Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
May 8, x785.
Once Erza's [Soul Armament] was released, Yoruichi vanished in a burst of speed like before. Then, in the next instant, she appeared in front of Erza with her right arm drawn back to throw a punch.
Calmly, Erza readjusted the position of her sword. All the while, she maintained eye contact with Yoruichi as she did so.
*Zap!* *Boom!*
In the next instant, Erza's hair fluttered as a bolt of white lightning shot past the side of her head and crashed into the property wall a distance behind her.
"She's even faster now." Mirajane muttered while narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah, and Erza was able to redirect an attack at that speed." Ultear added.
"Well, there's a reason why Erza is considered the second strongest woman n Fairy Tail after Ur, ya know." Alfonzo said. "She---"
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Marin interrupted. "Second strongest woman in Fairy Tail? Erza? Not Lici?"
Not only was Marin confused by Alfonzo's declaration. Sun and Lucy looked at him with confusion written on their faces, too.
"*Sigh* It doesn't surprise me that Lucy doesn't know, she's only been part of the guild for less than a year." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. "But Marin, Sun, how can the two of you not know this already?"
Marin and Sun still had metaphorical question marks floating above their heads.
"It's because of Lici's [Camouflage Magic]." Cana said. "Because of that, most people, other than the requester, never even know that Lici took a quest."
"Yeah, and since she fights more like an assassin in most cases, no one knows how strong she is, either." Mirajane added.
"Oh~~~! That makes sense." Marin replied with a nod of understanding.
"Uh huh." Sun added while nodding her head, as well. "Now, I get it."
Meanwhile, even though their conversation was not very long, Erza and Yoruichi, with their increased speed from tapping into the elements, had exchanged nearly a hundred blows by now. ON top of that, the sound of explosions rocked the mansion's backyard. Despite the sounds, however, the training ground had taken no damage what so ever.
"Activating the sigils around the area was a good idea." Alfonzo said while following the battle with not only his [Magic Power Detection], but his eyes, as well. Then, he reached out and flicked his left index finger in Marin's direction. "Otherwise, it would have been even worse than when Erza and Mira used to fight back in the day."
At the same time, a stray discharge of lightning was redirected upwards before it could hit Marin.
"We weren't that bad." Mirajane said in protest. However, when Elicia, Cana, and Ultear stared at her with blank expressions, she shrunk back slightly. "Were we really?"
Before anyone could answer, their attention was drawn into the sky, where Yoruichi was descending with lightning concentrated on her right fist. Meanwhile, standing on the top of the tallest pole on the training ground, Erza was looking up with her sword surrounded by the wind and ready to strike.
"[Lightning Magic: Raijin's Descent]." Yoruichi chanted as the lightning wings on her back pushed her speed even further.
"[Echo Step]." Erza also chanted as the wind swirled around her violently.
A moment later, Yoruichi's fist slammed into the pole Erza had been using as a foot hold. However, Erza was no longer standing in that location. Instead, she was hovering in the air an arm's length away from Yoruichi with her sword raised.
"[Hurricane]." Erza chanted as she slashed her sword downwards.
While Yoruichi was able to evade Erza's slash by slightly shifting her body, the wind surrounding the sword quickly created a twister of spinning wind blades around Yoruichi. Then, as soon as Erza withdrew her sword, the twister began to contract around its target.
"How did she even avoid that punch?" Lucy asked in a confused tone.
"I guess that was too fast for you, huh?" Elicia asked with a smile.
"It wasn't just her." Sun added. "I'm not sure what happened, either."
Surprisingly, Cana, Ultear, Mirajane, and Marin all nodded in agreement.
"It was that skill she chanted before Yoruichi's blow landed." Alfonzo said while
Before Alfonzo could continue his explanation, however, his words were forced to a stop when the wind blades started shredding Yoruichi's clothes. And although he would admit that he enjoyed the sight of Yoruichi's clothing disappearing slowly, that was not what stopped his explanation.
Instead, it was the fact that no matter what Yoruichi tried, she could not break the column of deadly wind blades.
"You should get ready to step in, Fonzie." Elicia, who had moved to Alfonzo's side during the battle, whispered so that only Alfonzo could hear her. "If Yoruichi uses one of those moves, Erza could be in real danger."
"I know." Alfonzo replied with a nod.
At that moment, Sui-Feng, who had been sitting alone in the living room, finally made her way out of the house.
"Is… Lady Yoruichi being pushed into a corner?" Sui-Feng asked in a disbelieving tone.
However, before anyone could respond, the situation on the battlefield changed. Before her magic power ran out and her defenses were breached, Yoruichi decided to break out of Erza's attack with brute force.
"[Lightning Magic: Shunkō: Raijū Senkei]." Yoruichi chanted as the lightning wings on her back formed a circle of electrical energy above her head.
In the next instant, a column of condensed lightning was fired towards Erza, ripping through the twister of wind blades and dispersing it in the process. Meanwhile, Erza had raise her sword with the wind swirling around its blade once again. On top of that, she was pushing her magic power to its limit.
"[Gale Cutter]." Erza chanted as she swung Astraia down at the incoming attack, intending to split it in half.
*Screech~~~~~!*
Although Erza's timing was perfect, Yoruichi's condensed lightning column was stronger than she expected. As a result, Erza's sword was halted while the collision of lightning and wind made a high-pitched grinding sound that echoed around the area.
"That sound is awful." Mirajane said while covering her ears with her hands.
'I can't stop it.' Erza thought to herself as she continued pushing against Yoruichi's attack.
["I told you to evade rather than face it head on."] Astraia replied. ["Although I'm certain you will get there, you are not at a level where you can destroy attacks of this caliber with your sword."]
'I understand that.' Erza said as she was slowly being force backwards by the column of lightning. 'But I wanted to see how far I had to go to reach her.'
["Your recklessness will get you killed someday."] Astraia said in an exasperated tone.
'You're wrong.' Erza replied while shaking her head internally. 'Had this been a battle to the death, I would have never tried something so reckless. Instead, I would have evaded as you suggested. But since it's not, I pushed myself to counterattack. Because I knew there was someone who could get me out of this situation.'
"Alright ladies, I think that's enough." Alfonzo said as he appeared next to Erza with his left hand touching Yoruichi's lightning column. "You're disturbing the neighbors."
With that, Alfonzo raised his left hand to the sky. And with that action, the column of lightning was redirected upwards, allowing Erza to disengage safely.
"Since I had to step in, I think we can all agree that Yoruichi is the winner of this duel." Alfonzo said as he slowly lowered himself to the ground.
"*Sigh* Indeed, I admit defeat." Erza added while lowering herself alongside Alfonzo.
"That was significantly more difficult than I expected." Yoruichi said as she dispersed the lightning of her [Shunkō] spell. Then, as she jumped down from the top of the pole she was standing on, she continued. "I guess I should go see Master Unohana and ask her to train me from the ground up. Underestimating one's opponent is not a habit I want to get into."
"Lady Yoruichi." Sui-Feng said as she approached Yoruichi with her discarded shirt. "Are you alright? Also, your hair seems to be a bit shorter. Did something happen?"
Hearing the last part of Sui-Feng's concerned questions, Yoruichi's left eyebrow began twitching involuntarily. However, when she heard the giggles from the other girls, the twitching became significantly more violent.
"Thanks, Bumble Bee." Yoruichi replied curtly as she took her shirt from Sui-Feng. Then, while putting it on, she continued. "I'm fine. But she was stronger than I expected."
"That's good to hear." Sui-Feng replied in a relieved tone. Then, she turned her attention to Erza. "Was she really that strong? Strong enough to make you use [Raijū Senkei]?"
"She is." Yoruichi replied.
At the same time, Erza was receiving the concern of the other girls.
"I think that's the first time I've ever seen you lose to anyone around our age other than Fonzie and Lici, Erza." Cana said in a slightly upset tone.
"That's not the first time she's lost to someone other than those two." Mirajane protested. However, she was completely ignored. "Seriously, I beat her once around five years ago… Hey, don't ignore me…"
"It's okay, Mira, I remember that fight." Alfonzo said with a wry smile as he started combing his fingers through Mirajane's hair.
*Tch!*
Several envious sounds of clicked tongues could be heard when Alfonzo consoled Mirajane. Still, the conversation continued.
"'I must admit, it's quite humbling." Erza replied while [Requipping] back into her casual clothes. "I pushed myself as far as I could. Yet I was unable to overcome her."
"Speaking of that, and what were you thinking trying to cut through an attack like that/" Ultear asked in a strict tone. "If Alfonzo wasn't here, you could have gotten yourself killed."
"I know." Erza replied. "And had Alfonzo not been here, I would have never tried such a thing. But I knew I could rely on him if things did not go the way I hoped they would."
"*Sigh* I want to be angry at you for putting yourself at risk like that unnecessarily." Ultear said in an exasperated tone. "But I can understand what you were thinking. I'd trust my life to any of you here, too."
"Nope, I'm still mad at her." Marin said with her hands resting on her hips. "Just because you know someone can get you out of a sticky situation, there's no reason to jump into one on your own volition."
"Yeah, Marin's right!" Sun shouted, sounding significantly more angry than Marin. "What if something happened and Alfonzo was a little too late? What would you have done then?"
Hearing Marin and Sun's scolding, Erza lowered her head in apology.
"You're right, I shouldn't be so reckless." Erza said in a sincere tone. "I promise, it will never happen again. Now, please hit me as recompense for my foolish actions."
"Um.. I really don't think that's---" Marin started to say while waving her hands.
*Bang!*
Before she could finish, however, Erza was blown away after Sun punched her in the face.
"What the…?" Marin exclaimed in surprise.
Not only Marin, but everyone in the backyard was surprised by what just happened.
"If you make us worry like that again, it won't be just one punch, ya see!" Sun shouted as tears overflowed from her eyes.
*Bang!*
On top of that, with Sun's shout, [Howling Voice] was activated, as well, thanks to her emotions being out of control. As a result, Erza was hit by a shockwave as she was thrown into the wall surrounding the property.
"Holy shit…" Cana muttered in disbelief.
"Calm down, Sun." Elicia said as she pulled Sun into a hug.
In response, Sun wrapped her arms around Elicia, as well while she buried her head in Elicia's chest and cried quietly.
"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Sun get so angry before." Marin said while she stared at Elicia and Sun blankly.
"Indeed." Erza replied as she strode back towards the rest of the group while rubbing the side of her face. "If I had to guess, she saw flashbacks of when Alfonzo lost his arm."
Hearing that, the other girls seemed to be enlightened. And although Sun had no deep feelings for Alfonzo back then, she certainly did now after more than four years. And she had developed similarly deep feelings with all those here, as well. So, the thought of Erza getting hurt made her lose it.
"Wait, what's this about Alfonzo losing an arm?" Yoruichi asked in surprise.
With that, Alfonzo and most of the girls turned In Yoruichi's direction to see her approaching with Sui-Feng in tow.
"*Sigh* Let's have this conversation inside." Alfonzo said. "There's no point standing out here to talk, after all."
IN response, everyone nodded in agreement with Alfonzo's suggestion.
"On top of that, I wanna crack open that bottle of cognac." Alfonzo said before licking his lips in anticipation.
Immediately afterward, Cana took out a card from her card pouch, stored the bottle of liquor she was holding inside the card, put the card back, ran up to Alfonzo and wrapped her arms and breasts around his left arm, and started pulling him towards the house.
"Yeah, let's talk over a drink." Cana said happily.
Meanwhile, the girls from Fairy Tail could only shake their heads while Yoruichi and Sui-Feng followed the rest of the group inside.