The Unfinished Battle

"Lightning Dragon Fangtian Halberd!"

Qian Guang directly phased through it with Kamui, dodging the halberd.

"Hey, hey! You're cheating! Didn't we agree on a fist-to-fist fight? Why are you pulling out a Fangtian Halberd?"

"Shut up! This is a battle to decide who's the strongest!"

Qian Guang stared at him with a face full of black lines. Was this Laxus? The Laxus who only knew how to charge ahead? Well then, hanging around me for so long has made him smarter.

"Since you put it that way, Kamui!"

A spatial vortex instantly appeared where Laxus stood. Qian Guang's control over Kamui had become extremely skilled, and his complete Sage Body had reduced the Sharingan's side effects to a minimum.

Laxus's pupils shrank as he turned into lightning and frantically retreated. A hole appeared in his clothes, along with a spiral-shaped wound on his chest.

"Rip!"

Laxus tore off his clothes, exposing his muscular upper body. His muscles continued to swell as three enormous spheres of lightning floated beside him.

Laxus had always found Qian Guang's bug-level abilities troublesome whenever they fought. He only knew that Qian Guang's abilities were activated through his eyes.

Every time, he tried to stall for time and wait until Qian Guang no longer had enough magic power to sustain his eyes. As far as he knew, those eyes consumed a huge amount of magic power.

Unfortunately, Qian Guang's magic power had never run dry before Laxus himself went down first.

After thinking it over, Laxus concluded that Qian Guang could not activate Kamui while attacking. That was why he came up with these lightning spheres. Their immense magic power would give Qian Guang a hard time, and more importantly, they had a paralyzing effect. He only needed a single instant to land a hit.

Qian Guang found the lightning spheres troublesome. Kamui relied on catching people off guard, and it was pretty lousy in a prolonged battle. When had Tobi ever fought a drawn-out battle?

He created a long blade with Ice-Make Magic, preparing to draw some blood from this blondie. The guy was way too hot-headed every day.

"Boom!"

Laxus and the lightning spheres shot forward at the same time, the immense impact instantly blasting a huge crater into the ground.

Qian Guang continuously blinked around to evade, his long blade clashing again and again with the Fangtian Halberd.

To injure Laxus, Qian Guang even took a lightning sphere head-on. It really did not feel good.

That numb, tingling sensation that left him unable to move was really not appealing at all.

"Boom! Boom!"

Dark clouds gathered in the sky once more. Laxus's skills were getting stranger and stranger.

"Lightning Descent!"

"Lion's Might!"

Violent lightning relentlessly struck down at Qian Guang, but it was useless. It could not hit him, only continually ravaging the ground of the back mountain.

A massive lion's head appeared, roaring as it charged toward Laxus.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!"

No matter how many times they fought, this guy still could not stop using lightning as a shield.

Qian Guang teleported straight into the lightning and threw a punch at Laxus's face.

The corners of Laxus's mouth lifted as he controlled the lightning to attack Qian Guang at the same time.

"Pfft!"

Laxus was sent flying, but Qian Guang did not have it easy either. Blood rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of it. Without time to think, he immediately entered his Kamui state to avoid further lightning damage.

After losing their target, the violent, disorderly bolts began ravaging the surrounding trees and earth.

The previously relaxed Dumb Dumb immediately shrank into its shell, made itself smaller, and pretended to be a rock.

The huge commotion in the back mountain successfully drew everyone in the guild's attention.

Mirajane tilted her head in confusion. Hadn't Qian Guang said he was going fishing so they could have fire-roasted fish tonight? Did fishing have to make this much noise?

The Master sensed that something was wrong. He left the guild, saw the enormous dark clouds over the back mountain, and his eyes narrowed as he rushed over.

Back Mountain

There was no intact ground left where Qian Guang and Laxus were fighting.

The two were still battling, but Laxus was clearly at a disadvantage now. A huge black hole floated beside them, and Laxus had to devote magic power to resisting its pull.

"Laxus! Qian Guang!"

The Master's enormous hand swept in and grabbed them both.

Neither of them resisted. Qian Guang even took the black hole away himself. Laxus panted heavily, his body covered in countless wounds, though they were only superficial. The main issue was that he was running out of magic power.

Not only did he need the lightning spheres to counter Qian Guang's Kamui, but he also had to resist the black hole. His magic power had been inferior to Qian Guang's from the start, so he had expended even more.

Qian Guang also deactivated his Sharingan. The Mangekyō still had side effects on his body, so he could not keep it active for too long. It also consumed a truly enormous amount of magic power, and he did not have much left either.

Looks like I need to speed up the mana-restoring potion. When I fight, I'll heal myself while restoring my mana. I'll clear dungeons solo!

"What happened here?!"

The Master looked at the two of them. They both looked like Gray right now, with no clothes on.

Qian Guang took out a set of clothes from his dimensional space, then pulled out a Healing Potion and tossed it to Laxus.

"We fought. Just a friendly spar."

Laxus did not refuse. He caught the potion and said, "We'll leave it at this for now. But I still have some moves I haven't used. My decision hasn't changed. I'll come again next time, and then it might be a real fight to the death."

He picked up the coat he had thrown aside earlier, turned, and left without the slightest concern for his grandfather's increasingly dark expression.

"Haah, forget it."

The Master stared at Laxus's retreating back for a long time, but ultimately did not drag him back. He did not know when that brat had changed. Qian Guang was the only one who could get even a little close to him.

"Well, don't worry, old man. He'll understand someday. I'm going to sleep first."

Using the Mangekyō for such a long time had greatly drained Qian Guang's eyes and mind. He needed some rest.

Back at the Guild

Mirajane saw that Qian Guang had returned safely and did not ask anything. She simply gently adjusted his crooked collar.

As Qian Guang passed by Elfman, he suddenly remembered something.

Looking at the burly Elfman, he handed him two bottles of potion. "Here, Elfman. This is a Pain-Free Potion and a Super Healing Potion. Drink them together when you enter Beast King Mode, and you'll crush everyone."

With Qian Guang's help, Elfman had already emerged from his trauma and could now simply control the Beast King.

The Pain-Free Potion was basically an anesthetic. No matter what kind of wound he suffered, he would not feel pain. The Super Healing Potion was three times as effective as an ordinary Healing Potion.

When the time came, he would neither feel pain nor get injured.

Elfman looked deeply moved. "Thank you, Brother Qian Guang!"

"Alright, alright. I don't want gratitude from some big guy. Drink them now and see what they do. You don't need to enter Beast King Mode."

"Oh, okay."

Elfman trusted Qian Guang completely. Everyone else watched from nearby, looking at Elfman with a little pity.

They had never heard of a Pain-Free Potion before, so it was a new potion. Based on past experience, a new potion could not possibly succeed on the first try. It was bound to have side effects.

Those were lessons written in blood!!! Especially for Natsu and Gray. For a while, they would take detours whenever they saw any strangely colored liquid.

Elfman downed both bottles in one gulp, but he did not feel any changes in his body.

"Bang!"

Qian Guang punched him, though he did not use much force. Otherwise, he might break the wall, and the already foul-tempered Master would probably scold him again.

"!!! I really don't feel any pain!"

Elfman's eyes lit up. He felt that from now on, he could just chug two potions before every fight and become invincible!

"What's that smell?"

"It stinks!"

"What's going on?"

Everyone had still been marveling at how this potion had succeeded in one try when they suddenly caught a foul stench.

"Damn! Who the hell shit their pants?"

"Fuck, what kind of biohazard is this?"

Qian Guang covered his nose too. The smell was way too strong.

Erza, who was standing behind Elfman, suddenly noticed a yellow patch on the pants of the laughing Elfman. It was still spreading.

Her face instantly turned pale, and she grabbed a bucket before vomiting violently into it.

Following Erza's gaze, everyone else's pupils dilated as well. Fear filled their eyes, and they all covered their mouths.

Qian Guang immediately teleported away, taking the bewildered Mirajane with him. He was truly afraid Mira would kill him if she found out.

The laughing Elfman seemed to realize something too. His face turned deathly pale, but he could not feel anything and did not dare confirm it.

He walked toward Natsu, but every time he took one step forward, Natsu retreated ten. In the end, Natsu even smashed through the guild wall and fled.

Elfman held out his hand blankly. At that moment, he understood that some people might be alive, but they were already dead.