Ishgar's Strongest had officially begun. Fiore, Bosco, Seven, Joya, Minstrel, Pergrande, Alvarez, and Midi were the 8 teams fighting in the world's view. The shocking revelation of the tournament before anything could even get started was Midi itself; a destroyed country was now being run by Prometheus and Pandora, who used numerous souls of the dead as their own team. It was a cruel fate that naturally caused a stir among many. "Such a dirty tactic!" Erza was not pleased when her eyes landed on Makarov. The memories of the war with Alvarez resurfaced and how she was unable to save him, and how he gave his life to save everyone.
"….." Mii crossed her arms, glancing away from Makarov as well. That old man had done nothing but cause her pain and grief.
"How can you slap a bunch of dead people together and call it a team?!" Diamond exclaimed, clearly trying to find some fault in this, even though the statement was ironic coming from her of all people. "Even more so, how is that allowed!?"
"Uh, Diamond…you're dead, too, technically." Ace was waving his hand, trying to tell Diamond to be quiet.
Count Waltz could understand Diamond's complaints. "We are aware of the circumstances. That being said, this does not bar Midi from competing. They are able bodied mages capable of fighting, are they not? They fulfilled all of the requirements to enter the tournament and registered a team. Considering we have allowed a spirit such as yourself to take part, there is no reason why a group of them cannot compete." With the tone Waltz had, it was clear he was telling Diamond to shut up and the message was not lost on her.
"Competing against the dead?" Julius glanced up from his book, staring at the forces Prometheus and Pandora brought to compete. "How kind of them to flaunt one of the Empress' objectives in our face. That will make retrieving them much easier."
"I don't get it." Alice scratched her head. "Elieen is there, but Her Majesty has her body? So….."
"He's very clearly manipulating the soul he stole." Julius told his comrade. "Simply manifesting it into a physical shape."
Ajeel glanced around, specifically at the Alvarez team. His expression was that of annoyance, because it didn't look like the revived people could speak without Prometheus' say so. Prometheus caught the message and allowed Ajeel to speak, to which he said; "That old lady is running Alvarez?! You gotta be kiddin' me! She'll run it into the ground!"
"Hah!" Emmeraude let out an extremely haughty laugh at Ajeel's words. "And if you were to rule, it would be no deeper in the ground than the grave you dug for yourself in the war."
"Wow…" Dimaria blinked at Emmeraude's sharp comeback.
Natsu didn't say a word. The fact that Prometheus was abusing the souls of the departed like this pissed him off to no end and it showed. The temperature in the arena started to rise as Natsu's anger slowly boiled, but it wouldn't reach the boiling point. Not yet. "…Bastard."
"Are you all done commenting on our last team?" Waltz was growing impatient with all this idle chatter. The audience and members of the arena fell into a hushed silence, allowing him to continue. "Now that we've covered the countries that have entered the tournament, it's about time to explain the format. It's very simple: over the course of the next 5 days, there will be a series of fights and events that each team must participate in."
"Fights and events? So that's like a Grand Magic Games then…" Bacchus quietly remarked. So far they were in familiar territory.
"The events and their objects will differ. The winner of the event will get 10 points for their team. Anything lower than that receive 0 points. You either win, or you don't." Waltz's tone lowered as he explained the event scoring system. There was a chilling silence with such a brutal system.
"Seriously!?" Lore grumbled. "That's pretty harsh on the mellow, man…"
"…That's tough. If we don't win any event we'll be behind." Sting crossed his arms. He was trying to focus, but it was hard to do so when Orga was right there, not saying a word. Just being used as a puppet for the Grim Reaper's playfully cruel devices.
"As for the fights, this will be done differently. For every matchup, every team is allowed to choose who will participate. More than one person can fight for a team, but the maximum allowed is 3. It wouldn't be very fun, or fair, to watch ten people assault a single person, don't you think?" Waltz asked rhetorically. "Normal competitors are worth 10 points, but if one manages to defeat a captain, that is 15 points. 5 points can make all the difference."
"Tch." Reve scoffed. Why? Because he opted to take the roll of captain, and, well…
[Flashback]
Hisui gathered Team Fiore around. The tournament was set to begin in a matter of hours. "It is important that we decide on a team captain. I don't know the details yet, but Count Waltz has made it clear he requires this information before the tournament begins."
"No need to ask." Reve said while stepping forward. "It's clear this team needs someone competent to lead them. So I'll do it."
To which Minerva immediately replied; "We didn't ask you."
"Not at all." Kagura added.
This made Hisui sweat. "How about…we all make a group decision, then? I trust you all enough to make a good decision, so whoever you decide to be captain will be the one."
"I nominate Erza." Lucy pointed at Erza.
"Me?" Erza pointed at herself.
"Of course you do. But that's bias." Reve immediately replied. "Just because you think she'd be a better leader than me doesn't make it true."
"No way in hell am I living in a world with you trying to boss me around!" Natsu shouted comically.
"I say we all do a vote." Zelos nodded. "It's only fair."
"A fairly sensible idea coming from you." Kagura had to admit.
"I feel like this will go poorly…" Luke muttered.
"Now then…" Zelos lifted up both arms gesturing to Erza and Reve, who stood on opposite sides of the room. "All those in favor of the rude gunslinger being our leader, join his side of the room! For Erza-chan, do the same!" To no one's surprise, Natsu, Lucy, Kagura, Minerva, and Sting went to Erza's side. Bacchus and Luke went to Reve's. The decision was 5-3, excluding Zelos who chose to opt out of it. "And there we have it!"
"At least some of you have sense…" Reve scoffed.
"I thought it'd be pretty wild seeing what White Eclipse's S class could do as a leader." Bacchus shrugged. His curiosity led him to picking Reve.
Now as the official leader of Fiore's team, Erza cleared her throat. "I may be the leader, but we all share this burden equally! We must all do our part. I will lead you all to victory!"
"Or defeat." Reve quipped.
[End flashback]
"A 15 point bounty sits on your head. I hope for our sake you don't lose it." Reve shot towards Erza.
"I won't." Titania replied calmly.
"Now, you may be wondering what the benefits and risks are of having 3 people in the ring at a time." Waltz's lips curled up into a smile. "Allow me to explain. In a 3 vs 1 scenario, on paper, it seems unfair that if the 1 should win, they only get 10 points. This is where the fun begins. Each person who steps into the field will be worth their point value. So if the 1 should emerge victory, they will receive 30 points. If a captain was also defeated, that will be 35."
"That's a looooot of points…" Edna said while yawning. "So why would anyone want to fight against one person like that if they risk giving them 30 points?"
"Excellent question." Waltz was waiting for someone to ask that. "The reverse holds true for the single combatant as well. That combatant becomes double, or triple the amount of points they are worth depending on if they are against two or three people. I shouldn't have to explain the math, but if a lone captain is defeated, that is 45…and that's just if it's three on one. Six people could be in the field at a time. The numbers begin to get high…so how you wish to do combat is entirely up to you."
Natsu's head started spinning at all the math being flung around. "I don't get all of it…"
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's a lot to take in, but simply put, the highest yield of points from a single fight can at most be 90 in a 3 on 3. That's…a lot to take in with this format."
"The fights will have a 15 minute time limit and there will be a ring out rule; should any part of a competitors body touch the outer edge of the arena, they will be considered defeated." The count continued to explain. "Should neither side fall, the point value of each competitor will be divided evenly and split between the teams. In the event of a 1 on 1, both sides will receive 5 points; a 2 on 2, 10 points, etc. For a Captain, we will be generous and round their value up to 8 points. Now, if more than one person has stepped into the ring on both sides, but there is still one person standing, the opposing team will receive half the points to the fallen's value, for they did defeat a competitor. I'm sure you can get the picture by this point."
"Winning is imperative. Take risks when necessary." Minerva stated.
"Oh, and two more things…" Waltz held up his finger. "This is a friendly competition and we're all in it for the sport. I shouldn't have to say this either, but I will not tolerate an act of murder in this stadium. I will only ask this once: be civil. Take out your personal frustrations on another person to your delight. So long as it does not cross the line of life and death, I don't care." His tone was blunt, but he had to make that clear. "Lastly…once the fight has begun, no one is allowed to intervene in a battle until it is officially over. Attempting to jump in is grounds for having your team disqualified from the tournament and expelled from Joya as a result. And with that, we have officially covered every important rule for Ishgar's Finest. I've been talking for quite a while, so I'll hand things over to the MC now."
That was Chapati's cue to explain the rest. "All right! Now that the rules have been laid bare, it's time to get into the main event!" The crowd cheered. Now that they had a proper understanding of what was to come, they could be excited for what would take place. "By the order of Count Waltz, the events will take place after the 4 fights! If you participate in a fight, you cannot take part in an event the same day!"
"So we're fighting first! Finally!" Natsu could understand that. "So who's first?!"
"These are the day 1 matchups of Ishgar's Strongest!" Chapati exclaimed as a lacrima screen appeared in the center of the stadium. This stadium displayed the flags for each time.
Pergrande vs Fiore.
Joya vs Midi.
Alvarez vs Bosco.
Minstrel vs. Seven.
"Pergrande right off the bat!?" Lucy gasped and her gaze went to Mii, who turned away in response. "And we don't know who'll be fighting…"
"Everyone clear out except Fiore and Pergrande's participants." Waltz demanded. They were starting right now.
"Who's going first?" Bacchus questioned, stretching since he was prepared to take on anyone!
"Pardon me." Lucia took a step forward, standing across from Fiore's team. As the other teams went to their respective areas, Lucia's team, Pergrande, were all returning to theirs as well, just leaving her. The blue haired woman brushed her hair behind her ear. "It seems our teams will be fighting. I think it's only natural that we give the people a proper introduction of what this tournament is about."
"What's your point?" Sting crossed his arms. "Nothing's stopping us from taking three of us to put you down! You're the leader of the Wizard Hunters, right?"
"But your own team captain believes she alone is enough, right?" Lucia stared at Erza with those blue eyes of hers. "She's been itching for a swing at me, and I, her."
"What are you saying?" Minerva hated that Lucia was beating around the bush.
Lucia's lips curved into a subtle smile. "I'm saying I wish to challenge Erza Scarlet to a duel. I'll even make it worth your while; if you win, you can have any one thing you wish of me and my group and we'll abide by it…excluding your victory condition of course. I call this an Executive Order."
"A duel?" Erza lifted a brow. Lucia was betting an order that even she could not refuse to Erza? If she won, she could solve their stipulation and take out the Hunters in one fell swoop. "Very well. I accept. If I win, I demand you and your Hunters drop out of the tournament and surrender yourselves to Fiore authorities."
Reve quirked a brow. "This is a trap." But he wasn't going to say that aloud. Why? Because that was up to Erza to figure out. He didn't trust Lucia at all.
"How bold." Lucia giggled a bit. "And if I win, I want your strongest weapon to claim as my own."
That was it? Erza was curious but this seemed like a winning trade in her favor, which made her a little skeptical. A weapon over the freedom of Lucia's entire organization? Regardless, how could she not accept this trade? There was no weapon Lucia could strip of her that would deter or demoralize her. "Fine. You have yourself a bet. I'll be quick." She told her team.
"Kick her ass, Erza!" Natsu shouted.
"We'll be rooting for you!" Lucy added.
"Good luck~" Zelos cooed. Little did the others realize he wasn't just speaking to Erza, but to Lucia as well.
"…How did she know Erza was our team captain? We just made that decision before we stepped into the stadium and Waltz didn't even announce captains …" Luke thought to himself. This was bugging him too much but couldn't figure out any answers.
"AND HERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS! LUCIA SILVERWIND FROM PERGRANDE VS. ERZA SCARLET FROM FIORE!" Chapati yelled. "THIS IS THE FIRST MATCH OF ISHGAR'S STRONGEST!" The crowd roared in excitement. Two powerful ladies starting off the tournament? Who could ask for anything better!?
"Your 15 minute timer begins now! Let the battle start!" Chapati yelled.
Erza was the first one to start. Gray had told her his experience against Lucia and kept it in mind when approaching her. Erza started off simple, summoning two sharp blades and sprinted forward to close the gap. When she got close, she swung her two swords at Lucia, who blocked with her own blade. The sheathe of the blade, that is. "…"
"I've heard stories about you." Lucia said calmly, swaying her body to the side to avoid a sudden gut kick. She returned the favor, jabbing her sheathe blade into Erza's armored chest. Even with armor on that blow was still capable of sending Titania backwards a few steps. "A powerful swordswoman within Fiore's strongest guild. A jack of all trades in the world of weaponry. Truthfully, I was disappointed when I fought Gray, for he couldn't even land a clean blow on me. But you? My sword arm aches to clash with you."
"Then why don't you unsheathe that blade?" Erza responded on a dime, a heavenly glow appearing around her body as she switched to her Flame Empress armor, the fiery blade at her command. Erza swung the flaming sword from a distance, sending waves of flame at Lucia, which she was capable of dodging with some nimble flips.
"Simple." Lucia elegantly replied, landing on the ground with a confident grin. "Because I am also confident that I can defeat you without drawing Excalibur." That statement and Lucia simply reeked of arrogance. Her statement was loud enough so the whole world watching could hear her.
"There she goes…" Mii sighed.
"How arrogant." Erza stated calmly. "Do you think of yourself so highly you can defeat me without your weapon? I'll show you how badly you are mistaken!" Erza flew forward, aiming a blazing slash at Lucia's chest, but when she went to swing the weapon, she noticed that…it had been stolen from her. Erza slid to a halt, eyes wide in surprise and the rest of the crowd was also in shock. Not only did Erza lose her sword, but the corresponding Requip had faded as well. "Wh-!?"
Lucia stood with Erza's fiery sword in hand. The flames were far more intense than what Erza was capable of bringing forth. "You may be a jack of all trades, but there's something you must understand about me. I am a master of all." Assuming her combat stance, it was very clear that Erza's own sword was about to be used against her. Even more so, that the blade was far stronger in Lucia's hands than it was in her own. This battle was just getting started.
.
.
Next Time: Master of All.