Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
With both Laxus and Masa uninjured and able to walk away from the ring on their own, it did not take long for the next round between Evergreen and Gozaburo to start.
Unsurprisingly, Neither Bickslow nor Fried argued much when it came to who would fight in the second round of the match. And the reason was simple. Neither of them wanted to deal with the nagging that would come from Evergreen not getting her way.
"Evergreen Vs. Gozaburo Seto." Makarov said, announcing the participants in the next fight. "Begin!"
Like most male merfolk, Gozaburo used [Physical Enhancement Magic]. In fact, he was even more adept at it than Masa, who was able to end his fight without injury after facing Laxus.
"[Physical Enhancement Magic: Full Body Enhancement]." Gozaburo chanted as he charged forward.
Unfortunately, Gozaburo, though physically stronger than Masa, was not nearly as skilled in martial arts. Instead, he opted to rely on brute strength to overwhelm his enemies.
Against an enemy like Evergreen, however, that would be far from enough.
Watching Gozaburo charge forward with a disdainful smirk on her face, Evergreen released her [Fairy Dust] into the air around her. Then, she began compressing it into long needle shapes.
"[Fairy Magic: Fairy Machinegun: Leprechaun]." Evergreen chanted nonchalantly.
In the next instant, all the needles formed with Evergreen's [Fairy Dust] were fired at Gozaburo.
In response, Gozaburo, with his arms and fists flooded with magic power, stopped his charge and began throwing punches to either destroy or deflect the incoming projectiles. As time went on, Gozaburo once again started moving forward, though he was only able to take one step at a time.
"*Sigh* This is so uninteresting." Evergreen said, sounding bored. "You fight so inelegantly. There is no finesse to your techniques at all."
"Ha! Who needs finesse!" Gozaburo said as his arms whirled around in a blur while destroying Evergreen's attacks. "One good punch will be more than enough."
"How trite." Evergreen replied, completely uninterested in Gozaburo's retort.
A moment later, Evergreen waved her arms in Gozaburo's direction. As a result, the speed and number of needles he had to deal with doubled.
"Damn it!" Gozaburo growled as he was struck by a needle that made it through his flurry of fists. "Fine, if you want to play it like that, I won't hold back anymore. [Physical Enhancement Magic: Overclock]."
'I'm gonna be feeling this for weeks.' Gozaburo thought to himself as his skin took on a metallic sheen. 'I'm getting too old for this. But I refuse to lose to a little girl around my Sun's age.'
With the boost to his [Physical Enhancement], the rate that Gozaburo destroyed the needles and closed the distance to Evergreen nearly tripled. Then, in less than a minute, he reached Evergreen with his right arm cocked back and ready to strike.
"It's over." Gozaburo said as he threw a punch.
Just before the punch landed, however, two pairs of fairy-like wings, made from her [Fairy Dust] sprouted from Evergreen's back. Then, with a quick flap, she appeared just to the right of Gozaburo's punch.
"What was that?" Evergreen asked with a smirk on her face.
Then, Evergreen retaliated by throwing a stiff right hook into Gozaburo's ribs.
Unfortunately, Gozaburo did not seem to react in the slightest to Evergreen's punch, even if it caused a small shockwave on impact. Instead, Gozaburo raised his other fist and thew another punch.
This back and forth lasted for a few more minutes with neither fighter gaining the upper hand. Eventually, Evergreen flapped her wings once again. This time, however, she made distance between herself and Gozaburo.
"Well, I think it's time to end this." Evergreen said, raising her right hand in a snapping gesture.
"Ha! You haven't put a scratch on me, and you're calling this the end?" Gozaburo asked contemptuously. "The arrogance of youth."
"Oh, I can assure that this is not arrogance." Evergreen replied. "And you're about to find out in a most painful way."
With that, Evergreen snapped her fingers.
"[Fairy Magic: Fairy Bomb: Gremlin Rising]." Evergreen chanted as she snapped her fingers.
*Boom!*
As soon as Evergreen's fingers snapped, the air around Gozaburo exploded, throwing him upward.
*Boom!*
A moment later, the air around Gozaburo's new position exploded once again, sending Gozaburo even higher into the sky.
Several more explosions occurred in short succession. After the last explosion, even before Gozaburo landed in the ring again, it was obvious that even if he was not unconscious, he was no longer capable of fighting.
Seeing Gozaburo defeated so quickly after he was further enhanced, those who knew him were quite surprised. However, what surprised everyone even more was the fact that Evergreen flew up and caught Gozaburo before he could crash into the ring.
"Gozaburo is unconscious." Makarov announced. "The winner of the round is Evergreen. And with a score of two to zero, the winner of the match is the Thunder God Tribe."
Again, the crowd went wild with Makarov's declaration. Though the members of Fairy Tail looked on with some measure of disbelief. Most of them had known Evergreen for ten years or more. Yet, they had never seen her go out of her way to help anyone, let alone a defeated opponent.
"Wow! Evergreen is really strong." Sun said from her seat in the bleachers. "I've never seen Dad lose when he used [Overclock]."
"Yeah, and that [Fairy Bomb] spell really hurts when you get hit by it." Elicia added, remembering the first time she fought Evergreen. "But if you're fast enough, you can get away from it."
"Well, it's obvious Gozaburo isn't a speed-type fighter." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. "But Evergreen's really stepped her game up since the last time I saw her fight."
"What do you mean?" Marin asked curiously. "She still used the same two spells she always does, right? Even if that [Gremlin Rising] part was a neat twist."
"Well, that's true." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "But didn't you notice? Her [Fairy Dust] was invisible right until the moment it detonated."
At that moment, both Marin and Sun froze. Then, they started replaying the fight in their heads, having not really noticed the invisible [Fairy Dust], which was more or less by design.
"Yeah, we should have expected something like that after her performance in the pageant." Elicia chimed in. "I mean, she was freely changing the [Dust's] color while she was dancing. So, making it invisible wasn't really outside the realm of possibility."
"Right." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "Not to mention, that makes her a whole lot more dangerous in a fight."
"Wait, if the [Fairy Dust] was invisible, and you noticed it, does that mean you've had your [Magic Power Detection] running the whole time?"
"Of course." Alfonzo and Elicia replied simultaneously.
"Missing small details is too easy otherwise." Alfonzo continued.
"That makes sense." Sun said while tilting her head cutely. "But I can't keep mine up that long."
"Don't say anything, Fonzie." Elicia said, glaring at Alfonzo sharply.
"If you can't keep it up, you should go see Porlyusica." Alfonzo said, ignoring Elicia's glare. "She might have some medicine for that."
Unfortunately, Alfonzo's joke did not have the desired effect. Sun, even though she enjoyed sex, very rarely thinks about it outside of the bedroom. So, the joke flew over her head completely as she simply tilted her head to the other side in confusion.
"Does Miss Porlyusica make medicine to help with [Magic Power Detection]?" Sun asked innocently. "I didn't know that there was medicine to help with spell casting."
And that comment completely took the wind out of Alfonzo's sails. Meanwhile, Marin wrapped Sun in a tight hug while rubbing her cheek against Sun's.
"Sun, you are, like, totes adorable!" Marin squealed. "Don't ever change."
"Uh… Okay?" Sun replied, not really sure what brought that on.
"Team Strauss and Team Ultear, make your way to the stage." Makarov ordered once Gozaburo had been taken to Ren.
And with that, Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, and Juvia approached the ring from one side while Cana, Laki, Ultear, and Meredy approached from the other.
"Big Sis, can I fight in the first round?" Elfman asked as the team approached the ring.
"Sure, why not." Mirajane replied with a pleasant smile. A moment later, however, her aura changed to something menacing. "But if you start spouting that crap about being a real man in front of all these people, I'll make you regret ever picking up that catch phrase. Understood?"
"Yes Ma'am." Elfman replied while straightening his back.
"Good." Mirajane said with a nod. "In that case, go out there and have some fun."
"Lisanna, your big sister is kind of… scary." Juvia whispered. "She makes Juvia shiver."
"Yeah, she gets like that from time to time." Lisanna replied with a smile.
"Oh, it looks like the two of you are getting along pretty well, too." Mirajane said, continuing to smile. "So, you two will fight in the two on two round."
"Sure." Lisanna replied with a smile. "Teaming up with Juvia should be fun."
In response, Juvia looked at Lisanna dumbfoundedly.
"Teaming up with Juvia will be… fun?" Juvia muttered in disbelief. "This is the first time anyone has said that to Juvia."
In the past, because the rain followed Juvia around where ever she went, no one really enjoyed spending time around her, claiming she made everything too gloomy. So, to hear someone say that being around her would be fun was more than she could handle for a moment.
Meanwhile, Ultear was having a similar conversation with her own team.
"So, who wants to go first?" Ultear asked.
"Me! Me! Me! Let me go first!" Meredy exclaimed excitedly.
Meredy's quick and enthusiastic reply threw Ultear off by quite a bit. But she did not stay surprised for long. Instead, she smiled and rubbed Meredy's head.
"Sure, you can go first." Ultear replied.
With that, Ultear decided the rest of the fighting order.
"Stop it, Ultear." Meredy said while trying to brush Ultear's hand off her head with a blush on her face. "I'm not a kid anymore."
"I'll go second." Ultear said, ignoring Meredy's struggle with a smile on her face. "Regardless of Meredy's win or loss. And that leaves the two on two round to the two of you, Cana and Laki."
"Sure, whatever." Cana replied with a shrug.
"No problem." Laki replied.
"Good, that's settled." Ultear said, her smile widening. Then, she turned her attention back to Meredy. "And what do you mean you're not a kid? You're still only fourteen. That's a kid if I ever saw one."
"But I'll be fifteen in January." Meredy said with her face completely flushed in embarrassment.
"Then, you'll be a kid until January." Ultear said in retort.
"Teams, send your first fighters to the stage." Makarov said.
"Well, you're up, Meredy." Ultear said, taking her hand off Meredy's head and using it to pat her on the back. "Good luck."
"Thanks." Meredy said, her blush fading quickly as she wore a determined expression.
A moment later, Meredy jumped into the ring. While Elfman did the same from the other side.
"Are both fighters ready?" Makarov asked, receiving a nod from both Elfman and Meredy in response. "Then, begin."
"[Take Over Magic: Beast Arm: Black Bull]." Elfman chanted before his left arm was replaced with that of a black beast. "This should be enough to test the water. I've never seen her magic in action, after all."
At the same time, Meredy dashed forward, clearly intending to engage in melee combat.
In response, Elfman readied himself to counter whatever Meredy could throw at him. Unfortunately, he had never trained with Meredy in the past. So, although he knew the name of Meredy's magic, [Maguilty Sense], he had no idea what it was capable of.
A moment later, Meredy was just in front of Elfman, who swung his arm in a wide arch to knock Meredy away. However, Meredy reacted quickly, ducking under the sweeping arm.
"[Maguilty Sadom]." Meredy chanted without slowing down.
In the next instant, a teal colored blade of magic power appeared around Meredy's left hand. Then, she stabbed that newly formed blade into the right side of Elfman's chest.
"Argh~~~~~!" Elfman screamed, clearly experiencing excruciating pain.
Although Elfman had just been stabbed in the chest, not a single drop of blood could be seen. In fact, Elfman's clothes were not even damaged. That was the effect of Meredy's spell, [Maguilty Sadom]. It did not attack the physical body. Instead, it directly attacked an opponent's sense of pain.
While most of the spectators were surprised to hear Elfman screaming like that, Meredy did not slow down her assault in the slightest.
Pulling her hand back, she dispelled the blade on her hand. Then, she threw a right hook into Elfman's gut, causing him to bend over involuntarily. After that, she performed a back hand spring with her left foot clipping Elfman's lowered jaw. Then, as Elfman's head snapped back up, she kicked off the ground, leaping into the air, and delivered a spinning heel kick to his temple.
*Bang!*
As a result, Elfman, with is left arm reverting back to normal, lay in the middle of the ring, unconscious.
"You weren't cautious enough, Elfman." Meredy said, standing over the unconscious Elfman. "You should have never let me get that close. But I guess it couldn't be helped since you didn't know what my magic was capable of."
With that said, Meredy walked away and returned to the rest of her team.
"Elfman is unconscious." Makarov declared. "The winner of the round is Meredy of Team Ultear."