Chapter 5
Fairy Tail was very lively today considering they all had Natsu back, and they get to watch Erza clobber him again. People were placing bets on who would win the fight. So far no one bet on Natsu but Happy who was having doubts. The only person from Team Natsu was Lucy; Gray figured she forgot so he decided to go get her. "Hey Natsu, don't start the fight till I get back I'm going to get Lucy. I don't want to miss you getting your ass kicked again." "Yeah whatever frostbite." Natsu yelled back to the retreating figure.
A few minutes later Gray arrived at Lucy's house and knocked. After a few minutes he just walked in sense she wasn't answering. He sat at her table with his feet on top of the table and waited. A few minutes later Lucy walked out of the shower and saw Gray sitting at her table…in only his boxers. "GRAY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY APARTMENT WITH ONLY YOUR BOXERS ON!" Lucy screamed at him. "You can't just strip in other people's homes." "Correction I already stripped before coming here." Gray replied casually. Lucy threw a heavy book at him yelling to get out.
"Geese you don't have to throw something at me, I just came to get you for the big event thinking you had forgotten." Gray said as he rubbed his nose where the book hit him. "Wait what event?" Lucy asked. "See I knew you had forgotten. It's the fight between Natsu and Erza." "Wait they were serious about that?" Lucy asked surprised. "Of course, why wouldn't they have been?" "Oh never mind. Fine let's go." Lucy said with an annoyed look.
Gray and Lucy left for the guild to see a crowd outside of the guild. Wondering what it was for they headed for it. Turns out Natsu and Erza were getting prepared for the fight sooner then they had thought. "Hey flame brain; I thought I said to wait before the fight?" "Well technically we haven't started fighting yet. We were just getting prepared for it." Natsu said with an annoyed look.
"Alright Erza you ready for this?" Natsu challenged. "You better believe it Natsu." Erza replied in a challenging tone. Master Makarov walked up in between them and signaled for them to begin."
Natsu ignited his fists and took an offensive stance, while Erza requiped to her Flame Empress Armor. "Oh that's going to halve Natsu's fire power." Macao observed. "Flame Empress Armor huh? Just as well then; now I don't have to hold anything back to beat you." Natsu charged at Erza swinging a left hook at her side but Erza just blocked the punch with the hilt of her sword. She then swung her sword in an Arc and sent a blast of fire towards Natsu who just devoured it all.
"Figures you would be able to do that." Erza sighed. Natsu roared "FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" and sent a burst of fire at Erza who just leapt out of the way which caused the spectators behind her to jump away in fright as the fire almost hit them instead. "Wow they really are going at it." Loke observed from the side lines while pushing his glasses up.
Erza charged at Natsu taking advantaged of Natsu having to recover from the magic attack. She swung the sword in an upwards slash but something happened no one saw coming; Natsu was holding the sword in his bare hands. "Hehe that was quite a swing Erza, but it isn't going to be enough." And as Natsu said that he squeezed the sword as hard as he could; snapping it in two. Everyone stared in utter and complete shock. Natsu had just snapped the Titania's sword in half with his bare hands. Taking advantage Natsu hit Erza in the chest with a Fire Dragon Swordhorn, knocking her to the ground.
"I told you Erza I'm stronger then before, you need to take me seriously. Treat me as the enemy for now." Natsu said tauntingly. Erza stood back up coughing slightly from the impact and looked down at her armor. She couldn't believer her eyes her armor was cracking up and down the middle.
"Looks like I will have to do that Natsu." She said grudgingly. "I guess I'll have to use a stronger armor and weapon. With that said Erza requiped to her Purgatory Armor and bring out her giant mace with it. Erza now had a demonic look to her with her armor. It was pitch black and her mace was easily bigger then Natsu with spikes running along one end of it. Natsu could only grin as he saw she was getting very serious now.
They charged each other at the same time with Natsu taking the first offensive attack now. He kneed her in the leg to make her loose balance then pivoted swinging his other leg in for a round house kick to her head. Erza managed to block the second attack and kicked out her self hitting Natsu in the stomach and throwing him backwards. Natsu skidded across the ground about 10 feet before he stopped. He slowly got up coughing a little blood up. 'Damn I think she broke or at least cracked one of my ribs.'
Natsu new if he didn't step up his game Erza would annihilate him in seconds. 'Guess I'll have to use that move.' He thought grimly. This attack he was going to use was a double edged sword in a sense; while his attack did a massive amount of damage to his enemy, it also came with a cost depending on how much power he used it shortened his lifespan with it closer to 100% power but below 50% it just tore his body apart. "Alright Erza I'm going for the win right now." Natsu got into a crouched position and thought 'This is really gonna hurt.' 'I think 30% should do just fine and I'll still be able to function afterwards.'
Natsu charged at Erza yelling "FIRE DRAGON DOUBLE-EDGE TAKEDOWN" and slammed into her chest before Erza could even react. She was thrown back 50 feet with her chest piece shattering. When she stopped moving she couldn't even sit up from the pain just as Natsu was having trouble moving. The attack tore his shoulder and lower backs muscles. After a minute or so Erza stood up and shakily said "That was a fearsome attack Natsu. I'm having trouble moving from that." She admitted.
The guild was in shock. Natsu had just visibly damaged Erza, something they thought not even possible. Erza was covered in bruises along her arm and neck while Natsu was scratched up heavily. "Well Natsu you want me to fight seriously so I'm going to end this now." Erza proclaimed. She requiped to her Armadura Fairy armor; the strongest armor she had. She now had twin swords out with her new armor. "You should be honored Natsu, I've never had to go beyond my Purgatory armor before to beat an enemy."
Natsu was getting worried, he didn't think she would still be standing and he can't use that attack again without fear of crippling himself in some manner. Erza charged at Natsu with a battle cry and slashed him across the chest with both sword, but not before Natsu had thrown a flaming elbow to her chest. Both were knocked to the ground gasping for air (Erza hit him with the dual sides of the swords so she didn't kill him). Makarov figured it was time to step in and called out "This match is over. It is a draw stay or weapons." That last part wasn't even necessary because neither could nor even felt like standing up.
"Alright Gray and Lucy take them to the infirmary so they can get checked out." Makarov said with a sigh. His brats just didn't know how to hold back. Gray and Lucy carried Natsu and Erza to the infirmary thinking that was a fierce fight.
Time skip 3 days:
Erza woke up in a hospital bed feeling refreshed and not sore at all. She figured Porlyusica had given her and Natsu some kind of elixir to help heal while they rested. She looked over to the bed on her left and saw Natsu still sleeping. 'What an incredible man. He was able keep up with my power and even break two of my suits of armor.' She was nothing less then amazed as too how powerful he had become. She started to blush while watching Natsu sleep. 'He looks so cute while he's sleeping.' She smiled at the thought.
About 10 minutes later Natsu woke up and saw Erza sitting up on her bed and asked "How ya feeling over there Erza?" She jumped slightly not realizing he had woken up. "Oh I feel much better now. How about yourself Natsu? You did take quite the beating." "Well I'm going to be hurting for a little while. That attack I used to break your armor also hurts me when I use it." He purposely left out the other side effect if he used too much power. He didn't want to freak her out too much.
"You idiot! If it hurts you then why the hell did you use it?" Erza was furious with him now. "What would happen if you did that when you were too weak?" Natsu just looked away guiltily thinking she was right. It was only a sparring match. "But still Natsu," she said softly "I am very impressed with out much you improved from all your training." Natsu blushed at her comment. "Thank you Erza. I wanted to become stronger so I could protect my nakama." 'And so I could protect you when needed.' He thought.
Erza simply smiled at his statement and walked over to him. "Well you'll do a damn fine job of it now Natsu." With that said she leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead before walking away. Both teenagers were blushing furiously. Natsu because he was kissed on the forehead by the girl he loves and Erza because she couldn't believe she did that.
'Maybe I do have a chance to be with her. Maybe I am good enough.' Natsu thought before lying back down while feeling the spot where she kissed him.