Chapter 500: Its Reputation Was Forged Through Absolute Power
BOOM!
Two fists of completely disproportionate sizes collided mid-air. An apocalyptic shockwave erupted from the point of impact, expanding rapidly outward and whipping the surrounding air into a frenzied gale.
Both Noah and Acnologia shuddered from the sheer kinetic force, the recoil sending them both flying backward.
BAM!
Noah forcefully stomped his foot against the empty air, generating a localized sonic boom to arrest his backward momentum. Utilizing the recoil, he instantly rocketed forward, throwing another devastating punch at the Black Dragon.
Acnologia simply gave a slight flap of its colossal wings, effortlessly halting its own backward drift. Seeing Noah charge again, it casually threw another massive punch to meet him.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
Noah and Acnologia engaged in a terrifying, high-speed brawl. They clashed, were pushed back by the recoil, and instantly charged to clash again.
Massive, overlapping shockwaves continuously erupted from the points of impact, blasting outward in all directions. The catastrophic atmospheric pressure completely blew away the remaining cloud cover for dozens of miles, revealing a pristine, endless blue sky.
Unobstructed sunlight bathed the warring human and Dragon, outlining them in a harsh, brilliant glow.
Beneath them, the ocean was thrown into absolute chaos. The continuous, hurricane-force downdrafts generated by their colliding fists whipped the sea into a frenzy. Massive, towering waves formed, rolling outward continuously. Even by the time they reached the distant shores of Tenrou Island, they hadn't lost much momentum, crashing violently against the beaches with deafening roars.
"So strong!" Natsu gaped, his eyes glued to the apocalyptic aerial brawl.
"What an absolute monster. To think just the collision of their fists could generate this kind of destructive force," Gray muttered, wiping a thick layer of cold sweat from his forehead.
"It's been a very long time since I've seen Noah fight with such joy," Mirajane noted, a soft, understanding smile touching her lips as she caught glimpses of the fierce, unadulterated grin plastered across Noah's face during the high-speed exchanges.
"Indeed. I don't think I've ever seen him this exhilarated in combat," Ultear agreed, her eyes sparkling as she watched the sheer spectacle.
"However... Noah is slowly losing ground," Erza stated grimly, her sharp eyes tracking every minute detail of the clash.
"She's right. The distance Noah is being pushed back after every clash is gradually increasing," Sorano added, noticing the shifting momentum.
"That's to be expected. While Noah's base physical constitution is absurdly monstrous, and he's stacked an incredible array of enhancement magic onto himself, the fundamental gap between a human body and Acnologia's physiology is too vast to bridge entirely. Furthermore, Acnologia is slowly starting to apply more force. It's only natural that Noah would eventually be put on the defensive," Gildarts analyzed, his expression deadly serious.
As the most experienced and previously strongest mage present, Gildarts possessed a profound understanding of Acnologia's true terror. The gap between them and the Dragon wasn't just a cliff; it was an infinite abyss. Whether it was physical durability, magical capacity, or the very nature of their magic, Acnologia vastly eclipsed every single person here combined.
At the start of the brawl, Acnologia hadn't even been taking it seriously. Now that it was slightly increasing its output, Noah was naturally being overpowered.
"What a truly terrifying Dragon," Laxus muttered in awe.
"I don't know what kind of power other Dragons possessed in the past, but Acnologia is absolutely the strongest entity among them," Gildarts stated with absolute conviction.
After his near-fatal encounter on the Sacred Mountain of Zonia, Gildarts had spent months obsessively researching every scrap of historical lore he could find regarding the beast. He knew the weight of the titles it had carved into history: The Wings of Demise, The Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, The Dragon King. Every single one was earned through absolute devastation.
Countless nations and entire continents had been wiped off the map by this singular creature. No other Dragon in recorded history possessed a fraction of Acnologia's infamy, nor had they left behind such a trail of apocalyptic destruction.
In the magical world, titles and rumors were often exaggerated. But Acnologia was the terrifying exception. Its reputation was forged through absolute, undeniable power.
"No! Igneel is the strongest Dragon!" Natsu vehemently objected. He absolutely refused to accept that any creature could be stronger than his foster father.
"Bullshit! Metalicana is the strongest!" Gajeel immediately argued back.
"No! It's Igneel!"
"It's Metalicana!"
Natsu and Gajeel pressed their foreheads together, glaring furiously into each other's eyes, neither willing to yield an inch.
"You wanna fight about it?!"
"Bring it on, lizard breath!"
The two Dragon Slayers were literally seconds away from throwing punches.
BAM! BAM!
Annoyed by the distraction ruining her view of Noah's battle, Erza delivered two brutal, simultaneous punches to the tops of their heads, successfully "persuading" them to drop the argument.
The surrounding guild members didn't even bat an eye, simply murmuring a collective "As expected of Erza," before returning their attention to the sky.
"Grandeeney is very gentle," Wendy chimed in quietly, noticing Meredy and Carla looking at her curiously.
When Grandeeney had raised her and taught her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic, the Dragon had focused entirely on healing and supportive arts, never displaying any overwhelming destructive power. So, Wendy truly had no idea how Grandeeney's combat strength compared to the others, though she inherently believed her foster mother was incredibly strong.
Huff... huff... huff...
Following another brutal collision, Noah was pushed back a significant distance. His breathing grew heavy and rapid, and his arms trembled slightly involuntarily.
He had exchanged hundreds of high-speed blows with Acnologia, burning through a massive amount of physical stamina. Furthermore, maintaining his stack of extreme enhancement buffs while actively tracking and reacting to the Dragon's movements consumed an astronomical amount of magic power.
Even with his monstrous regeneration and the lingering effects of the potions, he was starting to fall behind as Acnologia continuously ramped up the force behind its punches.
Punching Acnologia felt like punching a solid mountain of indestructible steel. The Dragon seemed to feel absolutely nothing, while Noah's own hands throbbed with agonizing, bone-deep pain after every impact. If it weren't for his hyper-accelerated healing factor, his hands would have shattered into useless meat paste after the first dozen clashes.
Noah uncurled his fists, flexing his aching fingers rapidly to encourage blood flow and healing. He kept his eyes locked onto the Black Dragon, the golden analytical arrays spinning furiously in front of his pupils.
He was utilizing this high-intensity physical clash to actively gather absolute, first-hand combat data on Acnologia. This raw data would be invaluable for his future research and countermeasures.
Deciding he needed a brief second to recover his stamina, Noah didn't immediately rush back in.
Noticing Noah's hesitation, Acnologia didn't wait. It casually opened its maw, and a concentrated beam of pure destructive magic shot out, hurtling toward Noah.
Instantly deducing that this was a quick-fire blast rather than a sustained breath attack, Noah raised his hand. A golden magic circle flared, firing an equally sized golden beam to intercept it.
KABOOM!!!
The two magical beams collided perfectly mid-air. A catastrophic explosion erupted, expanding into a colossal, kilometer-wide fireball that hung suspended between the human and the Dragon.
The sheer, apocalyptic heat of the fireball instantly vaporized millions of gallons of seawater directly beneath it, creating a massive, temporary depression in the ocean. When the fireball finally dissipated, the surrounding ocean violently rushed back in to fill the void, colliding at the center and shooting a geyser of water dozens of meters into the air.
Realizing the explosive shockwave was too close for comfort, Noah hastily retreated, stopping only when he was safely outside the immediate blast radius.
Acnologia, on the other hand, didn't move an inch. It remained perfectly stationary, allowing the apocalyptic explosion to completely engulf it.
Noah knew the Dragon hadn't suddenly gone braindead. It simply hadn't bothered to dodge because an explosion of that magnitude was utterly incapable of harming it.
Sure enough, as the flames and smoke cleared, Acnologia emerged completely unscathed.
ROAAAAR!!!
Acnologia roared, opening its maw to fire another devastating magical beam at Noah.
Noah retaliated with another golden beam. The attacks collided, generating another massive, kilometer-wide fireball. The ocean below was flash-vaporized once more, the shockwaves churning the water into a frenzy.
This time, however, Acnologia didn't wait for the explosion to clear. A second magical beam pierced straight through the center of the raging fireball, rocketing toward Noah.
Noah hastily fired another beam to intercept. Another explosion triggered, creating a new fireball significantly closer to Noah's position.
Noah's eyes narrowed. He quickly retreated backward and to the left, keeping his gaze locked on the expanding flames.
Exactly as he suspected. A third beam pierced through the inferno, tracking him flawlessly.
BOOM!
Noah fired an intercepting beam and continued his evasive retreat.
Despite the thick smoke, fire, and Noah's rapid movements, Acnologia's monstrous sensory perception allowed it to track Noah perfectly, launching beam after beam with pinpoint accuracy.
Seeing a fourth beam tear through the smoke, Noah realized interception was a losing game. He pushed his speed to the limit, blurring to the side and completely dodging the attack.
KABOOM!
The missed beam slammed into the ocean behind him, detonating into a massive sphere of light that instantly flash-boiled a vast section of the sea. The resulting kinetic shockwave whipped the ocean into towering, fifty-meter-high tidal waves that rolled outward destructively.
Before Noah could even stabilize his footing, Acnologia fired another beam. Noah had no choice but to accelerate again, carving erratic, high-speed arcs through the sky to evade.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
Acnologia unleashed a relentless, rapid-fire barrage of magical artillery. Beam after beam shot from its maw, chasing Noah across the sky.
Noah could only weave, dive, and barrel-roll to avoid the onslaught.
The missed beams constantly bombarded the ocean below, generating massive, overlapping explosions. The continuous shockwaves turned the sea into a chaotic nightmare of towering tidal waves crashing violently into one another.
As Noah dodged, he was extremely careful to constantly shift his trajectory so that Tenrou Island was never directly behind him. If he dodged and a stray beam hit the island's barrier, the sheer volume of attacks would eventually shatter it.
He intentionally avoided using Teleportation Magic. If he started teleporting, Acnologia would immediately adapt and anticipate it. Worse, displaying Spatial Magic might actually prompt the Black Dragon to take the fight seriously. To a predator, prey that can instantly warp out of a lethal strike isn't a minor nuisance—it's a genuine threat that requires full power to exterminate.
Noah knew for a fact that Dragons possessed high-level intelligence and were fully capable of human speech. Acnologia, having originally been human itself, obviously understood language. Yet, since the moment it arrived, the beast hadn't spoken a single word. It had simply attacked on sight.
The reason was obvious: Acnologia viewed them as nothing more than pathetic, insignificant insects. You don't strike up a conversation with an ant before you step on it.
Noah could read the absolute apathy in the Dragon's eyes. From the moment it unleashed its "greeting" roar, to casually swatting away Gildarts, Acnologia hadn't shown a shred of serious intent.
It was only when Noah had managed to slightly dent the white scales on its underbelly that Acnologia had shown a flicker of mild interest, marginally increasing its output. The subsequent brawl was the equivalent of a human lightly playing with a slightly amusing, surprisingly durable toy.
Having accurately assessed the catastrophic gap in their true strength, Noah had absolutely no desire to provoke Acnologia into going all out. That would be suicide.
This outcome was entirely within Noah's calculations. He had mentally prepared for this exact scenario long before the Dragon arrived.
He had only been studying magic for fifteen years. He was only twenty years old. He didn't even utilize Dragon Slayer Magic—the only magic theoretically capable of harming Dragons. To be able to fight the legendary Black Dragon of the Apocalypse to a temporary standstill using pure, enchanted physical combat was already an incomprehensibly miraculous achievement.
Furthermore, Noah knew his potential was limitless. His magical capacity and understanding of the arcane were constantly evolving at an exponential rate. He was confident that within a few more years, he would possess the power to slay Acnologia in a true, one-on-one duel.
But for now, his objective was survival and data collection. He would engage in hit-and-run tactics, stall the Dragon, and gather as much absolute combat data as possible. This information would be the cornerstone of his future research into killing the beast.
Of course, constantly running and being treated like a disposable toy was incredibly frustrating. Even if he had expected it, his pride was still stung.
Just wait. Before I leave, I'll definitely give you a parting 'gift', Noah promised himself grimly.
ROAAAAR!
Acnologia roared again, the rapid-fire barrage intensifying. Destructive beams rained down on Noah like an apocalyptic meteor shower.
Noah danced through the sky, diving, spinning, and soaring erratically to evade the relentless bombardment.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
The ocean below continued to bear the brunt of the onslaught. The sea within a hundred-kilometer radius was a churning, boiling cauldron of explosive shockwaves and tidal waves, the destruction rapidly expanding outward.
The sheer volume of seawater being flash-vaporized by the constant explosions had generated a massive, dense fog that blanketed the entire ocean surface. The continuous, hurricane-force winds generated by the shockwaves only managed to disperse a fraction of the mist; the sheer scale of vaporization was simply too massive.
~~~
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