Chapter 54 (1/2)

”What are you doing?!”

”Is there a problem?!”​​

In a beautiful forest, two childish voices could be heard.

From the tone of voice alone, one could tell that they were heckling each other.

At the edge of a lake, a young boy of about 5 years old with pink hair was fighting with another boy of about 5 years old with black spiky hair and piercings on both arches.

”You can win Natsu!”

”You can win Gajeel!”

To the side, two other 4 year olds were cheering the other two on.

Just by their sparkling eyes, you could tell that they idolized the other two.

On the side of the pink-haired boy was Natsu, a young boy with spiky blond hair and a rather long scar above his right eyebrow.

On the other side, Gajeel's, a young boy with short, black shaved hair encouraged Gajeel.

Unlike the blonde boy, he shouted less loudly but his enthusiasm was no less, he just seemed a little more reserved than the others.

”Stop fighting, please.”

Just behind the two fighting boys, a little girl of the same age as the others was swinging her arms around trying to stop the boys.

She had tears in her eyes as she watched the two fight, she was a very passive, sweet and shy little girl, really shy because apart from the children here and their parents she couldn't really socialise with others.

”I said Igneel is the strongest,” Natsu declared, banging his head forcefully against Gajeel's.

”Shut up Charmandre! Metalicana is obviously the strongest! ”Gajeel replied, pushing his head forcefully.

They were constantly pushing their heads with as much force as possible to show who was right.

”Please stop, both of you,” a small childish female voice intervened from a distance.

They saw a little girl, six years old, a little taller than them, with translucent blue/purple eyes, beautiful silky smooth red hair and little black horns on either side of her head.

She wore a small white and black dress which made her even more irresistible.

Despite her age and size, she asked Natsu and Gajeel to stop, but with a certain presence and authority.

”I do what I want!”/”What do you want, bird!” Natsu and Gajeel shouted at the same time.

They both looked at each other after shouting with displeasure.

”Why are you talking at the same time as me x2” declared both of them at the same time while growling.

”Stop talking like me! x2”

Natsu and Gajeel were getting more and more angry like two idiots and fighting.

Erza, off to the side, was watching the two idiots fight with a slight twitch on her forehead.

It was like insulting her dear dad.

Her anger began to boil over and was immediately felt by Natsu and Gajeel.

Both stopped in funny positions and turned their heads comically as they felt an aura of anger behind them.

Drops of sweat beaded from their foreheads at this more than familiar aura.

They had dealt with it so many times and yet they continued to fight each time, only to regret it.

”You're idiots who don't know when to stop. And on top of that, you call my dad a bird...” Erza said in a voice that sounded calm but terrifying to the two idiots.

The two swallowed their saliva at the sight of an angry Erza and hugged each other shaking.

They knew they had screwed up and would suffer the same fate so they might as well stick together.

”When are you two going to stop being such idiots?!”

Sting and Rogue for their part had already given up cheering for Natsu and Gajeel so as not to share the same fate.

”Besides, my dad is of course the best and strongest...” Erza muttered.

”Erza, I told you to stop hitting them.”

A soft mȧturė voice was heard in the distance.

”Mum, it's not my fault those two are idiots, plus they make Wendy cry” Erza complained as she turned to see a beautiful woman.

Irene in five years was relatively the same physically, only her hair had grown down to her buŧŧȯċks.

She was dressed in a long plain white dress like her daughter and a small red coat to match her hair.

Over the years, her maternal role had become etched into her skin and she now exuded a much more mȧturė aura, although she had not aged a bit.

”They're just bickering, Erza,” Irene explained, placing a small kiss on Erza's forehead.

”Ahah, in that case you're my pretty little bird” Irene laughed teasingly at her daughter.

”I'm not a bird! I'm a proud Phoenix and Dragon!” declares Erza as she puts herself in a proud stance, head held high.

”Of course ~” said Irene as she cooed and took her daughter in her arms, hugging her tightly because she was so cute.

She didn't want to be pretentious but her daughter was already deadly beautiful and cute at only six years old, so when she grew up she would be a beauty without equal.

But knowing Shin, she wouldn't find a husband or boyfriend for a while.

”Mom, eheh” Erza gloated as she was hugged by her mother and felt the small guilt.

After a few minutes between mother and daughter, Irene stood up and held Erza's hands as she walked towards Wendy.

”Don't cry” Irene crouched down and stroked Wendy's hair to calm her down.

Wendy quickly stopped her crying as she felt the warm hand on her head.

The three of them walked along the lake to the foot of the mountain while Sting and Rogue looked for Natsu and Gajeel at their landing spot.

The girls soon arrived at the dėsɨrėd location where there were several human and non-human figures.

At the edge of the lake and at the foot of the mountain, there was a large table with five large draconic figures on one side and two chairs with two human figures sitting on them on the other.

”Dad!”

As he arrived and saw one of the human figures, Erza shouted and rushed towards it with a big smile.

”You're here my princess” The figure, which was Shin, opened her arms wide to welcome the big hug from her princess.

Irene arrived at the table while Wendy had eagerly left to join one of the dragons.

”Hello Igneel, Metalicana, Grandeeney, Weisslogia, Skiadrum and Zeref” Irene greeted politely.

”Hello Irene” The six responded in turn with equal politeness.

”Darling” Irene hurriedly sat down on a chair next to Shin and gave him a kiss.

”Daddy, I want one too” Erza who was on Shin's ŀȧp got excited and pleaded with Shin.

”Sure” Shin leaned over and gave his daughter a little kiss on the cheek.

”YAY” Erza was all jovial about getting a kiss from her dad.

”Princess, you didn't say hello, that's rude” Irene next to him gave Erza a small reflection.

”Ah, sorry” Erza apologized as she turned back to the others.

”Hello.”

The others replied with a small gaga smile as they saw the cute little treasure in front of them.

”Princess, could you go play with the others please? We have important things to talk about” Shin asked gently.

”But I want to stay with you...” said Erza in a small voice.

”Please. I'll let you sleep with us tonight” whispered Shin into Erza's ears.

”Okay.”

Erza didn't even argue as she left to go play with the other children.

She loved sleeping with her dad and mum, her dad's woody smell was like a tranquilizer for her and she always ended up snuggling up to him.

”Well, back to business” Shin became serious again and focused on the main reason they were here.

”The war has been going on for over five years and it hasn't even abated” Shin said.

”Yes the dragons are proud and stubborn by nature, they will never give up” declared Igneel.

”Yes and the amount of dragons is much greater than the amount of dragon slayers. Besides...” added Grandeeney, showing a hint of sadness in her eyes as she tried to say the last part of her sentence.

”Also, the dragon slayers have started to turn into dragons, go mad, greedy or even die,” Shin said with sorrow.

”Yes...” All the dragons lowered their heads.

About less than a year ago, the dragon slayers began to show signs of draconification.

Some have become corrupted and insane, some have died, some have transformed more recently.

Those that went mad were killed to Irene's dismay.

The presence of Life energy in the realm along with Shin's presence helped to slow the process but not stop it.

This is not a disease but a transformation, Shin's Life energy could not cure it, perhaps later it could but not now.

Not long ago, Shin and Zeref had found a secret art that allowed a dragon to enter the body of a dragon slayer and sleep there, creating antibodies to prevent the transformation.

However, the process is long and the dragon will become weak until it dies.

The problem is that the kingdom of Dragnof is already in trouble so losing manpower like the dragons is not an option.

Moreover, Irene was taking care of the kingdom and Shin was helping her and also taking care of Erza.

So Shin could only go to the battlefield a few times.

The workload was even heavier because several months ago, Belserion was killed on the battlefield with the appearance of a dragon slayer, Acnologia.

”Don't put your head down, it's not your fault, neither we nor you can do anything about it” Shin said to the dragons to avoid any unnecessary guilt.

”The other big problem is those dragon slayers, Acnologia” said Shin as the dragons around the table became serious and a certain resentment appeared in their eyes.

”Yes, he is very powerful and his power is growing” said Zeref, thinking seriously.

”And the appearance of more and more powerful dragons doesn't help” said Shin.

In the few times he's been back on the battlefield, Shin has come across more and more dragons that were in the A, AA, or even rarely AAA ranks.

”Yes, this war is making them stronger,” Metalicana said.

There was a silence as everyone was in their bubble and pondering the situation.

The situation was going to end badly, and Shin knew that it was going to end just like in the anime.

But despite this, Shin would make sure his family was safe and together.

This will surely bring some small changes but he didn't care, it was no longer an anime or fictional characters but his wife and daughter.

Irene who was next to Shin looked at him with concern for the future.

”Everything will be fine,” Shin reassured him, holding Irene's hand and smiling at her.

”So, are we going to operate the plan as planned?” asked Weisslogia.

”Yes, tomorrow we will send the children into the future via Eclipse” declared Shin.

The dragons fell silent as they thought of the children.

They had all raised these children with love and sending them into the future meant goodbye.

It also means that the end of their lives is approaching as they will have to use the secret art of allowing the dragon to enter the host's body and die slowly.

”Are you ready to make this sacrifice?” asked Shin with a small, sad and compassionate smile.

The dragons looked at each other slightly as if to show agreement between them with determination and tenderness in their eyes.

”Of course, we have raised these children, even if they are human, they are like our own children” said Igneel on behalf of all the dragons who nodded in agreement.

Shin smiled at their response while Zeref gave Igneel a look of gratitude.

And so they continued to talk about the problems of the war and other less unpleasant things for a whole day.

It was getting dark and they were still talking.

”Daddy, Mummy, I'm sleepy”

While they were talking, Erza arrived and pulled Irene's clothes off.

Irene looked at Shin for her answer.

”Yes princess, why don't you go to the cave and fall asleep with your mother” Shin offered seeing that Irene was also getting tired.

”Hm” Erza nodded, the cave gave off the same smell and presence as Shin.

Irene blushed as she saw that Shin had noticed her slight absences.

”Hmm” Shin chuckled at Irene's little behavior and gave her a small kiss.

”Daddy, will you come join us?” asked Erza expectantly and sulkily about falling asleep without her daddy.