Diablo walked along the beach in the moonlight, at his side was Aurmnus Rager. Ahead of him, Dravis slithered along the sand.
Over the past day, Dravis's growth had sped up exponentially. He was massive compared to his formally weak form. Though he was still a tiny speck compared to what he was at full strength, he had now reached the size of the average dragon.
"I thought we were just watching what was happening between the whole princess assasination scheme." said Aurumnus. "What's the deal Dravy? Getting bored?"
"Quite the contrary..." said Dravis. "In truth, I am quite entertained by the battle between these assasins and Fairy Tail. But I felt that it was time to reveal the second reason I brought us to this island....do not worry yourselves, Black Whisper and Hades already know of this."
"I suspected as much." said Diablo. "You always were the secretive one Dravis. So tell us, what is this new game we are playing..?"
"You could call it insurance." Said Dravis. "As you probably know, I have with me the second half of the prophecy that involves me and Misaka.....the half that was kept within the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. I read it, and within it I saw a great truth unlike any I have ever encountered in the vast multiverse. And through it I discovered the only way to be rid of the Railgun's destiny to destroy me... there must be another player in the game. Ahhh....here we are."
Dravis stopped at a point on the beach and touched a large talon into the sand. There was a rumbling sound and the sand sank in to the ground to reveal a large square hole in the ground with massive ancient stone stairs going down into darkness.
"Come." said Dravis. "All your questions will be answered within."
Dravis down the steps, followed by Aurumnus and Diablo.
"Hey Diablo...any of this strike you as spooky?" said Aurumnus.
"I do not fear darkness." said Diablo. "Much of my heart is comprised of it....my blood is liquid fear."
"Yeah....almost forgot you're a creepy horror yourself." said Aurumnus as he looked at the ancient ruins that adorned the crumbling walls of the hall they were walking through. "This must be like paradise for you eh?"
"I prefer a warmer climate." said Diablo.2
Dravis stopped in the hall for a moment and touched a talon to the wall they had just come to. On it was golden plated engraving of Thundaarix. Her neck was bent in what appeared to be prayer as her forehead touched a man wearing a crown with elegant armor.
"Mmmm..." said Aurumnus licking his lips. "That gold looks tasty."
Dravis pryed off a segement of the gold plating with one talon and tossed it to Aurumnus who caught it in his mouth. "Help yourself...I hold no liking for Thundaarix.
Dravis charged through the wall, destroying it easily, and revealing a large room. The room was large enough to hold the palace of the King of Fiore within it. Massive statues erected in Thundaarix's honor intertwined and crossed along the high cieling of the room like golden serpents. In the center of the room was a large platform with stairs that crossed up to it. At the center of the platform sat a stone dragon that was the only statue that wasn't of Thundaarix. It was of an elegant and beautiful dragon who was even more graceful then any female dragon that had come after it. There was a large hole in the cieling that had a large beam of light that came down upon the statue like a glowing tower.
"Behold...." said Dravis. "The chamber Elanis Lord of Creation.....She, along with me were the first two dragons to walk upon the plane of existance. I represented destruction and she represented growing things and the beauty of intelligence. We are the ying and yang of the multiverse.....always having been involved in constant battle."
"What is a statue of Elanis doing within the Thundaarix's chamber?" said Diablo. "I thought to put such a thing in a place that honored yourself was considered high disrespect among dragons."
"It would have been, had it not been that Elanis was actually Thundaarix's great great great grandmother." said Dravis. "Thundaarix is older then you think.....her age is great enough that Igneel, Grandeena and Metalicanna are like children to her. Part of her long life is due to her relation to Elanis."
"So Thundaarix had this in honor of her early ancestor..." said Diablo. "Interesting."
"Indeed." said Dravis. "This chamber was where Thundaarix blessed the womb of Gwendolen Elendiel, the mother of King Elendial, the first king of Fulmen. It is sacred to the people of this island and was hidden by the late father of Hope Ellendiel in the hopes to keep it sacred....however, as you can see, we have found it."
Dravis lumbered up the stairs of the platform and stood next to the equally large statue. "This room is filled with the sacred energy of Thundaarix's blood.....and therefore it is also filled with the energy of Elanis, my old enemy. Look around the walls....and tell me what you see."
Diablo stared around the chamber, his molten eyes scanned the intricate designs on the walls. "I see engravings of all the heirs to ever exist. All of the line of Ellendiel........and I see Mikoto Misaka engraved upon here as well..."
"Funny..." said Aurumnus. "I don't see any of those 10,000 MISAKA clones here....wouldn't they also be here?"
"No." said Dravis. "Dragon Borns are impossible to clone through the technology that Academy City currently posseses. Though the human side may be replicated without any issue....a dragon's genetic information is much too subtle to clone even on a quantum level....the magic aura surrounding my kind's blood causes this. The only way to copy the DNA is to take it directly from the dragon itself...which was done only once to create Nelliel Cerulean....the first artificial Dragon Born."
"So the clones are in no way related on the dragon side." said Diablo. "That explains why none of them are elligible heirs.....but what do the heirs have to do with what you plan to do here?"
"Everything....." said Dravis. "This wall automatically records the next heir to the throne everytime one is born...in order to do this it combines some of Elanis's sacred energy with some magic energy taken from the heirs themselves...I will use this energy to create my weapon...the weapon whose sole purpose will be to destroy Mikoto Misaka once and for all."
"Weapon?" said Diablo his molten eyes widening. "You don't mean..."
"Yes..." said Dravis. "I shall create my very own Dragon Born child right here. One who is infused with my powers. My child shall go on to be my soldier....my weapon...my wrath."
"But don't you have to bless a kid while it's still in it's mother's womb and all?" said Aurumnus.
"Normally yes...but by cultivating the energy in this room....and by using something a little less human..." said Dravis. "I believe I can rectify that. Diablo....the box if you would."1
Diablo snapped his fingers and a molten pool of lava appeared at his feet. From the the pool rose a demonic looking chest with a skull lock and images of tortured souls engraved on the side. The chest opened, and within the chest was a embryo like, transparent creature with bluish energy circulating witin it, it's eyes were closed shut.
"AIM Burst!?" said Aurumnus. "How did you get Gensei Kihara's little pet?"1
"He gave it to me..." said Diablo. "After a little persuasion.....I believe he's rather afraid of me."
"Who isn't?" Muttered Aurumnus.
"AIM Burst shall serve as the vessel for my power..." said Dravis. "A substitute for a normal human.....now let us begin the ceremony."
Diablo reached into the box and took AIM Burst to up to the platform. He set it down under the statue of Elanis. He then backed away as Dravis touched his snout to AIM Burst's transparent surface.
Dravis began to speak....his words being that of an ancient tongue long forgotten. I shall translate what was being said.3
" Oh child yet to be born......recieve upon thee the blessing I give.....let your flesh become my flesh...your blood become my blood...........know the true power of dragons......and let it be your legacy to your children....and the children of your children.....you are now mine...one who is born of Dragons!!"
AIM Burst opened it's red eyes wide and wailed an unearthly wail, the sonic screams seeming to shake the caverns.....
Suddenly walls glowed, as the pictures of all the heirs of Thundariix lit up with brilliant golden light. Beams of light shot out from all the pictures and surrounded AIM Burst as a dark shadowy energy came out of Dravis's scales and engulfed AIM Burst as well.
There was a massive sound of roaring....as if a third dragon was roaring from within AIM Burst. When the light and shadowy energy cleared. A 8 ft tall humanoid figure was standing their. It had the same transparent skin as AIM Burst, except the bluish energy within it had turned black.
AIM Burst stood up, looking at it's now human-like form curiously, flexing it's arms and legs....
"Well that's...different." said Aurumnus raising an eyebrow.
"Not yet...." said Dravis. "There is still one more phase..."
AIM Burst suddenly gave another massive cry and fell to it's knees as skin and flesh covered it's energy body. Black scales covered it next as dark talons grew from it's fingers and long black hair grew from it's head. Dark black robes appeared like vapor on it's muscular form.
"I rename you Excisio." said Dravis. "Rise...my son.."
Excisio rose up, his fanged mouth drooling slightly as his dragonish nostrils snorted slightly.
"How do you feel?" said Dravis.
Excisio grinned sadistically, the eyes he still had from being AIM Burst widened. "Positively Excellent."
The Palace of Fulmen. 10:30 pm.
"I SAID I DON'T NEED ANYTHING!!! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!" Mikoto slammed the door shut as the maids tried force their way in.
Mikoto collapsed to her knees panting. "I am going to have a full blown headache in about 5 seconds."
"At least we have some time to ourselves!" said Natsu who was stretched out on Mikoto's bed. "SLEEP AT LAST!!"
"NATSU!!!!" Mikoto jumped back nearly having a heart attack. "When the heck did you get in here!!?"
"Sorry." said Lucy who was sitting on the bed next to Erza, Nicole and Gray. "We figured you could use some company that wasn't an over enthusiastic servant."
"It's okay.." said Mikoto clutching her chest a little. "Just give a little warning next time."
"That's just how we roll!" said Happy who was sitting next to Elli on top of the wardrobe. "We come without warning!"
"I heard it was quite an eventful evening tonight." said Erza. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah...thanks to Natsu, Lucy and Nicole." said Mikoto. "Though I'm not going to complain too much...at least I won't have to wear this again."
Mikoto gestured at her dress which was now torn at the hem to where her legs were visible, the back part of it was torn in many areas. It had obviously not been meant for combat.
"Wish I could say the same for this." Mikoto continued as she took her crown off and set it on the night stand. "Hey Natsu...would be okay if you 'accidentally' melted it with your fire?"
"I've got a better idea!" said Natsu. He took the crown on his head and started laughing.
"Hahahaha!!! I am King Natsu!! Now bow before me my royal subjects!!!"8
"Hey Natsu, stop that!" said Gray. "This isn't the time to be playing royalty!"
"Okay!" said Natsu. "How about this then?"
Natsu put the crown over his face like some sort of weird mouth piece. He put on a goofy muffled british accent. "It doesn't matter who we are.....what matters is our plan. Gothham's time of reckoning has come...." (Ever since Natsu went to Academy City, he's been watching plenty of our world's movies).
"Natsu, knock it off!!!"
"Why don't you come and make me Icicle Brain!?"
Gray jumped on Natsu and the two began to punch and pummel at each other. Erza grabbed each of them by the head and head butted them both into the floor.
"Honestly!" said Erza. "You two are behaving like children!"
"Well....that's how they always act I guess." said Nicole. "Where else are they going to put all that pent up energy?"
Mikoto sighed. "I hope I find somewhere to put my pent up energy....it's like a prison in here."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"I don't believe this!!" said Mikoto. "I TOLD YOU I DON'T NEED YOU!!!!!" Mikoto wrenched open the door to find her father standing there.
"Well I'm sorry." said Tabigake with a slight smile. "I didn't realize you already had company."
"D-dad!" said Mikoto backing up blushing with slight embarrasment. "I-I thought you were sombody else."
Tabigake chuckled and put a hand on his daughter's head. "Don't ya worry about it. I can see you've been through quite a lot tonight.....to be honest, I wasn't expecting to run into you on this island of all places."
"Hello Mr. Misaka." said Erza walking over and holding out a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Aha!" said Tabigake taking Erza's hand. "You must be Erza right? Hehehe! you're even prettier in person!"
"Dad!" said Mikoto now going slightly redder.
"And look at you!" said Tabigake noticing Lucy and Nicole. "My my Mikoto! You've found yourself some pretty friends!!"
"I swear I'm going to call Mom when I get back..." said Mikoto gritting her teeth.
"Okay, okay." said Tabigake putting up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Maybe Touya Kamijou has rubbed off on me a bit." (Touya is Touma's father)
"So you're Mikoto's dad?" said Natsu, his eyes lighting up. "AWESOME!! Can you shoot lightning bolts and stuff!?"
"Natsu, he's not an esper." said Gray.
"No I'm not.....but speaking of espers, I think it's time I explained why I was here." said Tabigake. "As my daughter so lovingly asked me back at that museum fiasco."
"Wait! Wait!" said Natsu a mishievious glint appearing in his eyes. "Do you have any pictures of Mikoto from when she was a baby?"
"NATSU!!" If Mikoto's face could get any redder, it would be on fire.
"Why of course!" said Tabigake cheerfully taking out his wallet and showing Natsu a photo. This is her when she was only 5! Quite the cutie isn't she?"1
"Awww...." said Lucy, Erza and Nicole looking at the picture
"D-DAD!!" Mikoto felt like she was going to faint from embarrasment.
"So why are you here?" asked Gray.
"Why it's rather simple really." said Tabigake putting is wallet away. "I'm doing what I do best, investigating Gemstone Espers."
"Gemstone espers?" Said Natsu looking confused.
"Espers that were able to develope abilities without the help of Academy City." Said Erza. "They got their abilites naturally somehow....I heard they were extremely rare."
"Yes they are." said Tabigake. "Thing is, I heard there was a gemstone that developed right here on this island....now you can imagine why I'm pretty eager to find him or her.."
"Espers aren't supposed to exist in this world though!" said Lucy. "The first espers to ever enter this world were Mikoto and Black Whisper, and they both come from Academy City."
"That's where you're wrong though." said Tabigake with a grin. "You see research had led me to believe that gemstones have been existing in Earthland for centuries!"
"But....this is a world of magic...."
"Exactly!" said Tabigake. "When my daughter first joined your guild, did you realize she was an esper right away?"
Everyone looked at each other. The truth was, everyone had pretty much thought Mikoto's esper powers were some sort of lightning magic.
"You see, esper abilities were always thought to be magic in this world." Said Tabigake. "Not even most of the espers themselves knew the true nature of their abilities. I came here searching for what was supposedly a new gemstone...but it got complicated....."
"Complicated how?" said Erza.
"The gemstone I found.....well it turned out he was the one hosting the reception tonight....a man by the name of Grimmix....A high class Assasin."