Nine Lives

[Gildarts]

A blow landed into Cal’s cheek. Gildarts felt two lightning-fast blows fall on him. Their speed compromised the force in which they were delivered. Gildarts had braced himself for a heavy, pounding blow, yet even the electricity hadn’t caused him any more pain than a subtle stinging.

His eyebrow raised. The kid lacked execution. Gildarts’ stance moved to exploit this, however he restrained the force behind his hand so that the next punch he landed would not kill the boy. A carefully placed punch fell deep into the core of Cal’s abdomen, it looked like a bit of a doozy, as the teen stumbled back, almost losing his footing, and his eyes had crunched themselves shut upon impact of the blow. But there was fire in Cal’s eyes, and the secondary would not go down.

Not so easily, and not against his idol.

Cal’s goal and incentive to win kept him on his feet, though coughing and sputtering a bit of blood as he did so.

Gildarts wasn’t dissuaded, nor distracted by the boy’s distress. He was more disturbed about how his opponent had yet to forfeit (by either passing out, or surrendering) and now the teen was pushing his body to its limit.

Static crackled in the youth’s hair before the boy’s body became blue and luminous. With the correct incentive, Cal’s body had reached its ultimate form. The air around him allowed Cal’s body to maneuver at top speed, as a blurry blitz of punches collided into the Prime. Gildarts now stumbled back a single step, before suddenly his head tilted a foot to the left, and Cal’s final and most packed punch had been left without a target.

Gildarts took this moment to indulge his fist, which was itching to fall into its target. A slam of knuckle found its place in the teen’s scrawny ribcage. Cal fell to the ground, broken ribs ached when his chest inhaled for breath. However, the pain that stung in Cal’s eyes, wasn’t enough to dissuade him from the fight.

A few limps closer and Gildarts took a sigh. He had made a mistake, for letting the boy come this far, now his dreams would be crushed. However, pain was a necessary evil for growth. And so was fear. Gildarts would now show Cal what he had shown Natsu, all those days ago, back on Tenrou Island.

Gildarts charged his move, this time, taking no time to worry about what the onlookers saw of him. People in the swarming stadium cheered as they called and shouted down, hoping for a death delivering punch. Instead, Gildarts opted for option three in this situation. He raised his fist, and slammed it into the ground. Crash energy released throughout the earth, distributing his powerful magic in a cascade of cube-shaped rock. The earth crumbled at Gildarts’ feet. The same effect caused Cal to stumble. Earth-shaking power was witnessed.

Instead of giving up like Cal was supposed to, the secondary made one last, final, and noble stand.

Electricity warped in the boy’s palms, and before Gildarts could dodge the desperate move, the ball of blue energy landed square in his chest. Fire, energy, and magic, all reached out to greed him in tangled blue branching webs. Internally, the molten power raged within him. Burning the muscles he held so near to his heart. Finally the branches of heat fluctuated, and had made their way from one end of Gildarts’ to another. Auburn hair stood on end, while his cloak was frazzled and it’s ashes were no-where to be found.

Gildarts’ body remained standing, despite his heart -which had stopped in his chest- remained motionless despite his demanding muscles, which craved both oxygen and blood.

Cal’s jaw dropped. He had done it. He had won.

The secondary inched closer, holding his broken ribs together with one arm, while his legs could only limp forward. He would push Gildarts down. His hand hovered a foot away from the mighty Prime’s powerful chest.

Before Cal could move another inch, Gildarts took a breath, and punched at the air in front of him -which happened to be where Cal was standing. Immediately the secondary fell to the ground, there was no strength left in his bones or muscles to stand up once more, yet he propped himself up on a nearby cube-shaped rock. “How’re you even alive?”

Gildarts patted the dust from his hand and then moved his hand over his chest. He revealed below the bandages, his blue Fairytail insignia. A smile fell on the kid as he helped the defeated up. He had not died this round barely. Could he say the same about the one to follow?