"Start—!!"
Happy darted between them, shouted the start, and flew back at once.
The second the signal hit, Erza charged in with her sword raised.
Kael stepped forward to meet her.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!!!
Steel screamed. Sparks snapped in the air. Their blades collided in a tight, brutal exchange—fast, clean, and perfectly timed.
For a moment, neither gained an inch.
Kael had worked hard on his swordsmanship these past six months. In his normal state, he avoided using Take Over. Relying on it for every small-time enemy would be pure overkill.
No need to use a rocket launcher to swat a fly.
Sun Breathing had pushed his body to the limit, and now he was in top condition. Add his five-and-a-half-star magic power, and even without Taking Over any anime character, his base combat power was only slightly below an S-Class wizard.
"So strong!!"
Lucy stared in shock. She couldn't even follow the swords.
Elfman crossed his arms. "Right? Amazing, isn't it?"
Natsu, already half-fired up, shouted, "I wanna fight too—!!!"
CLANG—!
One last collision—
—and they broke apart.
"As expected of Erza!"
Kael exhaled slowly. Erza really was a genius. He was still an amateur by comparison—six months of training didn't erase the gap in talent.
But he wasn't discouraged. He had understood this for a long time:
Not everyone starts from the same line.
Some people breeze through elite schools; others struggle just to pass. Some players hit Grandmaster in ranked, while others can't even break Platinum.
He wasn't a genius—just an ordinary person. He only learned Sun Breathing because he Took Over Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
But once he Took Over anime characters, genius became the baseline.
Every character he Took Over was a one-in-a-million monster.
"You're the one who's amazing," Erza said. "Reaching this level of swordsmanship in half a year is incredible."
Erza looked genuinely shaken. She knew Kael's power originally came from Take Over. She never expected that even without relying on it, he'd already reached the level of the guild's front-line fighters.
His improvement was unreal.
She had needed years—hard training, real battles, countless close calls—to reach her current level.
"It's time to get serious now, right?" Erza's eyes sharpened.
Kael nodded. "Right. Let's get serious."
"Full-Body Take Over: Yoriichi Tsugikuni!!"
The change hit instantly.
His hair lengthened and turned deep red, tied high. His outfit morphed into a samurai uniform with a red haori. A long sword rested steady in his hand.
His irises turned crimson. A mark etched itself across his forehead. Red hanafuda earrings swayed at his ears.
And the pressure—
It wasn't just "strong."
It was heavy. Clean. Dangerous.
Gulp.
The crowd swallowed without meaning to.
Most of them had only seen Kael transform once—when he defeated Erza in a single blow. That shock had never faded.
Kael was terrifying in other forms too, but Yoriichi was different. One glance felt like being exposed, like he could see straight through you.
Erza felt it the most.
"I can't believe it… Even after half a year, this feeling hasn't changed at all!"
"Requip: Flame Empress Armor!!"
Red armor snapped into place across Erza's body. She drew a blazing sword.
"The Flame Empress Armor!! The fire-resistant one!!"
Everyone recognized it.
Kael's mouth lifted slightly. "Do you think that armor can block my attack?"
"Of course not," Erza said plainly. "But it makes me feel a little safer."
She knew it couldn't truly stop him. Kael's strikes could break through an indestructible dragon's defense.
"Is that so? Then I'm starting."
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance!!"
Kael shot forward.
A fast, circular slash—clean and bright.
Erza raised her sword to meet it.
CLANG!
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"
He leapt, blade spinning in a wide overhead arc.
Erza braced and blocked, boots scraping the floor.
"Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun!"
His sword traced an infinity-shaped path—pressure coming from angles that were hard to read.
Erza's guard tightened.
Then—
"Sun Breathing, Eleventh Form: Fake Rainbow!"
Erza saw an opening and countered.
Her sword cut through Kael's body.
Too easy.
Afterimage.
Her eyes widened—too late realizing that "opening" was the bait.
"Sun Breathing, Tenth Form: Fire Wheel!"
Kael flipped through the air, sliding behind her in one smooth motion.
A curved slash aimed at her back—
Erza twisted away just in time.
"Sun Breathing, Fourth Form: Burning Bones, Summer Sun!"
A spiraling slash followed, relentless, driving pressure forward.
...
Kael attacked methodically, form after form. The speed was too much. Erza couldn't counter cleanly—she could only defend with everything she had.
"Sun Breathing, Twelfth Form: Flame Dance!"
Two consecutive semi-circular slashes cut toward her.
Erza blocked with all her might.
Her arms shook—but she stopped it.
She let out a breath.
Her training had paid off. Before, she couldn't even block one move.
Now she had blocked all his forms.
She had finally—
Finally… progress.
Suddenly—
KACHA—!!
PING—!
Erza's sword and armor shattered and crashed to the ground.
"When?!" Erza's pupils shrank.
When had he hit her?
She thought she had been blocking—but his strikes had landed long ago. She didn't even know when, or how many times.
Worse—his attacks were so precise that he broke her armor without her noticing.
That level of sword skill made Erza tremble again.
If she were Kael's enemy…
She might never even know she'd been killed.