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It turns out that Zero's real name was Lyon.
Mira finally understood why Noah said there was a good show to watch; it turned out Gray knew the mastermind who was trying to unseal the demon Deliora.
She just didn't know what the relationship between Gray and Lyon was.
Despite being old acquaintances, they were incredibly hostile, as if they wanted to stab each other.
Are they enemies?
It doesn't seem like it...
Seeing Zero remove his hood, revealing that familiar yet somewhat strange face, Gray couldn't suppress his anger. "Lyon! Do you know what you're doing?!"
Casually tossing aside his hood, Lyon looked at Gray indifferently, his tone icy. "What am I doing? Haven't you seen it? Of course, I'm releasing Deliora."
"You're crazy! Ur sacrificed her life to seal Deliora, and you actually want to release it!"
Facing Gray's furious accusation, a hint of irritation appeared on Lyon's face. "Ur... You still have the nerve to mention Ur's name!"
"Gray! Ur was killed because of you! Instead of shamelessly living, why don't you just die!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Gray's pupils uncontrollably widened, and a chill quickly permeated his body. Although he practiced Ice-Make Magic and was long unafraid of cold, he stiffened in place as if frozen.
Just then, Lyon suddenly lunged forward, swinging his fist and smashing it into Gray's abdomen. Without using Magic, just a pure physical attack, that angry punch made Gray double over, spitting out a mouthful of sour liquid.
"If you hadn't impulsively provoked Deliora back then, Ur wouldn't have used Iced Shell to save you..."
Grabbing Gray by the collar and lifting him, Lyon's eyes held a complex emotion that was hard to describe. "And I wouldn't have lost another chance to prove that I can surpass my master... surpass Ur one day..."
"My foolish brother, you shouldn't have come."
Punch after punch landed on Gray's body, Lyon seemingly wanting to vent the resentment he had suppressed for years.
Gray didn't resist at all, letting Lyon hit him like a sandbag, as if only this could lessen his guilt.
With twists and turns, a rollercoaster of plot development, Mira and the others, who had become spectators, all widened their eyes, yet no one stepped forward to stop it.
Even Natsu, who usually couldn't stand to see his comrades bullied by outsiders, stopped to enjoy Gray's bruised and swollen face.
Anyone could see that although Lyon struck very hard, he deliberately avoided Gray's vital points, with no intention of taking his life.
Besides, it was just a beating.
Gray, who had been in Fairy Tail for nine years, was incredibly tough; a mere beating was commonplace for him.
Bang~
Grabbing Gray and throwing him forcefully, he slammed hard against the ice wall to the side. Lyon panted slightly, exhausted from the continuous outburst.
Gray wiped the blood from his face, slowly stood up, and brushed the ice shards from his clothes, speaking as if nothing had happened. "Lyon, if you've vented enough, stop."
He could still stand up.
Lyon frowned, surprised by Gray's physical resilience. Even a Mage would have been unable to endure such a beating, but this kid...
"Hmph, are you telling me what to do?!"
As his senior brother, Lyon would never allow himself to lose face in front of Gray.
Gray had expected such a response; he knew Lyon's personality too well, knowing his dream was to become a Mage who surpassed their master, Ur.
But Ur was already dead.
So Lyon wanted to release the demon that Ur had sealed with her life, then defeat it, to prove that his strength had surpassed Ur's.
But Gray would absolutely not allow Master Ur's final legacy to be destroyed, not just for the guilt in his heart, but also with the firm resolve to pull his senior brother, who had gone astray, back onto the right path.
"In that case, Lyon, your plan to release Deliora ends today."
"If you want to stop me, come do it yourself. You've long known the rules between us."
Lyon's right hand spread slightly, and a blue-white Magic circle radiating an icy chill rapidly expanded from his palm, with a large amount of ice crystals gathering within it, instantly shaping a giant ice bird.
"I knew you'd say that."
Gray stopped trying to persuade him, clenching his right fist into his left palm. A similar blue-white Ice-Make Magic circle appeared before him, and several ice spears condensed into shape.
The moment Ice-Make: Animals and Ice-Make: Weapons collided and shattered simultaneously, the battle between these fellow disciples truly began.
The Magic circle glowed, and with a wave of Lyon's single hand, several ice eagles condensed from ice immediately flew out, swooping towards Gray from multiple directions.
Gray calmly clapped his hands together, and a several-meter-long ice hammer was suddenly shaped, smashing the flock of ice eagles into ice shards with one blow.
"Are you still insisting on single-handed casting? Ur told you long ago that Magic cast that way is unstable, didn't she?"
"Hmph! My ability has long surpassed Ur's; I can still condense the most perfect shapes with one hand!"
Lyon extended his right hand upwards, and from the Magic circle expanding from his palm, the Magic was completed almost instantly.
A giant ice ape suddenly leaped into the air, crashing down heavily towards Gray, while several ice birds formed, interfering with Gray's countermeasures.
Gray stomped hard, and the ice flowers that burst from his shoe soles were condensed into an arc-shaped shield in mid-air by Magic, intercepting the charging ice birds.
From the fissures in the cracked ice surface beneath his feet, biting cold air surged forth, and a crystal ice wall, stretching over ten meters, suddenly appeared, passing through Gray like a spring and giving the ice ape a chilling blow.
Before the bursting ice crystal fragments could even land, Lyon's killing move had already arrived. A swirling Ice-Make flying dragon spewed its breath, weaving into a blizzard vortex that enveloped Gray.
However, Gray sealed himself within a thick ice coffin, seizing the opportunity to blast apart the ice dragon with an ice cannon.
Strong bows shooting fierce tigers, ice axes battling jackals, ice prisons trapping leopards, fishing nets ensnaring flocks of birds... Fifteen minutes of high-intensity combat, with an endless variety of Ice-Make techniques dazzling the eyes, and the fierce back-and-forth between the senior and junior brothers was incredibly satisfying.
The only drawback was that both knew each other too well, and their understanding of Ice-Make and Magic Power were quite similar, leading to nearly twenty minutes of fighting without a clear victor.
They were both taught by the same master; they couldn't break each other's moves.
Lyon's expression turned somewhat grim. His proud single-handed casting hadn't been able to defeat Gray for so long, making him doubt whether his casting philosophy was truly wrong.
Seeing this, Gray, however, smiled. "Warm-up complete, Lyon. Be careful, I'm going all out."
Warm-up? All out?
Lyon sneered inwardly, assuming Gray was just talking tough.
However, when he cast Magic to attack Gray again, what he saw was Gray's ice blades, wrapped in wisps of dark black luster, chopping his animal shapes into pieces as if cutting melons and vegetables.
Evenly matched? Then use moves other than the master's!