In his fury, Natsu unleashed a devastating strike of the Lightning Flame Dragon's Brilliant Flame.
A massive, semi-circular sphere of fire erupted inside the cabin, burning fiercely with golden electric arcs dancing wildly atop the flames.
Boom!
A deafening explosion sounded as the fireball abruptly detonated, blowing a hole in the ship's hull.
Amidst the thick smoke, Precht leaped high into the air, his clothes scorched.
He rapidly shot dark chains from his sleeves, tightly binding Natsu's wrists together.
"Haha! Your hands are locked down now, brat!" Precht mocked.
"Urgh..." Natsu gritted his teeth, thick veins bulging on his face. He strained his arms continuously with all his might against the metal.
With a metallic snap, Precht's proud dark chains were torn apart by Natsu's sheer, draconic brute strength.
"Nani...?" Precht's eye widened in disbelief.
But Natsu's movements didn't stop.
He continuously gathered flames within his abdomen, inhaling deeply, even actively absorbing the ambient flames from the surrounding burning rubble.
The inhaled flames carried leaping golden electric arcs, sparking from his teeth.
Slowly, Natsu's chest swelled larger and larger, his body leaning back halfway to gather momentum.
"Lightning Flame Dragon's... Roar!"
A massive, ten-meter diameter gold-red shockwave of pure destruction shot towards Precht at extreme speed.
The recoil from the roar was so powerful it caused the entire cabin to tilt and shake.
Raizel, having quickly Taken Over into Craniummon, raised his massive shield and stood firmly in front of the exhausted guild members, blocking the intense heat and shockwave.
The gold-red flames were blindingly dazzling.
Lucy and Wendy could only shield their faces with their arms, peeking through the gaps to observe the apocalyptic battle.
The gold-red pillar of fire directly blasted through the cabin, obliterating everything in its path.
Within the roaring flames, the terrifying sound of a true dragon could faintly be heard.
...
Down in the medical camp.
"Ah!!!" Levy closed her eyes, covered her ears, and crouched down as the earth shook.
"What's happening?!" Lisanna also crouched down, but secretly lifted her head to look toward the coast.
"Flames... Is that Natsu?" Bickslow asked. Being highly sensitive to magical power, he sensed the familiar signature.
This magic power felt very similar to Natsu's, but far, far stronger than anything the boy had ever produced before.
"Ho!" Gildarts, leaning against a rock deep in the forest resting, saw the massive pillar of fire illuminate the sky.
A proud smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
...
Back on the ship, the flames slowly subsided.
"Hah— Hah—" Natsu hunched over, gasping heavily for breath, the lightning fading from his skin.
The airship had a huge, gaping hole blasted clean through its hull, about ten meters wide and high, with burning debris falling continuously into the ocean below.
Precht lay sprawled in the smoking ruins, unmoving.
Gray hadn't closed his jaw since the attack began, staring dumbfounded and speechless.
Ultear and Erza looked at Natsu with a profound feeling, as if a reckless child had suddenly grown up into a true monster right before their eyes.
"I did it..." Natsu forced his heavy eyes open wide, looking at the incapacitated Precht.
Then, his eyes rolled back, he wobbled and collapsed.
"Natsu!" Lucy, quick-eyed and swift, rushed over in a few steps and caught Natsu before his head hit the floor.
Natsu turned his head slightly to look at Lucy, managing a weak, goofy smile as he said.
"I really don't have a single bit of magic power left..."
"Is it because his magical power is overwhelmingly powerful that the consumption is so incredibly high?" Erza sought a tactical explanation from Laxus, since Laxus also knew the secrets of the Lightning Flame Dragon Mode.
Laxus, slowly regaining consciousness, shook his head. "No, it can normally be controlled. He was probably just way too angry—there was no logical need to use such an enormous amount of magical power for that last roar."
Natsu's ultimate roar was purely a reckless waste of magic power in the end.
"So, is it finally over?" Gray asked, relaxing his shoulders.
"No. Not yet," Raizel said, his voice grave.
He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the rubble.
The moment Raizel finished speaking, Precht, lying broken on the ground, opened his eyes again.
"You brats are truly remarkable. That damn Makarov... how did he manage to raise such a fearsome bunch of kids?" Precht grunted as he slowly, agonizingly sat up, his joints popping.
"It's been decades since I was beaten this badly."
"How is this possible?!" Gray yelled, shocked that the man could even move.
"I could have wiped you all out in an instant, but you've given me so much genuine enjoyment today. For that, I suppose I must thank you," Precht chuckled darkly.
As he spoke, Precht reached up a trembling hand to remove his leather eyepatch.
"How could that attack have been ineffective?" Even Erza found it hard to accept this terrifying reality.
"Natsu's attack was highly effective," Raizel corrected Erza, watching the dark magic swirl.
"He just has enough magic power to rapidly recover from fatal damage. I forgot to mention—his magical power is practically infinite."
"Then how do we fight him?!" Ultear frowned deeply, stepping back.
Hearing about his infinite magical power, the exhausted members felt a profound, crushing sense of helplessness.
"Demon Eye... awaken."
The hidden eye beneath Precht's eyepatch slowly opened.
A sinister, glowing red light emanated from it, and as Precht's Demon Eye fully awakened, a strange, suffocating purple-black magical power began to violently coil around him.
This eerie magical power carried an overwhelming, demonic pressure.
Lucy, who was supporting Natsu, widened her eyes, feeling deeply nauseous and uncomfortable.
"I will make an exception and let you fairies witness it—the true, dark abyss of demonic magic!" Precht declared, his aura exploding.
"I've never felt magic power like this before..." Erza muttered, gripping her sword tightly.
She had encountered powerful magical energy before—August's was far stronger than Precht's—but this was the first time she had encountered a signature so viscerally repulsive.
"And it's still growing stronger..." Lucy whimpered.
Natsu desperately wanted to keep fighting, but his empty body wouldn't allow it.
Every slight movement aggravated his torn muscles.
"Dammit! I don't even have the strength to stand up anymore."
"Don't worry, Natsu. Leave it to Happy and the others," Raizel assured him gently.
"If necessary, you can step in later." Raizel wasn't too concerned.
At worst, they could simply stall Precht while the Exceeds destroyed the mechanical heart below deck—that would be the definitive end of Precht's infinite magic.
"What lies ahead is a dark realm far beyond anything your fragile minds can imagine!"
Even Precht's speech, in his fully awakened state, carried immense, physical pressure that made it hard to breathe.
"Fairy Tail... it is time to end this!"
...
Meanwhile, deep below the fighting, Happy, Carla, and Lily were crawling through the dusty ventilation ducts, desperately searching for the power source.
"Where exactly is the power source...?" Happy asked as he crawled forward on his belly.
"This ship is enormous. I think it must be powered by a massive Magic Lacrima. Let's look for the largest open area possible," Carla shared her logical speculation from behind him.
"Then why are we crawling through such narrow, filthy passages?!" Lily's complaining spirit grew stronger as his fur caught on a cobweb.
"How should I know?! You should ask Happy, he's leading!" Carla snapped.
"I'm just going by instinct..." Happy mumbled.
"What do you mean, instinct?!" Lily groaned.
He never expected such a reckless answer from a scout.
"Hmm?" Happy suddenly stopped crawling, staring blankly downward through a metal grate in the duct.
"I said, why did you suddenly stop, Happy?!" Carla couldn't brake in time and crashed right into Happy's ass, sending them tumbling.
"What is this...?" Happy whispered, his tiny body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.
When Carla and Lily leaned in to look through the grate, their pupils also froze in sheer shock.
"It's alive... what is this monster?" Lily gasped.
"Could this terrifying thing really be the power source?!" Carla asked, horrified.