Lucy guessed, "You're going to take over Escanor and melt the ice with fire magic?"
Takeshi shook his head. "No. Escanor's flames are too domineering. Apart from me, they attack anyone. One slip and the whole village, giants and all, would be reduced to ash."
"Then what do we do?"
Takeshi explained, "I'll feed the spell to Natsu. His Fire Dragon Slayer Magic can pick out enemies on its own, it won't hurt the giants."
"What?!"
Lucy and Happy froze.
"Really?!"
Natsu's eyes lit up. He loved tasting every kind of flame, and he'd never yet tried the fire Takeshi used when he became Escanor.
"No way! That attack nearly leveled half a city, can Natsu actually swallow it?"
Lucy and Happy had seen Takeshi's strike with their own eyes.
"Let's try, it can't hurt. If it doesn't work, we'll find another way."
The Ace character card had already been recycled. Ace's offense was strong, but the flaws were obvious, and Takeshi now had plenty of gold-tier cards. Escanor's power left Ace in the dust by several leagues.
"Bring it on!!!"
Natsu flung his arms wide, ecstatic. Tasting flames was his favorite thing, and Takeshi's magic looked formidable, what flavor would this one have?
"Right. Lucy, Happy, stand back so you don't get burned."
"Got it!"
Lucy and Happy sprinted away and ducked behind a frozen giant.
Full Body Take Over: Escanor!
Takeshi's frame bulked up, muscles swelling. He now looked like an unremarkable middle-aged man, yet his eyes were haughty beyond measure, as though nothing in the world mattered.
"Incredible…"
Once Takeshi became Escanor, simply standing there, Natsu could feel a terrifying pressure radiating from him. That pressure dwarfed even the dragons he'd faced during the Grand Magic Games.
In the finals, he'd found no opponent, so he'd ended up sparring with Gajeel. They'd wanted to help, but Takeshi refused, choosing to face Sabertooth alone and teach them fear.
Takeshi raised his left index finger.
Cruel Sun!
Shhh—
A searing sphere appeared above the finger, its surface like liquid flame—an actual sun in miniature.
Whooosh!
The moment the orb appeared, blistering heat surged outward in roaring waves.
"Waaah!"
"Eeeek!"
Even behind the giant, Lucy and Happy yelped as a gale-force wind whipped past them.
"Uooooh!"
Natsu threw his arms up to shield himself, eyes wide. For the first time ever, flames made him feel raw fear. Normally fire meant delicious food.
"W-what… what is that?!" He stammered.
"The sun. This character's magic is called Sunshine. It rises and wanes with the sun."
"At night, my MPF is about fifteen, lower than an average Mage. At sunrise, it's roughly twenty thousand, and it keeps climbing toward noon. A quarter-hour before midday, it tops a hundred and ten thousand, and at high noon, it hits five hundred thousand."
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy gaped, jaws practically on the floor.
Had Takeshi just said twenty thousand? A hundred and ten thousand? Five hundred thousand?!
Was that the same MPF they knew?
They hadn't paid it much attention until the third day of the Grand Magic Games, when the tournament scoreboard showed it.
The black-lightning guy from Sabertooth had managed a little over thirty-eight hundred, and Jura, that monster, had cracked ninety-three hundred.
Takeshi's lowest figure was twenty thousand, double Jura's. His peak was five hundred thousand.
They instantly tuned out the nighttime score of fifteen.
"Ridiculous… utterly ridiculous!"
Now they understood why five Sabertooth Mages had attacked Takeshi and hadn't scratched him. Against numbers like these, any spell looked puny.
"All right, eat up. Take as much as you can."
Takeshi held the miniature sun toward Natsu.
Natsu gulped. For the first time, fire intimidated him. If that thing hit him head-on, even with Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, he'd be badly hurt.
But a feast had been served, retreat was unthinkable.
"I'll eat it!!"
He opened wide and bit into the Cruel Sun.
Terrifying power flooded his body.
"Uooooooh!!!"
Flames erupted over him as scales rippled across his skin and face.
"That's…"
Lucy and Happy gasped.
"Dragon Force." Takeshi said calmly.
"As expected."
They'd seen Sting and Rogue use Dragon Force, its power boost was immense.
Dragon Force was the ultimate form of a Dragon Slayer: a human wielding the might to slay dragons.
"Incredible… this is Dragon Force—no, it's beyond Dragon Force."
Natsu could feel the Dragon Force within him dwarfing Sting and Rogue's by orders of magnitude.
"Naturally. How could mere 'Dragon Force' stand against the sun?" Takeshi said flatly.
Dragons were dragons. Before the sun, they were nothing but tiny lizards.
"Now hurry and thaw the village."
Natsu clenched his fist, brimming with confidence. "You got it!"
Natsu pressed both palms to the ground.
"Uwoooohhhhhh!!!"
Raging fire exploded outward in every direction.
"Waaahhh!"
Lucy yelped as flames sprang up all around her.
"I'm going to be roasted alive!"
She hopped about in panic, then realized the fire was warm rather than burning. It didn't scorch her, nor did it so much as singe a single building in the village.
Whoosh—
In an instant, the ice vaporized, and the once-frozen village snapped back to normal.
"Ooh?"
"Such warm flames."
"What's going on?"
The giants, freed from the ice, scratched their heads in bewilderment.
"The ice… it's gone!"
Lucy and Happy leapt for joy at the sight.
The former iceberg now blazed like a mountain of fire.
"A mountain of flame? Could that be the eternal flame?!"
Everyone gazing at the blazing peak and guessed it must be the legendary eternal flame.
"Huh? Humans in the village... Lost, are we?"
A guard leaned down toward Takeshi's group. His colossal frame loomed over Lucy and Happy.
Takeshi answered, "Not lost. We're Mages from Fairy Tail, commissioned to save this frozen village."
"Frozen?"
The giants looked blank for a moment, then it clicked.
"Ah yes! We were frozen! So you saved us! Thank you so much!"
"Our thanks! You're our saviors!"
The giants crowded round in gratitude.
"What exactly happened here? Why was everything encased in ice?"
"Hmm… I recall a man calling himself an Ice-Devil Slayer, claiming he'd come to wipe out a fire demon."
"We took up arms to fight, but…"
"After that… nothing." The giants spoke over one another.
Lucy mused, "Sounds like someone mistook the eternal flame for a demon."
Happy tilted his head. "Then why did Tartaros show up?"
Takeshi said calmly, "Chances are, it was Tartaros who did it."
"Tartaros? But why?"
"No idea. Our mission was to free the village. That's done, so we report back."
Takeshi disliked loose ends. With the village restored, his task was finished.
"Hold on! You saved us, can't let you leave empty-handed."
"Right! We giants always repay our debts!"
"Everyone! Feast time!"
"Whoooooa!!!"
"A banquet!"
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy lit up, they adored parties.
Seeing their excitement, Takeshi could only shrug agreement.
That night they gathered beside the fiery mountain and feasted.
The giants, huge yet talkative, soon became fast friends. After a few cups, even Takeshi joined their songs and dances.
***
[Naruto: Slaughter System]
After transmigrating into the Uchiha clan, Hiromi activates a system that only has killing in its mind.
[Kill Sarutobi Hiruzen!]
[Reward: Rinnegan]
[Kill Shimura Danzo!]
[Reward: Eternal Magekyo Sharingan]
[Kill Uchiha Madara!]
[Reward: Eight Inner Gates: Eighth Gate + Sage Mode]
Thus, someone who kills people at the drop of a hat was born in the Uchiha clan.