Late at night, in Hargeon.
Moonlight spread across the boundless sea like a silver veil, only to be utterly torn apart by an oppressive aura.
On one side, hovering above the sea, was a creature with a visually estimated length of over fifty meters.
Its entire body was covered in a metallic shell, and a sharp, crescent-shaped blade grew from its forehead.
It naturally exuded the regal aura of a king who reigned over the deep sea and looked down upon all living things.
This formless pressure, a mixture of metallic coldness and the vastness of the ocean, was enough to strike terror into the very souls of beings on a lower tier of existence, causing them to flee at the mere sight of it, unable to muster the slightest will to resist.
It swayed its body with a subtle elegance, at times half-submerged in the sea, at others briefly taking to the air, displaying an agility that belied its massive size.
On the other side, standing proudly on the shore before MetalSeadramon, was the Dragon Slayer—Natsu.
Flames and a boiling battle lust burned almost tangibly in his eyes.
Faced with the pressure of a Mega-level being, he felt no fear.
Instead, he grew even more excited, his magical power surging like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
"Haha! Bring it on! You big iron dragon! Let me see just how tough that metal hide of yours is!"
Natsu slammed his fists together, sending scorching sparks flying.
A crimson Magic Circle instantly materialized between his fists and expanded.
"Fire Dragon's—Iron Fist!"
He roared, his right fist wreathed in explosive flames as he brazenly punched forward.
The moment he threw the punch, the phantom image of a majestic, roaring fire dragon appeared in the void behind him.
Perfectly synchronized with his movements, it opened its massive maw and spewed forth an even more violent torrent of fire, tearing through the night sky as it hurtled toward MetalSeadramon in the air.
Faced with this heavy blow MetalSeadramon's eyes flickered slightly.
It adjusted the angle of the cannon on its snout, and a devastating energy gathered and compressed at an unprecedented speed, emitting a terrifying fluctuation that seemed to warp space itself.
"Ultimate Stream!"
With the explosive boom of an energy blast, a beam of azure energy over two meters in diameter, condensed to the extreme and seemingly swirling with liquid energy within, shot out from the cannon's muzzle at a terrifying speed exceeding that of sound.
Everywhere the beam passed, the air was instantly evacuated and ionized, leaving a vacuum trail that lingered for a long time.
Even the moonlight was eclipsed by its brilliance.
Almost at the very instant Natsu's fiery meteor left his hand, the "Ultimate Stream" had already closed the distance, striking the core of the fiery meteor with pinpoint accuracy.
BOOM!!!
Azure and crimson collided violently in mid-air.
The deafening roar seemed to tear the sky asunder.
A terrifying storm of energy exploded in a sphere, forcibly pressing the sea's surface down to form a huge crater, which was then immediately filled by the monstrous waves it stirred up.
Searing steam and turbulent energy raged wildly.
Under the overwhelming energy density and impact of the "Ultimate Stream," the fiery meteor lasted for less than a second before it violently disintegrated, turning into a shower of sparks.
The azure beam, though diminished by nearly half, was still lethal.
Its momentum only slightly reduced, it continued to blast toward Natsu's original position.
"Tch!" Natsu reacted with extreme speed.
The moment the energies collided, he used the force of the impact to leap sideways in mid-air, narrowly avoiding a direct hit from the beam.
Even so, the terrifying energy turbulence and high temperature from the beam grazing past him still left his skin with a searing pain, the edges of his clothes charred and curled.
"S-So strong..."
In the distance, Lucy, protected by a gentle shield of digital energy cast by Ace and standing on the wreckage of a larger ship, watched the battle in utter astonishment.
It far exceeded her imagination.
A casual attack from that metal dragon was as powerful as a full-force blast of high-level magic!
And Natsu actually dared to fight such a monster head on?
Suddenly, she recalled the name Bora's men had shouted in panic on the ship earlier.
Connecting that with how Natsu and Happy addressed Ace, an unbelievable thought flashed through her mind.
'Ace... could he really be the legendary "Digital Summoner," the S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail, that Ace?!'
Lucy's heart pounded in her chest as she secretly glanced at the black-haired youth standing beside her with his hands behind his back, calmly observing the battle.
His handsome face flickered in the light of the distant explosions, as if everything was under his control.
'We're both summoning mages... It's just that he summons these incredible beasts...'
Lucy clutched the Canis Minor key in her hand, her heart filled with both shock and a strong sense of yearning, along with a subtle feeling of kinship.
'He seemed to have invited me to join Fairy Tail.'
'Maybe... I can ask him a lot of questions...'
Just as Lucy's mind was wandering, the battle on the sea changed again.
Perhaps feeling that a long-range duel wasn't "fulfilling" enough, or wanting to end the fight quickly, MetalSeadramon swung its massive body after forcing Natsu back.
Its long tail, covered in thick metal scales, rose high into the air, the tip glowing with a dazzling blue light, and then slammed down hard onto the sea's surface.
"River of Power!"
The giant tail, imbued with terrifying force, struck the sea, producing a sound so deep it was almost silent.
A terrifying centripetal pressure was generated with the point of impact as its center.
At the same time, countless highly compressed, blue-glowing, high-pressure water tornadoes, as if they had a life of their own, converged on Natsu from all directions, seeking to crush and shred him.
"Bring it on! Fire Dragon's—Roar!"
Faced with this inescapable ocean prison, a fierce light flashed in Natsu's eyes, and he stopped dodging.
He took a deep breath, his chest swelling high as the surrounding air temperature skyrocketed.
Then, facing the encroaching water tornadoes, he unleashed all the air and magic in his lungs as a torrent of flame that could incinerate all things.
"ROAR!"
A thicker, more condensed torrent of crimson flame, like the true breath of a fire dragon, slammed violently into the converging blue water tornadoes.
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