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Noah watched in silence as Kuro tilted his head back and drained the large bowl of wine in one long pull. The burn of the liquor seemed to briefly scorch away the bitterness in his throat, but it could do nothing for the despair and grief that had accumulated over four hundred years.
Moonlight fell across his pale face.
This man, whose life had been stolen by fate, his body used by his enemy, his power stripped from him, now looked utterly fragile and broken.
When the last of the wine was gone, it was Noah who broke the silence, his voice slightly quieter than usual.
"Acnologia has left your body. Where would he be now?"
"I don't know."
Kuro set down the bowl. His eyes were hollow as he stared out at the dark forest in the distance, a bitter smile on his lips — a smile that looked worse than a grimace.
"Even though Acnologia controlled my body, he was never able to erase my consciousness. As long as my will remained, he could not truly take hold of my power."
"But around three months ago, an evil gray mist came for me. After that, I fell into a deep sleep."
"It was only half a month ago that I woke up, only to find that Acnologia had vanished, taking my Dragon Slayer Magic with him."
Noah understood.
By the timeline, the period when Kuro had fallen into that deep sleep coincided exactly with the time he himself had been pulled into the Black Abyss. And the moment Kuro had woken up aligned with the time he had destroyed the Eighteen Demon War Gods and shattered the Black Abyss.
That evil gray mist could only have been the Wheel of Fate.
It had already been reduced to ash.
Noah only told him that he had uprooted the gray mist and the forces behind it. Upon hearing this, a faint glimmer of light finally surfaced in Kuro's hollow eyes.
Had it not been for that mysterious evil force, Kuro felt he might have had a real chance against Acnologia.
For four hundred years, Kuro had been imprisoned within his own body, yet he had remained conscious throughout, sensing everything Acnologia had done with his hands.
Acnologia had carried out countless massacres using his body.
For Kuro, this was a torment a hundred times worse than death. He could only watch helplessly as he was turned into a weapon of destruction, unable even to end his own life.
That despair, of being stripped of everything, of his very self being used by his enemy at will, had nearly broken his mind entirely.
Acnologia had intended it that way. By tormenting Kuro's soul, he hoped to gradually wear down his will until he could snuff it out completely and claim both his body and his power for his own.
But Kuro had endured.
What he had not anticipated was that Acnologia would abandon the goal of fully seizing his body. Instead, Acnologia had simply drawn out his Dragon Slayer Magic before suddenly departing.
After a long stretch of silence, Kuro finally seemed to steady himself. He looked up at Noah, his eyes burning with something close to fanaticism.
"I truly don't know where Acnologia has gone. But I know how to draw him out."
"Dragon Slayer Magic. If there is a Dragon Slayer powerful enough, that coward will show himself."
Noah nodded. Zeref had told him the same thing — that potent Dragon Slayer Magic and the bloodshed of war would draw the Black Dragon out.
Acnologia hungered for destruction, so his appearing on a battlefield made sense. But a truly powerful Dragon Slayer would make even the Black Dragon feel threatened. Despite his magic of absolute negation rendering him immune to ordinary Magic, Acnologia could not ignore Dragon Slayer Magic, which shared the same root as his own power.
Unless, of course, the gap in strength was too great to matter.
Noah looked at Kuro for a moment, then asked quietly, "From the state you're in, am I right in thinking you intend to face Acnologia yourself?"
A flame of pure hatred ignited in Kuro's eyes.
"Acnologia will use my power to bring more slaughter and destruction to this world."
"So I must find him. And then... personally put an end to all of it. That is the only reason I still have to live."
Noah looked at the man before him, who had once again taken the weight of hatred and obsession onto his shoulders, and let out a quiet sigh.
"Right now, you have enormous Magic Power, but the only Magic you know is healing. Even if you find Acnologia, it will accomplish nothing."
"Come with me."
"There are things that need to be said."
He said no more, turning and flying back toward the palace.
Kuro drew a slow breath, pushing down the turmoil inside him, and followed quietly in Noah's wake.
The two returned to the banquet hall, which was still alive with noise and light.
The moment Noah stepped inside, bringing with him a stranger whose appearance matched Sonya's description almost exactly, the hall fell silent.
Every gaze turned to Kuro.
Sonya's wine glass slipped from her fingers and shattered against the floor. She covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide, tears already filling them.
"It's... it's really you... Big Brother..."
Her voice trembled, barely above a whisper, as if she could not trust what she was seeing.
Erza frowned slightly, a flicker of wariness crossing her face. She recognized Acnologia's form without question. But as she carefully reached out with her senses, she could detect no Dragon Power in him at all, only vast and pure Magic Power, far removed from the terrifying pressure of the Black Dragon.
Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue all tensed at once, their Magic Power flaring instinctively. Behind each of them, the phantom silhouettes of four great dragons rose like shadows.
Only Igneel, the Fire Dragon King sealed within Natsu, remained still.
Even with the enemy who had destroyed dragonkind standing before him, Igneel could not sense the dreadful aura of the Black Dragon from this person. It was deeply strange.
But what was calm for the Fire Dragon King was not necessarily calm for Natsu.
"Acnologia! I'm going to beat you into—"
Natsu barely got the words out before Erza pressed him down with one hand and spoke low and firm into his ear. "Noah brought him here for a reason. Let's hear what Noah has to say before we do anything."
Natsu deflated, grumbling under his breath.
"Right, right, let me introduce everyone."
Noah placed a hand on Kuro's shoulder. "This is Kuro. He's a healing Mage, and he used to be a Dragon Slayer, in a manner of speaking."
Noah gave a brief but clear account of the situation, explaining Kuro's identity and the fact that the true Acnologia had already separated from him.
The room listened in stunned silence, emotions swinging wildly from shock to disbelief to quiet horror.
Erza exhaled slowly. She had never imagined the truth behind the Black Dragon could be something like this. The man she had believed had "become a dragon" was, in reality, a victim. Not only had his life been stolen from him, but he had endured four hundred years of unrelenting mental torment.
Natsu scratched the back of his head. He was still piecing things together, but he stepped forward anyway and gave Kuro a solid clap on the shoulder.
"Well, if you're not that bastard Black Dragon, then we're not enemies, are we."
"Don't sweat it. We at Fairy Tail will help you dig that bastard out and give him the beating he deserves."
Kuro looked slightly thrown by Natsu's easy familiarity, but being a man of few words, he said nothing in return.
Noah spoke again, directing his gaze toward Igneel's presence within Natsu.
"Fire Dragon King, you have all seen it for yourselves. Kuro has lost his Zero Dragon Slayer Magic. I would ask that you and the others help him learn a new Dragon Slayer Magic from the beginning."
"With Kuro as our lure, Acnologia will take the bait."