'Something is wrong.' That thought has been in Eric's mind from the moment that he woke up the morning for the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games.
He didn't know what, but there was a tension in the air that was not there before and every time he tried to scan the city with his eyes, he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong when it came out clean.
"Hey, you good?" Eric blinked as he heard Leo speaking, tuning out of his mind to see the mage giving him a concerned glance.
"Y-Yeah, just…being a bit paranoid, I guess."
"You sure? Usually, you're not this tense unless something is wrong." Bacchus spoke with an uncharacteristic frown and Eric groaned as he palmed his face.
"No, I'm…I'm fine. There's just this uneasiness in the air that wasn't there yesterday."
"Well, can you see anything wrong?" Screecher asked and Eric sighed as he shook his head.
"No, and that worries me even more than it should."
"Rule one of being a mage: Trust your instincts on a job more than what you are told. I can't sense what you're sensing, but if your instincts are telling you something is wrong, then I trust you." Warcry spoke with a smile, the others nodding in agreement as Eric gave a thankful smile before turning to see a rather giant water bubble appearing in the middle of the arena.
"So…anyone listen to the rules?"
"Nope, but we didn't have to. You do remember that you're supposed to do the first round for today, right?" Leo spoke with a smirk, to which Eric groaned as he began walking towards the stairs.
"I thought you guys forgot about that."
"Nope! Good luck!"
"And we are starting the day off with a good round of Naval Battle! As explained, eight participants will enter the sphere of water and duke it out for first place! You must knock your opponent out of the sphere for it to count! If there are two people left inside of it, there will be a five minute counter and if both mages manage to stay inside the sphere until the end, they will both win the round! However, if one leaves or is knocked out of the sphere first, they are automatically in last place! First up, from Mermaid Heel, it's Risley Law!" Risley hummed as she leapt into the sphere, easily swimming through the water with a smile while thankful for the Breathing Lacrimas they were given for the match.
"Next up, for Lamia Scale, we have Cheria!" Cheria dove headfirst into the water, a determined expression on her face as she swam around.
"I may have tied yesterday, but I'll do my best to win!"
"Up next, we have the supermodel Jenny from Blue Pegasus!" Jenny was as elegant and as graceful as usual as she dove into the sphere, a confident smile on her face as she floated slowly.
"Juvia from Fairy Tail B has also entered the game!" Juvia looked to be at home as she dove into the water, a blissful smile on her face as her body resonated & glowed in sync with the water around her.
"Juvia is at home." She declared with a smile, the other mages looking a bit nervous as Juvia's smile turned confident.
"For Sabretooth, we have their leader Minerva!" A beautiful woman dove into the water, her luscious black hair shimmering underwater as she was dressed in a dark blue swimtop top and skintight diving shorts.
As soon as she did, the tension in the water spiked as she smiled at everyone, all of them on edge as they saw the malice & amusement dancing in her eyes.
"For Fairy Tail, Lucy has decided to join for the day!" Lucy was dressed in a light pink swimming attire as she dove into the water, a frown on her face as she felt determined to prove herself for her team once again.
"For Raven Tail, it's none other than Narpudding!" The purple gremlin was dressed in a full body dark purple diving suit as he dove into the water, a malicious grin on his face as he looked towards Juvia and Lucy, who both glanced at each other and nodded.
'He needs to go first.'
"And last, but certainly not least, for Quatro Cerberus, we have Eric Creed!" As soon as Eric dove into the water, everyone frowned as the temperature of the water went from chilly to lukewarm, Minerva's amused smirk growing as she stared at the rather muscular dragon slayer from Quatro Cerberus floating stoically in the water.
'So, that's the one Sting warned me of? He's quite the sight for the eyes and if the rumours are true about him…ah, if only he had gone to Sabretooth. Alas, I must make an example out of him.' She thought with a smile before winking at Eric as he looked at her, giggling at the confused yet wary look in his eyes as he gave a slow nod back.
'Right, I need to not play around this time. No asking for the rules and as long as one person stays inside the sphere, they win.' Eric thought with a frown as he took a deep breath, surprised at how the breathing lacrima they had been told to stick to their tongues filtered the oxygen out of the water and made it shoot back out of his nose.
It was a bit of a weird feeling, but Eric didn't have time to worry about that. No, he had a match to win and he'd be damned if he lost another one for Quatro.
"Are all fighters ready?!" Mako shouted, the mages nodding as each went into their opening stance, Eric taking another deep breath as his ethernano raged inside his body.
"Then, let the Naval Battle…beg-!"
"Gravito Secret Art: Sectional Polarity Crash!"
"-in!" Before Mako could even finish his sentence, he along with every mage & civilian in the arena was stunned silent as six contestants smashed into the ground while Eric took a deep breath from where he was floating inside the water sphere, looking over to where Minerva was holding her hands out while covered in an iridescent sphere of ethernano.
"I-Incredible! With one single attack, Eric Creed has taken out all except for Minerva of Sabretooth! Truly, this is a round for the ages."
"That's pretty good for blocking one of my attacks." Eric spoke with a smirk as he pulled his ethernano back in.
"Hmm, I wished for the girl from Fairy Tail to stay in here longer. Her dragon slayer friend attacked our guild and I wanted a bit of revenge." Minerva spoke with a pout as she deactivated her spell.
"Natsu?" He asked, shaking his head as Minerva smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, he tends to do first and think later." Eric spoke with a shrug, a bit confused at Minerva giggling at his words before shaking his head as he thought back to his match against Kagura.
'Your magic is not Gravity Magic. It's something…completely different.'
"Am I that boring that you're daydreaming when you're supposed to be fighting me?" Minerva's words drew Eric from his inner thoughts, looking up to see her giving him an amused smirk.
"Sorry for that. I'm just having a bit of inner turmoil with myself."
"Maybe you can talk to me about it? I've been told that talking to someone about trouble might help." Minerva spoke as she floated closer and every warning bell in Eric's head rang out all at once as he slowly floated backwards.
"T-Thanks, but I feel like if I do, my girlfriend will try to kill me."
"The Flare girl, correct?" Minerva asked with a smirk, giggling as Eric raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Don't look so surprised. I might not like gossiping, but you can't help it but listen in on people's conversations when all they talk about is your lovelife."
"Hah, I should have expected that. Well, if you know that, then you must know that I'm in a very loving relationship."
"I'm not that worried about her. Besides, many things can happen to someone when you're not looking." Minerva spoke bluntly with a shrug and Eric blinked in confusion.
"Are…are you threatening Flare?"
"I might b-!" Before Minerva could finish her sentence, her eyes widened and a silent gasp escaped her lips as a fist smashed into her chest, sending her barreling through the water as she quickly stopped her spinning to stare in surprise at the grinning Eric.
"You know, I'm still a bit of a gentleman despite how barbaric my guild is. However, you did just threaten the one woman I love in the entire world and that means you are a threat and threats get…eliminated!" He growled out his final words as the temperature of the water grew warmer, scales growing on his arms & upper body while his upper canines & fingernails grew out to be razor-sharp.
"Hmm! Very well, I was hoping to spare you, but it appears I might have to first teach you to listen to your betters."
"By all means, kitty-cat. Show me how better you are than me." Eric growled as he rolled his neck, to which Minerva simply snorted as the iridescent glow from before covered her body.
"Territory: Drain!" Minerva chanted and Eric watched as an iridescent sphere of energy surrounded him in a sphere before exerting his magic in all directions.
"Gravito Secret Art: Black Coffin!" Eric chanted as he slapped his hand against the energy barrier and Minerva was surprised as a black coffin appeared around Eric before it rapidly expanded & shattered her Territory orb.
'Kagura's analysis may have been right because I don't think gravity could shatter space like that.' Eric thought with a frown as he stared at Minerva, watching as the woman didn't attack before smirking as an idea came to mind.
With a simple plan made, he rushed towards Minerva while pulling a fist back, the mage waiting as Eric neared before easily moving out of the way of his punch with a spin while lashing out with a roundhouse to his head.
However, her eyes widened and Eric grinned proudly as her foot got stuck just as it neared him, Minerva gritting her teeth as she tried to force her attack more only for it to barely move a centimeter slower.
However, Eric did not let the opportunity go to waste as he surrounded himself in an azure sphere of energy, Minerva's eyes widening as she shifted herself away only to watch as a scarlet sphere of energy rocketed towards her.
Teleporting out of the way once more, she was quickly bombarded by a storm of scarlet bombs as Eric shot them out one after the other, the azure orb around him growing more & more until it nearly encompassed half of the water sphere.
"Gravito Secret Art: Hollow Purple!" He chanted as he grinned at Minerva, who watched as the scarlet ethernano curved through the air & flew back towards the water sphere before her eyes widened as she remembered what happened to Kagura during her match with Eric.
"Niel Wielg Mion Terse Elcantaeus: Yagd Rigola!" She chanted while moving her arms in a circular motion, Eric grinning as she spread her arms wide and a stone god-like effigy covered in intricate designs appeared behind her.
The next moment, the water exploded in all directions as Hollow Purple exploded against Yagd Rigola, the sky itself crying in pain as the two attacks made space warp around him while both Eric & Minerva glared at each other as they were both still floating in the air.
However, Eric grinned as he gestured to his left, Minerva's eyes widening as she look to her left only to find nothing before a scarlet sphere of energy slammed into her side & sent her crashing into the ground.
As the winds & light from the explosion died down, the crowd was surprised to see a fuming Minerva pulling herself free from the ground while Eric floated down with a pleased smile.
"I-It appears that both fighters were blown out of the sphere at the same time. However! Since Minerva was the first to touch the ground, that means she lost the round & has placed last for Sabretooth, making Eric Creed the winner of Naval Battle!"
"WILD!" Both Quatro Cerberus & the crowd roared as the announcer ended the match, Eric grinning as he nodded to where Goldmine & Flare were sitting, a bit amused at his girlfriend's satisfied smile & Goldmine's proud grin before turning back as he saw Minerva stomping away.
"That was a pretty fun match."
"Fuck off, Creed. You just made an enemy for life." Minerva growled as she walked away, Eric raising an eyebrow before shaking his head as he turned and flew back towards his team's booth.
"See what happens when you stop playing around?" Screecher said with a smirk, chuckling as Eric rolled his eyes while sitting down on the ground with a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah. Now, let me rest. I wasted a bit too much energy against her than I wanted to."
"You were up against Sabretooth's ace. It's to be expected." Bacchus spoke with a shrug, to which Eric snorted before they all turned as the announcer spoke.
"With that beautiful round, we now head off to the battles for the day and today, it is tag battles! For those that don't know what that means, it means that instead of one on one battles, they will instead be two on two! Now, for the first match, we have…is anyone else seeing that?" The announcer's confused tone drew Eric's attention as he stood up, looking around to see everyone looking at something in the sky.
Following their vision to the sky above the Domus Flau, he frowned in confusion as he saw a cloaked being with a hood hiding their face floating in the sky, watching as the being slowly lowered while his frown deepened at the sight of their scaled hands & feet sticking out from the cloak.
"May I ask what you need, mysterious being?" Eric heard Jura ask, looking over to see the man leaping over the railings of their balcony before walking towards the being as they landed in the middle of the arena.
Not one to be left behind, Eric frowned as he leapt onto the arena floor as well, smirking as every mage in the booths as well as a few from the stands jumped down on the battlefield while the hooded being simply looked around.
Eric then frowned as the being looked directly at him, watching as a fanged smirk was seen from under their hood before everyone was surprised as the being reached up & removed their hood.
However, that surprise was swiftly turned to shock & confusion as they all looked at Eric & backed at the mysterious person, Eric shocked to his core as another Eric gave him a knowing smirk.
This Eric was different as they threw off their cloak, revealing another pair of arms with the left hand holding the Dragon Cry while four scarlet eyes stared at his own two crimson ones.
"Eric, nice to see you're still alive." The other Eric spoke with a smirk, the other mages watching as Eric walked closer while the Dragon Cry appeared in a scarlet blaze next to him.
"Who are you?" Jura asked once more as he held out a hand to stop Eric, watching as the other Eric simply snorted while raising an eyebrow.
"The clues are all there and I know you're not that slow, Jura."
"So, you actually expect us to believe you are Eric?" Erza spoke with a frown as a sword appeared in her hands, Eric watching as his monstrous clone looked at Erza and he swore he saw a flash of melancholy in the man's eyes.
"Yes, but not the Eric you know. I'm from a future timeline and I'm here for one thing."
"Say that we actually believe this farce of a story. What happened for you to turn out like…this?" Guy asked while gesturing at the monstrous form, to which Future Eric snorted as he looked down at his body.
"Let's just say that the future isn't kind to anyone, especially me. However, I am here to make sure that no one has to go through what I did."
"And that is?" Eric asked, his mind racing at light speed as he tried to figure out exactly why his future counterpart is here instead of Rogue's or Lucy's.
"Oh, don't worry, Eric. The future will survive, but you won't."
"Do not threaten him in my presence." Bacchus spoke with a frown as he threw his sake gourd away, Eric a bit surprised at the man's declaration before turning as they heard Future Eric chuckling at his words.
"Ah, Bacchus, but I was not threatening him. You see, that was a promise. Now, Eric, you have a choice. Either come peacefully or I'll take you away by force."
"You are outnumbered, my dear boy. Surrender and perhaps we can help you." Goldmine spoke with a concerned frown as he walked closer, Future Eric turning towards the man with a frown before taking a deep breath as he shook his head.
"I may be outnumbered, but you all are hilariously outgunned!" With a menacing growl, everyone other than Eric wheezed as a wave of incredibly tense gravity sent them all flying away, Eric surprised at how easily his future counterpart blew everyone away.
Spinning back to face Future Eric, he frowned in nervousness & slight fear as the Dragon Cry from his future counterpart kept up the barrier gravity while he rolled his shoulders, Eric readying himself for battle as Future Eric smirked.
"Now then, Eric, are you ready to die?"
A/N: Dun-dun-duuuunnnn~! The reveal!
Yeah, most people probably saw it coming, but now, forget about the Grand Magic Games for a new problem has arrived
And now, like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories(Not many. Just three at the moment). If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
P.S. we are doing a Bleach OOC System fanfic there(which is a lot more work than I thought it would be), so if you want, come & join us!
P.P.S. the reason this upload is already(and I've already said it on the Pat-reon-) is that it's my birthday so I have to get this up before I either forget or before I'm way too busy later tonight.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!