437 An Upset and a Lost Opportunity

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

October 15, x785.

Standing in the ring, Bickslow and Fried on one side, Elfman and Lisanna on the other waited for the signal for the match to start without saying a word. And when Ur finally gave the signal, Elfman was the first one to act.

"[Take Over Magic: Beast Soul: Belcusas]." Elfman chanted as his body was covered in the bright light of his magic.

"Well damn…" Bickslow groaned. "Do we really have to deal with that big S.O.B. again?"

"It would appear so." Fried said as he drew his sword. "Now, get ready."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Bickslow said as he summersaulted backwards, intending to land on one of his dolls.

*Bang!*

Unfortunately for Bickslow, before he could land on his doll, it was knocked away.

"Bickslow, watch out." Fried said as he slashed his sword below Bickslow.

Forced to cancel her follow up attack, Lisanna, in her [Animal Soul: Cat] form jumped away from Bickslow's landing spot. Then, just as her feet touched the ground, she vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing in front of Fried, who pulled his sword back to block a swipe from her claws.

"When the hell did she get so fast?" Bickslow asked as his dolls spread out behind him.

"I don't 'know, but we can think about that later." Fried replied while exchanging attacks with Lisanna.

"Right." Bickslow replied with a nod. "Take her down my babies!"

With Bickslow's order, his five dolls began shooting bolts of magic power at Lisanna, disrupting her duel with Fried.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

"I think you forgot about someone." Elfman said as he ran across the ring towards Bickslow.

"Normally, I would have something to say about him announcing his sneak attack." Mirajane said while shaking her head from ring side. "But considering how loud his footsteps are, I guess it doesn't matter even if he announces it from the rooftops."

Nodding in response, Juvia continued watching the match.

Meanwhile, Elfman, transformed in to Belcusas the Thunderclap, a beast Rustyrose of Grimoire Heart imagined into existence back during the Tenrou Island incident, swiped his large, muscular, armored right arm at Bickslow's dolls.

Luckily, Elfman's approach was loud enough that Bickslow had ample time to move them away from the attack.

"Fighting that thing once was more than enough for a lifetime." Bickslow said as he leapt into the air, once again intending to land on one of his dolls.

At the same time, Fried blocked another swipe from Lisanna's claws. However, instead of following up, and before Fried could counter attack, Lisanna pushed off the flat of Fried's sword, hurling herself towards Bickslow at breakneck speed.

*Bang!*

"Damn it! Not again." Bickslow shouted as his doll was once again knocked away before he could land atop it.

This time, however, Fried was not close enough to save Bickslow from Lisanna's follow up.

"Let's end this!" Lisanna said as she leapt up.

As Lisanna leapt up, Bickslow looked down with his eyes glowing in an ominous red color.

"Damn it, he's using [Figure Eyes]." Elfman said as he tried to increase his speed.

"I can't let you interfere." Fried said, giving up on stopping Lisanna's attack. "And this time, I won't let this monster run free like last time. [Dark Écriture: Darkness]."

As he chanted his spell, Fried's right eye had changed colors, his usually bright blue eyes now a glowing purple while his sclera had turned black, the sign of [Dark Écriture's] activation. On top of that, he was using his right index finger to draw runes on his chest.

Recognizing what Fried was about to do from the last time they fought, Elfman stopped his charge, dug his hand into the ring, and threw a chunk of the ring in Fried's direction, hoping to stop his transformation.

Unfortunately, Elfman was too late. Just as the chunk of stone left his hand, Fried was engulfed in a tornado of [Darkness Magic]. Then, when the piece of the ring reached Fried, it came to a stop, its momentum completely arrested.

"A good strategy." Fried said as the [Darkness Magic] surrounding him dispersed, revealing his demonic transformation. "Unfortunately, you were too--- Urgh!"

Before Fried could finish what he had to say, he was struck in the back by an energy bolt from one of Bickslow's dolls, causing him to drop the piece of the ring he caught a moment ago.

"Bickslow, what are you doing?" Fried asked in a tone filled with confusion and irritation.

"Sorry Fried, but I'm in trouble!" Bickslow shouted, his voice coming from higher than Fried expected it to be.

Confused by Bickslow's reply, Fried turned his body, keeping Elfman in his field of vision, to see what was wrong. And when he caught sight of Bickslow, who was being flown through the air in the talons of Lisanna's [Animal Soul: Harpy] form, he was thoroughly confused.

"How is this possible?" Fried muttered to himself.

Even Elfman, who had lost track of his sister while trying to stop Fried's transformation found himself at a loss after seeing his sister manhandling Bickslow.

"She had her eyes closed! Wah~~~~~!" Bickslow shouted as Lisanna made all sorts of aerial acrobatics to avoid the shots Bickslow's dolls were firing at her.

Unfortunately, this meant that Bickslow was being jerked quite violently, as well. On top of that, Lisanna made sure to put Bickslow in the path of the incoming attacks as often as possible.

Going back a few moments, when Lisanna leapt up to attack Bickslow after knocking his doll away, Bickslow looked down at her with his [Figure Eyes] activated. Unfortunately, just as he said, Lisanna had her eyes closed as she rose, slashing her claws wildly as she passed.

Then, once her instincts told her she was about to pass Bickslow, she changed [Animal Souls] from [Cat] to [Harpy] before gripping Bickslow by his shoulders with her talons and taking him on a trip through the sky.

"This is certainly problematic." Fried said as he began drawing runes on his body once again.

Before he could complete the runes, however, Elfman chucked another chunk of the stage in Fried's direction, this time interrupting the spell he was preparing. Not fast enough to avoid the incoming projectile without his [Wings] spell, Fried gathered [Darkness Magic] into his right palm.

"[Darkness Flare Bomb]." Fried chanted as he thrust his right palm at the incoming slab of the ring.

*Boom!*

Immediately upon contact, the orb of [Darkness Magic] in Fried's hand exploded, destroying the chunk of the ring while a shockwave pushed all the debris at Elfman like buckshot.

Unbothered by the small incoming projectiles, Elfman charged forward, letting the small pieces of stone bounce of his armored torso. Then, once he was in range, he swung his large arm in Fried's direction.

Ducking under the tree trunk like arm, Fried coated his hands in [Darkness Magic] before throwing a devastating punch into Elfman's chest. Unfortunately, just like the scattered projectiles, Elfman seemed to take no damage.

Undeterred, Fried continued dodging Elfman's powerful, yet comparatively slower attacks, while countering with attacks of his own. Unfortunately, he did not have the leeway to worry about Bickslow, draw anymore runes on himself, or gather the necessary amount of magic power to use a more powerful spell.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this match to go like this." Alfonzo said while combing his fingers through Sun's hair, who was still sitting in his lap.

"I guess Elfman must have talked to Mira about his loss to Fried and Bickslow in the Promotion Exam." Elicia said. "And Lisanna must have been around for it, too."

"Yeah, otherwise there's no way they would have known exactly how to start the match without any discussion." Marin said.

"But they are siblings." Sun said while melting into Alfonzo's chest with a blissful smile on her face. "They probably have a pretty deep connection, right?"

"Although you're not wrong, I think Lici is right." Alfonzo said. "I mean, look at them go. They had to have already had a strategy in place for such an occasion."

Like Team Steel Threads, the other wizards of Fairy Tail were also discussing the match while Lisanna continued to drag Bickslow through the air and Fried continued his slugfest with Elfman. However, that stalemate eventually came to an end when Lisanna, while avoiding the attacks from Bickslow's dolls, flew towards Fried's back.

"Fried, behind you!" Bickslow shouted, drawing Fried's attention away from Elfman for a moment.

Then, just as Fried looked back because of Bickslow's warning, he came face to face with Bickslow, who Lisanna had released before flying upwards so she would not collide with either Fried or Elfman.

Reacting quickly, Fried turned around to catch Bickslow and shield him from Elfman's fist that was swinging in a wide arc.

*Bang!*

As a result, Fried was struck in the back by Elfman's fist, coughing up blood on impact, as he and Bickslow were sent flying out of the ring. As a result, both Bickslow and Fried landed on the ground outside of the ring in a heap as they rolled to bleed off the momentum.

"Fried and Bickslow are outside of the ring." Ur announced as Bickslow and Fried began to slow. "The winners of the match are Elfman and Lisanna Strauss. And the winners of the round with a score of two to zero and moving on to the semi-finals is Team Strauss."

Hearing the announcement of the match's outcome, many of those in attendance were shocked into silence. It was no secret that the Thunder God Tribe were among the favorites to win the whole tournament. Especially after their showing last year. And to see them lose two to zero without Laxus even being involved in the round was something that no one expected.

Naturally, Laxus was no exception. He was even more surprised that Bickslow and Fried lost in a two-on-two match. Especially since he did not expect anyone, aside from a team with Alfonzo or Elicia on it, to be able to defeat them. And this led him to go through more introspection.

'It seems we were complacent.' Laxus thought to himself as he approached Bickslow and Fried. 'I never gave it any consideration before. But now that I think about it, having Fried and Bickslow fight in every two-on-two match was practically begging for something like this to happen. I mean, no one in our guild is an idiot. Well… except for Natsu… But it would only stand to reason that countermeasures would be thought up for their team. *Sigh* We really need to sit down and consider the way our team works in all situations.'

With that thought coming to an end, Laxus arrived in front of Bickslow and Fried, who were seated on the ground and wearing frustrated expressions. They were among the few that never lost a match in last year's tournament, after all.

Hearing Laxus' approaching footsteps, Bickslow raised his head, ready to apologize for losing. Meanwhile, Fried could not bear to do the same, afraid of seeing the disappointment in Laxus' eyes.

"Come on, you two." Laxus said in his usual tone. "Let's get to the medical station and check on Ever."

With that, Laxus turned around and started walking towards the medical station. Bickslow and Fried did not move, however. Instead, Bickslow joined Fried in hanging his head.

Not hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, Laxus stopped walking and looked over his shoulder.

"What's wrong with you two?" Laxus asked with a hint of confusion in his tone.

"We're sorry, Laxus." Bickslow said with his fists clenched.

"We let you down." Fried said, tears welling up in his eyes.

The hint of confusion Laxus was feeling expanded into full on confusion that made itself obvious on his face.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Laxus asked. "What makes you think you let me down?"

"Because we lost." Bickslow replied.

"And?" Laxus asked, still sounding completely confused. "What's the big deal with at."

"Because of us, we won't be able to show everyone that the Thunder God Tribe is the strongest team in the guild."

"I still fail to see the issue." Laxus said, his confused expression replaced with a determined one. "Yeah, you may have lost. But that doesn't mean you can't try again, right? As long as you're still alive, you can always train to be stronger… better… and try again later, right? And eventually, you can claim your victory."

Hearing that, both Bickslow and fried raised their heads, surprised they would hear something like that from Laxus. And when Laxus' words finally sank in, their eyes lit up, reminding them of why they were so willing to follow Laxus.

"That's right, we can just train harder than ever." Bickslow said as he stood to his feet.

"Indeed." Fried replied with a fanatical expression on his face. "And next time, we shall truly show the world why the Thunder God Tribe is the strongest."

Nodding in response, Laxus started walking towards the medical station once again.

"That's right." Laxus said without looking back. "Now, let's go. We need to tell Ever about the outcome of the round when she wakes up."

Hurrying forward, Bickslow and Fried fell in line with Laxus. Meanwhile, Laxus had only one regret about the way their tournament run ended.

'*Sigh* I do wish I could have fought Alfonzo in the tournament, though.' Laxus thought to himself while patting the halberd strapped across his back. 'It would have been the perfect time to show you off to the world, Elexion.'

Meanwhile, in Laxus inner world, a large mountain range with a sky filled with storm clouds and crackling lightning, a large, four-limbed dragon with bright yellow scales and glowing purple eyes lay in a cave dug out of the side of the tallest mountain in the range.

"Yes." Laxus' [Armament Spirit], Elexion replied. 'And battling with the one you call Alfonzo would have been a glorious stage for the Lightning Dragon King's return. Even if it is not a return in the truest sense."

With that, Elexion closed his eyes and rested his head on his front legs.

"The only thing I ask of you, Laxus, is that you make my debut something for the ages." Elexion said as he waited for his seal to be partially released. "And don't forget, we still need to find the other part of my soul. The part that is tormenting that welp who had the audacity to consume my flesh."