Petrel

Chapter 48

After the end of the first stage of the tournament and the restoration of the arena, it was decided to give the participants 10 minutes to prepare for the next stage, during which there will be no breaks until the very final and during which there will be 7 battles. First, 4 battles to determine the semi-finalists, 2 battles to determine who will participate in the final battle. Naturally, I also had to rack my brains over the fact that the undoubted favorites such as Natsu and Gray did not meet at the very beginning, but also to give the same Lucy the opportunity to show herself.

Also, what is no less important, is the error in terms of the audience, which the Master very quickly corrected by sending free girls to sell drinks and snacks.

- And now the break allocated for our participants is over and we are starting the second stage of the tournament for the title of the strongest Fairy Tail mage! In the first duel, the celestial spirit mage Lucy Heartfilia, who was able to recreate her personal version of dragon slayer magic, and the iron dragon slayer Gadgil Redfox will clash.

Immediately after my introduction, the named opponents came out to general applause.

- You don't have to worry about your wounds, as a healer I will pull you out of the next world, and so, let the battle begin!

As soon as my words thundered, Lucy, unlike her opponent who clearly underestimated her, immediately took hold of one of her golden keys.

- Centaur archer, open the gates! - right next to the girl with the sound of a bell in a blue magic circle appeared a star spirit, which, unlike the misunderstanding from the anime, looked like the very personification of Chiron, his muscles literally screamed about strength.

- Did you call? - the archer asked in a pleasant baritone.

"Cover me," Lucy said quickly before turning to dragon slayer magic. "Knight of God, physical strength up!"

- So, are you finally ready to fight or do you need another half hour to prepare? - Gadgil turned to Lucy with disdain.

"If I take any longer to prepare, the battle will become too boring," the girl answered calmly before rushing towards her opponent.

- Hey-hey, girl, do you really dare to underestimate me?! - the magician got angry.

- Iron Dragon's Roar! - Taking a deep breath and placing his palms in front of his mouth like a tube, he released a tornado of a huge amount of sharp iron. Anyone watching from the outside would have thought this attack was incredibly destructive, but the dust that rose up obscured the mage's view.

"I hope you were strong enough not to die…" the magician was cut off from finishing by an arrow that he caught right in front of his face at the last moment.

*boom*

The arrow that Gadgil had just caught exploded right in his hand, but it's not just that he's an iron dragon slayer, how strong he is is no joke, because the explosion only cost him minor burns, inflaming the mage's anger, but he was immediately shown that he had underestimated his opponent in vain.

- Kick Lucy! - the magician, who had just recovered from the previous attack, received a new, much stronger kick right in the stomach.

Like a cannonball, Gadgil flew to the opposite side of the arena, crashing into the wall, and a second later the entire arena heard laughter.

- Ha-ha-ha, so I was the fool. Well, let me give you a worthy fight! - a slightly battered Gadgil appeared. Who, having turned to his magic, was covered in iron scales.

"I would be grateful," the girl answered seriously, for whom this tournament was a chance to earn a reputation as a strong sorceress in the shortest possible time.

- Iron Dragon Sword! - Having transformed his hand into a real chainsaw, which resembled a sword in shape, the magician rushed towards the girl, who had already begun to read the next spells, simultaneously fighting off the arrows of the star spirit.

- Oh, the swift winds that run across the skies... Acceleration! - Having finished reciting the spell, Lucy at the last moment dodged the sword that was falling on her from above, making a deep furrow in the ground.

- Star Dragon Claw! - The girl immediately counterattacked using her newfound mobility. Jumping up, she covered her legs with winds that were like a starry night and, spinning, hit the enemy, sending him flying for the second time in this battle, but this was by no means the end of the attack, because in the air Gadgil had no chance to dodge, and another explosive arrow flew into his belly, correcting the direction of the flight back towards the sorceress.

Jumping high into the sky, Lucy, determined to quickly end this fight, prepared a new spell.

- Wing of the Star Dragon! - Having created two huge whirlwinds, the girl drove the mage, who was unable to dodge, straight into the ground, creating a huge crater.

- How strong!

- Is that all?! He's an S-rank mage, I remember there were a lot of rumors about him being very strong.

Instantly, shouts of spectators from all over the stands began to echo, impressed by Lucy's magic.

- Why are you giving in to me? - Lucy asked the mage, frowning, who, staggering with cracks in his scaly armor, began to rise from the crater.

- Heh. - In response, the magician only grinned, showing his teeth on which traces of his own blood were visible, and immediately rushed at his rival again.

This time his attacks were not so predictable and at the same time much faster and more varied.

For 5 minutes they both played cat and mouse, where Lucy constantly dodged all the attacks of the iron dragon slayer, who also diligently avoided the girl's counterattacks, simultaneously successfully fighting off the arrows of the star spirit. The entire arena was strewn with iron pillars, the purpose of which was more likely to try to limit the view of the archer than to actually harm the opponent, and the ground was dotted with many cuts and craters.

Gadgil fully demonstrated that he not only knows how to apply pressure with force, but also has unparalleled combat skills, but the stupid blows he missed at the beginning and the opponent who was too inconvenient for him did their job and finally.

- Roar of the Star Dragon or Arms! - Gadgil, hesitating from fatigue, fell under Lucy's intensified attack and, having knocked down several of his own iron columns with his body, finally lost consciousness.

- And after an extremely intense and impressive battle, the winner is Lucy Heartfilia! - I declared, and then the joyful winner was greeted by a loud ovation from the crowd.