"Good."
Lin Yuan agreed so quickly that Natsu was taken aback for a moment.
The next moment, he jumped up from the table and kicked aside the bench blocking his way. "Get outside!"
Gray, holding his wine glass, scoffed, "Have you forgotten how quickly you lost last time?"
This time is different!
What's different?
I've become stronger!
Natsu brazenly burst through the door. The guild members immediately grabbed their drinks and food and followed him out, not even giving Makarov a chance to stop them.
"At least leave the barrels behind!"
Human Order.
A crowd quickly gathered in the open space behind the guild. Natsu stood in the center, stretching his arms, flames burning from his fists all the way to his shoulders. Two years had passed, and his magical power was indeed much more concentrated than before; the rising heat caused the nearby grass to curl up rapidly.
Lin Yuan walked to the other side and drew the Nameless.
The sword has no visual effects, nor does it have any attack stats assigned by the system. It is simply a longsword whose form has been shaped by countless collisions.
"You don't use True Magic?" Natsu asked.
"Let's try the sword first."
"Then I won't be polite!"
Flames erupted beneath Natsu's feet as he charged straight at him.
A burning fist slammed towards Lin Yuan's face. Lin Yuan did not retreat; the spine of his sword grazed Natsu's wrist from below and gently pulled outwards.
The fiery fist almost brushed past his ear.
Natsu twisted his waist and swept his other hand from the side. Before Lin Yuan could retract his longsword, the hilt struck his elbow first. The fist deflected, and flames grazed the grass, leaving a charred mark.
Lin Yuan took half a step forward, the tip of his sword stopping in front of Natsu's chest.
Natsu leaned back sharply, almost brushing against the sword's edge to dodge, and simultaneously leaped into the air with both legs pushing off the ground.
" Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Two flames came from the left and right.
Lin Yuan flipped his wrist, and " Nameless " struck his left arm. Before the force of the collision had dissipated, the sword blade had already deflected the second strike by using the recoil to bend to the other side.
After landing, Natsu threw a series of punches, causing flames to explode between the two of them.
Lin Yuan did not use any magic.
Natsu's punches were faster and more powerful than they had been two years ago, but each time he just began to exert force, the sword's edge was already in his most vulnerable spot. Sometimes it was the outside of his shoulder, sometimes the front of his wrist, and sometimes it was just blocking the step he was about to take.
In just over ten encounters, he never actually managed to touch Lin Yuan.
"Are these really the same basic sword techniques from back then?" Gray couldn't help but ask.
Erza stared at the arena, offering no reply.
She recognized Lin Yuan's sword grip and could tell that his basic footwork was still what she had taught him. But after each clash, Lin Yuan's next strike would change according to Natsu's movements. Those once separate parries, slashes, and thrusts were now indistinguishable.
Natsu was struck on the shoulder again by the hilt of the sword, and rolled back several meters.
He wasn't discouraged; instead, he laughed even more excitedly.
"That's more like it!"
Flames roared up beneath his feet.
Natsu did not continue charging. Instead, he steadied himself and took a deep breath. The scattered flames around him gathered in his mouth, and the crimson magic power was rapidly compressed into a blinding light.
Two years ago, Lin Yuan watched the same movements and tried to develop his own roar for the first time.
Natsu's aura is now several times stronger.
"The fire dragon--"
Lin Yuan held the " Nameless " book in both hands.
This was the first time he had mobilized his magic power during the entire battle.
The black and silver light spread from the palm to the hilt of the sword, then flowed down the spine to the tip. It did not condense into another Boundary-Severing Blade, but instead pressed into a thin layer on the surface of the Nameless Blade, causing a slight misalignment in the space through which the blade passed.
"Roar!"
A crimson torrent erupted from the front.
The flames instantly engulfed the space between the two. Lin Yuan took a step forward to meet the onrushing heat, and the Nameless slashed down from his shoulder.
The black-silver sword slammed into the sea of fire.
There was no explosion.
A thin, dark line appeared at the very tip of the roar, and then the entire torrent of flames split apart from the center to both sides. What was cut open by the sword was not only the flames, but also the space that sustained the flames' forward momentum.
Two bursts of flame grazed Lin Yuan's left and right sides before exploding behind him with a deafening roar.
The open space fell silent.
Gray tilted his wine glass, spilling half of it without noticing. Makarov also stood up from the barrel, staring at the flames that were still splitting to both sides. Erza's grip on her sword tightened slightly— Lin Yuan hadn't used stronger magic to disperse the roar, but had actually cleaved it in two with his sword.
Mira could see it even more clearly. He concentrated his power solely on the blade, without releasing any magic to the surroundings.
He emerged from the center of the split inferno.
The black and silver light on the sword's edge then went out.
Natsu had just finished roaring when Lin Yuan was already in front of him.
Fire Fist immediately met Nameless. Lin Yuan did not inject any more magic power, but temporarily changed the sword path after the collision. Natsu moved to the left, and his sword cut off the left path; Natsu forcibly turned, and the hilt of the sword fell on his right shoulder in advance.
Each sword strike has no fixed follow-up.
Natsu changed his attack direction three times in a row, only to find that the Nameless was already lying across his neck.
Lin Yuan pushed with the blade of his sword.
Natsu lost his balance and fell backward into the crowd of onlookers, knocking Gray over along with two benches.
"You lost," Gray reminded him, even though he was pinned beneath him.
I haven't fallen yet!
You're lying on top of me!
The two immediately started fighting on the ground.
Lin Yuan sheathed his sword and turned around, only to find that Erza had already walked into the open space.
A light Requip on her right hand, and a long sword fell into her palm.
" Natsu's done." Erza raised her sword, her fighting spirit undisguised. "Now it's my turn."