Fairy Tail Bluemage (Chapter 20)

"Welcome all you wizard fans to the first of hopefully many Magic Duels! I am Chapati Lola, here today I am joined by the Magic Council wizard, Lahar!" 

"I have no idea why I am here." The man sighs. 

"A neutral commentator! One who is aware of the strength of wizards and the fierceness of combat!" Chapati quickly cuts in. "As Captain of the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit, surely you have seen numerous hot blooded battles! You would certainly be able commentate far more effectively than myself in these bouts! In addition you're here to ensure that everything here is above board!" 

Talking Natsu down was a pain in the ass. But. Eventually I managed it. 

Gonna have to buy a lot of food for him, though. 

Plus I had to lay on all of the 'Natsu. That iron dragon slayer is a waste of your time. If I can beat him, you could as well. Hell, if I can do it, why don't we fight after this is all said and done.' 

At which point I promised to 'take him seriously'. 

Levy wanted to try, but she relented that she had no real way of defeating Aria and she REALLY wants Fairy Tail to completely sweep Phantom Lord. 

Elfman agreed to go after me because my magic is 'Flashy' and 'taking on the entire team at once shows the qualities of a REAL MAN.' 

Gray really didn't care as long as we crushed the other team and Laxus agreed that 'it'd be funny if some random Fairy Tail Scrub completely destroyed their entire team.' 

I... sort of pulled a 'I fixed and gave you that holy sword' card to Erza to get her to stand down. She's placing second on our team after Intimidating Natsu into third place. 

But. 

My bribes were worth it... for one reason. 

A quest has been Received. 

Phantom Lord Problems: 
With great cunning (taking five minutes to call the police) you have solved the main issue of Phantom Lord's war on Fairy Tail... but! Bad blood still exists. Show them why Fairy Tail's the number one guild. 

Objective:  
Have your team win the Phantom Lord Vs Fairy Tail Duel: [ ] 

I assume there's a nice juicy little bonus objective for defeating all seven by myself. 

Possibly another for doing it no-hit... 

So the plan is to blitz them. Learn every spell I can to counter, then steal magical energy when I'm getting low with this new fifth level spell I got. 

MP Absorb {Enfeebling}: 
Spell Level: 5 
Casting Time: Standard Action 
Range: 30 Feet 
Target: One Creature 
Duration: Instantanious 

The caster emulates the MP draining ability of an Emerald Eye. The target takes 5d6 points of MP damage (Fortitude save to negate). Damage dealt this way heals the caster’s MP pool. If used against enemy summoned creatures it is less effective, the target takes full MP damage whereas the caster only drains half on a failed save. This spell does not work when used on an allied summoned creature, either through a Summon spell, Limit Break, or other summon ability. 

"Allow me to explain the rules here!" Lola exclaims. "The way this works is quite simple. Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord have both selected seven members today. We shall have a series of one-on-one fights. Each side will chose one of these seven to send out. At which point, they will fight until one side is declared the victor! At which point the loser is disqualified and the winner can return to their seats if they wish or they can continue to fight." 

"If they return to their seats will they be able to return to the arena?" Lahar questions. 

"Yes!" 

"Then it is strategy. To allow your allies to rest for their next matches. To carefully pick who you should face." The man observes. 

"Let's meet the first two wizards!" Chapati exclaims. "Lahar, if you could read that note." 

"Merlin Ambrosius and Gajeel Redfox." 

'Ohohoho this'll be for the guild hall you little bastard.' An evil smirk appears on my lips for a moment before I calm my features and step out. 

I can see my opponent swagger into the arena on the other side, the crowd lets out cheers of excitement. He doesn't even bother hiding the sadistic grin that has appeared on my face. 

A slow breath leaves my lips as I calm my emotions. 

It was phantom lord who has been spreading those rumors about our guild. Obvious when you think about it for a moment. Plus Laxus spent the past two days confirming that was well. 

He's changed. 

Maybe I'll actually respect him now. 

"Geheheh. I've waited a looooong time for this." He chuckles. "You can't run away now you fuckin coward! I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life, make you regret ever meeting me!" 

While he's speaking my gaze strays the stands, scanning the crowd. 

I see Makarov give me a peace sign, a bright grin on his face. 

My gaze abruptly flicks to his side- oh... never mind... I was just seeing things. 

I let out a single sigh, my gaze straying back to Gajeel. 

"What?! You talked a lot of hot shit, huh?! Where's all that bravado?! Is everyone in fairy tail just hot air?!" 

"..." 

"Master Makarov." I call out. "No matter how you look at it, this doesn't seem fair, does it?" 

There's a stunned silence. 

"Whatever do you mean by that boy?" The man calls down. 

"PHAHAH!" Gajeel laughs. "That's right tap out like a fuckin COWARD." 

"I mean." I continue, completely ignoring the man in front of me. "It's common knowledge that Phantom Lord is a second rate guild who's only in second place because they have around five to ten times the number of members of a normal guild. They're always at each other's throat, sabotaging each other. It's frankly a little pathetic... it's not fair to put their S-Class against even our A-Class. After all, they've only got a few legitimately threatening wizards." 

Gajeel looks borderline feral. 

A pressure descends on me, murderous energy pressing down on me from afar. 

Not from Gajeel, but from up at the other side of the arena. Jose Porla glares down at me, magical power flickering around him as he shoots me a hated glare. 

I lock eyes with him. "It's not fair to send seven Phantom Lord wizards against seven of our own... because one fairy tail wizard is worth about ten phantom lord mages." 

"So. Why don't we cut to the chase. I'm not backing out or taking a break. I'll be facing all seven of you today, so why not make this a little fairer and more interesting for me- as knocking you flat one by one will be utterly boring to not only me but to the spectators at large... Why don't I fight all seven of you at once?" 

~~Linebreak~~

Pov Nearby:  

The arena is quiet enough that you can hear a pin drop. 

Oh boy. Jose's mad.  

"A SHOCKING DECLARATION FROM FAIRY TAIL'S MERLIN AMBROSIUS! HE WISHES TO FIGHT ALL SEVEN OF THE PHANTOM LORD WIZARDS AT ONCE!" The hired announcer shouts. 

"That is- this is insane." The magic council wizard whispers. "I saw him struggle against the likes of Erigor the Reaper just a few short months ago... he can't be serious, can he?"  

A short man lets out a boisterous laugh. "Well, boy. I have no problems with it! Jose! What do you say? How about we let ALL of your fighters go against my own. Seven versus one. Sounds fair, right?" 

There's angry jeering from the Phantom Lord spectators while most of the crowd and the fairy tail wizards are going absolutely crazy. 

"Hm..." The short woman sat beside the old man hums mutely, underneath an illusion her calculating green eyes flickering over the white haired teen. 

Her... 

Grandson. 

Her face devolves into a goofy half-lidded smile. She still hasn't gotten over the joy of having relatives. 

The only issue is that she... isn't sure if this is a fight he'll win. 

She's working on incomplete data, but judging from Phantom Lord's previous missions... she is unsure if Merlin has the capabilities to back up his declaration. 

Of course, she has no idea what Merlin himself is working with aside from the brief bits of information Makarov was able to tell her. 

"Once more Fairy Tail just proves how foolish and destructive they are." Jose lowly growls as he rises to his feet. "IF YOU ARE SO EAGER TO LOSE WHO AM I TO DENY YOU?! DON'T YOU REGRET THIS BOY!" 

Mavis watches Merlin cross his arms, closing his eyes as he seems to take a deep breath. 

It takes a minute or two, but eventually the remaining six members of Phantom Lord are on the field. 

Merlin's gaze flickers around them, lips tugging downwards briefly before returning to an impassive smile. 

"On Fairy Tail's side, we have the newer mage to the guild, Merlin Ambrosius, and his opponents, we have the Phantom Lord S-Class, Gajeel Redfox! Aria! Sol! Totomaru! Juvia Lockser! And the two A-Class wizards, Boze and Sue!" 

"For the record." Merlin begins. "Totomaru. Juvia. You are like the only two mages who haven't irritated me. I'd like to formally apologize for getting you caught in the blast radius of this... Juvia... I also feel that Phantom Lord is squandering your talents... I have only heard of one wizard that has magic so powerful that it changes the very world around them without their intent or input... their name is Gildarts Clive. If you were in a guild that gave you even the slightest assistance in growth... one that didn't hold you back so much... you could be one of the most powerful wizards in Fiore." 

Mavis frowns slightly. 

She's seen Gildarts during the S-Class trials... he's correct in saying that Gildarts seems to change the very world around him. In fact, she's heard that they have had to modify Magonolia itself to shift and move around purely so he doesn't break anything on his way back to the guild. 

This woman alters the world around her? 

Mavis finds her gaze straying upwards to a barrier which is being pelted with rain, thunder booms in the distance as she can see Juvia narrow her eyes slightly, seemingly looking over Merlin. 

Is... that a blush? 

Mavis blinks owlishly. 

Huh... 

Great-Grandchildren? 

She missed Merlin and her... child... growing up. The least she should do is be there for her great grandchildren! 

She shakes her head. 

She has heard that Merlin can see magic itself. Some sort of ocular magic like Evergreen's Stone Eyes. 

He's giving that girl a lot of praise. But doesn't seem worried in the slightest. 

Is Merlin just strong, or perhaps is Jose just horrible and nurturing his wizard's talents? 

Gajeel seems to be shaking with rage. 

A smirk appears on Merlin's face as he locks eyes with him. "July Seventh Seven-Seven-Seven." 

The iron dragon's eyes seem to shrink into little slits. 

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" He snarls, his skin darkening to an irony shade of grey. "Tell me what you know you fucking bastard!" 

His arm seems to shift, becoming a blade, miniature points seem to grow on its edge. His arm shakes as with a dull roar the spikes rapidly twist around his arm. 

"THE PHANTOM LORD AND FAIRY TAIL EXEBITION MATCH WILL NOW BEGIN!!!" The announcer shouts. 

And suddenly there is movement. 

Merlin raises his hands two magic circles appearing in them, one appearing far more rapidly than the first, it spews an assortment of little purple fireballs across the arena, the second does the same. 

Makarov lets out a sigh. "It looks like he's not taking this seriously again... like how he did with Laxus... I am unsure if that's a good decision here." 

"That doesn't appear to be the case." Mavis observes, watching how the seven phantom lord wizards react. 

One turns into air and disappears, one charges forwards, his blade-like hand swatting aside the ball of fire as he charges right for Merlin, another swats his hand, gathering several bolts of fire into a single flickering orb of purple, one begins to sink into the floor, one seems to have reality crack around them like a broken mirror as an orb is rebounded, another is snuffed out by loud noise, and the final one merely allows the fire to pass through her body as it transforms into water. 

"This is a probing attack." Mavis realizes. "In this one singular moment, he has gotten a read on all of his opponents capabilities and generally what their strategies are..." 

Golden light explodes around Merlin as in the next moment he is on the other side of the arena, grabbing the green haired earth wizard by the throat moments before he can completely sink into the ground. 

He is pulled from the earth, his face bruised and battered. He must have already been punched several times. 

Merlin grabs his ankle slamming him on the ground as the mage lets out a cry of pain that intensifies as the white haired mage turns, his hand coming up and enveloping the mage in a bolt of lightning. 

The Phantom Lord mage crumples the ground, and for a moment, there is silence. 

"Hm. A good choice." Mavis observes. "Reasonably he could have hidden in the earth and there would have been nothing he could have done to stop him." 

The green haired mage glows brightly and disappears abruptly. 

"Oh? I didn't know we had a teleporter here... I was just going to fight around him. That's convenient." Merlin hums. 

The crowd erupts with cheers and shouts of excitement as the white haired fairy tail wizard casts his gaze over the remaining wizards. 

"U-UNBELIEVABLE! SOL HAS BEEN DEFEATED IN JUST UNDER FIVE SECONDS!" 

"That speed..." She can hear the co-commentator Lahar whisper. 

Merlin blurs across the arena, this time visible but just a blur, he stops in front of the sound and mirror wizard, hands inches from their face. 

Two bolts of lightning envelop both of them with a shuddering boom, one being quite a bit more powerful than the other. 

Regardless, both spells knock the wizards out instantly as they are flung back. 

"B-Both Boze and Sue have been defeated as well!" Chapati shouts. "Is this the true power of the fairy tail guild?!" 

Merlin narrowly ducks a slash with a blade as the fire mage lunges for him, stepping to the side to avoid a blast of multicolored flames. 

He floats off the ground, leg lashing out, his heel cracking into the chin of the Iron dragon slayer which had lunged forwards, attempting to slash his blade-like arm across his back. 

Gajeel staggers back a few steps as the water woman holds out a hand. 

"Water Lo-" 

"Dry Ice Dragon!" Merlin shouts as he holds out a hand. 

A hunk of ice shoots forwards at high speeds, rushing for the water woman just as Merlin is surrounded in a globe of water. 

Streams of freezing mist seem to streak off the ice as two small wings spread. 

Juvia lets out a quiet gasp as a dragon roughly size of a cat begins to scratch at her, losing control of her water sphere spell. 

Her body slowly begins turning white wherever the claws and jaws of the little beast swipe near, her breath begins coming out in misty gasps. 

"And Juvia has been obscured from sight! Could this be the defeat of another of the Phantom Lord Wizards?!" 

"IRON DRAGON ROOOArrr?" 

Merlin's eyes glow, the large magic circle appearing in front of Gajeel's mouth flickering out, he seems surprised. 

Merlin's knee smashes into Totomaru's crossed arms as he quickly flies back and slams a flaming heel into Gajeel's cheek, the dragon slayer doing a forced cartwheel, blood spewing from his lips as his grey scaly skin abruptly recedes. 

"A CRUSHING blow on the iron dragon slayer! Could that be it?!" 

Merlin lands with a crouch, the golden aura disappearing as a large figure seems to coalesce behind him. 

"METS-" 

The aura flickers back to life and Merlin flips backwards, smashing a knee into the back of Aria's head, snapping the large body forwards 

"IRON DRAGON'S CLUB!" 

A large blunted spire of Iron crashes into Merlin's crossed arms, shunting him backwards. 

"He landed a blow! Is it time for Phantom Lord to begin their counterattack?!" 

He lands on his feet with a single flip to bleed off momentum as Aria picks himself up. 

Gajeel crouches there, one hand brought up to his jaw as he wipes his bleeding mouth with the back of his hand. "This guy's pretty tough, huh?" 

Aria slowly comes to a stop next to him as Juvia walks out of the rapidly fading chilling mist, taking slow shaky steps. 

A large flame appears next to her, allowing her body to rapidly regain color, a frown appears on her lips as she comes to a stop beside Aria and Gajeel. 

"He's getting weaker..." Gajeel grins. "That burst of speed you love so much doesn't last that long, hm?" 

"You looked down on us and now you're going to pay for it." The fire wizard states. 

"So sad!" Aria cries. "Such hubris! We will need to crush it!" 

Merlin doesn't look impressed. 

"Rainbow Blast!" The fire mage calls out. 

"IRON DRAGON-" 

"Water SLICER!" 

"Zetsu." 

~~Linebreak~~

Pov: Elsewhere 

Steps echo out on tile floor as an older man walks through a truly massive palace. 

He has been summoned by his liege. 

Unexpected. He normally says gone for longer. 

He opens the door, bowing his head slightly. "Your Majesty. You have returned." 

"August." A black haired man begins quietly as he sits in a large throne. His eyes are a blood red, head propped up with a fist as he gazes down at the old man. 

They are alone in this massive room. No guards, nor servants, just the emperor of Alverez and debatably the strongest of the spriggan ten. 

"Is there perhaps something that you should have told me, August?" The man questions, eyes narrowing slightly. 

"I do not believe so, my liege." August begins. 

"..." Zeref stares for a long moment, taking a deep breath, eyes returning to their normal coal-black. 

"My son." He eventually speaks, causing the old man to freeze. 

a long silence seems to draw on and on as Zeref closes his eyes. 

Eventually Zeref speaks. "May I know why you never told me?" 

"..." 

"When I was but a child... shortly after being delivered by mother... I was abandoned... not by her, she was in no state to do so, but by a man with an eyepatch... after that day, I lived on the street, stealing to survive until I met you. It took a while, but eventually I pieced together that you were my father, but by that point, I felt that if you knew you might abandon me as well... if not from apathy from desire to protect me from your curse. I felt it better to be a pawn than to be abandoned again." 

"And yet... you have abandoned your own child, have you not?" Zeref frowns a single eye cracking open. 

"I... I had no idea that I had a son until recently." The old man whispers. 

The black haired man lets out a single reserved huff. "Ironic." 

The two fall into silence as Zeref closes his eye again. 

"August. I have no idea what to do with you." Zeref admits after a long moment. "I will admit, I might have left you had I known, but... this is a pain I have never felt before. I was there as you grew up, but I never showed care or love. Just apathy. This could have been different." 

He clutches the bridge of his nose. 

"Your Majesty-" 

"Father." Zeref cuts in, a frown on his lips. "Call me Father." 

"F-Father?" 

A dark aura briefly crackles around the man before fading. 

A bouquet of flowers in a nearby vase abruptly wilts. 

"My grandson... Merlin is his name?" Zeref begins. 

"I- I am unsure your maj- F-Father." 

"He is a part of Fairy Tail." The man continues. "Do you even know what he looks like?" 

"I do..." The elderly man weakly announces. 

"Through that spell, correct?" Zeref asks. "Use it... I wish to see my grandson's face." 

August draws some of his blood dragging it out into a thread. A magic circle springs to life as the spell seems to bloom. 

Several archive windows open, the man enlarging the one just below he himself on the family tree. 

A white haired teen appears on the screen, his clothes are scuffed, some blood dribbles from his nose and blood drips down his arm from his shoulder which appears to have been pierced sometime recently. 

But he has a grin on his face as he knocks a giant of a man flat with one final punch. 

The giant begins to glow... then he disappears. 

"ARIA IS DOWN! Now only three Phantom Lord Wizards Remain! Could he do it? Could his claim be realized?!" 

"Even if he is defeated now," A second voice begins. "He has proven his point. Fighting against seven of Phantom Lord's wizards for so long. I remember the mission we took to subdue Eisenwald... he was nowhere near this competent. He has truly improved leaps and bounds in the short few months he's been a part of the Fairy Tail guild." 

Merlin casts his gaze across the field, looking to a blue-haired woman whose clothes look lightly blackened, a man with a split of white and black hair, a large black line across his face and over the bridge of his nose. 

The final figure is a man with metal studs on his face, a large mane of black hair going to the center of his back. 

"Ah. There we go. That's relieving." Merlin speaks. "That Metsu spell was dangerous." 

His eyes narrow slightly. "That was your plan, wasn't it? The reason you tried goading us in a war? The spell that grows more powerful the more magic the target has? You expected to catch Makarov off guard with that, hm?" 

"Look at you." The guy with unruly hair growls. "You're on your last legs." 

"Gheheeheh." He chuckles. "What happened to taking us all?" 

"Oh." Merlin blinks. "I just wanted to give you hope... you in particular, Gajeel." 

"Cura." He is enveloped in a blinding white light, and when it clears... he is completely healed. 

"INCREDIBLE! ALL OF THE DAMAGE MERLIN HAS RECIEVED THROUGHOUT THIS BATTLE HAS BEEN TOTALLY REVERSED!"  

The more reserved voice continues. "I was wondering why he hadn't been using his healing magic... it appears he's also improved that as well. His previous showings hold no candle to what he is capable of now." 

All that even slightly hints at him EVER being injured would be his slightly destroyed clothes and the red that stains it. 

He reaches out a hand and clenches his fist. 

"Gaaah." Gajeel wheezes as motes of light seem to spray from his body and rush for the white haired mage who takes a deep breath an exhales. 

Gajeel falls weakly to a knee as the corners of Merlin's mouth turn upwards. "I want you to feel the despair you made my entire guild feel when you stuck a bunch of pillars through our guild hall... in fact, Do you want to see something cool?" 

FLASH 

A pillar of light descends on the arena, completely obscuring Merlin completely. 

The beam washes across the earth underfoot, creating a fierce gale. 

All you can see of Merlin is a shadowy bipedal shape within the light. 

Crack 

A large black wing grows abruptly. 

It is quickly followed by five more. 

The light fades as two glowing yellow eyes pierce the cloud of smoke, Merlin slowly walks out, body changed, forearms covered in whitish green scales, fingers tipped with claws, piercing yellow eyes with slitted pupils, a small crown of spikes on his brow and, of course, the six large membraned wings on his back. Single strands of his hair across his scalp seem to brightly gold a gleaming gold color. 

Gajeel's eyes grow wide, mouth briefly gaping, a single shiver seems to run up his spine. 

"So..." Merlin speaks, a smile slowly appearing on his lips, his teeth appear to be slightly sharpened. "Where's all that bravado dragon slayer?" 

He disappears from view briefly, the world around him blurring as the scrying sensor struggles to follow. 

He slams an absolutely brutal punch into the cheek of the dragon slayer, sending him sprawling across the arena. 

He blurs again, reappearing in front of Gajeel, smashing his elbow into his back and abruptly halting all of his momentum. He seems to hang there for a moment as Merlin swivels, grabbing the dragon slayer's wrist and swinging him downwards hard enough that it causes him to bounce off the earth itself. 

Merlin points two fingers forwards, a large white magic circle appearing. "Megaflare." 

Nine bolts of energy streams out, smashing into the slayer and creating a cascade of booming explosions and flashes of light. 

"That attack... is dangerous..." The reserved commentator whispers. 

The dragon slayer is propelled out of the smoke cloud, glowing brightly and disappearing off the battlefield. 

The corners of the white-haired mage's mouth turns upwards. "That... was for the guildhall."