He gasped for air, his eyes gradually dimming.
The Sand Armor on Marcus slowly merged into his body, and the gold sand on the battlefield flowed towards Marcus like water, all being absorbed back into his body.
Marcus slowly walked in front of Natsu, his steps steady and powerful.
He looked down at Natsu lying on the ground, a hint of admiration in his eyes.
Natsu looked at Marcus, raised his hand, and gave a thumbs-up: "Next time, I'll definitely win!" His voice was weak but firm.
Marcus reached out and pulled Natsu up: "Then you better improve faster; I won't be standing still."
The two looked at each other, then burst into laughter.
Their laughter echoed across the empty battlefield. This intense battle, though it had a winner and loser, deepened their friendship.
Around them, applause thundered; the onlookers clapped with good sense.
This fierce battle was much better than the usual small skirmishes and brawls in the guild.
The spectators watched this level of combat without blinking.
Even Erza and Laxus, who was sitting in the corner with the Thunder God Tribe, nodded frequently as they watched.
Laxus, usually stone-faced, now had a faint smile on his face, his expression softening.
Makarov, glowing with golden light, slowly descended from the sky, landing beside Marcus and Natsu. He raised Marcus's left hand and shouted: "The winner, Marcus!"
The applause, which had momentarily stopped, now erupted again.
Marcus, rarely the center of so much attention, shyly scratched his head and bowed slightly to the crowd.
Makarov lowered Marcus's hand, signaling for Marcus to help Natsu off the field.
Marcus, whose condition was not at all depleted, was sharp-eyed. He spotted Ezreal off the field, smiled, waved, and then pointed to Uncle Macao in the corner, before helping Natsu over.
The middle-aged uncle handed them two small stools and then began to quietly explain something to them. A ball of purple flame appeared in his hand, sometimes forming swords and sometimes various monsters.
The flame magic, which should have been extremely unstable, was obedient in Macao's hands, like a well-behaved child.
Marcus and Natsu sat upright, nodding frequently as they listened.
Ezreal couldn't help but smile when he saw this scene.
On the battlefield, Guild Master Makarov surveyed the surrounding onlookers. His gaze paused slightly when it fell on Ezreal, and he nodded to him, then shouted again: "Next sparring match, Cana VS Gray!"
Cana clapped her hands, brushing off biscuit crumbs from her fingers, stood up, and walked towards the open space.
Gray, who had taken off his shirt at some point, followed closely behind Cana, also walking towards the open space.
The two stood facing each other, maintaining a distance of about ten meters, and took their stances.
Old Man Makarov flew back into the sky, leaving the battlefield to the two of them.
Cana raised her hand and threw a card, softly chanting: "In my name, Frost Spirit, seal release!"
The card flew out and hovered in front of Cana. It glowed with an ice-blue light, and then the light slowly condensed, forming a human-sized ice-blue eyeball in front of Cana.
The eyeball emitted a biting cold, and the ice-blue cold condensed into hands and feet. The eyeball's position actually opened into a ferocious mouth.
The Frost Spirit, originally just an eyeball, now transformed into a monster with a large mouth on its torso and ice crystal limbs.
The Frost Spirit's feet touched the grass, and tiny ice crystals froze the ground at a visible speed, spreading outwards, indicating the extremely low temperature.
Gray's expression became serious; the same ice-blue cold aura appeared around his body.
"It's really a Frost Spirit, Cana. You can actually command something like this in battle now?"
Cana smiled and said: "Be careful, Gray. The Frost Spirit is skilled in various ice and snow magic, and its magical power is abundant. It took me a lot of effort to subdue this guy. Your Ice Make magic might not even be its match."
Gray's eyes were serious, but he didn't show any fear in his words, "Then let's give it a try!"
"Ice Make, Lancer!"
Gray shouted, extended his left palm, and struck his right fist into his palm. The magic power in his body surged, solidifying into ice crystals.
Dozens of slender ice spears condensed from the air and shot towards Cana.
Cana took two steps back, relinquishing control of the battle to the Frost Spirit.
The ice spears crossed dozens of meters in an instant. The Frost Spirit, unhurried, pushed its blue ice crystal hands forward. An ice-blue light flashed, and immediately, a human-height Ice Wall rose from the ground.
Dozens of ice spears crashed into the Ice Wall, shattering into pieces and dissipating into points of ice-blue cold upon landing.
Behind the Ice Wall, a cold glint appeared in the Frost Spirit's ice-blue eyes. It took a deep breath, its body inflating like a bellows, then it suddenly spewed a cold current from its mouth, almost solid in appearance.
The current was like a roaring ice dragon, clawing and baring its fangs as it charged towards Gray. Along its path, the air was rapidly frozen, emitting crackling sounds as if space itself was being torn apart by this cold force.
Gray's face was grim. He could clearly sense the powerful magic contained within this cold aura and dared not be negligent in the slightest. He quickly clasped his hands together in front of his chest.
As he moved, magic power surged and gathered in his palms, "Ice Make: Shield!"
He roared, and a thick ice crystal shield instantly formed in front of him.
The shield was like a massive block of ice, its surface shimmering. The cold current struck it, emitting a sharp, piercing hiss, as if countless ice needles were desperately drilling and piercing. Layers of ice flowers splashed up like ice lotuses blooming in the dead of winter, beautiful yet extremely dangerous.
Although Gray had managed to block it with "Ice Make: Shield," the impact still caused his feet to plow deep marks in the ground, and dust and ice crystal fragments flew up.
Gray, as the frosty cold slightly receded, quickly adjusted his stance, took a backflip, clapped his hands on the ground, and shouted: "Ice Make: Ice Lance Array!"
In an instant, the ice on the ground in front of him shattered, and countless sharp ice lances shot out like bamboo shoots, hurtling towards the Frost Spirit.
The ice lances cut through the air with a biting cold gleam, crisscrossing and weaving, emitting a howling sound.
The Frost Spirit did not dodge. Its ice-blue eyeball flickered with light, and its palms clasped together in front of its chest, gathering a powerful ice magic.
Then, it pushed its hands forward and shouted: "Ice Vortex: Reversal!"
This was the first time the Frost Spirit had spoken in front of people. Its voice was clear and pleasant, like a little girl's voice.
Before its voice faded, a massive ice-blue vortex appeared out of thin air in front of it, with turbulent currents within the vortex.
As soon as the Ice Lance Array approached, it was swept into the vortex. With the high-speed rotation of the vortex, the ice lances were pulverized, turning into countless tiny ice shards swirling within the vortex.
Gray's brows furrowed, and he secretly mused that the Frost Spirit's magic was indeed tricky.