Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.
July 6, x790.
Standing in an utterly decimated part of a town, Marin, covered in cuts, bruises, blood, and burns, with her clothing torn in various places, stood facing two members of an allied guild, Blue Pegasus. And those two were Jenny Realight and Kai Mikawa.
Although Marin is not the most powerful S-Class wizard that could be found in Fiore, it was no secret that she should have been powerful enough to not end up in such a wretched condition while facing wizards the caliber of Jenny and Kai. Not to say they were weak. Rather, Marin is just of a higher caliber than they were.
However, the prerequisite for the above statement was that she is careful and not caught off guard. And although Marin was definitely careful, she still managed to be caught off guard. Because, despite having seen the thrusters currently attached to Jenny's back during the Battle Board event on the Grand Magic Games' third day, she failed to notice that they were part of the [Take Over] she was currently casting, [Machina Soul: Magic Bomber, Christina].
In fact, Jenny's current form was not only the reason for Marin's current condition. But it is also responsible for the entire destroyed area surrounding the trio, as she had carpet bombed the area after, wrongly, assuming that Kai had been sneak attacked. And Marin's condition was because she unexpectedly found herself engulfed by one of the explosions that caused such devastation.
'*Sigh* It's a good thing I was able to get up a dome barricade before things got too bad.' Marin thought to herself while staring down Kai and Jenny, who was floating behind Kai with her weapons ready. 'Even if it wasn't strong enough to protect me completely.'
["Yes, you can think about that later."] Nova said from Marin's inner world. ["For now, just think about winning... No, surviving this battle."]
'Yeah, you're right.' Marin replied. 'Which means now is the perfect time to use you, I guess.'
Exiting her thoughts as she raised Nova's blades, pointing them at Jenny and Kai, Marin took a deep, steadying, breath.
"I never intended to look down on anyone in Fairy Tail." Jenny said while observing Marin from her slightly elevated position. "But I'm quite impressed that you managed to not be eliminated after getting caught in such an explosion."
"Oh, I'm full of surprises." Marin said while trying to smile, though she winced in pain from the attempt. "But since the two of you managed to push me so far, why don't I show you one of them?"
With that said, Marin flared her magic power to its limits.
"I don't know what she's about to do, but we have to stop her." Kai cried as he dashed forward with his katana held tightly in his hands.
*Whirl!*
Like Kai, Jenny was also worried by what Marin was about to do. So, she raised the minigun attached to her left gauntlet as the barrels began to spin. Unfortunately, both she and kai were too late to stop what was about to come.
"[Bend All Creation to My Will, Nova]." Marin chanted.
Even before her words ended, Marin's magic power exploded, rising to five times its normal limit. At the same time, Nova, turned into two masses of a living liquid. Marin then raised her left hand just in time for Kai's arrival, who managed to power through the heightened magic power pressure she was releasing.
*Clang!*
A moment later, Kai swung his katana from overhead, aiming to cut down Marin before she could take action. Yet, his eyes widened to a comical degree, snot dripped from his nose, and his mouth fell open when Marin casually caught his blade with her bare hand.
"No, that's not her bare hand." Kai muttered after getting a good look at Marin's hand.
As kai said, Marin's left hand was now covered in what appeared to be a multicolored, incandescent layer of... metal? Well, that was the closest thing Kai could compare the substance coating Marin's left hand to at the moment. Plus, when his sword slammed into it, it sounded like metal clanging against metal. So, there was that, too.
In reality, half of Nova's mass had been transformed into a defensive layer to protect Marin's hand from Kai's blade.
"Alright, I think it's time to finish what I started before." Marin said, her tone becoming much more solemn than usual.
"Let him go!" Jenny shouted with the barrels of her minigun spinning and their muzzles pointed at Marin and Kai.
"Nah, I don't think I will." Marin replied. "As long as I have a hold on him, you won't fire that thing at me."
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Clang!* *Thud!*
Then, as soon as her words ended, Nova's other half coated Marin's other hand. And even before that process was completed, Marin was swinging her right hand at kai's left elbow, as he was still holding the hilt of his katana with both hands.
Marin's first strike caused Kai to loosen his left hand's grip. Marin then followed up by raising a knee into Kai's abdomen. At the same time, she pulled the blade of kai's katana. And with her strength that was enhanced by her [Soul Armament's] partial unsealing, the strength of those strikes as well as the tug on the blade was much more than kai expected. As a result, the katana was wrenched out of his hand while he doubled over in pain.
"Cough* *Cough*" While doubled over, Kai coughed up a mouthful of blood. Unfortunately, because of his helmet, all that did was obscure his vision, as the blood was splattered all over the visor.
Meanwhile, Marin quickly threw the katana in her left hand away while reaching out for kai with her right. She then pulled him up and spun him around before forcing his arms behind his back and using him as a shield to make sure that Jenny did not start firing her minigun.
"*Sigh* I really don't like fighting like this." Marin said. "But then again, I'm not really suited for fighting up front, anyway."
Marin then peaked out from over Kai's shoulder and looked at jenny, who was gritting her teeth in indecision.
"So, what are we gonna do now, Jenny?" Marin asked. "You know, I'd be fine with just walking away and letting you go if you just fly away right now."
"If you let kai go, I'll do just that." Jenny said, trying to negotiate.
In response, Marin could only shake her head.
"You know, if he hadn't thrown me into that explosion, that might have been possible." Marin said in a regretful tone. "And although I'm not one to advocate for revenge, that really hurt, you know? So, his elimination from the event is a fair price to pay in my opinion."
"No, just take the shot." Kai said, interrupting the conversation between the two beautiful women he was caught between. "Even if you actually eliminate me, it's better than Fairy Tail getting even more points. They already have a big enough lead on everyone else as it is."
Before Jenny could decide, Marin turned her head in the direction of Everlue Mansion.
"*Sigh* I guess it's too late." Marin muttered quietly enough that only kai could hear her.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kai asked in a confused tone.
Instead of replying, the coating wrapped around Marin's hands transformed into a large number of thin tendrils that wrapped around Kai, holding him in place. Marin then took a step back and flicked her arms upwards.
"Wahh~~~~~~!" kai shouted in surprise as he was suddenly lifted into the air.
Jenny was also surprised by Marin's actions. As a result, she did not start firing immediately.
Unfortunately, because her attention was taken by Kai's current predicament, she did not notice the incoming orb of violet electricity until it was too late to do anything about it.
*Zap~~~~~~~!*
"Kya~~~~~~~!" Jenny screamed while the electricity coursed through her body.
At the same time, Marin, with Kai still wrapped in the tendrils made from Nova's transformation, whipped her arms downwards as hard as she could. As a result, Kai was pulled down at high speed.
*Bang!*
*Shatter!*
"No~~~~~~~~~~~!" kai shouted in abject horror.
An instant later, Kai slammed into the ground face first. And although he did not take much damage because of his [Full body Enhancement], it was still more than he could handle. And that was because the visor on his helmet, after already having been damaged by a stray attack, finally shattered due to the collision.
And now, as he was exposed to the air of the outside, the wide-open outdoors, Kai was terrified. So terrified, in fact, that he fell unconscious shortly after being exposed.
Yet, Marin had no intention of waiting for that to happen, as she had already released Kai from her hold. Then, she dashed towards Jenny as fast as she could, trying to make it before she recovered from the paralysis caused by the orb of electricity that hit her.
Along the way, Marin transformed Nova back into her usual weapons. Though, she did not release Nova's unsealed state. And when she was in range, Marin began to dance while swinging her weapons.
"[Transformation magic: Claws and Fangs of Violation]." Marin chanted while swinging her blades.
*Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Cling!* *Clang!* *Cling!*
At speeds faster than she showed when she used the same spell during her fight with Yuka, Marin slashed jenny over and over. Yet, cutting off Jenny's Armor, which came from her [Take Over] was not her intention. Instead, with the added power provided by Nova's current state, she [Transformed] the plate armor into a thin, summer outfit, piece by piece.
And although that did not reduce the defensive properties of the [Take Over], as the pieces were thinner, the vibrations from Marin's strikes passed through to Jenny's body with much more ease.
Then, after about two minutes of her onslaught, Jenny's paralysis had passed. Yet, her body had been so battered by the vibrations caused by Marin's slashes that she was no longer able to stand.
*Thud!*
And just like that, Jenny fell to the ground, her entire body spasming. Meanwhile, Marin, still heavily injured, was standing over her and breathing heavily.
On top of that, Kai had been transported out of the arena after losing consciousness due to anxiety during Marin's string of attacks on Jenny.
"And that's... *Pant* Why you should have just... *Pant* Walked away when I gave you the chance..." Marin said through ragged breaths.
Shortly after that, Jenny's [Take Over] dispelled. Then, she was engulfed in particles of light before also being transported out of the arena.
"*Sigh* That was a lot harder than I thought it would be." Marin said to herself.
["You can think back on the battle later."] Nova advised. ["For now, you should find somewhere safe to rest. You might wanna do something about your clothes, too. Though, the audience might not be so happy if you do."
Hearing that, Marin looked down at herself. And what she saw was her shredded battle attire barely clinging onto her body and, somehow, miraculously maintaining her dignity. It was truly the will of an anime world at work.
"Yeah, I don't want Fonzie to have to pluck out everyone's eyes if my clothes accidentally fell off." Marin replied with a smile.
Marin then picked up a piece of rubble. Then, she used her [Transformation Magic] to transform the rubble into a cloak that was long enough to cover her from her shoulders to just below her knees. Finally, after throwing the newly created cloak over her shoulders, she resealed Nova, [Transformed] her back into a pair of bracelets, and dashed off to find a place to hide and recover. All while hoping she would be ready to continue before the Grand magic Game came to an end.
Meanwhile, back on the grounds of the Everlue Mansion, Alfonzo stood between three wizards, two from Sabertooth and one from mermaid Heel, as they dashed back and forth at high speeds attacking him with powerful spells and martial arts.
Yet, with a level of ease that seemed to be frustrating his attackers to no end, Alfonzo was able to either dodge or parry all the incoming attacks. He even had enough leisure to counterattack whenever he saw an opening.
For example, a few moments ago, Alfonzo, after tilting his upper body enough to evade a hypersonic uppercut from Yoruichi, had created a [Zap Cannon] on his right palm. Then, he tried to press it against Yoruichi's abdomen before firing it in an attempt to create some space to focus a little more on Sting and Rogue.
However, thanks to Yoruichi's instincts and more than impressive speed, she was able to get out of the way of Alfonzo's spell. Because of that, the [Zap Cannon] went flying off into the distance. And as Alfonzo glanced at the spells flight path, he could not help but smile.
"That should be enough for you to take the advantage back, right, Marin?" Alfonzo asked himself at a volume that only he could hear.
After that, Alfonzo continued to defend against the three rival wizards while they took shots at each other from time to time, as well. And that situation continued into the present. And when Alfonzo felt Jenny's and kai's magic power signatures disappear from the arena, he smiled once again.
"Alright, this has been fun." Alfonzo said. "So, I'm in a good mood. And because of that, I think I'm gonna start taking the initiative to attack. You three are cool with that, right? Well, even if you're not, it's not gonna fuckin' change anything. So, get ready!"
With that, the violet electricity surrounding Alfonzo increased in intensity as he flared his magic power. Then, he took a step forward, vanishing from where he stood in a flash of violet light.