assumed his work was done. Yet here he was again, dragged out to help clean up the mess.
'What a pain,' the sigh seemed to say.
Rhodes didn't even want to guess what the dragon was thinking. 'How much does this guy hate being called out to work?'
With the spread of the fire now finally under control, the group stayed outside to wait for Nirvana's remains to finish burning, and for Wendy to recover enough magic to continue healing the others.
There was still one more task ahead of them: recovering the defeated members of Oración Seis, as well as the surviving members of the Red Hood and White Tail Falcon guilds.
After so much running around and fierce fighting, everyone was thoroughly exhausted. The plan was to subdue Oración Seis, and deal with everything else tomorrow.
Happy, now fully healed, hadn't taken his eyes off Carla since he woke up. He followed after her like a shadow.
"Carla, did you come all this way just to help us?"
"Carla, want to eat some fish?"
"Carla..."
Carla finally lost her patience. "Ugh, you're so annoying. I should've asked Wendy to heal you later."
Happy froze like a statue.
Lucy crouched down beside him and gently patted his head. "Looks like you've got a long road ahead before you're in a real relationship," she teased.
As she said the word relationship, she even mimicked Happy's classic tongue-flicking sound, just to mess with him.
"You're the worst human in the world!" Happy cried, tossing away the precious fish he'd been carrying. He stomped over to a tree, sat under it, and started sulking, drawing little circles in the dirt.
Lucy's jaw dropped. "Was it that serious?!"
Mira, who was gently bandaging Erza's wounds nearby, chuckled and called out, "Lucy, if Happy's not going to eat the fish, pick it up. We'll make fish stew later. Everyone's bound to be starving."
Happy burst into louder sobs.
Lucy groaned. "You're all heartless!"
Erza, ever serious, nodded. "Mira's right. We should replenish our strength after battle. Fish is rich in—"
"You're way too serious!!"
"Miss Lucy, it seems you're troubled." Hibiki, bandaged and still clearly sore, suddenly swept in like a breeze. He dropped to one knee before her with a dramatic flair, reaching out with a hand. "No matter the issue, please allow me to ease your burden."
Lucy facepalmed. "If you'd stop doing stuff like this, I'd have fewer burdens."
"I'm here too!" Ren suddenly appeared beside Hibiki, striking a similar pose, though his face was a little red. "Would it be alright if I called you big sis? Big sis Lucy... if there's anything you need, just say the word."
"Please... just go heal yourselves first," Lucy muttered, thoroughly drained. "And why don't you two ever bother Mira? She's clearly more beautiful than I am!"
"..."
Hibiki and Ren exchanged a glance, then continued pouring their attention into Lucy.
Meanwhile, Ren wasn't joining in their antics. He lingered quietly beside Sherry, though he kept his head turned away and his tone was stiff. "How are your injuries? Not that I'm... you know... overly concerned or anything."
After being treated by Wendy, Sherry turned her head slightly away from Ren. "I'm feeling much better. It's not that I don't want you to worry."
She truly cared about Lyon, but after getting to know Ren and fighting alongside him, she found herself unconsciously worrying about him more and more.
And Sherry couldn't help but notice that Lyon seemed more inclined to sit and talk with Gray than to spend time with her lately.
Ichiya had gone quiet. After sustaining multiple injuries today and using that adrenaline-perfume to push beyond his limits, he desperately needed rest.
After a short break, Jura raised a stone table and stove from the ground using his magic. He began preparing the ingredients that Rhodes had gathered.
Mira, after finishing with Erza's bandages, would join him to help cook.
Rhodes sat atop the tall stone wall created earlier by the Mountain Dragon, keeping watch over Nirvana's smoldering remains. He was ensuring it didn't somehow begin regenerating again.
At the same time, he watched Natsu running around inside the burning ruins.
His head turned left to right… then right to left… tracking Natsu like a spectator following a tennis match, curious how much fire the Dragon Slayer could actually eat.
Natsu, feeling a strong gaze boring into him, started to twitch with irritation. After making another lap through the fire and reaching the closest point to Rhodes, he shouted angrily, "I'm exhausted! Why don't you come down here and help for once?!"
"I can't eat fire," Rhodes replied, deadpan.
"Liar! You can use Fire Dragon Slayer magic after you transform!" Natsu shot back.
"My magic isn't standard Dragon Slayer magic. I seriously can't eat fire."
"You just haven't been taught properly by a real dragon! Look, just watch me, inhale like this!"
Rhodes stared in silence. 'I'm not even going to respond to that.'
Rhodes couldn't bring himself to tell Natsu the truth, that he had tried eating fire once, only to end up with blistered lips. Mira, of course, had fussed over him for all of five seconds before teasingly chasing him around demanding a kiss. She'd laughed about it for days.
Now, estimating that enough time had passed and his magic power had mostly recovered, Rhodes stood up and summoned the Voidgrubs.
Behind the eerie nest, its eggs began to crack open one by one. From within, violet-blue Voidmites wriggled free, emerging hungrily and swarming toward what remained of Nirvana's scorched ruins.
Since they had committed to destroying Nirvana, Rhodes was determined to finish the job properly. Not even a single remnant should be left behind, he thought.
Leaving the wriggling swarm to their task, Rhodes returned to the others, where everyone had gathered around a stone table Jura had built.
Though many of them had only met today, a sense of camaraderie had already formed. Warm smiles were shared, and they lifted their wooden cups, not filled with wine, but soup, and clinked them together with cheerful laughter.
"Cheers!"
Everyone sipped happily… except for Natsu.
He was lying face-down on the ground, moaning and holding his stomach.
Despite having devoured invisible flames all day, he had clearly overdone it. He now wore the tortured expression of someone who was way too full. The worst part? Fire didn't even count as real food.
He groaned, "I don't think I need to eat for the rest of the day…"