The situation in Celesta Forest was growing tense. The Manitcore was a creature that grew larger and stronger for every hit it sustained. The beast was now as large as a dragon, a large orb of flame within its mouth as it planned to raze the entire forest and everything in it! Not only that, but Count Waltz himself upped the ante with a new stipulation to events, balancing the scoring so the event would be worth the same as the highest fight for the same day. So for today, this event was worth 20 points!

"How uh…do we stop it…?" Strong asked worriedly. It looked like they all were about to get seriously injured or even worse.

"Heh…" Elly's purple eyes glimmered as this chance presented itself. "Loke! Keele! It's time to get to work!"

"Don't boss me around!" Keele shouted angrily, but he was more than happy to get ready to fight.

Loke begrudgingly followed Elly's commands. He had no say in the matter and it was his job to protect his current master, feelings aside. "Right…" Loke nodded as light began to shine around his fist. Taking to the air, the leader of the Zodiac Spirit swung his fist towards the Manitcore's face! "Regulas Impact!" An explosion of light erupted the instant Loke made contact and the Manitcore reacted violently, staggering backwards as the orb it was charging dispersed. After being hit with the light based attack, its large size rapidly shrunk!

"Now, while it's staggered!" Elly commanded.

"What did I just say!?" Keele snarled while leaping forward, his right arm shifting into its Dragon-Ape state. "Engine: Ignite!" His arm vibrated and ignited with fierce flames, which he slammed against the Manitcore's midsection as it staggered, sending it through a few trees that toppled over!

"It's weak to light!?" Spark gasped. This information would have been useful.

"How do we take advantage of this?" Magnus questioned. That's when Lore pulled him into the bushes nearby. "Hm?"

"We do nothing." Lore said. "This is a hunt. We are not scored on how well we preform, but for landing the finishing blow. My Animal Control magic won't work if the beast is too agitated…so we will lie in wait for the perfect chance to finish it off."

"So we're stealing the kill. Very well, that is for the best." Magnus nodded in agreement. With how hectic things were about to become, it was best they took advantage of the chaos and struck with the opportunity was best for them.

The Manitcore recovered, shaking its head as it was now half of its former size, but it was still rather large. The beast snarled as it welcomed the challenge of so many people attempting to bring it down. Rondo sprinted with Retto at her side. "Follow my lead! We'll kill it here!" As one would expect, they wouldn't be allowed to do this so easily, for Strong swung his club down, creating a shockwave that knocked the two mages of Joya down. "Oof!"

"Ouch!" Retto grunted as he hit the ground.

"Sorry, can't let ya do that!" Strong grinned as he then approached the Manitcore, who started clawing at him. It was still bigger than he was, so he was dealing with it the only way he knew how: recklessly, swinging his weapon at its claws to parry its strike. Just as Strong saw an opening, he was struck by Tyson, who made it a point to send Strong as far away as possible. "Ouch!"

"Hah! Step aside! This is Chimera Kingdom's kill!" Tyson said while crackling his knuckles, his Beast Aura taking the shape of a large ape. It didn't matter how many people were here, Tyson planned to take them all on and win. As long as he and Felix kept their core plan together, they had no chance of losing, he believed.

Elly's body began to shine a bright white light as she approached Tyson. "Star Dress: Leo!" She exclaimed, catching everyone's attention as she donned the Star Dress that was very similar to Lucy's own; a black and yellow dress with a slit that exposed her leg, heels, and her hair was tied in a bun. But there was one extra addition to her version of this Star Dress: a blade composed of light! "Celestial Blade!" She swung at Tyson, slicing off the left arm of his Beast Aura with a confident smirk.

Tyson grinned and grimaced at the same time, swinging his free arm at Elly to bat her away, a resounding BOOM echoing through the forest due to how strong the impact was. "You're welcome to challenge me, but you'll lose!"


"What!?" Lucy's eyes widened as Elly made use of Loke's Star Dress. "Not only did she steal Loke, but she can use his abilities too!"

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lucia said with a smarmy grin. "While Celestial Spirit mages are far and few in between, Elly is a special case; she can weaponized her celestial spirit magic, unlike you. Perhaps the strongest Celestial Wizard in all of Ishgar. She can make far better use of Leo and his talents than you ever could."

"Tch…!" Lucy clenched her hand into a fist. Being talked down to like this.

"What are Sting and Minerva doing? They better hurry up." Reve scoffed.


The Manitcore exhaled a strong breath of flame that caused everyone to leap away cautiously. Retto use the flames to his advantage, allowing them to wrap around his sword as he used the power of the sunlight to his advantage. "To tear the heavens' Asunder!" The flames around his sword turned into light, taking advantage of the Manitcore's weakness. "SKY DIVIDER!" The young knight slid to a halt in front of the beast, swinging his sword upwards with enough force to rip the sky asunder! An explosion of light occurred as the Manitcore roared and staggered backwards. "Rondo!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" The pink haired knight screamed as she drew her bladed lances. "Fer De Lance!" She moved into strike the beast with her weapons, but found herself on the defensive as a fist struck her, causing her to fly back. "Oomph! Who the hell!?"

"Can't believe ya tried to get this party started without us!" Ken said while punching the air a few times, his raw power causing numerous bursts to occur in front of him.

"So, this is the beast?" G looked over to the snarling Manitcore. "I'll take care of it, then." He slowly began walking towards the snarling beast.

"Like hell you will!" Rondo swung her lances at G, but he brought up his armored gauntlet to block the two weapons with one hand, neither budging an inch. "What the hell!? I guess that stature of yours isn't for show!"

"This is getting too crowded now!" Elly grit her teeth before motioning for Loke to take her hand. "Come now, we have a job to do! Keele, close your eyes!"

"Tch…" Loke grit his teeth before taking Elly's hand, light magic beginning to shroud around the two of them.

"LION'S RADIANCE!" A blinding light exploded from around the two of them, briefly robbing the sight of everyone who happened to glance in their direction. Most everyone in the area was blinded and had to recoil for a brief moment.

"Gah! So bright!" Strong said while holding his eyes closed.

Makarov and Eileen arrived on the scene, but they were only watching. They refused to play the game that Prometheus laid out for them. They weren't going to be a part of his twisted machinations no matter how badly he twisted their arms. "…"

"Now then…" Elly dusted herself off. "Let's end this, Keele."

"Finally." Keele rotated his shoulder. He was about to attack when he was suddenly pounced on by Felix! "Gah!? Get off me you bastard!"

"Not a chance!" Felix snarled while retaining his Panthera form. He was giving Keele a bit of a hard time and refused to let up on him, much to the Hybrid's annoyance. The two were tumbling down a hill, taking them farther away from their main objective!

"Shit!" Keele cursed before a bright glow surrounded his body. He was tired of this and his entire body shifted into his Dragon-Ape state. This was the first time he was using the form for all to see and it was just as large as one may expect. Keele's build increased by a few feet, dragon scales covered his body, and he had the strength of an ape and a dragon all rolled into one. "If you wanna fight, I'll take you down!"

"Keele, no! We don't have time for this!" Elly cursed under her breath. The whole point of this event was teamwork and the two of them were extremely derailed. "I can't help your sister if you won't listen to me!"

"…!" That caught Keele's attention. Unfortunately for him, Felix lunged once again, meaning that Keele had no choice but to deal with the successor of Chimeria Kingdom before anything else.

Strong then used this chance to empower his club with Spark's magic, swinging at the Manitcore for a strong blow to the head! He thought it would render the beast unconscious, but it did the opposite and only enraged it, causing it to grow larger again! "Uh oh…"

At that moment, Sting finally arrived from overhead. He didn't understand the situation but assumed the towering beast was their target. "Right here, Milady! White Dragon's Holy Ray!" Arriving onto the scene with style, Sting pelted the Manitcore with a series of light rays, causing it to growl and swing, knocking him out of the air with its tail. "Oof!"

Minerva then used her magic to ensure Sting landed safely. "Sorry we're late. But we're here to clean up." She then swiped her hand forward, releasing numerous spikes of territory towards the Manitcore.

"Wait, don't do that!" Retto exclaimed. But it was too late. For every spike that struck the beast, its passive Frenzy activated, causing it to grow larger until it towered over the entire forest. "AH!"

"… A warning would've been nice." Minerva sucked her teeth.

"WHOA!" Sting's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Ken was busy dueling with Tyson. Even though Tyson had the size and strength advantage due to his Beast Aura, Ken was quick on his feet, deftly evading each strike thrown at him, countering with his own punches. This was a rush that Ken hadn't felt in a while! "Sure don't come across someone of your caliber every day. Would love to fight ya in the ring some day!" The Spriggan grinned.

"You're not on my list, small fry!" Tyson shouted. There was only one man Tyson wanted to defeat before anyone else – and for that reason, he wouldn't suffer a loss to anyone else.

"This is getting a little too chaotic for my taste." G admitted while staring up at the beast. The large man lifted his hand and clenched it into a fist, causing a powerful eruption of raw magic that decimated their area of Celestia Forest, leaving a large crater. "I hope that cleared out the bugs a bit."

Strong and Spark were knocked unconscious from that attack. Strong took the most of it in an attempt to defend Spark from the explosion. "…"

"Strong…!" Spark's eyes widened as he tried to shake Strong awake. "Come on! Wake up! I can't do this without you!" It was no good. Strong took too much damage all for his sake, and while Spark was thankful for it, he couldn't bear to see one of his friends in this state because of him.

"That was too close…" Lore and Magnus barely escaped from that attack. Luckily for them they were still keeping a safe distance, still waiting for the perfect chance to finish the Manitcore.

"Damn…" Elly rubbed her head. "Loke?"

"I'm still here… " Loke groaned. "That's a new Spriggan? His magic power is way stronger than some of the one's we fought." He then noticed that Elly's dress was a bit frayed and it exposed….something that even he couldn't help but stare at. "If you mind moving a little to the right…" And he was promptly smacked. Fair.

"Gate of the Virus, I open thee!" Elly pulled out a silver key and pointed it forward. The Virus was unnamed, but a black and red blob appeared from the golden light.

"…" That thing gave Lucy a creepily odd familiar feeling.

Keele and Felix weren't out of range either, but they were mostly okay aside from the damage they sustained, Tyson's Beast Aura protected him from a majority of the attack and he was probably the man who was least injured out of everyone. Minerva used a barrier to protect herself and Sting, but the barrier could only withstand so much before it shattered, and Rondo and Retto were worse for wear after that attack. "Ah…that man is strong…" Retto grit his teeth as he stood up.

The Manitcore was also struck by the attack, but due to G's magic, despite focusing its mailicous intent on him it just…couldn't attack him. G acknowledged this and looked towards Retto. "Do you think you can match my level of power and defeat me?"

Retto, being the confident knight he was, simply nodded and began to charge towards G. "Of course I can!" Answering that question was his mistake. He took a few steps forward before his legs stopped. "Huh!?" When he looked down, he realized that he was turning to stone. "W-What…?!"

"So that's the truth." G said simply. While he didn't reveal his magic, the crux of it was that anyone who lied to him was turned to stone. "Worry not, when this is over, you'll be back to normal."

"W-Wait…!" Retto tried to stop his petrification, but it was too late. He was a stone statue.

"Son of a…" Rondo's eyes widened. This completely screwed her out of the event! "Hey! Turn him back right now!"

"If you can defeat me, it'll go away. But I'm not here to fight you." G said, turning away from Rondo, which only pissed her off more. In a matter of a few seconds, G managed to completely eliminate Seven and Joya from this competition.

"Oh no…! Retto…!" Polka gasped, her hands over her mouth in horror.

"This man…is a threat…!" Makarov thought to himself. He couldn't foresee anyone from Fiore's team being able to take on this monster of a man!

"Where did Em find this one, I wonder?" Eileen thought. She was impressed with her friend's natural ability to seek out such talent.

"Only six teams are left…" Minerva stood up and brushed the dust and debris off her body. She couldn't see Midi or Bosco's teams, so it was only just Fiore, Pergrande, Minstrel, and Alavarez battling the Manitcore.

Elly sprang forward, spreading her arms apart as she focused on the Manitcore. "Celestial Bombardment!" Numerous bullets of light magic pelted the Manitcore to reduce it back to its normal size. Despite all the damage it had sustained, it was still going strong, much to everyone's surprise. "What is this thing made of-!?" And before Elly could finish her sentence, the Manitcore lunged it, flames erupting around its fangs as it sunk its teeth into her arm, causing her to cry out. "Ahhh!"

"Elly…!" Loke's protective instincts kicked in. It must have been the blonde hair, because for a moment, Loke saw Lucy in danger. Without thinking he swung his fist at the Manitcore's jaw. "Regulas Impact!" The impact forced the Manitcore to release Elly from its grip and retreat backwards.

"Ow…so you do care…" Elly managed a smile as blood dripped from her arm. The limb was nearly useless due to the Manitcore's biting strength. "Thank you. Truly." Now, the unnamed Virus made its move, attaching itself to the Manitcore to suck its life force dry! The Manitcore roared as it was unable to shake it from its body.

"Ah…you're welcome…" Loke replied pensively.

Tyson whipped his large arm down to crush Ken, who narrowly managed to avoid it. As soon as Ken landed, he jumped into the air, rearing his fist back to slam it into Tyson's face! The Beast Aura made a good armor to defend against strong attacks, so Tyson was able to withstand the hit easily and fired back, knocking Ken down to the ground, but he Spriggan recovered easily.

"Sting. We must end this farce." Minerva told her guild master.

"On it!" Sting nodded in agreement, a white aura flaring around his body. "White Drive!" He then took aim at the Manitcore while inhaling. "White Dragon's Holy Breath!" An even stronger variation of his standard Roar. A brilliant white beam of light shot towards the Manitcore, consuming it completely, but it wasn't Sting's only target! He sought to take out G and Elly in the process and eliminate the two biggest threats.

"Hmph." G held his hand out, Sting's roar spreading out in all directions from his palm once it struck. G didn't budge from his spot and unintentionally protected Elly from the attack. "Do you think your level of power is sufficient enough to stop me?"

"Of course I ca-!" Just as Sting answered, he started to suffer the same fate as Retto." What the…!?"

"STING-KUN!" Lector cried out with tears welling in his eyes.

"Don't answer his question!" Minerva shouted but it was far too late. She was starting to catch on that G had some ability to turn people to stone based on how they talked. It was too late for Sting as he started to turn to stone helplessly, but Minerva could still get some use out of him. "You'll forgive me for this, won't you?" An orb of territory wrapped around Sting's now stone body and caused it to vanish. She then made Sting reappear in the sky, his stone body crashing down onto the Manitcore's body, crushing its head into the dirt.

"Did she just use Sting's stone body as a weapon?!" Luke's eyes were wide.

"If she can defeat the Manitcore with her next attack, it would count as a victory." Count Waltz said. This was a strange technically, but it played out in Fiore's favor if all went well.

"It's time I put an end to this!" Minerva held her arms apart, her magic power spiking as an stature composed of territory magic appeared before everyone, taking the shape of one of the 13 War Gods. "Yagdo Rigora!" With a swipe of arms, the statute shone brightly before exploding on itself, its sheer power only adding to the destruction that G's attack caused earlier. There was no escaping the sheer might of this attack. It did cost a large amount of magic, but Minerva here to make the point that Fiore was not going to be as pushed around as everyone thought. As the smoke cleared, she saw blazing red eyes peering into her soul. "It couldn't have possibly survived that…?" Even with Elly's Virus draining it slowly, it had yet to fall. That's when the Manitcore charged forward, its body cloaked in flames. Before Minerva had the chance to counter, it slammed into her at full force, sending her through a tree. "Ngh…"

"Haha! I almost felt that one!" Tyson laughed at Minerva's attack. It tore up his Beast Aura, but just as before, it weathered just enough to leave him minimally damaged. "Felix!"

"Busy!" Felix grunted as he found himself on the defensive of Keele's attacks. Every single punch Keele threw uprooted and destroyed the ground, leaving Felix in a predicament where he couldn't even get close without putting himself at risk!

The Manitcore was only panting softly. Its body was covered in burns, bruises, cuts, you name it. This creature had withstood incredible punishment from the mages that were combating it and it still had the energy to keep fighting. It was a truly fearsome beast and the fact Count Waltz wanted them to take it down seemed a little asinine now. Since Minerva was down, it made its way over to her, preparing to finish her off before anything else! No one intended to stop it and Minerva grit her teeth as she prepared an attack in retaliation. But to her surprise, a gigantic fist crushed the Manitcore's back. "Huh!?" When she turned around, she saw that Makarov had attacked it to buy her time to recover. "What the..?" Never look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. Minerva stood up and hurried out of the Manitcore's range.

"What's it gonna take to bring this big boy down, I wonder?" Ken asked while rotating his shoulder. He was referring to both the Manitcore and Tyson, the two biggest threats in his eyes.

The Manitcore turned to face the mages in front of its, licking its lips with what could be viewed as a predatory grin. It slowly approached before something lunged from the bushes, catching everyone's attention. "Animal Magic: Locust Swarm!" Lore exclaimed from seemingly nowhere, but everywhere. In what looked like an instant, swarms of locust filled the area, flying around in everyone's face to obscure their view.

"Ew! Bugs…!" Elly screamed while swinging her celestial blade wildly.

"What's all this?" G looked around. These bugs had no malicious intent, they were just…I the way!

"Hey! I can't see!" Keele grunted.

"NOW!" Lore shouted.

Magnus lunged from the bushes, sliding under the Manitcore while extending his arm up. "Ice Sword III!" A large blade of ice shot forth from his hand, stabbing into the Manitcore's stomach. Its icy properties started to freeze the beast from within, combating the natural heat of its body. This was only to keep the beast in place and he refused to let go of his position.

Lore the rushed forward in his wolf form, slipping past everyone as his claws extended. "NIGHT SLASH!" Like a hunter in the night, he took advantage of this prime opportunity and went straight for the jugular, literally. He slashed at the Manitcore's neck before biting down on it fiercely, keeping an ironclad grip with his fangs. The Manitcore roared and attempted to shake the two Cosmic Star Mages off of it, but it just…couldn't. It was a beast and it would fall like one to the coordination of these two mages.

"W-Wait a damn second, what was that!?" Rondo asked.

"Amateurs, the lot of you." Lore said while returning to his human form, a confident smirk plastered on his lips as the Manitcore finally fell. "You never understood the objective of his event. It wasn't just about teamwork; it was about taking the creature down as swiftly as possible in the style of a hunt. You're all rather poor hunters, which is exactly why the beast was allowed to fight as long as it did. But I can't blame you for not being an expert in beasts like myself."

"Well well!" Count Waltz said. "In a surprising turn of events, Bosco has stolen the victory! They are the winners of the Monster Hunt event and have earned 20 points!"

"THAT'S MY BOYS!" Gaia exclaimed.

'Nice. We're on the board." Edna held a lazy smile.

"Hmph." G shrugged his shoulders. As he promised, he undid the stone curse on Sting and Retto, the two of them staggering once they were freed. "A failure. Her Majesty may not be happy with this."

"Ugh…" Retto shook his head in agony. "What happened…?"

"Damn it…" Keele sucked his teeth in anger as he returned to normal. Losing one already one thing he couldn't stand, but with his situation, that just made the sting of defeat burn that much more.

"I'm gonna have to wrap this…" Elly sighed while returning Loke and the unnamed Virus to the Spirit World. Her arm was probably broken, unfortunately. "But this was a learning experience. I won't make the same mistakes a second time."

"Agh…" Strong finally regained consciousness.

"Ah, Strong! You're awake!" Spark was so relieved. "I hate to tell you, but we lost…"

"Damn it all!" Tyson stomped the ground in frustration. This was supposed to be Minstrel's victory!

"Sorry, Milday…I really dropped the ball there…" Sting sighed.

"And there it is folks! That concludes day 2 of the Ishgar's Strongest tournament! Today had a number of twists and turns! Tomorrow will likely be even more intense as we reach the halfway point of the tournament! I'm your host, Chapati Lola, signing off for the day, and we'll see you all tomorrow!"

Scoreboard:

Pergrande: 25

Fiore: 20

Alvarez: 20

Bosco: 20

Seven: 10

Midi: 10

Joya: 10

Minstrel: 10

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Next Time: The End of Day 2.