### Chapter 24: The Mountain is Gone
The two of them bombarded each other crazily.
The surrounding ground, trees, and rocks were all shattered by the energy waves emitted by Shun and Gildarts.
Gildarts was also excited at this moment; it had been a long time since he encountered such a powerful opponent.
Shun felt the same. Gildarts' strength forced him to use his full power to cope, which was much more exhilarating than slaughtering those Magic Beasts.
"Crash!!"
Gildarts raised his palm, aiming at Shun and emitting a white shockwave.
Shun dared not take it head-on and dodged quickly.
*Shing————!!*
The white shockwave landed on a rock the size of a small hill.
It instantly decomposed into uniformly sized cubes, scattering onto the ground with a clatter.
Shun's arms formed huge energy arms, grabbing the shattered cubes and throwing them at Gildarts.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
*Boom! Boom! Boom!* ...
Gildarts dodged rapidly while charging towards Shun.
Shun swept the huge energy arm across the shattered cubes.
*Clatter——!!*
A large number of cubes shot towards Gildarts together.
"All Crash!!!"
*Crash————!!*
Gildarts shattered all these rocks into dust.
*Bang!*
Gildarts leaped high from the smoke of the shattered rocks, swinging his fist at Shun.
Shun also swung his fist, colliding with Gildarts.
*Boom————!!!*
The ground beneath Shun's feet cracked open.
A terrifying magic power shockwave spread continuously towards the surroundings, shattering all nearby trees and rocks and scattering them outwards.
Exhilarated smiles appeared on the corners of both Gildarts' and Shun's mouths.
Immediately after, the two figures, one large and one small, began to exchange fierce punches.
Sometimes Gildarts sent Shun flying, sometimes Shun knocked Gildarts down.
Neither gave an inch. Under this high-tempo attack, there was no time to cast magic, so Shun wasn't worried about Gildarts' Crash Magic at all.
Of course, Shun also had no chance to use his energy arms. The stronger the magic, the longer the casting time—this was an eternal theorem.
Just like when Master Makarov cast Fairy Law, the casting time required was even longer.
*Boom————!!*
Shun and Gildarts exchanged a fierce punch, the powerful impact forcing both of their bodies back.
*Boom boom boom!!*
Shun and Gildarts plowed two deep furrows into the ground.
*Crash————!!*
Gildarts hit the mountain wall, which instantly shattered into web-like fragments, buffering the impact for him.
Shun's claws dug into the ground, increasing resistance along with his feet. Even so, Shun retreated over a hundred meters before stopping.
"Exhilarating!!"
Gildarts walked out from the rubble. He hadn't fought this exhilaratingly for a long time.
His opponent was only a thirteen-year-old child. If they weren't truly fighting, Gildarts wouldn't dare imagine it.
But right now, he dared not treat Shun as just a child.
He treated Shun as an evenly matched opponent.
Continuing the fight like this was meaningless; this was just an exam.
Shun had passed far beyond his expectations.
Moreover, if they continued fighting, he might not be able to hold back.
If it caused irreversible consequences, that would be bad.
Just as Gildarts opened his mouth to call a stop...
Shun's mouth slowly opened, the three tails behind him curling high, their tips pointing towards the front of his mouth.
Yin and Yang chakra began to gather in front of Shun's mouth, and a purple Tailed Beast Ball the size of Shun's head appeared there.
Gildarts' expression changed. He hadn't expected that even with the battle being so intense, Shun was hiding such a powerful move.
The Tailed Beast Ball compressed continuously, shrinking to the size of a ping-pong ball in the blink of an eye.
*Boom————!!*
The ground around Shun cracked open, sinking downwards as if squeezed by terrifying gravity.
Gildarts' body instinct screamed frantically that this attack was extremely dangerous, and he immediately became vigilant.
But immediately after, Shun's operation dumbfounded Gildarts.
Shun's mouth slowly opened, and he swallowed the Tailed Beast Ball in one gulp.
"Hey hey hey!!"
Gildarts was startled by Shun's action.
Are you kidding? That compressed magic power made even him feel fearful, yet he actually swallowed that thing? Is that thing edible?
*Puff!!!*
Shun's body swelled into a ball, his cheeks puffing out like a toad, as if about to explode at any moment.
Then he opened his mouth and spat. A terrifying crimson energy beam shot out from Shun's mouth.
The Tailed Beast Ball shot towards Gildarts like a cannonball. Wherever it passed, everything was destroyed, leaving a huge deep trench on the ground.
Gildarts couldn't care about anything else at this moment, concentrating all his magic power onto his fist.
"Empyrean!!"
Gildarts shouted loudly, then punched forward.
A powerful shockwave erupted from Gildarts' fist.
The shockwave collided head-on with the Tailed Beast Ball.
*Crash————!*
*Boom—————!!!*
A terrifying explosion occurred, the blast shockwave spreading rapidly.
"Wahhh!!"
"Ughhh!!" ...
Gray, Natsu, and the others screamed. The violent tremors made them unstable, and they fell to the ground.
*Crack! Crack!*
Many rocks fell from the mountain.
Makarov quickly enlarged his body, shielding all the children under him.
After quite a while, the tremors subsided, and Natsu and the others crawled out from under Makarov.
But as soon as they crawled out and saw the scene before them clearly, everyone was dumbfounded.
Bright sunlight shone on everyone's faces, but it didn't bring them warmth.
They were just on the back of the mountain; how could there be sunlight shining on the back?
"The mountain... the mountain... the mountain is gone!!!"
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