Chapter 682 - 682: Mira vs. Erza (Part I)

Ur checked Natsu's condition through the magical camera and confirmed that he had lost consciousness. She immediately raised her flag.

"Natsu is unable to continue! The winner is Gildarts!"

Natsu's defeat came as no surprise to Raizel, Ultear, and the others.

After all, Natsu in a battle against an enemy and Natsu in a spar against his own guildmates might as well have been two completely different versions of the same person.

If anything, Raizel was surprised that Natsu had managed to activate Dragon Force against Gildarts at all.

He had originally expected Gildarts to knock him out with a single punch and bring the Christmas Battle to an end almost as soon as it began.

Instead, Natsu had brought out Dragon Force, while Gildarts had even revealed another new technique in addition to Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Absolute Heaven.

Gildarts pulled Natsu back to his feet.

Natsu looked at him with a mixture of respect and gratitude, staring at the man who had always been something between an older brother and a father figure to him.

Gildarts laughed heartily and gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder.

"You've still got a long way to go, Natsu. But yeah—you've definitely improved."

Unfortunately, the fight had ended far too quickly for Selene and Mavis.

Neither of them had gotten their fill.

Since August had already committed Magic Power to maintaining the arena, they quickly decided to add another match—preferably one that would last a little longer.

Ur raised her flag once again.

"Next up—Mira versus Erza!"

Mira versus Erza.

It had been a long time since the two of them had fought each other properly.

Erza Requipped a magical sword and casually lowered it toward the ground.

"Mira, it's been ages since we had a serious match."

Mira folded her hands neatly in front of herself and nodded with a smile.

"I've been looking forward to this too."

August lightly tapped his staff against the ground.

"I'll add something to the arena. A rocky battlefield should do."

The entire colosseum trembled.

A moment later, two rocky mountains rose from opposite sides of the arena, with a river flowing between them to form a natural dividing line.

Erza did not bother testing Mira with the Heaven's Wheel Armor.

She opened with the Fairy Armor instead, pink armor enveloping her body as she wielded a Fairy Sword in each hand.

Mira also activated a full-body Take Over.

But it was not her usual Satan Soul.

Instead—Flame Demon.

A flame-shaped mark appeared on Mira's forehead.

Horn-like armor covered her chest and hips, while blazing wings formed entirely from fire spread behind her.

Orange patterns ran along her limbs, and two curved crimson horns resembling a dragon's emerged from her head.

Her right arm was covered by armor shaped like half a dragon's head, missing only the lower jaw, while orange flames burned from her wrists all the way down to the tips of her razor-sharp claws.

"What is that?" Lucy asked.

Neither she nor Wendy had ever seen this Take Over before.

"So she succeeded," Irene remarked from the stands, crossing one leg over the other as she lightly tapped a finger against her thigh.

Erza immediately realized what she meant.

"The Flame Demon Magic that was separated from Lucy back then?"

When Lucy had helped rewrite the Book of E.N.D., the Flame Demon power inside it had reacted violently against her body.

Irene had later used Enchant: Separation to extract that power, condensing it into a Flame Demon crystal before casually tossing it to Mira.

Apparently, Mira had truly absorbed it and developed an entirely new full-body Take Over—

Flame Demon.

Because the crystal had been influenced by Natsu's Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, traces of dragon power had become mixed into it as well.

That explained the half-dragon armor covering Mira's right arm and the curved horns resembling those of a dragon.

"OOOH! A new form! And it uses fire!"

Natsu, who had already regained consciousness, immediately became excited when he saw Mira's transformation.

"Requip: Flame Empress Armor!"

Since Mira's new form was based around fire, Erza immediately switched into armor that reduced fire damage.

She held the Flame Empress Sword in her left hand and the Sea Empress Sword in her right.

Then, from the very beginning, Erza pushed things even further.

"Enchant: Ice Devil Slayer Power!"

A layer of Ice Devil Slayer Magic covered the Sea Empress Sword, transforming it into an Ice Devil Slayer-infused blade.

Mira brought both hands together in front of her chest.

Flames rapidly gathered between her palms.

The next instant—

BOOM!

Orange-red fire erupted outward.

The blazing mass split into several concentrated beams that attacked Erza from multiple directions at once.

Erza swung both swords.

The Flame Empress Sword swept out a sea of fire, while the Sea Empress Sword summoned a surging wave of water.

Together, the two attacks swallowed Mira's flaming beams completely.

Fire and water collided.

Steam exploded across the arena and rapidly obscured the battlefield.

With two different types of flame heating the air, waves of scorching heat rolled through the arena.

Mira used the cover immediately.

She circled around Erza at astonishing speed and appeared at her side, both palms extended.

Orange light flared in her hands.

A sealed, hemispherical sphere of orange energy instantly formed around Erza.

Then it exploded.

BOOOOM!

Thick black smoke surged toward the sky.

Within the smoke, a silhouette slowly emerged behind an enormous pair of shields.

At the final instant, Erza had Requipped into the Adamantine Armor and activated its defensive barrier.

Even so, she had not escaped unharmed.

The Adamantine Armor was glowing red from the heat, while both shields had been scorched black.

'That attack is incredibly powerful. If I hadn't used the Adamantine Armor, I might have lost right there.'

Even Erza was shaken by the sheer destructive force.

She immediately Requipped again.

"Flight Armor!"

Holding the Flame Empress Sword and Sea Empress Sword, Erza accelerated toward Mira at tremendous speed.

Mira's entire body erupted in flames.

Like some terrifying beast bathing in orange fire, she charged directly toward Erza.

Lucy, Levy, and Cana all sucked in a breath at the same time.

The pressure radiating from Erza and Mira made it feel as though two enormous monsters were about to collide.

Heat surged violently around Mira.

Everywhere she passed, the ground was left scorched black in her wake.

Then the distance between them vanished.

Erza crossed the Sea Empress Sword in front and the Flame Empress Sword behind it, bracing both weapons together as she slammed straight into Mira.

BOOM—!

The arena shook violently.

Smoke engulfed the battlefield again as both women were blasted backward in opposite directions.

Erza stabbed both swords into the ground to stop herself.

Mira dropped low and dug both claws into the earth.

Then Mira attacked again.

She thrust both palms toward the sky and released an enormous surge of flame.

The air itself distorted under the heat, and scorching wind swept across the battlefield from every direction.

Irene watched calmly from the stands.

"The arena is a little too large. Otherwise, that technique would be quite effective."

"Requip: Wind God Armor!"

Erza raised the Wind God Sword and summoned a tornado around herself, scattering the incoming waves of heat.

Mira did not give her time to rest.

Immediately after releasing the hot wind, she began forming another attack between her hands.

A crimson fireball condensed in her palms.

BOOM!

It shot forward and struck Erza head-on.

Another explosion swallowed the battlefield.

"Did Erza just lose?!" Kiria suddenly shot to her feet, visibly nervous.

The Signario Sisters, who had also once lost to Erza, looked tense as well, though neither showed it quite as openly as Kiria.

Kagura remained completely expressionless.

"Not even close."

Mira clearly understood that one direct hit would never be enough to defeat Erza.

She spread her wings and flew into the sky, flames already gathering around both hands for her next attack.

The black smoke gradually dispersed.

Erza stood within it, once again clad in the Flame Empress Armor.

She had crossed the Flame Empress Sword and Sea Empress Sword in front of herself to block the attack.

The Flame Empress Armor had absorbed most of the damage, while the Sea Empress Sword continuously released water to cool the surrounding heat.

Temperatures that would have overwhelmed even many Mages who specialized in physical conditioning had been endured head-on by Erza.