Chapter 123: Hurricane
1. Empyrean Dawn: 107
2. The Council: 98
3. Twilight Zone 98
4. White Eclipse: 98
5. Mermaid Heel: 59
6. Black Phoenix: 54
7. Quatro Cerberus: 51
8. Sabertooth: 44
9. Fairy Tail: 38
10. White Eclipse B: 30
Nine points. With every passing second, and with every knockout or forfeit, the numbers were dwindling down. If it wasn't for Xavi stealing the victory over Hubert from Zalen, White Eclipse would be in first place. Hearing that Twilight Zone just passed them in rankings didn't help the gunslinger's mind ease at all, but of course he didn't share that with anyone. He was too busy in a two on one with his best friend, Zalen Castle, against what felt like the strongest council captain to date, Xaviere — a reality bending mage coupled with Pulse magic that he used in the forms of an artillery of weapons. The fight seemingly could go either way, and that's what was bothering Reve the most. Did he and White Eclipse put in all this effort training over the year to surpass everyone, or to merely keep up? That's what was running through Reve's head at this moment. Between Xavi, Evanee, and whoever else out there, it seemed that he and the crew simply played survival over the past year.
"Tch." Aggravation became visible, Zalen sucking his teeth as Xavi disappeared once more; playing his little mind game with the duo. Zalen looked completely annoyed, but as the seconds rolled by, it came to find out that it wasn't because of their opponent, but because of Reve himself. "I don't think it's happening, Reve."
"Hm?" He questioned, eyes jetting back and forth in search of Xavi. Zalen groaned then continued. "Today isn't the day. I don't think you and Erza will face off. Not properly anyways, so if you want to…"
"Are you suggesting that I'm saving my strength for that loser, Zalen?" The gunslinger asked, a bit annoyed at the question. Zalen gave him the same annoyed visage. "Are you not? Are you telling me the guy I trained beside for almost a year isn't hiding his true strength when I've seen him in action against greater threats than this?"
He paused, but then a small curve of the lips appeared on his face. "So you want me to take the risk of running into one of those miracle working fairies, who by this time are determined to make sure we don't win this tournament, after exhausting myself against Xavi from revealing more of my strength?"
Zalen sighed, standing straight up as if Xavi was no longer a threat at this moment. "I feel like you've overestimated this guy simply off his magic alone. That's partially my fault because I couldn't comprehend it either, but I know you can beat him in minutes if you just give it your full no…maybe half id your strength. This measurement you're at now, I get you're playing at measuring your opponents strength by comparing it to the Reve of a year ago, but you're not Reve from a year ago. The numbers are shrinking. Don't let ego win. You're the strongest person I know, Reve, but let your character show that as well. Skye is off to the east, so I'll go and see if she needs help. The flooding started over by the west part of the city, so I'm sure Erza's over there. Which means you should go either south or north. I'm sure you'll find a captain either way."
Reve chuckled. "You've always been my voice of reason, Zalen. You do more than watch my back, architect."
Zalen gave a thumbs off before finally running off. "Lets win! You can prove you're the strongest in the world another time!" As he ran, Xavi appeared next to him with his right fist reared back. It happened so instantly. "Holding back against me? Don't make me laugh." Said the appointed Council Warden. Yet, as he swung his fist, a portal opened in front of him, sending him to appear in front of Reve with his fist slamming into the ground instead of hitting Zalen like he planned. He looked back, now seeing Zalen leave over the horizon before turning back to Reve who held a futuristic looking gun in his left hand. "A portal gun?" He questioned.
"A portal gun." Reve answered. Xavi blinked, but then grinned as he readied himself for a fight. "So, is it true? Are you holding back against me? Or does your lackey have a little too much confidence in your abilities?"
"You're about to find out." Reve smirked himself, his emerald colored Precision Eyes became even more vibrant, as if they were evolving, or leveling up. His aura was rising, and it caused Xavi to raise a brow in concern, ultimately shaking it off as his own right eye would then glow a red — signaling the use of his Reality Bending Magic.
"Don't be afraid of rumors and hearsay, Xavi. If you defeat me, the council will take the lead. It's a three way tie for second right now between you, me, and Twilight Zone. You're in position to be a hero for you team. Will you take it…against the strongest mage here?"
Xavi laughed aloud, but his aura rose as that laughter ended with a determined yet annoyed visage upon his features. "You know what? Yeah. I'll take on that challenge. Bring it on, gunslinger!"
"Famous final words!"
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As the rushing waters of the prominent flooding rains continued in the area, Erza was seen lying on her back, panting as she gasped for air, vacating the water from her lungs. Across from her, Exene was just making her way back to the surface as well, coughing out water all the same. She didn't take the time to lie down however, going right back to her feet and taking a few seconds before turning back to Erza. "I hate that we were interrupted, but it can't be helped in a free for all. Though, I'm sure it was obvious between us who the clear winner was turning to be."
From those words alone panting turned into strained laughter. Exene raised a brow in confusion as she watched Erza sit up tk a seated position. "If you're calling yourself the winner between us, then I'm so sorry for having fooled you all this time. I was simply buying time with you."
"Buying time? For what?" Exene asked, not yet taking the bait. Erza pushed up to her feet. "You like to talk a lot, so I was hoping that you would just end up revealing who you really are. It would have been a plus to find out what you're up to while hiding in the council. You're undercover jobs weren't full proof. Fairy Tail has had too many run ins with the council to not know who we were dealing with, and our year long hiatus isn't a good enough cover for you to sneak in and take such a high ranking position. I don't know Crisdelin's full story, but I'm aware she's always been a council soldier. She was a no name for a while, but it looks like that promotion was well earned, good for her. But you? And with that magic weapon? It doesn't add up, so I'm aware of the hoax. But I've been aware you're not actually an official council member."
"Oh?" Exene raised a curious visage. "And if I were to play along, what makes you believe that I'm no council captain, or member for that matter?"
Two swords appeared in Erza's hands as her attire turned to her patented bandaged chest and red pants. Her hair tied back in a pony tail as she pointed her blades towards Ex with a smug grin. "Fairy Tail has their own inside sources when it comes to the council." A picture of Mest played in Erza's head when she said that, leaving Exene without a clue. She was still refusing to confirm Erza's suspicions, because that's all she saw them as instead of facts, but finally, Exene took the bait as she dismissed the allegations. "So you're telling me you've been holding back this whole time, huh? Well, you're not getting any information out of me, Titania. So finish me off like you claim you can do!"
"Gladly!" Erza replied with a vigorous yell, rushing towards Exene who braced herself for impact. Both sets of blades would connect, but upon impact Exene bared her teeth, pushed back until finally the strength behind Erza's attack raised her off her feet. It surprised her, and it followed with a square kick to the jaw, landing cleanly and snapping Ex's head back. She was already disoriented, and luckily she was able to shake it off just in time to avoid Erza's incoming downward slash. Leaping away, she called out for one of her Hell's Gates. "Purgatory!" She yelled, her sword shifting forms to a blade lit in hellfire. That didn't stop Erza from giving chase however, and as she closed in on Exene, she shifted her body to avoid the hellfire slash, following up with a slash of her own that crossed Ex's chest. Groaning in agonizing pain, the council captain stumbled backwards while holding her fresh wound as Erza landed before her. "Do you surrender yet? There's no need to sustain a real injury from a recreational fight."
"What..?" She was angered at the thought someone would believe she would ever forfeit. Growling, this time Exene took the lead by lunging for Erza, swinging her Purgatory Blade over and over again. Each swing was a miss, Erza dodging fluidly to show her just how much more agile she was than what she was letting on previously. With each miss Exene grew frustrated, yet finally she scored a small cut on Erza's shoulder. Yet the second she smiled about it, Titania returned the favor with a solid back kick to her teeth, and followed it with a back elbow to her temple — a shot that would put Exene on the ground.
"It..it's too late!" Exene shouted, halting Erza's momentum. "You've been struck by my Purgatory! Hellfire will now plague you until I either switch swords or if you happen to have holy water on you, which I'm sure you don't!"
She laughed, and on cue Erza's shoulder began to burn violently. Exene continued laughing until Erza Requiped into her Flame Empress Armor. "That's not gonna save you!" She shouted, and she was right, but it was definitely helping ease the pain moderately — enough for Erza to focus on the fight at hand as she rushed for her prey once more. Purgatory and Erza's flaming sword clashed, creating a shockwave of flames that caused bits and pieces of the area around them to catch fire. Fire that couldn't be extinguished no matter how hard it rained, and with each clash the fire would spread, creating a heated ring of infernos. The two entered close combat once more, but unfortunately for Exene, Erza's swing was a feint; spinning around the council member for a clean strike to her legs. The attack took her off her feet, falling to her back while burning the back of her lower limbs, but she refused to hesitate to get back to her feet. She ignored the burning sensation in her legs while making it back to a stance, swinging her blade in her hands with a ferocious look on her features as she clashed with Erza once again. "You're not going to beat me! You're just psyching me out right now! You're not actually stronger than me, and you haven't been holding back all this time! Stop toying with me, Titania!"
"I'm sorry…" Erza began, pushing back and easily gaining the advantage over Exene. "I was saving my best for someone else, but that was almost my undoing. The Grand Magic Games aren't about fair fights and settling disputes. It's about your guild's strength together, and I lost sight of that from the first day. I think that was his plan all along, and I surely fell for it. But now I've come to that realization, so I must end this as soon as I can. It's selfish of me to say, but all of Fairy Tail agrees. White Eclipse must NOT win these games."
"Then let's end this!" Chiara shouted, capturing both Erza's and Exene's attention. Just as she spoke, a rumbling happened. The Natural Disaster Mage was creating an earthquake, and a large fissure would split between the two older women, causing them to separate due to the widening gap. The rumbling would only rise, causing both of them to hold on to keep their balance. And that's when Chiara would begin her coming out party. "Wildfire!" She shouted, raising both arms overhead before swinging them from left to right. With this motion, the flames that Erza and Exene created would follow her lead, growing and spreading rapidly just like a real wildfire.
"I let you two hash it out a little longer because one on one, I didn't stand a chance, but now hearing that Erza was holding back, this is the best chance I'll have of winning… with her being burned by Hellfire and with you weakened, Exene."
"I'm not weakened!" The council warrior fired back. Chiara simply ignored the prideful mage before taking a readied stance. "If I'm going down, it's by my terms, and I choose to take you both down first!"
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The knight of Black Phoenix and the Lady of Sabertooth charged in, claws and sword at the ready as they both closed in on Marshall Izumi. The known psychopath simply stood there, head tilted to the side with a wicked grin as he waited for them. The lustful purple eyes traced their every movement, and as Esmerelda led the charge by lunging towards him with her blade overhead, the fight was officially on, and Marshall's enigmatic fighting style was on display once again. He shifted to the side, avoiding the overhead swing by Esme, and countering with a knee to her stomach. As she folded over, Marshall then slammed a head butt to her skull, slamming her into the ground. Minerva followed up with an elbow to his jawline, causing his own head to snap back, but Marshall simply returned with a sultry smile and his unsheathed blade. He swung it horizontally, but found himself facing away from Minerva as she used her Territory Magic to switch places with him. As he turned around to resume the fight, Minerva scored another shot — a kick to the throat that caused the Empyrean to lose his breath for A passing second.
That second allowed Esmerelda to get back on her feet, shedding her basic chest plate and requipping into her Rabbit armor that she demonstrated before. Her newly increased speed allowed her to also land some blows on the psychopath before he could recover — two miniature swords slashing through him left and right before she leapt away for distance. He stumbled forward, slouching over as Minerva and Esme observed carefully. Seconds would pass until finally, Marshall would turn his head their way, almost breaking his neck as his purple eyes only grew brighter. His tongue hung from his mouth, wafting across his lips before he stood back up, laughing seductively. "I love it! You both together excite me! Come on, and let's keep going until we reach the climax!"
"….Men." They both said together, not batting an eye before rushing Marshall again for round two. "Alright.." Minerva began to herself. "Together, we're stronger than him so—"
Before she could finish her thought, Minerva's eyes widened as Marshall appeared before her. Esme attempted to hit the brakes, skidding to a stop to turn about face and help, but it was too late as Marshall struck his blade about a fourth through Minerva's left side — just beneath her rib cage.
"What just happened!?" Esme asked herself. "He's immediately faster..!" That was true, because now Marshall was already beside her with the same intent as he did to the falling Minerva. If it wasn't for her bunny armor, Esme would've been outmatches, but the knight was able to avoid the potentially fatal blow by leaping into the air. It only bought her reprieve from that however, because Marshall was once again showing his dominance — appearing behind and slamming a hammer-fist to the back of Esme's head. She felt as if someone hit her exposed head with a brick, and her eyes were pure white as she plummeted to the ground. If it wasn't from the shock of the impact from the ground, she would've been out cold, but she was still very disoriented.
A stomp to the spine. It caused Esmerelda to call out in pain as Marshall stood on top of her while pointing his sword over at Minerva who showed faint signs of life. "Ah, it never fails.. how upsetting. My lust for battle gets teased, then gets disappointed. What a let down."
"Lust for…battle?" Esme shined out, struggling underneath his foot. That's when Marshall crouched down, getting a full grip of the brim of her armor's breast plate. "That's right. Just one of the seven great things about me." He laughed at his own statement. "Now, I believe me and you have some unfinished business that was interrupted by your guild, correct?"
The grip on her plate tightening, creating cracks in the armor, but before he could strip her clean of her armor, a yellow rope wrapped around his neck, slinging him off of Esme and into a wall. Puzzled, Minerva and Esme looked up to see Vivi from the council jumping down from a building to join the fray.
"Lust.." Vivi began, pulling on the rope she left tied on the rooftop as tightly as she could as if to literally hang Marshall. "You'll know he's awake by his purple eyes. It's a mixture between bloodlust and sexual desire. He will want more and more from you, and in return he will become stronger, faster than you, then repeat the process."
"That's why he suddenly got stronger..?" Esme questioned, pushing up to her feet.
"Shut up and listen." Vivi continued as Minerva also rose, holding the wound in her side. "There's seven sins.. seven personalities inside of him, and I have six more to tell you because you'll need to know them to beat Marshall. Even the three of us won't be enough to win this fight if you don't listen! Now, Envy! There's two sides to Envy. The first side of Envy is a jealousy to want to be just like his opponent. He wants what you have if he's impressed enough by it, so he'll copy your magic completely. The exact opposite of that, is that he doesn't want you to have it at all. So he dispels your magic."
Vivi was then jerked forward, skidding her feet into the ground to brace herself as she continued giving the two a summary of Marshall's magic while struggling against the psycho. "Gluttony…is a sin with a healing factor! Whenever Marshall is weakened, Gluttony confuses it with hunger and will literally eat anything. The more he eats, the more he heals. When you see that, don't stop attacking but at the same time, don't get close to his mouth!
Next is Sloth!" She grunted, pulling as hard as she could on her light constructed rope. "We have to wait that one out. He simply sleeps, but attacking him is useless because he's literally invincible in this form. He can't be touched. The plus side is he doesn't attack when Sloth is present. Now, Greed is self explanatory! He wants it all, so he'll absorb it all! All magic power in the area will belong to him, so go to physical attacks when that happens. The last two are his most dangerous and that's Pride and Wrath! Neither last long, but they can kill you instantly! Pride is a golden aura and eyes! It's magic tips the scales to make him the dominant force no matter who he's fighting! I haven't found a weakness for this one, and as for Wrath….-!"
Vivi was suddenly yanked into the air, and back down again. Marshall was up again, pulling by the rope until Vivi was able to dispel it. "Wait!" Esme shouted. "What about Wrath!?"
"I think you're about to find out.." Vivi whispered to herself, because as she neared Marshall with the unwanted momentum, she spotted the red aura and eyes that painted him. Anger was prominent, even if it was by a small trigger. And as Vivi neared him, Marshall drew his sword again, shouting her name in a ferocious uproar. "VIIIIIIVIIIII!"
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"Be a good girl and stop the rain so you can fight us fairly!" Exene shouted, swinging her blade of hellfire towards Chiara. Before she could hit her, a tornado was summoned beneath the girl, swallowing her whole and immediately spitting her out to the side. Exene swung through the tornado, lighting it on fire with her Purgatory Blade. It was almost as if they were working together in that instance as Chiara then sent the funnel of flaming winds towards Erza herself. She was already grimacing in pain as the cut from Exene's Purgatory was now spreading hellfire to the rest of her left arm, but she trudged on by taking flight in her Flame Empress armor to avoid the tornado in its entirety. Following, Erza would swoop down after Chiara as well, who was running off to gain distance. She quickly caught up, only to be double stomped to the ground by a leaping Exene.
A malicious grin plastered on her features, Ex raised her sword, then attempted to stab Erza through the other shoulder. Titania was able to parry, kicking Exene hard in the chest and sending her flying upwards. She like then kip up and pursue her, swinging and landing a flaming strike to Exene's stomach before getting behind her and slamming a kick to her spine.
A last second flip allowed her to land in a crouching position before turning an angered visage back towards Erza. She wanted to leap back up there, but as she tried to move, Ex instinctively grabbed her chest, in dire pain from the burning slash she just received. "She's not that strong! She's not!" She shouted aloud. As Erza remained in the air, her peripherals caught an incoming Chiara who was running diagonally up a building to reach her height. Chiara would lunge for Erza, and as Titania readied to defend herself the rain picked up tremendously for the passing seconds. Once it died down again, Chiara was no longer in front of her.
"Hm?" Both Erza and Exene looked around until Ex her a small thud behind her. It all happened in a slow motion, the council captain turning around to see a young girl summoning a spell behind her. "You little..!"
"Hurricane!" She shouted, and immediately Exene was taken off her feet and violently into the building behind her. From there, the building itself became uprooted, flying into another as more and more large debris joined the pile thanks to the overpowering winds.
"She's going for it." Tristan remarked. Chiara now had her hands firmly planted to the ground, letting out a powerful hell as she exhausted all of her magic into what seemed to be her most powerful spell— the summoning of a hurricane. It was impossible for Erza to brace herself since she was in the air, so the fairy went flying too. Unlike Exene however, Erza eventually turned, allowing the momentum of the hurricane to take her while evading anything in her path.
Exene was just below, slashing everything that came her way while attempting to remain on her feet. Her battle cried could be heard if you were in the area, but as she continued her uphill battle with the forces of nature, what she didn't see.. was he end.
"I need this hellfire gone, so.." Erza came crashing in, using the force of Chiara's hurricane to come spiraling in. Exene's eyes widened, and after that…they went white as Erza slashed right through her with her fierce, flaming sword.
"Impossible…! She really was holding back on me…this entire…time." Her last thoughts before Exene fell over unconsciously — quickly transported out of harms way as Chapati made the announcement of Erza Scarlet's victory. Just as she predicted, Exene's defeat caused the fire to quell, leaving Erza with only a hurricane to deal with. With her blade stabbed into the ground, the S class fairy focused on the eye of the storm itself, just able to see Chiara off in the distance and it seemed like the little girl could see her as well.
She could, and Chiara smiled as she waited for Erza to return if she could. Her wish was halfway completed at least, but taking down Erza Scarlet…
Well that was an impossible task of its own.
