Although Laxus was astonished by Kenichi's strength, astonishment was one thing… it didn't mean he was afraid of Kenichi.
It's quite the opposite.
After a brief moment of shock, Laxus felt very excited.
He was excited that the guild had gained another powerful member.
At the same time, in Laxus's mind, Kenichi had already been marked as one of Fairy Tail's strongest candidates.
"Good, good! This is getting interesting!"
"Besides Mystogan and Gildarts, you must be the strongest in the guild now!"
"Perfect. I'll defeat you today, then later defeat Mystogan and Gildarts. That way, I'll be the strongest!"
Laxus stared at Kenichi, his face full of fighting spirit.
As he spoke, the golden lightning around Laxus's body intensified to the extreme.
Sounds of lightning crackling echoed through the air.
And the rock debris at his feet shook violently, even beginning to rise into the sky.
It seemed he was preparing for a major showdown with Kenichi.
Kenichi naturally wasn't about to back down either.
The crimson flames around his body instantly surged.
At that moment, the temperature of the surrounding air rose sharply.
And the stone pavement beneath Kenichi's feet began to melt at a visible rate!
'Is this that guy's true magical power?!'
Gajeel had just crawled out of the rubble pile over there.
Upon feeling the terrifying magical power emanating from Kenichi, his face was filled with fear.
Only now did Gajeel realize that when Kenichi fought him that night, he hadn't used his full strength at all.
If he had used his full strength, it wouldn't have been just serious injury… it would have been far worse.
Looking at Kenichi before him, Gajeel felt a wave of lingering fear.
"Erza, what should we do?!"
Looking at Kenichi enveloped in crimson flames and Laxus constantly flashing with golden lightning, Lucy asked Erza with a complex expression.
Just as Erza was pondering how to stop Kenichi and Laxus from continuing their fight, an authoritative voice suddenly came from the other end of the street.
"Laxus, stop this at once!"
Following the sound, they saw Makarov, Mirajane, and a group from the guild walking towards them.
"Master!"
Erza, Lucy, and the others, seeing Makarov arrive, all breathed a sigh of relief.
Laxus over there glanced at Makarov and the others and let out a dissatisfied click of his tongue.
"Tch, they arrived really quickly!"
Saying this, the astonishing aura around Laxus suddenly vanished. Then he turned to look at Kenichi again: "Our fight isn't over yet!"
With that, Laxus strode purposefully towards the direction of the guild.
As he passed by Makarov, Laxus grinned and said: "Old man, you should hand over Master's position sooner rather than later!"
Hearing Laxus's words, Makarov didn't even think before sternly rebuking: "Even if I do, I won't hand it over to someone like you!"
"I'll make you hand it over willingly!"
After saying this, Laxus directly left.
"Master, how did you all get here?"
After Laxus left, Natsu, Gray, and the group went up to Makarov and asked.
"If we didn't come, the whole town would have been destroyed by you!"
Hearing Natsu's question, Makarov said with clear annoyance.
"That guy is..."
While Natsu and Makarov were talking, Jet noticed Gajeel.
The moment he saw Gajeel, he flew into a rage.
"It's the Iron Dragon Slayer from Phantom Lord!"
After hearing Jet's words, the Fairy Tail's members behind Makarov all fixed their gazes on Gajeel.
"He's the one who attacked the guild and injured Jet and Droy, and almost hurt Levy too!"
"Unforgivable!"
"Wait, why does he have our guild's symbol on his arm?"
"Master, what in the world is going on?"
As everyone was denouncing Gajeel, Levy over there, seeing Gajeel, was also somewhat afraid. She reflexively hid behind Kenichi.
Kenichi turned to look at the somewhat petite Levy, and Levy met his gaze with a smile.
"It feels safer here!"
Not long after Levy finished speaking, Makarov explained his thoughts to everyone.
Regarding the Guild Master taking in Gajeel, everyone naturally had no major objections.
But they still felt very resistant towards Gajeel internally.
After all, not long ago, Gajeel was an enemy.
Just as everyone was preparing to return to the guild, a commotion suddenly came from the other end of the street.
Hearing the commotion, Kenichi, Erza, and the others all looked towards the sound.
They saw three people walking towards them.
Two men and one woman.
The woman had long brown hair and wore glasses.
Of the two men beside her, one had long green hair and was dressed like a swordsman, while the other wore a helmet.
The moment Kenichi saw these three, his eyebrows raised, and an interested expression appeared on his face.
But Makarov, Gray, and the others, upon seeing these three, looked as if they had encountered some trouble, their expressions all changing.
"Laxus's personal guard, the Thunder God Tribe!"
That's right, these three were the Thunder God Tribe: Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow.
Kenichi was quite interested in Freed's Jutsu Shiki.
'Laxus's Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic attribute, and Freed's Jutsu Shiki attribute... I'll collect them both!'
Kenichi looked at the approaching Freed and thought to himself.
At this moment, Laxus, who was on a rooftop not far away, naturally also saw Freed and the other two.
"Finally back, huh?"
"This time, I will definitely settle the score with you, Kenichi!"
Laxus looked at Kenichi over there and spoke with a face full of fighting spirit.