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Her identity exposed, Erza showed no particular reaction, merely shaking her head regretfully as she looked at the food spilled on the ground.
"You, who waste food like this, truly deserve to die."
"So, a rat who cherishes food, huh? Don't worry, after you've been interrogated and your value squeezed dry, I'll stuff your corpse into a garbage can full of swill."
Ajeel was already an extremely arrogant person. He only dared not act out in front of Irene and had to be well-behaved, but in front of Erza, his true nature was fully exposed.
I can't beat Irene, but I can't beat you either!
Facing the aggressive "Desert King," Erza wiped her mouth with a tissue. What more was there to talk about at this point?
A cold glint flashed, and Erza, having instantly used Requip, cleaved Ajeel, along with the table, in half with her Purgatory Greatsword. The powerful blade caused large areas of the competition stage to shatter.
However, Erza was not pleased with the success of her surprise attack, because the Ajeel she had cleaved in half seamlessly reassembled, completely unharmed.
"Fairy Queen, is this all your strength? You're truly weak!"
Countless fine sands dispersed from his body, and the "sandy" Ajeel looked at Erza with a triumphant expression.
Facing the provocation, Erza remained silent. In that instant, she had already analyzed that Ajeel, like Juvia's "Water Body," could elementalize his body to be immune to physical attacks.
This was indeed quite troublesome for Erza, who relied on armor and weapons for combat.
"Oi, are you mute? Speak up."
After speaking several times without a response, Ajeel became somewhat impatient. "If I had known you, the Fairy Queen, were so weak, I would have swapped opponents with Jacob. That 'Thunder Dragon' looks like he can really fight."
"Oh well, I'll just make you fall sooner."
Ajeel muttered to himself, and as he prepared to act, he saw Erza once again swing her Purgatory Greatsword down at him, immediately revealing a disdainful look.
"How foolish. How can mere swords and blades harm a 'sandy' body... Ugh—ah!"
Before he could finish his harsh words, Ajeel felt a sharp pain in his upper body, followed by a gruesome wound that ran from his right chest down to his left abdomen.
Blood spurted wildly, dripping onto the ground.
Ajeel's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Erza. If he hadn't instinctively moved his body at the critical moment, that one strike would have taken his life!
"Damn it, I've already elementalized my body, so why can your sword still cut my true form?!"
The fine sand in the air filled the gruesome wound, and Ajeel instantly returned to his original state, but his gaze towards Erza was no longer arrogant, but filled with deep apprehension.
Erza wiped the abnormally dark Purgatory blade with her left hand, which was covered by armor. She wouldn't be foolish enough to tell her enemy that Armament Haki could attack the true form of elementalized bodies.
"Desert King, since you know my information, you should know that I have many armors."
Erza's sudden remark left Ajeel puzzled. Could the greatsword she used to wound him actually be a special magical weapon?
Who knew that in the next second, Erza, who was wearing the dark "Purgatory Armor," changed into a light blue "Sea Empress Armor," and the dark greatsword in her hand also transformed into a long whip.
With the feared weapon gone, Ajeel immediately felt an opportunity had arisen. He wanted to defeat Erza before she could retrieve her Purgatory Greatsword again.
"Fool! Be defeated!"
"Sand Ant Hell! Sand Sword! Sand Spear!"
The shattered platform was instantly enveloped by a giant sand vortex created by Ajeel. The swirling sand, continuously flowing towards the center, condensed into countless sharp blades and spears, raining down like dense raindrops, intending to shred Erza on the spot.
Just at this critical moment, a sharp light burst from Erza's eyes, and a soft but incredibly resilient light blue glow suddenly lit up with the swing of her long whip.
In an instant, the sandstorm was cut in half.
All attacks became nothingness.
Ajeel's mind went blank, and the sinister smile on his face instantly froze, replaced by an incredulous shock. He couldn't understand why his multi-layered magic had been so easily broken.
"Your magic is indeed powerful, but..."
Erza's voice pierced the silence. "You rely too much on your 'Sand Magic,' so much so that you've overlooked that some magic has a symbiotic and antagonistic relationship. Has anyone ever told you what happens when mud and sand meet water?"
Erza didn't give Ajeel time to think. The long whip in her hand transformed into a stream of water, revealing its true form, the "Sea Empress Sword." At the same time, she drew another saber from the "Sea Empress Armor" from her magic space.
Sword and saber combined.
Erza twisted her power into a single rope, and with a speed beyond her own limits, a torrent of magic, like crashing waves, slashed down at Ajeel with the Sea Empress Sword and Saber.
"Pay the price for your arrogance, Desert King!"
Sweat soaked Ajeel's already sparse clothing. Faced with the vast, ocean-like magical slashes, his vision blurred. He still had the power to counterattack, but he had already lost confidence.
His fighting spirit broken, Ajeel screamed, disregarding his dignity.
"Jacob! Save me!"
In the plaza next to the high platform, where the "Assassin" Jacob was, Ajeel's desperate plea for help was heard clearly by him.
But his situation was not much better than Ajeel's.
Just in that one moment of distraction, a pair of fists, imbued with violent lightning, slammed towards Jacob's chest. The roaring electric current, even before touching his body, made Jacob feel a stinging pain like needles.
The instant before he was struck, Jacob suddenly vanished.
"Hmph, you assassin, do you only know how to run away?"
Laxus's attack missed, and he disdainfully withdrew his fists, crossing his arms over his chest. He turned to look at Jacob, who had retreated ten meters away. "Make it more enjoyable for me, trash."
Despite such mockery, Jacob remained calm.
But in his heart, he was already complaining bitterly.
Jacob's magic, Stealth, allowed him to become invisible, make objects transparent, instantly teleport short distances, open a magic space to travel back and forth in reality, and also unleash powerful magical light beams through space.
Coupled with his martial arts, which even the Wizard King acknowledged, Jacob's title of "Assassin" was well-deserved.
A killer who could conceal his own presence and scent, possessing superb martial arts, would undoubtedly be an insurmountable opponent for other Mages. Even experts like Erza and Mira would find him quite troublesome.
But as luck would have it, Jacob encountered Laxus.
A Lightning Mage whose reactions were faster than his, whose defense was harder, whose attacks were fiercer, and whose martial arts were even stronger than his.
From the start of the battle, Jacob had been suppressed by Laxus's absolute speed. Although he managed to barely evade the terrifying lightning attacks with his magic, Jacob knew that Laxus hadn't gotten serious yet.
Because up until now, Laxus had not yet used his Dragon Slayer Magic.
What a miscalculation.
Jacob thought that perhaps before acting, he should have swapped opponents with Serena... or maybe not, Makarov was not a weakling after all.
Deeply influenced by the Wizard King, Jacob's perception was that powerful Mages should become stronger with age.
However, Jacob, who had to exhaust all his attention just to resist Laxus, did not know that Makarov, whom he considered very strong, was the most disappointing one among the three battlefields.
Because Makarov's opponent was God Serena.
The most mysterious powerhouse of Ishgar in the Eastern Continent, the one who ranked first among the Ten Wizard Saints with overwhelming strength—"God Serena!"