Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331
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-Magnolia Outskirts-
It had been some time since Broly had last fought anyone seriously. His final spar had been with Erza and Natsu, and by now it felt like it had taken place a lifetime ago. As for the opponent standing before him today, he carried his own thoughts. He was curious, wondering whether the rumors about this man were true or simply talk passed along by those with too much time on their hands.
"This is a good spot," Gildarts said casually, arms stretching overhead as if preparing for a casual jog rather than a battle. The clearing they had chosen was enormous, the grass swaying gently beneath the open sky. Beyond the edges lay a dense treeline that stretched out for miles, with Magnolia barely visible in the distance. The mountains stood distant like silent witnesses, their shadows long and unmoving. "Far enough from Magnolia that the old man won't keel over if things get a little rowdy."
Broly, standing a few paces away, rolled his shoulders slowly, even though he felt like there was no need to stretch — he did it out of courtesy. As for what was mentioned, he also shared the same thought as he glanced around the clearing. "Was it really necessary to come this far out?" he asked, his voice carrying a note of genuine curiosity. It was not that he objected to caution, but he doubted their fight would reach the kind of destruction Gildarts seemed to be preparing for.
"Trust me," Gildarts said, grinning as he leaned side to side in his stretches. "You don't want me anywhere near Magnolia when it comes to things like this. Even if it's just for a warm-up, Makarov seems to have some kind of sixth sense whenever I'm about to do anything exciting. He comes down on me the moment I so much as raise my voice in town. Out here, we're well off his radar. No cleanup crews, no lectures, no angry mobs. Unless, of course, our lovely guest over there is volunteering to help tidy up after we're done?"
He gestured toward the far side of the clearing, where atop a cluster of smooth boulders sat a striking young woman with long, scarlet hair. She leaned lazily on one arm, her chin resting against her palm, watching them with an expression of mild boredom. Her eyes drifted toward Gildarts, one brow arched.
"If by help you mean scraping what's left of you off the dirt afterward," she said dryly, "then sure, I'll help. You'll make excellent fertilizer for the land."
"Woof, fiery as ever," Gildarts replied with mock offense, flashing her his trademark grin. "Been a long time since anyone complimented me like that."
"Do you have anything else to say besides flirting with every woman you lay eyes on?" she asked flatly. "I thought Broly was the stubborn one here, but you've already managed to be worse."
Her hand lifted in a casual flick, and a faint shimmer spread across the clearing before vanishing entirely. Both fighters paused, glancing at each other before looking back at her.
"Don't mind me," she said with a shrug. "I just set up a few analysis spells. I want some proper data out of this fight. Now hurry it up, will you? I'm getting tired of waiting."
Broly studied her for a moment longer. For all her sharp remarks, Irene, at least that was the name Gildarts had mentioned earlier—did not seem as cold as she pretended to be. Beneath that tone, she simply struck him as someone who refused to let others read her easily.
"Fine," Gildarts said, clapping his hands once before looking at Broly with a grin. "Let's not keep the lady waiting. Out of courtesy, big guy, you get the first move."
Broly raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Of course. Give me your best shot."
Broly said nothing at first. He knew his strength, knew what happened when he held nothing back. Even in this world where magic and monsters were common, power had limits. Too many times, he had been reminded of that fact.
"Still hesitating," Gildarts remarked, tilting his head. "All right then, start small. Hit me with something light. If I can handle it, we'll take things up a level. Sound fair?"
'Something small? I guess a Ki blast should be enough.' Broly gave a small nod, a faint grunt leaving him as he raised his right hand, energy crackling faintly around his palm. A sphere of translucent Ki began to form, its glow against the open air as it swelled to the size of a melon. He didn't bother with anything complex, just a straightforward blast to start with. The moment the orb was fully charged, he thrust his arm forward. The attack tore through the air in a straight line toward Gildarts.
'If he didn't manage to parry or at least block this one, the worst he'd walk away with would be a few bruises, maybe a bone fracture, but nothing dire.' He'd hammered this control into himself over endless, punishing days, learned to shear off his power output until even a focused Ki blast amounted to little more than a dent barely scuffed into the bark of some sad tree.
Given what he had seen so far, he expected the man to either dodge or counter in some obvious way. Taking the blast head-on was usually a terrible idea, no matter how strong someone was. Yet to his surprise, the older fighter didn't dodge at all. Gildarts raised one open palm toward the attack, calm as if he had done this a hundred times before.
Broly's brow furrowed. He thought at first the man would return fire with his own energy blast, maybe something similar to Ki manipulation. Instead, the instant his attack touched the man's palm, the glowing sphere shattered into fragments. It broke apart into dozens of cube-shaped pieces, each one shrinking and fading into nothing before reaching the ground.
Broly blinked once.
Twice…
What happened?
The sight wasn't just unexpected. It was something he had never seen in all his years of fighting. Energy attacks could be blocked, resisted, and sometimes redirected, but to see one disintegrate like that? His hand slowly lowered as he stared, the confusion plain on his face.
Irene smirked from where she stood off to the side, clearly enjoying the reaction. "Wipe that look off your face, it's unbecoming of someone of your power. You shouldn't be so surprised. What you're seeing is Crush Magic, an ancient form of destructive magic hardly anyone practices anymore. It's so rare that most modern mages think it vanished centuries ago. The principle is simple enough. It crushes anything it touches. Matter, people, energy, concepts, even certain kinds of enchantments. It doesn't matter what it is. This magic breaks it down until nothing is left. It was already being called mankind's most destructive magic before Dragon Slaying techniques were even invented."
Gildarts chuckled, shaking his head as if impressed by her knowledge. "Lady, you know more about my magic than I do. Half of that is new to me."
"Of course it is," Irene said without hesitation. "Most of that information was lost long ago. Records vanished, archives burned, whole libraries forgotten when kingdoms fell. The origins of Crush Magic come from outside this continent entirely. How you even learned this particular version is something I would like to find out when I have the time."
Broly, still silent, listened closely while Gildarts grinned.
"Pretty sure I've seen other people use it," he muttered.
Irene cocked her head to the side, her gaze fixing on him as though he were an especially dull boy in a dull classroom. "No. What you've seen is really just a faded reflection—the same idea, but much thinner, less potent. What you carry is the actual origin, the raw form; the kind that, when handled right, can crack kingdoms wide open." There was a pause as the words settled, clean and matter-of-fact, before she added, "Dragons are still a little beyond you, then again, not much magic can ever truely harm dragons. The rest? Those are muted echoes of the true strength. Even I could pull off the weaker kind, but I could never wield it like you do."
"I am well aware how useless it is against a dragon. Thankfully, I won't have to be fighting one any time soon. Also, figures you'd be able to use it too," Gildarts said, scratching the back of his neck before nodding toward Broly, who still looked faintly unsettled. "So, big guy, did I pass your test? I told you I can handle myself."
Broly didn't answer right away. His expression shifted slightly, then his hands came up again. Energy swirled around his palms, brighter this time, gathering far faster than before. The air seemed to shake faintly as dozens of smaller spheres appeared around him in a wide arc. With one sharp motion, he sent the entire volley flying toward Gildarts without any warnings this time.
The older man only grinned and raised both hands. Every blast that came close shattered on contact just like before, each one breaking into the same cube-like fragments before vanishing into the air without leaving so much as a scorch mark behind.
"Dangerous stuff," Gildarts said with a quick laugh, even as the last fragments faded. "What do you call this again?"
"Ki manipulation," Broly replied curtly. His knees bent slightly before he launched forward, closing the gap between them in a heartbeat. His speed forced Gildarts' eyes wide a split second before Broly's leg came sweeping toward his head.
"Shit!"
He ducked low, the kick cutting through the space where his head had been with enough force to whip his cloak sideways. He didn't get long to breathe before Broly pressed in with punches and kicks in rapid succession, his strikes landing with the same speed he had shown against Erza and Natsu earlier.
For all his raw power, Broly's fighting style wasn't perfectly refined martial arts, but there was enough precision in his movements to make them difficult to predict. Gildarts blocked where he could, dodged when he had to, and deflected blows that came too fast to evade outright. Step by step, he found himself forced back, the defensive rhythm barely keeping him ahead of the assault.
Finally, Broly slammed a fist into his guard hard enough to drive him sliding backward. The brown haired man used the momentum to slam his own fist into the ground.
"Mizuwari!"
The earth beneath Broly's feet shattered into cubic fragments, throwing off his balance just long enough for Gildarts to dart forward and drive a white-glowing fist into his stomach. The impact hit like a hammer.
Broly staggered back a step, eyes widening slightly. That actually hurt.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. He shook his hand and flexed his knuckles with a wince. "Are you made out of iron or something? I haven't punched anything that hard and gotten so little for it since the day I hit Natsu's skull."
"You can still fight."
"Of course I can!" He said while laughing loudly, "I would be a one-trick pony if all I relied on was only my magic alone. Crush needs some martial arts prowess to use effectively. You're not half bad yourself, your technique reminds me of Natsu's, more on the brawler side."
He had guessed correctly; there was no real style behind his fighting. It was a mixture of lessons taken from countless battles, scraps learned from facing his father, Natsu, and fragments gathered from a variety of opponents over time. All of it had been stitched together into something entirely his own. A patchwork of techniques, adapted and adjusted until they worked for him.
"You holding back on purpose?" Gildarts asked, watching Broly carefully. "You know, keeping a lid on all that power will backfire sooner or later. You lose control, it won't be pretty."
"I know," Broly replied evenly. No one understood the risk better than him. "Still want to keep going?"
"Of course. This was just the warm-up." Gildarts rolled his shoulders, his tone light. "And here I thought I was giving you a decent preview. Maybe I need to put in a little more effort."
He threw off his cloak. Old scars marked his skin, and a few fresh wounds from earlier still trailed faint lines of red. But what Broly felt wasn't the sight of injuries; it was the change in the man's presence. That calm, easygoing air vanished the moment Gildarts settled into a stance. The intent was there now, serious and direct, and Broly felt himself becoming more cautious in response.
"Crush!"
Gildarts thrust his hands forward. A surge of raw magic power blasted out, a solid beam racing across the field before Broly had the chance to move. It struck hard, lifting the Saiyan clean off his feet and throwing him through the air until he smashed into the side of a hill. And surprisingly… it hurt?
'He's as strong as Hades… no. Different.'
Broly pushed himself up inside the rubble, slowly making his way back up, pushing away boulders twice his size with ease and wiping away some of the dust, feeling the sting across his arms and chest. Hades couldn't break apart a ki blast like that. Whatever this Crush Magic was, it chewed right through energy attacks, leaving nothing behind.
"Come on, I know you're fine in there!" Gildarts called out, laughing as though this was nothing more than a friendly match. "Don't be so stiff about it! Loosen up! Trade some blows with me like we mean it! Hah! Damn, I'm starting to sound like Natsu. That's not a good sign."
Under the rubble, Broly's mouth twitched upward slightly. Most people who shouted for him to fight harder carried malice behind it, enemies who thought power alone could take him down. This man didn't. He could hear it in his voice. Gildarts wasn't looking to humiliate him, to push him to his limits just to cause destruction, wasn't looking to crush him just to prove a point. He wanted the fight itself, the challenge.
"Alright then," The Saiyan muttered, shoving debris aside. He stood, brushing the dust off his arms and shoulders, eyes locked on the grinning mage across the field. "I'll make sure not to hurt you too much."
"Challenge accepted," Gildarts said with a grin stretching even wider. The resemblance to Natsu was there, but tempered, like watching a fire after it had been taught where to burn.
A thin aura of ki shimmered to life around Broly, wind kicking up at his feet as the ground cracked beneath him. He charged forward, fist drawn back.
"Hand-to-hand, huh? Fine by me!" Gildarts slammed his palm down, Crush Magic running through the ground in a single pulse. The earth split apart in jagged squares, cubes of stone shooting upward and spinning through the air, cutting off Broly's line of sight.
'Trying to block my vision?' Broly thought. Smart. But not enough.
He gathered a ball of ki in his palm and fired. The blast tore through the flying debris in a single shot, clearing the space between them in an instant. Dust and fragments scattered, revealing nothing — Gildarts had already moved.
Broly didn't need to see him. He turned sharply, sensing the magic signature flaring behind him just as a dome of white energy hurtled straight his way. His aura brightened, arms crossing in front of him to take the hit.
The impact exploded across his guard. For a split second, he expected to hold his ground. Instead, Broly watched in surprise as the shield of ki around his body fractured apart into neat cubes, disintegrating the same way his earlier attack had. The blast slammed into him full force, throwing him back again across the torn-up field. He slid through dirt and stone before digging in his heel and stopping, eyes narrowing now with a far more cautious focus than before.
"Crush magic… how can it destroy a Ki if it's not magic?" He muttered under his breath, his voice low yet carrying irritation. "No matter. There has to be a limit to it. I'll just force my way through… I'll increase my powers gradually then."
A surge of power tore out from his body, a translucent aura wrapping around him with twice the force as before. Even Gildarts, who had already prepared his next strike, felt the air grow heavier around him. He launched the same crushing wave of magic toward Broly, its destructive energy tearing across the battlefield.
But instead of charging straight through like earlier, Broly suddenly shifted. His body moved in short, sharp bursts, weaving left and right as the attack ripped past him. Debris flew into the air from every point the magic struck, but the Saiyan closed the distance without slowing.
Reaching Gildarts, Broly swung his leg wide and fast, aiming for the side of the older man's torso. Gildarts crossed his forearms just in time to block, the impact forcing his feet to dig deep grooves into the ground beneath him. The blow still left a faint grunt of pain escaping the seasoned wizard's throat.
"S-Should've known… cough! A big guy like you would hit like a runaway train," Gildarts said with a faint smirk while coughing several times, shaking the sting from his arms as he stepped back into stance.
He came right back at Broly with fists ready, no hesitation in his movements. Broly welcomed it. Their battle shifted into close quarters, a blur of fists, knees, and elbows colliding at breakneck speed. When Gildarts threw an uppercut, Broly blocked with his forearm before sending a punch straight to the ribs. The older man twisted just enough to lessen the impact, countering with a knee toward Broly's stomach.
Broly's attacks carried raw power behind every strike, shaking the air with each hit. Gildarts, however, refused to crumble. He braced through the punishment, even as his body felt the weight of every blow. Each time his fists connected, a faint shimmer of Crush Magic coated them, bypassing his protective aura just enough to leave faint stinging marks across the Saiyan's skin.
It was not much damage by his standards, but it was enough for him to feel his heartbeat rising.
"This… this is actually fun," he realized, his grin widening as the fight dragged on. He began to push harder, each motion growing faster and heavier, his footwork more aggressive as he forced Gildarts back. He wanted to see it — whether this man could endure him at his fullest, whether he could strike back with equal force.
And through it all, Gildarts laughed.
They clashed again, both warriors locking arms in the middle of the battlefield. Their muscles strained against one another, four forearms pressed together as the ground beneath them split apart from the pressure.
"You're smiling," Gildarts said between breaths, sweat running down his temple.
"I… I am," Broly answered, the words leaving his mouth as he felt a strange looseness in his chest. There was no fear inside him, none of the hesitation he normally carried about losing control. This man could take it; he did not need to fear hurting him — the memories of him fighting his father resurfaced. It wasn't the same feeling, but still a good feeling overall, where he did not need to treat his opponent as if they were made of paper. Irene also came close, as in her dragon form, she was just as strong as the black dragon.
Green light began creeping into his eyes, faint at first before spreading fully as his aura shifted. The pale glow of his energy deepened to a light green, the ground trembling under the rise in power. Each second felt longer than the last as he forced Gildarts back step by step.
"Shit, Crushing Evil, Spreadi—"
Gildarts never got to finish.
Broly's hands shot forward, clamping onto the wizard's face and blocking his mouth from activating whatever spell that was. With brutal force, he slammed him into the ground, the impact cracking the ground deep enough into a miniature human-sized crater. Gildart's eyes went momentarily white until he was pulled back to consciousness by another brutal smash against the ground. He lifted him again and slammed him down once more, then a fourth time, before hurling him across the battlefield like a ragdoll.
"Gah!" Gildarts choked out as pain shot through his body, crashing through rubble before skidding to a stop. Not managing to stop himself from sliding against the ground, unlike Broly earlier.
"Hah!
Broly did not wait. He charged, landing beside the man before his opponent could recover. One knee drove into Gildart's gut, pinning him deeper into the ground, then he extended his palm directly at his face. Energy gathered there, green light swelling as the air hummed violently around them, growing in intensity and size with a Ki blast this powerful could easily destroy anything in its path.
Fairy Tail Ace's eyes widened. From this distance, the blast would erase his head completely.
And yet, right as Broly felt he had done enough for now, fully intending to dismiss his attack and call the match over at that moment… the world around him turned pure white. "—!?" His instincts screamed.
A loud boom spread across the region.
Pushed back several feet, Broly brought his forearm up to shield himself as a towering column of energy erupted upward. The blast tore into the air with a deafening roar, its release sending a crushing wave of pressure across the clearing. Wind whipped through the battlefield, fierce enough to rip smaller trees straight from the earth while rocks shattered apart under the force, reduced to fine powder scattering across the ground.
"You liar. You're holding back too." Broly's grin widened, the excitement in his face growing bigger as the shadowed figure within the pillar of magic stepped forward. The faint outline became clearer with each second, the glow of crimson eyes cutting through the haze. Broly's thoughts raced back to Makarov's words, the guild master claiming this man truly earned the title of the strongest. The pressure pouring out now was not that far off with dragons like Acnologia or Irene — for a human, he definitely was the strongest one he had met so far. No one in the entire guild, maybe not even in all of Fiore, possessed magic that felt this close to a destructive erupting volcano. For once, Broly let the wellspring of power inside him surge freely by his own will, not to fight an enemy but just because he wanted to continue this fight. His restraint loosened, replaced by an anticipation he rarely felt in battle.
The ground trembled as Ki and Ethernano collided, two forces pushing against each other with unrelenting intensity. The air itself cracked, heat and static snapping across the space between them. Neither side bent nor broke; both forces clashed endlessly, each trying to dominate without yielding an inch.
"All Crush."
His magic formed a grid-like sphere around Broly, his signature Crush Magic snapping across the battlefield like invisible jaws, tearing apart everything it touched. Segments of the ground twisted and disintegrated under its effect, chunks of land shearing away into nothing. Yet Broly's aura simply poured back in, sealing the gaps, his power instantly replacing whatever Gildarts managed to crush away.
"So you're one of those with energy that never runs out," Gildarts muttered, half amused, half exasperated, watching the impossible flow of Ki replenishing itself.
Broly said nothing. Instead, he lunged forward, his fist cocked back, muscles coiled tight as he drove himself straight at the middle-aged man. Gildarts mirrored the movement, his own punch arcing forward. Their fists collided at the center, the shockwave blasting outward with earth-shattering force.
The destruction spread far beyond the earlier craters dotting the hillsides. Entire sections of terrain fractured into hovering cubes from Gildarts' magic before Broly's raw Ki shattered them completely, expanding the devastation across half the landscape like a storm tearing through Magnolia's outskirts. With even locals within the town looking above to see a clear sky with parted clouds, some even noticed the ground earthquake but ultimately went on about their day normally.
"Emperyan!" Gildarts unleashed another barrage, grids of magic hammering Broly's barrier again and again. Yet every gap carved through the shield filled instantly with more Ki, an endless tide holding the line no matter how much destruction rained down.
Broly finally pressed through the assault, charging head-on. Gildarts was ready, fists already flying. The Saiyan raised a knee to block the first strike aimed at his ribs, the impact shaking the ground beneath them, before swinging his elbow forward, aiming straight for Gildart's jaw.
"Hn!"
Gildarts tilted his head back, avoiding the hit by inches, and countered with a straight jab to Broly's side. The latter caught the punch with his left hand and shoved it aside, following up with a quick hook toward Gildart's midsection. One side pushing with kicks and leg sweeps, with the other preferring punches and dodges. To any outsiders watching the fight, their moves were barely visible with all the light work, but Irene herself watched the spectacle with a bored look. "So the Ace of Fairy Tail holds that much power, easily at the level of a spriggan."
Their confrontation grew more intense with debris flying everywhere, some nearly hitting her, until, with a mere flick of her wrists, once more she destroyed it. Though her boredom only lasted so long until she saw Broly fly upwards and be away from Gildart's range—much to the latter's dismay. "A disadvantage of Crush Magic is its requirement to stay close to the target. Preferring to be used in combination with hand-to-hand combat."
Green Ki gathered in one single point, just like all of Broly's attacks. Yet she immediately noticed how this one differed from the rest as it actually began to grow.
"A magic made to crush everything it touches," she whispered while looking at the sky as slowly but surely, the radiance from the sun eventually got overshadowed by pure emerald light. The sharp ringing sound grew louder and louder with the sensation of dread clearly showing on the brown haired wizard's face. She smirked at that sight, not at all surprised by the outcome, just a bit unsatisfied with how long it took to reach that point. "What use is crushing your opponent or their energy when they just have a limitless amount of it?"
Expecting the fight to end right there, with Gildarts having no way to even defend against an attack of that calibre, she turned around and started to walk back to her temporary abode. "Waste of time, thinking he can give that monster a challenge, even if it's a small one. At least I gathered some essential inf—?"
At the corner of her eyes, she saw the one who was supposed to lose get back up again and face the giant sphere of energy above without showing any intentions to back away or even give up. Instead, he just laughed as usual, opening his arms like an invitation for the Saiyan to continue. Uttering something under his breath until a beam of white light shot straight and the Saiyan.
That man couldn't be this stupid now, could he? The only reason his magic worked was because his opponent held back a smaller amount of his Ki, but this sphere was too dense for crush magic to even affect it. Yet much to her disbelief, he did not aim for the growing sphere, but rather at Broly himself. And the intended effect did not occur as it had earlier; instead, his opponent's entire body started to glow bright white.
Seeing this, Irene recalled one of the abilities of Crush magic and saw its effects in real time. The hulking body filled with muscles broke apart into cubes, taking shape into several dozen humanoid forms all bearing the same resemblance to the original one, but just much smaller.
Unfortunately, so did not even have the opportunity to marvel at such a curious ability, as all of those smaller entities were doing the exact same thing as the original one and powering the sphere above it. With their powers having diminished considerably but already catching up quickly to the original one, the entire construct started to balloon beyond control—making her go completely pale.
"That fool!"
Grabbing her staff, Irene ran back to the field, placing herself in the middle and slamming her staff to the ground. A giant dome formed from the earlier spell she had cast, encompassing Broly alone, right as the entire thing detonated.
Crack!
Her shield did not even last a second, the upper portion getting completely shattered with a pillar of pure destructive emerald energy rising above. "Hn!" all the while she did her best that the walls around the sphere would not break, hoping that it would continue channeling the attack upwards.
The shield eventually gave out, but thankfully, most of the energy had dispersed beyond the sky into space, making her able to stand through the shock wave and tank it with her own body alone. As for the human who caused all of this? She did not care any longer, more occupied with not having this entire region disappear from the maps.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
With shards of her barrier now raining down a snowfall, Irene took a moment to catch her breath, given she did not hesitate to pour all of her mana within the barrier. Having even at one point considered transforming into a dragon and just using her body to contain the explosion, she did not have a death wish, nor was it worth going that far for these people.
Pa!
"Ouch."
"Ooh!"
"Wah!"
"Look out!"
"My hands!"
In the middle of her thoughts, several tiny voices sounded all around her at the same time, too. Things landed on top of her head, and the other even slipped right into her cleavage.
"..."
The redhead woman froze, coldly looking below to find a miniature Broly with a doll-sized body and a head three times the size of his body staring back at her.
"How… did you get so big, Irene?" The little one asked, even his voice had changed. He tried to climb out of her chest but only managed to sink deeper within the deep valley of her clevage, slowly getting slowed like quick sand. "H-Help."
She ignored him, at that point starting to contemplate if he was killable in this form.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.