The Unfinished Battle

"Lightning Dragon Fangtian Halberd!"

Qian Guang directly phased through it with Kamui and dodged the Fangtian Halberd.

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

"Shut up, this is a battle to decide who's strongest!"

Qian Guang looked at him with a face full of black lines. Was this Laxus? The Laxus who only knew how to charge straight ahead? Not bad. After hanging around me for so long, even his brain's started working better.

"Since you put it that way, Kamui!"

A spatial vortex instantly appeared where Laxus stood. Qian Guang had become extremely proficient in controlling Kamui. His complete Sage Body had also reduced the Sharingan's side effects to a minimum.

Laxus's eyes narrowed as he transformed into lightning and frantically retreated. A hole appeared in his clothes, while a spiral-shaped wound opened across his chest.

"Tch."

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

When Laxus had fought Qian Guang before, he had been deeply troubled by that bug-level ability. He only knew that it was an ability activated through Qian Guang's eyes.

Every time, he tried to drag things out until Qian Guang lacked the magic power to maintain his eyes. As far as he knew, those eyes consumed a huge amount of magic power.

Unfortunately, before Qian Guang's magic power ran out, Laxus was always the one who collapsed first.

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

Qian Guang had a headache just looking at those lightning spheres. Kamui relied on catching people off guard; it was pretty lousy in a prolonged battle. When had Tobi ever fought a drawn-out battle?

Using Ice-Make Magic, he created a long blade. He planned to draw some blood from this blond guy. The man was way too hot-tempered 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 kept dodging through teleportation as his long blade repeatedly clashed 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 truly not very appealing.

Boom! Boom!

Dark clouds gathered in the sky once more. Laxus's skills were starting to get weirder and weirder.

Lightning Descent!

Lion's Might!

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

A gigantic lion's head appeared and charged at Laxus with a roar.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

No matter how many times it happened, this guy just could not stop using lightning as a shield.

Qian Guang teleported directly 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 was not doing much better. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Without time to think, he immediately entered his Kamui state to avoid the remaining lightning damage.

After losing its target, the violent, disorderly lightning began ravaging the surrounding trees and earth.

Dumb Dumb, who had been lazily resting nearby, immediately withdrew into its shell, shrank down, and pretended to be a rock.

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

Mirajane tilted her head in confusion. Hadn't Qian Guang said he was going fishing so they could eat grilled fish tonight? Did fishing really make such a huge commotion?

The guild master sensed that something was wrong. After walking out of the guild and seeing the enormous dark clouds over the back mountain, his eyes narrowed and he hurried toward it.

Back Mountain

There was no longer a single intact patch of ground where Qian Guang and Laxus had fought.

The two of them were still fighting, but Laxus was clearly at a disadvantage now. A massive black hole also hung beside them, and Laxus had to devote magic power to resist its pull.

"Laxus! Qian Guang!"

The guild master's enormous hand swept in and grabbed both of them.

Neither of them resisted. Qian Guang even took the black hole away on his own initiative. Laxus panted heavily, his body covered in dense wounds. However, they were only superficial injuries. The real problem was that he was running out of magic power.

Not only did he need the lightning spheres to counter Qian Guang's Kamui, he also had to resist the black hole. Since he had less magic power than Qian Guang to begin with, 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. Its magic power consumption was indeed enormous as well, and he did not have much left.

Looks like I need to speed up the development of magic-restoring potions. Then I can heal myself while restoring my mana in battle and solo dungeons directly!

"What happened?!"

The guild master looked at the two of them. They were both dressed like Gray now, with no clothes on.

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

"We fought. Just a friendly spar."

Laxus did not refuse. He accepted the potion and left behind one sentence. "This is it for today, but I still have some tricks I haven't used. My decision hasn't changed. I'll come again next time, and by then, it might be a fight to the death."

Holding the coat he had discarded earlier, he turned and left without caring in the slightest about his grandfather's increasingly grim expression.

"...Sigh, forget it."

The guild master stared at Laxus's back for a long time, but ultimately did not pull him back. He did not know when that boy 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. I'm going to sleep first."

Using the Mangekyō for so long had greatly exhausted both Qian Guang's eyes and mind. He needed to rest.

Back at the guild.

Mirajane did not ask anything when she saw that Qian Guang had returned safely. She merely gently straightened the collar he had not put on properly.

As Qian Guang passed Elfman, he suddenly remembered something.

Looking at the huge 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 anyone."

With Qian Guang's help, Elfman had already emerged from the shadows and could now control Beast King to a certain extent.

Of the two potions, 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 a Healing Potion.

When the time came, he would not feel pain, and he would not need to suffer injuries either.

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

"Alright, alright. I don't need a big man's gratitude. 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 the side, looking at Elfman with a bit of pity.

They had never heard of the Pain-Free Potion before, which meant it was a new potion. Based on past experience, there was no way a new potion would succeed on the first try. It definitely had side effects.

These were lessons written in blood!!! Especially for Natsu and Gray. For a while, they would take a detour whenever they saw a 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 strength. Otherwise, if he broke the wall, the guild master, who was already in a bad mood, 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 bottles of potion before every fight and become invincible!

"What's that smell?"

"It stinks!"

"What's going on?"

Just as everyone was marveling at how the potion had actually succeeded in one attempt this time, they suddenly smelled a vile stench.

"Damn! Who the hell shit their pants?"

"Fuck, what kind of biological disaster is this?"

Qian Guang covered his nose as well. The smell was overwhelming.

Erza, who had been 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 hugged a bucket as she began vomiting violently.

Following Erza's gaze, everyone else looked over as well. Their pupils dilated, terror impossible to suppress in their eyes as they covered their mouths.

Qian Guang teleported away immediately, 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 as well. His face turned deathly pale, but he could not feel anything and did not dare confirm it.

He walked toward Natsu, but every step he took forward made Natsu retreat ten steps. In the end, Natsu even smashed through the guild wall and fled.

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