How I Became the Strongest Sovereign

The last lesson of the day came up and I was planning on telling them about the principle after school. Something in me ached as I felt my instincts go haywire. Something was wrong. Really wrong.

A storm was brewing and the clouds darkened. This was pretty normal as it was still the rainy season but the darkness was noticeably early today. I stared out the window, the tugging feeling not leaving me to rest with my thoughts.

"May I use the restroom?" I abruptly spoke while raising my hand. The teacher lifted his nose up from his book, peering at me before nodding.

I stood up in a hurry, not knowing why I felt such urgency. I looked out of the windows in the hall to see the darkness had fully sucked out any light. The clouds rumbled and blared. I reached the bathrooms but before I could enter the mens, Malia stumbled out of the womens. She was pale, struggling to hold open the door for herself.

"Malia?!" I gasped, as she fell onto me.

Maybe this is why I had a bad feeling. She had been acting strange lately. Is she okay?

She handed me her water bottle as I opened the lid for her. She groaned, taking a big chug and sighing. She melted into my arms as I noticed her slight fever.

"Are you okay?" I asked concerned as she stared out of the window. We could see the dark clouds going on for miles with no light being able to seep through the thickness of the fog.

"I have a bad feeling in my stomach. I feel sick." she whispered, as I cradled her.

"Did you eat something bad?" 

She shook her head no before pulling herself off me with more stability. Her hand lifted from under me and she pointed at the large window at the hall. I turned around to see the moon was blood red and it seemed to have grown in size because it was large in the sky, staring back at us.

Sh*t.

The blood moon.

I had prepared my weapons but I didn't know it'd come so soon. I checked what I knew about it, activating my mana to find that I couldn't tap into my mana pool.

Voadhailis surfaced up to me. 

'The secondary mana pool I created with dragon magic is complete. We should be able to utilise it. Remember it is accessible but it's small and may only supply you with enough mana to make 4 or 5 large scale flame attacks.' he said, and an image of a small mana pool appeared in my head.

'It's better than nothing.' I sighed, walking up to the window.

"Zeref I can't feel my mana." Malia shook, looking at her hands with surprise.

"Have you ever heard of the blood moon?" I looked back at her. She hesitantly nodded, realising what was happening. 

"We are safe though, right? The barrier should be able to hold back any of the monsters possessed by the moon." she uttered, her face losing colour again. The red light shone upon us making her look like she was glowing.

"Shit. I didn't think of the beasts who would attack. Malia, the principle is twisted and I fear he's working for Umbra. He probably let the barrier down so we'll have to hold them off somehow or evacuate everyone." 

Malia walked up to me as I turned back to the window. The forest trees rustled vigorously and trees started to tumble down with force.

An army of beasts was heading straight for the school. But not any beast.

"A rankers…" Malia whispered, watching as hundreds of A rank beasts thudded towards us. A look of determination flashed her eyes as she stepped back from the window in haste.

She pressed the emergency button making the bells ring. Teachers peered out of their classrooms, thinking it was a surprise drill. They look at us in anger.

"Stop messing around with the bell! It's only used for em-"

"LOOK OUTSIDE!" I yelled frantically, as their eyes met the big window and the bright red moon.

"Holy-" One of the teachers whispered under his breath before turning to his class.

"Everyone to the gymnasium!!!" Malia screamed as students and teachers started to rush out of their classrooms, screaming like headless chickens. The floors above and below us rumbled as all we could hear were running footsteps of hundreds of screaming people.

Malia ran down the stairs as I ran after her.

"Where are you going?!" I yelled, gripping her hand. She can't use mana.

"I'll hold the beasts back from entering. You need to help everyone get safely into the gymnasium." she said, looking into my eyes.

"Are you dumb? You have no mana-"

Malia held my face, forcing me to look into her eyes. They flickered before turning bright gold. 

"I don't need mana." her voice echoed as if there were two people saying it. My eyes widened as her eyes turned brown again.

"Trust me." she begged, the crowd pushing in between us as we fell apart. 

"MALIA!!!" I called, watching as she ran down the stairs.

Tears welled my eyes. What the hell just happened? I can't lose her. I can't-

A cry shook me back into reality as random people bumped past me. I moved to the side, looking to see a small tiny dwarven girl with pigtails, crying at the side as people barged past her. It looked to be her first year here, which meant she was two years younger than me.

I crouched down to her level, facing her towards me. 

I have to trust Malia. I'm going to protect everyone. I looked out the window to see Malia rushing outside, facing the school gates and waiting for the army of beasts. My heart dropped as I feared her death.

'Trust her.' Voadhailis reminded me and I nodded, agreeing.

"Don't worry little girl. Everything will be fine." I whispered as I pulled an older year out of the crowd. He grunted, looking up to see me. His eyes widened. 

"Z-Zeref." his eyes dropped in respect.

"Help this girl to the gymnasium safely please." I said, giving her hand to him. He nodded, picking her up and rushing into the crowd.

I struggled through people, walking further down the hall until I reached a crowd of students who were in my class. I scanned their faces before I saw Naz and Jace.

They spot me before I spot them, swimming through the crowd and towards me.

"What's happening?" Jace screamed over the noise.

"The blood moon." I replied, holding onto the both of them and running to the gymnasium.

Soon all the halls started to clear except for the two nurse ladies who were running with a trolley of first aid things.

"Let us help." I stopped running, taking one trolley.

"Thank you dearie." The nice nurse lady said while the mean one rolled her eyes.

We soon reached the gymnasium to see there was more space because the stage wasn't there. People huddled in corners and everyone was sectioned into their year groups. The nurse ladies took their trolley, finding themselves a little station.

Naz ran up to Sara as they engulfed each other in a hug. Jace followed her as I walked away, having a plan laid out in my head.

I walked up to the older kids who were in their last year at this school meaning they were 18. They all stayed fairly calm, some cradling their girlfriends and some talking to the teachers. I walked up to one who was the same height as me. He had a fair amount of muscles and looked strong.

"Zeref." he smiled at me.

Everyone knew me as the guy Xanxus respected. This gave some type of authority to them. He listened carefully to what I was about to say.

"You look fairly strong." I said, scanning him up and down.

He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. 

"I'm on the school's strength team." he said as I looked at him in confusion. They had a strength team? What the hell was that?

He took my confusion as a sign to elaborate.

"Strength wrestling was a popular sport when we were your age. It was like fighting but with no mana. It kind of lost it's hype but I'm on the school's last ever strength team." he said proudly.

I nodded in understanding. This was perfect.

"Can you introduce me to your team?" I asked. I liked the fact that he didn't question me. He called a group of guys in the corner over to us.

"What do you need, Zeref?" one of them said.

"I have some powerful legendary swords but I need to give them to people who are capable of handling them. I need two of your strongest wrestlers to guard each entrance. Two people who are brave enough to defend the school when an A rank beast enters." I said, looking at their eyes.

I saw one guy with bright red hair. He nodded at me in determination.

"I'm the captain and Derek is also really strong. We can take it." he said, pointing at the guy I talked to earlier, as Derek.

I looked at Derek as he also nodded. I don't know if I could trust them.

'Just trust these fools. Better than nothing.' Voadhailis reminded me as I summoned two of my golden swords from my dimension ring. They thanked me, bowing in respect like soldiers. The other wrestlers also bowed.

"Do you know where I can find Moira Belle?" I said politely.

One of them looked up, speaking. "The national sword fighter of the school?"

I nodded.

Another one spoke, pointing to a girl with short hair and a fringe. She huddled with her friends as they all had worried expressions on their faces.

"She is in the year below us," he said.

Moira was famous in the school for taking our school to the nationals with her sword fighting skills. Although she used mana when she fought. I saw her technique first hand and it was similar to Japanese Kendo. I was sure she'd be just as good without mana. 

She had just turned 17 and was supposed to take a scholarship for her amazing sword skills but she declined the offer, deciding to stay at Xanxus academy. Xanxus cherished her as she was a gifted student and took pride in her. It must've upsetted her to know that he left.

I walked up to her, taking her by surprise.

"Hello Zeref!" she smiled warmly.

"Hi Moira. I need your help." I said in concern, holding a silver sword in my hand. She looked down at it and back up at me.

"I need someone skilled to protect everyone when the beasts come. I only have limited swords." I explained as she took the sword from me, adjusting her grip around the handle.

She nodded. "I'm glad you thought of asking me." she smirked, spinning the sword skillfully.

I nodded, smiling at her.

The amount of trust I was putting on these three better be worth it.

Now I only had 2 more weapons left…

"Sir." I said, tapping the Combat Professor's shoulder. He turned around facing me, giving me a wry smile.

"Do you need something?"

"Yes. The school barrier is down and I have an enchanted katana blade I want to give to you. I believe only you can wield it. Since no one can use mana this blade will allow the use of mana strike up to 5 times. Please guard and protect the students." I spoke, handing him the Katana.

He nodded solemnly, before shaking my hand

"Also tell the other professors capable of fighting that the beasts may infiltrate the building and head towards the students. Stay on your toes." I warned, turning around.

"It sounds like you won't be staying here with us. Do you have any other motives?" He asked.

I looked back at him with my left eye, as it glowed an intense hue of yellow and my iris had become a tiny slit in the middle.

"I've got plans."

His face paled at the sight, before breaking out of the stance. Now I had more fighters capable of helping if any beasts got into the main building.

The Dragon Dna in me was reacting to the secondary mana pool and my body was beginning to accept the new type of mana that flowed through my meridians. I could feel the sudden surges of power fluctuating through me, giving me more and more atrength.

Numen had warned me that the Blood Moon was coming soon but this was unheard of. It was too soon!

I rushed over to Jace, who was sitting in a corner comforting Naz. He got up when his gaze met mine.

"Zeref, so what are we doing?" his voice had a sense of determination in it.

"You guys won't be doing anything. Here take these." I handed him some mana gauntlets, "The Blood Moon means you guys won't be able to use mana. 

"These gauntlets have small magic runes that will boost your attack power. Use these if things get rough. I need to go help Malia."

"What do you mean, go help her? Where is she?!" Naz got up, her voice showing desperation.

"She's fighting off the beasts outside." I replied, avoiding eye contact.

"What?! By herself! What happened to the barrier?!" Naz gripped my collar.

"She'll handle it. She can use mana somehow. And that damned Principal, he's evil. He let the barrier down." I flicked her hands away. 

I flash stepped away, jumping out of a window and ricocheting off of the walls of the buildings before making it to the roof.

Removing my eyepatch, my limiter was removed off my body and I felt my strength returning and my body becoming much lighter. I scanned the battlefield in front of me. There seemed to be about a 1000 beasts in total coming for the school. I had to help Malia.

I didn't know what the flickering of her eyes meant but I hoped it was something good.

I checked my MP and skills menu. I could only use flame attacks and the MP cap was at 2000. Not that bad.

'Do you know what that girl is?' Voad asked, an amusement to his voice.

'What?'

'She's a Spirit Wolf. They're ancient. A being on par with us Dragons. You want her to be your serpentine right, good choice.' He smirked.

A being on par with the mighty true dragons huh.