After their back-to-back victory, Fairy Tail celebrates their feat in Magnolia. The town's people are very happy about this because they are the first Guild to win 2 years in a row, and that's with a completely different team without their S-Class Mages.
Everyone in Magnolia is happy, except for 1 person. Natsu can't join the celebration because he gets punished by Makarov after causing a ruckus in the award ceremony. He is now getting the worst punishment possible for a Dragon Slayer.
Natsu is tied on a roller coaster that Ben made using the Arc of Embodiment. He made it just to punish Natsu, which shows how pissed Makarov is. Actually, Makarov only asked Ben to make a vehicle with normal speed, but Ben thought it will be funnier if he made a roller coaster.
The roller coaster also becomes entertainment for people because they can use it while it's still available just for today. It's an unusual thing, after all, so people are excited to try it. They don't need to pay too, so everyone is happy.
Anyway, the celebration ends after a day, which also ends Natsu's suffering. He lost all his energy that day and can't even go home, so he sleeps in the guild's hall. But the next day, all his energy returns and he also returns to his usual self who likes to cause scenes in the guild.
The first scene he makes is challenging Ben to fight him. He skips everyone else and goes straight to Ben. Maybe it's because he isn't satisfied yet with what happened in the award ceremony or maybe it's just because Ben is the best fire-type Mage he can challenge to test his progress.
Ben doesn't have anything to do except for training and spend time with his family anyway, so he accepts Natsu's challenge. He and everyone else are also curious about just how much Natsu has grown in the last 1 year. The situation wasn't ideal before, so Ben finished Natsu fast because they were in an important event.
But now, he can play along with Natsu's game and check what Natsu can do. They all go to the training ground which has changed a lot too since Natsu left. The open and rather small training ground has been transformed into a big stadium with multiple layers of strong protection.
Ben & Natsu stand in the middle of the arena while their guildmates are watching from their seats. They know well that Natsu won't win, but they are curious about how far he can go against Ben. No one has seen Natsu in the last year, so they don't know how strong he is now.
"How long will he last?" asks Wakaba.
"Maybe 5 seconds," says Droy.
"Hey, his opponent is Ben, so obviously he will be done in a second. But that's only if Ben is taking this seriously. If he wants to end Natsu in a second, then he won't bring the fight here," says Macao.
"I agree, I think Ben will just observe until he thinks it's enough before attacking," says Al.
Everyone agrees with Al's opinion because they all know that Ben likes to watch his guildmates' growth. He would always give them advice while fighting, so it was never a fight for Ben. He even did the same to the Wizard Saints which shows how big the gaps between them are now.
The 'fight' finally begins and just like everyone has predicted, Ben only observes Natsu's attacks. He moves just to dodge, block, or parry Natsu's attacks. But he doesn't say anything at the beginning of their fight and only watches because he wants to see Natsu's growth first before giving pointers.
Natsu attacks him directly using fists & kicks coated with fire. Ben can feel Natsu's fire has gotten stronger and hotter now. Even Romeo who has Fire God Slayer Magic, a higher-tiered Fire Magic than Natsu's Fire Dragon Slayer Magic will get hurt by this fire now, but that's not the case for Ben who doesn't get affected at all.
Natsu uses combinations of close & long-range attacks. His style is still the same, but he has gotten better at judging the situations to choose his next attacks. His magic has gotten considerably stronger also makes his attacks more lethal and dangerous.
Others like Gajeel, Erza, and even Laxus are very interested to fight Natsu now. These guys are very competitive and seeing Natsu's progress makes them want to fight him. Fighting each other in sparring is one of the best ways for them to grow, after all.
Sparring is also exciting because of that, with one exception, sparring against Ben. They all know Ben always tries his best to help them grow by giving pointers in their sparrings. However, the way he fights them is very frustrating because it feels like he doesn't take them seriously.
Well, they are easy opponents for Ben, and they won't be able to defeat him even if they attack him together, after all. But they always feel that it's better if Ben just defeated them in a second rather than toying with them.
Natsu also feels their suffering in this sparring because Ben finally starts commenting and giving pointers to him after a while. Ben has seen enough to know Natsu's progress, so now he starts his usual advice time. He evades, blocks, and parries Natsu's attacks while telling Natsu the best way to do things.
It easily makes Natsu frustrated because he has the hottest blood among everyone in the guild. But there's nothing he can do because he really can't land any clean hit on Ben. As stupid as he may be, Natsu knows the gap between them is too big to be closed with sheer will.
Their 'play' finally ends after Natsu gets too exhausted to continue. They've just been fighting for 10 minutes. But Natsu has gotten very tired because he kept going all out and used everything he has to attack Ben while shouting every time, which tires him a lot faster.
He pants hard on the ground and Ben just says, "Hmm, you still lack stamina."
Natsu is so frustrated hearing this that he faints from frustration. Ben just shakes his head and asks Happy to take Natsu back to the guild. Then he looks at his guildmates and they all have a bad feeling about this.
"Now, while we're all here, let's check your progress too. It's been a while, isn't it?" asks Ben while grinning.
They all shudder and try to escape with different excuses, but Ben stops them by tying them using fire chains that won't harm them. Now, they can't escape and can only do what Ben asked. Everyone there spars with Ben and in the end, they end up the same as Natsu.
A few days later, Gray & Juvia return from their training too. Natsu who has returned to his usual self immediately challenges Gray to a fight. But just like Natsu, Gray wants to challenge the strongest man he knows to test his growth.
Needless to say, Gray ends up the same as Natsu and everyone else. Juvia who never asked for it also spars with Ben before ending up the same way. They have grown a lot in this 1 year, but the ones who stay in the Guild also grew a lot with the help of Ben's Dragoram Dungeon Tower.
Ben is satisfied with his guildmates' growth and hopes that it will be enough to face the impending danger. His friends and acquaintances from other Guilds or groups also grew a lot. It assures him a little because now their chance to win against Alvarez Empire has surely increased.
Other than preparing his friends for the incoming danger, Ben also prepares many more things and obviously himself. He will be the main figure in the incoming war, so he needs to prepare himself thoroughly. Now, he is ready to fight even both Acnologia and Zeref alone.
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