Fairy Tail: You call this Celestial Magic?!

Chapter 224 Identity Swap (Please Subscribe!)
"boom!"

Natsu, with his violently burning magic, broke free from the ice fishing net's restraints.

Without any hesitation, Natsu unleashed a "Roar of the Fire Dragon" at Gray.

"Ice Style: Flying Claw!"

Gray still didn't confront Natsu directly. He clapped his hands together, and a pair of claws shot out and grabbed the wall on one side.

"Whoosh!"

Pulled by the grappling hook, Gray was sent flying, dodging Natsu's "Fire Dragon Roar" attack.

"Buzz!"

Natsu spun around, still spewing fiery dragon breath, relentlessly chasing after the swinging Gray.

"That's it!"

Gray exuded confidence as he continuously threw out grappling hooks, swinging around the arena like a Spider-Man.

Natsu continued to unleash "Fire Dragon's Roar," but the dragon flames he exhaled couldn't catch up with Gray. Although Natsu was annoyed, he had no choice but to stop.

Unfortunately, using "Roar of the Fire Dragon" consumes far more magic power than Gray using only Ice Claw.

Natsu reacted quickly enough to realize that Gray was deliberately wearing him down.

"He's a bit smarter than I thought."

Gray offered a sharp critique of Natsu's reaction, but that had already served his purpose.

Every little bit of consumption counts; as one side gains and the other loses, the gap widens little by little.

"You bastard Gray! Let's settle this once and for all!"

Looking at Gray, who had distanced himself from him, Natsu felt a sense of powerlessness and frustration.

"Ice Form: Great Hammer Soldier!"

However, Gray responded with a giant hammer that fell from the sky.

"Damn it!"

Enraged, Natsu's fist burned with flames as he forcefully rammed into it.

"boom!"

The giant hammer was smashed by Natsu's leap and punch, allowing him to finally vent his anger.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Strike!"

Natsu, hovering in the air, waved his arms and charged toward Gray once more, flames burning on his arms, leaving two long trails of fire.

This time Natsu was very fast, and Gray didn't have time to use his claw to dodge.

"Ice Design: Ice Spring!"

Gray pressed his hands to the ground and violently released ice-attribute magic.

Ice blocks erupted like a gushing spring in front of Gray, enveloping Natsu as he charged forward.

"boom!"

Flames and ice collided once more, sending plumes of steam billowing into the air and filling the entire arena.

"Ice Design: Ice and Snow Cannon!"

Amidst the steam, Gray drew his bow with both hands, creating a massive cannon with a solid ice shell.

"Puff puff!"

The cannon fired rapidly, launching a large number of snowballs that crashed forward like an avalanche.

Natsu was hit in the face by the avalanche, but fortunately, he was protected by flames and was not seriously injured.

"Ice Form: Barrage!"

Gray's attacks continued unabated. He clapped his hands together and created several cannons—no, they should be called ice cannons.

"Fire!"

"Boom boom boom!"

Several ice cannons, like real cannons, continuously fired terrifying chunks of ice bullets.

"Bang bang bang!"

Natsu charged forward into the fire, punching and kicking away the ice projectiles fired from the ice cannon.

This level of attack was nothing to him; he could simply withstand it and charge through.

The only thing to watch out for is not to slip, as Gray is still laying down solid ice to create obstacles.

Compared to Gray, who moves freely on this solid ice and is even faster, Natsu does need to be careful when he moves.

He could only continuously melt the solid ice with flames, even sublimating it directly. With each step he took, his feet sizzled and emitted billowing heat.

"boom!"

Natsu pounced on Gray like a fireball, his face beaming with excitement at the prospect of capturing him.

"Ice Shape: Ice Shield!"

Gray clapped his hands together, and an ice shield appeared in front of Natsu, blocking Natsu's attack.

Although Natsu destroyed the ice shield in no time, Gray still managed to slip away during the opening and create distance once again.

While retreating, Gray took out his cannon again and bombarded Natsu with a snowball attack.

"Boom boom boom!"

Several ice cannons also launched another barrage, with ice and snow cannons raining down in a spectacular display.

Natsu felt like he wasn't fighting one person, but an entire squad, including Gray.
"Don't run!"

Natsu unleashed his magic once more, charging angrily towards the ice and snow cannons.

"All this fancy stuff is useless. I'll smash it all with my fists!"

After a flurry of punches and kicks, Gray's cannon fire was once again broken by Natsu, and the smug "Fire Dragon" laughed and provoked Gray.

But Gray didn't care and continued to fight at his own pace, believing that victory would return to him.

"These two people"

In the stands, the mages watching the battle were astonished; neither of their supporters had expected the two to fight to such an extent.

The mages of Fairy Tail were even more surprised, because Gray had never fought Natsu like this before.

They thought this battle would be the same as before, a head-on confrontation with fists flying, a simple and straightforward contest of magic and physical strength.

However, it is clear that Gray, having already suffered a defeat, has learned his lesson and changed his tactics, and so far, the results seem to be quite good.

"This Ice-Type Mage is amazing!"

Many people are praising Gray and are amazed by his magical skills.

Shapeshifting magic is a relatively common type of magic, so whether a shapeshifting magic is used well or not, and how powerful it is, is easier for people to tell.

Shapeshifting magic is a free form of magic, the kind of magic that best showcases a mage's personality, and its strength is entirely determined by the mage's own abilities.

Putting everything else aside, Gray's transformation speed is incredibly fast, and his transformation success rate is almost 100%. He didn't make any mistakes during the battle.

Gray's use of shape-shifting magic was also a pleasant surprise, as evidenced by Natsu's increasingly frantic fighting.

"This fire dragon is also very powerful; an ordinary person would have been defeated long ago."

Although Natsu was constantly being "played" and restrained by Gray, it was somewhat comical.

But everyone can see that this "little fire dragon" is no ordinary person either; his strength is actually easier to discern.

Whether Ice Shape Magic is used well or not depends on Gray's skill, but Natsu's "Fire Dragon Slayer Magic" is obviously powerful.

Why is Gray showing off his skills here? After seeing the destructive power of this "little fire dragon," no one will have this question anymore.

"almost!"

After toying with Natsu for a while and severely depleting his magic and stamina, Gray felt that the decisive moment of the battle had arrived.

Seeing that Natsu was already panting and seemed to be running out of energy, Gray stopped his kite-fighting and finally stopped.

He could have easily continued to drag things out, but deep down, Gray still didn't want to use such a "shortcut" to defeat Natsu.

"Ice Form: Battle Axe!"

Gray created a long battle axe and swung it at Natsu, who narrowly dodged the attack while panting.

"."

Gray frowned, sensing that something was amiss.

"Ice Style: Lancer!"

Although he had some doubts, Gray had already decided to begin the decisive battle, so there was no reason for him to back down. Countless ice spears shot out, sending Natsu rolling on the ground, desperately dodging them, his flames seemingly dimming.

"Ice Form: Super Freezing Ice Arrow!"

Gray's brow furrowed even more deeply, but his hands never stopped moving.

A massive amount of magic erupted from Gray's body, and an exquisite ice bow materialized in his hand.

"Boom!!!"

As Gray drew his ice bow, the surging magic emitted frost that nearly froze the entire arena, creating an astonishing effect.

His move does have a slight delay in execution, so it's not suitable to use as the first move against strong opponents, as it's easy for the opponent to interrupt it.

Now that Natsu is struggling to deal with the ice spears and ice cannons he's firing, it's the perfect time to use this move.

"It's now!"

However, as Gray stood still and drew his bow, Natsu suddenly roared, which startled Gray.

"Dang-dang-dang-dang!!!"

A burst of rousing music rang out from the sidelines, quite loud, as Harby had turned on the stereo.

"Ahhh!!! This is so exciting!!!"

Upon hearing the music, Natsu shook off his previous dejection and was once again ablaze with energy, his magic bursting forth continuously.

"Wait a minute! This guy was definitely faking it!"

At this moment, Gray finally realized what had happened.

"Natsu! He's actually resorting to tricks now!"

Gray's expression changed drastically, but at this moment he was already on the verge of giving up.

The crystal arrow, forged from magic and radiating a rich, icy blue light, has been formed.

"Buzz!"

Gray released the ice bow, and an ice arrow shot straight out, rapidly approaching Natsu.

Unfortunately, Natsu, unleashing his magical power, moved with incredible speed, dodging the arrow and quickly rushing towards Gray.

"boom!"

The ice arrow struck the "crystal wall," unleashing a dazzling ice-blue light.

The terrifying icy magic startled the audience outside the "Crystal Wall".

"You got Fooled!"

Natsu roared, his eyes gleaming, a wild smile on his face, finally managing to capture Gray.

"Ice Design: Ice"

Gray ignored Natsu who rushed in front of him and hurriedly tried to create an ice shield for defense.

"Oh!"

Unfortunately, Natsu, who had already rushed close, did not give Gray another chance.

Natsu unleashed a punch, forcing Gray to abandon his attempts to use his Shape Magic and instead block Natsu's attack.

"Bang bang bang!"

The brutal, hand-to-hand combat began, and the rhythm of the battle finally found a rhythm that Natsu liked and was familiar with.

Amidst the rousing background music, Natsu felt his punches were more powerful than usual, leaving Gray completely unable to retaliate.

"I never expected the fire dragon to be faking it! He was deliberately feigning weakness!"

The sudden change in the situation in the duel arena naturally surprised everyone watching.

There was nothing he could do; after all, "Fire Dragon" Natsu always had a straightforward fighting style, and he had just been led around like a dog by Gray.

His sudden move caught everyone off guard, and even Gray himself didn't realize it.

"Actually, Natsu's disguise is quite clumsy."

Moen, acting as the referee at the edge of the dueling arena, spoke up to complain.

“Quite clumsy.”

Laxus twitched the corner of his mouth, seemingly unable to hold back his laughter.

"But this kid is quite clever; he actually came up with this way to break the deadlock."

Gildass looked pleased; he was quite satisfied with the performance of both children.

One fully utilized the advantages of his magic, using his strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses, while the other successfully turned defeat into victory by exploiting the enemy's stereotypes about him.

That's exactly right. The reason why Natsume's flamboyant performance went unnoticed was entirely because of the "brave" stereotype he had previously given people.

No one expected that he would suddenly start using his brain during the battle, and even played the trick of feigning weakness to the enemy.

Because he was quite familiar with Natsu, Gray noticed something was off, but he still didn't expect Natsu to pull this stunt on him.

"It's not unfair to lose."

Moen commented that Gray ultimately lost because of his poor tactical execution; he could have continued to kite Natsu.

However, he ultimately couldn't resist the urge to defeat Natsu head-on, which gave Natsu, who suddenly had a brilliant idea, the opportunity.

"But Natsu actually went to the trouble of making Happy play background music for him at crucial moments?"

Moen looked at Happy, who was excitedly cheering for Natsu in the stands.

Clearly, the playing of this background music was a pre-planned design by Natsu and Happy.

Although it may not have been intended for this moment at first, this pre-match design did help Natsu to some extent.

"Oh!"

Gray fell to the ground, feeling utterly powerless.

His arrow just now consumed too much magic power, giving back all the advantage he had gained earlier.

Natsu, who already possessed greater magical power and a stronger physique, now had the added boost from the background music, so he had naturally lost all hope of victory.

But Gray stubbornly stood up and charged at Natsu once again; he wouldn't give up so easily.

"Oh!"

Gray fell to the ground again, and this time he was unable to get up.

"Aaaaaah!!! We won!"

Finally defeating Gray, Natsu clenched his fists and roared, standing to the very end to the accompaniment of his signature background music.

However, Natsu was also bruised and battered at this point, and Gray's counterattack was just as fierce, preventing him from winning easily.

Natsu wins!

Moen appeared beside the two and announced the outcome of the battle.

In the stands, the mages from the three guilds stood up and applauded, giving a round of applause to Natsu and Gray.

Moen checked Gray's condition and found that he was not seriously injured. This kind of fight was commonplace for the two of them.

However, Gray used to be the one who stood until the end, but now, Gray has lost to Natsu for the second time in a battle.

It must be tough for someone who's always winning to suddenly start losing.

But those who kept losing were also carrying pressure as they moved forward.

Now that the roles are reversed, it remains to be seen whether Gray can accept the fact that he has become the pursuer.

"Keep it up, Gray."

Moen sighed, then helped Gray up and took him back to the lounge for treatment.

"Please, Granny Poliusica."

Moen handed Gray over to Poliusica, who was in charge of the treatment.

"Okay, okay, go on, don't bother me here."

Grandma Poliusica glanced at Gray, then impatiently waved her hand to shoo Moen away.

She was annoyed by being here; she hated crowded places, especially when a bunch of people were fighting.
If her old friends hadn't insisted on dragging her here, she wouldn't have come here to take charge of any treatment work.

Humans only know how to fight and kill each other. Let them fight if they want; she won't treat them.

"I'm leaving now."

Moen had no idea what Granny Poliusica was thinking, but he figured it was just that arrogant line like, "Humans are the most annoying thing."

After dropping Gray off, Moen left immediately without lingering, as he still had work to do.

(End of this chapter)