Jiang Bai Wins

The moment Makarov announced, "The trial begins," the atmosphere in the forest clearing ignited.

"Lord Laxus, may fortune favor you in battle!"

Freed bowed deeply to Laxus, then became a green afterimage and rushed without hesitation into the winding, secluded Knight's Path.

"Jiang Bai, I'm going! Don't lose to that arrogant guy!"

Erza's voice rang clear and firm. Without even looking back, her scarlet figure followed Freed and vanished into the dense forest.

The race between the two "knights" had begun.

At the starting point of the King's Path, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.

Jiang Bai and Laxus, the two men who had been seen as destined rivals since they joined the guild, finally stood on a battlefield that belonged to them alone.

"At last, it's just the two of us."

Laxus flexed his wrists, his knuckles cracking. His magic power was like an awakening thunder beast, golden arcs of electricity constantly leaping around him.

Unlike the simple fighting spirit he had shown a year ago, his eyes now burned with a complex mixture of gravity, excitement, and stubborn resolve.

"Yeah, what a hassle."

Jiang Bai yawned and, with his hands in his pockets, strolled onto the mountain path that led straight upward. "Let's get this over with. I still want to go back and catch up on some sleep."

"Same as always. You're just asking for a beating."

Laxus snorted, but he wasn't angered by Jiang Bai's attitude.

After countless sparring matches, he already knew what terrifying strength lay hidden beneath the lazy exterior of the man before him.

"Enough talk. Take this!"

Laxus didn't test the waters. He attacked with his full strength from the outset.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

A raging pillar of lightning tore through the air and blasted toward Jiang Bai.

Yet Laxus didn't keep his eyes on his own attack for even a moment.

Sure enough, when the lightning pillar came within a meter of Jiang Bai, it was as if it had struck an invisible wall. It slowed sharply, then silently stopped, broke apart, and dissipated.

"Tch, just as I thought."

Laxus gritted his teeth.

This was Jiang Bai's most unfair ability, Infinity. An absolute defense that kept every attack from touching his body.

He had known that all along.

"Lightning Transformation!"

Laxus's body instantly turned into a bolt of golden lightning. Rather than charging at Jiang Bai, he moved around him at high speed, leaving a trail of afterimages.

He tried to find a blind spot in Infinity, a possible gap it didn't cover.

Yet no matter what angle he attacked from, whether he used Lightning Dragon's Crushing Fist or Lightning Dragon's Halberd, every attack was blocked by the invisible barrier the moment it neared Jiang Bai's body, fading into nothing.

"It's no use, Laxus."

Jiang Bai's lazy voice rang out. He hadn't even moved a step. "Your attacks can't even break through my defense."

"Shut up!"

After another failed assault, Laxus abruptly pulled away from Jiang Bai, fine beads of sweat already forming on his forehead.

He knew very well that conventional attacks were completely ineffective against Jiang Bai.

To win, he had to take a risk and bet everything on another of Jiang Bai's abilities that he knew about.

—Blue.

That black hole-like attraction.

Laxus took a deep breath, his gaze turning resolute.

He unleashed all his magic power without holding anything back. His entire body became a bolt of dazzling lightning, charging straight at Jiang Bai with unstoppable momentum!

It looked like a reckless, suicidal charge.

"Oh? Finally giving up on those little tricks and coming at me head-on?"

Watching the lightning charge toward him, Jiang Bai finally raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together.

At his fingertips, a tiny point of deep purple light quietly formed.

"Blue."

A single syllable left his lips.

A terrifying, irresistible force of attraction erupted instantly, locking onto the charging bolt of lightning!

Laxus felt his body lose all control. Pulled by an unimaginable force, he hurtled wildly toward the tiny point of purple light.

Yet the moment the attraction caught him, a vicious grin of success appeared on Laxus's face!

"I've been waiting for this!"

With a roar, he used Blue's terrifying pull to push his speed to an unprecedented extreme.

At the same time, he furiously compressed all the lightning he could summon within his body into his right fist!

He would use Jiang Bai's attraction to deliver a thrust beyond his own limits! The instant he was pulled to the center, he would unleash Lightning Dragon Crushing Fist at point-blank range, staking everything on the blow!

It was the only way he might defeat Jiang Bai, a method he had thought over countless times!

The distance closed rapidly!

The lightning on his fist was already too dazzling to look at directly!

Victory was within reach!

Yet just as Laxus thought he was about to succeed, a wicked smile appeared on Jiang Bai's face as he stood at the center of the attraction.

He slowly raised his other hand.

"That's a good idea, Laxus. Too bad you seem to have forgotten something..."

Jiang Bai's voice drifted over, light as a death sentence.

"I've got more than one move."

He opened his palm toward the "lightning meteorite" that was about to reach him and gently spoke a single syllable.

"Red."

The next second, a terrifying force of repulsion, the complete opposite of Blue's attraction and violent to the extreme, erupted with a roar!

"Boom—!!!"

Laxus's expression froze completely in that instant.

His body, accelerated to its limit by the attraction, and his fist, containing all his strength, collided head-on with an absolute force of repulsion more than twice as powerful as the attraction.

Like a meteorite crashing head-on into a planet.

There was no suspense.

Laxus was like a baseball hit for a home run. His entire body became a golden meteor ten times faster than when he had come, flying backward in a miserable state.

He smashed through more than a dozen towering ancient trees along the way before slamming hard into a distant mountainside with an earthshaking crash.

Dust filled the air as broken rocks tumbled down.

The entire King's Path fell deathly silent.

In the deep crater in the mountainside, Laxus felt as though every bone in his body was about to split, and his consciousness had grown hazy.

He had lost.

At the very moment he thought he had found the only way to turn things around and had successfully put it into action, he had been utterly crushed by an absolute force.

The immense plunge from the height of hope to the depths of despair was ten million times more painful than his physical injuries.

Jiang Bai withdrew his hand, blew away some nonexistent dust, and turned to continue up the mountain.

But just then, a resolute burst of magic power erupted from the rubble behind him.

"I... haven't... lost yet!"

Laxus dragged his badly injured body out of the dust one step at a time. All that remained in his eyes was pure madness, a refusal to fall.

He raised his right hand high, squeezing out the last trace of magic power in his body to summon lightning from the heavens.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art... Narumikazuchi!"

Watching the attack into which Laxus had poured everything, Jiang Bai finally set aside his laziness, a trace of acknowledgment appearing in his eyes.

So Jiang Bai no longer simply used Infinity to resist, but showed Laxus respect.

He turned around and extended his fingers once more, aiming at the world-destroying lightning.

This time, it was once again the purple point of light Laxus knew so well.

"Blue."

As expected, the Dragon Slayer Secret Art, powerful enough to destroy everything, was once again completely devoured by the tiny point of light, along with the dark clouds overhead.

His magic power exhausted, Laxus could finally no longer hold himself up. He dropped to one knee, the last light in his eyes going out completely.

Jiang Bai slowly walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"You've done very well, Laxus. Go back and get some rest."

"After all the times we've sparred, you should know that almost all magic except space magic is ineffective against me."

"Unless you can exhaust my magic power, but you chose the wrong way to fight me, Laxus."

"Well, even if it came down to magic power, I wouldn't lose."

With that, he lingered no longer. He turned and headed toward the mountaintop, finally standing alone atop the ancient King's Altar.