Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy!
It was now the third day of the Grand Magic Games and Zale decided to have a look around capitol to see if there was anyplace he and Juvia could go on a date to later.
*There's got to be someplace in the city that would make for a nice date.* Zale thought as he walked along the streets. *But it'd have to be something that's open at night since she has to be on standby in case she's called for an event. And we're all low on cash, so it can't be expensive, either. That… pretty much crosses out everywhere. I'll just have to come up with something that doesn't cost much, but would mean a lot to Juvia.* He stopped and looked around. *Now walking around town feels pointless. But I still need to come up with an idea and put all of my heart into it. Since the inn's all quiet I'll head back there and think of something.*
Zale headed back to the Honey Bone Lodge and went up to his room, pacing around and lost in his incredibly fast-flowing thoughts.
"A song? No, I can't play any instruments…" Zale mumbled aloud. "A poem? Perhaps, just as long as I don't write the exact same thing for our wedding vows. Wait! What am I saying?! Poem it is!"
He found a pen and a small, but clean piece of paper and set it against one of the nightstands.
"I'm going to stay here and write this poem even if it takes me the whole day!"
Back at Domus Flau, Jayden was watching the games with the rest of the crowd. Like the other events, the only detail given so far was the name, 'Pandemonium'. He was paying very little attention to anything until each team had selected their members to participate. The eight contestants were Erza of Fairy Tail A, subbing in place of Mystogan was Cana for Fairy Tail B, Hibiki of Blue Pegasus, Olga of Sabertooth, Millianna of Mermaid Heel, Jura of Lamia Scale, Obra of Raven Tail and Nobarly of Quatro Cerberus, now changed to Quatro Puppy for the rest of the games.
*Erza, huh?* Jayden thought. *I've heard a lot of stories about her amazing strength. I hope she lives up to her reputation as Queen of the Fairies.*
"Sorry about my absence from the games yesterday!" Mato appeared in the arena acting as referee. "Now let me explain the rules for Pandemonium!"
Something began to materialize in the center of the arena until it formed a massive, foreboding castle.
"The Palace of Evil Monsters… Pandemonium!" Mato then began his explanation of the event. "There are a hundred monsters within its walls! Well, they're really just magical constructs we've conjured for the event. So they should pose no threat to the audience! The monsters are sectioned off into five levels, D, C. B, A and S, according to their battle prowess! And this is how they're spread out."
Mato used a light pen to write out in the air that the one hundred monsters were divvied up to where there were 50 D-class, 30 C-class, 15 B-class, four A-class and one S-class monsters.
"By the way, if you want to know how tough the lowest level, D-class, is…" Mato then showed a lacrima-vision screen that showed footage from inside Pandemonium.
The four-legged creature charged at a nearby statue and crushed it to pieces, frightening most of the audience and a couple of guild wizards.
"There are these and other monsters that are even stronger!" Mato continued. "A hundred of them are scattered around the palace, punkin! Each class of monster should be twice as strong as the one below it! And the S-class monster is so strong, there's no guarantee even a Wizard Saint could take it down, punkin! You each will enter in order and decide how many monsters to fight. That will be your challenge. For example, if you choose to fight three monsters, you will find three monsters emerging from the palace gates. If you manage to beat all three, that contestant will get three points! Then the next contestant will choose a number out of the 97 remaining monsters to fight! We will continue until the number of monsters left is zero, or until the contestants run out of magic, whichever comes first. Then the contest will end and your teams will get points based on your ranking."
"It's like one of those numbers games!" Millianna said.
"Exactly!" Mato said. "Once you've made a complete round, it's very important to strategize based on how everyone fared. But as I mentioned earlier, each monster has a rank. Once you've submitted your choice of the number of monsters, it doesn't matter if it's as low as one or as high as five, the monsters appear at random!"
"So one will need a strategy to avoid run-ins with the S-class monster." Hibiki said.
"If they come in at random, strategies won't matter." Olga pointed out to the Blue Pegasus wizard.
"Not so." Hibiki smirked. "My Archive Magic can judge the odds and I can develop a strategy around that."
"Your points only come from the number of monsters you vanquish, not the class." Mato further explained. "Once you have entered the palace, you will not be allowed to leave until you have vanquished the number of monsters you chose."
"What happens if you go down within the palace?" Cana inquired. "Then you keep the number of points that you already have already earned, but you will retire there with your turn never coming again, and for all later rounds, you will be counted as vanquishing zero monsters. Now we'll draw stick!"
Mato held out a box with sticks coming out and each of the competing mages took out one of the sticks. When they pulled one out, a number appeared on it. Jayden watch this with a hint of boredom
"I am number one." Erza stated as she saw her number.
"You're lucky!" Cana smiled unconvincingly. "The first gets the most turns of anybody." She then grumbled to herself. "I got number eight…"
"I had figured this game would all depend on the number I drew." Erza said.
"You mean luck of the draw?" Mato asked. "N-no… Maybe, but I don't think so. The game is set up to be based on how you pace yourself and how well you assess the situation."
"No." Erza smirked. "This game is over. I will take on all one hundred monsters! I choose the number 100!"
Everyone looked at Erza with some degree of surprise. Jayden in particular was staggered with his mouth agape and his eyes widened.
"Is she completely insane?!" Jayden gasped. "If a Wizard Saint can't stand up to the S-class, how does she think she can?!"
"I-Impossible!" Mato stammered. "It's set up so that they'd massacre a single wizard!"
"So be it!" Erza said resolutely as she walked into the demonic palace.
Over the next hour, what transpired within Pandemonium was a thing of beauty. Despite the extreme odds stacked against her, Erza was taking on all one hundred monsters and destroying them one by one. Even if the monsters' attacks landed, she would keep on fighting until the very last monster, the S-class, was defeated. Everyone watched in shock and awe at the spectacle before them.
"Holy shit!" Jayden hushed to himself. "She's unbelievable! I could tell Zale was really strong, but Erza's on a completely different level… She really does live up to her name… I wonder how she stacks up against Kagura…"
Since all of the monsters had been wiped out, the games committee had to come up with another means to rank the seven remaining wizards. They chose to gauge their strength using a Magic Power Finder, or MPF for short, and rank them below Fairy Tail A according to their scores on that. Millanna was up first since she drew second on the lottery draw and earned a score of 365.
"Come on, Millianna." Jayden said. "I know this is a competition, but could you take it a bit more seriously?"
The next three in line, Hibiki, Nobarly and Obra, couldn't top Millianna's score. However, that changed when Olga stepped up, firing a blast of black lightning at the MPF and scoring 3,825. Jayden wasn't surprised by this result since he used to be a member of Sabertooth. Next was Jura, which left the audience wondering if he could beat Olga's score.
"I am allowed to give it my all, am I not?" Jura asked Mato.
"Of course you are, punkin!" Mato answered.
Jura closed his eyes and clasped his hands together.
"FUJI ERUPTION!"
A seismic explosion of earth shook the stadium and the MPF displayed '8,544', leaving everyone amazed.
"I knew Jura was incredibly powerful, but daaaamn…" Jayden continued muttering.
It was now Fairy Tail B's turn with Cana, but unfortunately she had been drinking and was now completely wasted.
"All right, Fairy Tail…" Jayden watched Cana carefully. "Let's see if you can surprise me again…"
Cana removed the white jacket she was wearing, revealing an unusual tattoo on her right arm that she raised to the sky.
"To me!" Cana began shouting. "River of light that guides the fairies!" She then swung her arm down upon the MPF. "Shine! Break the evil fangs of those who would threaten us! FAIRY GLITTER!"
An eruption of light exploded, leaving the audience with the exact same reaction as they had with Erza's display moments ago. Jayden was left staring with his mouth agape, just like before, as the number 9,999 was seen amidst a cloud of dust.
"Wh-what just happened?" Chapati, who had been commentating the whole time with Yajima and the Captain of the Magic Council's Arrest and Custody Division, Lahar, said in shock. "She destroyed the MPF… and maxed out the score! What is this guild made of?! With a one-two finish in the event, it's Fairy Tail! Can anyone stop them now?"
"No one can stop us now!" Cana loudly and proudly gave her answer to that question to the crowd. "Why? Because we're Fairy Tail!"
The whole audience cheered for Fairy Tail's dominant victory in the third day's event. Jayden couldn't help but smile and laugh at their enthusiasm and ability to prove it's warranted.
Back at the Honey Bone Lodge, Zale's right hand was shaking as he held the pen.
"... I…"
The sheet of paper was blank.
"I can't think of anything!" Zale shouted and repeatedly slammed a pillow against his face. "Great… now I missed my friends competing in the games for nothing…"
He walked toward the window and looked outside in the direction of Domus Flau.
"I might as well catch what's left for today while I still can…"
As Zale was quickly walking through the stadium hallways, he saw a group of Rune Knights in custody of all five members of Raven Tail.
*Was that… Raven Tail?* Zale thought. *Were they finally caught cheating? I'll know for sure when I get to the others.*
Zale resumed walking until he reached the rest of the Fairy Tail members.
"What did I miss?" Zale asked as he went up to Callista and Flynn.
"It was awesome!" Callista exclaimed excitedly. "Erza took out a hundred monsters all by herself! Then Cana did some light thing that was ridiculously powerful! Then all of Raven Tail tried to gang up on Laxus, but he took them all out without even breaking a sweat!"
"… I'm pathetic…" Zale slumped to his knees and murmured.
"… That brings us to the fourth and final battle of the day!" He could hear Chapati announce to the audience. "Fairy Tail A's Wendy Marvell…"
Zale stood back up and looked into the arena. "I hope it's a good match…"
"That boosted your spirits a little too much…" Flynn commented in exasperation.
"Versus… Lamia Scale's Sherria Blendy!"
In the crowd, Soren and his father were watching the games. When Soren saw Sherria, he couldn't contain himself and began shaking in anger and bit his lips.
*That's her…* Soren thought. *She's the one who stole Mom's magic!*
A/N: Boy this was a bit tough to write. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!