"Flame Emperor's Armor, huh..." Natsu laughed happily, "That's just right. Now I can go all out!"
Erza flashed a confident smile, "I'll give it my all too."
Makarov raised a hand and swung it down, "Begin!"
Flames burst out from Natsu's fist as he dashed toward Erza with a swift step.
As his fist swung down, the flames traced a crescent in the air, and the exaggerated heat made the onlookers feel warm on their faces.
Erza took two steps back, her longsword slashing horizontally, her serious gaze making it seem like she genuinely intended to cleave Natsu in half.
Lucy swallowed nervously, "Aren't those two taking this too seriously? And it feels like the President is even more excited than they are."
"You should be more concerned about something else right now."
Lucy turned her head at hearing Rhode's voice and found he had already pulled Mira to the corner. Mira waved and smiled at Lucy.
"So far! Why retreat over there?"
"I thought you'd already understand Erza and Natsu's destructive power." Rhode looked at Lucy and the group standing too close, "And them, don't they fear being caught in the crossfire?"
"Destructive power?" Lucy still hadn't realized the gravity of the situation, turning back to watch the duel.
Then she suddenly saw the sword's tip sweep past the tip of her nose, even feeling the sharp wind grazing her skin, giving her a stinging sensation, "Aah!"
Lucy yelped and squeezed out from the crowd, clutching her nose, "So scary! Miss Mira, am I cut, am I?"
Mira laughed, "No blood."
Lucy wiped her forehead, the scare causing her to break into a cold sweat.
Hapi quipped, "Lucy's oozing so much juice again."
"It's sweat! And why do you say 'again'!"
Somehow dodging through, Gray muttered, "So noisy, Lucy, can't you quietly watch them fight?"
"Sorry, but..." Lucy was about to lose her patience with Gray, "Can you please not throw your clothes on me?"
Gray looked down at his bare torso in surprise, "Huh? How'd this happen without me noticing..."
More people began to retreat from the scene.
Because one of Natsu's breath attacks didn't harm Erza but came close to wiping out the people behind her.
Erza's sword unintentionally slashed through several people's clothes.
The crowd retreated further, complaining as they did.
Such an exciting battle; they were willing to risk life and limb to watch!
A larger space gave the two more room to unleash their skills. The battle grew more intense and heated in every sense of the word.
Natsu's body was now covered in more scratches. From initially just his fists and feet engulfed in flame, now his whole body was ablaze, growing more excited as he fought.
He seemed fearless, always charging forward. Without any apparent strategy in his moves, he somehow always managed to dodge or block attacks in the most efficient way possible.
This could be called combat intuition, a beast-like sharp combat intuition.
Erza switched from wielding one sword in one hand to holding a longsword in each hand, sometimes even making her combat boots disappear and gripping the sword hilt with her toes to strike.
Her dazzling sword techniques were endless, often launching unpredictable attacks. Her agility in battle was in no way inferior to Natsu's.
"Compared to two months ago when you pinned my head into the ground, Natsu seems to have grown stronger again."
In fact, Rhode was increasingly perplexed by Natsu's combat prowess. Usually, he was knocked out with one move during his mischievous antics; suddenly able to fight Erza on even footing made no sense.
Perhaps he wasn't serious at all?
Mira held her face in her hands, embarrassed, "Please don't bring that up again."
Stuff like that made her seem violent.
Lucy was shocked, "Huh? Pin, pin Natsu's head? Who?"
Though she had seen Mira's demon form, she still couldn't imagine the gentle Miss Mira smashing Natsu's head into the floor.
"Because I had just regained my strength around that time, Natsu insisted on challenging me, and then... I acted without thinking and did something really rough."
Mira's aggrieved expression made Lucy convinced it was all Natsu's fault.
In reality, Mira only wanted Rhode to forget her violent side quickly.
Even though their sparring sessions often got intense, it was always a mutual understanding, not a personality issue.
What if this usual impression of her led Rhode to hesitate proposing out of fear of domestic violence?
They couldn't just end up involuntarily widowhood...
Rhode felt like she was just acting, yet Mira looked adorable with her wronged expression, and hugging her was quite pleasant.
He decided to hold her a little longer to comfort her.
The battle between Natsu and Erza gradually reached a fever pitch.
Erza changed into several armor sets successively, finally using Purgatory Armor to completely overwhelm Natsu.
The ground that Rhode had recently reinforced using the power of the Mountain Sub-Dragon was riddled with pits and craters.
And perhaps due to spending too much time with Rhode, the President had thought to use a Defense Magic Array to protect the Guild slightly.
Preventing no small amount of damage.
The smiles on the faces of the two combatants were unmistakable.
Erza was surprised by Natsu's progress. Natsu hadn't given up hope of winning yet.
'With Erza this strong, maybe that move would be just fine?'
While airborne, Natsu used a Flame Breath attack, utilizing the recoil to distance himself from Erza.
But at this moment, everyone present suddenly felt a wave of sleepiness overwhelm them.
Lucy fell into Mira's arms, bewildered.
"Mystogan?" others fell into a disarrayed heap.
"That damn guy, I won't let him get away with this!" Natsu swayed a bit before collapsing to the ground.
Erza steadied herself with her serrated saber that came with the Purgatory Armor, though her eyelids grew heavy, she did not collapse, "Now of all times?"
Realizing it was Mystogan, Rhode sat against the wall, spreading his arms invitingly to Mira.
But Mira helped Lucy to lean against the wall, and just as the drowsiness became too much to bear, her body glowed, and a tri-eyed demon mask appeared on her face, her outfit turning into a brown coarse dress.
She lifted the mask, giving Rhode an apologetic smile, "This time, I don't want to just fall asleep like this. I'm going to take a look at what Mystogan is like."
"If you'd said earlier..." Rhode closed his eyes and let his head slump, if she'd said it earlier, he could've also changed forms to resist a bit.
Mystogan, as he usually did, cast the sleep magic that covered the entire Guild range and then strolled into the Guild.
The empty hall puzzled him slightly, had something happened in the Guild?
Returned to the hall, Mira expressed disappointment, "Using Sleep Magic and still wearing a face mask, aren't you being overly cautious?"
Mystogan instinctively shielded his face, "Are you... Mirajane?"
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