"The Flame Empress Armor is fire-resistant armor with the effect of halving flame damage," Raizel explained to Lucy.
The armor featured a dark red base with black patterns and orange-yellow wing-like decorations.
Her weapon of choice was a large crimson longsword.
Erza had so many sets of armor that even Raizel could only recognize about a dozen of her most commonly used ones.
"Erza, aren't you taking this too far this time?" Wakaba asked, feeling somewhat scared seeing Erza look so serious against a guildmate.
After rational thinking and calm analysis, Happy declared, "I'm betting on Erza to win."
Lucy looked at Happy and complained, "What a cold and ruthless cat!"
She glanced back and forth between Natsu and Erza nervously.
"I hate seeing situations like this the most. I don't want either side to lose!"
"It's the Flame Empress Armor," Erza announced calmly. "You should be serious, so I can go all out without holding back."
"Begin!"
Makarov suddenly appeared, raising his hand to signal the start of the match.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Natsu's fists wreathed in flames as he quickly closed in on Erza and threw two consecutive punches.
Erza flapped the metal wings on her back and swiftly dodged.
Natsu pressed his advantage relentlessly, following his punches with a claw swipe. Erza parried the attack effortlessly with her longsword.
Natsu performed two backflips to evade Erza's rapid sword slash and followed up immediately.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!"
Erza continuously dodged Natsu's breath attack by using her wings to maneuver in mid-air.
Lucy covered her slightly open mouth with her hand, surprised.
The fight was dazzling to watch. "So fast... so amazing!"
"Still far from it. Erza isn't going all out."
Raizel crossed his arms and shook his head. He knew very well that Erza was currently testing the waters.
After Erza and Natsu engaged in several more rounds of close combat, Raizel spoke up.
"Here it comes. Pay attention."
Upon Raizel's reminder, Lucy didn't dare to blink and kept her eyes fixed on Erza's movements.
But she still couldn't keep up. Erza's speed suddenly increased drastically, and Lucy could only see a red afterimage.
SLASH.
The next scene her eyes registered was Erza slashing Natsu across the abdomen with the flat of her sword.
BAM!
Natsu was sent flying by the strike, tumbling repeatedly on the cobblestone street before finally crashing into the Guild wall, knocked completely unconscious.
"Match over! Erza wins!"
Makarov didn't even bother to check the body; he immediately announced the result.
Lucy quickly asked Raizel, "How could she be so fast in an instant?"
"Besides natural talent, there's also her insane training."
Erza had trained this explosive power for several years, drinking who knows how much lake water in the process. Even under the full effect of Kagura's Gravity Change, Erza could maintain a terrifying speed.
Using it against Natsu in this internal sparring match was essentially using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
"Break it up, break it up. Back to the Guild."
No one was surprised by the match result; they had purely watched it for entertainment.
Some people even ate three extra bowls of noodles because of it.
...
Inside the Guild—
"What's wrong, Master?" Mirajane asked, seeing Makarov suddenly close his eyes.
"Nothing, I just suddenly feel a bit sleepy." Makarov opened his eyes and gently shook his head, fighting the drowsiness.
"That guy... is here again."
As soon as Makarov finished speaking—
THUD.
"This feeling..."
Happy, Lucy, Gray, Natsu (who had just been dragged in), and the others fell asleep one after another.
Even Kagura, Mirajane, and Erza couldn't hold on and slumped over their tables.
"Hmm?"
Raizel was somewhat surprised because he noticed that Ultear was actually holding up, and she seemed relatively at ease.
Raizel was indeed affected by the Sleep Magic as well, but he could withstand it easily.
Ultear shot Raizel a glare. "My Magic Power isn't the result of pointless training, you know."
Ultear had long since discerned the nature of this Sleep Magic.
Those with more Magic Power than the amount stored in the caster's staves wouldn't fall asleep—the higher their Magic Power, the less affected they were.
Raizel and Makarov were barely affected; they only felt a momentary drowsiness but snapped out of it immediately.
From this, it was clear that Ultear's Magic Power capacity exceeded even Erza's current level.
However, this didn't mean Ultear was far stronger than Erza in a fight—Magic Power reserves alone don't fully represent combat ability.
The door gently swung open.
A man wrapped head to toe in blue cloth, with only his eyes visible and multiple staves strapped to his back, appeared in the Guild.
"Mystogan, long time no see." Raizel, leaning against the bar, gave a slight nod.
It really had been a long time. The last time he saw Mystogan was during the S-Class Exam, and Raizel hadn't run into him since.
Mystogan nodded in response, then went straight to the Request Board.
He tore off a few Extermination Quests and showed them to Makarov.
Makarov glanced at the papers and nodded slowly.
"I'm off."
"Wait a moment. Aren't you going to undo the Sleep Magic?"
Mystogan didn't answer.
He turned to leave the Guild while counting down.
"Five... four... three... two... one."
As he reached "one," he exited the Guild, and the spell lifted.
Everyone inside woke up instantly.
"Was that feeling from.... Mystogan?" Levy rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"That guy again."
"His magic is still as impressive as ever," Reedus nodded, picking up his paintbrush.
Lucy was a bit out of the loop, wondering why she suddenly felt so drowsy.
"Who's Mystogan?"
Elfman answered with a serious expression, "One of the candidates for the strongest man in Fairy Tail."
Gray added, "He seems to not want anyone to see his true face. He doesn't participate in Guild activities, and every time he comes to take on a quest, he always puts the entire Guild to sleep like this."
"So, aside from the Master, Ur, and Raizel, basically no one has seen Mystogan's face?" Lucy asked.
"Not necessarily. I've seen it."
A voice suddenly came from the second floor.
"Laxus... so you were here," Gray said, looking up toward the second floor following the voice.
Elfman also asked, "Then why didn't you come out to watch Natsu and Erza's duel earlier?"
Laxus yawned, looking bored. "What's interesting about a match where Natsu got instantly defeated? I'd rather sleep."
Laxus leaned on the second-floor railing, looking down at them arrogantly.
"I was sleeping just fine, but Mystogan's magic actually woke me up."
"The other candidate for the Guild's strongest man... Laxus," Gray introduced him to Lucy.
"Laxus! Come fight me right now!" Natsu challenged him the moment he saw him, completely forgetting his recent defeat.
"Weren't you just defeated by Erza?" Gray looked at Natsu with a face full of exasperation.
"I don't care! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Natsu used a table to leap high, jumping toward the second floor.
WHAM!
Makarov's right hand suddenly enlarged into a giant fist and swatted Natsu down from the air like a fly.
"You can't go to the second floor, Natsu. You're not qualified yet."
Lucy watched Natsu being slammed to the ground with cold sweat running down her back.
'This guild is insane...'
"Coming down for tea, Laxus?"
Raizel acted as if nothing had happened, raising his teacup while looking up at Laxus.
"No, I'd prefer some alcohol..." Laxus shook his head helplessly but still slowly descended the stairs to join Raizel.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator