Gravity crushed the streets, and ice crystals shattered entire rows of houses.
The battle between Kagura and Lyon was both breathtaking and magnificent.
Ice Make spells appeared one after another, while Kagura's sword techniques seamlessly combined offense and defense. Ice and gravity collided again and again, each clash sending shockwaves through the ruined streets.
After a prolonged and bitter struggle, Lyon finally made a fatal misstep.
His footing slipped, his magic faltered, and he fell heavily to the ground, unable to rise again.
Kagura exhaled deeply, steadying herself. She had won, but it was far from easy.
Just then, a faint disturbance reached her ears.
She looked up sharply, and was met with a blinding white light.
Instinctively, Kagura raised her arm to shield her eyes and leaped backward, retreating a considerable distance.
But it was already too late.
Sting descended from above, his body wreathed in white light, and unleashed a Dragon Slayer breath attack at point-blank range.
The white blast engulfed Kagura completely.
Before she could recover upon landing, Sting rushed forward and drove a punch into her body.
Only when Kagura collapsed to the ground, white stigmata of confinement spreading from the point of impact, did Sting release his Dragon Force.
He turned away and began moving toward the direction where the most intense magic power was concentrated.
On the commentary stand, Chapati stared at the scoreboard and the remaining contestants.
"The situation is becoming very clear," he said. "There's no way Sting can defeat ten people from two teams, right?"
"Hm..." Yajima replied calmly. "It's about time to congratulate Fairy Tail. Before the match, some people worried that if Fairy Tail's two teams cooperated, their advantage would be overwhelming. But now, they've already secured first and second place fighting independently. Cooperation isn't even necessary."
Pumpkin Man stiffened slightly. "Y-yes, Pumpkin."
But Sting had not given up.
If he had any other choice, he wouldn't want to carry out the young lady's plan. But for Lector's sake, he had no choice.
Even if it meant resorting to sneak attacks, he had to score as many points as possible, at the very least, he needed to defeat several members of Fairy Tail.
At this moment, Fairy Tail's two teams were already clashing head-on.
At Gajeel's command, the Rift Herald charged straight toward Erza.
Juvia unhesitatingly chose Gray as her opponent. Her expression was serious as she raised her hands, water magic surging violently.
"Gray-sama! This is a spell I can only use after unlocking my Second Magic Source!" she cried.
"Accept Juvia's love, Love Tsunami!"
"What kind of ridiculous name is that?!" Gray shouted as he tried desperately to freeze the incoming wave.
Originally, the two were evenly matched in magical power.
But then Wendy intervened.
"All-attribute ability boost!"
A brilliant light enveloped Juvia.
The already massive tsunami surged again, instantly overwhelming Gray's ice. The frozen street shattered in an instant as Gray, and the ice itself, were swept away together.
"Waaah...damn it!" Gray's unwilling shout faded into the distance.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Gray," Wendy said apologetically.
At the same time, Gajeel exchanged several blows with Cana.
The Iron Dragon Slayer quickly retreated, shaking his hand irritably. "Tch, since when did your punches hurt this much?"
Cana casually reached into her bag, pulled out a wine bottle, then, after a moment of impressive restraint, put it back. Instead, she drew a few cards and smiled.
"Don't forget whose daughter I am. Underestimate me, and you might get shattered."
On the other side, Erza blocked the Rift Herald's charge with her twin swords, sliding several meters backward from the impact.
She almost re-equipped her Purgatory Armor to cleave it apart, but then paused.
That thing might still be useful after the match.
Instead, Erza leaped upward, stepped on the Rift Herald's head, and flipped over it. While hanging upside down in mid-air, she slashed its back twice with precise, powerful strikes, then landed gracefully beside Cana.
The Rift Herald vanished on the spot.
Those slashes had likely struck its core, its "Rift Eye."
"Two against three," Cana remarked casually. "That's not great for us. I was hoping to clock out early."
"No, it's not," Gray's voice suddenly rang out from the end of the street.
"It's three against three!"
Everyone turned.
A soaking-wet, completely naked man came sprinting toward them at full speed.
Wendy yelped softly and immediately covered her eyes.
Juvia cupped her face, struggling to rein in her emotions for the sake of victory.
Another voice rang out from the far end of the street behind Cana:
"It's five against three! I'm fired up!"
Lucy waved enthusiastically at Erza. "We're here too!"
Gajeel's expression immediately soured. He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take on five opponents with just three people.
It might have been possible against other guilds, but these were his own guildmates, and every single one of them was a problem.
Seeing Team A fully assembled, Wendy grew flustered. "W-What should we do?"
Juvia suggested cautiously, "Maybe we should retreat and rendezvous with Mr. Rhodes and the others?"
"No way!" Natsu shot forward instantly.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
"Iron Dragon Rod!" Gajeel charged to meet him. "They don't look like they're going to let us escape anyway!"
Juvia glanced back, and saw that Erza had already moved behind them, re-equipping her Sea Empress Armor.
The situation looked extremely unfavorable for Team B.
Then, five golden lightning bolts slammed down from the sky.
Erza, Gray, and Cana reacted instantly, retreating just in time to avoid being hit.
"Huh?!" Lucy yelped, instinctively twisting sideways and lifting one leg, but the lightning wasn't aimed at her head at all. It struck harmlessly at her feet.
The only one actually hit was Natsu, who had been in the middle of activating Fire Dragon's Wing Attack.
Even so, the lightning was weak, it merely made his hair stand on end.
"Laxus?"
There was no need to ask who it was, but such a mild lightning strike felt completely out of character.
Natsu immediately spotted Laxus on a nearby rooftop, pointed angrily, and shouted,
"What was that tickle attack, Laxus?! I didn't feel a thing! And you couldn't even hit Lucy!"
Lucy muttered under her breath, "Isn't it good that it didn't hurt? And what do you mean 'couldn't even hit Lucy'?"
Laxus jumped down, landing squarely in front of his teammates.
"It was just a greeting," he said calmly. "Our Team B captain says there's no need to keep fighting."
"Captain?" Erza paused, then her eyes sharpened. "Rhodes?"
She quickly realized what that meant.
The First Master had somehow already cut off communications, so Erza didn't know Team B's exact score, but if Rhodes was saying the fight was over, then it meant…
There weren't enough points left to change the outcome.
"Hey!"
Rhodes had spent about a minute considering a dramatic entrance, then decided it wasn't worth the effort. He simply walked out from the side street.
Natsu stared at him and demanded loudly, "What do you mean 'no fighting'? Are you surrendering?!"
"Surrender?" Rhodes raised an eyebrow, then smiled.
"We've already won."
Seeing Natsu's confused expression, he continued patiently:
"Our Team B scored 20 points in this match. Added to our previous score, that brings us to 94 points.
"Your Team A scored 11 points today. Added to your earlier total, that puts you at 73 points."
Rhodes spread his hands slightly.
"Now, the only people still on the field are our two teams, and Sting from Sabertooth.
"Even if you add up every remaining point, including your own, the total only comes to 19 points."
He smiled, calm and absolute.
"So, the match is over."