Bonus Chapters every 100 Power Stones
"Normal Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
[Year X789]
~ With Team Fairy Tail ~
"Alright, so our strategy should be—" Max turned to where Shisui had been standing moments before, only to find empty space. He blinked, momentarily confused, and scanned the training ground.
"Where did he go?" The others followed his gaze, just as bewildered by Shisui's sudden disappearance. Shisui's presence had become a presence for them to rely on. Yet now, at the moment they needed him most, he was nowhere to be seen.
"Did anyone see him leave?" Alzack asked.
Droy shook his head. "He was just here. He couldn't have gone far."
"No time to worry about that now," Max said, taking a half-step forward to position himself at the front of their group. "Everyone needs to understand what we're dealing with. The Magic Council classifies these two as threats that only S-class mages should confront."
"That bad?" Jet asked, his usual confidence wavering.
"Worse," Max replied. "Although they're on the most wanted list, the Council doesn't have any other information on them. Especially on the type of magic that they use."
"Great... So we're going completely blind here." Droy muttered.
"Doesn't matter," Bisca said firmly as she tightened her grip on her rifle. "They're standing on Fairy Tail's training ground, uninvited. We can't just back down."
"Bisca's right. We hold our ground, but stay defensive. Try to find out what they want without escalating." Max agreed.
Alzack moved closer to his wife as he drew his own weapons.
"Be careful. Even if all five of us attacked together, we might not be enough."
Before they could discuss further, Ultear stepped forward. A teasing smile played across her lips as she assessed the five mages before her.
"Don't look so terrified," she said teasingly. "I won't bite."
Something in the way Ultear spoke, perhaps the casual dismissal or the wink she sent towards Alzack, struck a nerve with Bisca. Without warning, she raised her rifle and fired a magical shot directly at Ultear.
"Bisca, wait!" Max cried out, but it was too late.
The magical bullet shot toward Ultear, trailing green energy as it closed the distance in less than a second. However, Ultear didn't even flinch. With a small, almost lazy gesture of her hand, the bullet slowed, stopped mid-air, and then dissolved into particles of light that scattered harmlessly around her.
"Time Arc," she said simply, her smile never faltering. "Your attack never reached its future state."
The demonstration sent a chill through the Fairy Tail team. They'd just witnessed years of Bisca's training and experience neutralized with a flick of the wrist. For a moment, no one moved.
Max was the first to recover.
"Spread out," he ordered quietly. "Formation three."
The team responded immediately, months of strict discipline and training evident in their coordinated movement. Jet and Droy circled to the left while Alzack and Bisca moved right, leaving Max in the center. It was a basic encirclement formation they'd practiced hundreds of times, designed to test an opponent's defensive capabilities from multiple angles.
"Interesting," Ultear commented, watching them with apparent amusement. 'Shisui's taught them some basics, at least.'
Meredy remained a few steps behind Ultear, her arms crossed as she observed with a bored expression. She made no move to assist or prepare for combat, indicating that she didn't consider the five of them a sufficient threat to warrant her involvement.
Max initiated the first attack, sending a wave of sand curving around from behind Ultear. Simultaneously, Jet dashed forward at high speed, aiming to distract her from the sand's approach. On the opposite side, Alzack fired three shots in rapid succession, each taking a different trajectory to limit her evasion options.
Ultear responded easily, barely seeming to move as she dealt with each threat. The sand reversed its course, flowing backward. Jet found himself running against an invisible force that slowed his movements to a crawl. And Alzack's bullets simply disappeared, their magical energy dispersing before they could reach their target.
"Is that all?" Ultear asked, not even breathing hard.
The team exchanged quick glances, silently communicating their next approach. This time, Droy took the lead, sending vines erupting from the ground beneath Ultear's feet. As she stepped back to avoid them, Bisca fired a special round that exploded into a bright flash, intended to temporarily blind her. Max followed immediately with a sand vortex that surrounded both women, limiting visibility while Jet and Alzack prepared their next attacks.
For a brief moment, it seemed their coordinated effort might have succeeded in at least pressuring Ultear. Then the sand vortex began spinning in the opposite direction, growing weaker rather than stronger. The vines shriveled and receded into the ground. And when the dust settled, Ultear stood exactly as before, completely unaffected.
"Better," she acknowledged. "But still painfully not nearly enough."
"We need to hit harder. Full power, combination attack. Like we practiced for the Games." Max said.
The others nodded, falling back to regroup. Despite the obvious gap in power, none showed any sign of giving up. If anything, the challenge before them only strengthened their resolve. They'd spent too long being underestimated, too many years hearing that Fairy Tail had lost its edge.
They took formation once more, this time gathering their magical energy for a more substantial attack. The air around them charged with power as each focused their strongest magic. Max's sand formed massive fists hovering in the air. Jet's body crackled with speed-enhanced energy. Droy's plants grew thicker and more numerous than before. Alzack and Bisca loaded special ammunition into their weapons, the bullets glowing with concentrated magical power.
"Now!" Max shouted.
Five different magics launched simultaneously toward Ultear, converging from all directions in a carefully timed assault. The combined attack lit up the training ground, the magical pressure alone enough to create gusts of wind blew outward.
Ultear raised both hands this time, her expression finally showing a hint of concentration. The space around her distorted visibly as her Time Arc magic activated. Each attack seemed to hit an invisible barrier, their magical energy twisting and warping before dissipating completely once again.
When the light faded and the dust settled, Ultear remained untouched. Not a hair out of place, not a smudge on her clothing. She lowered her hands slowly, regarding the panting Fairy Tail mages with something almost like pity.
"Is this truly the best that Fairy Tail can offer now?" she asked, her voice carrying across the suddenly quiet training ground. "How disappointing."
The words stung worse than any attack could have. Six months of progress, of pushing themselves beyond their limits, of believing they were closing the gap between themselves and Fiore's top mages. All of it thrown into harsh perspective by a single confrontation.
~ End of Chapter 45 ~
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