Qi Yan, the Victor

The guild fell silent.

Natsu and Qi Yan locked eyes. His instincts told him that his opponent was terrifyingly strong, but the more that was the case, the more excited he became.

Whoosh!

Flames ignited around Natsu's hands as he assumed a fighting stance.

"Good! Now I can go all out without holding back!!"

"Begin!"

Makarov announced the start.

"Whoo-hoo!!!"

With a stomp, Natsu charged at Qi Yan. His clawed hand, wreathed in flames, swung at Qi Yan. Qi Yan seemed not to have reacted at all, still standing there with his hands in his pockets. Just when everyone thought the match had been decided—

Swish!

Qi Yan suddenly vanished. In the next instant, he appeared behind Natsu and kicked him in the back.

"Ughah!"

Natsu lost his balance from the kick and tumbled forward.

"So fast!"

"Was that teleportation magic?"

To everyone present, Qi Yan had seemingly teleported behind Natsu.

Makarov shook his head. "No, it wasn't teleportation. It was an incredibly advanced high-speed movement technique. He was moving so fast that it looked almost like teleportation."

Makarov was deeply shocked. Qi Yan was simply too fast. He had only barely caught a glimpse of an afterimage before concluding that it was not teleportation. After all, teleportation left no trace at all.

"What?!"

Sarusuk was stunned. His magic was Divine Feet, and his running speed was the fastest in Fairy Tail. Yet Qi Yan was even faster than him. That was absurd.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Natsu quickly got back up, his fist wrapped in flames as he attacked Qi Yan.

Qi Yan raised his left palm.

Smack!

Natsu's fist struck Qi Yan's palm.

Everyone thought Qi Yan would likely be sent flying, but then an even more astonishing sight unfolded. Qi Yan remained firmly in place without moving an inch.

"He blocked it?!!"

They had all seen the power of Natsu's iron fist. It could easily shatter even stone, yet Qi Yan had steadily blocked such tremendous strength with one palm. Was this guy a monster?

Qi Yan grabbed Natsu's fist and flung it hard.

Whoosh—!

Natsu's body flew out of control.

"Uwaaaah!"

Crack—!

Natsu smashed through a boulder.

Natsu quickly rose to his feet, took a deep breath, and puffed out his chest as he gathered magic power in his throat.

Qi Yan pointed his index finger at Natsu. Emerald-green Spiritual Pressure continuously gathered, forming a dense sphere of emerald-green energy.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!!"

Whoosh—!

A terrifying storm of flames rushed straight toward Qi Yan.

"Cero!"

"Buzz—whoosh—!"

A beam of emerald-green energy shot from Qi Yan's fingertip and directly met the Dragon Roar.

Boom—!!

The crimson firestorm collided with the emerald-green Cero, and the clash of those two powerful energies immediately unleashed a terrifying shockwave.

"Ahhh!"

"Yaaaoooh!"...

The shockwave spread outward. Many people in the guild cried out involuntarily, and some were even blown away by the blast.

After a while, the shockwave gradually subsided. A massive crater had appeared between Qi Yan and Natsu, the destruction left behind by the collision of the two energies.

Qi Yan looked completely unharmed, while Natsu had been injured and finally collapsed to the ground when he could no longer hold himself up.

Qi Yan had clearly held the upper hand in that beam struggle.

"The match is decided! The victor is Qi Yan!!"

Makarov loudly declared Qi Yan's victory, though he was also deeply astonished. He had never expected Qi Yan to be so powerful. Judging by his appearance alone, Qi Yan looked like an ordinary person who had barely trained.

But after using Take Over Magic, he seemed like a completely different person. Calm and cold, he looked like someone who had fought through countless battles.

"The newcomer actually won?!"

"He beat Natsu!"

"He's unbelievably strong! That's already S-Rank Mage-level strength, isn't it?!"

"Absolutely! Only an S-Rank Mage could defeat Natsu!"

"What a monster!!"...

Only after hearing Makarov announce Qi Yan's victory did the guild members finally snap out of their shock. The newcomer had actually won.

Although most of them had lost their bets, they were all incredibly excited. The guild had gained another S-Rank powerhouse. That was absolutely wonderful news.

Qi Yan let out a breath and released his transformed state, returning to his original appearance. His magic power was already nearly depleted. If he had not ended the fight quickly, he would definitely have been the one to lose.

Still, he was extremely excited. He had defeated Natsu, the protagonist. As expected of Ulquiorra, the Espada ranked first among the Hollows in his mind. This victory gave him tremendous confidence.

Qi Yan walked over to Natsu, extended his hand, and pulled him up.

Although Natsu had lost his fighting strength, his injuries were not serious. He could have continued fighting, but that would have made things rather ugly. Qi Yan had suppressed Natsu throughout the entire battle—speed, strength, attack power. Natsu could not think of any way to win, so he stopped struggling and cleanly admitted defeat by falling down.

"You're strong! Just like that monster Erza. Next time, I'll settle this with you."

Despite losing, Natsu was not discouraged in the slightest. He simply had one more opponent to surpass, and that only fueled his fighting spirit further.

"All right."

Qi Yan nodded. Although he had won this time, it had actually been a very close call. As a man, he likewise did not want to lose to anyone else, not even Natsu, the protagonist.

The guild members returned inside, all excitedly discussing the battle they had just witnessed.

Cana happily counted her money. Her alcohol money for the week was settled again. If she had known Qi Yan was this strong, she would not have said anything. Then she could have won even more.

"What am I supposed to do? There's another monster now. When will this manly Elfman become an S-Rank Mage?! Ooohhh! The path for manly Elfman to advance to S-Rank is truly too rough!"

Elfman scratched his head in anguish and wailed. Fairy Tail was full of monsters—Erza, Mira, Mystogan. He had finally waited for those people to become S-Rank, and now Qi Yan had appeared too.

Gray mocked, "You make it sound like you could become S-Rank if Qi Yan hadn't shown up. But even now, you've never even earned the qualifications to participate."

Qi Yan really was a monster, and his chances of becoming the new S-Rank were high. But couldn't Elfman simply avoid Qi Yan? At worst, he would only have to wait another year.

Cana's face stiffened at those words. She had qualified to take the S-Rank Mage promotion exam for three consecutive years. In the first year, she ran into the monster Erza and was eliminated. In the second year, she ran into the monster Mira and was eliminated again. In the third year, things had seemed relatively easy—she had not even seen her opponent, Mystogan, before she was eliminated.

And now Qi Yan had arrived this year. She had watched Qi Yan's entire battle. Against him, she would probably lose even more cleanly than she had against those three opponents. Did she have to wait another year? The thought put her in a terrible mood.