Here's the latest chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

July 6, X791

"And we have our first battle today between the two newcomer guilds!" Chapati referred to the fight that was about to ensue with Spiral from Phoenix Dawn and Momo from White Valkyrie. "We've yet to see either of these combatants in the battle portions his week, so suffice to say this will be an interesting battle! And what's this?! Fairy Tail's Gray is about to take on Sabertooth's Rufus! The Games are really starting to heat up now!"

Spiral stood across from Momo and readied himself for a fight, examining the flaming katana in her hand.

"Let me guess, that's another of those legendary ninja weapons?" Spiral asked.

"Bingo!" Momo answered and held up her flaming katana. "This one's Rekkaken. It boosts my strength and magical power, but my resilience is downgraded."

"And you're telling me this because…?"

"Just wanted to give you a fighting chance. Perhaps you can pay me back with a date?"

"I see you're honorable enough to request my surrender." Spiral smirked. "But I'll have to say 'no' to the date. Already taken, ya know?"

"Oh, boo. Can I at least get a kiss?"

"How about we discuss it after the fight? I have other wizards I need to fight." Spiral then thought to himself. *A member of Fairy Tail is already fighting against Sabertooth. I need to find one of the others and beat them before someone else does.*

Within the span of a second, Momo closed the gap between her and Spiral and swung the back end of her blade at him. He managed to block the attack in time, but she instantly tried to deliver another swift strike which he blocked as well. This back and forth continued for nearly half of a minute until Momo swept Spiral with her leg and he fell to the ground. She was about to punch him in the heart, but he rolled out of the way and her fist left a crack in the manmade pathway.

"Sonic Accelerando!"

A magic circle appeared underneath Spiral's feet and the moment he lifted his foot, he instantly appeared in front of Momo and the two clashed swords. The two of them kept disappearing and reappearing, their swords hitting each other every time they moved.

"Now this is a battle between two swift sword-bearers!" Chapati said.

"But remember, Momo can requip to other weaponsh." Yajima said.

Spiral and Momo clashed blades one more time and the two were pushing their blades toward the other.

*Rekkaken's not gonna cut it.* Momo thought.

Momo kicked Spiral in the chest to knock him back and she jumped back a fair distance away.

"Pawāchi!"

Rekkaken disappeared and in its place appeared a giant hammer with a flag with the Japanese letter 地 scrawled on it. Spiral dashed toward Momo and kicked her in the face, but she didn't budge an inch and smiled. She tried to swing her hammer in retaliation, but the slow windup allowed Spiral to dodge the attack before it could nearly knock his head off.

"I suppose that hammer gives you a strong boost to your defenses." Spiral said. "Anything else it does to you?"

"Sorry, no more tips, boyfriend material." Momo replied.

Momo began running toward Spiral, but he didn't move a bit because her movements were incredibly sluggish, even compared to a normal person.

"… I think I can guess." Spiral said. "Sonic Energico!"

Another magic circle appeared underneath Spiral and he breathed in deep.

"Sonic Alto!" Spiral let out a sonic screech.

The attack struck Momo and made her keel back in pain.

*That actually hurt her?* Spiral thought. *If my kick did nothing to her, then my boosted Alto shouldn't do a whole lot better… Unless…* "I get it! Not only does that hammer significantly slow your movement, but it seems like the only defense that got a boost was that against physical, non-magic attacks."

"Wow, cute AND smart!" Momo said. "Add great at cooking and with kids and you'd be husband material!"

"Tell Hikari that." Spiral said.

"What do you see in that girl, anyway? Wouldn't you rather go out with me?"

"I admit I have a thing for flirty girls, but there's a very specific reason I was drawn to Hikari."

(Flashback)

It was early August in the year X790 and Spiral had just arrived in a port town on the northeast coast of Fiore called Lilyvale, which had just been hit by a fierce hurricane. Thankfully, most of the citizens had evacuated the town before it hit, but many people were still left injured and every building was either in shambles or on the verge of falling apart. Spiral was there via a request from the Magic Council to help with the restoration effort. As he walked throughout what little was left of the town, he saw a giant tarp set up over an area like a tent and there were several dozen people lying on the ground with bloodied bandage wrapped around various parts of their bodies. After conversing with one of the restoration leaders, he was assigned to help repair some of the homes so townspeople could at least have shelter.

On the first day as Spiral was about to take his lunch break and passed by the medical ward, he saw Hikari helping out the patients, catering to their every need and not once showing any sign of impatience or aggravation.

At night when everyone had stopped for the evening, Hikari was heading out of town to take a bath at a waterfall in the forest nearby when she came across Spiral heading in the opposite direction.

"Oh, Spiral." Hikari spoke up.

"Hey, Hikari." Spiral greeted. "If you're wondering why I'm here, it's because I accepted a request to help with the restoration effort. You too?"

"Actually, as soon as I heard about the hurricane, I came here and started helping the injured." Hikari answered. "All I wanted was to help these poor people. I guess working with the church will do that to a person."

"Good."

"Huh?"

"Honestly, I wish I was as pure-hearted as you. If it weren't for the reward, I probably wouldn't be here. Long have I dreamed of being a hero and bringing good to the world… but now I'm starting to think I'm not as good of a person I thought I was…"

"Spiral, don't feel bad about yourself." Hikari came up to him and held his hands. "You're only human. We all have a selfish side… even me…"

"Hikari?"

"I'll tell you another time. Anyway, don't feel bad about your imperfections. You still always try to do the right thing and that's why you have so many friends in the guild."

(End Flashback)

"… I've always wanted to be the perfect hero." Spiral continued. "The kind I always read about in comic books… the ones I always looked up to… But after Hikari told me that we all have imperfections and I read those comics again… I realized my heroes weren't as perfect as I thought… I see them some rather… unsavory things for selfish reasons, and not in a fit of rage. It was then I realized not only is Hikari a far kinder soul than me, but she opened my eyes to the reality I refused to accept. I'm still the same person I once was, strengths and faults, but I at least I see things in a whole new light now. And I have Hikari to thank for that. It's not simple infatuation, I genuinely have strong affections for her."

Hikari was sitting in the stands of the stadium and crying from listening to Spiral's words.

"Oh, Spiral!" Hikari sobbed. "You're so cool!"

Momo sighed. "… I see… Your heart's already taken…"

"… You're not going to go on a ballistic rampage, are you?" Spiral asked.

"No…" Momo shook her head. "This was a battle I lost before it even began."

"Speaking of battle, we should really finish this one."

"Mm-hm." Momo nodded as she requipped away her hammer and in its place appeared a naginata with strange spikes jutting out near the blade. "Raiyari!"

Momo dashed toward Spiral, moving a bit slower than when she had her scythe equipped, but still at a great speed.

"Never-Melt Glacier!"

Spiral conjured a massive chunk of ice in front of him that blocked the naginata strike and pushed Momo away due to its size. However, Spiral was still touching the ice and was electrocuted until he pulled his hand away from it.

"Dammit!" Spiral growled. "That thing's imbued with Lightning Magic! Although…"

Spiral surrounded his sword in magic and swung at toward the glacier.

"Sonic… Requiem!"

Without touching the ice, Spiral let out a powerful wave of Sound Magic from his sword that pushed the glacier toward Momo and carried her all the way to the other end of the park. Spiral immediately ran in that direction to check on the situation and saw that she was lying on the ground next to the iceberg, covered in bruises and a bunch of twigs caught in her hair. He kept her eyes on her and she eventually started to sit up, clearly in pain from the bruises.

"Still raring to fight, huh?" Spiral asked.

"Actually, I can keep myself standing I'm in so much pain." Momo replied.

"Sorry about that." Spiral nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Guess I went too far, huh?"

"Also, I know about your vendetta on Sabertooth."

Spiral's eyes widened in surprise that Momo knew about that.

"You're conserving your energy to fight them." Momo continued. "You want them to pay for what they did to your friends."

"How… how did you know that?" Spiral asked.

Momo blushed. "I… I kinda spied on you in the infirmary."

"Stalker!"

"Spiral, before you go off, I need to tell you something."

"Hm?"

"As you may have heard, my clan was wiped out. For years, I trained so I could have my revenge. When I finally found the people responsible, they were already dead. Someone else killed them long before I came along."

"You must have been pretty angry that you couldn't exact your revenge."

"… No, I wasn't. Well, a little, but… I mostly felt… happy. I realized that it wasn't my killing them that I wanted… it was for them to get what they deserved. I bet that's how you really feel about Sabertooth, isn't it?"

Spiral remained silent, contemplating the words Momo had just said.

"I could be wrong, but it's just a theory." Momo said.

"Well, thank you for telling me." Spiral said before walking away. "By the way…" Spiral looked back at Momo. "You seem like a nice enough girl. I'm sure any guy you get would be lucky to have you."

Momo blushed and nodded. "Thanks!"

Spiral smiled back at her and continued walking away.

*Hikari's WAY too lucky!* Momo thought. *She gets such a sweet guy… And he has a fairly nice ass to boot.*

Frost was walking through the town when she started hearing some announcements coming from the PA system.

"Spiral claims a solid victory on White Valkyrie's Momo!" Chapati announced. "And Fairy Tail's Gray managed to defeat Sabertooth's Rufus on top of that!"

However, as she was distracted by the announcement, she felt something pierce through her chest. Before she could react, several magic arrows pierced every part of her body with each one gradually weakening her. She instantly fell to the ground and lost consciousness, despite the fact that there was no wound on her body.

At the top of a faraway building, Leah was getting up from her prone position and was ready to move out.

*Another target down.* Leah thought to herself. *She was the one who took out Bryant. Easier to take down than I thought, though I got lucky with the announcement. Otherwise, her Dragon Slayer hearing would have picked me up and dodged my attack. But that's what expert snipers do; only shoot when they can execute the shot perfectly.*

A/N: That's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! By the way, I might not be putting out chapters as consistently because I have to start filling out applications for jobs on top of studying and papers. Anyway, stay tuned for next time!