"Everyone! I really saw a dragon! What a huge black dragon!"
The little girl raised her hands hard, trying to measure the size of the black dragon in her mouth.
But the adults around didn't take it seriously. The little girl had said such words many times, and they just thought it was just the innocent words of the little girl.
"Daphne, you're fantasizing again."
"Where in this world are dragons still existing?"
"Yes, all the dragons are dead."
"Could it be that he mistook a winged lizard monster for a dragon? Children have the best imaginations."
"…"
The adults responded to the little girl with a smile, but Daphne continued to claim that she had seen a dragon with her own eyes. Her repetition over and over again made some adults impatient.
"Don't be unreasonable, Daphne. How can a little kid like you without parents imagine such a good thing?!"
"Why are you arguing with a little kid?"
"Daphne, are you okay? Uncle will give you some candy…"
"…"
The little girl who was pushed down and then helped up had red eyes. That day, she made up her mind to make the dragon appear again in this world.
Since I can't prove that the huge black dragon I saw with my own eyes really exists, I'll just create one myself!
From then on, in order to bring the dragon she worshipped back to the world, Daphne studied hard until late every day, and eventually became a talented magical scientist.
However, the research of magical science requires a lot of funds and resources, especially a project as resource-intensive as recreating a dragon. Daphne is simply unable to afford it and cannot find anyone willing to invest.
But things finally looked bright. A priest who claimed to be interested in dragons approached Daphne, expressed his willingness to invest in her and provided her with a "Dragon-Slaying Crystal" with fire attributes.
Faced with the olive branch that finally appeared, even though Daphne knew that the other party was not a good person, because of her admiration for dragons, she accepted it without hesitation.
The priest asked Daphne not to conduct research in the area supervised by the Council, so she returned to her hometown and opened a research institute in the corner of the town.
As Daphne conducted more and more in-depth research, she gradually became obsessed with "dragons". She created an artificial life form with consciousness and gave it the form of a giant dragon.
For the sake of the experiment, Daphne even did something ridiculous like forcing the town residents to fight against the "artificial life form – Dragoon".
But everyone in the town knew how to use the magic of concealment, and they were all afraid of Daphne, so they all used magic to hide.
This made Daphne, who was in a frenzy, angry, so she used the power of the dragon riders to block the town and prevent the "Invisibility" magic from being lifted.
But the research on dragoons soon reached a bottleneck.
Although the Dragon Slayer Magic Crystal is made from the heart of a dead dragon, it has limited magic power and cannot sustain the activities of the "Dragon Rider" for a long time.
The vitality and magic power of dragons far surpass those of humans. Now that dragons have been destroyed, the only way to find magic power that can match them is to be a dragon slayer who fights using the "power of dragons."
Since the dragon riders were created with the fire-attributed dragon-slayer crystal as the core, Daphne needs to find a dragon-slayer wizard with the same attribute.
The cherry-haired boy who broke into Wuyin Town at that time was a suitable target.
But the cooperating priests stopped Daphne because the magic guild she was targeting was too difficult for them to handle.
No other Fire Dragon Slayers have been found over the years, but Daphne never expected that the target she had once targeted would come to her door again.
Natsu's figure was reflected in the glasses, and the dragon rider behind him roared. Daphne stared at Natsu, caught up in extreme emotions.
Make the dragoon a real dragon!
The giant dragon of artificial life opened its mouth and a huge flame blazed, mercilessly engulfing the outsiders.
The priest Daqilu, who was wearing a white robe, glanced at his partner and said, "Hey! Daphne, don't burn that dragon slayer to death."
"Don't worry, the Fire Dragon Slayer is immune to most fires. It will depend on you to catch him later."
Daphne commanded the dragoons to attack, with the real purpose of eliminating outsiders other than Natsu.
Unfortunately, she underestimated the Dragon Slayer and overestimated the power of the Dragon Rider.
The flames spewed out by the dragon rider suddenly spun and twisted into noodle-like shapes, and were swallowed up by Natsu in front of Daphne's shocked gaze.
In addition to immunity, there is also swallowing. The "Dragon Slayer" magic that allows humans to have the physique of a dragon is not that simple.
Wiping his mouth, Natsu couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.
"Thank you for the treat."
"Next, it's my return gift!"
Magic power exploded, and Natsu used the Fire Dragon's Iron Fist again.
However, this time, Natsu's right arm that was swinging the punch was covered in a layer of mysterious dark luster, and even the rotating fiery red magic circle was stained with a hint of deep black.
The roaring dragon-slaying flames and the hard, domineering iron fist.
With one blow, half of the dragon rider's body was shattered by Natsu.
Noah knocked a member of the Black Magic Cult unconscious and looked expressionlessly at the Dragon Rider who was being torn apart by Natsu.
A dragon-shaped biological weapon with a dragon-slayer crystal as its core would be a complete failure if it were to face a dragon-slayer wizard.
The artificial life form dragon is not a real dragon after all.
However, this also gave Noah a deeper impression of dragon-slaying magic.
That is to never let his "Dragon Knight" face the Dragon Slayer. Noah doesn't want Edras' 400 years of hard work to be torn to pieces like the "Dragon Knight".
"Noah! Stop posing like a cool guy! That priest is trying to escape!"
The minions who were hit by Gray's ice hammer cried out, but he couldn't stop the black magic priest Daqilu who was determined to escape.
However, before Noah set off, Mira, who received the Soul of Satan, chased after him even faster. Looking at the two people fighting further and further away, Noah chose not to keep up.
Although there has been a rumor that the Black Magic Priest is equivalent to an S-class wizard, based on Noah's previous battles with three Black Magic Priests, this statement is completely unreasonable.
I don't know about other magic guilds, but at least Noah can be sure that the S-class wizards of Fairy Tail are definitely stronger than the black magic priests.
Isn't it normal for a guild that engages in group fights every day to be stronger?
What's more, Noah had reasons to stay.
Daphne's artificial life form, the dragon, has a certain degree of self-awareness, that is, life.
Noah wanted to get his hands on this technology.