"I used to be a mage in a legal guild. I'm not some no-name small fry you can deal with easily," Yuka said, relaxing his stance. To him, the opponent before him posed no real challenge.
"Have you heard of the wizard guild Lamia Scale?" Yuka's mouth curled into a proud smile. It was clear he took pride in his guild.
Lamia Scale…? Noel vaguely recalled the name—most likely from the newspapers. But his first real connection to that guild had been through Jura, who had once invited him to join. He had refused.
It was a long time ago, but he remembered it clearly. They had even worked together in a frontier town once—Jura had been an impressive mage.
"I know Jura from your guild. I even chatted with him once. So you're from Lamia Scale, huh?" Noel said.
What he couldn't understand was why a mage from a legal guild would be doing something like this. If the Council found out, they'd surely be expelled.
"You… know Jura-sama?" Yuuka's face flickered with surprise, though the expression vanished almost instantly.
"He invited me to join your guild once, but I turned him down," Noel said simply.
"What do you take Lamia Scale for?!" Yuka finally snapped.
"It's not about what I think of Lamia Scale—it's about what you think of it. You're a mage from a legal guild, so why are you doing something like this?" Noel's eyes narrowed. "Look at what you're doing—slaughtering villagers? Even some dark guilds wouldn't stoop to this."
"And right now, the people you're attacking are my clients. That makes you my enemy—and an enemy of all of Fairy Tail."
Yuka actually felt a trace of fear—he was being intimidated by this man in front of him.
"Toby, I can handle this myself. Don't get involved," Yuka said evenly, still confident in his abilities.
"Wave."
A ripple of air burst outward. Noel shifted his body, easily evading it.
"Wind Blade."
Several cutting gusts slashed toward Yuka.
"Wave."
Once again, the blades of wind vanished as if they'd never existed.
"The formations my hands produce can neutralize any magic," Yuka said confidently.
"In simple terms—it's magic designed to counter other magic."
"So this is your trump card?" Noel let out a dismissive chuckle. "You're really going to reveal it this early? That confident, are you?"
"When I was part of the Element 4, my specialty was defeating mages. Put simply—no mage can stand against me," Yuka said, gathering wave energy in both hands and aiming it directly at Noel.
Noel didn't dodge. He crossed his hands in front of him, letting the energy swirl wildly between his palms—before it instantly calmed down.
"Wave."
The combined energy shot back toward Yuuka.
"Wave."
Yuka brought his hand up to his chest and dispersed the attack.
"So that's the secret of your magic?" Noel smiled.
The trick was unimpressive. It only worked against mages who repeatedly used magic of the same frequency.
But for someone like Noel—who constantly shifted the frequency of his attacks—that rule didn't apply.
"What's going on? How did my Wave get reflected?" Yuka asked in confusion.
"I'm not about to expose the nature of my magic to my enemy. That's a rookie mistake on the battlefield."
"Wind Blade."
Three blades of wind shot toward Yuka—each with a different frequency and power.
"Still think that trick of yours works?"
Yuka raised his hand again, but he only managed to cancel one of the three. The remaining two slashed into his shoulder. He could no longer defend freely.
"Why… why did that happen?" Yuka asked, clutching his wound.
"You can only cancel magic of the same frequency, right?" Noel said.
"Well, each of my three wind blades was different."
"And honestly—your attitude is really starting to annoy me."
In a flash, Noel appeared right in front of Yuka.
"Wa—" Yuka began, but before he could finish, a solid blow to the gut knocked the wind out of him.
"One down. Now it's your turn," Noel said, turning to the other enemy. "If you two had attacked together earlier, you might've had a chance. But now? You've got none."
"I'm stronger than him," Toby said. "These claws are coated in poison. And they've got a little secret."
He displayed his prized poisonous claws.
Other secrets? What else could it be besides poison? Noel thought. And you just told me outright.
"Are they really poisonous?" Noel asked, testing him.
"How do you know they're poisonous?" Toby's eyes widened. "Incredible—you really are a remarkable mage."
"But seriously—are they actually poisonous?" Noel asked again.
"Don't you believe me?" Toby bristled, clearly insulted.
"Wouldn't claws like that be a huge hassle? I mean—wouldn't eating be a pain? Do you just eat with your face like an animal?" Noel said, deadpan.
"My claws can retract at will! And… wait—are you insulting me?!" Toby said, hastily retracting and extending them to prove his point.
He was just about to attack when he noticed Noel staring at his face.
"You've got something on your face," Noel said, pointing to his own cheek.
"Here?" Toby lifted a claw to touch his face.
The instant he did, his body went rigid as if shocked with electricity, and he collapsed to the ground.
"…Was that supposed to be serious?" Noel muttered.
"I thought you'd be some formidable opponent. But really—you're nothing."
"And seriously—which mage gets taken out by their own magic? This is just ridiculous."
Noel couldn't help but laugh. Even with his professional training to keep composure, there were moments—like this—that broke through his restraint.
Pls drop some power stones supper me at my
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