"Iron Dragon's Rods!"
On the arena stage, Gajeel stretched out both hands as several long, thick iron rods were launched, smashing straight toward Moen.
"An Iron Dragon?"
Moen casually slapped aside several iron rods, thinking to himself that this attribute didn't seem particularly strong. If it was just "iron," then its upper limit didn't look very high.
Of course, it was still more than enough to deal with ordinary mages. The actual power of magic was highly tied to magic power, and Dragon Slayers, if nothing else, far surpassed ordinary mages when it came to magic power alone.
"How is that possible?!"
Seeing Moen swat down the iron rods he had fired as if brushing away mosquitoes, Gajeel couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"If you've got any other abilities, feel free to show them off. This is also a great chance to make a name for yourself. Who knows, you might even earn yourself the title of Iron Dragon."
Moen stood on the arena with a very relaxed demeanor as he spoke to Gajeel. By now, quite a few reporters had already gathered around, and today's battle would definitely spread quickly.
These reporters hadn't known that Moen would be returning today. They had been waiting here all along, so long as the people from Phantom Lord didn't leave, these reporters would keep watching.
For news this big, they absolutely had to stay here to get firsthand information.
"Damn it!"
Moen's disdain was obvious, and Gajeel instantly saw red. His right arm underwent a change, transforming into a chainsaw sword.
The iron teeth of the chainsaw sword spun as Gajeel charged straight at Moen. He raised the chainsaw sword high and slashed down viciously at Moen, clearly aiming to cut Moen's body in half. This kid really struck hard, with no sense of restraint at all.
"Boom!!!"
In the blink of an eye, Gajeel's figure was sent flying backward, landing at the edge of the arena. Totomaru looked toward the child—Gajeel's right arm was directly broken, his body hunched over, his eyes bulging forward, his body continuously twitching as if he had suffered a severe blow.
"The gap is too big. You can't even tell how strong that guy really is."
Totomaru let out a sigh. He wasn't worried about Gajeel at all, he even felt that letting Gajeel suffer a bit was a good thing. This kid had been spoiled too much, and the guild master had given him far too much leniency.
"Gajeel! Don't give up!"
Sol shouted from the side, trying to encourage Gajeel.
Totomaru glanced at Sol, a hint of disgust in his eyes. He genuinely disliked Sol. This guy pretended to be a gentleman on the surface, but in reality, he was extremely disgusting.
Compared to someone like that, a true villain who didn't even bother pretending could at least be praised for being honest.
"."
Gajeel felt like he was going to die.
His entire body hurt, as if he had been poisoned.
"This was only the first needle."
Moen's voice rang out, like a devil's whisper.
Enduring the pain, Gajeel clenched his teeth and struggled to climb back up. His right arm was fractured and had been punched clean through, leaving a bloody hole that kept bleeding. His gaze locked onto Moen's outstretched right index finger, the thing that had hit him was nothing more than that single finger!
In fact, Moen had already held back. Otherwise, this guy's arm would've been shattered completely, not merely fractured.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
Enduring the intense pain all over his body, Gajeel puffed out his cheeks and opened his mouth, about to spew out a storm of iron fragments. His Iron Dragon breath was extremely powerful—within the silver-colored magic breath was a mass of shattered iron. An ordinary person hit by that breath would basically be torn to pieces.
"Buzz!"
However, before Gajeel could even release his breath, a crimson magic sphere had already been fired at him once again.
"Boom!"
The crimson poison needle pierced into Gajeel's body, instantly sending him flying backward again. The breath he had been holding got stuck in his throat, nearly choking him.
"AAAAAH!!!"
With two crimson poison needles embedded in his body, Gajeel rolled on the ground in agony. For a child, this kind of torment was truly hard to endure.
At this moment, the way Gajeel looked at Moen was slowly changing.
At first, he had been eager, wanting to step on Moen to make a name for himself.
But now, fear had completely filled his heart. The bone-piercing pain, the numbing of his nerves, it made him feel like his body was slipping out of his control, as if he could die at any moment.
"You hit pretty hard, with no sense of restraint. You deserve to be taught a lesson."
Looking at Gajeel, Moen's tone was calm. He stood in place, never moving his feet from beginning to end, having only extended a single finger.
Beneath the sharp crimson fingernail, a cluster of crimson magic condensed. This was the third needle. Under Gajeel's terrified gaze, the light sphere shot out, arriving in an instant and once again piercing into Gajeel's body.
"Boom!"
This time, Gajeel was blasted directly out of the arena. The victor was decided. The once-arrogant Gajeel hadn't even managed to make Moen take a single step, yet he himself had already been beaten into screaming misery.
"AAAAAH!!!"
Although he had been knocked out of the arena, with three crimson poison needles embedded in his body, Gajeel was naturally in extreme pain and continued screaming beneath the stage.
"Ohhh! He won!"
Echoing Gajeel's screams was the roar of cheers from the audience.
Seeing Gajeel defeated so cleanly and decisively, the spectators finally vented their pent-up anger. When Macao had been beaten into a miserable state earlier, hadn't these Phantom Lord guys been pretty smug?
Go on, laugh. Why aren't you laughing now? Were you born without the ability to smile?
"."
Totomaru, Sol, and Aria looked at one another, all of them hesitating for a moment. Moen's move was simply too bizarre.
Judging by Gajeel's miserable state, the three of them couldn't tell whether Gajeel was just too weak, or whether Moen's strength was simply too overwhelming.
"Sol, you go."
Aria spoke up. Even though his eyes were covered, he was extremely calculating, clearly determined to be the last one to step up.
"...Fine."
Sol's mouth twitched, but he didn't dare say anything. Among the Three Elements, Aria was the leader, and if he told Sol to take the lead, Sol had no choice but to go.
"Gajeel's condition..."
Seeing Gajeel rolling on the ground, bleeding nonstop, Totomaru felt a bit unwilling to watch any longer. He looked toward Aria at the side.
"What a pity. I need to conserve my magic power."
Aria said sorrowfully, tears streaming down his face, yet his tone was eerily calm, as if he didn't care at all about the wailing Gajeel on the ground.
"."
Totomaru choked back his words. He personally went over to restrain Gajeel and tried to probe the situation inside his body.
Then Totomaru froze. Three crimson poison needles formed of magic were lodged inside Gajeel's body, continuously emitting strange magic. That magic rampaged through Gajeel's body, attacking and stimulating him while numbing his nerves.
"You'll need powerful magic to force these poison needles out of his body, or directly destroy them with magic."
Totomaru came to a conclusion, but there was nothing he could do to help. He wasn't skilled in healing magic, nor could he inject magic into Gajeel's body. All of that required specialized methods.
On the arena, Moen didn't bother with Gajeel anymore. He planned to torment that kid a bit longer—only after he'd learned his lesson would Moen help remove the three poison needles. That kid really deserved to be disciplined.
"So you're the second one to fight? Have you decided? Right now it's one-to-one, of course, my personal record is one-to-zero."
Looking at Sol stepping onto the stage, Moen spoke with a smile.
He raised a single finger, indicating that the current score was one to zero.
Sol's gaze fell on the finger Moen had raised, the one with the crimson-colored nail, and he couldn't help swallowing nervously.
He was feeling pretty insecure right now, mainly because he couldn't gauge the strength of Moen's technique. This was exactly the oppressive pressure brought by unfamiliar magic.
Moen's magic was simply far too novel for mages, it had never been seen before, and they hadn't even heard of it.
For example, this magic was completely different from the roses earlier. They had absolutely no idea how to deal with it.
Magic power surged around Sol as he began activating his ability.
Then, his eyes suddenly widened. He discovered that Moen had no psychological weaknesses at all. This was one of Sol's spells, allowing him to read the memories a target regretted or blamed themselves for the most.
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