Pergrande: 130

Active: Keele, Aki, Blair, Mii, Lucia, Shade, Cloud, Elly, X, Rajaron.

Alvarez: 125

Active: Brandish, Jacob, Oriana, Julius, Alice, Ken, G, Zero, Little Queen, Ragen.

Fiore: 115

Active: Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Jellal, Sting, Minerva, Kagura, Luke, Reve, Bacchus.

Seven: 115

Active: Ace, Tia, Jack, Heartless, Joker, Spade, Spark, Daigo, Strong, Diamond.

Joya: 105

Active: Allegretto, Polka, Beat, Rondo, Tuba, Jazz, Yeager, Marx.

Bosco: 90

Active: Gaia, Edna, Nasir, Verona, Alex, Daryan, Lore, Magnus, Hiruka, Yakuza.

Minstrel: 70

Active: Rob, Raku, Renae, Asbel, Medusa, Byrnhild, Tyson, Amadio, Felix, David.

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Brandish was sitting alone in Crown City, one leg crossed over the other as she…ate breakfast. Crown City was a ghost town. Since it was going to be the final battlefield when the ring closed fully, it made sense that not a lot of people were eager to start there. But this was perfect for Brandish. There was absolutely no chance of anyone bothering her while she dined on an early breakfast, cheeks puffed as she was clearly tired. "This sucks. First I get no sleep…then I have to wake up early…just to fight again? No thank you." The lazy Spriggan yawned, almost falling asleep right then and there. "Mmm…" Good thing she was unlikely to be bothered. Brandish tiredly placed her fork into her French toast, and put it towards her mouth when…

"MEGA MASH!" A large mace came for Brandish's head. She was so tired from her lack of sleep; she wasn't able to react in time and could only move at the last second. The mash slammed against her hand; creating a pretty bad wound while sending the fork she held flying off…with the last piece of her fresh toast. Brandish herself had been knocked over by the force of the sudden attack. Tuba was the assailant, grinning while standing over Brandish. "Haha! I knew someone would try and hide away here in Crown City, thinking they could escape from me! His Majesty demands I make up for my performance, so taking down one of Alvarez's own will boost my favor with him! Any last words?" Tuba stood on Brandish's other hand, while holding his mace over Brandish's head, grinning victoriously.

"…" Brandish didn't say anything at first. One could assume the blow knocked her out with how unresponsive she was being. But then, the wound on her hand began to shrink rapidly, and there was a terrible pressure that stunned Tuba into silence.

"Huh…!?" Tuba was taken aback by how Brandish's injury healed so fast. But he shook it off and intended to finish Brandish off, aiming to club the back of her head while she could. But just before his mace could make contact with her, it shrank and vanished due to how small it became. "W-What…!?"

"I'm already in a bad enough mood." Brandish said while pushing the large old man off of her, green eyes glaring daggers into him. "I didn't sleep well, I was hoping to catch up on a nap while I could…and you just stopped me from finishing my breakfast. I normally don't like putting in any effort, but I get very irritable when I haven't slept or eaten." Aka, the only two things she does when given a chance. Needless to say, she wasn't very happy.

"Cry me a river, little girl!" Tuba moved to kick Brandish in the stomach, but she stopped it with her hand. "Wh…!?"

"You may have pushed Rahkeid a little bit the other day…but he was a dead man walking." Brandish stood up, her grip tightening on Tuba's foot. "I don't enjoy putting work in anything I do, but I'll have to show you the difference between a Spriggan and a lowly solider like yourself."

Tuba wasn't going to be talked down to by a girl less than half his age. Even without his weapon, this solider to the Count was going to fight. He aimed a fist at Brandish's face, but his entire body shrunk before he got too far, now being squeezed within her tight grip. "W-What is this!? What are you!?"

"They call me the Nation Destroyer. Such a grandiose title since I hardly destroy things willingly…but you lost this encounter the moment you set your eyes on me." Brandish squeezed Tuba within her grip, before bringing her free hand up. She planned to deal with this annoyance in the most her way possible, with minimal effort. She flicked the tiny Tuba with her finger and released him at the same time. The amount of force she put into it was enough to send him flying through a building.

"GAAAH!" Because Tuba was so tiny, he didn't have any defense against this. He just slammed through a brick wall as a tiny man no bigger than a coin and suffered for it. It only took that much to defeat him.

"And just like that, Brandish defeats Tuba from Joya! This pushes Alvarez into the lead with Pergrande at 130 points!" Chapati exclaimed.

"I see I expected too much from one of my oldest soldiers. A shame…" Waltz's tone had immense disappointment. Tuba was teleported out of the field. Joya had lost three now while all the other team's remained active. Obviously he wasn't very happy about this…

"Hmph. That's for making me do work." Brandish dusted her hands off and then winced. While she was able to shrink her hand injury, that was no replacement for what she could only assume was a broken wrist. That pain still remained. "Great…" Now she was fully awake, tired, hungry, and annoyed. She opened the door into the building that Tuba crashed into, noticing an empty bed. "This works." She closed the door and collapsed onto the bed, hoping to catch up on some sleep she lost.

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Reve had quite the predicament on his shoulders. Or rather, in his shadow. Shortly after Alice interrupted the fight between Lucia, Byrnhild, Erza, and Minerva, Shade reached his location. Though his sniping skills weren't needed at the moment, he was faced with an entirely different problem. As he moved from his perch on Mt. Rock, he could feel the presence of another nearby…closer than he expected. Red eyes peered out of his own shadow as Shade attempted to attack him with a claw strike, but he dodged it. "Is that it?" Reve had a pistol at the ready, firing at Shade the moment he missed…only for the bullet to just phase right through him. "…?"

"I bet you're wondering why your bullet went right through me…" Shade said with a smirk. His form was simply pitch black. "The ansssswer to that issss ssssssimple." He explained while hiding in Reve's shadow again, just to further mess with the gunslinger. "I am your sssssshadow. You cannot touch your ssssssshadow."

"You wanna bet?" Reve narrowed his eyes, firing a bullet at his own shadow. As one would expect, the bullet just struck the ground and had no effect. So unfortunately, Reve was unable to shoot his own shadow at all.

"I ressspect your bravado." Shade said with a mocking laugh. "But I'll be sssssticking with you for a while now. I hope you weren't planning to get any resssssset. I know you must be tired." The vampire hunter snickered.

"…" The most annoying part about this to Reve, wasn't that he couldn't hurt Shade, no. He'd find a way to do that. It was the fact that until he did, he had this unwelcome company and commentary sticking around until he did. "Tired of this." Reve responded, just deciding to walk off to find a more ample location.

"You don't have to hide it." Shade truly was sticking around in Reve's shadow. "There are a lot of wizardssss who feel tired after lasssst night. Not enough ssssleep? Or perhapssss bad dreamsssss?" He spoke with a knowing tone.

"What do you know?" Reve narrowed his eyes.

"Like I'd tell you." Shade scoffed and then decided to surprise Reve. Reve may have been unable to attack Shade, but the opposite wasn't true. Far from it. Shade released an ear piercing wave of sound to attack Reve from so close, causing the gunslinger to grit his teeth and cover his ears.

"Damn it…" Reve growled, attempting to move in some way to create more distance from his shadow. Unfortunately, with how the sun was positioned, his shadow was too close to him to make any meaningful distance.

Shade relented for the time being. He just wanted Reve to know the situation he was in. "Kehehe…you're at my mercy now, Reve Volver. Once you've exhausted yourself enough, I'll be claiming the reward for your defeat."

Despite the situation Reve was now in, he just gave Shade his usual smirk. "I figured that's the approach you'd take; it just tells me you know you couldn't beat me in a direct battle. But that's fine; I can beat you at your own game. You're not the only person that's been in my shadow…but know this. That's exactly where you're going to stay if you think you can outdo me."

"Kehehe…I like a challenge." Was all Shade had to say in response.

"Attention, everyone." That was King Ashnard speaking. "The barrier will begin closing now. Tick tock."

"That time already?" Reve looked onto into the distance. He could see the red barrier closing in around Joya, tightening the battlefield and making it smaller. Anyone caught in that would be out instant. But since he was nowhere near it, this didn't concern him. "Time to figure out how to get rid of you. You can't ride my coattails and expect to be great."

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Lucy eventually managed to pull herself out of the river. Luckily she was in her Aquarius Star Dress. Had she not been, she probably would've caught a cold…at least that's how she hoped it would work. For the time being she took a breather under the shade of a tree. "So the barrier is closing now, huh? Time's running out a lot faster than I expected…" Lucy did have a plan to fight Tia, but Yeager interrupted that. It did serve as a reminder that everyone was currently their rival. They had plans for a lot of competitors, but since survival was also an important aspect of this free for all, there were plenty of threats she was better off outright avoiding.

Lucy remained silent for a few moments. Aside from just feeling tired and sluggish from a poorly timed bad night's rest, she also had a few thoughts still lingering in her mind; Emeraude, Sophie, Mii, and Elly. She had to find Elly to get Loke back…and she had to find Mii because she wanted to talk to her. "There's a lot do…and I only have a day to do it. This happens a lot…" Some days felt like weeks with how many events occurred within 24 hours. But she was used to this, besides, thanks to Mii, they could rest a little easier now against the Hunters.

With that thought in mind, Lucy stood up again and smacked her cheeks, psyching herself up to get back into the fight. "Right! I can't stand around for too long. I have things to do and friends to support!" And that's when she noticed a few explosions in the skies above her, causing her to yelp and take cover. "Eeep!?"

Flying overhead was Hiruka, Daryan's Exceed. He was being chased down intently by someone! Upon closer inspection, the one relentlessly pursuing him was Mii! "EEEEEP!" Hiruka cried out, frantically flying to avoid Mii's shots from Purple Pot, but Mii was a pretty good flier herself. "Magnus! Magnus! Mii on my tail! Mii on my tail! Send one of the Dragons fast!" Hiruka exclaimed, presumably speaking to Magnus via telepathy.

"I've fought a dragon, that won't help you!" Mii forced a smile, her shots getting closer and closer to taking Hiruka down.

"Mii!? Hiruka!?" Lucy didn't realize she'd be witnessing a one sided skyward assault. Although this did present a chance to take someone out from below, if she could aim the shot right. This prompted her to change into her Sagittarius Star Dress, using the bow to take aim. If she shot at Mii, that would just alert Mii she was present…Hiruka was probably the easier target, but he was moving too much in his panic to be an easy target.

Before Lucy could think too much on that though, a white hot bullet flew past her and exploded. It caused her to tumble to the side, but she caught herself on her feet. "Huh!? That bullet!?"

It was Beat. He was hiding behind a tree, waiting to take a shot at Mii. But when he saw Lucy take aim that changed. The child had no malice towards Lucy and it was clear in his eyes. "That's my target." Beat said.

"Your target? Are you still so fixated on Mii even after she saved you!?" Lucy narrowed her eyes. Mii's actions with Beat led to Natsu stepping in against Ashnard of all people.

"That has nothing to do with you!" Beat shouted, turning his aim up into the sky. "I have to…get my revenge." Even after all of that, he was still seeking revenge. "That pity she took upon me…it was the most disrespectful moment of my life! I lost fair and square, but she mocked me!"

"When you seek revenge, it doesn't do anything!" Lucy exclaimed. "Sure you might feel cathartic in the moment, but…"

"Shut up!" Beat fired up into the sky at Mii. A white hot flame barreled towards the half angel.

"Huh?" Mii looked down, noticing at the last second. Of course the first thing that actually attacked her was the one thing that could hurt her. She was able to avoid it, but her left wing was singed and damaged enough for her to start falling towards the ground. "Damn it!"

Hiruka had no idea what just happened, but he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth and flew off. "That was too close!"

"Aries!" Lucy called forth Aries in an instant.

"I'm sorry…!" Aries cried out before pointing her hands forward. "Wool!" A pink cloud of wool appeared as a landing pad for Mii. The angel bounced off it harmlessly, from what could have been a pretty bad fall. "Are you okay, Mii…?"

"Eh?" Mii sat up, expecting a harsh landing. But instead, she got a soft one. "Lucy-? Shit…" She was really hoping to not have to run into a Fairy Tail mage. Her agreement with Ashnard forced her to take any one of them she encountered out, and that was truly the last thing she wanted to do.

"Hey…you have a nice fall?" Lucy said with a friendly smile.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Beat said while firing a shot at both Mii and Lucy, causing them to dive to the ground.

"You really made this kid mad…" Lucy said with a sweat drop.

"I usually like kids…but this kid is something else…" Mii sighed. She'd have to take them both out if she wanted to make it through this. Not even because she wanted to, but because she had to. "Sorry to break this to you both, but I…hey, wait…what's he doing…?"

Beat loaded some of Joya's brand medicine into his gun and pointed it at himself. Before either woman could stop him, he fired into his own arm. He let out a shout of pain for a moment before his eyes changed color. "I won't…lose anymore…" Beat snarled as his body started to transform, becoming much larger than his young frame really was.

"Did he use some of that medicine!?" Lucy's eyes widened. "Why would you do that!?"

"That stuff is dangerous…" Mii narrowed her eyes. "Whatever happened to that kid…he's solely intent on taking it out on me…"


"What is that child doing?" Ice lifted a brow.

"He shot himself in the arm...?" Helena tilted her head. "But why?"

"BEAT!" Waltz slammed his hands on the commentators booth, narrowing his eyes at the child in question. "This is the second time you've blatantly disregard my commands! If you do not put this disobedience of yours to good use...!"

"I've never seen a child that was more determined." Calium admitted. "That's what makes the younger generation of mages that much more dangerous. They're already blessed with powerful magic...their talent unmatched among their peers and their potential untapped. How they choose to reach that potential is entirely up to them as well..."

"One so absorbed with vengeance will never obtain the power they seek." Ashnard said with a slight scoff. "That child, no matter how strong he is...will fail due to his short sightedness." As one of the strongest Wizards in the world, the others felt that his words were true.

"I agree..." Song hummed. While she did not care so much for Beat putting his own life on the life for the sake of revenge, the notion did amuse her. "But those with vengeance burning deeply within their hearts are often the hardest to get rid of. The lust for revenge burns the soul even after death, mhm..."


It was a concentrated amount. Beat transformed into a grotesque monster, veins protruding from his body, not too dissimilar from the monsters they had to fight in the day 3 event. But he was still able to hold his form and his rifle. A single shot from that turned into a white blast that scorched the land, causing Lucy and Mii to split up in different directions. "Flame Angel's Cage." Beat slammed his fist into the ground, white pillars shooting up from the ground and converging overhead to entrap him and Mii inside of a cage that walled Lucy out.

"Mii!" Lucy went to grab onto the bars, but as expected, they hurt. So her next plan of action was using Aquarius' Star Dress to try and douse the flames, but the water just evaporated as soon as it got close. "I can't break this!"

"I didn't ask you to." Mii shot at Lucy. "We're not friends, remember? We're enemies right now, so stop trying to help me like I can't fight my own battles! I never asked for your help!"

"…" Mii was right. Lucy was just so concerned for Mii, she let that thought get the best of her. "I'm not done with you, Mii. So I'll see you after this…" And off Lucy ran. There was no point of her sticking around for a fight that wasn't hers. She was worried about Beat's obsession with revenge…but she had a feeling that he was in the right hands if he was dealing with Mii.

"So, you wanna piece of Mii?" Mii was secretly glad things turned out this way. She didn't have to force herself to fight Lucy if she was stuck fighting Beat. This bought her some time…but only as much as she allowed it. With Beat having Angel Slaying magic, there was a non-zero chance she could actually lose this…and that was the one thing she couldn't afford. "I'll make sure to set you straight before anything else, kid…"

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Next Time: The Strongest.