"Elfman Strauss vs. Cygnus Gwydion." Calium read from White Eclipse's side of the stands. This was the next matchup for the showdown between the two guilds.
"Man!" Elfman nodded, a determined look appearing over his face.
"You better not lose," Evergreen scoffed from the sidelines.
"I won't lose! It wouldn't be manly!" Elfman smirked before walking into the large arena.
"Heh, this is gonna be wild," Bacchus smirked, remembering his battle with Elfman in that very stadium.
"You up for this, Gravity God?" Reve asked as he patted Cygnus's back a few times.
"Psh, if I can beat Natsu, this sissy won't be a problem," Cygnus waved a hand as he went down the stadium, smirking at Elfman. "You ready?"
"A man is always ready!" Elfman replied. "Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" Elfman's arm changed into a metallic arm composed of heavy material.
"Tch, if I can beat him, Cygnus shouldn't have any problems…" Michio mumbled under his breath.
"You can do it, Elf-niichan!" Lisanna cheered from the sidelines.
"Let's get started," Cygnus smirked, giving Elfman the signal to come at him.
"For Fairy Tail!" Elfman pulled his Iron Bull arm back.
"Heh…I hate to disappoint you…" Cygnus utilized his Gravity Magic, making his arm heavier as he pulled it back, throwing it forward to clash with Elfman's, the impact creating a shockwave that forced the two combatants back. "But I'm gonna have to body you right here, and now." Cygnus ran forward, using his gravity to make himself lighter, therefore increasing his speed, reaching Elfman within seconds; he pulled his fist back, using his gravity to enhance the power of his punch as he landed a powerful blow to Elfman's stomach, forcing the manly man to take a few steps back. Cygnus rounded off his assault with a powerful kick to Elfman's head, siding him spiraling away onto the ground.
"Oh…I heard that…" Luke said as he rubbed the side of his head.
"Cygnus has this," Zalen replied, cleaning off his glasses.
"Was it this easy, Michio?!" Cygnus jumped into the air, aiming his legs to deliver a fulminating blow to Elfman's head…but he was caught by a giant beast arm, stopping his progress. "What?!"
"Takeover: Beast Soul!" Elfman's body changed into a giant beast, his shirt ripped off from his size, and his pants shrinking also due to the size increase. Elfman smirked, standing up with Cygnus in his grasp. He then brought his arm down, slamming Cygnus into the ground, spun Cygnus around like a lasso and then threw him into the ground, creating a minor dust cloud from Cygnus's impact.
"Go Elfman!" Natsu grinned.
Cygnus recovered from the throw, shaking off the impact as he clenched one eye shut, smirking. Admittedly, that was a good hit. "Oh, so we're gonna play like that, huh?" Cygnus grinned, running forward yet again. Elfman pulled his giant arm back, swinging it down at Cygnus, but Cygnus leaned his body to the left, avoiding the punch. Cygnus then hopped on Elfman's arm, using it as leverage as Cygnus delivered a gravity enhanced roundhouse to Elfman's face, causing Elfman to stumble back. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Cygnus smirked as Elfman fell on his back from the round house kick, but he quickly got back up, shaking the impact off.
Elfman growled slightly, seeing that Cygnus was taunting him. Despite his gargantuan size, Elfman's speed was amazing; rushing up to Cygnus as he aimed a powerful punch at Cygnus's body, but Cygnus caught it, sliding back a few feet due to Elfman's weight. "When a man falls, he gets back up and keeps going! For Fairy Tail's sake, I won't stay down!"
"Stop saying man!" Cygnus manipulated the gravity around Elfman's heavy body, making his opponent much lighter. "And fly!" Cygnus was able to throw Elfman's large body into the air due to the lowered gravity; this caused Cygnus to smirk, as a golden magic circle appeared on his hands. Cygnus shot multiple golden rays of gravity at helpless Elfman, the rays weighing the large beast down as he slammed into the ground, creating a small crater from the impact.
"Elfman! Watch out, his gravity is really annoying!" Gray shouted.
"You only say that because I put that hole in your tummy," Cygnus replied to Gray.
Elfman leapt from the crater, now in his Weretiger Takeover, using his increased speed to catch Cygnus off guard; to a degree as most of Elfman's attacks landed, causing the Demi God to take a few steps back to avoid the strikes. Elfman was much faster than Cygnus was prepared for, so this did lead to him getting slammed in the chest with a powerful palm strike. "Got you!"
"Guh-!" Cygnus lurched over and grunted. Elfman's high speed allwoed for another opening, in which Cygnus was knocked down with a elbow shortly after. He tumbled along the ground before catching himself in a crouched position, spitting out some blood. "Don't you know how these things work? You might be faster, but that just means your blows lack power! That didn't tickle nearly as much as your other one."
Elfman wasn't going to be taunted by Cygnus. Instead he just continued to pounce on his opponent with a flurry of blows. Cygnus knew the danger. Even if Elfman wasn't as strong as in his Beast Soul, too many slashes would be the end of him if he wasn't careful. "I won't let you beat me!"
Cygnus found himself on the defensive, mostly focusing on evading Elfman's strikes. "Don't you know that I'm the god of gravity? That means...you'll bow." Cygnus suddenly increased the gravity within the arena tenfold. Elfman's assault came to an abrupt halt as his knees buckled.
"Gh...!" Elfman refused to bow to Cygnus. But it was taking all of his strentgh to remain standing.
"Come on, you big lug! Don't let him ge te better of you!" Cana exclaimed.
"Elf-nii, fight on!" Lisanna cheered. She would always support her big brother no matter what.
Cygnus drew his hand back, a golden light appearing within his palm. All eyes were on the demi-god as a sword appeared within his grasp. "Say hello to my sword, Rebellion. You two are about to get very acquainted." Cygnus then brought his sword down on Elfman's chest, using the power of gravity to enhance the blow. To his surprise, Elfman was able to bring his hands up to catch the blade, but the force of it all did make his knees buckle and he did have to kneel in front of Cygnus. "Hah! That's a better look for you...!" Cygnus was trultfully mildly annoyed that Elfman could still move.
"A man...doesn't yield...to anyone...!" Elfman snarled through gritted teeth, refusing to be outdone. But unfortunately, due to his position, he was open to Cygnus simply kicking him in the chest. This caused Elfman to slide across the ground until he came to a halt. "Ngh..." But he shook his off and stood up, feeling the gravity return to normal. He immdiately charged at Cygnus again, the frontal assault his only option.
Cygnus then smirked, ducking a high speed swipe and slammed a heavy gravity enhanced kick at Elfman's right ankle, causing the tiger to quickly fall, to a knee, giving Cygnus the time he needed to land a powerful punch to Elfman's jaw, causing Elfman to fall back. "GAH!" Elfman sprang up, wincing slightly from his injured leg, but he ran forward yet again…but there was something different about this time. Due to Cygnus's low sweep, Elfman's speed had dropped drastically, giving Cygnus time to prepare for his next strike.
"That's right…just a little closer…" Cygnus pulled his arm back, poison forming around his fist. When Elfman was close, Cygnus threw his fist forward…but Cygnus's fist hit against heavy scales, causing him to retract his fist quickly. "W-WHAT THE!?" He couldn't help but shake his hand, wincing from the impact.
"Takeover: Lizardman…" Elfman was now in his Lizardman takeover, scales appearing all over his body, drastically increasing his defense. "I know how you fight now," Elfman said quietly, but loud enough so Cygnus could hear. "Hand to hand is your style…you use your gravity to enhance the power of your physical attacks, but that's it. You think you can break my scales with your gravity?"
"Sounds like a challenge…" Cygnus smirked, cracking his knuckles, ignoring the pain in the fist that hit Elfman's scales.
"Cygnus, don't fall for the bait!" Luke shouted.
"He knows what he's doing," Reve replied.
Cygnus ran forward towards Elfman who just stood there, waiting for Cygnus to attack. "You don't know everything about me…" Cygnus smirked as his cheeks started to inflate, causing Elfman's eyes to widen. It was at this moment that everyone realized Cygnus had more tricks up his sleeve that he was revealing to Elfman. Everything up until now was mostly a show.
"It was a trap…!" Mavis said quietly.
"Elfman-san, look out!" Wendy shouted. But it was too late.
"Gravity God's Poisoned Bellow!" Cygnus was now right in front of Elfman, who was too surprised to react. Cygnus opened his mouth as a gold magic circle appeared; unleashing gravity enhanced Poison Bellow at point blank range at Elfman. Though Elfman's scales provided efficient defensive ability, the poison quickly ran through Elfman's body, rendering it numb as he returned to his normal form, KO'ed. While he was able to take the blow itself, the aftereffects were too strong for his body to ignore.
"T-That idiot…!" Evergreen looked away from the KO'ed Elfman, not wanting to see him in that state.
"Heh, told you he knew what he was doing," Reve grinned.
"Elfman Strauss of Fairy Tail can no longer continue," Calium said as Elfman's picture X'ed itself out.
"See?" Reve said, smirking. "We just needed a little time to get the score straight."
"Elfman…" Natsu clenched his fist, unable to say that Fairy Tail was just getting started with three members out.
"Starting to get bodied, right?" Cygnus smirked as he walked over to the White Eclipse side of the stands.
"Those mages are pretty strong…" Sting mumbled. "I'm sure Natsu-san will be able to beat them…"
"Gajeel too…" Rouge replied faintly.
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch replied.
"We want Fairy Tail to win, right?" Lector asked his best friend, Sting.
Sting nodded in response. "That's right; nobody likes those White Eclipse mages, and I can tell no one would like it if they became the strongest guild in Fiore. Right now, that spot belongs to Fairy Tail, but in the end, Sabertooth will regain its glory and shine in a new light. And by then, I will have defeated Natsu-san…"
"And I will have defeated Gajeel," Rouge said, nodding to himself quietly as he leaned back in his seat.
Mirajane and Lisanna took Elfman to the infirmary, where Wendy proceeded to heal him, ridding his body of the poison. Not too surprisingly, Evergreen went to check on Elfman's condition, calling him an idiot for not seeing such a move from Cygnus coming. As this happened, Mavis eyed the White Eclipse mages. "Those mages are very strong…" Mavis said aloud, hoping to catch Team Fairy Tail's attention. "All of them are clever…"
"Don't worry," Natsu replied, grinning slightly. "We're just warming up, we're gonna defeat all of them!"
"Of course you will," Mavis gave a grin. "You are Fairy Tail wizards after all, nothing is impossible!" Mavis turned her head, meeting Sidney's gaze from across the stands. "WAH!" She fell back from surprise.
"W-What's wrong!?" Cynthia gasped at Mavis' sudden fall.
"H-He saw me!?" Mavis hopped up, pointing to Sidney, who was now looking up at the roulette.
"Are you sure…?" Markarov asked.
"I-I'm sure! I wouldn't lie!" Mavis started to tear up from the thought of being called a liar.
"N-NO! DON'T CRY!" Markarov flailed his arms around, but it was too late, Mavis turned her back and started crying. "L-LAXUS! DO SOMETHING!"
"What do you want ME to do about THIS!?" Laxus yelled.
"HOLD HER, DO SOMETHING!" Markarov responded.
"That's out of my league, old man…!" Laxus replied, his non scarred eye twitching slightly.
"Uh…are they okay…?" Selene pointed over to Fairy Tail, who were seemingly yelling and panicking for no reason.
"I think the realization of them being number two finally kicked in," Reve replied while examining one of his pistols.
"Uhm…should we get the next match or…" Calium stated, unsure of how to reaction with Fairy Tail's current situation.
"Y-Yes, get the next match started!" Markarov shouted while attempting to deal with the crying spirit.
"Right…" The roulette spun around once again, landing on Kuro Crane…and Gray Fullbuster. "Oh? This should be interesting…Kuro Crane vs. Gray Fullbuster."