The next day, Ryker didn't show up at the guild all morning, despite some concern on the part of the guild members, most weren't worried. Yesterday had been a rough day, but they felt he had turned around, released his demons and was ready to move on. He must have been tired and was resting at his house, nothing more than understandable.
Neither Mira or Erza or Wendy cared about his absence, either way they knowing him more than anyone else, there was no reason to worry anymore. After midday, with the sun up and the heat blazing, Ryker enters the guild carrying a large basket on his shoulders.
The mage looks around the room until he finds the table where Team Natsu was sitting, with a little fuss as usual. He walks over to them placing the basket on the table and greeting everyone in it.
"Good afternoon, Ryker. How are you doing?" Lucy asked.
"I'm fine, ready to start a new journey. Hopefully better than the last one", he said in a light tone, with a small smile.
"That is great. I'm glad you can move on", Erza commented looking at him deeply. This made him feel a little shy. Lucy noticed and smiled.
"And what is this basket?", the blonde asked looking at him.
"Oh, that! Well I think I've been a little rude to people around here. So I decided to be a little nicer, but not too much," he said lightly. "I will start with this team. I spent all morning getting this."
"Oh, that's very nice," Erza said, a little surprised by the sudden change.
"This is for you," Ryker said looking at Happy, who looked at him in surprise. He opened the basket that was full of fish, making the cat's eyes sparkle and water. The blue Exceed flew to embrace the mage crying with happiness, which angered him deeply and made him rethink his sudden goodness. Happy dove into the basket full of fish with several in his mouth.
"Did you spend all morning fishing?" Lucy asked in disbelief.
Ryker was a little uncomfortable and smiled awkwardly. "Not all morning, but we can say yes. It's an easy way to please someone who only thinks about fish. But I have the feeling that I will soon regret it", he said with a slight smile.
He continued. "Now it's up to Natsu," he said turning to the fire mage.
"What do you want with the breath of ash?" Gray said without much patience.
Natsu stared at him seriously. "You want to fight don't you Natsu? So let's fight," he said at the same time the Dragon Slayer's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"FINALLY!" he yelled, smiling in satisfaction as he climbed onto the table and faced Ryker.
"A... are you sure?", Lucy asked, scared and desperate. Would he be another one of those now!? She became discouraged.
"And why not? I also have my curiosity for this guy here," Ryker smiled defiantly. "But before…" he turned to Erza. "I want a fight with you and I don't take 'NO' for an answer", he looked at her seriously and defiantly, she reciprocated in the same way.
"Wait! And me!?", Natsu complained.
"Do not worry. As soon as I'm done with the redhead here I'll fight you," Ryker said confidently.
Lucy sank deeper into her chair. She thought that all that stress he'd been through the last few days had melted his brain and now he'd gone crazy for good. Challenge Erza and then Natsu!? It was good to meet him. Damn guild that only attracts freaks! Gray wasn't much different, looking at the three of them with wide eyes and his chin on the floor. Happy, totally oblivious, devouring fish after fish.
"What are we waiting for?" Ryker asked. "We're going to fight in the back of the guild, on that beach. I don't think there will be any problems there," he started to move. Erza and Natsu got up from where they were sitting and followed him, as did Gray, Lucy and the rest of the guild, who overheard the conversation, and wanted to see the outcome of the fight, or see Ryker die at some point.
Erza and Ryker were facing each other. "You know. I've always been curious to know how strong you are, redhead," he said jokingly.
She looked at him seriously and slightly annoyed. She didn't like it when he called her that. "It's Erza, and I'm also curious about your strength," she said with a defiant look and a manic smile that only she had. And that he thought it was cute. Go figure!
"Be careful Ryker!" Wendy yelled at him on the beach.
"Don't worry, and pay attention Wendy. This will be very useful in your training", he said without looking at her, who nodded positively.
The entire guild was tense watching the fight begin. They were at the edge of the beach watching what would be a brutal battleground between these two. Most of the bets were on Erza, who was being capitalized by Cana, who was holding a bottle of wine. She wisely bet on Ryker the roast, if he won she would take a jackpot, which she would spend on drinks, possibly. Mira, Lisanna and Elfman had mixed feelings, they were rooting for Erza or Ryker, but most likely the redhead would take it. Mira was just worried and gnawing inside for him fighting Erza.
Ryker pulled out two military knives, one in each hand, Erza was wearing her conventional Heart Kreuz armor. "Who will attack first?" he asked smiling. Erza paid no attention and went on the offensive, catching Ryker by surprise with his speed.
In pure reflex Ryker defended himself from the attack with his knife wrapped in energy. The shock raised a great deal of dust around the mages. He jumped back and lunged at the redhead. He used Kali Silat's moves, and Wendy noticed that his moves were way above what he'd demonstrated to her, it didn't even compare. He was trying to hit and cut off Erza's life points, without, of course, harming her. His movements were fluid, defending himself with one knife and attacking with the other, he was fast and precise.
The magician Requip was impressed by the speed, fluidity and agility he displayed. The play of arms, legs and body was unlike anything she and the other mages had seen. Is that what they taught him?
Erza leapt at him, stopping meters behind and running towards him brandishing her sword. Ryker dodged using body roll, but she was quicker by turning around and hitting him with her sword, which was defended by the mage's knives. Erza gave him no chance of recovery and pressured him, constantly attacking, making him retreat as he took the blows.
Ryker had lost one of his knives and now only used one to defend himself. Erza's blows were hard, he could feel it, she knew exactly what she was doing. It was difficult to fight with a short knife while your opponent has a sword. She cut diagonally, thrust, came from top to bottom, bottom to top, sides and all of that at incredible speed. There were blows and more blows, giving his opponent no rest. All Ryker could do was defend himself and dodge the attacks. He countered, but his attacks were ineffective. With such experience the redhead always dodged or defended herself, but at that point she was more vulnerable. That's when he hit her with the other hand or with his feet, knocking her off her balance slightly or causing some minor damage.
Erza jumped back after one of Ryker's blows hit her in the side. She was panting and looking deadly serious. He walked down the beach and picked up his other knife, getting back into position with them in hand, looking and analyzing deeply.
A tension hung in the air. No one breathed and sweat was evident among the guild members as they watched the two giants fight.
She summoned her Black Wing Armor, taking everyone by surprise, even Ryker. Launching herself faster than ever at her opponent, she slammed into him violently, and he defended himself with her knives. Even so, he was gliding meters along the beach until he stopped.
"Incredible. I had to use ' Enhance ' to protect myself," Ryker thought. "The brilliance she fights with is just amazing. What woman!" he told himself.
Ryker didn't even have time to recover with Erza advancing on him with two axes slashing fiercely at him. He defended and dodged, but she kept pushing.
"It's amazing! They're both amazing, I don't want either of them as my enemy," said Lucy when she saw the battle. "But you'd expect Erza to have the upper hand," said seeing the red-haired mage on the offensive, while Ryker, it seemed, was always on the defensive.
"Not! You're wrong!", Gray said scared, drawing the attention of the blonde and Juvia beside him.
"What does mean, Gray-sama? Erza-san is winning, isn't she?".
"Yes, Gray. See, only she who attacks. Ryker is defending himself and taking pressure all the time," said Lucy.
"No, he's right," Natsu looked stunned, staring at the fight with unblinking eyes, sweating cold and shivering.
"What do you mean anyway!?", the blonde shouted, losing her patience.
"Although Erza was on the offensive, none of her attacks were effective. She couldn't land any hits.", Natsu explained and Lucy was startled, turning her attention to the combat. "She must have figured it out by now, but he seems to know exactly every blow she's going to deliver. It blocks perfectly and dodges like it was nothing," Lucy was terrified. Was it true?
The celestial mage looked at Wendy who conveyed an unreal calm in that situation. Even Mira wasn't like that, it was as if she already knew what was going to happen. The little Dragon Slayer looks at her and smiles playfully, blushes and scratches her head.
"I think Erza-san is going to lose," she comments to Lucy's amazement, who widens her eyes and her cheese drops to the floor comically.
Erza backed up a few steps and exchanged the axes for two swords and went back to advance against her target, who dodged the attack. This time he ran towards her who brandished his swords. They exchanged a few blows, swords against knives. However, in a quick move Ryker grabbed Erza's left hand giving her a twist hard enough for her to drop the sword, tripping her, causing her to fall backwards to the ground as he twisted her other hand, stealing her sword.
The entire guild couldn't believe what was happening, they couldn't believe what their eyes could see. Erza being defeated like that!
Farther back, Cana was jumping and waving her arms exaggeratedly, celebrating her victory as she drank from her bottle of wine. She had just won a lot of money.
He rides on top of the mage lying on the ground, pinning her with his body while holding her sword. He looks at her with an icy gaze, pointing the blade in her direction and without the slightest pity thrusts Erza's sword violently into the sand beside her head. She looks stunned and not understanding what just happened.
"You lost," she hears an amused voice. She looks over and sees Ryker on top of her, looking victorious. She resigns and smiles, admitting defeat. "That armor of yours doesn't have cat ears, but I like the wings," he teases her.
"It was a good fight," she says, but immediately blushes violently realizing the indiscreet position they are in. She under him and he sitting on top of her holding her between his legs, at the height of the hips. He notices and blushes too, getting to his feet immediately awkwardly, but still helps her to her feet.
"Yeh, yeh, it was an excellent fight and you are exceptional. Really, really strong," he says awkwardly. But what the hell happened to him? He was never like this! I was picking up the bad habits of the men in that guild!?
"But I didn't even get to hit you once."
"Do not worry about it. You are a phenomenal fighter and if I hadn't used a technique to protect myself I would have been screwed."
"Tell me, you held back a bit didn't you?"
"What woman! She doesn't miss anything," Ryker thought, admiring the beauty in front of him. "The point is, I've faced a lot of wizards who used swords and things like that. I have a lot of experience with them. You know... I'm not a swordsman and I can't tell you about techniques and things like that, but you're very strong. Don't be discouraged", he says smiling and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"If you think I'm going to suffer for that, it's because you don't know me. I'll just get better and train harder," Erza responds with a defiant gleam in her eye.
"I was hoping for this", the two look at each other smiling at each other, until they are interrupted.
"Very well! Now it's my turn!", shouted Natsu, approaching smiling and full of teeth.
"Ah yes! I had forgotten about you," he teased.
"WHICH! Not thirty minutes ago you called me to fight! How can you have forgotten already!?", Natsu raged, looking at him comically annoyed. Everyone ended up laughing.
"Okay, okay," Ryker says, stepping in with Natsu in front of him. "Ready?"
"Of course", the fire mage responds smirking.
The two stared at each other, the tension building little by little. This would be another interesting battle to watch. But, no magician dared to place bets, due to the result of the previous fight, where only Cana was happy.
In the blink of an eye Ryker disappeared from everyone's sight. "He's fast!" shouted the other wizards. Before everyone could see what happened, he appeared beside Natsu with a bluish sphere in hand, ready to hit the fire mage on the left side. Using his magic, Natsu was able to dodge by jumping into the air, dodging at the last second.
Natsu smiled happily, she was excited, now nothing would stop him. Like a jet, it propelled itself toward Ryker on the ground. With incredible speed, the soldier could not dodge and took a strong blow to the face.
"He hit him!" they shouted, impressed. Even Erza hadn't done that, and it took her by surprise, but not quite. She knew of her friend's strength, yet there was something wrong. Ryker was smiling, no one would smile taking a blow like that.
Ryker grabbed Natsu's arm and, in a judo strike, he threw him violently to the ground, taking advantage of the power of the fire mage's blow. The soldier mage reached a palm across the face of the pink hair, forming a sphere of blue energy.
"Karyū no Hōkō! " Natsu yelled, producing a colossal amount of flames reaching Ryker burning clothes before he fired his energy.
"NATSU!" screamed Lucy in terror.
"Oops! I think I overreacted," he said, scratching the back of his head.
"Not yet!" Ryker said from another spot on the beach. "If I hadn't dodged in time, it would have been a problem," he said smiling, Natsu smiled back.
Ryker ran like lightning, being difficult to keep up with, making erratic movements that were unpredictable. Natsu tried to guess where he would be, but it was difficult, his ears and his scent didn't help to decipher what the attack would be. When he least expected it, a powerful knee hit him in the stomach, followed by a jab to his right ribs and a spinning kick to the face, sending him flying away, landing yards away on the beach beyond. Ryker didn't stop and ran towards him ready to finish the fight. However Natsu was tough and stubborn. He stood up quickly and, when the soldier was at a distance he couldn't dodge, the Fire Dragon Slayer caught him.
"Karyū no Tekken!" he repeatedly punched the soldier, who was thrown back.
"Soko o Doke ke!", Ryker is hit again by more flames.
"And to finish... Karyū no Hōkō!", a jet of fire catches the soldier mage, who can't do anything else to defend himself.
Natsu begins to brag about defeating a person whom even the mighty Titania has managed. Now he claimed that he was so much more powerful than Erza that everyone should revere him. His ego inflated to the size of a mountain, much to the guild's disapproval.
"Beginner's error." Ryker appeared out of nowhere beside Natsu and hit him with his energy sphere. A strong light took over the Dragon Slayer and a huge explosion swept across the beach and nearby parts of the city, no material damage other than a strong shock wave that might have broken some windows and knocked some people farther down.
After the dust settled, Natsu was lying unconscious on the ground, with Ryker stepping on his chest in a victorious pose. Although it be with a few bruises, nothing much happened to him or fire mage.
"Never download wait, Natsu, not even in sparring," he said victoriously. "I think I won, again," he smiled.
That guy was another monster in the guild, the others thought. He defeated two of the most powerful wizards on the continent and he didn't even look guild has some attraction to wild beasts! They thought the others who watched the battles.
"I think that's enough for today," Ryker said taking Natsu and putting it on his shoulder. "Let's go back", he said, walking back inside the comfortable guild.