Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
"Cool~~~~~~~~~!"
Just as Makarov announced the beginning of the second fight of the match, an excited male voice shouted from the stands. As a result, Erza and Mystogan were both pulled out of their focused states. Not only them, however, but everyone who was focusing on the upcoming fight also had their focus disrupted.
Seconds later, all eyes in the venue were focused on the source of the shout. In the location where all the people's sight lines converge stood a man with blond hair that sticks up in the middle and wearing a pink t-shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes, and had a pair of black sunglasses propped on his head. He was also carrying a white satchel.
"Damn, we should have known he'd show up." Alfonzo muttered after recognizing the man who just shouted. "And just give it a second, then he'll… Yup, there it is."
As Alfonzo spoke, The man reached into his satchel and pulled out a black camera. Then, he started snapping pictures of everything he could see.
"Oh come on, Fonzie." Elicia said with a wry smile. "He's not that bad."
"You've never been interviewed by him, have you?" Alfonzo asked in an annoyed tone. "That interview took so much longer than it needed to all because every time I answered a question, he shouted 'cool' repeatedly for varying amounts of time."
As implied, the man currently snapping pictures was a reporter. A reporter for the most popular magazine on Ishgar, Sorcerer Weekly. And his name was Jason, one of the best reporters the magazine employs. However, that's only in terms of his skill at writing articles and taking pictures.
Other than that, everyone he's interviewed, save a select few who click with his easily excitable personality, grow tired of him rather quickly.
Just like Alfonzo and Elicia, everyone else at the venue also recognized Jason quickly enough and completely tuned him, who was still shouting "cool" with every picture he took, out.
Erza and Mystogan were no exception, either. Quickly retaking their stances, Erza was the first to move. Dashing forward, she tried to close the distance with Mystogan as quickly as she could.
Reacting quickly, Mystogan pulled the strap holding his staves on his back and threw it, with the staves still attached towards Erza. However, while in mid-air, the staves separated from the strap and placed themselves around her.
"[Skyscraper]." Mystogan chanted.
In the next instant, Erza stopped running and found herself being hurled high into the sky. Then, a crack in the sky opened up above her and a demonic face could be seen through the crack. When the demon caught sight of her, it smiled maliciously. Then, it reached out to both sides of the crack and ripped it open even further.
Then, the demon reached through the widened crack, attempting to grab hold of Erza. Surprisingly, Even after seeing all this happen right in front of her, Erza showed no sign of panic. Instead, she calmly looked away from the demon and looked towards the direction she was running before she found herself up in the sky.
"Illusions like this won't work on me, Mystogan." Erza said.
"And I didn't expect it to." Mystogan replied. "But it served well enough as a distraction."
Though Erza saw the illusion Mystogan cast on her, it was only through her left eye. Meanwhile, through her right eye, everything looked as it always did. More than likely, that was due to the fact that her right eye was artificial, created for her by Porlyusica after she joined the guild to replace the one she lost as a child.
To the audience, however, it looked as if Mystogan threw his staves, Erza stopped running, glanced up at the sky, looked at Mystogan again, and told Mystogan his illusion would not work.
Even though Erza was only distracted for a brief period, Mystogan made sure to take advantage of the time his illusion bought for him.
Recalling his staves, Mystogan placed four of them on his back once again with the last one in his hands. Then, he slammed the tip of the stave in his hands into the ring before performing a series of hand signs.
"[Ground Shattering Wave]." Mystogan chanted while holding the final hand sign.
At the same time, purple waves of energy shot up from the ground where the stave pierced before shooting at Erza.
Sensing the speed and power behind Mystogan's attack, Erza readied her sword. Then, once the wave was within reach, she swung her sword down from above.
*Swish!*
A moment later, the wave of energy was split down the middle, passing harmlessly to either side of Erza. Then, once the energy had fizzled out, she started her sprint towards Mystogan once again.
Mystogan, on the other hand, prepared to throw his staves once more to cast another spell. However, before he could take them from his back, Erza acted first.
"[Requip: Black Wing Armor]." Erza chanted before she was engulfed in the glow of her [Requip Magic].
A moment later, Erza's speed increased massively as she was now clad in the [Black Wing Armor]. Giving Mystogan no time to complete his action, Erza appeared in front of him in little more than a blink.
*Clang!*
As soon as she was in range, Erza slashed horizontally. Reacting quickly, Mystogan, using the stave in his hand, parried Erza's slash upward. Then, he followed up by swinging the stave at Erza's ribs.
Reacting just as quickly, Erza twirled the sword in her hand so that she was now holding it in a reverse grip with the blade pointed downwards. Then, using the still present momentum from her horizontal slash while simultaneously lowering her arm as quickly as she could, she managed to intercept Mystogan's blow.
*Clang!*
Following through with her downward thrust, Erza eventually stabbed the tip of her sword into the ring. Then, she quickly released the hilt, twisted her hand, gripped the sword's hilt once again, and swung it upward at Mystogan's chest.
Taking a step back, Mystogan narrowly avoided the upward slash. However, before he could take another action, Erza stepped forward after him and made a return slash.
This time, Mystogan was able to get his stave up in time, blocking the slash before it could cut into his shoulder. Following that, he threw a kick at Erza's unprotected abdomen.
In response, Erza raised her free, left hand to block the kick. However, Mystogan's kick held more force than she was expecting, resulting in her sliding back across the ring.
Taking advantage of the newly gained distance, Mystogan once again threw out his staves. Quickly the five staves formed a pentagon around Erza while Mystogan went through another series of hand signs.
"[Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song]." Mystogan chanted.
Immediately afterward, five magic circles inscribed with sigils, each smaller than the last, rose from the five staves. Then, the largest of the magic circles glowed brightly for a brief moment before releasing a ray of magic power that passed through the smaller magic circles below it.
To the more observant, with each magic circle the ray passed through, it was compressed and strengthened in power.
Naturally, Erza was able to deduce the effect of the spell, as well. So, before she was struck by the ray, she was once again covered in the light of her [Requip Magic].
"[Requip: Purgatory Armor]." Erza chanted.
A moment later, Erza was revealed wearing a black dress-like chest plate covered in spikes. With shoulder pauldrons that also had several spikes on them. On her arms, she wore lighter metal plates that reached her gauntlets that were in the same style as her chest plate. On her lower body, she wore a pair of spiked grieves that left her upper thighs exposed. She also wore a spiked metal necklace to match the motif of the rest of the armor. Even her hair became spiky to match the rest of her look.
Unlike most of her other armors, however, this set was not equipped with a sword. In fact, it was not equipped with a bladed weapon of any kind. Instead, in her hands, Erza held a large, spiked mace that was even taller than her.
With the mace in hand, Erza channeled as much of her magic power into it as she could. Then, she swung the spiked head of the mace upward, clashing with the ray of magic power that was falling down on her.
*Boom!*
The collision between the mace and the ray of magic power resulted in an explosion that kicked up a cloud of dust that covered the entire ring.
"[Air Magic: Gust]." Mystogan's chant could be heard from the cloud of dust.
A moment later, the ring was visible again.
Surprisingly, Erza, wearing only a leotard-like under armor, undoubtedly proof that Mystogan's attack was able to destroy her armor despite the fact that she had counterattacked, was charging towards Mystogan with a sword she summoned while the visibility was still obscured.
Mystogan, not expecting Erza to still be capable of fighting, was caught off guard, leaving him unable to completely dodge the upwards slash Erza swung at him. Though, he did manage to escape receiving a wound.
Instead, the tip of Erza's sword managed to cut through his mask as he tilted his head back to avoid it. Erza, on the other hand, allowed herself to be carried forward by her momentum. As a result, she crashed into Mystogan, causing both of them to fall to the ring.
In the end, Erza could be seen straddling Mystogan's waist with her sword pressed against his throat. Meanwhile, her hair fell loosely, blocking the view of both hers and Mystogan's faces to the spectators.
Though the spectators could not see his face, Erza's view of Mystogan's face was completely unobstructed, giving her the surprise of her life.
"Jellal…" Erza muttered quietly in disbelief.
Just as Erza muttered, the face she saw was that of Jellal Fernandes, one she could not be more familiar with. She saw it daily when she was still a slave in the Tower of Heaven, after all. In fact, she had seen it just a little over two weeks ago.
Hearing Erza's muttering, Mystogan raised his right hand to his face. When he did not feel the mask that he usually wore, he quickly pulled his cloak up to cover his face.
"Erza, I know you have many questions." Mystogan said quietly. "But I can't explain it to you now. If anyone else were to see my face, it would cause a lot of trouble for the guild. I promise, I will tell you everything at a later date. But for now, I have to leave."
With that, Jellal summoned one of his staves to his hand. A moment later, his body turned into mist. Then, he flew away from the venue.
Naturally, this turn of events confused all the spectators. All they could do was watch the cloud of mist fly away, unhindered. Then, when they could no longer see the mist, they turned their attention back to the ring, where they finally noticed the mask that had been split in two, currently laying on the ring next to Erza.
Eventually, Makarov snapped back to his senses.
"Mystogan is out of the ring. However, with Erza's sword pressed to his neck, he had already lost the fight." Makarov declared. "The winner of this fight is Erza Scarlet!"
Snapping back to their senses, the civilians in the audience cheered at the exciting battle they just witnessed, pushing Mystogan's appearance to the backs of their minds. Meanwhile, the Fairy Tail wizards in the crowd remained confused for a bit longer.
Eventually, they decided they would ask Makarov about it after the Fantasia Parade. And if they were supposed to know about it, he would tell them. Otherwise, it would just remain an unsolved mystery on the same level of whether fairies have tails or not.
A few moments later, Erza walked off the ring and approached the rest of her team. While Natsu was still unconscious, Gray and Lucy watched her approach with concerned gazes.
"Erza, are you okay?" Lucy asked once Erza had arrived by the rest of the team.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Erza replied absent mindedly.
"You don't look fine." Gray rebutted. "Do you wanna go and get some rest?"
Hearing Gray's question, Erza forcefully shook her head to get rid of her current thoughts. Then, a forced smile appeared on her face.
"Don't worry, Gray." Erza said. "I'm fine. I just have some things on my mind. But I'll have them sorted by the time I have to fight again."
With that said, Erza's aura became menacing.
"And it's up to you two to make sure that happens." Erza said in a solemn tone. "If you two lose, I'll be the one in charge of your training for the next month, understood."
"Aye!" Gray and Lucy replied in unison.
'Great, now I'm talking like Happy, too.' Lucy thought to herself in despair as she and Gray started walking towards the ring.