Chapter 256
After a full night’s rest, the World’s Number One Magic Tournament entered its semifinals.
The first matchup was:
[Thunder God Team] VS [Fire Dragon Team]
As the only team without an S-Class Mage to survive into the Final Four, Natsu had spent the previous night enjoying every second of his newfound glory at Fairy Tail’s party.
He repeatedly got in Gray and Gajeel’s faces to brag about advancing farther than either of them, until the two finally snapped, caught him, and beat him senseless together.
Fortunately, Natsu’s constitution was practically monstrous.
Bruises and minor injuries like that disappeared after one good night’s sleep, so by morning he was already back in perfect condition.
More importantly, today he would finally get to fight Laxus.
Natsu had been looking forward to this for a very long time!
His teammates, however, had rather different ideas about how the match should be approached.
Mest spoke thoughtfully.
"What Happy did yesterday gave me an idea. This is technically a Capture the Flag match, so there’s no actual requirement that we defeat them in combat. We could come up with a plan instead. We have one extra member—well, one extra cat—so if we create an opening, someone could steal their flag. My Teleportation Magic is particularly well suited to something like that."
Natsu immediately shook his head. "Nah. Using a trick like that once was enough. This time, let’s just fight them properly."
Mest stared at him. "Are you joking? Even all of us together probably can’t beat Laxus!"
"So what? Winning or losing isn’t the important part. The important thing is having a good fight!" Natsu grinned, already growing excited.
"I want to fight Laxus!"
Mest looked as though his head was beginning to hurt.
"Natsu, this is a team battle. What exactly is the point of having teams if you’re going to ignore everyone else? You can fight Laxus if you want—I’m not stopping you. The rest of us can steal the flag while you keep him busy."
Natsu actually stopped to think about that before nodding. "Yeah, that works. I’ll hold Laxus off, and you guys can see if you can get the flag."
Nab was considerably less optimistic. "The Thunder God Tribe isn’t exactly easy to deal with either. I can’t beat any of them."
Marcus scratched his head. "Then we’ll have to win through tricks. If we get a desert battlefield, I might be able to hide all of us under the sand and sneak around them..."
Natsu had already stopped listening. He pumped a fist into the air with complete confidence.
"Relax! Once I beat Laxus, we’re guaranteed to win anyway! Besides, I’ve got a secret weapon!"
"..."
Nobody understood where Natsu’s endless confidence came from.
The difference between him and Laxus was hardly small.
Then the battlefield was finally announced—Lake Island.
"..."
The Fire Dragon Team was already beginning to despair before they even entered.
Once they reached the battlefield and saw it for themselves, the situation looked even worse.
The entire arena consisted of several tiny islands surrounded by water, with the lake itself stretching all the way to the boundary of the match.
Calling it "Lake Island" was generous.
It was practically an ocean with a few rocks sticking out of it.
In one word: Doomed!
Marcus nearly wanted to surrender immediately.
A battlefield like this might as well have placed a seal directly on his Sand Magic.
Natsu’s Fire Magic was weakened by all the surrounding water too.
Laxus, meanwhile?
Lightning didn’t exactly suffer the same problem.
This was about as terrible a starting position as they could possibly have drawn.
Did they even have a realistic chance of winning?
Mest looked across the water with a grim expression. "Looks like we only have one option. I’ll have to teleport over and steal their flag before they can stop me..."
Then lightning flashed.
Laxus appeared on the central island before they could finish discussing the plan.
He casually raised one hand and beckoned toward them.
"All of you can come at me together."
His mouth curved into a challenging smile.
"And don’t bother trying to sneak around. The Thunder God Tribe is staying behind to guard the flag, so they won’t interfere with our fight."
Laxus rolled his shoulders.
"Try to make this entertaining for me."
"NANI?!"
Natsu immediately flared up.
"Laxus, quit looking down on us! I’m fighting you!"
He thrust an arm upward.
"Happy!"
"Aye!"
Happy grabbed Natsu and carried him across the lake toward the central island.
Before they had even landed, flames erupted around both of Natsu’s arms.
"Take this, Laxus!"
He swung both arms down with everything he had.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"
Natsu opened with one of his strongest techniques.
He knew Laxus well enough to suspect that the bastard would refuse to dodge the first attack purely out of pride.
And he was right.
Laxus didn’t move.
Instead, his grin widened as he opened his mouth.
"Lightning Dragon’s Roar!"
A colossal blast of lightning erupted from Laxus’s mouth, far thicker and more violent than anything Natsu had expected.
It swallowed the flaming blades completely and continued forward without losing momentum, engulfing Natsu himself in the attack.
The hit landed cleanly.
Natsu’s entire body went numb as electricity tore through him, sending him tumbling out of the sky before he crashed onto the island below.
He lifted his head in shock.
"Y-You can use Dragon Slayer Magic too?!"
Laxus wiped his mouth and smirked. "You seriously still didn’t know? I figured Marshall would’ve told you by now. It’s not exactly some enormous secret."
Natsu stared at him.
"You were raised by a dragon too?!"
Then his eyes widened as another thought occurred to him.
"Wait! You’re the Master’s grandson, which means... IS THE MASTER A DRAGON?!"
"..."
Laxus almost lost his composure.
"You idiot!"
He rubbed his forehead.
"I’m a Second Generation Dragon Slayer. I learned Dragon Slayer Magic through a Dragon Lacrima implanted in my body."
Then he shrugged.
"It’s not like the principles are impossible to learn anyway."
"Oh."
Natsu immediately accepted the explanation.
"Well, whatever!"
His fists burst back into flame.
"Dragon Slayer or not, I’ll still beat you!"
Natsu inhaled deeply.
"Fire Dragon’s Roar!"
A torrent of flame blasted across the island.
Laxus casually raised one hand and slapped the fire aside, sending it crashing into the surrounding lake with a violent hiss.
"Give it up, Natsu. You’ve still got a long way to go."
Laxus gestured toward the other members of the Fire Dragon Team.
"Tell your teammates to come fight too. Maybe all of you together would have the tiniest chance."
He looked Natsu up and down.
"With what you’ve got right now, you’re barely enough to scratch an itch."
In truth, Laxus’s Magic Power was only several times greater than Natsu’s now.
The gap between them was nowhere near as absurd as it had once been, and they could reasonably be described as fighters belonging to the same broad level.
Of course, there could still be enormous differences within the same level.
Laxus loved showing off, but this time he wasn’t entirely exaggerating.
He was still significantly stronger than Natsu.
"Fire Dragon’s Roar!"
Laxus knocked the flames aside.
"Fire Dragon’s Roar!"
Another blast came.
"Fire Dragon’s Roar!"
Then another.
Natsu said nothing.
He simply kept roaring.
He cupped both hands around his mouth like a makeshift barrel and repeatedly spat relatively small fire blasts toward Laxus.
None of them carried enough power to seriously hurt him; they were little more than harassment.
After several volleys, Laxus finally lost his patience.
"Would you knock it off already?!"
Lightning erupted around him.
"You call those pathetic fireballs a roar?"
Laxus inhaled sharply.
"This is what a real roar looks like!"
Lightning gathered inside his mouth.
But this time, instead of panicking at the sight of the terrifying attack, Natsu’s eyes lit up.
He suddenly remembered a conversation from some time ago.
...
"Marshall, why the hell does Wrath get to learn two different kinds of Magic? Isn’t that cheating? She shocked the hell out of me last time..."
Marshall had answered him casually.
"Lightning and fire have a kind of compatibility with one another. Related elemental magics can sometimes reinforce each other and produce much more efficient output when used together."
𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Natsu had blinked.
"So you’re saying lightning and fire can actually coexist?"
"...If that’s how you insist on understanding it, then sure. In a certain sense, lightning, fire, and even sword techniques can coexist."
...
Ever since Marshall gave him that idea, Natsu had secretly been experimenting with combining lightning and fire.
He had even learned a little Lightning Magic himself and repeatedly challenged Wrath so he could study how the two elements interacted.
By this point, he had been electrocuted so many times that he was practically used to it.
And his experiments had proven something important.
The idea worked.
Natsu still wasn’t particularly skilled at generating lightning himself.
But he didn’t necessarily need to generate it.
All he needed... was a spark!
Laxus finished his attack and immediately noticed something was wrong.
"Wait."
His eyes widened.
"What the hell are you doing?"
The torrent of lightning pouring from Laxus’s mouth wasn’t blasting Natsu away.
Natsu was eating it.
He opened his mouth and swallowed the lightning directly into his body.
Crackling arcs of electricity began dancing across his skin.
Then Natsu opened his eyes.
His Magic Power trembled violently inside him before surging upward at an explosive rate.
Flames and lightning twisted together around his body.
Natsu grinned.
"Hahaha! Sorry to keep you waiting, Laxus!"
The combined aura of fire and lightning erupted around him.
"Let me show you my new move—"
"Lightning Fire Dragon Mode!"