The Twin Dragons of Light and Shadow vs. the Azure Flame Dragon

Sting and Natsu arrived on the beach, each standing at one end, their fighting spirit palpable.

A sea breeze blew from the side, stirring the hems of their clothes, and the moonlight cast two long shadows.

Sting just asked Natsu to fight him, like a little fan who finally met their idol and mustered up the courage to make such a request.

Natsu agreed without hesitation, even sporting an excited smile that seemed to say, "Finally, someone has come to me willingly."

Sting took a deep breath, clenched his fists and hung at his sides, his whole body taut like a fully drawn bow.

"Mr. Natsu, don't hold back!"

Natsu grinned, a grin devoid of any politeness, revealing only pure, primal fighting instinct. He clasped his fists together in front of his chest.

"Wow! It's on fire!"

Before the words were even finished, the two charged at each other simultaneously, kicking up sand beneath their feet.

Sting is now a head shorter than Natsu, but his charging momentum is in no way inferior, and every step he takes is heavy and steady.

[White Dragon's Iron Fist]

[Fire Dragon's Iron Fist]

The moment their fists collided, a muffled boom exploded, and the shockwave spread in all directions from the point where their fists met. The sand beneath their feet was shaken into a shallow crater, and grains of sand flew out like raindrops.

Sting's arm jerked violently, the bones creaking.

He was sent flying by that brute force, doing two backflips and carving deep furrows in the sand with his feet before he could barely regain his balance, his heels sinking half an inch into the sand.

His fist was still slightly numb, and there was a faint stinging pain in the web of his hand, but he gritted his teeth, and the pain was like a fire, burning his fighting spirit even more fiercely.

He quickly attacked Natsu again, his punches and kicks were swift and fierce, one punch after another, his moves were so fast that they seemed to fly, and each strike left a trail of white light.

Natsu handled it with ease, barely moving his feet, simply shifting his body slightly, raising his arm, and blocking.

Sting's punches and kicks hit him like hitting a red-hot iron plate, each one bouncing off.

But there was not a trace of impatience on his face; he even had time to ask questions, his tone as casual as if he were chatting.

"Huh, you're Dragon Slayer too? Do you know Igneel? He disappeared in X777."

Sting answered as he threw a punch, his fist flashing white light as it hurtled toward Natsu's face. Natsu dodged it by tilting his head, the white light grazing his ear and leaving a trail of afterimages in the air.

"I don't know. I only know about the White Dragon Weisslogia and the Shadow Dragon Skiadrum."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly delivered a side kick, the back of his foot flashing white light as it slammed into Natsu's abdomen.

Natsu slid back half a step, but it seemed more like he gave up the step willingly than he was kicked out.

Sting gritted his teeth, pushed off hard, and landed his foot on Natsu's side, using the recoil to bounce away. At the same time, he pushed Natsu back a few steps, and the sand was splashed up by the two of them.

Rogue stood aside, coldly watching the battle unfold, before finally speaking in a low, steady voice.

"I am the Shadow Dragon Slayer."

Natsu turned to look at him, his belligerent smile widening, his grin stretching to his ears, his fists clenching even tighter, sparks flickering between his fingers.

"Why don't you all come at me together, haha."

Lector immediately exploded, his little paws lashing out from his waist, his whiskers standing on end in anger, and his tail whipping behind him like a lash.

"Hey, how dare you underestimate Sting! He's Third Generation Dragon Slayer!"

"Third Generation?"

Natsu tilted his head, his brows furrowing slightly, clearly hearing this for the first time, but his fist remained clenched, and his fighting spirit did not diminish in the slightest.

Lector puffed out his little chest, put his little hands on his hips, and held his chin high, looking like he was saying, "Listen up, you bumpkins!" His voice was full of pride.

"You were raised by dragons, you're from the First Generation. Those who had the Dragon Slayer Lacrima implanted are from the Second Generation. Sting and Rogue were raised by dragons and then had the Dragon Slayer Lacrima implanted, they're from the Third Generation!"

Sting added, his tone calm, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary, but a fleeting, complex emotion flashed in his eyes.

"In X777, we killed the dragon that raised us and implanted their Dragon Slayer Lacrima into our bodies."

This statement was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake.

Natsu's smile froze on his face, replaced by a surge of anger that rose from the depths of his heart, and fine dragon scale patterns appeared on both sides of his cheeks.

"You killed the dragon that raised you?!"

Flames of blue and red intertwined rose from his body, indicating that he had entered Azure Flame Dragon Mode.

The onlookers gasped in surprise. Lucy covered her mouth, Wendy's eyes widened, Gray's brows furrowed into a knot, and even the usually composed Erza's expression changed slightly.

Riyao sat on the rock, paused in his act of cracking sunflower seeds, and then couldn't help but burst out laughing. His shoulders shook, and sunflower seed shells fell from between his fingers.

"Haha, you two killed a dragon? With this kind of strength, how did you manage to kill it? Are you trying to make the other side laugh?"

His tone was flippant and blunt, as if he were listening to a bad joke. A smile that made people angry just looked at him was on his lips. He tossed a sunflower seed into his mouth and chewed it with a crunching sound.

Rogue and Sting turned to look at Riyao at the same time, their eyes filled with annoyance and resentment at being questioned. Sting clenched his fists even tighter, his knuckles turning white.

"What do you know? We did kill them."

Riyao casually patted the sunflower seed crumbs off his hands, pointed a finger at Natsu, and spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if discussing a trivial matter.

"Fine, you guys say you can kill a dragon, then prove it. If you can't even beat Natsu, you're just bragging."

Natsu grinned, but the anger from before was gone, replaced by a purer, more intense fighting spirit.

"Bring it on."

Rogue also pulled his hands out of his pockets, and the shadows beside him began to writhe unnaturally, wrapping around his arms as if they were alive, gleaming with a dark purplish-black light in the moonlight.

Sting and Rogue simultaneously activated their Dragon Force.

Sting's fist was enveloped in white light, the light solidified like a layer of armor covering his knuckles.

Rogue's hands were swallowed by thick shadows, and black mist kept overflowing from his fingertips, churning and twisting in the air.

The two, one on the left and one on the right, fought Natsu together, and the battle gradually intensified.

Sting's speed increased, each strike enveloped in white light, hitting Natsu's blocks with muffled thuds.

Rogue launched a surprise attack from the flank, his shadow transforming into a sharp blade that pierced the ground. Natsu dodged to the side, the shadow blades cutting deep cracks into the sand beneath his feet, sending sand flying everywhere.

Despite fighting two opponents alone, Natsu grew increasingly excited, his flames blazing ever brighter, each punch sending up a scorching arc of fire.

Riyao sat on a boulder, cracking sunflower seeds, his legs dangling over the edge, swinging back and forth as he watched the three fighting with great interest.

Mirajane leaned on Riyao's shoulder as they ate sunflower seeds together, her head nestled in the crook of his neck. The sunflower seed shells were neatly arranged on Riyao's lap, like a miniature castle.

"Those two kids are pretty energetic, aren't they? Sting reminds me of Natsu when he was a kid."

"You know what, they really are similar in personality."

Wendy came to Riyao's side, her hands clasped to her chest, her little face filled with confusion and unease. Her gaze darted back and forth between Sting and Rogue, then she looked up at Riyao.

"Could they be telling the truth?"

Riyao paused in his sunflower seed-eating motion, then shook his head with a resolute tone, as if denying an absurd hypothesis.

"How could that be? Although I've never seen a real dragon, according to descriptions in ancient books, adult dragons can easily destroy a city, their scales are harder than steel, and their breath can melt rocks."

He tossed the sunflower seed shells aside and held up a finger in the air.

"They're so weak now, but if we go back seven years, they couldn't even scratch a single dragon scale."

Wendy nodded thoughtfully, but couldn't help glancing at Sting again, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Frosch thinks so too."

At some point, Frosch the frog cat came over and stood at Wendy's feet, her little hands behind her back, her head nodding slightly, her tone earnest and obedient.

Wendy looked down at Frosch, and couldn't help but bend down and gently stroke its head. Frosch blinked, didn't dodge, and instead rubbed slightly against her palm.

Lector watched the three fighting, stroked his chin, rubbed his little paws against it, and frowned more and more.

After calmly considering it, it also felt that it seemed unlikely. With Sting's current strength, let alone killing a dragon, he couldn't even beat Natsu, let alone seven years ago.

But Sting himself said this, so is he lying? No, Sting never lies about these things, so what's going on?

On the sand, Sting and Rogue stood side by side, both panting heavily. Their Dragon Force was still circulating, but the exhaustion had slowed their movements.

Sting wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, gritted his teeth, and stared intently at Natsu, his voice hoarse but firm.

"Let me show you the techniques we use to slay dragons."

Rogue didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly. He slowly raised his hands in front of him, and shadows emerged from his fingertips, condensing into a black sphere in his palms, so black it seemed to devour all the surrounding light.

Sting also raised his hands, and white light burst forth from his palms, condensing into a dazzling white sphere of light, so bright that it was impossible to look directly at it.

Light and shadow intertwined and merged between their palms, and the white and black spheres seemed to be drawn together by an invisible thread, slowly approaching each other.

The moment they made contact, two completely opposite forces collided, producing a piercing buzzing sound, and the air itself trembled.

It eventually coalesced into a giant two-colored sphere of light, half pure white and half pitch black, with the dividing line in the middle constantly fluctuating.

It rotated slowly like the Yin and Yang spheres of a Tai Chi symbol, radiating a chilling pressure. The sand beneath its feet was pressed into a shallow, round crater by this force.

[Holy Shadow Dragon Fang Flash]

Sting and Rogue threw punches simultaneously, their fists slamming into the two-colored light sphere. The sphere suddenly exploded, transforming into a black and white energy wave that shot out with a roar.

The air was torn apart wherever it passed, producing a sharp whistling sound, and the residual pressure of the energy wave plowed a deep trench into the sand.

Natsu took a deep breath, his chest expanded, his cheeks puffed out, and his magical power rapidly condensed. Flames surged from his abdomen, and scorching air overflowed from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth, distorting the surrounding air.

[Azure Flame Dragon's Roar]

A burst of blue and red flames erupted from Natsu's mouth, so hot that the air itself seemed to be burning, emitting a deep rumble.

The two forces collided right in the middle of the beach.

Boom!

The massive shockwave spread outwards from the point of impact, forcing the seawater back more than ten meters, revealing large areas of wet sand.

Dust filled the sky, obscuring everyone's vision; only the interplay of blue-red and black-and-white light flickered continuously at the point of impact.