Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
With Makarov's ruling and the two fighters both passing out after the round, it took a little longer for the crowd to calm down before the next round could begin.
However, before the cheers died down, two pairs of wizards were standing in the ring.
"Lisanna Strauss and Juvia Lockser Vs. Cana Alberona and Laki Olietta." Makarov declared, finally bringing all the cheering to an end. Then, he glanced at all four fighters of the last round of the match. "Are you ready?"
Receiving four nods, Makarov nodded in return.
"Fight!"
"[Take Over: Animal Soul: Cat]." Lisanna chanted as she sprinted towards Cana and Laki.
While running, she was engulfed in the light of her [Take Over Magic]. Then, as soon as it wore off, Lisanna's running speed increased by a lot as she continued forward.
"[Card Magic: Random Throwing]." Cana chanted as she threw a handful of her cards at Lisanna.
"[Water Slicer]." Juvia chanted as she waved her arms in responsse.
From behind Lisanna, several scythe-like blades of water flew forward, overtaking the cat-girl and clashing with the incoming cards.
"[Wood-Make: The Dam of Shy Love]." Laki chanted while Cana and Juvia's attacks continued to clash.
A moment later, Lisanna was forced to a stop as she found herself surrounded by wooden constructs of several different types of weapons. Before she could escape the encirclement, she was attacked from all directions.
"That spell name doesn't make any sense!" The crowd shouted as the weapons made of wood started attacking Lisanna.
Using the cat-like reflexes her [Animal Soul: Cat] form provided, Lisanna gracefully weaved through most of the attacks. And for those she could not, she swiped her claws at the incoming wooden weapons, knocking them off course.
With Lisanna surrounded by wooden weapons, Cana reached into one of her card pouches and pulled out a certain combination of cards before channeling magic power into them and releasing them in front of her.
Instead of falling to the ring, however, the cards floated in front of her in a semi-circular formation.
"[Card Magic: Explosion]." Cana chanted.
With Cana's chant, a torrent of flames were shot towards Lisanna and the wooden weapons that surrounded her.
"Lisanna! Watch out!" Juvia shouted as she noticed the incoming flames.
Like Juvia, Lisanna also noticed the flames that would engulf her and the wooden weapons. And she knew that the wood would more than likely increase the potency of the flames. So, she crouched low, taking a hit from a wooden dagger in the process, Then, leapt up into the air with all her might.
As a result of her actions, Lisanna was now high up in the air and looking down at the torrent of flames that engulfed the spot where she had just been contesting with Laki's wooden constructs. And just as she expected, the flames from Cana's [Explosion] intensified as they burned through Laki's weapons.
"[Wood-Make: Violent Approach]." Laki chanted once again.
A moment later, a large, spiked ball was shot towards Lisanna. At the same time, Juvia, with the torrent of flames as cover started sprinting towards Cana and Laki.
A moment later, the spiked ball was just in front of Lisanna. And until she saw it up close, she did not realized exactly how big Laki's attack was.
The spiked ball Laki created was at least twice as tall as Lisanna, a fact that Lisanna took advantage of.
Instead of being struck by the incoming attack, Lisanna grabbed onto one the of the spikes protruding from the ball's surface. Then, she used it to swing onto the ball. After that, she ran between the spikes and reached the opposite side of the ball before leaping off towards Cana and Laki.
"That was kind of bad ass." Alfonzo muttered as he watched the ongoing match.
Meanwhile, Lisanna was flying straight at Laki as the lavender-haired wizard prepared to cast another spell.
"[Take Over: Animal Soul: Harpy]." Lisanna chanted as she was once again covered in the glow of her magic.
At the same time, Juvia reached the flames burning the ring where Lisanna had been avoiding Laki's first spell.
"[Water Jigsaw]." Juvia chanted as her body turned into a spinning cone of water, leaving her head visible.
At the same time, the cone of water, that was now Juvia, rushed into the flames with water blades surrounding her. And like a hot knife through butter, she cut through the flames, shooting straight towards Cana.
At the same time, Lisanna's transformation was completed. Once the glow of her [Take Over Magic] faded, Lisanna was revealed to have white, feathered wings in place of her arms, as well as talons in place of her lower legs and feet.
She then gave one powerful flap of her wings and rocketed towards Laki before folding her wings.
Lisanna's increase in speed was outside of Laki's expectations. As a result, she would not be able to complete her spell in time. Luckily for her, Cana's next spell would be enough to deal with not only Lisanna, but Juvia as well.
"[Card Magic: Thunderbolt's Fate]." Cana chanted as she channeled her magic power into a few cards in her hands.
At that moment, Juvia shot out of the flames, barreling towards Cana and Laki while Lisanna was closing in from above.
A moment later, Cana's spell activated and several bolts of lightning shot from the cards in her hand.
"Kya~~~~~!" Juvia screamed as the lightning coursed through her [Water Body].
Immediately afterward, Juvia's form reverted to her human body as she fell to the ring and began to writhe n pain. Lisanna, on the other hand, spread her wings as soon as she noticed Cana's casting. As a result, she stopped her forward momentum. Then, when the lightning bolts were fired in her direction, she flapped her wings and did all she could to avoid the incoming bolts of lightning.
"[Wood-Make: God Punch]." Laki chanted while Lisanna was dodging the lightning bolts.
A moment later, a gigantic fist of wood materialized above Lisanna before falling towards her.
Unable to dodge both the lightning and the wooden fist, Lisanna was eventually hit by the fist and forced to the ground. And as it would seem, Laki chose a perfect time to cast her spell, as Juvia, who was still writhing on the ring, was also in the line of fire.
*Boom!*
A moment later, the fist slammed into the ring, crushing both Lisanna and Juvia underneath. On top of that, the shockwave from the impact also snuffed out the fire that was still burning on Laki's previous wooden constructs.
A moment later, the [God Fist] was dispelled, revealing Lisanna and Juvia laying in the ring, unconscious.
"Winners: Cana Alberona and Laki Olietta." Makarov declared. "And with a score of two to one, Team Ultear wins the match and advances to the semi-finals."
With Makarov's declaration, the crowd once again went wild.
"Because the first round of the tournament only took around two hours, there will be a thirty minute break before the semi-finals begin." Makarov continued. "I suggest that all the participants who made it to the next round get their injuries looked at by the medical staff."
"Is this what you called me here for, Makarov?" An elderly female voice shouted as soon as Makarov's announcement finished. "To patch up these fools after they get themselves injured while fighting their friends? This is a perfect example of why I hate humans!"
Looking in the direction of the voice, the wizards from Fairy Tail saw exactly who they were expecting to see, Porlyusica, standing there with an expression of fury and annoyance on her face.
"Aww! Come on, Porlyusica." Makarov said, hopping off his seat as the judge, the dignity he showed during the fights disappearing as soon as he left the seat. "This is much better than our wizards running around and destroying everything they touch, right? Besides, it's also motivating them to train harder and raise their strength, too."
"Hmph!" Porlyusica snorted as she made her way towards Ren's medical station. "Shut up! I've got people to heal."
In response, Makarov smiled brightly as he followed Porlyusica over to the medical station.
'Although their magic power reserves won't have recovered by too much in the next thirty minutes, Porlyusica will at least have their bodies in fighting shape.' Makarov thought as he walked. 'And although she seems to be upset I know Porlyusica is happy to see the guild get stronger.'
"*Sigh* Lisanna and Juvia were just unlucky." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. "Cana and Laki have been training together since they were little kids. There's no way a hastily thrown together team like theirs would be able to overcome that."
On a side note, Marin was still seated in Alfonzo's lap. On top of that, Alfonzo's arms were also wrapped around her waist. Meanwhile, both Elicia and Sun were smiling at Marin, whose face was red from embarrassment.
"Yeah, but if they had more time to train, they would be a pretty potent duo." Elicia said with a smile on her face. "Both of their magic makes them quite versatile; you know."
"Yeah, and if Juvia could flood an area with her water, Lisanna would be able to make use of more of her [Animal Souls]." Sun added. "Like the penguin. I like penguins. And the one Lisanna turns into is really cute."
Thinking about Lisanna's [Animal Soul: Penguin] form, Sun could not help but swoon. Meanwhile, the rest of her team could not help but smile at her warmly.
"So, we'll be facing Team Alzack in the next round, right?" Elicia asked, as Sun would be lost in her own world for a while. "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, I really wanna fight Mystogan." Alfonzo replied with a battle hungry smile.
"Of course, you do." Elicia replied while rolling our eyes. "But you know that's not what I meant. Who will we send to the ring, and in what order?"
"*Sigh* I know, I know." Alfonzo said. "If I had to guess, they'll probably send up their fighters in the same order as last time. Meaning, Max will go first. Then Mystogan will go up next. And finally Alzack and Bisca will take the two on two round again."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Elicia replied with a nod.
"Then, who will fight Max?" Marin asked, shifting in Alfonzo's lap so that she could look up at him.
'You're playing a dangerous game, Marin.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he felt Marin's butt shifting against his crotch.
'Honestly, I'd give the fight to Sun again." Alfonzo replied with a wry smile. "Her [Water Magic] would be a pretty good counter against Max's sand."
"*Sigh* I need to learn some magic that will make me better in a head to head fight." Marin said in a frustrated tone.
"It's not that your magic makes you bad when fighting head to head." Elicia said, grasping Marin's hand as she did so. "But you don't really have the scale to compete with Max. I mean, most of his spells have a pretty big area of effect, after all."
"Lici's right." Alfonzo said, combing his fingers through Marin's hair. "Actually, you could have a pretty huge range, too. But I haven't been able to get the weight reduction sigils and the mass increasing sigils to interact correctly. You have to be able to swing the daggers after making them bigger, after all. "
"Weight and Mass, aren't those the same thing?" Marin asked curiously.
*Smack!*
As soon as her question fell, Marin heard the sound of flesh slapping against flesh. When she looked in the direction of the sound, she saw Elicia had just face palmed.
"Elicia, what's wrong?" Marin asked curiously.
Before Elicia could respond, Alfonzo started along winded explanation on the difference between weight and mass.
"*Sigh* You flipped one of his switches." Elicia replied. "I don't know when it started, but he really doesn't like it when people mix up weight and mass. And he goes into full-on professor mode when he starts explaining the difference."
"Hey, are you listening." Alfonzo asked in a stern tone of voice. "This is important."
In response, Marin could only smile wryly while Elicia wore an expression that said: "I told you so."
Like that, the rest of the break between rounds continued. And with Porlyusica's help, all the injured competitors were healed while strategies for the semifinals were made by the four remaining teams.