"Alright, we'll stand to the side."
Lisanna clearly didn't want to retreat indoors. If her sister and big brother really started fighting, it would be terrible.
However, just as Lisanna was thinking that they absolutely shouldn't fight, Phoenix's next words instantly left Lisanna dumbfounded.
"Fight me, Mirajane!"
"B-big brother… you promised me…"
Tears immediately welled up in Lisanna's eyes, feeling as if she had been cruelly deceived.
"…"
Phoenix had no time to explain. He just gave her a reassuring look and then directly looked at Mirajane. Unexpectedly, with just that look, Lisanna actually stopped crying.
"You challenge me?" Mirajane raised an eyebrow, saying very proudly, "I am a Demon. Can you defeat me?"
"Demon?" Phoenix, however, laughed. "Only humans are the hardest to defeat. But Demons… I'm sorry, no matter how powerful a Demon is, they will eventually be defeated by humans!!"
"You guy!!"
Mirajane glared at Phoenix furiously, raising her hands as a pure, dark energy, which wouldn't cause one to fall, gathered in them.
"Wait!"
Phoenix raised his right hand to stop her.
"What, are you regretting it?"
"Let's add a wager! How about the loser has to unconditionally agree to one condition from the winner?"
Ignoring Mirajane's words, Phoenix instead suggested.
"I agree!!" Dark Blast!!"
Mirajane slammed the energy ball in her hands downwards. A Flash of sword light from Phoenix's hand instantly cut the dark energy in two, sending it flying into the distance. Then, with a loud boom, the two halves of the energy ball created two deep craters in the ground.
Whoosh!
black sword night went directly against Mirajane, but Phoenix had no intention of striking first.
"Go all out! Use all your strength!"
"Bastard!! Dark Spark!!"
Being looked down upon deeply hurt Mirajane's pride. She extended her hands, and countless black Flash grenades continuously shot out from her hands towards Phoenix.
Swish swish swish—!
Sword light flashed, and not a single Flash grenade, which filled the entire field of vision, was missed as Phoenix shattered them all.
Whoosh—!!
Mirajane flew into the air, transforming into a black stream of light, circling and dancing around Phoenix. As if to prevent herself from being locked on by Phoenix, Mirajane moved at high speed with irregular movements, firing Flash grenades from her hands. The barrage of grenades attacked Phoenix from all 360 degrees in an instant.
"All things in creation, turn to ash, Ryūjin Jakka!"
black sword night had, at some point, disappeared from Phoenix's hand. A katana suddenly appeared horizontally in the void.
Gripping the purple hilt of the Eastern Law Shimmer, Phoenix calmly uttered two words.
"Fire Wall!"
Boom—!!
A circular flame barrier securely sealed Phoenix. The alluring flames burning outside the barrier devoured all incoming Flash grenades one by one.
"W-what?!!"
Mirajane stopped mid-air in a daze, seemingly unable to believe that the opponent had so easily broken her move.
Ding—!!
A melodious sword hum brought Mirajane back to her senses. She saw Phoenix flicking the blade with his finger, a puzzling smile on his lips.
"There's nothing to be surprised about, Mirajane. I am a Phoenix, you know. Fighting with fire is only natural, isn't it?"
"You guy, don't think I'll be afraid of you just because of that!!"
Whoosh—!!
Mirajane transformed into a black stream of light and charged towards Phoenix. Her demonic claws were poised, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment. However, seeing Mirajane charge at him like that, Phoenix instead shook his head helplessly. In terms of speed, Mirajane was far behind Laxus. Even Laxus's lightning-fast speed couldn't escape Phoenix's lock-on, so Mirajane's speed in Phoenix's eyes could even be called a snail's pace.
"—Flash!!"
Phoenix suddenly vanished. When he reappeared, he was already standing in front of Lisanna. Behind him, Mirajane, who had just reached Phoenix's previous location, suddenly froze! The next moment, a straight, sharp arc appeared between Mirajane and Phoenix, flashing by like shimmering light. Then, blood splattered, and Mirajane fell to the ground without a sound, her Demon form also dispelling.
"Sister!!"
Lisanna cried out in alarm. She was about to run to her sister, but her legs stubbornly stood in front of Phoenix. Her eyes, glistening with tears, looked at Phoenix, fearing to hear something terrible from him.
"Don't worry! I held back just now. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be falling down like this; she would have been instantly cut in half by me!"
Sheathing the katana Ryūjin Jakka, Phoenix patted Lisanna's head and then quietly walked to Mavis's side. It was only then that Lisanna and her honest, kind brother Elfman ran to Mirajane, who had collapsed on the ground.
"How was it?"
Phoenix asked softly. Although it was vague, Mavis knew he was asking for her opinion of Mirajane.
"Very good. Although her fighting style is still very immature, her strength is undeniable. She can compete with your disciple."
"Is my disciple that weak?"
Several large question marks popped up over Phoenix's head.
"She is indeed very weak. It will take at least two years for her to enter the S-Class ranks. She's still too green now."
Although Mavis spoke with some regret, her heart was blooming with joy. Excluding Phoenix, who was an anomaly among anomalies, if Erza grew steadily without any mishaps, she could become an S-Class Mage at the age of 15 in two years. This would make her the youngest S-Class Mage in guild history, aside from Phoenix and Mavis. Of course, if Makarov had been willing to let Laxus step forward earlier, a thirteen-year-old S-Class Mage could have emerged, and it wouldn't have waited until Phoenix returned three years later, getting Makarov's personal approval only after that battle.
"Erza is really useless! Has she been slacking off lately?"
Phoenix stroked his smooth chin, speculating.
"What nonsense are you talking about!! She's the most diligent child in the guild, you know. It's you, are you even concerned about your disciple? At least you should know how much she's grown recently, what level she's reached!"
Mavis glared at Phoenix indignantly. If Erza, this promising talent, were ruined in the future, it would definitely be all his fault.
"I always thought Erza was already an S-Class Mage. You see, I'm an S-Class, so as my disciple, she's naturally S-Class too."
Phoenix said very innocently, which made Mavis thoroughly realize how much an irresponsible teacher could harm their disciple.
"Although I don't know where this baseless confidence of yours comes from, I don't want to know, nor do I want to keep asking. In short, I want to kindly tell you that when you go back this time, temporarily put down your missions and take out a month to train her."
"No, it seems too troublesome."
Phoenix directly turned his head away. Phoenix was not good at training, especially after two years of combat training with Natsu, he was already sick of it.
"Then I won't go out with you next time. You can find Natsu to go with you. I think Natsu will be very excited."
Seeing that Phoenix didn't want to take responsibility, especially for his own disciple, Mavis immediately said, somewhat angrily.
"I'm not doing missions with Natsu. Why do they always blame me for the things Natsu smashes?!"
"You should think about how much Natsu has smashed, and how much you have destroyed? If Natsu destroys a city, you will surely destroy a country!!"
"That's an exaggeration!!"
"It's pretty much the same anyway. You should reflect on the reasoning behind it!"
"You…"
"Big brother, sister is awake."
Just then, Lisanna suddenly ran over with a joyful expression. She must have been very happy that Mirajane had woken up.
"Oh, she woke up so fast? Looks like she's quite capable."
Phoenix laughed casually. He knew the power of his previous Flash. Although he didn't use his full strength, it was enough to make someone lie in bed for half a day.
"Mm, big brother, come quickly. Sister wants to talk to you."
As she spoke, Lisanna tightly hugged Phoenix's right hand, dragging him forward.
"Oh dear, oh dear, don't pull me. I can walk by myself."
"Hehehe~"
Lisanna just smiled brightly, but her hands had no intention of letting go. After seeing that her sister had only suffered a minor superficial injury, Lisanna was very grateful to Phoenix and became even more affectionate with him.