บท 169: Silent Wrath
As all of the participants gathered in the center of the arena, many stone buildings of various sizes began to rise out of the ground and the ground beneath the feet of the participants changed from the arena's dirt floor into a cobble-like street.
"They're recreating an entire city?" Erza questioned as she watched the buildings materialize.
"When I was in the games, they managed to create a small mountain." Meliodas commented.
"These feats must take a lot of magic…" Erza said. "Do you sense anything strange yet?"
"Yeah...it's very slight." Meliodas responded. He looked towards Jellal and Jellal nodded his head. Meliodas looked around the audience, trying to pinpoint the location. At that moment, the presence vanished.
"Oh...I guess it's gone now." Meliodas commented.
"THE RULES FOR "HIDDEN" ARE SIMPLE!" Chapati announced just as the small city finished materializing, appearing to be a small-scale version of Crocus.
"EVERYONE IS "IT" AND EVERYONE IS HIDING! CONTESTANTS ARE TO FIND THEIR OPPONENTS SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY! AND USE ANY MAGIC THEY LIKE TO ATTACK! REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH DAMAGE IS DEALT, EVERY SUCCESSFUL HIT WILL EARN THE PLAYER ONE POINT. THE PLAYER HIT WILL LOSE ONE POINT. WHEN A PLAYER LOSES A POINT, THEY WILL RESTART IN A NEW AREA TEN SECONDS LATER! THE TIME LIMIT IS THIRTY MINUTES! THE TEAM THAT EARNS THE MOST POINTS WINS!" Chapati announced.
"So multi hit attacks would be beneficial here then…" Lucy commented.
"Maybe we should have had Meliodas go. I've seen you cut someone dozens of times in an instant." Erza said as she looked over at Meliodas who was intently watching the event.
"Oh right! You have that technique called Divine Thousand Slashes right?" Lucy questioned.
"So Meliodas could have scored one thousand points in an instant if he joined this?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Wait...is Divine Thousand Slashes actually a thousand slashes?" Lucy asked.
"Dunno. Never actually counted." Meliodas shrugged his shoulders with a cheeky smile on his face. Meliodas continued watching the event while trying to sense that strange magic he sensed earlier, and remained silent as Gray struggled to fight Nullpudding of Raven Tail.
'I don't think I've ever seen any human who looked like that.' Meliodas thought as he looked at Nullpudding, a short and stocky man with a massive head, slicked back blond hair, purple skin, and a large chin.
"Get it together Gray!" Natsu shouted. "Don't lose to someone like that!"
Meliodas focused his attention higher up on the buildings as he watched Rufus climb to the top of the highest building. Meliodas looked specifically at Rufus' waist, where there was a sword strapped to his belt. 'Did Rufus always carry around a sword?' Meliodas thought as he tried to recall the last Grand Magic Games he participated in years ago.
The sky suddenly became dark and multiple missiles of light shot out from Rufus as he stood atop the highest building.
"T-TOTAL ANNIHILATION! IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, RUFUS TAKES THE LEAD! THIS IS SABERTOOTH!" Chapati announced following Rufus' attack. Another minute passed and time was called for the event. Meliodas stared at the scoreboard.
"Guess we're up for a rough start." Meliodas said, with Fairy Tail Team A being dead last.
"Dammit…" Gray said in a dejected tone as he walked up to his team. "I really messed up out there…"
Meliodas walked up to him and patted him reassuringly on the back.
"Don't worry about it! We'll catch up!"
"Meliodas is right. This is only the beginning." Erza added.
"Yeah…" Gray said as he continued walking.
"AND THAT IS THE END OF THE FIRST EVENT. NEXT UP ARE THE BATTLES! I'LL REMIND YOU HOW IT WORKS! EACH TEAM WILL PARTICIPATE IN A 1 ON 1 BATTLE. I HAVE JUST RECEIVED THE LINE UP FROM OUR SPONSORS! FOR THE FIRST MATCH OF DAY 1, WE HAVE FAIRY TAIL A'S LUCY HEARTFILIA AGAINST RAVEN TAIL'S FLARE CORONA!" Chapati announced.
"Show them how hard you trained Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed.
"So she's one of the people along with that Nullpudding guy who hurt Wendy." Meliodas commented as he looked at Flare, a pale skinned young woman with long orange hair and red eyes with noticeable bags under them. She wore a long red dress that was cut down the middle, revealing her large bust and the guild mark of Raven Tail on her right breast.
"WILL ALL OTHER COMPETITORS PLEASE RELOCATE TO THEIR DRESSING ROOMS!" Chapati announced.
Meliodas and the rest of Team A walked to the dressing room and right outside to the spectating area for participants overlooking the arena. Both Lucy and Flare stood across from each other in the center of the arena.
"NOW! LET THE MATCH BEGIN!" Chapati shouted.
"Yeah Lucy! Teach those Raven Tail bastards a lesson!" Natsu cheered. Meliodas remained silent as he watched over the fight over the next several minutes. He stared across at the audience where he saw Raven Tail's team sitting down with wide grins on their faces before looking back towards the arena.
"She stopped fighting?" Meliodas questioned.
"Something's not right." Erza added as both she and Meliodas stared at where Raven Tail was sitting, each of them with large smirks on their faces.
Suddenly, Natsu bolted from the spectating area, running through the people in their seats until he was right up next to Asuka.
"Lucy!" Natsu shouted from across the arena with a piece of Flare's hair in his hand. "Now!"
"Open! Gate of the Water-" Lucy suddenly froze as she held her key up before falling to the ground and Flare's hair wrapped around Lucy before she hit the ground.
"What happened?" Erza questioned.
"Her magic got erased. One of the Raven Tail members in the stands." Meliodas said as he looked over at the Raven Tail members laughing.
"You mean...just like with Wendy?" Erza questioned.
"I presume so. I don't know how they're able to do it though. It happened in an instant." Meliodas replied.
Flare's hair continued wrapped around Lucy, searing her defenseless body as she had no magic left within her to protect herself.
"How does that feel blondie?!" Flare taunted as Lucy gasped in pain as Flare's hair wrapped around her neck.
"LUCY'S ALREADY DOWN! STOP THE MATCH!" Natsu screamed angrily as he jumped over the guard railing. Erza had the same idea and began climbing over the railing but stopped as she felt a menacing presence next to her.
As Flare continued to burn Lucy, a shiver ran down her spine. She immediately let go of Lucy and looked over to her side, straight at Meliodas who was glaring at her with pitch-black eyes. Flare took a few steps backward before stumbling onto the ground, visibly shaking and the crowd's restless chatter immediately grew silent. A sinister aura spread through the arena, silencing the crowd and announcers.
"M-Match over..!" Chapati said without his usual vigor with sweat running down his face.
"D-Did you feel that intense presence for a brief moment?" Chapati whispered to Yajima. Yajima nodded his head in response.
"W-what was that?!" Sting questioned with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"My memory does not recall that sensation." Rufus responded with a slight fear in his voice.
"Meliodas…" Jura murmured, visibly shaken by the sudden outburst from Meliodas.
"What was that??" Lyon said with his voice trembling.
"A dangerous Parfum, unlike the last time." Ichiya said with a solemn look. He recalled the first time he had met Meliodas, he smelled unique magic coming from him.
"What a monster, spooking the entire arena like that. Although it's because of him Lucy isn't burnt to a crisp." Laxus commented. "You ever feel that in your time working with him?" Laxus asked, looking over at Jellal.
"A few times. But none of those times were even close to the intensity of this time. I can't believe it either" Jellal said. Even though he had gotten far stronger, he still felt a sense of danger from the aura.
"It happened on Tenrou." Mirajane added. "Meliodas showed up when Azuma was threatening to kill Lisanna. The sensation just now was similar to that."
The arena remained dead silent as Natsu ran over to Lucy and picked her up from the ground, running her straight to the infirmary with Meliodas and Erza following.
"W-we'll be taking a short intermission! Take this time to use the bathroom if you need to!" Chapati announced.
---
Natsu, Erza, Gray, and Meliodas stood in the arena's infirmary standing around Lucy's bed while Porlyusica poured several dark looking fluids into a glass. Lucy lay in her bed while in the next bed was Wendy who was still unconscious after getting attacked by Raven Tail the night prior.
"Is she gonna be alright?" Natsu asked. Porlyusica turned around to face them and nodded her head.
"These burns are really bad because her magic was drained to zero. If that ghastly woman from Raven Tail didn't let go of her sooner, she would have had irreparable damage done to her body. She'll recover, but she won't be able to participate any longer with these injuries."
"Raven Tail...those bastards are really pissin me off!" Natsu shouted out angrily. "First Wendy, and now Lucy! Who are they gonna hurt next?! Let's go kick their asses!"
"Now, don't you be rushing off and confronting them! Retaliating against them is what they want you to do!" Porlyusica interjected. "Lucy may have gotten hurt, but she's alive and will recover. Now all of you, get out of this room and leave me to treat her. Besides, the next match is coming up."
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