x780 26th December
Makarov stood on a crate with a broad grin that somehow made everyone uneasy. "Alright, everyone! Listen up! Exams start today!" A cheer rose instantly, louder than usual for routine notices.
"Stage one will be simple," he said finally. "Retrieve the flag from the trial forest. Teams are allowed here. After that, it's on one." Someone groaned. Makarov ignored them.
"From the second round," he continued, voice firm, "no teammates. One person left standing advances to the final. For that, we have a special referee." He nodded at Kazu, who was leaning against a tree.
"Third round," Makarov said, voice rising slightly, "you'll have to face Kazu. Straightforward rules. Match to end when one person yields or can't continue. Location is set near the Magnolia forest. Fair ground for everyone."
Most eyes went to the forest where the first round would happen. Some to Kazu. A few specifically to him, and then immediately back to the forest, like looking twice was embarrassing.
Cana and Gray stood near the back of the crowd, arms folded, visors on their faces — the same posture, different expressions.
"You think Erza will do fine?" Gray asked, nodding toward the forest path where the participants were filtering out.
"Her?" Cana smirked. "She'll take down anyone, irrespective of whether they are careful or not."
Gray shook his head. "Between her and Mira, I think Erza's got the best chance."
Cana shrugged, eyes on the trees. "I'm going solo this year too."
Gray just watched her. Didn't ask why. He knew her answer would be the same as always.
The forest was a mess of branches and dappled shadows when the first whistle blew. Teams rushed in, but it didn't take long before clashes between teams started. Glimpses of ice spikes, fiery explosions, and bolt trails faded deeper in.
Cana and Gray made it past the first round with less fuss than most — partly because both of them avoided needless fights. Then came the second round: individual brackets.
Gray's name was called for his match against Erza.
"Why is my luck so shitty?" Gray glanced at Kazu, who was responsible for drawing the lots.
'He didn't do it intentionally, right?'
Noticing his gaze, Kazu looked at him before quickly averting it, as if a child caught eating a cookie.
'This fucker!'
Five minutes, thirty seconds. That was the time Gray survived against a fully serious Erza.
Cana approached him as he walked out, face still calm but eyes thoughtful.
"You okay?" she asked.
Gray just shook his head once, a half-smile forming. "Erza was… she was on another level today."
"I know she's good," Cana said, not mockingly, just stating the obvious.
He blinked at her then. "You might've had a match with her."
Cana rolled her eyes. "Right. Destiny calling."
Gray followed her gaze back into the arena floor. "Your match is up."
He then looked at the centre of the arena—really looked—and the moment he registered the white-haired figure stepping forward, his eyebrows nearly shot off his face.
"…Seriously?" he muttered. "They're giving you Mira? Guess, we both have shitty luck."
Mira was smiling that polite, harmless, big-sister smile she always used before cracking someone's spine. Gray felt a cold bead of sweat travel down his back. He leaned closer to Cana and whispered, "Okay—hey—calm down. It's not as bad as it looks."
Cana slowly turned her head toward him, deadpan.
He cleared his throat. "Okay, fine. It is as bad as it looks. But not worse than getting Erza."
Cana huffed a laugh "You know what's funny? You are actually right. If it had been Erza, I would have lost. But, I have prepared against Mira."
Gray blinked, not expecting such confidence from Cana.
Cana took out her fortune cards and looked at them. "My chances of winning are...96.69 per cent." With that, she stepped into the field.
Gray just looked at her back for a few seconds. "Did she read it wrong? Is that the chance of losing? Or did she predict it wrong?"
He shook his head before pausing. He suddenly realised something. 'Cana's fortune-telling hasn't been wrong since last year.'
The referee—Kazu signalled the start.
Cana moved first—fast, smarter than usual, a clean slide backwards as she flung cards in a wide arc. Mira dodged lightly, as if she'd been expecting them. Her hands glowed with purple magic, shaping into claws.
Cana's eyes flicked across Mira's stance. She murmured something under her breath.
Then everything went very, very bright.
Mira's claws sliced through the air—clean, precise—and when they connected with Cana's spell, instead of exploding or dissipating, the magic warped. The impact shuddered like glass bending the wrong way, Mira's attack collapsing inward and flickering out completely.
Gray's breath froze.
Kazu leaned forward. "There it is." 'So, she prepared against Mira. With the time limit for exams, she had the option to completely counter either Mira or Erza. I guess she chose the former.'
Mira paused, just for a second, clearly startled that her magic didn't behave the way it should. Cana took advantage of that hesitation, firing another set of cards. Mira dodged, but with less composure this time.
Gray stared. "Hold on—how—?"
Another clash, another warped collapse. Mira's magic was being neutralised before it could even complete its shape.
Gray gripped the railing. "No way. She learned Destructive Interference?" Gray naturally knew about Kazu's ace spell, which was the reason he was so shocked seeing the spell in Cana's hand.
Below, Mira launched a more serious attack—a condensed burst of purple light, fast enough to scorch the ground as it passed. Cana didn't even flinch. She raised her hand, timed it perfectly, and her card ignited just before contact, creating that strange distortion again. The spell buckled inward, losing structure and dissolving midair with a harmless pop.
Mira's eyes narrowed as the next volley of darkness she launched simply thinned into nothing mid-air, erased the moment the magic took shape.
"…You really did learn destructive interference," she muttered, jaw tightening. 'I thought only Erza would be a threat.'
Mira didn't waste another second. White light ran across her body, feathers and demonic lines folding over her skin as she shifted straight into Halphas. The air pulsed as her physical power spiked—faster, heavier, far beyond anything her normal form could output.
Cana braced immediately. She felt the pressure change. 'I can't neutralise the enhancement spells she's using within her body.'
Mira dashed in, and the ground cracked from the acceleration alone. Cana flicked a card the moment Mira's arm blurred—Barrier Shield. The impact smashed through it, but the card bought her the split-second to roll back and kick off another.
"Even if I can't use my Darkness magic, can you withstand just the physical enhancement this form brings?"
Mira stayed on her, tireless. Punches that felt like compressed air. Kicks that tore out clumps of dirt when Cana dodged a hair too slow.
Gray whispered behind his fingers in disbelief. "She's actually keeping up with her…?"
Kazu analysed the battle with a calm face. He watched Cana's eyes, not her feet. She wasn't panicking; she was reading Mira with practised calm, swapping cards at the exact moment they mattered.
Short bursts of enhancement when she had to sprint. A barrier when Mira's claws came too close. An illusion card when Mira tried to pin her down.
Mira pushed harder, switching angles, trying to catch Cana on the recoil of her own spells. But every time her fist should've connected cleanly, Cana slid an inch out of reach.
Dodging one or two times, it could have been a matter of luck. But multiple times? Consecutively? It clearly was a skill. Cana's current combat sense was way superior to Mira's.
The duel turned into thirty minutes of a fast-paced grind—Mira's stamina in Halphas form had limits.
The crowd wavered between stunned and confused. Mira had always been the wall just beneath Erza. Yet here she was—breathing heavier now—while Cana's hands were still steady on her cards.
'I guess she wasn't lying about receiving combat training from Gildarts for a while. Kinda shocking for this drunkyard to be training for nearly a year in that. I guess, I would have known if I saw her in a 1v1 spar.'
Kazu was equally shocked as the crowd. He didn't think that Cana's combat sense had reached this level. She wasn't inferior to Gray in battle sense anymore, which was ridiculous if one considered that Gray has a long history of getting beaten by Erza alongside Natsu.
And then Cana landed the deciding blow: a precise enhancement burst into her legs, a slide under Mira's guard, and a sealing card slapped right onto Mira's abdomen before the older girl could wrench free. Mira froze mid-motion as her takeover flickered out of sync for a second—just long enough for Cana to twist, throw, and send her crashing onto her back.
The arena went silent.
***
Join my Patreon to support me.
You can even find 20 advanced chapters there:
- DESIRE96
(search it up)
Check out my other works.