บท 439: Elicia and Sun Vs. Gray and Erza
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x785.
"Okay, Gray, let's give these two a little space." Elicia said with a smile as she shot threads from the tips of her fingers in Gray's direction.
"I'd rather not." Gray said as he made his casting posture. "[Ice-Make: Wall]."
In the next instant, a wall made of ice grew from the ring in front of both Gray and Erza. A moment later, Elicia's threads burrowed into the wall Gray created. Undeterred, Elicia pulled herself forward at high speed.
"Okay, I'll leave Erza to you, Sun." Elicia said as she traveled across the ring.
"Okay~!" Sun said excitedly as she drew her shirasaya and took a thrusting posture. "[Water/Sword Compound Magic: Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust]."
Like Elicia, Sun propelled herself at Gray's ice wall at break neck speeds. However, she aimed the tip of her blade at the location where Erza stood when the match started.
*Boom!*
A moment later, Sun burst through the ice wall with tremendous force. At the same time, Elicia, just before slamming into the same ice wall, cut off the threads she was using to pull herself forward, sending another set of threads towards the top of the wall to vault over it.
"I don't think so." Gray said, making his casting gesture once again before slamming his hands into his side of the wall. "[Ice-Make: Lance]."
Although he was too late to stop Sun from bursting through the ice wall, Gray's second spell was just in time to cut through the threads Elicia was using to scale the wall. As a result, Elicia was unable to control her ascent, causing her to go flying high above the wall.
At the same time, Sun was surprised to see that she was not face to face with Erza after breaking through the wall. However, since her [Magic Power Detection] had been active, her surprise did not last long.
*Clang!*
Raising her shirasaya, Sun was just in time to defend from Erza's slash as she fell from above.
"Good." Erza said with a stern expression on her face. Though, the glint in her eyes told Sun that she was looking forward to the duel that would ensue. "I would have been rather disappointed had you fallen to such an attack."
"No way." Sun replied. "I've trained way too hard for something like that to happen."
"Indeed." Erza said with a nod.
In the next instant, Erza, with her inhuman level of physical strength, put more power into the sword locking contest. As a result, Sun was pushed backwards, re-emerging through the hole in the ice wall she made with her [Drop Ripple Thrust].
Wasting no time, Erza dashed forward after Sun, [Requipping] into her [Heaven's Wheel Armor] along the way. On top of that, three dozen swords were summoned around her, as well.
*Clang!*
Once again, Sun defended against a slash of Erza's [Soul Armament], Astraia, in its sealed state. However, instead of simply blocking, Sun parried, redirecting Erza's slash to her left. Then, she began winding elegantly as she blocked, parried, and dodged the swords Erza was controlling telekinetically.
"[Water/Sword Compound Magic: Third Form: Flowing Dance]." Sun chanted.
With the elegance of a ballroom dancer, using her footwork and swift sword swings, Sun managed to weave through the onslaught Erza through at her. Meanwhile, Gray, who was watching Elicia rise higher and higher into the air, made his casting gesture once again.
"[Ice-Make: Bazooka]." Gray chanted.
A moment later, Gray, thinking to take advantage of the fact that Elicia would be unable to maneuver in midair, conjured a large, shoulder mounted bazooka out of ice. Then, after taking aim, he pulled the trigger.
Immediately, a large cannon ball was shot from the [Bazooka's] muzzle, headed straight for Elicia's position in the air. And after seeing the panicked expression on Elicia's face, Gray was confident that he would be able to hit her.
'Nice!' Gray exclaimed internally. 'This will be the first solid hit I've ever landed on her.'
Unfortunately, Gray celebrated a little too soon. Instead of hitting Elicia and exploding into a torrent of ice shards, the cannon ball passed right through her, shooting off into the distance after clearing the stadium walls.
'Shit! I forgot about that.' Gray exclaimed internally. 'She never uses her [Camouflage Magic] during any of our spars. On top of that, her concealment is so good that I can't' even find her with [Magic Power Detection].'
"Nice try, Gray." Elicia said as she faded into view less than a foot behind Gray.
"Damn it!" Gray said as he quickly made his casting gesture once again.
Unfortunately, before he could cast any spells, Elicia reached forward and grabbed Gray by his right arm. Then, she forcefully twisted it behind his back.
*Bang!*
A moment later, with Gray's right hand still in her grasp, Elicia spun on her right foot while launching a roundhouse kick at Gray's face.
Luckily, Gray's left hand was free. So, he did the only thing he could, he raised it to block Elicia's kick. Still, because of the kick, he was sent flying as Elicia released his right arm. Then, after crashing into the ring, he was sent rolling towards the edge of the ring.
"Well, that's it." Elicia said as she yanked her hands backwards. "[Thread Magic: Thread Entanglement]."
Although he was unable to arrest his momentum, Gray was able to make his casting gesture once more.
"[Ice-Make: Wall]." Gray chanted, casting the same spell once again.
As a result, an ice wall manifested in Gray's path, stopping him from falling out of the ring. Unfortunately, just as he came to a stop, Elicia's threads quickly wrapped him up, leaving only his head exposed.
"And that's a wrap." Elicia said with a smile. "You've gotten better though, Gray."
"Yeah, and I'll find a way to see through your [Camouflage Magic] one day, too." Gray said while smiling wryly.
"Yeah, I know you will." Elicia replied with a nod. "Anyway, let's enjoy the show, okay?"
Knowing that he would be unable to free himself from Elicia's threads, Gray simply turned his head in Erza and Sun's direction. And when he did, he was thoroughly surprised, as well as impressed.
By now, Erza had summoned another dozen swords to deal with Sun. On top of that, she was zipping back and forth slashing at Sun with every pass. Yet, Sun was still uninjured, still deflecting each slash and thrust with her [Flowing Dance.
'I need to do something about all these swords.' Sun thought to herself. 'If I don't, I'll end up being too exhausted to continue.
["Why don't you try the [Sixth Form]." Kanade asked in a bubbly tone.
'What if it's not enough to send all the swords away, though?' Sun asked apprehensively.
["There's only one way to find out, right?"] Kanade replied. ["Besides, if you don't do something, you're gonna end up exhausted like you said."]
Agreeing with Kanade, Sun deflected another one of Erza's swords. Then, she stopped in place. At the same time, she spun on her heels, making a full rotation while swinging her sword.
"[Water/Sword Compound magic: Sixth Form: Whirlpool]." Sun chanted.
Like in the source material, Sun's powerful sword swing generated a wind current. Unlike the source material, however, Sun added [Water Magic] into the mix. As a result, drops of water were also hurled in all directions, powered by the cyclone her spin created.
Then, thanks to the wind pressure and flying water, Sun simultaneously sent all forty-eight of Erza's summoned swords flying. On top of that…
*Clang!*
… Sun also managed to intercept a sword strike from Erza, who was barely affected by Sun's latest spell.
"Very impressive, Sun." Erza said with a smile. "But I think it's time to kick things up by a notch, do you not agree?"
Before Sun could respond, the fairy wings that acted as Astraia's handguard extended while Erza's magic power spiked.
"[Deliver Justice as Swiftly as the Wind, Astraia]." Erza chanted. "[Echo Step]."
In the next instant, Erza vanished from where she stood. A moment later, she reappeared next to Sun, slashing Astraia down, intending to incapacitate her with one strike.
A little too slow to raise her blade to meet Erza's, Sun opted to turn her head in Erza's direction, instead.
"[Sing, Kanade]." Sun chanted. On top of that, while chanting her release command, she imbued her [Howling Voice] spell into the chant.
As a result, the shockwave from Sun's spell struck Erza head on, and blew her away towards the edge of the ring. ON top of that, Sun's shirasaya turned into a katana with two parallel blades while her magic power spiked, as well.
In the next instant, Sun, with a burst of speed, ran after Erza. However, before she could close the distance to land a finishing blow, Erza, who seemed to fade into the wind, vanished. However, instead of trying to sneak attack Sun, she reappeared right in front of the younger woman.
Then, she swung her sword down, aiming to incapacitate Sun once again.
Reacting quickly, Sun side stepped Erza's downward slash. Then, she spun her [Soul Armament] in her hand,, aiming its blades downwards, before stabbing it into the ring and pressing Astraia between the handguard and the ring.
Surprised by Sun's tactics, Erza found herself unable to move her sword. Even more surprising, however, was the fact that Sun released her sword's hilt before throwing a quick jab to Erza's chin.
Following up, Sun chained her jab into a hammer fist that landed on Erza's right wrist, aiming to disarm her. Unfortunately, Erza's unyielding personality caused her to tighten her grip, despite the pain in her wrist.
'I didn't think that would work.' Sun muttered internally. 'Still, that should weaken her slashes going forward.'
["Yeah, and I suggest you inflict as much damage as you can before she regains her composure."] Kanade added.
Agreeing with Kanade, Sun then threw both her fists forward simultaneously, with her left aimed at Erza's chin while her right was targeting Erza's abdomen.
Reacting instinctively, Erza raised her left hand to block the fist approaching her chin. However, this left her mid-section completely unprotected.
*Bang!*
"Gah!" Erza groaned as she coughed up a mouthful of saliva.
Before Sun could follow up with anymore hand to hand techniques, however, Erza [Requipped] a second longsword into her empty left hand. Then, as soon as her fingers were wrapped around the new sword's hilt, she planned to swing it at Sun, more to create distance than anything else.
However, Sun, expecting this tactic to come eventually, ducked to avoid the slash. At the same time, she wrapped her fingers around Kanade's hilt. Then, when she felt Erza exerting force to free Astraia, Sun pulled the tuning fork like sword from the ring, causing Erza to stumble back now that the counter force was no longer pressing on her blade.
"[Water/Sword Compound Magic: Secret Form: Tidal Wave]." Sun chanted, imbuing [Howling voice] into her words.
Despite the use of [Howling Voice], there was no destructive sound wave sent in Erza's direction. Instead, all the sound from Sun's chant was drawn into Kanade's blades. At the same time, Sun swung her sword faster than most could see while a mass of water appeared in the ling of her swing.
An instant later, the mass of water was shot forward by the wind pressure from Sun's slash in the form of a tidal wave. However, just before it could wash Erza away, she used her [Echo Step] once again to move with the wind.
In the next instant, Erza, now donning her [Purgatory Armor], with Astraia still unsealed and sheathed on her hip, reappeared behind Sun with the massive mace raised overhead and ready to strike.
"It's over, sun." Erza said as she swung her mace down.
In response, Sun spun on her heels, attempting to parry the blow from Erza's mace. Unfortunately, the power behind the blow was more than Sun could block, despite the fact that her mermaid physiology made her much stronger than most humans.
As a result, Sun was sent flying, much like Erza before. However, before she was lifted off the ring, two things happened.
First, the sound of Erza and Sun's clashing weapons was greatly amplified by Kanade. And second, Sun released the stored [Howling Voice] spell that Kanade had absorbed before she cast Tidal wave.
So, while Sun was sent flying through the air uncontrollably, Erza's Purgatory Armor was shattered thanks to the high frequency sound from the clash. On top of that, Erza coughed up a mouthful of blood, due to her in inner organs being vibrated by the sound.
Meanwhile, without being able to top herself, Sun was sent flying from the ring before crashing into the ground, resulting in her elimination from the match.
"Thread Magic: Vibranium Thread Entanglement]." Elicia's voice echoed throughout the stadium while Erza tried to catch her breath from the earlier clash.
"And that makes two." Elicia said as she casually approached Erza. "Now, are you gonna give up, Erza? Or do I have to throw you out of the ring?"
"Of course I'm not giving up." Erza said with determination burning in her eyes. "I--- Kya~~~!"
After hearing Erza's first sentence, Elicia unceremoniously launched Erza out of the ring, resulting in her landing on the ground at ring side.
"Okay, I guess I have to throw you out." Elicia replied with a shrug and a smile.
"You could have at least let me finish talking." Erza said as Elicia's threads dispelled from around her. "You made me bite my tongue."
"I could have, but you probably would have figured a way to get out of those bindings by the time you finished." Elicia said, shrugging once again.
Instead of responding, Erza put on an adorable pout before turning her head away in frustration.
'Holy Crap that was cute.' Elicia thought to herself.
"With Sun Seto and Erza Scarlet out of the ring while Gray Fullbuster is unable to continue, Elicia is the only combatant still able to continue.." Ur said, announcing her ruling. "Therefore, Elicia Marcus Taylor and Sun Seto win this match. And with a score of two to zero, Team Steel Threads moves on to the finals."
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