Cobra's mind-reading was still interfering with his crucial movements.
"Poison Dragon's Iron Fist!" Cobra, with a dangerously close low-altitude dive, swept over Gajeel's head, and his poison-infused fist slammed hard onto Gajeel's raised iron arm, forcing him back again.
"Damn it! Get down here!" Gajeel roared in frustration, the enemy's aerial guerrilla tactics making him unable to exert his full strength!
The prolonged intense battle and maintaining full-body high-strength iron transformation consumed an enormous amount of energy!
He began to feel a hint of fatigue!
Even worse, while maintaining a fully iron-transformed body immunized him against poison infiltration, Cobra's dark-red poisonous gas, attached to his attacks, seemed to possess a special magic erosion property, constantly wearing down the iron dragon Magic covering his body!
The luster of the Iron Scales in some areas began to dim!
Both belonging to Dragon Slayer Magic, Gajeel's iron dragon body was formidable, but the opponent's poison was not simple either.
Cobra keenly caught onto this, and his sinister voice came from the air: "Haha! Noticed it, iron scrap? My 'Poison Dragon's Gas' isn't just poison! It can erode magic! How much longer can your iron shell last?! When your magic is depleted, that's when you'll turn into pus and blood!"
"Before this great master's magic runs out, you'll already be pounded into meat paste!" Gajeel retorted stubbornly, but a chill ran through his heart.
He knew Cobra was telling the truth!
He couldn't drag this out any longer!
He had to decide the victor immediately!
Gajeel's eyes widened, and he suddenly let out an earth-shattering roar: "Ah—!!!"
He no longer pursued Cobra in the air but instead poured all his remaining, almost all, Iron Dragon Slayer Magic into his arms without reservation!
The iron-grey light was unprecedentedly brilliant!
The magic circle's light no longer appeared only on his fists or feet but wrapped around his arms like two living magic-patterned iron dragons!
The ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, unable to bear the weight!
"Hmm?" Cobra hovered in mid-air, stopping his attack.
He "heard" the destructive will erupting from the iron scrap below, like a volcano core brewing!
This was by no means an ordinary move!
"He's preparing his final attack! The intensity... far exceeds before!!!"
Alarm bells rang in Cobra's heart!
Just then, he distinctly "heard" a thought in Gajeel's mind: "Now! With all my strength, aim for his chest! Punch through him!"
Cobra's pupils constricted!
Subconsciously, he concentrated all his magic, preparing to defend against the thunderous blow that might come from the iron fist below!
However—
"Viper! This ends—"
Gajeel suddenly looked up, his eyes burning with madness and the light of victory!
As he roared, his arms, covered in thick iron-grey magic, did not thrust out in a straight punch but, using his shoulders as an axis, violently swung upward and diagonally forward!
Like a giant sword unsheathing!
The iron-grey magic wrapped around his arms suddenly burst forth with dazzling light, and its form underwent a dramatic transformation!
No longer crude greatswords or clubs, but condensed into two monstrously large and ferocious objects!
They were constructed from countless rapidly spinning, sharp, screeching saw-toothed chains—Iron Weapons of Destruction!
Each sawtooth gleamed with a deadly cold light, and the rapidly rotating iron chains formed the base of the sawteeth, interlocking and grinding, sending out dazzling sparks!
The clang of steel echoed like the starting of a hellish millstone! Heavy, sharp, crushing!
The immense rotational force twisted the air around his arms!
A destructive aura spread out as if substantial!
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art!"
"Karma · Iron God Sword!!!"
Gajeel's roar was like the final declaration of a giant dragon!
At the moment Cobra made a wrong judgment because he "heard" Gajeel's intentionally released "false thoughts," concentrating all his defensive power on his vital chest, waiting for Gajeel's direct thrust attack—
What Gajeel swung was not a direct thrust at all!
Instead, it was an upward, rising dragon slash-like, destructive horizontal swing powerful enough to tear apart the sky!!!
Those two gigantic Iron God Swords, composed of rapidly rotating sawteeth, like the arms of a demon, carried Gajeel's last will and magic, tearing through the air, and with a world-destroying, unavoidable posture, violently slashed at Cobra, who was hovering in the air!
The attack's range was so vast that it covered Cobra's entire front!
Terrifying crushing power descended instantly!
Cobra's expression instantly changed from astonishment to extreme terror!
He had no time to dodge!
His incorrect defensive stance prevented him from even offering effective resistance!
"No—!!!"
He could only watch helplessly as those two death-whirlwind-like iron giant saws, like the giant scythes of a doomsday judgment, tore through his protective poison mist, shattered his final magic barrier, and mercilessly cut into his crossed, blocking arms and chest and abdomen!
Pffft! Clang—!!!
Unimaginable cutting sounds and chilling bone-cracking sounds erupted simultaneously!
Blood mist mixed with clothing fragments exploded!
Cobra spat out a purple-black fountain of blood mixed with internal organ fragments!
His chest, abdomen, and arms instantly appeared with terrifying gashes, deep enough to see bone, almost cutting him in half at the waist!
The attached dark-red poisonous gas, capable of eroding magic, was rendered useless in the face of Gajeel's pure physical, ultimate violent and sharp ultimate crushing Secret Art!
"Ugh..." Cobra's eyes were filled with disbelief, despair, and pain. In his final moments of consciousness, he saw Gajeel's mad eyes burning with the flames of victory.
"You... bastard..." He used his last strength to try and get his magic pet to carry him away.
However, Gajeel's arms suddenly twisted!
"Be crushed!!!"
"Hiss—!" The giant purple Cobra let out a pained wail, its tail instantly severed as it was struck by the edge of the violent whirlwind sawteeth!
It could no longer carry its master!
Cobra, like a broken bird with wings torn by a storm, fell helplessly from the sky, spraying blood, and slammed heavily onto the rocky ground below, kicking up a cloud of dust.
His body twitched slightly twice, then he completely fainted, his fate unknown.
The broken magic pet struggled, hissing nearby.
Dust permeated the air.
Gajeel panted heavily, the "Karma Iron God Swords" on his arms slowly receded, returning to his scarred arms, and his iron-transformed body also deactivated, sweat mixed with blood and dirt streaming down.
The intense feeling of weakness from overexertion instantly surged through his entire body, and he could barely stand.
He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, wiped the blood from his face, and looked at Cobra, who lay motionless on the ground like a rag doll. He grinned, revealing his blood-stained fangs, and let out a low, hoarse, yet arrogant laugh: "Hmph... Poison Dragon? Just a... weak-legged snake! Before this great master's iron... be reduced to ashes... cough cough..."
He knelt on one knee, panting violently, but his gaze became even sharper, locking onto the front—that towering, colossal leg of Nirvana, which now, in his eyes, had lost its guardian and was at his mercy!
"Hey! Cobra! Report your status! What happened?!" A slightly anxious young male voice came from a small communication crystal embedded in Cobra's shattered robe, clearly from one of the other Ten Demon Generals.
Gajeel slowly stood up, dragging his tired but still murderous body, step by step towards the giant magic crystal core.
He raised his heavy, yet still terrifyingly powerful, iron fist, his eyes fixed only on the target of destruction.
The voice from the communication crystal continued to intermittently transmit: "Cobra?!!! Damn it! Cobra?! Damn it, Cobra's signal is gone! The location is... the First Giant Leg! A strong enemy has broken through Cobra's defenses! Go reinforce them quickly!!! The First Leg..."
Gajeel walked to the communication crystal shard, raised his foot, and stomped down hard!
Crack!
The communication crystal completely shattered, and the static disappeared.
"Annoying." Gajeel didn't even look at the mess beneath his feet or the unconscious Cobra. He turned, gathered his last magic, and roared, shaking the rocks, at the core of the giant leg's base, where a massive amount of magic flowed:
"Be! Shattered to dust!!!"
"Iron Dragon Rod · Super Heavy Hammer!!!"
The giant iron-grey Iron Rod slammed heavily onto the rock node where the magic crystal was located within the giant leg!
Rumble—!!!
The entire Nirvana Giant City trembled violently!
Accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound of rock fracturing, a huge crack opened at the base of the First Giant Leg near the ground, and the energy flowing within instantly became chaotic and uncontrollable!
Gajeel looked at the shattered giant leg, a wild yet weary smile on his face: "Job done."
He cast his gaze towards the direction of Nirvana City, "The remaining bones... it's up to you all!"
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