The Grand Magic Games had reached their final stage—its most intense phase yet.
Four enormous screens around the arena broadcasted the battles taking place across the battlefield. Disguised as Pumpkinhead, the King himself gave a spirited commentary on the matches.
"This is absolutely astonishing! Just ten minutes into the final, Raven Tail has already been completely eliminated! The ones who took them out were none other than Fairy Tail's Stinger and Rogue. As expected of the new generation Twin Dragons—what a promising show they're putting on! Stella is also incredibly active. Mermaid Heel has only their captain left now. Kagura is in trouble—she's encountered the main force of Quatro Cerberus. Let's all keep our eyes on how she'll respond!"
Though Pumpkinhead's narration was full of enthusiasm, the audience's attention remained firmly fixed on the massive brawl among the four leading guilds.
Jura extended his arm, sending a massive stone pillar crashing toward the midair combatants Minerva and Ren.
Minerva, seemingly unaware, made no attempt to dodge. But just as the stone pillar was about to strike her, Minerva in the air suddenly transformed into Jura.
Through a spatial swap, Minerva had placed Jura in the worst possible position—behind him loomed the incoming stone pillar, while ahead Ren had just launched an air blast at full power.
But Jura was no ordinary mage—he was one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and his control over magic defied imagination. With a wave of his arm, the stone pillar, hard as steel, bent like putty behind him and deflected Ren's attack.
Minerva frowned. She hadn't expected a Saint-level mage to be so difficult to handle. Even in that precarious situation, he resolved the crisis with ease.
The real problem was that Lyon had locked onto her—he drove down with an Ice Giant Ape, slamming its fist toward her.
Though Minerva's spatial magic lacked offensive bite, it excelled in defense.
The giant ape's punch froze midair, blocked by a spatial barrier Minerva had summoned.
But Lyon didn't let up. The ice ape furiously attacked, forcing Minerva to retreat several steps.
At this point, Minerva couldn't count on Rufus or Orga to help her—those two were in even more dire straits. After all, their opponent was the fearsome Charles.
"Violent Thunder Strike!"
Orga's arms crackled with black lightning as he hurled a punch at Charles.
Charles raised his hand and caught the fist directly, the black lightning spreading across his arm.
Orga's eyes widened in shock. He never imagined anyone could take on his God Slayer magic's black lightning head-on.
God Slayer Magic, a Lost Magic like Dragon Slayer Magic, was considered even more overbearing. Dragon Slayers couldn't even consume God Slayer magic as they did other elements.
Until now, Orga had never encountered someone who could tank his attacks so easily.
But to Charles, this was nothing—nowhere near Laxus's level.
In the end, a spell's power ultimately depended on the caster. If this had been Laxus's punch, Charles might've had to take it more seriously.
Just as Charles was about to counterattack, his body suddenly grew heavy, blinding light pressing down on him.
"Memory Make Magic: Descent of the Ancient Sage!"
A dual-element spell—light and gravity—this was support fire from Rufus.
Gray once said that molding magic was the freest form of magic. While a bit self-promotional, it wasn't entirely wrong.
If a mage's imagination and magical capacity were strong enough, the possibilities with molding magic were endless.
Rufus's Memory Make was even more exceptional—he could ignore elemental restrictions, reproducing objects or spells from his memories.
Not only that, he could fuse or reinterpret various spells to create completely new ones, giving him a virtually limitless arsenal.
This compound spell of light and gravity was powerful enough to interrupt Charles's movements.
Orga used the opportunity to retreat and gather black lightning in his hands.
"Raijin's Charged Particle Cannon!"
But just before the torrent of black lightning struck, Orga realized something: Charles had disappeared.
Instinctively, Orga went on full alert, fearing Charles had moved in close to land a crushing blow.
He looked around—but didn't see Charles nearby.
Then it hit him. He shouted, "Rufus, watch out!"
Rufus's pupils contracted—he too realized that Charles had never targeted Orga, but him.
Yet at that moment, someone appeared in front of Charles—someone who shouldn't have been there.
Natsu appeared in Rufus's position, and Charles instinctively stopped his punch. But a second later, the image of Natsu dissolved like mist into thin air.
Charles pressed his lips together. He hadn't sensed anything off about that Natsu at all—it had felt completely real.
He'd almost forgotten: Rufus's magic could not only recreate his own memories—it could manipulate the memories of his opponents.
That Natsu had been a projection from Charles's own memory—making it indistinguishable to him.
"You're not half bad," Charles muttered as he turned to face Rufus, who had now regrouped with Orga.
Rufus felt a chill down his spine. "He's terrifyingly strong. I'd really rather not remember this…"
Orga grunted, "Cut the crap. You wanna disappoint Jiemma, huh?"
Charles knew these two were just trying to vent some pressure—but they really were underestimating him.
"Here he comes!" ×2
They shouted in unison—but Charles had already closed the distance like he'd teleported.
"Fire Dragon's Claw!"
Charles's leg crashed down, splitting the earth and turning the ground into molten lava.
As Orga was thrown into the air, he compressed the black lightning in his hands into a beam attack—"120mm Black Thunder Cannon!"
Charles drew his arm back like a bowstring and released a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist.
The beam of black lightning was instantly shattered by the flames, dispersing into arcs of dark electricity dancing through the firestorm.
"Shining Thunder Blades!"
Suddenly, a burly warrior wielding twin axes crackling with electricity appeared in front of Charles.
He swung one of the massive blades, sending gales powerful enough to blow away the sea of fire.
"In my way."
Charles muttered, ducking under the strike and punching straight through the warrior's chest.
The man was just a construct made from magic—Charles's flames shattered him into mana particles.
As he closed in on Orga and Rufus, massive boulders rained down from above.
Charles weaved and dodged through several of them, then smashed the last one to pieces with a punch.
Turning his head, he saw Jura holding Ren by the collar. Ivan lay unconscious behind him.
Blue Pegasus had been eliminated—Lamia Scale claimed two points.
Meanwhile, Lyon and Minerva had reached a stalemate. Neither could overcome the other and both had retreated to join Jura.
Charles exhaled and glanced at the scoreboard above. Thanks to the efforts of his teammates, Fairy Tail's score had now soared to a staggering 105 points.
Other guilds had also increased their scores, but aside from the few still standing—and the hiding Raven Tail—there were no more points left on the field.
Charles cracked his knuckles and said, "Let's finish this up. We shouldn't keep them waiting."
As he spoke, he activated Dragon King's Martial Form. The shift in Charles's aura was immediate—so overwhelming that everyone around felt a surge of fear and awe.
"He wasn't even using full strength until now? This guy's a monster!"
Minerva, raised under her father's doctrine of the strong, finally understood what true overwhelming power looked like.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]