At that mont, looking at the boy's upright back, Makarov suddenly felt as though he were seeing his younger self.
No—perhaps even brighter than he had been back then.
Even though countless worries still lingered in his heart, after witnessing Shane casually interrupt a clash between two Wizard Saints with that one move, he had no choice but to acknowledge a fact.
At so point, that child who used to hide in the guild library reading books had grown broad enough in the shoulders to stand alone against a storm.
"…Alright."
Makarov took a deep breath, stepped back half a pace, and completely yielded the stage to the strong.
"I'll leave it to you."
"Makarov?! Have you lost your mind?!"
Not far away, Bob's eyes bulged in disbelief, the gaudy blush on his cheeks trembling.
"You're actually going to let little Shane face Jose alone? He's a Wizard Saint!"
Makarov didn't answer him. Instead, he looked at Shane and shouted:
"Just this once, make as much trouble as you want! Any compensation and every apology letter afterward—I'll handle it all!"
"Master… that's a really reassuring promise!"
With his back to the others, Shane raised a hand and gave a huge thumbs-up.
"Leave it to !"
To Jose, that scene—like so symbolic passing of the torch from old to new—was the ultimate humiliation.
"Damn you, Makarov…"
The veins at Jose's temple throbbed violently, his once elegant robe now whipping in the storm of his magic.
"What do you take for? A whetstone for your new brat to sharpen himself on?!"
"Arrogant! Too arrogant! Fairy Tail!"
He glared at Shane. At that mont, every ounce of hatred he'd had for Makarov shifted onto this reckless little punk.
"If you want to die so badly, then I'll grant your wish!"
"I won't hold back. I'll give you a lesson you'll rember for the rest of your life!"
"That is, if you survive!"
There was no chant, no prelude.
"Bzzz!!!"
Jose snapped his sleeve through the air, and the dark violet-black magic surrounding him instantly began to boil.
Countless black wraiths seed to crawl out of the abyss of hell. They had only upper bodies, trailing long wisps of smoke behind them, releasing shrill cries that made one's scalp crawl.
In an instant, those wraiths beca a black flood filling the sky, surging toward Shane from every direction.
"That's Jose's signature spell—Shade!"
soone cried out in terror.
These dark soldiers, made entirely from concentrated negative magic, would suck away a person's life force and magic the instant they touched them, leaving behind a dried corpse.
And now, powered at full force by a Wizard Saint's magic, there weren't just hundreds or thousands of them.
The entire banquet hall had instantly beco a ghostly nightmare realm.
"It's over…"
A timid guild master shut his eyes, unable to bear watching.
In such a narrow space, against an attack that blanketed the entire area like this, the only way to respond should have been another large-area spell of equal level.
But Shane didn't do that.
At the very mont the tide of black was about to swallow him, he moved.
"Zheng—!"
The black dragon wings behind him exploded open like blades.
The floor beneath his feet burst apart, spiderweb cracks radiating out in all directions.
His whole body turned into a silver streak too fast for the eye to follow, and instead of retreating, he charged straight into the black tide of death.
Fast.
Too fast.
How fast was he?
Most of the people present didn't even catch an afterimage. All they saw was a blur, and then Shane had vanished from where he'd been standing.
[Eternal Arms Mastery] activated.
Jose's fear-inducing aura of death still filled the entire hall, but Shane's mind was as clear and still as a polished mirror, without a single ripple.
In his eyes, Jose's overwhelming dark magic may have looked impressive, but in truth it was simply…
Too slow.
It was full of openings.
Shane shot into the air. The black twin spears appeared in his hands, and with the force of his dive, he fell like a silver teor.
Twenty ters, ten ters, five…
The distance between life and death vanished in an instant.
If this hit landed, Shane had no doubt he could spear Jose clean through the sa way Lancer had once pierced Deliora.
The ti Jose had to react was less than 0.1 seconds.
Only the briefest instant.
But a Wizard Saint was called a Wizard Saint for a reason. These were the ten strongest mages on the continent, officially recognized by the Council—not empty titles.
"Despair!"
Jose's pupils shrank. Against a speed he couldn't track, he swung his hand on instinct.
"Boom!"
A dark red explosion wave erupted outward from him in every direction.
If his eyes couldn't keep up with Shane's speed, then he'd simply blow up all the surrounding space.
"Using an offensive spell as defense… you really are experienced."
Shane thought with so admiration.
This gloomy bastard might look arrogant and self-important, but his battle instincts were sharp. He really was worthy of being a Wizard Saint.
[Peri Dancer]
At the exact instant he was about to collide with the blast wave, Shane twisted midair into an impossible angle, folding his body against all logic and snapping into a new direction.
"He didn't even slow down?!"
Jose's eyes widened. He had been waiting for Shane to lose speed while dodging so he could counterattack.
"I refuse to believe I can't catch you!"
But he didn't hesitate. He flung both hands again and again, continuously generating more ghost soldiers.
Jose laughed savagely.
"So what if you flee into the air? The space here is limited! I don't care how fast you are—you can't keep flying forever!"
An endless stream of ghost soldiers, part light, part thick black liquid, filled every inch of the hall, even the cracks in the ceiling.
"Jose's gone insane!"
"Get out! Everyone out!"
Goldmine roared as he looked at the hall on the verge of bursting from the black tide.
Although Makarov had agreed to let Shane handle things, he could no longer stand by.
With a shout, he smashed open a side wall with one punch, protecting the others as they fled outside.
"Tch…"
Shane, darting through the air, frowned.
With the space so compressed, even he found himself constrained.
"Master…"
As he looked at the gap Makarov had blasted open in the wall, inspiration struck, and a wicked smile spread across his face.
"You were the one who said I could make as much trouble as I wanted!"
If there wasn't enough space, then he'd just make more.
Shane crossed his twin spears, his dragon wings shuddering as he accelerated again, turning himself into a silver drill from left to right.
"Then let —tear it open!!!"
"BOOOOOOM—!!!"
With a deafening roar, the hall's massive do roof was sliced apart like cream under the force of his human drill.
Moonlight poured down. Dust exploded everywhere.
The enormous roof fragnts crashed down, crushing countless ghost soldiers and sending up billowing black smoke.
"Madman!"
Even Jose was startled by that absurd move.
He had never seen anyone this unhinged.
When normal people needed more room, wouldn't the obvious thought be to change battlefields? Who the hell just tore the building apart?!
"Hah…"
Shane stood atop a shattered wall section, the endless night sky spread behind him, silver moonlight falling across his shoulders.
"As expected, a dragon belongs in the sky."
He spread his arms wide, inhaled a breath of fresh air, and looked down at Jose below with a bright, dangerous grin.
"Ready, Guild Master Jose?"
"Round two. Here I co!"
"Don't look down on !!!"
Jose ground out through clenched teeth, both hands raised high.
"Dead Wave!"
Countless black spectral arrows shot upward like a storm in reverse.
"Dark Pulse!"
Compressed dark magic beca bullets, a dense barrage locking down the entire sky.
Layer upon layer of dark spells and ghost soldiers spread upward indiscriminately.
But beneath the open sky, Shane's speed advantage reached its full potential.
He wove through the barrage, and every flash of black spear-light tore through another swath of ghost soldiers.
For a ti, the two sides were locked in stalemate.
"That transformation spell… it must have a ti limit, right? If this keeps up, he'll be dragged down."
Outside, Goldmine stood beside Makarov, looking at the outrageous battle in the distance with concern on his face.
"No. Shane already overca that weakness long ago."
Makarov was worried too, but he still shook his head.
"What I'm concerned about is sothing else…"
"Why isn't little Shane using magic?"
At the side, Bob sharply pointed out the problem, frowning in confusion.
"With that kind of absurd magic power, why has he only been using martial skill and speed from start to finish?"
In Bob's understanding, soone with such vast magic ought to have outstanding magical talent and a deep command of spellcraft.
But Shane's fighting style was far too… primitive.
Even now, he hadn't cast a proper spell.
He fought less like a mage and more like one of those brute fighters from a rcenary guild.
"…"
Makarov opened his mouth, then closed it again, not knowing how to answer.
This kid had buried himself in the library for months, worked harder than anyone, and in the end only managed to pick up the bare shell of Requip.
How was Makarov supposed to say that? Shane might not care about face, but he still did.
Yet even without Makarov saying anything, Shane's strange style—using only physical ability to withstand magic—beca impossible to ignore as the high-intensity battle dragged on.
On the other side, Jose, still in the middle of the fight, gradually noticed how odd Shane was.
"Hahahahaha!"
He suddenly stopped his frantic assault and threw back his head in laughter.
"As I thought! A brat is still just a brat!"
Jose stared up at Shane with a look that said he had figured everything out, his voice thick with mockery.
"You've got magic power so ridiculous even I'm jealous—but you don't know the first thing about how to use it! All you can do is rely on instinct to strengthen your body and swing those two sticks around like so monkey!"
"What a… barbarian!"
As he shouted, he slamd his palms together.
"Since all you know is close combat, then try this on for size!"
Two enormous ghostly beings appeared beside him, both massive, pitch black, and radiating a nauseating aura.
Unlike the lesser soldiers, which rely drained stamina, these were higher-order summons capable of devouring a target's soul and magic directly.
But Jose didn't send them out to attack.
Instead, he manipulated the two giant ghosts like bubbles and wrapped them tightly around his own body.
"If you want to hit , you'll have to touch these ghosts first!"
Jose stood within their protection, laughing wildly.
"Being able to combine all kinds of magic flexibly—that is the absolute difference between a true human mage and so savage monkey!"
"Co on! I'm standing right here! Do you dare co at ?"
~~~
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