Chapter 14- The Grand Finale
Alzack's pistol steamed as the Cerberus mage collapsed and the bell dinged. He had won. But interestingly enough, today the duel had taken place before the challenge.
Nobody knew for sure what today's event was, but it was the final day of competition for the Grand Magic Games, and in Alzack's mind that meant that today was going to be different.
He marched his way back up to Fairy Tail's box where he was quickly congratulated. He embraced Bisca and the two shared a quick kiss before their guildmaster approached them.
"Great job out there, Alzack. We don't have to worry about losing half our points in the next challenge. So as long as we get first, and Lamia Scale and Kraken Maw get below second, we have a great shot at winning!"
Fairy Tail cheered and put up their hand signs as the loudspeaker cracker.
"Alright everyone, today is it! It's the last day of the games! So of course we have to go out with a bang! And not just any bang, a big and super exciting one! It's my pleasure to announce our final event is the Battle Royale! The battlefield will be the entire city of Crocus, and each guild can split their members however the see fit. One of the five will be the leader. If two wizards encounter each other in the streets they must fight until one is incapacitated, and the winner gets one point. If a leader is defeated the winner gets five points. This means that if one guild defeated everyone they could obtain forty-five points, so anyone can win! Even Quatro Cerberus! You'll have fifteen minutes to prepare, starting now!"
Diana swung her crescent blade in a line in front of her, smashing the icey eagles as they flew. She flung a huge blast of water towards Lyon but he froze it mid air before it did any damage. She grimaced and bolted forward, trying desperately to do some vague likeness of damage to the wizard who's magic countered her's so strongly.
A huge twisting ice serpent smacked into her midriff and she was flung hard into the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of her. It was then that Lyon began again with another volley of ice eagles and seconds later a bell dinged in the air. He looked up in the sky where a point was marked up for Lamia Scale. Lyon grinned contentedly and continued down the street.
The mages of Quatro Cerberus had decided that it was prudent for them to travel as a unified group. Unfortunately Bacchus had left them, saying something about them being too weak. They rounded a corner and confronted the one individual they wanted to see the least.
"Hello boys," said Jura with a bow.
Up in the air four points were added to Lamia Scale's existing one, which put them five above everyone else. Bisca couldn't help feeling discouraged seeing this.
"We have to get more points, so let's split up! I'll go to the same belltower as the qualifiers and direct us all," the sniper advised. Her guild agreed and she grappled her way up. They all went off in separate directions, looking for prey. Nab trudged through the streets slowly, his tiger senses trying to find another wizards' scent in the air. The odorous smell of alcohol invaded his senses, and turning around he saw that on the other side of the alley was the Quatro Cerberus mage himself.
"Let's dance, bear boy," he taunted before swigging his drink. He sprang forward and kicked himself against the wall, slamming his palm like a train into Nab. Nab spun and landed in a crate of refuse forcefully. He switched to turtle stance and raised his arms trying to stop Bacchus' non-stop palm strikes.
He then bucked up and kicked his feet into the drunk man's chest, giving himself a moment of respite. Nab used this window to switch to hawk stance, and his newly acquired advantage in speed allowed him to duck under Bacchus' savage attacks with ease. He quickly changed to bear and hit the Cerberus with a furious uppercut. Bacchus soared across the alley and hit a barrel.
But it wasn't over for Bacchus. He drained his gourd and swayed erratically at Nab. The Fairy Tail wizard tried to swing another cross but Bacchus ducked beneath it, hitting Nab's elbow with his palm. He then surgically placed a line of palm hits around Nab's pressure points, dropping the bear to his knees.
"Sorry buddy," and then Bacchus ended with a concussive strike to Nab's head. Nab hit the ground, but it wasn't over. He smacked his palms into the ground and in the same motion as a push-up propelled himself up. He swept his leg in a circular motion and knocked Bacchus off his feet. Nab gripped his opponents bun and pulled him up to fist level, where he punched so powerfully Bacchus was flung straight out of the alley and into the street.
Nab came out of the alley imposingly, but the Cerberus mage only cackled. Nab sprinted forward and reached for a huge punch, but Bacchus slid under it and pushed his palm up against Nab's chin. The impact shook the defender's whole skull and Nab was down.
A point was added to Quatro Cerberus' counter in the sky. In his box Natsu ran his hands through his hair and felt more air leave his lungs. It looked close at first. But it would be harder than he had thought.
Meanwhile, up in her belltower perch, Bisca tried to find where Nab had gone down through her scope. As the crosshairs zoomed around the cityscape she saw a pack of five mages moving together. It was Sabertooth. And in the center was Minerva.
Bisca knew that Minerva would be a problem for anyone, so taking her out now was a must. She aimed up, gave some room for lead-time, and squeezed the trigger.
Minerva heard a gunshot and instantly switched places with another one of Sabertooth's members. He went down hard and she heard another shot ring out. Another Sabertooth down. She looked about frantically trying to triangulate the source when the third shot rang out. Another one down. It was just Minerva and one other, but in seconds she had to switch places with him too. And then she spotted it. The glint in the belltower,
She waved her hand and Bisca suddenly fell to the ground right in front of her. The two locked and eyes and sat very still for a brief moment.
A ways away Alzack heard his partner's comms go silent and in a panic he bolted for the belltower. He pumped his legs as hard as he could and surged with adrenaline, his sole concentration on getting to Bisca. But something hit him hard in the leg and his momentum stopped. He flew forward, off balance, and tumbled into the stone.
"Oh, it's you!" Alzack recognized the voice. He put a hand on his revolver but didn't get to his feet just yet.
"I've got someplace to be, Sarah," he said strongly. She began to laugh and that's when Alzack struck. He spun his whole torso around as he leveraged himself to his feet, giving him an angle to blast the red-head with a stun shot. She seemed to predict this and dove to the ground behind a wall of crates. Wood flew into the air as Alzack ran for the nearest cover, a large concrete slab.
Sarah jumped up and fired to ricochet shots that bounced from a street lamp and a wall into Alzack's direction.
He put his speed into a powerslide and scraped his way behind the barrier, narrowly avoiding the bullets. He then stood up suddenly and cranked the hammer of his gun with his palm, shooting a line of HE rounds towards Sarah's cover. But she wasn't behind it anymore. The ex-heister fired shots into the air that fragmented over Alzack, peppering him with small lacerations. He cried out but fired into her nonetheless, smacking her directly in the chest with an icy bullet.
She was no longer able to move her arms, and Alzack charged. He advanced, still hammering round after round of generic shots into her, the ice shattered and she collapsed, defeated.
Alzack huffed and looked back towards the belltower. He just hoped he wouldn't be too late…
Natsu watched the Sabertooth score count rise by one, and moments later the Fairy Tail counter followed suit. He clenched his fists in front of him and bit his lip nervously. It was up to those three.
Back down bellow amid the hectic chaos of the Battle Royale, Lia trudged angrily. She hadn't seen a single goddam human in almost an hour and Fairy Tail was definitely not in the lead. And she wanted Fairy Tail to win, to make Natsu proud.
And then it happened. It seemed luck was with Lia today. Across from her, popping out of an alleyway, was none other than Jenny herself.
Lia slowed her breathing and raised her hands, the blades of steel pulsing with power as they flew from the crevices in her armor out around her in a circle. When Jenny noticed Lia it was too late. The smaller blonde girl flung the blades and they sliced through the air elegantly at Jenny.
The Pegasus used her magic to form a defensive form as quickly as possible, but the blades all penetrated. Lia dashed forward and mounted a flat board of her blades. When the gap had been closed she swirled off and more metal surrounder her, forming a drill middair that spun and hit Jenny.
Lia grinned as she hopped back, seeing the damage she had done. But it seemed for naught. Jenny changed her soul to her basic battle stance unscathed, and charged. She swung wildly but Lia dodged beneath them and slid like a serpent, each of her motions elegant and poised.
She flung several blades into Jenny's abdomen, who recoiled in pain. Lia advanced, swiping her hands and commanding even more jagged pieces of metal to pierce Jenny. And then out of the blue the older blonde looked up and smiled. The chains along the sides of Jenny and the bolts came undone, and the machine beneath glowed. Lia's eyes widened as she was engulfed in a ray of energy.
One point for Blue Pegasus. But then another was added to Fairy Tail. Across the city Aaron toppled as Kinana breathed heavily. The black eyelid slid back and Kinana returned to her normal form, the purple of her arms fading. It had been an exhausting fight but she had won it. Though it wouldn't be the end of the action. Bacchus sauntered up from behind her and took a swig from his gourd. He had watched the whole fight patiently and was surprised by the outcome, but regardless he figured Kinana was lacking energy enough to beat without really trying.
Which was a fatal misconception. She lashed out with brutality and speed, her venomous hands scalding his bare chest as she laid into him with powerful slashes. He howled in pain and tried to scramble away, but she gripped his ankles and pulled him down. And afterwards it only took a few moments before her venom worked its way into his system and he was done for.
Five points for Fairy Tail. Natsu smiled. They were still in it, though Lamia Scale had gotten four more. Jura made things far too unfair down there.
And speaking of down there, Alzack was now squaring off against too familiar adversaries.
"We know you did a number on Sarah," Fox called from behind a barrel. "But there are two of us, and we're a fuckton stronger than she is! No offense to her!"
"Yeah! So how about ya just yield ta us right here and now, and we can make all o' this shit easy?" But instead of a verbal response Malcolm felt wood chips fall along his head as Alzack sprayed the window again. Malcolm looked across the street to Fox, and nodded.
Alzack had retreated to a house after they'd pursued him a fair distance, but this was it for the gunslinger. Malcolm popped a spinning grenade from out of his shotgun and lobbed it through the shattered window. It hit the ground inside with a thunk and started to spew smoke.
Fox spun his playing cards and formed a blue circle that he jumped into. He landed inside the house and was able to easily toss a gold card at Alzack, who was suddenly encased in shiny yellow chains.
Malcolm reached over the window and fired a scatter shot at Alzack which pummeled the Fairy Tail wizard into defeat. Another point for Kraken Maw.
The victory was short lived, however. A flying blonde in power armor strafed the house with laser fire, peppering Malcolm and flushing Fox out of hiding. Malcolm hit the ground hard, knocked completely out, but Fox tried to run for it. He jumped through a portal that spit him out onto the roof of a nearby house.
Jenny let a missile salvo out of her shoulder pads and they spun towards the retreating gambler. He looked behind him and screamed, jumping into another portal. But the attack followed him through and connected in the belltower where he jumped to. Jenny watched from afar as the detonations occurred and two points were added to Blue Pegasus. She laughed and flew off in pursuit of more victims.
Lamia Scale jumped by five as Jura stood over Minerva, bowing respectfully. Sabertooth had joined Quatro Cerberus in being completely eliminated. Jura turned and walked slowly and casually down the main road of Crocus. He knew all four of Lyon's group were still travelling together, and he had confidence that they could defeat anyone else in the contest with the exception of maybe Jenny. He looked up and appreciated the light blue sky and the soft clouds. Today was a marvelous day.
His idle relaxation ceased at once when he heard footsteps from behind him. He spun and saw maybe a quarter of a mile off, the venom wizard from Fairy Tail was running in his direction. Jura sighed and bowed. He would beat her quickly. He flicked his hands and brought them together, and two huge columns of stone flew from two houses and smashed her between them.
A point was added to Lamia Scale and Jura continued his stroll peacefully. He looked up in the sky and suddenly four more points were added to Blue Pegasus. Jura's eyes widened as he realized the implications of that.
The only group of four was Lyon, so someone strong just took them out. And that meant Jenny was on the hunt.
And she had found him sooner than he expected. A huge orb of churning energy engulfed him and exploded.
Jenny sat in the air and watched as the whole block was leveled. But as she expected, he sat in the crater mostly undamaged. A column flew towards her but she breezed by it with ease, her thrusters giving her extreme evasion. She stuck her arms together and they formed one bigger looking gun. It glowed with purple power and Jura summoned up a dome of earth around himself.
"Nice try," Jenny breathed as the lance soared out of her arms and cut right through the shield. It his jura and sent him back several blocks worth of distance before it dissipated, and jenny flew lower and closer. Jura desperately tossed a wall of earth that grew into the air as it ripped across the ground. Jenny dodged to the side and stopped her thrusters, instead running along the flat side of the wall towards Jura. He grinned and the wall suddenly wrapped itself up, encasing Jenny in a tomb of stone.
The stone glowed with heat and exploded, sending rocks and debris in all directions as she rose out of it a new form. It looked sleek yet angelic, glowing with gemstones and gold.
"Takeover! Machina soul! Divine Form: Christina!" Jura was impressed but sweat dropped nonetheless. It seemed the magical bomber contained a very powerful soul. Jenny put her hands forward and they started to glow.
Jura figured this was it. It didn't matter to him, Lamia Scale would still take first. He closed his eyes and waited for the final blow to land. But it didn't. He waited a second longer, then opened his eyes.
In front of him Jenny hit the ground hard, in her normal form. The siren blared and five points were given to Lamia Scale. Jura cracked into a grin as the announcer came over the speaker.
"And there you have it folks! The last man standing is Lamia Scale's very own Jura Neekis! And with that, the Grand Magic Games have concluded! In last place, with a disappointing five points, Quatro Cerberus! In fifth, not much better, Sabertooth with fifteen! Our fourth place team jumped a whole lot of points today, Blue Pegasus with twenty-seven points! And now on to our top three. We've all known all tournament that these three guilds would be here, but maybe no in this order! In third, with thirty-six, Kraken Maw! Coming up in second with forty-three, Magnolia's own Fairy Tail! And finally, the grand winner, you already know! Lamia Scale with a whopping sixty points! Congratulations to everyone! The fun isn't over yet though! All qualifying guilds are invited to a banquet and party tomorrow night to commemorate the christening of this great tournament! For all you viewers out there, we'll be back next year! Thank you, and good night!"
And that was it. The first ever Grand Magic Games had ended. And a lot of young mages had suddenly taken interest in Fairy Tail. As did several more sinister forces. But for the time being, the only thing on anyone's mind was festivities.