The ki beam, as thick as a man's waist, swept across the field. At the critical moment, Gemini canceled their transformation, splitting left and right to barely dodge the deadly beam.
With nothing to stop it, the Kamehameha roared straight past them, streaked out beyond the estate, and slammed into the small hill outside the grounds. Only then did it erupt in a deafening explosion.
"BOOM!"
Sorano, Lucy, and Jude at the floor to ceiling window all watched, stunned, as an enormous mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
When the dust finally began to settle, the hill that had been standing there moments ago was completely gone.
In its place was a bald, scorched stretch of earth where not even a single weed remained.
If Lucy had not seen the hill vanish with her own eyes, she would have thought that patch of land was freshly cleared farmland her family's workers had just opened up.
"T th this… humans can really wield power like that? Is this what a real mage is?!"
Jude stumbled back two steps. Thanks to years of self discipline he barely managed not to scream.
But what Kabe had just shown completely shattered his understanding of what mages were.
Only after witnessing it for himself did he truly realize just how insignificant the money he prided himself on was in front of power that could flatten a hill in an instant.
'And Kabe, wielding power like this, is only said to be the strongest of the younger generation.
Then just how terrifying are those so called Ten Wizard Saints?
The power they command… it might not be much different from the might of gods.'
In that moment, Jude felt a new layer of fear toward the mages he used to look down on.
Then his thoughts turned to Kabe's guild.
'If I remember correctly, the master of Fairy Tail, Makarov, is ranked fifth among the Ten Wizard Saints.
With Kabe, who has the greatest hope of becoming one of them in the future…'
Skilled at calculation and unable to escape a merchant's mindset, Jude's mind spun through several possibilities at once.
He quickly turned and hurried downstairs.
...
Out on the field, the Gemini twins clung to each other, trembling, staring at the destruction that had originally been aimed at them.
"Hey, you two little punks, what do you think you're doing turning back like that?!"
Kabe stomped up behind them, grabbed them one in each hand, and roared with a vicious look on his face.
"You two… I remember you can stay transformed much longer than that, right?
I was really looking forward to testing the limits of my body's defense.
You bailing like this makes things difficult for me."
"A Angel, we are going back now. G good bye."
Terrified, the two tiny figures stammered out a farewell, hugged each other tighter, and bolted back to the Celestial Spirit World.
Kabe looked at his now empty hands, then slowly turned his gaze.
His sharp eyes locked onto Sorano, who had just turned her head stiffly at the sound.
"Yaaah!"
She shrieked and lost her composure, falling onto her backside. Faced with Kabe's fierce stare, she scrambled backward on hands and feet, babbling,
"Y you you… you're cheating! This was supposed to be a duel between Celestial Spirit Mages. How can you use other magic?!"
"Cut it out. I only agreed to a spar. I never said the whole match would be Celestial Spirit Magic only."
Aries was still quietly at home. It would have been pointless to summon her out here just to send her straight back.
The reason he accepted Sorano's challenge was partly to knock some sense into her and crush any little schemes she had.
The other reason was to make a point, to show his frog in a well of a future father in law what a mage truly was.
Sensing the strong presence hurrying toward them from inside the manor, Kabe glanced at Sorano sitting on the ground, panic written all over her face.
He nodded inwardly in satisfaction. His goals for today were basically all achieved.
"Lucy, help that scaredy cat up. Her legs are so weak she probably can't stand."
"Ah… oh, r right. Sorano, are you alright?"
Lucy, who was just as shaken, froze for a moment. Then she hurried over, squatting down to carefully support Sorano.
Being helped up, Sorano felt her cheeks burning hot.
She was a member of the Oración Seis, yet she had lost all composure in front of outsiders, scrambling away in humiliation. So much for elegance. It was utterly shameful.
She swore to herself that she would get this dignity back one day.
But when she glanced back at where the small hill had once stood and saw only flat, scorched earth, Sorano obediently lowered her head and conceded aloud.
"I lost. I am sorry, Lord Kabe. I should not have doubted your strength."
"Haha, it was just a coincidence. Your strength is quite good. Your gate opening speed is impressive.
But you're still a bit short on magic power. You should train harder and aim for double gate opening as soon as you can."
Kabe, as always, took advantage and then played modest, brushing off the feat with one sentence and immediately switching to the tone of a senior giving guidance.
Sorano could only grit her teeth and seethe inwardly.
Lucy, on the other hand, looked at Kabe with nothing but pure admiration.
To her, Kabe already came with the buff of being her lifesaver.
On top of that, he had built a huge reputation in the magic world over the years, and his looks were more than good enough. No wonder he was the idol and hero of countless girls.
Lucy herself was a loyal reader of Weekly Sorcerer, so her admiration for Kabe was only that much deeper.