Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus. 

July 6, x790. 

With her sword, Archenemy unsheathed while surrounded by Sun, Minerva, and Terra as they quickly approached to eliminate her from the Grand Magic Game event, Kagura's expression did not change in the slightest. Instead, she calmly raised her sword, taking a high stance. At the same time, she flared her magic power to its limits. 

Seeing this, Sun's eyes widened. However, instead of stopping her charge, she sped up, trying to take Kagura out before she could complete her current move. 

Sun was not the only one who was taken aback by Kagura's actions. Minerva and Terra were also surprised by the way she flared her magic power. Unfortunately, they had no idea what was to come. Still, after seeing Sun increase her pace, they decided they should do the same. 

Yet, despite the fact that Minerva teleported closer to Kagura's side to stop her from doing whatever it was she intended to do, the Sabertooth wizard was too late. 

"[Take Revenge, Archenemy]." Kagura chanted just before Minerva's [Territory Nihility] palm strike could land on her side. 

As soon as Kagura chanted her release command, her magic power exploded to five times its normal amount while the silvery blade of her nodachi was dyed pitch-black. And this sudden increase in magical pressure caused Minerva to flinch, giving Kagura even more time to avoid being struck by her [Spatial Magic] clad palm strike. 

"[Gravity Magic: Sol]." Kagura chanted quietly 

With Kagura's chant, the gravity surrounding her rose quickly. In fact, it rose so quickly that both Minerva and Terra were brought down to their knees. The gravity increase from this spell was nothing like the gravity increases kagura had shown them before. 

To be honest, without Archenemy's Shikai release, Kagura was not powerful to affect gravity as she was right now. 

Even so, Kagura's new level of gravitational manipulation was not enough to stop Sun. Instead, Sun, used to enduring high gravity during her training sessions, was only minimally affected. She did, however, quickly alter her course when she saw the effect Kagura's new level of strength had on Minerva and Terra. 

"[Voice Magic: Howling Voice]!" Sun shouted as she turned towards Terra. 

*Boom!* 

"Kya~~~~~~~!" Terra screamed as the shockwave from Sun's [Voice Magic] slammed into her. 

Unfortunately for Terra, with the increase in gravity brought by Kagura's spell, so too did the density of the air increase. Meaning, when the shockwave from Sun's spell slammed into her, instead of feeling like she just got hit by a speeding truck, she felt like she just took the brunt of an avalanche. 

Add to that her unpreparedness, and Terra found herself flying out of the gravity field created by Kagura's spell while losing consciousness before she fell to the road again. Luckily, her body was engulfed by particles of light before she fell back to the plaza's floor. She was then transported out of the arena before she could sustain any more injuries. 

At the same time, Kagura also aimed to eliminate Minerva, who was within arm's reach of her. And as it turned out, that was easier than anyone expected, especially since Minerva was not used to the rise in gravity. Meaning, she was unable to mobilize her magic power as quickly as she would have liked. 

"[Slice Kata]." Kagura said, naming her technique as she slashed at Minerva with a high-speed diagonal slash. 

At seemingly the same time, Minerva disappeared from where she was kneeling next to Kagura before reappearing outside of the gravitational field. However, instead of picking herself up immediately after finding herself in normal gravity, she stayed kneeling with her eyes wide open. She then slowly lowered her head. 

Once Minerva was looking down at her chest, a red, diagonal line appeared, stretching from her left shoulder to her right hip. A moment later, blood spurted from the line, dying the plaza floor in front of her red. Then, after another moment, still in shock that she had been cut so deeply, Minerva, with her eyes still wide open, collapsed to her side before being engulfed in particles of light and transported out of the arena. 

At the same time in the Domus Flau's stands, Jiemma, after seeing his daughter fall, snorted loudly, scaring the members of his guild. He then stood up and walked away from his seat without a word to anyone. 

Meanwhile, Irene, seated in Fairy Tail's seating area, watched Jiemma leave. Then, without anyone noticing, she seemingly disappeared from her own seat with an intrigued smile on her face. 

{"Would you look at that!"} Loli shouted excitedly. {"In less than a minute after Contestant Kagura did something that made her sword change in color, this four-way battle has become a duel between two very talented swordswomen."} 

{"Yes, and I'm quite curious to know exactly what Kagura did just now."} Yajima added. {"Especially since after she did it, she seemed to raise the gravity in the area to a higher degree. But I'm also impressed by Sun, as she was not only able to withstand the new increase in gravity but also took advantage of it to eliminate Terra."} 

{"Yes, I'm curious to know, too."} Loli added. {"Perhaps one of the reporters will be able to find out in the interviews that are sure to happen after the event ends. But I think we should focus on that later. Not only is the duel between Contestants Sun and Kagura about to resume, but it looks like the three-way battle between Alfonzo, Yoruichi, Sting, and Rogue is heating up, as well."} 

Not only the two fights Loli mentioned were getting more intense, though. But all the ongoing fights were growing in intensity while several more were getting started. 

One of the fights that was starting was the one between Elicia of Fairy Tail and Tifa and Aerith of Final Fantasy. 

Excitedly, Tifa stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and Elicia rather quickly. Then, she threw a sharp overhand right aiming for the top of Elicia's forehead. Yet, Elicia had no issue dodging the overhand right, ducking underneath it while stepping in close. She then threw an uppercut aimed at Tifa's chin that the raven-haired beauty dodged effortlessly by leaning her upper body backwards. 

However, Elicia did not stop at just throwing an uppercut, as she also jumped into it. And because she missed Tifa, she ended up jumping rather high into the air. Then, to take advantage of her new vantage point, Elicia drew her knees up to her chest. Finally, as gravity pulled her back to the surface, she stomped down hard with both feet. 

*Bang!* 

In response, Tifa quickly got her arms up to block Elicia's drop kick. Although she did so successfully, she was completely caught off guard by the force behind Elicia's kick, as she was forced onto one knee while the street beneath her cracked radially. 

Yet, Elicia was not done. Using Tifa's arms as a springboard, Elicia jumped even higher into the air. While doing so, she shot her threads towards the buildings on either side of the street. And as she rose above their roofs, she let the threads lengthen until she reached the height of her leap. 

"[Thread Magic: Catapult Launcher]." Elicia chanted, causing her threads to contract at high speed. 

"[Protect]." Aerith chanted while raising her staff. 

At the same time, Tifa, though her arms were a bit shaky from blocking Elicia's drop kick, raised herself from the ground. However, instead of stopping at just standing up, she kicked off the ground to meet Elicia in the air. 

"[Whirling Uppercut]." Tifa chanted as she left the ground. 

*Bang!* 

A moment later, a few things happened in quick succession. 

First, Tifa was covered by a translucent barrier that weakened the power of incoming physical attacks. Second, Elicia was rocketed downwards by her contracting threads. While doing so, she reoriented herself to throw a punch with her right hand wrapped in hardened Vibranium Threads. And lastly, Elicia's and Tifa's fists met violently. 

"Ugh!" Both Elicia and Tifa grunted in pain. 

In the next instant, both Elicia and Tifa were sent flying back in the directions they came from. 

"Boom!* 

"Argh!" Tifa shouted as she slammed back first into the street below. 

Meaning, Tifa was slammed back down into the ground, smashing apart the already cracked road. Elicia, on the other hand, was thrown back into the air. 

"[Cura]." Aerith chanted as soon as she saw Tifa hit the ground. "[Kya~~~~~~~~!" 

With Aerith's chant, Tifa's body was covered in a soft green light. A moment later, her pained expression eased. However, her expression tensed again when she heard Aerith Scream. And when she looked to the side where Aerith should have been, she could no longer see her standing there. 

Yet, when she looked up slightly, she could see Aerith with a thin thread, so thin, in fact, that it was almost invisible, wrapped around her ankle. And of course, the other end of this thread was connected to Elicia's outstretched hand, pulling her friend towards the Fairy Tail wizard who was still ascending into the air after the last clash. 

"Damn it." Tifa muttered as she quickly picked herself up from the ground. 

Unfortunately, Tifa could not act fast enough to save Aerith from Elicia's next attack. 

"[Thread Magic: Meteor Hammer]." Elicia chanted as she spun her body in the air. 

With Elicia's spin, Aerith was naturally dragged along with her. And because she had never found herself in a situation like this, she was a bit slow to react. Unfortunately, that caused her to end up as just an unwilling passenger on this ride. 

After a full rotation, Elicia released the threads connecting her to Aerith. As a result, Aerith was thrown down towards the ground. More specifically, towards where Tifa was standing on the ground. 

"Tifa~~~! Loock out~~~~!" Aerith screamed when she noticed that she would slam into Tifa. 

Instead of moving away, Tifa spread her feet apart to get some stability. Then, she raised her arms to catch the projectile her guild mate had become. And with an exquisite display of bodily control, Tifa wrapped her arms around Aerith. Then, she spun the two of them around to bleed off the momentum. 

"Phew! That was close." Tifa said, relieved that she was able to save Aerith. 

"I really think you should have let me fall and get eliminated." Aerith said in a worried tone. 

"Why would you say that?" Tifa asked with a slight frown. 

"[Thread Magic: Entangled Prison].' Elicia chanted from above. 

"Because of that." Aerith said, replying to Tifa's question. 

Meanwhile, As Elicia chanted her spell, she strongly pulled her arms back. Doing so caused all the threads she had spread around the area during the short exchange she had with Tifa to be pulled taut. Unfortunately for Tifa and Aerith, they were at the center of where all the threads would converge. 

Then, before Tifa could even unwrap her arms from around Aerith, the two ladies of Final Fantasy were wrapped up by the threads that came flying towards them from all directions. 

"Well, this doesn't seem good." Tifa muttered 

"No, it's not good at all." Aerith said. "In fact, this is probably gonna hurt... a lot." 

A moment later, Elicia fell from the sky, landing not too far from the two Final Fantasy wizards. She then stepped forward while rubbing her chin in contemplation. 

"Hmm... I wonder how I should finish this." Elicia muttered to herself. "I really don't wanna just beat them up until they get transferred out of the arena. But using the [Meteor Hammer] again seems like it's gonna get old soon. I mean, I've already used it twice in the games so far." 

"Is she seriously talking to herself about how she's gonna eliminate us?" Tifa asked in a dumbfounded tone while struggling to break out of Elicia's threads. 

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like. Aerith replied, sounding a little dumbfounded, too. "It sounds like she's trying to make it entertaining for the audience, too." 

"You thought so, too, huh?" Tifa asked. "Damn... Just what are these threads made of?" 

"Oh, those threads absorb kinetic energy." Elicia replied casually. "So, trying to break them like that is pretty much pointless." 

"Seriously?" Tifa asked, sounding quite impressed by the threads. "Say, do you think I could commission some battle outfits made of these threads from you, magic Seamstress?" 

"Actually, I'd like a few outfits made of those threads, as well." Aerith added. 

Hearing that someone wanted to buy some clothes from her, Elicia's eyes lit up as she quickly forgot about finding a good way to eliminate her opponents. However, before she could respond to Tifa's and Aerith's requests, Elicia's expression contorted into a frown. A moment later, she leapt away from the bound Final Fantasy wizards, confusing them in the process. 

"Seriously, Fonzie..." Elicia muttered. "couldn't this wait until I finished talking business. 

*Boom!* 

After another moment, a large, blue orb made of [Electromagnetism Magic] crashed through a nearby wall from the direction of the Everlue Mansion. Then, before either Tifa or Aerith could register what was happening, Alfonzo's [Big Bang Attack] engulfed them before exploding. Then, by the time the dust settled, neither Tifa nor Aerith could be seen, having been transported out of the arena before they sustained too much damage from the explosion. 

Instead, the only thing that could be seen where Tifa and Aerith once stood was a large crater. And standing a few feet away from the crater was Elicia, who was looking in the direction of the Everlue Mansion. 

"Oh, I guess he didn't do it on purpose this time." Elicia muttered to herself. "I can feel the remnants of that [big Bang Attack] clashing with spells from Sting and Rogue. But I guess Fonzie's spell overpowered theirs. Then, it continued forward until it reached us. *Sigh* they were just unlucky, I guess." 

Reaching that point, Elicia shrugged her shoulders. 

"Oh well, I guess I should go looking for my next opponents, then." Elicia said as she turned away from the Everlue mansion's direction. "I wonder who's still left in the event... Oh, I think I'll go play with Ur's other student." 

And with that, Elicia sped off in the general direction of where Guy and Ichiya fought, as Lyon and Sherry were not too far away after Lyon eliminated Guy.