"Yeah... he's absurdly durable."
Finn analyzed the situation coldly. Thinking of the story of Fairy Tail, he realized that from chapter one to the very end of the original Fairy Tail timeline, Natsu Dragneel practically never suffered a genuinely shattered bone in combat. No matter how brutal the beating, the Fire Dragon Slayer usually just walked away with a few dramatic scratches, bruises, and an endless well of fiery determination.
If I can't use my blade to simply cut him down, this is going to be incredibly tedious, Finn sighed internally. Defeating Natsu wouldn't be a swift affair. But then again, it presented a perfect opportunity to beat the absolute pulp out of the guy who had been annoying him all day.
Finn let the glowing saber dissolve into particles of light, returning to an empty-handed stance.
"How unlucky..." Sorano sighed from the dugout. Among everyone in Heavenly Blue, she was the one who understood most how terrifying Finn was with a blade.
"What's wrong, Sorano?" Meredy asked, tilting her head.
"If Finn-sama uses a sword, that boy is going to die," Sorano murmured. She had watched Finn casually carve through her strongest angelic summons years ago. He had only grown monstrously stronger since then.
"Then why did he put the sword away?" Meredy asked, even more confused.
"Because he refuses to commit murder in a public event," Ultear answered smoothly, leaning back in her chair. Flare and Sorano nodded in agreement. They knew this battle was going to drag on, not because Finn was weak, but because Natsu was built like a cockroach.
Right on cue, the pile of rubble across the arena shifted. Natsu dragged himself out of the debris, his face heavily swollen and bleeding, yet his eyes burned with an unyielding, ferocious glare.
"NATSU!"
The Fairy Tail balcony immediately erupted into desperate cheers. They watched with bated breath, the sheer terror of Finn's suppressed killing intent still fresh in their minds. They all knew how close Natsu had just come to losing his head.
"He... he won't actually kill Natsu, right?" Gray asked, swallowing hard, a deep frown etched into his face.
"He won't," Erza stated, her voice tight but calm. "His swordsmanship is too lethal. He purposely put his weapon away to avoid accidentally killing Natsu. He is intentionally handicapping himself."
"...."
The guild fell silent. The realization that Finn was actively nerfing himself just to keep Natsu alive was a suffocating blow to their pride.
If they actually cared about his life, Finn thought, glancing up at the Fairy Tail dugout, wouldn't it be more logical for them to just throw in the towel?
"You should just lie down," Finn advised, looking back at Natsu. "It's much easier if you just go to sleep and let the referee call the match."
Finn wasn't exactly eager to drag this out. Beating up a protagonist was historically a massive waste of time, considering their innate, logic-defying ability to pull random power-ups out of thin air. Finn would much rather be back in the hotel suite with Erza and Bisca.
"Why didn't you use your sword on me?" Natsu demanded, his voice low and ragged.
"Because if I did, you'd be dead," Finn answered frankly. "You are far too weak."
"...."
The blunt, absolute certainty in Finn's voice left the entire stadium speechless. It sounded arrogant, but after witnessing the meteor slash, no one could deny it was the objective truth.
"There are entities in this world whose power defies comprehension," Finn continued, offering a rare moment of sincere advice. "If your guild isn't the absolute strongest, you need to learn when to swallow your stubbornness and yield. Blindly fighting superior opponents isn't bravery; it's suicide."
"DON'T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON ME! I WILL DEFINITELY WIN!"
"I offer you genuine advice, and this is how you answer," Finn sighed, deeply disappointed.
Natsu roared, his magical aura erupting into a violent inferno!
"Fire Dragon's Claw!"
Igniting his feet to generate explosive jet-propulsion, Natsu launched himself across the arena at supersonic speed, aiming a devastating, flaming kick directly at Finn's head!
BOOOOM!
The sonic boom shattered the air, but Finn simply pivoted smoothly on his heel, dodging the strike with inches to spare.
"I WON'T LET YOU DODGE—"
Natsu tried to pivot mid-air to follow up, but his words were violently cut short.
BAM!
A sickening impact rattled Natsu's skull. Finn had instantly shifted his stance, his footwork practically floating across the dirt as his arm lashed out in a bizarre, unpredictable, sickle-like motion.
"YOU BASTARD!" Natsu yelled, completely disoriented by the bizarre striking angle. He charged blindly forward.
Before Natsu could even ignite his fists, Finn unleashed an explosive, blinding flurry of strikes, hammering Natsu's face, neck, and torso.
"Angel's Whip."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Finn's fists blurred, raining down on Natsu like a relentless Gatling gun. He was utilizing the Flicker Jab—a highly advanced boxing technique defined by a low lead hand, whip-like speed, snapping angles, and a blinding pace.
With his monstrous precision, the style was a lethal weapon. Finn could easily use it to permanently blind or maim an opponent. But, acknowledging the unwritten rules of the Shōnen universe, he restricted himself to non-lethal, high-damage targets: the temple, the bridge of the nose, the point of the chin, the throat, and the liver.
While swordsmanship was the specialty of the Earthland Finn, his multiverse counterparts had mastered virtually every form of hand-to-hand combat in existence. Boxing remained one of the most mechanically perfect striking arts ever conceived.
For a normal mage, punching Natsu bare-handed was a terrible idea. Not only did Natsu's body radiate blistering heat, but his draconic constitution made his bones as hard as solid rock. A normal man would shatter his own wrists after hitting him. But Finn's physical specs outclassed Natsu's.
"NATSU! NATSU! NATSU!"
"STOP IT!"
"COME ON, NATSU! GET UP!"
"If you're all so worried about him, then tell him to surrender!" Finn shouted, genuinely annoyed as he glanced up at the screaming Fairy Tail guild. "You know he doesn't stand a chance against me, yet you continue to cheer him on to his own death! Do you want him killed that badly?!"
Finn found their toxic positivity absolutely idiotic. If they truly cared about their family, they would have thrown in the towel the moment the power gap became obvious!
In that brief moment of distraction, Natsu, bruised, battered, and practically half-dead, lunged forward with a bloody grin and tightly clamped his hand around Finn's wrist.
"Gotcha!" Natsu spat, his teeth stained with blood.
Finn didn't panic. He simply shifted his center of gravity. Using advanced, feather-light redirection principles, Finn smoothly twisted his hips, effortlessly throwing Natsu off balance and sending the Dragon Slayer crashing hard into the arena floor!
"ARRRGGG!!" Natsu groaned as his back hit the dirt.
Yet, stubbornly, Natsu refused to release his vice-like grip on Finn's wrist.
"Let go," Finn ordered coldly.
"I WON'T!" Natsu roared, his hand heating up.
"Is that so?"
Finn didn't ask again. He simply reached over with his free hand and lightly, precisely tapped the exact joint of Natsu's wrist.
CRACK.
The horrifying, sickening sound of bone snapping echoed perfectly through the silent stadium.
Suddenly, Natsu's grip went entirely limp. The Fire Dragon Slayer stared down in absolute, uncomprehending shock at his wrist, which was now bent at a deeply unnatural, horrifying angle.
Finn had just shattered his plot armor.