The air practically crackled between them. The tension was almost palpable, so thick you could cut it with a butter-knife as the two 'hated' rivals stared each other down. Their eyes bored into each other, Natsu's flaming orbs meeting a gaze as cold as its owner's magic. Already they were slightly bruised from a couple of hand to hand exchanges, but neither was willing to back down. Blue and red auras of magical energy gathered around them, and the only question was which would be unleashed first. Erza started to look over from the job request board as Gray slammed a sideways fist into his palm… and the unthinkable happened, just before the blue seal could form.
"Stop!" Natsu called, holding out a bare palm. Gray did, if only out of sheer shock.
"What's the matter, newt? Surrendering?"
Natsu shoved his face into Gray's, ramping the momentarily defused tension up a notch.
"You wish, snowman. You see Erza over there? What do you think's going to happen if you cast, genius? She's looking this way." Gray didn't want to admit Natsu had a point, but he did.
"So what are you saying, hothead?" Gray snapped, not realizing how out-of-place the insult was given what had just happened.
"I'm saying," Natsu gritted, "You and me. One on one. Outside. Right now."
"You're on," Gray replied, in a voice colder than his coldest ice.
….
Natsu and Gray reluctantly turned their backs on each other, walking the regulation number of steps away from each other, glaring over their shoulders ever wary of any backstabbing attempts. They needn't have. Erza stood between them, clad in ceremonial but imposing armour, arbitrating the duel. The waves crashed along the beach, and the sand crunched under their feet, the tranquillity of the seashore at odds with the fierce struggle about to ensue. On signal, both turned around and held their hands at the ready.
A good half of the guild looked on. They loved seeing a good match, even if it was just another iteration of the number one most repeated duel in all of Fairy Tail history. Didn't mean it would be any less spectacular. Even Makarov watched out of a high window, smiling slightly with pride.
Erza swung a large sword like a flag.
"Begin!"
Natsu slammed his fists together. Gray's sideways fist slapped into his palm. The mirroring magical seals formed, one red, one blue. Natsu drew a deep breath, gathering all the air his lungs could hold. The air around Gray chilled, and ice crystals formed.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu spat a torrent of flames, holding his hands before his mouth to guide the burst of infernal rage through a second magic seal, not holding anything back – he knew Gray was casting a counter, and unlikely to take the full force of his attack, if any hit at all.
"Ice Make: Lance!" Innumerable shards of ice sprung from the air around Gray and formed into dozens of larger projectiles, hovering around him like a swarm of frozen daggers for a split-second, before flying forward at Natsu, ready to meet whatever opening move Natsu had planned for him.
Natsu's burst of flames bloomed, about three quarters of the way towards Gray, ready to wash over him. But the spears of ice from Gray's spell shot through it, each chilling and damping the flames around itself, disrupting the whole and ultimately defusing the attack before it could reach Gray, although the frozen lances also melted in the process. A hot wind washed over Gray, tousling his hair. Natsu smiled. This was the kind of thing he lived for. Gray's eyes gleamed.
"Is that all you've got, icicle? This ain't a pillowfight!"
"So where's the heat, pyro?"
Natsu slammed his fists together again, drawing another seal, before cocking his arm back and charging at Gray, his fist aflame with intense heat.
"I got your fire right here! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Gray smiled slightly, forming his own magic. Ice gathered into a long, thin shape in front of him, and he examined his handiwork critically, before taking a grip of its hilt.
"If that's the way you want it. Ice Make: Sword!" Holding the sword behind him as he charged, he readied the powerful blade of ice for a hearty two-handed swipe. The distance between the two competitors quickly closed. Natsu flung his fist forward. Gray slashed with his blade. The two equal and opposite forces met in a fierce explosion of magical energy, streams of flame and a gust of icy wind blasting out from the point of impact.
"I… won't… lose!" Natsu growled, pushing harder with both his fire magic and his muscles, refusing to give an inch of ground.
"It's not… your… choice!" Gray snapped, forcing his sword back against Natsu's waxing power, the blade gleaming as the air around it cooled, the sword refusing to melt.
The magical power gathered at the point of contact, gleaming brightly, a compressed star of sheer power. Eventually, the concentration became too much, and inevitably, the clash broke. Gray's sword shattered in a burst of energy, sending him staggering backwards. The blast also sent Natsu flying backwards, although he landed easily on his feet.
They charged at each other again, Natsu leading with another flaming fist, although he didn't have time to cast the full-power spell. Gray leaned sideways, allowing the fist to go flying over his shoulder, and launched a spinning kick. Natsu ducked as soon as he felt his attack miss, and Gray's heel went flying over his head. Natsu swiped his foot low at Gray's ankles, but Gray wasn't going to fall for it, and easily jumped over the attack, parting a little distance in the process. They finished with their backs facing each other.
Gray whipped around, unwilling to give Natsu an easy shot at him, and threw a number of needle-like shards of ice. They tore through a fireball, his ice once again protecting him by disrupting Natsu's fire, but melting in the process. Evidently Natsu had had the same idea. They glared at each other, staring down just out of melee range.
Natsu didn't like impasses. He slammed his fists together and drew his arms up over his head.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu leaped at Gray, two whiplike threads of fire magic forming over his hands, lashing around his body. He flung them down towards Gray as he fell upon him, swooping down like a bird of prey.
Gray had seen it coming.
"Ice Make: Shield!" A glacial barrier blocked the lashing tongues of flame, forming a steaming cloud as they slashed over its surface, furiously squirming over it but unable to penetrate, defused. Natsu landed in front of him, the flames extinguished but the barrier melting, and launched a flaming kick at Gray. He considered entering another melee exchange, but decided against it, jumping backwards clear of the kick and close quarters, suspecting Natsu would…
"Coward!" Natsu yelled, charging at Gray. Gray smiled nastily.
"Ice Make: Battleaxe!" He slashed at Natsu's predictable charging path with the scythe of frost which sprouted from his fist.
Natsu smiled. He wasn't that stupid. He leaped into the air, drawing a fist back, having been ready for an attack. He'd been hoping for just such an opportunity, in fact.
"Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!" He flew at Gray from above, his speed quickened by the flames which poured from his upper arm. Despite having clearly called the attack, he still made it look like a punch before twisting his arm to slam his blazing elbow into Gray, hoping that Gray would react instinctively to a punch before consciously registering just which attack Natsu had named. Natsu's eyes widened as cold mist formed around Gray, seeming to flow out of his very body to obscure Natsu's vision, but he didn't otherwise respond to the imminent attack. What is he thinking?! Natsu wondered in the last split-second before his attack impacted.
Natsu's flaming elbow tore through Gray like a lightning bolt… only for the false Gray to shatter into ice. Natsu barely had a chance to utter half of an oath before the real Gray flew out of the cloud of frosty mist, using a powerful sweeping kick to launch Natsu into the air. Gray leaped up after him and launched a fierce combination of midair attacks from above; Natsu frantically blocked, clearly back-footed.
"You-are-such-a-chicken-Gray!" He spat, between blocks.
"I-want-to-win!" Gray yelled, each word interspaced with a blow to Natsu's failing guard. Natsu's eyes narrowed.
"I've had enough! Fire Dragon's Claw!" He swung his flaming foot before him, forcing Gray to kick off his guard and disengage, leaping up above Natsu, to avoid being kicked literally sky-high.
Natsu knew his old rival's style. Having gained the advantage, he'd likely push it, and since he had the distance to pull it off, probably through an Ice-Make magic like…
"Ice Make: Hammer!" Gray crossed his hands, reckless in his cold fury and desire to win, and summoned forth a massive mallet of solid ice, poised to slam Natsu into the ground and end the match.
The hammer glittered ominously above Natsu as it started to fall, the Dragon Slayer's image growing larger in it every second as it approached. Natsu refused to panic, having expected the move. In the split-seconds available to him, he decided on the only move in his arsenal which didn't use the magic seal he had no time to create. Flames burst into life around his hands as he spread out his arms, before throwing his hands together and lifting the merged conflagration above his head:
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" An unsubtle, but incredibly powerful burst of flame shot forth, slamming into the giant hammer with a mere meter to spare. A gargantuan explosion ensued, blasting Natsu into the ground, hard, but not nearly as hard as the ice hammer would have. Gray was sent flying backwards in the air. A moderately distant splash marked Gray's landing, the plume of water from Gray's impact with the ocean mirroring the flare of sand from Natsu hitting the beach.
After a few moments, most of the guild members turned to each other and started to talk, seeming to think the battle over. However, several knew perfectly well Natsu and Gray were far from done. Makarov started to look worried at the escalation of the battle, fearing how much further it would go. Erza, though showing no visible response, shared a similar sentiment. Lucy shivered at the lengths her friends and comrades were willing to go in fighting each other, and prayed it would go no further. Even a hovering Happy looked a little nervous.
Jaws dropped as a blazing plume of fire magic erupted from the beach where Natsu had landed, the Dragon Slayer rising up like a phoenix amid a raging inferno. He walked up the crater like destruction personified, a blazing wind whipping his hair and clothes around him. The ocean bloomed, waves of water thrust aside as a large platform of ice rose up from it, carrying Gray Fullbuster. He stood in the midst of a blizzard, his frosty winds and aura of cold blue magic mirroring Natsu's inferno.
"Last chance to surrender, Natsu," Gray drawled, his voice booming, echoing over the beach, enhanced with magic so that everyone present heard him clearly despite the sea breeze and crashing waves.
"Not in a million years, Gray," Natsu yelled back. No insults were exchanged; the situation was far beyond that. The voice in which they both said the other's name told it all, a complex mixture of respect, awe, fury, and determination to win. But not hatred. Never true hatred. Neither would admit it, or even dare to think it, but they both loved this, the test, the challenge, the chance to prove themselves against someone they admired as an equal opposite. And it wouldn't happen without either of them. They were far beyond best friends, or worst enemies.
They were rivals. The ultimate rivals.
It was a shame it had to end, really. But it would end - in their victory. They were both equally convinced of that as they prepared their ultimate magics from the power they'd both been finally able to gather uninterrupted. Even Makarov watched with awe; certainly they would surpass him – and some day very soon, as he witnessed the spectacle of their final assaults, approaching the glory of his Fairy Law spell.
Gray raised his arms over his head in a V, a vast blue magic seal forming over his head. Five enormous pillars of ice burst from the already large iceberg beneath his feet. Smaller blocks of ice interlaced between them as the shape of the towers refined itself. Ramparts formed, battlements chiselling themselves out of the ice as the towers were linked by walls of pure ice. The whole construct glittered from every angle. Doors formed and swung open on the towers. Large cannons of ice wheeled out, ready for assault, the light catching ominously on them with an almost audible gleam.
Gray stood on the top of the topmost tower of the five, radiating power, grace and glory. Lyon might have styled himself the Cold Emperor, but in this moment, Gray Fullbuster was the true ruler, the ultimate Master of Ice-Make Magic. He commanded a palace worthy of a frozen deity, floating upon a churning sea. Enormous. Magnificent. Impregnable. It was all that, and more. His imagination, his power and his determination to win combined had forged the ultimate weapon, comparable to the Phantom Lord Dreadnought which had once ravaged the very same shoreline.
"Ice Make: Fortress!" Gray's imperious voice echoed.
Natsu didn't even flinch. In that moment, Gray might have embodied creation. But wreathed in flames, a walking inferno the size of the vast construct, he was the avatar of destruction. He stood defiantly on the beach, one lone man and his magic set against an entire castle. And there was no doubt in anyone's mind he was its equal. The flames around Natsu slowly formed themselves into a silhouette. A draconic silhouette. Red eyes gleamed in the inferno, and wings of flame spread themselves, the Dragon looking down at the challenger to its domain. Flames around Natsu's feet lifted him off the ground, and first he ran through the air, then simply flew over the white-capped waves towards Gray's fortress. The Dragon roared, and the sound reverberated throughout the city.
The Fire Dragon had been unleashed.
Even Makarov could not stop the battle which was about to begin.
Gray waved his arm in a commanding gesture, and the cannons of ice fired. Beams of sheer frost magic blasted at Natsu, but he dodged each in turn, leaping and ducking between them, even once swatting one aside with his hand like a mere fly. That's not to say they didn't do any damage. Each beam of frost tore through the flaming Dragon silhouette around Natsu, and though the insubstantial beast's flames were quick to reform from each piercing blow, it undoubtedly cost him power. Natsu spread his arms out as he got within range of the vast fortress, the draconic construct collapsing as the power was drawn into him, burning brighter every second. Natsu glowed like a second sun as he prepared his attack, the light so strong that even Gray had to shield his eyes. His flames started to form a vortex as he rotated, his body swirling as he gathered the fire into the shape he desired, following the ancient teachings of his draconic master. And at last, he directed the gathered torrent forward into two vast streams streaking towards the Ice Fortress, forcing Gray to abandon his post on the tower and hide behind the construct as the two surging waves of flame interlaced into one insurmountable vortex, capable of overwhelming any earthly resistance.
"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!" Natsu roared.
The unstoppable force of fire slammed into the immovable object of ice, and an earth-shattering blast nearly deafened the entirety of Fairy Tail. The explosion consumed nearly the entire bay, vaporizing gallons of water and creating a shroud of steam through which only light, infernal rage, and flying chunks of ice could be seen. By now, nearly the entire city looked on in fearful awe as the burst of sheer destructive energy momentarily eclipsed the sun. No-one so much as breathed. Could Gray have even survived such an assault? Was Natsu about to face the regret that would haunt him for the rest of his life?
But in the slowly dimming flames of the conflagration, Natsu just smiled. He knew just what had happened. The stricken fortress was shot through with cracks across its entire structure, and it had one great crater at its core where the main force of the Flame Blade had struck. But it had not been pierced. A battered Gray swayed behind the crumbling ruins of his fallen final construct, overwhelmed with exhaustion from pouring all his magical energies into holding the castle against Natsu's attack, but unscathed by flame.
Slowly, amid the gradually dying embers of Natsu's firestorm, the castle collapsed into a pile of melting rubble. Gray fell to the 'ground' of the melting iceberg, barely noticing as he started to sink into frigid waters. The last thing he did before falling unconscious was to scowl, scowl at the exasperating position he found himself placed in by his reckless grasp for victory:
"You were amazing, my prince," Juvia purred as she cradled the fallen Gray in her arms, tears dropping from her eyes as she carried him through the ocean to the safety of the beach.
A panting Natsu started to waver in his hover, sinking slowly towards and into the water as his eyes began to close, the last of the flames around him dying. A small figure cut through the smoky air, Natsu's faithful feline companion winging its way to his rescue.
"Happy," Natsu smiled, sleepily and contently.
"Natsu," the Exceed said, giving Natsu a worried smile. "Hold on tight!" He lowered himself as close to the water as he dared, and Natsu's arms wrapped around him into a tight grip with the last of his strength. Happy flew as fast as he could back to the shoreline, pushing himself to make it before either his magic or Natsu's last bare residue of stamina ran out. Moments later, Natsu's grip broke just as they skimmed the sand of the beach, and he tumbled into the sand, starting to snore loudly almost immediately, a broad grin on his face.
So it was that neither combatant heard the awestruck cheering that the impressed Fairy Tail spectators broke into, despite Erza's raving admonishments about Natsu and Gray's immaturity.
High above, at the highest window of the Guildhall, Makarov just facepalmed. It was going to be hell explaining this to the Magic Council.
But totally worth it, he mused, hiding his smile in his hands. Moments like this, with his guild united in cheering over the exploits of its brazenly youthful champions… the power and skill Natsu and Gray had just displayed… it made him feel alive.