Before the reward for the mine job had even been divided, Natsu had already pushed the tables against the wall.
"Can they fight now?"
He asked as though it were only natural, as if he were the one about to step into the ring.
Laxus leaned against the bar, counting money, and ignored him. Lin Yuan pushed his share back in front of Makarov. "I didn't take this job."
"But you completed the rescue," Makarov said. "The extra reward from the mine included a share for you in the first place."
Laxus pulled out several bills and slapped them on top of Lin Yuan's share. "You found Old Hake. This part is yours too."
Lin Yuan looked at him. "You don't want it?"
"Cut the crap."
"He must be afraid he won't be able to sort out the duel's stakes once the money's divided!" Natsu announced loudly.
A bolt of lightning sent him back under the table.
Half an hour later, the training ground behind the Guild was packed with people.
In the end, Makarov did not stop the spar. He only had each of them tie a copper bell around his waist. Whoever took the other's bell first would win. Attacking the spectators or leaving the training ground's boundaries was forbidden.
"No magic powerful enough to destroy a city block." The old man fixed his eyes on Lin Yuan. "And no drawing lightning into town."
Laxus had both hands in his pockets. "I don't need to go all out for this."
"I hope you're still saying that after you lose," Mira said from the sidelines.
"Whose side are you on?" Gray asked.
"Neither. I'm just waiting for them to finish."
Makarov brought his hand down.
Golden lightning tore across the training ground in an instant.
Laxus did not test the waters. With his first step, he accelerated to his limit. His fist blasted toward Lin Yuan from the left, while arcs of electricity raced along the ground to the right ahead of him, sealing off every possible escape route.
Lin Yuan raised a hand and folded the distance.
The fist right before his eyes was pushed farther away, but Laxus did not stop charging forward. He stepped into the distorted space and forced himself to change direction with a burst of lightning, charging out from behind Lin Yuan along the folded path.
His fingertips were only half an inch from the copper bell.
The space beneath Lin Yuan's feet suddenly shifted out of alignment. Instead of dodging forward, he swapped his left and right sides. Laxus grabbed at empty air, and Lin Yuan's elbow slammed toward his shoulder at the same time.
Bang!
Both men took a step back.
"What just happened?" Natsu lay outside the boundary, his eyes wide.
"Lin Yuan switched directions." Erza gripped her wooden sword, her expression focused. "Laxus understood his space too, so he wasn't sent out of bounds."
The second clash came even faster.
The lightning Laxus unleashed was no longer aimed directly at Lin Yuan. Instead, bolt after bolt struck different parts of the field. The scorch marks gradually joined into a vast net, and arcs of electricity leaped through the air everywhere.
Lin Yuan folded three lightning strikes away in succession, but the fourth circled back along the ground after being redirected.
The flash of electricity grazed his arm, instantly reducing his sleeve to charred scraps.
Laxus had already closed in under cover of the flash, his hand reaching for the copper bell.
Lin Yuan did not retreat.
He planted a foot on the ground, lengthening the distance between himself and the entire lightning net at once. Though he was still standing in the same place, the arcs were all separated from him as if by an invisible river, unable to reach his body.
Laxus's hand was also held back by that distance.
The next moment, Lin Yuan erased the gap between them himself.
Zero-Distance Crushing Fist.
His fist appeared in front of Laxus's chest. Laxus crossed his arms to block it, the earth beneath his feet exploded, and he slid back more than ten steps.
The crowd burst into cheers.
Laxus lowered his arms. His sleeves had split open, but the smile on his face was far more pronounced than before.
"Now that's more like it."
A vast amount of magic power rose from his body. The sky darkened for an instant as if drawn by it, dense flashes of lightning coursed through his golden hair, and the wooden stakes at the edge of the training ground began to smell of scorching.
Black-and-silver ripples also spread through the space around Lin Yuan.
Makarov had already straightened up. If their power crossed the limit, he would immediately step in and end the spar.
But Mira suddenly called into the field, "Lin Yuan, on your right!"
A bolt of lightning buried underground earlier suddenly shot out.
Lin Yuan turned sideways to avoid it, but the lightning gathering in front of him was only a feint. Laxus became a flash of electricity and cut in from the right, his hand closing precisely around the copper bell at Lin Yuan's waist.
The bell rang.
At the same time, the space behind Laxus folded inward. Lin Yuan's other hand reached through the displaced distance and took his copper bell as well.
The second ring sounded almost at the same instant as the first.
The two stepped apart, each holding the other's bell.
"I got yours first," Laxus said.
"They rang at the same time."
"Lightning is faster than sound."
"That has nothing to do with your hand."
Their argument was soon drowned out by the commotion outside the field. Those who had placed bets each claimed they had won, Natsu insisted there should be another round, and Gray took the opportunity to change the betting records twice.
"A draw!" Makarov finally announced.
Laxus tossed the copper bell back and did not ask to continue. He had already gotten the answer he wanted.
Lin Yuan caught the bell and also committed the lightning net left underground to memory. Space could change the direction of an attack, but it could not make an enemy forget how to think.
Mira walked out of the crowd, flexing her demonized wrist.
"Since neither of you won, it's my turn now."
Watching the magic power rise again, Makarov finally ran out of patience. He turned into a giant and slapped all three of them into the dirt.
"That's enough!"
The old man surveyed the wrecked training ground, then looked at the three heads in the palm print, still trying to argue.