Chapter 26

We sped through the sky, the combination of both my wings and my Meteor Spell allowing us to travel at breakneck speeds.

Following the train tracks was the choice I'd made, because that would be the easiest way for Erigor to know he was going in the right direction. Without the train tracks, there was a chance he'd make a wrong turn.

"Faster!" Nozomi demanded with excitement… I suppose because she didn't see me as transportation, it was a similar situation to Happy where she could handle it just fine.

"I'm going as fast as I can," I barked at Nozomi… I'd be able to go faster if I was going alone, but I wanted to see Nozomi's Flame of Emotion during this fight for myself… They were an Ancient Magic, and I wanted to see just how powerful they were.

As we passed over a long bridge where the train tracks ran over, I spotted Erigor flying ahead of us. We were rapidly catching up to him.

"Nozomi, if you would."

She grinned as her feet and hands were covered in flames, her eyes glistening with joy. "I've always wanted to do this…!"

I watched as Erigor felt something was off and slowly turned his head to look at us as Nozomi's feet pressed together and she took careful aim.

"Fire Dragon's-!"

"What the hell!?" Erigor's eyes widened in shock.

"Burning Stamp!"

Her feet slammed into the side of Erigor's face, sending him crashing onto the train tracks with a vicious force. I flew us slightly ahead of Erigor before I descended down to the ground, setting Nozomi down.

"Thank you for flying Air Crestfall," I told Nozomi.

She grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "We're so doing that again in the future!"

I just snorted. "You got this?"

She cackled as her flames burned even brighter. "You kidding me? I'm all fired up!"

I chuckled as I flew up and away from the battle, crossing my arms. I'd only step in if it was needed…

This might be risking me a 'World' Roll, yes. But beyond obtaining lost magic and rare magic, I didn't consider them too important. For things like Arc of Embodiment, I knew books on it must exist on Grimoire Heart's ship. And other rare magic like Archive could be found in the Library in Crocus, most likely.

And the Flame of Emotion… I wanted to see it for myself, in the most controlled environment that I could. After this, the situations in which I could observe the Flame of Emotion for myself were too dangerous.

I watched the fight intently as Nozomi was kicked off the bridge and- in that moment- she turned her flames into clinging fire and jumped back up on the bridge.

My eyes widened as, even with my perfect memory, this was something I hadn't recalled off the top of my head. Just because I remembered things clearly didn't mean I thought to summon those memories, I just focused on the key points.

It was easy to forget that Nozomi was- in fact- a fighting genius, she simply acted purely on instinct rather than studying from books… It was similar to Ichigo in Bleach, relying primarily on instinct to do things.

Nozomi was no slouch under Erigor's assault, blocking his scythe with her bare arm with no problem as the two clashed and unleashing a roar that he barely dodged…

I saw Erigor's face become nervous… He'd vastly underestimated Nozomi, and he'd now realised that he couldn't risk conserving his stamina and magic right now.

I raised an eyebrow… Did he forget about me? I supposed he thought I must just be some small fry who was only good for bringing Nozomi here… Idiot.

My eyes lit up as I observed Erigor's Storm Mail…

Now this was an interesting spell…

He had coated his body in wind, constantly pushing wind outwards from around his body, while not interfering with his any of his body's functions that relied on air.

"Interesting…" My God's Eye observed the Magic's flow… If I could figure out this magic, I might be able to create my own spells using other magic in the same vain as this or Meteor… Perhaps something in the same vain as the Raikage's Lightning Armour? Perhaps an aura of gravity?

The possibilities were endless.

As Nozomi attacked Erigor, I could see her getting more and more frustrated as her attacks continued to fail because her flames couldn't break through his storm mail.

Erigor even unleashed one of his strongest magic spells- Emera Param, a wind spell made to tear and cut the enemy to pieces. Against a normal mage, it would have been fatal.

… But Nozomi's body was that of a demon and a dragon. It knocked her down hard, and I could see she was knocked out.

As Erigor turned to me, ready to take me out, Nozomi's fist slammed on the ground as she stood up.

"The fuck are you going?"

I felt a chill run down my spine as I saw Nozomi's eyes, her pupils becoming slightly slitted as she tapped into more of her Dragon Slaying abilities.

A minor Dragonification, temporary…? Possible… In the movie, Dragon's Cry, Natsu was shown able to temporarily undergo Dragonification on half of his body. This might be a more minor case…

Nozomi's unique biology might enable for her to draw on more Dragon traits than the other Dragon Slayers. It would explain why Gajeel took so long before he was affected by vehicles while Natsu was affected right at the start of the show.

Nozomi launched another attack before she got knocked away… Her shirt was torn heavily, her sports bra barely containing her chest as her scarf fluttered in the wind.

"Bastard!!" Nozomi roared in rage, her magic power surging as flames enveloped her entire body. "Why can't I get close to you!? I don't get it! I don't get it, and it pisses me off!"

My eyes lit up as flames exploded out of her body, burning brightly and intensely.

The flames of emotion had appeared in full force.

I eagerly watched her with my God's Eye… And my eyes widened.

'What the fuck…?'

 I could see it… But I couldn't quite understand just what I was seeing.

Magic was appearing inside of her body. She wasn't absorbing the Ethernano around her, magic was literally manifesting in her body as if of its own will and surging through her to enhance her power…

I was confused by what was going on, analysing the Flames of Emotion as the wind began to flow towards her, starting to cause Erigor's Storm Mail to come off.

… Oh, right, I had to act as Happy here.

"Impossible, Nozomi," I told her. "You can't win, let's just wait for Gray to get here."

"WHAT!?" She roared with indignant rage as her flames surged to a new level.

I ignored Erigor's shocked yell as I kept watching Nozomi… And finally, I got it.

She was literally using her own emotions as fuel.

I hadn't experienced it myself. To be so enraged or to feel an emotion so strongly that I found the surge of power I didn't know I had… In this world- in many anime worlds- emotions were literally another source of power… Their emotions literally turned into power and gave them more strength and energy.

In this case, Nozomi's own rage was so great that they were enhancing her magic… Hence, the Flames of Emotion.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my head as Nozomi finished the fight, hitting Erigor with a devastating Fire Dragon's Sword Horn that knocked him down and out.

I descended to the ground. "Yo, Nozomi, good job," I told her. I pulled and oversized coat out of my Requip space and offered it to her. "Here, wouldn't want Gray making comments right?"

"Ah, thanks!" She grinned as she took it and put it on. "Not really my style, but hey! I'll take it!"

I just chuckled before I turned my head back as I heard the others approaching using Erza's vehicle… They'd also brought Kageyama, who immediately expressed disbelief that Erigor had been defeated as soon as he saw his leader laying on the ground.

"Nozomi! Ash!" Lucy exclaimed as she poked out the side of the vehicle.

"Hm?" Nozomi turned to look at them. "You guys are late; I'm already done with him."

"Tch…" Gray and Mira both clicked their tongues in disappointment.

"Well done," Erza smiled, clearly proud.

"She did," I agreed and pat Nozomi's head. "Hear that, Erza's proud of you."

"Oi, stop that," she huffed and swatted at my hand.

Erza slowly stepped off of the magic cart, taking a deep breath. "Phew…"

"You good?" Lucy asked her.

"Yes, I just used more magic than I expected," she admitted with a smile.

Gray walked up to Nozomi. "You know, when you get desperate against such an opponent, you're only making Fairy Tail look bad."

"Desperate? Me? Don't be stupid, it was an easy win," Nozomi huffed. "Right, Ash?"

"Yep, she just took a little while to get warmed up is all," I smiled in amusement.

"Regardless, good job, Nozomi," Erza told her. "Now, the Guild Masters are safe."

Mirajane hummed in thought. "You know… We're already here, right? We might as well head on over to the Guild Master meeting and check on all of them, report this and ask what we do with the Flute."

"The Flute…" I murmured before the sound of the car starting up roared to life, Kageyama driving by and grabbing the Flute.

"You were careless, idiots!" Kageyama laughed. "Lullaby is in my hands now! We still win!"

I just sighed…

"Meteor."

I soared after Kageyama, catching up to him and socking him across the face, sending him crashing out of the car and spiralling on the ground right after we got off of the bridge. The car was wrecked in the process, but Kageyama held the side of his face in pain, dropping the flute.

"I was able to catch up to Erigor, did you think that catching up to you would be hard for me?" I asked rhetorically as I walked over to the Flute and picked it up. "Sorry, but nobody's going to be playing this flute."

"Excellent!" Erza said in relief. "Excellent work, Ash! That quick thinking may have just saved us all."

"Tch, in the end I didn't get to fight anyone strong…" Mira smiled. "But you did good, for a rookie. Saved us a lot of trouble."

I just gave them a thumbs up as I eyed the flute.

"Tch, Dark Mages never change," Gray murmured in distaste as he glared at Kageyama, who was holding his stomach in pain. His crash had agitated his existing wounds.

"We should make sure he lives," I told them. "No need to stain our hands with blood."

Well, more than I've already stained mine with today at least…

"Ka ka ka…" I tensed up as the flute in my hands trembled and shot away from my grasp, floating at a distance. "How annoying… I was hoping to spread death without needing to get involved, but it can't be helped."

"The flute is talking!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.

"This is-!" Mira's eyes widened. "It's a Demon! The flute is entering its demon form!"

"I can't hold it any longer," the flute groaned as purple smoke billowed from its eyes and open mouth. "I'll just eat you all myself."

The smoke slowly expanded and grew, taking on the hideous appearance of a tall, tree-like monster with holes throughout its body… But its face was unmistakably that of a demon…

Lullaby's true demonic form.

"This is… The true form of a demon from the book of Zeref!" Lucy gulped in shock, her body trembling.

Even Kageyama, who had been taking Lullaby, stared in shock at what had become of the flute.

"It's Living Magic," I told them. "Zeref's Speciality… Giving life to the lifeless through dark power… Zeref's Black Magic – Living Magic."

"How disgusting…" Mira spat, able to sense the demon's aura more clearly than the rest of us. "This thing is reeked in so much death, it's disgusting…"

"Ka ka ka…" The demon spoke. "Master Zeref created me to wipe out you filthy races… So, who's soul shall I devour first…?"

As his eyes looked over all of us, I saw everyone shudder and get ready for a fight…

But not me… I felt a stab of irritation, anger… Indignation.

This mere demon that could barely wield Death Magic was daring to look down on me, a God Killer…?

Where did it get the confidence to dare stare at me with those disgusting eyes, and act as though my soul was something to be devoured like a meal?

Do you expect me to crawl in fear…? Do you expect me to tremble…?

Something within me snapped.

[Flugel Bloodline has successfully evolved. Innate to Initiate.]

Know your place… You filthy Mongrel.