[Flashback.]
"We have one Wizard Saint spot open...and we have two people who are capable of filling that role..." Gran Doma said while looking over two pictures. One was of Ur Milkovich, and the other? The other was a woman of similar age to Ur, but her hair and eyes were both red. "You, Ur Milkovich, and you...Mary Crane. Two wizards who excel in their element; one of ice, and the other of fire. The two of them have the potential to be the strongest in their field...but only one of them can fill that role..."
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"You better not lose, Gray!" Lyon shouted from the stands. "If you do…"
"I'm not gonna lose!" Gray shouted over to Lyon. "And you can shut up!" Gray said as he walked into the center field.
"Ice Make vs. Fire Make? This'll be great!" Kuro finished slurping down the rest of his noodles and hopped down to the center of the arena, standing off against Gray. "This is gonna be fun!"
"Fire Make, huh?" Gray thought to himself as he eyed Kuro. Kuro's attitude made it somewhat hard to take him seriously, but Gray remembered how easily Kuro defeated Levy, so he wasn't going to take Kuro lightly.
"You better win this, Gray!" Natsu shouted.
"I won't lose," Gray said in a serious tone.
"Well, I'm not gonna lose either…so…sorry!" Kuro said with a cheeky grin.
"We'll see about that…" Gray placed his fist into his palm, a frozen wind slowly surrounding his legs as he closed his eyes. Gray then opened his eyes, throwing his arms forward as a blue magic circle appeared. "Ice Make: Lance!" Several ice lances flew from the magic circle, quickly making their way towards Kuro.
"This'll be fun…!" Kuro grinned as he clapped his hands together, a red magic circle forming. "Fire Make: Tornado!" A flaming tornado shot out from the magic circle, consuming the lances as they flew into the tornado, melting them as the tornado now flew towards Gray.
"Gray, look out!" Levy shouted at the ice make mage.
"Tch…!" Gray rolled hard to the left, avoiding the flaming tornado as it finally dispersed. "That's gonna be a problem…"
"Fire Make!" Kuro started, running towards Gray as another red magic circle appeared. "Lance!" Flaming lances shot out from the magic circle as Kuro mimicked Gray's first attack, an innocent grin plastered over his face.
"What!? Ice Make: Shield!" Gray threw his hands forward, creating an ice shield that blocked the incoming lances, shattering on the last one, causing Gray to skid back.
"Fire Make…?" Lyon raised an eyebrow, his shirt magically vanished between the time he started speaking and finished speaking.
"Lyon-dono…" Jura started, and then realized it was pointless to say anything else.
"You can do this, Kuro!" Nami grinned excitedly as she cheered her best friend on.
"I'm gonna win!" Kuro grinned, giving a thumbs up.
"Ice Make: Battle Axe!" Gray formed a large ice battle axe in his hands, jumping into the air as he raised it high above his head, then swung it down on Kuro.
"WHOA!" Kuro jumped back just as Gray brought his axe down, the axe leaving a large cut where it impacted. "That was close…" Kuro clapped his hands together once again, causing a red magic circle to appear in front of him. "Fire Make: Tower!" The ground started to heat up under Gray before a large tower of fire consumed the ice wizard, causing him to let out a cry of pain. When the fire subsided, Gray was covered in burn marks.
"This is getting annoying…" Gray placed his hands on the ground, causing a blue magic circle to appear under Kuro. "Ice Make: Geyser!" A powerful geyser shot up from the ground, catching Kuro off guard as he flew into the air, spiraling out of control. "Ice Make…" Gray pulled his hands apart, now seeing an opening to attack, a bow and arrow forming in his hands. "Super Freeze Arrow!" Gray pulled the arrow back, and then released it; the arrow traveled at a speed estimated to be as fast as light.
Kuro quickly caught himself in the air just in time to see Gray forming the arrow. "Uh oh!" Kuro pulled his arm back, forming a javelin in his hand. "Fire Make: Javelin!" Kuro hurled the javelin at the incoming arrow, the two clashing and exploding powerfully in the sky, creating a black smoke cloud on impact. Kuro landed on the ground, not too damage.
"Ice Make: Hammer!" A blue magic circle appeared in front of Gray as he launched a powerful ice hammer over at the off guard Kuro.
"Whoa!" Kuro crossed his arms, taking the brunt of the hammer as he skidded back across the arena ground.
"Time to get serious," Gray said, getting a firm grip on his jacket, then threw that and his shirt off to the ground, revealing his bare chest.
"There he goes with that stripping…" Luke sighed, shaking his head from side to side.
"I guess he's serious now," Reve smirked. "Kuro's just playing around right now; a serious Kuro is a dangerous Kuro."
"Why did you take your shirt off…?" Kuro asked curiously, scratching the side of his long, red hair.
"I'm serious now, Fire Make mage," Gray responded, placing his fist into his palm calmly. "You think I'm just gonna let your guild become number one without a fight? You're wrong. Ice Make: Freeze Lancer!" A blue magic circle appeared once again, only this one shot out large lances, three times the size of the normal lances Gray used.
"Oh boy…Fire Make: Hermes!" Small wings of fire appeared on Kuro's feet, boosting his speed as he ran into the incoming lances, able to dodge most of them, but two struck his chest, forcing him to skid back across the ground, creating an opening for Gray.
"Ice Make: Ice Hammer!" Gray formed an ice hammer in his hands, pulling it back as he swung horizontally at Kuro, landing a direct hit as Kuro flew back a few yards before catching himself. Gray didn't stop though; he jumped in the air, raising the hammer high above his head.
"Fire Make: Dome!" A fiery dome appeared over Kuro; blocking Gray's hammer strike, and melted the hammer. "Fire Make: Hammer!" Kuro mimicked Gray once again, using the fire from the protective done and formed it into a solid, flaming hammer that he swung at Gray, landing a direct hit, causing Gray to skid back across the ground before coming to a halt.
"Come on, Gray!" Lyon shouted. "Don't let this guy win!"
"He's not going to win, Lyon!" Gray shouted in frustration, placing his fist into his palm once more. "Ice Make: …" Blades appeared on Gray's hand and his other arm's elbow. Gray then rushed towards Kuro, spinning around as he slashed sevens. "Seven Sided Dance!" Each of Gray's slashes hit Kuro, and he landed behind the Fire Make wizard, landing on his knees as the ice faded from his arms.
"Kuro…!" Jaxon shouted.
"Those were powerful hits, no doubt…" Sidney mumbled to himself, crossing his arms. "His soul right now is quite serious…" Sidney referred to Gray in that statement, watching the Fairy Tail wizard carefully.
Kuro winced, standing up slowly as his body was now covered in cuts from Gray's attack. "Heh…this is fun, but I think it's time I got serious now…" Kuro grinned, placing his hands together. "Fire Make: Snake!" A red magic circle appeared, spinning around clockwise for a few seconds before a large flaming snake head shot out from the circle with its mouth open.
"Gray-sama, look out!" Juvia shouted, flailing her arms around.
"What?" Gray turned, his eyes widening as the giant snake rammed into him at full force. "GYAAAHH!" Gray shouted as the attack pushed him back into the nearest wall, causing the wall to crack.
"Gray!" Erza shouted, feeling the intensity of Kuro's attack from here.
"Is he alright…!?" Mavis asked with a shocked expression.
"That's a new one…" Luke said, crossing his arms.
"Like Reve said," Zalen started. "A serious Kuro is a dangerous one…"
"Is that all…?" Gray pulled himself from the wall, his body covered in burn marks. "Is that all your flames can do!?" Gray smirked, running forward as ice covered his fist; he was going for a melee assault now.
"Fire Make: Knuckles," Kuro's fist surrounded themselves in fire as he and Gray entered fierce close combat. Kuro threw a punch to Gray's upper body, while Gray counted with a strike to Kuro's face. The two hit each other, avoided an attack, or clashed with their fist, the two elements and magical energy meeting causing a minor shockwave that shook the air slightly.
"Come on, Gray," Lyon thought, not wanting to cheer Gray aloud for the sake of his reputation and all.
"I like this side of Kuro," Arc replied with a sly grin.
"Kuro is certainly much more powerful then he lets on…" Taya said quietly.
"That's how he gets you," Waiston replied with a smirk.
Kuro ducked, attempting a sweep kick to knock Gray's feet out from under him, but the attempt failed as Gray jumped up, now placing his hands back. "Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" Gray formed an Excalibur like ice blade in his hands, raising it high over his head.
"Fire Make: Flamberge!" Kuro formed a flaming sword in his hands, bringing it back as Gray neared. The two swung their swords at each other, surprised the blades cut through each other easily, snapping in two as the two fights, jumped back. "Fire Make: Abyss!" Kuro placed his hand on the ground, forming a large magic circle with a circumference equal to that of the circular battle field. Flames then erupted from the magic circle, leaving Gray in an abyss of fire.
"G-Gray-sama!" Juvia shouted, unable to see Gray from the towering fire.
"Gray…!" Natsu shouted, looking around for Gray, but he too was unable to spot him.
"That's game," Reve said, smirking.
"Woo, go Kuro!" Nami grinned.
"You think these flames are hot…?" Gray said through the fire, his body scorched heavily from the flames.
"What…?" Kuro looked over at Gray, who was standing tall in the harsh flames.
"I know flames hotter than these…in fact; your flames don't even close!" Gray stuck his hands out, emitting a harsh frost from his hands, freezing Kuro's fire.
"That's Gray!" Natsu smirked.
"He's freezing Kuro's flames?!" Zalen looked on in shock as the abyss cooled down.
"I wouldn't expect any less from the younger, and weaker, pupil," Lyon said to himself with a smirk.
Admittedly, Kuro was starting to panic a little. The only person that was able to put out his flames was Waiston. But he wasn't going to let this fear stop him. He had to stop Gray and he had to do it now. "I'm not done yet!" Kuro smacked his hands together, creating a large magic circle in front of him. "Fire Make: Phoenix." A large, flaming Phoenix formed from the large magic circle, giving off a loud crow, shaking the arena slightly. "Finish him!" Kuro pointed at Gray, and the phoenix spread its wings out, launching itself towards Gray. Gray knew he had no options; he did the only thing he could.
"Ice Make: Shield!" He created an ice shield to soften the impact of the giant flaming phoenix ramming into him, causing him to slide across the floor. Without that shield, he was certain that attack may have finished him off. He was reaching the end of his rope, but he wasn't going to give up. Not when Fairy Tail's good name and all the efforts of his guild mates were on the line. "Now…It's my turn…I'll show you the true power of Ice Make magic. Ice Make: …"
"He's gonna do it…" Lyon knew this was coming, so he couldn't help but smirk slightly.
"UNLIMITED!" A multitude of swords, axes, all kinds of weapons formed around Gray in a twister like fashion.
"W-What the…!" Kuro's eyes widened as he took a step back. He was trying to think of a spell to counter this, but he burned most of his magic with the Phoenix, and his creativity was running dry. He drew a blank, and there was nothing he could think of to stop what was coming at him.
"ONE SIDED CHOATIC DANCE!" Gray connected all of these weapons into a single, large chain. He pulled the chain back and swung it forward at Kuro, who had nowhere to go. The large chain smacked into Kuro head on, sending the fire make mage into the wall, leaving a large dent. Kuro's eyes were pure white as he fell from the wall and onto his stomach, in pure KO.
"GO GRAY!" Lucy cheered, grinning at the sight of the KO'ed Kuro, who's imaged X'ed out on the lacrima screen, making the score nine to nine.
"No way, he beat Kuro?!" Hanako gasped, her eyes widened.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Reve glared at Gray, who fell over onto his back from extreme magic usage.
"THAT was WILD!" Bacchus screamed out.
"FOUR!" A dark blue haired male with a shirt, tie, and pants shouted out next to Bacchus.
"You know it, Blues!" Bacchus grinned, high fiving the male.
"You better have won, Gray," Lyon scoffed slightly. "I wouldn't have taken so much damage though.
"The Ice Maker has gotten stronger…" Rufus Lohr mumbled to himself, remembering his defeat to Gray by that very same attack.
"Nine to Nine, you assholes…" Gray smirked, taking in the flustered expressions of some of the White Eclipse mages. Even though Fairy Tail had yet to take the lead, making sure White Eclipse didn't get ahead was just as effective.