Rhode's figure suddenly shot up to over three meters tall, with hands, feet, head, and even his entire body turning stone-like.
The joints of his body appeared no different from a human's, except for the mysterious patterns etched on his forearms and thighs, and a gem glowing blue on his chest.
From a distance, it somewhat resembled an anti-Hulk armor suit.
Boom, boom!
Rhode took two heavy steps forward, producing a dull sound, and the surging magic power in his body was easily perceptible.
He raised his hand and swung a punch horizontally.
The mountain wall beside him was heavily struck, seeming to tremble violently, cracking open with a crevice from which shattered rocks of various sizes tumbled down.
This large figure resembling a living stone appeared quite daunting.
"Oh?" Laxus grew interested, "This move is somewhat decent."
"Do you dare take a punch from me before talking big!" Rhode rumbled forward, his fist, the size of a sandbag… no, a cauldron, crashing down towards Laxus' head.
With Rhode's words as a precedent, Laxus had no intention of dodging this punch; he merely struck upwards.
Amidst the flickering lightning, the land around Laxus cracked like a spiderweb,
Laxus' knees bent a bit, but he quickly stood straight, a smile pulling at his lips: "Not bad power! But..."
His figure vanished from beneath the fist, landing a kick on Rhode's chest.
Rhode stumbled back two steps, and his back immediately suffered another heavy blow.
"Too slow!" Laxus deftly avoided Rhode's counterpunch, his body seemingly transforming into a streak of lightning, attacking various parts of Rhode's body in rapid succession.
Rhode just felt… nothing.
Although Laxus' attacks were quick, after receiving the Golem, Rhode's defense was vastly enhanced, rendering such ordinary fist and foot attacks nearly painless.
Realizing this, Laxus distanced himself slightly and raised his right fist:
"A turtle shell alone can't get you through this! Summon! Thunderous roar of the sky, lightning descend from the heavens..."
Amidst the chant, terrifying thunder gathered around Laxus, preparing for a fierce next attack. But…
Using magic with chanting?
Rhode liked such skills with long startup times. He raised his hand: "Azure Floating Cannon!"
Each side of the mountain wall jutted out a stone, blue light emerging between, detaching from the wall to become small golems, suspended in mid-air.
At Rhode's command, the two small golems each shot a blue beam towards Laxus.
The beams were lightning fast, forcing Laxus to interrupt his chant and dodge.
Where he originally stood, two small pits were blasted open—a finer, deeper small hole extending downward from the pit bottom, demonstrating their extraordinary piercing power.
"These things..." Laxus raised his hand, firing two bolts of lightning to destroy the floating cannons.
Yet, two new ones immediately emerged from the rock walls.
Rhode continued his sentence: "These things, no matter how many you destroy, I can make more!"
A magic similar to Biguslo's, Laxus preliminarily judged: "Then I'll smash you along with them!"
"You think you can!" Rhode appeared fired up by the provocation, commanding the two small golems to bombard incessantly.
The sound of biubiu~ beams firing was unending.
Laxus agilely dodged the attacks, and upon nearing Rhode, he swung his hand to shoot down the floating cannons with two bolts of lightning.
Then, before the new floating cannons could appear, he swung a lightning-charged fist.
Rhode punched back, but Laxus's fist suddenly transformed into an even larger Lightning Fist, larger than Rhode's own.
Boom!
The two fists collided, lightning danced wildly, stones flew, and the ground quaked, making the mountain walls on both sides appear as though they might collapse.
Was it an illusion or not, Rhode felt he saw Natsu's shadow in Laxus's punch just now.
Immediately, his stone arm shattered, followed by the shoulder, chest, helmet…
Ultimately, his whole body was blown away, sliding out of the passage upon landing.
Due to insufficient magic power, the Receiving Magic was forcibly canceled.
Reverted to his original state, Rhode didn't even have the strength to sit up.
He lay on the ground staring at the sky, reflecting on the fight just now, how long did he last against the serious Laxus?
Was it a minute?
"Hahaha…" He laughed happily, "Defeated by you!"
Just as Laxus was about to say something, he suddenly turned his head.
A golden light shot straight into the sky, exploding into a magnificent firework.
"Laxus!"
Kana was seen standing with a flagpole in the magic array, two stone beetles disappearing from her side.
She waved at Laxus and Rhode, shouting, "We passed!"
"When…?" Laxus suddenly thought of that beetle that emerged from the mountain wall, shattered into two halves by him, which looked identical to the two that had just vanished.
"That's right, it's them, burrowing through using Earth Magic while you and Rhode fought," Kana spoke energetically, showing no trace of weakness.
Indeed, her magic power was almost depleted earlier, but thanks to Tolod's help, it had significantly recovered by now.
As for injuries, about sixty percent was true and forty percent was acting, genuinely hurt but not enough to be unable to walk.
As for anger, unwillingness, stubbornness, those were mostly acting.
But the tears were real, she became too invested, remembering the past failures that almost succeeded, inadvertently making her feel sorrowful enough to cry.
Regarding Rhode's so-called 'last move'—the true 'last move' was to showcase just enough power to intrigue Laxus, then stealthily have Kana delivered over.
Charging in recklessly was never about defeating Laxus, he and Kana's target was always the flag alone.
Actually, there was one more stone beetle underground meant as a backup in case they needed to hinder Laxus.
However, it was also released along with the cancellation of Receiving Magic just now.
Utilizing Laxus's arrogance, feigning defeat twice to deceive then stalling him with all their might for a moment to allow Kana to pass unnoticed.
Any Three Kingdoms novel reader would understand.
Rhode struggled a bit, managing to sit up, adding one last comment: "Sorry, finding your weakness was too difficult, I had to achieve the goal this way."
He worried over the emo teenager's potential outburst.
Yet after figuring out the sequence of events, Laxus's emotions still exploded: "You… were playing me!"
Zzzz… Lightning danced off Laxus, his already tattered upper clothes completely burst apart, revealing exaggerated muscles underneath.
Kana shouted: "Hey! Laxus, what are you trying to do, we already passed the exam!"
"I do not acknowledge it!"
"That's enough, Laxus, this round, they've passed."
Makarov came over from afar, with Erza following behind him.
The lightning around Laxus subsided slightly, but he angrily said: "Old man, I'm the examiner here, and I don't approve of such a cowardly passing method!"
"Since you're the examiner, you should be more fair." Makarov walked to his side, speaking loudly,
"Magic, intellect, courage, and the tacit cooperation among comrades, all of these are strengths, with no high or low distinction, let alone cowardice or bravery. The fact is, Kana and Rhode reached the exam goal perfectly under your obstruction, hence they passed."
Erza stepped forward and helped Rhode up, smiling: "I saw part of your battle, well done. You're strong, Rhode."
"Thank you." Rhode leaned against her to stand up; the winter armor was not only hard but also cold.
But the care from comrades always felt warm.
"We made it!" Kana also dropped the flag and ran over, giving him a hard hug, including Erza in the embrace.
Erza pulled them both into a hug with her arms: "Congratulations!"
Clang! Clang!
"Ouch, that hurts!" Kana laughed and complained.
Already in a poor state, Rhode's head buzzed, unable to even muster a complaint.
Laxus and the President had a small argument; both eventually left without turning back, leaving just one statement:
"Never make me do such a boring thing again!"
The atmosphere seemed a little tense.