Was Hughes Scared?

Early the next morning, the guild members arrived on the outskirts of Magnolia. Hughes and Laxus were going to duel there shortly, so they had come early to claim good spots.

The duelists had yet to arrive, but the lively atmosphere only grew more heated, with chatter everywhere.

"Did you hear? Hughes didn't catch any fish last night, so he got so mad he fucked the whole lake!"

Reedus immediately shared the news with Nab, who was standing beside him. "I heard Hughes fucked the lake last night!"

Nab, who didn't know the truth, looked astonished. Could someone even fuck a lake?

Baffled, he turned and passed the news along. "Hey, did you hear? Hughes fucked a fish last night!"

"No, no, I was right next to you, Nab. You're lying! Reedus just told you Hughes fucked the lake!"

Nab shook his head. "How could anyone fuck a lake? Reedus must have gotten it wrong. Hughes definitely fucked a fish!"

"Hey, Nab, what you don't know is that the master got drunk once, used Giant Magic, and jumped into..."

Cough, cough, cough... Makarov's face flushed red in the crowd, and he couldn't help coughing to stop the bastards from saying any more.

Gildarts, who had quietly pricked up his ears to listen, smacked his lips in disappointment. He had to get his hands on that secret. He had Makarov right where he wanted him.

"Isn't that bastard Hughes here yet?" Eager for revenge, Laxus looked around. He couldn't see Hughes or the three little brats who were with him.

Makarov, who had repaired his relationship with his grandson Laxus, was part of Laxus's cheering squad today. He was also looking for Hughes.

The appointed time was almost here. Should he just declare Laxus the winner?

"Speaking of which, did any of you tell Hughes the duel was moved here?" Gildarts asked, rubbing his chin in puzzlement.

If Macao hadn't told him, he would still have thought Laxus and Hughes were dueling in the guild hall!

At those words, several people in the crowd froze. Makarov glanced at Macao, Wakaba, and the others, then closed his eyes in anguish.

"You bastards, how could you forget something like that? Go find him! Hughes and the others probably went to the guild!"

Wakaba hurriedly pointed at Macao. Macao was in charge of that, so it had nothing to do with him.

"People always say fishing makes you neglect things. Macao, you just had to stay out fishing so late last night. Look what happened!"

"Huh? Wakaba, how did you know I caught a twenty-jin fish last night?"

Makarov: ...Erza, go fetch them!

"Okay, Master!" the reliable young knight said earnestly.

Meanwhile, Hughes and the three little ones were eating and chatting in the guild hall. There were rarely so few people around, so they could eat more.

This time, he was putting everything on Elfman's tab. The boy was only twelve, so he could eat, drink, and stay at the guild for free.

Makarov reimbursed it all...

The young woman behind the bar looked curiously at the four of them. "Hughes, didn't I tell you the duel was moved to the outskirts? Aren't you going?"

"Hmph! That's what they get for not telling me in advance. If they don't come and fetch me, they can stand out there until tomorrow!"

Did they even consider him part of the guild? They hadn't told him in advance when they changed the location, and he was the main character in this show!

Only after Mira and Erza had said a string of nice things to him did Hughes head to the dueling grounds with his head held high and chest puffed out.

"You bastard, Hughes, were you scared? Is that why you only just got here?" Faced with Laxus's out-of-the-blue provocation, Hughes pushed Macao straight over to him.

"Ask him!"

"Laxus, how did you know I caught a twenty-jin fish last night?"

Laxus: (井▼皿▼井)

...He was going to kill Macao's fish and make fish head stew out of it in a bit!

Makarov hurriedly dragged the embarrassing Macao away and waved for everyone to move back. "Everyone, get farther away. Gildarts, make sure you protect Erza and the others!"

Gildarts nodded solemnly. Erza, Mira, Natsu, and the others stood behind him.

To let Natsu and the others see a real battle between mages, Makarov had deliberately placed them at the front, with Gildarts in charge of protecting them.

Makarov himself was in charge of watching Hughes and Laxus.

This time, Laxus wanted to get serious!

"Come on!" Hughes rolled his neck and met Laxus's intimidating gaze.

Flames and lightning gathered around the two of them. Hughes held a searing flame that formed into a spear, while thunder roared in Laxus's palm and yellow lightning compressed into a halberd.

"Divine Fire: Shiranui!"

"Lightning Dragon's Halberd!"

"Bang! Boom!"

The spear of flame collided with the halberd of lightning, producing a violent explosion that sent waves of hot wind surging outward.

Everything within dozens of meters was instantly reduced to nothing. Gildarts swung his fists, breaking down the flames and lightning that scattered toward them.

"Lightning Dragon's Jaw!"

With an angry shout, Laxus smashed his lightning-wreathed fists into the ground. Enormous bolts of lightning surged rapidly across the ground with tremendous force.

He knew Hughes couldn't fly, so he seized control of the ground first, turning it into a field of lightning. That way, Hughes would have to be wary.

Faced with the raging lightning bearing down on him, Hughes instead looked at Laxus calmly. "Don't embarrass yourself by using little tricks like that!"

The lightning passed through Hughes's body, then exploded on the ground. After easily avoiding it with Elementalization, Hughes opened both hands, and green light actually shone from his palms.

This was the Fire Fly he had worked out by changing the form of his flames!

Wisps of green light drifted from his palms and spread out, surrounding Laxus.

"Firefly: Fire Daruma!"

At Hughes's soft shout, the green light on his palms instantly turned into flames. The green light surrounding Laxus exploded in an instant, and flames continued to burn on his body!

Badly wounded by the attack, Laxus fell to the ground and howled. His cries of pain nearly made Hughes think he was Blackbeard.

["Thunder God Enel" detected. Please defeat him!]

[Quest "Challenge Thunder God Enel" activated!]

The system's voice sounded in Hughes's mind. Hughes glanced at the quest reward and accepted it immediately.

Laxus wasn't even S-Class yet, and Hughes couldn't think of any way he could lose.

[Quest reward: secret art, Geppo (perfection)]

Of the Six Powers, Geppo and Soru were the ones Hughes wanted most. Being given perfection-level Geppo outright suited him just fine.

"Use everything the master taught you these past two days," Hughes said calmly.

"Heh!" Laxus rose to his feet with a chuckle and used his magic power to disperse the flames on his body.

He took a deep breath. His mouth bulged, his whole chest swelled, and a golden magic circle instantly formed in front of him.

Seeing the familiar move, Natsu stared in astonishment.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

As though a dragon were roaring in the void, a lightning shock wave powerful enough to shatter mountains and destroy the land burst from Laxus's mouth.

Hughes shook his head calmly and used Elementalization to evade the roar, but he hadn't expected Laxus's attack to be merely an opening move.

The roar passed through Hughes's body and combined with the lightning on the ground, transforming into chains of lightning that instantly wrapped around him.