The black flames surrounding Zancrow flared higher, feeding on his rage and the dense ethernano of the island.
The Flame God Slayer wiped the blood from his chin, his manic grin twisting into something feral.
"You think you're fast?" Zancrow shrieked, his voice echoing through the burning clearing. "Let's see you dodge this! Flame God's Bellow!"
Zancrow inhaled deeply, his chest expanding to an unnatural size.
He unleashed a massive, swirling tornado of pitch-black fire from his mouth. The dark inferno tore through the jungle, incinerating the earth and leaving nothing but a deep, charred trench in its wake.
It was a localized natural disaster heading straight for Lobomon.
Lobomon didn't flinch.
The Warrior of Light didn't bother trying to block a blast of that magnitude.
He fired the thrusters on his boots, launching himself high into the air, gracefully vaulting over the roaring black tornado.
"Up here!" Lobomon called out, his synthesized voice cutting through the roar of the flames.
He crossed his wrists, pointing his gauntlets down at the God Slayer.
"Licht Kugel!"
Rapid-fire spheres of concentrated, pure white light erupted from his wrists, raining down like a meteor shower.
Zancrow laughed, throwing his arms wide open.
He didn't try to dodge. "I eat magic for breakfast! Bring it on!"
Zancrow opened his mouth, fully intending to swallow the incoming barrage to replenish his strength.
But the moment the first sphere of light touched his lips, it didn't turn into digestible ethernano.
The light sphere exploded point-blank in Zancrow's face, followed immediately by three more striking his chest and shoulders.
Zancrow screamed, stumbling backward and clutching his face.
The pure digital light seared his skin, bypassing his God Slayer resistances entirely.
Lobomon landed smoothly on a charred tree stump, his energy sabers humming. "My attacks aren't made of fire, and they aren't made of ethernano either. If you try to swallow light, you'll just burn your throat."
"You... you bastard!" Zancrow roared, his eyes wide with a mix of pain and fury. The burns on his face were smoking.
"I'll kill you! Flame God's Scythe!"
He swiped his arm, launching a massive, crescent-shaped blade of black fire. Lobomon effortlessly parried it with a flick of his glowing saber, the light cutting the dark fire in half.
Ace remained calm behind his visor. Zancrow possessed immense raw power, but he fought like a wild animal.
As long as Ace maintained his discipline and kept the pressure on, the Flame God Slayer would burn himself out.
...
A few miles to the east, the jungle canopy shook violently as Gajeel and Yomazu clashed.
Gajeel swung his iron-scaled fist, aiming a heavy right hook. Yomazu ducked beneath the blow, his samurai armor clanking, and thrust his heavy katana toward Gajeel's ribs.
"Iron Dragon's Scales!" Gajeel grunted, twisting his torso to take the strike on his thickest armor.
Sparks flew as the katana grinded against the iron, leaving a shallow groove but failing to pierce the muscle beneath.
"Your armor is tough, but it will shatter!" Yomazu growled.
He traced a quick rune in the air with his free hand. Kan. Pierce.
The rune merged with the tip of his katana, the dark magic vibrating with lethal intent.
Yomazu pushed forward, the enhanced blade slowly driving deeper into Gajeel's iron scales.
"Get off me!" Gajeel roared, bringing his knee up to smash into Yomazu's armored stomach, forcing the dog samurai to stagger back.
"Egg Buster! Sunny side up!"
Kawazu dropped from the branches above, firing a volley of glowing eggs directly at Gajeel's blind spot while he was focused on Yomazu.
"I've got him!" Levy yelled from the sidelines.
She didn't use a shield this time.
She raised her pen, her eyes tracking the trajectory of the explosive eggs. "Solid Script: Net!"
A massive, glowing green net woven from magical script shot upward, intercepting the eggs mid-air.
The soft, flexible magic absorbed the impact without triggering the explosives, wrapping the eggs into a tight, harmless bundle.
"Hey! Give those back!" Kawazu squawked, flapping his arms.
"Take them!" Levy shouted, swinging her pen like a bat. "Solid Script: Repel!"
The word slammed into the net, launching the bundle of explosive eggs right back at the rooster. Kawazu's eyes bugged out.
The eggs detonated point-blank against his padded armor, sending the bizarre creature rocketing backward through the trees with a cloud of black smoke and a loud screech.
"One down!" Gajeel grinned fiercely, cracking his neck. He looked back at Yomazu. "Now it's just you and me, dog face."
Yomazu didn't look back at his defeated partner.
He gripped his katana with both hands, his aura flaring around him. "Don't think you've won. I'm a warrior of Grimoire Heart! I will write your demise with my own life force if I must."
Yomazu raised his blade, dragging two fingers down the flat of the steel.
He began writing a long, complex string of dark kanji.
The air around him grew heavy, the dark magic pulling the surrounding shadows into the blade.
"He's preparing a big one!" Levy warned, taking a step back.
"Let him," Gajeel said, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl.
The air around the Iron Dragon Slayer began to warp, a massive vortex of ethernano swirling around his body.
The iron scales on his arms thickened, turning a dark, jagged silver.
"I've been holding this back all this time! Time to see if your sword can cut through a real dragon's weapon."
....
In the northern caverns, the temperature plummeted, but it wasn't enough to freeze the thick, twisting roots erupting from the stone floor.
Gray slid backward on a path of his own ice, narrowly avoiding a massive wooden fist that smashed the stalagmites where he just stood.
Azuma walked calmly through the cavern, his hands resting easily at his sides.
The tattoos on his arms glowed with a faint, earthen light. "Your ice is cold little fairy, but the Great Tree Arc feeds on the life force of the island itself. You can't freeze the earth."
"Watch me!" Gray yelled, slamming his fists together. "Ice-Make: Cannon!"
A massive bazooka crafted from solid ice materialized on Gray's shoulder.
He pulled the frozen trigger, launching a heavy, condensed boulder of ice straight at Azuma's chest.
Azuma didn't raise his hands. He simply glanced at the incoming projectile.
A thick tree root burst from the cavern ceiling, intercepting the ice cannonball.
But the root didn't just block it. The tip of the wood swelled, forming a large, glowing red fruit in the blink of an eye.
"Burst," Azuma commanded quietly.
The wooden fruit detonated with the force of a high-yield bomb.
The explosion shattered Gray's ice attack into mist and sent a shockwave that knocked Gray off his feet.
Loke was already moving.
The celestial spirit darted through the smoke, his fists glowing with intense light. "Regulus Punch!"
Loke threw a blinding right hook at Azuma's jaw.
Azuma caught Loke's fist in his bare hand. The impact cracked the stone beneath Azuma's boots, but the dark mage didn't yield an inch.
"A celestial spirit?" Azuma noted, his dark eyes analyzing Loke's magic. "Strong, but predictable."
Azuma twisted Loke's wrist, delivering a brutal, driving knee to the spirit's stomach.
Loke coughed, his magic aura flickering, before Azuma threw him effortlessly across the cavern.
Loke crashed into the frozen wall, sliding down to the ice-covered floor.
"Loke!" Gray yelled, scrambling to his feet.
"I'm disappointed," Azuma sighed, the thick roots retreating into the stone around him. "I came looking for Makarov, or perhaps Gildarts Clive. I expected a challenge worthy of my magic. Instead, I find children playing with ice and spirits."
Gray gritted his teeth, anger flaring in his dark eyes.
He wiped a streak of dirt from his cheek and dropped into a low, wide stance.
He crossed his arms in front of him, the air temperature dropping so fast that frost began to form on Azuma's shoulders.
"You want a challenge?" Gray growled, his magical aura exploding outward. "I'll give you a challenge. I'm not letting a single one of you freaks past this cave."
Azuma stopped walking.
A genuine, battle-hungry smile finally touched the stoic mage's lips. "Good. Show me your resolve, Fairy Tail. Let us see whose roots run deeper!"
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