Fairy Tail holds a big party to celebrate their friends' return. It lasted for a whole day and they still celebrate it even after one week by drinking and feasting every day. They also hold a strength contest to show off their progress in these 3 years to the Tenrou Island team.
The strength contest that they choose is arm wrestling which they hold on the training ground. The Tenrou Island boys plus Erza are dominating the contest, they were S-Class candidates for a reason. However, they all get defeated when they face Mira. There's no need for them to face Ben if they can't even defeat Mira in arm-wrestling.
The only one who can defeat Mira in arm-wrestling is Gildarts. Even Laxus lost by a small margin after holding his ground for 5 minutes. Erza can give the fight against Mira but she still loses in a minute. No one uses magic in this contest so Mira is physically stronger than almost all of them.
Before Gildarts faces Ben, the Tenrou boys and even the girls want to try first. As expected, none of them can move Ben's arm even by an inch. Even after Ben allowed them to use their magic power, only Laxus is stronger enough to push Ben's arm, and that's just for 3 inches.
Ben only uses a bit of his magic power so it shows just how ridiculous his physical strength is. Physical strength is one thing that Ben has always trained since he arrived in this world. If he has a strong physique, then he will still be able to fight well when his magic power gets depleted.
Also, a stronger physique can increase the maximum capacity of a Mage's magic power. But training physical strength to Ben's level is very difficult. Not everyone can achieve what Ben does because most people would give up before getting results considering how hard his training is.
Anyway, Ben's arm wrestling match against Gildarts finally starts. Everyone has distanced themselves and it is a correct move to take. When the match starts, a big shockwave caused by their clash appears.
Just them pushing each other's arms has the same effect as 2 Mages attacking each other with strong spells. Some people even take some steps back because of the clash effect.
"Heh, not bad, old man," says Ben while smirking.
"I should be the one saying that, kid," says Gildarts as he exerts more power.
Ben's arm gets pushed a little but then doesn't move even further.
"Well, I have my reason to say that. It's because you really are not bad," says Ben as he also exerts more power.
When Ben uses more power, Gildarts's arm gets pushed back a lot. Gildarts tries to use more power but he can't push Ben back at all. He just slows Ben's push and destroys the table so now they need to do arm wrestling without a table.
"It seems I can't play around anymore," says Gildarts as he uses all his power.
Ben also goes all out because he will lose if he doesn't. Their massive magic power clash against each other, creating a big impact. Almost everyone falls on their knees because of the pressure of the clash.
Only Makarov & the S-Classes can stand under strong pressure. They immediately use their magic to block the pressure to protect the others. The young ones who are still weak will get hurt if they don't protect them, after all.
*BOOM*
A massive explosion appears on the spot where Ben & Gildarts fight. The magic power pressure disappears so the arm wrestling must've finished. Dust scattered everywhere, blocking everyone's sight.
Wendy uses her wind Magic to remove the dust per Mira's instruction. After the dust is gone, almost all Mages there have their jaws dropped. They all see Gildarts lying on the ground while Ben is standing while grinning.
"Gi-Gildarts lost?!" says Natsu with a very shocked expression.
The others are shocked too, even the ones who have seen Ben's progress in these 3 years. Only Mira & Bella who aren't seem surprised by this result. Both of them are the ones who know Ben's power the best.
Ben smirks as he looks at Gildarts, "You don't have much strength in your muscle aren't you, old man?"
Gildarts smiles bitterly when hearing that, "You are the one who has ridiculous physical strength. My physical strength is on par with a high-level beast you know. Your physical strength is enough to make you an S-Class fighter. If you add your strong magic power, then I can only say that you'll be a monster."
"Oi oi, calling me a monster is too much. Just because I get stronger than you doesn't mean that I am a monster. It just shows that I've worked very hard in the last 3 years," says Ben.
Well, Ben has really worked very hard to reach this level in mere 3 years. He has trained every day, collecting data & knowledge from some libraries, and even the data from other Mages' magic.
The high amount of magic power that he gets using Anima has made his magic power grow very fast. He almost doubled his magic power in mere 3 years. But without proper knowledge & training, he won't be able to use his strong magic power.
[Name: Ben Cooper
Moniker: Karna (The Sun's Child)
Title: Youngest Wizard Saint
Age: 20
Status: Alive
MP: 856,173/856,173
STR: 562
AGI: 523
STA: 652
INT: 1,142]
Ben's overall stats have surpassed Gildarts who didn't grow at all in 3 years because he was trapped in Fairy Sphere. This is possible thanks to the Anima that provide a lot of magic power for him to grow fast.
By almost doubling his overall stats means that he gets the same result of his 7 years of training in 3 years. If he can keep doing this, then he might truly be able to reach Acnologia's level one day.
He doesn't know when though because even with his current power, he knows that there is still a big gap between him & Acnologia. He hasn't even reached God Serena's power yet, not to mention Acnologia.
Last year, he has met God Serena personally so he knows Serena's rough power after he scanned the man with AI Chip's ability & his magic sense. Serena's magic power is almost twice stronger than Ben, so around 1.5 million points.
The gap between Serena & the 2nd rank Draculos is quite big too. Draculos has around 1 million magic power points. Wolfheim & Warrod who ranked 3rd & 4th however has similar magic power to Draculos.
Ben has the confidence to win a fight against Draculos, Wolfheim, or Warrod in a 1 vs 1 battle because the amount of magic power isn't everything. But it will be a different story if he faces God Serena.
That guy is arrogant, but it's backed up by his power. Furthermore, Ben doesn't know Serena's combat power. But by being 1st ranked Wizard Saint, Serena must have high combat power, so it will be very difficult to fight him even if Ben has similar raw power.
Combat power is a big factor in battles, bigger than raw power. Even with lower raw power, a Mage can still win a battle if they have higher combat power. That's why human Mages can defeat stronger Magical Creature who has lower intelligence with their strategy & skills.
Gildarts who have been in that situation multiple times know it very well. He knows that Ben has stronger physical & magical power. But he doesn't know about Ben's current combat power yet.
That's why he says, "Kid, you have grown a lot stronger in these 3 years. But can you wield that power well enough? High power without good control is just a waste."
Ben looks at Gildarts before saying, "Just say that you want to fight me, old man. Your wise words sound empty with that grin on your face."
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