All participants enter the water sphere in their swimsuits. Naturally, the spectators prefer to see the women in bikinis over the men. Fortunately, there were only two men in this game, so the crowd is happy.
The Naval Battle finally started and Lucy immediately made a move. She summoned Aquarius who didn't seem pleased after being summoned. Aquarius got mad at Lucy and created a large scale attack that spins the water.
Lucy has expected it, so she swims around to avoid being hit by the strong water current. The others who aren't ready get thrashed around by the raging water. Dora of Scarmiglione is then thrown out of the water sphere.
Some other people follow her, starting with Rocker who got thrown around by the sphere before he finally got out of it. Jenny gets thrown out after him, followed by Risley and Sherria. The raging water finally stops after some time and only 3 people were left inside the sphere.
Minerva and Laxus weren't affected by the raging water. Laxus has expected this, so he transformed into lightning and moves around in the sphere. He was actually the one who pushed Risley, Jenny and Sherria while moving around.
As for Minerva, she protected herself with a kind of magical sphere. Her sphere wasn't affected by the raging water, so she was safe. Laxus also didn't attack her because he targeted those who were thrown around.
The crowd was surprised by the fast development that left them speechless. They looked at Lucy with surprised expressions because they thought she was weak. Well, compared to Yukino's gigantic Pisces and Ophiuchus, Lucy's Celestial Spirits don't look that great.
Laxus smiled satisfied seeing Lucy get the limelight. Just like Ben, he also wanted to show that his guild is full of strong mages. So now Laxus stays on the sideline to give Lucy a chance to show her power once more by fighting Minerva.
But then Lucy is scolded by Aquarius, which made everyone sweat drop. Aquarius suddenly left after saying she wants to go on a date. So now Lucy can't summon her again, she can only use other spirits now.
Minerva and Lucy are looking at Laxus because they see him as the biggest threat now. He told them not to mind him though and fight. Both of them think about it for a while and they figure that it's best to fight Laxus last.
"Will you really let us fight?" Lucy asked.
They strangely can talk even though they're underwater. Well, the water sphere is a spell, and it was made so everyone can breathe inside it.
"Yeah, I won't interfere with your battle." Laxus said with a grin.
"Heh, you better keep your word." Minerva said.
"I will try." Laxus replied.
So they look at each other and Lucy tried to grab one of her keys. However, there's nothing on her waist, none of her keys are there. She looked at Minerva in surprise because the keys were in her hand.
Then suddenly, Lucy was struck by a heat attack from Minerva even though they were underwater. She endured it though and swam towards Minerva to attack her. However, she was suddenly teleported in front of Minerva and was hit by her punch which is coated in a magic sphere.
Lucy gets thrown back, but she was suddenly teleported back to Minerva. She was hit by Minerva again and the cycle repeated. Lucy gets hit and pushed back before being teleported in front of Minerva and struck again.
It happened a few more times before a hand suddenly blocked Minerva's fist. Laxus stepped in and stopped Minerva while also holding the beaten Lucy. He wanted to stop it faster, but Lucy's eyes were full of determination to fight, so he couldn't step in yet.
He eventually couldn't wait any longer as Lucy's condition would be bad if he didn't intervene. He knew that Lucy wanted to fight to the end, but he was also aware that it was more important to save her so he intervened in the fight despite saying that he wouldn't.
"I-I can still fight." Lucy weakly said.
"Don't force yourself to continue. This isn't a life or death battle." Laxus said, before flashing over to the edge.
Laxus threw Lucy out of the sphere and Ben caught her.
"You've done well, so rest." Ben said before casting a Sleep spell on Lucy.
Ben didn't say another word and he teleported over to his guild's stand. Wendy immediately cast her healing spell on Lucy while the others seem really angry.
"Hold your anger back, just focus on treating Lucy for now. Take her to the hospital as soon as Wendy finishes her spell. Leave the rest to Laxus. He knows exactly what to do." Ben instructed.
"But he should've stopped it sooner." Gray pointed out.
"And make Lucy feel useless? She wanted to fight and prove that our guild is strong, so Laxus let her fight. He stopped the fight before it got worse even though Lucy still wanted to fight. That's his way of showing that he trusts and cares for his friend." Ben remarked firmly.
Everyone became silent and contained their anger as they watch Lucy receive treatment from Wendy. They then return to watching the match and see Laxus was facing Minerva now. His expression told everyone that he was enraged with how Minerva treated Lucy.
"You said you wouldn't interfere in our battle." Minerva said with a smirk.
"Yeah, I did. But that wasn't a battle. You just wanted to humiliate her." Laxus replied as he covered his body in lightning.
"So what if I was? There's no rule forbidding that." Minerva said as she extended her hand towards Laxus.
Suddenly, a lot of small blackish rainbow spheres appear around Laxus. He didn't react to them and they suddenly explode. Massive explosions go off in the water sphere and Laxus took them directly.
People were surprised and thought that Laxus wouldn't survive that attack. The Sabertooth mages smirk as they were thinking the same thing as the crowd. They knew how powerful Minerva was and it's terrifying.
Minerva smirked as well because even if Laxus survived that, he would take a lot of damage. Her smirk then vanished and her eyes widened to the max. Laxus suddenly appeared in front of her without any sign of injury.
"You call those explosions? I've seen a lot more powerful explosions than that. This is child's play. Let me show a real attack. Let me show the power of Fairy Tail that Lucy tried to show you earlier." Laxus coldly said.
Minerva wanted to get away, but Laxus was a lot faster than her. He punched her in the stomach with his lightning coated fist really hard. Minerva coughed out the air in her lungs before she was shot out of the sphere at high speed.
She flew towards her guild's stand really fast and her guild mates move to catch her. The 4 members of Sabertooth catch her, but they were pushed back 2 meters. Even all 4 of them combined were still be pushed back, so Laxus' attack was really strong.
Despite the pain, Minerva was still conscious and she looked at Laxus. She barely held on though and finally passed out after seeing Laxus' cold gaze. Her teammates also look at Laxus angrily before they take Minerva to the infirmary.
Laxus came out of the sphere and returned to his guild's stand. He asked Ben about Lucy's condition and he said that Lucy will be fine. Laxus stopped the fight before she was badly injured.
"You didn't hurt her too much, did you?" Ben asked.
"No, I'm not cruel enough to hurt someone too much in a competition. I just used enough power and hit her in the right spot to make her lose consciousness. The big effect of that attack came from my magic that surrounded her." Laxus explained.
"Good, she still needs to see our guild's power, and this is not the right stage yet. The final game tomorrow will be the best place to show Fairy Tail's power to the world." Ben said.
"I know. I will head to the hospital now to check on Lucy. She will need her keys. Don't call me unless I'm chosen to fight in the battle round." Laxus insisted while displaying Lucy's gold keys in his hand.
He reclaimed the keys Minerva had taken before. She didn't realize that Laxus took the keys back before he punched her. That's just how fast Laxus is right now and not that many people can see or even match his speed.
Ben nods and Laxus left the stand to go to the infirmary. The Naval Battle turned out to be a lot fiercer than people thought. It also became a lot more interesting so now everyone anticipates the battle round.
