"What? Although there was a little incident, this development is completely unexpected!"
Happy's voice rang out from the air through a megaphone. Back in his role as commentator, he shouted with excitement, "Let's all look forward to the showdown between the Ice Demon and the Fire Dragon!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the guild members who had just been united against Chase with Natsu and Gray erupted into vigorous cheers.
"Ooh! Go, Natsu! Beat that show-off Gray into a pulp!"
"Gray, don't worry about saving face! Blast that idiot off the platform!"
"Gray-sama is invincible~"
"Hey, you guys! You changed sides way too fast!" Lucy exclaimed, her beautiful eyes wide. She couldn't understand what they were so excited about. "Isn't this supposed to be Chase-nii and Mira-nee's fight?!"
"Aye~ I'm betting five thousand on Gray. No matter how you look at it, Demon Gray seems stronger~"
Hearing Happy's voice, Lucy spun around. In the blink of an eye, everyone, including the master, had gathered together to open a new betting pool.
"How can the commentator place a bet too?! And when did you guys even open this pool?!" The sharp complaint slipped out.
With that, the spectator stands descended into complete chaos, shouts and arguments rising and falling.
Watching Natsu suddenly leap in front of him to protect him, Chase was momentarily stunned, then shook his head with an amused smile.
Sensing the special magical waves emanating from within Natsu, he decisively abandoned the idea of personally teaching Gray a lesson. "Mira, you said earlier that I should make use of the surroundings and other creatures. So it's only reasonable that the target would fight back after breaking free from control, right?"
This would give him a chance to catch his breath. If he actually messed up and ended up pinned under Mira's foot, the embarrassment would be huge. He would definitely become the guild's laughingstock for the next three months!
"Hmm... that is indeed a problem that must be considered," Demon King Mira said, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow slightly in a thoughtful pose.
In the ever-changing chaos of real combat, enemies won't give you any opportunities. Even neutral creatures, if inexplicably demonized and controlled, would certainly harbor resentment against you.
Therefore, the best course of action is to ensure that all traces of their existence are completely extinguished before the Demon King's control ends!
Mira felt that after this battle, she should study how to give her demonized creatures the ability to self-destruct, maximizing the gain.
"Mira-nee's smile in her Demon King state is so scary..." Wendy in the stands hugged herself, intimidated by her "dark" aura.
"Don't worry about something so trivial," Demonized Gray said, raising his right arm, now covered in black markings, with cold air emanating from his palm. His confident gaze pointed directly at Natsu across from him. "A little candle like this? I could freeze him into an ice sculpture in no time."
"Oh? That's quite a bold claim, you charcoal briquette, Gray."
Faced with Demon Gray's intimidation, Natsu showed no fear. He struck his fists together, creating sparks of blazing flame, and said with a confident smile, "I'm still not very skilled with it, but I'll reluctantly show you my brand new power!"
Brand new power?
Seeing his mysterious demeanor, everyone except Chase, who had a rough guess, was taken back—Gray, Mira, and Lucy in the stands included.
As doubt lingered, a dull BOOM sounded, and Natsu's body erupted with scorching flames.
Then, a crimson glow ignited deep within, rendering the Blazing Dragon Slayer flames even deeper and denser, radiating a heart-palpitating aura of destruction.
At the same time, Natsu's face, arms, and ankles flickered with red light, weaving together into the iconic crimson dragon scales that signified the awakening of Dragon Force.
"This is the new mode I mastered after eating that bastard Gandora's breath—" Natsu stepped out of the crimson flames. Although his expression was twisted in pain from the tearing agony of inexperience, he still managed to force out a proud smile. "Destruction Flame Dragon Mode!"
An astonishing amount of heat continuously gushing, easily melting the floor beneath his feet into molten lava. The temperature of the entire dueling platform rose by several levels, and waves of hot air surged!
"He ate Gandora's breath? Destruction Flame Dragon Mode?"
Even from dozens of meters away, Lucy felt like her clothes were about to catch fire. She exclaimed, "That's not just fire property, is it? He can eat that too?!"
Although it manifested as flames, Gandora's magic, or rather its core power, was "destruction." There was no way Natsu, a Fire Dragon Slayer, could digest that!
"Aye~ Theoretically, that's true. But when it comes to Natsu, there's nothing strange about it~" Happy, who had quietly added a ten thousand Jewel bet on Natsu, turned back with a matter-of-fact expression.
"Because it's Natsu, it's normal? That's weirdly convincing..." Lucy held her forehead, momentarily at a loss for a retort.
The others were likewise startled by Natsu's sudden burst of destructive power. Amidst brief discussion, the dueling platform surged with magic power, filled with erupted demonic ice and destruction flames.
From a distance, ice and fire each occupied half the space, locked in a stalemate as Gray and Natsu pushed against each other, with clouds of scalding steam gushing from the center!
Natsu clearly couldn't maintain Destruction Flame Dragon Mode for long. With a little delay, even if no one else did anything, he would suffer severe backlash and collapse.
But—
As his arch-rival, Gray had no intention of taking such a cheap way out. He chose to confront him head-on without hesitation!
"I hope your new mode isn't all talk. Get ready to take this, Natsu!"
"Heh, I wouldn't have it any other way!"
Seeing this, Demon Gray said no more. He slapped his hands together, a magical array spun, and he condensed a demon king gauntlet made of high-density black ice on his right arm.
Natsu let out a roar, pouring all his magic power into his partially dragonized right fist. The flames he ignited burned so hot that the surrounding space itself began to twist!
"NATSU~!!"
"GRAY~!!"
"Ice Demon Make: Siege Hammer!"
"Destruction Flame Dragon's—Crushing Fist!"
Shouting each other's names, Natsu and Gray charged toward each other and threw their magically enhanced fists with all their might.
This scene was oddly reminiscent of the original Tartaros arc, when Gray thought Juvia had died and Natsu thought Lucy had died, and the two erupted into a life-or-death battle.
Such a strong sense of déjà vu made Chase feel a bit trance. He instinctively turned his head to look at Erza in the stands.
Fortunately, the Fairy Queen's expression was calm, showing no intention of stepping in to catch their fists.
Just as Chase silently looked away, Erza, who had been perfectly serious, suddenly blushed. Lucy! Lucy! Chase looked at me!!
CRASH!!!
The huge explosion from the violent collision of ice and fire completely drowned out Erza's cry for help to her wingman.
Ice burst, flames exploded. The violent burst of energy filling the dueling platform lasted for dozens of seconds before gradually calming down.
On the scorched, riddled ground, Natsu and Gray staggered backward simultaneously after their punch clash, looking quite embarrassed.
This exchange had been roughly a fifty-fifty draw.
But considering that Gray had been enhanced by Mira's magic, Natsu, who had mastered the destruction flames, was likely a cut above.
Just as Chase was making this analysis, an incredibly dazzling, colorful light suddenly bloomed at the edge of his vision.
Mira, having transformed into Demon God Halphas, raised her hand. Within the emerging magical array was her strongest magic, already brewed to perfection!
Chase's pupils contracted. Oh no! I was so busy watching these two idiots' passionate punch clash that I forgot about my own fight with Mira!
"All the magic power I absorbed just now is poured into this one attack, so—" Demon God Halphas tilted her head, a mischievous smile appeared on her lips. "Chase, make sure you dodge~"
Natsu and Gray, who were in the attack's path, hurriedly shouted, "W-wait!"
"Sis, now!!" Elfman screamed from the stands.
"HEY!!" x2
Mira swept her gaze across the stands to ensure everyone was safe, then decisively fired Demon God Halphas's Destruction Ray—capable of obliterating an entire town.
Natsu and Gray were so scared by this sight that their faces twisted into emoticon package. Like weak, pitiful and helpless drowning victims, they desperately hugged each other.
A light flickered in the distance. Happy and Panther Lily flew in at high speed and yanked the two brothers, who had nearly wet themselves, out of the Destruction Ray's path.
Almost simultaneously, Makarov, sensing impending disaster, regretted saying what he had said two chapters ago. Cursing under his breath, he stirred up his magic power and erected his strongest defensive magic: Three Pillar Gods.
Thus, the only person left in mortal danger was Chase, whose face was filled with terror.
BOOM!!
The Destruction Ray bloomed into a small mushroom cloud over the Nirvana. The huge commotion made the residents of Magnolia stop and stare, cursing under their breaths about what kind of trouble Fairy Tail was causing now.
A gentle breeze blew in from the lake, driving away the thick black smoke kicked up by the mushroom cloud.
Who won?
Lucy and the others, protected within the Three Pillar Gods, looked out. On the dueling platform, which had been leveled to the ground, a sacred crimson glow slowly circulated. The majestic phantom of Slifer the Sky Dragon coiled.
Inside it stood Chase, exactly where he had been, showing no visible injuries.
"He... he took an attack that terrifying and still came out unscathed?!"
"Dammit! Just how strong is that bastard Chase?! Is my two thousand Jewels really going down the drain?!"
"No, look closely! He blocked it with his God Slayer Magic!"
"That means..."
Across from Chase, Mira released her Demon God Take
Over and returned to her gentle older sister image.
Standing on the rubble, she gracefully lifted the hem of her wine-red dress, a sweet smile blooming at the corners of her lips. "Sorry, Chase, but this fight..."
"I win."
Just then, the setting sun's afterglow spilled across the distant sky. Refracted through the shimmering lake surface, it made the smiling white-haired girl look even more ethereally beautiful.
Then, Makarov, exhausted and panting heavily, jumped out and completely shattered the scene.
"Win, my foot! Mira! As your master, I'm telling you once again: Do not use Demon God Take Over in unsafe situations!!"
"I'm sorry, Master. I won't do it again."
The old man's stern reprimand immediately brought the slightly proud Mira back down to earth. She covered her face with her hands and started crying little pearls of tears.
"D-don't cry!"
"I really went too far... and I destroyed the guild's magical weapon like this... boohoo..."
"There, there. It has a self-repair array anyway. As for the damage outside the dueling platform, we'll have Lucy get the Heartfilia Konzern to cover it."
"What?! M-me?!"
"Ooh! Well done, Mira! You made me a ton of money! Ahahaha!"
"Dammit! I trusted you, you bastard Chase! Pay up!"
"Yay, Carla! We managed to live through another day~"
"This moment calls for a song! My original composition! Karaku~ Sharara~~"
"Don't suddenly lose your mind! And where the hell did you pull that ugly white suit from?!"
"You man!!"
"...So can someone tell me why I have to ask the Heartfilia Konzern for reimbursement?"
"Aye~ Because you're a beautiful lady, Lucy~"
"Screw that! That's the one time I absolutely don't want your compliment! (｀Д′)!!"
***
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