"Haha! Marco, you kid! You've grown taller again!"
Gildarts, having realized the situation, walked towards Marco and reached out to pat Marco's shoulder.
This uncle smiled heartily, showing a row of big white teeth.
He was clearly very happy to see Marco right after coming back.
After all, he had watched Marco grow up bit by bit.
"You've been gone for half a year, of course I grow a bit taller."
Seeing Gildarts, Marco was actually very happy too.
He smiled brightly.
For Marco, compared to his adopted father Ivan Dreyar, Gildarts was the best.
For these orphans in the guild, Gildarts was undoubtedly special.
Gildarts treated the guild as home and every member as family.
In front of the children, he had always been trying hard to play the role of a good father.
"It's really great, you've all gradually grown up and will soon be able to stand on your own. The guild can be said to have successors now."
Gildarts was very happy.
Seeing "Fairy Tail" getting better day by day, seeing the children growing up strong, he felt very content in his heart, just like seeing his own children becoming successful.
"Gildarts, how long will you stay this time?"
Marco curiously asked, while reaching out his hand, wanting to help Gildarts carry his luggage bag.
But he was refused by Gildarts.
"No need, I'll carry it myself. There are all treasures in here~ Not for kids to see!"
Gildarts raised his eyebrows and chuckled twice.
Seeing this guy expression, Marco could roughly guess what was inside.
Gildarts had the same flaw as Makarov - they were both "pervert".
But strictly speaking, this couldn't really be considered a flaw.
The love for beauty is common to all.
A gentleman is attracted to a beautiful lady.
Although they were powerful, they would never do anything out of line.
For men, it would be more terrifying if they didn't like women.
****
The two entered the guild and sat down in the hall.
Gildarts tossed his bag onto the table.
Through the opening of the bag, Marco vaguely saw some scantily clad women in the magazines, and it seemed the whole bag was full of them.
"..."
Marco fell silent, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Whose luggage would be full of sexy women magazines?!
"I'll stay longer this time. Even if I go out, I won't leave for too long."
Gildarts noticed Marco's strange gaze.
While speaking, he moved the luggage bag to his feet.
"Not now, Marco. I'll let you see when you're a bit older."
Gildarts had a serious expression.
Marco was still young, and Gildarts could distinguish what he could and couldn't show him.
He wouldn't mess around.
"...I don't want to see it!"
"Forget it. I want to challenge you! Let you see how much I've grown during your time away from the guild! And also tell me more about your Crush magic!"
Marco originally wanted to explain a bit more, but in the end he gave up and directly issued a solo challenge to Gildarts instead.
"Oh? Have you learned new magic? Then let's do it."
Hearing this, Gildarts smiled.
Seeing Marco's high-spirited demeanor, he didn't refuse but directly agreed.
He was quite willing to guide the juniors in their training.
The two came to the guild's backyard.
This spacious area was very suitable for fighting.
Behind the "Fairy Tail" guild hall was a large lake.
The scenery was actually quite nice, and you could even see people rowing boats on it.
However, neither Marco nor Gildarts had the mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery.
The two stood facing each other.
Gildarts stood there very casually, with his hands hidden under his large cloak.
At first glance, this man seemed full of openings.
"Let's begin." Gildarts said with a smile on his face.
Marco had a serious expression and didn't act rashly.
He adjusted his breathing and quickly mobilized the magic power inside his body.
'Requip! Equuleus Bronze Cloth!'
Before taking action, Marco first summoned his new equipment.
The Equuleus Bronze Cloth with a sky blue base color quickly flew out and directly covered his body, looking heroic and fitting.
As magic power surged, in a state of extreme mental focus, Marco vaguely sensed that the Cloth seemed to faintly evoke the power from the stars in the sky.
The horse head of Equuleus hidden behind Pegasus flickered slightly.
"Oh? So you learned Requip magic."
Seeing the cool armor that appeared on Marco's body, Gildarts raised his eyebrows with interest.
Marco really had something new.
"Whoosh!"
Marco exerted force with his whole body and suddenly stomped on the ground, charging towards Gildarts like a sharp sword.
He didn't need to hold back at all.
Past experiences proved that the gap between him and Gildarts was still very huge.
"Ha!"
With a shout, Marco's fist shot out straight, powerful and heavy, bringing up a gust of wind, aiming directly at Gildarts' left cheek.
Gildarts raised his left arm to block this punch head-on, making a muffled sound.
Then he made a motion as if about to kick out with his right foot.
"!"
Marco's eyes widened.
His body instantly retracted force, then did a backflip followed by two back somersaults to quickly pull away.
With the ability boost from the Equuleus Bronze Cloth, Marco felt his whole body became much more agile, like a nimble steed.
"Your reaction is quite fast." Gildarts smiled and spoke.
His leg actually hadn't lifted, and he was still standing steadily in place.
'This old man, the pressure he brings is really great!'
Marco's expression was calm, but he was marveling in his heart.
Just now when Gildarts made a motion to lift his foot, his brain went into frenzied warning.
In that instant, there was truly an illusion that he would die if he didn't dodge.
This was probably... killing intent?
Gildarts was no kind-hearted person.
There was no doubt his hands were stained with blood.
'This is what makes it exciting!'
Marco didn't feel discouraged.
His heart became even more fired up.
The stronger Gildarts was, the more excited he became.
Now he was completely different from when fighting Natsu, entering a very focused state.
And it was precisely in this concentrated state that he vaguely sensed the connection between his magic power source, the Cloth and the stars in the sky.
But this connection was very weak, appearing and disappearing.
It didn't bring much help, and instead made Marco a bit distracted.
He quickly adjusted his mindset and no longer paid attention to that strange connection.
"Huff~"
Marco took a deep breath.
He assumed a fighting stance and quickly traced out star chart routes with his hands.
"Hum!"
In front of Marco, the star chart of a winged flying horse flickered with blue light.
In the starry sea, the Pegasus constellation that blocked Equuleus also seemed to leap slightly.
"Hmm?"
This strange magic power fluctuation made Gildarts narrow his eyes.