Fairy May Cry - Devil's Retribution

by Iron117Prime

After seven years, Dante and the rest of Fairy Tail have returned from Tenrou Island. So much has changed since their absence; a guild called Sabertooth is now at the top spot, the forces of the Underworld are starting to become more active, and what's this new religious movement called the Order of the Sword? Times might have changed, but the insanity of Fairy Tail has not.

37. Fangs Bared

Hi everyone, welcome back! I know this is one chapter that you've all been anxious to read (for a variety of reasons) and I've been waiting to write it for a while. I'm also so happy that my last chapter was so well-received, both with the reveal that Sapphire is really a member of Mermaid Heel, and Wendy won against Sherria. Things are only going to get more exciting from this point forward as we begin Day 4 of the Grand Magic Games and that's not the only takeaway from this chapter.
With that said, let's get started!

Fangs Bared

Once again, Fairy Tail was partying it up at the Bar Sun, and for good reason since they all but rocked the third day, so they really had all the reason to celebrate. And even if they didn't, they probably still would anyway.

"CHEERS!" They all shouted as many of them slammed their mugs together.

"Look out world! Fairy Tail's back in action!" Natsu stood up proudly on a table holding dual drumsticks in his hands with Jet and Droy celebrating alongside him.

"Aye!" Happy cheered as well.

"Just remember, this isn't the guildhall." Lucy reminded. "Anything we wreck, we have to pay for."

"No promises, Cous." Dante commented as he sat at a table alongside Lady, Trish, Makarov, and Bruni, guzzling down a mug in his hands.

"For once, I'd say live it up." Lady commented. "We rocked today's matches."

"Not only that, we don't have to deal with that shitty Raven Tail anymore." Trish added. "Good riddance to them."

"Kinda sucks that I never got a chance to punch their lights out though." Dante said. "Ah well, here's hoping they break out and I do get that chance."

"I hear ya, man." Bruni commented.

"Now why are you here, Bruni?" The semi-drunk Makarov asked. "Thinking about joining our guild?"

"Nah, I'm good. You guys are just totally fun to hang out with." Bruni grinned as he too drank a mug of beer.

"Safe to say I take after my old man." Cana gloated as she sat on top of a table with a barrel of booze in her arms.

"Got that right." Gildarts patted his daughter's head. "Who's Daddy's widdle girl."

"Well, I ain't so little anymore, Pop." Cana playfully pushed her dad away.

"I know you'll get your chance to totally destroy the competition, my love!" Juvia proclaimed towards Gray. "Tomorrow, you'll freeze them in their tracks!"

"Certainly hope so." Gray replied.

"You were amazing out there, Wendy!" Patty told her friend as they sat at a longer table along with Romeo, Modeus, Carla, Gajeel, Panther-Lily, and Levy.

"Totally! You rocked it!" Romeo added.

"Thanks guys." Wendy blushed. "But, I owe it all to Modeus mostly… he was the one who trained me…"

"And you more than exceeded expectations." Her teacher replied wholeheartedly. "You defeated a God Slayer in single combat."

"Yes. I've never been prouder of you, Wendy." Carla smiled.

"Not bad, kiddo." Gajeel said before he grinned with borderline sinister intent. "Now, think you can take me on?" The playfully scary look in his eyes was enough to comically frighten Wendy, Patty, and Romeo.

"Come on Gajeel, don't scare her." Levy lightly scolded.

"You never know." Panther-Lily commented. "Based on Wendy's performance, I'd say she'd actually make a fairly decent opponent for Gajeel."

"Geeze, are you made of steel or something?" Nero questioned as he, Kyrie, Mira, and Lisanna all sat around Erza, who only had a bare minimum of bandages around her. "You took on an army of monsters and you're not even the least bit exhausted?"

"I'm not surprised." Lisanna said. "Erza's always been one of the toughest in the guild."

"That fight was a bit more exhausting than I'd expected." Erza said somewhat humbly. "But truthfully, I owe my rapid recovery to Wendy, Porlyusica, and Kyrie." She looked towards the young woman. "Your Arc of Seraph is truly something incredible."

"So, everyone keeps saying." Kyrie replied. "I'm just grateful I'm able to help."

"You definitely made things better for Elfman. Look at him, he's already back on his feet." Mira gestured towards her brother, who appeared to have fully recovered and was celebrating alongside the Thunder Legion and Laxus, no doubt having a greater cause to celebrate for Laxus' victory over Raven Tail. Even Laxus himself seemed to be enjoying himself as he smiled and drank.

"Is it just me, or does Elfman seem to be hanging out with the Thunder Legion a bit more?" Lucy asked.

"I can think of one reason for that." Dante said with a knowing grin, catching the smiling face of Evergreen as she looked towards the partying Elfman.

"I'm glad to know you're all in such high spirits."

Most of the partying members of Fairy Tail looked toward the doorway to see the guildmaster of Mermaid Heel herself with a warm smile.

"Oh, Lady Kurenai." Modeus stood up. "Welcome."

"Hey, why don't you come and join us?" Bruni encouraged. "I know your guild is technically competing against this one, but hey, what's a couple of drinks between friends?"

"And given how one of your own was able to help us deal with Ivan, I wouldn't mind sharing a drink with you either, my lady." Makarov added.

"Thank you, but I have some business to attend to." Kurenai replied. "But speaking of one of my own…" She stepped aside, revealing none other than Sapphire, which got many of their attention, particularly Natsu.

"Um… hi everyone." Sapphire waved nervously.

"So, you're really a part of Mermaid Heel?" Natsu asked seriously as he stepped forward.

"Yes… I am." Sapphire confirmed. "Mama Kurenai asked me to infiltrate their ranks a while back, around the same time you and everyone else returned from your seven-year cat nap."

"During those seven years, I have been keeping a close eye on Raven Tail." Kurenai herself added. "Though it wasn't until your return that I sent in Sapphire. I had to make sure Ivan didn't try anything funny as that seemed like the ideal time to strike."

"Thanks for picking up the slack for us while we were away." Gildarts said.

"And I do apologize for the inconvenience, Lady Kurenai." Makarov bowed his head. "Ivan and his guild were my responsibility."

"Think nothing of it." Kurenai assured, politely raising her hand. "Raven Tail could have been a serious threat to everyone, and as the number one Wizard Saint, it was my job to make sure they didn't cause any trouble."

"And speaking of causing trouble…" Sapphire bowed her head. "I'm sorry… for attacking you on your first night here."

"Why'd you do that?" Natsu asked. "Ivan told you?"

"Well… not exactly." Sapphire explained. "I wanted to… sell the act, make it look like I had a reason to fight Fairy Tail in order to get him from being suspicious of me… and well… I kinda wanted to test you, Natsu."

"Test me?" Natsu questioned.

"You see… there is something very important that I want to ask you." Sapphire began, looking at Natsu with a very serious expression.

"Yeah? What is it?" His eyes narrowed, expecting some kind of fight. And he wasn't the only one. Everyone else in the bar looked toward the tense situation with their own concerning and serious expressions, with Happy, Lisanna, Lucy, and Wendy looking the most concerned. Even Kurenai had a facial expression that seemed both serious and partially worried.

Sapphire then produced a piece of paper and a pen as she gave a cheeky and excited smile. "Can I have your autograph?!"

That caused pretty much everyone in the bar to fall flat on their backs in disbelief while Natsu just had a perplexed look on his face.

"Wha…?"

"Sorry-Sorry!" Sapphire waved as she looked away with an embarrassed expression. "It's just… I'm your biggest fan! Like seriously! I've waited my whole life to meet you! The first time I saw you was at Port Hargeon!"

That got Lucy's attention was that was the first time she had met Natsu, and that's where she followed him to join Fairy Tail. That was the best decision she had ever made.

Sapphire herself flashed back to that one moment, where she was much younger. She saw a streak of fire and destruction through the port town in the distance as most people around her ran for their lives. But as she looked closer, she saw Natsu pounding in the face of someone she didn't know, but he did it with a smile. The second she saw that smile, her eyes sparkled as a wide smile formed on her face as well.

"Ever since then, I followed on all your adventures that I've heard about!" Sapphire went on. "How you would beat up so many bad guys and save the world…! I don't care what the Magic Council says about you and Fairy Tail being trouble makers! As far as I can tell, you're a hero! And, you inspired me to be one too! So I joined Mermaid Heel and Mama Kurenai helped me to grow and become the kind of hero you are!" She clasped both of Natsu's hands and shook them with excitement. "I am so honored to finally meet you, Natsu Dragneel the Salamander!"

"Oh… yeah! Nice to meet you too!" Natsu was honestly loss for words. He had never had a fan like this before. Pretty much any praise he got was mostly from those within his own guild and the occasional thanks from a client, but that was just business. Now he had a real fan outside of Fairy Tail that appeared to absolutely idolize him.

"Aww, I think that's cute." Lisanna smiled alongside Lucy and Happy. "Natsu's got a fan."

"That is kinda nice." Happy said. "Mostly of the time Natsu just gets called out for wrecking stuff."

"Now that I got a good look at her, she kinda dresses up like Natsu too." Lucy pointed out. "And her element is like his."

"Oh, I also want you to meet my best friend from Mermaid Heel!" Sapphire said as she looked out the doorway. "Hey! Amarilla come on in!"

"Coming, Sapphy!" Someone else entered the bar, or rather, flew in. And this was someone that really caught the attention of Happy, Carla, and Lily.

It was a yellow-furred cat with a red dress and a red bowtie in-between her ears.

"Everyone, meet my best friend, Amarilla!" Sapphire introduced while Kurenai smiled as she stood alongside them.

"Hi everyone!" Amarilla waved in a friendly fashion.

"An Exceed!" Carla looked rather stunned.

"And this one appears to be a part of Mermaid Heel." Lily observed.

"It's true." Kurenai confirmed. "Little Amarilla is just as much a part of Mermaid Heel as Sapphire and everyone else."

"I even got the guild mark to prove it." The yellow Exceed showed off the emblem of her guild on her back. "I'm Sapphire's partner. Whenever she goes, I go."

"Just have to keep reminding Milliana that." Sapphire said with a wincing smile, which caused Erza to chuckle slightly.

"So, she's a Dragon Slayer and she also has her own flying cat?" Lady questioned. "Is there like a rule or something that all Dragon Slayers have to have their own Exceed partners or something?"

"Laxus is a Dragon Slayer, and I don't see him with his own cat." Trish replied.

"Well, he's got the three Thunder Stooges always on his coattails." Dante joked.

"Well nice to meet ya." Natsu smiled. "Say, you guys wanna come join us?"

"Really?" Sapphire asked excitedly with stars in her eyes. "Even though we're not a part of your guild!"

"Yeah! I mean, you helped Laxus take down Raven Tail…" Natsu replied.

"Thanks again for that." Laxus himself raised his mug in her direction in acknowledgment.

"So yeah, come and party with us!" Natsu encouraged.

"Can we Mama Kurenai?" Sapphire turned to her guildmaster with clasped hands and sparkling eyes in a comically and cute begging expression with Amarilla mimicking her actions.

"Please, please, please, please!" The yellow Exceed begged.

Kurenai laughed. "How can I say 'no' to those faces. Go ahead and enjoy yourselves." She said, causing them both to cheer. "But, just remember that we have something important to talk about before the Games tomorrow. I don't want you two getting too exhausted before that."

"We'll be nice, I promise." Sapphire replied.

"I'll make sure she doesn't get into any trouble." Amarilla added.

"Then enjoy yourselves." Kurenai smiled as she walked away, allowing Sapphire and Amarilla to join in and mingle with Fairy Tail, and they accepted them with little issue at all.

"So you're not holding any grudges for me attacking you before?" Sapphire asked Natsu.

"Nah, water under the bridge." Natsu brushed off. "In fact, it makes me wanna fight ya even more!"

"Well then, here's hoping we clash in the Games." Sapphire gave him a daring and ambitious grin. "But just because I'm your fan, don't expect me to go easy on you."

Natsu mirrored her expression with one of his own. "I won't either."

"So, am I correct to assume you were sent to Earthland as an egg as well?" Lily asked as Amarilla introduced herself to those in Fairy Tail.

"Yep, but I did meet Queen Shagotte, so I know all about Edolas and how all of you helped to save it." Amarilla replied.

"Did she tell you that I single-handedly took down Nelo Angelo?" Happy boasted.

"That's not even close to how it happened, and you know it." Carla reprimanded.

As everyone continued to celebrate, Wendy found herself deep in thought, something Modeus noticed. "What's on your mind, Wendy?" Her teacher asked, which also drew the attention of Patty, Romeo, as well as Lisanna.

"It's Sherria… I still can't quite get over the fact that she's a God Slayer." Wendy still couldn't help but draw comparisons to Sherria and Zancrow. She knew for a fact that Sherria is a completely different person and someone that she can safely say is a friend, but she still couldn't get her mind off him either, something Lisanna knew as she sat down next to Wendy and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You're still thinking about that man from Grimoire Heart." Modeus assumed.

"I know they're different people and she's not like him but…" Wendy couldn't quite finished and honestly felt ashamed to compare such a sweet girl to a dangerous lunatic.

"It's okay. You don't have to say it. We know." Lisanna assured. The Sky Dragon Slayer found herself leaning in close to Lisanna as those memories were brought back to the surface, with the older girl comforting her by wrapping her arms around her.

Romeo felt he had to say something too. "Well… the guy's gone now. Plus, you won! You've gotten so much stronger now, Wendy! You don't have to worry about that anymore!"

"What Romeo means to say is, what happened in the past is in the past." Modeus said. "We can't change it, no matter how much we want, but we can learn from it and use it to become stronger and that's exactly what you've done, Wendy. You should be proud of yourself."

"Totally! You might actually get stronger than that meathead Natsu! You could become the strongest in this whole guild! So, get your head out of the dumps and hang it high!" Patty encouraged.

Wendy smiled at all their praise. "Thank you… that all means a lot. But… I honestly no idea there were other God Slayers out there. I thought that guy from Grimoire Heart was the only one."

"Same here." Lisanna added. "Do you know anything about this, Modeus?"

"I'm afraid not." He shook his head. "I've heard rumors of God Slayer Magic, but up till the events of Tenrou Island, I had thought it was only a myth and nothing more. And much like yourself, I felt that Zancrow-individual was the only one."

"There's a reason why none of you have ever heard of God Slayer Magic till then… because I saw to it myself."

Their attention was drawn by the sudden appearance of Sparda's spirit who had a serious look on his face.

"Master." Modeus immediately stood at attention.

"First off, congratulations on a hard-fought victory, Wendy. You've taken from your teacher quite well." Sparda congratulated with a smile. "Grandeeney would be very proud of you."

Wendy smiled emotionally at the mention of her adoptive mother. "Thank you… I'd like to think so, too."

"You just said that you're the reason nobody's ever heard of God Slayer Magic before." Romeo got back to the point. "What do you mean by that?"

Sparda's smile faded before he spoke again. "I'm assuming your friends all told you about the story surrounding the origins of Zeref and Mundus?"

"Yeah, we told them after they got better last night." Lisanna answered. "We wanted to keep them in the loop."

"It's… quite a lot to think about." Patty confessed, clearly still trying to process everything.

"It's also so very sad… Zeref seemed like such a good person… but to go through all that… it's horrible…" Wendy honestly felt a great deal of pity for the cursed Black Wizard.

"Does Zeref have something to do with God Slayer Magic as well?" Modeus asked.

"Believe it or not, Zeref doesn't have any sort of connection with the origins of God Slayer Magic." Sparda revealed, getting all their attention. "The one responsible for that, is Mundus." Now he had their undivided attention. "Mundus was a god named Pluto as you already know. And just as dragons were the ones to invent Dragon Slayer Magic by passing on their abilities to others, Mundus took a similar method by passing on elemental magic infused with the divine power of the gods to create God Slayer Magic."

"So, Mundus did the same thing the dragons did?" Wendy asked.

"One could say he was 'inspired' by them, or he tried to twist the concept and make it his own, which seems more like something he'd do." Sparda looked away with disdain before continuing. "This happened less than four hundred years ago, where Mundus would pass on this form of magic to humans who initially worshiped him. I can't say for certain whether he was trying to build an army to take revenge upon the gods who banished him, or that he was just doing it out of some form of spite, but with the introduction of this magic came chaos. Gods are clearly more powerful than dragons, so naturally God Slayer Magic at that time was considered the most powerful form of magic. And because of that, many who wielded this power became arrogant, some even believed they had become gods themselves through it. This led to many conflicts where God Slayers tried to take over and conquer what they could but… that's not even the worst of it."

"What are you talking about?" Romeo wondered.

"To wield God Slayer Magic is to wield the power of an actual god." Sparda continued. "That is not an exaggeration or a metaphor, but true divine power. However, the bodies of the God Slayers were still mortal flesh and blood."

"I understand." Modeus figured it out as a grave expression formed on his face. "Their bodies couldn't handle the power."

"Their mortal forms would deteriorate… become consumed by element of their very magic and leave nothing left." Sparda confirmed.

Wendy, Lisanna, Patty, and Romeo all gasped in horror.

"They… died….?!" Lisanna exclaimed as Patty covered her mouth in genuine shock. "Because of their magic…?!"

"Yes." Sparda confirmed with a sad expression. "Mortal bodies can't handle divine power. I had seen it… where they were consumed by their own fire… their bodies turned to solid stone… or melt away in water… turn into the wind itself…"

Modeus looked down with a similar face to his mentor while Lisanna and the kids were still reeling from it all.

"That's horrible…!" Romeo muttered.

Wendy thought of something like that happening to Sherria and that thought terrified her. "D-did… did you do something? How'd you stop it?"

"I saw an audience with the gods." Sparda revealed. "As you know, I'm very acquainted with many Celestial Wizards, such as Lucy's ancestors. Because of that, I had befriended the Celestial Spirit King and it was through him that I was able to make contact with the higher-ranked gods, including Anu himself. I had told them of the existence of God Slayer Magic and they agreed that something had to be done, the balance had been upset. Unfortunately, they couldn't just make the magic itself vanish. Once a type of magic has been created it is forever woven into the nature of the world and can't just disappear or be erased… but it can be modified."

"What do you mean, 'modified'?" Lisanna asked.

"This is something really only the gods can do." Sparda explained. "Where they can change the very nature of a form of magic, which was what they had to do with God Slayer Magic. They had also granted me the ability to remove that form of magic from a mortal if they desired and had tasked me with it. I scoured Earthland for all the God Slayers and tried to help however I could. When I told them about what would happen to them, how their mortal bodies would be consumed, some willingly gave up their power out of fear for their own lives. Others were too stubborn or driven mad by their magic so… I had to put them down."

"…You killed them…!" Patty was especially shocked, as was everyone else, save for Modeus who already had an idea that would happen.

"Yes… but those I struck down were among the worst that humanity had to offer." Sparda went on. "Killers and maniacs, driven mad by their newfound power, many of them killed innocent people because they felt they had the 'divine right' as so-called gods themselves. That didn't mean that I liked it. Many of those instances, it felt like I could hear Mundus laughing over my shoulder, mocking me for letting this happen." He clenched his fists. "But it had to be done."

"So… what exactly did the gods do? How did they 'modify' God Slayer Magic?" Modeus got back to the main point for the children's sake.

"Despite my intent to remove any knowledge of God Slayer Magic from the world, there could still be a possibility that someone can learn it." Sparda went on. "But the gods have saw to it that now if someone were to wield that power, it would reach a certain point and stop growing."

"What does that mean?" Wendy asked.

"Magic changes and grows stronger with the person who wields it, as many of you already know." Sparda explained. "But with God Slayer Magic, once it reaches a certain point, it won't get any stronger no matter how much stronger the person in question does. Their physical bodies may get stronger, but their magic won't. It'll reach a point where it remains at a specific level and can't grow any further. It is the only way the God Slayer who wields it can live."

It took a moment for the kids to process all this, especially Patty, but they seemed to understand. Having Modeus and Lisanna with them somehow seemed to make it easier to deal with, but even they had to think about this.

"I know it's a lot… and I regret having to tell you kids about it, but I felt I had to given that some of you have a personal history now with God Slayer Magic." Sparda said.

"So, Sherria isn't in any danger?" Wendy asked hopefully.

Sparda smiled. "Rest assured, she's fine. The only way a God Slayer would be in danger of their bodies wearing out would be if a god were to directly intervene and remove the limitation, but the odds of that happening are very low. Though I will admit, she is among the strongest God Slayers I've seen and I'm still curious as to how she learned it. I only assumed that Zancrow learned his power because his guild was directly connected to Mundus."

"I'm sure if we ask her, she'll tell us." Romeo said. "She and Wendy are apparently friends now."

"That sounds like a good idea." Lisanna agreed.

"But… what about that guy from Sabertooth?" Wendy asked. "The one with the black lightning? His magic felt very similar, so…"

"Yes, that man is indeed a God Slayer." Sparda confirmed. "But I do not believe his life is in danger either."

"I'm a little bit more worried about having to face him in the Games." Wendy replied. "He doesn't seem all that nice like Sherria."

"Let's not worry about that right now." Modeus said, putting his hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Now is the time to celebrate, it seems like everyone else is doing it."

"Yeah, Natsu's having a great time! Look!" Romeo pointed forward, revealing Natsu on his belly, and Happy right next to him, both riding a wooden sign on a series of barrels that rolled across the floor.

"We're booze-barrel surfing champions!" Natsu hollered.

"Aye Sir!" Happy cheered.

"Hey! That's dangerous!" Jet exclaimed.

"Hit the deck!" Droy shouted.

Natsu and Happy happened to crash into the table that Dante, Lady, and Trish were all at, knocking all three of them down.

"You looking for an ass-kicking you moron?!" Lady exclaimed angrily as she pulled Natsu in by his collar.

Natsu's cheeks bulged from the motion sickness. "Fine, you can ride it…."

"You're missing the point!" Lady growled.

"In that case, I'll have a go at it!" Now it was Gray's turn to barrel surf, standing on the board with a grin.

"Looking cool, honey-sickle! Kisses!" Juvia cheered, even as Gray slammed into the wall and somehow lost all his clothes on impact.

"How do you lose your clothes from that?!" Trish questioned.

"My turn!" Dante barrel surfed, standing on his hands. "Try and top this, you chumps!" Even as the barrels crashed into the wall, he flipped up and landed on his feet without a scratch. "Reflexes like a cat."

"Oh, somebody wants to show off, huh?" Bruni questioned as he not only took his turn to barrel-surf, he used Prometheus to blast a stream of fire behind him to give himself an extra boost in speed. "Barrel-surfing double speed!" He slammed into the wall face-first.

"Oooh, instant wipe out." Wakaba winced.

"Isn't this guy supposed to be a Wizard Saint or something? He acts more like a kid." Macao commented.

"Bruni's always been something of a man-child, but he knows how to have a good time." Makarov said as he was now more than a little drunk.

"Let me try!" Sapphire rode on her back, barrel-surfing across the bar. "Ha-ha! This is fun!"

"Sapphy, be careful!" Amarilla warned even as she crashed into the wall just like everyone else. "You won't just crash you'll get…" The yellow Exceed winced as she saw Sapphire's cheeks bulged. "Motion sickness…"

"Enough!" Erza stated seriously, right before she took her turn to ride the barrels. "Watch! This is how you barrel-surf!"

"This guild is crazy!" Patty exclaimed.

"You know it, kiddo." Gildarts waved his mug with a toothy grin.

"Aww calm down. Erza's got this." Lucy smiled unsurprisingly.

"You wanna take a shot at it, Lu?" Levy asked.

"I would but I'm wearing a skirt." Lucy winced as Erza, like everyone else, crashed into the wall… in a rather revealing fashion.

"Oh yeah? Well, it looks like someone doesn't mind baring it for all the world to see." Levy pointed out.

This continued all throughout the night with everyone in Fairy Tail, including Sapphire, Amarilla, and Bruni, all laughing and having a great time. At one point, Natsu had picked up Wendy and Lisanna, carrying both of them over his shoulders, and barrel surfed with them, much to the comic dismay of Carla, Mira, and Elfman. Dante tried the same thing with Lady bridal style, only to get slugged in the face, right before they both crashed too. Despite all the possible injuries and damage to the bar, the laughing never stopped.

---

"Even now, I remember it all so clearly. Lucy… all of the eating and drinking… the singing and dancing… we ended Day Three in pure joy."

---

Meanwhile, aside from Sapphire, Team Mermaid Heel had met in the living room area of the suite that they had rented for the Games, Sho and Wally had also joined in as per Kurenai's request. The guildmaster of Mermaid Heel just walked in the door to see everyone had gathered together.

"Thank you for coming, everyone. Sho, Wally, you too." Kurenai greeted.

"No problemo." Wally nodded.

"The hag wants me back to get a full night's sleep soon or, she'll spin me, so hopefully this won't take long." Sho meant as a partial joke, but the expression on Kurenai's face was far from humorous.

"Where are Sapphire and Amarilla?" Lucia asked.

"Sapphire went to apologize to Fairy Tail for her initial trouble with them and they invited her to join in the celebration, and Amarilla went with her." Kurenai revealed. "But I plan to tell them all first thing tomorrow morning."

"What's going on, Mama Kurenai?" Beth asked, though Milliana and Kagura had hardened expressions as they had a good idea what she was about to say next.

"Listen very carefully, all of you." Kurenai took a deep breath before speaking. "Crime Sorciere is in Crocus."

That got all their attention, many of them gasped in shock, with the exception of Kagura and Milliana as they already knew.

"The independent guild that has been wiping out various dark guilds and demons these past seven years?" Lucia asked for confirmation.

"That is correct." Kurenai nodded.

"But that means…" Wally was able to figure it out too.

"Jellal…!" Sho's fists clenched with anger, instantly remembering the one who lied and manipulated him and all his friends, as well as killing Simon.

"And they've made an alliance with Fairy Tail." Kurenai revealed, causing everyone to look in even further surprise.

"So it is true…" Kagura's eyes narrowed.

Milliana didn't bother to hide her look of betrayal. "Erzy… how could you…?"

"Before any of you jump to conclusions, you must listen to me very carefully as there is a reason for this arrangement between them." Kurenai explained. "These past seven years, Crime Sorciere has detected a magical energy that is reminiscent of Zeref."

"Zeref? As in the Black Wizard?" Beth asked.

"He was on Tenrou Island, wasn't he?" Risley also asked.

"Mama Kurenai, are you saying the Black Wizard himself could be in Crocus?" Arana questioned.

"I don't know for certain." Kurenai replied. "It could be Zeref himself, or it could be another individual who wields magic similar to his, or might be a weapon or invention that he had in his possession at one time, I can't say for sure. But given Crime Sorciere's status, they're unable to get any closer to the capital without drawing unwanted attention."

"So, they made an agreement with a legitimate guild participating in the Games as they can get closer and possibly identify the source of this mysterious power." Lucia figured out.

"Exactly." Kurenai confirmed.

"But if this deal's between Fairy Tail and Crime Sorciere, how do you know about this?" Wally asked.

"I was only informed recently by a… close contact within Fairy Tail." Kurenai didn't reveal the specifics as to not divulge into any complicated information. "I'm sorry I never told any of you this until now, it was not my intent to deceive you. But if Zeref himself is here, or there is a person who is utilizing his power or a device of his creation, the less people who know, the less likely it is for the culprit to realize that someone is on to him, and it presents a greater chance to catch them. I'm only informing you of this because…a few of you, happened to spot Jellal himself." Kurenai gazed at Kagura and Milliana, both having dark looks in their eyes. "This is a very delicate situation, if something goes wrong, it could lead to a disaster! Over these past few years, anything that has ever been remotely related to Zeref has led to potential catastrophes and whole apocalypses! First there was the Lullaby flute, then Deliora, the Tower of Heaven…" That caused Wally, Sho, and Milliana to wince as Kurenai went on. "And more recently the Infinity Clock which almost destroyed the entire world! And seven years ago, when Zeref himself was present, that drew in Acnologia! Crocus currently has thousands of people within its borders, and if anything like that were to happen right now, it would be a bloodbath! That's why I am begging all of you, right here and now, to keep this quiet. Do not tell anyone what you've been told now. Sho, Wally, don't even tell your guildmates."

"What?!" Sho questioned. "But they can help!"

"I'm certain they can, but we can't afford this information leaking!" Kurenai urged. "Trust me, if we're to have any hope of catching the culprit and adverting a catastrophe, this is the best way to go about it."

"She's right." Lucia agreed. "The less who know about this, the better. Whether be it Zeref himself or something connected to him, we can't afford to put innocent people in danger, which is what will happen in the worst case scenario."

"Yeah… that makes sense." Risley admitted.

"So, what do we do…?" Beth asked her guildmaster. "How can we help?"

"For now, let us continue with the Games as if nothing else is happening." Kurenai answered. "Trust Fairy Tail to handle this, they have the most experience dealing with anything related to Zeref."

"Which is probably why Crime Sorciere reached out to them in the first place." Kagura understood that much, but the dark look in her eyes didn't fade, something her adoptive mother noticed. "Fine. We won't interfere."

"But Kagura…!" Milliana looked like she was about to protest.

"I trust Mother!" Kagura stated rather loudly, silencing her guildmate. "If what she said is true… that thousands of innocent people, children included, could be at risk. I'm not about to put their lives in jeopardy to satisfy my own vendetta."

"You guys know she's right." Wally said, specifically to Milliana and Sho. "I want payback on Jellal too, but not if that means putting a bunch of innocent bystanders in the ground with him!"

Sho and Milliana seemed to understand that much at least, even though they didn't like it. They would never put innocent families in harm's way. But that almost felt like Jellal was hiding behind a bunch of human shields. And even more outrageous, was that Erza kept this form all of them!

'Sis… how could you…?' Sho thought with a conflicted expression.

Milliana clenched her fists in her lap. 'Erza should have run her sword through his heart when she saw him! I don't care if Zeref's here, they don't need Jellal's help for this!'

Kurenai picked up on the hostility being exhibited by Sho and Milliana, she also saw the dark look in Kagura's eyes too. While Kurenai knew her daughter wouldn't harm innocent people and was serious about letting Fairy Tail and Crime Sorciere continue with their alliance, she could also tell that if given the chance, Kagura would still cut Jellal down without hesitation. Kurenai had a feeling this would happen, and she knew she had to address this now while they were all here together.

"Lucia, Risley, Arana, Beth… would you please step out for a moment?" Kurenai requested. "I need to speak with Kagura, Milliana, and her friends for a little bit."

"Of course." Lucia nodded as they stood up.

"Whatever you say, Mama." Beth said as well as the four of them walked out of the living room, leaving Kurenai with her adoptive daughter and her friends.

Once they were certain they were alone, Kurenai spoke with a serious tone of her voice. "Listen to me, all of you, right now… You all have every reason to hate Jellal and I can't fault you for it. But you have to let it go. You need to abandon this quest for revenge."

"…what…?!" Sho practically growled.

"Believe me, I've seen this more times than I can count, including with myself." Kurenai began. "I lost my brother, as well as someone else who was truly special to me… and I've wanted nothing more than to put the monsters responsible for their deaths into the ground myself. And a part of me still hopes to do so even now. But… I won't let those monsters consume me either. I won't let revenge drive me."

"You can't be serious!" Milliana exclaimed, standing up from her seat. "After everything Jellal did to us…! He lied to us! For years! He killed Simon, Kagura's brother!" She gestured to Kagura herself, who's expression remained dark and hidden beneath her hair. "Are you saying we should just forget about that?!"

"Jellal himself is also victim." Kurenai stated firmly. "Grimoire Heart manipulated him, orchestrated the events of the Tower of Heaven to distract the Magic Council while they looked for Zeref. You all know this. I got the intel directly from the Council and shared it with all of you."

"It still doesn't change what he did, even if he was manipulated!" Sho argued. "It won't bring Simon back!"

"Neither will revenge." Kurenai countered. "And you people aren't the only ones who have been hurt by Jellal. Don't forget, there was one other who was close to Simon."

"Erza…" Wally muttered.

"Yes. She is even more of a victim of that than any of you." Kurenai said. "And despite all that, despite having every reason to hate Jellal… she is willing to work with him and even give him a chance at redemption."

"But why…? After all that…? How can she even possibly think of forgiving him?!" Milliana looked more than a little enraged.

"That is something you'll have to ask her yourself and I'm sure she'd be willing to give an honest answer." Kurenai continued. "I'm even certain that Jellal himself is willing to bare whatever punishment you think is necessary."

"But you just said…" Sho began, but Kurenai raised her hand to silence him as she went on.

"I'm not asking any of you to forgive Jellal. Whether you chose to forgive him or not is up to you, but you must let this grudge of yours go. Forgiveness and letting go don't always coincide with one another. But if you let this hatred continue to fester inside you, all of you… you will be consumed by it. Is that what Erza would want from you? Do you really think Simon would want that from you?"

"…You may be my mother, but you don't know my brother…" Kagura said darkly.

"You're right, I don't. I never knew Simon." Kurenai said sadly. "All I have is the word of you four to go on, and that's been enough to give me a pretty clear picture. Simon was a good man, an honest and righteous soul, correct?" Milliana, Wally, and Sho each looked down with saddened expressions as they remembered Simon's smiling face, both as a child and a young adult. "I know he meant the world to all of you, but I also know that a righteous soul like him wouldn't want any of you, the people that he loved more than anything, living one second with revenge in your hearts." She looked down in remembrance mixed with sadness. "It's like a poison… it can… take us over… And before we know it… turn us into something ugly." She got one good look at all of them and could tell that her words were having some kind of effect on them. She had to make sure this stuck and decided to focus her words on one of her own. "Milliana… I know the primary reason you joined Mermaid Heel was to get strong enough to get revenge. I accepted you because I was hoping to divert you away from that path. But… if that's how you feel and revenge is all you thought about when you joined us… do Lucia, and the others, the friends you all made… do they mean nothing to you…?"

Milliana gasped when she was asked that. "What…? No, that's not…?"

"If it's true… do.… do I mean nothing to you…?" Kurenai asked sincerely.

Milliana could see there was true hurt and worry in her guildmaster's eyes and that caused her to become more than a little emotional. "M-Mama… Mama Kurenai… N-No… No! That's not what I…" She took a deep breath to collect herself before speaking. "I love Mermaid Heel. I love everyone in it! This place is my home, the guild is my family… Y-you're… you're like a second mother to me, Mama Kurenai! I love you!"

"I know…" Kurenai sighed happily. "And I love you too, Milliana. And that's why I don't want you going down that path of revenge. Talk with Erza, confront Jellal if you have to, but don't seek vengeance. Use that to find a way to put the demons behind you. Sho, Wally, same to you. You have to face Jellal and I'm sure Erza can arrange that… but you must let these demons go. Or they will consume you and leave nothing left. How do you think Erza would feel if that were to happen to any of you?"

That really seemed to do it. Wally, Sho, and Milliana, they all exchanged saddened expressions with one another, any anger in them seemed to vanish, or was at least put away. No. They wouldn't do that to Erza. They may not forgive Jellal, but they won't hurt Erza any more than how they did in the past.

Kurenai knew she had accomplished her goal with those three, but as for her adoptive daughter… She only glanced when she saw that Kagura had stood up, her eyes still hiding behind the shadow of her hair.

"Kagura…"

"As I said, I won't interfere with Fairy Tail's mission." Kagura repeated.

However, before she walked away, Kurenai was quick to reach out and grab Kagura by her wrist with a firm, yet gentle, grip. That's when Kagura made eye-contact with her adoptive mother. One look in Kagura's eyes and Kurenai could still tell there was revenge deep inside her heart. It was to be expected. Kagura doesn't have the same kind of history with Erza that Milliana and the others do, and Simon was her brother. Kurenai understood that pain all too well.

"I lost a brother too, Kagura." Kurenai told her. "Just as I've said with your friends, you don't have to forgive Jellal, but you do have to let your grudge go. It won't bring your brother back."

Kagura looked away as she pulled her hand free. "Your advice is noted, Mother. I'm going to get some sleep for the night. If anything happens and I'm called upon to do battle, I will. Just keep me informed from now on."

"I will. Get some rest." Kurenai said with a sad expression as she watched her daughter retreat to her room. She had a feeling this would happen, but that didn't make it any less painful.

"I should get back to the others, too." Sho said as he and Wally also stood up. "Thanks for the talk, Lady Kurenai."

"Yeah, thanks for keeping us in the loop." Wally added as he tipped his hat in recognition.

"Of course." Kurenai nodded as she watched them leave, which left her and Milliana alone together. Kurenai was about to go to her room for the night as well when Milliana called to her.

"Mama Kurenai… maybe it was about getting revenge at first but…" The cat-girl began, her emotions still at the surface. "You've done so much for me… I meant what I said about Mermaid Heel being like family to me… thank you for everything! I love you!"

The guildmaster of Mermaid Heel turned around, revealing a teary smile as she embraced Milliana, who didn't hesitate for one second to return it as she too cried with a smile.

"I love you, too… my little cat girl….!"

---

Crocus Gardens

Sting stood on the balcony just outside of the room that he shared with Rogue, staring up at the moon in the sky. He stood alone in the quiet night until the sleepy Lector walked out.

"Hey Sting…" The red-furred Exceed broke the White Dragon Slayer out of his trance. "What's up…? Aren't you tired…?" He asked as he rubbed his eye.

"No, not really." Sting said as he resumed his staring up at the moon. "I get the feeling I'll get to fight Natsu tomorrow." He said with a grin. "I've been waiting for this chance for seven years. I'm too excited to sleep."

Lector gave an encouraging smile as he pumped both his fists. "You got this thing. No doubt about it."

Of course, it wasn't just Sting who couldn't sleep.

At the same time, standing at the very roof of Crocus Gardens, Vergil gazed toward the city below. A light breeze blew his long coat slightly, almost like a cape. He felt himself grip the Yamato as he gazed in the direction of the colosseum.

Tomorrow, at that location. That will be where he crosses swords with Dante once again. He honestly had no idea what to expect from his brother. Even if Dante hadn't aged in the past seven years, the eldest of the Sparda Sons knew better than to underestimate his younger sibling. One thing was certain, tomorrow will probably be the most interesting day in the Grand Magic Games.

Another who was unable to sleep, even as he laid in bed with a sleeping Frosch by his side, Rouge also suspected that he may come to battle with Gajeel tomorrow as well. But that wasn't the only thing on his mind. He thought back to Dante and his assault on their guild the previous night, the words he said were still fresh in the Shadow Dragon Slayer's mind.

'Come at us with everything you got, it'll make it all the sweeter when we kick all your asses. Fairy Tail's gone up against worse odds, we can handle some wannabe dark guild like you chumps.'

While he would still fight with everything he had in the tournament tomorrow, he couldn't help but think that maybe Sabertooth was indeed no different from a dark guild. Yukino's expulsion seemed to validate that too. The second he thought about her, he couldn't help but wonder what she was up to now. She was someone that he truly respected and he had hoped she had found a place that made her feel safe, a place where she felt she belonged.

---

Arcadios gazed up at the project that he had worked tirelessly on for the past seven years, the Eclipse. A massive gate-like structure that had remained hidden beneath the royal palace of Mercurius. There were many who disagreed with his actions, and he didn't fault them for it, this was a risky endeavor. But with the potential crisis they faced, desperate times called for desperate measures. At the very least, he could take solace in the fact that the project would be complete without taking any lives unnecessarily.

He heard footsteps approaching from behind and turned around to address the young woman, dressed in attire appropriate for the royal military, who stood at attention as she saluted to him.

"Sergeant Yukino Agira, reporting for duty, sir."

---

"As the night of Day Three came to an end, all of our feelings and ambitions became intertwined. With each passing moment… we drew closer to it. Only four days remained… until… calamity."

---

The Next Day

Just like the previous three days, the colosseum was brimming with excitement as the competing guilds and observing citizens all came together for another day of magic and competition.

"I wonder what kind of event we'll be doing this time around." Wendy said as she and the rest of Team Fairy Tail A walked through the hallways and toward their box in the stadium.

"Well based on the stuff they had us do the last three days, it's definitely gonna be something crazy and overly complicated." Gray assumed.

"You gotta give em points for creativity." Dante pointed said.

"Hey, since most of you guys did the last three events, maybe I can go this round." Lucy suggested.

"That's fine with me." Erza accepted.

"Yeah, go kick some ass, Lucy." Natsu encouraged with a grin.

"Hey, Erza…" The group stopped for a moment as they came toward an intersection in the hallway where she spotted her old friends. "Can we talk for a second?" Sho requested. "It shouldn't take long."

"Of course." Erza nodded before turning to her teammates. "You all go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"Kay, see ya." Dante gave a finger-salute as the rest of Team A walked on ahead, leaving Erza to talk with her friends alone.

"Is something the matter?" She asked.

"Erza, we know about Jellal." Milliana got to the point with a serious expression.

Titania's eyes widened for a moment. She remembered right after Day Three how Lisanna, Lady, and Trish told her about how they almost encountered the culprit behind this mysterious power, but were intercepted by the Magic Council with Jellal being unmasked. Thankfully, Kurenai had been able to diffuse the situation, at least that's what she heard, but it seems like Erza's friends had managed to figure it out.

"We also know that your guild and Crime Sorciere got a little team up going on." Wally added. "Something connected to Zeref's here."

"I'm sorry." Erza apologized. "It was not my intent to deceive any of you…"

"You wanted to keep this thing tight nit so you had a better chance of catching who was responsible without putting innocent people in danger, we know." Sho summed up. "Lady Kurenai already told us. We won't get in your way, and if something big happens, we're still willing to help. I haven't told anyone in Lamia Scale, and Wally hasn't told anyone in his guild either."

"Everyone here in Mermaid Heel knows though." Milliana added. "And we'll keep quiet about this too, and we're also willing to help."

"And Kagura?" Erza asked.

"Same… but she really doesn't like it." Milliana answered. "And neither do we."

"Thank you…" Erza nodded sincerely.

"Erza… why are you even giving him a chance, after what he did to us? To you especially?" Sho questioned. He noticed the expression on her face. "Don't tell me… is this because you had a crush on him…?!"

"That has nothing to do with it!" She exclaimed.

Wally noticed the way she said it. "So… you do got feelings for him."

Erza sighed before speaking seriously. "I won't deny it. You can't help the things your heart longs for… but that's not the reason I'm giving him a second chance. It's because I believe in redemption and atonement. Over the years, I've met many people who have done terrible things, and many of those people were rotten to the core and showed no remorse for their actions, but not all of them. There were many that had come to regret their actions, even if it was outside their control, and Jellal is one of them. I had learned to give second chances to many of those people, and were able to change their lives for the better, some of which are even now a part of Fairy Tail. Yes, Jellal has caused us and many others a great deal of pain, even if it wasn't of his own volition. But I can see that he wants to atone and set things right, just like all those other people I have met. It wouldn't be fair of me if I didn't give him that same chance."

"But what if it doesn't work out?" Milliana asked.

"Then it won't, but I'm not going to betray my principles just because I'm afraid it won't turn out well." Erza stated firmly. "After all…" She smiled toward them. "You were able to give me a second chance after I abandoned all of you."

That caused all three of them to share expressions that had several mixed emotions to them, but up at the forefront was a sense of understanding.

"Alright." Sho seemed to accept. "I don't exactly like it… but I get it. If that's how you feel…"

"Like we said, we won't get in yours or Jellal's way, and we'll even help if you need it." Wally added.

"Thank you." Erza smiled with a nod.

"But Erza…" Milliana got her attention. "When this whole thing is blown over… tell Jellal we want to talk to him. If you're right and he's serious about atoning, then he has to face us. He can't run away from what he did to all of us."

"I understand." Erza accepted. "I'll arrange it with him."

"Thank you." Milliana nodded. With that, she and her friends went in separate directions to try and catch up with their respective teammates just before the Games could begin.

---

The cheers were loudest as the special event of Day Three was about to begin. A giant sphere of water was formed mid-air above the ground, which would serve as the ring for this particular event.

"It's a sunny day for magic and mayhem!" Chapati announced. "We're ready to kick off Day Four's contest with a bang! Today's game is called Naval Battle! That's right folks, strap yourselves in for an exciting skirmish in the sea! The battlefield is a large ball of water. If you get pushed out, you lose the match. The last contestant left will be declared the winner. However, when only two competitors remain inside the battlefield, a special rule will come into play. We call it the five-minute-rule. In this instance, if one of the remaining challengers exits the ring within the first five minutes of the final showdown, they will get last place! Oh, and don't worry about any of the competitors drowning in the ring. A special spell was placed in the water that will allow anyone inside to breathe normally."

"So, the game is essentially an underwater sumo match." Yajima summed up.

"This will be spectacular. Thank you for having me here." The special guest smiled and bowed his head humbly.

"Today's guest is the head of the Scheherazade Acting Troupe, Mr. Rabian." Chapati revealed.

Multiple splashes could be seen as many of the competitors had already been chosen and had jumped into the sphere of water, all of which were wearing their swimsuits.

"Looks like the challengers are chosen. From Lamia Scale, it's Sherria!" Chapati began to announce.

"I don't plan on losing this one! I'm going for the top!" The young Sky God Slayer declared.

"Jenny from Blue Pegasus also hits the wave!" Chapati announced as she entered the sphere.

"You'll try kiddo, but I'll succeed. There's a reason I'm an S-Class." Jenny proclaimed.

"From Mermaid Heel, it's Risley!" Chapati went on, the chubby girl having dived in too.

"Underestimate me, and you'll lose it all." Risley said with a grin.

"Also joining the fray is Juvia from Fairy Tail Team B!" Chapati revealed as the rain woman was already inside.

"Water and I go hand-and-hand. No one will beat me in my own domain." Juvia stated with determination.

One particular female wizard had entered in from the very top of the sphere and remained there as a way to showcase her own supposed superiority.

"Minerva of Sabertooth at your service."

Her arrival was met with cheers and applause from the audience. "Just listen to the crowd! Sounds like we got a fan favorite here!"

"With this change, Team Sabertooth now consists of its six strongest." Yajima said.

"It's an all-star match up, that's for sure." Rabian added.

"Lastly the Celestial Devil Hunter bombshell from Fairy Tail Team A, Lucy!" Chapati announced as the blonde herself had also dived into the water.

"I can't lose this one either." Lucy stated. "I let my friends down the first day, but it won't happen again!"

"The scenery doesn't get much better than this, folks." Chapati said. "Each team has sent a swimsuit-clad female challenger to represent them."

"Such beautiful and enticing ladies! Ah, I can't thank you enough!" Rabian was geeking out like the rest of the audience at the eye-candy.

"Hold up! What about me, man?!" Rocker questioned as he was also in the water arena, the only male there, and for some reason, he wore a short European swimsuit. "I'm here too!"

"Ugh, who cares?" Rabian cringed.

"Aw come on! That's harsh!" Rocker exclaimed in comic shock.

"It's a deep-sea rumble! Try and stay in the water as long as you can! I hope your ready ladies, cause the Naval Battle is about to begin!" Chapati got the crowd riled up and excited.

"This is your chance, Lucy! Go get em!" Natsu called to her.

"If she uses Aquarius, she can take them all out at once!" Gray felt she had this in the bag.

"Let's cheer for her as hard as we can!" Erza declared.

"Right!" Wendy nodded.

However, Gray noticed the serious look on Dante's face. "What's up with you? I thought you'd go gaga over all the girls in swimsuits up in there."

"You'd think, but one of those just happens to be Sabertooth's top chick." Dante said, looking directly at the smirking Minerva. "And she doesn't seem like the type to do a clean fight."

Natsu glared at her as well. "That's the same lady that nabbed Happy?"

"Yep." Dante confirmed with a glare of his own.

"Lucy with Aquarius and Juvia, both together underwater?" Lisanna looked very excited. "I got no idea how this is gonna go!"

"Yeah, but Lucy's got plenty of other spirits than just the mermaid." Trish added.

"Not to mention a few moves of her own taught by the best." Lady said with pride.

"We shouldn't underestimate Sherria however." Modeus said. "She is a God Slayer after all and has proven to be exceptionally powerful."

"But her element is air and she's underwater, right?" Romeo asked. "Kinda seems like she's at a disadvantage."

"What about that big girl?" Patty wondered. "Mermaid's in her guild's name, isn't it?"

"There's also Jenny and she's S-Class wizard." Jet pointed out.

"And I wouldn't put it past that Sabertooth girl to try some underhanded trick either." Droy added.

"Good luck, Lu! You can do it!" Levy cheered.

"Lucy's gonna win this for sure!" Happy stated as he and the Exceeds stood alongside Sparda, Mavis, Makarov, and Gildarts. "The only reason she lost against Raven Tail was because they cheated, so there's no way she can lose this time!"

"Don't be so quick to make that declaration." Sparda advised. "Lucy has grown stronger and has proven to be a tactical fighter but underestimate your opponents or overestimate yourself and your set up to fail."

"But cousin Lucy doesn't seem like the type to do either, so I think she's good." Mavis said cheerfully, that 'cousin' comment caused Makarov to wince slightly as he chuckled.

"This guild has quite the lineages that's for sure." The former guildmaster of Fairy Tail said humorously.

"Yep, it's all one big twisted family tree." Gildarts laughed.

The gong rang. "There's the gong! Let the Naval Battle begin!" Chapati announced.

Lucy made the first move, drawing one of her keys. "Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" With a swipe, Lucy had summoned one of her strongest spirits to her side.

"What the…?" Sherria looked in surprise.

"A spirit!" Jenny exclaimed.

"A fellow mermaid, huh? This is getting interesting." Risley grinned.

Minerva however simply smiled in mere amusement.

"This is my domain you brazen bimbos!" Aquarius held up her urn and unleashed a powerful cyclone of her own water that already spun and sent many of the competitors away, though they were quick to stabilize themselves and avoid getting thrown out.

"My turn! Water Cyclone!" Juvia unleashed an attack identical to that of Aquarius, both cyclones collided with one another and pressed against each other in a struggle.

"Okay, is it my imagination, or did Juvia just take on Aquarius?" Wakaba questioned.

"Nope. Believe it or not, Juvia actually sparred with Aquarius more than once during out three-month training period." Trish said.

"And every time, there's never been a clear victory for either of them. The two are almost evenly matched." Lady added.

"That's crazy!" Levy exclaimed in shock.

"This is getting exciting!" Lisanna couldn't decide who to route for. "I'm sure they're both set on settling the score here and now!"

"Give it your all, Juvia!" Mira cheered for her teammate. "Lucy, you can tone it down a bit, okay? And Jenny, I know you've got more power than that, get the lead out!"

"Your cheerleading skills could use some work." Nero told her before turning toward Gajeel. "She's your friend, right? You think Juvia can win this?"

"You even need to ask?" Gajeel responded. "Put Juvia in water and that's all she wrote, game over."

"Hello Aquarius." Juvia greeted as she and the water spirit continued to press their attacks against one another.

"I'm not letting this one end in a draw. I plan on winning this round!" Aquarius declared.

"Bring it on, then!" Juvia grinned as they amped up their attacks, creating a large ripple throughout the water that made it difficult for the other competitors to get close.

"Aquarius, you just focus on Juvia! I'm getting our defense, ready!" Lucy had pulled out a second Golden Key. "Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!" With a wipe of her second key, Lucy had summoned the meek sheep girl, who was clad in a furry swimsuit for some reason, right beside her.

"Um… you summoned me… Lucy?" Aries asked nervously.

Many in the audience cheered loudly with hearts in their eyes as they saw the spirit. "Look at that, folks! Lucy has summoned yet another lovely spirit onto the field!" Chapati commentated.

"She showed she can summon two spirits at once back in Day One, so this shouldn't be a surprise." Yajima said.

"Such a lovely spirit! Thank you very much!" Rabian praised.

"Aries, you're in charge of defense! Make sure nobody tries to get us from behind!" Lucy told her.

"Okay, I'll try! Wool Wall!" Positioning herself to guard Lucy's rear, Aries created a massive wall of pink wool that spread out all around their rear and almost completely encased the trio, save for Aquarius' front in order to keep up her struggle against Juvia.

"I see what she's doing." Dante figured it out. "Water's Juvia's home-turf, so she's having Aquarius keep her busy, while also using Aries to bump up her defense. Not bad."

"Now that's awesome!" Natsu grinned.

"That's smart." Gray added.

"Way to go, Lucy!" Wendy cheered.

"A viable strategy, but she shouldn't let her guard down either." Erza advised.

Rocker tried to get the drop on Lucy from behind. "Let's see how that pink fluff gets a taste of the wild! Drill 'n Rock!" He spun his right leg so rapidly that it acted like a drill as he tried to break down Aries' Wool Wall, but the supposedly devastating kick didn't take any damage at all. In fact, Rocker's leg got stuck in it. "What the…?!"

"Push him out, Aries!" Lucy ordered.

"Okay! Wool Shot!" A pink cloud of wool shot from the Wool Wall and stuck Rocker in the chest, sending him flying out of the water sphere and crashing to the ground outside of the ring, much to the comic dismay of the rest of Team Quatro Puppy.

"And just like that, Rocker's out of the game! Looks like a good defense is the best offense!" Chapati commentated. "And the crowd couldn't be happier about his disqualification, because now they get what they really wanted all along… an all-girl bikini battle!" Chapati said in conjunction to the loud cheers of the audience.

"Thank you very much! Thank you very much! Oh, sweet heavens, thank you!" Rabian thanked.

"Do I mean nothing…? Nobody loves wild…?" Rocker whined as he laid flat on the ground.

"Huh, not bad, Lucy." Nero looked quite impressed.

"Girl's come a long way, that's for sure." Cana couldn't help but feel proud for her friend.

As he watched his niece keep this up, Sparda felt a strong sense of pride. "Lucy knows she doesn't have to knock anyone out to win this, just be the last one standing, so she's keeping it to the defensive. Her only attacking phase is keeping busy the opponent who's literally in her own element."

"Someone's very proud." Mavis smiled as she nudged her adoptive father in the side.

'Anna… Layla… Jude… Eva… that little girl of ours has grown into someone amazing. And she'll grow even stronger.' Sparda smiled.

Aquarius and Juvia's struggle made it difficult for the other competitors to get close, so they instead decided to focus on everyone else around them.

"I'll leave those two alone for now… time to show off what I can really do!" Jenny proclaimed as her body glowed. "Take Over: Machina Soul: War-Hydro!" In a flash of light, Jenny had transformed. Gone was her bikini, now she was clad in a navy-blue and aqua green steel-plated armor. Her feet had built in propellers, two water-tanks attached to her back, she had armored gauntlets, as well as a dome to cover her head.

"Now that's some impressive looking armor!" Chapati commentated.

"Machina Soul. It basically lets the user equip themselves in armor made from weaponized machinery. In this case, it appears to be that of aquatic gear." Yajima said.

"Such magnificent design! Thank you very much!" Rabian praised.

"Get a load of my torpedoes!" Aiming her gauntlets, Jenny fired six mini-torpedoes, three from each arm, at her opponents.

"Uh oh!" Sherria did her best to dodge them as they exploded behind her, but she was able to stabilize herself and keep herself from being flown out of the arena.

Risley let her two torpedoes come toward her before she shifted and transformed her body into this slender form, letting the torpedoes fly past her before they exploded, but she quickly changed her body back to its chubby form to absorb the energy from the explosion and add to her own.

"Thanks for the boost, doll." Risley grinned.

Minerva maintained her smirk as the torpedoes got closer to her, but she simply waved her hand to cast a wave of her own transparent magic to catch the two torpedoes and cause them to vanish in the blink of an eye. With a snap of her fingers, they re-appeared outside the water sphere and exploded, leaving nothing damaged.

Dante was quick to pick up on what she did. 'Teleportation? Is that how she snagged Happy?' His eyes narrowed. 'I get the feeling there's more to it than that though.'

"My turn! Sky God Bellow!" Sherria unleashed her breath attack towards Jenny, but the propellers in her hydro-armor's feet gave her an extra boost of speed underwater as she flew straight up to avoid the black-wind attack. However, Jenny found her way blocked by the incoming Risley.

"Wanna play with the big girl, blondie?" Risley challenged as she channeled much of her stored kinetic energy into her fist to deliver a punch toward her, which Jenny dodged using her suit's propellers still and gained some distance before firing a condensed blast of water from her gauntlets straight at Risley, who crossed her arms to tank the attack before pushing herself out of the way to avoid getting knocked out.

"Heads up!" Sherria swam straight for Risley. "Sky God Dance!" Creating two streams of black wind from her hands, Sherria swung them upward toward Risley, but she shifted her body to her slender form again and let the attack veer past her.

"You got power kid, I'll give ya that!" Risley complemented before kicking Sherria back. "But all the good it'll do if you can't hit your target."

"Dang it! I thought I had her!" Sherria grunted.

"You got this! Go get em!" Wendy cheered.

"Aww, cheering for your friend, little sis? That's cute." Natsu teased as he ruffled Wendy's hair, causing her to blush with embarrassment.

"Knock it off, Natsu!" Wendy tried to push him away, but he kept patting her head in a teasing fashion with a grin either way.

Meanwhile, Aquarius and Juvia kept up their struggle, but neither side seemed to be gaining any sort of advantage.

"Ugh! We're still even!" Aquarius growled.

"I know it's frustrating, but you have to keep your focus on Juvia!" Lucy told her. "We got a good thing going on here! We just have to be the last ones standing!" However, she, Aquarius, and Aries looked in surprise as Juvia ceased her cyclone-attack.

"I see what you're doing, Lucy. That's clever of you. But I don't intend on losing this either. I'm done pulling my punches!" Juvia declared. "I'm taking you and everyone else here out in one fell swoop!" She raised her arm up to prepare her attack, already generating a massive swirl of water in the palm of her hand. "My newest and most powerful technique yet, further enhanced by the unlocking of my Second Origin! And refined by my lover's heart! Wings of Love!" She swung her arm down and unleashed her attack, generating a ferocious whirlpool that just so happened to be laced with neon pink hearts.

"Wings of love, huh?" Dante nudged Gray with a knowing grin. "Wonder where she got that from."

"Shut it." Gray grumbled.

Juvia's attack had turned the entire sphere of water into a massive whirlpool that had pulled in Sherria and Risley, even Jenny's War-Hydro armor which was built for this environment was pulled into the attack and were sent flying out of the ring and to the ground. First was Jenny, followed by Risley, then Sherria.

However, Minerva had used her own magic to create something akin to a vacuum in the space around her, causing Juvia's massive attack to veer around her. And she didn't appear to be giving all that much effort in using this defensive ability.

"Aries! Aquarius! Max defense!" Lucy exclaimed as she, Aquarius, and Aries clung together. The mermaid spirit having created a bubble around them with Aries adding to that with a sphere of wool within that to keep them all safe.

"Okay… that's new…!" Aquarius winced as she struggled to keep the force of Juvia's attack at bay.

"Hang on tight, everyone!" Aries cried out shyly.

"Look at her go!" Chapati commentated. "Juvia has just pushed three opponents out of bounds simultaneously!" The attack ceased as Juvia made a proud and happy pose, satisfied with the work she had done. "If she keeps this up, she's sure to be the queen of the Naval Battle!"

"Ah man…" Sherria sulked in defeat. "I lost again…?"

"It's okay." Wendy said from her spot with an encouraging smile. "You did your best."

'I'd say that was a job well, done. I hope you approve, my love. I named that attack after you.' Juvia smiled before getting serious again. 'Now I just need to…'

Suddenly, Juvia found herself encased in a transparent magical sphere that complete cut her off from the water. "Huh…? What in…?" The sphere was then sent flying out of the ring, knocking Juvia out of bounds instantly.

"Juvia!" Lucy was more than a little shocked.

"What the…?" Nero questioned as the rest of Team Fairy Tail B looked in surprise. "How the hell did that happen…?!"

"I'm guessing it was her." Cana narrowed her eyes at Minerva, who had a smirk on her face and her hand outstretched, indicating she was indeed the one who sent Juvia out of bounds.

"Sabertooth's top chick, huh?" Laxus looked serious.

"I heard from Lisanna that she's the second strongest next to Vergil." Mira said seriously as well. "This could be tough for Lucy."

"I don't know why, but that arrogant smirk of hers really rubs me the wrong way." Gajeel grumbled.

"After a valiantly fought battle, Juvia ends up outside the ring!" Chapati announced. "She finishes in third points and scores six points for her team."

"The lady sure is mischievous." Sting commented with a smirk. "She could have won right at the start, but she let them take each other out so she could conserve her magic."

"That Fairy Tail girl doesn't stand a chance." Lector said arrogantly.

Rogue however looked with concern and happened to glance in Vergil's direction, but the serious expression on his face made it impossible to tell what Vergil was thinking. Rogue knew just how dangerous Minerva could be, and he also knew just how much she hated Vergil with the strong desire to surpass him. That blonde girl down there is also apparently Vergil's maternal cousin, and knowing how ruthless and condescending Minerva is, Rogue would be lying if he didn't feel a little bit concerned for Lucy, even if she was in a competing guild.

"Only Lucy and Minerva remain." Chapati commentated as the aforementioned wizards faced each other. "Naval Battle is now a one-on-one match, and you know what that means!"

Just below the water sphere was a giant hourglass with a timer appearing above it, starting from five minutes and began to count down by the second.

"The five-minute rule is now in effect! If either contestant exits the ring before the timer runs out, they will be ranked in last place!" Chapati reminded.

"Is there a reason for this special rule?" Yajima asked.

"You've gotta keep the audience on the edge of their seats, thank you." Rabian said. "That's the golden rule of show business."

"Lucy, this bimbo's got some kind of spatial magic." Aquarius told her owner as she and Aries remained by her side to face Minerva.

"Like teleporting?" Lucy wondered.

"Maybe…" Aries said a bit shyly. "But there might be more to it than that. You'll probably need to summon a stronger spirit, I don't think my wool can do much here."

"Yeah, okay I…" Before Lucy even had a chance to act, both Aquarius and Aries were trapped in magical spheres the same way Juvia was, and were caught up in massive explosions, much to their shock. "No! Guys!" Lucy quickly used her keys to send both of them back to the spirit world before they could take too much damage.

"Did she just take down two of Lucy's spirits at once?!" Patty exclaimed.

"How'd she do that!?" Romeo also questioned.

"Some kind of weird dimensional magic." Gildarts said seriously. "Lucy could be in trouble here."

'Aquarius is one of Lucy's strongest spirits, but this Minerva was able to overpower so quickly…' Lisanna thought with concern. 'Yukino warned us… even if she is second to Vergil, we shouldn't underestimate her.'

"It's the end of the line." Minerva told Lucy. "I could send you flying out of this ring in the time it takes to blink, but the people came here for a show, and I intend to deliver. There's also the fact that one of your own assaulted my father, and if I recall correctly, that arrogant fool is your maternal cousin, I'd say a bit of retribution is in order." She aimed her hand directly at Lucy. "Try to survive and be sure to scream." Minerva said sadistically before using her magic to create a spatial explosion by Lucy's side, causing her to scream as she felt not only the explosive impact, but the intense heat as well.

"Pure heat…? Under water…?" Erza looked in shock.

Dante's eyes narrowed as his fists clenched. 'She's messing with Lucy just because I tried to teach her pop a lesson.'

Another explosion aimed toward Lucy's back, causing her to scream even more.

"Lucy! No!" Natsu exclaimed.

"I've never seen that kind of magic before!" Gray stated.

More and more explosions erupted all around Lucy from all directions. The intense heat and pain were not anything like she felt before. Even as it stopped, Lucy felt it difficult to keep going.

"This power… it's like I'm being hit with a scolding hot sledgehammer…" Lucy muttered. "I might need to bust out one of my trump cards for this…" She tried to reach to her side, but she saw there was nothing there, much to her shock. "My keys…! My whips! Where'd they go?!"

She heard a jingle and turned in the direction of Minerva, looking in surprise to see her opponent was holding her belt that held all of her Zodiac keys as well as both of her whips. Minerva didn't even give Lucy time to process what just happened as she channeled her own magic through Lucy's keys (likely as a form of mockery) and blasted Lucy with another explosion that sent her towards the edge of the sphere.

"Oh no! Lucy is heading straight for the boundary and into last place!" Chapati commentated.

Fortunately, Lucy was able to wave her arms and push herself forward, stopping herself from being knocked out just as her back touched the edge of the arena. But she was able to stabilize herself and prevent her elimination.

"Aw." Minerva mocked as she used her magic (once again channeled through Lucy's keys) to create an explosion behind Lucy and push her away from the edge.

"Come on…!" Happy urged.

"If she can't get her keys back, this fight is over…!" Carla looked with worry.

"She even snagged both of Lucy's whips, and she can't even get close to fight back!" Lady said. "All she can do is take it and keep herself from getting knocked out!"

"Lucy…!" Trish's arms shook with concern.

'Don't give up… I can take it…!' Lucy told herself as the timer had just over three minutes remaining. "Hit me with your best shot!" Lucy challenged, prompting Minerva to erupt two more explosions on her side, but she refused to back down. "I'll keep fighting…!"

"Oh really?" Minerva chuckled. "I heard how you claim yourself to be a Devil Hunter, but your performance has me thinking otherwise. Do you delude yourself to believe so simply because you share some relation with the Sons of Sparda? You're only their maternal cousin, you don't have any demonic power. Without your primary weapons, you're nothing. Honestly, calling you a Devil Hunter is an insult to the concept."

Rather than feel insulted, Lucy gave a hollow chuckle. "I may not be a demon… but I'm worthy of the title than you."

"Oh?"

"I heard… how you're trying to surpass Vergil…" Lucy began. "Let me tell you how that's not going to happen." That caused Minerva's eyes to narrow, but she let Lucy speak anyway. "He and I disagree on a lot, and he's even done things that I can't accept, including hurting my friends. But despite all of that… I know he has his own code of honor. Whenever he wants something, he tries to gain it with his own strength and power. He doesn't hide behind others and let them do the work, and he doesn't take hostages like what you tried! That's the difference between the two of you! He's a warrior, one I have nothing but respect for! You are a coward! No matter what kind of power you have, you'll always be weaker! Because there's no way a coward like you can ever hold so much as a candle to Vergil!"

Minerva gasped; her eyes widened with a twitch as she heard all that.

The rest of Team Sabertooth also looked in surprise. Did someone from Fairy Tail, a competing guild that has showing nothing but disrespect toward them, actually praise Vergil? Most of them looked towards Vergil, wondering what his reaction would be, but he kept his face hidden from them as he gazed up at his cousin with an unreadable expression.

'Lucy…' A part of him should feel thankful and even a bit honored to know that she respects him despite their past transgressions, but he also had a sinking feeling what was about to come next given she said all that to Minerva's face.

There were thirty seconds left on the timer, and yet, despite that… Minerva hadn't moved. She hadn't budged an inch or even made an effort to retaliate back at Lucy. Her face was hidden by the shadows, making it impossible for any onlookers to tell what she was thinking.

"Wha… they're just… floating there…" Chapati commentated in confusion. "Minerva has stopped her relentless attacks but… she was so close to winning…"

With a loud beep, the timer reached zero.

"The timer is up! Now it's simply a battle for the top spot!" Chapati continued.

"Yes!" Natsu pumped his fist.

However, Dante had a very bad feeling about this.

With a look of pure ire and rage on her face, Minerva thrusted her hand forward and sent a powerful explosion of her spatial magic right at Lucy. It was larger and more powerful than anything she'd endured so far, and the scream she gave was so loud that almost everyone watching could feel her pain.

"Lucy!" Lisanna exclaimed, standing up from her seat, while Sparda's eyes narrowed at Minerva, who wasn't even finished with her yet. She unleashed blast after blast onto Lucy, hitting her from every direction and showing little-to-no restraint.

"You haven't learned your place, have you?! Maybe this will teach you who you're dealing with!" Minerva exclaimed as she continued to bombard her opponent. "I am Minerva Orland! I am the heir to Sabertooth, the mightiest guild beneath the heavens! You are an insect that belongs on the ground!" She blasted Lucy once more, sending her towards the edge of the arena again.

"There's no way Lucy can recover from that…" Chapati was interrupted however as Lucy suddenly vanished from the edge of the ring and reappeared directly in front of Minerva. "What the…?!" From there, Minerva dealt a devastating kick to Lucy's back. "She just reappeared in front of Minerva! But was it her doing or her opponent's?"

While Rabian looked in shock at what just happened, Yajima eyed Minerva dangerously as he knew exactly what was going on.

"Why would she stop herself from winning?" Levy questioned.

"This is horrible…!" Kyrie was especially horrified.

"That bitch…!" Trish growled with Lady's eyes flashing with anger.

"She's fighting dirty!" Romeo exclaimed as Patty covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes watering with sympathy for Lucy.

Sparda, Makarov, Gildarts, Modeus, and even Mavis, they all looked with darkened expressions of rage as they continued to watch the onslaught.

"I'm gonna murder her!" Nero didn't bother to hide his rage.

"This is just sick!" Cana spat in disgust.

"All she's doing is torturing her." Gajeel narrowed his eyes.

Minerva wasn't using her magic anymore. Now she was using her fists and feet to punch and kick Lucy from all directions, making sure each blow hurt. And she showed no signs of stopping. Even the audience around them was looking in clear shock and even horror, especially for the kids watching.

"Shouldn't somebody stop this?"

"This is going too far!"

"Come on! Somebody stop the fight!"

"What is wrong with her?!"

"Lucy is getting pummeled!" Chapati commentated with shock. "Even without magic, Minerva is decimating her blow after blow!" It was a punch across the jaw, a kick to the stomach, a knee to the face, even if Lucy was close enough to use hand-to-hand, Minerva was too fast and strong for her to even fight back.

"How horrible! Somebody please stop this senseless brutality! I would really appreciate it!" Rabian pleaded.

"Since the match is underwater, there are no knockouts! All Lucy can do is take the relentless barrage!" Chapati went on.

"STOP IT!" Wendy screamed, her eyes watering with tears

Dante growled, his demonic aura slipping around his body as his rage grew. Minerva was torturing his cousin and he couldn't do a damn thing to stop it!

However, when he happened to glance towards Sabertooth's box, he saw Sting, Orga, and Rufus all chuckling with mocking expressions. They were laughing! Lucy was being tortured and they were laughing at it!

That did not sit well with Dante, nor did it with Natsu, Gray, and Erza, all four of them glared with pure hatred. "You guys are gonna pay for this….!" They vowed.

But not everyone in Sabertooth was celebrating. Rogue had hung his head down in shame, as he had a feeling this was coming, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Lector even looked towards Sting in surprise, he had seen his friend laugh at his opponents being defeated before, but those were all bad guys! Even if Lucy was competing against them, the fact that Sting was actually laughing at someone being tortured like that made him feel a bit uneasy. Frosch tried to stop himself from crying as he hated seeing stuff like this, but he also happened to look in Vergil's direction, wondering how he was reacting to this, but the innocent Exceed couldn't get a read on him as his arms remained crossed and most of his face was hidden by the shadows.

"Have you learned your lesson, or should I keep beating it in? I'm fine with that." Minerva mocked as she continued to beat Lucy. "Remember this the next time you think about defying….!"

*SNAG!*

Suddenly, Minerva found herself and Lucy both entangled together by the glowing magical strands of the Fleuve d'etoiles, which wrapped around both their waists to bind them both together, Lucy's right hand over the handle of the whip.

This caught everyone in the arena by surprise. The audience, the commentators, Fairy Tail and especially Sabertooth, nobody saw this coming, especially not Minerva.

"Gotcha…" Lucy said weakly as she tried to smirk with her swollen face. "Thanks for… getting me in close… Try and… blow me up again… you'll get… blown up too….!"

"You… little…!" Minerva growled, enraged that her bombardment of attacks was cut off and she didn't even notice Lucy reaching to reacquire her whips, nor did she notice Lucy's left hand grabbing a hold of her Celestial Keys once more.

"I might not win… but you won't… either…" Lucy coughed as she used what little strength that she had left to open one of the gates. "Aquarius!" Once more, she had summoned her mermaid spirit, appearing behind her. "Blast us… both out of here…!"

Without a word said, Aquarius fired a cyclone of water from her urn, striking both Lucy and Minerva and sending them flying out of the ring, Lucy's whip was untangled as they fell, both young women separated from one another as they hit the ground. That was the last of Lucy's strength and Aquarius was instantly sent back to the Spirit World.

The entire arena was rendered silent over what just happened.

"Hold on… what in the world happened…?!" Chapati questioned.

"It seems Lucy was able to use one of her whips to tie herself to her opponent and used the last of her strength to summon a spirit and blast them both out of the ring." Yajima explained.

"So… what does that mean…? Who won…?" Rabian asked. "I'd appreciate an answer, thank you very much."

Chapati took out the rule book and looked it over. "Well, according to the rules, if in the event of a draw in a special event, both competitors would receive nine points for their respective teams. Since Lucy and Minerva were both pushed out of the arena at the same time, this match ends in a draw! Both Fairy Tail Team A and Sabertooth will receive nine points each!"

The audience was in an uproar of cheers and celebration, many of that appeared to be directed towards Lucy as she had fought through that horrible ordeal and was able to tie for first place against one of Sabertooth's top contenders! That was worthy of praise. Nearly everyone in Fairy Tail looked with expressions of relief that Lucy was finally through all that torture, but there were many who were still very concerned for her current well-being. Most of Sabertooth however was rendered speechless. Minerva lost?! Or rather, she didn't win with an absolute victory?! That was rarely seen, if ever! And it was dealt to her by the very person they were mocking!

Minerva had stood up on her feet, her eyes shaking as her pupils shrunk, a burning rage filled her being as she let all that process.

'This child…! This worthless excuse for a wizard…! I… I tied with her…?!'

She was not about to let that slide! Her rage taking control, Minerva thrusted her hand to capture the downed Lucy in a sphere of her spatial magic, which erupted with explosions from the inside, blasting Lucy even more.

"YOU WRETCH!" Minerva screamed as she continued to torture Lucy. "HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME!"

"Hey! You can't do that!" Chapati called out as Rabian gasped and Yajima glared. "The event is over! Stop what you're doing right now!"

But Minerva wasn't listening. She had every intent of making Lucy suffer and nobody was going to stop her. "I WILL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER WALK AGAIN!"

Suddenly, Minerva's sphere was shattered by a flash of dark red energy, much to her shock. She looked to see Dante suddenly appearing, Rebellion held in one hand as it glowed a dark red, while holding the critically injured Lucy in the other. He flashed his wide eyes of rage and gnashed teeth towards her, he looked like a rabid animal ready to rip Minerva to shreds.

"Dante…!" Minerva's growl was interrupted by a flaming fist that struck her in her right cheek.

Everyone in the audience looked in shock to see not only Dante rescuing his cousin from the torturous onslaught, but Natsu's sudden appearance as he directly attacked Minerva.

Not even giving her a chance to recover, both his fists lighting on fire, Natsu gave a roar as he unleashed a salvo of flaming fists all across Minerva's body. He unleashed them at a pace so fast it was like a machine gun, the force of his relentless attacks had pushed Minerva up into the air. He gave a powerful slug to her jaw to knock her straight up into the air, where he then leapt up and brought both his flaming fists down on her to send her crashing straight into the ground, creating a crater upon impact.

However, appearing around Natsu from all sides as he finished, were Sting, Orga, and Rufus, each of them looking ready to unleash devastating attacks of their own.

"You just made a big mistake, pal!" Orga channeled a cluster of black lightning in his hand.

"You will not disrespect our guild any further!" Rufus raised his hand like a sword as it glowed with golden energy.

"Looks like I get to kick your ass after all!" Sting pulled back a fist that surged with white light.

*ZAP!*

*CLANG!*

*CATCH!*

Just as quickly as those three appeared, three from Fairy Tail had arrived to intercept them before they had a chance to attack Natsu. Trish had appeared in front of Orga, using the Devil Sword Sparda to block Orga's punch as her body surged with her own white lightning. Lady was in front of Rufus as her right arm was coated in steel to block Rufus' chop while she aimed one of her pistols at his face. Lisanna had donned her Dragon Soul Take Over as she caught Sting's punch in her clawed arm. All three young women glared at their respective targets as they wouldn't let them pass.

"Lucy!" Wendy ran towards Dante as he held his heavily injured and unresponsive cousin in his arms. Gray and Erza weren't far behind either as they circled around them to make sure nobody tried anything.

"She's barely breathing." Dante said to Wendy.

"I can heal her, don't worry!" The Sky Dragon Slayer wasted no time in using her healing magic on her friend.

"Wait! Let me help too!" Sherria had ran up to them with Juvia coming to the side of Gray and Erza to defend them as well.

"Thanks, Sherria." Wendy nodded as the Sky God Slayer applied her own healing magic to Lucy.

"Lucy! We're coming!" Happy flew down into the arena alongside Carla, the latter carrying Kyrie with her. When they made it down, Kyrie was quick to join in as well as she too applied her own healing magic to Lucy.

"Thank you…" Dante said sincerely to both Kyrie and Sherria.

"This will help, but she needs serious medical attention." Kyrie said. "I can't believe this whole thing went so far…"

"Neither can I, yet I do." Dante resumed his glare at the Sabertooth members that were in the arena with his friends keeping them back.

"Outta the way you scrawny bitch." Orga growled, his black lightning growing around him.

"Make me, asshole." Trish glared back as her own white lightning grew in response to his.

"I would advise you to rethink this." Rufus said as the circle of his Memory-Make Magic appeared behind him, ready to be unleashed.

Lady flicked the safety off from her gun. "I'd advise you to keep your mouth shut."

Sting scoffed at Lisanna's appearance. "Dragon power? You know I killed an actual dragon, right?"

"I don't care, you're not killing this one." Lisanna's eyes narrowed as smoke escaped from the palm of her claw that had caught Sting's fist.

Minerva pulled herself up from the ground, holding her face as she looked at the enraged Natsu. "You dare attack me…?!"

"Stay away from Lucy!" Natsu warned. "You come near her again, and I will kill you! I'll burn you to a crisp!" Both glared at one another as they looked ready to fight back at any time. Minerva glanced past him to see the glaring Erza, Gray, and Juvia, along with the enraged Dante as he continued to hold his cousin while Wendy, Sherria, and Kyrie all worked to heal her as best as they could with Happy watching over them.

Tension in the arena was now at an all-time high. It looked like an all-out brawl between Fairy Tail and Sabertooth was about to erupt at any moment.

"Guys, if things come to worse, we're going down there and lending them a hand." Mira told the rest of Team B.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Nero already had Blue Rose out with Cana readying her cards, even Gajeel and Laxus looked ready to join in at any second. And it wasn't just them, the other observing members of Fairy Tail all looked prepared to jump down and help their friends, Modeus, Elfman, and Panther-Lily being at the front of it all. Makarov and Gildarts even glared towards Sabertooth's master Jiemma, who glared at them in response.

The other guilds all looked with serious concern as well. Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and Quatro Puppy, and even Bruni from his spot in the stands, all of them looked with deathly serious expressions.

"That is enough! Cease all hostility at once!"

All eyes set on Lahar as he and Mato had entered the arena with an assortment of Rune Knights and royal soldiers, including Doranbolt. "Members of Sabertooth! Fairy Tail! You will all stand down now!"

"Minerva of Team Sabertooth." Mato got her attention. "You attacked your opponent even though the event was over. That is a direct violation of the tournament rules. Because of that, your team's score in the Naval Battle has dropped from nine points to five."

"What?!" Orga exclaimed.

"You can't be serious!" Sting exclaimed.

"I'm being very serious." Mato said. "Minerva broke the rules and now has to face the penalty. Oh, and any further violation from Sabertooth will result in your guild's disqualification from the Grand Magic Games. So, let's cool off, shall we?"

Despite Mato's seemingly cheerful demeanor, the royal soldiers and Rune Knights present all gave hardened expressions that left no room for arguments.

With that, Sting, Rufus, and Orga reluctantly withdrew from their respective standoffs, prompting Lisanna, Lady, and Trish to retreat back towards their friends and surround the healing Lucy. Natsu and Minerva glared at one another for a while longer, but the Dragon Slayer turned around and walked towards his friends.

However, when Minerva felt her face, she felt a slight bruise where Natsu had struck her. Her right hand twitched as she readied some of her own magic.

'They won't notice this. Let's see how that brat likes having his organs ruptured from the inside!' Minerva was about to cast her spell, a seemingly invisible attack that was about to strike Natsu from behind…

*SLASH!*

All eyes, be it from Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, the audience, the Rune Knights, the Games' officials, or the royal soldiers, they all set their sights on a certain someone who just appeared in front of Minerva, his katana outstretched as he had used it to cut down Minerva's attack. Natsu, Dante, and everyone else in Fairy Tail gasped in shock the moment they saw him, with Minerva shrinking under the look of icy-cold rage in his eyes as he glared directly at her. One look from those eyes was enough to freeze her in her tracks and prevent her from moving even an inch.

"Vergil…!"

He grabbed her by the top of her head and quickly slammed her face first into the ground with enough force that blood splattered from her nose and mouth, much to everyone's shock, notably those in their own guild.

Everyone eyed Vergil cautiously as he stood straight up. "Chief Marshal Lahar, officials of the Grand Magic Games." He spoke. "I apologize for the insubordination of my teammates. This incident will not happen again. But if you must, disqualify our team if we violate your rules. We agreed to the conditions and terms of this tournament, and we will abide by them. I'll see to it."

Lahar nodded. "Very well."

"Y-yes. Thank you for understanding, Vergil." Mato nodded as well, slightly shaking.

Minerva tried to pick herself back up, but the second she saw his cold-rage-filled stare at her, she had lost all the will to fight back. He turned toward his guildmates. "Get her on her feet and return to the stands. Now." Vergil left no room to argue.

With that command, Sting, Rufus, and Orga made their way to Minerva, but she had already picked herself back up, and all four of them made their way out of the arena. With the tension appearing to fade, the Rune Knights and soldiers also left the arena. Vergil turned around and first happened to make eye-contact with Natsu, the Salamander silently glaring at the eldest Son of Sparda. Vergil paid acknowledgement towards Natsu before looking toward everyone else at Fairy Tail, specifically his younger brother as he held their unresponsive cousin in his arms. Vergil could tell that Lucy appeared to be through the worst of it, but she still needed proper medical attention. Vergil and Dante wordlessly made eye contact with one another, the youngest giving a single nod with Vergil returning with one of his own before turning around and leaving, prompting Dante to do so as he would carry his cousin to the infirmary with his friends and teammates right beside him the entire time.

---

Lucy had been brought to the infirmary where Porlyusica treated her almost immediately. The rest of her teammates, with the additions of Happy, Lisanna, Carla, Lady, Kyrie, and Trish had gathered all around Lucy's bed as she laid unresponsive, covered in bandages. Even Sparda's spirit was present as well, looking toward his niece with concern.

"She's going to be okay, isn't she?" Happy wondered as he was on Lucy's bed.

"She'll pull through. She's tough." Trish said, but neither she nor everyone else around her could feel the least bit at ease. What had just happened was still fresh in their minds, and it made them furious.

"Hey, how's Lucy doing?" Nero asked as he and the rest of Fairy Tail Team B entered the infirmary as well.

"Is she awake?" Mira also asked.

"You guys came…" Gray looked in surprise.

"Laxus? Gajeel?" Natsu didn't expect either of them to be here, and yet here they were, all out of concern for Lucy.

"We may be on different teams, but we're all in the same guild." Cana said.

"So, how is she?" Gajeel asked the question again.

"She'll make it through this." Porlyusica responded. "Wendy and Kyrie's magics got her through the worst of it, but she still needs plenty of rest."

"Sherria helped too. We were lucky she was there." Wendy added.

"Thank goodness…" Mira breathed in relief.

"I'm glad to know she won't sustain any lasting injuries." Erza commented.

"They're gonna pay!" Natsu growled, with Lisanna moving to sit next to him and put her arm around his shoulder.

"You can sure as hell bet on that." Laxus agreed.

Lady happened to glance towards Dante, who had yet to say anything. But one look in his eyes and she knew exactly what he was going through. She slowly reached forward and gently grasped his hand, getting his attention as she silently gave him a look of assurance, this seemed enough to calm him down as he gave a single nod as thanks.

Lucy's eyes fluttered a bit, getting Happy's attention. "She's awake!"

Her eyes opened and she saw all the faces of her friends and family as they looked toward her with smiles and concern, but despite all the warmth she could feel around them, she didn't feel like she deserved it.

"You guys… I'm sorry…"

"What…? What are you apologizing for…?" Dante questioned as he and everyone else didn't expect her to say that, nor did she need to. "You freaking tied for first against Sabertooth's top bitch."

"And since she got her whole team's score bumped down when she attacked you, that means we get first by default." Trish added.

Lucy weakly pulled the blanket over her face in shame. "But… I… I should have done better… I wasn't strong enough…."

"Lucy, stop. Right now." Everyone cleared the way as Sparda stepped forward and kneeled by his niece's bed side. "Look at me in the eyes, young lady." Lucy did just that, pulling her blanket down to see her uncle who spoke with complete seriousness. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. You did the best you could and that more than exceeded anybody's expectations. You recognized that your opponent was magically and physically stronger, you knew you may not have been able to beat her, so instead you settled for the next best thing which was a draw, that was a smart move and your team truly benefited from that. Take pride in how much stronger you've become. Understand and learn from any possible failures, yes. But you also have to learn to let them go and not dwell on them, otherwise you'll have a cloud of guilt and regret hanging over you that'll eat away at your spirit until there's nothing left." Sparda's look saddened slightly as he thought back to his own failures. "Trust me… I know."

His words did seem to reach Lucy, as her eyes welled up with tears. "But… my keys…"

"I got them right here." Lisanna handed them to her, which she gently took. Lisanna briefly squeezed her hand with a smile, something Lucy appreciated as she took back her keys.

"We got your whips, too." Happy added, gesturing to the nightstand behind him which had the Morning Star and Fleuve d'etoiles laying on them.

"Thank you… all of you…" Lucy smiled as she kept her keys close. She closed her eyes again and felt herself drifting off to sleep.

"I think she's going to be okay." Mira smiled.

"But we still can't let those bastards get away with this kind of bullshit!" Nero stated.

"I feel the exact same way." Gray agreed with a dark look in his eyes.

"Lousy bunch of scumbags." Gajeel growled.

The door opened, getting their attention once more as they saw Gildarts, Makarov, and Morrison enter.

"Dad?" Cana looked in surprise.

"Gramps…? Morrison?" Dante didn't expect to see the broker with the current and former guildmaster of Fairy Tail.

"Listen up everyone, we got some news." Gildarts began. "It's not really good or bad, but apparently the Games officials say that we gotta merge our two teams into one."

"Say what?" Natsu questioned.

"So, we gotta be like everyone else now, huh?" Laxus replied.

"And the reason for that?" Lady asked.

"Since Raven Tail's been disqualified, there are now seven teams remaining." Makarov explained. "Having an odd number makes it difficult to match up competitors for the battles. Therefore, we've been ordered to do away with the A and B groups and form a single six-person team for the rest of the tournament."

"That does make sense." Kyrie seemed to understand.

"But how will this affect our scores?" Carla asked.

"It won't." Gildarts answered. "After counting up the Naval Battle, both teams are now tied with forty-one points."

"So, it's not a loss or a gain." Erza stated.

"Hey, look on the bright side. This just means we're gonna be able to put together an even more kickass team." Cana said with a grin.

"Well, I kinda wish this happened a little bit sooner cause all we got are the two-man battles, right?" Gray wondered.

"You're wrong." Porlyusica responded. "Traditionally, there's a mandatory day off, followed by an event involving all members. It's important to choose carefully."

"And we also got a little change in the schedule to." Morrison spoke up. "Originally, it was going to be a two-on-two battle for today, but they changed it at the last minute to three-on-three matches for all the teams."

"Three-on-three?" Happy looked in surprise.

"Why would they do that?" Wendy asked.

"Don't know." Morrison replied. "Guess they wanted something special for today, but I can take a guess as to what that is."

"The organizers said we can choose whoever we want on our new team." Gildarts added. "But they did suggest that we'd put Dante on, along with Natsu, Gajeel, and/or Wendy."

"They also let slip that Fairy Tail would be facing Sabertooth as the final battle for today." Makarov put in.

"Ah, I get it." Dante understood. "They want me and two of our Dragon Slayers to square off against Vergil and those twin Dragon Slaying wannabes."

"To be fair, we did expect you and Vergil to lock blades again at one point in this tournament. Looks like it's happening." Lady said.

"But we can't afford to put all our heavy hitters on this team." Trish put in. "Don't forget the other reason we came to Crocus. That crazy conspiracy involving whatever's connected to Zeref and Celestial Wizards."

"She's right." Lisanna agreed. "We almost caught them yesterday, but the Magic Council got in the way. They also tried to kidnap Lucy back then, and with the condition she's in now…"

"There's a golden opportunity to try and take her." Mira seemed to get it.

"You need not worry. I'll stay here and guard Lucy while she recovers." Makarov said. "I may be retired as guildmaster, but I'm still one of the ten Wizard Saints. I have no intention of letting one of my children fall in harm's way."

"Then it looks like we're covered in that regard." Gray said.

Natsu stood up from his seat. "No matter who I'm up against, I'm gonna get revenge for Lucy!"

"You mean we're gonna get revenge, Natsu." Dante stepped up as well. "As far as I'm concerned, Sabertooth declared war on us the minute that bitch attacked Lucy. I'm gonna show them why that was their biggest mistake."

---

"Day 4's Battle Round is about to be underway, and we'll soon see who made the cut on Team Fairy Tail." Chapati said with excitement. "You have a long history with the guild, Mr. Yajima. Got any predictions on the final six?"

"No comment." Yajima replied with a grin.

"Thank you very much once again for this wonderful opportunity of having me here!" Rabian thanked.

"But don't forget, today's team matches are no mere stage combat." Yajima told him.

"That may be true, but they still require a certain kind of choreography in their own right." Rabian said.

"Before we begin, I'm pleased to announce that our original plan for having two-on-two matches has now changed to three-on-three!" Chapati announced. "So, let's get right down to it and announce the line ups for these amazing battles! Please turn your attention to the arena and the lacrimators!"

Almost all the teams stepped into the arena to meet each other. Team Sabertooth consisted of Vergil, Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Orga, and Rufus. Team Lamia Scale was made up of Lyon, Jura, Sherria, Yuka, Toby, and Sho. Team Quatro Puppy had in its ranks Wally, Bacchus, Rocker, Nobarly, Jager, and Warcry. Team Blue Pegasus consisted of Ichiya, Jenny, Hibiki, Ren, Eve, and the mysterious individual still clad in a bunny suit. Team Mermaid Heel had undergone a slight change in its roster and now consisted of Lucia, Kagura, Milliana, Sapphire, Risley, and Arana.

"Our first match will be Blue Pegasus versus the frisky Quatro Puppy!" Chapati announced. "Then on to Round Two, it's the ladies of Mermaid Heel facing off against Lamia Scale! And then what would be today's highlight… Sabertooth against the new Fairy Tail! So put your hands together for a big Domus Flau welcome and let's meet the Fairy Tail team!"

The six chosen members walked through the hallways and toward the entrance way for the arena. As they walked, they remembered the words of encouragement from their friends upon their formation.

"We're all counting on you." Kyrie said as she, Wendy, and Carla would remain in the infirmary to help with Lucy's recovery.

"You six embody the spirit of our guild like no other. Now go out there and prove it to the world." Makarov encouraged.

"Show them what you're made of!" Wendy pumped her fist.

"Bring home a win!" Carla praised.

"Go get em guys… for me…" Lucy said as she rested in bed.

"We really did put together an amazing team." Mira said, standing alongside Lisanna, Happy, Levy, Elfman, Lady, Romeo, Patty, Trish, Juvia, Cana, Nero, Modeus, Lily, Morrison, and all their other friends in the observing Fairy Tail stands.

"They'll win this. I believe in them." Lisanna said with complete faith.

"It's just like what I was saying before." Cana smirked.

"This team will surely get us back to number one again!" Juvia smiled.

"This is gonna be good." Lady grinned.

"Can't wait for this bloodbath." Trish also grinned.

"Kinda sucks I didn't get put on it, but this team ain't half bad." Nero said in a half-coy fashion.

"The spirit of Fairy Tail is all but unstoppable." Gildarts said proudly as he stood alongside Mavis and Sparda. "And I can't think of any better group to represent that then these six."

"It's time to show the world what makes our guild so special." Mavis said while Sparda simply smiled as he saw the six-man team step into the arena.

The second they stepped forward, the entire crowd went into a massive uproar of praise and cheer. It may very well be the loudest they've ever cheered during the entire tournament; it practically shook the arena to its foundation.

"We've been waiting for this moment…!" Chapati got the audience hyped even more. "It's my pleasure to introduce… the new… TEAM FAIRY TAIL!"

The six-man team representing the guild they all called home revealed themselves in all their glory. Dante Redgrave, the Son of Sparda and Crimson Knight. The Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander and Son of Igneel. Gray Fullbuster, the guild's master Ice-Make wielder. Erza Scarlet, Titania and the guild's strongest female member. Blacksteel Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer. Laxus Dreyar, the grandson of Makarov Dreyar, top-tier lightning master, and second-generation Dragon Slayer.

Each and every one of them had serious and determined expressions on his or her face, ready to give it their all in this tournament for the sake of their guild and they wouldn't settle for anything less than a victory. The other guilds eyed them as well, whether be it their whole team or specific individuals, but those in Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, and Quatro Puppy all felt themselves becoming more excited or determined at the thought of facing this team in the tournament, for whatever reasons they had.

However, Fairy Tail had their eyes solely set on Sabertooth for obvious reasons. Both teams made eye-contact and the tension instantly picked up. Hostility, excitement, rage, passion, they all felt it for their own reasons. Laxus glared at Orga who smirked in his direction, with the same exchange happening between Gray and Rufus. Rogue eyed Gajeel who looked with a similar expression. Erza glared at Minerva who smirked mockingly toward her, but her smirk turned into a glare the second she set her eyes on Natsu who dared to attack her. Natsu was being eyed by Sting, but he didn't seem to be interested in him as he glared back at Minerva, but it wasn't just her. His eyes, as well as Dante's, they both set on Vergil. The eldest Son of Sparda gazed at his younger brother and the Salamander, and while he felt the stares of the rest of Team Fairy Tail, he seemed primarily focused on Dante and Natsu. Despite being on opposite sides in the past, literally crossing swords and drawing blood from one another, Dante and Vergil both felt a twinge of excitement in their upcoming fight, while Natsu did feel a bit nervous, he pushed it all down as he channeled the rage for Lucy and knew exactly where to aim it. Even if Vergil was Lucy's cousin and Dante's brother, Natsu was going to make him pay for everything he did to them and Fairy Tail in the past.

"I'm fired up now…" Natsu growled.

"With that kind of entrance, I'm not sure the audience will be able to handle the anticipation leading up to today's final match!" Chapati stated.

"The fans are looking forward to it, that's for sure." Yajima commented.

"I'm thankful I get to be part of a day filled with such drama!" Rabian proclaimed.

---

"The Celestial Wizard isn't with them?!" Darton questioned as he and Arcadios watched the new Team Fairy Tail's entrance from a private suite higher in the arena.

"I would assume she's still recovering." Arcadios said.

"Listen, you'd better not try anything as foolish as last time." Darton warned.

"Perish the thought." Arcadios replied. "I'll be the first to admit that was a misstep. I intend to take more reliable measures from here on out. For now, let us enjoy the festival. The project will commence in three days' time."

"That damned Eclipse…" Darton still didn't approve in the slightest.

"And the world will be forever changed." Arcadios vowed.

Darton's eyes shook with fear. "Is there no way we can put a stop to it?"

"We can't let Zeref wait much longer, can we?" Arcadios said with an ambitious yet determined look in his eyes.

However, rather than watch the event, Darton turned around and retreated deeper within the arena. He walked to a more secluded part of it that no normal citizen would go to, approaching a certain mural that the public wouldn't normally see. This mural depicted a dragon descending from the sky and toward a city, breathing fire toward a wizard, who used his hands and magic to control and manipulate the flames. And standing in front and in-between both of them, with his sword held up high, was the Dark Knight Sparda himself.

'The Grand Magic Games.' Darton thought to himself as he gazed at the mural. 'Those that know history know that long ago, they went by another name. The Dragon King Festival. A feast of dragons, demons, men, and sorcery.'

Done.

Well this chapter turned out to be longer than I thought, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. In addition to the canon event of Naval Battle, we got the origins of God Slayer Magic, which was never explained in the canon Fairy Tail. Here, it was invented by Mundus, who was inspired by Dragon Slayer Magic to create his own variety, but its power comes at a grave price.
As for how Sherria was able to learn it, I plan to go into detail about that later in this arc. I also plan on explaining the origins of Devil Slayer Magic at a different arc later in the story, so don't worry about that.

And yes, Sapphire has her own Exceed partner. An OC of mine, a yellow female Exceed named Amarilla (which is Spanish for 'yellow').

It also seems that Kurenai was able to talk Milliana, Wally, and Sho out of taking revenge against Jellal. Although Kagura... she still seems to have her eyes set on it. You'll see how things go with her later on in this arc.

While things weren't that much different in regard to the Naval Battles (aside from Jenny having my own original suit of armor), mostly with Minerva torturing Lucy. However, despite that, Lucy was still able to push herself and Minerva out of the arena, ending the event with a draw and scoring nine points. Though she technically got first place when Minerva attacked Lucy outside of the ring, resulting in her team getting nearly half their points taken away. On that note, I really liked writing that stand-off between Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, way more tense than how the canon went. And I especially loved it when Vergil put Minerva in her place in the end. (Note: He would have stepped in to stop Minerva the second she attacked Lucy outside the arena, but Dante just happened to beat him to it, with Natsu right behind him).

Now we got our six-person team for Fairy Tail consisting of Dante, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Gajeel and Laxus.

And don't worry Nero-fans who may be upset that he didn't make the cut for the team. Remember later in this arc after Day 4 when the team gets a slight roster change due to certain events? Maybe we'll see something there. Hint, hint. ;)

Here is the current placing for the participating teams in the Grand Magic Games following the Naval Battle…

*First Place – Fairy Tail– 41 points

*Second Place – Sabertooth/Mermaid Heel – 39 points each

*Fourth Place – Lamia Scale – 25 points

*Fifth Place – Blue Pegasus – 20 points

*Sixth Place – Quatro Puppy – 13 points

And yes, we'll be having a three-on-three match with Dante, Natsu, and Gajeel against Vergil, Sting, and Rogue at the end of Day 4. I know many of you want Dante to fight Vergil one-on-one, but trust me… I have a plan that I'm certain will satisfy everyone. But first things first, we got the other two battles with Blue Pegasus against Quatro Puppy, and Lamia Scale versus Mermaid Heel, and I've got special plans for them.

Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. I love you guys.