Natsu's Escape

The next day, inside the Fairy Tail guild.

Lucy looked at Natsu and the others with a mournful expression.

"How could you leave me behind and run off?"

Erza said apologetically, "Sorry, Lucy. We forgot you'd only just joined. Whenever we run into the Magic Council, we usually don't want to deal with them, so we just make a run for it."

"This was good experience for you too. Now you'll know what to do next time."

"I never want to have an experience like that again."

After Lucy was captured, she was scolded for half a day and locked up overnight before being released.

Gray spoke up. "Lucy, you're famous now—the iron woman who tore Curse Song apart with her bare hands."

"I'd rather not have that kind of reputation!"

At that moment, the quiet Natsu suddenly spoke.

"Erza, duel me!"

Natsu's shout seemed to freeze the entire guild.

Everyone stared at Natsu in disbelief.

Gray said, "Hey, hey, did you forget to take your medicine this morning? Don't forget that half a year ago, Erza gave you a brutal beating."

"Tch, I'm not the same person I was half a year ago. This time, I'm confident."

Erza looked at Natsu with a gratified expression.

"Looks like you've grown a lot over the past six months. Let me see how much you've improved!"

"Yeah! I'm fired up!"

Scene shift.

Everyone from the guild gathered outside.

"Place your bets, place your bets! Natsu versus Erza!"

"Erza, 1 to 1.1! Natsu, 1 to 10!"

Seeing such an outrageous ratio, Lucy gained a new understanding of Fairy Tail's power rankings.

After Happy glanced between the two odds, he immediately chose Erza.

"You heartless cat!"

"Don't say that, Lucy. I need to survive too."

Lucy sighed. "Sigh, the strongest team is actually about to duel."

As soon as Lucy said that, Gray looked at her in confusion.

"Huh? Strongest team? What's that?"

Lucy hurriedly said, "You, Natsu, Erza, Ye Yang—aren't you the strongest people in the guild?"

Gray said doubtfully, "I wish. But Natsu and I aren't even in the first tier."

"There are plenty around our level. There are even a few stronger than Erza. Which bastard told you that?"

Lucy pointed at Mirajane behind her. When Gray looked over, he found Mirajane was practically crying.

"Boohoo, I just thought you might be really strong if you worked together, boohoo."

Elfman immediately shouted, "Gray, you're done for! You actually made my sister angry. My boss is going to kill you."

"Speaking of the strongest, Erza is undoubtedly the strongest female wizard. And the strongest male wizard is definitely my boss! He's a real man!!"

"If we're talking about the second tier, I can rank among them too."

Lucy looked at Ye Yang in confusion.

"He's the strongest?"

The scene from that day with Lullaby suddenly surfaced in Lucy's mind. That world-destroying strike still made her heart tremble.

"Looks like I still don't understand the guild very well."

Meanwhile, Natsu and Erza had already begun their duel.

"Requip: Flame Emperor Armor."

When everyone saw Erza use even this armor, they knew she was truly serious.

Natsu looked even more excited. "Ohhh! Now I can really let loose!"

Natsu gathered flames beneath his feet.

"Dragon's Head of the Fire Dragon!"

Natsu shot toward Erza. Erza shifted aside and directly dodged his attack. At that moment, the flames around Natsu instantly vanished. The moment his feet touched the ground, the flames surged again, and the ground immediately exploded.

Natsu's speed rose to another level.

"Dragon's Sword Horn: Second Stage!"

Seeing that she could not evade, Erza hurriedly raised the Flame Emperor Sword before herself. Natsu's powerful strike sent Erza flying.

Erza skidded dozens of meters before stopping, staring at Natsu in shock.

Natsu's attack instantly silenced the surroundings.

"Is that guy really Natsu? He hasn't been possessed, has he? Natsu actually forced Erza back."

Seeing that it had really worked, Natsu shouted excitedly.

"Hahaha! I've practiced that move for a long time!"

Meanwhile, Gray ran straight up to Ye Yang. "Did you teach that to Natsu?"

Ye Yang looked at Gray in surprise.

"You figured that out?"

"Of course. I've fought Natsu enough times. How could he possibly come up with something like that?"

"Hmm, so you and Natsu really are true love."

"Who's in true love with him?!"

"Hahaha, just kidding. I only told Natsu about the properties of fire."

"Extreme heat, and explosions."

"With that kid's current mastery of magic, I'm not expecting extreme heat. But he can make use of the explosive force fire gives him."

"Plus, with his Dragon Slayer constitution, the damage caused by the fire's explosion won't hurt him in the slightest."

"As for combat techniques, you guys have secretly watched San Mao and Er Gou train and fight. You learned quite a lot, didn't you?"

At that, Gray became a little embarrassed. Just as Ye Yang had said, they often went to watch San Mao and Er Gou fight. Since Ye Yang taught them, they were sure to learn a lot from it.

"Still, Natsu can control his flames fairly freely now. When the first Sword Horn didn't work just now, he was able to withdraw and gather his Magic Power in time."

"Then he unleashed an even greater burst of speed in an instant."

"He's made a little progress, at least."

"Looks like it's time for the next step."

Gray instantly understood what Ye Yang meant.

"You mean Natsu has been training with you too?!"

"Yeah. Training three people is training, and training four people is training."

Gray looked at Natsu. "Damn it! That guy! I want to go too!"

Ye Yang spread his hands. "I'll only give you advice. You'll have to walk the rest of the path yourselves."

"Thanks!"

Then Ye Yang directly kicked Gray.

"Get out of the way. You're blocking my view."

Just then, Natsu was preparing to charge forward again when a Frog wearing clothes arrived with an army.

Clap! Clap!

"Everyone, please stop for a moment. Is Guild Master Makarov here?"

When everyone saw they were from the Magic Council, they began whispering among themselves.

"Why is the Magic Council here?"

"Who knows? Did you get caught doing something bad?"

"How could that be?!"

Watching everyone discuss it, Lucy could not help but comment, "Is no one going to find a Frog wearing clothes strange?"

The members of Fairy Tail all looked toward the people from the Magic Council. Makarov also stepped down from his chair and walked forward.

"May I ask what business brings the Magic Council here?"

The Frog ignored Makarov, haughtily lifted his head, and began reading aloud.

"I will now announce a notice from the Council Hall. During the recent Eisenwald incident, the members of Fairy Tail successfully prevented the attack. The Council Hall hereby commends all members of Fairy Tail."

When the guild members heard they had come to commend them, they all wore expressions of disbelief.