Compared to Freed and Bickslow versus Levy and Gajeel, who had started fighting the moment they met, another "Battle" encounter was much more harmonious.
Or rather, very perverted.
"Aaahhh! Gray-sama! It's Gray-sama! Juvia's luck is just too good, isn't it?~"
Seeing her opponent was Gray, Juvia immediately lost her mind. Two hearts popped out of her eyes. She wiggled her hips and crawled toward him, her face full of obsession.
Before knowing who her opponent would be, she had already mentally prepared herself for a good fight. Even if she faced an active S-Class mage, she would give it her all and leave no regrets.
And now—
Well, that conviction remained unchanged. Her mind was entirely filled with "fighting" Gray-sama.
"Hey! We're competitors now! Stay away from me!"
Watching Juvia rapidly approach, Gray showed an expression of disgust mixed with fear. Goosebumps covered his entire body.
He kept backing away, afraid of being bumped by that swaying rear end.
"If it's Gray-sama, Juvia is willing to surrender unconditionally. And then get married—"
Juvia was completely lost in her own fantasy, showing no fighting spirit for a real fight.
As the assisting partners, Loke and Lisanna stood nearby, staring at each other.
"So... what exactly is going on here?" Lisanna asked.
"Let's wait until they finish being intimate," Loke said, adjusting his glasses.
"Th-that's what being intimate looks like?" Lisanna was greatly shocked.
Though she had witnessed such scenes countless times, hearing it described that way by Loke was still a bit beyond her comprehension.
Gray in Edolas was obsessed with Juvia, but when it came to the intensity of expressing affection, it couldn't compare to Juvia here at all!
"Come to think of it, Lisanna, you've really grown a lot during these two years you were gone," Loke said, looking at Lisanna with unmistakable emotion.
Unlike his appreciative gaze toward other beautiful girls, there was no "player" gleam in his eyes. He was surprisingly calm.
It wasn't that Lisanna wasn't pretty. It was just that he had once had a terrifying experience during his best days. He had merely glanced at Lisanna, and Mira, then the big sister of the guild, had beaten him into a pulp. Ever since, he had never dared to have any improper thoughts again.
"I never expected your true identity to be a Celestial Spirit, Loke. No wonder I didn't see you in Edolas."
"Haha, I owe it all to Lucy's help."
Just as the two, who had a fairly good relationship, were chatting leisurely, Gray's voice suddenly rang out. "Hey, Loke! Forget it. Get ready to fight!"
"Saying something like that while sitting on top of Juvia doesn't sound very convincing, you know," Lisanna said with a smile, pointing at Juvia, who was lying on the ground, smoke rising from her seven orifices.
"What?! When did that happen?!" Gray jumped back in shock.
Seeing Juvia about to come after him again, his expression immediately turned serious. He stopped her. "Enough, Juvia!"
"Didn't we agree earlier? We'd give it our all in the trial. If it ends so inexplicably without even fighting, I absolutely can't accept that!"
Hearing this, Juvia froze. She could clearly feel the strong fighting spirit in Gray's eyes, which looked nothing like a joke.
Among all the participants, as a guild rookie, her desire to become an S-Class mage was probably the lowest. Losing wouldn't affect her much. Especially since her opponent was the Gray-sama she adored, raising her hand in surrender would already be a super happy thing.
But at the same time, if it was Gray's request, she would respond with the utmost passion!
"I understand, Gray-sama. Juvia will use all her power to defeat you!"
"Heh. Bring it on!"
BOOM!
Having reached a consensus, the two simultaneously burst out their magic power. The clash of their powerful auras crushed the playful, light-hearted atmosphere, bringing a sense of oppressive urgency.
"At least things have finally returned to normal. But—" Lisanna pointed at the two who had, on a whim, taken off their clothes and were now completely exposed to each other. Her complaint was sharp. "—your timing is way too synchronized! Is this some kind of required procedure?!"
"More importantly, you should be worried about yourself, Lisanna. Though it goes against my principles, to fulfill my promise of helping Gray become S-Class, I won't go easy on you."
Loke stretched his muscles as he walked forward. Magic accumulated in his palms, emitting a blinding golden light.
Lisanna's expression changed slightly. A full-body Take Over array also lit up around her.
The battle between the two teams had officially begun!
Exam Area C, a dark underground passage.
Cana and Lily walked cautiously on the soft black soil.
"Geez. Isn't this passage a little too long? Are we there yet?!" Cana's hair was disheveled, her face covered in dust. She looked quite embarrassed.
"Could this be the 'Quiet' path, representing the one-ninth luck?" Lily asked in a deep voice.
Covered in mud, he looked around with police eyes.
After entering, they had encountered numerous traps: "Thousand Knives," "Giant Rolling Ball," "Spiked Pit," "Pink Giant Hammer," and so on.
Though they had barely managed to get through, they had been left nervous.
"No. If I'm not mistaken, we probably drew the absolute worst luck," Cana said with a heavy sigh.
Those strange traps earlier were quite distinctive. Some even had chibi-style Dark Magician Girl tags on them. It didn't take a genius to guess which examiner was waiting ahead.
"The absolute worst luck?" Lily started to ask Cana for details, but before he could finish, the view suddenly opened up.
Sunlight streamed through various cracks, refracting back and forth within the spacious cavern, lighting up the entire space.
A deep blue cape swayed gently. Ahead, on a throne built from black rock, stood a figure with a calm, solid aura.
His peculiar starfish hairstyle, fixed with gel styling, made it hard for Lily to immediately recognize who in the guild it was.
"To have made it through all those traps... not bad. But this is as far as you go, my foolish imouto—"
Hearing the noise, Chase slowly turned around. Seeing that the ones who had appeared were Cana and Lily, his prepared cool speech came to an abrupt halt. "Cana? It's you?"
As an examiner, he had made two somewhat rigged designs for the first stage of the S-Class Trial.
First, as an Easter egg, he had suggested that Erza guard Path E, intending to give Natsu, who would blindly choose E, a little shock. Gildarts had similarly chosen the letter of his name.
Second, he remembered that in the original story, the last remaining path no one wanted was Path C. Following normal plot development, Lucy should have been left behind by everyone.
If he waited here, there was a high probability he would encounter her.
Unfortunately, Chase hadn't anticipated that the silly Lucy would be so clever this time, using Gemini to hack Freed's array!
The resulting butterfly effect had led to this situation.
In a way, Lucy's cleverness had inadvertently increased her own difficulty.
Chase knew well how much she had grown. There might be a beating in store, but no matter what, he would have let her pass. Gildarts, however, was another story.
The same was true for Cana. If she had followed the script Chase had set, she would have encountered her father.
This move of Lucy's could be described as "one scheme, two beauties harmed" (herself included)!
Seeing Chase's disappointed expression, Cana, who had been looking worried, immediately became displeased. "You actually look disappointed? Bastard Chase! Don't underestimate me!"
"Ah? Sorry, sorry. I was just a little surprised."
Chase walked down from the throne, apologized with a smile, then looked at Lily beside Cana. "Your partner is Lily?"
"None of your business!" Cana was still upset.
Did this bastard know what kind of feelings and consciousness I had walking through that entire path?!
"Because a guildmate asked me, I couldn't refuse," Lily said, relatively calm. His attention was mostly on Chase's starfish hairstyle.
He wanted to ask why he had styled it so strangely, but felt the situation wasn't appropriate.
"I see. Pretty good choice, Cana," Chase said with a nod.
In the entire guild, in terms of combat ability and handling complex environments, Lily was indeed a very good partner choice.
As for Lucy's partner being Éclair, he had already learned that from Silent Magician.
"That goes without saying. I was absolutely going to become S—"
"So, how would you like to challenge me? Card game or combat?"
"Can't you let me finish talking before explaining the rules, you bastard?!"
Lily stared blankly at Cana, who was spitting at Chase. He murmured quietly, "S-so this woman's momentum is this strong?"
"By the way, this is an official trial. If you choose a card duel, we'll enter a 'Dark Game' match. Life points will be linked to magic power," Chase said, completely ignoring Cana's cursing, explaining the rules as if to himself. "Once your life points hit zero, your body will suffer from magic deficiency syndrome."
During his time on Tenrou Island, aside from idly wandering around with Mira and Ersa, he had also specially prepared a Dark Game arena.
It was originally meant to scare Lucy, but using it against Cana seemed pretty good too.
"Sounds like that would actually be to my advantage," Cana quickly understood the implications.
In a card duel with equal life points, with her magic power far lower than Chase's, she would certainly have a big advantage. But—
"Sorry, Chase."
Cana slid a few Tarot cards from her fingertips, her expression firm. "I choose to defeat you head-on!"
After reuniting with Gildarts, her obsession with becoming an S-Class mage had lessened. At least, she no longer cared about such an empty title.
In her current understanding, the guild's S-Class mages should be strong, reliable, and safe individuals like her bastard dad and Chase.
And an S-Class title won through a card game clearly wouldn't carry that meaning. When a comrade was in danger, the enemy wouldn't challenge you to a card game!
"I understand." Chase was momentarily stunned. Feeling the burning fighting spirit in Cana's eyes, he smiled. "Come! I accept your challenge!"
BOOM!
In response, dark gold magic power surged. A powerful gale swept across the area!
The terrifying momentum bore down on them with overwhelming force. Lily drew the magic sword from his back, capable of changing its size at will, instantly entering his muscular giant battle form.
At the same time, Cana threw her cards with all her might. "Summon Lightning's Fate!"
The cards flew out, lighting up a magical array. Then, several bolts of lightning struck down from above, forming a lightning cage that enveloped Chase.
The sound of thunder echoed through the entire cavern!
"At this level, the spell won't hold Chase for long. Now, Lily! Li—Lily?"
Cana had been about to have Lily, who excelled in close-quarters combat, tie up Chase to prevent him from activating his cards. But when she turned around, she saw the big guy covering his ears, crouching in a corner, trembling.
"A bit careless, aren't you? You didn't even know about your partner's weakness to thunder."
Chase swung the Right Arm of the Forbidden One, shattering the lightning. He walked leisurely through the broken arcs, shaking his head with an amused smile.
"What?!" Cana's eyes widened in disbelief. Her expression was exaggeratedly shocked.
She couldn't really be blamed for not knowing. Who would have thought that Lily, who seemed a hundred times more mature and composed than Happy, was also afraid of thunder?!
"S-sorry, Cana. I'll t-try to overcome it!"
"You can't even speak properly, can you?!"
Cana suddenly felt that choosing Lily hadn't been such a sure thing after all. Then she felt guilty for even thinking that. Lily had agreed to help without a second thought.
"Then, Sun's Explosive Flame, Emperor's Wind Blade!"
She shook her head forcefully, dispelling stray thoughts, and threw two more cards at the approaching Chase.
The blazing flames, fueled by the wind blades, burned even more fiercely. The two enhanced each other, completely sealing off Chase's escape routes from all directions.
Chase calmly revealed the card between his fingertips. "Magic Card: Cyclone."
WHOOSH!
A pitch-black tornado with magic nullification howled forth, instantly erasing Cana's chain of attacks.
The remnants of wind, fire, and lightning danced in the air. Seizing this opening, Lily, having finally recovered, leaped forward. His greatsword carved a sharp, swift arc.
The second before the slash hit, a Trap Card's glow suddenly lit up beneath Chase's feet.
Then, Lily lunged at nothing. His blade cut into a Magician's Hat with a big question mark on it.
"Gone? What kind of magic is this?" Lily looked with astonishment at the strange, empty hat he had just cut open.
"Magician's Hat. A Trap Card that can evade attacks."
As she explained, Cana spread out her divination cards, performed a quick reading, and pointed to the second hat on the left. "Chase is there!"
"Understood!"
Lily, coming from a military background, didn't hesitate. He reversed his grip and swung a diagonal slash.
CLANG!
The hat split open. The sound of steel colliding rang out.
Chase had used the Right Arm of the Forbidden One to firmly block the blade. At the same time, his legs, planted on the ground, suddenly struck. The bursting impact sent Lily stumbling backward.
And that wasn't all. Chase gave Lily no chance to catch his breath. He closed in, swinging his clenched Left Arm of the Forbidden One.
"Don't think so! Light Sword Seal! "
Three light swords stabbed down from different angles, forming a blockade that interrupted Chase's attack.
Lily leaped away.
"This is?" Chase was slightly taken aback, looking with surprise at the strangely familiar light swords.
"I got the inspiration from your card magic. Then, I added a little twist," Cana said, smiling as she raised her arm and lightly snapped her fingers.
CRASH!
The energy hidden within the three light swords was instantly liberated, exploding like powerful magical bombs in a sky-filling blaze!
The cavern trembled violently. Debris continuously fell, disappearing into the rolling smoke.
"Did we get him?" Lily asked in a deep voice.
"This is my highest damage card right now. Even if it doesn't work perfectly, it should at least cause a little—"
"Of course, I'm completely unharmed!"
Before she could finish, Chase, equipped with all four pieces of the Forbidden One, emerged from the smoke. Like a violent monster, carried by a tearing hurricane, he appeared before Cana and Lily, grabbing each by the head.
"Card Nerd: Meteor!"
The man and cat were forcibly slammed into the cavern wall, blasting out a shower of flying rock fragments!
Large cracks spread in all directions along the crumbling rock walls. When they reached their limit, the entire cavern collapsed!
Ground sunlight poured in. Island breezes blew.
As the commotion gradually subsided, Cana and Lily struggled to their feet from the rubble, already covered in wounds.
"Without even summoning a single card spirit... with just his own physical ability... this is..." Lily's chest heaved violently. His gaze was fixed on the figure ahead with its fluttering cape. Deep in his pupils was written despair.
"...the true strength of Fairy Tail's active S-Class mage..."
***
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