The stadium was a sea of screaming fans, the air thick with the smell of roasted meat and spilled ale. The first two matches had been a stunning display of efficiency and tactical genius (on Levy's part, at least). Now, the semi-finals were set.
It was Team Strauss vs. Team Erza, and Team Blake vs. Team Thunder Legion. The crowd was about to get exactly what they'd paid for: a clash of titans.
"ALRIGHT, YOU BRATS!" Makarov's voice, magically amplified, boomed over the stadium. "YOU'VE HAD YOUR APPETIZERS! IT'S TIME FOR THE MAIN COURSE! FIRST UP, THE SEMI-FINAL EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR! THE DEMON VERSUS THE QUEEN! TEAM STRAUSS VERSUS TEAM ERZA!"
A roar went up. This wasn't just a match; it was a legend. The rivalry between Mirajane and Erza was the stuff of guild history.
Team Strauss vs. Team Erza
Team Strauss: Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna, and Reedus Jonah.
Team Erza: Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, and Lucy Heartfilia.
The two teams took the field, the tension between the two lead women a palpable, electric force.
"Alright, team!" Erza barked, her authority in full effect. "This is a tactical battle. Gray, your sole duty is to defend our crystal. Ice-Make: Fortress. Lucy, you will summon Loke and Sagittarius to act as long-range defense with Gray. Natsu, you are with me. We will be the spear. We punch through Elfman, and we shatter their crystal. ABSOLUTELY. NO. DEVIATIONS."
"AYE!" Lucy and Gray yelled.
"Whatever. Let's just punch stuff!" Natsu roared.
On the other side, Mirajane smiled sweetly. "Oh, my. Erza-chan is so... loud." She turned to her team. "Elf-niichan, you know what to do. Be a big, manly wall. Lisanna, you're on interference. Keep their support busy. Reedus, please stay back and draw us some defenses. I'll... supervise."
"You're not fighting, sister?!" Elfman boomed.
"We'll see," Mira giggled, her eyes locked on Erza's.
"SEMI-FINALS... BEGIN!" Makarov roared.
The field exploded.
"ICE-MAKE: FORTRESS!" Gray slammed his palms down, and a massive, multi-turreted castle of ice erupted around their crystal.
"OPEN, GATE OF THE LION! LOKE!" Lucy summoned, and her spirit, now back with Layla but loaned to her for "training," appeared in his suit.
"I'll protect you, my dear Lucy!"
"NATSU, CHARGE!" Erza requipped into her Purgatory Armor and thundered forward.
"I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu charged alongside her.
"NOW, ELF-NIICHAN!"
"OOOOOH! A MANLY CHARGE!" Elfman went straight to his Full-Body Take Over: Beast Soul, becoming a towering purple monster. He met Erza and Natsu head-on. The resulting BOOM of their collision shook the entire stadium.
"Animal Soul: Bird!" Lisanna took to the air, her form shifting as she flew at high speed, trying to flank Team Erza's crystal.
"Loke, stop her!" Lucy commanded.
"With pleasure!" Loke leaped, his "Regulus" light-magic clashing with Lisanna's aerial attacks.
The battlefield was a perfect, chaotic split. Erza was in a brutal slugfest with Elfman, her Purgatory Armor tanking his monstrous blows. "You've grown strong, Elfman!" she grunted, blocking a 'Beast Arm' smash.
"A MAN IS ALWAYS GROWING!" he roared back.
Loke and Lisanna were in a high-speed dogfight over the ice fortress.
But the real problem was on the ground.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu blasted Elfman's side, trying to "help" Erza. The fire was deflected off the Beast's thick hide and flew wide, sizzling as it clipped the edge of Gray's Ice Fortress.
"WATCH IT, CINDER-BRAIN!" Gray shouted from the ramparts. "You almost hit the crystal!"
"SHUT UP, DROOPY-EYES!" Natsu shot back, dodging a swipe from Elfman. "I was helping! I'm taking this big guy down!"
"You call that helping?! You're just in the way!"
"OH YEAH?! FIGHT ME, YOU POPSICLE!"
"YOU'RE ON!"
In an instant, Natsu completely abandoned the fight with Elfman and launched himself at Gray. The two rivals started fighting each other, fire and ice exploding, their brawl crashing into the side of their own defensive fortress.
"STOP IT, YOU IMBECILES!" Erza roared, her head vein pulsing. She was so distracted by her own teammates' idiocy that Elfman managed to land a solid blow, sending her skidding back.
"My, my, Erza..."
The sweet, lilting voice cut through the battlefield. Mirajane was standing on her side of the field, her hands clasped, a look of mock pity on her face. "Having trouble controlling your team? Tsk, tsk. Some team leader you are. I guess some things never change."
The entire stadium went silent. The real fight had just begun.
Erza slowly turned her head, her bangs shadowing her eyes. The old, terrifying "Demon" Erza, the one who ruled the guild with an iron fist, surfaced.
"...Mira... jane..."
"Yes, Erza?" Mira's smile was pure, saccharine poison.
"YOU WANT TO MOCK ME?!" Erza roared, requipping instantly. "HEAVEN'S WHEEL ARMOR: BLUMENBLATT!" A storm of swords shot not at Elfman, but straight at Mirajane.
The smile finally dropped from Mira's face. "Oh, dear."
BOOM!
The attack exploded, but when the smoke cleared, Mirajane was hovering, her form shifted, her clothes torn, her eyes glowing red. Satan Soul: Sitri.
"It's been a long time, Erza," Mira's voice echoed, now a demonic bass. "I was hoping you'd want to play."
The two rivals clashed in the center of the field, ignoring their teams, ignoring the crystals, ignoring everything. The ground shattered. A whirlwind of demonic energy and pure sword-magic tore the stadium apart. The crowd was going insane. This was worth the price of admission.
"THIS IS AMAZING!" Makarov wept with joy. "THE PASSION! THE POWER! THE RIVALRY!"
While the two goddesses of Fairy Tail were having their world-ending battle, and Natsu and Gray were having their world-stupid one, the other teammates were left in the chaos.
"Uh... sister?" Lisanna asked, landing, her fight with Loke forgotten.
"This is... not good for my painting!" Reedus yelped, trying to dodge stray shockwaves.
On the other side, Lucy and Loke were staring at the brawl.
"What... what do we do?" Lucy asked.
"We... defend the crystal?" Loke offered, just as a stray "Satanic Blast" from Mira vaporized a new hole in their ice wall.
It was Elfman who saw the opening. While everyone was watching the spectacle, he charged. He wasn't subtle. He was a giant purple monster running full-tilt at the distracted enemy's base.
"GRAY! NATSU! STOP HIM!" Lucy screamed.
Natsu and Gray, in the middle of a headlock, looked up. "Huh?"
"Oh, right! The crystal!"
Elfman was almost upon them.
"Ice-Make: Lance!" Gray shouted.
"Fire Dragon's Claw!" Natsu yelled.
They both attacked... but they were still aimed at each other.
BOOM!
Their two attacks collided in mid-air, right in front of Elfman. The resulting explosion, a chaotic, undirected blast of steam and shrapnel, was massive. It blasted Elfman backward... but it also blasted their own Ice Fortress.
The explosion ripped through the already-damaged wall and slammed directly into Team Erza's own crystal.
There was a horrible, splintering CRACK.
Then, with a sound like a dying glacier, the red crystal shattered.
Silence.
Erza and Mirajane, still locked in their epic clash, froze.
Natsu and Gray, still tangled up, just blinked.
Blake's voice, hesitant for the first time, came over the speakers. "Uh... by the rules... Team Erza's crystal... is broken. The winner... is Team Strauss."
The stadium was quiet, then burst into confused applause. Elfman, Lisanna, and Reedus cheered. Mira reverted to her base form, a perfectly sweet, innocent smile on her face. "Oh, dear. What a shame, Erza. You lost."
Erza's head veins started to bulge. She looked at Mira's mocking, angelic face. She looked at the smoking crater where her crystal used to be. She looked at Natsu and Gray, who were just getting up, dusting themselves off.
"Man, that was a close one, huh, Gray?" Natsu said.
"Yeah, but we totally would've won if—"
They both looked up and saw Erza, her entire body shaking, her Purgatory Armor requipping.
"Erza is very angry about the loss."
"NATSUUUUUUUU!" she roared, her voice an octave of pure, unholy rage. "GRAAAAAAAAY!"
"AAAAH! IT WAS HIS FAULT!" they both screamed, pointing at each other.
"I... DON'T... CARE!"
She started chasing Natsu and Gray around the stadium, her massive dark sword swinging, so she could unleash her frustration.
The crowd roared with laughter. The first semi-final was over.
Match 4: Team Blake vs. Team Thunder Legion
The field was (mostly) repaired. The mood was high.
"HO HO HO!" Makarov cackled into the mic. "Wasn't that a wonderful display of teamwork! BUT NOW! IT'S THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! THE CLASH OF THE TITANS! The Lightning Dragon, LAAAAXUS! VERSUS The Black Blade, BLAAAAKE CORVUS!"
Team Thunder Legion took the field, all business. Laxus was smirking, his arms crossed.
Team Blake entered. Blake looked as calm as ever. Cana was taking a "pre-game" swig from a small flask.
"THIS," Makarov roared, "IS THE REAL SHOWDOWN!"
The huddles began.
"This is a joke," Laxus grunted. "Freed. Jutsu Shiki around our crystal. Total defense. Bickslow, Evergreen. You go with me. We're ending this in thirty seconds."
"Yes, Laxus!" the Legion chanted.
Blake's huddle was different.
"Okay, Max, Vijeeter. You two are the wall. Your only job is to guard our crystal. Laxus is fast, but Freed and the puppets are the real threat to the objective. Sand walls, speed dances, whatever it takes. Just keep them off the crystal."
"Right!" they both said, nervous but determined.
Blake turned to Cana. "Cana, you're with—"
"Nope," Cana said, cutting him off and capping her flask. "Wrong. You're the big, scary guy. Laxus is the other big, scary guy. You two are contractually obligated to punch each other in the face for the crowd."
"Cana, this isn't—"
"I'm going to attack their crystal," she stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Freed's traps are just... writing. I'm good at reading. You just go play with your boyfriend."
"He's not my..." Blake sighed. It was pointless. "Fine. Just... don't get yourself turned to stone."
"Please," Cana scoffed. "I'm too pretty to be a statue."
"FINAL SEMI-FINAL... BEGIN!" Makarov bellowed.
The match started exactly as everyone expected.
Blake and Laxus charged at each other at the same instant.
A fist of pure, black, Conqueror's-infused Haki met a fist of crackling, golden Dragon Slayer Lightning.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The shockwave from their collision was so powerful that it blew the food vendors' stalls over. The two rivals were locked in the center of the stadium, a tornado of dust, lightning, and pure power erupting around them.
"ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL!" Makarov wept into the mic. "TRUE POWER! MY REPAIR BILLS ARE GOING TO BE ASTRONOMICAL! HO HO HO!"
On the sidelines, the other battles began.
"Babies, go! Get their crystal!" Bickslow cackled, sending his totems flying.
"Stone Eyes!" Evergreen yelled, her gaze locking onto Max.
"Sand-Make: Dome!" Max roared, instantly encasing himself, Vijeeter, and their crystal in a massive, spinning dome of sand. Bickslow's totems and Evergreen's magic beams pinged uselessly off the spinning shield.
"It's... it's working!" Vijeeter cheered from inside.
"Just keep it up!" Max grunted, the strain clear on his face.
While all eyes were on the S-Class brawl and the defensive sand-bubble, Cana was just... walking. She casually strolled across the battlefield, humming, her barrel under her arm, completely ignoring the chaos.
She arrived at the Thunder Legion's crystal. It was surrounded by a perfect, glowing, 30-foot circle of Freed's "Dark Écriture" runes. Freed himself stood guard, his rapier drawn.
"This far, and no further, Cana," Freed said, his voice polite but firm. "My Jutsu Shiki is absolute. You cannot pass this line."
Cana stopped, studying the barrier. "Wow, Freed. That's... a lot of writing. You've got great penmanship."
"Thank you," Freed said stiffly. "Now, surrender."
"Nah," Cana said, taking a swig from her barrel. "See, you're right. I can't pass the barrier. It's designed to stop people and magic from crossing." She grinned. "But... what if the ground it's on... just... goes away?"
Freed's eyes widened. "What?"
Cana put her hand on the rune barrier. She wasn't casting a spell. She was channeling a lesson. A lesson from her dad. It wasn't the subtle, all-encompassing Crush of Gildarts. It was a simple, focused, non-lethal pulse.
She channeled her Crush magic, just a flicker of it, into the earth.
Thump.
The ground under Freed's beautiful, perfect, absolute barrier shattered. The entire 30-foot circle of runes collapsed into a small, dusty sinkhole, the magic dispersing instantly.
"Impossible!" Freed yelped, stumbling back. "My runes!"
"Too slow, pretty-boy," Cana said, dusting off her hands. She was now standing inside the "impenetrable" barrier, right next to the crystal.
"WHAT'S THIS?!" Makarov screamed into the mic. "WHILE BLAKE AND LAXUS ARE TRYING TO SEND EACH OTHER INTO THE NEXT DIMENSION, CANA HAS BYPASSED FREED'S ULTIMATE DEFENSE!"
Blake and Laxus stopped fighting, turning in unison, their eyes wide.
"CANA?!"
Cana just gave Blake a saucy wink. She looked at the massive, glowing yellow crystal.
"Right," she said to herself. She drew a single card from her deck.
"Card Magic: The Sleeping Giant!"
The card glowed, imbuing her arm with a heavy, potent, physical magic. She took a deep breath, took a huge swig of beer, and reeled her fist back.
She roared, a very unladylike sound, and punched the crystal with all her might.
KRA-KOOOOOOM!
The crystal shattered into a million pieces.
The match was over.
CANA HAD WON THE GAME.
Silence. Max and Vijeeter, inside their sand-dome, peeked out. Bickslow's babies fell to the ground. Laxus just... stared, his mouth open, his pride completely, comically, and utterly deflated by a drunk Card Mage.
Makarov, after a moment of stunned silence, threw his hat in the air. "I... I DON'T BELIEVE IT! I'VE SEEN IT ALL! THE WINNER IS TEAM BLAKE! AND THE MVP IS CANA ALBERONA!"
The crowd went insane. Cana, chugging her barrel, struck a pose on the rubble. Blake just stood in the middle of the field, his head in his hands, and started to laugh—a deep, proud, defeated laugh.
The main event had been a total decoy.
The final was set: Team Strauss vs. Team Blake.