Chapter 280: Noah vs. Jose (Part 2)
The floor where they stood shattered, and both Noah and Jose dropped to the level below. Dust billowed as more sections of the walls crumbled.
Noah's magic circle, which had blocked Jose's attack, was completely unharmed, still glowing brightly. He dismissed it, and it vanished into the air.
"Hah!"
Noah clapped his hands in front of his chest. A massive ring of golden magical energy erupted from him, expanding rapidly outward.
Jose was the first to face it.
"HAAAA!"
Jose shouted, gathering highly compressed magic in both hands and thrusting them forward. Two devastating shockwaves slammed into the expanding golden ring.
But they couldn't stop it. Jose's magic sank into the ring like a stone into the ocean, vanishing without effect.
The ring expanded so fast that Jose didn't even have time to change tactics. It slammed into him, driving him through several walls before he fell from the shattered structure.
The ring continued its relentless advance, destroying everything around and above Noah before bursting out of the Magic Giant entirely.
Once outside, the ring expanded even faster. The seawater around the giant was instantly pushed back, forming a tidal wave dozens of meters high that surged toward the shore.
And the wave was growing taller as more water was displaced.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Noah went too far!"
"Someone do something! Stop it!"
On the shore, the Fairy Tail members panicked, looking to Noah's Thought Projection for help.
"Yeah... I guess I got a little carried away," the projection admitted, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh.
He clapped his hands, aiming at the tidal wave.
In an instant, the towering wall of water froze solid, along with the sea surface beneath it.
Then, the golden ring of magic crashed into the frozen wave.
BOOM!!!
A deafening roar shook the air as the ice shattered, huge chunks falling into the frozen sea.
The impact weakened the ring significantly, reducing it to less than a tenth of its original power, but it continued to expand.
By the time it reached the guild members, it was just a thin layer of light.
But as that thin layer swept over them, it didn't harm a single Fairy Tail member. Instead, it vaporized every remaining Shade in the vicinity.
"The Shades... they're gone?"
"Just like that?"
"That's Noah for you!"
The guild members let out a collective sigh of relief, finally relaxing.
But instead of resting, they immediately rushed behind Noah's Thought Projection, jostling for a good view of the screen showing the fight.
"Don't push!"
"Quit shoving!"
"Hey! Did you just kick me?!"
In the chaos, they nearly knocked Yukino over.
Noah's projection rolled his eyes and slapped a member away before he could crash into her. He then enlarged the screen and turned up the volume so everyone could see and hear clearly.
Seeing the larger screen, the members stopped pushing and sat down to watch while they rested.
The projection snapped his fingers, and a pile of unconscious people appeared on the ground nearby. They were the Phantom Lord members who had been knocked into the sea by the shockwave. Noah couldn't just let them drown, so he teleported them to safety. He then ignored them, turning his attention back to the screen.
"Cough! Cough!"
Inside the giant, Ultear and the others were covered in dust. They had jumped down to a lower level to avoid the blast, but the debris had still coated them in grime.
"Noah, you bastard!" Sorano shouted toward Noah's direction. Ultear and the others didn't look happy either.
"Sorry, sorry. It's been a while since I had a serious fight, and he's actually pretty strong, so I got a little excited and forgot to hold back." Noah's voice echoed in their minds via Telepathy. "By the way, you should move back further. I might hit you again."
"Let's just go back to the shore. Who knows what kind of crazy spell he'll use next," Erza said.
Everyone agreed. Watching from close range was dangerous, especially with Noah getting carried away. They turned and ran toward the shore.
Sensing them leave, Noah snapped his fingers.
Every living person inside the Magic Giant, except for himself and Jose, was instantly teleported to the shore. To prevent the Phantom members from causing trouble when they woke up, Noah sealed their magic before sending them away.
Now alone, Noah could finally let loose.
"You bastard!"
Jose crawled up from the rubble, his face twisted in rage.
Noah's attack hadn't harmed anyone else, but it had been aimed squarely at Jose and his Shades. Taking the hit head-on had left Jose severely injured. He was gasping for air.
He had recovered somewhat while talking to the girls, but that one hit had undone all his progress and left him in an even worse state.
"How can you possibly be this strong?!" Jose shouted, unable to believe the power he had just witnessed.
"There's a lot you don't know. Now, grit your teeth."
Jose tensed, but before he could say anything, Noah vanished and reappeared right in front of him.
"!!!"
Jose tried to raise a defense, but his finger had barely twitched when Noah's fist connected with his face.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Jose was launched backward, smashing through several floors before crashing into a lower level. He landed spread-eagled, embedding himself into the floor, cracks radiating outward from his body.
"Gah!"
Jose coughed up a mouthful of blood, his aura dimming further. The left side of his face was swollen, and he had lost several teeth.
"Hah!"
Noah leaped down through the hole Jose had made, aiming a stomp at his chest.
"!!!"
Jose scrambled out of the crater on all fours, rolling away just in time.
CRASH!
Noah's foot slammed into the crater, shattering the floor completely and revealing a massive hole. Noah hovered in mid-air.
"AAAAAAH!"
Jose's magic flared desperately. Two magic circles appeared in front of his palms, summoning two massive, multi-meter-tall specters. They charged at the airborne Noah, opening their mouths to inhale his soul.
"Soul-affecting attacks?"
Noah felt the magic trying to latch onto him, but his passive magical defenses blocked it completely.
While still in the air, Noah punched.
The sheer wind pressure from his fist tore the specters apart and continued toward Jose.
"He destroyed my ghosts with just the wind pressure from a punch?!"
Jose stared in shock. If Noah had used magic, he could accept it. But pure physical force destroying his soul magic? How strong was this brat's body?!
He dodged to the side. Noah's punch blasted a massive hole where he had just been standing, punching through three consecutive walls before stopping.
Noah kicked off the air, flipping and landing on a stable section of the floor.
"Death Wave!"
Taking advantage of the moment Noah landed, Jose thrust his right hand forward, firing a powerful dark shockwave.
"Heaven's Sundering Light!"
Noah extended his right hand. A magic circle appeared, and a beam of light shot out before the shockwave could reach him.
The golden beam tore through Jose's attack effortlessly, continuing straight for him.
"Damn it!"
Seeing his attack completely overwhelmed, Jose leaped aside to dodge the massive beam.
The light beam carved through the floor, obliterating everything in its path. It pierced through the entire Magic Giant and shot into the sky, parting the clouds and revealing the blue sky above.
Noah didn't care that he missed. He watched Jose panting heavily on the other side of the room. Blood stained his mouth and clothes, his face was pale, and his aura was weak.
"Your strength isn't bad," Noah said, shaking his head. "But it's not enough."
"Cough! Cough!"
Jose choked on his rage, coughing up more blood. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't catch his breath.
He was a Wizard Saint! One of the ten strongest wizards on the continent! And this brat was saying he wasn't enough?!
"And you think this strength is equal to Gramps? Even if I hadn't come, if Gramps had fought you, you would have lost just the same."
Noah shook his head. Jose had clearly gotten stronger over the years, and it had made him arrogant.
~~~
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