Jellal POV

I had figured out by now that this was some kind of test and I must say, that girl was doing extremely well. However... ERZA ASKED ME FOR A LEAVE OF ABSENCE SO SHE COULD HELP HERE?! She and I were going to have a talk later on about telling me all the details of 'personal missions' before she goes on one...

I was so engrossed in the fight and my own thoughts that I didn't realize the building magical pressure around me, pressure that I was unable to identify because I hadn't felt magic anywhere for months...

I smiled, still slightly out of breath from the match with Group 8 and more tired ever before, and turned to my last opponents, only to see them already rushing towards me...Oh Crap...

Jellal POV

She's not paying attention to Lucy and Erza...Wait she's turning around...She sees them! Wait...she looks surprised...she's not moving...Oh Crap...

I, once again, instinctively backed up and flicked my wrist. The whip rocketed forward to maul the ground where Lucy had been only seconds before, and I wondered at the damage it caused. I jumped into the air to narrowly avoid a kick from Lucy, who had come up behind me, only to be knocked down by Erza, who had jumped up to meet me in the air. Wincing in pain, I flicked the whip to wrap around her ankle as she was still in midair. In a feat of strength that even surprised me, I yanked her body towards mine managing to twist, stick my knee into her gut, and ride her all the way to the dirt-packed ground below. The impact left her breathless and unable to move.

I knew fighting my mentor and her sparring partner would be difficult, but their skills are on a whole other level than the previous groups. I was panicking, trying to think of a battle strategy that would be suitable for this kind of skill, but came up with nothing. I'll just have to wing...'Cause that's always a great idea and works soooo well...it's not a good thing when I start arguing with and criticizing myself, is it?

Stupidly, I turned away from her instead of knocking her unconscious, and looked for Lucy. She was rushing towards me once again. I knew she was too fast for me to get her with the whip so I hung that on my belt and grabbed the staff, using it to vault over the oncoming attacker, and, once I landed behind her, used it to knock her legs out from under her. She started to fall, but as if in slow motion. I took advantage of this and kicked her right in the gut.

She went flying.

Into the now standing Erza.

Inadvertently knocking her back down, this time unconscious.

I sweat dropped at my stupidity and the lucky shot.

I wasn't paying attention, once again (-_-), so I didn't see Lucy coming towards me, once again. I looked up in time to see her famous Lucy Kick heading towards me, me with no way to dodge it. Everything started moving in slow motion as I realized I wouldn't be able to move my staff in time to block it. I glanced down at the offending weapon, scowling, and noticed something weird. There was a thin line in the center of the staff and a half circle on either side of the line. They looked like they should match up...

Not in control of my body, I watched as my hands twisted the two halves of the staff in an easy, practice motion, and the circles met.

There was the flash of light on well kept steel and a massive intake of breath from the onlookers.

I looked up to find a blade at Lucy's throat and a shocked expression on her face. My eyes followed the blade down to the staff in my hands, or rather, the staff turned scythe that I held easily in my hands. It was beautiful. It had the original six feet of the staff, but now there was four feet of stunning silver steel gleaming blood red in the last rays of the setting sun. (A/N pic in bio) I should have been scared, but I wasn't. This scythe felt like I had been born with it, a natural extension of me...

In a trance, I reached out to test the edge, eyes widening as the barest brush of my thumb caused a cut to appear, already welling with blood. I hissed in pain, and brought the small wound up to my mouth. Pulling back from Lucy, I inspected my thumb as she stared at me with still wide eyes. I watched a drop of blood slip off my digit and fall, slow motion, towards the staff portion of the scythe. The drop hit the circle in the center of the circle, and I mean dead center, and the scythe started to glow. I dragged my eyes to Lucy's in shock before light exploded everywhere...

Hey y'all. I know this was short, but I had to split up the previous chapter and this was the tail end of that one.