"Normal Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
[Year X791]
The eyes changed everything.
Laxus, the Thunder God Tribe, and even Team Fairy Tail stared at the new pattern in Shisui's gaze, their minds struggling to process what they were seeing. They had no name for the design, no frame of reference for understanding its meaning. Even for Team Fairy Tail, this was the first time they had seen Shisui with this particular eye.
But suddenly, Shisui's presence felt different. More suffocating. More authoritative. More demanding. It was as if a lord had stepped onto the battlefield and was looking down at his subjects, evaluating their worth with eyes that had seen power beyond mortal comprehension.
This was power. Overwhelming power that demanded their very attention and deference.
The rain continued to fall, but each drop seemed to hesitate before touching Shisui, as if even nature recognized something that commanded respect.
"Your attacks convert your Ethernano reserves into lightning magic," Shisui said, his voice carrying easily through the storm. "However, I have reached a state where that is no longer necessary."
Only three sets of eyes widened in true understanding. Laxus felt his breath catch as the implications while Bisca and Max both tensed, their faces going pale as they realized what Shisui was actually saying.
The casual way he'd stated it made the claim even more terrifying. Not boasting, not threatening. Just explaining a fact about his capabilities as if he were discussing the weather.
Freed noticed their reactions immediately. "Max, what's he talking about? What does that mean?"
Max's response came slowly, his voice mixing awe with genuine fear. "What Shisui is saying… is that he can command natural lightning. He doesn't have to create it with his own magic. He just tells it where to strike."
As if summoned by his words, another bolt of lightning crashed down behind Shisui, this time closer than the first. The flash was blinding, the thunder immediate and deafening. Every Fairy Tail mage present except Laxus and Shisui flinched instinctively, their bodies recognizing a threat beyond their ability to defend against.
The second lightning strike drove home the reality of what they were facing. This wasn't magical lightning that followed predictable patterns or consumed mana reserves. This was nature itself, responding to Shisui's will like an obedient weapon.
Laxus felt his body tense, every muscle coiling with preparation as a part of him was genuinely afraid. But alongside that fear was something else.
Excitement.
Finally, an opponent who could push him to his absolute limits. Someone who would actually be able to defeat him even if he did not hold back his power at all. His smile returned, wider and more feral than before.
'Finally… A strong opponent.' He thought to himself.
Only two other person had ever made him feel this combination of fear and anticipation. The first was Gildarts Clive, Fairy Tail's Ace. He had possessed the kind of overwhelming power that made Laxus question whether victory was even possible. The second was that dreaded black Dragon that caused Tenrou Island's disappearance for seven long years.
And now, there was a third person who belonged on that level.
When Shisui saw Laxus's smile, something shifted in his own expression. The suffocating presence remained, but there was approval there now. Recognition of someone who wouldn't break under pressure, who would meet impossible odds with determination rather than despair.
"If you can successfully defend against my one attack, then I'll consider this fight a win in your favour." Shisui announced.
The irony wasn't lost on anyone present. Laxus had offered the same terms to Team Fairy Tail, backing his confidence with one of his strongest techniques. Now the roles were reversed, and Shisui was extending the same challenge.
But there was something different in his tone. Neither Team Fairy Tail nor the Thunder God Tribe could determine whether this was Shisui repaying the favour or insulting Laxus by suggesting he needed such a handicap. Only Laxus himself understood the true meaning behind the offer.
This was acknowledgment. Respect. Recognition that he was strong enough to warrant Shisui's attention and effort.
Romeo finally found the courage to speak up, his voice barely audible over the falling rain. "Maybe this is going too far. Someone could get seriously hurt."
The rest of the observers agreed with the sentiment, but none of them had the courage to actually intervene. Laxus's challenging smile and Shisui's calm seriousness created an atmosphere that warned against interference. This was between the two of them now.
When Shisui spoke again, every heart present felt like it might stop beating.
"This attack brings down lightning from the heavens. I merely direct its power to you. But don't worry, you will not die from this."
The casual mention of death, delivered as reassurance, somehow made the threat even more terrifying. Shisui's right hand began to crackle with electricity, but this wasn't the artificial lightning of Dragon Slayer magic. This was something else. To the observers, it felt like the lightning was connected to the storm clouds overhead through invisible threads of power.
He raised his hand slowly, building tension with every inch of movement. As his arm climbed toward the sky, the very air around them seemed to thicken with anticipation. Lightning flickered more frequently overhead, as if the storm itself was gathering strength for what was to come.
Then, impossibly, the observers began to see something that defied explanation. Behind Shisui, translucent but unmistakably present, an enormous, armoured humanoid warrior began to take shape. The construct was made of lightning itself, its form crackling with the same energy that danced across Shisui's raised hand.
The phantom warrior towered over the battlefield, looking down at them with empty sockets filled with an intensity that somehow conveyed judgment and inevitability. Its presence merely felt like an extension of Shisui's own powers.
Laxus saw it clearly, and in that moment, he knew he would need everything he possessed just to survive what was coming. This wasn't a test anymore. This was a demonstration of power that existed on a level beyond normal magical combat.
As everyone held their breath, paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of what they were witnessing, Shisui's voice rang out through the training field.
"May judgment guide the strike, and the Heavens decide your fate."
The giant armoured humanoid warrior seemed to be drawn upward, merging with the lightning clouds as if preparing to deliver divine retribution. Shisui's hand reached its apex, and with an elegant motion, he swung it downward.
Lightning Style: Thunder God.
Lightning fell from the sky.
But in the split second before impact, another figure appeared. Moving at speeds that only Shisui's enhanced vision could track, a well-built man appeared directly in front of Laxus. Light brown hair with auburn tones. A high-collared cloak. A metal arm raised toward the descending lightning.
Crush Magic: Crash Break!
The newcomer's fist met the lightning with devastating force. The collision created a shockwave that exploded outward in all directions, the destructive energies cancelling each other out in a display of raw power that left the training ground in ruins.
Everyone except Laxus, Shisui, and the newcomer was blown backward by the shockwave. They tumbled across the ground, their barriers shattered, their clothes torn by the force of displaced air and energy.
When the dust finally settled and the ringing in their ears began to fade, the observers painfully raised their heads to see what had happened. What they found left them speechless once again.
Gildarts Clive stood protectively in front of Laxus, his metal arm still raised from deflecting the attack. His eyes were locked on Shisui in a stare down that spoke of a world of pain.
The Ace of Fairy Tail had returned at the perfect moment, and the training ground had just become the site of a confrontation between two of the most powerful mages in Fiore.
~ End of Chapter 91 ~
You can read advanced chapter on p@treon.com/The_Editor982