Chapter 125: Relentless

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" Lance was violently ruffling through his hair, panicking as the scene played out. Ano made the declaration loud enough for the whole city to hear, but at this moment that didn't matter. He and Marshall were in line to take it home for Empyrean Dawn. Even one ten point victory would be a decisive blow for the other three trying to close the gap between themselves and the leader, and the variables were there. Pride was awakened, Sabertooth had no magic, and no one was in the vicinity to provide any needed help at the moment.

"Huh…" Riley hummed. She then turned to Sophie. "Probability?"

Sophie focused on the field. In front of her. "Twenty percent."

"Plenty, to be honest."

"Think so?" Lluvi asked without taking her eyes off the action. "Yeah. After the Evanee event, I'm not putting it past any of White Eclipse to beat the odds."

Lluvi continued looking forward, steady tapping her fingers on the railing as she watched anxiously. Riley on the other hand, turned to Sidney. "Hey, Ace. You said three minutes right? That's not a normal answer, so I'm guessing that's a guild thing. Should we expect Reve to finish his fight in three minutes or less right now?"

Sidney laughed. "You're a smart woman. Riley is it?"

"That's me. But back to Reve. Three minutes, right? Then what? He's gonna run after a ten pointer? Or will he take on Erza just a few blocks away?"

Sidney turned his head up to the sky, eyes closed as he pondered the thought. "Good question, and this is more of an opinionated answer. Because if you're asking me what I would do after Xavi, I would say… book it across the city to the first ten pointer I can find. Either Esme or Sting. But I don't think that's what Reve and Zalen have planned.."

"Zalen?" Riley questioned, but shrugged it off and went back to watching.

Then, Sidney went to thinking to himself. "Hopefully Zalen does understand the urgency now… if not, then I'm sure she will."

Zalen was booking it, running as fast as he could. He wasn't athletically gifted like his peers, but it didn't stop him from giving it all he had. In his mind, he knew where he needed to go, but of course he had to make sure everything was alright with—

"Skye!"

"Sting or Esmerelda! There was that kid's EMP in that area! Go!"

That's all he needed, and Zalen watched for a passing second as Skye and Gray Fullbuster exchanged blades. That caused a slight chuckle from the architect before he took off in a full, focused sprint again.

Three minutes. That's all Reve proclaimed that he needed against the council warden. And as Xavi disappeared from sight, Reve started his clock as he pulled out two of his wingman pistols that he introduced back at Tartaros. Emerald colored eyes shifted back and forth as he waited for a jut; a tear in space. Xavi's reality magic had a single glitch before he reappeared, but the cue was so small that if you missed it, you were screwed. The gunslinger wasn't about to let that happen however and as that glitch in space happened to his right, Reve turned directly to the appearing Xavi with a wingman pressed to his chest; firing without hesitation. Xavi's eyes widened in immense pain, nearly falling over from the direct shot. "H-how!?" He shouted, clenching his chest before vanishing again to gain some space between the two. As he reappeared, Reve fired again, this time nonchalantly as Xavi was able to just dodge. Reality was starting to hit however as his widened eyes stayed glued forward as that bullet that just barely missed him crashed into a building and caused it to collapse.

Xavi refused to take his eyes off of Reve now, visibly trembling from that ten seconds exchange. "Ah… I haven't felt this in a long time." He said aloud, a silhouette of a man appearing in his thoughts. "You may be close to him…"

Reve wasn't interested in who he was speaking of, so he didn't ask. Instead, he took aim again and fired the condensed bullet, aiming directly for Xavi again. Using his Reality Bending Magic once again, Xavi disappeared just in time.

"You're running out of options, hot shot." Reve voiced. "You talked a big game earlier, and now you can't follow through against me. But don't feel bad.. no one can. This is just your first time learning about me."

"Shut up!" Xavi shouted as he appeared above Reve. The gunslinger saw it coming however, and aimed both guns high, firing both simultaneously. Each shoulder was hit, and Xavi was in dire pain as he fell to the ground, rolling around in a desperate attempt to quell it. "Oh get up!" Reve said in a disappointed tone. "I said three minutes, tops! Not one and a half! You're embarrassing me!"

Xavi was now both panting and growling as he tried his hardest to push himself up to his feet. "You think… you think you're so funny!" He coughed out. "I'm gonna finish you right here..since you wanna talk so much! Catch this if you're so hot, gunslinger!"

Xavi slowly raised both hands and in the space between them, a small, condensed ball of air appeared. Gradually it began to grow exponentially until finally it overtook a portion of the sky. "Here! This is all of my magic power in one!" He bragged with a wicked laugh. Reve simply gave a low whistle while admiring the enormous ball of magic. "That's all of your magic, huh? You're really banking everything on me? Well.. I am worth ten points so I can understand."

"My gods you're so unbearable!" Xavi admitted. "Just get ready to die for all I care! Taicho: Atomic Bomb!" Xavi yelled, throwing his hands forward and causing the massive ball in the sky to come crashing down — swallowing anything in its path as it rushed towards Reve.

"All of your magic." The gunslinger repeated as the two guns in his hands disappeared, only to be replaced by his most famous one. "Well then lets out it to the test. All of your magic, versus one-sixth of mine."

Reve slowly raised his gun, then took a step back. That's when the gunslinger fired, shooting directly into the bomb and causing it to implode; prematurely at that. Xavi could only watch as his strongest attack literally just imploded on itself. Now, with a weakened, shaken body, Xavi could only wait as Reve walked over towards him. That's when he held up a single, standard pistol, pressing it to Xavi's temple. "Well? Lets hear it. Say that you forfeit, so I don't have to waste any more time with you."

The audacity the gunslinger had. Xavi turned an anger visage towards Reve, his hands balling into shaking fists, but all he could do was imagine mustering the strength to do anything. In reality, he couldn't even keep his fists clenched, and his breath was shaky as well. Finally, Xavi fell to his knees out of exhaustion, and as if Reve needed any more of an ego boost..

"I surrender…" He murmured just as three minutes passed.

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"That's one more point for White Eclipse and that's one more gone for the Council!" Chapati shouted. "That's ninety-nine points and second place for the guild. Familiar territory for them!"

That stung Chapati, and both Zalen and Reve comically clutched their chests from the comment. Zalen kept running towards Marshall and the others however as Reve, instead of joining, headed south towards a familiar aura and the eye of the recent bad weather.

That's where Erza and Chiara were, and as Chiara was in a seated position, Erza kept a single blade pointed in her direction before finally smiling. "You were impressive, Chiara. But I feel like from here, you should allow your captain to shoulder the load. You went head to head with me and a Council Captain. You have nothing left to prove."

Chiara laughed mid pant, raising a single hand. "Yeah, I'm not any use to my team anymore. You win, Erza! Thank you for the experience, though!"

"It looks like Chiara is forfeiting!" Chapati announced. "That's one point for Fairy Tail! With thirty nine points, it's impossible for them to make a comeback, but it looks like they're playing spoiler for a few other guilds! Most likely their actions are pointed at their rival guild, White Eclipse!"

Erza twitched at the truth Chapati spilled, causing a smirk to appear on her features as Chiara was escorted off. That smirk remained as she slowly turned to see a familiar face walking towards her. He stopped, hands in his pockets as the wind blew between the two.

"You look pretty beat up, but I'm sure that's just a facade. You're a psychopath like that." He said to her, keeping the smirk on his face. Erza returned fire. "And of course you look nearly untouched. Your ego won't allow you to experience a real fight, which is why you put Laxus to sleep instead of obliging him with a real duel."

She won that exchange, and you could see it in Reve's face as the smirk dropped. Now, sapphire eyes simply glared back at her own pair. The gunslinger and Titania were now alone, face to face in what seemed to be the grandest stage any Wizard could stand on. "I'm only here to win, not to satisfy you or any other fairy's wish to defeat me."

"You seem to have that backwards, Reve." Erza corrected, pointed her sword his way. "It was you that hurt Alzack first, unprovoked. It was you that based your entire guild around destroying ours. It was your guild, White Eclipse, that challenged us to this back and forth, to this war, and though I give you credit for dragging it out this long, it's only a matter of time before we're rid of you guys. I've never once seen my guild fail, and I refuse to allow that to happen. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you those years ago, but it was obviously not the path for you to begin with. That doesn't excuse the excess hurt you and White Eclipse have put on my guild mates. And it may not be today, or tomorrow, but I won't rest…we won't rest, until you're paid what you're owed in full. I will drag you down to hell for your sins against Fairy Tail! Do I make myself clear?"

Reve sat through the entire speech, staring back at Erza with low lidded eyes. "Yeah. You've made it perfectly clear…. That you've realized that we've surpassed you and your shorty guild a while ago. You think it's just bad luck that you're so low on the score board? Or was it the fact that we just refused to allow your guild even one inch of saving grace, Erza? You're damn right we started this rivalry between us, and we're going to end it too! We are the ones that run Fiore! White Eclipse is the one at the throne above all guilds! And we won't stop until your recognize that! We won't quit until we hear it from your mouths! It's not enough for all of Fiore to recognize us as the best! We want… no, we NEED Fairy Tail to say it too! So we will be at every turn! This has evolved past some little guild war, Erza! We will win every event, every tournament, we will take and finish every job, and we will run Fairy Tail out of Fiore until you, and Laxus, and Gildarts, Mirajane and your entire guild are on your knees with admittance; without force, shouting to Ishgar how White Eclipse is the dominant guild! That is my ultimate goal and I won't go to hell until it happens!"

Erza then raised her second blade as Reve unholstered two pistols. "Then as a compromise, enjoy purgatory for the rest of your life, gunslinger!"

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"Ice Make: Saucer!" Gray enchanted, creating two spinning saucers that flew towards the assassin. Skye ran forwards, never once losing momentum as she leapt and spun her body to fit right through the two saucers just before they crossed paths. The instant she landed, Skye would then leap for Gray, reversing her grip on her standard blade as she swung for Gray's throat. His eyes widened, but the Ice Maker was able to make a small shield that protected him from the slash.

As Skye spun to the left, Gray did the same to keep distance from the assassin, slamming his hands down into the ground to create a small wall of ice that Skye immediately sliced in half. Unfortunately for her, she was forced to give space as Gray then fired off a plethora of spikes made of ice, causing Skye to deflect as she leaped away. "Ice Bringer!" Gray yelled, sliding in with a giant sword made of ice. He swung it once, and he and Skye collided in a stalemate. It was the second swing where his blade shattered against hers, proving that a makeshift blade was no match for the assassin's. His hands were vibrating from the ice breaking so violently, but Skye didn't leave him any time to recover as a reverse slash from her Claymore sword made its way across his chest.

He stumbled backwards, almost falling to a knee as he caught the ground with his left hand — his right holding his scarred chest as he caught his breath.

"GRAY-SAMA!" Both Juvia and Melody yelled. They then simultaneously turned to each other in comical anger, being held back by their guild mates.

With his hand on his chest, Gray froze over the fresh wound. "You're pretty dangerous."

"I'm aware." Skye quipped back. Gray then laughed. "But I know Kagura put a number on you before going out. You're not one-hundred percent, which may be a scary thought on its own, but either way, I'm not going down to you."

"Don't worry, Fullbuster. I'm fine with granting you a rematch whenever you desire."

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"Dammit!" Sting shouted, surrounded by the giant serpent that separated him and Sabertooth from Minerva. "We're powerless here! I'm a sitting duck without my magic, and Milady and Esme are also in trouble! What are we going to do here!? Come on Sting, think!"

As Sting contemplated his very limited options, Marshall stalked towards the defenseless Esmerelda, who's only line of defense was a magic less Minerva. He drew his blade, grinning as he closed the distance on the two femme fatales. "Just need one victory. It doesn't matter who at this point, but Esmerelda would be the reassuring victory. Then, my wish can be fulfilled!"

"You're a coward!" Esmerelda shouted, baring her teeth in anger. "You and your little Hacker Mage! Coward criminals! You say you're full of pride, but you can't even fight fairly!"

"Normally that would work." Marshall replied as Minerva lunged at him. To retaliate, the sinner lodge his right foot into her stomach, launching her off to the side for an excruciatingly painful landing. All without taking his eyes off Esme, he continued onward. "But I'm so prideful, that nothing is more important than me winning here at all costs!"

At this moment, Vivi tried to blindside Marshall from above, but it was no use. Marshall simply grabbed her out the air by her neck. "You. You're next. I haven't forgotten." He told her before slamming her into the ground by her throat. That's when he turned back to Esmerelda, a vicious grin on his features as no one stood between them now.

"Any last words, proud knight?" Marshall asked, towering over the woman. Esmerelda simply looked up at him in anger and frustration, balking her fists up as she contemplated the one thing she refused to do…give up… just to save face and give Marshall one last slap in the face. She could feel the bloodlust from here, so taking that enjoyment away from him was the last option she had to come out of this with any moral victory. "I….giv—"

Suddenly, for iron walls, a floor and ceiling appeared around the knight, closing her in and then crumbling into a ball. Marshall was taken aback, and didn't have time to react as a giant iron hand erected from the ground in a flexible position — bent backwards as if it was about to launch Esmerelda.

It did just that, but not before Zalen appeared from behind that statue, giving a smug look towards Marshall before snapping his fingers. Marshall could only watch in silence as the iron ball with Esmerelda inside went sailing across Crocus, landing somewhere between them and Skye and Gray's current position. "That's the best I can do, Skye." Said Zalen as she watched Esme fly out of sight. That's when he turned back to Marshall, who was quiet; hair covering over his eyes for the passing second until he finally rose his visage to reveal the red eyes of Wrath.

"Oh? Big bad wolf mad that I stole his prey?" Zalen taunted, well aware that he was about to be in for the fight of his life. Marshall didn't reply. Instead, he pointed his blade Zalen's way, his aura breaking apart the ground he stood on in a small radius as the architect taunted once more. "Sorry to crush your dream or whatever you were talking about, but White Eclipse's dream is a little more important, and you're in the way of it! So come on, Marshall Izumi!

Show me what you're made of!"