Serious Sword Strike!
Grand Magic Games Broadcast Plaza.
Dozens of giant magical light screens suspended in mid-air faithfully recorded that tiny, special address.
The second floor of the Fairy Tail exclusive grandstand.
Erza gripped the stone railing in front of her with both hands, instantly crushing the entire piece of hard bluestone into powder.
The gravel dust fell silently through my fingers.
"That idiot!"
Erza gritted her teeth and cursed, "Idiot!"
It's one thing for him to loiter around the guild without any decorum, but now, in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers across the kingdom, he's openly taunting his opponent on the survival battle stage.
Mirajane stood beside him, her hands clasped together, supporting her chin.
"Oh my gosh~ So this is the type of girl Xiao Bai likes."
Makarov stood to the side, his hands behind his back, desperately swallowing the saliva stuck in his throat.
Makarov stiffly turned his neck, stealing a glance at Erza on his left, then at Mirajane on his right.
A phantom image of a Prajna dharma, wielding a giant cross-shaped sword and with disheveled hair, was slowly floating behind Erza.
A demonic figure with enormous curved horns and flapping bat-like wings silently loomed over Mirajane's head.
Makarov quickly turned his head back to face forward.
Gray, Elfman, and all the other guild members took three large steps back in unison, pressing themselves tightly against the load-bearing stone pillars behind the stands.
Everyone immediately covered their mouths with their hands.
Absolutely no one dared to utter a single sound at this critical juncture.
In the center of the intersection in the west district.
Kagura's address reached Jiang Bai's ears with perfect accuracy.
"What a nostalgic title!"
Jiang Bai pulled his hands out of his pockets and clapped them casually twice.
"Alright, I should keep my promise now. Let's bring it on!"
Jiang Bai spread his arms wide.
"In the upcoming battle, I will absolutely not use the Infinity defense again."
Kagura gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands.
"Archenemy - The Form of Invincibility!"
Kagura stomped her heel, shattering the stone slab beneath her feet, and transformed into a swift, straight-line blur, raising her long sword and charging directly at Jiang Bai.
Jiang Bai raised his right hand, his five fingers slowly closing in mid-air as if making a loose fist.
The Psychokinesis rapidly converged and compressed into the palm of the hand.
A three-foot-long sword, completely transparent and constructed entirely from Telekinesis, instantly solidified into shape.
"Wow!! Jiang Bai and Kagura are about to engage in the purest swordsmanship duel!"
Chapati was waving his arms wildly in the commentary booth.
"Jiang Bai actually gave up his most proficient high-level magic and instead chose to use Kagura's most prized swordsmanship style in the duel!"
"Is this Jiang Bai's absolute confidence in his own strength, or is it the extreme arrogance of someone who has reached the top, looking down on everyone else?"
"Arrogant?"
Jiang Bai gripped the transparent longsword and casually twirled it into a dazzling sword flourish.
"Indeed, compared to those readily available magic skills, pure swordsmanship is something I'm really not very good at."
A purple blade came crashing down.
The transparent longsword's blade angled upwards.
The two weapons collided violently in mid-air.
The ear-piercing clang of metal shattered several glass windows on the street corner.
Kagura was somewhat surprised when she saw the weapon that had blocked her full-force attack.
This transparent weapon, formed solely from pure Telekinesis, did not develop even the slightest crack, completely withstanding the Archenemy slashes.
Kagura immediately flipped her wrist, lowering her center of gravity.
The long sword twists and turns, unleashing a series of thrusts.
A barrage of blades rained down on Jiang Bai, trapping him directly above.
He unleashed thirty-six strikes in a single second, completely sealing off all escape routes.
Jiang Bai stood rooted to the spot, not moving an inch, casually deflecting and parrying with his sword in one hand.
All the strange trajectories of the falling longsword were seen through and predicted.
The transparent longsword always managed to precisely strike the weakest point where the longsword was exerting its force.
Jiang Bai seized the slight opening in Kagura's weight shift during Kagura sword-wielding motion and suddenly twisted his right wrist.
The transparent longsword swept out horizontally from left to right.
A powerful, invisible force erupted from the sword.
Kagura had no time to sheathe her sword and defend herself; she could only leap backward at high speed, propelled by the immense force transmitted through the blade.
Kagura landed on both feet, carving two long tracks on the bluestone slab, sliding for more than ten meters before barely managing to regain her balance.
Large beads of fine sweat appeared on Kagura's forehead.
Kagura gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with both hands, her chest heaving violently.
She knew Jiang Bai was very strong and that she was no match for him. She had even considered that she would be crushed when facing Jiang Bai, but she never imagined that she would actually lose in a swordsmanship contest.
Jiang Bai loosened his grip, and the transparent longsword vanished.
"Kagura, the personal resentment attached to the knife you hold in your hand runs far too deep."
Kagura's fingers, gripping the sword, paused for a moment before she said, "It's alright, my sword will only ever slay my enemies."
Jiang Bai lightly touched the ground with the toe of his right foot, instantly covering a distance of more than ten meters, and stood less than half a foot to the left of Kagura.
"The knife is an extension of you, not a shackle that imprisons you. Do you think you control the knife?"
Jiang Bai raised his right hand and flicked the surface of the scabbard with his index finger.
"No, it's the hatred in your heart that's controlling you."
Kagura gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, her eyebrows furrowing instantly.
"This sword carries my resentment! My bottom line is to draw it only to slay my enemies!"
"Don't always use things like 'bottom line' to tie your own hands."
Jiang Bai raised his chin, his gaze falling directly on the surface of the longsword.
"The knife itself is neither good nor bad, nor is its power based on good or evil."
"What you're afraid of isn't that the sword will go out of control after you draw it; what you're afraid of is being consumed by surging hatred the moment you draw it, forgetting who you are."
"Whether it's magic or swordsmanship driven by resentment, true mastery isn't about forcibly suppressing power, but about maintaining your inner self even when you unleash all your power."
"What you're doing right now is like locking a powerful force in a cage, afraid to let it out. Once the cage door is opened, you'll be overwhelmed by the emotions inside. That's not what you call powerful."
Jiang Bai patted Kagura on the shoulder.
"Resentment can be a source of power, but don't let it become your everything."
Kagura stood frozen in place, her fingers slightly loosening their grip on the sword hilt.
"I see."
Then Kagura's gaze hardened again, and she increased the distance between herself and Jiang Bai.
"But this battle is not over yet!"
Kagura stopped engaging in any unnecessary chatter or tactical probing.
She decided to unleash this final move with all her might, determined not to leave any regrets for herself today.
Kagura raised her right hand and pointed at Jiang Bai.
"Gravity Suppression!"
The oppressive Gravity Magic instantly enveloped the entire area where Jiang Bai stood.
The powerful gravity was pulling everything within its range downwards.
The bluestone slabs on the ground could not withstand the weight and shattered into irregular fragments.
Kagura then poured all the remaining magical power in her body into the longsword like a floodgate being opened, all for this final, decisive strike.
"Are you working this hard?"
Jiang Bai seemed oblivious to the Gravity Suppression, casually moving his wrist before conjuring his longsword again.
"Looks like I need to get a little more serious on my end too."
Jiang Bai didn't intend to use any magic; he simply mobilized a small amount of magic power within his body, roughly equivalent to one of Natsu's Roars.
Then, he compressed it within the transparent longsword, using every ounce of magic to its fullest potential.
"Archenemy - Slash Form!"
Kagura gripped the swords with both hands, gathering a gigantic blade of light several meters long, and slashed forward with all her might.
"Hmm~ In homage to the bald Demon King, let's just call this move 'Serious Sword Strike'!"
Jiang Bai raised his longsword with one hand.
A colorless, transparent sword aura, only about three meters long, crashed directly into it.
The two are not even in the same league in terms of size.
The blade energy and sword energy collided fiercely, without even a pause of half a second.
The giant blade of energy that Kagura unleashed with all her might was neatly sliced in two by the colorless sword energy.
The broken purple blade light slid rapidly along both sides of Jiang Bai's body.
The blade flashed rapidly backward, cleaving through all the buildings and ruins along the street it encountered with the ease of cutting tofu, causing them to collapse and shatter on the spot.
The transparent sword energy that Jiang Bai unleashed was completely unaffected after cutting through the blade's defensive edge, continuing along its original trajectory straight ahead.
The audience in the stands fell silent.
Hundreds of thousands of eyes were fixed on the broadcast screen high in the sky, not daring to make a sound.
Even Kagura's strongest sword energy was easily shattered by a single sword strike; no one believed that her flesh and blood could withstand such an attack.
The invisible sword energy arrived in an instant.
The tip of the sword energy was already very close to Kagura's brow.
At this moment, Jiang Bai his fingers, and the sword energy completely disintegrated in an instant, turning into a few gentle breezes that brushed directly across Kagura's cheeks.
Kagura stood frozen in place.
Jiang Bai dispersed the transparent longsword and said to Kagura, "Do you understand? From now on, you must learn how to control the power in your hands!"
Jiang Bai turned his back to Kagura and casually waved his hand.
"As for the tuition fee for personally teaching you this lesson, it will be offset by the 'Onii-chan' you called out to you."