Chapter 169: Second Stage, Passed

Rhodes's body suddenly grew over three meters tall, transforming into a stone-like figure. His head, hands, feet, and body all turned into what looked like solid rock. His joints still resembled those of a human, but intricate glyphs covered his forearms and thighs, and a glowing blue gem adorned his chest.

From afar, he even resembled some sort of anti-Hulk armor.

Thud! Thud!

Rhodes stomped forward heavily, producing a dull, booming sound. The magical energy emanating from him was palpable, without needing to be specifically sensed.

He raised his hand and swung his fist horizontally.

The adjacent cliffside shook violently as if it had been struck by an earthquake, a large crack formed, and chunks of rock came tumbling down.

The stone giant looked formidable, and definitely not someone to mess with.

"Oh?" Laxus seemed intrigued. "Now this is finally looking like something."

"Let's see if you can take a punch before you keep running your mouth!" Rhodes charged forward, his massive fist aiming straight for Laxus's head.

Since Rhodes had challenged him directly, Laxus didn't bother dodging. Instead, he met the blow with his own punch.

Lightning sparked around them, the ground beneath Laxus cracked like a spiderweb, and his knees bent momentarily before he stood upright again, a grin spreading across his face. "Not bad! But..."

Suddenly, Laxus disappeared from under Rhodes's fist, reappearing with a kick to Rhodes's chest.

Rhodes stumbled backward, only to feel another blow land on his back.

"You're too slow!" Laxus dodged Rhodes's counter-punch with ease, seemingly turning into lightning itself as he unleashed rapid strikes on Rhodes's body from all directions.

Rhodes, however, felt... nothing.

Laxus's attacks were fast, but after taking over the golem, Rhodes's defense had increased substantially. These ordinary physical attacks were hardly enough to faze him.

Laxus quickly realized this too. After creating some distance, he raised his right fist into the air:

"Your turtle shell won't get you through this stage! Summon the roaring thunder that echoes through the skies; let lightning descend from above..."

As Laxus chanted, a terrifying amount of lightning began to gather around him, ready to unleash a devastating blow. However...

A magic that needed chanting?

Rhodes loved moves with a long wind-up. He raised his arm: "Azure Floating Cannon!"

The cliffside on either side of them protruded outward, glowing blue at the center, detaching from the stone to form small golems that hovered mid-air.

Rhodes gave the command, and the small golems fired beams of blue energy at Laxus.

The beams were incredibly fast, forcing Laxus to stop his chant and dodge.

The beams struck the spot where he had stood, creating two small craters. At the base of each crater was an even smaller, deeper hole that extended downward, demonstrating the attack's formidable piercing power.

"This thing..." Laxus raised his hand and fired two bolts of lightning, destroying the floating cannons.

However, two more immediately appeared on the cliffside.

Rhodes continued where Laxus left off: "This thing—no matter how many you destroy, I'll just make more!"

Is it the same magic that Bickslow uses? Laxus made a preliminary judgment. "Then I'll crush you along with them!"

"Think you can?!" Rhodes, pretending to be provoked, ordered the two small golems to unleash a barrage of shots.

The beams shot out with a continuous biu-biu sound.

Laxus skillfully dodged each attack, leaping closer to Rhodes while destroying the floating cannons with bolts of lightning whenever he got near.

Before new floating cannons could reappear, he swung a lightning-imbued fist.

Rhodes met the blow with his own, but Laxus's fist suddenly turned into an enormous lightning fist, even larger than Rhodes's own.

Boom!

The two fists collided, lightning and shattered rocks flew everywhere, and the ground trembled. Even the cliffside seemed to sway.

Maybe it was just an illusion, but Rhodes thought he saw Natsu's form overlapping with Laxus's as he threw his punch.

Rhodes's stone arm shattered, followed by his shoulder, chest, and helmet...

Eventually, his entire body was blown backward, sliding until it exited the passage.

Due to his depleted magical power, the Takeover magic was forcibly dispelled.

Back to his original form, Rhodes didn't even have the strength to sit up.

Lying on the ground and staring at the sky, he thought back to the battle. How long had he lasted against a serious Laxus?

Was it even a minute?

"Hahaha..." He laughed joyfully, "I lost to you!"

Laxus was about to say something when he suddenly turned his head.

A golden light shot up into the sky, blossoming into a dazzling firework.

"Laxus!"

Kana stood in the magic circle, supporting herself with the flagpole, as two stone beetles disappeared beside her. She waved at Laxus and Rhodes, smiling, "We passed!"

"When did..." Laxus remembered the beetle he had crushed earlier that had emerged from the cliffside—it looked identical to the ones that had just disappeared.

"That's right. It was them. While you were fighting Rhodes, they used my earth magic to tunnel through."

Kana's voice was strong, showing no signs of the weakness she had exhibited earlier.

She really had been low on magic power, but thanks to Rhodes, she had recovered quite a bit.

As for her injuries—let's say they were about 60% real and 40% exaggerated. She had been hurt, but not to the point of being unable to walk.

The anger, stubbornness, and defiance had mostly been an act.

But the tears were real. She'd gotten too into character, and that close failure had brought back memories of past attempts. It made her genuinely upset.

As for Rhodes's "final move"—showing enough power to catch Laxus's interest and then secretly sneaking Kana over was the real final move.

They had never intended to fight Laxus head-on to defeat him. Their goal had always been the flag.

Oh, and there was still one beetle underground, initially meant as a backup to hinder Laxus if needed.

But it had been dispelled along with the Takeover magic.

Using Laxus's arrogance, faking defeat twice to appear weaker, and then using everything to stall him long enough for Kana to slip through.

Anyone who had read Romance of the Three Kingdoms would understand.

Rhodes struggled to sit up, forcing out a sentence, "Sorry, it was too hard to find your weakness, so we had to use this method to achieve our goal."

He was a little worried about Laxus's reaction, fearing he might go overboard.

But Laxus's reaction was explosive once he pieced everything together. "You... You were toying with me!"

Zzzz... Lightning flared up around Laxus, and his already tattered clothes were completely blown apart, exposing his muscular body.

Kana shouted, "Hey, Laxus, what are you doing? We already passed the exam!"

"I don't accept this!"

"Enough, Laxus. They've passed this stage." Makarov approached from afar, followed by Erza.

The lightning around Laxus softened slightly, but he still spoke in anger, "Old man, I'm the examiner here. I can't accept such a cowardly way of passing!"

"As an examiner, you should be fair." Makarov stepped beside him, speaking clearly:

"Magic, wit, courage, and cooperation with one's comrades—all of these are forms of power. There's no distinction of high or low, nor cowardice.

The fact is that Kana and Rhodes, despite your obstruction, perfectly achieved the test's objective. So they passed."

Erza stepped forward, helping Rhodes up with a smile, "I saw part of your fight. It was well done. You're strong, Rhodes."

"Thank you." Rhodes leaned on her to stand up; her winter armor was not only hard but also cold.

But the warmth of concern from a comrade was always comforting.

"We passed!" Kana dropped the flag and ran over, hugging Rhodes tightly and pulling Erza into it too.

Erza responded by embracing both of them. "Congratulations!"

Clang! Clang!

"Ouch, that hurts!" Kana laughed as she complained.

Rhodes, already in a weakened state, found his head spinning and didn't even manage to voice a complaint.

Laxus and the guild master had a brief argument, and eventually, Laxus stormed off, leaving only a single comment:

"Don't ever make me do something so boring again!"

The atmosphere felt just a little awkward.