"Hey! You, punk with the spiked hair..."
"Are you planning to make an enemy of the Fairy Tail guild?!"
Just as Rustyrose, sporting his disgusting hairstyle, stood with one hand in his pocket and the other holding the microphone he'd snatched from the referee, looking arrogantly towards the Fairy Tail mages in the stands of the Domus Flau, and declared war on them…
Erza, who should have been resting in the waiting room after her victory, had re-equipped her battle armor and strode to the arena where Rustyrose stood. She coldly questioned the arrogant Rustyrose.
"Yeah, so what?!"
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"You unappealing armored woman!"
Rustyrose glanced at Erza and immediately lost interest. Although Erza was beautiful, he was only interested in gentle women. He found someone like Erza, who always wore armor, to be tiresome.
"Armored woman?"
"Unappealing?"
Erza's eyelids twitched slightly at his words…
What was even more unacceptable than being liked by a punk was being dismissed by one. It was a complete insult!
In the entire world of Earth Land…
The only person who dared to call her an armored woman, say she was unappealing to her face, and still live to tell the tale was Mirajane, and only Mirajane.
Putting aside her guildmates…
How dare this random punk, who held such hostility towards their Fairy Tail guild, call her that?! It was simply suicidal…
Indeed, in Erza's eyes, Rustyrose had already chosen his own demise.
"Excuse me! Can I challenge him now?"
Erza looked towards the referee below the arena and politely inquired.
"Uh…"
"This…"
The referee was at a loss, unsure how to respond. No one had ever proactively challenged another opponent like this before. Especially after just finishing a match, without even taking a break, to immediately prepare for a second battle. This was unheard of in the Domus Flau.
After all, in this arena, losing meant losing everything.
Therefore, all participants, in order to keep winning, would use every trick in the book! Some contestants even rested for two or three days after each match.
"You just finished a match, are you sure you don't want to rest?"
"No matter what, you need to recover the magic power you consumed, right?!"
The referee quietly asked Erza.
"Completely unnecessary."
"The previous match wasn't even a fight for me."
"Since I didn't use any magic, there's no need to talk about consuming magic power."
Erza replied truthfully.
"This…"
The referee seemed to recall the scene of Erza defeating her opponent with a single punch. Thinking about it carefully, Erza indeed hadn't consumed any magic power during the battle. However, consecutive battles were clearly against the rules of the Grand Magic Games.
"Let her fight! Pumpkin!"
Just as the referee was at a loss, the head referee, 'Pumpkin', appeared beside him with a sly smile.
"This…"
"Alright, I understand."
The referee trembled, then looked deeply at the suddenly appearing Pumpkin beside him, and finally nodded, agreeing to Erza's challenge to Rustyrose.
"Thank you."
Erza lightly leaped onto the arena where Rustyrose stood. She looked at the punk with one hand in his pocket and said coldly, "Since you, punk, have declared your intention to be an enemy of the Fairy Tail guild, then I presume you're prepared to be utterly crushed by a Fairy Tail mage! Even if you regret it now, it's too late."
"Regret?!"
"I'll show you people of light..."
"What true power really is!"
Rustyrose was incredibly arrogant, as if he didn't take Erza seriously at all.
"Requip…"
Erza had no interest in wasting words on Rustyrose. As an incredible burst of magic power swirled, accompanied by the glow of a grandiose magic circle, she replaced her armor with a seemingly ordinary swordsman outfit.
"Hey! Where's your armor?"
"Are you admitting defeat because you know you're no match for me?"
Rustyrose asked, looking at Erza, who had removed her armor.
"Dealing with a punk like you doesn't require my armor."
A confident smile played on Erza's lips.
Erza knew that Rustyrose didn't seem to take her seriously…
But correspondingly, she had never taken this punk seriously either.
"What did you just say?!"
"You dare look down on me?! You'll regret this..."
"Hahaha..."
"Fine, I've decided! I will utterly destroy you here!"
With an overwhelming aura of malice emanating from him, Rustyrose's forehead bulged with veins. His face twisted with a monstrous, enraged expression. Ever since joining Grimoire Heart, he had forgotten how long it had been since anyone had looked down on him like this. He hated being belittled; it brought back memories of his pitiful childhood, a time when he had been endlessly bullied."No more talking."Erza spoke calmly, gripping her katana's hilt with one hand while the other held the scabbard firmly. She adopted her drawing stance and shut her eyes tightly.
"I'll defeat you in an instant!"
"Appear, my strongest protectors, serve me, my sacred beasts!"
"Belcusas of Thunder and Belfast of Gale!!"
Rustyrose roared, releasing magic power that matched or even surpassed that of an average S-Class wizard. With a wave of his hand, he summoned two colossal beasts, each over twenty meters tall!
These beasts were enormous, each weighing hundreds of tons. Compared to the largest mammal on Earth, the blue whale, these creatures were no less intimidating.
"Oh my God, what are these monsters?!"
"Terrifying! Is this really something a human mage can summon?!"
"He's on a different level compared to any other mage we've seen..."
"That little girl is in danger!"
Rustyrose's magic left the entire crowd in the arena gasping in shock.
Previously, Ogre Jack's body transformation, reaching four meters in height, had seemed absurd. However, it paled in comparison to Rustyrose's summoned guardians.
Of course, much of the audience remained unaware of a mage's true potential.
They hadn't seen Makarov in his giant form, towering several hundred meters tall. Otherwise, they would have been immune to the mere sight of these twenty-meter beasts.
"Crush her..."
While the audience marveled at Rustyrose's power, he smiled with satisfaction, basking in their praise. He ordered his imagined beasts to attack Erza.
"One strike."
Erza murmured as she slowly drew her katana.
When her blade was fully unsheathed, those in the audience could only see a dazzling silver light emanating from the sword.
The next second...
The enormous guardian beasts summoned by Rustyrose, previously so intimidating, were cleaved in two and dissolved into nothingness.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"How could my sacred guardians be so easily cut down?!"
"Their bodies were supposed to be harder than steel..."
Rustyrose stood frozen, his eyes vacant, mumbling words of disbelief.
"There's no such thing as 'impossible' in this world."
Erza's face remained calm as she spoke.
"I don't believe it! I refuse to believe you can cut through everything..."
Rustyrose was desperate now, his voice almost crazed. He shouted out the nature of his magic to Erza, "My magic is Arc of Embodiment. Simply put, I can make whatever I imagine real! I admit your strength is immense; you can even cut through steel. You're the strongest swordswoman I know. But while you can slice through tangible things, can you cut through my imagination—something intangible? There's nothing stronger than human imagination."
"Heh!"
"Then let me cut through your final delusion!"
Erza looked at Rustyrose with merciless eyes. She had stepped onto this stage to put an end to his arrogance.
"The Beast Arm that can shred anything!"
Rustyrose's arm transformed, turning into a massive limb as large as his previous sacred guardians.
"Slash!"
With a composed expression, Erza effortlessly swung her blade.
"Swoosh!"
Rustyrose's imagined arm was instantly severed.
"A golden shield that can reflect all damage!"
Rustyrose continued to conjure up more and more imaginary weapons.
"Another slash!"
Erza casually swung her blade, effortlessly cutting through Rustyrose's imagined shield. The supposed indestructible golden shield was no match for her.
"Damn it! I refuse to accept this! How could you light-dwellers understand magic better than me?!" Rustyrose's mind was unraveling as he screamed, "An absolutely unbreakable shield, an unstoppable sword, armor that can withstand any damage, and a holy spear that can annihilate any enemy."
"Slash!"
Erza's gaze was filled with disdain. She calmly slashed through everything Rustyrose imagined.
In Erza's eyes, Rustyrose was nothing more than a child with brute strength who had no idea how to properly wield his power. It was laughable.
"Why?"
For over an hour, the cycle repeated—Rustyrose imagined something, and Erza cut it down.
Eventually, the excessive strain of using his magic caused Rustyrose's body to collapse. Blood trickled from his nose, ears, and eyes. Erza stopped her attack, resting her sword at his neck.
"Admit defeat," she said coldly.
"Why?"
"Why can't I defeat you?" Rustyrose asked, his eyes full of confusion.
"Heh."
Erza smiled warmly for a brief moment.
For a second, Rustyrose seemed to see a scarlet angel descend upon the world.
"Why can't you beat me?! You seriously need to ask that? If you're weak, then practice harder!"
Erza's voice was merciless, and she swung her sword at his head.
"Ugh..."
Rustyrose spewed blood and fell unconscious.
"The victor is Erza Belserion!"
Pumpkin, gripping the microphone, announced the result with a nervous tone.
What a terrifying girl, he thought.
"How could such a fight be called a victory?!"
However, Erza didn't seem impressed by Pumpkin's announcement. She grabbed the microphone from him and looked around at the other contestants surrounding the stage.
"Anyone else dissatisfied? Come at me! Remember this—standing before you is Erza Belserion, S-Class mage of the Fairy Tail guild!"
"Isn't this a bit too arrogant?!"
"She's defeated only two opponents and already thinks we're nothing?"
"Even if you're an S-Class mage of Fairy Tail, there's no way you could take all of us on before your magic power runs out..."
Erza's bold declaration stirred the entire audience.
All those who saw her as an obstacle began itching to take her down.
"All of you come at me! I'll take on a hundred!"
Erza merely smiled, clearly unfazed by the surrounding enemies.
"Does she seriously intend to fight everyone by herself?"
"Can something like this even be done?"
"If she really has that kind of power, we need to be extremely cautious."
In the audience, Jellal silently watched Erza, his brows furrowed.
If she really could take everyone on, she would become a formidable enemy for the dark guild Grimoire Heart.
"Well done, Makarov."
"Even excluding Ur and Gildarts, you still have such a strong player?!"
"In terms of magic power alone..."
"This girl named Erza is even above Jellal."
"No doubt a future 'Ten Wizard Saint.'"
Precht smiled as he watched Erza.
He wasn't at all upset by Rustyrose's brutal defeat—on the contrary, the stronger Fairy Tail became, the happier he was.
"No! Erza, calm down a bit!"
"We need the prize money! Don't mess up the guild's plans."
"Remember, making money is our priority!"
On the viewing platform, Makarov broke into a cold sweat at Erza's words.
What's this about taking on everyone?!
That was not part of his plan at all!
"So, the evil Fairy Tail has finally revealed their ambitions, Pumpkin!"
The head referee, who was actually the King of Fiore, watched Erza, who seemed ready to take on everyone, sweat covering his forehead. He had known the Fairy Tail guild was up to something and hadn't come all the way from Magnolia for the prize money. No, they were here to cause trouble.
Luckily, the Kingdom's strongest Hungry Wolf Knights, four elite squads—Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise—along with fifty thousand soldiers, had already surrounded the arena and were ready to step in at any moment.
Additionally, he had even summoned Wolfheim, one of the Four Gods of Ishgar, and the second-ranked of the Ten Wizard Saints, for added security.
It could be said that Old Thomas had called in all the fighting power he could request! All to deal with the invincible Fairy Tail guild.
"Let me see!"
"Makarov, just how dark has the Fairy Tail you lead become?!"
At this moment, Old Thomas, the king of Fiore Kingdom.
Precht, the guild master of the strongest dark mage guild on the continent of Ishgar.
Wolfheim, the Magic Council's vice chairman and second seat of the 'Ten Wizard Saints'.
They had all made their preparations, quietly waiting for Fairy Tail's mages to reveal their schemes.