After knocking Laxus out of his lightning form, I followed after him, digging my fist into his gut just as he regained his footing, forcing him to grit his teeth while he retaliated in kind. "Annoying bastard!" "Tch, that makes two of us!" Glaring at Laxus, we removed our fists from our stomachs nearly simultaneously while he leaped backwards, releasing a dragon's roar, forcing me to cross my arms, blocking the attack.
Digging my feet into the ground, I stood firm as I withstood the powerful vortex of lightning, though just as it finished, Laxus rushed me with a massive lightning fist; as it slammed against my guard, I managed to offset most of the damage, but it had a side effect of stunning me. It was merely for a split second, but that was akin to a lifetime during a battle of this caliber, and Laxus wouldn't miss that chance.
'Fuck me.' As I slowly fell backwards, unable to move, Laxus clasped his hands together and raised them above his head before violently slamming them onto my chest, followed by massive bolts of lightning. "Ha, fucking stay down."
Growling in annoyance, I erupted from the crater, uppercutting Laxus, flinging him into the sky, though I didn't let him leave as I grabbed his ankle and slammed him into the ground before tossing him through the forest. "Fucking bastard, that hurt!" Patting my chest, which was scorched and blistering, I grunted and lunged after Laxus.
Dashing through the forest, following the path of destruction, Laxus's body, I saw him, lunging at me, having already regained his bearing. Raising his fist, Laxus gathered a substantial amount of lightning in his fist, causing me to clench my hand as I increased my speed, charging towards him.
"COOPER!" "LAXUS!" Slamming our feet on the ground, we stared intensely into each other's eyes as we swung our fists at each other. When they collided, I felt a sharp pain, one that Laxus also felt, given his expression; following the sharp pain was an eruption that flung both of us tens of meters back.
Pushing my hands against the ground, I flipped onto my feet, staring at the massive crater tens of meters in diameter we'd made, though I hardly registered that as I focused back on Laxus, lunging at him a second later while he did the same.
As we collided once more, our battle continued, reaching a new level of ferocity as our killing intent leaked from our bodies without restraint; we were practically declaring this battle wouldn't end until one of us died.
I threw fists, kicks, elbows, knees, and even headbuts, while Laxus did the same alongside his lightning; we traversed throughout the nearby forest of Magnolia, leaving destruction in our wake. Craters were formed, hills were pulverized, and mountains were reduced to rubble; our battle transformed a once-beautiful forest into a wasteland.
Throughout all of this, time passed without interruption; the sun, which was once resting in the sky, had long since set, entering the realm of night. However, whether it was night, it made no difference to us; Laxus's lightning attacks constantly illuminated the area around us. It even started to rain heavily, washing away the dirt and blood that covered our bodies while we continued our fight; our bodies had grown exhausted, and our magic was low, but neither showed any signs of slowing down.
By the fourth hour, well into the night, we'd come to a stop, our injuries and exhaustion finally catching up to us as we needed a respite to catch our breath.
Leaning on my knees, I gasped for breath, blood dripping down my chin and onto the ground alongside the rain hitting my body; raising my head, which in of itself was painful, I stared at Laxus, who was in no better condition than I was.
After a few more seconds, I stood upright, casting aside the weakness I'd just shown, and stepped forward, an act that I found difficult; if I lose focus, I felt as if I'd collapse right here.
Seeing me step forward, Laxus did the same; it didn't do much to lessen the distance of roughly twenty meters between us, but it was a statement that neither of us would back down.
Staring at each other through the heavy rain, both too exhausted to speak, we didn't attempt conversation; instead, we decided to communicate with our fists, the only way we knew how to make our point. Watching Laxus raise his arms while gathering his magic power, I roared and used my remaining magic power to push myself past my limit, causing my strength to rise at the cost of worsening my injuries.
Pushing against the ground, cracking it, I lunged towards Laxus, intending to end this battle with my next attack, as I doubted I'd be able to last any longer. Fighting against Laxus, someone who knew everything you'd do, was beyond exhausting; if I had to fight for another minute, I'd lose. 'I'll end this now!'
As I dashed towards him, Laxus, having gathered a tremendous amount of magic power, most likely everything he had, into his two hands, he roared and threw it at me, dropping to his knee afterwards while gasping for air.
Staring at the thick, spiraling bolt of lightning transforming into a three-pronged spear heading straight at me, despite knowing I could die from this attack, I couldn't help but smirk. 'Reminds me of our S-class exam.'
During the S-class examination eight years ago, our battle had ended just like this; unfortunately, at that time, I lost to Laxus from this exact attack.
While a grin crept onto my face, I couldn't stop myself from subconsciously chuckling as I neared the attack. Reeling my arm back, I swung it at the tip of the attack, causing a massive explosion that engulfed me and everything when we collided.
I didn't wait for the dust to settle and continued to dash through the electrified air while my burnt arm dangled to my side. As I continued to charge towards Laxus, I could feel my legs nearly buckle with every step; if I fell now, getting back up would be a miracle.
However, unlike eight years ago, I didn't fall here.
With no magic remaining, I clenched my left fist and slammed my foot down right in front of Laxus, who desperately tried to stand up. "Hehe, it was fun, Laxus. Now sleep." Unable to react, I used every ounce of strength still coursing through my body and punched Laxus, digging my fist into his face and pushing him into the ground while I stumbled forward, crashing into a tree.
Panting, I leaned against the tree and glanced at Laxus, who was lying unconscious, causing me to wryly chuckle before I took a deep breath and roared into the sky, declaring my victory over a powerful opponent.
Once I finished roaring, all my strength left my body, and I collapsed onto my butt, leaning against the tree while I struggled to stay conscious. I managed to do so for a few minutes, which was when I began to feel the ground tremble in rhythm, like footsteps. After a moment, I sensed a familiar and powerful presence, causing me to look up and glance at Gramps, who was currently taller than any mountain.
Shrinking down to standard size, Gramps landed between Laxus and I, looking between us before heaving a sigh, visibly aging a decade before my very eyes. "Thank you, Cooper. I'll handle everything from here." I was too exhausted to even respond and just faintly smiled before letting the dream world take me into a deep, recovering sleep.
___
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It's been two days since the civil war in Fairy Tail. Everyone had been treated by Porlyusica, well, except for me, though everyone was still injured and covered in bandages, especially Gajeel, who was akin to a mummy. The only ones who were able to move around without expressing constant pain were Erza and Mira, though they were just hiding their pain as they weren't moving if they didn't have to.
As for me, I was also covered in bandages, but I was also the most resilient one in Fairy Tail, so moving around wasn't too much of a problem; granted, I'd much rather just sit down and rest, but someone had to operate the bar.
"I'm limiting you to one barrel a day until you're fully healed, Cana." Placing a cup of alcohol before Cana, she stared at me with a pout, though I just raised my eyebrow, causing her to click her tongue. "Tch, fine, big bro." "Fufu, what about me, big bro?" Smiling, Mira leaned forward onto the counter, secretly exposing her cleavage to me, while I refilled her cup.
"As much as you want." "Yay!" "Huh, the hell! That ain't fair!?" "Mirajane isn't an alcoholic." "Tch, bastard playing favorites." Rolling my eyes, I ignored Cana's nonsense before throwing a cup squarely at Natsu's head, as he was mocking Gajeel's current appearance.
With everyone behaving like usual, if not quieter than normal, the guild entrance was suddenly opened, prompting everyone to go silent and stare daggers at him; which was understandable, as he did beat them all pretty badly. "Yo, what's up?" Washing one of the cups, I gestured to Laxus, who stood at the door, briefly glancing at me.