Chapter 67 - Laxus and Cana's fights against themselves

Up atop the peak of Mt. Hakobe stood six silhouettes within the raging snow blizzards, these were the S ranked wizard, Gildarts, Erza and Arthur. The Maser of Fairy tail, Makarov, and the two examines trying to claim the S rank for themselves, Laxus and Cana.

At this moment, Makarov stood in front of the two examinees while holding a magical item in the shape of a cube with many intricate patterns all over it, he waited for the one whom would take the trial first.

"So, which one of you wants to try first?" Makarov asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll go, would be better for the shrimp too if she saw how it's done first." Laxus said arrogantly, walking towards the short old man with crossed arms.

"Who are you calling a shrimp?!" Cana yelled, getting rather angry at the older Laxus and his tall frame.

Laxus however paid her no heed and simply stood before Makarov.

"Place your hand on top of the cube, I'll do the rest." Makarov said, to which Laxus promptly complied with.

Once Laxus' palm was on the Cube, Makarov infused it with his magic power and activated the spell within the item. A bright yellow light shone and began suċkɨnġ in magic power from Laxus, taking exactly half of his magic power and using it to begin its operations.

The cube then flew up and away from the hands of the two mages. Once it was about five meters in the air, the light flickered and vanished. Revealing a figure with the features of Laxus, however it was completely made out of magic and thus was completely yellow in color and glowed with a magical hue.

"Hoh? That's pretty sweet!" Arthur exclaimed, interested in the item.

"Yeah, definitely a good item to use for training." Erza commented.

"Sadly, for you Arthur my boy, it would probably not work. You're are a bit above us all at this point after all. It would most likely break if you used it..." Makarov explained with a sigh.

'The kid is nearly fourteen, yet by all rights he's the Ace of the strongest guild within a country... It's hard to believe he's that same ċȯċky kid that once entered through the guild doors with Gildarts.' Makarov thought to himself

"Hey! I could take him still!" Gildarts pitched in, unwilling to give away his rank of Ace that easily.

"No, No you can't Gildarts." Makarov turned to him, speaking bluntly.

"Eh?! Already?!" Gildarts asked whilst turning to Arthur.

"Mmm... I doubt I'd lose if we fought again. Honestly" Arthur replied while scratching his cheek, "That does depend on if you've improved too though, you have been training and making new spells right? Like that ball thing you used last time." He said with a grin.

"Haha! You know it! Say, why don't we have a remat-" Gildarts had been issuing a challenge before he got rudely interrupted.

"HEY! Can I do my trial now?" Laxus glared at the two mages for rudely interrupting him with their small talk.

"Uh... Yeah, sorry. Hehe~" Gildarts apologized, scratching his head with one hand and waving lightly with the other at Laxus.

"Thank you. Now then, shall we begin?" Laxus spoke, looking at the doppelganger made out of magic.

The doppelganger had landed on the snow, staring at Laxus intensely as it silently stood whilst glowing with its golden hue.

"Then, may the third trial..." Makarov spoke, raising his hand up. "Begin!" he swung it down, starting the trial and initiating the doppelganger to attack.

Laxus immediately rushed towards the doppelganger, cladding his entire body in lightning while concentrating a lot on his right fist, creating an orb of electricity on top of his hand!

The doppelganger simply stood and watched Laxus rush at it with its arms crossed, doing a great Laxus impression.

"I'll end this now! {Lightning Dragon Fist}!" Laxus yelled, extending his hand towards the head of the doppelganger in an effort to smash its head in, however...

The doppelganger moved its torso to the side, extending a hand into Laxus' abdomen for a counter attack!

"Gah!" Laxus gasped, losing his breath from the punch.

He quickly moved away and re-evaluated his opponent, "Hey, gramps... That toy of yours is a lot better than I thought..."

"Yeah, the doppelganger has your exact skillset and ability. However, it doesn't have any unnecessary thoughts clouding its judgement. Meaning that..." Makarov spoke, getting cut off by Laxus.

"Meaning that it can fight with My current full potential... Is that right?" Laxus asked.

"Precisely." Makarov nodded, satisfied by the answer.

"Heh, this is getting interesting now." Laxus spoke and had his lightning coating increase in size, the lightning was concentrating at his feet for but a moment before he exploded towards the doppelganger.

The doppelganger didn't wait this time, instead it also executed the exact same movements and rushed towards Laxus!

The two collided in a large explosion of electricity that sent shockwaves in all directions, a giant dome of electricity appeared around the two combatants.

The power they exuded was enough to push away the strong blizzard winds and create a clearing in the snowy mountain.

Laxus exchanged blow for blow with the doppelganger, smashing fists, knees and feet together as they vied for dominance over the other! Many hits nearly landed, one even grazed Laxus on the cheek, making it bleed profusely.

"{Lightning Dragon Storm Punch}!" Laxus shouted in excitement, throwing a spinning fist packed to the limit with lightning magic for a corkscrew punch!

The rotation created a spiraling tornado of electricity that washed past everything and pushed towards the Doppelganger who had executed the exact same move.

"Tsk! This guy is exactly on my level." Laxus spoke, planning on what he could possibly do to win over the enemy.

Just as he was thinking of a plan, the doppelganger zoomed towards him in a quick fashion, forcing Laxus to act immediately.

"{Lightning Dragon Roar}!" Laxus roared, creating a giant wave of lightning towards the doppelganger who immediately dodged, that being his first reaction.

Laxus immediately moved in towards the doppelganger, throwing a punch that the doppelganger also simulated, however...

In midst of throwing that punch, Laxus switched his approach and instead did a reverse roundhouse kick! Turning his body to the right and using his left leg to slam the back of his lightning packed foot into the doppelganger's chin from below!

The attack launched the doppelganger in the air, spinning it all the while as it couldn't regain balance!

Laxus didn't let the chance slip by, rushing quickly and appearing right above it! Grabbing it by its head and launching himself into the ground with lightning magic!

He raised the hand holding the doppelganger in the air for the extra swing, packed all the lightning he could into his hand and slammed the doppelganger into the ground with everything he had!

The smash of the doppelganger with the ground was strong enough to cause powerful gusts of wind that blew all the snow in the area away, creating a crater filled with sparks of electricity and demolishing the magic power that held the body of the doppelganger together!

"I win." He simply stated, then walked past everyone and back into the hut.

Whistling, Arthur spoke. "Damn, that was quite the show he put up!"

"Yes, I honestly didn't think he'd end it that quickly..." Erza commented.

"He's a bright kid, realizing the weakness of the doppelgangers so quickly." Makarov spoke, "I am proud." He muttered, closing his eyes for a moment of satisfaction.

"Cana, are you ready sweety?" Gildarts asked his daughter, leaning down to the same level as her face and looking her straight in the eyes, "You can still try next year, you're already very exhausted and didn't have enough time to recover fully..."

"Dad, I'm alright. Let your daughter be alone for just one moment, let me show you what I can do!" Cana spoke confidently through freezing breaths.

"Mmm... Okay, I'll trust you." Gildarts said, standing upright and walking back to the other S ranks.

Cana turned to walk towards the Master, satisfied with her father's permission, however she was suddenly stopped by the still walking Gildarts, "Cana." He stopped in place to say.

"Yes, dad?" She turned back, asking what more might Gildarts want to add on.

"I'm proud of you." He simply stated and continued walking.

"..." Cana stood speechless for a moment, before replying, "Yes, father!" and rushing towards Makarov with a bright smile on her face.

If her father was proud of her, she couldn't let him down! She had an all-time high motivation now.

Meanwhile at the S rank's viewing spot.

"Hey, you act all cool with that talking as your back is facing her... But in the front you're a sobbing mess!" Arthur confronted the currently crying Gildarts with a wry smile.

Sobbing, Gildarts spoke. "W-Well! I can't help it! M-My.. My little girl is acting like such a grown up! It brings this old man to tears Arthur! Tears I say! I'm a proud dad!" Gildarts cleared his tears, before turning back towards where Cana was.

"It's okay to feel proud, Cana is truly giving it her all here! I'm quite proud of her myself." Arthur spoke happily, looking at Cana with a smile plastered on his face.

"The girl has come a long way, I'm sure." Erza commented, "I'm looking forward to seeing how much Cana has improved in this fight."

"Yeah! You'll both me surprised!" Gildarts clentched his fist, grinning as he watched Cana's figure move towards Makarov.

'She can do it, I'm sure.' Arthur thought, waiting for Cana to start her trial.

"Are you ready, Cana?" Makarov asked, handing the magical item to Cana.

"Yes, Master." She replied with confidence in her eyes, still shivering from the cold.

"Then, let us begin." Makarov said and Cana placed her hand on the cube.

She had recovered at about forty percent, thus the magical cube only took twenty percent of her usual magic power in order to make the doppelganger.

A gray colored doppelganger soon appeared, facing the shivering Cana.

'Let's see if she can figure out the doppelganger's weakness or not then...' Makarov thought whilst watch Cana face of with herself.

"Well, what are you waiting for, you copy 'Me'? Come at me!" Cana said, inviting the doppelganger to attack her, which it did.

The doppelganger initiated the fight with a furious fist towards the young girl, it was easily dodged and countered however the doppelganger countered that too.

The two began an exchange of martial arts prowess, one in which they were evenly matched.

"{Crushing Stomp}!" Cana yelled, shoving her foot into the ground packed with Crash energy!

The energy spread across the ground and turned everything within a ten meter wide radius into cubes, making both combatants fall downwards for about five meters.

Withing the air, both Cana and her doppelganger shoved their palms at each other, yelling "{All Crush}!" the spell sent out a shockwave of crash energy from both their palms and intercepted each other!

Waves of crash energy washed between their palms and went sideways, turning everything in their way into small cubes!

"Tsk, that all you got doppel me?!" Cana yelled as the two landed on the ground, quickly reinitiating their fight.

Cana threw punch after punch, fist after fist and hit after hit! They were smashing fists together so much that Cana's hands had begun to bleed from he knuckles.

'I can't break through its defense... It's like I'm fighting with a mirror!' Cana thought, keeping her attack up as she thought of ways to break through.

How does one break through their own defense?

Everything she did was anticipated by the doppelganger and properly countered, there was no way for her to possibly outdo it when it held the exact same abilities as her...

The more she thought about her opponent, the more she got pushed back and received multiple bruises from all the attacks that she couldn't block.

As the doppelganger had no need for thoughts, it simply acted on the instincts it knew of fighting and kept on rushing its opponent with all its skill and ability!

Cana then attempted a knee kick, however even that got stopped by the exact same move, pushing crash energy in all directions.

'Damn it! How, how do I win against it?' Cana kept thinking as she was being pushed back, her bones cracking from the onslaught and multitude of barrages.

'How did Laxus beat it... Think Cana, think!' She kept thinking, receiving a fist right to her face in the process!

Cana flew right into the crater walls, digging slightly into the stone and dirt.

"Cana!" Gildarts yelled, concerned but still not acting.

"She's got this..." Erza mumbled, "I believe she's got this, so don't worry Gildarts." She tried to comfort Gildarts.

"Yeah, you're right... I said I'd believe in her... You're right..." Gildarts mumbled back.

Cana then stood up, her cheekbones had cracked badly however she gritted her teeth despite that and pushed through the pain!

"Thanks for the slap, doppel me... I think I figure you out just now!" Cana said with a grin and waited for the doppelganger to rush at her.

The copy of Cana jumped at her, filling its fist with crash energy as it slung widely towards her face once more.

Cana extended all five of her fingers, filling their tips to the brim with crash energy! "{Crushing Fingers}!" Cana yelled, accelerating her hand towards the doppelganger's with all five fingers outstretched!

The doppelganger threw its fist, hitting Cana's fingers and causing a sudden explosion of crash energy within the crater once more!

Once the explosion calmed, the doppelganger had lost the magic power holding its hand together!

Cana's spear like attack had managed to destroy her copy's arm completely!

"Hoh, I see..." Cana spoke, "It can't copy anything that I usually don't do! An original attack or weird movement works!"

"Correct, the doppelganger has no way of countering something it isn't familiar with. Nor can it plan against it." Makarov commented.

"Then, this will be easy..." Cana spoke, moving towards her opponent once more.

The doppelganger began to wind up a punch, however as it threw it, Cana simply headbutted it in the forehead instead!

It got pushed back, staggering long enough for Cana to move under it and raise her foot for a straight ninety degree angle kick right into the doppelganger's chin! Launching it into the air, she breathed heavily as she bent her knees down, springing up towards the doppelganger soon after!

"{Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrian}!" Cana roared, slamming her fist right into the doppelganger's stomach with her father's technique which send it flying even further into the sky!

Soon leaving view, the doppelganger didn���t return until nearly a minute later when the magical item fell from the sky and nearly twenty meters away from the S rank's viewing grounds.

Cana herself began falling too, losing consciousness during her fall.

Gildarts quickly appeared and caught her, looking at his daughter with nothing more but the pride of a father. "Cana, you've made this old man beyond happy this day. Your resolve and strength, you reminded me so much of your mother and myself today... My dear daughter..." Gildarts said whilst ċȧrėssing Cana's head, trying to calm her as she slept.

"Good job Cana, I'm proud of ya!" Arthur spoke from the sidelines, together with Makarov and Erza.

"Congratulations Cana, you're an S ranked wizard now." Erza spoke in a calm demeanor, still rather proud of her friend's achievement.

"Mmm... This concludes this year's S rank exam. We have two new S rank mages! It is an event worthy of celebration!" Makarov spoke with a warm smile, grinning ear to ear as he was more than just proud of both his little brats, he was also extremely happy for Gildarts whose daughter had passed!

"Seems like we'll be the talk of sorcery weekly again, haha!" Arthur commented with a laugh, reminiscing over the past events of the year once more.

'It's been one long year, hasn't it... I can't let Cana and Laxus outdo me here, I'll have to train even harder in the upcoming year so they don't somehow catch up!' Arthur thought to himself.

"Hahaha!", Arthur laughed heartily, before shouting. "I'm all fired up now!"

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