Cross Country Circuit was rapidly nearing its conclusion. All competitors were stuck in the middle of the Glissando Cliffs, all of them in their own tough situations. Whoever broke through to the 4th checkpoint of Mt. Rock would no doubt carry that momentum to the very end. Alvarez had the distinct advantage the moment with Dimaria being their anchor. But that wasn't even a problem to focus on now, since those in the 3rd stage had their own set of issues to deal with. For Blair, Raku, and Zero, they were ensnared within a thorn prison of Strong's doing.

The thorny prison was also suspended over a cliff. It was a tactical move on Strong's part, endangering strong wizards knowing he would slow them down at best. This of course didn't stop them, because the three inside intended to tear their way through no matter what. Blair was the most aggravated of the three. "Too many damn obstacles! Get the hell out of my way!" She reared her bandaged left arm back, allowing that demonic claw to emerge, and in a single swiping motion sliced through the thorny prison. But as soon as she did that, the thorns fell apart and their position soon sifted to a free fall. "Huh!?"

"Whoa!" Raku's eyes were wide as they were falling.

Zero, however, was not swayed by this. This was actually a favorable situation for the Spriggan. Wings of darkness appeared on his back as soon he realized what happened. "What does darkness mean to me…?" Those words repeated in his head. Words from Emeraude about his powers. A simple question but it held a lot of meaning in this man's mind, serving as motivation for his loyalty to the Empress. This motivation carried him forward towards Mt. Rock, bypassing the troubles of Marx along the path by simply taking a different route.

"Thanks for the help! See you for dinner later?" Raku winked before vanishing in the form of a lightning bolt. He had to get back on track, and Zero was flying so fast he was already gone. So he had to make up for the lost time in his own way.

"That's not fair!" Blair shouted because she couldn't fly. She had to focus on herself before her rivals, digging her claw into the nearby cliff side so slow her descend. She grit her teeth, her momentum slowly coming to a halt after a few seconds, but that was time wasted. "Damn it…" She had to think of something…and she had an idea. Even if there were a few airborne contestants, she could still slow others down. Her demonic claw began to glow in a fierce black and red aura, soon releasing a gigantic blast of her curse that caused the cliff side to crumble. The intensity of this explosion did send Blair flying, but that was her plan. She ended up landing a several meters away and it was a bit rough since she landed on her right shoulder and dislocated it. "Tch…" Standing up, she walked along, slamming said shoulder into a nearby rock to force it back into place. She was closer to Mt. Rock than before, but she didn't even know if she beat anyone else there. So she had to pick up the pace.


Marx's fit of rage led to him splitting his body open, turning into a gigantic black hole that threatened to swallow Reve, Magnus, and Strong within. Where did this lead? Absolutely none of them planned to find out. Strong and Magnus were rapidly losing ground since they were the closest to the Wizard hunter, while Reve was getting pulled in himself even from a distance. Which is why he needed to take a shot for his own sake, even if it was inadvertently helping his rivals. A single shot was fired from his pistol at Marx, but as one might expect, it was drawn into the black hole. "Tch…"

"Apparently he can't inhale forever!" Strong exclaimed. "All the stuff he's pulling in has to go somewhere, and it hurts him too!" This was him relaying information based on Diamond's experience in this exact scenario.

"Of course! He's likely decomposing material and ethernano within his body as it's absorbed! But an overflow would make him cease!" Magnus understood.

"An overflow? Heh…" Reve smirked as he spread his arms apart, calling upon the power of Devil's Wheel. Numerous guns appeared in the sky above Marx reach, pointed down at not only him, but Strong and Magnus too. Just because they were all in the same predicament didn't mean he wasn't going to try and take them out too. "Devil's Wheel!" On that command, the guns began to open fire on all of Reve's rivals. Nearly all of the bullets were pulled into Marx's black hole, but just as Magnus surmised, there was only so much he could take at a time!

"GRAAH!" The youngest Wizard Hunter let out a demonic screen as he had to force himself back together, the number of bullets too much for him to inhale. The onslaught made him revert back to normal, which led to a bullet hail to rain down on him, Magnus, and Strong now that they had free reign over the skies.

"Hey!? What the hell!?" Strong grunted while swinging his club at the incoming bullets.

"Did you forget this is a race?" Reve gave an arrogant chuckle while using this time to sprint past the three dealing with his bullets. Devil's Wheel was a continuous onslaught he could keep up for a while; all he had to do was pass the baton over to Zelos, and he was then free to hold back three teams by himself. Naturally Reve thought he was the best person fit to hold back about half the teams like this. But before he got too far, the cliff side exploded suddenly, from Blair's attack earlier. Reve was able to react to this, but the process did annoy him somewhat as he had to leap from rock to rock.

"Gh…!" Strong was wobbly, but the opening the explosion granted him wouldn't go to waste. Numerous vines emerged from the rising rubble and he used this to take out the guns Reve created. "Finally, something good happening for once!" Marx and Magnus used this time to go off ahead while Strong was busy gloating. They could hardly afford to slow each other down now with so many people up ahead. It was a mutual agreement to not mess with one another, lest they be put behind even further.


Zero was the first one to reach Oriana at Mt. Rock. He handed her the baton and just gave her a firm stance. "Her Majesty is counting on us."

"I know that." Oriana said while swiping the baton from Zero. "And I do not intend to disappoint her. I've placed a rather high amount of trust in such an intriguing human. Naturally I want to see and be a part of her grand vision." The woman snickered before she calmly made her way around the mountain. There was no need to go inside, that was simply bait. Sure it was a straight shot to the border, but this was the wiser move and she had to make haste in passing the baton to Dimaria. Once they did that, it would be over.

"Gaaaaah…" Zelos was panicking a bit. No sign of Reve and Alvarez was still keeping a steady lead! "This is why I can hardly rely on dudes! They're always late like other people don't have more important things to be doing!"

"I know, right?" Yukia walked past Zelos. "And no hard feelings, but…" She kicked him in the shin, causing him to hop in place. "Gotta slow you down. You're all over the place lately, you know?" She teased while keeping on the lookout for Marx. "I thought he'd be the first one."

"That's really rude, Yukia-chan!" Zelos whined. He also chose to ignore the comment about him being all over the place. "This time I have to do something for my team. Which is why it pains me deeply to do this, but…"

"Huh?" Yukia blinked at Zelos. "What? We all know you can't hit a girl to save your life, so what's your plan, hot shot~?" The fire twin teased. And that's when she felt the ground under her feet suddenly give way. "GAAAH!" She yelped, grasping onto what she could, preventing herself from falling too far. "H-Hey! Wait a second…!?" This completely caught her off guard.

Zelos winked at Yukia while standing over the pit he created with his magic. "You'd be surprised how effective it is when two scary women come at your life. I owe Erza-chan and Kagura-chan a great deal for helping me overcome my only weakness!" Just as he said that, he could see Fiore's baton coming at him at high speeds; Reve likely shooting it out of a gun to speed up the process, and Zelos caught it. "See you at the finish line~" His yellow angelic wings spread out, and he flew into the air! He was going to go right over the mountain!

"Hey! That's not even fair!" Yukia grumbled while trying to pull herself up. Zelos really did that to her!? She was…actually impressed. But her feelings of anger at being a target overshadowed those other feelings. "Shade is soooooo gonna get you back for that!"

"Can't hear you, Yukia-chaaaaan!" Zelos said with a wry grin Little did he know that his shadow was actually his most dangerous enemy at the moment. As he flew over the mountain, there was a red gleam in his shadow that snickered deviously. It waited until he was at the apex of the mountain to strike.

Shade emerged from Zelos' shadow, right in front of him. "Thanksssss for the lift!" Shade then opened his mouth, releasing a high pitched sonic scream in front of Zelos.

"WHAT!?" Zelos was completely flabbergasted by Shade's sudden appearance. Even more so when he saw the baton of Pergrande in his hand. Blair got there faster than anyone expected and now Zelos was paying that price. The high pitched burst of sound caused him to fall from the sky, ears ringing in pain. "My beautiful ears!"

"Tragic indeed…" Shade chuckled while flying over the other side of the mountain. Zelos made a good ride, but he could finish the rest of the trip himself.

As Zelos fell, the other contestants were starting to catch up. Magnus passed the baton over to Nasir, who zoomed ahead. He was the master of winds and though flight itself escaped him, he could use the wind to glide ahead as though he were flying. "This competition is getting rather cutthroat…" The dragon thought to himself. People were getting to the point where they'd do anything to get ahead, which was a frightening thought. "I hope that woman's magic will be enough to defy time…otherwise this event will be lost if we cannot outpace Alvarez."

Down below, Strong handed the baton over to Daigo and grinned. "We've got our own ace in the hole too, right!?" Strong told his companion.

"That's right." Daigo gave a firm nod and took the baton from Strong. After that he turned around and pulled out a card with a large heart on it. This was one of the space cards that Heartless created, which allowed those who used them to teleport across great distances, or from other confines of space. With this, Daigo had the means to skip this section of the race entirely and give Seven a much needed advantage. Placing the card in front of him, a 'door' opened up, leading to the checkpoint near where Jack was waiting. "And with this…we'll gain the advantage…" All Daigo had to do was step through the portal and walk a few steps to hand Jack the baton.

Yukia was slowly pulling herself up from the hole Zelos trapped her in. Thankfully for her, Marx was able to assist by using his own vines to pull her out. "Thanks…!"

"No time!" Marx was staying within his area, but he could help from afar. After forcing the baton into Yukia's hand, he then used his vines to toss Yukia towards Daigo! "Go Yukia! I slowed down but it's up to you!"

"WAAAH!" Yukia had no idea what was going on. But before she knew it, she slammed into Daigo, and the two of them were flung into the portal! They 'passed' through Mt. Rock, landing at the other side of the cave's entrance.

Strong could only watch as the portal closed. "…Oh crap."

The last mage unaccounted for was from Minstrel. Minstrel's fourth was Amadio, though he was exceptionally proficient at keeping himself out of the limelight. Much like Oriana had done, he went around the mountain, but opposite to the way the Spriggan took. "The competition grows fierce…" But the S-class of Red Falcon had a plan…it all depended on how quickly he could get to the last checkpoint…


"This race is heating up!" Chapati exclaimed. "All 7 teams have at least reached the fourth checkpoint with the last one rapidly approaching! It's still anyone's game!"

"This is too close for my liking…" Sting was just more nervous than anything else. Luke had yet to move and they were kind of depending on him as their anchor.

"He better wake up! Or I'll make sure he doesn't ever again." Minerva was growling a bit. She was very unpleased with the current state of affairs.

"At the very least, I'm sure the other teams plan to do something about Alvarez…" Erza surmised. It was bad for everyone involved if Dimaria went off scott free. It felt odd banking on your rivals to do some of the work for you…but considering how this race was playing out, everything was on the table. This high scoring event was pivotal to every team.

"Relying on Zelos isn't exactly what I was hoping for…" Kagura watched with a sweat drop as Shade knocked Zelos out of the sky, slowing him down. Having to watch numerous tactics be employed in such a ruthless manner was nerve wracking. They had no idea what Count Waltz was planning after this event, but that didn't take away from the fact that the winner of this event would gain some serious momentum going into the next plan.

"We've almost won." Emeraude said confidently.

"Don't get so ahead of yourself." David scoffed at Emeraude's words. "Minstrel knows how to make a comeback. Specifically Red Falcon."

"I suppose you should be used to that considering how behind you always are." Medusa shrugged, ironically stealing the words right from Emeraude's mouth.

"Can't we go a day…?" Felix was so over this bitter rivalry every guild in Minstrel had, especially when there was a much bigger picture in front of them.

"Don't count out Bosco!" Gaia said. "We save the best for very last!"

"Seven's obviously going to win!" Ace was taking charge of the trash talk; he loved this part of competition. Riling up rivals and backing up his words!? It was perfect for someone as carefree and competitive as him. "We've got the best of the best in Ishgar. There's nothing these guys can't do when they put their heads together!"

"Your best can't keep up with Pergrande's worst." Ashnard was fueling the competitive fire, finding a lot of entertainment in this continuous back and forth. This was incredibly amusing. "This goes to all of you. Especially Fiore and Alvarez."

"I agree, Your Majesty." Lucia looked towards Erza with a knowing smile, only further taunting and infuriating the woman she robbed of her own guild mark. "They're hardly worth the effort…"

"I cannot wait to rip that smug smile off of your face…" Emeraude tapped her foot. Ashnard irritated almost as much as Lucy did simply for existing. It showed on her face and she had no intentions of hiding her disgust either.

"Hah…" Waltz just snickered at all this competitiveness. This was what Ishgar's Strongest was about after all, and the fact the event he organized was going so well was perfect. Sure, there were a few bumps in the road here and there…but everything was going according to plan.


"It's almost time…" Dimaria was waiting for Oriana to appear. The moment she did, she could use her magic. The reason she hadn't been doing it as much to get rid of all her rivals is due to the fact it simply wasn't as strong after a year of not being used seriously. She was keeping an eye on Luke, the only visible threat to her when time stopped just in case he began to move again. Everyone else was a nonissue as far as she was concerned. A few seconds passed and a black/purple filled the air around her. This put her on high alert and she drew her sword once more, glancing around.

The air was tense and silence for a few seconds until Aki lunged forward, swinging his fist towards Dimaria. She was easily able to block this strike with the flat side of her sword, but she was still sent skidding backwards a few inches. Aki gave a slight chuckle. "I didn't expect you to react to that so quickly…so I guess Spriggan aren't just all talk these days." He did play a hand in defeating God Serena a few days ago after all.

"God Serena is hardly an accomplishment worth boasting about." Dimaria said while narrowing her eyes. It was hard to make out anything from the mist lingering around her, but she did recall Aki's powers from that fight. "If you're aim is to intimidate me, you'll be sad to know that I don't fear anything." Was that a bluff? Aki didn't need to know that.

"Is that so?" Aki bared his fangs. Right now, the only thing he needed to focus on was Dimaria. He knew full well he was up against someone who stopped time at will…yet despite that knowledge, he was grinning. "That's good to know. If you don't have any nightmares plaguing you, then congratulations…you've just found one."

"You think you scare me?!" Dimaria barked, feeling her old murderous intent popping back up. She could tell this was real, because she'd much rather be playing with a girl right now rather than get ready to duke it out with a man.

"I will." Aki's magic aura started to flare around him, his grin widening, filled with malicious intent. "Dimaria Yesta…I'm your new worst nightmare."

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Next Time: The Final Stretch.