Lucy donned her Stardress: Taurus, planning to engage Luke in close combat. With the enhanced strength the outfit gave her, she began swinging at Luke, aiming powerful punches and kicks at any open spot she could on his body. "Come on, don't you dare hold back on me!"
Luke found himself on the defensive quickly, weaving through some of Lucy's punches, but he could feel the sheer power of each punch or kick as it whiffed him. There were some punches he had to block and he winced from each one; they hurt like hell. "Shit…" He grumbled before being forced to return fire; darkness and light wrapping around his fists and he began to fight back, his punches clashing with Lucy's. "Hold back? Please, I couldn't even imagine doing that!"
The two were now locked in fierce close combat, neither of them giving an inch and shockwaves boomed out from each collision. Each hit of Luke's that hit Lucy caused her to grunt and she nearly fell back, but she was holding her ground. Lucy then swung her leg at Lucy's face, but he blocked it with his forearm, leaving her stuck; this situation felt oddly familiar to her and because of that she began to sweat slightly. "Eh…"
"Maybe next time?" Luke quipped before slamming his white god slaying fist into Lucy's stomach, the impact sending her soaring backwards until she hit the ground roughly on her back and slid for a few seconds before coming to a halt.
"Gah…!" Lucy cried out in pain before bringing herself up on her elbows, keeping one eye shut while staring towards Luke. As she thought, this battle wasn't going to be an easy one whatsoever. Standing back up, the celestial wizard brought her whip forward and aimed it at Luke and the ground near him; impact caused the ground to split in two and a shockwave to boom out.
"Gyah!?" Luke had to dive to the side when Lucy brought the whip down, but the overall power of the whip caught him off guard and the shockwave forced him to tumble violently along the rocky terrain before coming to a stop on a knee. "This definitely would've been one sided some time ago…" The Eclipse mage spoke before standing back up, panting somewhat heavily from the overall exhaustion, he, along with a few others had been fighting all day. "But either way, I think it's time to bring this little bout to an end…I'm getting really tired…"
"I agree…" Lucy nodded, though before she could do anything else Luke snapped his fingers, creating a yellow magic seal under her feet. Brown irises widened as she immediately knew what this meant, but her exhausted body was not reacting in time and she was zapped, a strangled cry of pain escaping her. After the seal faded Lucy just hunched over sparks dancing around her body occasionally. "….." And she just collapsed, form reverting to normal as she laid on the ground with her eyes closed.
"That old trick never fails…" Luke let out heavy exhale, rolling his shoulders as the stiffness began to set in…Lucy sure did pack a punch and if he wasn't careful she would've had him there.
"And the winner is Luke Cloud!" Yet again, The Client was just waiting for Luke to lose even still, but for now he'd take what he could of Lucy's magic. A beam of magic dropped down on Lucy, and while Luke knew that it was coming, he was too slow to try and help her.
"As useless as it is, I intend to take all the magic I can." The Client said calmly. He had three stacks of Celestial Spirit Magic, but without the keys, it was literally useless in his eyes. But then... "Wait...there was a little something else in there as well. Has Lucy Heartfilia been hiding something? It feels so...strong!"
"Huh...?" Luke narrowed his eyes at Hosonaga's words. "What do you mean she's been hiding something?"
"Don't you worry about it, Mr. Cloud." Hosonaga chuckled. "Maybe you'll find out what it is if you can make it to me."
"Yeah, okay." He gave Lucy one last look. "Now where to next…" Luke turned but in that instant a bolt of lightning nearly dropped down on him from above; he rolled to the side and looked forward, shoulders slumping. "Oh hell…"
"Having fun there?" Laxus questioned with his scowl while keeping his arms crossed. "You look like you've been at it for a while. You should rest…here; let me help you with this little dirt nap." That scowl then turned into his cocky grin as he stared down the exhausted Luke, though Laxus wasn't exactly looking that fresh himself. He'd seen his share of tough fights here and there.
"This isn't gonna be fun…" Luke rotated one arm while staring down Laxus. "But I ain't going down without a fight. Bring it on, Dreyar!"
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Everyone currently at White Eclipse was silent while watching the battle between Sidney and Evanee, otherwise known as two aces that people had to respect based on the aura they gave off when casually standing around. Evanee swung her fist at Sidney's chest, but he blocked it with his forearm, sliding back along the snowy ground without making so much as a grunt. Sidney then immediately returned fire by holding his hand out, unleashing a volley of tombstones at the opposing female.
Evanee brought her arms up, defending against the tombstones while being forced to step back along the snow. Eventually she decided she had enough and uncrossed her arms while unleashing a burst of magic that shattered the incoming rock. She then inhaled before lurching forward, unleashing a stream of vicious toxins that threatened to poison Sidney if he even made so much as the smallest contact with it. "Fornax."
Sidney remained silent as the cloud of toxins steadily approached him. He was unsure of what the cloud was capable of so he slowly reached out with one hand; as soon as his hand touched the cloud he felt it burn and eat away at his skin with a violent hissing noise. "…!" And to that, he realized that he had to escape the incoming fumes before it was too late.
But by then, Evanee already enacted the next part of her plan. With her palm extended, fire magic began to spew from her open palm and set the toxins ablaze; the result of the flames and toxins meeting was a large explosion that nearly blew off the section of the mountain White Eclipse was standing on. Those watching where almost thrown off their feet and back into the guild hall…while the smoke was still around Sidney, Evanee finally fell to a knee. She and Sidney came into the battle with an equal amount of damage, and it was starting to catch up to the both of them. "Agh…" She grunted, panting heavily while staring into the smoke.
"Is he okay…!?" Anais exclaimed in worry.
"I wouldn't worry about Sidney." Zalen said with a firm nod of his head. "It'll take a lot more than a little explosion to keep him down…"
Zalen's words about his older brother held true. When the smoke cleared Sidney was also seen on a knee, presumably panting heavily underneath his scarf from the magic usage throughout the entire day. "…" Silently, the Ace of White Eclipse stood up and placed two fingers in his scarf, beginning to tug at it.
"I'm not here for your respect…" Evanee grumbled with strong irritation.
"I'm not giving it to you." Sidney said as…the scarf began to come off.
"Everyone back away." Waiston demanded, causing a few others to look at him with confusion.
"W-What's he doing…?" Aira couldn't help but stare, mesmerized by the sight of Sidney actually taking off his scarf. So far, the only people that knew what was under Sidney's scarf were Zalen, Reve, Waiston, Kuro, Mary, and the late Calium, so this was a new discovery for everyone that knew him.
Evanee narrowed her eyes before placing her arm out once again, encasing Sidney within a cube of water. With a quick clench of her hand into a fist, that cube was then set to explode…however it did not. Instead, the water began to funnel right into his mouth. "…?!" When that water faded, Sidney's mouth was finally revealed…and what an inhumane mouth it was. There were sharp, jagged teeth on the sides of his mouth, spreading to nearly the back of his cheek.
"AH WHAT IS THAT?!" Micaiah nearly shrieked while taking a step back, pointing at Sidney.
"W-WHOA…" Reiss' eyes widened at the sight of Sidney's revealed mouth.
"Yikes…" Was Sophie's response. She was perhaps the only one who wasn't taking a step back out of the initial shock until Yaya pulled her back.
"Now ain't that some nightmare fuel…" Tyson said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"This battle was over before it started." Sidney continued to inhale, drawing forth the raw magic that was scattered all over the battlefield from the fight and that was just in the air. Once doing so, he pointed his head towards Evanee before unleashing a massive beam of all the pent up magic he gathered; the beam cut through the snowy round while racing towards the former twilight Ace.
Evanee narrowed her eyes, realizing that this was Sidney's final attack. She had a trick up her sleeve as well, and she wasn't going to take this lying down. The ground began to rumble as she held a hand up above her, nypmh magic taking the shape of a swirling black orb within her palm. "B Naturae." This orb was massive, and she hurled it at Sidney. As for the beam of magic Sidney sent her way, Evanee had no defense for this and was forced to take the beam directly, a massive non-elemental explosion occurring on the spot, shaking the very foundation of the mountain. Sidney had no time to evade the B Naturae either, and the nymph magic tore into his very being. When all that smoke cleared, Evanee was on the ground, on her side. Sidney was on a knee, an eye clenched shut as he was barely conscious. He just barely edged out a victory.
"He won…!" Aira exclaimed.
"Geez…" Selene had been watching from inside, rubbing the back of her neck at the sight of Sidney's mouth. "I won't be unseeing that for a while…"
"It's disgusting…" Heather stated bluntly.
Meanwhile, Daichi's eyes lit up with a sort of excitement and determination. "I'm totally going to take him on." It was rare for the mischievous kid to be serious about something like this, however he did have his mind set to it.
"And Sidney Castle wins! I expected nothing less of the Ace of White Eclipse." The Client's voice echoed through the mountains, causing those who had lost to go on edge as the beam dropped down to take away Evanee's magic. "What a shame, Evanee! You were so close, ahahahahaha!"
"...That felt personal." Micaiah rubbed her arm.
Sidney bent down, picking up the scarf he dropped and tied it around his mouth once again, giving him the appearance most were used to and preferred. He then grunted softly while turning around and made his way back inside. He wasn't saying it, but it was a little noticeable that he was out of magic and his time for fighting was over. The truth? He was on the verge of collapse, and he didn't want anyone to see it. Evanee was his strongest opponent yet... "Get back inside." He somewhat demanded.
"Do I, uh…go to heal him…" Micaiah questioned hesitantly, holding her Mend staff in her grasp. She took a step forward but Mary shook her head.
"No, don't bother. He prefers the old fashioned way of healing; you'd only be wasting your time and get brushed off at the same time." Mary clarified.
"I-I see…" Micaiah pouted a little bit, but there was nothing that could be done. "I guess he's done fighting for now…that only leaves a few more of ours left…"
"Right…" Mary nodded before ushering the others inside, leaving Evanee face down in the snow unconscious. "I do hope she leaves after waking up, I'm not too fond of having unwanted mages at this doorstep…"
Evanee wasn't out for long. She sat up and groaned. "...That outta do it." She was annoyed that she lost, but...
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"Hyah! Yah!" Kanade swung her fists around at Jellal, who was making use of Meteor to speed around the area. It was incredibly difficult for Kanade to land a hit on such a speedy mage who managed to stay just out of arms reach; meanwhile Jellal was landing shots here at there at her, causing the eclipse mage to growl lowly in annoyance. "Damn it, hold still…!"
If he had jewel for every time he heard that in a fight…either way, Jellal was not going to do that. He could tell taking a hit from Kanada would be a heavy one. After a few seconds of flying around, Jellal came to an abrupt stop in front of the female, placing one hand around his wrist, open palm now facing the eclipse mage. "Heavenly Palm!" And from his palm, a large beam of heavenly body magic shot out to consume Kanade while all she could do was cross her arms in defense. There was a cloud of smoke where Kanade stood and Jellal planned to keep moving, however he could do no such thing as there was ice binding his ankles to the ground. "Ice…?"
In the next instant, the injured Kanade swung her fist at Jellal's ribcage. It was in this moment that Jellal was going to learn the might of Kanade's physical strength. Direct impact was made and Jellal was sent flying, sliding along the ground on his back before coming to a halt. "I finally got you." Kanade had a wide grin of self-satisfaction.
Jellal sat up, feeling pain shoot through his body. "Ngh…!?" Yup, there was no doubt about it. Two of his ribs were easily broken by Kanade's punch, and the frightening part about it was that there was no magic involved whatsoever; that woman just had a scary amount of physical strength. "She's powerful physically…I have to keep my distance."
"You'll find that long range doesn't bother me…" Kanade said while cracking her knuckles, that grin of hers widening. She then slammed her fist into the ground, not only shattering it with ease, but a blue magic seal formed directly under Jellal, shooting up to encase and damage the heavenly saint.
"…!" With Meteor quickly activating yet again, Jellal sped off, narrowly avoiding the glacier than rose and raced towards Kanade once again, flying past the female while delivering a punch to her kidney.
Kanade coughed violently, falling to her knees as blood spurted from her mouth from the blow. Her body shook but she brought herself back up quickly, giving another grin while Jellal was impressed she was still standing. "Don't look so surprised…" Kanade said while teetering back and forth before standing her ground once again. "I'm used to this pain…after all; pain is just weakness leaving the body."
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Levy was still working on tracking down the flow of magic that would hopefully lead them to The Client's whereabouts. It had been quite a bit of time so Gajeel made himself comfortable on the turning chair. "You got anything yet?" He questioned while staring up at the vacant ceiling.
"Uhm…" Levy's eyes narrowed at the lacrima screen before her. She was making some progress but the breakthrough hadn't come quite yet. "I think…just a little longer…"
"Ah…" There was an impatient sigh that passed through Gjaeel's lips.
"I don't understand…" Levy mumbled while looking through some files. "The magic should all be going to one location if that's the case…but at the same time it looks like it's going to separate locations with no distinct source…"
Meanwhile, Gajeel just had a series of question marks over his head as Levy began to mumble things that he didn't understand in the slightest. "Can you find him or not?!"
"Eh…" There was a sweat drop on the bluenette's forehead at the question presented. "No…wait…! I think I did find something…! And I think I'll be needing your help for this…wait, hold on…" And those eyes of her widened at what was on the screen. "Oh no…this…this is unbelievable! We have to hurry back and tell the others!"
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Next Time: Those Who Remain.