Chapter 617 God Serena vs. the Red Lightning Dragon

"Thunder Dragon's Voltage Torrent!"

God Serena roared as torrents of lightning erupted between his arms. In an instant, a raging thunderstorm spread overhead, threatening to swallow Laxus, Gajeel, and Juvia beneath a devastating barrage.

Laxus charged straight into it.

The moment the lightning reached him, its violent currents seemed to encounter an invisible black hole. What had been a vast, uncontrollable storm suddenly converged toward his mouth, where he swallowed the entire attack in a matter of seconds.

Fresh Magic Power surged through his body.

Laxus immediately gathered lightning around his fist and launched a powerful counterattack.

"Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"

The thunderstorm reversed direction, transforming into a devastating blast that hurtled toward God Serena.

But Serena merely grinned.

"Have you forgotten? Lightning isn't the only power I possess!"

He raised his own fist to meet the attack. Brilliant light spread across his arm, transforming flesh and muscle into a substance as hard as diamond.

From behind Laxus, Gajeel immediately shouted a warning.

"Watch out! That form has ridiculous defense!"

He had learned that lesson the hard way earlier.

When Gajeel tried matching his Iron Dragon's hardened body against Serena's Diamond Dragon power, he had nearly broken the bones in his hand.

Laxus's eyes sharpened.

The lightning surrounding his fist suddenly seemed to acquire a life of its own, splitting into numerous streams that curved around Serena's defenses and attacked from multiple directions.

Serena ignored them.

He drove his diamond-coated fist straight forward, trusting his overwhelming durability to withstand the scattered lightning. At the same time, he opened his mouth and began inhaling the golden electrical currents dancing through the air.

Laxus reacted immediately.

Rather than allowing the exchange to continue, he shifted sideways, caught Serena's hardened arm, and used his opponent's momentum to throw him away.

But just as Laxus planted his foot to complete the throw, the ground beneath him came alive.

The earth bulged upward with tremendous force, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying along with Serena.

BOOM!

Caught off guard, Laxus hurriedly adjusted his posture in midair. He landed and retreated several dozen paces, weaving between successive eruptions of rock that burst from the ground beneath him.

"And I'm not finished!"

Serena landed comfortably as the earth softened beneath him like a cushion.

He straightened, grinning, while his cheeks began to swell.

A wave of scorching heat spread through the corridor.

"Purgatory Dragon's Roar!"

Taking advantage of Laxus's struggle against the attacks rising from the ground, Serena unleashed a concentrated torrent of flames.

The timing was vicious.

Before Laxus could completely break free of the surrounding stone, the inferno engulfed him.

The tremendous heat and impact sent him crashing to the ground.

Laxus pushed himself up, looking somewhat worse for wear. His eyes narrowed as he studied Serena, and a trace of surprise entered his expression.

"The Dragon Lacrima inside you…"

He paused.

"Have you recovered all eight?"

"Hahahaha! Of course!"

Serena's confidence immediately returned.

"Duke-sama is the greatest alchemist in the world! Creating new Dragon Lacrima from the blood and body of someone who once housed them is child's play for a genius like him!"

Laxus regarded him coldly.

"It's strange hearing someone like you praise another person so enthusiastically."

"Hmph! That's because you've never witnessed the true greatness of alchemy."

Serena snorted.

Eight different kinds of Magic Power surged from his body, expanding behind him into the terrifying silhouettes of eight dragons, each possessing a different color and elemental attribute.

Laxus calmly brushed the dust from his clothes.

'He's a lot stronger than when he only had three dragons.'

But he showed no sign of concern.

Instead, he slowly raised one hand and clenched it into a fist.

The golden Magic Power surrounding him suddenly changed.

"Red Lightning Dragon Mode."

His ordinarily brilliant golden lightning began turning dark red.

Within moments, the golden radiance filling the corridor had been stained the color of blood.

The violent electricity crawling over Laxus's body resembled divine swords that had pierced the heavens, slain a god, and returned drenched in crimson.

Every flash carried an extraordinarily savage, destructive aura.

Serena's arrogant grin immediately faded.

He stared at Laxus with renewed vigilance.

It was this very lightning that had defeated him in their previous battle.

Red Lightning possessed a ferocity and destructive power that ordinary electricity could never match. Even with the Lightning Dragon Lacrima implanted inside him, Serena had been unable to absorb it.

Worse, he had underestimated that difference.

Laxus had exploited his carelessness and ended their battle with a single decisive attack.

But Serena had already died once.

Now that Duke had brought him back, he had no intention of repeating the same mistake.

Laxus, meanwhile, remembered the first time he had accidentally manifested this strange crimson lightning.

He had later asked Makarov about it.

To his surprise, the old man had become extremely excited.

According to Makarov, the ability resembled the lightning once wielded by Laxus's great-grandfather, Yuri Dreyar. It was apparently a powerful enhancement that had resurfaced in the family after skipping two generations.

But against the opponent standing before him now, Red Lightning Dragon Mode alone wasn't enough.

Serena's eight draconic powers were becoming increasingly active, and his Magic Power seemed to be rising with every passing moment.

Laxus took a slow breath.

Then he drew upon another power deep within his body.

Golden dragon scales began appearing across his forearms and cheeks, spreading in dense patterns over his skin.

Under the influence of his crimson lightning, those scales gradually changed into a striking mixture of black and red.

Dragon Force.

The transformation caused Laxus's physique to swell visibly.

His already imposing frame became even larger, while the dense scales and surging red-black lightning made him resemble a giant warrior clad in draconic armor.

The two enhancements were now active simultaneously.

"COME ON, LAXUS!"

Serena threw back his head and roared.

The eight dragons behind him erupted into action, unleashing their respective attacks in a continuous barrage.

Fire, water, lightning, earth, and several other elements blasted across the corridor in rapid succession, turning the surrounding space into a storm of overlapping destruction.

But Laxus had already become lightning himself.

His body dissolved into a streak of crimson electricity as he accelerated through the bombardment, slipping between attacks that should have left no room for escape.

Even under that overwhelming firepower, he continued closing the distance.

"IT'S USELESS!" Serena shouted. "No matter how powerful your lightning becomes, it can't possibly compare to the combined strength of my eight dragons!"

He spread his arms.

"Purgatory Dragon's Blazing Inferno!"

"Sea King Dragon's Encircling Deluge!"

Two completely different elemental forces erupted together.

This was God Serena's unique Hybrid Theory, which allowed him to employ several Dragon Slayer attributes simultaneously—even when those elements would ordinarily oppose one another.

Fire and water existed side by side without canceling each other out.

An immense torrent flooded the surrounding area, yet the water possessed a bizarre scorching quality, carrying the destructive properties of the accompanying flames.

Laxus swung both arms, releasing surges of red-black lightning that violently resisted the burning deluge.

The collision filled the corridor with explosive bursts of steam, electrical discharge, and searing magical pressure.

But Serena was no longer the careless fighter Laxus remembered.

His resurrection appeared to have cured him of at least one fatal weakness: his habit of underestimating opponents in the middle of battle.

The moment Laxus committed his strength to holding back the combined elemental attack, Serena made his next move.

A gigantic wall of stone formed behind Laxus.

Its surface bristled with sharp, spear-like projections.

Then the entire structure surged forward, threatening to crush him between the advancing wall and the elemental torrent.

BOOOOM!

The collision produced a tremendous explosion.

Broken stone and dense clouds of dust filled the corridor, completely obscuring Laxus from sight.

Serena lowered his arms and took a moment to catch his breath.

But unlike before, he didn't immediately start boasting.

Instead, he fixed a tense stare on the cloud of dust, carefully searching for any sign of movement.

Apparently, dying once really did change a man.

Then he heard something strange.

Crunch…

Gulp.

Crunch, crunch…

Serena frowned.

Laxus hadn't spoken.

There were no angry shouts, no curses, and no obvious sounds of someone attempting to escape the rubble.

Instead, a steady rhythm of chewing and swallowing came from somewhere inside the dust.

"What…?"

Serena's expression changed.

"No. That's impossible."

He narrowed his eyes, straining to see through the debris.

"He's a Lightning Dragon Slayer. He shouldn't be able to…"

A terrible possibility occurred to him.

His pupils contracted.

Then the dust finally began to settle.

And Serena saw something that made him doubt his own eyes.

Laxus stood in the middle of the shattered corridor.

He was eating.

Not merely the lingering lightning or some compatible source of electrical energy.

He was greedily consuming the remnants of Serena's flames, the surging water, and even the broken rock surrounding him.

All three elements were being drawn into his body.

"Thanks for the meal."

Laxus wiped his mouth and slowly straightened.

Serena stared at him, speechless.

At the same time, the crimson lightning surrounding Laxus began undergoing another transformation.

A strange heat now radiated from the red-black electrical currents, almost as though flames were burning inside the lightning itself.

Its physical behavior had changed as well.

Sometimes the energy flowed around his body like water.

At other moments, it seemed to solidify into a fixed shape.

Yet regardless of its form, it retained the unmistakable properties of lightning.

Laxus looked down almost imperceptibly at the ring resting on his finger.

He could feel something stirring inside him.

A strange desire that was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.

'Is this the ring's power?'

He frowned slightly.

The magic he had just consumed was still settling into his body, but instead of feeling satisfied, an even more powerful hunger was spreading through him.

'Why do I feel…'

'…even hungrier than before?'