Looking at the armor, Rhodes felt a brief hesitation before striking.
Not because he couldn't break through. He simply felt it would be a shame to destroy it. Damaging ordinary armor in a training session was one thing. This had clearly cost a great deal to commission. There was no need to be brutal about it.
He suspected Erza wouldn't stay behind her shield indefinitely.
He was right. She still had her pride. Seeing that Rhodes hadn't immediately pressed his advantage, she took the initiative herself, switching to her Flight Armor and driving hard toward him.
Rhodes was unbothered. His right hand shifted, scales spreading from wrist to fingertip in black and red as it became a dragon's claw. He closed it into a fist and drove it forward.
"Great Eruption!"
A blinding red light erupted from his fist. Streams of boiling lava surged outward and took the shape of a massive fist, the scale of a small hill, rolling toward her. The heat radiating from the molten surface was intense enough that at this range, not even the Flight Armor's speed offered a path out of its reach.
From their position at a safe distance, the onlookers felt the heat wash over them.
"Is he trying to kill her?"
"That technique is completely unreasonable!"
"It's fine, if it's fire-based Erza has the Flame Empress Armor!"
"I think we should move back a little more—"
The lava fist rolled through. Erza disappeared inside a sea of red.
Then a figure with red twin-tails and a massive red sword leaped clear, now wearing the Flame Empress Armor. Burn marks were visible across her body despite the switch, and pain crossed her face for a moment as she landed.
She didn't slow down. She gripped the greatsword with both hands, closed the distance in two steps, and swung with everything she had. Traces of fire and lava still clung to the blade where she had cut through the magma.
Rhodes smiled. His left hand became a dragon's claw. He caught her blade with it and thrust his right hand forward.
"Dragon Gnaw: Crimson Lotus!"
A dragon's head formed from lava surged from his right hand and drove straight for Erza's chest.
She released the sword hilt immediately, abandoning the contest of strength, but she only had a fraction of a second. The lava dragon head caught her on the left shoulder.
"Ah!"
The Flame Empress Armor didn't hold against it. Erza cried out and was sent backward through the air. She was still trying to right herself when she caught a flash of gold from the corner of her eye and threw both arms up over her head.
Laxus's lightning-wrapped fist hit her guard and drove her in a completely different direction.
Before she could recover, Rhodes was already there with a follow-up. From the distance, the guild watched in near silence as Erza was completely suppressed between the two of them, with almost no space to retaliate.
Panther Lily said quietly, "This is something else. Even Erza is actually—"
Carla said, "Those two are simply that strong."
"Aye. If Natsu went up against just one of them, it would look the same."
Cana said, "At least Erza can keep swapping armor for defensive options. If it were most other mages taking that kind of output—"
A section of the mountainside nearby gave way with a low rumble, unable to absorb any more of the impact.
The collapse bought Erza a moment to breathe.
She knew that fighting conventionally, she had almost no path to winning against these two. The purpose of today had been to push herself as far as she could go. And she had reached that point.
Erza made her choice.
"Requip: Nakagami Armor!"
A great halberd. White flowing ribbons. Golden shoulder guards. A wide, proud chest.
The moment the Requip completed, a surge of magical power erupted that pressed outward across the entire field. At this moment, in raw magical output alone, Erza was running even with what Laxus and Rhodes had shown.
Makarov watched with an expression caught somewhere between pride and alarm.
He was pleased because the rate at which these children were growing was remarkable. Erza was meaningfully stronger than she had been at the Grand Magic Games.
He was alarmed because letting this continue was going to produce injuries, and it was also going to produce a bill.
From this distance, he had no chance of stopping them in time. He could only shout in the direction of the others. "Everyone, keep moving back!"
Elfman responded before the words had finished leaving Makarov's mouth, pulling Mirajane along as he ran. The others were a beat slower, but they followed.
They hadn't gotten far when a sharp voice rose behind them.
"Nakagami: Starlight!"
The earth shook. The mountains shook. A brilliant light broke between the peaks with a crack that seemed to split the air.
Those like Wendy who couldn't keep their feet dropped flat and curled up with their hands over their heads. Those like Gajeel who were too stubborn to do the sensible thing wrapped themselves in iron scales, raised their forearms to their brows, and planted themselves at the rear of the group, enduring the falling rocks and wild winds while keeping their eyes fixed on the battlefield.
Makarov, seeing that things were going beyond what bystanders could safely weather, shifted to giant form and raised the Three Pillar Gods across the majority of the group.
The battle was taking place in the western mountains. The people of Magnolia felt the tremors anyway.
Nobody understood what was happening at first. Then the light caught their attention. It was nearly sunset, and yet the sky to the west was brighter than midday.
"Is that a second sun?"
"What is going on over there? Another attack on the city?"
"I heard Fairy Tail has been running training out that way lately."
"Ah. See you tomorrow, then."
"Heading to the tavern?"
"No, my wife is expecting me for dinner."
An earthquake, almost certainly man-made, nothing to worry about. After a brief discussion, Magnolia's residents went on with their evenings. A handful even started making their way toward the guild, going by recent experience it was roughly the right time for the training group to return, and there was likely money to be made in a well-timed wager on how many people would need to be carried.
Sure enough, the Fairy Tail members came back before long.
The surprise was who ended up being carried. Erza.
People who knew her came over immediately. She thanked each of them in turn and said only that she had pushed herself too hard during the combat session.
It was a few days later that word got around about two mountains going missing from the western range. Nobody looked for anyone to blame. The city's stonemasons were, by all accounts, delighted.
"You're alright now. Just rest for a few days."
Wendy finished the healing magic and wound the last of the bandages around Erza's calves.
"Thank you." Erza stood and tested her movement, a slight frown crossing her face.
Her shoulder still ached. Everything else had improved.
Mirajane asked, "Are you sure you won't lie down a little longer?"
"I'm fine. It won't affect tomorrow's training."
"I'm sorry. I didn't expect Rhodes to push it that far."
"Don't be. This is exactly the kind of training I wanted." There was no trace of anger in Erza's expression. She was, if anything, smiling.
Mirajane looked at the bandages covering her arms and legs and quietly ruled out any unusual explanations for that smile.
She thought for a moment, then asked with a bright expression, "So. How does it feel to lose?"