Tutu Maru casually swung his katana, and crimson flames ignited the blade, carving scorched furrows into the ground. "Do you want to join Phantom Lord? We're in need of some biting stray dogs."
Gajeel's lips curled into a sneer, and an iron-blue metallic sheen spread from his cheeks to his neck, faintly forming a pattern resembling dragon scales. "Who are you calling a dog?"
The last word still trembled in the air as the young man burst forward, a mere afterimage.
Iron sand exploded from the ground like buckshot, and he snatched up a black iron mace from the ground, swinging it with a whoosh towards his enemy's face.
The crimson flames suddenly surged!
Tutu Maru's katana blazed with fire, and a giant fire serpent materialized, roaring as it coiled around the mace.
Gajeel smelled his hair burning, and the muscles beneath his iron scales suddenly swelled.
The mace forcefully dragged the fire serpent, swinging in a half-moon arc, sweeping the orc corpses on the ground towards his enemy.
"Iron Dragon's Lance!"
The corpses flying through the air suddenly disintegrated, and hundreds of gleaming iron nails burst forth from their flesh.
Tutu Maru's pupils constricted, and his blade rapidly drew a circle, forming a crystal wall of orange flames that barely blocked the metallic storm.
Clink, clink, clink, clink!
The sound of iron nails hitting the crystal wall was as dense as rain.
Gajeel shattered the ground the instant he landed, his iron-blue covered right fist slamming into the crystal wall.
Spiderweb-like cracks instantly spread, and the young man's bloodshot eyes met his enemy's through the cracks. "Shatter for this great master!"
The orange crystal wall exploded into a sky full of fiery rain.
Tutu Maru retreated three steps, his katana suddenly glowing with silent, pale blue flames.
Gajeel was about to give chase when frost suddenly condensed beneath his feet—the pale blue flames on Tutu Maru's blade were emitting a bone-chilling cold!
"Ice Flame: Thousand Cherry Blossoms!"
With a light flick of his blade, thousands of ice crystal flames drifted down like cherry blossoms.
Gajeel's iron-blue skin instantly frosted over, and his movements visibly slowed.
Tutu Maru seized the opportunity to rush forward, his katana's back igniting with purple, lightning-wrapped flames, striking the young man's ribs.
Bang!
Gajeel spat out a mouthful of iron-blue blood mist, his body crashing through the city wall before he stopped.
Smoke and dust billowed, and the sound of metal chewing came from the ruins.
A defiant figure strode out, the young man tearing open his shirt, chewing on fragments of the black iron mace, the dent in his chest being repaired by flowing iron liquid.
Gajeel's entire body had turned iron-blue, with dragon-scale-like patterns covering him.
"Now that's more like it." He spat out the iron slag from his mouth, and iron sand rapidly spun in his palm. "Continue!"
The iron sand vortex in Gajeel's palm condensed into a three-meter-long spiral drill, and the iron nails remaining on the ground suddenly all floated up, emitting a bloodthirsty hum.
"Iron Dragon's Crushing Fang!"
Thousands of iron nails, wrapped in spiral iron sand, formed a steel tornado, pulverizing the remaining corpses on the ground in its path.
Tutu Maru's haori flapped in the strong wind, and he suddenly plunged his katana into the ground. "Seven-Layer Flame Boundary!"
Crimson, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple flames erupted from the tsuba, forming seven circular barriers in front of him.
The moment the first crimson fire wall collided with the steel tornado, the entire battlefield lit up with dazzling light.
Molten iron and exploding flowing fire wove into a golden-red net in the air, and the second orange crystal wall already rippled.
Gajeel's dragon-scale skin was scorched crimson by the high temperature, but his grin widened.
He suddenly spread his arms, and all the swords and blades left on the nearby battlefield flew into the air, assembling behind him into two five-meter-wide steel wings.
"Iron Dragon's Wing Attack!"
The metal wings flapped, and the molten iron suddenly solidified into a black rain of spikes.
The third yellow flame boundary shattered in response, and the fourth green flame, like a living thing, coiled around the iron wings.
Gajeel suddenly felt his magic stagnate—those emerald flames were corroding his metal!
Tutu Maru's blade flickered eerily amidst the seven-colored flames. "These are acidic flames!"
"Petty tricks!" Gajeel roared, and the iron wings on his back actively disintegrated, the scattered iron fragments in front of him coalescing into a spinning vortex.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
A metal torrent, compressed to its extreme, burst forth, shattering five layers of flame boundaries in its path.
Tutu Maru's pupils shrunk to pinpricks, the seventh layer of purple lightning flame wrapped around him, and he teleported a hundred meters away like a flash of lightning.
The spot where he had stood was ploughed by the metal torrent into a ten-meter-deep trench, the molten rock layers glowing a dark red.
"Too slow." A cold voice suddenly sounded behind Tutu Maru.
Gajeel materialized from the metal torrent, his right arm already transformed into a greatsword covered in serrations, delivering a horizontal slash: "Iron Dragon's Sword!"
Tutu Maru raised his katana to block behind him, the crimson flames on the blade churning and burning, actually taking the blow head-on.
Swords clashed, and both retreated several steps, facing each other from a distance.
Tutu Maru flicked his blade to shed blood, the crimson flames on the blade extinguished, and the mirror-like blade, reflecting a cold light, lay before him.
Gajeel's right hand returned to normal, and a slight sweat beaded on his forehead; he had been guarding outside Minotaur City for two and a half days.
Although the area was remote and not many orcs invaded here, they were all scattered escapees from other war zones. However, inside the city, apart from the underpowered defense force, only he remained.
Two consecutive days of solo combat against orcs wasn't difficult, but enduring sleeplessly until now, Gajeel's body was also nearing its limit.
Tutu Maru suddenly sheathed his katana.
The battlefield instantly fell silent, and crimson, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple flames appeared out of thin air, slowly circulating around him.
"Master Jose arranged for me to support here. Although you took care of it first, making my mission fail before it even started, he should be very happy if I bring you back, right?"
"I'll give you one last chance."
The katana was drawn again, and the seven-colored flames successively attached to the blade. "Will you come with me willingly, or will I knock you out and take you back to the guild?"
His answer was a towering tornado of iron sand.
Gajeel stood at the center of the storm, his full-body steel dragon scales becoming even clearer, and an iron-gray magic formed a swirling vortex gathering towards his mouth. "Iron Dragon's..."
"Roar!"
A breath composed of countless condensed iron sand particles spewed forth, accompanied by a deep, majestic dragon's roar.
"Stubborn." Tutu Maru sighed and unleashed a slash.
The seven-colored flames transformed into a forty-meter rainbow light sword, cleaving through the dragon's breath. Where it passed, the ground cracked and rocks vaporized.
The brilliant sword light gradually magnified in his vision, and the scorching sensation surged from his nostrils into his lungs. Gajeel had no time to dodge.
At the critical moment, the sky suddenly darkened.
A mournful wolf howl echoed across the sky, dense dark clouds obscured the heavens, and in the churning clouds, a massive black wolf head appeared, its crimson eyes filled with primal malice and ferocity, opening its large mouth to unleash a black light.
A highly condensed beam of dark energy, compressed into a light ray, instantly traversed a thousand meters, arriving later but striking the sword light first.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion reverberated, the black light and sword light dissipated together, and a strong energy shockwave spread out in a ring. Gajeel, being the closest, was directly thrown back, once again hitting the city wall.
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