Chapter 655 - 655: Athena’s Past

Once everyone had taken their seats, Elefseria began telling the story.

It had happened more than a hundred years ago, before Mage guilds had even been established. Back then, Elefseria took in a disciple named Duke.

Contrary to what the fake Duke had claimed, the real Duke had never been lacking in magical talent. In fact, he had been an exceptionally gifted young man.

However, terrified by the witch hunts taking place at the time, he ultimately abandoned the path of a Mage and left Elefseria's side.

Some time later, the world's first Mage guild, Magia Dragon, was founded.

It became an organization dedicated to protecting Mages and giving them somewhere they could live without constantly fearing persecution.

"And then the Six Dragon Gods appeared, and Magia Dragon's battle against them began," Elefseria continued.

"Their strength far surpassed that of ordinary dragons. We had no effective means of dealing with them, so eventually, I sought out my former disciple Duke."

By then, Duke had already achieved considerable success as an alchemist, and Gold Owl had only recently been established.

Elefseria approached him with a request: create a weapon capable of opposing the Six Dragon Gods. Duke readily accepted the commission from his former master.

And so Athena, the weapon created to fight the Six Dragon Gods, came into existence.

At first, Elefseria had been surprised to discover that the so-called weapon was actually a doll.

Duke, however, told him that Athena could already be considered a "person," because she was an artificial being remarkably close to human.

Athena's appearance resembled the mechanical race of the western continent so closely that Elefseria initially assumed she had been constructed using machinery from Alakitasia.

In truth, although mechanical-looking components had indeed been incorporated into the parts responsible for her movement, Athena herself was better described as a magical—or perhaps alchemical—life-form.

She could speak, think, and communicate normally.

Duke introduced Athena to the man who would become her master, and even after all these years, Elefseria still remembered every movement she made and every word she spoke when they first met.

Athena opened her eyes, clasped her hands behind her back, then closed them again and bowed respectfully before him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you."

Her politeness actually left Elefseria unsure how to respond at first.

In the end, it was Duke who explained Athena's purpose to her.

"You were created to defeat the Five Dragon Gods. We would like to borrow your strength."

"Understood."

Athena lowered her gaze and nodded without hesitation.

After that, Elefseria took Athena with him, and the two began hunting dragons.

Whenever they confronted one, Athena displayed overwhelming strength.

Her performance was so astonishing that Elefseria began to believe that defeating the Six Dragon Gods might truly be possible.

Ultear suddenly interrupted him.

"Wait. If she could actually defeat dragons..."

Erza's eyes widened as the same thought occurred to her.

"Does Athena possess Dragon Slayer power?"

"Yes."

Elefseria nodded.

Mira, Wendy, and the others immediately turned toward Athena, who was still sitting in the far corner beside Natsu with her head lowered.

"But that power was far too destructive..." Elefseria continued, his voice growing heavier.

Whenever Athena eliminated a dragon, the surrounding town often ended up being destroyed along with it.

"I never told you to burn down the town!" Elefseria had shouted at her after one such battle.

Athena merely answered with complete calm.

"I was never informed that destroying the town was discouraged."

"Of course you're not supposed to burn down the whole town!!!"

"In that case, the efficiency of eliminating the dragon will decrease significantly."

Athena was merely stating what she considered an objective fact.

From her perspective, she had only been following Elefseria's instructions: kill dragons.

Their arguments did nothing to solve the problem.

Athena continued destroying towns whenever she fought, and eventually Elefseria had no choice but to return to Gold Owl and ask Duke to modify her.

However, when he arrived at the guild, he was met by grieving members covering their faces as they wept.

Duke had suffered a fatal failure during an alchemical experiment and passed away the previous day.

"So Duke really did die a long time ago?"

Lucy rested her chin on one hand, still thinking through everything they had heard.

"Then who exactly was the Duke we met at Gold Owl?"

A faint, eerie female voice suddenly drifted into Lucy's ear from behind.

"Maybe a ghost... or a spirit..."

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Lucy's scream echoed throughout the guild hall.

"Mira-nee! Why would you do that?!"

Lucy glared at Mira indignantly after the commotion finally died down.

Once everyone had settled again, Ultear voiced her own theory.

"Could he have been revived through alchemy?"

"What?!"

Erza stared at her in shock.

Ultear explained, "God Serena told us that he had already died and is technically a doll now, yet he still looks and acts almost exactly like a living person. I'm wondering if Duke might be the same."

"I can't say."

Elefseria shook his head. He had never been the sort to make firm claims about things he did not understand.

Raizel, however, found Ultear's theory plausible.

"God Serena already gives us precedent for it. We can't rule out the possibility."

A distant look entered Elefseria's eyes.

"Even if that is what happened, the Duke I saw today is nothing like the man I once knew. Duke was never that kind of person..."

"So what happened after that?" Wendy asked, urging him to continue.

Elefseria lowered his head, his voice turning somber.

"I thought I had sealed Athena away. Until very recently, I truly believed she was still sealed."

After learning of Duke's death, Elefseria had personally used a magical barrier to seal Athena deep underground.

His intention was to wait until the right time came—until another genius alchemist like Duke appeared who might be capable of properly completing or modifying her.

But during his later battle with Dogramag, the Earth Dragon God tore out Elefseria's heart.

Along with the knowledge contained within that heart, the location where Athena had been sealed vanished from Elefseria's memory.

Even so, Elefseria had always believed that as long as the seal remained intact, no one would ever be able to get their hands on her.

Unfortunately, things had not gone as he expected.

The barrier had been broken, and Athena had disappeared.

It was only then that Athena finally spoke.

"I was the one who broke the barrier and entered the outside world."

Elefseria immediately became emotional.

"You're finally willing to speak to me?"

Athena looked at him with faint confusion.

"Is this the emotion called... concern?"

"He's worried about you," Lucy explained from the side.

"I see."

Athena nodded in understanding.

"I was unable to comprehend emotions and caused Elefseria-sama an enormous amount of trouble because of it. That is why I broke the seal myself and set out on a journey to search for emotions."

"No, that was..."

Elefseria tried to explain, but Athena shook her head.

"Sealing me at the time was the correct decision. There was nothing wrong with what you did."

Athena lowered her head again, seemingly lost in thought.

"Afterward, I had to decide where to go. I could not return to Elefseria-sama, who had sealed me, and Duke-sama was already dead. I had no choice but to continue living on my own."

She closed her eyes and gave a faint, self-deprecating smile.

"A doll trying to 'live'... It sounds rather strange when I say it aloud."

Lucy smiled and gently shook her head.

"It's not strange at all."