Sol's magic could barely be called mind-reading. Strictly speaking, it wasn't, because it only targeted the sins of regret and self-blame buried within a person's heart.
He could make that regret surge violently within the opponent. To put it bluntly, after reading their heart, he would verbally attack them nonstop, grabbing onto their psychological weaknesses and hammering them relentlessly with words.
As one of the "Three Elements," representing "Earth" and the earth element, Sol naturally used earth-element magic. This spell was actually a derivative of his earth magic, a very unconventional extension of it.
"That's impossible, right?! Having absolutely nothing to regret—"
Sol was shocked. He believed his magic must have malfunctioned. As expected, reading without physical contact was still difficult to make work.
Unfortunately for him, trying to find regret within Moen's heart was destined to be futile.
Having grown up under the care of the Fairy Tail family, Moen, raised as Fairy Tail's beloved child, truly had nothing that could be called a psychological weakness. As for his previous life, he had long accepted the reality that he could never return, so there was nothing left to agonize over.
"Buzz!"
Sol's figure vanished, directly merging into the ground. This arena had been constructed by him; the arena floor was ordinary soil, precisely so he could conveniently use earth magic.
After disappearing, Sol suddenly burst out from behind Moen, throwing a kick to test him first.
"Bang!"
Azure Saint Cloth armor spread over Moen's arm as he channeled magic to block the attack. He had acted flashy against Gajeel, but when facing a somewhat well-known veteran mage, Moen would not be careless. Anyone who had gained fame had some real methods—underestimating others always came at a price.
"Hiss!"
Sol sucked in a sharp breath. A burst of pain shot through his leg bone. His kick had struck Moen's Bronze Saint Cloth, and it hurt even more than kicking an iron plate.
"Buzz!"
Without any hesitation, Sol immediately burrowed back underground, widening the distance between them. The test result was clear—close combat was completely impossible. Moen's armor was outright cheating.
Sol widened the distance and suddenly slammed his hands together.
"Rumble!"
The ground surged violently. Countless chunks of earth and stone flew up, wrapped in magic as they hurtled toward Moen at high speed.
At the same time, dust began to billow across the field, blinding eyes. The spectators around the arena retreated one after another, thinking that a famous mage really was on another level, this fight had barely started, yet the scale was already huge.
Amid the dust-filled arena, Moen, who had been standing in the center, leapt straight to a corner. Without hesitation, he began bombarding the field—indiscriminate, all-directional coverage, fists surging like a stampede of ten thousand horses.
"Pegasus… Meteor Fist!"
As Moen's magic erupted, countless fist shadows slammed down. The dust filling the sky was blown away entirely, and the arena floor looked as though it had been plowed over, smashed into pits everywhere.
"Cough!"
Sol burst out of the ground, coughing violently, blood tinting the corner of his mouth. His body trembled, barely able to stand. He had taken several solid hits from Moen earlier. Originally, he planned to ambush Moen while he was blinded by dust, but he never imagined Moen would directly plow the ground with Pegasus Meteor Fist.
What kind of magic is this now?! Why does this guy have so many tricks?!
Sol wailed internally. Their understanding of Moen's methods was clearly insufficient. They only knew that Moen possessed a terrifying "Rose" technique and could use ice magic, things reported in newspapers and demonstrated at the regular council hall.
"Your moves are pretty dirty."
Sol complained, and looking at Sol, Moen couldn't help but complain back.
Of course, there was nothing really wrong with it. Sol's use of magic was undeniably very "practical."
This tactic—kicking up dust first, then rapidly moving underground for a sneak attack like a mole—could absolutely take down many mages.
Most mages would easily fall for Sol's three-step routine. Why had the "throwing lime" tactic endured for so long?
Because it was practical and effective. Though not exactly honorable, only the winner had the right to speak.
Unfortunately, the one Sol encountered was Moen.
Constantly traveling, fighting, and battling all kinds of magical beasts, Moen had accumulated extremely rich combat experience.
He made the correct decision instantly, completely dismantling Sol's foolproof strategy.
"Brother Moen is getting stronger and stronger."
Outside the arena, Natsu and Gray watched Moen tear up the arena in a single move, their eyes filled with longing.
"The Three Elements really aren't Moen's opponents."
Erza let out a breath of relief. Their worry had indeed been unnecessary.
Thinking about it, if Moen wasn't confident in his strength, how could he possibly have taken the initiative to face the Three Elements?
Erza's expression was complicated. Moen was advancing faster and faster; even these famous mages were no longer able to do anything to him.
As for Moen's earlier battle with Gajeel, nobody was worried at all.
After all, Gajeel had fought Natsu to a standstill. Once he faced Moen, the outcome was obviously being casually suppressed.
And that was exactly how it turned out. Gajeel couldn't even stir up a ripple, completely crushed one-sidedly by Moen with a single finger.
Those deeply shaken by this result weren't limited to the Gajeel still writhing in pain—Natsu was shaken as well.
This battle made him clearly realize the gap between himself and Moen. Even if he went all out, he would still be casually suppressed.
Before, people kept saying Moen defeated Jose Porla, but the kids hadn't been there. Without witnessing the battle firsthand, there was no real sense of scale—just knowing it was amazing. That was nothing compared to seeing Moen fight in person.
"Rumble!"
The earth roared, drawing everyone's attention back again. His usual moves were no longer effective, so Sol prepared to gamble everything on a big move.
Countless stone pillars shot into the air, blotting out the sky, and then smashed down toward Moen. The coverage area was extremely wide, causing everyone from Fairy Tail to curse aloud as they immediately deployed defensive magic to protect the citizens of Magnolia who might be affected.
"Huff~"
Moen's gaze sharpened. He let out a long breath as starlight flowed across his body. Behind him, three stellar charts emerged. He spread his arms wide, like a swan spreading its wings to take flight.
"Diamond dust Fist!"
With a single punch, frost swept across the sky.
Sol's countless stone pillars were instantly frozen solid, stopping midair as if the pause button had been pressed, before crashing back down to the ground and shattering into ice fragments everywhere.
The icy fist wind then swept toward Sol, whose face was filled with shock. This member of the Three Elements, known as "Earth," stood completely frozen in place.
He did not even have time to use magic to defend himself, because his magic power was already running low. He was never the type with abundant magic power to begin with; otherwise, he would not have taken a different path by researching alternative combat methods.
Thinking about it, that made sense. If one had extremely abundant magic power, direct suppression would be enough—why bother tinkering with so many messy tricks?
"Hah!"
Just as the biting frost fist wind was about to engulf Sol, Totomaru made his move. He fired several clusters of flames in an attempt to save Sol. He held nothing back, unleashing flames of various colors. When it came to Moen, he no longer dared to underestimate him in the slightest.
Now that he thought about it, Moen truly had the confidence to tell the three of them to attack together. There was no choice but to accept it—this guy was a real monster!
However, Totomaru's seven-colored flames had no effect at all before the frost. They were directly suppressed and extinguished by the icy wind.
"Crack, crack, crack."
Sol's terrified expression was frozen by the frost, his movements completely locked in place, stuck in an awkward posture as if he had been trying to turn and flee.
"Sol!"
Totomaru shouted, his eyes filled with shock—shock that his flames had been crushed so easily!
Fire versus frost—by elemental logic, the advantage should have been mine!
"This is troublesome."
Aria let out a sigh, tears flowing faster and faster.
"All right, two to zero. Next."
Moen, clad in deep-blue holy attire, looked at Totomaru and Aria with a smile on his face. He raised his index finger and beckoned at the two of them.
Totomaru fell silent. He knew it was his turn, but that brief exchange had already shown his fate. He had no way to deal with this man. His flames were strong but not strong enough, at least not enough to defeat this man's ice.
"Go on, Totomaru."
Aria spoke, his words devoid of emotion.
Totomaru understood what Aria meant, he was being told to go and consume some of Moen's magic power. Suddenly, he felt a bit fed up.
"Phantom Lord…"
Totomaru sighed, then walked directly to Sol's ice sculpture. Sol was not dead, merely frozen within it.
Although Moen's attacks looked merciless—Gajeel was still howling in pain, and Sol was frozen solid, they were at least not in immediate danger of dying from it.
Totomaru bowed to Moen, then carried Sol's ice sculpture back to Aria's side and carefully set it down. After all, they were colleagues, he could not just watch Sol get shattered by stray damage.
"I concede. You are indeed very strong. I am not your opponent."
After doing this, Totomaru spoke directly.
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