The two people were not knocked down just yet; after retreating a certain distance, they each came to a stop.
Stinger stopped directly with a brake of his foot, while Rogue flipped in a somersault and supported himself with one hand.
Stinger rushed back in, throwing a punch toward Gajeel's chest.
Rogue followed, swinging a punch toward Gajeel's face: "Gajeel, you're indeed strong, but we're not that easy to deal with!"
Rhode felt that the Shadow Dragon was somewhat contradictory, respecting Gajeel on one hand, yet acting as if he didn't care about him.
Gajeel faced off against the Sabertooth Twin Dragons alone.
The six fists of the three clashed rapidly, with a few kicks mixed in between.
The audience was captivated by the combat, and couldn't help but feel a bit tense for the three.
After such an intense exchange, Gajeel gradually adapted to their combination attacks, and again suppressed them.
He found an opportunity to punch Rogue in the abdomen, then directly shoulder-rammed into Stinger.
Rogue let out a retch and was sent flying.
Stinger, however, blocked Gajeel's impact with both hands, stepped back two steps, and opened his mouth: "White Dragon's Roar!"
Gajeel restrained his instinct to dodge, crossing his arms in front to take it head-on.
The breath, like white laser light, hit Gajeel, triggering a violent explosion.
Flames and smoke engulfed Gajeel completely.
Rogue quickly got up and opened his mouth: "Shadow Dragon's Roar!"
Wendy, behind Gajeel, pushed her palms forward, erecting a blue magic array in front of Gajeel, trying her best to block the subsequent oncoming black breath.
"Nicely done, little one!" Gajeel's voice came through the smoke.
The next moment, Gajeel burst out from it, charging through the blue magic array, withstanding the residual black breath, and threw a punch at Stinger from several meters away.
"Iron Dragon Staff!"
His right fist suddenly transformed into an iron rod, extending, striking Stinger in the chest, and pushing him backward.
The iron rod extended for more than a hundred meters, pushing Stinger all the way to the arena wall, smashing him through the thick wall and causing him to fall out.
"Stinger!" Rogue hurriedly lunged at Gajeel, with a scythe-like black shadow emerging from his right arm, sweeping horizontally, "Shadow Dragon Slash!"
However, before he could get close, the long iron rod had already retracted, sweeping toward him in the process.
The scythe-like shadow collided with the iron rod, creating a clanging sound, seemingly equal in hardness.
Yet, Rogue's power lost to Gajeel, and after a brief stand-off, he felt the pain from the iron rod hitting his body, crashing like a black cannonball against the other side of the arena's wall.
It didn't penetrate through, just created cracks upon impact, and he fell to the ground.
The commentator Jabadi probably couldn't make out Wendy's magic, directly exclaiming:
"Amazing! The famous Sabertooth Twin Dragons, the strongest combo in past Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts, actually got suppressed by Gajeel single-handedly!"
"Hmm...that's not quite accurate." Yajima corrected, "The Sky Dragon's magic is supportive. It's not obvious to us outsiders, but as an opponent, ignoring Wendy's power would be quite a disadvantage."
Jabadi exclaimed in surprise, "That cute girl, is she that powerful too?"
Rabian finally uttered a longer sentence: "She and her cat once performed with the Fairy Queen at my theater, they were very popular, very thankful!"
Rhode was somewhat surprised, asking Laxus and Jubia: "Did that happen?"
Jubia replied, "It seems to have happened during your honeymoon with Miss Mira."
Rhode felt a bit of regret for missing such an interesting event, and then commented, "Can't believe you remember things unrelated to Gray."
"Because... Jubia bought a couple's ticket, wanting to invite Gray-sama along." As she spoke, a small drizzly rain began over Jubia's head.
Rhode didn't need her to say it; he knew the result—it surely didn't happen.
Gray probably wasn't that interested in the plays Erza participated in, because—he had acted in them before, with not-so-pleasant results.
"It really isn't that simple." Stinger stood up from the rubble, "But that's about it."
"Oh." Rogue stood up, "I guess it's time to get serious."
A white glow emerged from one, and a dark shadow from the other, yet no signs of dragon transformation appeared.
"Holy White Dragon Mode!"
"Shadow Dragon Mode!"
"Isn't it supposed to be Dragon Power?" Gajeel flexed his neck, "I wanted to see the level of that power."
"That depends on whether you've got what it takes!" In the blink of an eye, Stinger was in front of Gajeel, his glowing white right hand slashed across Gajeel's chest like a claw.
Gajeel couldn't block in time, took a few steps back from the hit, then stabilized, his upper garment torn, revealing dense iron scales.
Unrelated to dragon transformation, it was just his usual defense technique.
Meanwhile, Rogue spread like a shadow on the ground, quickly reaching behind Gajeel before leaping out, attempting to claw at Gajeel's back.
The back of Gajeel's shirt tore open with a rip, also exposing iron scales.
Seizing this opportunity, Stinger once again struck Gajeel back while embedding a mass of white light into his abdomen.
Rogue did not follow with another attack, but instead moved quickly like a shadow back to Stinger's side.
After being hit unexpectedly a few times, Gajeel steadied himself again and, with a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, said, "What's this, is that all the power you have?"
In response, Rhode commented, "That fool, still not beaten down enough usually. Can't he wait till he knocks them out to act tough?"
Sure enough, Gajeel suddenly felt a blistering heat in his abdomen, with a white magic array flashing on it.
He realized he couldn't move: "This is..."
"Hmph... White Dragon's Claw is a holy attribute power. That holy mark will render your body immobile." Stinger believed victory was in hand, "It's decided!"
Rogue shook his head regretfully: "Unfortunately, Gajeel, the outdated you are no match for us."
Stinger had already assumed a standard arch stance, charging his punch, "Return to dust! White Dragon's... Divine Nova!"
Stinger's fist emitted white light like a meteor, triggering an explosion of immense power.
The spot where Gajeel stood was engulfed in a dazzling white light ball, and fierce winds scattered.
Ordinarily, such an attack should have been decisive.
However, Stinger's face showed no sign of joy.
Because as the white light faded, although Gajeel's long black hair was swirling wildly, he remained unscathed.
On the contrary, he was gripping Stinger's fist with one hand.
Only his already tattered shirt got completely shredded.
"Why... why can you still move?"
Stinger couldn't understand how the Iron Dragon could break free from the White Dragon's holy mark.