"Let's have a duel, Rhode!"
Natsu was straightforward. As soon as he arrived, he dived into the main topic without even a standard greeting.
Rhode replied helplessly, "At least wait until the rain stops, right?"
Natsu retorted, "Hasn't it already stopped?"
"Huh?"
Rhode looked outside the door, sunlight was streaming through gaps in the clouds like golden threads falling from the sky.
The light grew stronger and more frequent, the clouds quickly dissipated, and the sky was a clear blue.
"..." Rhode was shocked, "Are you Takabashi Honoka?"
"Who is that? Are they strong?"
"In a way." Rhode stopped delaying, "Then let's do it."
Natsu jumped into the backyard first, stepping in the mud, and Rhode suddenly didn't want to go.
After thinking for a while, he decided to seek help: "Laki?"
"Leave it to me." Laki cast magic: "Wood-Make: Pure Love Unsoiled!"
A round wooden platform, ten meters in diameter, appeared in the backyard, resembling an arena.
Several people around Laki criticized the name she chose, but Laki was pleased with herself.
Natsu jumped on it and stomped his feet, delightedly saying, "Oh! This is nice, decided, if you fall out of the range, you lose!"
"How about also counting falling to the ground as a loss?" Rhode would rather fake a fall than roll in the mud.
Natsu had no objections, and the audience was already in place—the President had also started taking bets—Rhode didn't even know when the old man appeared.
"So, Natsu vs. Rhode, begin!"
Rhode gripped his pendant: "I am the one who bridges the two worlds...
...
Gorge Swift Crab!"
Like Erza, Natsu believed in martial ethics and didn't launch a sneak attack, but Rhode felt awkward and thought he must shorten his chanting soon.
When the Gorge Swift Crab finally appeared, Natsu couldn't hold back any longer; he clashed his fists, fire bursting from them, charged like a fire dragon with claws extended:
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
The punch wasn't aimed at Rhode, but targeted at the River Crab instead.
The flaming, fiery fist enlarged in Rhode's 'vision', making him instinctively raise his hand to shield his face, but he soon realized that it was the River Crab's perspective.
In a hurry, not knowing what command to give, the River Crab acted on instinct, raising a short pincer.
Natsu's fist struck the green crab pincer, and the scorching flames bore down on the River Crab's eyes.
The enormous force pushed the River Crab two meters back, its six legs piercing the wooden board underneath.
Wooden splinters mixed with soil flew up, and Rhode was knocked over, with half of his body sprawled on the River Crab's back.
If not for the protrusions on the crab shell to hold onto, he might have been launched away.
"Ugh..." Rhode, hit in the stomach, felt nauseous, thinking that if he had taken that punch directly, it might have killed him.
Seeing Rhode's reaction, the President decided to give the inexperienced kid a crash course:
"Magic Power isn't just for casting magic; it can also be used for defense. Even if you don't know Defense Magic, it can still offer some protection, though less efficiently."
Rhode nodded, understanding, like using inner strength, but less cost-effective than using Defense Magic.
"Gorge Swift Crab, charge!"
But his command was a bit late; the River Crab had started fleeing instinctively after being attacked.
It even dashed out leaving an illusory trail, akin to a small acceleration skill the River Crab had in the game.
Rhode's ally-selling behavior left him face to face with Natsu, only three meters apart.
Upon hearing Rhode's command, the River Crab turned and accelerated back to charge again.
"So fast!" Natsu initially planned to follow his usual fight routine by rushing forward with a Friendly Face-Breaking Fist—without the flames on his fist.
But the River Crab's speed surprised him; facing it directly felt quite different from observing it yesterday.
"Now that's interesting!" Natsu instead laughed, spreading his hands to grasp the tips of the large crab pincers.
Sss...
Natsu was pushed back by the River Crab, producing an unpleasant sound with his sandals on the wooden Magic floor.
Yet, he stood firm after retreating less than a meter, grinning at the River Crab:
"Got you now!"
Natsu erupted with flames all over his body, headbutting the crab's face directly: "Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
"Squeak~~"
A loud boom followed by flames engulfing the entire River Crab, which emitted squeaky cries.
After a few measly struggles, the River Crab began to fade, becoming transparent until it vanished completely.
"Oh no!" Natsu clutched his head with both hands, frantically rubbing his hair in frustration, "I overdid it!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Natsu clasped his hands in apology, rushing to Rhode's side, frantically apologizing,
"I didn't mean to kill it! Sorry, sorry, sorry..."
Rhode, however, was calm and collected, "It's fine, it's not dead."
"Really?" Natsu, still in a bowing pose, looked up at Rhode.
"Really, it's more like it was forcibly sent back, it'll recover soon."
Rhode now vaguely sensed a body of water, with the River Crab hiding beneath the surface, only its antennae poking out.
In game terms, it's waiting to respawn.
Yet, the River Crab's disappearance made Rhode think that perhaps its existence was different from Poro.
"So that's it!" Natsu leaped a great distance backwards in a flash, "Then come again! Summon all the monsters! Haha!"
This guy is single-minded... His mood change was too quick.
But it fits the shonen manga protagonist stereotype.
Rhode understood a bit more about Natsu's personality, but as for summoning again...
He glanced at the edge where Polverom was.
Warm 'unintentionally' hid behind Hapi.
Rhode sighed, apparently, he couldn't count on them.
He clenched his fist facing Natsu: "Let's do it this way!"
The whole point of agreeing to fight Natsu was to gain combat experience, surrendering simply out of fear of being beaten was pointless.
Natsu also raised his fist, beaming a bright smile at Rhode.
Only later on did Rhode recall, feeling that Natsu's smile resembled that of a demon.
MD, he hit too hard!
...
"Ouch... hurts... hurts..."
Mira carefully dabbed a cotton ball onto Rhode's swollen cheek.
Rhode sat in a chair, clutching its back with both hands, grimacing in pain, not even caring about the closeness of their proximity which had slightly concerned him initially.
"Just bear with it a bit longer, almost done." Mira changed the cotton ball, reapplying the medicine, "Didn't the President teach you any defense techniques?"
"They worked, but I didn't master them immediately, also... ouch... who knew he'd just land a punch to the face!"
Mira chuckled, "Natsu always fights like that... All set, turn around... Speaking of which, are you going to continue this training in the future?"
Rhode turned, pulling down his collar to reveal the bruise on his shoulder.
Recalling the painful ordeal he just endured, he nodded mournfully:
"The tougher it gets, the more I need to find people to spar with; getting beaten up in the Guild is better than being killed outside... ouch..."