Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x790.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Crumble!* *Boom!* *Zap!*
"Looks like Fonzie and Yoruichi are having fun." Elicia said while gazing off into the distance where flashes of light, explosions, and crumbling buildings could be seen. "I guess I better hurry before they accidentally take down the ones I'm going after."
As Elicia said, she was currently making her way towards two of the few remaining wizards in the Grand Magic Games, Lyon Vastia and Sherry Blendy from Lamia Scale. As she got closer to her targets, she felt both Sun and Kagura's magic power signatures leave the arena while Brandish started moving towards Marin. So, she knew she had to hurry before she was left with nothing to do.
Meanwhile, Lyon and Sherry were also looking in the direction of the constant explosions in the distance.
"Lyon, do you know who that is?" Sherry asked with a cautious expression on her face.
"If I had to guess, it's probably Alfonzo." Lyon replied. "But I'm not sure who he's fighting. Hell, I didn't know anyone other than Jura was even capable of keeping up with that guy. But if it was Jura, there would be more rocks shooting up into the air, too. So..."
"Speaking of Jura." Sherry said. "I wonder how he's doing. I've been wishing for his, Yuka's, and Toby's safety with all my {Love}."
"Yeah, I'm sure you have." Lyon replied. "Unfortunately, until we meet up with them again, we can only hope for their safety. Now, let's get moving again. And let's try to stay away from whatever the hell is going on over there."
Saying that, Lyon looked in the direction of the explosions once again before turning around and starting to walk again. Nodding her head, Sherry followed him closely. Yet, it did not take long for the two to come to a stop again.
"Hello~!" A cheerful female voice said from above.
Taking their fighting stances as they looked up, Lyon and Sherry were met with a cheerfully smiling brown-skinned young woman wearing a black, white, and pink superhero costume lowering herself from a rooftop with her threads.
"*Sigh* Magic Seamstress." Lyon said, sounding a bit relieved.
"Oh, hi, Lici." Sherry said at the same time, though her tone was much more friendly. "I've been meaning to come visit you in Magnolia. I miss Mar'e. And I wanna shower him with {Love]."
Hearing that, Elicia could not help smiling as she touched down in front of the two Lamia Scale wizards.
"You're welcome to come visit any time, Sherry." Elicia said happily. "You should bring Ren along, too. You know you're always welcome at our home."
"I will." Sherry replied energetically.
"But we can set up a date for that later." Elicia said as she raised her hands and bent her knees. "For now, we've got something to do. So, are you two ready~?"
"I was born ready." Lyon replied while pushing his hands forward in his casting gesture. "[Ice-Make: Eagles]."
With that, a dozen eagles formed from ice materialized around Lyon. Then, with a wave of the Ice Wizard's hand, they all flapped their wings and flew towards Elicia.
Reacting calmly, Elicia did not make any excessive moves. Instead, she avoided the [Ice Eagles] with the minimum necessary movement. And when Lyon saw that Elicia was not having any trouble with those few [Ice Eagles], he repeated the cast with more magic power, resulting in another two dozen eagles circling and attacking Elicia.
In response to the extra [Ice Eagles], Elicia was forced to start making bigger moves to evade. So, she put on a display of her gymnastic and acrobatic abilities.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Shatter!* *Bang!* *Shatter!*
And as she dipped, ducked, rolled, and flipped away from the attacking [Ice Eagles], Elicia either punched, kicked, or entangled them with her [Thread Magic] before slamming them into buildings and the street below her to destroy them.
However, while this was happening, neither Lyon nor Sherry were idle.
"[Doll Attack Magic: Rock Doll]." Sherry chanted while raising her hand dramatically.
"[Ice-Make: Snow Dragon]." Lyon chanted.
Wit the two's chants, two things happened in quick succession.
First, from the ground between Lyon and Sherry, an almost 10' tall, humanoid [Rock Doll] rose from the street. Next, a 15' long eastern dragon formed from ice appeared behind the [Rock Doll]. Then, the [Ice Dragon] flew forward and picked up the golem, letting it ride on its back.
A moment later, just as Elicia destroyed the last of the [Ice Eagles], she found the [Ice Dragon's] gaping mouth right in front of her, about to swallow her whole.
Yet, Elicia reacted easily, side flipping away. However, while she was airborne, she was forced to shoot a thread towards the nearest building before pulling herself out of the way of the [Rock Doll's] swinging arm.
"Wow! You guys have pretty good teamwork." Elicia said with a smile as she stuck herself to the side of the building she used to pull herself away. "I bet it would be even better if Yuka and Toby were here."
Elicia's genuine smile while she praised the made Sherry smile as well. However, Lyon found himself frowning slightly. The way Elicia said that, it seemed as if she were proud of their growth. But she was the same age as they were. So, why was she talking like she was an elder?
So, to make her stop looking down on them, Lyon directed the [Ice Dragon] to circle around and fly at Elicia once again.
"Come on, Sherry." Lyon said while focusing all his attention on Elicia. "If she really wants to see our teamwork, let's show her."
"Yes!" Sherry said in her usual dramatic tone. "The {Love} between members of Lamia Scale can overcome anything!"
A moment later, Elicia was forced to jump away from where she was attached to the building. Yet, she did not do so without counterattacking. That would not be in the spirit of a Fairy Tail wizard, after all.
"[Thread Magic: Loosening Spool]." Elicia chanted as she ejected threads from all over her body while making them rotate around her like a drill and vibrate at a high frequency.
*Scrape!*
As a result, when Elicia jumped past the [Ice Dragon] and the [Rock Doll], her spinning and vibrating threads ground them down. And while the [Rock Doll] was seriously damaged, one of its legs ground away, Lyon channeled more magic power into the [Ice Dragon], repairing the damage Elicia caused. At the same time, he took the opportunity to secure the [Rock Doll] to the [Ice Dragon's] back by freezing the two together.
And just like that, the back and forth between Elicia and the combination of the [Ice Dragon and the [Rock Doll] continued for a few minutes. However, like last time, Neither Lyon nor Sherry stayed idle, as they both created more [Ice-Make] and [Doll Attack] spells to disrupt Elicia's concentration and ability to evade.
"Okay, this is getting pretty challenging." Elicia said, the smile not leaving her face. "But I think you two might have forgotten something."
"Don't listen to her, Sherry." Lyon said quickly, not wanting Elicia's words to influence his guild mate.
"Right." Sherry said, her usual {Loving} expression replaced with one of determination. Though, there was sweat dripping down her forehead due to the exertion and amount of magic power she had used since the battle started.
A few moments later, after she was pushed into the position where the two Lamia Scale wizards wanted her to be, the [Ice Dragon] was finally able to sink its teeth into Elicia. However, when it did, both Lyon's and Sherry's expressions turned bitter in an instant.
"When fighting me, sometimes you can't trust your eyes~." Elicia's voice said from behind Lyon and Sherry.
As Elicia said, Lyon and Sherry made a mistake only trusting their eyes during this fight. Because, just as the [Ice Dragon] bit into Elicia's figure, the Elicia in front of them simply faded out of existence. Then, they heard her voice coming from behind them. Way too close for comfort, they might add.
"[Ice-Make: Floor]!" Lyon shouted as he dropped down and slammed his hands onto the floor.
Despite having never fought Elicia before, he had heard about her tactics from Gray and Ultear, who had sparred with her more times than they could count over the last fifteen years, or so. So, he knew that Elicia liked to spread a frankly staggering number of threads over the ground while engaging wither opponents before reeling them in as a surprise attack and wrapping them up in a cocoon of her [Thread Magic].
*Freeze!*
So, to counter one of Elicia's favorite tactics, Lyon just froze the entire street, freezing any threads that could have been spread around with it.
"Not bad." Elicia said as she, too, knelt down. "But that's not my only trick, you know?"
As she said that, Elicia wrapped her arms around Lyon's waist.
"Oh... shit..." Lyon muttered.
*Bang!*
Then, before Lyon could react, Elicia stood up with Lyon in her arms before bending her back and performing a perfect bridge. Or rather, a perfect German Suplex. As a result, Lyon found himself slammed head first into the frozen over ground. Yet, Elicia's attack did not stop there, though. However, the powerful blow to the head did cause all of Lyon's [Dynamic Ice-Make] spells to dispel.
Following her German Suplex, Elicia kicked off the ground, using Lyon's head as a pivot point before flipping them both up to their feet. She then, with all her physical strength, threw Lyon into the air, looping a thread around his right ankle as he ascended. Lastly, when Lyon's ascent came to an end, Elicia gripped her end of the thread with both hands. Then, she yanked it, and by extension, Lyon, down with all her might.
"Ahh!" Lyon shouted as his body was jerked back towards the ground.
*Bang!*
Then, before he could react, Lyon was slammed back first into the ground. At the same time, Elicia leapt into the air, summersaulting toward the downed Lyon. Then, with a full rotation, she slammed her right heel into the Ice Wizards abdomen.
*Bang!*
*Bwah!" Lyon groaned as all the air in his lungs was forced out before he fainted from the sudden loss of oxygen.
Meanwhile, Sherry could only watch Elicia's assault on Lyon in shock. Honestly, she was just not able to keep up with how fast the tables had turned. Not even ten seconds ago, she and Lyon had cornered Elicia, and she had been bitten by the [Ice Dragon] Lyon created. But now... Things were like this.
"So, you ready to continue?" Elicia asked, snapping Sherry out of her daze while Lyon was engulfed by particles of light under her foot.
"Of course." Sherry replied, while taking a hand to hand fighting stance. "I won't give up just because Lyon was defeated. I'll show you the power of my {Love}."
Sherry then rushed forward to fight in close quarters, because she knew there was no way Elicia would allow her to summon any of her dolls again, especially while she was so close.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* Bang!* *Bang!*
Unfortunately, there was no way that Sherry could compare to Elicia in close quarters combat. So, in even less time than it took to deal with Lyon, Sherry was also engulfed in particles of light after Elicia avoided Sherry's overly telegraphed punch by performing a back hand spring, kicking Sherry in the chin and sending her airborne in the process.
Elicia then, once her feet were on the ground again, leapt into the air after Sherry and juggled her for a second or two with several punches and kicks, before slamming her into the ground, knocking her unconscious.
"Well, that was fun." Elicia said while clapping the dust off her hands.
["Yeah, but you might have just sentenced Lyon to hell."] Scylla said from Elicia's inner world with an amused grin on her face.
Hearing that, Elicia flinched.
"You're joking right?" Elicia asked while smiling apprehensively. "I mean, Ur wouldn't find him for extra training after he lost to me, right? I mean, she knows how strong I am, you know?"
["Well, if you had just beaten him, perhaps."} Scylla said with a shrug that Elicia felt she could hear in her tone. ["But the way you pretty much devastated him, I'm sure Ur will have something to say... In a rather physical way."]
Once again, Elicia flinched. She then raised her right hand and made a cross in front of her while she lowered her head and prayed for Lyon's safety.
"Well, I've done all I can for him at this point." Elicia said as she raised her head. "For now, let's go watch Fonzie play with Yoruichi. It should be fun."
["Part of me wants to call you heartless for blowing Lyon's suffering off like that."] Scylla said. ["But I know that was just about all you could do for him. Because there's no way in hell Ur isn't going to have a field day with this.']
And just as Elicia and Scylla expected, Ur had stood up from her seat in the Fairy Tail seating area and was making her way over to the Lamia Scale seating area with an angry, yet determined, expression on her face.
"You may not be a member of my guild, Lyon." Ur said while people quickly got out of her way along her path. "But that doesn't mean that a disciple of mine is going to look that pathetic in front of so many people. So, you'd better prepare yourself. I'll be training you from the basics again. And I'm sure Ooba Babasama won't have an issue with it. Especially since a member of her guild will be getting stronger in the process.
Meanwhile, Lyon, although he was unconscious, could not help but shudder in the sick bed he was lying in.
"Wow! Mom's really pissed off.' Ultear said while watching her mother go. "I almost feel bad for Lyon."
"Yeah." Gray said while nodding his head in agreement. "I haven't seen her this mad since the day after Alfonzo and Elicia's wedding when she was chasing Gildarts down. Before that, it was when she found out that I went along with Natsu and Happy's stupid idea to take on an S-Class Quest."
When Gray mentioned the unauthorized S-Class quest, he could not help shuddering at the memory of not only Ur's punishment where he had to train by fighting a blizzardvern who she stole an egg from. Yet, the memories of seeing Mirajane standing there when he, Natsu, Happy, and Lucy approached the place where the quest target could be found and when Erza beat him up for breaking guild rules made him shudder just as violently.
Seeing how Gray just froze up, lost in his painful memories, Ultear could only smile wryly while patting him on the shoulder. At the same time, Juvia, who had been silent, hugged Gray lovingly to bring him back to the here and now.