fanmtl Chapter 573 573
Chapter 573 573
"Natsu's going to win."
The moment Marco saw Natsu take control of the God Slayer Flames, he came to that conclusion immediately.
At this point, Natsu definitely had victory in hand.
This so-called God Slayer Magic certainly sounded impressive, but in the end, it was still just fire.
Natsu's Fire Dragon Slayer Magic was naturally suited to counter flames, and with everything Totomaru had taught him about fire control, dealing with fire-based magic was practically second nature to him.
Buzz!
Natsu controlled the flames and wrapped them around his fist.
He didn't swallow them, because these God Slayer Flames were far too violent.
Even he, a Fire Dragon who fed on flames, had no way to devour them directly.
If he swallowed the God Slayer Flames, he would only be trapping himself.
The flames would violently clash with the magic inside his body, leaving him in agony and making it impossible to convert them into his own power.
Natsu felt relieved.
Fortunately, he had chosen to control the flames first instead of arrogantly trying to eat them.
Otherwise, the situation would have reversed completely.
"Take this… Dragon God's Brilliant Flame!"
Natsu spread both hands wide—God Slayer Flames in one, Dragon Slayer Flames in the other.
Then he slammed them together, fusing the two fires into one, and hurled the result forward.
The merged flames became a gigantic black-and-red fireball, radiating a terrifying aura, as if it could slay evil dragons and even gods themselves.
"Damn you! You actually stole my power!"
Seeing Natsu use his own ability against him—and even fuse his God Slayer Flames with Dragon Slayer Flames—Zancrow was furious.
Rage shot straight to his head.
"Flame God's Feast!"
Zancrow swung both hands, creating a pair of hounds from black flames.
The two wolves leapt up and merged into a giant maw, lunging straight at Natsu's Dragon God's Brilliant Flame.
This technique could devour everything—even a mage's magic power itself.
Boom!!!
But the giant mouth was blasted apart instantly by Dragon God's Brilliant Flame. The overwhelming magical power was far beyond what it could consume.
That sight left Zancrow dumbfounded.
This was his strongest move, one that had never failed him before—usually it killed in a single blow.
And yet now, not only had it failed, it hadn't even managed to slow the attack down. As the black-and-yellow fireball came crashing toward him, he had no chance to dodge.
He could only take it head-on.
Boom!!!
The terrifying fireball slammed into him, and Zancrow let out a shrill, agonized scream.
After all these years, it was the first time he had ever learned what it felt like to be burned by fire.
As someone who prided himself on wielding the strongest flames, he had never imagined that one day he himself would be scorched by fire.
"See that? That's what happens when you try to counterattack before figuring things out."
Looking at the miserably defeated Zancrow, Marco said to Lucy, Hisui, Gray, and the others.
If Zancrow hadn't chosen to retaliate immediately, he might actually have had a chance to dodge.
But unfortunately, his wrong judgment had destroyed all those possibilities.
He had believed his flames could devour everything—but the fusion of God Slayer Flames and Dragon Slayer Flames had already surpassed the original God Slayer Flames in sheer power.
"This guy is pretty strong. If anyone else had faced him, they probably would've suffered badly. Those flames aren't easy to deal with. But unfortunately for him, he ran into Natsu—the natural enemy of flame mages."
Gildarts commented from the side, acknowledging both Zancrow's strength and the quality of Natsu's victory.
The older man's face was full of satisfaction.
During the years he had been away from the guild, the kids had grown tremendously. Even straightforward, reckless Natsu had now mastered all kinds of techniques.
That level of fire control was impressive even to Gildarts.
"So all that effort wasn't wasted after all."
Marco smiled.
He had always pushed Natsu to study fire-control techniques properly under Totomaru, and after so much time and persistence, it had finally borne perfect fruit.
If Natsu hadn't mastered fire control, this battle would definitely have been much uglier.
Marco could already imagine it: if he hadn't been here, and the original Natsu had faced this Fire God Slayer Mage, he probably would have been beaten black and blue.
"You're a good teacher, Marco."
Gildarts sighed with feeling.
When it came to teaching others, he simply couldn't keep up with Marco at all.
Just look at the growth of Lucy, Hisui, Natsu, Gray, and the others—they changed drastically year by year, far exceeding expectations.
And more importantly, they had all grown in completely different directions, each excelling in different areas.
That was the truly terrifying part.
It meant Marco genuinely knew how to teach according to the individual, proving that his mastery of magic was broad and comprehensive.
Gildarts looked at his own hand.
His Crush Magic had too high a barrier to entry.
Even if he wanted to teach it, no one else could seem to learn it.
That left him constantly frustrated and confused.
A magic he had grasped right from the start was somehow this hard for others?
Marco found that confusion very familiar.
It reminded him of a famous question often asked by geniuses.
'How could anyone be too dumb to learn calculus?'
The truth was that some things which felt basic to a genius, things they thought no one could possibly fail to understand, were as incomprehensible as heavenly scripture to ordinary people.
Gildarts's Crush Magic was exactly that kind of thing—other people's ultimate move was just his normal attack.
"It'd be nice if that flame could be preserved."
Marco stopped humoring Gildarts and turned his gaze back toward the God Slayer Flames.
This Fire God Slayer Magic was indeed pretty good.
If Natsu could truly master those flames, his strength would rise dramatically.
Within the flames, Zancrow had already stopped screaming.
As the user of Fire God Slayer Magic, he was genuinely resistant to burning. Of course, part of that was because he had also been using God Slayer Flames to resist the attack.
In any case, the flames had finally burned out.
Thud.
Zancrow collapsed to the ground.
Not a single patch of unburned flesh remained on him, and his whole body gave off the smell of roasted meat. He looked practically ready to be served on a plate.
"Zancrow… was defeated…"
The scene naturally shocked the members of Grimoire Heart.
The other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory were stunned as well.
Just moments ago, Zancrow had held every advantage, using his overpowering God Slayer Flames to completely suppress the Fire Dragon.
And yet in the blink of an eye, the situation had reversed.
Zancrow had been suppressed instead, then taken down in a single strike, clearly unable to get back up.
So all that fighting earlier had amounted to meaningless damage? And the other side only needed one hit to put him down for good.
The defeat had come too quickly for Grimoire Heart to process.
---------
Read 50 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator