Here is the twenty-second chapter of this story released when I wanted it to be in keeping with my self-imposed upload requirements for this series. Pandemonium and the MPF decider that Erza forced on everyone else is over so now it is time for the battles to end Day 3 of the Grand Magic Games and with a close pack behind Raven Tail these could really change things though Raven Tail's lead is strong so short of something surprising they'll still be a top two Guild at the end of the day it seems. However, it is Black Bulls who will start things off and see if Finral can end their losing streak in the battles as he faces off against Millianna of Mermaid Heel. Anyway, that is all the administrative stuff I have for you as there are no questions that require answering and no guest reviews need a response as all will be revealed in this chapter, though I thank all of you for your support, I will leave this note off here. Do keep the reviews coming as I enjoy hearing from those who enjoy my work. That is it for pre-chapter note so it is time to end it so that y'all can sit back and enjoy the twenty-second chapter in Black Bull Banishment.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these two great animes.

Chapter 22: Calm Before the Storm

"Alright folks, we've already seen some truly amazing and shocking performances today thanks to Fairy Tail's two teams with Fairy Tail Team A taking out all the monsters in Pandemonium for the complete event win and a powerful spell in the MPF decider from Fairy Tail Team B to win the backup event and come second." Chapati said as the crowd roared in anticipation of what was to come and Finral walked nervously out onto the arena floor as his opponent, one of the cute girls of Mermaid Heel called Millianna, did the same. "That has led to a very close pack chasing Raven Tail for the top spot so let's really shake things to end the day with the one on one battles! Mr. Yajima, your thoughts on what is to come?"

"Well I for one am looking forward to it as there are only 5 points between the two second place teams and the last place one so the right results can really change how the scoreboard looks going into day 4." Yajima said. "And with Raven Tail only 9 points ahead, a loss for them in their upcoming battle would really tighten the race at the end of the day so this is going to be exciting."

"Indeed, after early I too am looking forward to what the battles might bring." Lahar said. "I am sure that there will be plenty of surprises still to come."

"Well we really have a good battle to start them off as it's one that could really alter the fates of the Guilds involved." Chapati said. "Introducing the cute kitten with some sharp, hidden, claws who's looking for a win to help boost her Guild out of their current last place status, and leap over one of the two second place teams in the process, it's Mermaid Heel's Millianna!"

The crowd cheered at that as Millianna stood and smiled to them with a wave. She'd been really inspired by Erza's performance in Pandemonium, though she did wish she'd gotten a chance to show off her own skills in it as well, and now it was her turn to shine. She'd not done as well as she'd first expected in the MPF decider, the power levels of some of the others present were just absurd to her, but now was her chance and her opponent was from the surprise Guild of the games that was currently in second place so a win over him would really look good and boost Mermaid Heel into second place at least temporarily.

"Against the man who dominated Chariots yesterday in one of the big surprises of the games, the Spatial Wizard of the Black Bulls, Finral Roulacase." Chapati said to more cheers and even a few squeals from some of the female fans which startled and pleased Finral before he remembered Lady Finnes and chided himself for forgetting about her. "However, before we start there is a slight rule change that has been announced due to the magic Finral uses. The Rules Committee has amended the knock out rules to determine that removing an opponent from the ring without clearly knocking them unconscious in the process will result in an automatic tie."

"Hang on?" Finral asked looking around in confusion at that as his entire plan, that being to try and land a Fallen Angel's Wingbeat on Millianna and teleport her away to a predetermined location that was not in the arena, Yami's toilet in the Grey Deer Tavern, to win by removing her from the battle entirely was now thrown out the window. "I'm a Spatial Mage, that's how I fight?"

"Sorry, rules are rules and in a real battle just teleporting someone away just delays victory according to the Rules Committee so you've got to clearly defeat your opponent in the process of removing him or her from the arena to win that way." Chapati said in response as the crowd murmured at the change but most seemed to already accept it. "Anyway, that's all I have to say so let the battle begin."

With that the gong sounded to begin the battle as Finral quickly changed his strategy for how he'd win the battle. He didn't have offensive magic like his brother, he was purely support and travel and while that worked well in combat it did mean that he wasn't the best at one on one fighting. Regardless, he did have a backup plan just in case he couldn't successfully carry out his original plan so now was the time to implement it because he wasn't going to let his Squad down.

"My, you really are cute my dear." Finral said with what he felt was a flirtatious wink as Millianna ripped off her robe, which didn't really change anything other than really show off her skimpy attire. "How about after this you and I…wait, no Finral, bad Finral, Lady Finnes is the only woman for you and don't you forget it."

"Er, no, that's a little creepy." Millianna said as she held out her hand and a pink magic circle appeared before it. "But if you stay like that then it will be easy for me to tie you up and end this now. Bad Kitty Restraint Tube!"

"Stay strong Finral." Finral said as he composed himself once again while orange colored tube thing shot out of the circle and at Finral as his grimoire floated up and flipped open to the right page. "You can do this. Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel Gate!"

Before the tube, which Finral had no idea what it could do but didn't want to find out as it was likely some kind of restraint or binding based magic, could reach him his spatial portal appeared before him and the tube disappeared into it. At the same time, a second portal appeared behind Millianna and the tube shot out and wrapped herself in the magic draining tube, pinning her arms to her side and nullifying her own magic.

"Huh, so it does bind you and likely drains or blocks magic, a useful spell to indeed." Finral mused as Millianna struggled against her own spell, which was humiliating for her and her Guildmates called out their support to her from their box, and his grimoire flipped to a new page. "Good thing that I defended against it. Now, let's force you to surrender, I don't really want to hurt such a cute girl so I have a way to ensure you yield. Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Wingbeat."

At that a ball of green magic formed and shot at Millianna as fast as possible, which wasn't that fast at all but as Millianna was the target it would seek her out regardless. Finral was ready to create as many as possible just in case but for now only one was needed what with Millianna tied up in her own spell and Finral did need to preserve as much of his magic power as possible for what came next.

For her part Millianna didn't like the look of the spell coming towards her. The man she was facing was as skilled as he was creepy to her and tactically he was up there with the best after his win in Chariots, in Millianna's mind, so she didn't want to be hit by that green thing that was slowly but steadily coming right for her though her feline instincts did want to pounce on the pretty light. She pushed those instincts aside, she wasn't a cat after all just obsessed with them, and managed to dismiss her own spell because it was her own spell but alas it was too late and the green light made contact with her chest.

Instantly she was teleported away, she figured that with the magic her opponent wielded that would happen, and reappeared high in the air. High was an understatement as she was now so far above the Domus Flau Colosseum that the spectators were just dots to her and the arena floor a light brown blob but she was clearly above the center of it. She let out a high pitched shriek of surprise as she began to fall back to earth.

"Well that is within the rules." Chapati said as Millianna began to fall and Finral focused, holding out his hands as he got ready for what he had to do. "Millianna is still within the bounds of the stadium but what will Finral do next?"

"I personally don't agree with the rule change regarding removing a competitor from the arena but I understand the logic behind it." Yajima said as Finral created a portal for a screaming Millianna to fall into before she fell out of the another portal halfway between where she'd been teleported to and the ground below. "And it seems like Finral has an interesting plan for this, one that I am sure the Rules Committee are going to have to make another determination on."

"I'll say, this kind of Spatial Magic involving portals and not personal teleportation is rare and useful." Lahar said as Finral created another portal that moved Millianna back up about 3/4rds of the way up from where she'd first appeared and showed her that there was now a portal right where she'd been initially teleported as well. "The Black Bulls have a talent in him for sure."

"What's going on!" Millianna wailed as she fell for 10 seconds and then vanished into a portal that opened up to another at the level of the top of the colosseum which she fell out of, proceeded to fall for 10 more seconds, and then fell into the next portal only to fall out of the one at the top. "I don't like this!"

"I'm making you continuously fall as a way of incapacitating you." Finral yelled out as more portals appeared so that in total 10 were in a vertical line from the highest to lowest with only 10 seconds of freefall between each of the portals. "Also, all the portals are connected but not in a path so every time you hit one you'll appear in a new spot that may be higher or lower than the where you were just falling. That's how I'll win, you're incapacitated now but I'll keep this up until I'm declared the winner."

"Are you insane, this has to amount to some form of torture!" Millianna wailed as she fell into another portal and reappeared somewhere else in the line still falling. "It's got to be against the rules."

"Well this is certainly new." Chapati said as the crowd tried to figure out what was happening and Millianna continued to wail as she fell from portal to portal in a constant state of free fall her speed now set at terminal velocity. "Does this count as incapacitation or is it too far and has to be stopped? Somehow I doubt it's either."

"I'm not sure." Yajima said contemplatively. "It might be incapacitation but it's hard to say as we've never had a wizard with Finral's style of Spatial Magic before."

"In terms of forcing a surrender this is a good idea as the idea of constantly falling and not hitting the ground does sound like hell to pretty much anyone." Lahar said. "But I'm not sure if it counts as incapacitation."

"Well you are right on that." Chapati said as he glanced down at a card though Finral couldn't see that. "I've just been handed a determination by the judges. They've decided that despite the situation, Millianna has been deemed capable of getting out of it on her own so she's not been ruled incapacitated. For Finral to win he must render her unable to continue the battle or force her to surrender."

"What!" Both Finral and Millianna complained though the latter's was cut out as she fell through a portal as she spoke.

"Well, you heard them." Finral called out looking up at Millianna. "Please surrender, I'd rather not keep this up for the rest of the battle but I will if you refuse to yield."

"Never!" Millianna retorted as she fell into another portal. "We need to win this battle so I'll get out of it even if I have to keep falling until you run out of magic power."

"Fine, have it your way." Finral said with a sigh. "Just keep falling then."

"He's going to make her fall for the entire match?" Lucy asked shocked and surprised as the announcers confirmed that this didn't count as incapacitation and Millianna refused to yield when asked to so Finral just stuck to it. "That sounds…horrible to experience."

"It does seem like a bit much." Gray agreed. "I'd call this incapacitation but the Rules Committee doesn't for some reason."

"I couldn't imagine just falling for half an hour constantly without ever hitting the ground." Wendy said her hands over her mouth as she stared wide eyed at the situation unfolding in the first battle of the third day. "While also being able to see the ground but constantly moving between points as you fall, how could anyone endure that for 5 minutes, let alone almost 30."

"I do feel sorry for Millianna, she's in a bad situation right now but it's a fair tactic given the rules of this match." Erza said as she appeared with the rest of Fairy Tail Team A to watch the match her body covered in bandages from the wounds she'd taken in Pandemonium. "Finral already has an unfair limitation on what he can do so this seems to be his best alternative to force Millianna to yield. It may seem horrible but he offered her a chance to surrender, she's chose not to, so he's sticking to his word and making her fall for the rest of the match providing his magic holds out. He could just end this and drop her from the highest point he can but he hasn't, he's giving her a chance he doesn't need to give and she's taking it."

"Huh, I never thought of it like that." Natsu said watching. "Does seem like it would be fun to fall like that though, no moving vehicle so I'd be fine and the constant changes would make things more interesting. Course I could still use my magic so it wouldn't slow me down but I don't think that cat girl has magic that can help her in this situation."

"Um, should you be here Erza?" Lucy asked a little worried as she looked at her friend. "You are injured."

"Yeah, you should be in bed resting." Wendy said just as worried as Lucy was for Erza. "I can heal you later when I heal Elfman some more, so long as I'm not in our battle later that is as I can't heal myself."

"I'm fine, don't worry." Erza said though no one believed her but it was Erza so they didn't argue with her either. "Besides, I wanted to watch Millianna's battle and support her in it. Seems like it's a good one though she's kinda stuck at the moment and Natsu's right, her magic isn't conducive for getting her out of this mess. Not that she has the time to manage it, Finral has set this up rather well I must say."

"What I don't get is why doesn't Finral just finish her off?" Gray asked. "He's got Millianna right where he wants her but he's not ending it for some reason."

"Yeah that doesn't make sense." Natsu said. "Why doesn't he just use a spell to knock her out or drop her from high enough to ensure it? Surely he can do one of those things to win."

"The latter is obvious; he doesn't know the extent of Millianna's magic abilities and what she knows so he doesn't know what the best height is to drop her from." Erza said watching the match closely. "So he's playing it safe and going for a forced surrender rather than risk a knockout move that could either kill her or fail and leave him open for a counter attack. Most would surrender in this situation but Millianna is stubborn, she'd likely do her best to last the entire time."

"That I can see, she's very much like a cat and cats are stubborn." Natsu said. "Just look at Happy, Carla, and Lily."

"I would deny that but Carla is very stubborn at times." Wendy said with a sigh.

"Alright that I get but what about not using a spell to knock her out?" Gray asked repeating Natsu question because as much as he hated agreeing with the hot headed moron, Natsu did have a point there. "Surely this Finral guy can manage that. He's no slouch when it comes to magic, he made that clear during Chariots, so unless he doesn't know anything but this kind of Spatial Magic he should be able to use a spell to defeat Millianna while she's falling."

"If I had to guess, and this is just speculation based on Chariots and this match, but I don't think he knows offensive magic." Erza said her hand on her chin as she thought on what she was seeing and compared it to the other Black Bulls they'd seen in action. "In fact, now that you mention it, over the course of the Games I've not seen a Black Bull use more than one kind of magic."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked. "Each has used a different kind of magic."

"True but within that each one has only used one kind themselves." Erza said as she recalled what she'd seen from the Black Bulls so far in the Grand Magic Games. "That Asta kid used some kind of Requip Magic in Hidden though his swords clearly had other enchantments on them like my weapons have. Then that Magna guy used only Fire Magic in his battle with Olga while Luck's only used Lightning Magic so far, and Finral has only shown Spatial Magic. It's almost as if they can use just one kind of magic and that's it so in Finral's case he can't use offensive magic because Spatial Magic isn't offensive like that, at least as far as I know."

"Come again?" Natsu asked shocked at that though most of what Erza had said had gone over his head as he'd only focused on the lack of offensive magic part. "He doesn't know offensive magic?"

"He's not shown any kind of offensive magic, if that kind even exists with Spatial Magic, and this is a battle where he has Millianna right where he wants her so why hasn't her ended her?" Erza asked back more to provoke thought than anything else as she had her own answer to it. "The only reasons I can see are either that he's too chivalrous to hurt a woman, which given the torment half an hour of near constant falling would cause I doubt that someone too chivalrous to not hurt a woman would put a woman through, or he can't use offensive magic. The latter is most likely I'd say."

"That's strange though." Wendy said thinking on what Erza had said and realizing that it made a lot of sense as she didn't know of any kind of Spatial Magic that could be used offensively as the closest that she knew of was Requip and that provided offensive weapons and wasn't directly offensive in nature. "Why would a Guild put forth a member who can't use offensive magic? I know that I'm mostly support and healing but even I know offensive magic."

"Because there's more to the Grand Magic Games than just fighting and knocking out your opponents." Erza said. "Just look at the events so far. Hidden was more than just hide and seek, it was about tactically gaining points without losing them while also avoiding the doubles as you hunted for the others in the event. Chariots was a race so speed and tactical magic use was key there. Pandemonium was supposed to be about tactical allocation of magical resources and knowing your limits but I ignored that."

"You could say that again." Lucy said which was an understatement after what Erza had done earlier. "But I do see what you're saying Erza. There is more than brute force to these events it seems."

"Precisely and it seems that the Black Bulls' Guild Master understands this as well because he's put someone like Finral in the Games despite his apparent lack of offensive magic." Erza said as she watched more of the battle. "From what I've seen of him, he's not an idiot but rather tactically brilliant in a sense. He knows his own limitations and fights around them using what he knows, his perception of the event and the terrain that he is, and what he can do to come out on top. He may be support based but he can hold his own in a battle like this and now it's just a matter of what happens first between his magic power, Millianna's stubbornness, and the time limit."

"So basically all we can do is just watch and hope something happens?" Natsu asked as he tracked Millianna with his eyes.

"That's all we can do." Erza confirmed. "It may not be entertaining but we can learn a lot from this and be inspired by the determination of both combatants even if neither are in our Guild. Let's just sit back and watch the rest unfold because I am sure that Millianna will do all she can to run out the clock on this despite her situation."

The others just nodded at that as they leant on the wall and watched the rest of the match. Everything had been set in the opening few moments and now it was just a matter of letting it play out. One question did remain on all of their minds, however, and that was would Millianna keep falling until the time ran out?

In the end that's just what happened. Finral wasn't sure if he'd be ruled incapacitated if he ran out of magic, though it would certainly give Millianna the chance to beat him if she survived the subsequent fall, so he just kept this up. He couldn't afford to lose this match, not after they'd lost their last two battles, so he was going to give it his all and keep his portals up until either Millianna got fed up and surrendered or the gong sounded and he was forced to settle for a tie.

It also didn't help that Finral also wasn't sure what magic Millianna used though to him is seemed like some highly specific form of Beast Magic that focused on binding so he didn't know if she could survive a fall or if she could get out of the fall. As such he kept it up and even added a few more portals to shorten her fall time just to be safe. Finral figured that if he kept Millianna in a constant state of freefall at this speed combined with his portals then she'd not be able to focus on magic and hopefully almost half an hour of falling would force her to surrender as it would cause a toll on anyone.

What Finral wasn't planning on was just how stubborn and determined to not lose Millianna was. She couldn't counter, she was being moved around as she constantly fell between the portals too much to focus on her magic for long enough to get a spell off, not that she could figure out what spell was best to get her out of this predicament, so all she could do was continue to fall.

However, she refused to give up. Erza hadn't in Pandemonium despite the odds she faced and the injuries she suffered so Millianna wouldn't give up just because of a little freefall. She'd also let her Guild down with her low MPF score so she had to make it up somehow by at least getting some points out of this battle that would help Mermaid Heel climb out of last place.

As such, the freefall continued for the remainder of the battle round much to everyone's shock as both combatants refused to give up. Finral surpassed his limits to keep the portals open the entire time while Millianna continued to stubbornly refuse to surrender despite her situation. She did manage to stop screaming after 10 minutes of falling but every time she tried to focus on a way out she was moved to another point on the portal line and with the man's defense against her tubes she decided it was just best to run it out and deal with close to 20 more minutes of falling, which she really didn't like.

"And that is it." A shocked Chapati said as the gong sounded to end the round. "The half hour time limit has been reached and neither combatant is out so it's officially a tie."

"Great." Finral said as he used what little magic he had left to dismiss all the portals he'd been keeping open and then create a final portal for Millianna that she fell into with this new one being a large, vertical, portal to the side for her to slide out of and onto the ground without injury as he collapsed to his knees and canceled the final portal he'd made. "That was hard and she's one stubborn kitty."

Millianna just let out another wail as she fell out of the vertical portal and right onto the ground where she slid over it on her back for several feet thanks to the speed she'd been falling at not changing despite the change in exit location. A lot of dust was kicked up and she really hurt her back from it but she finally came to a stop in a cloud of dust that briefly covered her. With a cough and a splutter she spat out some of the dust and rolled to her side a little disorientated now that she'd stopped falling and slowly got to her feet as the dust settled around her.

"I was falling for half an hour!" Millianna wailed as she walked painfully out of the dust and over to a panting Finral. "Who makes someone do that? Do you know how terrifying that was?"

"I gave you the chance to surrender but you didn't so I upheld my threat to keep it going for the rest of the match, you can't complain about that." Finral said looking up at her and enjoying the view he had of the girl's very ample bosom that while less than Vanessa's was probably around the same size as Mimosa's so easily up there for size. "But you didn't surrender, I admire that. We both earned this tie in the end."

"I, well, gah that was frustrating." Millianna said as she turned and stalked slowly off her hackles raised and back red from her slide on the ground. "I'll get you back for that."

"A date would be nice." Finral said as Millianna stopped to pick up her cloak and throw it on. "Wait, no, the only woman for me is Lady Finnes so never mind."

Millianna ignored that as she slowly walked off with her guildmates hurrying down to see if she was ok and take her to the infirmary to look at her back and let her lie down after what she'd just gone through. Finral just stayed there for a few more moments as he recovered what magic he could before heading back to his own Guild's stadium suite.

"That was unexpected but still interesting." Chapati said. "And in the end both the Black Bulls and Mermaid Heel gain 5 points for that tie meaning that they will end the day on 28 and 23 respectively."

"Both Finral and Millianna showed grit and determination there as anyone would expect from wizards in a top tier Guilds." Yajima said as Finral finally got up and began to slowly head off as well looking forward to some of Charmy's mana recovery food as he really needed it after that battle. "To keep those portals active and functioning for almost half hour would have taken a lot of magic power to pull off, as well as focus and determination to maintain composure the entire time. Meanwhile, to put up with a constant state of freefall for 30 minutes requires just as much determination to not throw in the towel and put up with it all the way to the end to ensure that you don't lose the battle. This is what we love to see."

"Indeed, it was rather inspiring to see such determination from both wizards even if it ended in a tie." Lahar said. "I do hope the other matches are as inspirational as this one."

"Well we'll see." Chapati said as Finral final made it off the arena floor. "Because next up…"

"I wonder why Finral wasn't allowed to just use his magic to send her out of the colosseum?" Asta asked as the time limit neared its end and it became clear that the match would end in a draw. "It would have prevented this."

"The commentator guy said that the reason was because it just delays the victory so it seems that unless you can teleport that person to a prison cell, which here tend to have magic set up that prevents that, it's not really a victory in their eyes." Nero said. "The opponent can still return to the battle so it's just a delay to them thus meaning that it's a tie given that these things have a time limit."

"I can see where the Rules Committee is coming from." Mimosa said. "I remember when almost all of us were sent away from the Capital when the Eye of the Midnight Sun attacked it, it only delayed us, it didn't incapacitate or defeat us. It did allow them to hurt Fuegoleon and get that pendant he wore but it didn't really do more than that seeing as we got back in pretty quick time so making it a draw is a good compromise."

"While that is true I think the reason for it is a little more mundane than the reasons you're giving." Yami said with a puff on his cigarette. "They want entertainment and if Finral can just send that cat girl away and win it's boring. There's no value to just letting him teleport her away while she can still fight. It's a useful spell in battle, it was what allowed us to beat his brother when he was possessed by some psychotic elf as Finral brought Jack and me back and put use right were we needed to be to break through his defensive Spatial Magic."

"This is a sporting event of sorts." Noelle said. "So I guess it's fine for that rule to be in place but this is hardly more entertaining and it's annoying that it goes against us. Honestly, Finral should have just teleported her away if it was going to be a tie anyway, watching that girl fall for almost half an hour is a little much."

"True though Finral is pushing past his limits by keeping his magic going this long." Yami said as the gong went off to show that it was a tie. "He kept that up for close to half an hour, not bad, and the kitty managed to not yield so she's tougher than she looks but her ki has a stubborn streak to it so I'm not too surprised that she endured that. I'd have rather Finral won but at least he didn't lose unlike some of you so he at least got us a few points out of this match."

"Sorry Captain Yami sir." Magna said loudly. "I shouldn't have failed you or the Squad in that battle."

"Meh, it was a fun battle and that Elfman guy was tough." Luck said. "Though now I want to face that Erza woman, she did what I wanted to do and face all the monsters so I've got to face her in battle."

"I don't think you could have pulled it off the way she did." Nero said bluntly as the commentators confirmed the tie and Millianna complained about falling for so long. "Then again I didn't think she'd pull it off either so who knows. Still, at least we did get points out of this which will help as things have tightened up significantly."

"Do we know which Guilds are facing off though?" Noelle asked. "We might be able to get a sense that way."

"I don't think so, at least not with 6 teams still to go." Nero said as Finral finally got up and left. "I didn't bother to go get intel for this but it seems like we're going to get that now anyway."

"…next up is a matchup that could really shake the standings as it's our other second place Guild, Blue Pegasus, verses the reigning champions, Sabertooth!" Chapati announced as Eve Tilm and Rufus Lore walked out onto the arena floor. "And in it we've got the minstrel who sings to red moon, Rufus Lore of Sabertooth looking to get his Guild right back into contention and probably make up for his surprise second place finish in Hidden on the first day of the games."

"Oh it's the weird guy in the overly elaborate hat who stood on the spire." Asta said as the crowd cheered, and main women squealed, for the fancy dressed Sabertooth wizard who was still wearing said overly elaborate hat. "The guy who thought he had it all sorted out and could win with one attack right at the end. Well I showed him."

"That you did Asta and it was thanks to lacking magic and that ki thing you do." Nero said. "Now shut up so we can watch this match."

"Facing off against the holy knight of Blue Pegasus, Eve Tilm!" Chapati said to more cheers from the crowd. "Who is no doubt looking for a win after ranking below Rufus in Hidden and taking a hit from him in the process."

"So who's going to win this?" Noelle asked as Finral made his way back into the box where he was almost instantly given some mana recovery food by Charmy and began to perk up from that though everyone else ignored him to focus on the next battle which was about to start though they'd at least acknowledge his draw and the points he got later. "Or is it not up for debate?"

"Not up for debate." Nero said simply as the gong was sounded and the match started with Eve hitting a memory of Rufus's position though both Asta and Yami knew exactly were the Sabertooth wizard was. "Even with the knowledge he's gained about Rufus's abilities from Hidden, Eve's outclassed here. That Rufus guy's memory magic seems to be rather versatile and his strategies are strong and out of the box, few could counter it even with foreknowledge of what he can do. Asta showed that he had the ability to do so, Luck could probably beat him due to his speed and how good his mana sense is while a few others here have the talents to defeat Rufus but not Eve. It's not a matter of if Rufus will win but when."

Nero was right, the fight really wasn't much to talk about. Eve seemed confident that he had Rufus figured out and then Rufus showed a memory from Eve that was of Ichiya in a bathtub drinking wine, which shocked and repulsed everyone present, which allowed Rufus to land a strike on Eve that brought him to a knee so that Rufus could use that strange spell that made things night for a moment on Eve.

This caused a slight shock in the crowd as the spell hit a copy made of snow which was impressive, and led to the revelation that Eve had once been a Custody Enforcement Rune Knight so he had more skills than expected and he continued to show that with a blizzard that he used to find the real Rufus and then attack him. It was a good plan but Rufus easily avoided it and then used Memory Make magic, the ancient and rare magic that Rufus knew, to heat up the entire arena in a surge of magic power.

That was it for Eve as boulders made from molten rock appeared around him, likely to keep his Snow Magic at bay, and then a blast of lava seemed to erupt along the ground and hit Eve, tossing him into the air. He arched up and away before crashing down to land in a heap on the ground, his clothes torn and body burned as he lay groaning and twitching on the ground so the bell dinged and the match ended.

"Well, Mushroom Head can't do that." Yami noted as the match was called and Rufus was declared the winner. "And he uses Memory Magic if I recall though he does know some nasty spells that can make you forget things so he's not someone to be taken lightly."

"Maker magic is similar to creation magic." Nero said. "But the range of this kind of maker magic is quite impressive and seems to be a little like Copy Magic in a sense that it can replicate other magics. Asta had the tools to beat it but if there is some large scale battle, might be best to leave Rufus to someone else and focus on more valid targets."

"Who'd deal with him though?" Noelle asked as she noted that now Sabertooth had 32 points with that victory thus putting them into a tie in first place with Raven Tail and ensured that Blue Pegasus was no longer tied with them. "They're a strong Guild so there can't be many who can best him."

"Not sure but Rufus's actions in Hidden really annoyed some people." Nero said glancing over to where Fairy Tail Team A was as she had a sense that the pride that Guild instilled in its members would find Rufus's actions too arrogant to go unavenged. "And I think one or two would go after him. Plus, Sabertooth's been the top for a while, we can let the others fight it out and just watch knowing that we have people who can handle him if need be."

"All valid strategies." Yami said as Eve was removed from the battlefield and the third match's combatants walked out for it. "But pay attention this…huh that's weird."

"Captain Yami what…oh." Asta said looking back at his Captain before he too felt it and look to the battlefield as Chapati introduced the Laxus Dreyar of Fairy Tail Team B and Alexei from Raven Tail, the odd golden masked man that Nero and Zora hadn't been able to find out anything about. "That is, that is cheating it's got to be."

"What's going on?" Noelle asked looking at Asta and Yami. "This is a battle between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail so it's a given that the latter will play dirty but right at the start?"

"It's clever, really clever but that Dark Guild has shown that from the start." Yami said. "And the magic that gold guy in the mask is using is really strong and impressive. If I didn't sense things by reading ki and not detecting magic I would have missed it."

"Then it must be…" Nero began as she realized what was going on if only Asta and Yami could notice but before she could voice it she was interrupted by the announcers.

"This is going to be an interesting matchup for sure because the last time these two Guilds faced off back on day 1 of the Games the outcome for Fairy Tail was rather grizzly to watch." Chapati said. "So I'm sure that their other team is going to want revenge for that match."

"I'd say that match was something." Yajima said before he cut out and the Black Bulls looked to the commentator box to see that he was whispering to Lahar.

"Smart man." Yami said watching. "That Yajima guy's got a brain to him but he was on the Magic Council apparently so it makes sense that he'd be wise to things and would thus let Lahar know to be on his guard. That man is honorable, I sensed it in his ki back when I met him, so he'll do the right thing if Raven Tail tries anything."

"It's bold of Raven Tail to do something with the Custody Enforcement Unit here though." Noelle said. "I know they're cheats but do you think that they'd actually try something with them around?"

"Given what they're doing yes." Yami said simply as he glanced at Makarov and noted that one of the Fairy Tail members next to him seemed to be doing something with his hand to his head so likely some form of telepathic magic to other Fairy Tail members ready to act if Raven Tail tried something this time around. "Which means that whatever they're after it is worth the risk of being caught not just by the officials but by the Custody Enforcement Unit. Seems like Makarov is also prepared for this but I'd expect no less from him."

"Well after last time he's got every right to." Magna said. "That was so dirty what they pulled on the first day so they've got to be ready for it."

Yami frowned and watched as the man next to Makarov seemed to be relaying orders and then looked over to where the Raven Tail was. What he sensed there only confirmed what was going on. Fairy Tail was ready for something but they lacked the necessary skills to know exactly what was up and Yami didn't think sending Asta to inform Makarov right now was allowable as the Guilds seemed to be segregated during the games and Asta was actually part of their team so that might be even more unacceptable.

That meant that only they knew what was up and might have to act if need be but Yami swore to only do so if that was a last resort. This was a matter between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail, it would be dishonorable to intervein unless they absolutely had to and so Yami was going to put his faith in Julius's old friend and the Guild which took him in when Julius accidentally ended up in Earth Land all those years ago. Julius had trusted Makarov with his true origin so Yami would trust Makarov to be able to act should things go south in the coming battle.

"Look alive everyone and be ready to act should I give the order because right now only Asta and I know what is truly going on and we'll keep you informed as things progress." Yami said seriously to his Squad getting all their attention with his words as Chapati told the competitors to step forward and then announced the battle's beginning with a gong sound. "Because Raven Tail has just made their move."

I think this is a good place to end this chapter on. Originally I was going to do the Laxus v. 'Alexei' battle as well but in the end I felt that it would make this chapter too long and a battle like that with all that happens and how it can be properly commentated on by Asta and Yami deserves it's own chapter so that is what is coming next and it will be told entirely from the Black Bull's perspective similar to how several other aspects of the Grand Magic Games have been told. This also meant that Finral got more of a chance to shine in this chapter as he faced Millianna and despite the rule preventing his original plan from being a win he did his best, adapted, and had it not been for Millianna's stubborn determination he would have probably won. Regardless, he did tie and gained 5 points for the Black Bulls so he's now responsible for 15 of their 28 points. The idea for Finral and Millianna to tie like this was always how I was going to do it but a clever guest suggested the same thing before I confirmed that Finral would face Millianna only with some more amusement to it so to the guest who suggested it you were right all along with how this matchup would go. Anyway, that is all that I have for this chapter so I will leave it off here. If you liked this please favorite, follow, leave a review, or let me know in a PM and I will try to answer any questions posed in reviews and PMs as best I can. Until next time.

Stringdog