Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x790.
After deciding that defeating Alfonzo would be more trouble than it was worth, Yoruichi, with the use of the [Flash Step], sped through the Shirotsume recreation looking for prey.
"Damn it, just what the hell has he been eating lately?" Yoruichi grumbled to herself while jumping from rooftop to rooftop. "Has someone been spiking his milk, or something? It's only been five years... And I've gotten a lot faster, too. But he's somehow faster than me now. And I'm not even sure if he was going all out to reach that kinda speed."
Unfortunately, before she could find anyone, while she was could complaining about how unfair Alfonzo seemed to be, Yoruichi heard the only voice participating in the Grand Magic Games that she did not want to hear at the moment.
"Hey, Yoruichi, where ya goin'?" Alfonzo asked as he approached Yoruichi at high speed. "Are we done playing already? Things were just getting fun, though."
"You know, girls don't really like overly-clingy guys." Yoruichi said while rolling her eyes as she sped up.
Unfortunately, because she had disengaged [Shunkō], Yoruichi was much slower than she was during the earlier battle.
"Well then, it's a good thing I'm not trying to holla, isn't it?" Alfonzo asked. "But I'm interested in getting those sweet, sweet things you're hiding from me."
Once again Yoruichi rolled her eyes. Though, she was a bit amused by the inuendo.
"Well, I'm not really interested in putting out." Yoruichi shot back as she stopped on a dime before changing directions to avoid an electrified, chain-link fence that materialized in front of her. "You know, I'm not really into one-time things. So, if you really want it, you're gonna have to work for it."
Hearing that, Alfonzo could not help but smile wryly. Even so, he continued to pursue Yoruichi. At the same time, every time she started moving towards the central plaza, he would do something to obstruct her path. And it did not take long for Yoruichi to notice. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to out maneuver Alfonzo to reach what he was trying to keep her from.
Meanwhile, in the central plaza, Sun and Kagura were exchanging sword strikes at high-speed. However, to Kagura's amazement and frustration, Sun had yet to unseal her [Soul Armament]. Yet, she was able to, not keep up per se, but keep Kagura at bay with just her sword skills and the circulation of her magic power to not be too bothered by Kagura's use of [Gravity Magic].
Though, because of the amplification provided by Kagura's Shikai, Sun found herself on the defense more often than not. But she did not seem to be bothered by such a fact, as evidenced by the small smile on her face. Instead, she was truly enjoying the challenge that fighting Kagura in her Shikai state brought with it.
*Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!* *Cling!* *Clang!*
The force behind Kagura's slashes, with the additional gravitational force was definitely a challenge for Sun to deal with. On top of that, the additional gravity affecting the area, making Sun's movements much more laborious while simultaneously damaging the plaza and disrupting her footing, was forcing Sun to improve her swordsmanship and magic power control in real time. Otherwise, she would have been unable to defend herself against Kagura's devastating strikes for long.
Despite seeing that Sun was using her as a training aid, Kagura could not find it in herself to be angry with Sun. Instead, the frustration at her inability to finish this fight despite the power gap was mounting. IN fact, Kagura almost considered releasing her Shikai and continuing the fight in her base form. But at this point, that would have just been asking to be defeated. Especially since she could see just how much Sun had grown since Minerva and Terra were defeated.
Noticing that Kagura's attention had slipped from the battle for a moment, Sun avoided a diagonal slash from Kagura by a slim margin. Then, she raised Kanade and performed a downward slash of her own, aimed at Kagura's left shoulder. And should it land, it would slash her all the way to her left hip.
Realizing the situation she was in, Kagura refocused quickly. She then raised her sword. Though, the spectators were surprised to see that she did not raise it horizontally to block Sun's strike.
"[Singularity]." Kagura chanted.
With Kagura's chant, a swirling orb of black and purple magic power formed on Archenemy's tip. At the same time, the speed of Sun's slash began to slow. Then, just before Kanade could cut into Kagura's shoulder, its blade came to a complete stop. And after only a moment, it began to rise, heading towards the tip of Kagura's blade where the [Singularity] was located.
"You know, ever since you used this technique on me back at the guild hall, I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to counter it." Sun said with a smile as her sword was forced upwards towards the gravitational [Singularity]. "And I think I might have figured it out. Wanna see?"
Suns' innocent smile, instead of making Kagura feel mocked, made her curious to know what Sun had come up with. Also, unbeknownst to her, Kagura's usually emotionless expression bloomed into a wide smile that captivated most of the audience.
Slowly, Sun's blade was raised. However, it eventually was forced to make contact with the tip of Kagura's blade. And as soon as the two blades met, a few things happened in quick succession.
First of all, Sun, being several inches shorter than Kagura, was forced onto the tips of her toes so that she did not have to release her hilt. Second, by circulating her magic power into her feet and toes, Sun pushed herself off the ground forcefully.
As a result, with the two sword tips as a pivot point, Sun found herself summersaulting over Kagura's head. Then, while she was completely inverted above Kagura's head, Sun switched the target of her magic power, channeling as much as she could into the tip of Kanade's blade to counter act the gravitational force of the [Singularity].
*Ting!*
And Sun managed to do so successfully. As a result, a small, metallic sound was made when Kanade and Archenemy separated. And as soon as they did, Sun flowed directly into her next move.
"[Water/Sord Compound Magic: Second Form: Water Wheel]." Sun chanted as she forcefully flipped her body forward.
Then, on the way back to the ground, Sun managed to rotate one and a half times before her feet landed on the ground again. And during her rotations, she also slashed upwards at the back of Kagura's head. Luckily, Kagura reacted quickly by leaning forward. A moment later, when she felt she was clear of the attack, she spun on her heels while slashing upwards.
"[Slice Kata]." Kagura said, naming her attack.
At the same time, Sun also landed on her feet with her back to kagura. However, as soon as she landed, she also spun on her heels while swinging her blade horizontally.
"[Water/Sword Compound Magic: First Form: Water Surface Slash]." Sun chanted while spinning around.
*Clang~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~! *
The collision between the two blades made one of the loudest sounds of metal clashing that had been heard in the history of the Grand Magic Games. At the same time, a shockwave was sent outwards, sweeping much of the debris caused by the battle in the central plaza along the way.
Unfortunately, Sun found herself on the losing end of this exchange. With Kagura's Shikai enhancing her strength, she was completely overpowered and sent flying with her arms left numb and bleeding due to ruptured muscles caused by the reverberations from the collision. Even so, Sun was not deterred.
"Voice Magic: Howling Voice]." Sun screamed at the top of her voice just as she was lifted off her feet.
"Damn..." Kagura muttered as she, too, was sent flying when the shockwave from Sun's [Howling Voice] slammed into her.
*Boom!* x 2
A moment later, both Sun and Kagura slammed into buildings lining the plaza. And while neither should have been injured too much by slamming into, or even through, a building, circumstances were different this time around.
For one, Sun, had used up quite a bit of her magic power reserves by dealing with Kagura's Shikai in her base state. On top of that, she used up even more when she forced her blade away from Kagura's [Singularity]. Finally, she packed all of her remaining magic power into that last [Howling Voice] spell. So, when she slammed into the building, she was more or less running on fumes. Meaning, her natural magic power defenses were not enough to protect her from the collision or the building crumbling on top of her. As a result, Sun was eliminated from the Grand Magic Game event.
As for Kagura, because she was in her Shikai state, she was more than capable of handling the collision, as well as the building that fell on top of her. However, the close-range [Howling Voice] that hit her and reverberated inside her body, shaking all her internal organs as it did so, caused a lot more damage than she thought it would. Add to that the fact that a building fell on top of her, by the time she climbed out of the rubble, Kagura had obviously not been eliminated. But she was definitely in no condition to fight.
On top of that, despite the fact that she was the one who managed to not be eliminated, Kagura felt that she had lost to Sun.
Even so, the only thing she could do was use Archenemy as a crutch and hopefully find somewhere to hide until her injuries settled down enough that she could continue to participate in the event. But first, she had to find Archenemy's sheath.
*Clack!* *Clack!* *Clack!* *Clack!* *Clack!*
After a few moments, Kagura found her sheath. However, just as she bent over to pick it up, she heard the sound of high heels clicking against the uneven plaza floor. And although she wanted to spin around and raise her blade in the new comer's direction, her body was vehemently protesting against such an action. So, the only thing she could do was slowly turn her head towards the newcomer.
"Sigh~~~~~~!" Kagura sighed in resignation when she recognized the approaching figure.
Seeing the green hair styled into a bob, the black and gold bikini, and the forest green overcoat that was approaching, Kagura knew there was nothing she could do to defend herself in her current state. Especially after seeing this woman, Brandish µ walking towards her so casually while tossing apiece of rubble in her hand.
"Well, come on." Kagura said as she struggled to raise Archenemy at Brandish.
"You know, even though I don't really like to work, I was hoping for a good fight." Brandish said. "*Sigh* I guess it was a mistake to walk around the town blind, just hoping I'd run into someone. You're actually the first wizard I've run into since the event started. And you're barely able to stand on your own."
"Well, I had quite the duel with your guild mate, Sun Seto." Kagura replied.
"Oh, I'm aware." Brandish said flatly. "I mean, I've been watching for the last few minutes, after all. Anyway, I'll just end this before moving on to find my next opponent. I'll actually try looking this time, too."
Naturally, when Brandish mentioned moving while blind or trying to look for an opponent, she was talking about searching with or without the use of [Magic Power Detection].
After speaking her piece, Brandish took a look at the piece of rubble she was tossing up and down in her hand. Then, she turned to Kagura to gauge the distance between them. After that, when she felt she had a good feel of the distance, Brandish caught the piece of stone in her hand. Then, she tossed it underhandedly, sending it high into the air with Kagura set as its landing point.
"[Command T: Expansion]." Brandish chanted.
With Brandish's chant, the fist sized piece of rubble grew in size. And by the time it stopped growing, it was around the size of a normal one-story home.
Meanwhile, Kagura tightened the grip on Archenemy's hilt. Luckily, she had yet to seal her Shikai. So, even if the chances were slim thanks to her injuries, she had a chance to come out of this. Though, she doubted she would last long even if she did.
"[Meteor Kata]." kagura said as she drew her sword back into a thrusting stance.
*Crack!*
A moment later, with Archenemy coated in her magic power, Kagura thrust upwards with all of her remaining strength. And when the tip of her Zanpakuto met the falling, house-sized boulder, the sound of a crack echoed around the town. At the same time, cracks began to spread all over the boulder from the point of impact.
Seeing that, Kagura, though she did not smile, had a proud look in her eyes. Yet, she knew this was where the x790 Grand Magic Games ended for her. Because despite causing enough damage to destroy the boulder, despite her injuries, there was no way for her to avoid being buried by the rubble.
*Rumble!*
It seemed the judges for the event agreed with Kagura. So, just before she could be buried, she was engulfed by particles of light and transported out of the arena. Meanwhile, the rubble from the destroyed stone fell to the ground and spread over the plaza. All the while, Brandish only watched the process with a flat stare.
"Well, I guess I'll look for the next victim." Brandish said as she started walking away. "Oh, and it looks like those jerks from Sabertooth are over there. Well, I guess I'll go say hi."
Meanwhile, back in the Domus Flau...
{"And that's another two!"} Loli shouted. {"There aren't many contestants left at this point. I wonder who will be the next to fall."}
{"You're right, Loli."} Yajima added. {"From what I can tell, the only ones left are Alfonzo Marcus, Elicia Marcus Taylor, Marin Kitagawa, and Brandish µ of Fairy Tail, Yoruichi Shihouin, Rangiku Matsumoto, and Anko Mitarashi of Mermaid Heel, Rufus Lore and Orga Nanagear of Sabertooth, Bacchus Groh, Genma Shiranui, Ikkaku Madarame, and Yumichika Ayasegawa of Quatro Cerberus, and Lyon Vastia and Sherry Blendy of Lamia Scale."}
{"Four... Three... Two... Four... Two... Let's see..."} Loli mumbled to himself while counting on his fingers. {"If we carry the one there... We get... Fifteen. Wow! Out of the forty wizards who started the event, there are only fifteen left. That's less than half of the total. We're really getting down to crunch time, aren't we?"}
{"That was an astonishing show of arithmetic, Loli."} Yajima said in a sarcastic tone. {"But you're right. We're really getting down to crunch time. And I'm looking forward to seeing how things turn out in the end."}
*Cheer~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!*
In response to Yajima's words, the crowd cheered loudly once again.
{"Me, too, Yajima. Me, too."} Loli replied, seemingly having missed Yajima's sarcasm. {"Well, since there seems to be a little lull in the action, why don't we take a look at the Scores one more time?"}
With that, an overlay of the overall scoreboard scrolled across the bottom of every screen in the Domus Flau.
{Overall Scoreboard
Rank Team Score
1. Fairy Tail 95 Pts.
2. Mermaid Heel 62 Pts.
3. Sabertooth 50 Pts.
4. Blue Pegasus 38 Pts.
5. Final Fantasy 35 Pts.
6. Quatro Cerberus 29 Pts.
6. Lamia Scale 29 Pts.
8. Twilight Ogre 1 Pts.}