Chapter 17: Getting Serious
"?!"
Laxus was instantly enraged by Shun's words; a mere brat dared to speak to him like that.
Who did he think he was? He was Laxus.
Laxus looked at Shun with a ferocious expression and said, "Stinky brat, now I'll make you regret what you just said!!"
Crack! Crack!
Golden arcs of electricity appeared around Laxus's headphones.
Boom————!!
A bolt of golden lightning shot out from underground. Shun quickly dodged backward.
Zzzzt————!
Laxus's figure appeared behind Shun, punching towards him. Shun quickly ducked to dodge.
Immediately after, "Hah—!"
Laxus swept his leg across. Shun, unable to dodge in time, had to block with his arms.
Bang!!
Shun was hit by Laxus's kick, his body moving sideways, dragging out a deep trail on the ground.
Laxus quickly rushed at Shun, his fists constantly attacking. Shun was beaten without the power to fight back for a moment, only able to barely parry.
Laxus got more excited the more he fought, while taunting Shun: "I heard your speed was fast? Is this all you've got?"
"Where did that boastful attitude go just now?!"
"You're definitely taking the S-Class Mage title? Let me see you take it! Take one for me to see!!"
"What's going on?!"
Everyone was shocked to see Shun being suppressed by Laxus.
Was Laxus's strength really this great, that even Shun couldn't fight back?
Bang!
Shun was knocked to the ground by a punch from Laxus.
Laxus jumped back, clenched his right hand into a fist, raised it high, and chanted a spell: "Resounding through the sky, the roar of summoning lightning, descend from the heavens and turn everything to ash."
A large amount of lightning gathered above Shun's head, forming a thundercloud.
"Raging Bolt!!"
Lightning converged, and a huge ball of lightning appeared, falling rapidly towards Shun below.
"This is bad!"
Makarov's face changed drastically seeing this scene. He hadn't expected Laxus to use even this move for victory.
It was too late to stop it now.
Boom————!!!
The huge ball of lightning fell, instantly causing a terrifying explosion.
The explosion engulfed Shun's body.
Soon, the smoke from the explosion dissipated. A huge crater appeared where Shun was, and Shun lay in the center of it.
"Shun!!" Natsu shouted anxiously seeing Shun knocked down.
"Hahaha! The strongest rookie is nothing more than this! Under my lightning, you're vulnerable! I am the strongest Mage in Fairy Tail! Hahahahaha!!!"
Seeing Shun knocked down, Laxus laughed arrogantly.
"Old man, shouldn't you announce my victory? Or do you want me to announce it after I defeat Natsu?"
Seeing Shun knocked down by Laxus, Makarov thought to himself: It seems Shun is no match for Laxus either.
Just as Makarov was about to announce Laxus's victory...
Suddenly, Shun, who had been lying on the ground, sat up.
"Shun!"
Almost everyone was startled.
Shun rubbed his neck and stood up: "Ah! That hurt!"
"?!!"
Everyone's eyes were about to pop out seeing Shun.
They had all witnessed how powerful Laxus's move was just now.
But Shun took that hit head-on and seemed like nothing happened.
"Hmph!" Laxus snorted coldly. Although it wasn't clear why Shun was unharmed after taking that hit, if one hit didn't knock him down, another one would.
Zzzzt——!!
A current of electricity blasted from beneath Shun's feet. Shun quickly jumped back, landing on a giant rock.
"As expected of Laxus, your strength is indeed formidable! Looks like I need to get a little serious too."
Shun said as he sat cross-legged on the big rock, then pulled up his pant legs. Two iron plate-like things were strapped to Shun's legs.
"Hmph! Weights?"
Laxus showed a disdainful expression. He had done weighted training too. Thinking that taking off weights would allow him to compete was too naive.
Others thought similarly; after all, just two weighted plates couldn't change much.
But immediately, their thoughts changed.
Shun released the two iron plates, and they fell freely to the ground.
Boom————!!!
A loud noise shook everyone's hearts.
Everyone looked at the weighted plates and saw that they had smashed two huge craters into the ground.
"..."
Everyone was somewhat incredulous.
"Ah! There's more..."
Shun pulled up his sleeves, revealing two more weights.
"There's more?!!"
Shun threw the two weights down.
Boom————!!
With a loud bang, two more craters appeared.
Seeing this, everyone was dumbfounded.
Gray asked stutteringly, "Shun... Shun... how heavy... are your weights?"
"How heavy? Actually not that heavy, about 500 kilograms each. Four pieces in total, so just 2000 kilograms."
"Two... two thousand?!!!"