Igneel flew across the vast landscape of mountains. Below him, he noticed the mountain range had been heavily damaged, with huge portions of mountains having been either collapsed, cut off, or just completely destroyed.
He arrived at the scene of the battle between Meliodas and Acnologia. Acnologia was partially dragonized, having his wings, tail and some of his scales on his arms, neck, and face. Meliodas lay on the ground, his upper body separated from his lower half and unmoving. Igneel's eyes widened as he noticed Sacrifar on the ground next to Meliodas.
"Oh! A dragon still lives!" Acnologia smirked at Igneel.
"How rare of you to use your human form." Igneel commented.
"This demon here provided me with a decent amount of fun. But he was still too weak in the end." Acnologia responded. His body began to grow as black scales covered the rest of his human skin until he had reverted into his massive dragon form. Acnologia took off from the ground and flew up into the air in front of Igneel.
"I have to say, it's rare to see you this talkative." Igneel continued.
"That demon put me in a good mood. But you…I recognize you as my enemy. And I will slay you!"
Acnologia and Igneel both charged at each other, colliding heads. Igneel suddenly shifted his body, turning and slamming his tail into Acnologia and launching the black dragon backwards a short distance. Acnologia quickly recovered, but to his surprise, Igneel flew away high into the sky. Acnologia followed, with the two dragons soaring above the clouds, with the late afternoon sun lighting the tops of the clouds.
The two dragons charged at each other once again, clenching their claws into fists and punching each other in the face, the shockwaves emitted from the blows causing the clouds to disperse.
—
"Are those dragons!!" Gajeel said as he stared into the sky.
"It looks like Acnologia and a red dragon." Levy said.
"Wait…a red dragon…could that be Igneel?!" Wendy exclaimed.
—-
Acnologia and Igneel flew back from each other and Acnologia began charging a vast amount of magic in his mouth. Igneel prepared to do the same but stopped as he felt a presence incoming from behind him. A black blur flew straight past him as Acnologia let out a massive roar.
"Full Counter!"
Acnologia noticed the small figure fly directly towards his blast. His blast suddenly rebounded straight towards him, hitting the black dragon in a massive explosion of bright light that eclipsed the entire mountain range.
"So you're Meliodas." Igneel commented. "I didn't think that Acnologia's roar could be reflected back at him so easily, with triple the force."
"First Meliodas…and now Igneel…" A voice echoed from the smoke of the explosion. Acnologia's figure slowly floated out of the smoke, revealing his body completely unscathed.
"That's the second time you've reflected my roar. And…you've completely healed yourself."
"Igneel?" Meliodas looked back at the red dragon. "Isn't Natsu looking for you?"
"There's no time for that now. I'll answer all of both yours and Natsu's questions once I deal with Acnologia." Igneel responded.
"Well, well, well. We'll just have to team up and beat this guy." Meliodas said as his magic began to flare up. His eyes turned pitch black as his demon mark spread across his forehead and darkness formed along his legs and back.
"Afterwards, you can tell me what you know about Selene, the Moon Dragon God." Meliodas added. Both Igneel and Acnologia were surprised upon hearing the name.
"Very well." Igneel responded.
Meliodas immediately flew back towards Igneel and hopped on top of his head with his hand on the handle of Neo Mel Force.
"I can't damage Acnologia anymore now that he's completely covered in scales. I'll reflect any magical attacks he launches at you and fight on the defensive."
"That sounds good! Now I'm all fired up!" Igneel shouted as he flew straight towards Acnologia.
Igneel slashed forward at Acnologia with claws engulfed in flames. The black dragon ducked the attack and spun around in the air, slamming Igneel with his tail. Igneel rolled back and regained his balance as Acnologia charged at him again.
Igneel took a deep breath in and exhaled a massive blast of fire at Acnologia. Meliodas pointed his fingers at Igneel's breath attack.
"Enchant: Hellblaze!"
Igneel's giant blast of fire turned into a mix of bright orange and black flames that engulfed Acnologia in an inferno that pushed Acnologia to the ground. Acnologia crashed into the ground, forming a huge crater but quickly flew back up towards the duo.
"Even a dragon's attack that strong can't harm Acnologia?" Meliodas questioned.
"It would appear not. We'll have to do physical attacks!" Igneel said as he rushed towards Acnologia. Acnologia's mouth began to glow brightly as he took a deep breath in. He suddenly stopped as he glanced at Meliodas preparing to counter the attack.
Igneel with his back feet set ablaze, delivered a flaming kick to Acnologia's face, staggering the black dragon followed by a spinning tail swipe that sent Acnologia flying back.
Acnologia recovered quickly in the air and soared in a wide arc around Igneel, suddenly making a sharp turn with a quick spin and ramming into Igneel.
Igneel winced in pain as he was sent hurtling towards the ground. Meliodas jumped off of Igneel's head, holding onto his back and spreading his darkness wings wide to slow down Igneel's momentum. Igneel and Meliodas both crashed into the ground at an angle, uprooting a massive portion of the land as they collided with a nearby mountain.
"Arggh…" Igneel grunted. He shook his head and got up from the ground. "Meliodas, can you keep going?"
Suddenly the rocks next to Igneel exploded as Meliodas emerged from the rubble and landed on Igneel's shoulder. The two of them looked up at Acnologia who was soaring in the skies in a circle above them.
"If we could just get him on the ground, I could deliver a good blow." Igneel said.
"Leave that to me. Can you distract him?" Meliodas asked. Igneel nodded and took off from the ground, heading straight for the black dragon.
Acnologia looked down at Igneel and noticed Meliodas was no longer mounted on Igneel. He immediately took a deep breath in as he began charging magic into his mouth.
Igneel's eyes widened as Acnologia fired the blast straight towards him. Igneel rolled out of the way just in time, causing the blast to hit the land below in a massive explosion of bright light.
Acnologia suddenly felt a presence directly above him and looked up to see it was Meliodas. Meliodas raised both hands out in front of him. 'I'll pour my magic into Gravity Core to make it heavier than ever!'
"Requip: Gravity Core!"
A massive greatsword formed in Meliodas' hands and his descending speed drastically increased, catching Acnologia by surprise. Acnologia suddenly felt a huge blunt impact hit him in the back. Acnologia attempted to flap his wings, but found the weight to be unbearable, causing him to hit the ground, forming a deep crater as a shockwave of earth nearly engulfed nearby mountains.
Meliodas held the handle of Gravity Core in his hands. The blade had snapped in half and the lacrima cracked. 'I guess I wasn't supposed to put that much weight into it.' Meliodas immediately jumped backwards as Igneel, clad in flames, dove down straight onto Acnologia's body, causing the black dragon to cough up blood.
Meliodas watched as Igneel stood above Acnologia's body. He suddenly felt a strange feeling in his body, one that was all too familiar to him when he had entered the cave filled with anti-link crystals over 7 years ago.
'This sensation…Face must have gone off…'