As if by silent agreent, Noah and Gildarts both unleashed their magic power. The pebbles on the ground around them began to float, and cracks spiderwebbed across the earth. The very ground, the forest, and the air itself trembled. The clouds in the sky shifted rapidly, and the ocean waves churned outwards.
Their magical energies clashed, and the resulting wind spread out in sharp ripples, so powerful that it blew the distant guild mbers back several steps.
"Not bad, Noah. Your magic power is incredible. It's stronger than most S-Class wizards I've seen from other guilds. No wonder the Master agreed to let you take the S-Class Trial," Gildarts praised.
"Of course. I train my magic every single day, without fail," Noah said, still locked in the contest of power with Gildarts.
"That guy Noah has that much magic power? I've never seen him use it before!" Laxus exclaid from the sidelines, looking utterly unconvinced.
"That just ans Noah never had to try this hard when he was fighting you," Cana said matter-of-factly.
"Damn it!" Laxus's face twisted.
The clash of magic power between Noah and Gildarts reached a stalemate. With another unspoken understanding, they both ceased their release simultaneously.
"Heaven's Sundering Light!"
A massive magic circle appeared before Noah, and a colossal golden beam shot out towards Gildarts. In response, Gildarts' right hand began to glow with a white light as he held it up in the path of the beam.
"Crash!"
From the point of contact all the way back to Noah, the column of light was instantly divided into a grid of tiny cubes and then dissipated into nothing.
"More!"
The magic circle in front of Noah vanished, only for four equally massive circles to appear behind him. Four more beams shot towards Gildarts in quick succession.
"This is good, but still not quite enough."
Gildarts casually tapped his right hand in the air as each beam arrived. All four columns of light were deconstructed into cubes and vanished into the atmosphere.
"Let's try close combat!"
Seeing that his magic wasn't effective, Noah coated his entire body in magic power, focusing it in his hands. His fists glowing with golden light, he charged towards Gildarts, who simply stood his ground, waiting for him.
Noah reached Gildarts and threw a right hook straight at his face. Gildarts blocked it with his own right hand, catching Noah's fist. Imdiately, Noah's left fist swung upwards towards Gildarts' chin. Gildarts swatted Noah's right fist aside, leaned his upper body back to dodge the left, then snapped back upright, kicking out at Noah.
Noah brought both hands up to block the kick and used the montum to push himself backward. After disengaging, he adjusted his stance and charged in again.
However, his next several attacks were all repelled by Gildarts. If he hadn't coated his body in magic beforehand, using it to nullify the effects of Gildarts' magic whenever he was hit, he would have lost long ago. Noah guessed that Gildarts was using his Disassembly Magic, not his full-power Crash Magic, so he wouldn't be killed in one hit. Still, he had no desire to find out what it was like to be disassembled into a thousand tiny Noahs.
"Your hand-to-hand combat is pretty good," Gildarts comnted.
"Of course. I train my body every day, and I've had Laxus as a sandbag to practice my fighting skills on. Naturally, they're not too shabby," Noah replied while adjusting his position.
"Damn it, who are you calling a sandbag!" Laxus, hearing the exchange from a distance, started shouting and tried to rush over, only to be held back by Makarov.
"Oops, he heard . Oh well, let's continue," Noah said to Gildarts without even turning his head.
"You two seem to get along really well."
"We do alright."
After replying, Noah took a deep breath, and dozens of magic circles materialized behind him. Since close combat wasn't working, he decided to try a war of attrition. Suffering from a phobia of insufficient firepower, Noah opened up all his magic circles at once, every single one aid at Gildarts.
"That's just excessive. Aren't you afraid you'll miss with so many?" Gildarts asked with genuine curiosity.
"I won't. All of my spells have lock-on and tracking functions. I don't have to worry about missing." Noah was so afraid of wasting the effort it took to cast his spells that he had built those functions into all of them.
Dozens of magic circles fired an endless barrage of Light Cannons at Gildarts. Seeing the sheer volu of attacks, Gildarts knew it would be difficult to dodge. He poured magic power into his cloak, raising it in front of him just as the beams hit. The world beca a storm of continuous explosions, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and smoke.
The assault lasted for several minutes before Noah finally stopped.
When the dust settled, Gildarts' cloak was only slightly more tattered than before. He himself was completely unhard.
Gildarts really is amazing. He's completely fine after all that. Noah figured that Gildarts' current strength was, at the very least, just shy of Makarov's, and it was very possible he was already on par with or had surpassed the old man.
"You're amazing too, Noah," Gildarts said. "To have this much magic power at such a young age... I can't even imagine how strong you'll be when you're older."
"I just have a little more magic power and a slightly better recovery rate, that's all. Gildarts, we've been fighting for a while now. Let's settle this with one final attack!"
"Alright. It's about ti we wrapped this up."
Noah clasped his hands together. In the sky above, a gigantic magic circle bearing the Fairy Tail emblem appeared. Below it, a chain of smaller magic circles began to form, extending all the way down to just above Gildarts' head.
Gildarts' whole body tensed. He bent his waist slightly, and the soles of his feet dug into the ground, shattering the earth around them. It was clear he was now under imnse pressure.
"What is this magic?" Gildarts asked, clearly still having so strength to spare.
"This spell of mine first applies various status effects to the enemy—like lock-on, tracking, gravity, slow, weaken, and delay—to prevent them from escaping. Then it gathers all available energy and converts it into an absolute attack from above."
"Is this a spell you created yourself?"
"You could say that. It's not yet perfected, but it's my strongest attack right now. Brace yourself... Starlight Breaker!"
A golden column of light that seed to connect heaven and earth descended from the sky upon Gildarts. With a great roar, Gildarts flared his magic power, shattering the status effects afflicting him, but the beam was already nearly on top of him.
Gildarts' right hand shone with a blinding white light as he threw a punch towards the sky with all his might.
"Crushing Evil, Revealing Truth — All-Heaven!"
The fist and the pillar of light t in the air. For a few seconds, they were locked in a stalemate. Then, with a deafening roar, they exploded. A massive shockwave of sound and air expanded outwards in a circle. The nearby trees were uprooted and sent flying, and the sea was pushed back by the force of the wind. In the distance, many of the guild mbers were blown off their feet.
The point of impact was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke and dust, completely obscuring the two combatants. The outco was unknown.
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