Rhodes had meant what he said.
In the sparring session, he, Laxus, and Erza took their positions on the training field together. The arrangement, however, was not what anyone had pictured. It wasn't Laxus and Erza going up against Rhodes. It wasn't a three-way free-for-all either.
Rhodes and Laxus were teaming up against Erza.
Cana forgot about both her drink and her betting slip and stared. "If those two are going at it together, is there actually anyone in the guild who could beat them?"
Macao said, "The Master, maybe. Or your father, Gildarts."
Wakaba frowned. "But I remember at the Grand Magic Games, even Jura of the Ten Wizard Saints only lasted a few rounds against those two."
Levy asked, uneasy, "Then why arrange a match like this at all?"
Lisanna said, "My brother-in-law said the current training load isn't enough pressure for Erza. She needs more."
Lucy stared ahead with visible fear. "That is a deeply unreasonable amount of pressure."
"Erza, take them down! Actually, let me take them down!" Natsu shouted and lurched toward the field.
Happy had both hands locked onto his scarf. Romeo had his arms around his waist from behind. Both of them dug in desperately. "Natsu, please don't, you'll die if you go out there right now!"
Over the past month, Romeo had watched Natsu challenge those three more times than he could count. He had never once seen Natsu win. Natsu claimed to be improving every time. The evidence suggested he was simply getting beaten in more creative ways. With all three of them standing together today, Romeo had no interest in losing his hero.
"You're too loud, Natsu." Gray's eyes hadn't moved from the three figures on the field. He also wanted to challenge them. Just not all three at once.
Mirajane's voice carried from a distance. "Everyone!"
Heads turned.
Elfman was stationed close at her side, and she had both hands cupped around her mouth. "Rhodes said they're going all out today, so please move back a little!"
Everyone sat with the phrase going all out for a moment. Then a wall of wind hit them hard enough to stagger several people outright.
"Whoa!"
"What just happened?"
"Did it start?"
The wind didn't let up. People raised arms to shield their faces and squinted trying to see.
The three hadn't done anything yet. They were simply standing there, beginning to gather their magic, and the pressure from that alone was generating a gale. The momentum kept climbing. The ground began to vibrate. Loose pebbles bounced against the earth. In the sky above, clouds were pulling together from a clear afternoon, blocking out the sun, though they seemed to be fighting against some force that was tearing them apart and twisting them into slow spiraling formations.
Wendy took a careful breath. "The air itself feels different. It's heavy."
She didn't need to say it. Everyone felt it pressing down on them.
Alzack had instinctively set up his drawing board, then held his brush and hesitated. "When a Ten Wizard Saint fights seriously, doesn't it cause phenomena like this? Changes in the sky, tremors in the ground?"
"Naturally," Freed said, with quiet pride. "In raw magical power, Laxus belongs in that rank without question."
Juvia raised a hand slightly. "Is it actually safe for all three of them to be at this level?"
Gajeel crossed his arms. "We're in the mountains. It's fine."
Max said, "The mountains can handle it. I'm less sure about us standing here."
A long pause.
Then someone said, "Mirajane had the right idea. Everyone move back."
The group relocated to Mirajane's position with notable efficiency, including the few who initially resisted being pulled along.
The wind began to settle. Rhodes folded his Ten Wizard Saints cloak aside. Laxus shrugged off his coat.
Erza's body lit up with white light.
"Fairy Armor!"
The Requip completed in an instant. From their new vantage point, the guild members recognized it immediately.
"She's opening with Fairy Armor?"
"Bearing the name of the guild, I will not lose."
"Even so, those are the two she's up against. The Fairy Armor alone won't make this easy."
Erza kicked off the ground with both blades in hand, leaving a shallow pit in the earth, and drove straight at Laxus. The movement was fast enough that only a pink afterimage remained behind her.
To Laxus, the speed wasn't close to enough.
He tilted slightly to one side and let the first slash pass him. Golden arcs crackled from his body the next instant and he seemed to become lightning itself, clearing the second slash and reappearing behind Erza before the motion had fully registered.
Erza had expected it. She spun and brought her right arm around in a horizontal sweep.
The blade, sheathed in green light, met a golden fist. The impact detonated between them in a burst of raw magical force, and both figures were swallowed by golden light.
The ground trembled. Several nearby rocks caught stray bolts and burst apart, their shattered surfaces showing clean slicing cuts alongside the lightning damage.
A pink shape broke out of the light. A golden shape followed without pause, rising higher and faster and driving a kick downward from above.
Erza's sword came up to intercept, a fraction slow. The kick connected with her wrist. The blade stayed in her hand, but the force drove her down like a stone, and she hit the ground hard, landing in a braced crouch with the sword planted, the earth caving into a spider-webbed pit beneath her.
"Stay sharp, Erza!" Laxus called out from above, already twisting his body. "Thunder Dragon's Halberd!"
The halberd of golden lightning came down toward the top of her head and detonated in a rolling thunderclap. Every meter in the surrounding area filled with golden arcs.
Before the lightning had cleared, Erza burst out in light blue armor with a long spear, driving the point toward—
Rhodes.
She had seen him drawing a magic circle in the air moments ago. Instinct told her that letting him finish was a mistake.
But before Erza could reach him, layers of purple magic circles had already assembled around her.
Rhodes snapped his fingers and grinned. "A bit much, but it will have to do. Amaterasu, Formula 100."
The explosion rolled through the mountains in waves. The aftershocks came close to catching Laxus where he stood.
Makarov fought down the urge to deploy the Three Pillar Gods on Erza's behalf. He settled for muttering, "By any reasonable standard, using that spell here is excessive."
Mirajane rested a hand on his arm. "Erza has a way to handle attacks at that level, Master."
Makarov frowned. "With that kind of power, even the Flame Empress Armor would—"
The smoke shifted. Erza stood at the center of the blast in heavy silver armor, both arms crossed in front of her, the armguards locked together into a single shield.
"Earth Mother Dragon: Adamantine Armor!"
Everyone recognized the Adamantine Armor. This was not quite the version they remembered. The front, back, shield, and helmet had all been set with hexagonal scales of varying sizes fitted into the frame.
Those scales had come from the Earth Mother Dragon Rhodes had defeated at the Grand Magic Games. Erza had commissioned a craftsman to integrate them into the Adamantine Armor's existing structure, and the result had pushed its defensive capability well past what the original could manage.
Wearing this armor, she was confident she could take a concentrated magic cannon head-on and not give a single step.