After seeing that the examiner standing ahead was Gildarts, Lucy, who had been so confident in her luck, nearly had her resolve shattered.
This was the worst-case scenario she had envisioned. Bar none.
Setting aside the extremely low-probability "Quiet" path, if she had encountered competitors like Natsu, Gray, or Elfman, they were certainly strong, but they all had weaknesses. She would have had a chance in a fight.
Even against the high-difficulty "Intense Combat" paths, facing Chase-nii, Mira-nee, or Erza, she could at least struggle a bit. After all, they were people she knew very well. She knew their magic and fighting styles inside and out.
But against Gildarts, the guild's strongest mage, Lucy had very little intelligence.
She knew nothing about his fighting style, the rhythm of his magic usage, his burst power cap, or anything else!
The only thing she knew for sure was that his Crash magic was Terrifyingly strong, with almost no weaknesses to exploit!
Wait...
Weaknesses?
Suddenly, Lucy remembered a key piece of information she had accidentally overheard from Macao and Wakaba during their idle chatter. The despairing glimmer in her beautiful eyes instantly lit up. A fervent fighting spirit ignited.
If her opponent was Gildarts, using that move... maybe she could do it!
"Oh? I thought you'd give up the moment you saw me. Not bad. I like that look in your eyes," Gildarts said, noticing the shift in Lucy's demeanor. A hint of interest appeared on his lazy face. "As a reward, Lucy, I'll allow you to make the first move."
"Hehe. I won't hold back then, Gildarts!"
Lucy didn't hesitate. She took a step forward, raised her head, and puffed out her chest, looking directly into Gildarts's eyes, which were cold yet Arrogant.
The already tense air became even more taut.
Was it about to start? Lucy's fight against Gildarts!
Éclair's breathing quickened. Her first time engaging in this kind of direct mage battle, her eyes went wide. She clearly didn't want to miss any of the intense action that might follow.
Momon by her feet also swallowed nervously. Though it was uncertain if he even had such a thing, he did indeed make the corresponding motion.
The tense atmosphere didn't last long. After a few seconds, Lucy, having been granted the first move, acted!
The blonde girl raised her hand, brushing aside the hair falling over her forehead, revealing her delicate, cute face. Then, she pressed her arms down, arched her back, and stuck out her chest and hips.
She struck the classic Weekly Sorcerer magazine cover girl sexy pose.
"Kind mister, please~ Pretty please just let me pass~" Lucy cooed, batting her eyelashes at Gildarts.
Her magic was flawless. But her personality had obvious flaws.
The card nerd wouldn't go easy on a girl. But Gildarts, apparently, was a super old pervert on the same level as the master. Surely he couldn't resist the charm of a beautiful young girl like her!
Ding~
Pink hearts emerged from her long lashes, drifting toward Gildarts with an ambiguous arc.
Éclair, watching with anticipation: "..."
Momon, too nervous to breathe: "..."
Gildarts, who had been preparing to show off a bit: "..."
His tattered cape fluttered, violently crushing the drifting hearts.
Gildarts, now with dead fish eyes, answered very bluntly. "No."
"Pfft! Rejected so quickly? That's way too fast!!"
Humiliated that her seduction had been ignored, Lucy immediately collapsed to her knees, propping herself up with her hands, full of resentment. "Come to think of it, it didn't work the previous few times either..."
"Has my charm really dropped to the point where it doesn't even work on admittedly old perverts?! Aaahhh!"
"Lucy... you haven't been completing your requests like this, have you?" Éclair said, the light fading from her eyes.
For a moment, the four-hundred-year-old Phoenix Priestess suddenly felt incredibly stupid for having looked forward to the work of a mage.
"This is terrible. Hey, Lucy, maybe we should just go back?" Momon said, turning around to start packing.
Aside from the sheer embarrassment, he was more afraid that Lucy would corrupt Éclair.
"No, no, you guys listen to my excu—listen to my explanation! When facing an invincible opponent, you have to try every possible means that might work," Lucy said, frantically waving her arms, forcefully trying to save face. "Yeah! That's right! I learned this from Chase-nii!"
At that very moment, Chase, waiting in his own exam area for challengers: Achoo~!
"Oh, right! I still have a second trump card that can't lose!"
Lucy's eyes darted around. Her fighting spirit quickly rekindled. She rapidly pulled out a Celestial Spirit key from her waist.
Seeing her adopt a posture that suggested she was about to fight seriously, Éclair and Momon decided to believe in her one more time.
The atmosphere grew tense again.
"Open! Gate of Gemini, Gemini!"
Ding dong~
The golden radiance of the Celestial Spirit magic array illuminated the entire area. But what emerged wasn't the simply-drawn Jamie and Mini, but a wo
man with black curly hair wearing a bikini—Cana.
"Planning to use Gildarts's daughter to make him comply? How sinister, Lucy," Momon said with disgust.
Éclair was disappointed again. Silently, she turned to help pack.
No matter how much she looked like her, she wasn't the same person. A trick so obvious even an ordinary person could see through it. How could it possibly fool the guild's strongest mage?
"Dad, can you come here for a second?"
"Cana-chan! I've missed you so much after a week~"
"Sun's Explosive Flame!"
CRASH!!
A Tarot card spun. A pillar of fire exploded, engulfing Gildarts as he unguardedly trotted toward "Cana."
The corner of Éclair's mouth twitched. Wait... he actually fell for it?!
"Nice! Cana really is Gildarts's biggest weakness!" Lucy cheered.
Aside from the limitation that the copied target couldn't be stronger than the Celestial Spirit mage themselves, Gemini's ability had another flaw: it could only store two targets at a time. More than two would overwrite them.
After boarding the ship, Lucy had secretly used Gemini to copy two targets: Natsu and Cana.
Natsu was an obvious choice. He was strong. Copying him ensured she could hold her own against any other participant.
As for Cana... she had been preparing to use her against Chase. Among all the participants, only Cana's card skills could force Chase to get serious, giving her an opening to launch a surprise attack!
Who would have thought that her preparation for the card nerd would end up being so useful here?
"See? I told you, my luck is super good!"
Lucy was very glad she had copied Natsu first, who had later been overwritten by "Evergreen," and not Cana.
"A very precise judgment. Even knowing she's not real, I still can't bring myself to attack 'Cana.' But Lucy..." Gildarts appeared behind her like a ghost. "...tanking the damage and then turning you to powder... that's still pretty easy for me."
Since when?!
Lucy's hair stood on end. She spun around. All she saw was the blinding white light of a magical array blooming.
"Crash."
The calm, low voice fell. Crash magic instantly liberated, unleashing a destructive energy shock!
The shock sent Éclair and Momon flying. It kicked up clouds of dust in Lucy's area.
"Sorry. I'm not very good at holding back, you know?" Gildarts let out a sound of surprise.
***
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