With the knowledge that Cooper would arrive too late, Laxus leaned back in his seat, watching the numerous fightous through the projections from lacrimas while faintly smirking, enjoying the purge of weaklings that was currently taking place.
While Fairy Tail fought amongst themselves, back at the guild, Natsu had just awoken, and after having been brought up to speed by Makarov, he clenched his fist. "Yosh, I'll beat Laxus up, Gramps, don't worry!" Grinning, Natsu, flexed and grabbed his bicep before heading to the entrance, running past it —Or, at least that's what should've happened.
Similar to Makarov, who was unable to leave and confined to the guild, so was Natsu, as he slammed into an enchanted barrier, stopping him dead in his tracks. "Ugh, w-what the hell?" Rubbing his face with a pained expression, Natsu leaped to his feet and tried to leave, but he hit the barrier once more.
Of course, given his hard-headed nature, Natsu continued to try to leave, trying every way he could think of to escape; pushing, punching, kicking, roaring, etc. However, it didn't matter; nothing Natsu did managed to work.
"Dammit! Gramps, I can't leave! Can't you break this?" Cursing in frustration, Natsu punched the barrier before turning around and glancing at Makarov, who shook his head with a gaze of confusion. "If I could, do you think I'd still be here? Though I'm confused why you can't leave; everyone else was able to." Scratching his head, Makarov glanced between the barrier and Natsu, trying to discern what could be the cause, but he merely sighed in the end.
"So I've just got to sit here?" Plopping onto the ground in annoyance, Natsu sat right at the edge of the entrance while staring out into Magnolia. "Yes, unfortunately." Makarov, experiencing a similar level of annoyance, stood beside Natsu while nodding.
However, while they looked at Magnolia, a string of runes, the same runes that were used to create the enchanted barrier, appeared, declaring the events of the first Fairy Tail battle.
"Jet and Droy are defeated and therefore will be kicked out of Fairy Tail… Alzack continues to the next game." As Natsu reads the runes, they slowly fade away, leaving both him and Makarov feeling angry and helpless. "T-That brat!" Muttering through gritted teeth, Makarov clenched his teeth; yet, that was merely the first of several strings of runes to appear, depicting the results of the other battles.
"Nab is defeated; he will be kicked out of Fairy Tail. Elfman continues… Warren is defeated; he will be kicked out of Fairy Tail. Max continues. Macao and Wakaba defeated each other; both will be kicked out of Fairy Tail." As Natsu read off the results one by one, the two of them descended into silence.
"How long has it been, Gramps?" With clenched fists, Natsu looked at Makarov, who was deeply frowning. "40 minutes." Clicking his tongue, Natsu punched the barrier before sitting back down. "Did Happy leave?" "Yes." Sitting down beside Natsu, Makarov looked out the window and nodded.
While the duo helplessly waited for the following results to show themselves, now that most of the mages had made it to the second stage, the Thunder God Tribe started to make their move.
Reedus, whom Makarov had ordered to retrieve Porlyusica in hopes of freeing the girls from the stone curse, had arrived at the edge of the city. Just a few meters ahead of him was the exit, and he'd be outside Magnolia; however, blocking his path was Fried. He stood calmly with a hand on his sheathed sword as he stared down the nervous Reedus.
"It was made very clear that the battlefield would be Magnolia and Magnolia alone." As Fried's firm voice resounded within the area, Reedus involuntarily flinched while clenching his brush and palette. "As we're both mages, let us solve this through a fight." Without warning, Fried lunged at Reedus, slashing at him with his sword, forcing Reedus to move with a level of agility one wouldn't expect from his body.
Forced onto the defensive, Reedus tried to fight back, using his Pict-Magic to bring his paintings to life. As he drew animals on his body, they would leap off his skin and come to life, boars and vulcans; Reedus would use that chance to flee, to gain distance from Fried, who proceeded to effortlessly dispatch every animal.
"Where do you think you're going?" Using his runes, Fried teleported right in front of Reedus, stopping him just moments away from climbing the wall to escape Magnolia. However, before Fried could deliver the finishing blow, a whip smacked his back from behind, though given how he casually turned around, it was apparent the attack was rather useless.
"Lucy?" "Hah, that's right, it's me, Lucy! Now c'mon face me, man-to-woman!" Lucy, wearing a weird expression, clutched her whip while staring at Fried, who just raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you still be a stone statue?" "Hah, the stone statue couldn't contain the mighty Lucy! Now let's-" Lucy, unfortunately, wasn't able to finish speaking as Fried slashed right through her, causing her to burst into a puddle of paint.
"Trying to distract me? Smart, but it won-" Just as Fried turned around, his eyes widened as he flinched, fearfully stepping back as he stared at the caramel-colored figure before him, only to clutch his chest, calming his rapidly beating heart while staring at the figure of an all too familiar man lacking a face. "Tch, bastard."
Upset at having been tricked, Fried cut through the fake figure and leaped at Reedus, who was nearing the peak of the wall, aggressively kicking him toward the ground. Landing beside him, Reedus, injured, climbed out of the ground while looking at Fried. "F-Fried, p-please stop this, s-stop hurting your own family. Y-You're not that type of p-person."
As Reedus pleaded, he was met with the cold, detached voice of Fried. "Weaklings aren't family." With a single slash, he cut down Reedus, leaving a deep, bloody gash as he fell unconscious.
Back in the heart of Magnolia, Elfman, having just finished his fight with Nab, was facing off against the self-proclaimed Fairy, Evergreen. Currently, he was in his Beast soul, fighting her with all his strength, but he was losing badly; he had a terrible match against Evergreen.
Elfman was a close-quarters combat mage, yet Evergreen was the opposite, and she was using it to her full advantage. She used her fairy magic, sending numerous beams of light his way, and created a wall of glitter between her and him, making him unable to close the gap unless he wished to be blown to smithereens. As it stood, he was just a helpless beast taking blows, trying to resist the inevitable that was to come.
"Tch, fight me like a man, you coward!" Using his injured arms to block a volley of attacks, Elfman roared into the sky, staring at the floating Evergreen, who merely chuckled in amusement. "I'm not a crude man, so of course I wouldn't fight like you." Smirking, Evergreen fixed her glasses and waved her hand-fan, releasing another volley of attacks while commanding the glitter to surge towards Elfman, forcing him to run throughout the streets and alleys, using the buildings as cover.
Knowing such a tactic was only temporary, Elfman, using his brain for once, grabbed a debris and chucked it at Evergreen, nearly hitting her, if not for the glitter that exploded the debris upon contact. "Ho, you actually used your brain? I might be in danger if that's so." With a mocking undertone, Evergreen flew down to Elfman, who charged at her, seeking not to waste this opportunity. However, he was forced to shut his eyes when she lowered her glasses, allowing for an easy attack that flung him into a flower shop.
"You know, the only thing cute about you is your name… Even then, that's barely cute." As Evergreen continued to mock him, Elfman roared, emerging from the destroyed flower shop with a blindfold. "Haha, do you think you can defeat me with a blind fold?" "Grr, give me back my sister!" Roaring in fury, Elfman lunged at Evegreen, who effortlessly weaved between his clumsy, desperate, driven attacks before waving her hand.
Commanding the enormous amount of glitter to surround Elfman, he was engulfed in a street-wide explosion; when the smoke began to disperse, all that remained was an injured and unconscious Elfman lying on the ground.
Not too far away, in a mall, Bickslow was facing Gray, having beaten him down into submission by luring him into a trap set by Fried, which prevented the use of magic, but since Bickslow already knew in advance, he kept his dolls outside the trap, allowing him to repeatedly attack the helpless Gray, beating him until he lost consciousness.
"Haha, this is fun!" Standing on the opposite side of the trap, Bickslow looked down at Gray, his clothes scorched from the numerous attacks he had taken. As the enchantment barrier receded, Bickslow placed his hands behind his head and walked away, a faint, predatory smile gracing his face. "Hehe, whose next? My babies are still roaring to go!"
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Random ass question, but what's your take on Acnologia? Do you guys think he's the strongest, even above the five Dragon Gods, or what? Personally, I think he's individually the strongest being, but I think if the Dragon Gods teamed up, they could take Acnologia down.