"So strong!"
"Their magic power is incredible!" Lucy and Wendy gasped, watching from the grass.
"I was pushed back... How is this possible?" Bluenote muttered, unable to accept the outcome of the clash.
Comparing their footing after the shockwave, Gildarts stood firm in place, while Bluenote himself had been pushed back dozens of meters, his boots carving deep trenches into the earth.
"Stop watching! Come with me quickly!"
Seeing the three of them blown clear of the immediate battle zone, Cana hurried down the ridge to get them to leave.
"I think we'd better listen to Uncle Gildarts and get away from here," Wendy said, rubbing her bruised arms.
"But..." Lucy looked at Cana with concern.
"Hurry up and go! If we stay here, we'll only tie Gildarts' hands," Cana urged Lucy onward.
"He's really strong... I want to watch them fight!" Natsu complained.
Lucy tried to pull Natsu away, but Natsu stood his ground firmly, unmovable like a stubborn nail driven into the dirt.
"Let's go, Natsu!" Lucy struggled fiercely, trying to yank the stubborn Dragon Slayer away by his scarf.
"Cana, hurry up!" Hearing Lucy's urging, Cana quickly caught up and ran towards the eastern edge of the forest.
Of course, Cana was deeply worried about her father's safety, but she chose to believe in her old man.
After all, he was the strongest Mage of Fairy Tail.
'Please be careful, Dad,' Cana silently prayed before turning to leave.
Gildarts raised his right hand without looking back, signaling Cana to leave quickly.
"This guy..." Bluenote sighed inwardly, dusting off his coat.
"This is an important test," Gildarts said, his voice dropping low and dangerous. "The emotions these children hold are richer than adults imagine. They finally mustered the resolve to step towards the future today, yet you people arrogant trample it underfoot."
White magic flared around Gildarts. "The children have left. Now I can fight without holding back and teach you a proper lesson."
The injury on Gildarts' left hand hadn't fully healed yet, but it didn't dull his desire to thoroughly beat Bluenote into the ground.
After a brutal round of close-quarters combat, their foreheads pressed against each other, the sheer pressure shattering the ground beneath their feet once more.
Bluenote threw a rear-hand straight punch, which Gildarts deflected using his elbow and shoulder.
Using his Gravity Magic to lighten his own body, Bluenote leaped high, aiming a sweeping kick at Gildarts' head.
Gildarts responded with a skip-step side kick directly into Bluenote's inner thigh, forcing him back down.
"During a fight, launching leg techniques while airborne is inadvisable," Gildarts critiqued coldly.
Bluenote didn't speak. He just turned sideways and assumed a tighter fighting stance. Learning from his mistake, Bluenote stepped in closer to shorten the attack distance.
He raised his right leg high for a reverse hook kick.
Gildarts leaned his head back to dodge the blade of the boot and followed up with a straight front kick, striking Bluenote's abdomen.
Gildarts smoothly switched from defense to offense, using a forward parry to block Bluenote's incoming straight punch.
He sidestepped a rear-hand straight, leaned back to evade a jab, and immediately countered with a spinning backfist strike to Bluenote's head.
He followed up with a swift, straight punch aimed at Bluenote's throat.
This time, Bluenote relied purely on muscle memory, tucking his chin to defend the vital point. He simultaneously clamped down hard on Gildarts' extended fist, landing a brutal hook punch to Gildarts' abdomen.
Seizing the brief moment when Gildarts lost his balance, Bluenote followed up with a skip-step side kick.
He unleashed a rapid combination of punches, stepping forward with a reverse hook kick and seamlessly transitioning into a high roundhouse kick.
However, Gildarts managed to react in time, crossing his muscular arms in front of his chest to block the heavy blow.
"Your hands?" Bluenote paused, only now noticing something odd about the metallic sound his boot made against Gildarts' left arm.
"I met a strong opponent a while back, and my arm and leg got bitten off," Gildarts replied with a nonchalant smile, flexing his prosthetic limb.
"What kind of strong opponent?" Bluenote asked, his eyes narrowing.
"No need for you to know what kind." Gildarts had no intention of spreading the terrifying news that he had encountered the Black Dragon, Acnologia.
"Simple—defeat me, and I'll tell you."
Gildarts bent his arms to block Bluenote's next high roundhouse kick.
After deflecting a straight punch, he countered with a brutal headbutt, followed by a rising shoulder strike to Bluenote's jaw.
Bluenote shook his head, stumbling backward, barely managing to regain his senses.
Gildarts settled into a relaxed stance and provocatively curled his fingers, taunting the dark mage. Bluenote, easily provoked, dashed forward with a skip-step.
Gildarts evaded with a sidestep, a backward lean, and a retreating step, flawlessly dodging several of Bluenote's kicks in rapid succession.
Circling around to Bluenote's blind spot, he delivered a spinning backfist to the side of his head.
But Bluenote reacted, using his lead hand to parry the blow.
Gildarts, however, was more cunning—he transformed his fist into an open palm and swept his fingers across Bluenote's eyes, momentarily blinding him.
Seizing the opening, Gildarts landed consecutive hooks to the head, culminating in a powerful leaping punch.
While Bluenote was still disoriented, Gildarts launched a soaring, full-body flying kick that sent Bluenote skidding over ten meters away through the dirt.
He didn't let up.
He followed up with a hook to the head and a rear-hand straight punch to the abdomen.
Dodging Bluenote's desperate sweeping punch by tilting his head back, Gildarts defended with bent arms, sidestepped in close, and unleashed a high whip kick to Bluenote's head.
Bluenote's eye and jaw were now bloody, his left eye obscured by the crimson flow, yet he stubbornly refused to give up.
Gildarts threw three consecutive hooks. Bluenote fell for the feint, expecting another hook to the ribs, but Gildarts suddenly changed tactics.
He threw a left straight punch, flipped his arm downward for a hammering strike, and pulled back for a brutal horizontal elbow strike to the temple.
"How is this guy so tough? Still standing after all that?" Gildarts muttered.
Bluenote's struggle had long captured Ultear's attention from her perch on the Tenrou Tree.
Seeing Gildarts consistently dominate the physical exchange, Ultear became so engrossed in the martial arts display that she forgot to watch the other battles on her crystal ball.
Bluenote endured three horizontal elbow strikes to the head, then parried with his rear hand, pulling Gildarts' arm down to counter with a rising knee, followed by a high sweep kick.
Gildarts evaded with a sway and duck, retreated with a backstep, parried with both hands, then sidestepped and deflected with his right hand, blocking another heavy combination from Bluenote.
After the parry, Bluenote retaliated with a spinning backfist and consecutive left-right hooks to the head.
But it was ineffective.
Gildarts parried and swiftly countered with two successive, lightning-fast strikes to the throat.
The second strike was delivered with immense force, sending Bluenote crashing violently into a stone wall.
"Excellent!" Bluenote roared, peeling himself out of the rubble, his eyes burning with fury. "Truly impressive, Gildarts! I think it's time we take this fight to the skies! It's about time we both showed our true power!"
Bluenote brought his palms together, condensing a terrifyingly dense dark purple energy sphere.
Suddenly, the wind around them began converging violently toward Bluenote's palms.
Not just the wind—even the scattered rubble and uprooted trees on the ground were drawn into the dark purple energy sphere.
Gildarts felt his own heavy body being dragged by the wind, drawing him closer to the dark mage.
"Super Gravity Ball!" Bluenote chanted.
The Super Gravity Ball grew larger and larger, expanding into a miniature black hole, finally positioning itself between the two men.
"What is this thing?" Gildarts observed it from the corner of his eye while shielding his face from the blinding light and roaring wind with his arm.
"This is an infinite gravity field that can suck everything in," Bluenote laughed.
As soon as he finished speaking, Gildarts' boots dragged through the dirt, his body uncontrollably moving another step closer to the crushing gravity sphere.
"Fly! Fly away!" Bluenote roared.
His face was covered in blood, yet it couldn't conceal his crazed, excited expression.
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