Round Robin
Ch. 8
"It's time to continue with the next match, kabo!" Mato announced as he stood in the arena. "White Eclipse's Aira Aeolus and Fairy Tail's Gajeel Redfox, please step forward!"
"Easy points, Aira. You've got this." said Luke Cloud over in White Eclipse's section, as Aira responded with a smile and nod.
"Thanks, Luke. I'll do my best."
And with that, she walked out into the arena as Gajeel approached from the opposite end. When the two mages stopped, the announcers took a moment to discuss the matchup.
"This is certainly a matchup everyone's been waiting for since the blocks for the tournament were announced. White Eclipse and Fairy Tail have feuded over who is the number one guild around quite a bit in recent memory. But aside from the guild rivalry, there's several other things that important to note as well, right, Yajima-san?"
"You can't talk about a fight between Fairy Tail and White Eclipse without also mentioning the feud between them, but you're right. Gajeel's coming off an upset defeat from yesterday, and will also try to boost Fairy Tail's currently low overall standing on the scoreboard. Aira is looking to get White Eclipse on the scoreboard, but lets not forget this is her tournament debut. She hasn't had to fight until now,and that could potentially go a long way in helping her."
"Very good points. Now then, lets see what happens as the match starts."
"Are both fighters ready, kabo?" Mato asked, to which each made responded with a silent nod, determined expressions on both their faces.
"Begin!" he shouted as the gong rang.
Unlike in many of the previous fights, neither mage immediately charged forward. Instead, both remained still and waited for the other to strike.
"Ladies first." Gajeel said.
"It's White Eclipse tradition to let the weaker opponent go first." Aira retorted.
"Then go right ahead!"
Annoyed by the fact that Gajeel was looking down on her, she decided to make the first move.
"Fine then. Gale Force Winds!"
She clapped her hands together, creating a tornado between the two of them. Gajeel put his arms up to protect his face, and braced himself, expecting the tornado to pull him in. He was a bit surprised, however, when his feet slid backward against the ground as the winds instead pushed him away.
"Trying to keep me at a distance, huh? Sorry, but that ain't gonna work."
With that, he pointed his arm at her, preparing an attack of his own.
"Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!"
His arm turned into an iron spearhead, then glowed green as it fired multiple iron spears at Aira in rapid succession. Aira ran to the side, many of the spears flying by behind her, though she had to duck, jump, and dive to avoid a few as well. But she knew she couldn't keep this up forever, and needed to take the offensive.
"Sonic boom!"
As she said this, several small bursts of strong wind went flying toward Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer simply grinned as they approached, and his body suddenly became covered in iron scales just as the bursts of wind hit. The attack caused him to stumble back a step or two, but he was otherwise unfazed.
"Giheh. That all you got?"
Aira didn't let the taunt bother her, and instead swiped her arm forward, sending small but sharp projectiles of wind at Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer just chuckled and put his arms up, waiting for them to hit. But to his surprise, as the projectiles hit, each of them caused pieces of the iron scales to break off, and a few had cut deep enough to draw thin lines of blood on his wrists. His expression then changed from smug and confident, to one of frustration and annoyance. Aira's reaction, however, was the exact opposite, as a smirk appeared across her face.
"Don't think you've won just because you managed to give me a couple scratches."
"You've already made the mistake of overestimating your scales' defensive power. Don't also make the mistake of underestimating me, Gajeel."
"You want me to take this more seriously, is that it? Fine then. Just remember you asked for it."
With that, his grin returned as shadows began to fuse with the scales, and he entered his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode. Knowing this situation wasn't to her advantage, Aira decided to try a preemptive strike, hoping to stop him before he could attack.
"Black Hurricane!"
The blonde mage summoned a black orb over her index finger. The orb started to grow, before disappearing as a magic circle appeared beneath Gajeel. Strong black winds flew out of the magic circle all around Gajeel, completely encompassing him as they swirled about. After sustaining the winds for nearly a minute, Aira dispelled the winds to see how much damage she had done. But to her surprise, and the surprise of all watching, Gajeel was nowhere to be seen. Many in the crowd were baffled and confused, but Aira had already figured out what happened.
"He must've sunk into the shadows sometime during that attack." she said to herself as she quickly looked around, scanning the arena for her opponent. She finally looked down, only for an iron and shadow covered pole to launch from the ground and slam just under her chin, knocking her high into the air. Gajeel then emerged from the shadow, facing her while she was in the air.
"Iron Shadow Dragon's...Roar!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as he released the intense roar of iron and shadows at the defenseless White Eclipse mage. The roar hit with full force, launching her even further into the air before she fell and landed on the arena floor.
The Fairy Tail mages all cheered loudly for Gajeel while the White Eclipse mages frantically yelled to try to encourage Aira to get up. And as Mato ran over to check on Aira, Gajeel crossed his arms and let his scales and shadows disappear as he reverted back to his normal form. Mato was just about to signal for the match to end, when Aira began to stand, a faint glow outlining her body.
"Trying to heal yourself so you can keep fighting, huh? Quit being stubborn and just stay down." Gajeel said as he walked over to Aira, stopping when he was right by her. He waited for some kind of response, but the female remained silent.
"Fine then. Time to show you who the real number one guild in Fiore is."
He pulled his fist back to throw a punch, but was then caught off guard as Aira sprang to her feet, grabbing his shirt with one hand as she swung the other, slapping the Dragon Slayer across the face. Several seconds later, Gajeel turned his head back to glare at Aira, who despite having healed herself somewhat, was panting because of her wounds and fatigue. Gajeel then threw his fist forward, his punch crashing into Aira's jaw as it knocked her backward.
Again, the White Eclipse mages yelled to Aira, trying to cheer her on, when suddenly Reve looked up at the arena's screen and grinned.
"Heh. It's over. Aira's won it."
The others all looked at him with confused expressions.
"What're you talking about, Reve? She's barely even conscious." Heather responded.
"Take a look at the screen."
They all looked up at the screen, and gasped practically in unison when they saw a small star on Gajeel's chest. A few people in the crowd had noticed it too, but no one other than the White Eclipse mages knew what it meant, as their worried expressions quickly changed to confident grins.
"Like I said, easy points." Luke said.
As Aira once again struggled to get back to her feet, Gajeel just shook his head.
"I've had enough of this."
He then turned his arm into the Iron Dragon's Sword. But right as he activated his magic, the star on his chest grew, and Gajeel's arm reverted back to normal as an intense pain began to surge all through his body. The Dragon Slayer yelled out and dropped to the ground, writhing around in agony as Aira finally managed to stand back up.
"The spell won't end until I stop it. Give up, Gajeel!
"N-Never!" he responded, gritting his teeth and trying in vain to block out the intense pain. The pain continued, as did Gajeel's agonized shouts which filled the arena as the Fairy Tail mages, who had been ready to celebrate a win moments ago, now looked on with concern.
"Gajeel! I'll stop the spell as soon as you surrender! Just do it!" Aira shouted, not wanting to cause any more pain than necessary to win the fight. But even amidst the intense pain, Gajeel managed to give a defiant smirk, and even started to struggle back to his feet.
"Giheh... Hell will freeze over before I quit because of something like this!"
"Fine. Then you leave me no choice. Tempest!"
As she spoke, a hurricane formed around Gajeel, with bolts of lightning appearing and electrocuting him for several seconds, drawing even more pained shouts from him before the attack finally died down. And when it did, Gajeel slumped over and fell unconscious on the ground. Mato ran over to check on him, but it was clear Gajeel wouldn't be getting back up again.
"Gajeel is down! Aira wins!"
Cheers came roaring from the White Eclipse mages as Aira smiled and limped back to her guild's section.
"Nice job, Aira. Knew you could do it." Reve said with a grin as he pat her shoulder.
"Thanks! I'm still pretty tired, so I think I'll go rest in the infirmary for a while. Good luck in your fight, Reve." she said before walking away.
"Speaking of your fight, Reve," Tayakata chimed in, "make sure you stay focused this time. I know what you're thinking, but don't let it interfere with your fight."
"Yeah yeah. Don't worry, Taya. Orga's as good as finished."
"Hm? What're you talking about?" Luke asked Taya with a curious expression.
"...You'll see soon enough. It's better not to bring too much attention to it for now."
Gajeel rubbed his aching head as he regained consciousness, then stood and limped back to Fairy Tail's section, where most of the mages attempted to reassure him that everything was fine, and there was still plenty of time to make up for the loss. Except for Natsu, of course.
"Huh?! You lost again?! Why didn't you let me be your tag partner?! I could've taken her!"
"Oi, shut up, flame brain." Gray said. "You're not helping anything."
"What was that?! You wanna go?!" Natsu retorted, getting ready to start a fight with his rival then and there, before Erza stepped between them.
"Enough, both of you!" she shouted, and the two immediately quieted down.
"Erza," Gajeel said, looking over at her. "We're two days in and haven't won yet. That stops now. Tomorrow we're gonna win both our fights and turn our momentum around. And between the two of us, your win will be much more important."
"I was just thinking the same thing." Erza said with a nod.
"Eh? What do you two mean?" Lucy asked.
"...You'll see soon enough." Erza replied.
Back in the arena, Mato spoke again.
"Rogue Cheney of Sabertooth, and Radioactive Decay's Tsuki Mizuki, please step forward, kabo!"
The crowd began to mumble amongst itself as Tsuki walked out, as everyone was still shocked by what Minoru had done in his fight earlier against Milliana. Tsuki glanced over at Mermaid Heel's section, and wasn't surprised to see they had already left the arena. Master Avani and Minoru had also left, and though it seemed unlikely, she hoped Mermaid Heel hadn't intended on starting a fight with them somewhere outside the arena. Rogue, however, had much different thoughts on his mind as he made his way out. Since Tsuki had defeated Gajeel yesterday, Rogue was interested in facing her and seeing her power firsthand. Neither mage said anything as they came to a stop and looked each other in the eye.
"Are both mages ready?" Mato asked, and they each gave a silent nod.
"Very well. Begin!" he said as the gong sounded.
Knowing Rogue's shadows would be difficult to deal with, Tsuki decided to try attacking before he could utilize them, creating a katana of blood before charging at the Dragon Slayer. Rogue wasn't fazed, however, and drew his own katana, using it to parry Tsuki's attack as the blades clashed in a deadlock.
"You're not the only one who knows how to fight with a sword." Rogue said in a calm manner.
"Hmph. Just because you have one doesn't mean you can keep up with me."
Tsuki then pushed back to break the deadlock, and the two mages began swinging their swords, the sounds of colliding blades filling the arena as neither mage managed to hit the other for a few minutes. Finally, it was Tsuki who found an opening and swung her blade across Rogue's chest, causing him to wince in pain, before sending a kick to his stomach that knocked him back. Rogue placed a hand on his chest, as if to see how severe his injury was. And though blood was flowing down from it, it didn't seem to be a very deep cut. He knew he'd be fine as long as he finished this fight quickly. With that in mind, Rogue covered his body in a shadowy aura as he entered his Shadow Drive. Tsuki cursed under her breath, but knew tried to remain calm, knowing that she may not be able to deal damage to him in this form, but if she could just avoid him for a while, his injury would take its toll and weaken him. Rogue then sunk into the shadows and sped right for Tsuki.
"Here he comes." she muttered, bracing herself as she awaited his attack. The Dragon Slayer emerged from the ground in front of her with an uppercut, though Tsuki saw it coming and backed away to avoid it. Rogue then quickly began to fly around through the air, causing Tsuki to frantically look around in an attempt to follow his movements. Rogue came flying at her from the side, which Tsuki tried to counter by sending a roundhouse kick at his head, only for it to pass right through his body. Rogue his rapid flight around the Blood Mage until he found a good opening to attack. Gathering shadows in and around his hand, he lunged forward, slamming the shadows right into Tsuki's stomach.
"Shadow Dragon's Slash!"
The attack drew a quick shout of pain from Tsuki as it knocked her several feet back. Rogue stopped for a moment to check on his wound, starting to feel dizzy from the blood loss.
"I have to end this now..." he said to himself before flying up into the air above Tsuki, who was only just now getting back up and hadn't noticed where he'd gone.
"Shadow Dragon's Roar!" Rogue shouted, firing the shadowy blast down at her. Tsuki looked up as soon as she heard his voice, but didn't have enough time to react as the roar hit with full force, leaving a large dust cloud from the impact of the attack. And when the dust finally settled, Tsuki was seen lying unconscious on the ground as Mato ran over to check on her.
"...Tsuki is down! Rogue wins the fight, kabo!" Mato said.
His expression being as calm as ever, Rogue deactivated his Shadow Drive and walked back to Sabertooth's section, where Sting happily pat his friend on the back.
"Nice job again, Rogue! Sabertooth's still undefeated! Looks like we're well on our way to winning this tournament, huh?"
Rogue gave a faint smile and nodded. "Was there any doubt? Anyway, as much as I'd like to stay for Orga's fight, I need to go to the infirmary for now. Let me know how it goes."
"Sure, no problem. I'll see you back there in a little while."
Rogue gave a silent nod before walking back to the infirmary.
Tsuki stood and dusted herself off as she regained consciousness. "Tch..." She walked back to her guild's section, where Lisa Takahashi was the first to speak.
"Good fight, Tsuki. You gave it your best shot." she said, to which Tsuki simply gave a silent nod. "By the way," Lisa continued, "Master said we all need to go straight back to the inn when your fight was over so we can talk about...you know."
Again Tsuki nodded, not wanting to say anything about the Mermaid Heel incident either. "That's fine. I need to start preparing for my fight tomorrow anyway."
With that, the Radioactive Decay mages left the arena and all headed back to their inn together.
Mato spoke into his microphone once both mages had left.
"It's now time for the final match of Day 2, kabo! White Eclipse's Reve Volver, and Sabertooth's Orga Nanagear, please come forward!"
The two mages confidently strode out into the arena, stopping a few feet away from each other.
"Your little feud with the fairies has distracted you from who the best guild really is. But that's fine. I'll be happy to remind you." Orga said with a grin.
Reve just chuckled as he responded. "Please. Fairy Tail dethroned your guild, and we've already put them away today. You won't be any different."
"Heh. We'll see about that." Orga replied, and the two backed up a bit, waiting for the match to start.
"Are both mages ready, kabo?" Mato asked, and both Reve and Orga nodded as the gong sounded.
"Begin!"
Not moving from where he had was standing, Reve requipped a pistol into both of his hands and aimed them at Orga, who didn't seem to be even slightly intimidated by the guns.
"Bang." Reve said with a smirk, before firing repeatedly with both pistols at the God Slayer. Covering his body in black lightning, Orga seemingly flew all around the area, maneuvering through each of the shots fired, eventually appearing high in the air above Reve with his hands held out in front of him.
"120mm Black Lightning Cannon!"
As he spoke, a large beam of black lightning launched straight down at the Guns Requip mage, who dove out of the way just as the lightning crashed into the ground, creating an explosion as it did so. Right as Orga landed on his feet, Reve had sprung back up and already requipped an assault rifle.
"You may be fast, but lets see how you do against this!"
He aimed the gun forward and pulled the trigger, and bullets of raw magic energy rapidly came streaming toward Orga, who once again covered his body in lightning and dashed around the arena as he avoided the bullets.
"Tch. Those guns are getting annoying." Orga said to himself as he moved, eventually appeared behind Reve and started to charge forward. Reve, however, had anticipated this, and requipped a sawn off shotgun into his hand when Orga went behind him. And as the God Slayer charged forward, Reve smirked as he turned around and used his Quickdraw technique, a magic circle appearing under his hand and propelling it up, and quickly pulled the trigger. Orga was mere inches in front of Reve when the blast from the shotgun hit him with full force, launching him backward. Reve chuckled as Mato ran over to check on Orga.
"Really? Is that all Sabertooth's God Slayer can do? How disappointing."
Not even a second after he said that, however, a sphere of black lightning surrounded him.
"What the hell?!" Reve said, frantically trying to figure out how to escape his situation. But there was no path of retreat for the Guns Requip mage, as the electricity from the sphere then violently electrocuted him, causing him to shout out in pain from inside the sphere. Orga slowly got back up to a knee, panting as he did so. And when the sphere of lightning was finally gone, now it was Reve who was on the ground, with Mato running over to check on him.
"Heh... That's what you get...for underestimating Sabertooth." Orga said with a grin. However, Reve was then heard chuckling again as he pulled himself back to a knee as well.
"Oh, is that right? Well then this is what you get for underestimating White Eclipse. Devil's Wheel."
Orga's grin changed to a confused expression, but something then caught his attention. He looked up, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw roughly twenty different guns floating in a circle above him. Reve smirked once again, and held his hand out like a gun, pointing it at Orga.
"Bang."
As he said that, each of the guns fired everything they had on Orga, hitting with full force before the tired God Slayer could react. And as the smoke cleared, Orga was on the ground once again, clearly unconscious this time.
"Orga is down! Reve wins, kabo!" Mato announced.
As he slowly stood back to his feet, Reve grinned at the unconscious God Slayer.
"Sabertooth had its run as the top guild. But your time's up. Same goes for Fairy Tail. It's White Eclipse, or second place."
And with that, he walked back to White Eclipse's section in the stands as his guildmates came over to congratulate him.
"Nice job, Reve. With Aira beating Gajeel earlier, this means we've beaten the two previous top guilds in one day." Takeru Tenebrae, the Shadow Dragon Slayer said.
"Heh. All in a day's work. And I'm sure tomorrow will be even better." he said with an eager grin.
By now Orga had stood back up, and gave a frustrated grunt before making his way back to the other Sabertooth mages. Rufus chuckled as the God Slayer returned.
"My my. That White Eclipse mage made you look rather foolish, Orga."
"Shut up, Rufus. It's still early in the tournament."
"Of course. I merely jest. I have no doubt you and Rogue shall both prevail in the end."
Orga didn't respond, except to cross his arms as he looked back out to the screen in the arena.
With the final match of the day finished, Chapati and Yajima took a moment to comment.
"Certainly a lot of interesting things have happened here in the second day of the Round Robin. After all of Day 1's fights ending with declared winners, three out of the first four of today's fights ended in draws! This of course included another spectacular surprise performance from Chelia Blendy, who now leads Block A with three points!"
"Hm... Yes indeed, Chelia was quite impressive. But of course we can't mention those first matches without talking about the incident between Radioactive Decay's Minoru Kanemoto and Mermaid Heel's Milliana."
"Of course. After the match ended in a draw, Minoru let his frustration get the best of him, and was about to attack her right out in the arena, but was stopped at the last moment by Radioactive Decay's Guild Master, Avani Moton."
"Yes, and as we said earlier, it's things like this that can potentially lead to wars between guilds. I certainly hope the situation doesn't escalate to that, but we all saw how furious Kagura was. Whether this conflict can be resolved peacefully remains to be seen."
"And naturally we'll give an update if we learn more. Lets also remember that Mermaid Heel remains undefeated thus far after today, with Kagura and Rogue now tied for first place in Block B with four points each. Quatro Cerberus and White Eclipse also had good days, with each of their mages winning today, including Aira Aeolus who made her first appearance in the tournament today."
"On the other hand, Fairy Tail still hasn't won its first match of the tournament. Erza Scarlet only has one point, which of course came from a draw in today's match. It'll be interesting to see if they can turn their momentum around as the tournament progresses.
"Speaking of which, Yajima-san, lets take a look at the screen as tomorrow's matches are announced."
All the fans and mages in the arena watched as the matchups for Day 3 showed up on the screen:
Milliana vs Bacchus
Orga Nanagear vs Emerita Megido
Blues vs Tsuki Mizuki
Aira Aeolus vs Rogue Cheney
Ichiya Kotobuki vs Minoru Kanemoto
Kagura Mikazuchi vs Mathias Cronqvist
Lyon Vastia vs Gajeel Redfox
Erza Scarlet vs Reve Volver
(Bye: Chelia Blendy and Eve Tearm)
"Ah, so that's what you meant earlier, Taya." Luke Cloud said over in White Eclipse's section as he read the screen.
Taya simply sighed and nodded, but Reve had a wide grin on his face as he looked over at Fairy Tail's section, where Erza was practically glaring back.
"It's you and me tomorrow, Titania."
