Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
After Laxus announced the Battle of Fairy Tail tournament, the clock was just about to hit one in the afternoon. Meaning, the guild had around seven hours to complete all the preparations as well as the tournament itself, before they would have to put on the Fantasia Parade.
So, all the members of the guild moved quickly to form their teams and rush to the eastern outskirts of Magnolia to get the tournament started as quickly as possible.
By 1:30 pm, all the teams who would be participating, as well as all the members of the guild who would spectate gathered around a large stone stage that had been created with a liberal use of Fried's enchantments.
On top of that, upon arrival, the members of Fairy Tail noticed that quite a few citizens of Magnolia had also shown up to the impromptu event. Apparently, with the guild moving around the town in full force, a lot of people were attracted.
So, upon seeing all the people, Makarov requested Laki to use her magic to create raised seats for all the spectators to watch the battles from. In return, Laki's team would be fighting in the last match of the first round of the tournament.
Agreeing to Makarov's request, Laki created two sets of stands, on opposite sides of the ring, for the spectators, using a spell whose name no one understood.
After that, Makarov explained the purpose of all the members of Fairy Tail gathering and the rules of the tournament, which included Makarov being able to stop the fight when he deemed one side unable to continue and a fighter losing if they were knocked down for a ten count or coming in contact with a surface outside of the ring.
Although not mentioned, the killing or maiming of an opponent was strictly forbidden, as well.
After hearing Makarov's explanation, the townsfolk were quite excited to witness such a tournament.
Meanwhile, the captains of the eight teams that were quickly thrown together for this tournament drew lots to determine the tournament bracket.
After the lots were drawn, the first round of the tournament looked like this:
Match 1:
Team Alzack Vs. Team Natsu
Alzack Connell Natsu Dragneel
Bisca Mulan Gray Fullbuster
Max Alors Erza Scarlet
Mystogan Lucy Heartfilia
Match 2:
Team Shadow Gear Vs Team Steel Threads
Levy McGarden Alfonzo Marcus
Jet Elicia Taylor
Droy Marin Kitagawa
Gajeel Redfox Sun Seto
Match 3:
Thunder God Tribe Vs. Team Seto
Laxus Dreyar Gozaburo Seto
Bickslow Masa
Fried Justine Macao Conbolt
Evergreen Wakaba Mine
Match 4:
Team Strauss Vs. Team Ultear
Mirajane Strauss Ultear Milkovich
Elfman Strauss Meredy
Lisanna Strauss Laki Olietta
Juvia Lockser Cana Alberona
This information, along with a tournament bracket, appeared on a board made of ice that appeared on one side of the ring. Naturally, Ur was responsible for its creation and updating as the tournament went on.
"Now that everyone is up to speed on the rules…" Makarov said, amplifying his voice with his magic power from the side of the ring opposite the tournament bracket. ".. let the first match of the first round… Begin!"
With that, the wizards of Team Alzack and Team Natsu took their positions on opposite sides of the ring. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams took seats in the first row of the stands.
"Now, both teams, send up your first fighter." Makarov commanded.
"Oh Yeah! I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted as he leapt into the ring.
"So, I guess we're not gonna talk it out, huh?" Lucy muttered after Natsu just jumped ahead.
"What did you expect from someone with fire instead of a brain in his head?" Gray asked.
"Gray, your clothes." Lucy replied with a deadpan.
"Damn it, not again!" Gray exclaimed.
"Don't worry about it, Lucy." Erza said with a reassuring smile on her face. "Natsu is strong. So, no matter who they send, he won't go down without a fight."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ring,.
"I guess I'll go first." Max said with a smile. "Honestly, I think Mystogan and I are best suited for fighting one on one while you two are better suited for the team battle."
To that, the other three members of Team Alzack nodded in agreement. Then, Max jumped up into the ring, landing on it at the same time as Natsu.
"Are both fighters ready?" Makarov asked once Natsu and Max were in the ring. Receiving a nod from both fighters, Makarov continued. "Very good. Then… Fight!"
Max, a slim young man of average height with flaxen hair styled in a bowl undercut with two long bangs that both framed and covered the sides of his face, opted to make the first move as Natsu began sprinting forward.
Flaring his magic power, Max crossed his right arm in front of his chest. Then, a massive amount of sand materialized and started spiraling around it. After that, he thrust his hand forward, towards Natsu.
"[Sandstorm Magic: Sand Wave]." Max chanted as the sand revolving around his hand shot forward in the form of a large wave of sand.
Undeterred, Natsu formed his hands into a trumpet before bringing them to his mouth.
"[Fire Dragon's Roar]." Natsu chanted as he blew a stream of fire between his hands.
With great speed, Natsu's flames rushed forward, impacting the wave of sand roughly halfway between himself and Max. Shortly after the collision, a portion of the sand was superheated and turned into molten glass.
Meanwhile, the rest of the sand rushed past Natsu on either side. At the same time, Natsu restarted his dash, increasing his speed by expelling fire from his back that acted as a thruster.
"What the hell?" Max exclaimed in surprise after seeing Natsu's new speed. "How did he get so fast?"
Although he was surprised, Max reacted quickly, condensing more sand around both of his hands. Then he whipped them towards Natsu, sending the sand flying at him.
"[Sandstorm Magic: Sand Blades]." Max chanted as multiple sand slashes flew from his hands towards Natsu.
Natsu, seeing the incoming sand blades, put on a show of acrobatics to avoid all the incoming attacks while losing a minimal amount of momentum. Eventually, Natsu reached Max with his right hand covered in flames.
"Sorry, Max, but it looks like this is my win!" Natsu said excitedly. "[Fire Dragon's Iron Fist]."
"I don't' think so, Natsu." Max said while a large amount of sand was generated around Natsu. "[Sandstorm Magic: Sand Rebellion]."
The moment Max's chant ended; the sand that materialized around Natsu began to spin at high speed, subsequently stopping the flame imbued fist before it could reach its target. A moment later, Max gestured with his hands and the spinning mass of sand exploded.
A few moments later, the dust cloud created by the explosion settled. Now, the only thing that could be seen where the spinning mass of sand once stood was Max with a confused expression on his face.
"Did he avoid my attack? Impossible." Max questioned himself while looking around the ring. "Then, where is he? He should at least be injured."
"Up here!" Natsu shouted.
Looking up to the direction of the voice, Max was caught off guard when he saw Natsu falling from the sky with flames blazing around his right foot.
"[Fire Dragon's Talon]." Natsu chanted as he fell with his foot aimed at Max.
"[Sandstorm Magic: Sand Wall]." Max chanted, quickly erecting a defensive wall of sand.
Unfortunately, with the added momentum due to gravity, Natsu's flaming kick was strong enough to cleave straight through Max's sand wall. Then, with no time to cast another spell, Max was forced to defend himself by crossing his arms between himself and Natsu's kick.
Unfortunately, that was far from enough to stop the force behind Natsu's kick. Instead, Max was sent flying backward after his arms slammed into his face. Then, after hitting the ground, he was sent rolling backward toward the edge of the ring.
At the same time, while Max was rolling away, Natsu did not notice the sand that was left over from Max's sand wall had circled around his feet. Then, before he could react, it surged upward while covering his feet and swung toward the ground outside the ring.
"Damn it." Natsu cursed as he channeled his flames into his feet to free himself.
Unfortunately, all that did is turn the sand into glass, restricting his movement even more.
Eventually, Natsu was slammed into the ground outside the ring. Meanwhile, just before Max rolled of the ring himself, a platform made of sand rose from the ground and stopped him from falling off the ring.
"Damn, that was close." Max said while lying on his back, halfway on the ring and halfway on the sand platform.
"Ow.. That hurt." Natsu said after pulling his head out of the ground. Then, he looked around to see where Max was. However, once he noticed that he was outside of the ring, he panicked. "No way! Did I lose? But I wanted to fight some more!"
However, at that moment, Makarov made his ruling on the fight.
"Natsu Dragneel is out of the ring." Makarov said. "Winner by ring out, Max Alors."
With that, the crowd, consisting mostly of regular civilians went wild due to the exciting display of magic. Meanwhile, Max picked himself up and slowly returned to his teammates.
"Come on, Man!" Natsu shouted. "Gimme a rematch! If it weren't for that stupid ring out rule, I wouldn't have lost."
*Bang!*
"Cut it out, Natsu!" Erza shouted as she appeared behind Natsu and slammed her fist on the top of his head.
"Uh… I don't' think he can hear you." Lucy said after looking at Natsu.
"Huh?" Erza exclaimed in confusion after hearing Lucy. Then, when she looked down, she saw Natsu lying on the ground with his eyes spinning. "Oh no, Natsu, are you okay?"
With that, Erza started shaking Natsu violently. Had he been awake, there was no doubt that his motion sickness would have been triggered due to the violent shaking.
"Teams, send your second fighters to the ring." Makarov announced at this moment.
"Erza, I think you should fight in the next match." Gray said, approaching Erza. "We need to win this fight and you're the strongest member of our team. Otherwise, we're out of the tournament."
"*Sigh* You're right." Erza said, calming down quickly. "Take care of Natsu. I'll get us to the third fight of the match."
Nodding in response, Gray picked up Natsu and brought him to where Lucy was standing before dropping him on the ground.
"Seriously, Gray?" Lucy asked in surprise. "That's what you call taking care of him?"
"Eh… He'll be fine." Gray said carelessly.
Meanwhile, Erza jumped into the ring. At the same time, Mystogan, a man of above average height, standing at roughly 6' (183 cm) tall wearing a dark blue cloak, shirt, pants, and bandana with a silver forehead protector, as well as a black mast that covered everything below his eyes and five staves on his back that were held there by a dark green strap wrapped diagonally across his torso. also landed on the ring from Team Alzack's side.
"How did Alzack manage to convince Mystogan to join his team?" Elicia asked curiously from her seat in the front row of the stands.
"More important than that, how did Alzack even find the guy." Alfonzo asked. "I mean, I know I taught him how to use [Magic Power Detection]. But he's usually sleep when Mystogan shows up at the guild. How does he even know his magic power signature?"
In response, Elicia, Marin, and Sun all shook their heads. Not even Marin and Sun knew who Mystogan was until Alfonzo and Elicia explained it to them, as they had also always been asleep when Mystogan showed up at the guild hall.
Team Steel Threads were not the only ones who were wondering how Mystogan ended up joining Team Alzack. As a result, the whispers from all the Fairy Tail wizards could be heard through the tournament venue.
"I wasn't expecting to see you here, Mystogan." Erza said, [Requipping] along sword into her right hand. "You don't usually mingle with the rest of the guild."
"This is the first time the guild has done anything like this or the pageant, so I was interested." Mystogan replied quietly. "And when I saw that Alzack, Bisca, and Max would not be able to participate because they could not find a fourth member, I joined their team because I felt bad for them."
"I see." Erza replied. "Well, I approve of your reasoning. Still, I won't lose. Even if your reason for participating is rather noble."
"We'll see about that." Mystogan said, reaching for one of the staves on his back.
"Both fighters seem to be ready." Makarov said after looking at two of his S-Class wizards in the ring. "Fight!"
You can read 5 chapters ahead on my Patr3on at:
https://patr3on.com/SixthSense1029
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.
Comments, Reviews, and Power Stones are always appreciated.
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
"Cool~~~~~~~~~!"
Just as Makarov announced the beginning of the second fight of the match, an excited male voice shouted from the stands. As a result, Erza and Mystogan were both pulled out of their focused states. Not only them, however, but everyone who was focusing on the upcoming fight also had their focus disrupted.
Seconds later, all eyes in the venue were focused on the source of the shout. In the location where all the people's sight lines converge stood a man with blond hair that sticks up in the middle and wearing a pink t-shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes, and had a pair of black sunglasses propped on his head. He was also carrying a white satchel.
"Damn, we should have known he'd show up." Alfonzo muttered after recognizing the man who just shouted. "And just give it a second, then he'll… Yup, there it is."
As Alfonzo spoke, The man reached into his satchel and pulled out a black camera. Then, he started snapping pictures of everything he could see.
"Oh come on, Fonzie." Elicia said with a wry smile. "He's not that bad."
"You've never been interviewed by him, have you?" Alfonzo asked in an annoyed tone. "That interview took so much longer than it needed to all because every time I answered a question, he shouted 'cool' repeatedly for varying amounts of time."
As implied, the man currently snapping pictures was a reporter. A reporter for the most popular magazine on Ishgar, Sorcerer Weekly. And his name was Jason, one of the best reporters the magazine employs. However, that's only in terms of his skill at writing articles and taking pictures.
Other than that, everyone he's interviewed, save a select few who click with his easily excitable personality, grow tired of him rather quickly.
Just like Alfonzo and Elicia, everyone else at the venue also recognized Jason quickly enough and completely tuned him, who was still shouting "cool" with every picture he took, out.
Erza and Mystogan were no exception, either. Quickly retaking their stances, Erza was the first to move. Dashing forward, she tried to close the distance with Mystogan as quickly as she could.
Reacting quickly, Mystogan pulled the strap holding his staves on his back and threw it, with the staves still attached towards Erza. However, while in mid-air, the staves separated from the strap and placed themselves around her.
"[Skyscraper]." Mystogan chanted.
In the next instant, Erza stopped running and found herself being hurled high into the sky. Then, a crack in the sky opened up above her and a demonic face could be seen through the crack. When the demon caught sight of her, it smiled maliciously. Then, it reached out to both sides of the crack and ripped it open even further.
Then, the demon reached through the widened crack, attempting to grab hold of Erza. Surprisingly, Even after seeing all this happen right in front of her, Erza showed no sign of panic. Instead, she calmly looked away from the demon and looked towards the direction she was running before she found herself up in the sky.
"Illusions like this won't work on me, Mystogan." Erza said.
"And I didn't expect it to." Mystogan replied. "But it served well enough as a distraction."
Though Erza saw the illusion Mystogan cast on her, it was only through her left eye. Meanwhile, through her right eye, everything looked as it always did. More than likely, that was due to the fact that her right eye was artificial, created for her by Porlyusica after she joined the guild to replace the one she lost as a child.
To the audience, however, it looked as if Mystogan threw his staves, Erza stopped running, glanced up at the sky, looked at Mystogan again, and told Mystogan his illusion would not work.
Even though Erza was only distracted for a brief period, Mystogan made sure to take advantage of the time his illusion bought for him.
Recalling his staves, Mystogan placed four of them on his back once again with the last one in his hands. Then, he slammed the tip of the stave in his hands into the ring before performing a series of hand signs.
"[Ground Shattering Wave]." Mystogan chanted while holding the final hand sign.
At the same time, purple waves of energy shot up from the ground where the stave pierced before shooting at Erza.
Sensing the speed and power behind Mystogan's attack, Erza readied her sword. Then, once the wave was within reach, she swung her sword down from above.
*Swish!*
A moment later, the wave of energy was split down the middle, passing harmlessly to either side of Erza. Then, once the energy had fizzled out, she started her sprint towards Mystogan once again.
Mystogan, on the other hand, prepared to throw his staves once more to cast another spell. However, before he could take them from his back, Erza acted first.
"[Requip: Black Wing Armor]." Erza chanted before she was engulfed in the glow of her [Requip Magic].
A moment later, Erza's speed increased massively as she was now clad in the [Black Wing Armor]. Giving Mystogan no time to complete his action, Erza appeared in front of him in little more than a blink.
*Clang!*
As soon as she was in range, Erza slashed horizontally. Reacting quickly, Mystogan, using the stave in his hand, parried Erza's slash upward. Then, he followed up by swinging the stave at Erza's ribs.
Reacting just as quickly, Erza twirled the sword in her hand so that she was now holding it in a reverse grip with the blade pointed downwards. Then, using the still present momentum from her horizontal slash while simultaneously lowering her arm as quickly as she could, she managed to intercept Mystogan's blow.
*Clang!*
Following through with her downward thrust, Erza eventually stabbed the tip of her sword into the ring. Then, she quickly released the hilt, twisted her hand, gripped the sword's hilt once again, and swung it upward at Mystogan's chest.
Taking a step back, Mystogan narrowly avoided the upward slash. However, before he could take another action, Erza stepped forward after him and made a return slash.
This time, Mystogan was able to get his stave up in time, blocking the slash before it could cut into his shoulder. Following that, he threw a kick at Erza's unprotected abdomen.
In response, Erza raised her free, left hand to block the kick. However, Mystogan's kick held more force than she was expecting, resulting in her sliding back across the ring.
Taking advantage of the newly gained distance, Mystogan once again threw out his staves. Quickly the five staves formed a pentagon around Erza while Mystogan went through another series of hand signs.
"[Five Layered Magic Circle: Sacred Song]." Mystogan chanted.
Immediately afterward, five magic circles inscribed with sigils, each smaller than the last, rose from the five staves. Then, the largest of the magic circles glowed brightly for a brief moment before releasing a ray of magic power that passed through the smaller magic circles below it.
To the more observant, with each magic circle the ray passed through, it was compressed and strengthened in power.
Naturally, Erza was able to deduce the effect of the spell, as well. So, before she was struck by the ray, she was once again covered in the light of her [Requip Magic].
"[Requip: Purgatory Armor]." Erza chanted.
A moment later, Erza was revealed wearing a black dress-like chest plate covered in spikes. With shoulder pauldrons that also had several spikes on them. On her arms, she wore lighter metal plates that reached her gauntlets that were in the same style as her chest plate. On her lower body, she wore a pair of spiked grieves that left her upper thighs exposed. She also wore a spiked metal necklace to match the motif of the rest of the armor. Even her hair became spiky to match the rest of her look.
Unlike most of her other armors, however, this set was not equipped with a sword. In fact, it was not equipped with a bladed weapon of any kind. Instead, in her hands, Erza held a large, spiked mace that was even taller than her.
With the mace in hand, Erza channeled as much of her magic power into it as she could. Then, she swung the spiked head of the mace upward, clashing with the ray of magic power that was falling down on her.
*Boom!*
The collision between the mace and the ray of magic power resulted in an explosion that kicked up a cloud of dust that covered the entire ring.
"[Air Magic: Gust]." Mystogan's chant could be heard from the cloud of dust.
A moment later, the ring was visible again.
Surprisingly, Erza, wearing only a leotard-like under armor, undoubtedly proof that Mystogan's attack was able to destroy her armor despite the fact that she had counterattacked, was charging towards Mystogan with a sword she summoned while the visibility was still obscured.
Mystogan, not expecting Erza to still be capable of fighting, was caught off guard, leaving him unable to completely dodge the upwards slash Erza swung at him. Though, he did manage to escape receiving a wound.
Instead, the tip of Erza's sword managed to cut through his mask as he tilted his head back to avoid it. Erza, on the other hand, allowed herself to be carried forward by her momentum. As a result, she crashed into Mystogan, causing both of them to fall to the ring.
In the end, Erza could be seen straddling Mystogan's waist with her sword pressed against his throat. Meanwhile, her hair fell loosely, blocking the view of both hers and Mystogan's faces to the spectators.
Though the spectators could not see his face, Erza's view of Mystogan's face was completely unobstructed, giving her the surprise of her life.
"Jellal…" Erza muttered quietly in disbelief.
Just as Erza muttered, the face she saw was that of Jellal Fernandes, one she could not be more familiar with. She saw it daily when she was still a slave in the Tower of Heaven, after all. In fact, she had seen it just a little over two weeks ago.
Hearing Erza's muttering, Mystogan raised his right hand to his face. When he did not feel the mask that he usually wore, he quickly pulled his cloak up to cover his face.
"Erza, I know you have many questions." Mystogan said quietly. "But I can't explain it to you now. If anyone else were to see my face, it would cause a lot of trouble for the guild. I promise, I will tell you everything at a later date. But for now, I have to leave."
With that, Jellal summoned one of his staves to his hand. A moment later, his body turned into mist. Then, he flew away from the venue.
Naturally, this turn of events confused all the spectators. All they could do was watch the cloud of mist fly away, unhindered. Then, when they could no longer see the mist, they turned their attention back to the ring, where they finally noticed the mask that had been split in two, currently laying on the ring next to Erza.
Eventually, Makarov snapped back to his senses.
"Mystogan is out of the ring. However, with Erza's sword pressed to his neck, he had already lost the fight." Makarov declared. "The winner of this fight is Erza Scarlet!"
Snapping back to their senses, the civilians in the audience cheered at the exciting battle they just witnessed, pushing Mystogan's appearance to the backs of their minds. Meanwhile, the Fairy Tail wizards in the crowd remained confused for a bit longer.
Eventually, they decided they would ask Makarov about it after the Fantasia Parade. And if they were supposed to know about it, he would tell them. Otherwise, it would just remain an unsolved mystery on the same level of whether fairies have tails or not.
A few moments later, Erza walked off the ring and approached the rest of her team. While Natsu was still unconscious, Gray and Lucy watched her approach with concerned gazes.
"Erza, are you okay?" Lucy asked once Erza had arrived by the rest of the team.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Erza replied absent mindedly.
"You don't look fine." Gray rebutted. "Do you wanna go and get some rest?"
Hearing Gray's question, Erza forcefully shook her head to get rid of her current thoughts. Then, a forced smile appeared on her face.
"Don't worry, Gray." Erza said. "I'm fine. I just have some things on my mind. But I'll have them sorted by the time I have to fight again."
With that said, Erza's aura became menacing.
"And it's up to you two to make sure that happens." Erza said in a solemn tone. "If you two lose, I'll be the one in charge of your training for the next month, understood."
"Aye!" Gray and Lucy replied in unison.
'Great, now I'm talking like Happy, too.' Lucy thought to herself in despair as she and Gray started walking towards the ring.
You can read 5 chapters ahead on my Patr3on at:
https://patr3on.com/SixthSense1029
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.
Comments, Reviews, and Power Stones are always appreciated.
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