Chapter 20: Gajeel choice
"So tell me, Gajeel. Because your answer will decide what I do next." Juvia's azure eyes were no longer calm.
They remained steady and composed, yet beneath that stillness rested a cold, controlled hatred.
"Do you or do you not know someone with the last name Ebonveil?"
Around her floated several compressed droplets of water suspended motionlessly in the air.
A clear sign she was fully prepared to fight.
'Wow. Nice one, Gajeel.' Despite the tension filling the corridor, Gajeel slowly tilted his head upward.
'Looks like you seriously screwed this up.' His red eyes drifted toward the ceiling above them.
Then he closed them.
Thinking.
'I've got two options here.' He folded his arms loosely while organizing his thoughts. 'Option A…'
'I tell Juvia that Albion's last name is Ebonveil.' Almost immediately, he imagined the consequences. 'Worst-case scenario, she starts hunting him down.'
'And honestly? It probably wouldn't even take her that long to find him.'
A faint image of Albion flashed through his head. 'He's probably still crying somewhere in the guild Library by now…'
Gajeel clicked his tongue internally. 'Option B…'
'I keep my mouth shut. And we continue fighting.'
'Now then, which option benefits me more?' His thoughts drifted backward toward the beginning of their fight.
Gajeel never considered himself a complicated person. At least, not compared to others.
He believed in living without regrets.
To him, life meant chasing whatever brought excitement, pleasure, or meaning to his existence without allowing fear or consequences to dictate his choices.
That belief naturally pushed him toward conflict.
Toward violence. Toward battle.
Not because he needed a reason, but because fighting made him feel alive.
That rush, that thrill. The pounding excitement ran through his veins whenever fists started flying.
It was addictive. And because of that, he joined Phantom Lord nearly a year ago.
'The only reason I even started this fight in the first place was because Albion annoyed me back in that library.'
The realization was almost laughably simple.
'I don't fight for some grand dream like becoming the strongest.' He admitted that much to himself honestly.
'I fight because I enjoy it, because it's fun.'
'Because battle is one of the few things in this world that genuinely excites me.'
Then, Albion's voice echoed through his mind. [Tell me, Gajeel… why do you fight?]
[Why? 'Cause I like it. Straight up. I fight for the love of the game.]
Gajeel's eyes remained closed. 'Unlike him…'
A faint irritation stirred inside his chest. 'I don't sit around questioning the value of my own life.'
[So I guess… I just wanted to know if it's alright for me to keep living.]
'For me, fighting is value. I don't owe Albion anything. And he doesn't owe me anything either. It's not like he and I are friends…'
Just as Gajeel got into fights, he could just as easily tell Juvia about Albion. So this left a lingering question in Gajeel's mind.
'Then why don't I tell her?'
More memories surfaced.
[I am not fond of violence. Should I fight, I would only do so reluctantly, as I do not wish to harm others.]
[However, it seems I currently do not possess a choice.]
A wave of annoyance swelled inside Gajeel. 'He's a weak and pathetic person.'
'Both mentally and physically.'
[Magic? I am afraid I have only heard of it today.]
'He doesn't know anything.'
'Not about magic. Not about Mages. Not about how this world works.'
His brows furrowed slightly. 'It's like nobody ever taught him even the most basic things.'
[I envy you. You were born with something that pointed you forward. I think… I was only lucky enough to be born at all.]
Gajeel's expression darkened. 'He's pathetic.
So pathetic that it pisses me off.'
Gajeel's mind drifted back to the moment the two of them had fought in the guild hall.
'Back then, when he stood against me, I completely overwhelmed him.'
Albion had been weak. Weak in spirit. Weak in hand-to-hand combat. Weak in the way he carried himself.
But more than anything else, he lacked the resolve to fight.
At the time, Gajeel hadn't noticed it. At least, not completely. But looking back now, Albion had never truly fought to win.
It was as though he had only been trying to survive.
[I wanted to see if you were the kid he mentioned. Someone worth watching.]
As Gajeel recalled the words he once said to Albion, an unfamiliar feeling twisted inside his chest.
It resembled regret.
'No… that's not it. There was something else.'
At first, Gajeel thought his curiosity came from how strange Albion was. A weak, ordinary-looking kid who somehow reminded him of Metalicana.
But that wasn't the real reason.
Not entirely at least.
[You smile the same way I do, Gajeel.]
His eyes narrowed slightly. 'That's right…'
'Albion was the only person in this entire guild who looked at me differently.'
Not as a fighter. Not as some violent idiot obsessed with combat.
But as a kid. A kid who was hurting.
[A hollow space gets left behind when the person meant to protect you disappears.]
[A place nothing ever really fills again… no matter how strong you become.]
Gajeel's jaw tightened.
The only other person who had ever looked at him that way…
…was Metalicana.
[Hoping someone would come looking for me.
Hoping someone would choose me.]
'I didn't want your help. I never asked for it.'
[So… is it okay if we start… right here?]
A vein pulsed faintly near Gajeel's temple. 'I don't need your stupid sympathy.'
'That's why I hate—'
[I have no doubt you'll become one of the strongest wizards of your generation.] The memory of Metalicana's voice struck harder than he expected.
A bitter irritation welled up inside him. 'I hate the way you make me feel, Albion.'
Slowly opening his eyes, Gajeel looked toward Juvia. She still floated there in silence, waiting for his answer.
Now that his thoughts had settled, there was no hesitation left in his voice.
"I can't stand good people," Gajeel muttered. "They piss me off."
"People who get hurt. Betrayed. Abandoned." His red eyes darkened. "And somehow still choose to forgive the people who did it to them."
The image of Albion surfaced in his mind again. A bitter smile slowly spread across Gajeel's own face.
"They act like forgiveness is some noble thing. Like there's value in letting people walk all over you."
"Like pain's supposed to disappear just because you decided to 'move on.'"
"It's disgusting."
He remembered the conversation they shared in the library. Remembered the way Albion spoke.
The way he looked at him.
"If somebody hurts me, I remember it." Gajeel said bluntly. "If somebody betrays me, I hate them for it."
"Simple. At least hatred's honest." There wasn't even the slightest trace of deception in his tone.
"People who smile through everything…" he continued quietly. "People who pretend they can forgive anyone no matter what…"
A low, humorless laugh escaped him. "Those kinds of people make me wanna vomit."
"Why should I care about your beliefs?" Juvia responded immediately. "Don't try forcing your ideals onto someone else. It's rude… and honestly disrespectful."
Even as she spoke, countless thoughts crossed her mind.
'Even though I haven't known him for very long, I thought I understood Gajeel's personality fairly well.'
Her mind drifted back to everything he had done since they met.
The recklessness. The aggression. The constant hunger for battle.
'He seemed simple. A muscle-brained combat addict who lives for fighting.'
To Juvia, Gajeel had appeared straightforward to the point of absurdity.
So why…
'What's with him?' Her brows furrowed slightly. 'Why is he acting differently all of a sudden?'
Then a realization struck her. A look of genuine surprise spread across her face.
'Wait…'
'Is he trying to protect someone?'
The thought caught her completely off guard. 'But why?'
'And who?'
"There's something you gotta understand about me, Juvia." Gajeel slowly rose to his feet.
The moment he lifted his head, his expression twisted into predatory malice.
A grin stretched across his face. The grin of someone who enjoyed violence far too much.
"I'm here to fight for underdogs everywhere."
The instant those words left his mouth, Gajeel vanished.
Before Juvia could even process what happened, Gajeel appeared directly in front of her.
His fist drove forward like a cannon. A brutal right straight slammed directly into her lower torso.
"UGHH—!" The impact folded her body instantly.
A violent cough burst from her lips as the force traveled through her stomach and ribs.
Juvia's eyes shook.
Her body had barely registered the pain before Gajeel grabbed her clothing with one hand.
Then he spun violently and hurled her away.
Her body skipped across the flooded corridor, crashing and rolling through the water before finally coming to a stop several meters away.
"KH—COUGH! …GAHH— HHRRGH— BLEHH!"
Juvia collapsed onto all fours. Water splashed beneath her trembling hands as she vomited violently onto the flooded floor.
Her breathing became ragged. Pain spread throughout her abdomen.
'I… wasn't able to react…' Her azure eyes trembled as she looked toward him from a distance. 'He caught me completely off guard.'
But there was something even more terrifying.
"That punch…" Juvia muttered in disbelief. "I didn't sense any magical power from it at all."
Shock spread across her face. "Don't tell me…"
"That was your natural strength?"
One punch. A single strike without magic.
And it had already forced her to her knees.
Meanwhile, Gajeel completely ignored her words.
"I'm such an idiot…" he muttered to himself.."Why the hell didn't I think of this sooner?"
He made a small gesture with his fingers. Immediately, one of the submerged metal beams beneath the water began to tremble.
Then it rose upward.
Water poured off the rusted steel as it floated through the air toward him.
Though smaller than the others scattered throughout the corridor, it was still large enough to fill both his hands comfortably.
The beam flew directly toward him. Gajeel caught it effortlessly.
Then, he opened his mouth unnaturally wide.
CRUNCH.
The sound of metal being crushed between his teeth echoed throughout the corridor.
As he devoured the iron, memories resurfaced within his mind.
[The iron you produce will not be the brittle metal of human forges. It will be stronger. Denser. Closer to my own scales than anything forged by mortal hands.]
[This magic grants you the traits of an Iron Dragon.You will reshape your flesh into living steel.]
[You will command metal born from the earth. Bend it. Call it. Dominate it.]
[And like all Dragon Slayers… you will feed upon your element.]
[Feed? You're saying I can just eat iron, old man?]
[You will consume iron to replenish your strength. Metal from weapons. From walls. From chains.]
[But remember this well.]
[You cannot consume iron that you create yourself.]
'I'm seriously an idiot…' Gajeel continued chewing through the steel effortlessly.
'There's iron everywhere around me.'
As he swallowed the final piece, a silver-gray aura erupted from his body.
It swirled violently around him in thick spiraling currents.
The aura became so dense and overwhelming that it swallowed his figure in darkness, turning his face into a pitch-black silhouette.
Only his eyes remained visible as bright white.
Glowing like an animal lurking in the dark.
The aura crackled upward in jagged wisps. Fragments of stone and shattered debris slowly began floating around him.
The ground beneath his feet groaned and fractured from the sheer pressure leaking from his body.
Juvia's expression paled. "I-I don't understand…" she whispered. She slowly forced herself back onto her feet.."How is your magical power increasing?"
"It's even greater than mine now…".Fear crept into her voice.."What exactly are you?"
Gajeel grinned wide and savage. "I'm a Dragon Slayer."
His voice echoed through the corridor. "You said you didn't believe in dragons, right?"
He cracked his neck slightly as the aura around him surged harder. The water around his feet trembled violently.
"Then get ready…".The floating debris around him began shaking uncontrollably.
"Because I'm about to show you just how real dragons are."
[Chapter Visuals]
Juvia Spell Visuals & Magic Showcase:
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This visual collection showcases every spell Juvia has used so far throughout the story, along with a clearer look at how her magic functions visually.