Ice-Make vs Steel-Make

"Damn it, Happy didn't even take me with him! I'm so angry!" Natsu stomped his foot angrily.

Gray was also a little out of breath, and he leaned against a big tree to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

These two guys were completely lost in the woods and couldn't keep up with Eleven and the others at all. They had to rely on Natsu's nose to find their way.

And since these two sworn enemies had gotten together, they kept pushing and shoving each other and bickering all the way, and before they knew it, they had completely lost track of where they were.

"Hey, you underwear pervert, stay away from me! I can't find my way because you stink so much!" Natsu couldn't smell Eleven and the others anymore and started picking on Gray in annoyance.

"Huh? You useless piece of trash, are you going to blame me for your own incompetence?" Gray retorted immediately, showing no sign of backing down.

The two continued walking forward, bickering and wrestling along.

"Hehehe, you guys are really close! Hehehe!" Suddenly, a sharp voice came from above.

Natsu and Gray looked up at the same time and saw a hairy-faced, thunder-mouthed, strangely long-armed, thin man squatting on a tree branch above them, eating a banana.

"Huh? A monkey?"

"Idiot, it's the enemy!" Gray reacted much faster than Natsu, putting his hands on his sides, ready for battle.

Natsu was still a bit confused, staring up at the man who looked like a monkey. The "monkey" in the tree was also staring blankly at Natsu, while constantly chewing on a banana, looking no different from a silly monkey.

"Ah, he really is still a monkey," Natsu concluded.

"Hehehe"

Suddenly, before Natsu could even react, a banana peel was smeared across Natsu face with a strange laugh.

"Ice-Make - Battle Axe!"

Upon seeing the monkey-man make his move, Gray instinctively released the magic he had been preparing for a long time. However, the monkey-man was unexpectedly agile. With his legs hanging from a tree branch, he leaned back and hung upside down, easily dodging Gray's attack while continuously making gurgling monkey noises to mock Gray.

"Wow! Wow! What is this? I can't see it! And, this banana smells awful!!" Meanwhile, Natsu covered his face, yelling incoherently.

"Idiot, stop fooling around!" Gray was getting a little angry.

"But, but, I can't get this thing off!"

Natsu gripped the banana peel tightly against his face, tearing it out of shape, but the peel remained completely still and undamaged.

"Hehehe Monkey Magic - Banana Peel Trap! Hehehe!"

With a flick of his finger, the banana peel on Natsu's face popped off with a "pop," nearly causing Natsu had been struggling, to stumble.

However, before Natsu could even breathe a sigh of relief, the banana peel in his hand seemed to be pulled down to his feet again.

When!!

Natsu slipped on the banana peel and fell instantly, his head hitting the ground hard.

"Ouch!!" Natsu clutched his head and rolled around on the ground, a large bump visibly swelling up on the back of his head.

"Hehehehehe," the monkey-man seemed very happy because he had successfully pranked Natsu, jumping and leaping on the tree branch in celebration.

Natsu couldn't stand this humiliation. Even though the back of his head still hurt, he jumped up from the ground, yelling angrily.

"Damn it, you bastard, how dare you trick me! Behold the Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

However, the monkey-man was agile and easily dodged Natsu's attack. Then, swinging on tree branches, he ran towards the depths of the jungle like an ape.

ヽ(#`Д′)┌┛"Waaah, you bastard! If you're so tough, don't run away!!" Natsu was already furious and chased after him without thinking.

"Ugh, you idiot, don't chase after them!"

Gray tried to stop him, but Natsu completely ignored him and disappeared before he could finish speaking. Helpless, Gray had no choice but to follow, cursing Natsu as an idiot.

Just then, Gray suddenly felt a large shadow loom over him. Without thinking, he quickly dove to the side to dodge.

Boom!

A massive steel sledgehammer came crashing down, its terrifying force causing the ground to cave in. Had Gray not dodged, he might have been smashed into a bloody pulp on the spot.

"Steel-Make - Heavy Hammer!" A deep voice came from behind.

Gray quickly turned around to be on guard, only to see a man completely encased in steel armor emerge from behind the tree. The man placed his hands on his chest, his fingers touching, and a powerful magical aura emanated from him, making one feel as if they could smell the metal.

Gray immediately felt a sense of impending doom and forgot all about Natsu. He placed his hands at his sides, adopting the posture that Ur had taught him, and focused his magic.

"Ice-Make - Lance!"

Instantly, countless ice spears shot out from Gray's hands, rushing towards the armored man in a blanket.

The armored man's hands, which were placed in front of his chest, touched together again, and magic power gathered once more.

"Steel-Make - Ten Thousand Swords!"

Countless steel blades appeared out of thin air, meeting Gray's ice spears head-on, spear tips against blades, one against another, without the slightest deviation, with unparalleled precision.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding...

However, a clash of equal strength did not occur. Gray's ice spear shattered instantly like a biscuit before the steel sword, utterly and irresistibly.

Gray, who was behind, had obviously not expected this outcome. Facing the oncoming rain of swords, he rolled around in a sorry state, and his body was immediately covered with countless cuts, bleeding profusely and looking horribly gruesome.

"Such fragile Molding Magic." The armored man's voice slowly drifted from the gaps in his armor, his tone utterly disdainful, as if he were looking at some inferior work of art.

Why would anyone choose to create shapes with ice? This material has neither hardness nor weight; it's simply the worst Molding Magic in the world.

"Cough cough cough, shut up!" Gray coughed up a mouthful of blood, pulled out a rapier stuck in his thigh, and blood splattered all over the ground again.

"I advise you not to move anymore, or you'll bleed to death." The armored man's words remained indifferent. Although he seemed to be concerned about Gray's injuries, one could imagine how cold his expression was behind the mask from his tone.

Gray ignored the armored man and instead placed his hand on the wound. A surge of icy magic enveloped the wound, instantly freezing it and stopping the bleeding.

"How about that? This is something only Ice-Make can do!" Gray looked up at the armored man, somewhat smug, but the blood on his face made him look exceptionally ferocious. "How dare you insult the magic that Ur taught me! Unforgivable! I will definitely teach you a lesson with my Ice-Make!"

"Ice-Make - Ice and Snow Cannon!"

Boom!!

Gray carried an ice-made rocket launcher on his shoulder, and the shell, imbued with the power of ice, shot out, leaving a trail of frost in its wake.

"Steel-Make - Shield!"

The armored man held a knight's shield, about half his height, in his hand, using it to block Gray's icy cannonballs head-on.

Rumble!!

The power of ice exploded instantly, covering the knight's shield with a thick layer of frost, but that was all. The exquisite design and structure of the knight's shield ensured that the force of the exploding shell could only spread in all directions, completely ignoring the armored man.

"Perhaps this power of ice is indeed an advantage of the Ice-Make, but you are too weak." The armored man waved his knight's shield and commented again.

"You talk too much nonsense! Ice-Make - Death Scythe!"

Unbeknownst to anyone, Gray had already used the explosion dust as cover to rush in front of the armored man, almost crashing into his arms. Holding an extremely sharp ice scythe, he slashed at the armored man in half without the slightest hesitation.

The armored man, who had just been arrogantly assessing Gray's strength, had no chance to react and could only watch helplessly as the scythe slashed at him.

Gray's scythe slammed into the armored man's armor, sending sparks flying.

Click!

Then, to Gray's horrified gaze, the scythe snapped in two, without even leaving a scratch on the armor.

"Sigh," the armored man sighed again, "I've gone too far. Ice is far too fragile. My armor is a product of my magic; how could you possibly cut through it?"

"Steel-Make - Ground Spikes!"

A sharp steel spike burst from the ground in an instant, piercing straight through the still somewhat stunned Gray, and blood spurted out once more.