Natsu charged onto the open ground outside the guild with a roar. Blanc stood behind the crowd with his hands in his pockets, eyes slightly narrowed, ready to catch every detail of the match.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Natsu leaped high, his fist wreathed in blazing flames, and brought it crashing down at Gildarts.
Yet Gildarts did not even take off his cloak. As the fist closed in, he simply leaned aside. The flames grazed his afterimage and slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
His first strike missed, but the instant Natsu landed, he drove off with both legs and shot forward like a streak of fire. Punches, kicks, and knee strikes rained down in a relentless storm.
For the next few minutes, Gildarts never used his wide-ranging destructive magic. He relied solely on basic hand-to-hand techniques, even deliberately restraining his strength to Natsu's level as he calmly parried and countered.
With every punch Natsu threw, Gildarts redirected the blow, taking the opportunity to test the kid's explosive strength and fine control over his fire magic.
"Oh, you've got a solid foundation in magic." Gildarts nodded to himself as he dismantled Natsu's flurry of kicks with one hand, the admiration in his eyes growing.
"Don't underestimate me! Fire Dragon's... Roar!" Frustrated after failing to land a hit, Natsu unleashed his fury. A thick pillar of flame erupted from his mouth and engulfed Gildarts head-on.
Almost immediately, a faint white light shone from the heart of the blazing pillar. It was not a defensive spell, but a miniature application of Crush magic.
Boom! The instant the ferocious pillar of fire touched that faint light, it shattered unnaturally, dissolving into a shower of harmless red motes.
Before Natsu could recover from his shock, Gildarts's towering figure was already upon him. His heavily callused hand clamped onto Natsu's head like an iron vise. Then he flexed his arm and shoved down-
Bam!
Sheer physical strength erupted in an instant. The flagstones caved in and shattered, sending a violent shock wave sweeping outward.
Natsu's legs twitched twice in the air. Every last flame on his body went out, and he lay motionless in the crater. Happy flew over and patted his backside. "Aye... Natsu's become a mural."
"Hahahaha! It's been ages since I sparred with a kid this lively!" Gildarts dusted off his hands and laughed heartily, recalling that the last kid he had met with this much tenacity had been Gray when he was little.
He looked at Natsu in the crater, his eyes full of admiration. "This kid's got the makings of a monster."
With the fight over, everyone gradually returned to the guildhall.
The moment Gildarts stepped inside, the guild's children surrounded him. After witnessing that brief but incredibly impressive match, the younger generation's admiration for this "strongest old guy" reached new heights.
Even Mira, usually so prideful, could not resist drawing close and arching a brow as she asked about his travels. Lisanna and Elfman crowded right up front, their eyes shining with admiration.
Of all the children, though, Gray was the most excited. After all, Gildarts had been the one to guide him into the guild. To Gray, this man was not just the guild's strongest wizard, but someone he could rely on like an older brother or a father.
"Gildarts! Why were you gone so long this time?" Abandoning his usual cool demeanor, Gray squeezed straight to the front and complained loudly, already shirtless again somehow.
"Old man, you're so strong!" For once, Natsu did not protest his defeat. His eyes shone as he gazed at the absurdly powerful man.
Blanc joined the crowd as well. He was just as interested in this man who stood at the pinnacle of strength in the original story.
"Old man, what kind of job were you doing? Why did it take so long?"
"How hard are S-Class jobs, anyway?"
Faced with the children's barrage of questions, Gildarts put on no airs whatsoever.
He casually sat cross-legged on the floor, grabbed a barrel of booze, and mingled freely with the children, laughing and boasting animatedly about all the magical beasts he had encountered on his adventures.
One moment his big hand was ruffling Gray's hair; the next, he was teasing Happy from a distance, filling the hall with laughter.
Leaning against a nearby pillar, Blanc watched the heartwarming scene, the corners of his mouth rising without his noticing. He had to admit, this easygoing man had an irresistible charm.
Yet amid all that excitement and admiration, one quiet corner stood apart.
Cana stood alone by a window in the corner of the guildhall. She still clutched those Tarot Cards tightly, her gaze fixed on the red-haired man surrounded by children and laughing without a care.
Her lips were pressed together, her slender frame tense. An intensely complicated yearning flickered in her strikingly bright eyes. Several times, she unconsciously took half a step forward, her delicate fingers lifting slightly and her lips parting, as though she wanted to call out the name buried in her heart and say the things she had kept hidden for so long.
But whenever Gildarts's hearty laughter reached her, or another kid jumped onto his back, Cana froze and hesitantly drew her foot back.
It's too lively right now... Everyone's gathered around him.
Cana lowered her head to look at the Tarot Cards in her hands and bit her lower lip in self-mockery. She decided to wait a little longer, until a better, quieter moment.
Although Gildarts was kind to all the kids in the guild, he clearly got along especially well with Natsu.
Ever since their spar that day, the two carefree optimists had hit it off and quickly become friends despite their age difference.
"Hey, Natsu! How about we head outside for some super dodgeball today?" Gildarts strode over, his face brimming with the excitement of a man about to take a kid out to demolish something.
"Oh! Sure!" Natsu threw both hands up excitedly. Happy, perched on his head, obligingly fluttered his wings and cried, "Aye!"
"Then let's go!"
Laughing heartily, Gildarts bent down and lifted Natsu onto his shoulders with practiced ease, then strode outside with him.
Crash!
Stone fragments flew and splinters filled the air as a hole matching his towering silhouette was smashed straight through the guild's wall.
Far from seeing anything wrong with this, Natsu sat on his shoulders and whooped with excitement at their violent exit. The man and boy stepped over the shattered bricks, still laughing and chatting as they walked away.
Everyone left in the hall stared, dumbfounded. Then they all roared at the hole in unison:
"You bastard! Use the front door!"
Behind the counter, Makarov stared at the wall that had only been repaired a few days ago. Veins bulged on his forehead, and he nearly crushed the mug in his hand.
Standing nearby, Lisanna watched the two noisy figures recede into the distance, somehow looking alike even from behind. She clasped her hands over her heart and smiled with a hint of envy.
"Wow, Uncle Gildarts and Natsu... They really look like father and son!"
Lisanna's voice was sweet, without a trace of malice. But she failed to notice how those innocent words became an invisible hammer, striking Cana nearby with cruel precision.
Like father and son...
Cana stiffened, her fingers freezing in midair just as she was about to shuffle her cards.
She stared fixedly at the gaping hole in the wall, all the color draining from her face.
Knowing Cana's relationship with Gildarts, Blanc felt his eyelid twitch wildly at those words. Oh, no.
He instinctively glanced at Cana out of the corner of his eye. Sure enough, her expression could not have looked worse.
She pressed her lips tightly together, desperately trying not to let anything show, but the faint redness around her eyes betrayed the ache in her heart.