Chapter 254
Marshall never lifted a finger during the third match.
There simply wasn’t any need—the four girls on his team were terrifying enough on their own, and every one of them had something nasty prepared for the Iron Dragon Team.
The battlefield this time was a forest.
Almost immediately after the match began, the weather changed without warning and rain started pouring from the sky.
This was Juvia’s newly developed Magic.
As long as the battlefield remained under the rainy weather she controlled, there was nowhere for an enemy’s chakra—ah, no, Magic Power—to hide from her senses.
Then Cana summoned a whole swarm of magical beasts and sent them charging through the forest after Gajeel’s team.
Gajeel himself was certainly strong, and Panther Lily became a formidable combatant after transforming into his muscular battle form, but even the two of them couldn’t comfortably deal with magical beasts pouring over the hills from every direction.
Fighting all of them brought no real benefit either; it would only burn through their stamina before they ever reached Marshall’s team.
Under the pressure, the three men and one cat eventually became separated inside the forest.
Once isolated, they were picked off one by one with embarrassing ease until Gajeel was the only member of the Iron Dragon Team still stubbornly holding out.
He had originally intended to challenge Levy directly and avenge the humiliating defeat she had handed him before, but before he could get his wish, Lucy came charging out with an excited expression and announced that she had just learned a new spell and desperately needed someone to test it on.
Then she cast Urano Metria.
The entire sky seemed to fill with stars, countless points of radiance transforming into descending light as the spell crashed down with overwhelming force.
Gajeel took the attack head-on and immediately rolled his eyes back, dropping on the spot.
The Iron Dragon Team suffered a complete defeat, and their performance hadn’t been much better than the team annihilated in the opening match.
For the audience, however, that only made one thing even clearer: the gap between teams containing S-Class Mages and ordinary Fairy Tail teams was enormous.
After seeing that difference firsthand, anticipation for the first direct collision between two S-Class teams rose even higher.
The host’s excited voice soon filled the stadium. "And now we’ve reached the final match of the day! For the first time, two S-Class teams will face each other head-on! There has always been debate over one question—who is the strongest female Mage in Fairy Tail? Today, we may finally witness who earns the title of the guild’s strongest woman!"
He raised his arm dramatically. "Please welcome the Queen Team and the Witch Team!"
The fourth battlefield was a rocky desert wasteland, with both teams positioned for a direct confrontation.
The matchup alone was enough to ignite the crowd.
"Yes! Beautiful women fighting! This is gonna be good!"
"Getting to see this match alone made the ticket worth it!"
"It’s the Fairy Queen! AAAAAH! Erza’s so cool! Queen, step on me!"
"I still think the Bloodthirsty Witch is prettier. I’d pay good money to have Mira whip me."
While the spectators outside the arena were rapidly losing their minds, the atmosphere inside the battlefield was far more intense.
Mira entered the match already transformed into her demonic form, casually snapping the whip in her hand while allowing her Magic Power to pour out without restraint.
The other members of both teams had very wisely moved far away from the two captains.
Nobody seemed particularly interested in interfering. Instead, they had gathered off to the side to watch the show.
Older Wendy hugged Little Wendy from behind, practically enveloping her much smaller counterpart as she looked toward the battlefield.
"Little me, what exactly is the relationship between those two? The Mira in my world is a complete sweetheart, but this version looks... kind of terrifying."
Lisanna rolled her eyes. "Both versions of my sister are actually really kind and gentle. Don’t let how scary she looks right now fool you. When Sis is really angry, she’s nothing like this. If anything, she’s probably in a pretty good mood right now."
Little Wendy fell quiet for a moment, apparently distracted by the dramatic difference between herself and her older counterpart and wondering how many years it would take before she grew that much.
Then she tilted her head curiously. "So what kind of relationship do they have? Are they love rivals?"
"Love rivals..." Lisanna considered it. "Sort of. Honestly, ’rivals’ in general is probably more accurate. Sis and Erza have been butting heads since they were kids."
Elfman clenched his fists beside them. "I want to fight too. Manly!"
On the other side of the battlefield, Erza’s friends were having a similar conversation.
Millianna watched the two captains warily. "Are Erza and Miss Mira on bad terms, Laki? This feels really scary, meow."
Laki adjusted her glasses. "As far as I know, their relationship is actually quite good."
"Then why does this feel so serious? It’s freaking me out, meow."
Sho didn’t seem worried at all. "Who cares? Sis is definitely going to win. We just need to wait and watch!"
Wally, meanwhile, calmly rested a hand near his weapon.
"I’m waiting for an opportunity to shoot."
Both Erza and Mira had made it very clear beforehand that they didn’t want anyone interfering in their battle, which was why their respective teammates were behaving themselves and keeping their distance.
For Mira, sparring with Erza was nothing new.
The two of them had fought more times than she could possibly count.
But this time was different.
This battle was happening in front of everyone.
The winner would publicly establish herself as the stronger of the two, and in Mira’s mind, that might very well influence their future family hierarchy as well.
Whoever won today might have more weight when disagreements came up later.
For that reason alone, Mira absolutely refused to lose.
Across from her, Erza planted her sword into the ground and rested both hands on the hilt while thinking about a completely different problem.
She still hadn’t told Mira that she had accepted Marshall’s perspective and effectively "defected" to his side.
It wasn’t necessarily some enormous betrayal, but Erza still felt as though she had failed Mira’s expectations.
She had spent days wondering how she was supposed to explain it.
In the end, she decided she would make Mira understand through this battle instead.
Mira narrowed her eyes.
"Erza... have you been secretly doing something behind my back lately?"
Erza stiffened.
Mira continued watching her closely. "Things between you and Marshall suddenly seem to have gotten much better."
"..."
Erza instinctively looked away, a faint blush appearing on her face. "N-No. Nothing happened. Our relationship has always been good—eh?!"
Mira had already moved.
Taking advantage of that single moment of distraction, she lashed out with her glowing whip.
Erza barely raised her sword in time, but the whip wrapped around the blade and violently yanked it aside.
Mira immediately closed the distance.
Her emotions were running unusually high, demonic power gathering densely around her fist as she drove a straight punch forward.
The attack streaked across the battlefield like a flash of white lightning.
Erza was blasted backward by the impact, tearing a terrifying trench through the ground as though a huge section of the wasteland had collapsed beneath her.
"I’m not losing this fight, Erza."
A moment later, Erza burst out of the smoke and dust.
She had already Requipped into another set of armor, and the expression in her eyes had become completely serious.
"Then let me show you my resolve, Mira."
Erza swung her sword.
An invisible slash tore forward.
There was no visible blade of energy to follow, but the earth itself split apart wherever it passed, opening as cleanly as a cake sliced by an impossibly sharp knife.
Flying Slash!
Erza had learned the technique from Ikaruga after the Tower of Heaven incident, but by now she had long since surpassed the level at which she had first learned it. In her hands, the destructive power of the technique had become frightening.
Yet when the earth-rending slash reached Mira, her response was almost insultingly simple.
She raised one arm and blocked it.
The terrifying sword strike crashed against her forearm, but when the force finally dispersed, all it had left behind was a shallow white mark.
Mira’s physical durability had reached an almost absurd level.
Her smile grew increasingly wild.
She might have spent several years acting like Fairy Tail’s gentle, well-behaved older sister, but the madness she had possessed in her younger days had never truly disappeared.
Fighting still excited her.
And this level of battle was nowhere near enough.
After all... she was the Bloodthirsty Witch!
"Erza, show me your real strength!" Mira shouted, her grin widening. "If this is all you’ve got, there’s no way you’re going to satisfy me!"
"..."
Erza’s eye twitched.
After spending so much time around Pride, however, she had become strangely resistant to aggressive trash talk.
Instead of being offended, she accepted Mira’s provocation almost naturally, as though this were simply how a proper battle was supposed to begin.
"All right."
Erza reached for the next stage of her power.
"Then I’ll give you exactly what you asked for."
She no longer called her style The Knight.
She had found a much better name!
Erza raised her hand.
"Henshin!"
Magic erupted around her as she transformed.
Then, with complete seriousness, Erza announced her new title.
"Kamen Rider—Sanjou!"