"Snap...!" Natsu and Marcus separated after their fight. Natsu was panting heavily, sweat beading on his forehead. He looked at Marcus with an incredulous expression and said, "Really?!" He was actually being suppressed by Marcus, and Marcus seemed to still have energy left.
Marcus shrugged and looked at Natsu, saying, "We haven't been idle for the past seven years! We've been training hard! And we've been training twice as hard ever since we heard you disappeared!"
Wendy exclaimed in surprise, "Natsu..."
"They couldn't even beat Marcus!" Lucy chimed in.
"Whoa...! One more time!!" Natsu shouted, rushing towards Marcus, his fists flying wildly, but Marcus easily dodged them all. With a wave of his hand, a sand storm began to swirl on the ground;
"Sand Rebellion!" The sand beneath Natsu's feet began to move, creating a sandstorm that launched Natsu into the air.
"Burn everything away!" A ring of fire appeared around Natsu's body, deflecting the sand attacking him, and flames appeared on his right hand;
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
"Sand Wall!"
Natsu's fist was completely blocked. "Things are different now than they were seven years ago!"
"Unbelievable! Marcus actually managed to suppress Natsu!"
"Could it be that we can too!...?"
Marcus chuckled and waved his hand, saying to Warren and the others, "No way! You can't do it, you're too lazy! If you had trained diligently all these years, that would have been possible."
"Whoosh! Dragon God Mode!" Black flames erupted from Natsu's body;
Marcus's expression darkened upon seeing this. He waved his hands rapidly, finally clenching them into fists in front of him. Sand quickly gathered around Marcus 'Marcus body, layer upon layer, completely covering him. The surface layer of sand continued to flow upwards rapidly from the ground.
"The Dragon God's Roar!"
"Absolute Defense!"
With a deafening roar, a black storm mixed with the color of flames crashed towards Marcus. However, upon striking the sand wall in front of Marcus, it dipped slightly before being propelled high into the air. As the Dragon God's Roar completely dissipated, the sand in front of Marcus fell back to the ground.
Everyone stared wide-eyed. Was this really the Marcus they knew? If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed it. Everyone had witnessed the immense power of Natsu's attack; it was arguably the most powerful move they had ever seen. But the most terrifying thing wasn't that, but rather Marcus had blocked Natsu's attack.
"Thud...!" Natsu knelt on the ground, his eyes glazed over, and said, "Completely... completely lost!" His mana was almost completely depleted. Without the amplification of the Wolf Tree on Tenrou Island, it was normal for his mana to be consumed quickly, and this move had also consumed a great deal of mana.
"Natsu..."
"Natsu actually lost!" No one could believe it;
Marcus scratched his head, his expression still calm, and approached Natsu, saying, "Seven years is not a short time. Everyone grows to different degrees. Although my attacks aren't strong enough, my defense is still fine. After learning you were missing, I knew there was no point in being depressed. Macao has already shouldered a lot of pressure for the guild. We can only succeed by becoming stronger. Nobody wants to lose, and I didn't want to lose to you either. It's normal for you to lose, for the only reason that I'm stronger than you now!"
"Marcus ...!" Warren, Nab, Bigita were moved to tears upon hearing Marcus's words;
Marcus scratched his head and said, "Seriously! What are you all so moved about?"
Natsu stood up again, pointed at Marcus, and shouted, "Just you wait! I'll beat you next time. Don't think you're so great just because you're old!"
Marcus chuckled and said, "I don't think I'm anything special, and besides, I'm not that old!"
"Marcus is amazing!" Wendy exclaimed.
"Yeah! Yeah! Even better than Dad!" The two little ones clapped and exclaimed upon seeing such an exciting battle.
Lucy waved her hand with a smile and said, "How can they compare to your father? Even if the two of them were combined, they wouldn't be able to take on a single finger of Chen Fan!"