Laxus looked exactly the same as before—still just as… arrogant!
Charles sized him up and said, "Looks like all your injuries healed."
Laxus frowned—clearly not pleased by Charles's mocking tone.
He stood and said, "Charles, you came back at the perfect time! You're not like the others—your strength has earned my recognition. Come and help me build a brand-new Fairy Tail!"
Charles looked at him with confusion. "I didn't hit your head too hard last time, did I? What kind of idiocy are you spouting?
I'm the one who won that fight, remember? And now you're saying I've earned your recognition? What, are you about to ask me to be your right-hand man? You don't even have a steering wheel on your head—who made you captain of anything?"
Laxus didn't understand the reference, but he clearly understood that Charles had rejected him.
"You're all the same! Even you… you'd rather play pretend with those naive fools? Then there's no place in my Fairy Tail for dreamers like you.
But fine! Let me take back the disgrace of losing to you before!"
As he spoke, crackling yellow lightning exploded from Laxus's body, even blowing off the fur coat draped over his shoulders.
Charles rolled his wrist and said, "After all that talking, you're still just picking a fight."
Laxus roared, "Don't think that just because you won once, you'll always win! Your time being smug ends now!"
"Lightning Dragon's Crashing Fist!"
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Their fists collided, shattering the church floor and blasting debris apart in a shower of lightning and fire.
Charles tilted his head and said, "No wonder you're talking big—you've gotten stronger, Laxus."
Laxus's face twisted in anger. "How long are you going to keep looking down on me?!"
The lightning on his fists flared violently, overwhelming Charles and blasting him backward.
Charles skidded back, gouging long tracks in the stone floor. He opened his palm and then clenched it, crushing the stubborn lightning that clung to his skin like leeches.
Lightning magic really was troublesome. Not only was it destructive, but the paralysis effect was annoying too.
Laxus wasn't about to waste the chance. He leapt forward in pursuit.
From their brief clash, Charles could tell—Laxus really had grown stronger. After losing to him, he must've endured brutal training.
But that didn't mean he had caught up. On the contrary, Charles's own growth during this time was even greater.
As Laxus lunged, Charles didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped forward and launched a counterattack.
He opened his hand, deflecting Laxus's fist, then pivoted and drove an elbow into Laxus's chest, sending him flying.
The impact knocked the wind from Laxus, his eyes bulging from the shock.
Charles advanced to press the attack, but Laxus, now on the ground, suddenly raised his head and opened his mouth.
"Lightning Dragon's Swift Fang!"
A piercing beam of lightning shot from his mouth.
Sensing danger, Charles instinctively dodged. The beam scorched a clean, black line across the floor and sliced cleanly through a support column behind him.
"A new move? Not bad!"
Charles was genuinely surprised. Laxus had developed a powerful new technique, fully harnessing lightning's terrifying destructive power.
"It's not over yet!"
"Lightning Dragon's Grand Jaw!"
A massive, beast-like strike slammed into where Charles had just been, chewing out a crater in the floor—but it was Laxus's punch that caused the destruction.
Charles, of course, had already evaded and countered with a blast of blazing fire.
But Laxus didn't dodge. He tanked the attack head-on.
Waving away the flames, Laxus emerged, lightning crackling around him. He tore off his scorched shirt, revealing a torso covered in dragon-like lightning scales.
"Charles! Is that your full strength? If so, today you're going down beneath my feet!"
But the next moment, Laxus's smug grin froze—because Charles had already closed the distance and punched him square in the face, sending him flying before he could react.
Charles's gaze sharpened. "When did you start thinking I was using my full strength?"
Laxus braced himself against a broken pillar, glaring at Charles. "You really are the most annoying bastard… but this time I'll crush you for good!"
Charles activated Dragon Blood Mode and replied coldly, "If you think you can, then come try!"
In a blink, both men charged, red flames and golden lightning colliding.
Their fists and feet clashed like steel, the roar of raw impact echoing like monsters locked in battle.
Charles chopped downward, shattering the lightning scales on Laxus's chest. The sound of breaking ribs rang out clearly.
But Laxus didn't even flinch. The pain only fueled his fighting spirit.
Ignoring defense, he threw a crashing fist—Lightning Dragon's Crashing Fist—straight at Charles.
Charles met it with a rising kick to the ribs, blasting Laxus backward.
In midair, Laxus gathered lightning in his hands, forming a giant war halberd.
"Lightning Dragon's Halberd of Heaven!"
He hurled it straight at Charles.
Charles was forced to stop his pursuit and block the attack, shattering the halberd with a punch.
But the exploding lightning formed a cage of electricity that enveloped him.
By the time Charles broke free from the electric prison, Laxus had landed and was raising his head as if summoning something.
Boom! Boom!
Thunder roared overhead. A glowing yellow magic circle appeared in the sky, and a pillar of lightning the width of a man crashed down onto Charles.
Seconds later, the lightning faded. Gasping slightly from the effort, Laxus stared at the scorched spot.
"…Using lightning that big on me? Bit excessive, don't you think?"
Sure enough, Charles walked out from the smoke, his clothes singed and body still steaming.
Laxus frowned. That last move had used everything he had, but it clearly hadn't worked as well as he'd hoped.
Then Laxus started laughing. The more he laughed, the more violently lightning surged from his body.
"Hah… this is fun!"
Charles narrowed his eyes and looked at the now-maniacal Laxus. "Go ahead and laugh now… 'cause in a minute, you won't be laughing at all."
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