The air began to twirl around Miriza, obscuring her from sight. "Faya..." I heard Lilias speak. What was Miriza doing? Whatever it was, I could sense a large amount of magical power. I could tell that Makarov wouldn't have wanted her to do something like this. I could hear Miriza's voice speak through the sounds of the blowing winds. "To bean S-class wizard you need to show me your strength, along with your heart and brain when facing a fearsome foe." There was a pause. "That is why - if I am to test you - I cannot hold back, not even for a second." There was another pause. I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next, whatever it was - There was no was the two of us could defeat it...
"There is a lot of magic power on this island," Miriza spoke again, "That is what allows me to do this..." In an instant the raging air stopped. This now revealed Miriza. She didn't look too much like Miriza though. Her hair was a dull, dark fuchsia colour. Her hair was now no longer tied up in it's white ribbon and now flowed loose. It was blown in waves in the sudden wind. Her eyes were no longer dark brown but a dark pink. Coming from her ankles, wrists and back were what looked like wings. At first glance they looked pearly white, but on closer inspection they were actually an extremely pale blue. My mouth hung open in awe. "This is my dragon force," Miriza spoke calmly, "Every dragon slayer has their own unique dragon force. This here, is mine." Miriza dashed forwards, punching Lilias with a sky dragon iron fist as well as kicking me with a sky dragon talon. Yep. We were screwed...
There was no way we could dodge the relentless attacks coming from Miriza. We would just have to block them. Just then she used her sky dragon roar from behind. I was only just able to dodge. So we could dodge long range attacks, but up close we had to block. This strategy wouldn't help us win - to do that we'd need to slow her down... Just then Miriza aimed a sky dragon wing attack at us. That, I was unable to dodge as it was much quicker than a roar. Next up was her sky dragon crushing fang. As she aimed the hit at me, I was able to attack with a fire dragon iron fist. The attack hit it's mark. She seemed rather startled by my sudden attack. Using this window of opportunity, both Lilias and I attacked - sending Miriza to the ground. "Do you have any secret arts?" I asked Lilias hurriedly.
"Yeah... But I don't know how to use any." she spoke quickly as well. Damn! Why didn't we work on secret arts during training! Fighting Miriza... Was harder than I ever could have imagined... "If it helps I might be able to use one of the easier ones..." Lilias murmured, "But it might not really be much help-" Just then we were both attacked my Miriza, who had now gotten up. When we were close enough to talk again, Lilias carried on "It's a pollen spell that weakens the enemy. It's more of a status thing rather than an offensive spell..." That would be perfect.
"Use it now Lilias!" I called, "I'll cover you! Let me know when to get out of the way!" Lilias nodded as I rushed towards Miriza. We were now immersed in a one on one combat duel - throwing punches and kicks at one another. Accept, my attacks were cloaked in flame while hers were draped in sky magic. Her attacks were impossible to dodge, and were much more powerful due to her dragon force. I wondered if she was just as strong as Mira or Erza... I was able to land in a few powerful hits, by a few - I mean about 2-3. 4 if I was lucky. I wasn't counting. "Now Faya!" Lilias's voice eventually called out. I dived away from Miriza as far and as quickly as I could in the small window of time. "Dragon slayer secret art! Emerald blossom: exploding pollen spores!" small golden pollen spores hit Miriza directly. There were so many of them she was unable to dodge. Miriza frowned, as if she were expecting more. That was when She realised what we'd done. "You've slowed me down," she smiled, "However I can still attack."
I ran over to Lilias and grabbed her hand. "We need to merge our powers," I whispered. This would be the easiest way to end this.
"You mean like a unison raid?" she asked. I nodded. Linking our hands together, we gave each other a feel of our magic power. Her's was gentle compared to mine. My magic power was always raging and ready to burst out in a fight. Lilias's magic power was slow and patient - yet I could tell that she had a lot more power than what she had already learned. What it seemed to me, was that earth dragon slayer magic as fairly easy to get the hang of but there was a lot of magic power required for the more powerful spells. That was what I assumed just from feeling her magic power - I could be wrong. "Dragon slayer secret art!" I closed my eyes, Like this we wouldn't be able to dodge Miriza's attack... "Shattering light: sky drill!" The attack hit us head on. Pain prickled across my skin. The attack didn't send us flying - we stayed rooted to the ground. Lilias's attack must have also drained her magic slightly. It was a status spell after all. I opened my eyes. We were ready. I could see Miriza's dragon force wavering slightly. Lilias's attack must still be affecting her. "Unison raid!" The two of us yelled in unison. An attack from the ground hit Miriza straight on. It reminded me of a volcano. Miriza was sent flying. When the smoke cleared we could see her laying on the ground. She was defeated.
Lilias and I high-fived one another before walking over to Miriza. Her clothes were ripped and charred. To be fair, our clothes were rather sliced from her sky attacks. She was no longer in her dragon force. She scrambled up from the ground. "Let me heal the both of you," she smiled.
"Don't push yourself-" I was interrupted by her smile.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. There isn't much else for me to do here accept cheer you all on!" Soon we were all healed. Miriza looked extremely worn and out of magic power. I felt bad leaving her in the cave while we traveled to the spot where we'd all meet up for the next challenge.
We found Lucy and Cana bathing in one of the streams on Tenrou. Lilias decided to join them. She made me do so as well... Afterwards, I was able to get changed back into my usual clothing. That was when the 4 of us then went to meet up with the others who had passed. "Now then, I think everyone is here," we all turned to see Makarov walking our way. "I will announce the results to date." He began, "Cana and Lucy defeated Freed and Bickslow in battle and passed through!" That was unexpected. I would have expected Freed and Bickslow to come out on top. But both Lucy and Cana were more powerful than they let on! Though Gray appeared rather surprised by the outcome. "Natsu and Happy managed to get past Gildarts somehow, and passed through!" They beat Gildarts!? I never would have expected that! Maybe that's why Natsu was looking so downcast... I couldn't help but wonder what had happened back in their fight... Gray seemed to be surprised once again. "Levy and Gajeel passed through the peaceful route with good luck!" Gajeel however did not think it was lucky as he was unable to fight anyone... "Xavier and Lokni were also lucky as they passed through the other peaceful route." Compared to us, they got it easy... "Faya and Lilias defeated the obstacle known as Miriza and passed through!" Xavier was rather surprised by that. "Gray and Loke defeated Mest and Wendy in battle and passed through!" Yeah... I would have expected that...
"Did Juvia fail?" Gray then asked. A look of fear crept onto Makarov's face. "W-what Gramps!?" Gray exclaimed in surprise at his expression. "Juvia and Lisanna hit upon... her." There was a small pause for a second. "That female knight who knows not the meaning of holding back!" Oh... Boy I didn't envy those two... All that was left was Elfman and Evergreen - The only way they could have gone was... Mirajane. I felt sorry for those of us who had to face the terror of an S-class wizard... They knew no bounds... "Hold it!" he heard a voice call. We all turned our heads in the direction where it was coming from. There we saw Elfman and Evergreen emerge from the trees. They both looked pretty battered. "How did you beat Mira?" Happy asked. The two didn't reply... That lead me to believe that that had won using... Unconventional methods... 7/10 teams had passed the first test. That was actually more than expected. "Now we will begin the second test!" Makarov stated. I could only wonder what was in store for us next...
Author's note:
I know, I know. I wasn't supposed to have added a chapter today. But I was able to find a little time before We went :)
