Chapter 2: Chapter Two: Promises
The last thing he remembered before being punched straight into the sea was that he was pushing Acnologia inside the Time Rift along with him. After that everything went dark for him. He has no idea what struck him at that moment. But knowing very well the kind of person Rades is, he could make a few guesses of his own.
It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the light before they were fully open. At first everything appeared blurry before taking proper shapes. Confused dark green eyes met with a pair of sad brown ones.
He raised his head up a bit, ignoring the pain in his neck to find himself laying his head on Erza's lap. They were on some kind of landform that somehow was in a better shape despite the Black Dragon's continuous waves of attacks. Wendy, Anna and the other members of Blue Pegasus were also on that landform with their heads hung low while the Christina Airship was docked on the shore.
"That idiot." His eyes darted back to Erza. "He sacrificed himself for all of us. Right when I came to know I had a real family, it was all taken away in an instant."
"He had always been like this." Anna commented. "I had known him since he was ten. Self-sacrifice, taking everyone's burdens on his own shoulders at that little age. That's very much like him."
The time she had met him, his only aim was to slay his mother to free her from the curse for eternity, putting an end to her suffering from the Dragon's Curse. But he wasn't able to achieve it that time. Centuries later when Anna reunited with him, he had taken the task of slaying Acnologia into his own hands as well after Igneel failed to do so.
He claimed that he wouldn't let his "little brothers and cute little sisters" to take on such a dangerous task. He believed it was something only he is capable of doing other than the Black Wizard or the Mother of Dragon Slayers. And in the end, he was able to fulfill both his goals but at a greater cost.
His very own life.
'You too had people who cared about you..' Jellal kept his thoughts to himself. Having worked with him for all this time, he had come to know what kind of person Rades was. He was the kind to take responsibilities that weren't even his own to begin with.
Both of them had done various evil deeds in their lifetime, a few for which they can't even forgive themselves for. And yet despite them wanting to throw their lives away, they never wanted the other to do the same. They wanted the other to live their lives to the fullest. Because both had people who are always looking out for them. 'You always told me to not throw my life away and now look at what you did.'
"He was truly a man with a worthy parfum." Ichiya from Blue Pegasus said in a sort of lamenting tone, doing his signature pose with his head hung low. "Rades-kun, your sacrifice was a vali--"
Sounds of something cracking got everyone's attention. Following the direction of the sound, they all looked up to see cracks forming in the sky, right where the Time Rift had disappeared along with the two. The cracks begin widening and an empty void could be seen from those cracks. The strange phenomenon showed no signs of stopping.
"What's that?" Hibiki voiced the question that was in everyone's mind.
For some reason no magical energy could be felt from it. This could mean too things; one that there's no magic power in there but that's conceptually impossible. Two, that is some otherworldly power that's seemingly immeasurable.
"Impossible!" Anna suddenly exclaimed. Her eyes widened as she was the only one here who could sense what the cracks were all about. Despite that it made no sense to her as to why it would reappear again in such a manner. "The Time Rift should have disappeared along with those two. Why is it reappearing again?"
"Do you think its...!"
"No! It can't be. Not after he gave his life to--!" Jenny paused mid-sentence, her eyes widening and fear completely taking over her like it did to others. All they could do was silently spectate.
The crack widened even more, making it seem like something is tearing the sky apart. Then from the nothingness emerged an all-familiar black draconic arm. From the darkness, his glowing eyes sent shivers down everyone's spine before a maniacal laughter filled the air.
"I am overflowing with power." The Black Dragon proclaimed as he proceeded to push himself out from wherever he was trapped in, widening the crack even more in the process. "Much like when I mastered the secret of dragon slaying long ago."
"I am even more of an almighty king than before." Fully escaping from the other dimension, Acnologia spread his wings wide, his shadow covering the entirety of the landmass where the Blue Pegasus Guild along with Erza, Jellal and Wendy had crashed onto. "This world in it's entirety, now belongs to me!"
"Don't tell me he actually..." Anna gulped, losing the strength her legs with despair coating her facial features.
"....He actually ate the Time Rift.." Jellal completed.
"Yes, I wield the magic of time itself." Gazing down at the humans below who now were nothing except small fries for him, a mere existence that he can destroy with the blink of an eye with the new power now flowing in him. "Its immense, overflowing energy cannot be controlled."
Distributing his power magic around him, he created millions of orbs of light, fueled with dense ether. Those sphere expanded their sizes as he continued to pour more magic power into them. In his current state, he has no shortage of magic power and can endlessly cause destruction without needing to rest.
"Meet your destruction, lowly humans. Eterna Flar--!"
Chains burning with bright golden-azure flames wrapped themselves around the Black Dragon of Destruction before he could execute his spell. The chains seemed to have emerged from the very same crack, where Acnologia escaped from. The chains begin pulling him back into that endless abyss.
"Where do you think...you are going?" Another familiar voice was heard from within the cracks in the sky. "I told you, didn't I? That me and you are going in hell together!"
"How is that possible!?" Acnologia roared, using all of his strength to free himself from the chains. Even with his superior physical strength, he still struggled against those chains. "You should have been vanished from existence by now! Then how!?"
'What happened to my spirit in there?!' The Black Dragon felt his connection from the other dimension completely cut off.
"It's simple explanation, I took care of it and took its place.." It was as if Irene's son read his mind and answered the question for him.
"What's going on?" Wendy inquired. The magical power in those chains felt all too familiar and she knew whom they belonged to.
What puzzled her was the fact that, the other energy mixed in the chains was the same as the power that dwells within Acnologia. The power that the Black Dragon can use to wipe out the entire world is itself trying to put a stop to him now. Does this mean he wasn't able to absorb all of the Time Rift? Is there any hope of Rades returning safe and sound?
"There's only one explanation to this." Anna commented. The conclusion she reached onto made no sense whatsoever but when it comes to Dragon and Dragon Slayers, sometimes even common sense and logic needs to be thrown out of the window. "Rades must have absorbed some portion of the Time Rift as well. Combining that with his own power, he is trying to stop Acnologia."
"So you mean to say that right now, Rades--I mean brother is the only person who can stop Acnologia?" Erza inquired. It was too soon for them to celebrate Rades's survival. The situation wasn't completely hopeless but the outcome isn't clear either.
"We don't have any idea as to how much of the Time Rift he has absorbed. We can't be too sure about it." The Celestial Wizard shook her head. "Let's use this situation make some distance between us and Acnologia. Getting caught up in this can be too dangerous."
Following her advice, everyone used whatever ounce of magical power they had to either quickly fly or swim away from the landform while Acnologia was still held back with the chains. The Christina airship had already been rendered out of commission from all the damage it took.
"I will rip you apart myself Belserion!" Acnologia roared, thrashing around with the chains up to no avail. Now that it had come to this and his strength being futile against them, he decided to head inside the dimension and finish the Purgatory Dragon Slayer with his own hands.
'Its time to put an end to this. Perhaps this was the only way out..' Out of the blue, Things started slowing down in a peculiar manner.
Golden runes begin forming around the cracks in the sky, taking shape of a circular clock with two golden arrowheads. The entire world had come to a halt. The rivers had stopped flowing, falling leaves were suspended in midair, all living creatures be it humans or animals had stopped doing whatever they were doing. The shorter arm of the runic clock moved before a brilliant golden light enveloped the entirety of the world.
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"How long do you plan to sleep?" A sweet and serene voice rang in his ears. Shifting uncomfortably, he opened his eyes to meet a pair of brown ones staring right at him.
"Ultear?" He managed to pronounce, registering the fact that he was lying his head on her lap. Immense pain coursed through his entire body, the moment he tried to sit up, making him regret the decision.
"How about taking it easy this once? You have done enough already." Ultear softly spoke, pressing her hands on his cheek. The touch felt realistic making Rades wonder whether all of it was actually a dream or something actually happening. "If you are thinking that all of this is a dream then let me assure you, its not. Take a look around you."
Heeding her words, he glanced to his sides to find themselves in a completely different realm where everything was crumbling down and turning into dust. The two of them were the only living beings in that desolate place.
"Where are we?" Rades inquired with a mixture of puzzlement and panic. Puzzlement as to what kind of situation did he end up in after pulling off a dangerous stunt and panic on as to what is going to happen to them.
"Do you remember the promise that you made in this Timeless World after defeating Dimaria of the Spriggan 12?" The Arc of Time user reminded. "That you would free me from this Timeless World no matter what. Looks like you fulfilled your promise and as a result the Timeless World is crumbling."
"You mean I did all this?" Rades asked with a dumbfounded expression. Things were going on too fast for him to make any sense out of it. Moreover he doesn't even properly remember what he did that resulted in this.
All he remembers is absorbing the Time Rift thus preventing Acnologia to gain full authority over the concept of time. Then he used that very same power against the Black Dragon to prevent a sudden glimpse of future he saw after having absorbed the power of the Time Rift. Not wanting to let the future he saw pass, he tried to use whatever meager amount of control over time he had to try and turn back time to before they pushed Acnologia inside the rift.
Whatever happened after that was too blank to him. No matter how hard he tried to remember, it wouldn't just click in.
"Even I don't know how you did it but right now I can sense a powerful amount of Time Magic from you. Comparing it to my Arc of Time would be an insult to that power." Ultear concluded before letting out a long sigh and shaking her head. "Enough of that. I need to thank you for what you did. For saving me again."
Saying that she brought down her face closer to his, having a good hold on his cheeks. The brown-haired male didn't even move a muscle and soon enough their faces were so close that they could feel each other's breaths on their lips. Closing her eyes, Ultear crashed her lips onto his, with the latter quickly reciprocating without even wasting a second.
They pulled away from one another, both staring deep into one another's eyes before Rades sat up. Then putting his right hand on her back, he pulled her closer before sharing another passionate kiss, with his hand running down on her smooth dark purple hair. Ultear, in response snaked her arms around his neck, relishing in the moment.
"I think its time for us to go." Ultear spoke, her face now showing more expressions than she previously used to showcase. For the first time, she genuinely smiled and for Rades, it was simply breathtaking. "I don't know where and in what condition we are going to end up outside but please, don't keep me waiting for too long."
Their human bodies were slowly turning transparent as the realm continued to crumble. It was evident that the realm was not just rejecting their presence but their own existence as well and was trying to destroy itself and push the outsiders out from this place.
Rades had no clue whether his final gamble against Acnologia paid off or not; whether everyone got away from there safely or not, are Erza, Jellal, Wendy, Anna and the members of Blue Pegasus safe? Several questions ran in his mind but right now he won't be able to find answers to them. Dwelling on what he did would be pointless. There is only one thing left to do and that was to accept the results and move forward.
"I won't." The Dragon Slayer sincerely responded, interlinking his fingers with hers and touching their foreheads against one another before they fully became transparent and the realm turned into nothingness.
"That was really an interesting spectacle." Spoke a figure shrouded in complete darkness, with only the eldritch yellow markings on them visible. "I wish to see more of your struggles, Rades Bernhart."
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