I do not own anything.
This chapter took forever, because I'm an idiot, who didn't realize I now have no time to write. Plus, I hate fight scenes. Enjoy.
Erza surveyed the jubilant scene taking place under the game arena. Her fellow guild mates were wishing the best of luck to each team member, the latter showing either their nerves or excitement. Including the old master, who kept muttering about the prize money, like no one knew that they were only doing this for their expenses. The knight sent a quick glance over the team, all appeared to be in fighting condition. No mishaps had happened during the night like the last games they were entered in. Satisfied with her findings she stabbed a fork into her strawberry cake, the metal making a 'plink' against the ceramic.
"Should you really be eating that before the event?" Lucy remarked, watching the scarlet munch happily on her baked treat.
"Nonsense." Erza answered between bites. "A healthy breakfast is what gives you energy to do your best for the day."
"That qualifies as healthy?" The blonde grumbled. The scarlet didn't reply, just continued taking bite after fluffy bite. The celestial mage rolled her brown eyes before moving onto something not so claptrap. A high pitched squeal that she could proudly say wasn't from her drew her attention. The guild's resident water mage had her eyes widened staring off in a distance direction. Lucy squinted, trying to make out what she was seeing. "Well what do you know…"
A tall, somewhat smug wizard was walking towards them. His spiky silver hair hung down in a few strands and stood up at odd angles. Despite this and his usual icy stare he seemed content and rather, dare she say it, merry.
"As beautifully as always, Juvia-chan."
Lucy snickered as a bright red blush spread across the water mage's face. The newly arrived mage might have realized his affections weren't returned a year ago, but that didn't mean he could stay away for long. A very stunned Juvia was only able to make out a feeble. "Lyon-sama."
Lucy gave her a sympathetic smile before looking back at the ice mage. "Didn't expect to see you here."
Lyon raised a slim eyebrow. "You didn't think Fairy Tail would be the only guild from Fiore, did you?"
"Ju-Juvia will not fraternize with Lyon-sama! Juvia is waiting for her one true love to return."
Lucy sighed and let the two be. Juvia usually said something similar whenever the ice mage visited the guild, and Lyon wasn't one to sweep Juvia off her feet when the man she was so devoted was absent.
Lucy did a quick check over to make sure her keys still remained by her side. Any moment now the teams will be called out one by one to make their appearance. The last thing she wanted was being forced to compete without her spirits.
Cheers could already be heard through the stone walls surrounding them, the crowd of spectators sounding their impatience. The celestial mage could just make out the voice of the referee starting the opening ceremony. A tap on the shoulder made her spin around. Lucy glanced down at a games administrator looking back at her.
"Excuse me; Miss, would you happen to be a part of your guild's team?"
Lucy gave the other a questioning look. "Yes, I am."
The administrator handed her a piece of paper with a number on it, identical to yesterdays. "This is your team number. It's been decided names will not be used until later on."
Erza glanced over at them. "A number? I've come to understand we would use are actual guild name starting today."
The administrator offered a helpless shrug. "There's been a change."
Ur nervous fingered the necklace around her neck. The silver sword pendant cool against her already freezing skin. The first few guild teams had already entered the stadium. Single mages like herself would come next. She pulled the hood of her cloak down, trying to hide her face. As far as she was concerned she wanted to win these damn games then leave without anyone remembering her.
Natsu grinned wildly when a set of double doors swung open and the arena lay before him. He could hear a deafening applause. He and the rest of his team strode out into the opening. A fairy emblem could be seen on each of their clothes, representing their guild.
He droned everything out after that. Logic told him he should be observing the other teams, but he didn't use strategy. He'll just wing it when he fought another mage. For the time being he took in the scenery. Thousands upon thousands were watching them. His grin widened at the thought of spreading his guild's (somewhat infamous) name.
Natsu snapped out of his thoughts when a hint of a smell that used to make him instantly both irritated and emulated came to him, the same as yesterday. It was clearer now, closer. He turned trying to locate it. It wasn't exactly like his friend and rival's. It was similar but only in part. Like how the Strauss' smelled similar. But this was even less than that. He looked over to where the single competitors were, none of which he recognized. This couldn't have been Gra-
"Natsu pay attention!" Lucy scolded. The dragon slayer blinked down at her in surprise.
"What?"
"Have you even been listening?" The blonde rolled her eyes. "They just said they were making a change to the games. Honestly, don't space out so easily."
"Change to the games?" The dragon slayer glanced over to the still speaking referee in the middle of the grounds.
"-will all compete against each other, guilds and single mages alike. This way we can truly find the world's best wizard." The dragon slayer blinked once more, unsure of what he heard. "However, since our number of competitors in one category just doubled we need to eliminate a few before we can move onto our planned games."
Natsu leaned forward, his attention captivated.
"Both today and day two will be devoted to doing this. Five groups and five mages will be taken out of the games all together. On day three will we hold another opening ceremony where we will tell each guilds' title and competitors' name."
The fire mage cursed under his breath. He was fine with more competition. It was not saying their guild name that irked him.
"With that, we begin our first of the two elimination battles of the mages. May all the single mages take the field."
A hand clamped down on his shoulder. Natsu glanced down at Lucy who was trying to steer him towards the stands. He reached down, trying to pry the fingers off. "What? I thought we were fighting?"
The celestial mage shook her head at him. "You should really listen more. This round is for single mages only. We compete tomorrow."
Ur swung an ice coated fist towards an unsuspecting mage. Miscellaneous magic types flew overhead, some nearly grazing her side. She rolled to her side when a beam of magic was aimed at her. The orderly demeanor of the contestants that had been present moments ago no longer existed. Battle cries mixed with the thickening air, adding confusion to the fray.
She ducked as magic came past where her head used to be. She moved further to the side, gathering her own magic. Lucky for her she had "inherited" both types of magic from her parents. The result was she could mimic a perfectly balanced unison raid single handedly.
One hand landed onto her open palm, her molding position. The air temperature rapidly dropped down to below freezing, cold enough for breath to be visible in the air. Ice sprang forth from her hands, swirls of energetic magic encased in the crystal. The mage that meant to hit her seconds ago dropped to the ground on contact, their eyes rolling to the back of their head.
An announcer from somewhere called out the fallen mage's number, indicating he was out of the game. Ur ignored the voice, focusing solely on the situation at hand.
…
Lyon watched the fighting from the stands along with the rest of the guild mages. Nine mages remained on the grounds, that number dropping every few minutes. He held in his envy. Each mage moved swiftly and their level of power was worthy of awe. It wasn't often he admired a mage for their magic. He had only done it a handful of times in his life, now he was dumbstruck.
His cold eyes moved over to a cloaked figure holding their own on one side of the field. They were shorter than the rest and if he could see their face no doubt younger. What caught his attention was their magic. Ice make magic seemed to be their main go to. He silently marked them as a potential future opponent.
His eyes narrowed as he was able to make out their hands even from this distance. It really was captivating. He muttered a quiet pardon to one of his guild mates and left the stands.
…
Iced lances shot forward, sending opponents back. The number left was coming to five, only six other mages remained on their feet. The rest had fallen at other's hands and haven't moved since.
Ur casually backed as another attack headed for her. A frown was etched on her face as she watched the wizards still fighting. They weren't fighting full out, holding back instead, probably not wanting to waste their power on something so easy. That was the problem. She couldn't find out their full extent of their power like this.
She rolled to the side, evading another attack. A cry could be heard as the shot that was meant for her hit another wizard, dropping the figure one above the desired end piece.
She formed a quick ice shield for the next defensive move. A magic force bounced of the surface, leaving her unscathed. She moved her hands to her sides, breaking the crystal into hundreds on knife-like icicles. Moving her palms forward they followed suit, flying out and embedding themselves into sides of unaware wizards.
One of the mages she hit stumbled, their knees threatening to buckle. A blast of magic that didn't come from the ice mage was the finishing blow to them. The crackle of the announcement box could be heard as the administrators added a final word.
Ur dismissed listening after they announced the end of the round. To be honest the match had gone by too fast for her taste, but the last thing she wanted as to be in public eye longer than she had to. She made her way back to the rooms leading from the arena.
Natsu grumbled incoherent words under his breath. Just his damn luck. He gets promised a week of brawling and in place was sitting down as everyone else had all the fun. He'll have to go all out tomorrow. Show everyone Fairy Tail is capable of fighting every time.
She pulled her hood off when she entered the dark lit hall. A few stragglers milled the hallways, walking about. She felt the air drop a degree or two when she passed by one.
"Ice make is an interesting magic, isn't it."
Ur stopped and glanced over to who had spoken. A man not yet in his thirties was watching her, a feeling of magic parallel to her own coming from him. Long, silver hair spiked down in front of his pale face. The younger mage stared at him silently for a moment before turning back to leave. "I suppose."
"How's Gray?"
Ur stopped moving and froze. She narrowed her darkening eyes at the stranger. "I believe you have me mistaken for someone else."
The stranger narrowed his eyes back at her. "As I said, interesting. The beauty of ice make magic is that every caster's pose is unique. That's what I was told, anyway. The only exception I've ever seen was when I met a daughter of an ice mage that used the same magic as her mother's. They had the same technique." He let an unreadable expression cross his face. "Curious how you match the same pose as someone I know, don't you think?"
Ur kept silent for a moment more before answering. "As I said, you have me mistaken. You must have missed some detail." The female ice mage turned away, putting distance between her and the questioning man.