When the light went away, what the people saw that remained was a golden-blue armor with countless blue lightning bolts surging around it. The members of the guild let out a sigh, seeing that he was all right.
Meanwhile, the others who knew the risk he had taken were already thinking of creative ways to beat the crap out of him later.
Karna, at that moment, felt an immense surge of energy within the armor. He realized there was a lot he needed to figure out, but for now, he decided to finish what he had planned.
He expanded his senses across the entirety of Magnolia. It didn't take him long to locate Laxus, who was sitting inside the church.
Without hesitation, he flew toward the church using the armor, reaching it within seconds—far faster than he had ever moved before while wearing it. It seemed his power-up was even greater than he had believed. But for now, he needed to deal with Laxus.
He removed the armor and walked into the church. As he stepped inside, he could feel the protective runes placed on the cathedral. Instantly, he analyzed the runes and discovered that unless all three members of the Thunder Legion were taken down, the barrier would not allow anyone to pass through.
[Dispel]
With a single spell, Karna destroyed the entire runic circle surrounding the building and continued walking forward without stopping. He then glanced at a throne situated inside the church—one he had never seen before. It must have been placed there by Laxus.
Laxus sat on the throne, fuming with anger.
"Hello, Brother," Karna greeted.
"You never listen to me about quitting this life. You ignore my warnings every time and recklessly throw yourself into danger.
Today, you almost lost your life while once again endangering yourself for others."
Laxus then stood up, lightning flickering around him.
"And instead of using your full power—including every weapon in your arsenal—you still remove your protections just to fight me.
If you think words will work, Karna, you are mistaken. Even if I have to break every single bone in your body, I will make sure you quit this dangerous life. And by the end of the day," Laxus clenched his fists, summoning even more lightning around him, "Fairy Tail will be mine completely." He declared it as though it were a certainty.
"Hah…" Karna let out a sigh of frustration, removing his coat. He now wore a sleeveless T-shirt and Toji-styled cargo pants. He rolled his shoulders as if preparing himself, then began bouncing lightly on his feet.
"Really, Laxus? Do you think I was going to try talking you out of this?" Karna asked as he finished warming up, locking eyes with his opponent. "I'm going to beat the crap out of you so hard and so easily that next time, you'll be realising that the one who really needs protection is you."
His words earned an enraged growl from Laxus.
"How dare—"
Laxus didn't even get to finish his sentence. In an instant, Karna had vanished from where he stood.
The only thing Laxus saw was the shattered tiles where Karna had been standing—before everything went black.
Laxus opened his eyes, pain coursing through his entire body. He felt the soreness in every limb. As he took in his surroundings, he realized he was halfway embedded in the chapel's wall.
When he looked ahead, he saw the remains of his throne, now shattered. He had crashed through it before landing where he was.
Bam!
Laxus fell from the wall, momentarily unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"How… How are you so strong?" Laxus spat out, his body aching.
He looked at Karna, who stood exactly where he had been before. Small sparks of black lightning flickered on Karna's wrists and feet before gradually fading away.
'Never thought that 2.5 raised to the power of Black Flash would be this overpowered, even without adding magic—just pure physical strength,' Karna mused as he watched Laxus plastered against the wall. 'It even helped me gain acceleration when I used it on my legs. Losing the ability to regenerate energy that was present in the skill itself is a small price to pay, considering I can now use this technique freely whenever I want.'
Even though his strike had left Laxus with considerable injuries, Karna knew that his opponent hadn't fully been defeated yet. The only reason the first attack worked so easily was because Laxus hadn't expected an attack of that magnitude with me not using my armour. All these years of mainly focussing on archery has made people doubt about my skills without it, it's pretty useful if I say so myself. But from now on, he would fight seriously.
'I can't hold back anymore,' Karna thought as he began reinforcing himself with magic, layering it alongside Black Flash's enhancements on his limbs.
Laxus reacted immediately, elementalizing his body and launching himself straight at Karna, intending to strike him with overwhelming lightning before he could react.
'I'm in my elementalised form. Nothing can stop me now,' Laxus thought confidently.
But once again—
Everything went black.
Laxus opened his eyes, his body screaming in agony. The pain was even more intense than before, and several parts of his body felt numb.
But what shocked him the most was—
'He used my lightning…'
Karna had gained an affinity for lightning from the previous attack he endured. But beyond that, he had also absorbed a significant amount of Laxus's lightning.
This meant that until Karna expended all the stored lightning, he would not generate lightning magic of his own. This might have been bad in any other situation, but currently while fighting Laxus, it's the best.
To defeat a Dragon Slayer with the element he has affinity with was to turn their own attacks against them—since they couldn't consume energy they had created themselves.
As long as Karna still held Laxus's energy within him, he could land devastating blows that would, without a doubt, shake his opponent to the core.