Chapter 110: Limits to Reach

The wyvern let out a shrieking cry, echoing throughout the entire field and stadium as the bullet Reve fired pierced through its sternum.

"No way..." Miya looked on in disbelief, losing all concentration for the moment.

"From back there!?" Gray shouted, also unable to comprehend what Reve just did. "That's...that's miles away! I know he has ocular magic but even then...how!?"

"Pick up your jaw, Gray!" Laxus shouted, a little more angrier and annoyed than usual, and as he turned to face Reve and Miya again, the leader of the Raijinshu had his jaw visibly clenched to show that he too was in awe — a mixture of awe and futile denial. Erza remained quiet as Lucy looked over at her. Titania was measuring her biggest rival and after that display, no words could describe nor downplay what she just witnessed from White Eclipse's gunslinger.

Miya's trance was abruptly dismantled the second Reve yanked her over, the two still on their plummet towards the lake with the shadowy figure below now revealing itself. Tentacles emerged from the waters, slowly climbing up towards the falling mages, and as Miya found herself somehow in the arms of the gunslinger, it took her a moment to realize that she was being carried by him, bridal style. Her face reddened as realization hit, pushing down on her rising skirt piece as she shouted. "P-put me down! You're not making me look like a damsel here! I'm capable of doing this on my own! L-let alone needing you or any man—"

"Stop squirming." He demanded in a calming tone, not even paying attention to her frantic premise. Instead, Reve was taking aim once more, this time at the giant octopus that threatened their time and well-being. One of the tentacles already made its way around Miya's leg, causing her to muffle a shriek. "If you release me, I can slice this things leg off!"

"No need." Reve replied, pulling the trigger to his sniper rifle once more. This time, a powerful beam shot straight down at the large target, colliding and piercing through the head of the lacrima created beast of the lake, instantly ending its life.

And just like that... the crowd was in an uproar at the quick start by Reve Volver. Unfortunately for the pair, neither mage had an escape route to avoid the water altogether, so they dove right in and swam for shore.

"The travel will eat away their time. Six minutes..." Evanee said aloud to herself. Her sister Aubry, then peered around her shoulder with a cocked brow. "You don't think they're going to beat your time, do you?"

"In a fight, Aubry, there's not a single soul competing that can hold ground against me. But events in this grand tournament are made to give those a fair chance before the free for all starts. Or at least, that's how I see it. Things like luck, and other intangibles play into favor unfortunately, which means..." She sighed. "Anything is possible."

As the two reached shore, both Reve and Miya took off simultaneously, actually racing against each other it seemed as they took off into the forest. They made. A bee line for the other side of the sea of trees, eyes scouring the area as they did. Finally, before anyone could flinch, Miya turned to her right, and Reve fired accordingly with a newly requipped shotgun in that same direction. From that direction, a screech of pain was heard, and suddenly, it darted for them. A giant bat, flapping its wings frantically while flying in an unpredictable pattern on its way to its targets.

"That's annoying." Reve admitted, attempting to predict its movements. That's when Miya laughed, slowly crouching into a readied stance with her hand tightly gripped on the hilt of her blade. "My turn already? I'll end this in one blow."

With her hand clutching the hilt, a golden aura wrapped around her.

"Goddess Spirit: Durga!" From that golden aura, a large, behemoth size spirit appeared behind Miya, creating a foreboding atmosphere as ten arms dominated the the glowing goddess. Each arm mimicked Miya's own pair of limbs as a giant sword appeared all within a second. Within the next, Miya was gone, stretching the chain to exactly ten feet as she sliced right past the giant bat. What happened next impressed even Reve, as ten more slashes followed right behind her, cutting the bat into pieces without warning. Miya turned to give a thumbs up as the giant bat disintegrated, but didn't have time to soak in the cheering and awes by the audience as Reve ran off, forcing her to do the same.

"What was that!?" Lucy shouted, shocked to comedic levels. Kagura hummed in delight, bowing her head with closed eyes as she explained. "Goddess Spirit Magic, imbued by her blade. Miya was definitely a great find for us, and she was just the tip of the iceberg. This is Mermaid Heel's comeback."

The forest was cleared, and now the open field was up. The competitors stared back and forth between the clock and the duo, and the way Miya and Reve were completely in sync while competing against one another simply showed the moniker of how the event was supposed to be done. As they wrapped up their fight with the third beast, Miya sucked her teeth in annoyance as she was ready to deal the deathly blow to the prey until Reve placed a plethora of holes in the giant beast, causing it to collapse and then disappear. A glare was then given, but Reve didn't even take time to notice it as the two ran for the homestretch. A quick climb up the mountain side as clutch time approached. "It's going to be close!" Chapati reiterated for the crowd as they ran. Miya then called out to him as they hit full speed. "So what's the trick up your sleeve to keep me from crossing this finish line?"

"None! Run!" Reve shouted. "First and second. First goes to earns it!" Suddenly, the gunslinger grabbed her by the hand, causing Miya to gain a look of surprise as he threw her forward. Miya stumbled, but caught herself, keeping full momentum as she was now exactly ten feet in front of Reve with the finish line right in front of her.

"What the hell!?" Cygnus questioned his actions, as well as the rest of White Eclipse. "I know he's a cocky bastard, but...why?!" Luke didn't have the answer either, but even Takeru stood up, leaning over the railing in anticipation as he shouted. "Are we doubting someone who's led us this far!? Not my S-Class! Lets go, Reve!"

Reve Volver was never known for his physical prowess from the day he introduced himself to Fiore, but on this event, the gunslinger revealed a lot more fruit to his laborious training leading up to the Grand Magic Games. Reve was in a full sprint, gradual catching up to Miya until finally...

"Ladies and gentlemen, your winner of today's event at six minutes flat... Reve Volver of White Eclipse!"

The anticipating silence ended, and Takeru led a boisterous, all White Eclipse yell into the air as Reve's name was called. The gunslinger held up his hand high, a "W" forming as the rest of both White Eclipse teams continued their obnoxious cheering to drown out the rest of Chapati's announcement.

"In second at six minutes and one second, it's Miya Crosse for Mermaid Heel!"

"Yay! Good job, Miya!" Millianna shouted as the others of Mermaid Heel stood proudly.

"That's ten points for White Eclipse and nine for Mermaid Heel! In third is Twilight Zone with eight points and Quatro Cerberus with seven. White Eclipse B gains six, while Fairy Tail gains five. Empyrean Dawn with four points and Sabertooth with three, and finally... The Council gains two points and Black Phoenix unfortunately gets zero!"

"What a shift." Kuro admitted. "And we're only halfway through Swing Day!"

"Swing day is in full effect folks, and now it's time to start our fight portion of the day! First up! It's Evanee Carlisle of Twilight Zone!"

"She's going to fight as well?!" Lucy questioned, surprised as she watched Evanee remained crouched and ready for her opponent.

"...Versus... Asuka Ichiro of Black Phoenix!"

"Finally." Crisdelin teased. "I was getting tired of the loudest cheerleader here. I want to see what she's capable of. Though, this is just her unlucky day to be up against that monster."

Crisdelin laughed as Asuka turned a side eye to her. But that's when she spotted someone else, now waving frantically. "Correll! Watch me! I'm going to win!"

Nervous laughter ensued, and he waved back. Cris then turned to him, then back to Asuka. "...Oh. Siblings?"

"How did you know?" Correll asked. Cris turned back to the impending fight with a smirk, chin placed on her hand. "You both have that...lost cause aura within you."

"What was that?" Correll asked with an angered look, but Crisdelin didn't answer. She remained focused on the match at hand whilst smiling to herself. She knew that Correll wouldn't even think of taking action to retaliate to her words.

Now, as the two competitors stood before each other, Asuka took to her readied stance, keeping vigilance upon Evanee, who stood normally. "Mages ready?" Mato asked, holding up his right hand. Asuka nodded with a determined smile while Evanee didn't move. Mato then threw his hand down. "Begin-Kabo!"

As the pumpkin headed host gave the go ahead to begin, Asuka started the match off by stomping her right foot hard into the ground. The impact caused four human sized pillars to surround and then smash against Evanee. That ploy didn't work as all, as the four pillars instantly shattered by Evanee's brute strength — a simply punch forward by the Nymph Mage. "Nature's magic doesn't work on me." She said calmly. Asuka then took a step back, still smirking as a sweat drop fell from the back of her head. "Well then, it looks like I'm at an unfair advantage, because Nature's elements are my forte! Rajin Tempo!"

As she's shouted, a surge of lightning danced around her — starring from within and then appearing before her body. Asuka was being juiced by the lightning, raising not only her magic aura, but her speed and strength as well. Evanee stood unimpressed, but that just cause Asuka to grin even more as the audience watched in awe. "I got the bad draw alright, but that doesn't mean I won't go down swinging! Lets go!"

Immediately following her exclamation, Asuka was on top of Evanee, launching an electrified kick that aimed for the nymph mage's skull. Everyone else was in amazement with just how fast Asuka appeared before her, but Evanee saw her the entire way, raising her right hand to parry the incoming leg. Asuka quickly flipped to the ground, springing back towards the Ace the instant she landed in order to aim a knee right for Evanee Carlisle's chin. That too was blocked with ease, pushing Asuka off course by just enough to call it a miss. She grit her teeth while turning a frustrated smirk towards the nymph. "Not bad! So let's amp it up some more! Rajin Tempo... times five!"

"She's going all out already, huh?" Diamond, the pale skinned S class of Black Phoenix asked. "Hopefully she doesn't try anything stupid, but...it is Asuka we're talking about."

Asuka landed on the ground once more, first throwing a right jab and then a left hook — but lightning filled punches evaded, but their velocity indeed caught Evanee of guard. Both punches showed potential to hit, causing the Nymph to gradually become interested in the fight as Asuka followed up with a leaping kick aimed for her head once more. Evanee ducked it, managing the smallest of grins as she was slowly, finally beginning to feel some type of excitement. Because of this feeling, she would egg Asuka on. "Hey. You're almost there. Can you go any higher than five?"

Asuka growled as her feet planted on the ground once more. She knew when she was being ridiculed, but the only problem was, she never handled it well. "I can if I want to!"

"No you can't!" Diamond and Chiara shouted in return. Evanee then smirked again. "It sounds like your guild mates doubt it. No wonder you can't. No support system. Though, you shouldn't need a support system anyways. You should be able to climb those heights on your own. You'll never land a hit on me like that, and we're running out of time, so if you want a chance in this fight, you should push past those limits right now, and trust me... I'm not going to allow a draw."

"Fine!" Asuka shouted, to both her guild and Evanee. "I'll show you just how high I can go! Rajin Tempo... times twenty!"

"Asuka stop!" Ethan shouted. "You know your body can't handle all of that lightning!"

"So that's what it is, huh?" Evanee asked, placing a single hand on her hip. "You're shooting your own lightning through your body, your veins — causing your body to amp up its capabilities. Not bad.. I'm actually impressed."

Asuka took the compliment as more of a talking down point, gritting her teeth just before she took off in a blur. Surprisingly, her speed caused Evanee to widen her eyes before raising both arms to shield herself from the incoming punch. The fist against arms impact caused the earth around them to rattle, the ground beneath Evanee's feet crater within from the sheer force alone. Suddenly, Evanee's demeanor slightly changed, now smiling with excitement as she held her ground against the volting Asuka Ichiro. "That's much better! I can feel your lightning zapping against my body! Can you go any higher!?"

"Shut up already!" Asuka shouted, quickly dropping to the ground and swinging an electrified high kick aimed for her opponent's chin. Evanee leaned away to dodge it, coming back with an Ethernano infused right fist of her own — aimed for the skull. Asuka quickly reminded Evanee and the others that she was more than just lightning as she raised a wall of Earth in response, and as Evanee's punch shattered through that wall, the nymph mage gained a surprise as Asuka held her right fist by her side, tucked into her left hand. "Hono Hammer!" She shouted, swinging a flame induced right hook towards Evanee's jawline. What happened next caused the crowd to gasp in disbelief. Evanee skidded back meters, a singeing mark on her left cheek as she remained still after taking that punch with no defenses.

No one knew what to do from here. Black Phoenix was at a standstill — mixed emotions of worrying if Asuka's body was okay after going over her limit on the Rajin Tempo, and pure shock that she scored a clean hit on the Ace of Twilight Zone.

"What just happened?" Flynn asked. Rylo humbly gave an answer. "What you're seeing, Flynn, is a weakness. Everyone has one, and unfortunately for her, Evanee's weakness is that she wants her opponent to be at their very best before punishing them. I've never seen it backfire before, and I doubt it will today, but what Asuka was just able to do, was rare..."

Rare indeed as Evanee slowly rubbed her cheek clean of the burn, turning back to Asuka who was simply trying to steady her body before going on the attack again. She lunged, but so did Evanee and even with her Rajin Tempo at such a high level, Asuka found Evanee's fist lodged into her stomach before sending her away with brute strength. Tumbling into the ground, Asuka was somehow able to regroup by clawing her hands and feet into the dirt to halt her momentum. That single punch however caused Asuka to constantly gasp for air, unable to receive the amount she bargained for.

"Asuka!" Ethan shouted, and the mage heard him loud and clear, rolling out of the way just before Evanee could score an incoming leaping fist aimed for her downed position. Her fist lodged into the ground, and Asuka was counting her lucky stars that she missed a bit too early as the nymph grinned. Evanee the opened her hand from underground, creating a powerful explosion from the Ethernano within the earth, decimating Asuka's entire side of the arena.

"What strength!" Selene said with shock written all over her face like the others around her. In fact, the entire stadium, including the announcers were gradually turning into Evanee's spectators and fans — some critics.

"What ya think, Crazy Eyes?" Mizaki asked her brother, Marshall Izumi, who was seated before all of them. Marshall remained quiet for a few seconds before answering, a yellow shine in his eyes.

"It's close. But I'd still want the boss to kill me."

That caused others to look his way as Mizaki gave a low whistle along with a grin. "First time you ever said it was close though! She's really radiating some strength, huh? I'd love to kill her myself, but I think you're rating her too high. I'm sure the First Lady could take her easily."

"Well yeah." Hubert replied, pushing up his glasses as he continued to watch. "The First Lady is basically a cheat code for us, or a blanket, if you will. Always covering for our mistakes. I wonder if he'll be letting her compete at the end of it all."

"It'd be a waste if he didn't." Mizaki noted, looking over her shoulder to no one that could be seen at the moment. "He wants us to go wild, but doesn't unleash the strongest one here? Sounds hypocritical."

While still fighting to hold her Rajin Tempo form, Asuka was on the run against the Ace of Twilight Zone and it was evident in her features what she was up to. That's why when Evanee finally caught up to her by appearing behind her, she reminded the elemental mage of what she said before. "I told you, there would be no draws here."

Asuka's eyes widened, turning right into a powerful kick into her side before she went tumbling into the ground once again. "Ouch!" Chiara echoed from the stands. Tristan raised his brows. "Even in that height of her tempo, Evanee is dominating her. So now she's ruining her body for no reason. There's only one thing for her to do at this point.."

Esme nodded. "You're right...she has to—"

"GO HIGHER!"

Esme and Tristan turned to them in comic disbelief, watching Chiara, Ethan, Alexander and even Diamond yell towards their teammate. Asuka looked over, gasping for air as Chiara began.

"You're already past your limits, Asuka! So go higher! As high as you can! We'll heal you! Black Phoenix will heal you!"

"You can win! If anyone can, it's you!" Ethan added. "You have the ability to do it! So do it!"

"We're in the middle of the standings! You said you wanted Black Phoenix to be known as the best! You can't do that by not giving it your all and then some, right?" Diamond asked the panting Asuka.

"Come on! All the taunting you do to me? Put at least half that effort into this match and you got it!" Alexander added his two cents as then they all screamed out.

"Do it! ASUKA!"

"A noisy bunch." Evanee admitted, looking up at them. Suddenly, something caught her attention, and turned to a slowly rising Asuka. "What's she going to do? Raise her levels even higher than her now surpassed limit? Even if she does, raising her speed and strength in a fight isn't going to cover the gaps alone, and she's already tearing her body apart... No. wait! She's doing something else..!"

That she was, and for the first time, Evanee took guard as Asuka slammed a fist into the ground one time, and the rubble from the broken earth slowly rose with her own ascension. That rubble then focused into a ring, circling around Asuka's right ankle. Simultaneously, the same thing happened with a stream of water around her left ankle, and then fire and wind on the left and right wrist. Around her frame, lightning continued to course more violently than ever, but this was no longer the work of Rajin Tempo. No, it was an ability much fiercer than before.

Evanee was surely surprised herself, and she would feel first hand just what Asuka's newly showcased ability was. In a flash, Asuka appeared before her, and the nymph attempted to throw the opening punch, only for Asuka to duck it and quickly retaliate with a searing, soaring uppercut that aimed for beneath her opponent's chin. The flaming strike connected, lifting the Ace inches off her feet. Evanee was quick to recover with an annoyed and angered look upon her face but as she looked down, Asuka no longer existed in that spot. Instead, the young female appeared again, this time behind her with earth covering her entire lower right limb. She swung that leg, and even though Evanee put her guard up, she was still sent skidding away from the powerful kick.

"She's been pushed back!?" Kaden asked the obvious, with no one wanting to give such answer. Evanee's skid was halted against her will, her back slamming against a raised pillar of earth that took her by surprise. She looked back, completely forgetting about the frenzied Asuka for a split second. "When did this—!"

And that's when it happened. Evanee turned right back around into a water based, jet propelled kick directly to the bridge of her nose. The kick was so strong, it sent Evanee's head crashing through the pillar behind her, leaving her limp right there.

"ASUUUUUKAAAA!" Her closest friends and teammates shouted just over the deafening crowd. Everyone was in a frenzy of cheers and disbelief, and even Mato the pumpkin headed host had his hand raised to declare her the winner off of that display. "Evanee is unable—"

"Unable to do what?"

That's when despair hit, causing a smiling Asuka to turn back to Evanee with wide eyes as the Ace simply removed her head from the hole in the earthen wall it created, massaging her neck as if it simply had a crick in it.

"She's...she's completely fine..." Mato said, stunned. No one else could believe what they were seeing either.

"Oh. So she really is a monster." Mizaki added. Marshall was staring death into Evanee's back as the rest of Empyrean Dawn remained more than impressed. Minerva from Sabertooth had suddenly forgotten in that moment, the revenge she wanted for Sting as her eyes couldn't leave the scariest thing in the Grand Magic Games at this moment. It was like an infinite loop of still silence as guild to guild there was nothing but a serene yet ominous atmosphere hovering around them. Evanee took another step forward, causing Asuka to take one back. "H-how!?" She asked. "What spell did you use!?"

"None." Evanee replied, just finishing massaging her neck. "You're just not strong enough. The limits you're surpassing when powering up into these elemental modes of yours? I've already reached them a long time ago."

That last sentence came with a smirk, and before Asuka could react, Evanee was directly beneath her with an accumulation of magic gathering around her. "But, the vibe in this area is very negative after seeing me tank your little combination. It seems they were expecting you to finish me off, and you let everyone down. I can feel it from here!"

"She's open!" Asuka said to herself, taking note of Evanee running off at the mouth. The elemental mage swung a powerful right fist that scored directly against the nymph's forehead, but...Evanee didn't move. She didn't even flinch, and that caused Asuka to tremble in fear with nowhere to go.

"Because of this feeling, I'll show you one ability of a nymph! You've earned it!"

Rylo then added on to what Twilight Zone already knew. "With nymph magic, Evanee is able to conjure and amplify special sub Magics in her arsenal. Usually when everyone around her is in good spirits, Celestial Magic is the perfect use for her. But with the atmosphere as it is now, with the negative vibes around everyone...Underworld magic is the go to here. Magics that are usually someone's primary ability due to how much magic strength it takes to use them, and the potency they possess, are all child's play to the Nymph. That's why...this match is over.

"Show me?" Asuka questioned to herself in her head. "This would be her first actual spell.. and I can't move"

"Asuka! Run!" Tristan shouted, but it was futile. As Underworld Magic focused into both her hands, Evanee let loose one last smirk. "You did great, giving it all you got. But your clawing for the top didn't even scratch my surface. Don't give up hope though kid. I'll help you fly."

"ASUKA!" Her team tried to give one last push by shouting, but it didn't happen. Instead, Evanee planted her hands together by their bases, pushing out a powerful beam of Underworld Magic that took over the entire atmosphere. It's continuation didn't last long, and some speculated that it was because she didn't want it to, and receded the attack herself, but as the attack subsided, Asuka was seen falling to the ground lifelessly.

"You can call it now." Evanee told the pumpkin headed host as she walked off, and even her own teammates were aware as Alexander and Ethan jumped the railings and ran over — baseball sliding with open arms as they caught the falling Asuka.

As the dust cleared, Mato held up his hand as the boys held their teammate in their arms. "Your winner, Evanee Carlisle of Twilight Zone!"

A lot cheered, and the rest stayed silent as Evanee returned to her guild's area, receiving her own praise with indifference. It was nothing she wasn't used to, but it was nothing anyone else here had seen before. As Asuka was carried off, Tristan looked on calmly, never taking his eyes off Evanee as she then finally noticed, turning to him with a stare of his own. "Sorry, Tristan." She said to herself. "But you're not the competition I'm looking for either."

"Alright!" Chapati shouted after the break. "With the arena repaired, it's time for our next bout of the day! It's White Eclipse B's Tyson Bryant! Vs. another newcomer of Mermaid Heel... Melody Silver!"

"WHAT!?"

Everyone turned to Gray, who was comically in shock, completely stunned by the name. Juvia then turned to Gray with a foreboding look. "Gray-Sama, do you know that girl?" Juvia asked. She had her question answered as Melody then shouted in a high pitched voice, waving frantically with heart struck eyes.

"GRAY-SAMA! ITS YOUR WIFE! ITS ME! MELODY! I FOUND YOU, DARLING!"

"Oh no..."