Laxus staggered back, disbelief flickering in his eyes. He gritted his teeth and snarled, golden lightning crackling wildly around him. "I… I won't lose! I can't lose to you!"
With a furious roar, he unleashed a torrent of magic, causing the ground to splinter beneath him. The force of his rage was palpable, and Mirajane could feel the power emanating from him.
"What incredible magic power…" Mirajane whispered, stunned. She had always known Laxus was strong, but witnessing this level of power was shocking.
"Enough of this. If you've lost control, then it's time I end this!" Su Yan tightened his grip on his mace, purple lightning gathering around it.
"*Thunderous Conqueror!*" he shouted, vanishing and reappearing in front of Laxus in a blur of speed. With a swift and powerful swing, Su Yan's mace collided with Laxus's face.
*Wham!*
Laxus was launched backward, crashing through multiple buildings until he finally hit a distant wall and crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"Laxus!!" Freed shouted, horror dawning on his face as he saw Laxus defeated so decisively. "This… this can't be possible…"
Su Yan lowered his mace, a faint grin on his face. The technique he'd just used—Thunderous Conqueror—was a powerful skill he'd recently acquired, a move that channeled immense strength and speed in a single, devastating strike.
The wall Laxus had slammed into began to crack, crumbling under the impact. Then, in the midst of the settling debris, a hulking figure emerged—a seven-foot-tall jackal monster, clad in light armor with a massive scimitar in hand.
Mirajane gasped. "That's… the Jackal Chief!"
She recalled Makarov's warning about a powerful monster leader who had taken control of the town. Now, surrounding them, hundreds of smaller jackal monsters began emerging from the shadows, drawn by the chaos of the fight.
"When did…?" Mirajane's eyes widened as she realized that they had been so engrossed in Su Yan and Laxus's battle, they hadn't noticed the jackals slowly surrounding them.
"Hahaha! I knew you foolish humans would show up eventually," the Jackal Chief growled, his voice dripping with arrogance. "It's amusing, really—watching you fight each other while we waited. Now that you've worn yourselves out, it'll be easy to finish you off!"
Su Yan raised an eyebrow. "A talking monster? Impressive."
"Monster? You humans are the real monsters, slaughtering my kind without mercy. You'll pay for what you've done! Get them!"
With a furious howl, the Jackal Chief's minions charged.
"Su Yan, we're surrounded! We need to run—" Mirajane shouted.
Su Yan simply smiled, unfazed. "Why run? This is our mission, after all."
Mirajane gaped at him. "Are you seriously thinking about completing the task right now?"
Then, Su Yan's expression turned serious. *Om—!* A wave of Conqueror's Haki burst forth from him, an invisible force rippling through the air. The ground trembled, and the glass in nearby buildings shattered.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The jackal monsters charging toward them faltered, rolling their eyes back before collapsing in waves, one after another.
"What… what just happened?!" Freed stammered, watching in shock as nearly every jackal monster lay unconscious on the ground.
"This is…" Mirajane recognized the technique. "Su Yan's Haki…"
The Jackal Chief, stunned by the sudden collapse of his followers, glared at Su Yan. "What did you just do to my soldiers, you… you filthy human!"
Su Yan shrugged. "They're just knocked out. See?"
With a casual swing, he brought his mace down on the skull of one of the fallen jackals, splattering it with a sickening crunch. "Now *that* is what happens when you really kill them."
"You… you monster!" The Jackal Chief roared in rage, his eyes landing on the unconscious Laxus. With a wicked gleam, he raised his massive scimitar. "Fine! If I can't kill you, I'll start with this one!"
"No!" Mirajane cried, seeing the Jackal Chief aiming for Laxus.
"*Thunderous Conqueror!*"
In an instant, Su Yan's mace, charged with purple lightning, smashed through the air, streaking past Freed and Mirajane at blinding speed.
*Boom!*
The Jackal Chief's scimitar lodged in the ground beside Laxus, and his upper body disintegrated in a violent explosion of blood and lightning, leaving only a charred lower half.
Freed and Mirajane stood in stunned silence as the lifeless body of the Jackal Chief collapsed beside Laxus.
The battle was over, and Su Yan lowered his mace, casting a calm gaze at his fallen opponents.