Laxus felt as if he had just dropkicked a burning mountain of solid steel.
The recoil sent a sickening shudder up his leg, his bones groaning under the immense strain of hitting KaiserGreymon's shoulder.
KaiserGreymon only swayed slightly.
The ground beneath his feet completely shattered into a spiderweb of deep fissures, yet he didn't retreat a single inch.
Before Laxus could use the momentum to bounce back and retreat, KaiserGreymon's right fist shot upward like a cannonball, striking the Dragon Slayer squarely in the abdomen.
BANG!
Laxus was sent flying backward like a meteor.
He crashed through seven ruined walls before slamming hard into the earth, blasting a crater over ten meters wide.
Dust billowed into the sky, and debris rained down across the ruins.
At the bottom of the crater, Laxus coughed violently, each hack bringing up mouthfuls of blood mixed with dying electric sparks.
The lightning armor on his abdomen was completely shattered, and at least three of his ribs were broken.
Yet, the fighting spirit in his eyes didn't diminish in the slightest—instead, it burned with a frantic, desperate frenzy.
"It's not over... It's not over yet!!!"
Struggling to his feet, Laxus threw his hands in front of his chest.
This time, his movements were faster than ever, leaving countless afterimages in the air.
Simultaneously, his five pairs of lightning wings ignited, transforming into pure electrical energy that surged directly into his lungs.
"Lightning Dragon's... ROAR!!!!!"
He gathered a cataclysmic amount of electricity in his chest, his cheeks puffing out as if trying to contain a dying star.
Then, he opened his mouth.
A golden storm of lightning erupted forth!
This was no single bolt, it was a literal ocean of thunder.
A roaring torrent over five meters wide tore through the air, vaporizing and evaporating every piece of rubble in its path.
Faced with this devastating flood of lightning, KaiserGreymon finally got serious.
He gripped the massive Dragon Soul Sword with both hands, lowering the tip diagonally toward the ground.
The next moment, the intricate, draconic structures on the blade expanded.
Dazzling, blinding white light radiated from the metal as endless energy frantically gathered, compressed, and purified within the steel.
The surrounding temperature began to skyrocket.
The stone ground melted into slag, rocks turned to glowing lava, and the air itself distorted from the heat waves.
Even the Fairy Tail guild members watching from a kilometer away had to shield their faces from the sudden, scorching wave of air.
"Flame Dragon Clash."
Ace's calm voice echoed from beneath his faceplate.
The next instant, the Dragon Soul Sword swung upward.
There were no elaborate trajectories and no complex techniques—just the simplest, heaviest diagonal slash.
Yet, wherever the blade passed, the space tore open, leaving a vacuum edged with pure white flames.
Two massive, intertwined dragons made of pure white fire shot forth from the blade.
They spun, coiled, and roared frantically in the air, their temperature escalating with each rotation—from crimson, to orange-yellow, to gold, and finally to a blinding, absolute white!
When the flames burned at their absolute hottest, they merged into a single arrow of pure, destructive light, tearing through space to meet the golden torrent of lightning.
There was no explosion. No impact.
Only silent annihilation.
The moment the pure white arrow of fire pierced the lightning, the electricity dissolved like snow under the summer sun—melting, evaporating, and vanishing in a fraction of a second.
Entirely unhindered, the arrow of light pierced straight through the center of the Lightning Dragon's Roar, shattered the hasty magical defenses Laxus tried to throw up, and finally—
Thwump.
The sickening sound of an impact echoed through the ruins.
The arrow of light struck Laxus's right shoulder, detonating in a spray of blood and shattered lightning energy.
After passing through him, the residual heat continued flying for hundreds of meters before striking a distant hill.
The hillside silently vaporized in the pure white radiance, leaving behind only a smooth, glass-lined crater.
Silence.
A deathly, ringing stillness fell over Kardia Cathedral.
Only the mournful howl of the wind and the quiet drip-drip of Laxus's blood hitting the rubble remained.
Laxus stood frozen in place.
His right shoulder armor was completely obliterated, leaving a devastating, charred crater in his flesh.
It didn't even bleed—the searing temperature of the strike had instantly cauterized the wound.
But beneath the burnt skin, his collarbone was fractured, and his magical circuits were severely damaged.
Laxus stared blankly down at his ruined shoulder, genuine, unbroken confusion flashing in his eyes for the first time.
He had exhausted every single method.
He had restored himself to peak condition.
He had unleashed his ultimate, life-burning attack... only to have his magic completely erased and his body effortlessly pierced by a single strike?
KaiserGreymon slowly sheathed his sword.
As the Dragon Soul Sword clicked into its scabbard, the blinding white glow faded, and the ambient temperature finally began to drop.
Treading across the molten ground, the Digimon approached Laxus, each heavy step leaving a glowing footprint behind.
"You've lost, Laxus."
Ace's calm voice echoed from beneath the helmet.
Laxus lifted his heavy head, his golden pupils reflecting the towering crimson armor.
He tried to speak, but instead of words, he only choked up another mouthful of blood and dying sparks.
"Why...?" Laxus rasped, his voice trembling. "I've clearly... become so strong..."
"You have grown stronger," Ace replied.
The fiery metal of his helmet dissolved into shimmering data, revealing his face.
Flames danced in the air around him, illuminating his youthful yet resolute features.
"But strength isn't meant for dominating others, Laxus. True strength exists to protect what matters."
Ace extended his hand, palm facing upward.
Crimson-gold Digital Soul gathered in his palm, coalescing into a warm, gentle sphere of light.
"When your power is only used to prove yourself or crush those beneath you, you will never break through your own limits. Because that kind of power lacks the most crucial element of all—a 'heart.'"
Laxus stared at the sphere of light, then back down at his ruined shoulder.
Fragments of memory suddenly surfaced in his mind—his grandfather's disappointed gaze, the smiling, obnoxious faces of the guild members, his father's retreating figure.
All of it condensed into one simple, crushing question.
What had he been pursuing power for, all along?
The wind howled through the ruins, whipping up dust and ashes.
In the sky, the lingering magical afterglow scattered by their clash drifted down like stardust, settling slowly between the two figures.
Laxus closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.
When he reopened them, the frenzied confusion had vanished, replaced by a profound, almost weary clarity.
"I... haven't lost yet..." Laxus rasped.
Each word seemed to be forcibly squeezed from the depths of his throat, carrying blood-flecked spittle and the weak crackle of static.
He tried to raise his left hand.
His arm trembled violently.
A few sporadic golden sparks gathered at his fingertips, flickering weakly before extinguishing like dying embers in the wind.
But Laxus didn't care.
Gritting his teeth, veins bulging at his temples, he forcibly wrung out the absolute last traces of magic from his body.
"Laxus, that's enough," Ace said, his voice quiet but carrying clearly across the silent ruins. "Your body has reached its limit. If you keep pushing, your magic circuits will shatter. You'll truly never be able to use lightning again."
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