"What are you talking about?" Gray looked totally lost. "Doesn't this priest robe—"
He glanced down mid-sentence and yelped, "When did I strip?!"
He waved his hand. An ice wall flash-froze in front of him. Seconds later it shattered, revealing Gray fully dressed in a crisp blue robe.
He cleared his throat, trying to look dignified. "Greetings, everyone. I'm the Ice Priest who communes with the Water Spirit. Thanks to that idiot fire dragon losing control, the Spirit had to seal the holy sword inside its own power to contain the leaking energy."
"To make sure the sword doesn't go berserk again, I need to confirm the prophesied princess is really among you before I wake the Spirit."
"Only a kind and upright princess can pull the sword from the stone. Your Highness, please approach the pool."
Erza stepped forward steadily. The moment she reached the edge, the sword in the stone sensed her and floated gently from the center of the pool right to her.
She gripped the hilt, gave a light tug, and the blade slid free with a clear, ringing ching, like a bell.
The instant it was fully out, the boulder crumbled to dust. The pool below started shaking hard, blasting out blinding light. As the glow faded, Gray stepped to the edge and began chanting softly. Tiny blue firefly-like sparks rose from the water.
"Quick! Put the sword back in the water!" Gray shouted. "The Water Spirit's awake—the final test is starting!"
Erza tossed the sword in with a plop. Ripples spread across the surface.
Moments later, Juvia rose from the water in a flowing aqua silk dress with pink ribbons over her shoulders.
"Honored princess," Juvia's voice was soft as a stream.
"Did you drop this Contract Victory Sword?"
A gorgeous golden sword with blue floral patterns floated in the air.
"Or this legendary dragon-slaying holy sword—Dawnbreaker—forged in a volcano's heart from the world's first ray of sunlight?"
A sleek pale-gold longsword appeared next, its blade etched with dragon-scale patterns and a fiery amber dragon-eye gem set in the guard.
Erza answered without hesitation: "I dropped a plain gray sword from a stone."
Juvia's lips curved into a relieved smile. "You've proven your honesty, Princess."
"Your kindness in saving the townspeople, your courage facing the evil dragon, and your refusal to be tempted by treasure—you are truly worthy."
She waved gently. Dawnbreaker glowed warmly and drifted into Erza's hands.
Once Erza gripped the hilt, Juvia let out a soft breath and sank back into the water, vanishing.
Gray explained right on cue: "This holy sword has two special powers."
"Dragon-Scale Penetration: The scale patterns on the blade create a weird resonance—it slices through dragon hide like a hot knife through butter."
"Breath Deflection: The dragon-eye gem in the guard senses and draws in magical energy from dragon breath. When the dragon spews fire, swing the sword to form an energy shield that redirects the flames to either side."
"You just need to—" Before he could finish, Cana's panicked voice echoed in everyone's heads:
'The third treasure got snatched early! The machine's smoking! Skip straight to the dragon's lair and take it down, or the plot can't move forward!'
'Roger's magic can replace the third item. The map's already loaded in his head—fly to the dragon's location now!'
Everyone exchanged glances. Erza frowned. "Third item? Didn't Mira say there were only two treasures?"
"Two?" Lucy scrunched her brow too. "The prophecy clearly said three! Did Mira mess with the script and break the machine?"
"No time to debate," Roger cut in decisively. "Straight to the dragon's lair."
They all nodded. Gray waved, summoning a gust that carried them out of the palace. Transparent wind wings formed on their backs, rocketing them toward the lair at top speed.
They landed at the mouth of a massive cave and stepped inside cautiously. Laxus stood with arms crossed, smirking arrogantly.
"So you're the ones the prophecy sent to take me down? Hmph. Pathetic little bodies."
"I—"
His words cut off. A chill hit his chest. He looked down—a crimson dagger protruded from his heart, but there was no pain.
Everyone froze. The next second, a familiar voice rang out:
"Hey there, everybody~"
Mira materialized, yanking the dagger free with a shink.
Laxus clutched his chest and dropped to one knee, feeling his power draining fast. He snarled through gritted teeth:
"Queen! You dare break our deal?!"
"Ara~" Mira giggled, stepping back. "Villains… don't exactly keep promises, you know."
"What's so great about being queen? Power's safer in my hands."
"You didn't know, did you? The dragon's human form is just a projection—his real dragon body's been hiding underground this whole time."
As she spoke, the ground quaked. A colossal beast burst from the earth, lifting Mira high into the air. The crimson dagger in her hand glowed red. She let go—it fell like a stone into water, melting seamlessly into the dragon's hide.
Mira looked down with a triumphant smirk:
"So, Princess—without the third weapon—how exactly are you going to fight me now?"
"Y-You're kidding!" Lucy swallowed hard, sweating bullets.
"This is supposed to be the dragon's second phase! How's it showing up early—and controlled by the queen?!"
"It's that sword," Erza said grimly. "It hijacked control of the dragon's body."
The dragon swiped a claw. Erza backflipped away, slashing Dawnbreaker across it. Scales cracked—then healed visibly in seconds.
"Self-regeneration?" Erza dodged again, face serious.
"Give up, Snow White." Mira lifted her chin smugly. "This time, I'm the main character~"
"What do we do?! What do we do?!" Lucy spun in circles.
"According to the script, we were supposed to collect all three weapons, beat the human-form dragon, absorb its soul—that's how we counter the giant dragon's healing! Now everything's messed up!"
She whirled to Roger. "Aren't you gonna help?! The princess can't do this alone!"
Roger shrugged helplessly. "You want me to help one girlfriend fight another girlfriend?"
Lucy: "=_= Oh yeah, I totally forgot—"
She chewed her nail, then lit up:
"Wait! To prevent glitches, the match-girl's matches had a hidden ability—if you light all of them at once, it summons the Match Spirit!"
She yanked a handful of matches from the basket and struck them hard.
Scratch—
Flames flared. A thumb-sized Levy popped into existence, beaming.
"I'm the Match Spirit! Got a wish you want granted?"
Lucy squinted at Levy's chest—nearly as big as her own. "Levy-chan, did you sneak in some weird custom settings?"
"N-No way!" Levy's eyes darted. "I've always been like this! Don't you recognize me?"
"I could've sworn you—" Levy cut her off in a panic.
"Ahem! My time's limited—make a wish quick or it'll expire!"
Lucy pouted, then blurted: "Help the princess defeat the evil queen!"
"Got it!" Levy waved her tiny wand. Uplifting music blasted through the cave.
The moment the tune hit, Mira frowned. "My power's dropping?!"
She glanced down—the dragon's claw got chopped off by Erza's slash, forcing it back two steps.
"Erza's stronger, and the dragon's healing slowed… annoying. I dug through ancient tomes for this—the legendary fourth weapon crafted by a master smith."
Erza's attacks grew fiercer. Mira narrowed her eyes and shouted:
"Wait! You'd really keep attacking your own birth mother?"
Erza's momentum faltered. She looked up. "My real mother's dead. You're just a power-hungry stepmother."
"Of course not." Mira descended gracefully from the dragon, eyes soft with fake maternal love.
"A cat king could never sire a human daughter. You never wondered?"
Erza froze. "That's just the story's setting—"
"You're wrong." Mira's face turned sad. "You're my real daughter. And your father—"
She pointed dramatically at Roger. "—is this prince from the neighboring kingdom!!"
"WHAT?!"
Lucy flailed. "No way! They look the same age!"
"Witchcraft," Mira said, strolling over and looping her arm through stunned Roger's.
"We fell in love and had you, but I was just a witch—royalty wouldn't accept me."
"To keep him from breaking with his family, I erased his memories. Maybe that's why he ages so slowly."
"I didn't want you to suffer like me, so I used magic to marry the king and make him think you were his."
"That's how you became princess."
Erza's eyes went wide, reeling from the bombshell. "Th-Then what about the prophecy—?"
"The prophecy is actually—"
The whole scene glitched, warped, and vanished.
The guild's magic crystal screen went dark.
The crowd below erupted in frustrated groans:
"What happened?! Why'd the feed cut?!"
"What's the deal with Snow White and the queen—let her finish!!"
"What is the prophecy?!"
'Due to time constraints, tonight's performance ends here. For the rest of the story, come back to next year's Harvest Festival! Next up—Fairy Tail's Dream Parade!'
Cana's announcement calmed the crowd.
Backstage, everyone yanked off their glasses. Cana stormed up to Mira, cheeks puffed.
"Mira, what did you do?! You wrecked my script!"
"Everything was fine until Snow White suddenly became you and Roger's daughter?!"
Mira crossed her arms, eyebrow raised. "If I'm right, with a prince in the story, the original ending had the princess fall in love with him or rule together, right?"
Cana's voice shrank. "Y-Yeah… the plan was for Snow White to beat the dragon and rule the world with the prince."
Mira stepped closer. "I heard you're turning this into projection crystals to sell, yes?"
"Y-Yeah…" Cana backed up.
Mira stared her down. "So if those crystals play, everyone will think Erza and Roger are a couple?"
"You think I'd let that slide?"
"O-Okay—" Cana shrank. "I didn't think of that. Sorry."
"Projection crystals?!" Erza finally caught up. "We were acting in a play?!"
She bolted out back, saw the packed crowd still buzzing about the plot, and turned beet red. "E-Everything I said was on stage?!"
Seconds later she clenched her fists, eyes full of regret. "I didn't even warm up my voice! I could've performed way better!!"
Laxus watched Cana pack the machine into a card and asked, "If that stuff really became crystals, wouldn't our real powers and weaknesses be exposed?"
"Don't worry," Cana said. "I'll swap out key parts. Plus, there's tons of weird stuff in there—spirits, peas, whatever."
"Most people will just think it's movie magic, not our actual strength."
Makarov clapped to get everyone's attention as chatter continued.
"Alright! The Dream Parade starts soon—this is Fairy Tail's specialty. Get ready, no screw-ups!"
"Yes, sir!" Everyone laughed, scattering to prep while still buzzing about the show.
Soon the evening parade kicked off. Unlike past years, thanks to the play, it turned into a full-blown fan meet-and-greet. Amid screams and cheers, this year's Harvest Festival came to a perfect close.