Duel Against Gildarts!
25: First Battle!
Duel Against Gildarts!
Chapter 25: First Battle!
Duel Against Gildarts!
“Gildarts is back—!” Magnolia immediately descended into chaos again.
The newer members who had never met Gildarts crowded around curiously, only then learning that this man was Fairy Tail’s strongest S-Class Mage.
“So you’re saying that guy is really strong?!” Natsu understood absolutely nothing else.
That one sentence alone was enough to make him crack his knuckles eagerly.
Gildarts entered the guild looking half-asleep.
Before he could even see who was coming, Natsu charged at him while shouting.
“Gildarts!
Fight me!
AUGH—!” “Hm?
What was that?” Gildarts yawned.
In his daze, he vaguely felt as though he’d just swatted away a fly.
“Oh!
Hey, everyone!” “I’m back!” “Gildarts!
Come drink!” “Hahahaha!
Gildarts, you just sent the new kid flying!” “What?!
Is he okay?!” “Relax!
Natsu’s ridiculously tough.
Getting smacked around won’t hurt him.” The guild quickly became noisy again.
Natsu pulled himself out of the wall without holding a grudge and immediately began circling Gildarts instead.
With his overwhelming strength and easygoing personality, Gildarts really was extremely popular in Fairy Tail.
After several rounds of drinks, however, Gildarts began feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Then he spotted Aito and Cana hiding away in a corner.
Several books and piles of notebooks were spread across the table in front of Aito.
Aito himself was bent over them, scribbling nonstop, while Cana sat beside him and refused to move.
‘Hm?’ ‘Why hasn’t Aito come over to greet me?’ ‘And didn’t Cana used to admire me more than anyone?’ Gildarts felt unhappy.
Carrying his bottle, he staggered over.
“Aito!
Cana!” “Long time no see!” The enthusiastic greeting he’d expected never came.
Aito lifted his head, revealing heavy dark circles beneath his eyes.
“Oh.” Then he immediately returned to writing.
Cana was even worse.
“Hmph!” She turned her head away and completely ignored him.
Gildarts felt strangely wounded.
Cana’s little “hmph” in particular made his heart inexplicably uneasy, as though he’d committed some terrible crime without realizing it.
He instinctively sat up straighter.
Aito was a child he’d personally brought back to Fairy Tail.
No matter how he looked at it, Gildarts really should’ve been paying more attention to him.
“What’s going on with you two?” “Aito, you look exhausted.
Run into some trouble lately?” “I’m researching a troublesome magic and got a little carried away.
Nothing serious…” Aito paused.
“Oh, right.
Perfect timing, Gildarts.” “The guild doesn’t have any books on [Gravity Magic].
Do you know anyone who uses it?
Bringing me a book would work too.” “I know Gravity Magic.” Gildarts scratched his head.
“I’m not particularly good at it, but I can teach you the basics.” “Still, I’m more worried about your condition.” “That’s perfect!” Aito brightened.
“As for me?
I think I’m fine.
Haven’t I always—” “Aito!
You can’t keep doing this!” Cana finally snapped.
She grabbed Aito’s cheeks with both hands and forced him to look directly at her.
“You’ve been like this for two whole weeks!” “You stopped writing your novel, you barely sleep, you don’t even dress properly, and you keep forgetting meals!” “All day long, you’re just scribbling in those notebooks!” Her eyes were slightly red.
“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?!” “If you’re doing all this just to create some new magic for me, then I don’t want to learn it anymore!” Only then did Aito finally notice Cana’s reddened eyes.
And belatedly realize…
‘Have I really gotten that obsessed lately?’ He’d thrown himself so completely into magical research that even the usual side effects of Telepathy Magic had vanished from his awareness.
For the first time in his life, the world had been completely quiet.
His mind had been filled with nothing except magic.
‘This design is incredible.’ ‘Would changing this make it better?’ ‘So magic can actually work like this…’ Ideas constantly erupted inside his head.
Inspiration Points poured in again and again, while everything involving his physical body seemed to run on autopilot.
Aito felt as though he’d entered some mysterious state of enlightenment.
He’d even been secretly pleased with himself.
‘I’ve done it.’ ‘I’m finally becoming a proper master of magic!’ That excitement simply refused to fade.
He hadn’t realized he’d begun ignoring the concern of everyone around him.
The moment his mind finally relaxed, surrounding thoughts flooded back into his head.
‘I have to stop Aito from continuing like this.’ ‘He can’t ruin his health!
He’s still so young.
As his big sister, I have to take proper care of him.’ Then came another voice.
‘Heh.
Looks like I really brought back a treasure.’ ‘This kid’s actually an academic-type genius.’ ‘I’ve only seen people like him at Magic Academies before.’ ‘Should I talk to the old man about sending Aito to a Magic Academy for a few years?’ Aito lowered his head.
“Sorry, Big Sis Cana.” “I made you worry.” “This was my fault.
I won’t do it again.” “You said the same thing yesterday.” Cana puffed out her cheeks.
“Hmph!
I’m keeping an eye on you for the next few days!” Gildarts suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
Then he walked behind Aito and lifted him straight off the ground.
“Gildarts?!
What are you doing?!” “Come on, kid!” “I’m taking you outside town to have some fun!” “Wait!
Put me down!
I can teleport us!” Aito struggled free.
He grabbed Gildarts’s arm with one hand and Cana’s small hand with the other.
The next instant— All three appeared in an open field west of Magnolia.
“Whoa.” Gildarts looked around.
“Not bad at all, Aito.” “Your Teleportation Magic has gotten seriously impressive.” “It’s nothing special.” Aito waved it off.
“There’s still plenty of room for improvement.” “So why did you bring me out here?
Are you teaching me Gravity Magic?” Gildarts released him and walked about ten meters away.
Then he curled one hand toward himself.
“Come on.” “I’ll train with you.” Aito blinked his large eyes.
Then he pointed at himself in confusion.
“Huh?” “Me?” “Yep.” “Attack me with everything you’ve got.” Gildarts grinned.
“As far as I know, you’ve been in Fairy Tail for over a year and haven’t done a single job.” “You’ve never fought anyone either.” “You can’t improve forever by studying behind closed doors.” “Come on.
Let me see how much you’ve grown this year.” Aito’s face stiffened.
He had absolutely no desire to volunteer for a beating.
Cana, meanwhile, became ridiculously excited.
“Go, Aito!” “Show Gildarts what you can do!” “Beat him to death!” “…” Then Aito heard an even more outrageous thought from her.
‘I knew it!
Aito really is my biological little brother!’ ‘That scumbag father must know everything!’ ‘He’d rather secretly give Aito special training than acknowledge either of us!
What a bastard!’ Aito’s mouth twitched.
‘This misunderstanding is getting completely out of control.’ ‘Maybe I really should explain things to Cana someday…’ “Aito, come.” Gildarts spread his arms.
“Don’t worry about anything.” “You can’t hurt me.” “…Fine.” Aito sighed.
“I’ll give it a try.” This was genuinely the first time Aito had ever taken the initiative to fight someone using magic.
He knew an enormous number of spells.
But in actual combat?
He was a pure theory specialist.
Combat experience: zero.
And Aito didn’t believe his collection of LV1 skills would accomplish much against Gildarts.
His current skills above LV1 were— [Telepathy Magic LV4] [Meditation LV3] [Spatial Magic LV2] [Script Magic LV2] [Magic Power Control LV2] [Enhancement Magic LV2] ‘Uh…’ ‘How am I supposed to fight Gildarts with this?’ ‘One use of Crush Magic and I’ll literally fall apart.’ Aito thought for a moment.
‘Whatever.’ ‘Which elemental magic has the most experience right now?’ He checked.
‘Oh?
It’s you.’ ‘Add points!’ [Light Magic LV1: 6245/10000] ↓ [Light Magic LV2: 1/100000] Then he checked his Magic Power.
[Magic Power: 620/626] “I’m coming, Gildarts.” “Bring it on!” Close combat was completely hopeless.
It would also accomplish nothing.
Aito’s only option was to exploit his strengths and act like a long-range artillery caster.
Once he’d decided on his approach, Aito raised one hand.
Three Magic Circles appeared in the air behind him.
Light Magic— [Heat Ray] It condensed light continuously into scorching laser beams.
As long as Aito kept feeding it Magic Power, the beams could continue firing without interruption.
They traveled extremely fast.
Their raw destructive power, however, was only moderate.
“Good casting speed.” Gildarts nodded.
“The power isn’t bad either.” “But it won’t work on me.” He punched straight toward the incoming beams.
The light in front of his fist shattered into countless tiny fragments.
But Aito knew Crush Magic too.
He already understood exactly how it worked.
That was why his attack hadn’t been designed as a single burst.
It was continuous.
The shattered section dissolved back into Magic Power.
The beam behind it immediately replaced what had been destroyed.
Eventually, the light still reached Gildarts’s arm.
“Hiss!” Gildarts raised an eyebrow.
“That’s actually pretty hot~” Naturally, an attack at this level couldn’t break through his defenses.
But Aito had already achieved his real objective.
Telepathy Magic constantly monitored Gildarts’s thoughts, ensuring that every step of his plan proceeded smoothly.
And Light Magic possessed another very useful property.
It was bright.
Very bright.
With the concentrated beams shining directly at him, Gildarts couldn’t clearly see what Aito was doing behind them.
That gave Aito all the opportunity he needed.
“Script Magic.” “Eastern Script—” “[Copy].” A huge Chinese character appeared above Aito’s head.
This Script Magic could duplicate and generate Magic Circles in bulk.
As long as Aito had enough Magic Power, he could theoretically copy thousands of Magic Circles within a short time.
So when Gildarts punched through the beams again and finally looked up— He froze.
More than a hundred Magic Circles had appeared behind Aito.
Every single one was condensing a terrifying beam of light.
One or two Heat Rays might not amount to much.
More than a hundred striking the same target was an entirely different matter.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Gildarts’s eyes widened.
“Are you serious?!” “I’m firing now, Gildarts!” “W-Wait!
Aito?!” “AUGH—!” Aito fired before Gildarts could finish.
Gildarts tried to dodge.
Unfortunately— He couldn’t outrun light.
And Aito’s LV2 Magic Power Control wasn’t there for decoration.
The beams relentlessly tracked Gildarts wherever he moved.
More than a hundred scorching rays tore straight through the cloak Gildarts threw up as cover.
Then they struck his body.
Gildarts jolted from the sudden heat.
He slammed one foot into the ground.
BOOM!
The earth beneath him shattered apart.
Gildarts dropped straight underground.
At the same time, the ground beneath Aito collapsed as well.
Aito used Flash twice in rapid succession, grabbed Cana, and escaped all the way back to the guild.
By the time Gildarts climbed out of the dirt with an irritated expression…
Aito had already teleported back with Cana.
Aito looked at the hole burned through Gildarts’s shirt and the bright-red skin across his chest.
Then he grinned.
“Hehe.” “I surrender.” “I’m out of Magic Power.” “You little brat…” Gildarts stared at him helplessly.
“That fighting style of yours…” “It’s ridiculously shameless.” “Isn’t that how a Mage is supposed to fight?” Aito tilted his head.
“The barbarians in our guild who solve everything with their fists are the weird ones.” “…Not everyone can use Teleportation Magic the way you do.” Gildarts sighed.
He dusted the dirt from his clothes, then turned serious.
“All right.” “I think I understand your fighting style now.” “Let me give you a few pointers…” …
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