Most of the hours occupied by daylight were a blur to Kazro. He had been woken up by the sound of a train horn blaring at a crossing three hours from Crocus. His mind was occupied by the meeting with the same Rune Knight who had sent him to Stella two months earlier and he wanted nothing more than to be done with the sudden mission that required him to be out of Fiore for its entirety.
"Kazro?"
The voice jerked the Exorcist back into the present. He glanced over at Erza, who was in between bites of a salad. He cocked his head slightly with a questioning look on his face.
"Does your arm hurt at all?" The redhead asked for apparently the second time.
Kazro looked down at his arm for a second then back to Erza and shook his head with a smile. To the Knightess, the arm seemed normal enough after a quick glance, but she had started to notice a couple features about it that did not seem quite right. The easiest thing to point out was the hand looked more akin to something taken off a demon with the fingers ending in defined points. If she looked close, she could have sworn she could see a ridge running the length of the forearm under the bandages and what looked like light dancing underneath the cloth. The redhead shuddered internally.
"How long has it been like that?"
"For about a month and a half now." Kazro stroked the tuft of hair on his chin as he continued. "I know I rarely have anything good to say about the Council but heir network of contacts is ridiculous."
Erza raised an eyebrow at the silver eyed man sitting across from her as if asking him to elaborate. Kazro caught the nonverbal cue and cleared his throat.
"It would have taken me several years if I had gone into it blind. That network and a copious amount of dumb luck put me way ahead of schedule." Kazro looked out the window and turned back to Erza. "So how have things been going in the guild?"
Erza placed her fork on the table and slid the plate off to the side. Before the armor clad mage could fill Kazro in on the previous two months, their table was approached by a towering figure with blood red and white hair who made himself known by abruptly clearing his throat. The two Fairy Tail mages made eye contact with the new arrival. Kazro narrowed his eyes before rising to his feet lazily.
"What the hell do you want, Oleg?" Kazro hissed through his teeth.
"I should be asking you the same thing, Exorcist." Oleg glared at Kazro while adding emphasis to the last word.
Erza looked between the two mages, both of whom were clearly in a league separate from most of the other participants in the games. On one side of her, she could feel the temperature rising slightly. From Oleg, she could tell the area surrounding him was starting to chill. Her observations were halted when she heard the two begin chuckling and she furrowed her brow at the two.
"You crazy bastard. When did you stop working for the Council?" Kazro asked with a rare smile.
"About the same time you went on that little rampage of yours. The last thing I needed was having to clean up after you and your little tantrums." Oleg's face softened as he replied and shifted his field of view to Erza. "Greetings, Titania. That was an enjoyable finish to the Labyrinth."
Erza nodded as Kazro motioned for the Honor Shield mage to take a seat. Kazro took the spot beside Erza, leaving the mage from Honor Shield on the opposite side.
"So I'm guessing the two of you know each other?" Erza asked.
Kazro was the first to speak. "Yep. Federov is one of the few people who worked for the Council that I actually respect." He then shifted his attention to the wizard sitting across from him. "Shame you had to work under that pathetic excuse of a man, Torrin."
"You haven't heard what happened to him, have you?" Oleg asked and received a shaking head in return. "About the same time you got sent over to Stella, he vanished. None of the scouts have been able to pinpoint his whereabouts."
"Hmph. Good riddance. I never liked him." Kazro droned.
"You made that abundantly clear when you burned all his hair off a couple years back." Oleg responded and received a chuckle from Kazro.
"Wait. You assaulted a representative of the Council?" Erza questioned.
"Attacked, yes. Assaulted, no. The moron shouldn't have challenged me to a fight." Kazro rested his chin on the bandaged arm as he replied nonchalantly.
"So, Fhlosten. Are you going to try competing since you're in town? The games would be boring without you turning half of the arena into a firestorm." Oleg asked.
Erza and the Ice God looked at Kazro expectantly. The subject of the question simply smirked and chuckled as he nodded.
"Only if I get to take a crack at you, Federov."
"I can call in some favors, but they'll probably save it for a free for all on the last day." Federov allowed a smile to creep onto his face.
"Favors?" The words leapt out of Erza's mouth, earning a wink from Oleg.
"You don't work for the Council as long as I did without making some connections. Now if you two will excuse me, Master Ragnar needs me back at the stadium. I suggest you start going there as well." Oleg finished his statement as he rose to his feet and began to walk towards the restaurant exit.
The Ice God looked over his shoulder at Erza and opened up a telepathic connection with her.
'He seems to have taken a liking to you. Try to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid while you're with him.' The connection was closed off just as soon as it was created.
Erza chuckled slightly as her and Kazro got to their feet and began making their way back to the thrum of excitement that was beginning to build in the arena.
Clouds hung low over the capital city as rain threatened to encroach upon the arena. Most of the citizens of Crocus and many more from across the country remained resolute in their determination to witness the final day of the Grand Magic Games. Each guild had one of their members waiting in the tunnels leading to the stadium floor, most of the participants were anxiously awaiting the start of the final event. Two of the contestants, however, remained calm and collected as their time to take the arena drew closer.
In the section of the stands reserved for Fairy Tail, Makarov shifted slightly in his seat as he glanced at the lacrima vision floating above the stadium. The current standings were displayed and it revealed that all the guilds in the final round were within five points of each other.
"Something on your mind, Master?" Asked a voice belonging to a giant of a man with slicked back orange hair and heavy stubble on his jaw.
"Just curiosity more than anything, Gildarts."
"How so?"
"He's strong. Very strong. He took down a guild on par with Grimoire Heart by himself and the few times I have seen or heard reports of his strength, it's always sounded like he's never gone all out except for a small handful of times. I looked over a report handed to me by the Council a couple days ago and they had eyes on him the whole time he was in Stella."
"What was in the report?" Gildarts asked.
"I'll let you look over that when we get back to Magnolia." Makarov glanced around at the rest of his so-called 'brats' that had made the trek to Crocus before leaning in close to Fairy Tail's ace. "Between you and me, I think Kazro and Erza might have a thing for each other."
This earned a chuckle from the Crash mage as he looked over at where the Knightess was standing. She was alternating her stare between the lacrima above the arena and the announcer's booth on the far side of the stadium.
"Maybe the match will start now if you stare harder, Erza." Gildarts shouted.
No sooner had the words escaped Gildarts' mouth did the speakers scattered across the stadium crackle to life. The crowd erupted into a roar of anticipation for the free for all battle that was to take place in less than ten minutes. While most of the members of Fairy Tail were getting caught up in the excitement, a certain blonde Celestial mage had inched closer and closer to Erza.
"Say, Erza. You never did tell me what all you and Kazro did in your little date a couple days ago." She asked the redhead with a mischievous grin.
Erza's face quickly flushed red as she tried to keep from tripping over her own words. "W-we ate dinner, caught up on the past two months, a-and..." Her voice trailed off before the blonde's curiosity was sated.
By this point, she had already been surrounded by a handful of the other women bearing the Fairy emblem; all of them trying to get something resembling an answer out of Erza.
"And what, Erza?"
"You know we'll find out sooner or later!"
"Okay, okay, fine. I'll tell you." Erza silenced the women surrounding her. "We-"
The crowd roared to life as the master of ceremonies made his presence known in the center of the arena and effectively ended the interrogation being underwent by the Knightess who heaved a sigh of relief. One by one, the competitors for the final event were announced, each receiving a roar of approval from different sections of the crowd. The last two announced to enter the arena were the mages from Honor Shield and Fairy Tail, both of whom were greeted by a wall of sound that bordered on deafening.
"Hmm. Jura, Ichiya and that God Slayer from Sabertooth are involved in this one. This should be interesting." Makarov thought out loud.
"You don't seem worried in the slightest." Gildarts stated as he nudged the Fairy Tail master.
"As far as I can tell the only two that can give Kazro and that man from Honor Shield any problems will be Jura and that Sabertooth mage. But Ichiya might be able to pull something out of his ass at the last minute." He finished with a laugh.
The mascot and referee of the games beckoned all eight of the fighters to the center of the arena to explain the rules for the final event.
"Gentlemen. This is a simple free for all. The only real rule is no killing blows." The mascot shot a sidelong glance at Kazro and Oleg before continuing. "You will be declared out and ineligible to continue if you are knocked unconscious or give up. There is no time limit. And since the overall scores are so close, the last man standing wins the event and takes home the glory. Do all of you understand?" All the mages gathered around him nodded. "Good. In that case, return to near your respective tunnels. The match will start when I say and not a moment sooner. Best of luck to all of you."
A magic circle appeared beneath the referee's feet, causing him to vanish in a column of pure light and reappear back in the announcer's booth. All the participants were soon in place, waiting to receive the command to start the melee.
The referee's voice crackled over the arena sound system. "Ready? Fight!"
The crowd roared to life one more time as Kazro and Oleg exchanged glances and smirks. The two quickly shouted incantations before any of the other combatants could react. Oleg generated a howling blast of ice and wind while Kazro did the same with his respective element. The arena was quickly filled with a dazzling display of black ice and green fire intermixing and kicking up a torrent of dust from the stadium floor. The lights and sounds from the two mages' spells faded as quickly as it appeared and the air cleared to reveal all the other combatants to be out cold and unmoving.
This earned a murmur of concern from most of the spectators in attendance. The reprieve for the audience was short lived as the two mages left standing quickly closed the distance between them as soon as the other fighters had been teleported out of the arena. Both men began trading blows at a dizzying pace, with the occasional spell being worked into the frenzy but neither one was backing down nor showing a sign of slowing. The crowd had since recovered from the opening display of shock and awe from the Exorcist and the Ice God and began to settle into the ebb and flow of the match, punctuating each flourish of body and magic with a swell corresponding in magnitude with the ferocity of blows that managed to land.
"Impossible. Those two just managed to take out six of the strongest mages in the country without so much as batting an eye." Erza uttered with a look of shock on her face.
"They're strong, Erza. I can see why you've been keeping your eye on him." Makarov joked, earning a shade of blush from the Requip mage that came close to matching her scarlet hair. "I don't think he even came close to using his full power when he fought Natsu. Did he?" He shot a glance at the pink haired dragon slayer who had his eyes trained on the two mages locked in combat.
"Not even close, Gramps. He's stronger than anybody else I've ever fought." The Dragon Slayer replied.
Kazro and Oleg finally broke apart and slid back ten meters from each other. Neither of them were breathing heavy, or even sweating despite the humidity permeating the midsummer air. Droplets began to fall from the sky, slowly increasing in intensity.
"Are we done with the warm-up, Fhlosten? I really want to see what that arm of yours looks like under the bandages." Oleg taunted as he brushed his hair back.
Kazro chuckled. "Hell. Why not?"
Kazro's left arm began to glow as the bandages wrapped around it started to burn away. Oleg raised arched an eyebrow at what had been revealed. The reactions among the Fairy Tail mages in attendance ranged from fascinated to near disbelief. Kazro's left arm was blackened with several trails of emerald green lines that pulsed with magical energy in rhythm with his heartbeat. The lines seemed to have trailed up and down his arm randomly before vanishing under the sleeve of the white t-shirt covering the Exorcist's torso. A single ridge ran from the base of his wrist to halfway up his forearm along the ulna. What were supposed to be fingers had been replaced by claws that faded into a deep shade of green. Each appendage seemed as if they were sharp enough to cut through light itself and anything unlucky enough to get in their way.
"Like what you see, Federov?" Kazro shouted over the ever increasing downpour.
Oleg narrowed his eyes smiled at the Exorcist, showing gums instead of teeth.
"That better not just be for show."
Without any further words, the two darted towards the center of the arena and collided with enough magical force to cause the entire stadium to rumble down to its foundation. To most of the people watching on, the Exorcist and Ice God Slayer seemed less like humans and more like titans capable of obliterating entire cities on a whim. Each blow radiated outwards from the center of the arena in a tidal wave of power and light. The Slayers could both be heard shouting their incantations at a frenetic pace.
A couple of the Fairy Tail mages shuddered at the sight before them.
"I knew he was strong, but this is insane. It's like the two of them are reaching into bottomless wells of power." Natsu uttered.
Makarov furrowed his brow and nodded. "Something tells me those two are still holding back."
"What do you mean, Gramps?"
"Watch their movements. Right now, they're focusing less on raw power and more on technique. Neither of them are following through fully because they know they could easily kill most of the people here if they aren't careful."
As if acting on cue from Makarov's observation, both Kazro and Oleg shot up into the clouded sky, breaking hard in midair in the direction of the capital city which had been emptied for this final event.
"Oi, where are they going, Gramps?" Asked a voice belonging to Fairy Tail's resident ice mage.
"It looks to me like they're done stretching, Gray. This fight might have about twenty minutes left in it."
All eyes in the stadium drifted to the lacrima floating above the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of the battle moving to Crocus. The lacrima was finally able to find the targets and kept the view pulled back so as not to miss anything. Both the fighters had begun pouring more power into their attacks and started adding in more of their complex spells. Their pace had again increased to the point where their limbs seemed more like blurs in the heavy rain trying to drown the city. They broke apart again to size up the other. The shirts of both men now had tears and burns and were covering bodies now starting to breathe a bit heavier. A small trickle of blood had worked its way down from the corner of Kazro's mouth and Oleg now had a small cut running across his cheek.
"Fhlosten." Oleg called over the rain.
"What?"
"What do you say we end this fast? If we keep going at this rate, it'll be tomorrow night before this fight is over."
Kazro chuckled slightly. "Well how do you plan on ending it fast, Ice God?"
"One last attack. Put everything behind it and pray that the gods are on your side today."
The Exorcist smirked at his opponent and began drawing power into the palm of his left hand, shifting his weight back on to his right foot in the process. His usually placid, silver eyes began to emanate flames that challenged the authority of the rain bearing down. The power that had began to concentrate in his palm was now spreading over his body, causing it to glow with an unsettling green aura. The remnants of his shirt burned away with rise in power and the mark of his old family began to glow as well.
"My Matron is still with me, Oleg. She speaks to me from beyond the grave and guides me in my times of need. Keep your gods. Kizara stands behind me." Kazro spoke as flames began to dance around his body.
"Excellent, Fhlosten. Even the gods themselves would be right to fear her wrath." Oleg responded with a smile as the pouring rain began to turn into sleet, and then snow, turning the immediate area into a ghostly quiet waste.
Back in the arena, those sensitive to magic could feel the continuing surge in power from the two mages preparing to attack one last time.
Makarov let out a low whistle. "Damn. Those two might even be able to give you a run for your money in a one on one fight, Gildarts."
A handful of the Fairy Tail mages within earshot of Makarov turned their heads slightly in shock towards their master, who held a look of readiness on his face.
Erza was the first to break the uneasy silence that had settled over them. "Look! It seems like they're almost done pooling their power. This is going to end soon."
"Both their powers are dead even. If they really do try to end it with one blow, the winner will be the one who makes the cleanest contact with the other." Gildarts deadpanned.
"A release of power at that magnitude will probably shake the entire city and level most of it. Everybody brace on something!" Gray shouted.
The trails of emerald green dancing across Kazro's left arm had begun pulsing more rapidly as his power surged throughout his body and finally concentrated fully in his clenched fists. Oleg had done the same, covering both his hands with a swirling black torrent of frozen air. Both mages shifted back. In the blink of an eye they had launched themselves at each other at a breakneck speed and closing a thirty meter gap with a flourish of brick and debris being kicked up in their wakes.
"Ice God's..."
"Ruulag nja..."
"Execution!"
"Gabor!"
The two mages' spells connected and exploded outwards barely a split second. Waves of black and green radiated outwards from ground zero, setting off several small whirlwinds in the immediate vicinity. As predicted by Gray, the entire city began to quake from the release of power. Chunks of stone began to fall from the outer wall of the stadium and crash onto the ground hundreds of feet below. The lacrima hovering above the arena lost its video feed, showing only images of white noise. It quickly readjusted and showed nothing but debris falling from the sky, obscuring a large crater and the two figures thought to be inside it. The rain finally stopped its assault on the ground but the dark and threatening clouds still lingered overhead.
The lacrima was finally able to see through the debris. Both Kazro and Oleg were still standing but just barely. Cuts and gashes riddled Kazro's torso as it heaved up and down with each breath. A trickle of blood had begun working its way down his right arm, trailing of his loose fingers and onto the ground. He looked around at what had been a residential section of Crocus. A small handful of pillars were still standing. Everything else was flattened from the last shockwave. The glow that had radiated from his eyes began to fade to their normal silver. He brought his eyes level with the horizon to see Oleg in no better shape than him. The toes of his shoes had been destroyed, leaving the ends of his feet bare. The majority of his shit had been shredded and what little was left was rapidly turning red from blood.
"Hell of a fight, Federov. Hell of a fight." Kazro spoke between gasps for air as he dropped to a knee.
Oleg dropped to both knees before falling backwards and let his eyes take in the featureless sky above him. "Yeah. I don't think I can even move my arms now." A small laugh escaped the Ice God's throat. "You win this round, Exorcist. I do want a rematch sometime in the future, though."
Kazro chuckled slightly as he keeled over and fell to the ground with still ragged breath.
"Heh. Deal."
Both mages heard a swell of noise that turned into a roar of excitement coming from the arena and tried craning their necks to look towards the source.
"Sounds like they picked a winner."
Magic circles appeared under the Exorcist and the Ice God ever so breifly before disappearing and transporting them to the arena floor. The two were greeted by their respective guilds and a tidal wave of applause and cheers from the spectators in the stands. Both mages were carried off to the infirmary to be treated for their assorted cuts, scrapes, bruises and whatever bones they might have broken in the clash between two titanic powers.
As soon as the two mages had been carted off, the man who doubled as the mascot and referee appeared in the center of the stadium with a microphone in hand. The lacrima above quickly switched to the overall scores for the games. Honor Shield had been in first place the entire run of the games, with Fairy Tail and Sabertooth close behind in third and second, respectively.
"Ladies and gentleman." He held his free hand up to keep the crowd quiet. "The winners of this year's Grand Magic Games are..." He paused to add suspense as small groups of mages from Fairy Tail and Honor Shield gathered around him. "Fairy Tail!"
As he finished the sentence, the scores on the floating screen changed to reflect the outcome of the free for all. Fairy Tail had leapfrogged over Sabertooth and Honor Shield to take first place. The entire stadium erupted into a deafening round of cheers, almost causing the arena to shake once again. All the mages from Fairy Tail and Honor Shield dispersed to their respective tunnels to head to the infirmary, leaving Master Makarov of Fairy Tail and Master Ragnar of Honor Shield standing face to face. Makarov extended his hand to the other. The man was of a similar stature to Makarov and looked to be almost as old as his balding head and white beard would indicate. Ragnar took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake and Makarov a hearty pat on the back.
"Great job, Maki. Congratulate your guild for me." The rough, but jovial voice of Ragnar easily pierced the din of excitement from the crowd.
"And same to yours, Ragnar. Where in the hell did you find some one that strong?"
"I could ask you the same about that Fhlosten. But between the two of us, I got a feeling something big is about to happen. I don't know what, but if what Oleg has been telling me over the past couple of weeks is anything to go by, it has the potential to get nasty."
"I'll keep that in mind. I'll have Kazro look into it when he recovers and let you know if he can find anything."
"And I'll do the same. It'd be best not to let too many people in on it. The more people that know, the more panic we'll have to deal with if whatever the hell Oleg is going on about actually happens."
Makarov nodded and turned on his heels to head through the tunnel to congratulate his brats on a job well done. He had known Ragnar for several decades and if something was able to spook one of his old friends, then it had to be taken seriously.
"I guess Kazro and that God Slayer might end up having to save the world." He chuckled grimly to himself as he quickly changed his face to match the ecstatic mood of the rest of the capital city.
Now was not the time to worry, but to celebrate instead. And the aging master of Fairy Tail would make damn sure that his brats had a time worth remembering.
A/N: Sorry about the long turnaround for this chapter. I had a hell of a time figuring out the pacing and the direction for everything. Couple that up with landing a full time job and my ability to freely plan out anything goes straight to hell. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. No clue on when the next one will be finished.