Chapter 24

（Thank you very much to ‘Ice·Moon Shadow’, ‘2D Our Dream’, ‘Only One Person’, ‘Dark Dragon Slash’, ‘Wandering in a World Without You’, ‘Otaku of Fantasy Village’, ‘No Maple Grass’, ‘Cloud Qiyu’, ‘Sing Guy’, ‘I Only Me’, ‘Long Tian i’, ‘Autumn Water Autumn Clear’, ‘N00b QA’, and ‘Little H Otaku’ for your generous donations!）

（I’ve been quite busy lately, and to keep up with the updates, my schedule has become irregular again. I hope everyone can show some support for all the hard work I’m putting in...）

“...”

As Natsu was cleanly and decisively knocked to the ground by Noah, the members of ‘Fairy Tail’ quickly fell into a brief silence before breaking into a flurry of commotion.

“Is this for real?”

“Is this Dragon Slayer Magic really that weak?”

“No, no, no, Natsu is still pretty capable. His magic power is outstanding among his peers. Apart from Erza, Gray is probably the only one in the guild who can match Natsu!”

“So, it’s not that Natsu is weak, but that Noah is too strong?”

“I knew it, the master’s grandson can’t just have the advantage of powerful magic!”

The mages of ‘Fairy Tail’ continued to chatter, and as fellow guild members and adults, they could still gauge Natsu’s abilities. Naturally, they could also understand Noah’s true strength.

However, it was precisely because of this that the sudden turn of events, where their highly anticipated Dragon Slayer was defeated in one move, left everyone somewhat taken aback.

Below the stage, Gray’s face was filled with disbelief, his mouth forming an ‘O’.

“How did this guy get so strong?”

Makarov, standing slightly forward in the crowd, opened his old eyes wide and looked at Noah, who was standing with one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, seemingly nonchalant. He then glanced at Erza, who looked completely unsurprised, and couldn’t help but smile.

“He’s grown...”

The surrounding commotion seemed to rouse Natsu from his daze. He flipped over and stood up, glaring fiercely at Noah.

“You actually dared to trick me?!”

“Huh?” Noah said, somewhat bewildered.

“When did I ever trick you?”

“You...” Natsu shouted in frustration.

“You tricked me into thinking you couldn’t use magic!”

“First, I never said that, and second, even if I did, I didn’t trick you!” Noah raised his hands, flipping them.

“I just used a very ordinary strike, without any magic at all. You can’t possibly think that was magic, right?”

Natsu was momentarily speechless, then a surge of anger rose in his heart.

“Are you saying you can beat me even without magic?!”

With Natsu’s angry shout, a scorching flame suddenly erupted from his body, covering him entirely. The air around him distorted, indicating the temperature was extremely high, far surpassing the fire punch he had used earlier.

This transformation caused the crowd to gasp in surprise, and even Noah was taken aback.

He could clearly feel that as Natsu’s anger intensified, his magic power also increased, making the flames around him more vigorous, as if his emotions were being directly converted into fire.

Natsu’s ‘Dragon Slayer Magic’ actually changed with his emotions?

Is this what ancient lost magic is like?

“I’ll take you down!”

Natsu, like a crouching leopard, sprang up, his feet stomping the ground, and he charged forward.

The flames on his body formed a long tail, making him look like a flaming meteor. As he charged, debris and dust flew in all directions, and the air temperature rose sharply, even making Noah’s face feel warm.

Amid the still lingering gasps of the crowd, the flaming meteor that was Natsu quickly approached Noah, with all the flames converging on his body, and he charged forward with a roar.

“Watch this! Fire Dragon’s Sword Horn——!”

The sudden surge in power made Natsu’s attack carry a strong, oppressive force, causing Noah’s expression to slowly tighten.

However, Noah had no intention of retreating.

His right hand lightly rested on the hilt of his sword, and he bent his body, like a lion ready to pounce. After a brief moment of stillness, he shot forward like an arrow, advancing to meet the charging flaming meteor.

“Haa——!”

With a cold shout, a dazzling sword light appeared in the middle of the arena, like a crescent moon, as if it could slice through space. Accompanied by a clear sword whistle, it clashed with the flaming meteor.

“Sss——!”

The expected intense collision did not occur.

The crescent moon-like sword light, like a mere illusion, passed through the flaming meteor, as if slicing through water, and disappeared at the end of the meteor’s tail.

After the sword light and the flaming meteor disappeared simultaneously, as if they had never existed, Noah remained in the position of resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, while Natsu maintained the posture of a crouching leopard about to spring, both lowering their heads, as if nothing had happened.

However, no one would believe that what just happened was an illusion.

Because the air still retained the high temperature, and the debris and dust in the arena had not yet settled.

Noah and Natsu had also swapped positions, now facing each other’s backs, completely opposite to their initial positions.

The crowd, all members of ‘Fairy Tail’, instinctively held their breath, making no additional sounds.

Makarov, Erza, and Gray also closely watched the two, their expressions tense, silently observing.

Not long after, the silence in the arena was broken.

“Ugh...” Natsu, facing away from Noah, groaned, his eyes circling as if he were drunk. His body swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

Noah then raised his head, released his hand from the hilt of his sword, turned his body, and looked at the fallen Natsu, giving Makarov, Erza, and Gray a ‘V’ sign.

“Clap, clap, clap, clap——!”

Everyone in the arena finally came to their senses, laughing and clapping loudly.

“Good job! Little Noah!”

“You’ve grown! What a powerful strike!”

“True to the master’s grandson, you’re different!”

All those present were mages of ‘Fairy Tail’, and even the weakest among them was stronger than Gray. Although not everyone knew what had just happened, most did.

When Natsu, in a burst of power, was about to land a strike far beyond his usual strength, Noah, with a speed that most in the arena could only see as a flash of sword light, quickly drew his sword, advanced instead of retreating, and struck Natsu’s abdomen as he passed by the flaming meteor, causing Natsu to lose consciousness.

From the fact that Noah still maintained the posture of drawing his sword after the strike, it was clear that he had sheathed his sword at the same speed.

All these factors combined to create the scene where the two had swapped positions, facing each other’s backs.

Of course, seeing that Natsu was only unconscious, Noah must have held back, not using the edge of his sword, otherwise Natsu would have at least been bleeding.

“This guy...” Gray couldn’t hide his shock.

“To secretly become so strong, he’s too cunning!”

Hearing Gray’s mutter, Makarov laughed heartily, turned his head, and looked at Erza.

“Sorry, Noah has been a bother to you.”

“Being able to have such outstanding sword skills is all due to Noah’s own efforts!” Erza shook her head, looking at Noah, who was now surrounded by the crowd, and smiled.

“Besides, I’ve also received a lot of help...”

Makarov nodded with a smile, his gaze turning to Noah, his expression gradually becoming gentle.

“Keep it up... my grandson...”