Chapter FORTY EIGHT
Lucy entered their guild stands, still breathing heavily. That had been close. Too close.
She returned the greetings of her teammates and sat down next to Wendy.
"Where were you?" Jellal asked.
Lucy grinned. "It's a secret."
"That person...they didn't do anything to you, did they?" Erza demanded.
Gray had instantly alerted the rest of the guild and now both teams, as well as Makarov, were in the infirmary.
Juvia shook her head. "No. They just healed Juvia."
"Healed you? Are you sure?" Erza asked.
Juvia nodded. However, her thoughts were somewhere else.
Just before they had vanished, she had seen it. The flash of blonde hair.
"Our master is coming around for the tag battle." Cobra said.
Lucy grinned. "Really?" She smiled at Midnight. "You're awesome."
Midnight blinked and looked down, embarrassment clear on his face. Meredy giggled and nudged him. He turned and scowled at her.
"The event for today is called 'Sphere defense'. The rules are simple. The competitors are each one magic ball. They will completely shatter after receiving ten hits. Hitting an opponents ball gives you one point while shattering it gives you five. Getting one of your own destroyed makes you loose a point. If your ball is hit, you will be teleported to another location in the arena."
Mato waved his hand and a maze like setting appeared in a blink of an eye. The paths were blocked off by walls.
"Now, please send down the competitors!"
"From Grim Requiem, we have Midnight!"
"From Mermid Hell, we have Beth Vanderwood!"
"From Fairy tail B, we have Mira Jane Strauss!"
"From Blue Pegasus, we have Ren Akatsuki!"
Form Saber tooth, we have Orga Nanagear!"
"From Lamia Scale, we have Yuka Suzuki!"
"From Fairy tail A, we have Elfman Strauss!"
"From Quarto Cerberus, we have Warcry!"
"Don't loose." Sting called out. Midnight turned to look at him, and promptly looked away. Sting gnashed his teeth but Rogue held him back from jumping over the balcony.
Lucy smiled, knowing that Midnight dind't need any words of encouragement. He was strong. She knew first hand. Apart from that, Midnight had attached to them more than he was willing to admit. He would put everything he felt for them into this match, and they all knew it.
Midnight looked confident as his sphere appeared beside him. All the competitors disappeared into the maze one by one.
"Midnight has an advantage in this battle." Jellal noted. "His magic allows him to reflect anything, even magic, as long as it isn't living. He can easily surround the sphere with reflector."
Lucy nodded. "I thought so too."
Everyone watched as Mato gave the 'start' signal. The first thing Midnight did was find a dead end. He turned his back to the wall and faced the entrance.
"I think he's waiting for some reckless idiot to come across him." Rogue reasoned slowly.
Lucy nodded. "I guess that's the most sensible plan. People usually don't wait around dead ends."
Through another screen, Jellal was watching as Beth slowly but surely approached when Midnight was waiting. He nudged Lucy and pointed it out. Lucy grinned.
Beth whipped around the corner and skidded to a halt. She fixed her stance as Midnight stepped out of the shadows.
"Carrot Missile!" A barrage of oversize carrots erupted form the ground.
"Uh...do those count as living things?" Lucy asked curiously. Jellal shrug.
"Even Midnight doesn't seem to know."
The former Oracion Seis member was narrowing his eyes in concentration. The carrots lost their momentum due to their reinforcement of magic disappearing, but the carrots passed through the reflector shield. Midnight swiped his foot around, knocking them out of the air.
"Guess they do." Meredy breathed. Wendy giggled.
Midnight raised his hand. "Dark Rondo!" He fired the attack, directing it with his reflector magic. The spell swerved around Beth and hit the sphere. A crack, signalling a hit, appeared on the sphere. Midnight raised his hand again but Beth was teleported away before he could fire.
"No matter how strong an attack is, it only affects the sphere once." Lucy murmured.
Midnight started walking.
"He's decided to find another spot." Cobra said.
"How do you..." Meredy paused. "Right."
"You should have told us earlier." Carla said. Wendy smiled nervously.
Cobra smirked. "And where would the fun be in that?"
"Where's the fun in keeping it from us?" Lucy asked.
Cobra shrug, and the topic was dropped.
Soon, midnight came across Ren, who seemed relatively unharmed.
"These two fought during the Nirvana thing." Lucy muttered. "Ren is bound to have something against Midnight."
"But I doubt it'll be a problem." Rogue said.
"I hate to admit it, but Midnight is strong!" Lector pipped up. Sting glared at him, amusement lacing his eyes.
"Fro thinks so too!" Fro added.
Lucy smiled and turned back to the fight.
"I was hoping I would get to fight you." Ren muttered. "I have a lot to pay you back for."
Midnight stuffed his hands into his pockets, a smirk gracing his face.
"I know your magic reflects nearly everything, but I wonder how much it was stand!" Ren swung his arms. "Aerial shot!"
The 'air' exploded upon contact with Midnight's reflector, causing dust to rise into the air. When it cleared, Ren was nowhere to be seen.
Sensing a hint of movement, Midnight whipped around, meeting Ren's fist with his own. Ren jumped back and swung his arms again.
"Aerial Foze!" The cyclone came at Midnight, to calmly watched it approach.
The cyclone seemed to explode. When the dust died down, Midnight appeared, unfazed, not a single scratch on him.
Ren clicked his tongue.
Suddenly, their battle was interrupted. A body of black electricity landed a few feet away.
"Orga." Ren muttered. Said Saber tooth mage grinned.
"I'll be butting in!"
Midnight reflected the bolt sent his way while Ren jumped out of the way. "This is getting dull." Midnight muttered. He raised both hands, facing one at each opponent. "Dark Capriccio!" The drilling beams of darkness fired towards the two mages.
Ren had the sense to move out of the way as quickly as he could. Orga, who had no idea what Midnight was capable of, took the attack head on. Lightning fizzled form his fists as he tried to block the attack. Midnight smirked. "Dark Capriccio!" He repeated his spell, pounding the Lightning God slayer with the darkness spell.
Orga's scream of pain, as well as him teleporting out of sight told Midnight who had won their brief battle.
He formed a few illusions, quickly lost Ren, and walked away.
"He's looking for someone." Cobra informed them. "A specific opponent."
"Who?" Meredy asked.
"Someone. If Midnight finds them, it will probably be the most exciting fight within this event." Cobra said, smirking.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Sorry if your place runs on a different time thingy mabob, but if that's the case, you can reread the AN when the time is right!
Sorry for the SUPER late update. We really are. We just got caught up in the endless wheel called life.
We have been busy from school and other fanfics, but now we have hit the HOLIDAYS!
And therefore, we can update more! (And we probably will ((Hopefully)))
PLUS: This was slightly rushed, so please excuse any errors unless it's so bad you don't understand it. If there are such errors, please feel free to PM or leave us a review and we shall fix it! (YAY!)
Any guesses as to who the Master is?
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