บท 214: The Semi-Finals; Part 3

Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

October 15, x784.

"Evergreen, Laki Olietta, are you both ready?" Makarov asked once both fighters were in the ring.

Nodding in response, Evergreen and Laki did not take their eyes off each other.

"Very well." Makarov replied. "begin!"

"[Wood-Make: The dam of Shy Love]." Laki chanted, casting her first spell as soon as the signal to begin was given.

With Laki's chant, several wooden weapons sprouted from the ring before they were hurled at Evergreen who formed her [Fairy Dust] into two pairs of wings on her back before flying up to avoid the barrage of wooden weapons.

"[Fairy Magic Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun]." Evergreen chanted from mid-air as she shaped her [Fairy Dust into condensed needles.

Waving her right arm in Laki's direction, the needles were fired downward at high speed.

Instead of moving to dodge, Laki clapped her hands before pressing her palms to the ring in front of her.

"[Wood-Make: Domed Shield]." Laki chanted as her hands made contact with the ring.

At that moment, the crowd, who could hear the wizards chants gasped in surprise.

"That spell name actually made sense!" The crowd shouted in disbelief.

At the same time, a dome of wood sprouted from the ring, enveloping Laki just before the [[Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun] could hit her.

*Bang!* *Bang!* * Bang!*

The sound of the condensed [Fairy Dust] striking the shield echoed around the venue as the wooden construct visibly strained under the barrage.

At the same time, Evergreen released even more [Fairy Dust], condensing half of it into more needles that she fired on Laki's location. Meanwhile, the rest wafted down, surrounding the [Dome Shield], leaving Laki nowhere to escape.

"[Wood-Make: Nativity of a World of Trees]." Laki's voice, muffled by the [Dome Shield], rang out over the venue.

A moment later, a dozen trees grew from the surface of the ring, their foliage obscuring the view of the ring from the height at which Evergreen floated.

"Since when can she grow trees?" Evergreen muttered as her [Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun blew through the leaves and branches between her and Laki. "well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'll end this now. [Fairy Magic: Fairy Bomb: Gremlin]."

With that, all the dust around the [Dome Shield] exploded, blowing the wooden construct to smithereens.

To evergreen's surprise, however, she did not hear Laki's pained cry. Nor did she hear the sound of Laki's body colliding with the ring or any of the trees that had sprouted from the ring.

Confused by the lack of sound, Evergreen, while surrounded by her [Fairy Dust], floated down to the spot where Laki had been defending herself. When she arrived, however, she was even more confused when the only thing she found was the debris from the destroyed shield.

"Where did she go?" Evergreen muttered to herself while inspecting the area.

Meanwhile, on all the trees that she grew, Laki's face, followed by the rest of her body, emerged from their trunks. These dozen or so [Wood Clones] then charged at Evergreen from all directions.

Noticing the presences that appeared around her, Evergreen compressed all the [Fairy Dust] that surrounded her into needles. Then, she spun around, waving her arms at all the clones.

"[Fairy Magic: Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun: Full Assault]." Evergreen chanted as she spun.

Then, the needles were fired off in all directions, destroying the clones as they made contact.

At the same time, near the crown of the closest tree, Laki's real body emerged from the trunk. Looking down at Evergreen, she used her [Magic Power Detection] to make sure there was no more [Fairy Dust] surrounding her.

"[Wood-Make: Violent Approach]." Laki chanted quietly as a spiked, wooden ball materialized in front of her before it was sent hurling at Evergreen.

Once again noticing the new presence, Evergreen quickly looked up, spotting Laki as the [Violent Approach] spell was cast.

"Found you." Evergreen muttered as her [Fairy Wings] re appeared on her back.

Using her wings to dash to the side, Evergreen avoided the spiked ball. Then, she dashed upward, aiming at Laki. However, she was forced to a stop shortly after she started when a wall of wooden weapons appeared in front of her.

"[Wood-Make: Heart's Sense of Distance]." Laki chanted, sending all the wooden weapons flying at Evergreen.

Reacting quickly, Evergreen flapped her wings, doing her best to dodge the incoming projectiles. Unfortunately, there were simply too many weapons to avoid being hit by all of them.

Eventually, with her arms covered in bruises, Evergreen was forced to the ground.

"[Wood-Make: God Pun---]." Laki said, starting to chant the spell that she thought would end the fight.

Unfortunately, just as Laki had been thinking ahead when she grew the trees and used them to travel unseen, Evergreen had made plans of her own when Laki was hidden behind her [Dome Shield].

Before Laki could finish her chant, a cloud of [Fairy Dust] wafted down from above, catching Laki off guard. Still, she reacted quickly, sinking into the limb she was standing on.

Unfortunately, Laki's ability to merge into wood was not the fastest escape ability. So, when she was halfway into the limb, her location was covered in Evergreen's [Fairy Dust].

*Boom~~~~!"

As soon as her [Fairy Dust] had enveloped the area where Laki was, Evergreen triggered her [Fairy Bomb: Gremlin] spell. As a result, the tree where Laki had been standing was blown apart and Laki was flung away from it with great force.

*Bang!* *Bang!*

Slamming into the trunk of a nearby tree, Laki left a hole in it as she passed right through it before her momentum was stopped when she slammed into another tree in her path. Then, unconscious, she slid down the tree and fell to the ring.

"Laki is unconscious." Makarov declared. "The winner of the round is Evergreen of the Thunder god Tribe."

While the crowd went wild over the fight, the trees in the ring began to dissipate into magic power with Laki no longer conscious to maintain them. Meanwhile, Evergreen, who had been knocked to the ring, struggled to raise herself to her feet due to the injuries suffered from Laki's wooden weapon barrage.

Although there were only visible bruises on her arms, as she had used them to defend her face, no one had any doubt that under her clothes, her body was covered in similar bruises.

"Ever, are you okay?" Bickslow, standing on one of his dolls, asked as he approached Evergreen.

"Yeah." Evergreen groaned out as she pushed herself off the ring with shaky arms. "But she hit a lot harder than I expected."

"I'll help you over to the medical station." Bickslow offered as one of his dolls floated next to Evergreen.

"No, I'll be fine." Evergreen refused.

"Don't be stubborn, Ever." Fried rebuked as he also approached. "If… No… When we make it to the finals, we'll need you at your best. So, the faster we can get your injuries taken care of, the better."

"*Sigh* Fine." Evergreen grumbled as she draped herself over Bickslow's doll.

A moment later, Bickslow's doll floated away from the ring, taking Evergreen over to the medical station, leaving him and Fried standing in the ring.

"I guess those two are fighting in the two on two." Cana said from ring side. "Who should we send up against them?"

"*Sigh* You and Meredy should go, Cana." Ultear replied, Laki in her arms.

While Bickslow and Fried had been helping Evergreen, Ultear also made her way into the ring to get Laki to the medical station.

"I'll make sure Laki gets some medical attention. She got hit really hard by that explosion." Ultear continued. "We'll have to get her some new glasses, too."

As she spoke, Ultear glanced down at the broken frame of Laki's glasses that were laying on her stomach.

"Yeah." Cana said in a solemn tone. "Evergreen's gotten a lot stronger since the last time I saw her fight. I bet it's the same for Fried and Bickslow, too."

"But we're strong, too." Meredy said with a smile. "We can win."

"Damn right we can." Cana replied. "Come on , Meredy, let's go."

"Yeah!" Meredy said energetically as she and Cana moved towards the ring.

"Good luck, you too." Ultear muttered as she watched Canan and Meredy climb into the ring. "Those two have been working together forever, this won't be easy."

With that said, Ultear rushed off towards the medical station so that she could rush back to see the upcoming round.

Meanwhile, Bickslow's doll, after depositing Evergreen in the medical station returned to his side. And as soon as it did, Makarov announced the next round.

"The fighters from both sies are in the ring." Makarov announced. "From the Thunder God Tribe, Fried Justine and Bickslow. Their opponents, from Team Ultear, Cana Alberona and Meredy. Are both sides ready?"

The four wizards nodded and Makarov gave the signal to begin.

"[Sensory Link]." Meredy chanted as she pointed her index fingers at Bickslow and Fried.

Bracing themselves for some kind of attack, both Bickslow and Fried were confused when nothing happened. Examining themselves, they both found a small heart-shaped seal on their wrists, Bickslow's left and Fried's right.

"[Card Magic: Summoned Lightning]." Cana chanted while her opponents were confused.

Immediately, from the few cards Cana had drawn three bolts of green lightning were fired at Bickslow and Fried.

Reacting quicker than his teammate, Fried drew the sword on his waist and jammed it into the ring in front of him. As a result, the lighting struck the sword before it was quickly ground.

Unfortunately, Bickslow did not react quite as quickly. Though he was able to dodge the brunt of the spell, the back of his right hand was burned as the lightning passed by.

"Ahh!" Bickslow yelped in pain.

"Argh!" Fried, caught off guard by the sudden pain on the back of his right hand, also shouted in pain.

"Fried, what happened?" Bickslow asked, floating higher into the air on one of his dolls.

"I'm not sure." Fried replied, shaking his hand as he distanced himself from Meredy who charged forward behind the lightning. "I suddenly felt pain on the back of my hand even though I wasn't hit by her spell."

"[Maguilty Sadom]." Meredy chanted, forming a blade of teal magic power on her right hand.

Instead of rushing forward to stab it into Fried, like she did with Elfman, Meredy slid to a stop and swung her arm towards him. As a result, the blade was flung forward, catching Fried off guard, allowing the blade to cut his left thigh.

"Argh~~~!" Fried screamed in pain as he dropped to a knee.

"[Line Formation]." Bickslow chanted as his four other dolls stacked themselves below the one he was standing on. "Argh~~~!"

Just as Bickslow's spell was cast and n energy blade was fired from his five dolls, he clutched at his left thigh.

Meanwhile, Cana was forced to dodge to the side due to the incoming energy blade. However, taking advantage of the fact that Bickslow was preoccupied by the pain, she drew another handful of cards and raised them towards him.

"[Card Magic: Icicles]." Cana chanted as half a dozen icicles materialized in front of her.

Not even a second later, the icicles were launched at Bickslow.

"[Dark Écriture: Teleportation]." Fried chanted as he drew runes in the air as quickly as he could with is finger.

A moment later, Fried disappeared from in front of Meredy, reappearing in the air, between Bickslow and the incoming icicles, before starting to draw runes with his finger once again.

One thing Cana took note of after Fried appeared in front of Bickslow was the way his right eye changed in appearance. Instead of white sclera and a greenish-blue pupil like his left eye, his sclera was now black with a bright purple pupil.

This change in eye color was the sign of Fried Activating his eye magic, [Dark Écriture], which allows him to draw runes in the air to cast word magic spells.

"[Dark Écriture: Reflection]]." Fried chanted once again as a barrier appeared in front of him.

Just as the barrier was erected, Cana's icicles arrived. However, instead of smashing against the barrier or piercing through it, the barrier seemed to give for a moment before it snapped back into place and launched the icicles in the direction from whence they came.

Surprised by the sudden turn around, Cana did not panic. Instead, she drew another handful of cards.

Before she cast her spell, however, Meredy retreated to her side and enveloped her with her own magic, adding her own magic power to Cana's next cast.

"Unison Raid: Maguilty Explosion]." Cana and Meredy chanted simultaneously as Cana's cards floated in a curved formation in front of them.

"[Dark Écriture: Wings]." Fried chanted, drawing another set of runes in the air.

Immediately, wings made of runes appeared on Fried's back. Then, he flew back, lifting Bickslow from atop his doll. A moment later, the five dolls formed a pentagon in the air before they started circling quickly, n orb of magic power forming in the center of the circle.

"[Baryon Formation]." Bickslow chanted as the speed of the spinning dolls increased.

At the same time, a massive torrent of flames was shot into the sky, melting the icicles on contact. They then continuing towards Bickslow, Fried, and the formation of dolls. Then, just as the flames were about to reach the dolls, the orb of magic power was fired, unleashing a beam towards Cana and Meredy.

*Boom~~~!*

With no fanfare, no struggle of spells, the beam produced by Bickslow's [Baryon Formation] tore through the flames and slammed into the ring. The explosion blowing both Cana and Meredy out of the ring.

Luckily, Cana was able to get up a shield with her [Card Magic] before the spell landed, resulting in her and Meredy taking very little damage outside of the pain caused by slamming into the ground.

"Both Cana and Meredy are outside of the ring." Makarov declared. "The winners of the round are Fried Justine and Bickslow. And the winners of the match, with a score of two to zero are the Thunder God Tribe."