Laxus's gaze dropped to the bottom of the deep crater, where golden electric arcs continuously jumped.
A large shield was propped up diagonally. Its cracked surface was broken, revealing Chase completely unharmed beneath.
"Giant Shield Guardian's shield..." Laxus recognized the source of the object that had withstood his heavy blow.
"Didn't you tell me to block that move?" Chase slowly straightened up from the lightning.
Seeing his relaxed, casual demeanor, Laxus said coldly, "Are you saying you could have dodged?"
"Of course. I've fought faster wizards than you."
With that, Chase's eyes sharpened. Surging, furious magic power burst from within him. "For example — you can't dodge this!"
The Forbidden One right wrist equipped on his arm detached. Covered by Slifer the Sky Dragon's God Slayer magic, it took on a crimson,fierce light.
Having charged up, Chase stomped down hard and swung his clenched right fist through the air toward Laxus!
SWOOSH!!
The crimson right wrist shot like a cannonball, extremely fast. In an instant, it appeared before Laxus, completely filling his field of vision!
Laxus was completely unfazed. His lightning-transformed body shifted slightly, easily dodging, letting the crimson wrist brush past him.
"I admit, that move is fast. But using it right in front of me like that — you're— WHAT?!"
Mid-sentence, Laxus's lips froze. His pupils sharply contracted.
The magic circle of the Trap Card "Swap" flashed. Chase's figure below vanished into thin air. In its place was the crimson wrist that should have missed!
"Slifer the Sky Dragon's Thunder Force Stomp!"
The aura of a god bloomed brazenly. Chase appeared where the crimson wrist had been directly above Laxus.
His raised right leg manifested a dragon claw phantom. From high above, with overwhelming force, he stomped down!
Startled, Laxus had no time to transform into lightning to evade. The only escape route was completely sealed by the crimson wrist rapidly approaching from below!
With no other option, he let out a roar, unleashing lightning to envelop his body in passive defense.
BOOM!
The two attacks from above and below simultaneously struck the lightning net!
Amid the exploding, dense electric arcs, Chase twisted his waist, concentrating his body weight and magic power on his right leg, bursting fierce force.
After a brief stalemate, his leather boot successfully broke through the lightning and stomped on Laxus's face, kicking him flying diagonally. He landed in a distant mountain forest, causing a violent explosion!
"Told you. You couldn't dodge that."
Chase landed gracefully, raising his hand to push back his hair in a slightly showy gesture.
His slightly disheveled hairstyle instantly returned to normal.
Given Laxus's current arrogant, unyielding personality, saying he couldn't dodge would make him try to do exactly that rather than just punching the decoy Forbidden One right wrist to smithereens.
In other words, Chase had started laying the trap when he said that.
The follow-up combo had gone so smoothly because he had completely read Laxus's personality!
"Chase, you... damn bastard!"
An angry roar sounded. Laxus, bathed in golden lightning, his face terrifyingly dark, walked step by step from the depths of the ruins.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His speech was slightly air-leaking, as if several teeth had been kicked out.
Of course, for a physically powerful Dragon Slayer, these were only minor injuries.
What was truly Impossible to ignore was the very obvious shoe sole print deeply imprinted on Laxus's cheek!
"Oh my, Lord Laxus, how did you end up like this? Didn't I remind you before we started to protect your face?"
Chase couldn't help but laugh.
It wasn't intentional. He genuinely couldn't hold it in.
"GO TO HELL!!"
Ruthlessly mocked, Laxus fell into a crazed state. His increasingly swollen muscles flashed with dazzling lightning.
A raging aura, carrying tearing hurricanes and lightning, rushed toward him. Facing this power, Chase's eyes sharpened. He slowly put away his smile, his expression becoming serious.
To be fair, a full-power Laxus was quite oppressive at least for him, without using all his magic card buffs.
Yet even so, Chase had no intention of avoiding his edge. Instead, he exploded his magic power and chose to fight Laxus head-on!
Almost simultaneously, the two vanished.
HUM!!!
When they reappeared, they faced each other directly. God Slayer magic and Dragon Slayer magic collided like comets!
The resulting shockwave swept in all directions. The entire suburb trembled violently. The ground near the impact point was more fragile than tofu, disintegrating instantly!
At the center of the storm, a crimson fist and a lightning fist were locked in stalemate, wanting only releasing destructive energy.
"You've only been in the guild a few years, Chase. Two years ago, I could beat you. Two years later, I still can!"
While maintaining the magical clash, Laxus clenched his other fist.
"If you can, then try it, Laxus!"
Crimson light flashed. Chase also raised his fist, surrounded by the phantom of Slifer the Sky Dragon's claws.
Having reached an understanding, the two stopped talking. Abandoning all other thoughts, they wildly threw both fists at each other!
And this was the fundamental reason Chase, a card wizard, had chosen to go toe-to-toe with a powerful warrior like Laxus:
Since talk-no-jutsu was useless, pour all his words — all the ideals and will he wanted to convey — into his fists!
This was the unique "romance" between men, between Fairy Tail comrades!
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!!" x2
Fists clashed. Waves of impacts erupted one after another, as if trying to tear the surrounding space to shreds.
In this high-intensity, blow-for-blow brawl, both Chase and Laxus suffered varying degrees of injury to their faces, chests, and abdomens.
The blood that occasionally splashed and ignited this true men's duel!
CRACKLE!!
Lightning roared. Compared to the battle-hardened Laxus, who excelled at physical combat, Chase — who hadn't been using God Slayer magic for long — ultimately fell behind.
After hundreds of exchanged blows, he was forced back repeatedly by the bursting thunder punches.
Caught up in the heat of battle, Laxus stepped forward, wanting to press his advantage and give Chase no chance to fight back.
But a Magic Card slowly spinning in the air suddenly entered his field of vision.
The next second, a magic circle lit up. Three greatswords flowing with holy light descended from the sky, releasing their binding force to restrain Laxus in place!
Chase caught his breath, raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Truly the grandson who inherited the old man's power, with magic power so immense it needed to be suppressed with a Dragon Slayer crystal. He certainly had the right to be arrogant.
Judging by the performance, Laxus, still in his rebellious phase and yet to be "reborn," was almost catching up to Jellal, a Ten Wizard Saint!
Fortunately, after the Tower of Heaven, Chase had acquired several new cards, amplifying his power. Otherwise, he might have actually lost (without using all his magic buffs)!
"But... it should have gotten through, right?" Chase looked up at the briefly restrained Laxus.
"Damn Chase! You think you can trap me with this little toy?!!" Laxus roared angrily.
Uh... still not enough...
Then let's continue!!
***
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