"Whoa, you actually dodged that Fairy Bomb attack? Not bad at all!"
Evergreen twirled her fan with graceful flair, but her expression was all smug arrogance—like one of those classic villains straight out of a storybook.
Virgo was a pro at fighting, even without locking eyes on her opponent. She could read their moves from the shadows on the ground or subtle body twitches. But with Evergreen up in the air, glancing up just meant risking a direct hit.
"Princess, why can't we look at her eyes?"
Lucy explained, "If you make eye contact with her, you'll get turned to stone."
Virgo paused for a second, then said, "This enemy's magic is a real pain, Princess. Maybe you could try..."
Lucy's eyes lit up with hope. "Try what? Do you have a plan?"
"Punish me for it!"
"Give me something useful!!"
Right then, another wave of fairy magic came rushing in: "Fairy Machine Gun!"
The two of them looked up instinctively, and there in the sky, centered on Evergreen, a swarm of magic-infused needle-like bombs had formed. The sheer scale was jaw-dropping—dense and endless, blotting out the sky as they all hurtled straight toward Lucy.
Virgo didn't hesitate; she scooped Lucy up and bolted, moving so fast the machine-gun bombs couldn't keep pace. But the rush of air they kicked up was intense, flipping Lucy's skirt right up and giving everyone an unintended show.
It was over in a flash, a beautiful, breathtaking moment.
Normally, with the other two matches featuring bigger names, most of the crowd's attention was elsewhere—this fight wasn't getting much love. But as the saying goes, beauty's everywhere if you know where to look; big crowds have all kinds of people; and fans' eyes are sharp as ever...
Anyway, point is, some spectators had that eye for beauty.
They "happened" to catch the scene, their eyes turning to hearts in an instant. Then they "accidentally" blurted it out, and within seconds, whispers spread. Before long, a bunch of guys were shifting their gaze from the flashy magic battles next door to the screens showing this one, buzzing with chatter.
"Isn't that girl the new Fairy Tail wizard?"
"She's... she's so cute..."
"That was thrilling!"
"I saw it! It was... white... white..."
"Hey, this is a legit competition, right? Yeah?"
Lucy, in the middle of all the chaos, had no clue about any of this. As for Virgo—whether she knew or did it on purpose? Who can say.
After the machine-gun barrage fizzled out, Virgo set Lucy down. "Princess, I'm heading back to the Celestial Spirit World for now."
And with a poof, she was gone.
"Huh?! You're just ditching me like that?!" Lucy's eyes welled up with panicked tears.
A fresh assault kicked off—bombs flying with both numbers and speed, closing in on Lucy fast. She bolted in another direction, desperate to shake them off.
Behind her, explosions erupted, followed by a chain reaction of blasts. A powerful gust of wind pressure slammed into her from behind, but it died down quick.
Confused, she glanced back and saw the bombs, under Evergreen's control, still hot on her trail!
Lucy broke down crying, picking up speed. "Help!!!"
Boom, boom, boom!
In the end, Lucy couldn't outrun the magic bombs. The explosions roared on without end, whipping up wild winds that surged outward, even tossing Evergreen's sleeves around like crazy.
Even her teammates couldn't stomach a move like that. Droy piped up, "Hey, come on... isn't that attack a bit too much?"
Evergreen hovered in the air, the decorations on her outfit making her look like a real fairy. "She's the enemy right now—my moves are none of your business!"
"How can you say that?! Even in a match, that's not the kind of magic you use on a fellow guildmate!!"
Ignoring her teammate's protests, Evergreen turned her focus back to the battlefield. Smoke billowed everywhere, dead silent.
The ground was a cratered mess from the bombs, but no sign of Lucy.
"Where'd she go?" Evergreen scanned around and quickly spotted something off—in the heart of the blast zone, there was a pit about half a meter wide.
Suddenly, a hand popped out from the hole, pink guild mark and all. Then the other hand joined in, and with a big heave, Lucy climbed out, heart pounding. "That was close!"
"Talk about a close call, Princess!"
It was Virgo, back just in the nick of time—and she'd dug a hole to shield them from the blast.
"Whew, good thing you made it. But... why'd you bail like that earlier?"
Virgo pulled something from her pocket. "I popped back to the Celestial Spirit World for this. Should help you out."
"What's that?"
"I borrowed it from Aquarius—wait, no, from the Telescope constellation. Since her magic needs eye contact, these specs should do the trick."
In Virgo's hand? A pair of glasses!
Lucy lit up with joy. "Nice one, Virgo! Now we don't have to sweat that petrification spell!"
Evergreen, of course, clocked the glasses on their faces and smirked. "Think a little eyewear's gonna let you win? How naive!"
Lucy shot a look at Virgo.
"Don't worry, Princess!" Virgo said confidently. "Her hand-to-hand's not that great. Without fretting over the stone gaze, I can totally take her!"
"For real?"
"If I can't pull it off, go ahead and punish me all you want!"
Just then, an announcement rang out: "The red and blue teams' match is decided—congrats to the red team on the win!"
Evergreen: "..."
Lucy: "..."
Virgo: "..."
"Princess, feel free to punish me now!"
Lucy just sighed in defeat. "Eh, forget it. Head back..."
...
Flash back a few minutes earlier...
When Gray got back near the crystal tower, he wasn't witnessing a magic spectacle—he was walking into a warrior's frenzy.
The red-and-white figure wielded dual swords, thrusting, slashing sideways, uppercutting, sweeping low—her swordplay flowing like water. The blue-and-black one swung his staff with both hands, striking forward, pulling back, curving left, spinning right—his polearm work seamless and fierce.
The ice pack Gray had been using for his swelling hit the ground with a plop. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "What the...? That's Mystogan? And he's fighting like this?"
In Gray's mind, Mystogan was the silent, brooding type with killer magic—oh wait, Kira mentioned earlier that Edolas folks don't have magic, so maybe he'd honed some staff skills instead?
"Man, Mystogan's no joke. Holding his own against Erza without spells for this long? Impressive..."
Clang!
Spotting Gray, the two synced up perfectly—swords and staff clashing, then using the momentum to leap back and catch their breath.
"Did Elfman lose?"
Mystogan let out a heavy breath. "Huff... You're up next."
Gray froze. Me vs. Erza? You trying to get me killed or what?
"What do you mean 'up next'? Mystogan, you..."
Mystogan turned away, murmuring, "My magic's useless against her. This is as far as I go."
"No, I meant—your staff, what's it made of? That sounded like metal clanging. It's metal? And you carry five on your back—aren't they heavy?"
Mystogan: "..."
He stared at Gray for two silent seconds, then just turned and backed off. Message clear: I'm beat. Tag-team time—you're on!
So, for this slim shot at victory, Gray had to take a beating, huh?
Gray hesitated big time.
Erza, on the other hand, was straightforward as ever. She swung her sword his way. "Come on, Gray!"
"Hey... hold up!"
Calling for a timeout? Yeah, that meant zilch to an amped-up Erza. She charged with her longsword, and about three meters out, she stomped hard, twisted on her calf, and launched into a spinning jump—sword slashing upward at an angle.
"Damn it! Ice-Make..."
With danger closing in, Gray had no choice but to fight back. His hands snapped to his waist on reflex, then yanked back as his right palm drew a massive ice blade like pulling a sword: "Ice-Make Sword!"
He slashed upward too, crossing with Erza's steel in mid-air with a sharp crack.
Both blades were razor-sharp, but the iron one had the edge—chipping a notch out of the ice sword. Shards of ice splintered off the tip, tiny bits scattering to the ground.
"Can I just forfeit?"
"You idiot—that could get us disqualified for cheating!"
She said it nicely, but with Gray's emotional radar, he heard it loud and clear: In your dreams!