The Search for the Wizard King Part 2

With jet black wings, Meliodas soared through the skies of Alakitasia. In no time at all, he landed on the outskirts of Vistarion without being spotted and began to scour the streets.

'First thing's first. I have to find Itsuki.'

Meliodas made his way to where Itsuki's tour area was located. The tour bus was even busier than usual as Itsuki handed out tickets to everyone in line.

"Yo! Itsuki!" Meliodas shouted. Itsuki glanced at Meliodas and his eyes widened.

"Meliodas! I haven't seen you in a while! Here for another tour?" Itsuki asked.

"No. Just got a few questions for you. You happen to know who Alvarez is going to war with?" Meliodas asked.

"Hasn't been announced yet. But whoever they are, I feel bad for them. They're about to get destroyed by our military might!" Itsuki said confidently.

Meliodas stared silently at Itsuki for a moment as an image of Itsuki wearing black robes from his dream flashed in his head again.

"Uhh…you okay?" Itsuki asked, noticing Meliodas suddenly go silent.

"Oh yeah. I'm fine. Also, any news on August? I'd assume he'd come back to the capitol because they're going into war time right?" Meliodas continued.

"No sightings of him. But I hear rumors that he's preparing himself for war over at Tremolo Mountain. Some soldiers who wanted to train there yesterday got spooked by a huge magical presence so it has to be him! It's pretty close to Vistarion. It's the largest mountain about two hundred kilometers north of here." Itsuki said.

Meliodas' eyes lightened up. 'Finally a proper lead!'

"Alright! Thank you for your time Itsuki!" Meliodas shouted as he suddenly jumped into the air and flew off, shocking Itsuki and the other onlookers.

—

Somewhere on Ishgar

Jellal stood at the top of a smooth flat stone surface, panting heavily and falling to one knee. Behind him, he could hear the footsteps of two individuals approaching.

"Jellal. It's about time we got going. Did you finish your training here?" Ultear asked.

"And was it really necessary to level out an entire mountain just because you wanted a large flat surface?" Meredy exclaimed.

Jellal didn't say a word to them but the two of then noticed a smile form on his face as he turned his head to look at them and stood back up, wiping the sweat off of his face with his arm.

"I've done it…I completed my ultimate technique…" Jellal said.

—

A few months earlier elsewhere in Ishgar

"Funny running into you here of all places, Natsu." Gildarts said.

"Yeah! Me and Happy have been going around Ishgar, training and getting stronger!" Natsu said with a grin.

"Aye! I can now eat five times as much fish as before!" Happy added.

Gildarts looked at the two of them and let out a hearty laugh.

"Alright Natsu. I can already tell by that look on your face you wanna fight me right?"

"You already know! I'm all fired up!" Natsu exclaimed. Gildarts grinned at Natsu and Happy flew back and watched from the side as Natsu and Gildarts began to stare each other down, both of them raising their magical power.

"Whew! You've grown a lot more than I thought!" Gildarts commented.

"Yeah! I'm not just training to get stronger than you. I wanna be stronger than Meliodas too!" Natsu said.

"Meliodas huh?" Gildarts said. The last time Gildarts had ever talked to Meliodas was on Tenrou Island. Afterwards, he had only heard stories and rumors of how strong Meliodas had become, the most popular with him being able to defeat Iron Rock Jura in a single blow.

Natsu suddenly stopped flaring his magical power and disappeared from Gildarts' line of sight. Gildarts immediately raised both arms up over his head as Natsu came down from above.

"Fire Dragon Talon!"

Natsu delivered a spinning heel drop right onto Gildarts, causing the ground beneath Gildarts to crack.

"H-Heavy…" Gildarts grunted, still keeping his composure. A shockwave of magic was emitted from Gildarts, but to his surprise, Natsu wasn't blown back by it and he began to feel the searing pain of Natsu's ignited foot on his arm.

"W-what the?!"

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Fire Dragon Talon!"

Natsu's other foot ignited and he kicked with it towards Gildarts, then again with his other foot, over and over in a flurry of kicks as Gildarts' body began to sink into the ground.

Suddenly the surrounding ground and forest around Gildarts cracked and fell apart as a shockwave of magic was released from his body.

"Gghhh!" Natsu grunted as he was sent flying back from the force several meters away.

Natsu landed on a large chunk of upheaved ground and Gildarts rushed towards him with a crush enhanced punch. Natsu stood his ground and ignited his fist. The two of them collided fists in a massive explosion of fire and dirt.

"Waahhh!" Happy shouted as he was sent flying back from the shockwave of the attack.

Gildarts stared at the smoke in front of him where he could tell Natsu was no longer in front of him. He suddenly felt a large amount of magic building above him and he looked up.

"Fire Dragon Roar!"

Natsu let out a massive blast of fire from his mouth. Gildarts raised his hand up, disassembling the roar into small cubes and dispersing it.

"Heh. That was really strong." Gildarts grinned. He wiped a bit of blood dripping from his mouth. 'This kid could barely move me with his magic before. And now he's able to make me draw blood. He's really grown…'

"Pretty good warm up right? Doesn't that just put a fire in your belly?" Natsu said.

"Yeah. That was a pretty good warm up. Are you going to get serious now?" Gildarts asked. 'Warm up?! He's not going all out? I mean…I'm not going all out either but…'

"Natsu!" Happy shouted. "Are you going to use THAT?!"

"Yup! I'm gonna beat Gildarts finally!" Natsu said excitedly.

"That?" Gildarts asked.

Natsu widened his stance a bit and clenched his fists, letting out a loud roar.

"RRAAAGGHHH!"

Gildarts' eyes widened as he felt an immense magical power coming from Natsu as his normally bright flames began to turn black.

"Hellblaze Dragon Mode!"

Gildarts' smile began to lessen gradually and he realized his body had instinctively taken a step backwards. 'Of all the people and creatures I've fought…only Acnologia's made me feel like this…'

Natsu suddenly took a deep breath as magical power was built up into his mouth. Gildarts immediately raised his hand out in front of him.

"Hellblaze Dragon Roar!"

A massive ray of black flames shot out from Natsu's mouth towards Gildarts. The ray suddenly split up into cubes, but still continued going towards Gildarts.

"It wasn't dismantled fully?!" Gildarts exclaimed.

Gildarts braced himself as the attack collided with him in an explosion of black flames. Gildarts emerged from the smoke covered in heavy burns and his cloak turned into ashes.

'If I didn't disassemble the attack beforehand…I wouldn't be standing here right now…' Gildarts looked at Natsu who had a strange look in his eye, almost like he was spacing out.

"Gildarts!" Happy cried out. "You have to stop Natsu!"

Natsu suddenly charged straight at Gildarts with his right fist clad in flames. Gildarts wound his left arm back in response and charged it with his own magic.

"If Natsu's this strong, he can take this attack!"

"Hellblaze Dragon-"

"Crushing Evil! Spreading the Truth-"

The two of them clashed fists and Happy immediately ducked down for the impending shockwaves.

"FIRING HAMMER!"

"ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!"