The Thing Within

"I will defeat you all and become the strongest mage!"

Natsu was already so exhausted that he could barely stand, but with each passionate speech, his momentum grew stronger. When he declared that he would become the strongest, a magical power even more concentrated than usual overflowed from his body without any warning, as if he could create magical power out of thin air with just his will.

Even Makarov, Gildarts, and others watching from the sidelines raised their eyebrows, quite surprised by Natsu's potential.

Eleven found it even more unbelievable, because he actually felt a sense of pressure from Natsu. Even if Natsu increased his aura, his strength shouldn't have increased much, but Eleven subconsciously began to feel nervous.

Natsu seemed completely unaware of his own changes and launched another attack as if nothing had happened.

"The Fire Dragon's Roar!"

Natsu crouched slightly, placing his hands in front of his mouth to control the flames, and a scorching tongue of fire was spewed out. The posture was quite terrifying, but anyone with eyes could see that the power was actually just so-so, only slightly stronger than before.

However, Eleven, who was standing in front of Natsu, was completely stunned, as if he had been frightened into a daze. Even when flames engulfed him and blew him away, he did not react at all. Finally, like a broken doll, he crashed heavily to the ground, with a few wisps of smoke rising from his feet.

The arena fell silent. Everyone stared in disbelief at Eleven lying on the ground, wondering what he was up to.

How could this guy be defeated by an attack of this level?

"Did I... I won? Haha, I won!" Natsu didn't care what others thought. Seeing Eleven fall to the ground after being hit by his Roar, he danced with glee, laughing loudly, feeling like he had reached the pinnacle of his life.

"Cough cough cough," Eleven, who was lying on the ground, coughed a few times, his body twitched, and he woke up.

"Hehehe, Eleven, I won! You're my defeated opponent!" Natsu excitedly ran over to Eleven as soon as he woke up, showing off in a very irritating way.

However, Eleven didn't pay attention to what Natsu said. Instead, he stared at Natsu with a strange expression, his Spiritual Power sweeping over Natsu's body from the inside out, not missing a single hair.

"What was that just now?" Eleven murmured to himself.

Just now, Eleven hadn't taken Natsu's Fire Dragon Roar seriously. No matter how strong the momentum, the amount of magic power used in a spell is the key to its power, and Natsu's magic power was clearly insufficient.

However, just as Natsu opened his mouth and spewed out flames, something unexpected happened: Eleven saw a crimson fire dragon phantom behind Natsu!

A colossal fire dragon unleashed its dragon might as Natsu breathed out its breath. It was no illusion; every cell in Eleven's body could feel its extraordinary majesty, giving him the illusion that he wanted to bow down in submission.

Does Natsu have a dragon living inside him?

Or is Natsu himself a dragon?

Eleven frowned at Natsu, a bead of cold sweat involuntarily sliding down his cheek.

However, what truly terrified Eleven wasn't the question of what Natsu was, but rather the anomaly he discovered within himself.

When Eleven faced the phantom fire dragon behind Natsu, he felt fear. It was an instinctive fear, like the natural suppression of a subordinate by a superior. He was completely unable to resist and dared not put up any resistance.

However, this fear did not arise from his own consciousness, but rather from the depths of his soul, from something deep within his soul.

The "thing" trembled with fear at the sight of the dragon shadow behind Natsu, causing even Eleven's soul to tremble, rendering it utterly powerless to resist.

Is there something still residing in my soul?

So what exactly is it?

Eleven questioned his own soul, but no matter how he explored his soul, he could not find that "thing," as if it had completely cowered away after being frightened by the phantom of the fire dragon.

Then, Eleven was surprised to find that, seemingly because that "thing" was hiding, his Spiritual Power suddenly became much lighter, as if he had suddenly taken off a shackle that he had always worn and had become accustomed to, and felt an unprecedented sense of freedom.

What exactly happened?

Is that "thing" still suppressing my Spiritual Power?

(ー`′ー)Yeah

"Natsu, unleash another Roar on me!" Having exhausted all other options Eleven decided to strike at the source, unleashing another Fire Dragon's Roar.

"Oh? Eleven, you still won't admit defeat?" Natsu pouted and looked arrogantly at Eleven.

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up!" Eleven had no time to waste on Natsu's chatter.

"Oh, oh humph! I don't care if you get burned, after all, my roar is very powerful!" Natsu was a little embarrassed after being scolded by Eleven. Even though he won the match, he was still afraid. He only dared to say a proud but cowardly sentence.

"Take this, Fire Dragon's Roar!"

Natsu didn't dare to gloat any longer. Under Eleven's murderous gaze, he reluctantly let out another roar.

However, this time the momentum was noticeably weaker, and Eleven no longer saw the phantom of the fire dragon behind Natsu. In fact, in order to test the effect, he didn't even put up any defense, letting the flames scorch his body once again.

However, nothing happened.

Apart from a few wisps of green smoke rising from his body, there was nothing else unusual within him. There was no reaction deep within his soul, nor did he feel any fear of the roar anymore, as if everything that had happened before was an illusion.

"Hey, Eleven, are you alright?" The onlookers were worried when they saw Eleven suddenly appear dazed and even volunteer to be burned.

"Hmm... I'm fine." Eleven stroked his chin, thinking as he dealt with the crowd's curiosity.

He tried desperately to find some clues in his own soul or in Natsu, but to no avail. If it weren't for the fact that his Spiritual Power was indeed more agile and unrestrained than before, he would have thought he had gone mad.

Finally, unable to figure it out, Eleven decided to seek help from the old man, the chairman. After all, the old man was knowledgeable and experienced, and would be much better than him trying to figure it out on his own.

Not only my own problems, but also Natsu's unusual behavior, I need to report that as soon as possible.

"Um... I guess I won?"

Seeing Eleven completely ignoring him and hastily dragging Makarov into the dark room, Natsu felt a little melancholy. He was supposed to be the main character, so why did he end up feeling like an outsider? What exactly happened? This lukewarm ending left him with no sense of accomplishment at all!

"Win my ass! How could you possibly beat Eleven?" Gray arrogantly chimed in, launching an attack on Natsu. He absolutely refused to admit that Natsu could defeat Eleven.

"Huh? Nonsense, I clearly won by virtue of my strength!"

"Tch, he was just lucky. Look at Eleven, he clearly had something on his mind and got distracted, which allowed you to take advantage of the situation."

"Ah! You underwear pervert, want to try my skills?"

"Fine, let's give it a try! I'm not afraid of you, you stinky fire-breathing monster!"

ヾ(`Д′)

o(▼伶▼メ;)o

Read Fairy Tail: Thoughts Follow Your Heart