47)The King's New Life

Ivan Dreyar was an angry man as he paced around in his office, his two officers looking concerned at their guild master’s rage while glancing over to the empty two seats where their former guildmates were supposed to be.

“It was a perfect plan. We would have finally become a Legal Guild, won the Grand Magic Games and bought Fairy Tail’s old headquarters with the money so that I could find out what Lumen Histoire is. It would have worked too if not for the fact that my vile father and his guild decided that this year was the year to finally return to the spotlight.”

“That and they were even stronger than you anticipated, master.”

“I know, Narpudding!” Ivan growled while turning his glare towards the short purple man, who nodded while shrinking into his seat as Ivan turned back to glaring at the newspaper where Fairy Tail was posing in front of their guild that they bought back.

When he had rigged the match so that he & his top officers could fight against his son, he did expect it to be a tough battle.

Oh yes, he did but for his son to be beat all five of them on his own with minimal difficulty? He would have felt like a proud father if not for all the rage currently burning inside of him at the fact that one Fairy Tail mage was all it took to take out the strongest of Raven Tail.

One! Fucking! Mage! And the most humiliating part of it all was the fact that it wasn’t even the strongest one out of them all.

‘We should have just bombed the place the moment we had the chance, but my fucking pride got in the way.’

“So, what do we do now, master? With Flare & Obra gone, our fighting power has gone down significantly.” Kurohebi’s words drew Ivan from his rage and he looked at his two officers before both were surprised as a smug grin appeared on the guild master’s face.

“Luckily for us, I thought ahead in case of our defeat and sent out Alexis to pick up something. He’ll be arriving soon and with him will be a powerful object.”

“What is this object?” Narpudding asked with a confused frown, watching as Ivan chuckled maliciously while glaring at Fairy Tail’s photo.

“Something that will help us take down Fairy Tail once and for all. Now, go an-!” Before Ivan could finish his sentence, his eyes widened as a thunderous boom erupted from behind his office door, quickly stabilizing himself as he felt the entire guild hall shake from it.

“Go!” He shouted at Narpudding & Kurohebi as he swiftly destroyed all the evidence in the room, rushing out just moments after his officers only to freeze at the sight of his guild hall.

Everything was burning, scarlet flames greedily eating up every bit of matter that they could touch as limbs, heads & dismembered bodies laid scattered around the first floor.

In the centre of it stood Flare, her eyes wide & her body shaking, but the reason for Ivan freezing in his tracks was the being standing next to her.

Unlike when Ivan saw him before while he was unconscious, the wrath burning in the Hero of Fiore’s eyes and the scales covering parts of his body made him look like a draconic demon as he looked up at him with a wide grin.

Eric on the other hand felt nothing but bloodlust and rage coursing through his veins as he looked up at Ivan, Narpudding & Kurohebi, the scarlet flames of his Hell Flame Dragon Slayer magic increasing in intensity with his rage while the flooring under him was slowly being carved up by his ethernano.

“So, you’re the fuckers who tormented my Flare while I was not here?” Eric growled as he slowly floated up to them, Ivan stumbling back while Narpudding & Kurohebi quickly went into their fighting stance.

However, as they waited for Eric to attack, the dragon slayer simply moved past them to kneel in front of Ivan, the guild master frozen in fear as he watched two of his strongest mages slowly sliding apart like cubed beef before falling to the floor with a sickening splat.

“Do you have any regrets?” Eric asked as he raised a hand to Ivan’s shoulder, flames quickly reaching out & burning the man’s mouth shut just before a sickening shriek echoed in his throat.

Eric didn’t even look phased at it as he continued to fuel more & more ethernano into his hand, watching as it slowly sliced from Ivan’s left shoulder to his right hip like a hot knife through butter.

With a lunge, he was gone from his position and kneeling in front of Flare, who was seated on her knees while looking up at him with wide eyes.

“...Why?” Was all she could get out after a long moment of silence, Eric simply smiling as the flames continued to rage around them.

“Why? You’re my fiancée. I would burn the world down before I lose you again.”

“You killed her. You don’t deserve her.” Eric just felt a painful stab in his chest as he heard Flare’s whispered words in his ears, ignoring it as he looked at the Flare in front of him before sighing as she passed out.

“Hah, knew that would happen.” He muttered as he slowly reached under her and picked her up, making sure she was secure before frowning as he looked around at the burning guild hall.

With a thought, the flames all increased in size tremendously and consumed the guild hall & them in a scarlet blaze, Eric simply smiling as he felt the comforting heat around him before using his Heavenly Eye to scan the area.

A moment later, he smirked as he saw Alexis rushing back towards the guild, the mage probably having felt the continuous pulses of his ethernano as he massacred the guild.

With a smirk, Eric walked out of the blazing inferno around him just as Alexis came to a stop in front of the guild, the mage looking surprised to see Eric & Flare walking out.

However, Eric was more interested in the burlap sack the gold-armoured man was carrying, noting the jutsushiki for ‘Flame Cancel’ and ‘Heat Absorption’ on it before frowning as he could see something breathing inside of it.

‘The cloth is probably layered with some kind of ethernano redirection/ absorption material to hide whatever’s inside of it.’ Eric thought with a frown as he slowly placed the unconscious Flare on the ground, watching as Alexis placed the sack down as well.

The next moment, the gold armoured man was sent blasting through the air as Eric delivered a vicious fist to his jaw, the dragon slayer not done as he raced through the air after him.

Watching as Alexis flipped through the air to face him while requipping his signature flag, the mage tried to use a spell before his eyes widened as his flag was diced up like nothing, Eric raising a hand before rushing past his foe with a smirk & his hand held up.

The next moment, Eric rolled his wrist as he flew back to Flare, not caring for Alexis’ headless corpse & decapitated head slowly falling to the ground before they were consumed in a blaze.

‘So, what are you?’ Eric thought with a frown as he landed next to the sack, tracing a line along the length of the sack and watching as it fell apart only to be surprised at the burning feline inside of it.

Covered in weak orange flames, the tiny anthropomorphic cat appeared to be on fire as they laid on their sides while taking weak ragged breaths, Eric slowly reaching out & giving the cat some of his ethernano before smiling as their ragged breathing grew lighter & their flames burned brighter.

‘Huh, was this Exceed in the manga? Probably in the later chapters.’ Eric thought with a frown as he picked up the cat and softly wrapped it around his neck, making sure to keep it in place with a fire rope before walking over & picking up Flare once more.

He didn’t want to return to the palace right now, especially with Flare & their new addition, so he had to go to the only other place he knew they would be welcome.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Urggh…” Flare groaned as she slowly woke up from her dream, a bit saddened that she couldn’t live out her life with the guy in her dreams after he killed her tormentors.

Hearing the thundering footsteps of her family outside her room, Flare groaned as she rolled over to the only other heat source in bed, reaching out & cuddling it to her chest before freezing as her mind slowly woke up.

‘Wasn’t I at the old guild? Why am I at home? Wait, please don’t tell me…’ Her thoughts trailed off as she slowly opened her eyes, surprised to see herself lying in her bed and even more surprised to find that the heat was coming from a burning cat that was smiling as it looked up at her.

“Hello!” The cat greeted in a female voice, giggling as Flare simply looked down at her with a shocked look.

“A-An Exceed?!” She exclaimed while quickly scrambling backwards, but unfortunately, she went too far and winced as she fell off of her back, looking up at her roof while hearing the cat giggling at her misfortune.

Slowly sitting back up, she looked over on her bed to see the cat sitting happily, Flare standing up while the two of them looked each other in the eye.

“H-Hi.”

“Hi! I’m Miss Fortune!” The she-cat greeted with a smile and Flare gave a soft smile at her enthusiasm while nodding.

“Flare. Flare Corona.”

“I know! The hero told me about you.”

“T-The hero?” Flare asked before turning as the door to her house opened before being surprised at the sight of Eric walking in while drying his hair, the dragon slayer looking over before looking just as surprised to see her up.

However, Flare was more focused on his muscular figure covered in what was either sweat or water, his skin glistening in the dim light of her room before she looked up & was confused to see the blush on his face.

“Um, you might want to…” Eric trailed off while gesturing at his chest, Flare looking down before squeaking as she saw a boob hanging out from her nightgown.

“W-Wait, d-d-d-di…”

“No! No, when we arrived last night, she woke up and I asked her to change you since I’m sure you wouldn’t want to sleep in your dirty clothes.” Eric quickly explained, Flare giving a giggle at his nervousness before remembering her state of dress & quickly pulling her chest back into her gown.

“O-Okay, then. W-Wait, what do you mean when you said that I was your f-fiancée yesterday?” Flare asked, watching as Eric looked at her before scratching the back of his head.

“How about you go take a shower and when you get back, I’ll explain everything?”

“O-Okay. W-Would you…? I need to take out some clothes.” Flare asked, smiling as Eric chuckled & nodded.

“Of course. I’ll see you outside.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“S-So, in this alternate timeline, y-you and I were engaged, right?”

“Right.”

“And we were close to the royal family & live in the capital?”

“Yep.”

“And we were also going to retire and become nobles & confidants to the royal family?”

“That’s correct.” Eric spoke with a nod, watching as Flare looked at him before he & Miss Fortune smirked as she groaned while tapping her head on the table in front of her.

“Why is it that every me other than me gets to live such a much better life?” Flare grumbled and Eric chuckled as he slowly rubbed her back.

“See it as you getting more character development than your other selves and becoming a more powerful mage mentally.” He said, smiling softly as she looked up at him with a cute glare.

“Oh, is that so? Tell her how you let the entire world down because you were too much of a pussy to fight for your love. Go on, tell her.”

‘Go away.’ Eric thought with a slight frown as he sat back down, it quickly disappearing as Flare sighed before sitting upright to see the amused smile on his face.

“So, what now? I-I mean, I can understand that I’m Flare, but I’m not your Flare so I don’t know how this is supposed to go now.”

“Well, we’re both reasonable adults so we’ll see where it goes and if it doesn’t work out at the end of the day, we can call it off.”

“Wait, you two aren’t getting married?” Miss Fortune asked with a dejected & shocked look, Eric shaking his head while Flare blushed before quickly shaking hers as well.

“I-I mean, I wouldn’t mind it, but I would want to learn more about him before I make such a big decision.”

“Same here. My Flare and you are so distinct in personality that it’s like you’re two different sisters.”

“O-Oh? Really?”

“Different paths of life lead to what we become later in life.” Eric spoke with a shrug, chuckling as Flare & Ms. Fortune simply gave him a deadpan stare.

“Really?”

“What? It’s just me giving some good advice.”

“Hah, I’m guessing my variant had her hands full with you, didn’t she?” Flare asked with a raised eyebrow, giggling as Eric snorted.

“That’s an understatement.” He muttered, sighing as Flare giggled before turning to Ms. Fortune as the Exceed sat happily on the table.

“So, what is so special about you that Raven Tail decided to kidnap you?” He asked, waiting as Ms. Fortune looked at him before sighing as she nodded and answered.

“Well, you probably know what I am, right?”

“An Exceed, a race of small feline anthropomorphic creatures that are able to fly through the usage of their unique magic called Aera.” Eric spoke, smirking as both ladies looked surprised at his answer.

“I read a lot.”

“W-Well, you are right. However, unlike most Exceeds, I have a special affinity towards Fire Magic that lets me adapt & copy any fire that I consume.” She explained, Eric looking at her for a long moment of silence before speaking.

“Like…any fire?”

“Any fire. I’ve eaten Rainbow Fire, Fire Magic fire and Dragon fire.”

“When I fed you yesterday?” Eric asked, blinking as Ms. Fortune smiled & shook her head.

“Yes and no. I’m talking about the Fire Dragon Slayer flames from the guild that I’m from. Ignia, the Fire Dragon God.”

“What?” Flare asked in shock, Ms. Fortune smiling proudly as she nodded.

However, both of them missed Eric’s wide eyes as he looked at Ms. Fortune, a thought flashing through his mind as he looked up at the sky.

‘One moment of peace. Is that so much to ask for?’

A/N: And the story continues!! Next chapter…I have no clue?! Let’s find out on the next chapter!!

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next chapter…

Ba-Bye~!