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"Noah, attack with the resolve to kill me."
"Let me see if you are worthy..."
Before Zeref could finish his arrogant words, he felt a strong gust of wind, followed by a punch so fast he couldn't react, which slammed hard into his handsome left cheek.
With the sound of bone cracking, Zeref's head uncontrollably snapped to the right. The immense force and impact caused his cheek to cave in, and his body, losing its balance, crashed heavily to the ground like a fallen onion.
Noah retracted his hand, looking disdainfully at Zeref, who was struggling to get up. "A fight is a fight. Why so much nonsense? A Black Wizard being so wishy-washy, it's truly disappointing."
The voice reaching his ears made the dazed Zeref feel somewhat embarrassed. Noah was right; the word 'wishy-washy' suited him perfectly.
Zeref shakily stood up. By the time he faced Noah, his bloodied left cheek had returned to normal.
He wasn't surprised by being knocked down by a single punch. Zeref didn't use martial arts much, and his physical body wasn't strong. His physical fitness was not much different from an ordinary person's, relying entirely on the Contradictory Curse within him.
"Good speed and strength, but useless against me. The Contradictory Curse allows my body to instantly recover, no matter how severe the fatal injury."
Zeref's tone was filled with helplessness.
In his quest for death, he had even conducted gruesome experiments, dismembering and pulverizing himself, more than once.
However, what would be an undeniable death for others was merely a fatal injury in the face of the "immortality" granted by the Contradictory Curse.
But it was precisely this "immortality" that excited Noah. With such a human punching bag before him, he had to have a good, satisfying fight.
Somehow, Zeref suddenly felt that Noah was looking at him as if he were a punching bag, which made him subtly uneasy.
Perhaps it's just an illusion.
I have lived for over 400 years; my Magic Power alone is far beyond his. What if Noah possesses powerful abilities from outside this world? A young man not even twenty years old simply doesn't have enough time to grow.
After explaining this to himself, Zeref finally suppressed the unease in his heart. He looked up at the white-haired young man opposite him, his voice light, like a sigh.
"Let's fight outside Tenrou Island."
"I don't want to disturb Mavis's peaceful rest."
With that, Zeref used magic to teleport himself to the sea surface ten kilometers away from Tenrou Island.
The next second, Noah appeared like a shadow.
Zeref wanted to test if Noah had sufficient strength, while Noah wanted to try out the feel of a Black Wizard brand punching bag. The two said no more, their auras causing the sea to churn.
After a brief, deadly silence, a sonic boom ripped through the air.
Zeref raised a hand, unleashing a dozen dazzling spells: ice shards like raging waves crashing into the air, flames forming roaring beasts, lightning weaving into a giant net, an invisible field exerting immense pressure... This powerful combination magic, imbued with destructive Magic Power, slammed fiercely from all directions toward the small, white-haired young man at the center.
The air was torn by the violent Magic Power, emitting a sharp shriek.
A deafening explosion engulfed Noah's figure. Crimson-white light waves stirred up sea waves dozens of meters high, and the blinding light lingered for a long time.
As the smoke and dust slowly settled, the figure that emerged from the dim magical light remained standing as before. The sea surface beneath Noah's feet was perfectly still, as if in a different world from the turbulent and violent waves around him.
Zeref was startled. Although he hadn't gone all out, he had used about sixty percent of his power. Yet, that combination magic, powerful enough to level mountains and calm seas, hadn't even disturbed a corner of Noah's clothes.
Aside from August and Irene, someone else could actually take his attack unscathed. Zeref suddenly felt that perhaps Noah hadn't been exaggerating his strength.
Noah's lips curled slightly upward. With a gentle wave of his right hand, the surrounding magical remnants vanished.
"Zeref, it's my turn."
As Noah clenched his fist, the surrounding seawater was pulled by an invisible force. Taking a step forward, dense cracks, like a shattered mirror, immediately appeared on the sea surface, sending countless amounts of seawater soaring into the sky.
Magnetic Field Rotation · One Hundred Thousand Horsepower!
Magic Martial Arts · Whale Slayer Domination Fist!
The air twisted as a colossal whale, materialized by one hundred thousand horsepower of Magnetic Field Power, opened its gaping maw and lunged toward Zeref.
Zeref remained unhurried, drawing a circle with one hand, and a massive, inky-black magic vortex formed before him.
However, the giant whale was not real; it was merely a manifestation of Noah's Magnetic Field Power eruption. The instant Zeref realized this, Noah's fist, breaking through the defense at a single point, slammed directly into Zeref's chest.
The domineering punch penetrated Zeref's body, depressing the sea surface behind him by three inches.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Zeref felt as if his internal organs had been pulverized into a mess by that punch. Fortunately, the Contradictory Curse instantly reversed his injuries.
Zeref tried to cast a spell, but Noah, closing in, wouldn't give him a chance to retaliate.
"A fight isn't turn-based, Zeref!"
Noah grinned, grabbing Zeref's arm. His other fist, without needing to charge, rained down on him like a meteor shower, each punch carrying one hundred thousand horsepower.
Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora!
Fists left afterimages in the air, and thick clouds of blood mist continuously burst from Zeref's body, staining the air and the sea crimson.
Zeref was indeed a genius magic researcher; creating a forbidden spell was effortless for him.
But in terms of combat, Noah believed the Black Wizard's combat awareness was absolutely terrible. Whether it was observation or reaction, he could only sit at the same table as a novice Lucy.
His immortal, unaging, indestructible body had long made Zeref forget how to fight, relying only on powerful magic to crush opponents.
But when faced with an opponent who also possessed powerful magic, Zeref's weaknesses were exposed without a doubt.
A series of critical blows left Zeref utterly helpless, even almost causing him to roll his eyes and lose consciousness.
And Noah finally discovered what he wanted.
From one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand horsepower, the continuously increasing punch force finally made Noah see that the Contradictory Curse's recovery speed was struggling to keep up with his destructive power.
"Zeref, snap out of it!"
"Your recovery speed has slowed down. Now, you are actively triggering the curse; this is the best time to seal it!"
For Noah to seal the Contradictory Curse, he had to expose the entire curse.
This is my sealing plan—"Bloodletting Therapy"!
However, the Contradictory Curse would only actively manifest when Zeref genuinely cherished life from the bottom of his heart. If the sealing was incomplete, it would all be in vain.
Noah had simply gotten a bit carried away while beating Zeref to test the limits of the curse's recovery ability, causing Zeref to now have vacant eyes and begin to question life.
To make someone who already yearned for death think about the beauty of life while being brutally beaten, thereby allowing the Contradictory Curse to fully manifest, was truly too difficult.
Noah sighed, blaming only the fact that Zeref felt too good to beat, and he couldn't hold back... But thankfully, there was still a trump card to perk Zeref up.
"Zeref, do you know Mavis has a posthumous child?"