Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
"The second round, Alzack Connell and Bisca Mulan Vs. Elicia Taylor and Marin Kitagawa." Makarov declared while glancing at the four fighters of the two on two round. "Begin!"
Immediately, Alzack drew his pistols and aimed them at Elicia and Marin while Bisca fell back, using [Requip] to summon her magic rifle.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
As Alzack repeatedly pulled the triggers of his pistols, Marin drew her daggers, cutting down all the incoming bullets. Meanwhile, Elicia ejected threads from her fingers to do the same.
"Marin, you take on Alzack." Elicia ordered as she started running forward with her threads lashing around her defensively. "I'll make sure that Bisca can't concentrate on taking a proper shot."
"Got it." Marin replied while continuing to deflect Alzack's bullets.
"Not so fast!" Alzack said, sliding in front of Elicia, both pistols now trained on her.
At the same time, Bisca had reached the edge of the ring, raising her rifle and aiming at Elicia.
"I feel like I'm being ignored." Marin grumbled as she raised her daggers, pointing one each at Alzack and Bisca. "[Transformation Magic: Shoot to Kill]."
In the next instant, the blades of Marin's daggers extended at her targets at high speed.
In response, Alzack diverted one of his pistols away from Elicia, who slipped past him when his attention was diverted. At the same time, Bisca clicked her tongue before doing the same with her rifle.
*Bang!* x 2
At nearly the same time, both Alzack and Bisca fired on the incoming blades, knocking them off course and destabilizing Marin's balance. However, Marin's goal had been achieved, as Elicia was still sprinting towards Bisca with a smile on her face.
"Hey, Bisca!" Elicia shouted happily. "Let's have some fun."
"I'd rather not." Bisca replied with a wry smile as her rifle was quickly covered in the light of her [Requip Magic]. "[Requip: Magic Machine Guns]."
A moment later, Bisca was holding a pair of large magic guns that resembled Tommy Guns with drum magazines.
"[Guns Magic: Bullet Storm]." Bisca chanted as she pulled both triggers simultaneously.
In response to the incoming barrage of bullets, Elicia was forced to stop her dash. Then, her threads began swirling around her.
"[Thread Magic: Thread Cocoon]." Elicia chanted as she was covered by her threads in all directions.
Pumping more magic power into her threads, Elicia's cocoon held against the barrage.
Bisca, on the other hand, after noticing that her bullets were ineffective against Elicia's defenses, continued firing on the cocoon with one of her magic machine guns. At the same time, she turned her attention towards Alzack and Marin, aiming her second machine gun at the blonde.
By now, Marin had closed the distance between herself and Alzack, taking advantage of the time he used to reload his pistols, and was engaging him in close quarters combat.
Ducking under a swipe of Alzack's right pistol, Marin stabbed at his left thigh. In response, Alzack stepped back, lowering his left pistol, aiming the barrel at her outstretched arm.
*Bang!*
Before Alzack pulled the trigger, however, Marin abandoned the thought of stabbing Alzack, quickly pulling her arm back. Then, using the momentum of her abruptly pulled back arm, she pivoted and slashed upward with the dagger in her other hand.
Stepping back Alzack intended to dodge the slash before kicking at Marin's arm. However, his plans were overturned when the blade extended once he thought he was out of range. So, instead of kicking at Marin's arm, he pulled the barrel of his right pistol against the flat of Marin's blade and pulled the trigger.
*Bang!*
Her left arm being forced to her right, Marin once again used the momentum to her advantage, lashing her right leg towards Alzack and landing a kick on his chest. On top of that, Marin used the recoil from her kick to put some distance between the two of them.
A moment later, a few bullets passed through the spot where Marin once stood. However the burst did not last very long.
"Aww, Damn!" Bisca shouted, causing both Marin and Alzack to quickly glance in her direction.
With their glances, Alzack and Marin saw Bisca being flung into the air with a number of threads wrapped around her ankle. Meanwhile, Elicia's [Thread Cocoon] was quickly unraveling now that Bisca's [Bullet Storm] was no longer focused on her.
"I guess Elicia's got things wrapped up." Marin said as she turned to the side and aimed one of her daggers behind her. "[Transformation Magic: Dagger Rush]."
In the next instant, Marin's dagger elongated, stabbing into the ring and pushing her forward at high speed. Unfortunately for Alzack, he was too concerned about Bisca, causing him to react a beat too late, turning his attention back to Marin just as she arrived in front of him.
Marin, on the other hand, took full advantage of Alzack's inattention, landing an elbow strike with her right elbow against his jaw just as he turned back to her. At the same time, she lowered the butt of the dagger in her left hand onto Alzack's right wrist.
*Clatter!*
As a result, Alzack's right pistol fell from his hand while he immediately raised the pistol in his left hand. However, before he could aim properly, Marin's right leg kicked at his wrist, flinging his arm up over his head. Then, Marin quickly placed her right dagger against Alzack's throat before he could recover.
At the same time, Elicia had used her threads to wrap around Bisca's wrist and ankles while she was airborne, effectively rendering her incapable of firing her magic guns.
"Both Alzack and Bisca are unable to continue." Makarov declared. "The winners of the round are Elicia Taylor and Marin Kitagawa. And the winners of the match with a score of two to zero are Team Steel Threads."
Although a round of applause followed Makarov's announcement, it was much more subdued than usual. The crowd was clearly disappointed that Alfonzo, after two matches for Team Steel Threads, had not participated in a fight.
It was no secret that Alfonzo had created the extremely useful and very affordable magic appliances that can be found in nearly every home in Fiore. Thus, he was quite popular with the normal civilians. On top of that, he was also the youngest S-Class wizard n history, so people were looking forward to seeing what he could do.
"*Sigh* I guess we're out of the tournament." Alzack said, slumping his shoulders slightly after Marin removed her dagger from his throat. "Well, the fact that we beat Team Natsu is a pretty good accomplishment, I guess."
"Yeah." Bisca replied as Elicia put her down next to Alzack. "Plus, it was fun."
"It was." Alzack replied with a smile. Then, he turned his attention to Marin and Elicia, who approached after setting Bisca down and unravelling the threads around her wrists and ankles. "Anyway, congratulations on making it to the finals. We'll be rooting for you."
"Thank---" Marin started to say with a smile.
"Elicia! How could you!?" A bitter shout sounded from the bleachers.
Taken by surprise, not only the four fighters in the ring, but all the spectators turned towards the source of the shout.
At the center of everyone's attention, a beautiful, green-haired, brown-eyed woman wearing a blue hat with a white Blue Pegasus symbol, a white t-shirt with a wide enough collar that her left shoulder was exposed, a pair of tight blue jeans that made her backside stand out, and a pair of black high heels.
*Smack!*
"Ugh! Why is she here?" Elicia asked, face palming after noticing who was shouting.
"I've been waiting so long for you to tie me up again!" The green-haired woman, Karen Lilica, shouted. "But every time I see you, I find out that you've tied up someone else!"
"Isn't that Karen Lilica?" Alzack asked, his attention also drawn by the shouting. "That famous model in Sorcerer Weekly?"
"Why do you seem so interested in her, Alzack?" Bisca said, a bit of venom in her tone. "I guess that's your type, huh?"
"Huh?" Alzack exclaimed in confusion.
"Hmph!" Bisca snorted as she turned away and walked off the ring.
"Wait! Bisca, what's wrong?" Alzack asked, hurrying behind Bisca. Before he left, however, he turned his head back to Elicia and Marin. "Good luck in the finals! Hey, Bisca, wait! What did I do?"
"That was kinda cute. I wonder if Bisca noticed that she has the same features as Karen, green hair and bright red lipstick with a curvy body. Of course he would notice Karen when she looks so much like the love of his life." Marin said, watching Alzack and Bisca leave. Then, she turned to Elicia, who was still hiding her face while Karen continued to scream about getting tied up. "And your biggest fan showed up, Lici. Aren't you happy?"
"Ugh!" Elicia groaned. "I need a hug from Fonzie."
With that, Elicia turned around and sprinted towards Alfonzo, throwing herself off the ring and into his arms. Meanwhile, Marin laughed as she walked towards the rest of her team.
From the spectator stands, Laxus, Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen looked towards Team Steel Threads as they returned to their seats.
"So, we'll be facing them in the finals, after all." Bickslow said.
"In the finals! In the finals!" Bickslow's dolls parroted from behind him.
"Don't get cocky." Laxus said with a scowl. "Ultear is S-Class and Cana is as strong as any other S-Class. Plus, Laki isn't weak. And we don't know enough about the little girl's magic."
"You worry too much, Laxus." Evergreen said in a smug tone. "We're the strongest team in Fairy Tail. There's no way we would lose to a hastily thrown together team like that."
After speaking, Evergreen's smug smile froze on her face as Laxus glared at her.
"Both Cana and Ultear have beaten you in the S-Class Exam over the last two years." Laxus said sternly. "And you still have the nerve to look down on them?"
Evergreen, though she did not want to admit the truth in Laxus words, had no way to retort. So, she settled for lowering her head while gritting her teeth.
"I don't want to admit it either." Laxus continued. "but we're not the strongest in the guild."
Surprised to hear Laxus' admitted inferiority, Evergreen raised her head with a shocked expression while Bickslow and Fried were no different. However, they all focused on their leader to hear his next words.
Laxus, on the other hand, shifted his gaze from the Thunder God Tribe to Team Steel Threads, who was just taking their seats on the opposite side of the venue.
"Right now, it's them." Laxus said as he briefly made eye contact with Alfonzo, who felt his gaze. "As much as I hate to admit it. For us to be the best in the guild, we have to beat them. Which means, we have to make it to the finals."
Hearing that, a lot of the arrogance Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen held disappeared. Laxus had always treated Alfonzo and Elicia as if they were inconsequential. Most likely, not to lower the group's morale. However, when he spoke of something they all knew in their hearts with such solemnity, they also began taking things more seriously.
"If we are going to be the best by the time this tournament is over." Laxus said, clenching his fist with lightning crackling around them while determination burned in his eyes. "Then we'll have to fight with everything we have."
"Understood." Bickslow, Fried, and Evergreen replied in unison.
"Thunder God Tribe and Team Ultear, make your way to the ring for the second match of the semi-finals." Makarov announced.
"Let's go." Laxus said, standing from his seat.
"Yeah." The Thunder God Tribe said as they, too, stood from their seats.
In the bleachers on the other side of the ring, Alfonzo was sitting with Elicia in his lap and watching Laxus and the rest of his team move towards the ring.
"Laxus looks determined." Alfonzo said with a smile on his face. "He wants to beat me so bad. I could feel it from the look in his eyes. But he better not underestimate Ultear's team. Otherwise, he won't know how he got his ass kicked."
"Contrary to the way he acts sometimes… most of the time, Laxus isn't dumb." Elicia said, nuzzling her had against Alfonzo's neck. "The ones you really have to worry about underestimating their opponents are Bickslow and Evergreen."
"Not Fried?" Marin asked curiously.
"No." Elicia said shaking her head. "He's just as prideful as the other two, but he's too careful to let it get the better of him."
"Lici's right." Alfonzo said with a nod. "He's actually the voice of reason in the Thunder God Tribe. Though, Laxus is prone to ignoring his advice when he's all riled up."
"Both teams, send up your first fighters." Makarov declared.
"We can talk about that later." Alfonzo said with a smile. "For now, let's see how Ultear and Cana deal with Laxus' team."