August caught Suzaku's sword against his staff, then raised his left hand and flicked his middle finger.
A beam of light shot forward.
The instant it touched Suzaku, it transformed into a white light dragon.
The dragon clamped its jaws around Suzaku's arm and drove him straight into the arena wall.
Suzaku, however, was every bit as stubborn as Natsu when it came to staying down.
He immediately charged August again.
Yet no matter what kind of attack he used—sudden thrusts, downward cuts, horizontal sweeps, reverse slashes—August avoided every single one by the narrowest possible margin.
With Suzaku's eyesight and instincts, he could clearly tell that each time, his blade passed only a few centimeters from August's body.
And yet he simply could not hit him.
After Suzaku committed to another full-power slash, August vanished with teleportation.
He moved so quickly that Suzaku's eyes could not follow him at all.
August appeared behind him and lightly tapped his staff against Suzaku's back.
Suzaku's entire body stiffened.
At this point, practically any real attack from August would have put him down.
Suzaku had already taken the earlier light dragon head-on and was barely holding himself together.
August spoke to him in the patient tone of an instructor.
"When facing an opponent stronger than yourself, you should not commit everything to every attack."
"First understand what your opponent can do. Conserve your Magic Power and stamina, remain patient, and wait for an opportunity."
Suzaku lowered his head and planted his sword into the ground.
"I concede."
...
Kiria's battle against the "War Princess" Dimaria ended almost as quickly.
Kiria did not even get the chance to use her hypnosis before Dimaria activated Âge Seal.
Within frozen time, Kiria might as well have been lying helplessly on a chopping block.
Dimaria noticed that Kiria was not wearing much beyond a coat, so she graciously refrained from cutting her clothes apart.
After spending so much time quietly farming and enjoying retirement, she had apparently grown out of that particular bad habit.
From Kiria's perspective, the entire exchange happened in an instant.
Before she even understood what had occurred, the flat of Dimaria's large blade struck the back of her neck.
Kiria lost consciousness immediately.
...
The penultimate match was Zeref against Larcade.
Father versus son, more or less.
Unfortunately, Larcade chose to use Desire Magic: Pleasure.
The entire arena immediately became unfit for polite viewing.
Gildarts was hit particularly hard, clutching himself as he rolled back and forth across the floor.
Macao and Wakaba wore deeply indecent expressions before simply passing out.
Even Laxus was struggling. One hand crushed down on his armrest while he clenched his teeth, veins bulging across his face and forearm.
Raizel was affected too, though he managed to endure it by gritting his teeth.
Ultear, Mira, and Erza were having an equally miserable time.
Kagura solved the problem in the most Kagura way possible.
She stabbed herself.
Two people stood out spectacularly from everyone else.
Natsu and Kurnugi.
Both were completely unaffected and were laughing their asses off on the sidelines.
There were others who resisted the spell, but none looked nearly as delighted about the situation as those two.
'Damn perverted monk! You're fighting Zeref, so why the hell are we the ones suffering?!'
Even Zeref himself had clearly had enough.
A black sphere of energy slammed into Larcade and disrupted Pleasure.
Zeref immediately followed with a massively destructive Dark Explosion spell that knocked Larcade unconscious.
Everyone in the stands released a collective sigh of relief.
'Thank God he lost...'
If Larcade had advanced another round and used that spell again, they were going to riot!
...
Then came the main event everyone had been waiting for.
Natsu versus Erza.
Most of the audience was genuinely excited to see how the improved Natsu would fare against her now.
"Your juice, cocktail, oolong tea, and black tea!"
Mira had brought Lisanna, Kinana, and Yukino along to help prepare drinks for everyone.
The spectators took their cups one by one while settling in for the match.
Lucy stared excitedly toward Natsu and Erza in the arena.
"I can't wait!"
Levy nodded just as eagerly.
"We get to see Natsu and Erza fight again!"
Gray immediately refused to say anything nice about Natsu.
"Isn't he still way below Erza?"
"Exactly," Gajeel added. Having also been eliminated in the Round of 32, he clearly had no intention of letting Natsu reach the Top Sixteen without complaints.
"Salamander's still got a long way to go."
Sting clenched a fist.
"Even if that's true! Even if Natsu-san can't win, as long as he puts on a good fight, that's enough!"
Raizel stared at him.
'So even you don't think he's winning, Sting? You've already downgraded the goal to "put on a good fight."'
Laxus and Gildarts had deliberately moved to a higher section of the stands, where they stood with their arms folded.
"Natsu's improved again since starting the Hundred Years Quest," Gildarts remarked, rubbing his untidy beard.
He meant Natsu's ordinary strength without relying on the explosive boost of emotional flames.
"But he's still a long way from beating Erza," Laxus replied with a shrug.
He could sense it clearly.
Erza had improved considerably too.
"Do your best, Natsu! Erza!" Ur shouted, supporting both sides equally.
Mavis, serving as referee, raised her flag high.
Then brought it down sharply.
On the enormous magical crystal screen overhead, the final matchup lit up—Erza versus Natsu—accompanied by a burst of dramatic music.
Natsu clenched his fists.
He entered Lightning Flame Dragon Mode immediately.
Erza, exactly as Raizel had expected, opened with the Flame Empress Armor and the Sea Empress Sword.
Natsu bent his knees.
Then stomped against the ground.
BOOM!
A sonic boom cracked through the arena as he accelerated so violently that his body became difficult to follow with the naked eye.
Flames roared around him, making him resemble a charging fire dragon as he rushed straight at Erza.
Erza swept the Sea Empress Sword horizontally.
A massive wall of water surged outward.
Natsu did not slow down.
He plunged straight into it and continued charging through.
But when he broke through the other side—Erza was already gone.
Following her scent, Natsu snapped his head upward.
Erza hovered above him in the Heaven's Wheel Armor, dozens of magical swords revolving around her body.
She swept one hand forward.
The blades rained down on Natsu like a storm.
"Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar!"
Natsu drew in a deep breath.
Fire wrapped in crackling lightning erupted from his mouth and blasted the Heaven's Wheel swords apart.
Erza twisted and weaved through the sweeping torrent of lightning and flame, then accelerated toward him with a sword in each hand.
Natsu planted both feet.
Then jumped.
His body rotated a full half-turn in midair as lightning and fire wrapped around both legs.
His feet slammed against Erza's twin swords.
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted between them.
Both were thrown backward.
Natsu hit the ground and rolled several times.
Erza recovered in the air and remained aloft.
"As expected, there's still a considerable gap between them," Makarov remarked knowingly.
Judging purely by their normal combat ability, Erza still had the clear advantage.
Then Natsu immediately made him eat those words.
Still rolling across the ground, Natsu suddenly drove both hands into the earth and used his claws to stop himself.
He remained crouched low, body arched forward.
Then his mouth opened again.
Another torrent of lightning-wreathed flame erupted.
The fire surged upward and swallowed Erza whole.
A massive blaze covered the arena, completely blocking the spectators' view.
Ur, Wendy, Lucy, and the others stared without blinking.
When the flames finally began to disperse, Natsu was still crouched in the same position, breathing heavily.
The recoil from his own Lightning Flame Dragon's Roar had been so powerful that it had pushed his entire body backward across the ground.