As the chaos unfolds on the surface with Natsu and Suzaku engaging Dogramag, within the confines of the labyrinth remain Laxus and Kirin who conflict on the representation of Thunder’s avatar. Both Laxus and Kirin have a connection to the Thunder Dragon King, Exelion. Kirin consumed the Dragon and Laxus had the Dragon’s heart inserted inside his body once the heart was processed into a Lacrima. What a fascinating revelation concerning the Dragon Lacrima. I always thought the Dragon Slayer Lacrima were a concentration of magic imbued with Dragon magic or magic that associates closely with it. I was not anticipating the Dragon Lacrima to be sourced from an actual Dragon heart. It makes so much sense now why more Dragon Slayers weren’t created via the lacrima method. The resource required to birth a new Dragon Slayer via a lacrima required a Dragon heart which is a grossly finite resource.
What is curious about the fate of the Thunder Dragon King, Elexion, is how his body was separated from his heart. If Kirin had encountered Elexion and slayed him, the opportunity for any part of Elexion to escape consumption likely shouldn’t exist but seeing as it has, it can be presumed that Elexion was already dead when Kirin consumed him. Like with Suzaku’s case, the inheritor of the Dragon power does not have to defeat the Dragon but just consume them to gain their power. If by chance someone encounters the remains of an Ancient Dragon and consumed their bones, would they then inherit the Dragon’s power? I think it is possible (could it happen with Dogramag?). More than likely, the majority of the Diabolos members gained their powers from consuming a dead Dragon. The only case we know of a Dragon being killed by Diabolos is Selene’s child, Kurnugi.
Further, there is the timeline to take into account. Laxus received his Dragon Lacrima when he was a child and during the Tenrou Island incident, he was suspended in time for 7 years. If Kirin was to be believed to have killed and consumed Elexion, he would have had to done so when he was a child, which doesn’t seem very plausible. Kirin keep mentioning with pride that he devoured Elexion but all he did was rush after scraps.
With Elexion’s heart, it could have been held as a trinket/treasure of some clan that slayed or stumbled upon the corpse of Elexion in the past. Laxus’s father, Ivan, could have then come to possess Elexion’s lacrima through underground connections or personal efforts. Or was the Dreyar clan blessed with the lacrima at some point in the past or where they the ones who processed the heart into it. Considering Yuri was a Lightning Mage and Laxus’s intimate connection with Lightning, the Dreyar clans association with Lightning Magic could be more than just coincidence. I suspect there is some shared history between Elexion and the Dreyar family. It would explain both why Laxus feels so strongly about freeing Elexion’s soul. And the pull Laxus feels when he comes into contact with Elexion’s coffin, rather than the lacrima being attracted to the soul, could it be Elexion reacting to the Dreyar blood within Laxus?
Laxus has never fully embraced the Lightning Lacrima inside of him. He considers it a source of darkness and reminder of the greed that consumed his father. That lack of acceptance always meant Laxus never fully accepted his power. Unlike Natsu who wholeheartedly embraces the power he got from Igneel, Laxus in a way rejects his “artificial” power. Within the battle Laxus now has against Kirin with the liberation of Elexion on the line, there is an opportunity to turn the anxiety within Laxus into a power that also liberates Laxus himself. Rather than perceiving the Dragon lacrima inside of him as a curse, he may begin to view it as a blessing once he comes to understand the connection he has with Elexion. The power granted to him doesn’t have to be viewed as something forced onto him but it could be redefined as a gift from Elexion who wishes for Laxus to carry on his memory through his Lightning. Similar to the connections Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Sting and Rogue have with their Dragons, Laxus may come to form memories of his own with the Dragon whose magic empowers him. The connection will be metaphysical but even in a spiritual sense, Laxus and Elexion may come to know each other and connect. This is a battle Laxus cannot lose.
With the Dragon Lacrima origin clarified, I wonder if there is any connection between that and Dogramag’s return and Elefseria’s survival. Could the heart Ignia destroyed not have been all of Elefseria’s heart essence? Could Dogramag have created a Dragon Lacrima for himself with some of Elefseria’s heart essence in order to heal himself and access Elefseria’s powers? In the same sense as Laxus accessing Exelion’s Lightning powers, for Dogramag to access Elefseria’s Law Dragon powers, he would need a medium and this could be where the Dragon lacrima formed from some of Elefseria’s heart comes in. However Elefseria’s survival is explained after his heart was destroyed, I suspect it will tie into Dogramag who associated with it closely during the past 100 years.
In regards to Natsu and Suzaku teaming up, their union will likely open the path toward Natsu being able to destroy the material of the Labyrinth he wasn’t able to before. As illustrated by Ignia, Dogramag’s labyrinth should be weak to Dragon magic. If Natsu can channel sufficient power behind his Dragon Slaying abilities, he should be able to melt the labyrinth. And if Dogramag’s power does come from the labyrinth, destroying it could mean weakening Dogramag over time. If Dogramag needs to remain alive for Elefseria to continue living, I see Selene assisting Natsu and Suzaku to entrap Dogramag in an isolated dimension/space. If Elefseria is destined to die, will his “heart” in the form of a Dragon lacrima be inherited by some other character? Very much looking forward to the next chapter.
12Dimension 