Melee Combat

Melee Combat is a fighting style adopted by several characters in the Fairy Tail series.

Description
Melee combat is a fighting style which, as the name itself suggests, revolves around close-range confrontation, with users assaulting opponents physically. Widespread around Fiore, this form of combat can be employed by normal people and Mages alike. While the latter ones were described by the Vanish Brothers as lacking the ability to fight at close range due to their time being devoted to studying Magic, some Mages are in fact shown to be fearsome melee fighters, even specializing in such form of combat. Magic itself can be a valuable asset when engaging foes in close quarters, with many forms of Magic being focused around melee combat.
 * Dragon Slayer Magic provides its users with many melee techniques that utilizes the user's respective element.
 * Giant enlarges the users' body, making their strikes stronger and granting them a larger striking range.
 * Ice Magic can be used to enhance strikes with ice.
 * Ice-Make can be employed to craft melee weapons, or to freeze foes at close range.
 * Requip allows its users to store away and equip at will weapons and armors for battle.
 * Sword Magic grants users a range of empowered melee attacks when employing swords.
 * Urumi employs retractable flat cables which can be used to assault foes in combat.
 * Take Over can transform the users' bodies into that of creatures fit for melee combat.
 * Nails Growing, as the name implies, grows the users' nails in mere instants, enhancing their slashing and scratching attacks. When combined with Paralysis Claw: Mega Jellyfish, one touch of these nails can kill a person in few seconds.
 * Meteor, a Heavenly Body Magic spell, can increase the power of the users' blows and make them almost unavoidable by propelling their bodies around with Magic energy.
 * Iron Dog can turn the users' arms into metallic beings, enhancing their punching power.
 * Regulus can greatly boost the power of unarmed attacks.
 * Lightning Magic can greatly increase the speed at which users move around, at the same time granting the unarmed blows they land in melee more force.
 * Slowing Magic can significantly reduce enemies' speed, allowing the users to strike them in melee undisturbed. This effect is similar to those of High Speed and Athletic Magic, whose users also employ their superior speed to attack the opponents.
 * Power Perfume, a type of Perfume Magic, greatly increases the size of the users' muscles, giving them an immense amount of strength and thus making them suited for delivering blows in melee.
 * Muscle Speak can enhance the strength of the users' allies, making them more suited for close-range confrontations.
 * Needle Magic can cover the users' bodies in spikes, making them deadlier at close range, as well as enlarge them in a similar way to Giant, though on a smaller scale.
 * Palm Magic focuses the users' Magic Power in the palms of their hands, making their unarmed blows way more damaging.
 * Drill 'n Rock makes the users' limbs spin like drills, augmenting their offensive power in melee and their overall movement speed.
 * Water allows the user to turn their body into water, granting them the ability to move at great speeds, and also allows them to envelop certain parts of their body with water, allowing them to greatly enhance their unarmed attacks.

Melee combat can be performed both unarmed, with users assaulting foes with punches, kicks and other moves, and armed, with users wielding weapons of various kinds, and is thus divided in two main classifications: Hand-to-Hand Combat and Armed Combat.

Hand-to-Hand Combat
Users of Hand-to-Hand Combat engage into melee confrontations employing unarmed moves. A variety of such moves has been shown, with the most recurring ones being different types of punches and kicks; headbutts, elbows, knees and palm strikes are also used to various extent. The way such form of combat is harnessed varies from user to user: some are shown to employ an aggressive, direct attack style relying on mighty blows and body slams while others prefer performing more fluent and acrobatic motions to strike opponents. While most fighters aren't stated to employ any specific fighting style, some named martial arts exist:
 * Chop Hanging Palm (劈掛掌 Hikashō): A martial art which revolves around the use of palm strikes. Users of such art usually assume a typical fighting stance, diagonally stretching their arms upwards and bending their knees, in order to more easily perform these attacks. The only known user of this style is the Quatro Cerberus guild's S-Class Mage Bacchus Groh.
 * Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm (酔劈掛掌 Sui Hikashō): Bacchus' exclusive version of Chop-Hanging Palm, which he employs after consuming alcohol. Doing this makes the pattern of his strikes unpredictable, at the same time drastically boosting their power.

The unarmed prowess, predictably, varies from user to user, with some being more experienced or physically prepared than others.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatants
Masters of unarmed combat possess the greatest prowess of all, being capable of easily taking on several opponents at once with ease. Some of them are known to employ hand-to-hand combat as the main element of their fighting style, and can overwhelm foes even if they are armed or larger than the users themselves.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatants
Expert unarmed combatants possess remarkable prowess in the use of such art, being able to use it to great extent, and to take on more than one opponent at the same time. Some of them, while not employing hand-to-hand combat as the main element of their fighting style, are shown capable of holding their own against masters of such discipline.

Armed Combat
Armed combat, as the name itself suggests, revolves around the usage of weapons, which users employ against their opponents at close range. A variety of melee tools is commonly utilized throughout Fiore, with swords, coming in different shape and size (among which are longswords, sabers and rapiers), being the most common ones, and with other weapons being daggers, spears, staves, axes, whips, scythes, guan dao, war hammers and kanabō. Even curious tools such as oversized frying pans and elongated nails have been shown to be employed as weapons.

Due to swords being the most popular weapons, Swordsmanship is a known discipline, with swordsmen found throughout the Kingdom possessing various levels of mastery. Most forms of swordplay, similar to most forms of unarmed combat, aren't properly classified as specific fighting styles. However, so far, one named art of the sword has been revealed:
 * Style of the Undrawn Long Sword (抜かぬ太刀の型 Nukanu Tachi no Kata): A style of swordsmanship involving the use of a sheathed blade. While technically not exposing the weapon's blade, users of this style have been shown capable of slicing foes as if they were wielding an unsheathed sword. The stances assumed in the performance of this form are vaguely reminiscent of those typical to Iaido, where the swordsmen wields the sheath of their sword with one hand, and rests the other on the hilt. Kagura Mikazuchi is currently the only swordswoman shown employing the Style of the Undrawn Long Sword, making use of it with the "Blade of Resentment", Archenemy. It is unknown as of yet whether the unusual slicing capabilities that this form of combat relies on stems from personal skill or from the weapon employed.

Master Swordsmanship Specialists
Masters of such art possess impressive swordplay, demonstrating great speed, accuracy and power, and being capable of fighting several foes at the same time. Many master swordsmen who are also Mages actively employ Sword Magic.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialists
Expert swordsmen possess advanced swordplay, enough for them to hold their own against several opponents, or to slice things which are usually considered impossible to slash, such as spells.

Master Weapon Specialists
This category details Mages who demonstrate great mastery of other weapons besides a sword such as spears, whips, axes, firearms, etc.

Expert Weapon Specialists
This category details Mages who are able to expertly make use of other weapons besides a sword such as whips, axes, etc.