"Execution? Hah! Get a load of this guy, Kagura! He's trying to be intimidating." Natsu scoffed as he wasn't fazed by such a threat. Although the guild master was strong, he still felt that Jellal, Laxus, and Zero were more dangerous.
If Argonia didn't have a complex type of magic, he'd be greeted with a multitude of flames to the face!
"Natsu-san…" Kagura had a helpless expression on her visage. A normal person would already attempt to find ways to escape this entrapment. But the dragon slayer was truly straightforward, treating it as a mild inconvenience instead.
She recalled the man's brief explanation about the cubes' functions. As long as he increases the output? He's bluffing. Magic always has weaknesses, no matter how strong they look.
"Analyzing my spell, woman?" Argonia glanced at her with a calm expression. "You can't break out of it, you know." He crossed his arms as he slowly shrunk the cube afterwards.
Kagura was surprised at the sudden change of her prison, quickly coating herself with gravity to repel its movement.
"Kagura!" The dragon slayer shouted in worry, then he gazed at the man with a fierce demeanor. "Icky Bastard! Don't be such a wuss and fight us directly!" Golden flames spilled out as he tried to attack his cube again.
Argonia stared at them as if they were simply captured rats. "Not one ounce of fear from the both of you." Looking at Nastu after his remark. "A blazing spirit that never withers… Hah! It annoys me even more, being looked down upon like this." He simply laughed loudly.
It's ironic really. A young Wizard Saint kick started this ambition of his, then it was mercilessly denied by a different bunch of teens who could potentially reach that level with that talent of theirs.
"There's a reason why I decided to trap light wizards like you in this manner." The Guild Master continued his tirade. "How would you feel when a few years of your effort goes down the drain?" He sighed as he shook his head.
"A person would experience all sorts of emotions, overloading their imagination on how to salvage such a colossal failure. This is an act of desperation, voiding one's mind from logic and reality." He kept on rambling without a care in the world.
Argonia grinned like a maniac. "But… It's not something that complicated." He clenched his hand as he also did the same to Natsu's cube. "I only need to eliminate the source, and I will feel ultimately better!"
The Obsidian Crystal within his chest glowed with power, making the spell shrink in a faster pace.
"The tight space of the cube will steadily tilt all of your limbs in various excruciating angles." He stated darkly. "And that will only be the start… Make sure to savor your last moments in pure despair and agony." Argonia purposefully delayed the cube's shrinking as he intended to watch the duo's suffering at his own pace.
Natsu could only click his tongue, switching back to his usual flames. Although he owned the Flame of Rebuke like it was an extension of his body, using it drains his magic power faster.
The dragon slayer decided to save it for the right moment, while looking around this prison for any openings.
On the other side, Kagura stopped applying her gravity and quickly formulated a conjecture. Since magic is useless here… Does it mean that physical attacks would be the only approach? She tightened the hold on her weapon.
The swordswoman swung with all her might.
BAM!
"Oh? Nice try, but I've also considered the physical aspect of my spell." Argonia witnessed the cube tremble from the strike, not even producing any cracks at all.
Kagura frowned at the result, ignoring the guild master's remarks. That can't be! There has to be some type of condition that he must maintain. There's no such thing as an invincible spell. The stoic woman was lost in her own thoughts.
Indeed, there were a multitude of factors when a wizard creates an outline for a spell. Naturally, the Ethernano within the entirety of Earthland also designed certain limits in all races.
There was a reason why particular practices, knowledge, or magic were forbidden. But, she was so focused on the principles of the cube that she forgot to account other possibilities.
Possibilities that a pink-haired young man noticed as he narrowed his eyes at Argonia. That creepy crystal on his chest pulsed with power, yet his dragonic senses picked up on his slight tense posture.
Natsu's head suddenly lit up with a ridiculous plan.
"Don't stop, Kagura! Hitting the cube actually works, the sneaky bastard is just trying to trick you!" The dragon slayer chuckled deviously, quickly conjuring flames on both his elbows.
"Fire Dragon's Twin Elbows!" He punched his shrinking cube continuously, not even stopping as he screamed with vigor. His spell simply boosted the momentum of his physical attacks, so the prison's absorption was deemed useless.
"Tch! What a sharp brat!" Argonia cursed under his breath as he felt the rampaging clusters of energy within the Obsidian Crystal.
Due to his time limit, controlling his magic power was like tiptoeing around the fine line of imminent detonation. He obviously wasn't afraid of death at this point, and only wanted to kill the ones who put him in this state.
Given his experiences on Enca, where scheming and betrayal were commonplace, he thought it would be easy to act upon mental gymnastics.
Unfortunately, a simple-minded dragon slayer was quite the counter.
Kagura's mind cleared and slightly smiled. "Understood, Natsu-san." This time, instead of coating her weapon with gravity, she focused it on her arms, lightening them in the process.
BAM! BAM BAM!
She initiated a flurry of swings in the span of a few seconds as her cube finally produced tiny cracks.
"Damn it!" Argonia aimed his hands at both the cubes, raising the speed of the shrinking. Alas, he reacted a bit too late as prominent cracks began to appear more and more.
Natsu cocked his fist back as he clenched it with more strength, boosting his flames to the maximum. The moment he made contact with the cube, it finally exploded into countless shards.
As soon as he destroyed the prison, he grinned as he boosted himself towards Argonia. "I can finally beat the crap out of you!" His flames hovered around him like a searing wave across the path he traveled, directing his fist at the barrier wizard's face.
"Deflect!" Argonia hastily invoked a spell in front of his face, successfully blocking the dragon slayer's strike. The force from it created a strong breeze as small debris got flung away.
But before he could regain his focus, Natsu kicked with his left foot, aiming it at the side of his torso. Another transparent barrier appeared, guarding against the fierce momentum of the young man's attack.
The Dark Guild Master gritted his teeth in irritation. "You annoying---!" A fist interrupted him again, then another flurry of strikes followed up afterwards. The two exchanged blows as Natsu never gave him a breather.
"Gravity: Earth."
A woman's voice sounded beside him, startling Argonia. He expected the swordswoman to catch up with the dragon slayer, yet he didn't hear the sound of cube breaking due to the flashy and loud flames engulfing him.
"Nice one, Kagura! We'll overwhelm him with non-stop attacks!" Natsu laughed as he circulated a spell.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
BOOM!
Argonia blocked his unrelenting fist, yet unfortunately, he felt a slash behind his back. The heavy weight applied to him slowed his reactions by a few seconds, which was enough for a battle of this caliber.
"Got ya!" He powered up his spell, shattering the barrier in front of the man with ease, finally connecting with his ugly mug.
BAM!
"Urgh!"
BOOM!
Natsu smacked him to the ground with strong force, conjuring up an area of dust as the area rumbled. Flames were flailing with wanton abandon, showing the explosive might of a dragon slayer.
He observed the man's current condition within the smoke, seeing a pair of glowing purple eyes and the crystal thrumming with power. The purple cracks within his skin became active as it shined ominously.
"Crush."
Natsu quickly crossed his arms to block a transparent purple fist that manifested between him and Argonia. This one was even stronger than the pillars or screen as it sent him flying towards the fifth layer.
"Natsu-san!" Kagura shouted in concern, but before she could even think about it, a purple hammer shot towards her. She instinctively blocked with her sheathed sword, soaring through the air as she hit through multiple walls, creating a trail of destruction.
Magic power suddenly covered the area where Argonia was cornered, dyeing it with a beautiful light of malice. The smoke finally parted as it showed a man with a wrathful yet calm expression.
"What an embarrassment on my end." Argonia remarked, holding two large hammers alongside gauntlets made out of his magic. "I underestimated the two of you too much. To think my containment spell was broken so easily…"
Frankly speaking, he already knew that physical means were the solution for one to escape it. But a wizard must develop their strength to a certain level. They could either be weak on the physical side and strong on their magic, and vice versa.
Natsu and Kagura just had exactly the perfect balance for it, seamlessly combining it with their elements to elevate to such a degree. Even Nyrod had a hard time dealing against the spell, since his Strength Magic is completely dependent on pure energy.
Argonia then noticed the incoming heat from above, prompting him to look up. Natsu shot downwards to him like a miniature blazing comet, aiming directly on this area. He simply pointed one of his hammers towards the dragon slayer.
"Contain."
The hammer extended swiftly to collide with the young man in mid-air, opening up like a beast ready to bite. Since this spell of his was broken with no sweat, he decided to use it as a restriction for movement instead.
Natsu already saw the attack, but couldn't stop as he was encased in a cube for a second time. The impact began from his head as it made him a bit dizzy, shaking it while slowly gaining his bearings.
"Not this again!" He was about to destroy it, ready to conjure flames from his elbow.
Argonia gave him no window for a breather as he deactivated the spell, the cube slowly turning back into one of his hammers. Natsu froze in mid-air, not expecting such a move at all.
The guild master swung with great pressure, as if tearing through the wind itself. Fortunately, Natsu recovered quickly and invoked flames on his feet, narrowly dodging the attack.
He maneuvered to his right side and angled his leg for a kick.
"Fire Dragon's Talons!"
"Deflect."
BOOOOMM!
The sixth layer trembled under their clash as they stayed suspended in mid-air for a few moments. Natsu quickly stepped on one of the hammers afterwards, gaining distance as he jumped farther away.
Argonia looked at him with confusion, then realized why he did that. He felt a new surge of magical coming towards him. He turned around while descending, looking at the woman who was currently near his vicinity.
"Archenemy: Flight Form."
"Pesky bug! Deflec---! Gahh!"
Kagura's sword was faster than his creation of the spell, and now received numerous wounds on the body. Argonia did a battle cry and aimed his hammer at her this time, but the woman suddenly felt at even faster rate, landing on the ground smoothly.
"She applied her gravity to increase her descent?" Argonia questioned loudly, wondering why she didn't follow up with another strike.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
He got the answer as a sudden stream of fire appeared before him, covering his entire being in a burning sensation.
"Shit!" Naturally, the flames increased the pain of his slash wounds as he fell down in an even more weakened state. Trying to keep up with two monsters while controlling the output of his silently rampaging crystal was an impossible task.
He was overconfident.
Argonia glanced below and saw the duo winding up for another attack. He quickly defended himself by creating a cube to endure it completely. He increased his output of his spell to the maximum, while considering the item embedded in his chest.
"Kagura, just like last time! Try not to accidentally hit me when it breaks, alright?" Natsu stared at the falling cube as he reminded his companion with slight fear.
"You need not worry, Natsu-san. I am a master with the blade." Kagura slightly rolled her eyes while positing herself into a drawing stance.
The dragon slayer sheepishly chuckled at her reply as Argonia was about to arrive between them. He clenched his fists, flames forming on his elbow.
Once the cube neared the ground, the two's synergy flowed perfectly. They performed their fastest series of attacks they could muster as it landed, ensuring that the guild master won't be able to counter when it shatters.
CRASH! BOOOOM!
Natsu's fists broke through the barrier, hitting the man's face with unrivaled force. Kagura's strike with her scabbard connected on the back, producing a slight crack that echoed through their ears.
In their first quest together, they worked with one another so seamlessly one would think they did this for years.