Chapter 46
Gildarts clothes were almost burned from the heat Natsu was emanating, his own magic seemed to be causing pieces of the terrain around them to break apart, "If we contine, this place around us is going to end up being destroyed" Gildarts stated. "Natsu grinned I remember you saying this is one of the places where you could go all out as it was all barren land". Gildarts grinned as black markings appeared around Natsu "Whats this…?" Gildarts wondered, but Natsu had already landed two powerful blows that felt like boulders crashing into him, Gildarts began to cough as he wheezed a little balancing himself once again.
Lucy froze and so did the others around her "How can they be emanating such huge aura…?" she stated as Hisui was now with the group. "It almost feels like Acnologia…" Wendy stated. "Don't be absurd, Wendy, Natsu and Gildarts-san cant be as powerful as Acnologia…" Jet stated but he had sweat dripping from his forehead as he said it. Gray stood silently to the side as Juvia held his hand "Natsu….the moment I feel I can catch up with you…you end up getting stronger…" Gray grinned to himself "But I swear, I will be the strongest Devil Slayer anyone has known and catch upto you, one day…" he declared to himself. Gajeel seemed to be frozen as well as Levy shook him out of his stupor, she shook her hands in front of his eyes as he was a lot taller than her "Earth to Gajeel, hello…". "Yes…Shrimp, I can see and hear you…" Gajeel replied his eyes still fixed on the distance feeling the heat and the aura. "Salamander…." he growled in frustration. "You may not be the strongest in Ishgar, but you're going to be the best Father in all of Ishgar…" she whispered to him as Gajeel grinned blushing a little, hopeful that no one had seen them or heard them, "Try stealing that away from me, Salamander…" he muttered to himself, but Levy must have heard him as she seemed to be smiling a little.
Lucy just wanted to go to Natsu, Happy was tired already and she didn't want to trouble either Carla or Lily to help her. She was sick and tired of sitting in the sidelines and watching things happen granted it was only Gildarts and he wouldn't hurt Natsu but she was worried if Natsu would be able to take a loss at this stage. Erza walked forward staring at her "So…youre worried about Natsu…" she asked her casually as the group just stared at the bright flashes in the distance. "Not exactly….no.." Lucy replied. "I know I didn't mean you were worried about Natsu's well being, that's not to say you arent worried about Natsu's well being…" Erza began to explain as Lucy stopped her "Its fine Erza, I understand what you meant…". "Well what are you exactly worried about…?" Erza asked her. "Whether Natsu can win this fight or even if he loses, if he could take such a big loss at this stage…" she stated as Erza nodded her head. "So..you think Gildarts can win this…?" she asked Lucy surprised that Lucy would take Gildarts side, "I mean he is the Strongest Mage in Ishgar…" Lucy stated. "Well Natsu is the Emperor of Alvarez…" Erza stated. "Ughh…you're right…" Lucy groaned in frustration.
"Bets…place your bets here…" came a voice as Erza and Lucy noticed Happy going around collecting bids from everyone present there, "Happy…what are you doing…?" Lucy demanded. "Hey Lucy…the guys agreed to give me 5% of the share if I went around collecting everyones bid, cool right…?" he grinned enthusiastically. "How can you cash in on Natsu and Gildarts fighting…?" Lucy demanded. "Hey…im doing this for Natsu, my fishes, you and I…" Happy declared shaking his head in disbelief as Erza moved forward "How many in favour of Natsu…?" she asked Happy. "None so far…" the Exceed replied sadly. "Well put me up for Natsu…" Erza declared as Lucy stared at her. "Sign me up for Natsu as well…" a voice replied as Gray came forward placing his bet, Juvia though to Gray's surprised had placed her trust in Gildarts "Pardon me, Gray-Sama…" she pleaded as Gray smiled, "I'm happy, you've made your own choice…" he replied as Juvia smiled.
"Why arent you placing your bet on Natsu-san, Lucy…?" Juvia questioned "If it were Gray-Sama I wouldn't hesitate a second in placing a bet on his victory…" she stated proudly as Lucy just ignored her. "Hey don't be too harsh on her guys, she has seen her boyfriend being beaten to a pulp by our strongest mage numerous times in the past, if she wants to keep her money safe, then that's fine…" Cana stated. Wendy walked forward and placed her bet on Natsu as Lucy's face was now a comical 'O', "Wendy…?" she cried out in astonishment "Pardon me Lucy-san, Romeo just placed a bet on Gildarts-San, so I want to put my trust in Natsu-san and watch Romeo cry as he loses" she replied a glint of excitement in her voice. Cana placed her bet on Natsu as well as Gray and Erza were the ones with shocked expressions, "So I trust Natsu, do you trust him…though..?" Cana mocked her as Lucy frowned and sighed in frustration as she took out her bet and after pondering for a while placed it on Natsu as Cana mocked her for taking her time.
"What the hell's going on…?" Gray demanded as both Erza and him were glaring at everyone present there. "It was just the two of us in the beginning placing our bets on Natsu, now its five…?" Erza demanded angrily. As Erza tried to grab Happy, he flew away stating "Hey bets once placed can't be taken back its our policy…" he stated flying into the sky as Erza glared at him.
Gildarts and Natus stood in a burnt and cracked ground that had several craters as the two of them were sweating and grinning at each other. Natsu seemed to be grinning, "I thought you were going to take this seriously Gildarts Natsu stated. Gildarts seemed to vanish as he moved but Natsu realised that It was just how fast he was, Natsu was barely able to keep up but Gildarts still managed to appear behind Natsu as he turned and blocked the punch that sent out a powerful shockwave, Natsu countered with a kick of his own but Gildarts managed to block it with his prosthetic arm, as Natsu began to wonder just how strong Gildarts could have been had he not lost his arm and leg to Acnologia, the train of thought turned out to be costly for Natsu as Gildarts hit an uppercut imbued with his aura straight at Natsu, who felt his feet lift off the ground as he was sent flying into the air he somehow managed to catch the trees and halt his fall, but he could already taste the blood dripping from his lip.
"Never turn your mind off in a battle Natsu, havent I thought you anything ?" Gildarts questioned. Natsu let out a huge Fire Dragon King's Roar but Gildarts countered with his crash magic that caused the flames to break apart, yet they still managed to hit Gildarts singing him a little, this proved the immense power of Natsu's flames, had Gildarts not used his Crash to counter it, would probably have impacted him in a worse way.
Natsu teleported, appearing in front of Gildarts as the two Mages began to trade blows, blocking and countering blow after blow with one another the impact reverberating around them and sounding like cannon shots. The duo managed to land a few blows on each other and Natsu noticed that though Gildarts looked worse for wear, Natsu seemed to be in a worse condition.
Natsu knew he had to do something to cover the strength gap between the two if he could do that, then his flames would do the rest, he thought to himself. Gildarts seemed to have read Natsu's thoughts as he was back in the offensive, using his "All Crush" a powerful energy blast imbued with his crush magic. Natsu managed to use his roar to counter the attack but Gildarts used his Mizuwari to crush the ground beneath Natsu and landing a huge strike at the now airborne Natsu as Natsu got slammed into the ground causing the crater to double in size.
Natsu stood up his face now bloodied on one side as he grinned licking his lips and Gildarts could see the mirage of END staring back at him the flames forming horns and wings on Natsu's back as Gildarts blinked the flames appearing normal once again.
"Ready to give up yet Natsu…?" Gildarts questioned as Natsu cracked his head "I'm just getting started Gildarts" he replied. Natsu knew it was now or never Gildarts was a formidable opponent and he had to try this out, Natsu screamed "Lightning Fire Dragon King" as his flames burnt brighter everything turning too hot for Gildarts to see but once Natsu's aura settled Gildarts could see the bursts of lightning floating around Natsu.
"A Lightning Fire Dragon…?" Gildarts questioned in wonder. "This is not anything I can pull off whenever I like, its difficult to maintain and quite a burden on my body, but this will be enough to put you down Gildarts" Natsu stated as he teleported and Gildarts turned to guard himself but Natsu seemed to vanish differently this time in a trail of smoke and lightning as he appeared and targeted an ungaurded part of Gildarts body managing to land painful blows to him.
Gildarts smiled to himself, an excitement that he hadnt felt in many years filling him. "Natsu…I am so proud of you right now, but as the Strongest Mage of Ishgar and a former fellow guildmate to you, I cannot yield or give this anything less than my own…" Gildarts stated, bruises all over both the men fighting each other. Natsu seemed to be huffing, beads of sweat visible all over his face and body as he struggled to maintain the form. "I am going to end it with this one attack Natsu…get ready" Gildarts stated. As Natsu's aura rose, Gildarts began charging his aura up as well.
Natsu knew it was now or never he had enough of this form, he moved forward as Gildarts did the same charging his full aura into his fists he landed one clean on Gildarts face as Gildarts hit him in his gut as well the two of them flew apart as a huge shockwave obliterated the boulders and seemed to have leveled the ground forming a trench. Gildarts felt the world go blurry around him as the last thing he saw was Natsu standing upright but he seemed to be wavering as well barely able to balance himself.
Gildarts landed on his back as Natsu's aura vanished he still stood on his feet but barely looking at Gildarts, whose aura had vanished as well, "Stand up Gildarts, lets do this…" Natsu declared as Gildarts laughed. "Don't be absurd Natsu, you and I both know that we gave it our all in that last attack. Now if you were planning on attacking Ishgar or Fairy Tail it would be quite different and I wouldn't stop for any reason, but since its not…" Gildarts left his sentence hanging as he sat up, which was a wrong move as blood dripped down his nose and face. "You win…" Gildarts stated as Natsu couldn't believe it, his knees giving away as he fell to the ground in disbelief.
"But why…?" Natsu asked Gildarts, "Why…?, what do you mean why…?, you know with that form had you been serious you could have burned me pretty bad even with my crush magic, not to mention that lightning" Gildarts replied. "Well you could have probably disintegrated me with your Crush magic then…" Natsu retorted. "Probably….but that doesn't mean you didn't knock me out, had it not been for my own aura steadying me when I hit the ground I probably would have been dozing happily by now…" Gildarts stated.
Natsu whined "But its not fair I wanted you to be serious this time…" he groaned. Gildarts struggled to stand up as Natsu helped him up "Listen Natsu you know I am that guy, that didn't let you go through the S Class exam simply because of how close we are and so trust that guy when he says today was your victory. Tomorrow it may not be so" Gildarts stated as Natsu laughed coughing out blood "But for now relish in your victory and I am so proud of you…Natsu" Gildarts stated as the two of them hugged.
Natsu realised that apart from Igneel and Gramps, though Makarov was more of a grandfather to Natsu, Gildarts was the only other person who was like a father to Natsu and to finally even manage to almost knockout someone like Gildarts and those high words of praise filled Natsu with a sense of pride, that he had never felt before.
"Alright let us go and get ourselves checked by Wendy and Porlyusica" Natsu stated happily as Gildarts stopped him "About that…" he said as Natsu turned to look at him surprised.
(Fairy Tail)
Once the aura of the two mages disappeared everyone expected Gildarts to be back carrying Natsu but the two of them didn't return and Queen Hisui returned to her castle as did the Guild members who returned to the guild.
"They should be back by now…" Cana stated, who didn't want to accept but she was worried about her dad as much as she was worried about Natsu. "Maybe Gildarts beat Natsu so bad, he had to take him to Porlyusica" Jet stated, as Lucy, Brandish, Dimaria and Larcade glared at him "Keep talking…" Dimaria threatened. "What are you talking about…I am here" Porlyusica replied as Max jumped turning around to stare at Porlyusica "When did you get here…Gra…Porlyusica-san". "Ive been here since the moment I felt those two battling each other, I knew that I would be needed" Porlyusica stated. "And we are thankful to you for that Porlyusica-san" Laxus added. Porlyusica bowed her head respectfully to the Master.
Suddenly a bright flame appeared infront of them as it scorched the floor, moments later Natsu and Gildarts stood before them. Lucy couldn't believe it they looked like they had been through a war. Cana ran to Gildarts who just smiled at her,but she silently took him and let him rest on a chair as Porlyusica began to look at him.
Lucy had run to Natsu as he grinned at her, "Hey Luce…" he smiled at her but Lucy just stared at him a blank expression on her face "Why do you always have to end up doing something stupid everytime we meet" she demanded. But before Natsu could answer Porlyusica interrupted them "What were the both of you thinking were you trying to kill each other…?" she questioned as she was now checking up on Natsu who was covered with blood, Lucy trying to clean up as much as she could. Natsu opened his mouth to answer but coughed out blood as Porlyusica tutted "Don't speak, you have broken a couple of ribs, Wendy…" she called out. "Coming Porlyusica-san.." Wendy replied who was busy healing Gildarts.
Larcade stomped upto Natsu "What the hell were you thinking Uncle…?" Larcade demanded seeing the state of Natsu. "Larcade watch your tone with the Emperor" Dimaria reprimanded him "Im talking to him as his nephew, so stay out of this…" Larcade retorted as Dimaria ignored him. "This is precisely the reason we wanted you to go nowhere without us…" Brandish stated. Natsu ignored all of them as he looked at Gildarts, "Are you going to tell them or should I…?" he asked finally able to speak as Wendy began to heal him.
Gildarts laughed as Porlyusica reprimanded him "The two of you arent back to a hundred percent stop exerting yourselves" she chided. "I guess I do owe you don't I…?" Gildarts asked him. "Whats going on Father…?" Cana asked him "Why would you owe him..?" she questioned. "Well he wanted to come here after we ended our fight, but I wanted to go and spend some time with Master Makarov, before we made our way here" he stated wheezing a little. "Why would you want to do that you could have done that even after you got yourselves healed" she questioned. "Well I just had to, we old geezers you know are just so proud of you guys and Master Makarov would have been as excited as me today after what just happened" Gildarts said, as those quick enough began to piece the information together their mouths falling open in shock while the rest stared at Gildarts oblivious to the reaction of the rest. "What are you getting at…Father..?" Cana asked him. "What im trying to say is that Natsu was the one that came out victorious…" Gildarts stated as Gray jumped excitedly while Erza had a huge smile trying to cover her joy as well while Cana seemed to be frozen in shock, Wendy grinned but controlled her emotions staring at Romeo who didn't understand if he was happy for Natsu or angry at losing the bet.
"Hey…don't get me wrong I mean look at us we didn't go easy on each other" Gildarts added as Natsu interjected himself "But I could only manage to keep him down for a few seconds". "But Laxus beat you a few months ago…" Bicklsow stated as Laxus glared at him, Gildarts turned to Laxus surprised "You..did…I mean you did Master..." he stated amazed "Are you saying Natsu grew this strong in a matter of months…?" Gray asked surprised. "Or maybe the Emperor was just taking it easy on your Master…" Larcade stated as Bickslow and Evergreen moved forward Brandish and Dimaria did the same. "That's enough, there will be no more fighting in this guild or outside for any of you.." Laxus stated to his guildmates. "Now let these men rest up" Laxus stated as he pulled aside Bickslow, "The next time you decide to do something like that, how about running it by me…?" Laxus questioned. Bickslow apologised and continued "So..do you think its true about Natsu…" Bickslow asked him. Laxus grinned "At this point do you think anything that Natsu does could surprise us anymore…?" Laxus countered as Bickslow nodded his head in understanding.
Happy flew to Natsu dropping a huge pile of jewels on his lap as Erza, Gray, Cana and Wendy caught their own share. "Whats this…?" Natsu questioned. "Its our share of the bet that we won…" Happy stated. "Excuse me…wheres your share of the bet that you were supposed to get…?" Lucy questioned as Happy kept an oblivious face, "Its all there" he stated as Lucy ignored him "And since when did we…" she pointed to herself and Natsu "Become us…?" she said pointing to the three of them. Natsu pulled Lucy to sit beside him "C'mon now Luce…you know this guy is a part of our lives no matter what…you cant get rid of any of us…" Natsu joked as Lucy sighed holding her head. "Hey cheer up…I just won my first fight against Gildarts…" Natsu screamed excitedly before clutching his side as Lucy massaged his side. Romeo bounded upto them as he began to question Natsu about the fight.
Natsu was walking Lucy home, with Happy asleep on his head, but once they came to the apartment, like a routine they went inside and Natsu laid Happy on the couch while relaxing on the chair. "Are you feeling better…?" Lucy asked him, "Yeah, Wendy and Porlyusica are like miracle workers, I feel like im perfectly fine" Natsu replied stretching on the chair.
Lucy began to change her dress as Natsu turned his attention away from the door his urge to peep inside intense "So..maybe you and I should spar sometime.." Natsu stated as he heard a thud from the room, he rushed to find Lucy dressed but on the floor, she had slipped but managed to dress, Natsu had to admit he was a little disappointed as well as impressed. "What…why…? and anyway after what just happened with Gildarts, I'm definitely not sparring with you anytime soon" Lucy huffed as Natsu helped her up.
Natsu pouted, he knew that Lucy could never resist that face of his "Aww c'mon Lucy, I can tell just from your aura that you've improved and I want to see how much you have improved since then…" he stated. Lucy shook her head "Try pouting all you want Natsu, I wont spar with wait a minute you really feel my aura has changed…?" she asked him intrigued. "Why would I lie about that if I didn't think it would be an exciting duel" Natsu stated. "Either way…youre just recuperating from your fight with Gildarts so I wont do it…." Lucy stated in a tone that said the discussion was over. "Well would you think about fighting one of the Spriggan instead maybe…?" Natsu pleaded. "Natsu…" Lucy reprimanded him "Oh..c'mon you single-handedly defeated Brandish last time, this time I'm sure you can wipe the floor with her" Natsu replied.
Lucy began to think about it before she replied "Alright fine, but…" she pointed her finger at Natsu who backed away from her, it looked comical to Lucy that someone who had defeated Gildarts was backing away from her "I do…it on my time, you don't get to choose" Lucy stated, Natsu seemed like he wanted to argue but he relented "Alright fine…" he replied.
He began to walk into the bedroom as Lucy screeched "Natsu no…I am too tired to be sharing the bed today…" she stated angrily, but she seemed to be surprised as he walked out holding some pillows and a blanket in his hand. "The bed's all yours my Queen" Natsu stated as Lucy blushed "Are you serious..?" she asked him. "Look I know you're very tired what with award ceremony and everything that happened, so you can sleep on the bed and ill sleep here with Happy, someone has to keep an eye on him" Natsu replied. "Natsu…i…" Lucy tried to thank him as he gave her a swift kiss on the cheek, just go sleep before I change my mind" he replied as Lucy actually ran into the bedroom. "Natsu…" she called out to him "Yeah Luce…?" he replied. There was a pause before she said "Goodnight..", Natsu smiled as he replied "Goodnight Lucy", Happy moved onto Natsu head as Natsu placed him inside the blanket and felt himself drifting off to sleep.
A/N: Sorry for the late post once again guys, thank you once again for the likes and favourites, enjoy the chapter and dont forget to leave a Review and tell me your thoughts about it.