Chapter 86: Noah VS. Laxus
Noah raised his right hand, and an incredibly complex golden magic circle appeared in front of him. A moment later, a giant Light Cannon shot out from its center.
"Heaven's Sundering Light!"
The massive beam shot directly towards Laxus. His expression changed drastically, and he scrambled to dodge to the side. The mere aftershock from the beam tore open the ground and split the surface of the sea before the blast disappeared from view. A moment later, a huge explosion erupted on the distant sea. The resulting hurricane carried a massive amount of seawater, which crashed onto the deserted island. Laxus quickly leaped into the air to avoid it, while Ur, watching from the side, raised an ice wall to block the incoming wave. Noah simply coated himself in a thin layer of golden magic, and the rushing water parted around him.
"You see? If you control your magic well, you can do things like this, instead of looking so pathetic," Noah teased.
"The seawater you brought is a big help!" Laxus retorted from the air.
He landed on the drenched ground, and the lightning around his body flared. A massive amount of electricity poured into the earth, traveling through the seawater towards Noah from all directions. Just as Noah was about to jump, several bolts of lightning struck down from the sky, forcing him back down.
The electricity on the ground reached his feet from all sides. BOOM!
A huge explosion erupted at Noah's position, sending a shower of rocks flying in all directions. The seawater on the ground was blown away by the blast, and a cloud of dust filled the air, obscuring the situation inside.
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew out from the center of the explosion, scattering the dust. It was Noah, who had cleared the air with a wave of his hand. He was about to say something when he heard Laxus, his right hand raised high, chanting.
"Resounding through the heavens is the roar that summons the lightning! Descend from the sky and reduce all to ash!"
Lightning poured from Laxus's right hand to a point directly above his head, where a massive amount of electricity had already gathered, forming a giant sphere of lightning. Noah was about to dodge, but he found that a magic circle had already appeared beneath his feet, arcs of electricity dancing across its surface. The circle held him fast, preventing him from leaving.
Just then, Laxus finished charging. He swung his right hand down, and the lightning sphere in the sky followed his movement, falling towards Noah.
"Raging Volt!"
The lightning sphere shot towards Noah, and at the same time, the magic circle on the ground erupted with a massive electrical charge. The two attacks struck him simultaneously. A boom even louder than the last one instantly rang out, and a small mushroom cloud of dust rose from the ground.
The fierce wind from the explosion blew everything outwards. Laxus shielded his face with his right arm, squinting at the center of the blast, trying to see if his attack had had any effect.
The dust slowly settled, and Noah's figure gradually reappeared. Laxus stared and saw that a thin layer of golden magic was shimmering around Noah's body, and all the dust was being repelled from it. He looked closer. Not only was he not injured by the explosion, but his clothes weren't even torn. Even the dust had been pushed away by his magic.
"Hey, hey! A normal wizard would be dead after taking a hit like that! Even a strong one would be injured! But you bastard, you don't even have a speck of dust on you!" Laxus immediately started to complain.
Noah scratched his head. "From what I know, Gildarts would also be completely unharmed by an attack like that."
"Damn it! How many wizards can be compared to Gildarts?!" Laxus roared.
Noah held the back of his head with one hand and laughed awkwardly. "Haha, or maybe my talent is just a little bit better." As he spoke, he made a small gesture with his right thumb and index finger. A projection of a starry sky appeared in the air between them, and countless tiny planets could be seen moving within it. As his fingers slowly closed, the projection shrank until it became a single point of light between his fingertips.
Noah showed the point of light to Laxus. This made him even angrier. "Damn it, you call that a 'little bit'?! That's a whole galaxy! You're definitely mocking me, aren't you?!"
"Seeing you've got so much energy, I know you're fine. Let's continue the exam!" Noah's expression suddenly changed, becoming completely serious.
A lump of anger was stuck in Laxus's chest, and he couldn't get a word out. Noah didn't wait for him to speak. With a flicker, he was already in front of Laxus, his right fist carrying a massive amount of golden magic, punching straight for his face with an intense gale.
Laxus suppressed his anger and gathered a large amount of lightning in his own right hand to meet Noah's fist.
BOOM!
The two fists collided, creating a huge explosion and a powerful shockwave. They were both knocked back. At the same time, they both used the momentum, retracted their right fists, and struck out with their left, each carrying their own magic.
BOOM!
They collided in mid-air again, and another huge explosion and shockwave erupted.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
The two of them continuously used the force of the impacts to retract and punch, their fists constantly crashing in the air. The deafening booms were incessant, and the shockwaves blew everything around them away. The very earth trembled from their battle.
The observing Makarov and Ur had to retreat further to avoid interfering.
"Laxus's strength has improved a lot again. But the most incredible one is still Noah. Facing such a strong attack from Laxus, he's completely unharmed. I can't even begin to tell what level his strength has reached," Ur marveled to Makarov.
"Yes. Noah's strength is growing too fast. Before, I could still see his rate of progress and roughly guess his level. Now, I can't see it at all. I used to worry that his rapidly growing strength might affect his mind. But from observing him all this time, it's clear Noah can control his growing power very well, and his personality hasn't changed because of it."
Makarov confided his long-held worry to Ur. Noah's strength had grown at a rate he had never seen before. He had become S-Class after only three years of learning magic, and now, four years later, his strength was completely immeasurable. This had once made him worry that Noah's personality might change. But watching everything he had done, he knew his character hadn't changed at all. In fact, because of his growing strength, he had become much more cheerful and was no longer just buried in his studies, even cracking jokes and relaxing from time to time.
"Indeed. The fact that his mind hasn't been affected by his growing strength is very reassuring," Ur agreed. In the two years she had known him, she had seen his strength advance by leaps and bounds. At first, she could feel how strong he was, but later, she gradually couldn't sense it anymore. This wasn't because he had gotten weaker, but because he had gotten so much stronger that he could now completely conceal his aura. If she didn't know the truth, seeing Noah now, she would just think he was a harmless child. That was what was so terrifying. Most enemies would have no idea who they were facing and would probably be swatted to death by this seemingly non-threatening child without even knowing what hit them.
"It's not just Noah. Gildarts' progress these years has also been very fast. I can't compare to him anymore. Seeing the two of them improve so quickly, I'm really starting to feel my age," Makarov lamented.
"Gildarts' progress is indeed very fast. The rate at which those two improve doesn't even seem human," Ur couldn't help but complain. She herself worked very hard, so how could she not even come close to catching up to them? Those two were really monsters.
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