"It is the lost ancient magic, Dragon Slayer Magic. So that brat called Natsu is Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon after all."
Ultear recognized the magic Natsu was using at a glance, and from that alone she easily guessed his identity.
"Gray's Ice-Make is not bad either, his creations are formed in an instant. Unlike Lyon, he is not so arrogant that he forgets Ur's teachings. He is using the most stable two handed casting."
From that brief exchange of blows, Ultear already had a rough grasp of Gray's strength, and in her heart she gave him quite a high evaluation.
Just as she was preparing to watch carefully to see who would ultimately claim victory between the two of them, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed.
Inside the mist, Natsu was about to throw a punch when his foot suddenly slipped and he lost his balance.
"Crap, ice!"
As Gray's oldest rival in the guild and the one who knew his tricks best, Natsu immediately understood that Gray had taken advantage of his obstructed vision to secretly turn the ground into ice and screw him over.
Realizing what had happened, Natsu hurriedly twisted his body, trying to adjust his posture and respond.
But Gray had planned this move from the very beginning, there was no way he would let such a good opportunity slip past him.
His already coiled right leg swept out. With a single kick, he sent the just reacting Natsu flying.
At the same time, Gray rushed out of the fog, ready to strike while his opponent was down, finish Natsu in one breath, and seize victory.
However, just as he rushed past the edge of the mist, he saw Natsu, who had been kicked away, hurtling straight toward the guild's front door, toward a stranger wrapped in a black cloak.
Gray's heart lurched.
"Danger, move!"
Ultear also froze for an instant when the rapidly enlarging figure filled her field of vision.
Her Arc of Time magic has no effect on living beings, plants aside.
So, on reflex, she stretched her right hand out from beneath the cloak and aimed at the incoming Natsu. A second later, a wave of frigid air exploded outward.
Clang!
When the Natsu who had been frozen into a solid block of ice crashed to the floor, everyone in the guild was stunned.
They had all been too busy watching the two idiots fight and had not noticed when a stranger had entered the guild at all.
Gray, who had almost accidentally hurt someone, hurriedly ran forward. As he passed Natsu, who was sealed inside pale violet ice, he unconsciously halted for a heartbeat. This ice magic felt incredibly familiar.
He shook himself out of it, stepped over Natsu, walked up to Ultear, and asked,
"Are you all right, did you get hurt?"
"Sorry, I did not notice someone was here. If you are injured, just tell me and I will take you to a hospital."
As Gray approached, Ultear instinctively lowered her head and pulled the brim of her hood down a little further.
"No need, something like this is nowhere near enough to hurt me."
"A woman?"
Hearing the female voice from beneath the cloak, and remembering that she had just used ice magic, Gray's heart tightened sharply. His pupils shrank, and in the theater of his mind a name that had been circling in his thoughts for days flashed up almost reflexively.
"Ultear… Senior Ultear?"
Ultear's body went stiff. Under the hood, her face instantly flushed a dark, ugly red.
She had gone out of her way not to take the train and had been extremely careful to hide her identity, quietly making her way here.
She had never imagined that Gray would see through her so easily in a single breath. The anger made her want to rip off her cloak and stomp it underfoot.
Gray did not hear the suppressed fury in her tone. He glanced back at the others, who were also anxiously crowding toward them, and answered in a low voice,
"You go out first. I will be right there."
Hearing that, Ultear nodded and turned to leave the guild.
Gray raised a hand to signal everyone to stop, then casually came up with an excuse,
"Relax, it is just someone I know who came looking for me. I need to step out for a bit, I will come back later and explain everything."
With that, ignoring everyone's confused looks, he scooped his discarded clothes up off the floor, turned around, and quickly chased after her.
...
Only after the two of them were gone did the ice sculpture on the floor suddenly shatter apart.
Natsu, his whole body blazing with flames, bellowed as he spat fire from his mouth,
"That bastard Gray, actually using such a sneaky trick. Just watch how I teach him a lesson!"
After shouting for a while with no response, Natsu let the flames die down around him. He looked around the guild blankly, scratched his head, and asked,
"Eh, where did Gray go?"
Wakaba took a drag on the pipe hanging from his lips, his face a little dark as he replied,
"He went out to meet someone he knows. Natsu, your match with him will have to be settled next time."
Natsu froze for a moment, thought for two seconds, then promptly ignored Wakaba's suggestion. Fire burst from his mouth again as he announced loudly and arrogantly,
"Gray was scared off by me, so this time I win. I am the strongest mage in the guild under S class!"
As he raised his fist and shouted, half the guild immediately erupted into cheers in response.
"That is right, Natsu, you won!"
"Nice going, Natsu!"
At this moment, Macao also stepped forward, slinging an arm around Wakaba's neck, and said with satisfaction: