Chapter 366: FTG Chapter 363: Auditions
The content in the manuscript caused all the students present to be startled.
Their first master and first headmaster, Weston, had declared war against that rumored ’Dragon of Apocalypse, Acnologia?
This was simply too thrilling!!
By the way, was this true or false?
If it was true, then what was the outcome?
Everyone widened their eyes and held their breath, waiting for Erzi to continue telling the story.
Erzi, however, stopped reading aloud, gripping the manuscript in her hands as she stared blankly in a trance, her thoughts in a flurry.
She knew that Weston had lived all the way until the present, and looking at the previous text, Acnologia was clearly not the type of character who would hold back in battle.
Since it was like this, the outcome of that war back then should have been a victory for the human side, right?
Could it be that Acnologia was already dead?
"Erzi, Erzi..."
"What’s wrong with you? Continue speaking!"
"You wouldn’t happen to be frightened, right."
"Getting frightened just by telling a story? Truly a coward..."
Amidst the clamorous voices of the crowd, Erzi finally returned to her senses. She composed her mind, refocused her gaze on the manuscript, and continued reading.
The plot development of the lower half of the ’Dragon King Festival’ was completely different from the upper half.
The upper half resembled an ensemble drama, with the protagonists being Irene, Igneel, and Acnologia, mainly recounting three acts of plot: ’The Emergence of Dragon Slayer Magic’, ’The Opposition of the Giant Dragons’, and ’Acnologia Eliminating the Dragons’;
The story of the lower half was much closer to a traditional stage play, taking the perspective of the protagonist Weston as the first-person point of view, recounting the process of how he founded the ’Fairy Coalition Army’, assembled partners, and finally combined forces with everyone to defeat Acnologia.
It was just that, in order to make the entire stage play more logical, dramatic, eye-catching, and deeply rooted in people’s hearts, the creator added some clearly fictional character settings and conflicts between characters into the plot.
For example: the background of the protagonist Weston and a portion of his partners in the ’Fairy Coalition Army’ was changed to being born four hundred years ago, their homes being destroyed by Acnologia, and they themselves being raised by kind dragons, finally becoming Dragon Slayers who traveled through time to arrive in later generations.
Other people might not be clear, but those originating from Fairy Tail knew that this was clearly adapting the backgrounds of Natsu and the others.
"...The Enchantment Master Irene used her magic to divide Acnologia into two parts: ’soul’ and ’flesh’."
"The Fairy Coalition Army thus also split into two teams; one team used ’Fairy Law’ to destroy its physical body in the mortal world, while the other team used ’Dragon Slayer Secret Art’ to crush its soul within the rift of time and space."
"Both magics took effect simultaneously, finally defeating Acnologia, but He left behind the sentence ’I will definitely be back’ right before His death."
"Finally, there is the post-credits easter egg of this stage play."
"Although Acnologia was defeated, He fortunately managed to retain a wisp of remnant soul, escaping into the Demon World via the rift of time and space, and will unfold a new story there..."
Having read through the entire manuscript, Erzi was stunned, and the crowd nearby was also stunned.
"This is it?"
"What does the easter egg at the very end mean? This stage play actually wants to release a sequel?!"
"Then like this... did Acnologia count as dead or not dead after all?"
Natsu and Gajeel cared very much about this matter.
They knew their mission was precisely to deal with Acnologia, but if the opponent had already been finished off several decades ago, then wouldn’t they have traveled through time in vain?
Mmh...
It seemed they hadn’t come in vain either; at least life inside the guild and the academy was still very interesting!
"About this... we probably have to ask the person involved."
Erzi blinked her eyes, deciding to go to the cabin in the woods later to ask Weston. She always felt that this stage play possessed the handiwork of this old ancestor of hers.
An hour later, Erzi brought Natsu, Gajeel, and the others to the cabin in the woods.
After finishing reading the stage play, they could no longer wait to know the true ending of Acnologia at this moment.
However, when the group arrived at the small cabin, what awaited them was a tightly closed door, as well as a wooden board with a message written on it—Out to visit a friend, returning at the Harvest Festival!
"Out to visit a friend?"
"That old grandpa is already at such an age, yet he unexpectedly still has friends who are alive..."
"Who says friends must definitely be around the same age, it could also be a friendship across generations, you know?"
Regardless of the situation, since they couldn’t find the person, the crowd could only return for the time being.
As the days of the Harvest Festival drew closer and closer, Fairy Academy also became livelier day by day.
The stage play ’Dragon King Festival’ was highly acclaimed among the students, and the various Wizards signed up enthusiastically one after another. Fortunately, the characters appearing in the entire stage play were numerous, not to the extent of making these applicants return with regrets.
If there truly was anything disappointing, it was failing to be selected to play the character one wanted to play.
The most sought-after characters in the entire stage play were naturally the critical figures in the plot. They were, respectively: the protagonist Weston who defeated Acnologia at the end, followed by the big boss Acnologia, the ’Fire Dragon King’ Igneel, and the ’Mother of Dragons’ Irene, and further down were the two Celestial Spirit Wizards who opened the Eclipse Gate.
In order to fight for these characters, during the following few days, there was no lack of fighting and brawling among the students, until Headmaster Erza personally stepped forward to stabilize the venue, and this kind of phenomenon finally ceased.
After a chaotic week passed, the actors for the ’Dragon King Festival’ were finally settled.
The two Celestial Spirit Wizards who opened the Eclipse Gate in the story would be played by Anna and Erzi, among whom Anna was playing herself.
—Upon learning about this script of the ’Dragon King Festival’, Anna looked up Erza at the first opportunity to consult her regarding matters about Acnologia. It was just that the reply obtained was that she wasn’t clear either, and since the script was given by Weston who was now playing missing, the answer could not be investigated, so Anna had no choice but to drop it for the time being.
The character of ’Igneel’ was played by Natsu.
On this matter, Natsu’s attitude was exceptionally unyielding, having long since released words like ’whoever snatches this character from me, I will beat them up, the kind without showing any face’.
The crowd knew his relationship with Igneel and understood that he didn’t want anyone else playing Igneel, so they simply did him a favor.
The player for ’Acnologia’ was Gajeel.
That disposition of his that looked like a villain even when he smiled was simply the big BOSS chosen by heaven!
The character of ’Irene’ was handed over to Mirajane.
The sole criteria for selecting this character was beauty, and in this aspect, other people simply possessed zero competitiveness facing Mirajane.
The applicants for ’Weston’ were the most numerous.
After selecting carefully from a thousand choices, the academy ultimately decided to have Gray take up the post.
As for the others, ranging up to Ultear of the third grade of middle school, down to Wendy who was just in the second grade, as well as exchange students like Jellal, and Exceeds like Happy, they each also received characters like ’the giant dragons of four hundred years ago’ or ’members of the Fairy Coalition Army’.
The time following that consisted of rehearsal after rehearsal.
In the blink of an eye, the Harvest Festival arrived.
