"See what happens when you let Sidney fight?" Reve said with a wide grin. Although he wanted to be the one to take down Erza, knowing that Sidney was more than capable of doing it ignited his competitive spirit. If Sidney could do it, so he could he. "You're just lucky I haven't had the chance to step into the ring yet. It would be so much worse for you when I do."
"I'm sure you'll come up with a fight soon, Reve," Calium nodded reassuringly, mostly saying this because there were only three White Eclipse members left.
"And you'll all go down like the rest!" Gray smirked.
"Oh, I'm gonna enjoy shooting you down, Ice make boy," Reve said with a smirk, pretending to fire at Gray.
"I was unaware Wendy could do that…" Mavis whispered over to Makarov.
"Ah, well," Makarov started. "It surprised us all, but it seems as though she ate Cythia's flames a while back, and just like Natsu and Gajeel, she's able to enter a dual mode. It really saved our hides there now that we have the lead."
"Mhm," Mavis nodded slowly. "There are three mages left…so all we can do is hope we get the same victorious results we've been getting."
"Leave it to us!" Cynthia replied to Mavis with a fist held up.
"Time for the next match," Calium nodded, starting the roulette once again. The roulette stopped on Cynthia and Heather.
"Me again?" Heather blinked before stepping into the ring. She defeated Lucy and was still just the tiniest bit sore from it. The only annoying thing was that this wasn't the one she wanted.
"Mind your steps with that one." Reve said in a serious tone. "Don't push her the wrong way; otherwise you're going to have a huge problem…go for the quick knockout…Like with Lucy."
Like with Lucy, he said. Heather couldn't help but scowl a bit as she recalled the fight with Lucy. She went down a lot harder than Heather expected. She still won, but it was hard for her to say she felt proud of it. "I won't waste time."
"Alright, the Poison Dragon Slayer…" Cynthia nodded to herself as she walked into the center of the arena. Lucy fought so hard against Heather, and Cynthia wouldn't let it be for nothing!
"You got this, Cynthia!" Wendy cheered. "Right, Carla?"
"Mm..." Carla gave a reluctant nod. She would cheer for Cynthia, since Wendy was cheering.
.
.
Aiden and Maggie were watching the entire tournament from atop a building near the Grand Magic Games stadium. "Cynthia's finally fighting again, finally…" Aiden let out a sigh. "I thought she'd never get the chance to fight again…"
"Gonna see if she's ready this time, you bloomin' tosser?" Maggie asked, lying on her back, looking up at Aiden. "Because I'm starting to quickly lose my paitence, and you know what happens if I reach my limit."
"Just to see her progress now," Aiden replied calmly. "It seems her bonds with Fairy Tail have increased her emotional stability, giving her access to some of that emotional power she wasn't able to control before, which is good."
"Lemme know what happens then," Maggie shrugged, taking in the sights of the capital, Crocus. She could not care less about this entire ordeal, but they did have a deal going, so she had to stick to it.
.
.
"I'll beat you for Lucy's sake!" Cynthia nodded firmly at Heather, who crossed her arms.
"Deal with her quick and easy…" Heather thought to herself before turning to Cynthia, who was battle ready. Heather still felt her injuries from Lucy lingering. That was the annoying part. Even with Aira's bit of healing between rounds, the injuries she sustained needed more time to rest and settle. But that was the nature of this competition. "You know how this goes. So are you goign to make the first move or not?"
"Gladly!" Cynthia wasted no time in puffing her cheeks out as a vortex of slightly dark red fire swirled around her mouth. "Roar…"
"She's starting off with that already…!?" Heather thought as she prepared for the first.
"Of the Omega Flame Dragon!" Cynthia threw her head forward, unleashing large funnel of dark red fire towards Heather.
"Poison Dragon's Guard!" A purple magic circle appeared in front of Heather, causing a thick wall of poison to form in front of her, softening the blow of the incoming roar. The guard wasn't strong enough to negate the attack, as the roar shattered the guard, blowing Heather back a few feet, covered in burn marks.
"What the hell…I thought her flames got darker when she was pissed…" Reve said with a slightly annoyed and shocked tone.
"She hit her!" Lucy grinned with excitement. "Kick her butt, Cynthia!"
Heather spread her arms out, a purple magic circle appearing in front of her. "Cross Poison!" Heather swung her arms down into an X, sending to slashes of poison towards Cynthia.
"I remember this!" Cynthia jumped into the air, evading the Cross Poison attack as she snapped her fingers, causing multiple red circles to appear around Heather.
"Heather, move!" Waiston shouted, remembering that particular attack all too well.
"Poison Dragon's!" Heather started, but it was too late as the circles unleashed fire that exploded on contact with Heather, causing her yelp out from pain, and a minor smoke cloud. Before the smoke had a chance to disperse, Heather rushed towards Cynthia with poison coated fist. "Iron Fist!"
"Whoa!" Cynthia started dodging Heather's poisonous assault, remembering her battle with another poison user, and quickly came up with a plan on how to avoid such poisonous tactics. Red flames covered Cynthia's hands as she barely dodged a punch, the poison scrapping against her cheek, leaving mark. "Tch…!" Cynthia aimed her flaming hand at Heather's wrist, catching Heather's wrist on fire, causing her to wave her hand around frantically.
"H-Hey! What's this!?" Heather shouted in confusion and pain.
"That's my new attack!" Cynthia said proudly. "I hit the opponent with my flaming fist, and it catches whatever part of their body I hit on fire!" Cynthia smirked, extending her arms as darkened red fire trailed from them. "This one is for Lucy!" Cynthia rammed into Heather with her arms out, causing Heather to fly back before catching herself.
"This girl is annoying…I can see why Reve said to take her out quickly…" Heather thought to herself before pointing her arms out, a purple magic circle appearing. "Poison Dragon's Scales!" A barrage of poisonous scales shot out from the magic circle and towards Cynthia at an alarming velocity.
"Eep!" Cynthia crossed her arms, seeing no other option than to take the attack, feeling the burning sensation of the poison against her bare arms, gritting her teeth to endure the pain. "Ow…Ow…" Cynthia could feel her arms starting to go numb from the scales, so she knew she had to act quickly. "Omega Fire Dragon's…Eruption!" A magic circle appeared under Heather, basically copying Luke's lightning trick, only giving it a name this time.
"What?!" Before Heather could react, the magic circle unleashed a powerful fire eruption from beneath her feet, forcing her back a few yards, her clothes and skin now burned.
"Cynthia's doing great…!" Lucy grinned. "You can do it!"
"I will!" Cynthia replied to Lucy, not taking her eyes off Heather, who was dusting herself off.
"You're strong…" Heather admitted, puffing her cheeks out as a purple magic circle appeared in front of her. "Poison Dragons'…"
"Here it comes…" Cynthia thought to herself as she brushed her black hair back, waiting for Heather to strike.
"Roar!" Heather opened her mouth, unleashing a purple vortex of poison towards Cynthia.
"Now!" Cynthia ran towards the roar, jumping once, jumping twice, gaining height on the second jump, then preformed a third jump, jumping even high as she propelled herself over the Poison Dragon's Roar, now in the air, in the perfect position. "Omega Fire Dragon's Drill!" Cynthia placed her legs together and started spinning around, a dark red flame drill appearing around Cynthia's legs.
"Heather, MOVE!" Reve shouted.
"Poison Dragon's Guard!" Heather brought up another thick wall of poison once again just as Cynthia's attack would've struck her; however, Cynthia smirked as the poisonous wall shattered, and she struck Heather directly in the chest, forcing the poison dragon slayer into the ground, in KO.
"SHE WON!" Lucy jumped for joy, clapping her hands repeatedly.
"No way, she beat Heather too!?" Kuro's jaw dropped slightly.
"That girl is becoming a real pain in the ass…" Reve groaned.
"Whew..." Cynthia let out a sigh of relief. But she grimaced as well. She remembered how Heather fought Lucy and used that to evade her dangerous attacks. But she still got poisoned in the end. She felt it in her arms. A single mistake and she would've lost. "...I only won because Lucy was able to fight so hard..." She didn't think she would've beaten Heather otherwise...but she was happy that Lucy's efforts didn't go to waste. She needed to make sure Lucy's fight wasn't for nothing.
.
.
"My my…" Aiden said in a rather impressed voice.
"What, did she win?" Maggie asked, sitting up.
"Yes, she did, and faster than I expected too," Aiden grinned. "She's coming along quite nicely…now it's really only a matter of time…"
.
.
Heather was carried off into the infirmary, the now White Eclipse two, Fairy Tail four. Wendy returned from the infirmary, feeling a bit sad she missed Cynthia's fight, but she was happy that she won anyway. "Nice job, Cynthia!"
"Thank you, Wendy!" Cynthia grinned, rubbing the back of her head as Wendy took care of the burning sensation the poison left Cynthia.
"It's just you and me now, Sidney," Reve replied.
"I can see that," Sidney replied, tugging on his scarf.
"It's time for the next match!" Makarov said with a large grin. Makarov started the roulette; out of the remaining two White Eclipse Mages, Reve Volver was finally up, and his opponent was Gray Fullbuster.
"It's about damn time!" Reve shouted as he threw his hands up. "I've gone this entire thing without a fight; now it's time to show you how Reve Volver does things Fairies."
"Get him, cowboy," Taya said with a smirk.
"Hmph," Reve didn't reply, Taya still didn't apologize or say anything about the time when she left the most important fight of Reve's life, especially since he wanted her to be there.
"Be careful, Gray…" Erza said in a serious tone. "Reve is a very dangerous opponent…"
"I remember your fight," Gray replied, standing up. "I'm not going to tie with him either," Gray said in a serious tone. "We're this close to proving we're number one like always, and I'm not going to let him take that away from us."
Lyon crossed his arms, eying Gray intently as Gray stepped into the center a few yards from Reve. "This is going to be a hard battle for Gray, I can tell…" Lyon said.
"I agree, Lyon-dono," Jura said while stroking his beard. "I can tell that Reve is a powerful man, and I'm just looking at him from all the way over here."
"You ready, Ice Make mage?" Reve asked as two pistols appear in his hands.
"I'm ready to take you down," Gray replied, placing his fist into his palm as a frosted wind surrounded his legs.
"Kick his ass, Gray!" Natsu shouted.
"It's all you, Gray!" Cynthia yelled out.
"Ice Make…" Gray brought his hands up slowly, and then threw them forward as a blue magic circle appeared in front of him. "Lance!" Multiple ice lances fired off from the magic circle, racing towards Reve.
"Heh…" A smirk appeared on Reve's lips as his highly trained eyes perceived the lances coming towards him in slow motion. Reve brought his pistols up and ran forward, shooting at the lances as they came towards him. Reve managed to destroy all the lances before they could reach him, and then aimed multiple shots at Gray.
"Crap…" Gray remembered that Reve had amazing eyes, so he would have to be faster with his attacks. "Ice Make: Shield!" Gray created a large shield of ice to cover his front as the bullets slammed into the shield, cracking it slightly. Gray then jumped to the side with his fist in his palm, another blue magic circle appearing. "Ice Make: Hammer!" A large ice hammer hurled itself from the magic circle and flew towards Reve.
"Damn!" Reve rolled hard to the left, avoiding the hammer as it barely nicked him. "Heh, too slow."
"His reflexes are amazing…" Lyon scowled a bit.
"Gray…" Erza watched Gray carefully; who seemed to be annoyed at the fact Reve dodged his attack so easily.
"Let's see how you handle this!" Gray placed his hands on the floor, causing a blue magic circle to form. "Ice Make: Geyser!"
"Not so fast, kid!" Reve knew exactly what was coming, so he took a large leap back just as the ice geyser shot up where he was standing. Reve then changed his pistols out for assault rifles, and unleashed a seemingly endless stream of bullets in Gray's direction.
"Gray-sama, watch out!" Juvia shouted.
"Ice Make: Cocoon!" Gray covered his entire body in a large sheet of ice, protecting him from the infinite stream of bullets for thirty seconds before shattering, causing Gray to skid back across the ground as Reve landed the first several hits as several bullets flew into Gray's torso. "Tch!" Gray gripped his shirt, and threw it to the side, revealing his bare chest. "Time to get serious…" Gray mumbled to himself.
"I'm just getting started," Reve smirked, changing one of his assault rifles for a shot gun. "Burst Shot!" Reve fired off a highly concentrated bullet towards Gray.
"Got you…" Gray rolled to the left, and then placed his hands on the ground. "Ice Make: Floor!" Half of the arena floor turned into a slippery, icy floor.
"W-What the!?" Reve took a step back, but he lost his footing and fell onto his butt. "Damn…"
"Ice Make: …" Gray skated across the icy floor as a blade appeared on his arm, and on his other arms. "Seven Sided Dance!" Gray spun around as Reve got up, aiming his blades towards Reve's chest.
"Damn…!" Reve didn't have much maneuverability on the icy floor, so he could only shift his body to the left and to the right, though it didn't have much effect, only allowing him to escape one blade slash as the other six made contact, causing Reve to stumble back with large cuts on his shirt and on his chest. Reve turned, unleashing a close range Burst Shot at Gray's back, causing the ice make mage to tumble around on the ground for a few seconds before catching himself. "I hate having to hold back," Reve said in a somewhat mocking tone. "I don't wanna kill you now."
"You think you're so good, don't you!?" Gray slammed his fist into his palm, causing another blue magic circle to appear. "Ice Make: Battle Axe!" Gray threw his arms forward, sending a large battle axe towards Reve.
"I don't think, kid," Reve replied as he got a running start, and then jumped over the battle axe. "I know," Reve aimed his assault rifle and his shotgun at Gray, letting off a high stream of bullets from the assault rifle, and a Burst Shot from the shotgun.
"Tch…" Gray crossed his arms, not having many options left as he took all the bullets Reve fired, his body bruised badly.
"Come on, Gray," Lyon crossed his arms, staring down at Gray.
Gray smirked, a blue magic circle forming under him as an ice geyser propelled him into a decent high in the air. "Ice Make…" A bow and arrow appeared in Gray's hands as he aimed down at Reve, three arrows at the ready. "Super Freeze Arrow!" Gray unleashed three arrows, one at a time, all at the speed of light, down towards Reve.
Reve continued to shoot at Gray as Gray went up the geyser, then stopped as he noticed Gray readying his arrows. "That's…not good…" Luckily, Reve still had his eyes, and he was intent on using them. Reve aimed his assault rifles forward, the arrows coming towards him in slow motion. Reve shot the arrow head off the first arrow, then jumped on the remaining piece, running on it and shooting the head off the second, now jumping on to that one as he ran forward. Repeating the process with the third, Reve ran on the final arrow and jumped as high as he could, putting his guns together as he switched them out for his infamous six-chambered Magnum, pointing it at Gray's face. "Bang," Reve clicked the trigger, unleashing a large bullet that made contact with Gray, sending him down to the ground, heavily damaged.
"Ugh…" Gray placed his hands on the ground, pushing himself up slowly. "I'm not…finished yet…"
"Heh, that's a good one," Reve said with a smirk as he landed on the ground. "You look pretty down to me."
"Not even!" Gray slammed his fist into his palm one more time. "ICE MAKE: ULIMITED!" Just like in his fight with Kuro, a multitude of weapons surrounded Gray, this time; he sent them all in a tornado like fashion towards Reve.
"Heh, cute," Reve spread his arms out, a multitude of guns appearing in front of him. "Devil's Wheel!" Reve's guns started an assault by shooting rapidly towards the twister of weapons Gray sent forward. It wasn't long before Gray's attack was overpowered by the Devil's Wheel, and Gray took a bullet through his shoulder, the bullet tearing through a muscle in his arm, a bullet through his leg, his side, and finally, through his chest, causing Gray to fall back after letting out a scream of agony.
"GRAY-SAMA!" Juvia's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, her pupils nearly nonexistent.
"G-Gray…!" Lyon's eyes grew larger from pure shock.
"Get him to the infirmary, quickly!" Erza shouted. Natsu and Gajeel brought Gray into the infirmary quickly, where Wendy and Chelia did their best to heal Gray. He was heavily injured, and passed out. Though, thanks to the Sky Dragon and Sky God's healing powers, it looked as though he would be alright within a matter of time.
"Geez, don't you think that was a bit too much…?" Aira asked as she started to heal Reve.
"Not my fault he didn't dodge," Reve replied; wincing as the cuts on his chest started to close from the healing. "Besides, that makes the score three to two, we're still in this."
"That Reve man is very powerful…" Mavis eyed Reve seriously. "He and this Sidney are dangerous opponents…" Mavis then turned to Cynthia and Gildarts, giving them a sweet smile. "But I have faith you two, and Wendy, will be able to handle it."
"I'll do my best!" Cynthia nodded with a grin.
"Mhm," Gildarts nodded, feeling the tension starting to rise from the remaining few battles.
"Gray lost…" Lyon scoffed disapprovingly.
"Reve-dono is quite powerful, don't you agree?" Jura asked while looking over at Lyon.
"I hate to say it, but he's stronger than Gray…but that doesn't mean he's stronger than me," Lyon said with a smirk.
"Don't get too confident now…" Jura said with a light chuckle.
"So, what are you going to do now, Fairies?" Reve asked from across the stadium.
Cynthia put her foot down, looking over at Reve and Sidney as red flames started to flare across her body. "What are we gonna do?!" Cynthia shouted so the entire stadium could here. "I'll tell you what we're going to do! We're going to win!"