'He can also use eye-magic!?' Laxus's eyes widened, but it was too late.
His body started turning black, along with losing control over his body.
"It's a shame that I took you out by surprise. But you are too strong to be directly defeated. Guess, I will use you to take out Kazu and everybody else."
With his figure eyes, Bickslow got the ability to control the souls of anybody who came in eye contact with him. He could control them like he could control his dolls.
Suddenly, a beam of lightning erupted from Laxus's body, and rushed at Bickslow. The latter was caught off guard and got hit.
"Fuck!" His body started spasming before he lost consciousness.
Laxus regained the control over his body. "That was close. I need to prepare countermeasures for this from next time." At the moment, Laxus had prepared a spell, which would target anybody near him with lightning if that spell was left unattended for a few seconds.
"Guess, I don't need to interfere."
Laxus turned to his right and saw Kazu sitting on a branch with an amused smile.
"How long have you been hiding?"
"Since the beginning."
"You found the herb already?"
Kazu smirked and showed it.
"Let's go then. No need to waste time." Laxus turned into lightning and disappeared, not wanting to talk about the close call.
Kazu shrugged and disappeared from his position.
---
"In the next round, in the forest, there would be two red flags. The team that brings a red flag here proceeds to the next round." Makarov looked at the 4 in front of him.
Kazu glanced at Erza and her partner. "Well, all the best. This one definitely would be tough."
Erza nodded. "You too. All the best."
They were again escorted to the entry points, before the same thing of starting happened.
"I think we shouldn't split this time," Kazu suggested.
"Agreed. Let's move towards the centre. There's a high chance that those flags are guarded by Gildarts. You remember the plan, right?"
Kazu nodded.
With that, two of them headed towards the centre.
---
"There you are, old man. Do we need to steal that flag from you?" Kazu looked at Gildarts. This was one of the most annoying part of the S-rank trials, which makes it difficult. Fighting against actual S-ranks.
Gildarts smirked. "Yes. Though if you do good, I would hand the flag to you two."
"We won't need that." Laxus looked at Kazu, who nodded. He moved back before stopping at a good distance.
"So, you want to solo it? I heard that you were training recently. Show me the results." Gildarts motioned his hands towards him.
Laxus didn't hold back. He didn't bothered doing any half-assed attacks against Gildarts and went all out from the start.
"Lightning Magic: Thunder Palace"
Multiple lacrimas formed around him, before they lifted in the air. Lightning originated from them, sparkling dangerously.
The lacrimas stopped after a certain height and formed a circular shape.
"Now, that is dangerous." Gildarts raised his guard to the maximum.
"I took inspiration from Eris to create this. If we fought again, I would win." Laxus arrogantly said. Lightning started firing from the sky on those lacrimas on the ground.
A layer of Crush magic formed around Gildarts, as it destroyed any lightning that came his way. He started moving, not wanting to stay at one position.
'This is bad. My ethernnao consumption couldn't hold on to this for too long. Moreover, if all of the lightning coalesced and came to me as one strike, then my defence would break.' He rushed at Laxus, who smirked.
He turned into lightning, moving away from Gildarts.
"You!" Gildarts knew that catching Laxus would be almost impossible for him. So, he took out the flag and ran away from the area of Thunder Palace.
However, to this dismay, all the lacrimas also started moving in his direction at same speed as him.
'If this won't work either, then I would just destroy the lacrimas.' Gildarts jumped up.
He normally tried punching at it. 'Fuck.' Lightning from the lacrima almost broke through his defence created from Crush magic.
'I would be electrocuted if I broke it directly.' He frowned as he started falling. However, before he could fall too far away from the lacrima, he cocked his fist back.
"Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrean"
Gildarts released the attack without making direct contact.
BOOOM
The result was catastrophic. The lacrima exploded, causing a large amount of lightning to burst everywhere. Any lightning that rushed at him was destroyed by his spell.
"This is a really ridiculous spell. Is your goal to wear down your opponents with this spell? They can't escape, and destroying these lacrimas is so troublesome." Gildarts landed on the ground as he dusted off his hands.
"Kind of. People with bad defences like you would go that way. Against people with good defences, this would act as a good distraction as I fight them."
Gildarts glanced at another lacrima Laxus created. "Yeah? Do you think your Ethernnao consumption can outpace mine."
"We will see about that." Lightning started raining on Gildarts with more intensity.
'I really need to create a proper defensive spell.'
"Do you know what the best defence?" Gildarts suddenly asked.
Laxus grinned. "It's the best offence."
"Indeed." Crush magic enveloped his fist as he looked at the lacrimas floating in the air.
Whoosh
Suddenly, a large amount of Ethernano burst from his right, causing Gildarts to snap his head in that direction.
Kazu was standing in the same position as before while emitting black ethernano.
"The hell?" This was the first time Gildarts had felt an emotion concentrated so much.
Kazu didn't move from his position and kept staring at Gildarts. His ethernano was increasing by each second.
"I don't like where this is going."
Gildarts rushed at Kazu, intending to knock him out before the latter's Ethernano grows to even a higher stage. 'So this is what the old man was talking about. No wonder he killed Eris.'
CRACK
"Lighting Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Gildarts turned his body and punched to his right, meeting Laxus's punch head-on.
BOOOM
The clash caused a loud sound to reverberate throughout the entire forest.
Laxus shot back like a cannonball.
"You need to try harder than that." Gildarts resumed his journey. However, the bombardment from the lacrimas increased several-fold. They were now concentrating their attacks in one beam.
'Fuck, this is bad. I need to first deal with that.' Seeing that he won't be able to defend at all, he decided to first destroy the spell.
He stretched out his arm towards the sky.
"All Crush: Concentrated" Multiple red spheres rushed to form in front of him as they rushed at the lacrimas. The lightning from the lacrima tried to stop it, but they all got destroyed by it, like moths to a flame.
Due to the high number count, despite the lacrimas moving at high speeds, they weren't able to dodge it.
CRUMBLE
One small red sphere was enough to destroy the entire lacrima. In just a few seconds, all the lacrima were reduced to dust.
'That took more Ethernano than I wanted to spend on this.' Gildarts sighed. He was finally free from the spell.
He glanced at Kazu, whose Ethernano was still increasing.
'Given that he hasn't moved at all, is he controlling that form or something? If that's the case, then it's pretty impressive.' Gildarts stretched out his hand, before multiple red orbs appeared and rushed at Kazu.
"Whoa." One second, Kazu was in his sight, and the next second, he was above him, axe-kicking.
Red covered Gildarts arm as he punched at the incoming black-coloured leg.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The ground beneath Gildarts cracked, forming a spiderweb pattern, yet despite that, Kazu was the one who flew away.
"Now, that's some firepower. If not for destroying most of the Ethernano, I might have been turned into a paste." Gildarts smirked.
The ethernano emitted by Kazu only increased in response, as multiple black bullets formed around him, before rushing at Kazu at blinding speed.
"It was troublesome for lightning, but it would work here." Red covered his fist as Gildarts punched in the front.
The air in him vibrated furiously, as multiple cubes of concentrated air formed in front of him, and they shot forward.
BOOM
All of them neutralised the bullets.
Kazu again appeared beside Gildarts as he kicked at the man.
Gildarts kicked back, sending him flying.
"Are you—" He wasn't able to finish, as suddenly all the hair on his body stood up.
"I didn't want to use this as it's still unfinished, but it should be fine," Laxus said from behind Gildarts, as his right fist shone in yellow.
"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!"
***
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