Seeing Gray seriously propose a fight, his tone extremely firm, Statiw was stunned.
He asked, somewhat confused, "Why do you suddenly want to fight me?"
Gray smiled and explained, "Because through my observation just now, and recalling your previous duel with that idiot Natsu, I realized something: although you use your Pict Magic in a spectacular way, it doesn't change the fact that you're a mage who relies on creating constructs. If I can just target you directly, I can defeat you."
"Who are you calling an idiot, Gray?" As soon as Gray finished speaking, Natsu, who had been moved aside by Lisanna, suddenly sat up and shouted loudly.
Happy heard Natsu's voice and happily flew to his side, only to find that Natsu's eyes were still tightly closed. After shouting a few times, he smacked his lips and lay back down on the ground, falling soundly asleep again.
"That idiot," Gray said, looking at Natsu with a utterly speechless expression. He hadn't expected Natsu to have such a conditioned reflex to his voice, even while unconscious.
Of course, not just Gray, but everyone else burst into laughter after realizing this. Only Happy stood by Natsu's head, softly saying, "Natsu..." with a sigh.
After the laughter died down, Statiw turned to Gray and said with certainty, "So, you want to put your theory into practice, right?"
"That's right," Gray admitted. "And not only that. I also want to use this fight to show you where your weakness lies. Perhaps you already understand it, but only through actual combat can you truly grasp how serious it is."
Hearing Gray's words, Statiw's expression also became serious. "In that case, I accept your challenge."
With that, the two went to the center of the arena, facing each other from a distance of over twenty meters.
The crowd, who had originally been preparing to return to the guild after Natsu's loss, saw Statiw seriously agree to Gray's challenge. Immediately, they happily started a new betting pool on the outcome. However, this time, they were clearly much more cautious, remembering Statiw's unpredictable magic, and didn't easily decide to bet on one side.
Statiw was indeed aware of the weakness Gray mentioned; he had carefully considered his own strengths and limitations. While he was confident in his defenses, he wasn't entirely sure to what extent they would hold. Now, since Gray was willing to help him test them, Statiw was very willing.
Gray assumed his signature Ice-Make fighting stance, and Statiw, uncharacteristically, set up an easel. Sitting in front of it, he quickly sketched a few strokes, and the scene before him appeared on the drawing paper.
When both were ready, the atmosphere between them suddenly became tense. The onlookers, feeling the tension, held their breath and watched intently.
"Ice-Make: Floor!"
After a brief standoff, Gray was the first to act. He remembered how Natsu had been tripped up by his footing, so he quickly crouched down and placed his hand on the ground. In an instant, a thick layer of solid ice completely covered the ground between them, creating a flat, slippery surface to control the terrain.
However, as Gray acted, Statiw was not idle. He saw the ground freeze over. With a slight shift of his mind, the black-haired woman construct, controlled by Statiw, once again raised her fingers to her chest in a subtle, hypnotic gesture.
Immediately, a wave of disorienting mental energy shot towards Gray's mind.
'Hypnosis magic,' Gray instantly reacted. He had clearly seen how Natsu had just lost, so he already had a countermeasure in mind. Upon feeling the mental intrusion, Gray immediately focused his own magic power to fortify his mind, forcefully calming his thoughts and resisting the disorienting influence.
However, Statiw's use of hypnosis was not the ultimate goal; it was merely a means to delay Gray. After the construct activated the spell, his primary consciousness returned to his own body, focusing his attention on the drawing paper in front of him. After quickly adding a few decisive strokes, he infused his magic into it.
Meanwhile, Gray, after resisting the mental attack, opened his eyes to find a glowing magic circle appearing beneath the ice layer at his feet. Inside the circle, a fiery red power surged. Before he could react, with a 'BOOM!', a flash of fire erupted, and a pillar of flame shot straight up from beneath him, completely engulfing his position.
"Gray—!" Many guild members watching suddenly saw Gray enveloped by the fiery explosion, and their hearts jumped as they couldn't help but shout out.
However, seeing this, Statiw's expression became even more serious. His attire instantly transformed into a set of ornate, full metal armor, and the paintbrush in his hand elongated and hardened into a long blade, which he propped beside him ready for action.
With a soft 'clink!', Gray's figure appeared behind Statiw, a blade of ice in his hand striking the long blade Statiw had raised just in time to parry.
"I didn't expect you to react so quickly. How did you know?" Discovering his ice blade had been parried, Gray didn't continue his attack but stopped to ask.
"Your movements were fast, but my magic lets me see the battlefield through my art. On the paper, I saw you in the pillar of fire suddenly turn into a transparent, human-shaped ice sculpture. There was no need to think much about what would happen next," Statiw explained, not hiding anything.
"I see," Gray said with a look of understanding. Then he attacked again.
This time, Gray's ice blade aimed directly for the gaps in Statiw's armor. Statiw had anticipated this, but when he tried to parry with his long blade, he found it had been instantly frozen to the ground by a layer of ice, making it impossible to move.
He could only temporarily abandon the blade and use a roll to dodge Gray's attack. Unfortunately, if the long blade could be frozen, so could his armor. Before he could recover, Gray's magic took hold, and a shell of ice rapidly encased Statiw's armored form, sealing the joints solid.
Until Gray's ice blade was held against the visor of Statiw's frozen helmet, Statiw couldn't make any move, being completely locked in place.
"I lose," Statiw said, realizing the ice had completely immobilized him. He could only reluctantly concede.
However, the moment Statiw conceded, the guildmates who had bet on him suddenly let out a collective wail of despair.
Then, after Statiw dispelled his armor, Mirajane suddenly darted out from the crowd, grabbed the front of his shirt, and shouted at him, her eyes blazing, "Why did you give up so easily? Couldn't you have tried harder? Do you know I put all my savings on you to win? And what's worse, all that money was originally won from me by Erza!"