— — — — — —
"ROARRR!"
The Vulcans howled, their voices echoing across the frozen mountain. A pulse of magic rippled through the air as each of them conjured a barrage of snowballs.
There were hundreds of them—and if each one made ten snowballs, that was already thousands of projectiles flying toward them. And judging from the magic energy pouring out, ten was just their warm-up.
The sky darkened under the sheer number of snowballs. It looked like the sky was collapsing.
These weren't soft little play-snowballs either. Each one was dense enough to shatter bone on impact.
"Ahhh!"
Lucy's eyes widened as the sky filled with deadly white spheres. It felt like the entire mountain was pressing down on her. Her breath caught in her throat, her body went rigid from the cold and fear, and she slipped, collapsing onto the snow.
She stared up, frozen in terror, unable to even think of what to do.
"Lucy!" Kazuma's voice cut through the wind. "If you want to be a real guild mage, you need to learn one thing—how to fight."
"No matter what kind of enemy you face, no matter how terrifying the attack, you have to keep your eyes open and see what's coming!"
"Then, you strike back."
As his voice rang out, the floating weapons behind him all flared with light.
Bang!Bang!BANG!——
A storm of magic bullets exploded upward—far more than the number of snowballs—and in seconds, the sky was clear again.
But he didn't stop there. The magical guns from the Treasury shifted, their barrels turning as one toward the army of Vulcans.
"With Observation Haki, this'll be a breeze," Kazuma muttered, eyes sharpening.
He activated Observation Haki: Future Vision, and in an instant, the entire battlefield unfolded in his mind.
He could see everything before it happened—the Vulcans' movements, their dodges, their counterattacks, their timing. Every detail played out before his eyes like a movie on fast-forward.
When he snapped back to the present, his focus locked onto each enemy at once.
Time itself seemed to slow. The snowflakes drifting through the air froze mid-fall, and the Vulcans' movements turned sluggish, like they were caught in syrup.
"One… two… ten… fifty… a hundred and twenty. That's all of them," he said quietly.
In that suspended moment, only his mind was still moving—a combination of his premonition and near-superhuman reflexes.
Then, time caught up.
Gunfire erupted like a symphony of death. Each shot bloomed red against the snow, bright and brutal. The crisp white battlefield was instantly painted with splashes of crimson.
Lucy watched, wide-eyed, as one after another the creatures dropped. Her ears rang with the sound of gunfire, her body numb, her gaze locked on the lone figure standing tall amidst the chaos.
{In the heart of battle, where fire and smoke fill the air, one man stands alone—his terrifying power crushing everything before him. He is like a king who rules the battlefield, his overwhelming magic dominating all.}
Those were the words Lucy had once read in a magazine article about Kazuma. She'd thought she understood them then. But seeing it with her own eyes—she realized how naïve she'd been.
This was what "power beyond reason" looked like.
A fight that seemed impossible. A hundred monsters attacking from every direction—and yet, in the blink of an eye, it was over.
When the smoke cleared, only Kazuma remained standing.
Macao lay unconscious but alive. Lucy herself was still on the ground, trembling. Everything else was silent.
"Pretty shocking, huh?"
Macao's voice was hoarse, but calm. He was awake, barely, watching her with a faint smile.
"He's… like a monster," Lucy whispered, still dazed.
"Yeah." Macao gave a weak chuckle that turned into a cough. "Don't worry about me. For a mage, as long as we're breathing, it's just a scratch."
"You're Lucy, right? Judging by that mark on your hand, you're new to the guild."
She nodded.
"This might be the first time you've seen something this terrifying," he said, his tone turning serious. "But it won't be the last."
He tried to sound casual, but the pain in his voice betrayed how badly he was hurt.
Lucy looked at him, then at Kazuma. Her mind replayed the moment—the blinding storm of magic, the endless rain of bullets, the sky exploding with energy.
The sheer amount of magic required for that kind of attack was beyond comprehension.
Her own magic reserves were decent for her level, but that? Just summoning that many weapons would've drained her completely. She couldn't even begin to imagine firing them.
It would've taken a hundred Lucys to pull off what Kazuma just did—and even that might not be enough.
"Is his magic… infinite?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"I doubt it's infinite," Macao said, smiling faintly. "But it's definitely way beyond what most of us could ever dream of."
"He's the kind of guy who treats high-tier spells like basic magic."
Macao sighed, admiration mixed with disbelief. "Normally, advanced spells like that drain massive amounts of magic power. Even top-tier mages can't use them often without burning out."
"But for him, they're nothing."
"The last person I knew with that kind of overwhelming power was Gildarts—Fairy Tail's strongest man."
Lucy's eyes widened.
"I've got a long way to go…" she murmured.
When Kazuma finally walked back toward them, Lucy clenched her fists and forced herself to stand.
"Um… I…"
She wanted to apologize—for being useless, for freezing up, for being a burden. She couldn't even move when the fight started. What kind of mage was she?
But Kazuma just smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair.
"Everyone's scared their first time," he said lightly. "Don't beat yourself up over it."
Lucy blinked in surprise. She'd expected a scolding, not comfort.
Her cheeks turned pink. She looked down, then lifted her head again, determination flashing in her eyes.
"I'll get stronger," she said firmly. "Someday, I'll stand on my own as a real mage."
"Good," Kazuma said, smiling. "Now quit striking poses and help me out—we need to get down the mountain before we miss the train."
He set up a makeshift stretcher for Macao and began dragging it through the snow.
"Right! Coming!"
Lucy hurried to his side, grabbing one end of the stretcher to help him pull.
The blizzard raged on, but somehow, the cold didn't feel quite as sharp anymore.
.
.
.