Fairy Tail : I am Ankhseram

Long stretches of memory flooded into Ankh's mind, so vivid that it felt as though he had personally lived through those distant years.

From that perspective, he seemed to set out on another journey.

At some point, Irene disappeared from his side as well, leaving Ankhseram to wander the world alone.

Time continued to flow.

He crossed mountains, rivers, kingdoms, and countless unfamiliar lands until, after what felt like an eternity, Ankhseram finally stopped walking.

Then the fragments of memory began sinking back into darkness.

Ankh's thoughts gradually blurred with them, growing fainter and fainter until—

"Ah—!"

Ankh jolted upright in bed with a cry of pain.

For several seconds, he simply sat there in a daze, his clothes completely soaked through with sweat.

As his thoughts finally cleared, pain from every part of his body rushed in all at once. He instinctively tried to circulate Life Divine Power to heal himself.

Nothing happened.

The power inside him felt like a frozen river.

It was still there, but no matter how he tried, he could no longer command it as freely as before.

"You're awake?"

A gentle female voice reached him.

Ankh froze and quickly looked around.

This place…

Why did it seem so familiar?

"This is Edolas. Don't you remember?"

Flowers swayed softly all around him.

The bed had been placed in the middle of a vast field bathed in golden light, and among the blossoms stood a familiar woman smiling warmly in his direction.

"Anko?"

The moment Ankh saw the feminine version of himself, her identity came rushing back.

She was the legendary god of Edolas.

Another version of Ankh from a parallel world—and apparently someone who had known Ankhseram long before his current life.

"You saved me?"

Ankh quickly checked his condition.

Most of the Destruction Divine Power and Soul Divine Power ravaging his body had already been removed.

He immediately understood.

Anko smoothed down her white dress and sat beside the bed.

"Taking on Zous and Sorda by yourself was certainly straightforward of you."

Ankh clenched and unclenched his fist. His body still felt hollow and weak.

"What else was I supposed to do? None of the others can deal with gods yet. If I didn't step up, who would?"

"Giving someone a fish only feeds them once. Teaching them how to fish is another matter."

Anko spoke as casually as though the two of them were old friends catching up.

"Dragon Power is needed to properly fight dragons. In the same way, divine power can be used against gods."

"Quite a few of your companions are already qualified to inherit divine power, aren't they?"

Ankh frowned.

Then he actually thought about it.

Wait…

She was right.

Erza was the most obvious example.

After her battle with her daughter, the inheritance of the God of Combat and Skill had already entered her body and remained dormant there.

There really was a path forward.

"Wait!"

Ankh suddenly remembered something else.

"The people who brought me here—where are they?"

A helpless smile appeared on Anko's beautiful face.

"One left already. The other is still wandering around this world entertaining herself."

Ankh immediately remembered the voices he had faintly heard while unconscious.

"The red-haired woman left?"

"Calling her a woman…"

Anko looked amused.

"Well, yes, technically. She may look like a mature, elegant beauty, but judging from her temperament, she's still sulking like a child."

Her smile grew even stranger, and the teasing in her eyes became impossible to hide.

Ankh failed to notice.

"She left…"

He frowned and fell into thought.

Now that some of his memories from the Ankhseram era had returned, he more or less understood the broad outline of his history with Irene.

Back then, while Ankhseram was wandering among mortals, he apparently had an impulsive idea.

He wanted to know how humans would react if he took the form of the race they feared and hated most.

So he adopted the name Belserion, used divine power to transform himself into a dragon, and entered the human kingdom of Dragnof.

Most humans reacted exactly as one would expect.

They were terrified.

They ignored every gesture of goodwill he offered and immediately demanded that the dragon be driven away.

Only one person accepted him.

The queen of Dragnof—a still-young Irene.

Everything after that had followed naturally.

Ankhseram became Irene's teacher, passing on powerful magic and vast amounts of knowledge.

Irene eventually used a contract to link herself with "Belserion," analyzed Dragon Power through that connection, and developed Dragon Slayer Magic.

For the first time, humanity gained the means to truly fight dragons.

Unfortunately, it did not end well.

As Irene gradually underwent dragonification because of Dragon Slayer Magic, the very people she had protected came to see her as a monster.

They betrayed her.

And that had apparently been the first time Ankhseram truly acted on emotion.

He broke his own principle of refusing to interfere with humanity's choices and erased every person who had betrayed Irene.

Not injured them.

Not imprisoned them.

Erased them so completely that not even ashes remained.

Ankh let out a long sigh.

'Seriously… Irene, Erza… There's no way that resemblance is just a coincidence, right?'

The memories after that point were still hazy, but he remembered enough to know that once Ankhseram solved Irene's dragonification problem, he left without saying goodbye.

And judging from what little he remembered…

Irene had been extremely angry about that.

"She was probably the one who arranged for you to end up in Fairy Tail."

Anko spoke casually from beside him.

"She doesn't particularly like humans, and she doesn't seem especially fond of her daughter either. But you were obsessed with humanity, and you were also an old friend she trusted."

Ankh's mouth twitched.

It sounded ridiculous.

And yet…

Annoyingly, it made a lot of sense.

Then his eyes narrowed.

"Wait. You're reading my mind again!"

Anko immediately turned her head away and began whistling innocently.

Ankh glared at her for several seconds before deciding it was pointless.

Instead, he hesitated and asked something that had been bothering him for a while.

"You should probably tell me what you actually are now."

"I saw the statues of all twenty-three gods."

"You weren't among them."

Anko seemed to have expected the question.

She rose from the bed and gently brushed her fingertips across the flowers beside her.

"As for me…"

"I'm a special life-form created by the God Ankhseram."

"My purpose was to guide and assist you after you became human."

She turned back toward him with a soft smile.

"Much like Seram."

As she expected, Ankh reacted immediately to the name.

He grabbed her hand.

"Seram didn't disappear, right?"

"I can clearly feel that he's still there, but no matter what I do, he won't answer me!"

Anko gently patted his hand in reassurance.

"Zous was correct about some things."

"After you and Seram used that fusion technique, the two of you truly did merge into one."

Ankh's expression tightened.

"But…"

Anko continued before he could interrupt.

"Ankhseram had already prepared for that possibility long ago."

She pointed toward him with an elegant smile.

"You knew there was a chance the 'Seram' you created could disappear, which would also sever the inheritance of Death Divine Power."

"So you developed a spell that could be used even while possessing a human body."

"Its purpose was to awaken Seram again when the time came."

Ankh's eyes lit up.

Then Anko's graceful expression suddenly transformed into a mischievous grin.

"And…"

She nudged him with her elbow and lowered her voice conspiratorially.

"Once you become strong enough, you can even separate Seram from yourself and turn him into a completely independent person."

Her smile widened.

"You could make Seram into whatever kind of beautiful woman you want~"

Ankh stared at her in silence.

For some reason, she seemed way too excited about this particular subject.

He could have sworn she hadn't been this shameless the last time they met.

"So what spell is it?"

Anko pointed directly at his chest.

"You already saw it just now, didn't you?"

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