Part 1: True Several Thousand Hands - Canon of True Humanoid
The fist shattered the air as it surged forward with a howling gale. Before it had even reached him, Gildarts could already feel the terrifying pressure bearing down on him.
"Noah, your strength really has grown a lot. Compared to before, the difference is as vast as heaven and earth."
Gildarts sighed with emotion, steadying his breathing as immense magic power gathered around his right hand.
"Hah!"
Gildarts swung his right fist with tremendous force, his comparatively tiny fist colliding head-on with the gigantic ice fist.
"Boom!"
The ice beneath Gildarts's feet was instantly pulverized under the tremendous impact, dispersing the force through the surrounding surface.
A massive crater appeared in the ice, with Gildarts landing directly in the center. Meanwhile, the enormous ice fist had been completely blocked, frozen in place in mid-air.
A violent gale erupted from the point where the two fists collided, sending fragments of shattered ice flying wildly in every direction.
Taking advantage of their brief contact, Gildarts had already released his Magic.
"Crush!"
Countless lines of white light appeared across the ice giant's fist. In the next instant, the enormous right arm of the ice giant was completely shattered into countless fragments.
Noah wasn't surprised in the slightest by the result. Under his control, the ice giant immediately swung its remaining left fist toward Gildarts.
This time, Gildarts didn't bother exchanging punches with the ice giant. Before the enormous ice fist could even reach him, his Magic had already been unleashed.
"Crush!"
Once again, streaks of white light spread across the ice giant's arm. In an instant, its left arm was also completely shattered.
Noah showed no surprise. He immediately jumped from the top of the ice giant's head, soaring high into the air as he began drawing upon the enormous amount of magic power within his body.
Golden magic power erupted violently from Noah's body. A towering pillar of magical light shot into the sky, seemingly connecting heaven and earth. The surrounding air trembled violently before being compressed by the overwhelming magic power, creating a gigantic gale that swept outward in every direction.
Under Noah's command, the entire body of the now-armless ice giant lunged directly toward Gildarts, who immediately noticed that Noah was gathering an even greater amount of magic power than before.
Not daring to show even the slightest carelessness, Gildarts first unleashed another Crush, completely shattering the enormous ice giant descending toward him. At the same time, he also began gathering his own magic power.
When he saw Noah grit his teeth while continuously accumulating more and more magic power, Gildarts understood that the next exchange would most likely decide everything.
Without hesitation, he began gathering his own magic power with everything he had.
The two simultaneously gathered their immense reserves of magic power. The violent gales created by their overwhelming magical pressure repeatedly crashed against each other between them before spreading outward in every direction.
The entire frozen surface began trembling violently beneath their power. Cracks spread continuously across the ice as countless tiny fragments were torn free, swept into the air by the raging winds, and instantly pulverized into glittering shards.
Because Noah continued gathering an enormous amount of magic power, his body remained suspended in mid-air without falling.
"Boom!"
As for Gildarts, the immense magic power gathering around him placed such tremendous pressure on the ice beneath his feet that it could no longer endure. The frozen surface shattered violently, causing the already massive crater beneath him to sink even deeper.
The sight of both of them gathering magic power with all their strength caused the guild members far from the center of the battlefield to feel an overwhelming pressure.
Some of the weaker guild members were suppressed so heavily by the distant magical pressure that they could barely breathe.
"Ugh... this feels awful!"
Younger guild members like Wendy, Yukino, and Meredy felt especially uncomfortable under the crushing pressure.
Ultear and Erza made no attempt to shield Wendy and the others from it. They wanted them to personally experience the pressure of a higher realm of strength and understand just how vast the world truly was.
A battle of this level was an extremely rare sight. If they missed this opportunity, they might never get another chance to witness something like it again.
Therefore, even though Wendy and the others were clearly struggling, Erza and the others merely remained beside them, silently offering encouragement instead of directly helping.
"I already knew how strong Gildarts was, but I never expected Noah's strength to have reached this level as well."
Makarov stared at the enormous disturbance created by the two as they gathered their magic power. Sensing both the quality and sheer quantity of their magic, he couldn't help speaking with emotion.
"Yeah. I've never seen anyone with strength like theirs before.
"I knew they were incredibly powerful, but I never truly understood just how powerful. Now I finally know. We're still far behind them."
Ur spoke from the side while staring at the two figures gathering magic power, her eyes burning with intense fighting spirit.
Since someone had already reached such a level of strength, then she could strive to reach it as well.
In the air, Noah finally gathered enough magic power and shouted loudly.
"Light-Make: True Several Thousand Hands!"
He forcefully brought his palms together.
A gigantic head formed from brilliant light slowly appeared beneath his feet. A torso followed, then massive limbs rapidly took shape.
In moments, a colossal humanoid figure made entirely of light appeared above the frozen ground, sitting cross-legged with its palms pressed together.
Behind its back, countless enormous arms were arranged in neat layers.
Together with the countless arms towering behind it, the light giant reached several hundred meters in height, while each individual palm alone was several meters wide.
Noah stood directly atop the giant's head.
It was obvious that creating such an enormous construct had consumed a tremendous amount of his magic power.
Large beads of sweat covered his face, and his breathing had already become heavy.
Looking up at the gigantic figure before him, Gildarts's expression became incomparably serious.
The pressure coming from the giant was simply too great.
For the first time during this battle, Gildarts could clearly sense the threat of death.
If he didn't go all out, taking this attack head-on could leave him severely injured.
It might even kill him.
The magic power throughout Gildarts's body rapidly converged around his fists as he slightly bent his knees and steadied himself.
"Gildarts, this is the final move! Take this!"
Noah forced himself to regain his focus, drawing out the remaining magic power within his body as he commanded the enormous light construct to attack.
"Canon of True Humanoid!"
The countless arms behind the gigantic figure suddenly began extending forward.
At the same time, every enormous palm clenched into a fist.
Then they struck.
Countless fists descended toward Gildarts.
Each enormous fist tore through the air with terrifying force, dragging violent gales behind it as it rushed toward him.
Before the first fist could reach him, Gildarts threw out a punch of his own.
"Crush!"
The incoming fist instantly shattered into fragments of light.
But another fist followed immediately.
Then another.
Two.
Three.
Ten.
Countless fists began raining down upon Gildarts, attacking faster and faster with every passing moment.
Gildarts responded in kind, swinging his own fists again and again.
One fist shattered.
Two shattered.
Three shattered.
The speed of Gildarts's punches grew faster and faster, and countless incoming fists were continuously shattered beneath his attacks.
The light left behind after each fist was destroyed scattered into countless specks of golden radiance around him, only to be swept away by the violent gales generated by his punches.
The colliding winds from both sides tore apart the surrounding ice, causing the enormous crater beneath Gildarts to expand even further.
Before long, however, the speed of Gildarts's punches could no longer completely keep up with the barrage of light-made fists.
A few fists finally broke through and struck his body before he could destroy them.
"Boom!"
The ice beneath his feet suffered another tremendous impact. The crater sank even deeper, while countless cracks spread outward in every direction.
"Evil-Breaking Righteousness Display: One Sky!"
Gildarts unleashed his attack.
In an instant, countless incoming arms were pulverized by the blasts of magic fired from his fists.
But in the very next moment, countless more fists immediately filled the gaps.
Gildarts once again swung his fists, releasing powerful blasts of Crush Magic toward the incoming barrage.
Streaks of white magical light shot outward from Gildarts's position, smashing through the light-made fists one after another.
Yet no matter how many he destroyed, countless more instantly replaced them.
The two sides remained locked in a fierce stalemate.
Powerful shockwaves erupted continuously from the point where their attacks collided, spreading outward in massive concentric waves.
"Wahhh!"
Wendy and the other young girls were nearly swept off their feet by the incoming shockwave.
Fortunately, Erza and the others beside them reacted quickly, grabbing hold of them before they could be blown away.
"Natsu!"
"Happy!"
Happy had already landed earlier when the previous gale swept through the area, but the latest shockwave still sent his small body flying into the air.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and grabbed onto Natsu's clothes.
Natsu immediately responded as well, crouching down and catching Happy in his arms.
"That was close! That was way too close!"
Seeing Happy and the others in such a flustered state, Wendy lowered her gaze toward Carla, whom she was holding tightly in her arms.
At that moment, she felt that hugging Carla beforehand had been an extremely wise decision.
---
Keep supporting me with your comments and reviews. If you like the story please drop a power stone and your support is very much appreciated.
Want to read 40+ chapters ahead, share your fandom thoughts, or just fuel my translation caffeine habit? Or if you want to support me please join me on Patreon here!: patreon.com/Keep_ItUp