A line of fire and ice explosions ran through a large portion of Clover Town. Kuro and Gray were a few yards away from each other; both unleashing fire and ice make spells upon each other. "Fire Make: Spears!" A red magic seal appeared before Kuro, unleashing a barrage of flaming spears in Gray's direction.
"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray exclaimed as a blue magic seal appeared before him, unleashing a plethora of ice lances to clash with Kuro's flaming spears, creating yet another explosion.
.
.
"Those two are really going at it…!" Lucy exclaimed once seeing the numerous amount of explosions around the Town.
"You're telling me…" Cynthia commented. "I guess neither of them really want to lose this time around, eh?"
"Come on, Kuro!" Waiston exclaimed. "You got this!"
"Gray-sama's got this!" Juvia shouted back to Waiston's shouting, their eyes locking as comical lightning appeared between their heated glares.
"This isn't even a competition, Kuro has this hands down!" Waiston nodded firmly.
"I agree with Waiston," Saeko said while giving a nod. "Kuro will win!"
"If Gray doesn't wish to embarrass the good name of his teacher Ur then he will win…" Lyon commented.
.
.
Gray jumped into the air, his fist meeting his palm once more. "Ice Make: Bringer!" The heavy artillery was coming out now; two large, curved blades of ice appeared in Gray's hands. He lunged towards Kuro, preparing to slash the blades in an X pattern.
"Fire Make: Swords!" Kuro exclaimed once seeing the large blades of ice now. Two flaming swords appeared in Kuro's hands and he met Gray halfway, their swords clashing in the air, creating a shockwave upon collision. The two jumped back, landing on top of two buildings a few feet apart. Kuro slammed his fist into his palm once more as his swords vanished. "Fire Make: Swords Dance!" A red magic seal appeared above Gray, unleashing a rain of flaming swords.
"Gah…" Gray cried out as the swords rained down on him. He fought through the pain and placed his fist into his palm once more, creating a bow with three arrows held back on the string. "Ice Make: Super Freeze Arrow…!" Gray released the arrows simultaneously, watching as they all hurtled towards Kuro.
"Agh…" Kuro had no time to dodge because the arrows were coming in so quickly. Each arrow struck him powerfully, sending him falling off the building and into the ground, close to unconsciousness. Before he fell unconscious however, he placed a palm on the ground, creating a dark red magic seal under Gray's feet. "Hell's Eruption…"
"Huh…?" Gray looked down, his eyes widening instantly as he realized what was about to happen. "Ice Make: Cocoon!" Ice protectively surrounded Gray, but it was no match for the Hell Flames that consumed his person. He let out a scream of agony as the building he was on reduced to nothing. Gray and Kuro were both unconscious, the first draw of the tournament.
"It's a draw…" Ola wrote in the air, a little surprised by the outcome herself.
.
.
"So far things are moving along just fine…" Hyde nodded. "Though, some of these matches could be a little more entertaining…Though I am finding a few interesting things…"
"Things like…" Knightwalker asked, hoping Hyde would respond with a straight answer instead of one of his usually cryptic sentences, but instead he just didn't answer. "…Tch…"
.
.
"NOW it's my turn!" Cynthia hopped up and down as she looked around for her opponent. "Where is he?"
"Over here," A male with slightly spiky dark hair, dark eyes, wore red and black vest, black pants and shoes walked forward. "I'm Raven, your opponent. I've heard a lot about you.
"Oh really?" Cynthia blinked a few times. "Because I know absolutely nothing about you."
"That's fine with me…I think…" Raven shook his head before turning off to walk into Clover Town. "Anyway, it's our turn to battle, so let's do so."
"Right behind you!" Cynthia happily shouted as she followed behind Raven.
"Good luck, Cynthia!" Wendy exclaimed while waving to her dearest friend.
.
.
"Allow me…" Raven said as he pulled a bow from behind his back, immediately aiming it towards Cynthia; he pulled the string back, forming a powerful wind arrow. "The Wind's Howl!" Raven unleashed the string, sending the wind arrow hurtling towards the young fire slayer.
"Wow that's coming in pretty fast…" Cynthia made a quick roll to the left, looking over her shoulder to see what the arrow would do upon collision. It leveled a building and the one behind it. No big deal. "Aye…" She turned, only to spot three more wind arrows coming in her direction. She placed her hands on the ground, creating a red magic seal. "Omega Fire Dragon's Line!" After exclaiming this, a red line appeared from the magic circle, cleaving through the ground, and the wind arrows as it made its way towards Raven.
"Oi…I got a tough one right off the bat…fun…" Raven groaned to himself as he leapt to the side, allowing the line of fire to fly right past him. He took aim once again, this time dark arrows forming on his string. "Crime!"
"Too slow"! Cynthia exclaimed as she ran forward, red fire trailing along her arms. She swayed her body to the left, avoiding the incoming arrows, though they did manage to graze her arm. "Omega Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" Cynthia sped by Raven, blowing him back a bit after slashing him with her wings of fire. Not wanting to let up, she turned on her heel quickly, aiming a spinning roundhouse to Raven's head, which connected, causing him to stagger back.
"Come on, Raven! You can do it!" Chelia cheered.
Raven prepared yet another large arrow, but he instead aimed his bow upwards, releasing it into the sky. "Azure Heavens!" The traveling wind arrow now came down, breaking apart into multiple, smaller arrows that rained down towards Cynthia.
"Eek…!" Cynthia turned on her heel, but wouldn't you know it, she almost tripped, leaving her completely open for the wind arrows that rained down on her, causing her to let out a small squeal of pain. She shook off the pain and jumped back, clicking her heels to the ground. "Ouch…that hurt…"
"Fury Burst!" Raven now exclaimed as his magical energy quickly rose; he was going for the quick finish because he knew what would happen if the battle started to drag on. He aimed four arrows, all radiating a different color aura (red, blue, green, and yellow) infused with fire, ice, wind, and lightning respectively. He unleashed the four arrows in a line, their pressure causing the streets to cave in.
"A-Ah!" Cynthia crossed her arms at the incoming arrows, not seeing many actions but to defend. The arrows hit, hard; causing her to slide back across the street a few feet with each hit. When the fire arrow came towards her, she grinned, allowing it to strike, but she quickly inhaled the flames off it before any real damage could be done.
"Crap…I forgot Dragon Slayers…" Raven started with a gulp.
"Whoa!" Cynthia grinned as her flames flared higher around her body. "I needed that!" She then took in a deep breath, allowing a vortex of red flames to form around her mouth. "Omega Fire Dragon's Roar!" Cynthia lurched forward, unleashing a large funnel of red fire towards Raven.
"Gah…!" Raven prepared to send an arrow to slice through the roar, but even with his speed he wasn't fast enough to fire, so the funnel consumed him. He let out a yelp of pain while the fire burned his clothing and skin. After the roar was over, he was hunched over, panting from taking such a hit head on. "My turn…" Raven swiped his hand, creating a green magic circle under Cynthia's feet. "I'll blow you away…Havoc Gale!"
"Eh!?" Cynthia looked down, but she didn't have any time to react to the cyclone that suddenly appeared around her, lifting her into the air before ruthlessly cutting her just due to the speed it gave off.
"Cynthia…!" Wendy's eyes widened as Cynthia was rendered helpless in the hurricane.
"Hold on…" Erza said while eying the hurricane. "Something isn't right about this…"
Raven was also slowly being dragged into the hurricane; he had little control over this attack, and that was just placing it where he wanted. It wasn't long before Raven too was sucked into the unforgiving twister. "GAH!"
"He can't control that, can he…" Erza raised a brow as she spoke.
"Well this isn't going to end very well…" Lyon coughed.
And right Lyon was. The hurricane became unstable to the point where it exploded, sending both combatants flying into the nearest building. Cynthia groaned as she struggled to stand up, panting somewhat as her body was now covered in cuts from the harsh winds. "Oowie.."
"Damn…" Raven groaned as he brought himself up slowly, staggering around.
"Oh…! We're still fighting…" Cynthia ignited her right hand, throwing it towards Raven's face. "Iron Fist of the Omega Fire Dragon!"
"Wha-" Before Raven could react, Cynthia's fist met with his face, causing him to slide across the ground on his back in KO.
"I win!" Cynthia exclaimed as she jumped up and down, ignoring the pain in her injuries. She was rather durable so they were pretty much nothing to her after a certain point.
"He lost…" Chelia pouted.
.
.
"Mhm…" Hyde now had a serious look of interest on his face after witnessing Cynthia's fight. "She's come a long way from the scared little girl in the lab…"
"I don't understand your and Aiden's obsession with that little girl…" Knightwalker sighed as she used a cloth to clean off her spear. "She has great power, so what…?"
"It's not just that, Knightwalker dear…" Hyde stood upright, a serious expression actually appearing on his face as Cynthia became the main topic. "That girl is many things…But she is primarily a weapon who is currently in failsafe mode. Long story short, in order to prevent her from using her full power on her own, Aiden turned the lacrima into a bomb, which would explode and wipe out this entire country. However, since he was foiled that lacrima has malfunctioned…so there is no clue when she could detonate…"
"And why did Aiden think this was a good idea?" Knightwalker merely sighed. "It sounded like he was afraid his own creation turning on him…I guess even someone like him needs a way out…"
.
.
"Hmm….." The hooded male stared intently at Cynthia, unsure what to think of her at this point. "Interesting…"
"You sound conflicted…" The female partner said while tilting her head.
"I'm thinking about something…She's strong, there's no denying that…just…hm…" The male thought while once again chewing on generic brand snacks rather loudly, causing a heavy, comical sigh to escape the lips of his partner.
.
.
"Bah!" Jack kicked the outside wall in frustration. "Boring! We can't get anything with short matches like these!"
"The winners are the ones we should be concerned about in the first place, Jack…" Tia said in attempt to calm her temperamental brother down. "More importantly, we should be concerned with the S classes and SS classes fighting…"
"Whatever…" Jack grunted.
.
.
Meredy and Ultear were somewhere a little far off from Clover Town; the two were watching the tournament from Ultear's sphere. "So far this is turning out okay…" Ultear said while watching the matches. "I don't know if Jellal has found what he's looking for yet…"
"Should we check in on him?" Meredy asked while looking towards Ultear.
"No, not yet…" Ultear replied while shaking her head. "I don't want to take the chance in jeopardizing his identity just yet…For now, all we should do is just watch quietly…though if we find anything we shouldn't hesitate to tell him."
.
.
"You did very well…" Jellal nodded towards Cynthia after she came back in from her match.
"Thank you Je-..I mean Mystogan…! Hahahaha…." A sweat drop appeared on her head as she just narrowly avoided the revelation of Jellal's identity.
"Sssh….!" Erza clamped her hand over Cynthia's mouth to keep her from speaking.
Jellal blinked a few times, quickly looking around to see if anyone heard her. "Is she always this loud…?"
"MMM!" Cynthia huffed, taking offense to that statement.
"Not always…" Erza replied with a nervous smile.
"Hmph…" Cynthia scoffed into Erza's hand.
"I wonder who I'll be up against…" Lucy wondered as she glanced at the lacrima screen.
"It looks like they're about to post the next few matches…" Laxus said while nudging his head up to the lacrima screen, and he was right. The next few matches were: Mystogan vs. Trinity, Tayakata vs. Laxus, Kagura vs. Selene, and Natsu vs. Waiston. "Hm…" Laxus seemed a little disappointed with his matchup, he clearly wanted a challenge and didn't think Tayakata would give him one.
"Hmm…That's the diamond user if I remember correctly…" Kagura said to herself as she took a quick glance towards Selene.
"Trinity, hm…?" Jellal looked over towards the tall male, raising a brow. Something about Trinity didn't seem right, but it seemed as though he was going to figure out in a little bit. "Shall we?"
"Of course…" Trinity gave a nod, crossing his arms as he walked out of Black Phoenix to Clover Town, Jellal following after him.
A rather short girl with long black hair, light brown eyes, a black blouse and long black pants waved Trinity out; this was Lucina of Black Phoenix. "Kick his butt, Trin!"
"Oi…" A serious expression appeared over Natsu's face as Jellal and Trinity left. "That guy smells kinda weird…also king of familiar…but I can't put my finger on it…"
"What do you mean, Natsu…?" Lucy and Erza asked, turning their head to the puzzled dragon slayer.
"I don't know…" Natsu replied.
.
.
"Wait…" Ultear's eyes narrowed as she eyed Trinity, who stood across from Jellal. "Something's not right here…"
"What's wrong, UI…?" Meredy asked as a worried expression appeared on her face, glancing from orb to Ultear.
"Jellal's opponent…I don't know what's up with him, but it's not good, not good at all…" Ultear replied.
.
.
"O-Oi…!" Knightwalker's eyes shot open attentively as she noticed who she believed to be Mystogan walking into a section of town to face Trinity. "That can't be…!"
"Hm…?" Hyde's eyes narrowed as he observed "Msytogan". "Well, well…now isn't that interesting…"
.
.
Jellal could sense it too as he grabbed a stave from behind his back, holding it at his side. He could sense a type of darkness from Trinity but it wasn't the darkness he was after. The two were completely different though, Trinity's bearing a strong resemblance to the darkness that resided in the depths of hell. "…Who are you…?" Jellal asked in a serious tone.
"Trinity, of course…" The male replied while a dark purple aura surrounded his body. "The Poison Demon of Black Phoenix…"