Chapter 118: Taking Down the Strongest Part 2

"Lightning Dragon's Halberd!"

"Burst Shot!"

The two potent attacks collide, causing a powerful explosion due to the stalemate. Reve went sliding back, shielding his eyes from the smoke and debris created, but as he removed his arm, all he saw was the bulky stature of Laxus Dreyar, just before he took a powerful lightning infused haymaker to the jaw. Bone crunching, the gunslinger was sent off his feet, back sliding against the ground uncontrollably— no matter how much he tried to regain himself. He wasn't able to control his body until the unwanted momentum stopped, but pride didn't allow him to lay down even for a second as he made his way back to his feet. Laxus was quickly on the hunt again however, reappearing from a lightning state to appear above Reve with both fists tangled together. "Lightning Dragon's Jaw!"

Reve's eyes widened, and with his only defense available, the sapphire eyed gun mage held up his shotgun to parry the attack. It didn't save him from being slammed into the ground from the pure strength behind Fairy Tail's strongest S-class mage, but it probably saved him from being put to sleep by Laxus overall. It was no secret that in a statistical comparison, Reve lacked the fundamental strength compared to others, especially with Laxus in his bulked form, but the gunslinger more than made up for it in every other category. With his back against the ground and Laxus directly over him, Reve used his quick draw ability, moving his shotgun to his left hand and hoisting a brand new assault rifle in his right. "Full Auto!" He shouted as a magic circle appeared at the nozzle of the gun. Reve then let loose a plethora of magic bullets that slammed directly into Laxus abdomen at point blank range with no viable defense at all.

Laxus was in pain, and the bullets from the Full Auto attack sent him flying into the air after a slow take off. Reve quickly kipped to his feet, both guns disappearing from his hands as his eyes also changed color. Instead of it's usual sapphire glow, Reve's pupils were now in the shape of red bullseyes. "Target eyes." He murmured to himself, keeping an Osprey track on the flying Laxus. That's when his hands became occupied once again, this time with a long sniper rifle. It was the one he used to put Erza down when they first met. Locked and loaded, the gunslinger took aim and then fitted a long, slender beam that raced directly towards his target. It was right on path, and if it wasn't for Laxus regaining himself while in mid air, Reve would have pierced the big guy's shoulder straight through, but the youngest Dreyar was able to once more turn his body into intangible lightning to avoid such a fate.

"Tch!" Reve sucked his teeth, upset at the miss, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as he ran, rolling out the way at the last second as Laxus came crashing down — quite literally as he created a crater from his lightning body before reforming to his true self once more.

Reve was stuck between panting and sweating, and grinning as Laxus rose back to his feet, towering over Reve even with the distance between them. "What's wrong, gunslinger? Realization setting in?"

"Realization? Of what?" Reve asked, his sniper rifle dissolving as two more guns took its place. Both were pistols, but one looked a little different — a bit longer but not long enough to be anything else. "You're just a big guy is all, filled with lightning and bricks for a body. But I'll break through it like any other task set against me."

"You've made that declaration already. Lets see it come to fruition!" Laxus slammed his hands into the ground, creating two trails of lightning that rushed for Reve. He was able to jump and avoid it, but that's exactly what Laxus wanted as the brute appeared behind him to place him in a bear hug. "Huh!?" Reve was caught in confusion. That's when Laxus smirked. "Instead of knocking you out, I'll make you surrender."

That's what he indeed intended to do as he tightened the hug, electrifying both himself and Reve with only once person affected. He would scream out in pain, doubly from the squeezing of Laxus's tree trunk arms. He couldn't tell which was doing more damage, but he had to act quickly or he would no doubt succumb to losing consciousness — because submitting was out of the question.

Reve bared his teeth, and tightened the grip on the gun in his right hand. Slowly, he raised it and turned it to Laxus's rib cage. He fired twice, and instead of bullets, two darts stuck into his ribs. They only stung, like little pinched to the side, and that caused the Dragon Slayer to grin. "That's it!?" He asked, and Reve was in no shape to respond at this moment, but instead….he just kept firing those darts. Four, five, six. It was at this point, Laxus realized that something wasn't right with this futile effort, but in order to check it out, he would have to let Reve go when he had him right where he wanted him. With a seven dart to his rib cage, Laxus took the bait and slung Reve away. As he painfully hit the ground, Laxus turned to his side to pull out the seven darts. "The hell are these?" He asked, and was received with a mixture of coughing and chuckling. "They're….tranquilizers."

Laxus's eyes immediately widened in shock. "What!?" He shouted angrily. He didn't expect such a tactic from Reve at all. "Man…You're built like a wyvern, big guy. Seven and you're still standing? I know it takes a second to kick in, but you're definitely a bull, Laxus."

Just as he spoke, Laxus could feel his eyes becoming heavier and heavier, his vision blurry. "N-no….!" He stammered, smacking himself in the face and keeping his hand there as he tried desperately to keep himself awake. He was already down to a knee, but stood right back up — teetering until he found himself propped up against a wall. "You're trying to drug me to win….? You..c..coward!"

"No way!" Bickslow and Evergreen shouted from the stands. "Laxus!" Freed joined in with worry. "That's cheating! He knew he couldn't beat Laxus in a fair fight!"

"He definitely could beat Laxus in a fair fight." Sidney reiterated from the other side of the audience coincidentally to Freed's words. "It would take everything he has, and even some luck too, but Reve can definitely take him. Unfortunately, today isn't about that. Today is about gaining the win at all cost, and Reve has a job to do that requires more than just Laxus. So finish him, gunslinger."

Reve walked over to the drowsy Laxus, and slowly raised his other pistol to his frame. That pistol would then shed its false skin and reveal itself to be the revolver — his favorite gun that divided his entire magic container into six bullets. He only needed one for what was next. "Sorry, Laxus. But I have business to attend to. Keep your guard up next time, kid, and maybe we can have a real fight…

Bang…"

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As a powerful explosion occurred from the other side, two blades clanged against one another. Erza and Exene were in a face off, baring fangs at each other as Laxus's face became shadowed over on the board. That caused Erza's eyes to widen just before taking a powerful side kick to the stomach — sending her back before she caught herself. "Eyes over here! You'll be joining him soon!" Ex shouted as she pursued the redhead.

"Laxus is down! That's five more points for White Eclipse!"

Chapati's voice clouded Erza's ears and mind, allowing Exene to connect against her once more — a slash against her left arm vertically. As she flinched from the pain, crying out in agony, she then was silenced with a knee to her chin, whipping her head backwards and off her feet. Exene wasn't giving her any space, putting Erza on her heels as she attacked with her weapon, clanging against the Fairy's blade with enough force to keep her backpedaling each time. She finished off the relentless assault with the handle of her blade, slamming it directly into Erza's nose and sending her to the ground, skidding along until her momentum finally halted.

"Now, did I knock you back into focus, Titania? You're not messing with just another mage with a blade now. I'm one of Kemuri's big dogs. Oh, and a councilman at that. And this bad boy is no regular sword. This is my magic: The Thirteen Gates of Hell! Before you right now is my baby, Torment. Have you been feeling weaker as we fight? That's because Torment absorbs energy. And this blade.."

Before Erza's eyes, Ex's blade shifted, shaping into a burning blade. "…is Infernius."

"It's hot..!" Erza admitted, feeling the heat radiating from even the distance between them. Exene grinned, lunging directly for Erza! Shocked, Titania quickly requipped into her Flame Empress armor. But even as she raised her fire resistance blade, the flaming blade Exene held seared right through it, causing Erza to lose not only her weapon, but her armor literally melted off from that one swing, burning her violently until she dispelled the armor itself. "Wh..what was that!?"

"Come on Titania! You know there's no flame hotter than the flames of hell!" Exene boasted, laughing as Erza futility attempted to catch her breath, holding her burned left shoulder and arm. "You fairies need to truly understand that the world doesn't revolve around you, and that there are in fact, people you can't beat off your bullshit luck and beliefs. It's me. I'm those people! Now stand up, and face me until you're out of options, and then realize that you're truly outmatched by a real swordsman! Come on now, Titania!"

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"Laxus is out, and Erza looks like she has her hands full with that council woman." Selene commentated. Then of course came Riley with the backhanded comment. "Yeah, pretty boy really put him to sleep, huh? Victory." She held up a V with her two fingers with a sarcastic cheese of a smile when Selene looked her way. Riley then turned back to Sophie and Elizabeth, sighing as she folded one leg over the other. "Even with Laxus out, they're still a ways away from taking the lead back."

"Yeah, but momentum is on our side!" The blue haired Elizabeth exclaimed. "Progress is indeed being made, and the gap is thinning. If Zalen and Skye win their fights, then we will have accomplished our primary goal. Then once Empyrean Dawn is eliminated, we will have secured victory."

Riley blinked a few times before responding to Sophie. "You talk so much like a robot for such a pretty face. We'll have to fix that. I'll teach you later because…ew."

Sophie simply cocked her head to the side in confusion — Riley unwilling to elaborate to the lost child as she went back to filing her nails and watching the grand finale unfold.

But Sophie was exactly right? And as Zalen stood off between both Hubert, and the team of Blues and Kuro Chi, the nearly impossible odds of knocking down the captain of Empyrean Dawn only caused him to smile, pushing his glasses up to cause the usual glare. "It's okay…" He reminded himself. "I've set up multiple building traps in this area. The advantage is mine, even if only for a second, because a second is all I need to secure Hubert's bounty. Those other two though.. I feel like the longer this fight goes on, the more opportunities Hubert will have to find out which building belongs to Crocus and which belongs to me."

"Water Dragon's…" Blues' words caused Zalen to snap out of his personal thoughts, turning to create a large slab of iron that would shelter him from the torrent of water coming his way. "Roar!"

His left was covered, so of course Blues' partner Kuro took the opening on the right with his own version of the oral attack — the Water God's Bellow. But, White Eclipse's ultimate defense didn't falter as he raised yet another iron wall to cover his defenses. Once he gained his bearings against both, he extended his arms outwards, causing the iron walls to push back against the water torrents and towards their senders. Blues was able to roll out the way, but Kuro faced the worst of it as the iron wall sandwiched the God slayer into a building behind him. Blues followed after making the wrong decision. Instead of attacking Zalen, he leapt over him to help Kuro and to make sure he was okay. That was the opening Zalen needed as the iron wall Blues first dodged came back at Zalen's will, slamming into the Dragon Slayer's back.

With the two Quatro Cerberus mages temporarily down, Zalen began scanning the area, looking around for his main target, Hubert. "He didn't get away. He's no coward and at the same time, not a single trap was destroyed or triggered. Come on, Hubert. Where are you..? Where— GCH!"

Looking down, all Zalen could see was a red patch of blood gradually growing from its new opening in his right pectoral. Shaking visibly in shock, Zalen slowly looked back as Hubert held his transformative blade firmly, pushing in slowly. "Your guard was down against those two, Mr. Defense. Though, you have quick reactions. You saved both of us, because I indeed was aiming for your vitals. Natural habit."

"Now… don't ever try to take down an Empyrean again. Stay in your league, little one. The sidelines."

Hubert yanked his sword from Zalen's chest, and as he attempted to deal the final blow, Zalen fell to his knees as a plethora of iron spikes surrounded him to protect the architect from Hubert's attack. "Tch! A fail safe?" Hubert asked, but then he found himself on the evasive, leaping away as the plethora of spikes created more and more — causing him to back away until he reached a building wall. One final spike slammed into the wall, just missing his head. Hubert's eyes widened. "I can't move!" He realized, looking down to see his left hand magically placed in an iron restraint that was embedded into the wall. "Did he set this here just now!? Is he really this precise?" He looked up to see the building he was stuck to and instantly it connected. "No…it's the entire building! He created this structure! So how many of these buildings are his?"

"Look who's distracted now!" Hubert turned back forward, and the last thing he saw at that moment was a brick fist slamming directly into his nose. The powerful strike caused him to crash into the building, through it and out the other side as he tumbled into the ground for seconds on end. Finally stopping, it took him a few seconds to begin to stand again, fighting unconsciousness until he won the battle at the last second. From there, the frames on Hubert's glasses began glowing as he spoke — slowly raising to his feet. "Assess damage…"

No one could see it but him, but the inside of his frames did just that. They scanned his entire body, displaying information before his very eyes — information only he could see. "I see, my left arm is in tatters… but I'm still functional. Nose is broken , but brain waves are normal despite the defenseless punch to the nose. Everything else except the left arm is fully operational. However, I am indeed… pissed off. Scarlet Salvo."

Zalen was already in mid lunge when he noticed Hubert's mood change. His eyes were more direct and low, and as he raised his newly transformed weapon, Zalen could only hold his breath and cross his arms over his chest, hoping the brick he created would save him from having his body filled with holes.

It didn't.

Hubert fired once, and the bullet to the Scarlet Salvo went directly through Zalen's defenses and the middle of his sternum as he fell to the ground on his back. Screams of agony were recorded, the only thing keeping Zalen from being counted as unable to continue as him writhing around in pain — quickly on his knees as he tried to come to terms with the immediate pain and danger he was in. That's when he felt the nozzle to a gun placed against his skull. Hubert looked down on him, never changing his expression as he spoke. "I'm over this competition. You can have it, but enjoy it dead. As a criminal, it's just not satisfying leaving my victims alive. Goodnight, Zalen Castle."

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"Huh.." Riley looked on. First at Zalen's camera, then to Skye's, who was still struggling with Kagura. "Hey, Sophie. Use that computer brain and answer me this. When you spoke of Skye and Zalen's chances of winning, how come you didn't bring up Cygnus?"

Sophie then turned to her, and spoke with no emotion as she confessed to why. "Because…"

As she began, Cygnus, Reiss, Lluvi, Ilaria, Tyson and Micaiah were all on the ground, seemingly lifeless. Standing before them, was Evanee Carlisle. She simply waited as Cygnus was the first one to move, groaning in pain as he showed just enough life to stay in the fight.

"…Cygnus' and the others probability of winning their fight..

…is zero."