"Fire Dragon's—Iron Fist!"
Natsu, like a burning eagle, swiftly charged towards Laxus in the air.
Laxus, unable to use the ground for leverage in the air, was not flustered. He similarly threw a punch, his hand wreathed in golden lightning.
The flaming fist and the lightning fist collided, erupting with a crisp, metallic clang, and the powerful impact created a shockwave in the air.
"Bang!"
Laxus was sent flying backward by the punch, landing precisely in the swirling quicksand vortex below, which resembled a meat grinder.
The burly Laxus was equally tiny before the violent sand vortex. He crashed heavily into the vortex, and in an instant, his body was swallowed by the quicksand.
"Well done!" Marcus's eyes lit up, and he suddenly increased his magic output. The ends of his hands, which were touching the ground, suddenly glowed as a gray magic circle rotated and expanded.
"Full Power · Sandstorm Burial!"
In an instant, the quicksand within the arena became violent. The originally furiously swirling quicksand vortex gradually converged towards the center, and in a flash, a nearly hundred-meter-tall pyramid rose from the ground.
The hundred-meter-tall gold sand pyramid shimmered with a metallic luster in the morning light, its surface of flowing sand wriggling like living creatures.
Marcus knelt on one knee, his hands pressed tightly to the ground, fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.
"Did it work?" Natsu landed on a raised rock, flames flickering restlessly around his body.
Marcus didn't answer. His pupils suddenly contracted—spiderweb-like golden cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the pyramid.
"Boom!"
The top of the pyramid exploded with a roar, and a golden lightning pillar shot into the sky.
Laxus's figure slowly rose amidst the lightning, his golden short hair standing on end, and violent golden lightning flickering in his eyes.
His black coat was tattered, revealing his muscular physique beneath, but his aura was even more terrifying than before.
"Is it my turn now?"
Laxus crossed his hands over his chest, and countless golden electric snakes shot out from his body, weaving into complex magic circles in the air.
"Five Thunders Strike the Top!"
Throughout the entire arena, hundreds of golden lightning bolts struck down simultaneously. All that could be seen was violent lightning.
Laxus did not deliberately aim at the two. The violent lightning attacked the entire arena, so only dozens of lightning bolts struck the two of them.
But even so, with the astonishing speed of the lightning, the two had almost no way to avoid it.
Marcus took two lightning bolts, immediately let out a muffled groan, his body instantly paralyzed by the lightning, forcing him to interrupt his magic control, and the pyramid instantly collapsed into ordinary sand particles.
Natsu was engulfed in flames, the scorching flames vaguely forming a protective layer, making his condition better than Marcus's. Enduring the lightning, he slightly bent his legs, grabbed, and with a burst of flames from his feet, he shot towards Laxus in the air like a rocket.
"Fire Dragon's—"
His fists ignited with Fieryred flames, drawing two fiery trails in the air.
"Crushing Fang!"
Looking at Natsu, who was charging towards him with what looked like a fiery outer garment, Laxus raised an eyebrow, "Is this... a method of changing flame shape he learned from Macao?"
Laxus did not dodge or evade, meeting Natsu with his arms wreathed in lightning.
The two engaged in fierce close-quarters combat in the air, with every punch and kick collision erupting in dazzling sparks and lightning.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Natsu's flames and Laxus's lightning continuously clashed, moving so fast that they left countless afterimages in the air.
The aftermath of the flames and lightning continuously shattered the surrounding stone pillars, and rubble rained down.
Without Happy's assistance, Natsu could only achieve temporary levitation by using the thrust of the flames from his feet. After dozens of consecutive exchanges, Natsu could no longer maintain his levitation.
This also allowed Laxus to seize an opportunity, expressionlessly throwing a punch wreathed in golden lightning at Natsu's face.
Lightning exploded, and Natsu immediately fell from the sky, crashing heavily to the ground.
Fortunately, the ground had already been turned into quicksand by Marcus's previous big move. The scattering fine sand provided some cushioning, otherwise, the fall would have been absolutely painful.
But Laxus's attack did not stop. After Natsu landed, he raised his hand again and pointed downwards, and thirty-seven golden electric snakes descended from the sky.
Natsu had just rolled over and stood up from the sandy ground, only to look up and see a field of golden lightning filling his eyes. It was completely too late to dodge.
Just at this critical moment, the quicksand beneath Natsu's feet suddenly surged up, and Marcus, wearing armor completely made of gold sand, burst out from the quicksand.
With his hands aimed at the sky, fine gold sand spewed from his palms, condensing into a giant shield.
The golden electric snakes and the gold sand shield crashed together with a roar. One lightning bolt after another struck, and the continuous explosions caused the air within a hundred-meter radius to tremble violently.
Marcus's veins bulged on his forehead, and ripples spread across the surface of the gold sand shield. The fine sand instantly melted into a glassy crystal under the scorching lightning.
Natsu took the opportunity to roll out of the shield's protection, flames surging around him, plowing a scorched gully in the ground.
Natsu cupped his hands to his mouth, taking a deep breath, his chest swelling high.
"Fire Dragons Roar!"
In an instant, a conical flame breath surged out, annihilating the remaining lightning.
The two exchanged glances, and just as they let out a sigh of relief, they heard rolling thunder again from above.
"Can you block even more?" Laxus hovered a hundred meters in the air, the golden lightning net around him suddenly expanding threefold, each arc as thick as a wrist.
He pointed a single hand at the sky, and the entire sky suddenly darkened. Countless dark clouds gathered overhead, and a muffled thunder rumbled from deep within the clouds.
"Does it have to be this exaggerated?" Marcus's pupils constricted at the sight, and he immediately plunged both hands into the sand: "Great Desert Earth Roll!"
Dozens of golden sand walls rose from underground like ocean waves, layering over each other to envelop him and Natsu.
But Laxus remained expressionless, raising his hand and bringing it down with a fierce chop: "Ten Thousand Thunders Fall!"
Tens of thousands of lightning bolts poured down like a torrential rain. The sand walls directly in their path instantly turned to dust upon contact with the lightning.
However, there were no signs of Marcus and Natsu within the sand layers, only two unvanished sand pits on the ground.
The sound of thunder and the earth shaking were almost deafening. For a time, golden electric light and dust enveloped the entire arena.
After more than a full minute, the lightning dissipated, and Laxus, crackling with electricity, slowly descended from the air to the ground.
He waved his hand, and the surrounding drifting dust immediately dispersed.
What met his eyes was a chaotic arena, with hardly a single intact stone visible. The ground was pitted and scarred, its edges scorched, as if it had been ravaged by a meteor shower.
Just then, Laxus keenly noticed the ground beginning to tremble slightly. The next moment, two figures, imbued with vastly different auras, burst forth from the earth.
Natsu, wreathed in flames, charged directly at Laxus with a punch as soon as he emerged from underground.
Marcus appeared behind Laxus, his entire body covered in golden sand armor, and he slapped one hand on the ground.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 70 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"