Hisui slammed Rufus against one of his many diagrams that helped him memorize spells. The man had no resistance to the assault.
"You sent them to Torafuzar?" Hisui barked. "You knew he was there and let them go straight against one of the Demon Gates?"
"I did," Rufus said. "Because of what I remember of Mirajane Strauss."
"I remember a lot of the old world too, you fool, but that doesn't meant the rules there apply here," Hisui said, the words seething through her teeth. "They are untested, they are unaware of what's going on."
"Who else, then, would you have sent against a demon but one with a similar power?" Rufus asked. "Mirajane Strauss has much of her abilities that she has not yet revealed as well, and she cannot do so behind the fragility of whatever training you want them to do. We do not have the luxury of time you think we do, Hisui."
Hisui let Rufus go.
"He's right," Mest said as if to twist the dagger. Hisui snarled. Mest continued, "If everyone else in Fairy Tail is busy, and Mirajane is so strong, we can let her go do this."
"If she is able to defeat Torafuzar, and if she can disrupt the business at Cedar Airfield, that will deal a significant blow to the Empire in the eyes of other nations and their overseas constituents in Alikitasia," Rufus said. "The Empire has become stagnant since folding Stella in. The Emperor is silent. For the first major news overseas to be of a loss of one of their critical trade ports?"
"Not to mention the loss of one of Zeref's precious demons," Mest said.
"You're speaking confidently about their victory," Hisui said. However, perhaps she was being a tad negative.
She'd been ready to throw Mirajane at entities far stronger, though at least she accepted how those fights could go. Against Torafuzar, the other two's magic would fall woefully short. Mirajane would stand definitively alone.
Then, Hisui thought, let this indeed be a test of Fairy Tail's strength, and worth, against the Empire.
Mirajane sheepishly bowed in front of the sergeant in charge of the guard. Levy and Lisanna followed her in doing so. That monster, Torafuzar, was not far off but was not observing the situation at all.
"I didn't think we'd missed any villagers," the sergeant said.
"We've come to aid the Empire," Mirajane said. "Our village was destroyed by some rebels."
She maintained the soft smile she'd mastered in the hard days of serving at Fairy Tail. There was no story, no phrase, she could not at least spin into a positive light for their sake.
The sergeant, like all other guards, had a mask draped over his face. The only denotation of difference between him and other guards was the lapel bearing his rank. All the uniforms were woefully drab, fitting for an oppressive, ruling state.
"You look young and fit enough for tasks at the hangars, then," the sergeant said. He pointed to a man standing off on his own, inspecting one of the airship wings. "That one can help you. We've had trouble with the attachment of one of our systems. You'll help him. Have it reattached by sundown or you'll receive lashings."
He said it so calmly and casually as if it were almost expected for them to receive their beatings. Mirajane nodded. With a swift move, the Sergeant held out his hand and hoisted the three into the air. Each of them froze as if they had much other choice. Mirjane found strength enough to possibly break out of the magical bind but made no such move.
From behind the mask, purple eyes flashed, and a mark appeared on their hands. They gently fell to the ground.
"There," he said and sighed. "Tracking glyphs. Try to escape and we'll kill you."
Again, said so simply.
"We—we're fond of the Empire," Mirajane said with another smile. "Thank you."
She didn't question the tracking glyph. Why would she? She had to have blind faith in the Empire. Questioning it would call into question why they arrived at the airfield to help out in the first place.
Indeed, Levy had such questions, too, when Mirajane fronted the idea that they slip into the slave units. But it was the only way, without causing a massive uproar that would get even more Imperial attention, to learn more about their foe. That Torafuzar seemed…different. What was it about his magic?
Mirajane led them to the one by the wing, who did not notice their arrival until Levy picked up on a falsely written rune on the wing meant to help with the attachment.
"How did you notice that so quickly?" he asked.
"Just good at reading, I guess."
The man had a thick pair of glasses on, though they were cracked along the bottom. He pushed them up back to the top of his nose.
"I've been at this all day attempting to fix the runes, I must have missed one. I suppose you'll be my support for today?"
"Yes," Mirajane said.
"Good," the man said. "The others died of starvation yesterday. Or, no. They were gone in the night."
Mira's heart sank. She balled her fist.
"It's terrible," Lisanna muttered.
The man made nothing of it, at first, then glanced at Lisanna one more time. Then, he settled on Mirajane and her…body. No, then her face.
"I know you," he said.
Mira pursed her lips. "Pardon?"
He blushed. "I—uh…you're Mirajane, right? Mirajane Strauss?"
Mirajane sighed but nodded. "Yes."
Worst came to worst…they could just throw the plan out the window and raise hell like Master wanted.
"I was a fan of your work, long ago," he said, quietly. Louder, then, "Your loss was felt all around the world. So, mind telling me how you're alive again?"
"By never having died in the first place," Mirajane said. "You know, it's only courtesy to introduce yourself before giving someone else one."
"Ah, right." He pushed his glasses up again. "My name is Lahar. I was once a member of the Magic Council Enforcement Unit before that no longer existed. I have since bounced around technological or magical development plants for the Empire before arriving here to play maintainer. Or, so they think."
"I imagine we're here for the same reason, then," Levy said.
Lahar nodded. "My task, self-appointed mind you, has been to uncover the secrets of the Tartaros Division. They are no mere wizards nor, I believe, are they monsters, either. Something else, perhaps, but I've yet to work it out."
Levy set to work. Lisanna helped her. Mirajane held her hand out to Lahar.
"In the past, Fairy Tail and the Magic Council didn't always see eye to eye. How about we work toward changing that, Lahar?"
He clasped Mira's hand.
"I'd like that quite a bit."
Gray got his stretches in while they waited. Fairy Tail huddled in their own little corner of the pretty large room where the other wizards waited to be called into the arena. The Exceeds were somewhere in the stands, hopefully inconspicuous.
There were dozens of people in the room. None of them were people Gray recognized, though outside of Fairy Tail, it wasn't as if he knew many other wizards. A few of them had a militaristic uniform on, or some sort of signifier that they were part of the Empire. That Axel guy kept glancing over at them. He had several cronies around him. Some other giant dude kept leering at Erza. Old friend, maybe?
A dull background noise grew louder and louder as the morning progressed and all of the contestants patiently waited in the lobby. The stadium was filling up. Gray found he didn't have any nerves about the event whatsoever. He basically considered it a firm fact that he'd qualify and not let any of the other Imperial loons get in his way, even that Dragon Slayer.
Tension lingered palpably for the likes of Lucy and Wendy, though more the former than the latter. She was relying on so little of her power. Gray wanted to reassure her, but the watching eye of Juvia would rip his tongue out if he tried. So, he let Erza deliver Lucy her pep-talk, about how she was a strong wizard regardless of the magic she could use.
"Besides," Erza said, "whatever comes of the preliminary round, you know your friends have your back."
Nobody knew what lay in store for them. They hadn't asked as that would possibly reveal their naivety about the Games and raise suspicion. They would pull through, regardless, but having some sort of strategy to get through would at least help settle Lucy and Wendy down.
Some snacks came through to keep the wizards energized and not long after, the wide double doors opened to a long corridor. Fairy Tail maintained their clump and followed with the rest of the wizards.
As it turned out, those that they'd been with were only half the contestants. Jeez. Did Fiore have this many wizards?
Or, were these wizards from, truly, all over the world? Perhaps just from Twilight conquered land, so, maybe some of these guys were Alikitasian.
A platoon of guards flanked them on all sides, a few mixing in with the massive clump of wizards as if to keep the peace. Gray ignored them, keeping his hands in his pocket while he walked. Natsu was in front of him, fists clenched. Gajeel and Elfman had a similar strut but appeared more composed.
Daylight spilled into the tunnel as the first group of wizards pushed through the doors at the other end. A roar, louder than Gray ever heard, blasted down at them. It only grew in sound, exploding and fit to burst until at last, it did when they emerged into the grandest place Gray ever laid eyes on.
Every seat was filled, every person shouting. Guards lined every row with sharp and lacrima-laden spears, their black armor and visors hiding their presence. The wizards filled into lines, per the guards' instructions.
The arena itself was massive. It was almost impossible to make out anything on the other side of it. Gray stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Juvia and Natsu.
The decorations for the Games were impressive. Gray would call them cool if they weren't for a horrific thing like the Twilight Empire. Banners and flags waved in the summer breeze. A bunch of suites stood above the rest of the stands, probably for the Imperial Captains, Generals, and other officials to monitor their big event. To them, Gray and the other wizards were going to be nothing more than entertainment, no passion involved.
A man, practically tiny as he first descended from the on-high suites way up at the top of the stadium, floated down on a wide lacrima, and bid everyone in the arena a good day.
"So," Natsu muttered, distracting Gray. "What do you think?"
"Tough to say," Gray said. "I don't see anything here in the arena. Are we all just supposed to beat each other up?"
"If you'd listen," Erza said from behind the two, shutting them up, "you'll get your answer."
The MC was, indeed, explaining how things were going to go. To Gray's surprise, this number of wizards was only slightly higher than average, by only about ten or so. Gray did the math. Fairy Tail was that abnormality. Cool.
However, that would not change the preliminary round from its usual affair: an obstacle course, one that consumed the entire arena. The first sixty-four to make it through the course, alive, would move on to the next round. Of course, what to expect then was also not discussed.
"So it's just a race, simple as that," Gray said.
"We'll stick together," Erza said. "Nobody gets left behind."
"Sounds good to me," Lucy said.
After a few more words that riled up the gathered crowd, who were all probably forced to cheer otherwise they'd all get in trouble with the guards, the MC vanished as if he were just an illusion, and at once, the stadium began to shake as if there was an earthquake. Gray braced himself while everyone else did the same, save for Axel, who folded his arms and grinned at the proceedings.
From the ground, appearing from both thin air, the stadium walls, as well as the sand of the ground itself, came a humongous, hardly connected, structure. It wove, ducked, and soared into the air at places. A tiny finish line waited where the wizards were, with the starting line just next to it. A gaping black hole vortexes between the two, likely to obliterate anyone with the smart-ass idea of just walking from the starting to the finish line right away.
Gray assessed the obstacle course. For a while, it seemed there wouldn't be anything. So, the start was probably the most dangerous part, then. From there, wizards had to climb over walls of various sizes with several traps waiting for them until they managed to get all the way to the top, where they then had to somehow find a way all the way up to a tiny platform fit for maybe one or two people and then get back down to almost the ground, without breaking their legs, and finish the race through several more hoops and paths.
"Anyone mind carrying me?" Lucy peeped.
"Definitely going to need to stick together for this one," Wendy said.
"Gajeel, take point at the start of the race," Erza said. "Natsu, you go right behind him. If anything attacks us, I want you two to be able to sniff it out right away. Wendy, begin coalescing your magic to find a way to get us all the way up there. Gray? You and Juvia have to be our shields."
"And you, Erza?" Gray asked.
"If anything penetrates our defenses, Elfman and I will handle it," Erza said.
"And me?" Lucy asked.
"Stay with me," Erza said. "You, of all people, cannot get separated."
Gray sensed Axel's glowering presence not far from them. Hadn't he promised to knock Lucy out early?
The MC appeared on a massive lacrima screen over the entire arena. Dozens more joined it so that other audience members could watch various angles of the obstacle course.
"Take off as fast as you can," Erza said to everyone. "Do not linger."
A countdown flashed on the screen. Gray tensed. Ice magic, not Ice-Make magic. He'd run through some generic spells he knew to use, and could create a shield of ice if he needed to with just his one hand. Weak, yes, but a defense nonetheless.
Five.
Juvia and Gray locked eyes, nodding at one another.
Four.
Axel inched closer, just inside Gray's peripheral vision.
Three.
Erza took Lucy's arm in her own. Lucy gulped.
Two.
Natsu and Gajeel braced themselves into running positions.
One.
Axel moved. Gray spun to face him.
"GO!"
"Diamond Dragon Lock!"
"Ice Eruption!"
Erza lunged forward with Lucy, disregarding the attack. Everyone had their roles. Nobody stayed behind with Gray in that half-second to slow down Axel save for Juvia. The rest of the wizards moved forward. Gray was to be their shield. So he acted like it.
The diamonds surged through Gray's explosion of ice, one of the few generic ice spells he knew, but the force of Gray's spell redirected the diamonds to Juvia, catching her legs. She turned her legs to water and slipped out. Axel still moved forward, swaying against the surprising strength of Gray's spell.
"Water Slicer!"
Water slammed against Axel, spilling him into the rest of the stampeding crowd.
"Let's go!" Juvia shouted, and she and Gray ran as hard as they could to catch up with everyone into the first massive corridor that blasted all elements at the wizards at random.
"Gray, Juvia!"
Juvia leaped into the air as Gajeel flung her. The Dragon Slayers used their instincts to dodge the traps, but Juvia still turned to water or cast magic to slow the assault of fire that rained down on them while Gray froze and shattered any rocks or water that lashed out at them. Erza still had Lucy hand-in-hand. Elfman remained as he was, not transformed yet.
"Wait!" Lucy shouted. "That's a wall we're about to run into!"
Indeed, some wizards had turned away, but a few were still charging forward. What were Gajeel and Natsu thinking still running toward it?
They rushed on anyway, phasing right through it. An illusion. So, how much of the obstacle course had Gray really even seen?
At once, when Gray pushed through the wall, a plume of air shoved him from underneath and launched him through shadow and then up into the clear skies. He soared, faster than ever before. Juvia and Lucy screamed around him.
"Hang on!" Wendy shouted.
"Get us up there, Wendy!" Erza shouted and pointed to an even higher platform than Gray had noticed before. It was well-hidden by the clouds. Other wizards were soaring there with no problem, following the current of air as it'd pushed them.
Wendy swung her hands out, capturing each of the wizards in her masterful grasp, and directed them up to the platform, which was not only higher but wider. Gray slid onto it as Wendy put them down, then spun around as walls appeared over them and some wizards that'd also joined. Axel was among them. Damn, this guy was just going to hound them.
"A little light, Natsu?" Erza asked.
Natsu's flames ignited the room around them, revealing dozens of runes that were slowly glowing all around them.
Axel strode toward them. The other wizards glanced about at one another.
"Only a certain amount of wizards are allowed at a time. Some of you will need to jump. I'd get to figuring that out now. Lucy, you can stay with me"
"We'll need to split up," Erza said with a sigh.
"Please just get me down," Lucy said.
"I can help with that," Axel said. "Lucy. You don't belong in this fight."
"Will you just shut up already?" Gajeel asked. "Mind your own business. If you're so keen to get Lucy, why don't you already try it?"
Axel sneered. "Will do. Diamond Dragon Roar!"
Everyone formed a shield in front of Lucy, retaliating with their own generic spell. Then, from that, Erza shot out of it, sword already arcing down at Axel. Elfman sprinted to join her. The walls opened as wizards appeared overhead, prepared to land.
"Go!" Erza shouted.
Gray took Lucy's hand. Juvia screamed at the gesture. What? He could bind their hands together with his magic, it was the only way to keep Lucy safe.
"Wendy!" Gray shouted.
Natsu and Gajeel took point again, not wanting to disregard Erza's orders. Wendy fell with them, displaying her draconic abilities in the sky given the ease with which she fell. Lucy screamed, but instead of Gray, she clung tightly to Juvia, who got between the two.
As they flew, as the winds rose to meet them, various projections formed in front of them, magic circles trying to knock them off their path down. They'd fallen into a stream meant to bring them to the ground, but getting knocked slightly out of it would lead one to free-fall.
Gajeel and Natsu, fellow dragons, wove between projections, shattering them with their magic. Wendy once more controlled their descent before they hit the ground, using her own burst of magic to surge them toward the rest of the obstacle course.
Totems appeared in a loop they had to run through. Natsu slammed into one, Gajeel the other, and Gray froze the rest of the wall, pausing any more totems from coming out. Juvia had taken control of Lucy, wrenching her away from Gray.
The group blitzed out of the loop just as two figures slammed down in front of them. They braced, but when the debris cleared, there was a beaten but still ready-to-go Erza and Elfman.
"Back in formation!" Erza ordered, and they regrouped, then surged. Erza took charge of Lucy.
Wizards were already up ahead crossing the finish line.
"Give it everything you have!" Erza exclaimed.
Another loop, this time the totems poked up out of the ground at random. The wizards had to react in their own time to the obstacles.
The next major test came in the form of…
"AJ upiter Cannon?" Lucy shrieked.
Indeed, pointed right at them, sliding on rails and firing only through the loop, was one of the infamous weapons.
"Doesn't matter!" Erza said. "We'll push through it no matter what!"
The Fairies sprinted on as the cannon primed, moving away from them on the rail. With a speed boost from Wendy, they'd clear the cannon.
But Wendy was otherwise occupied right as they needed her.
Winds swept in down the tunnel, buffeting the wizards. If they weren't in a group, it'd have flung them around and, likely, up to other levels of the course that had other dangers. But Wendy deflected the winds, leading them on a straight, and easy, path toward the finish line.
And the Jupiter Cannon.
The cannon reappeared completely ready to go.
Juvia made her move, dashing in front of everyone.
"Natsu!" she shouted.
Natsu sprang flames from the ground, launching Juvia even further. Gray's heart leaped. Really? For Juvia?
"Water Nebula!"
The first magic circle formed. Juvia's water slammed into the gaping hole of the cannon, shattering it as the magic prepared to burst everywhere.
The magic, overloaded and direction, exploded in front of Fairy Tail, collapsing the walls above and below them, sending the rails flying. Gray caught Juvia before moving on. She smiled at him.
"Good job," he said, smiling back.
She passed out. Great. Now he had to carry her, too.
"Come on, the finish line is right up ahead!"
Natsu and Gajeel turned up the speed. Lucy and Erza, too.
A final totem waited for them at the finish line. Bodies of wizards, even some dropping from the sky, lay strewn all about.
"Elfman!" Erza called. "Now's your big moment!"
"Time for these people to see what a real man can do!" Elfman roared and launched at the totem, who swung down a huge hammer toward Elfman.
Elfman caught it, but, with a change to a powerful Beast Soul and a mighty roar, broke through the hammer, clearing the way for Fairy Tail to tumble over the finish line.
They all slid to a halt, tripping over themselves. Gray set a giggling and delusion Juvia on the ground while he wiped some sweat from his brow. He thought the struggle was going to be with fighting other wizards, but it seemed the obstacle course was having its way with everyone judiciously and fairly.
"Guess they really do only want the best of the best in the competition," Gray said.
"Yeah, a real man's competition," Elfman said with a nod.
"What the heck happened with that other Dragon Slayer?" Gajeel asked.
"Knocked him off the edge," Erza said with a shrug. "I don't know where he wound up."
"Maybe he fell to his death," Lucy said with another shrug.
Fairy Tail was one of the last to qualify, and as such did not need to wait long for the MC to appear overhead on the lacrima screen. The maze vanished as fast as it'd initially appeared, but left all of the bodies of the broken, or horrifically dead, wizards where they were. Gray balled a fist.
"All for show?" Gray asked. "They just did this to get off, don't they?"
"They're doing it because only the strongest are worth their attention, apparently," Erza said. "We'll make them pay for this."
"How many of them were forced into these games?" Gajeel asked. "How many of them threw away their lives without a choice?"
"If it was even just one," Erza said. "It was too many."
Juvia at last came to and Gray helped her up. They stood gathered with the rest of the tired, haggard wizards—though some were clearly doing better than others—while the MC, up on his floating lacrima, ran through what they could expect next:
The wizards would be randomly divided into two groups upon exiting the stadium. One group was to fight in an all-out battle-royal until only eight wizards remained. The other group would showcase their magic for a panel of indiscriminate judges to advance until the final sixteen wizards remained for the true meat of the tournament.
From there, the final two moved on to Crocus, the Capital of the Twilight Empire.
"Alright," Gray said as the wizards were scuttled toward a glowing doorway. "Let's see how things wind up, shall we?"
Lucy phased through the wall. Erza was just behind her, and Gray and Elfman were up ahead. Thankfully, Axel was also not there. Lucy sighed with great relief.
"It appears," Erza said, gesturing at the literal writing on the wall across from them. "That we will be participating in the magic display contest."
Another sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I still haven't figured out how I'm supposed to fight with my spirits. This'll be a cinch!"
"Without cycling through my Requips, I'll need to come up with a strategy of how to wow the audience," Erza said, putting her hand on her chin contemplatively. "This may be tricky."
All thirty-two contestants filed in and were given a number for their order of participation the following day. Lucy was glad for the reprieve—not for herself, as she hadn't used any magic in the obstacle course. Her friends needed the break to recharge and think.
The four walked together out of the room, back into the waiting area they'd arrived in that morning, where the others found them. Natsu was raring to knock some heads around.
From behind Natsu, as if from a nightmare, emerged Axel, who smiled at Lucy.
"Remember," he said. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"
A shiver ran up Lucy's spine but Erza clasped Lucy's hand. That's right. She'd have Titania right behind her the whole time. Axel had already lost a fight, a quick spar, to Erza. There was nobody better to have her back.
"Come on," Lucy said. "I need a shower."