Ur's battle against Gildarts ended exactly as most people expected—with Gildarts taking the victory.
Against Ur's Ice-Make creations, Gildarts relied on the simplest possible solution.
He smashed every last one of them apart with his fists.
Still, Ur managed to give him a fair amount of trouble by bringing out the Water Magic she had been studying recently.
She first filled the battlefield with mist to obstruct Gildarts's vision, then raised curtains of water around him from every direction.
With two fingers extended, Ur simultaneously controlled several water tornadoes and ice tornadoes, sending them tearing through the water screens toward Gildarts.
But all of that was merely meant to hide what she was preparing.
Her real attack came next.
The temperature throughout the arena plummeted.
A thick layer of ice spread over the ground, and within the frozen world, plant after plant began to emerge.
Roses.
Balsams.
Vines.
One species after another grew across the frozen battlefield.
Frozen World: Mad Plants!
Some of the plants shot toward Gildarts's arms and legs, trying to bind him in place, while others opened like flowers and fired concentrated beams of ice.
For a moment, even Gildarts looked unsure how to deal with the sheer number of attacks coming from every direction.
Then Cana shouted from the stands.
"Come on, Dad!"
Gildarts's Magic Power surged instantly.
He unleashed Crash at full strength and drove one fist into the arena floor.
BOOM!
The entire frozen world shattered.
Ice crystals exploded into the air and scattered beneath the arena lights, creating an unexpectedly beautiful scene.
With her hidden trump card destroyed, Ur surrendered without hesitation.
...
Mira's opponent was Precht.
Makarov bet on Precht.
Raizel bet on Mira.
The stakes were nothing serious—one tin of tea against one bottle of liquor.
In the end, Raizel won.
The reason was simple.
Makarov was still judging Mira by what she used to be.
The current Mira had absorbed the power of every member of Tartaros, along with part of Bloodman's Curse Power and the Flame Demon crystal.
Her strength had long since risen to an entirely different level.
Precht's Amaterasu Formula 100, with its seven layers of ominous violet-black magical inscriptions, looked terrifying enough.
The resulting explosion was simply swallowed whole by Mira using Mard Geer's absorption Curse.
Her defenses in Mard Geer's Etherious form also far exceeded anything Precht had expected.
After all, Mard Geer's Etherious armor had once endured Natsu's Dragon Slayer Secret Art, Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade, while Natsu was in an enraged state.
Precht eventually opened the Devil's Eye in his right eye and used his strongest Magic—Heaven's Executioner: Nemesis.
It was a forbidden spell recorded in Chapter Four, Verse Twelve of the Book of Zeref.
By causing his own Magic Power to resonate with the ambient Magic around him, Precht could create artificial life from objects containing Magic Power.
Each demon he produced was a powerful aggregate of Magic—the so-called clay demons.
Unfortunately for him, those demons could even be taken over by Mira.
The match was not completely one-sided, but Precht simply possessed no reliable way to defeat her.
The only category where he clearly surpassed Mira was raw Magic Power.
That alone was not enough.
Mira continuously enhanced herself using Kyôka's Curse, then entered Mard Geer's Etherious form and closed the distance at tremendous speed.
One claw plunged through Precht's chest and tore out his heart.
That ended the match.
Mira advanced!
...
Ultear's opponent was Neinhart.
Realistically, Neinhart had only one possible path to victory.
Summon Acnologia.
Or Igneel.
Unfortunately for him, he could do neither.
He used Historia of the Dead to recreate God Serena, Wahl Icht, and Bloodman, but the dead were still dead.
These manifestations could not reproduce the true strength their originals had possessed in life.
More importantly, the Historias were not technically living creatures.
They were aggregates of Magic Power given temporary form.
Against Ultear, that was almost the worst possible matchup.
Arc of Time swept through the battlefield.
Every Historia disintegrated into dust.
Then nine magical crystal spheres of different colors appeared around Neinhart.
Purgatory Dragon.
Sea King Dragon.
Diamond Dragon.
And six other attributes, including Arc of Time itself.
Nine different attacks converged on Neinhart simultaneously.
The explosion marked the end of his tournament.
...
Kirin faced Mercphobia.
Lightning against water.
On paper, Kirin held the elemental advantage.
In practice, Mercphobia was called the Water Dragon God for a reason.
He immediately returned to his true form.
A colossal azure dragon resembling a feathered serpent filled the arena, five horns rising from his head as water surged outward in every direction.
An enormous curtain of water swallowed Kirin almost instantly.
By the time Kirin finally fought his way back to the surface for air—
"Water Dragon's Roar!"
Mercphobia's breath attack crashed into him.
The force hurled Kirin out of the water and smashed him straight into the ground.
He lost consciousness on impact.
August narrowed his eyes slightly.
"No wonder he is known as the Water Dragon God. Impressive."
Kirin's only real chance at victory would have been to recklessly force himself into Dragon Force.
But doing so risked sending him berserk and stripping away his reason.
It might even have cost him his life.
There was no reason to go that far in a tournament.
...
Irene's match against Ajeel ended even faster.
Ajeel knew exactly how terrifying one of the Spriggan Empire's two strongest Mages could be, so he activated Sand World the instant the fight began.
Irene simply ignored the battlefield entirely.
"Enchant: Separation."
A crimson pillar of light erupted around Ajeel.
Even inside the sandstorm, the light remained dazzlingly visible.
The pillar steadily contracted—
and as it did, Sand World began collapsing with it.
When the storm finally vanished, Irene stood in the arena without a single grain of sand on her body.
Ajeel lay unconscious nearby.
His Magic Power had been completely stripped away.
...
After seeing Mercphobia and Irene dominate their matches, Selene showed no inclination to hold back against Jellal either.
She immediately revealed her true body.
A gigantic dragon with a fox-like face, nine tails, and luxurious platinum-white fur appeared over the arena.
Jellal's Celestial Magic met her head-on.
"Star Collapse!"
Selene answered with Moonlight Flame.
Her attack shattered the descending celestial spell.
Then her body slipped into a spatial rift and vanished.
Jellal reacted as quickly as he could—
but Selene emerged behind him and raked a Moonlight Claw across his back.
The impact smashed him into the arena wall.
Even Selene underestimated his tenacity.
Badly injured, Jellal still forced himself back upright and traced nine magic circles across the sky.
"Celestial Magic—Nine Thunder Stars!"
Nine golden formations linked together overhead and erupted with light before descending toward Selene like a cluster of falling stars.
Selene raised her head and roared.
A platinum-white beam erupted from her mouth, surrounded by fluttering Moonlight Butterflies.
The blast tore straight through Nine Thunder Stars.
Then Selene roared again.
This time, countless crescent-shaped Moon Shadow Blades emerged around her and swept toward Jellal.
Already heavily injured, he simply could not evade such a dense barrage.
One blade caught him during his retreat and knocked him back into the arena wall.
He collapsed.
The match was over.
...
August, Irene's equal among the Spriggan Empire's twin pillars, also displayed exactly why he carried that reputation.
Suzaku had heard long ago that August stood on the same level as Irene.
So he opened with one of his strongest attacks.
"Underworld Sword Saint Style: Abyss—Black Purgatory Slash!"
August casually raised his staff.
Clang.
The staff stopped Suzaku's blade.
Completely.
From the moment the battle began, August had already activated two unusual abilities.
Divine Eye.
Divine Ear.
The Divine Eye functioned somewhat like supernatural intuition or a technique for reading an opponent's intent, allowing August to anticipate attacks before they fully developed.
The Divine Ear, meanwhile, allowed him to hear Suzaku's thoughts.
August quickly became impressed by the young Dragon Slayer's talent.
And once his interest was caught, the match immediately turned into a lesson.
"Young man, I can see and hear every movement you make."
August calmly parried another strike.
"Your offense is excellent. Straightforward, decisive, without hesitation."
Then his expression sharpened slightly.
"But you give far too little thought to defense."
'Rather like Natsu.'
August wisely kept that last observation to himself.