Chapter 680 - 680: Christmas Entertainment

Magnolia, December 24th—Christmas Eve.

A light snow drifted down from the sky, covering Magnolia in a blanket of white.

The streets, rooftops, and tree branches were all buried beneath fresh snow, leaving the entire town wrapped in winter.

Raizel had bundled himself in a thick coat before heading to the guild. Unlike Natsu, he was not particularly resistant to the cold.

Mira had arrived early and was already preparing food. Dressed in a refined black cashmere sweater, she stirred a pot of porridge simmering over the stove and glanced up when Raizel entered.

"You're here. We're having the party tonight, so we should start getting everything ready."

Raizel sat down at the bar while Mira placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of him.

He blew gently across the surface before taking a sip.

"Yeah, there's quite a lot to prepare. August, Zeref, Anna, and the others are coming too."

Mira lightly tapped a finger against her cheek as she thought through the guest list.

"Kiria, Misaki, the Signario Sisters, Brandish, and Dimaria should be coming as well... Now that I'm counting everyone, tonight really is going to be lively."

Selene and Irene had already been back for several days, and Kiria and Misaki had both shown their faces around Fairy Tail during that time.

Kiria in particular kept coming over to see Laxus.

The Signario Sisters, however, had mostly remained at the castle, apparently occupied with something of their own.

Luso was sociable enough, but Enny was the sort of person who found social interaction exhausting.

Back at Gold Owl, the only people she had ever spoken to with any regularity were Luso and Athena.

Enny was also a firm believer in strength above all else, and she took that attitude to an extreme.

If someone was weaker than her, she generally could not be bothered to acknowledge them at all.

Erza and Kagura were exceptions.

Both women had defeated the Signario Sisters head-on, so Enny recognized their strength without hesitation.

The guest list sounded enormous when spoken aloud, but in practice it was still manageable.

Macao, Wakaba, Reedus, and several of the older members had long since stopped attending Fairy Tail's Christmas parties.

According to them, they were getting too old for that kind of chaos and would rather spend the evening drinking quietly at home.

"We can buy the ingredients and cook most of it ourselves, then pick up some prepared food for the rest," Mira said as she continued writing notes.

...

By the time night settled over Magnolia, snow was still falling gently across the guild's open courtyard.

The party was well underway, and everyone had once again found themselves praising Mira's cooking.

"Gildarts! Fight me!" Natsu suddenly shouted, flexing one arm with a wide grin. "I've gotten way stronger after everything we went through on the Hundred Years Quest!"

Unable to sit still for long, Natsu had decided to challenge Gildarts.

Earlier, he had already tried Raizel and Laxus.

Both had refused.

Neither Raizel nor Laxus had any intention of spending Christmas fighting Natsu.

Gildarts, who had been lounging against the bar with one leg crossed over the other, slowly stood.

The amused expression on his face disappeared.

His gaze sharpened as he stared directly at Natsu.

He had to admit, his interest had been caught.

"You sure about this, Natsu?"

Gildarts's voice dropped slightly.

At the same time, the pressure around him began to rise.

Luso's expression changed.

"What a terrifying presence..."

Gildarts was not even releasing much Magic Power, yet she could feel a chill creeping through her body.

It was like standing near some enormous predator that could tear a person apart the instant it chose to move.

And the worst part was that none of that pressure was even directed at her.

Misaki, Kiria, and Luso all looked at Gildarts differently now.

None of them had expected the scruffy middle-aged man sitting at the banquet in a battered cloak, drinking with an unkempt beard, to possess such frightening strength.

Kiria immediately looked toward Laxus.

"Laxus, who's stronger—you or that scruffy old guy?"

"Him," Laxus answered without hesitation. "I've never beaten him."

Even after developing Lightning Dragon King Mode, Laxus still would not confidently claim he could defeat Gildarts.

Who knew how much stronger Gildarts himself had become during the same period?

Misaki and Kiria both sucked in a breath.

Laxus had defeated Kirin, the strongest of the Black Dragon Slayer Knights.

Kirin could argue about the details all he wanted, but a loss was still a loss.

Gray looked at Natsu as though he were watching someone volunteer for his own funeral.

"Hey, are you seriously planning to spend Christmas getting carried to Porlyusica for treatment?"

Gajeel immediately chimed in.

"Yeah. If you're trying to kill yourself, at least don't make us clean up after you. And I'm saying this now—I'm not carrying you, Salamander!"

Natsu ignored both of them.

He cracked his knuckles eagerly.

"Now I'm fired up!!!"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"

Makarov's roar shook the guild.

The moment he heard that Natsu and Gildarts were seriously considering a fight, he sobered up almost instantly.

"If the two of you start fighting here, you'll tear the entire guild apart!"

The instant Erza heard the guild building was in danger, she switched sides without hesitation.

"Exactly! I don't approve either. If you insist on fighting, go do it at Fiore Garden Plaza."

Mavis timidly raised one hand.

"I... actually kind of want to watch."

Selene lifted an eyebrow.

"A little entertainment after dinner? I admit, I'm interested too."

"That problem is easy enough to solve."

August spoke calmly.

"If the two of you truly wish to fight, I can create a suitable arena. One sturdy enough that you won't have to worry about destroying anything."

The moment Mavis expressed interest, August had already made up his mind.

Truthfully, he was curious about a fight between Gildarts and Natsu as well.

Watching his uncle beat someone up on Christmas sounded like perfectly respectable holiday entertainment.

"PLEASE DO!!!"

Natsu and Gildarts both bowed deeply toward August at the same time.

August stared at them.

"There really is no need for such ceremony..."

He tapped his staff against the ground.

In an instant, the tables, chairs, decorative rock formations, and stage in the center of Fairy Tail's outdoor courtyard vanished.

A massive circular arena resembling an ancient Roman colosseum rose in their place and occupied the entire courtyard.

Only after everyone entered did they realize that the arena was far larger inside than it had any right to be.

Fairy Tail's outdoor courtyard covered roughly six thousand square meters.

This arena appeared to be at least three times that size.

"OOOH!!! IT'S HUGE!" Natsu shouted as he ran inside. "Now this is somewhere worth fighting!"

He looked like a donkey that had just been released into an open field.

Raizel sighed.

"Too late now. If I'd known August-sama could do this, we should've asked him to build us an arena ages ago."

"No," August replied. "This arena requires my Magic Power to maintain. Once I stop supplying it, everything will return to normal."

"Alchemy?"

"World Transmutation?"

Luso and Enny both stared sharply at the suddenly constructed arena.

Irene stepped toward one of the walls and placed her palm against it.

"No. This is simply Earth-Make Magic. He completed the shaping in a single instant and then Enchanted the structure with the property of 'durability.'"

As for what kind of Magic August had used to expand the courtyard's internal space, even Irene could not say.

Unlike August, she did not possess knowledge of nearly every form of ancient and modern Magic.

Enny and Luso were beginning to feel increasingly ridiculous about their former arrogance.

Apparently, Erza, Kagura, and the others who had gone to Guiltina were not even the strongest people in Fairy Tail—or in Ishgar.

August was yet another mountain so high they could barely imagine reaching its summit.

What made it worse was that no one around them seemed especially surprised.

To Fairy Tail, apparently, this was all perfectly normal.

Ur stepped forward with a smile.

"In that case, I'll referee the match."