The Ice Mages' Duel! Gray Wins!
"My biggest dream is to surpass Ur!"
Lyon's voice carried an almost manic obsession.
"But you've robbed me of that dream! She died saving you, and I'll never have another chance to defeat her fair and square!"
"Therefore, I can only unseal Deliora and then destroy it myself! This will prove that I have surpassed Ur!"
Gray looked at his contorted expression and felt a pang of pity.
"You just... for this trivial reason?"
On the other side, the aftershocks of the battle forced the onlookers to retreat further.
"Is Gray not over yet?"
Jiang Bai stood next to Natsu and asked somewhat impatiently.
"No,"
Natsu kept a close eye on the battle.
"Gray won't let me help him either."
"Jiang Bai,"
Lucy suddenly remembered something, leaned closer, and whispered,
Where is that short, masked man?
"Oh, 'he' has been taken care of."
Jiang Bai answered casually.
"Is this the solution I'm thinking of...?"
Lucy asked tentatively.
Jiang Bai's mischievous side kicked in. He turned to Lucy with a serious expression and said, "Yes, he has completely disappeared from this world."
He thought Lucy would scream in fright, or at least say something sarcastic.
As a result, Lucy simply said "Oh" and that was it, her expression as calm as if she were just listening to someone say the weather was nice.
Jiang Bai felt that Lucy was in trouble.
"Lucy, shouldn't you be showing fear at a time like this, or at least saying something like 'you devil' to me?"
"Since you've made your move,"
Lucy thought about it very seriously, and then said,
That only proves that he truly deserves no forgiveness.
Jiang Bai pretended to wipe away non-existent tears from the corner of his eye. "I never expected you to trust me so much, Lucy. I'm so touched."
"I've decided, next time Natsu bullies you, I will definitely not join in."
"Hey! Shouldn't you be stopping him?!"
Lucy roared,
"And another thing! I don't just trust you, I trust Mira and Erza! They trust you so much, you must have your own way of handling this!"
"It's all the same, it's all the same." Jiang Bai waved his hand dismissively.
In the center of the battlefield.
"Boring?"
Lyon's emotions were completely ignited. He glared at Gray, "You bastard! How dare you say that everything I've done for the past ten years has been boring?"
"You've done nothing in these past ten years, what right do you have to criticize me?!"
He waved his hand again, and several ice spikes Roar as they shot towards Gray.
While quickly creating Ice Wall to defend himself, Gray shouted back, "I just believed what Ur said! Ur said that this world is vast, and there are many mages more powerful than her!"
"That's why I came to Fairy Tail. This place is exactly as Ur said!"
Gray's gaze unconsciously drifted to Jiang Bai, who was standing next to Natsu.
"There are many monsters here that defy common sense."
"Hey, Natsu, was Gray just insulting me, calling me a monster?" Jiang Bai nudged Natsu with his elbow.
"That's right!" Natsu answered loudly.
"Hey! We heard that too!" Happy chimed in.
Jiang Bai nodded, then secretly made a mental note about Gray: He would definitely "repay" him properly when he found an opportunity.
Lyon scoffed at his words: "What's the point of saying all this now? I won't stop!"
Hearing this, Gray knew that no amount of words could persuade him anymore.
Gray's eyes narrowed, and he made up his mind.
"Then let's see who's the best!"
"It should have been done a long time ago!"
The two collided instantly, the violent collision of ice against ice unleashing a bone-chilling cold current.
Amidst the fierce exchange of blows, Lyon's heart stirred. "Gray, it seems you haven't completely wasted these past ten years."
He took a deep breath and maximized his magic. "ICE MAKE! White Tiger!"
A massive White Tiger made of ice Roar and pounced on Gray with overwhelming force.
And Gray, once again, used his most proficient static Molding Magic.
"ICE MAKE! Ice Cage!"
A massive ice cage descended from the sky, trapping the mighty White Tiger inside perfectly.
Lyon tried to control the White Tiger to break free of the cage, but no matter how the White Tiger charged, the seemingly flimsy Ice Cage remained completely still.
"How is this possible?" Lyon found it hard to believe.
"Ur has already said it,"
Gray's voice came through.
"One-handed Molding Magic has poor balance, making it easy to lose its full power."
"Shut up!"
Lyon was enraged.
"It was just a coincidence, what's there to be so smug about?!"
His magic was so easily restrained by Gray; was he really inferior to Gray?
As soon as this thought arose, Lyon's magical power began to surge wildly due to the intense emotional fluctuations, and the ground beneath his feet was instantly frozen over in a large area.
"Are you angry because you're embarrassed?" Gray said coldly.
"Ha! I've surpassed Ur!"
Lyon roared,
"Ur's methods are outdated!"
"What did you say?"
Gray was furious too.
The fight between the two escalated once again.
"ICE MAKE! Ice Dragon!"
Lyon unleashed all of his rampaging magic.
A colossal Ice Dragon coiled up, charging toward Gray with an aura of annihilation.
Gray remained calm, moving both hands simultaneously.
"ICE MAKE! Dragon-Subduing Chains!"
Several thick chains of ice shot out from the ground, instantly wrapping around the Ice Dragon's body and firmly fixing it in mid-air.
"ICE MAKE! Cannon!"
Without hesitation, Gray launched a pursuit. A massive ice turret formed in front of him, its condensed magic transforming into a cannonball that slammed into the Ice Dragon's head, shattering it completely.
Taking advantage of Lyon's brief moment of lapse in concentration due to the broken magic, Gray charged forward.
He cut his arm with Ice Blade, letting the blood flow freely.
The moment the warm blood came into contact with the air, under his powerful magical control, it condensed into a blood-red ice cone that exuded an ominous aura.
"Lyon! It's over!"
"ICE MAKE! Ice Geyser!"
Countless sharp ice spikes, like gushing springs, suddenly erupted from beneath Lyon's feet.
It was instantly engulfed, violently thrown into the air, and finally crashed heavily to the ground, completely losing consciousness.