Chapter 164: The Duel Begins
"I've taught her, but with Cana's current magic power, she can only use it once before she's empty. And her control is terrible; she can't even regulate the spell's power. If she could, she'd be able to save a lot of magic."
Gildarts had a conflicted look on his face. Noah, hearing this, looked at him, completely speechless. "You have the nerve to say Cana's control is bad? Isn't your own control even worse? Who do you think the 'Gildarts Shift' in Magnolia was created for?"
"Hahahahaha..." Gildarts just laughed awkwardly.
Noah waited until he had finished before saying, "I want to learn Crash magic from you, too."
"Oh? Haven't you already learned a lot of magic?" Gildarts looked at him, surprised.
Noah just shrugged. "You know I'm interested in all kinds of magic. I didn't ask you before because my strength was insufficient, and I wasn't suited to learn your magic. Now that I've gotten stronger, of course I'm interested."
"Alright then. Come to my house later, I'll teach you."
"Okay, I'll head over in a bit."
"Master, I'm going to head home and rest now."
"Mhm."
Gildarts turned to leave. He walked over to Cana, pulled her into a hug, and started rubbing his face against hers. "Cana-chan, Daddy's going home now. Do you want to come with me?"
Cana pushed his face away with all her might. "I'm not going back now. I'll go back later."
Having been pushed away, Gildarts left her and walked towards the guild doors. "Then remember to come home early."
"I know."
Erza, who was standing nearby, said to the exasperated Cana, "Gildarts really loves you."
"He does," Cana said, "though it can be a little troublesome sometimes." Although she complained, the happy look on her face revealed her true feelings.
Erza, Sorano, and the others all looked at Cana with envy. It was a sad fact that among them, only Ultear's parent was still around; all the others had lost both of theirs. Cana, turning, noticed their expressions and realized her words had brought up their painful memories. She didn't know how to change the subject, but just then, Noah walked over.
"Tell us about your adventures with Gildarts," he said.
Cana gave him a grateful look and began to recount the things she and her father had encountered. Natsu, Gray, and the others also ran over to listen, and the atmosphere quickly became lively again.
Over the next few days, Noah went to Gildarts' house to learn the Grand Magic of Destruction: Crash. This magic, which possessed power far greater than ordinary spells, was known as a Grand Magic, and only those with exceptionally strong magic power could use it. For Gildarts to be able to use it as if it were a normal spell just showed how powerful he was.
Grand Magic was not only powerful, but also much more difficult to learn than ordinary magic. However, the current Noah, both in terms of his knowledge reserves and the quality and quantity of his magic power, was on a completely different level than before. He learned Crash magic very quickly.
Just as he had finished, Laxus and the other guild members who had been out on requests all hurried back to the guild after receiving the notification. On this day, the last member returned. Seeing that everyone was ready, Noah locked the guild doors and teleported the entire guild out over the open sea.
"Waahhh!!!"
In the blink of an eye, they found themselves high above the ocean, with an endless expanse of blue waves below them and nowhere to stand. Wendy, Yukino, and the other younger members all screamed in terror. The others, like Erza and Ultear, were much calmer. They either had the ability to stand on the sea's surface or they trusted Noah, believing he wouldn't bring them here without a plan.
"Ice-Make: Ice Age!"
With Noah at the center, the sea rapidly began to freeze, the ice spreading outwards in all directions. By the time their feet touched the surface, a vast area of the ocean around them had been frozen into a thick sheet of ice.
Some of the more lightly dressed guild members couldn't help but shiver from the cold. Seeing this, Noah raised a hand.
"Enchantment: All-Attribute Resistance Up!"
"Enchantment: Total Physical Ability Up!"
"Enchantment: Five Senses Enhancement!"
"Enchantment: Balance Enhancement!"
A series of enchantments fell upon the guild members, and they all instantly felt much stronger.
"Whoa! I feel so much stronger!" Natsu leaped up from the ice, throwing a few punches at the air and jumping a couple of times, his face full of excitement. "And I'm not dizzy anymore! I feel great!"
The moment he had landed on the ice, Natsu had started to feel sick and had collapsed. Noah, seeing this, knew it was because his Dragon Slayer magic had reached a certain level. The motion sickness that all powerful Dragon Slayers experienced was beginning to appear in him. This situation had appeared in another, even stronger Dragon Slayer a long time ago. Thinking of this, Noah turned his head in another direction.
Laxus was glaring at him, a look on his face that said, If you dare say a word, I'll kill you. Noah just gave him a brilliant smile, which made Laxus's face darken even more.
After Laxus had started showing signs of motion sickness, Noah had done a check-up. He had discovered that the organ responsible for his sense of balance had been damaged to some extent due to the dragonization process. But logically, this should have caused other symptoms, like an unsteady gait. Yet Laxus only got sick on vehicles. Noah couldn't figure out the reason for now and could only chalk it up to a special side effect of the magic. Since he couldn't solve the root cause, he could only study a temporary solution. He had discovered that by enchanting Laxus to enhance his sense of balance, he could prevent the motion sickness. Wendy's Troia magic had a similar effect, but it was temporary and its effectiveness diminished with repeated use.
"Alright, I've enhanced your five senses so you can see and hear our battle even from a distance. I'm going to send you all over there now," Noah said, looking at Makarov, who nodded. "Alright."
With a raise of his hand, everyone except for himself and Gildarts was teleported far away.
~~~
Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn