They really were loud. The roaring. The cheering. The utter clamor and demands for violence. Ultear even thought she'd heard a love confession or two. Not that she blamed the crowd. Sweeping lustrous black hair over her shoulder, she fixed her eyes on the opponent.
A blue dress, green eye shadow, two twin buns, and a face as beautiful as Ultear's. Minerva Orland was certainly better to look at than the mages who skirmished ahead of them. From the things she'd heard, Ultear expected the woman's magic to keep up with her looks, if not outstrip them.
They were too far apart to speak over the crowd. Ultear smirked. Minerva had already been smirking. Both of them looked into the crowd, meeting the eyes of their guildmasters.
Harry was clapping and cheering in the front row. Jiemma loomed behind the rest of Sabertooth without an expression to speak of.
The barrier around the arena — repaired as well as it could be from Jellal's assault — fluttered into effect and dimmed the crowd.
"You could surrender," Minerva said. "A flawless victory for Sabertooth, and your pretty face won't even have to be ruined."
Ultear's smirk didn't waver.
"What a kind offer. I can't surrender, though."
"Why not? Is it less embarrassing getting beaten in front of such a crowd?"
"Yes," Ultear said. An orb appeared underneath her arm, held between her waist and forearm. "I don't have the right to surrender. It's not myself that I'm fighting for. I can't let down their expectations. And besides…" Her smirk widened. "Who says I'll lose?"
Minerva sighed. "You fairies are never reasonable."
Light shimmered around her hands. Greens and blues flecked together, sheathing her from the wrists to the tips of her fingers. Ultear kept her single orb, calm in the knowledge of what it could become.
There'd been no signal so far from Mato, the joint officiator and ref. Not that his interventions had gone beyond excited comments and thrilled giggles so far— the last match showed that well.
He'd let the women talk, their chat being broadcast to those watching, raising the stakes and ratcheting up the tension. Now, the readying of their magic had given him the signal.
The barrier, which had been blue, flashed yellow, as did a ring around the projected screen far above their heads.
Three yellow flashes. One green flash. A deep horn blast reverberated in Ultear's skin.
She reared back and threw her orb as the crowd noise redoubled, penetrating the dampening barrier. The orb flew and became a hundred, each of which froze in the air as their time ground to a halt.
Their halted futures arrived in a rush. Ultear sped up the time of each orb until they were moving a hundred times faster than they had been, appearing like lasers. "Arc of Time: Flash Garden!"
The attack hit— Ultear.
It had seemed like Minerva's only defense was extending an empty palm. She'd been waiting for her shield. The moment Ultear finished her attack, she disappeared, reappearing inside Minerva's grasp. Minerva had an ironclad grip for someone with such slender arms.
The orbs that Ultear fired like bullets crashed into her own back. She cried out in pain. If the timing had been any less exact, she could've stopped her attack. If Minerva acted a millisecond later, Ultear wouldn't have arrived in time. The move was executed to an annoying level of perfection, fueling Minerva's smirk.
"What's this? Zalty's early offensive has been turned against her!"
Mato had a talent for stating the obvious. Ultear wasn't as pleased with her public name as Jellal was with his— but she'd opted for familiarity, using the perfectly good pseudonym she already had. Feeling the ache in her back made her recall her defeat on Tenrou Island. That was the last time she felt this kind of pain.
The memories brought a different smile to her face. She mimicked her mother's foolish student who hadn't known how to stay down, even against his magic's ultimate counter.
Ultear closed her fingers around Minerva's forearm. She took a deep breath, and exhaled.
"Ice-Make: Blossom Breeze!"
The air she blew into Minerva's face was flecked with pink dots. The dots connected, not unlike a constellation drawn across disparate stars.
What seemed harmless turned wickedly sharp in an instant. Minerva jerked her head to the side, narrowly dodging past one pink flash, only to be clipped by two others, cutting her cheek and her temple.
She dropped Ultear and swiped a hand covered in Territory magic to break the pink ice. Ultear landed on one knee, ducking down.
The original orb hadn't disappeared, blocked from view by Ultear's body. The cause of the ache in her back flashed into Minerva's stomach, burying and launching the woman. Spit was knocked out of Minerva's mouth. She would've clashed with the arena wall if she didn't teleport.
Minerva appeared directly above Ultear. Her arms were out and her smirk had been replaced, swapped out for a teeth-baring grimace. Ultear couldn't place the emotion behind it. Pain? Revenge?
Hands garbed in energy tried to clobber Ultear into the ground. Orbs appeared on either side of her. She put her arms out and grabbed them, letting them drag her away from Minerva's descending fists.
The fast thinking didn't work. Despite making her escape with time to spare, Ultear found herself reverted to her old position just in time to meet Minerva's hammer blow on the cheek.
The crowd sounded louder than a second before as Ultear found her head rung against the dirt. She felt her sense of being rattle. The only reason she could smile through the pain was hearing Minerva's gasp.
Ultear's knee was locked, her heel driving into Minerva's stomach right where the orb struck her earlier. Ultear's foot was encased in pink ice that offered no give, winding Minerva badly.
Minerva turned her fist into an open hand, grabbing Ultear's face. She threw her into the air, catching her in a glowing pocket of magic.
Minerva clapped her hands together. The way she called out her spell was a bit of a snarl.
"Territory: Explosion!"
The name explained the attack. Minerva would take a pocket of her magic and detonate it like a bomb.
Bombs, though, were not organic.
The explosion never went off. Heat appeared, then disappeared. Ultear fell toward the arena again, the trap that had surrounded her being unwound to a time when it never existed.
She put her hands in front of her chest, the hem of her white and black tunic fluttering in the wind as she fell. "Arc of Time: Flash Forward!"
There was one orb this time. It flew at Minerva's head, a magical cannonball with unerring aim. Minerva defended in the fastest way she could, simply sending the orb back at Ultear, achieving this with a surge of Territory Magic.
Inches from Ultear's skin, the orb vanished. It appeared again in the spot where it changed direction, all its original momentum returned.
It was Minerva's turn to hit the sand. She was blasted backwards, her legs kicking the air as the orb added a black eye to the two bleeding cuts her face already sported. An even worse bruise was surely being covered by her dress.
Not that Ultear's condition was perfect. When she hit the ground, she dropped to one knee and winced, unable to capitalize on the opening she made. Until she blinked, there were two Minerva's in her blurry vision. She was concussed, most likely, with a deep pain in her back.
She rose, of course, and wasn't surprised to see Minerva doing the same.
"They're up! They're up!" Mato crooned. "What an exchange of blows! What fortitude to stay standing! But look away, faint of heart, if you can't handle such beauties losing their luster!"
Ultear touched the corner of her forehead. The prodding fingers drew a wince.
"I suppose I'm bruised as well," she mused.
"Not half as bruised as you'll be by the end," Minerva said.
"You aren't going to ask me to surrender again? Where did your confidence run off to?"
Minerva shook her head. "That's not good enough now. You had your chance. The moment you struck me, this could only end with you screaming in pain."
"All that, over a single hit? I didn't realize you were so petty.
"I guess there's a lot you fairies don't know about me, isn't there!" Minerva hissed.
Ultear almost shook her head. She didn't think she had done anything to earn such vehemence. Minnerva was considerably more aggravated now than when Ultear smashed her into the arena floor.
It seemed her guild master had been playing with maiden's hearts again.
"You control space," Ultear said.
"And you wield time," Minerva said.
Ultear sighed. Minerva scowled. "Annoying," they said in unison.
Minerva could dispel Ultear's attacks. She could teleport Ultear, trap her in pockets of magic, or send her attacks back.
Ultear could undo any of that, reversing the time of an attack to restore its form and ensure its accuracy. They were playing chicken with every attack, countering each other's moves at the last second. Usually a confident woman, Ultear had seen enough of Minerva's skills to know for every attack she landed, she would be forced to eat one in return.
Minerva was thinking the same thing.
"I've changed my mind!" Minerva said. "If you surrender now, I'll honor it!"
"Generous. The decision still isn't mine to make, but I appreciate your benevolence."
"Idiot!" Minerva said. "You're not giving me any choice!"
Ultear's playful smile disappeared. She looked at Minerva, judging the woman's eyes.
For a moment, Ultear felt like she was a young mage again. She'd been trained to become an elite mage or to die trying. Often, that meant facing someone else who was the same. The strongest rise to the top. That was Hades' philosophy. He pitted diamonds against each other until only the truly unbreakable ones were left.
Ultear remembered each of their faces. It had been them or her, but saying that would never un-stain her hands.
Minerva was giving her the same look that they had. She didn't remind Ultear of one of the older ones, though. Minerva had the look of the kids eight to ten years of age, aiming to kill without knowing what that meant.
"Is that your choice?" Ultear asked, her voice nothing but ice.
"Some decisions aren't ours to make," Minerva said.
Even her words sounded like one of those poor children. Ultear summoned an orb on either side of her. She made more, then more still. The arena filled up with hundreds of green glass orbs.
Ultear's eyes told a future of death. Until, without dispelling the orbs, she stood up straighter and smiled. The darkness was gone. Minerva flinched, caught off guard. Or, in some odd way, a smile scared her more.
"Take this seriously!" Minerva said.
The audience was confused, not understanding what was happening. To them, it looked like nothing. There were those among them who were following along, though. Meredy. Jellal. Harry. Some of the more experienced guild masters understood as well. Ultear's smile didn't go anywhere.
"I am taking this seriously. As seriously as I could possibly take it," she said. "I've seen what lies at the end of this path to power, when you're willing to do anything to win. Those who follow it lose. Not to someone who was willing to go further, but to one who fights to protect. Those who have something greater than themselves. Those who can smile."
Minerva attacked. Perhaps actions could show her what words couldn't. They'd done that for Ultear, after all.
The world rippled in front of Ultear's face. Out of the rift, a hand tried to grab her face. Ultear leaned back, knowing that Minerva would summon her anyway.
She did, and Ultear's face was grasped. Minerva slammed Ultear off her feet, where Ultear's skull struck the ground. The grasping sensation of Minerva's fingers disappeared a moment later when the woman was struck by Ultear's orbs. One smashed into Minerva's face, knocking her head back, before another hit her side and threw her into the air, where a third crashed into her back.
Minerva spun in a circle, her hands glowing, growling as blood streamed out of her nostrils. The other orbs that came at her were thrown into a harmless orbit around her body, then fired at Ultear.
There was no impact. Ultear brought the orbs' time to its natural end, winking them out of existence. She brought her palms together. "Ice Make: Feast of Flies!"
Yawning flower mouths erupted out of the ground, similar to the magic a Quatro Cerberus mage employed in the first round. The pink ice tried to chomp down on Minerva, who put her arms out. "Territory: Halt!"
Ultear's flowers hit a wall they couldn't circumvent. There was nothing for their sharp edges to break through, just a line they weren't allowed to pass.
Minerva turned her palms toward the sky, twisting her hands. "Territory: Rip!"
The name was misleading. It didn't just rend Ultear's creations into pieces. The ice was blasted into tiny sharp chunks that scattered in every direction like shrapnel.
"Arc of Time: Rewind!"
The ice went back to its old shape, the dangerous plants threatening again to bite into Minerva. It was a move that Minerva predicted, bringing Ultear into her grasp, forcing Ultear to face the attack alongside her.
Minerva was met with a grin when Ultear appeared.
Smiling, Ultear completed the attack, leading to an explosion of dust. When it cleared, both women were sprawled on the ground.
Ultear's body hurt. Everywhere had something wrong, from the cuts across her calves to the aches deep inside her back. One of her ribs was likely broken and her concussion hadn't gotten any better. Nothing sounded nicer than to stay down. It was a fortunate thing the decision wasn't hers to make.
She got her knees underneath her, pushed with her hands, and stood.
"Zalty is on her feet! As for Minerva… She's up too!"
The Sabertooth mage had taken longer than Ultear. She was swaying forward and back, one wrong move from falling. The cold look in her eyes was already fading as Minerva tried to remember where she was and what she was doing.
Ultear didn't ask if she would surrender. She knew the answer. She just clapped her hands.
"Ice Make: Rosenkreutz!"
The twenty foot rose that appeared sent Minerva flying backwards. In the air, Minerva clenched her fist. "Territory: Explosion."
Balls of Minerva's magic had formed behind Ultear. They went unnoticed, timed to the moment when Ultear was attacking. The explosion threw Ultear forward. Her right shoulder was burned, her skin charring as the upper part of her sleeve burned away.
As she hit the ground, Ultear swung her hand. An orb fell on Minerva like a hammer, sending her into the ground sooner than she would have landed naturally, with far more force.
Again, they were both on the ground. They were eating more hits, no longer in good enough condition to perform delicate reversals. Instead of dancing between attacks, they were trading haymakers with their guard down.
Knowing this, Ultear's smile didn't fade.
She got her knees underneath her, pushed with her hands, and stood.
Minerva was slower this time. Ultear could have attacked while she was hauling herself to her feet. She didn't, because Minerva was still trying to look cold. Ultear waited for her to get up completely and brought her hands together with complete confidence.
"Ice Make: Rosenkreutz!"
"Territory: Explosion!"
They took the hits directly. The explosion was in front of Ultear this time, throwing her backwards, singing her cheeks. Minerva was tossed back and slightly to the left. Neither of them could brace for the landing, their backs hitting the sand as their chests lost all the air inside.
Now, Ultear didn't know if there was a single part of her body not in pain. So she did what she had to.
She got her knees underneath her, pushed with her hands, and stood.
Minerva wasn't moving.
"Do we have a winner?" Mato had gone silent to let the match speak for itself. Based on his usual personality, staying quiet was difficult for him, so all that stopped-up enthusiasm burst out in his voice now. "It looks like Minerva might not be able to continue! We'll give her a count of ten! Ten, nine, eight…"
Ultear turned around. On her unsteady legs, she plodded toward the tunnel. The result was decided. No one who fought for their own pride could move in that state.
"Seven, six, five…"
She squinted at the stands. At risk of sending herself to the ground again, Ultear waved at the Fairy Tail section.
They had come right up to the edge of the barrier, leaning over the railing. Meredy was in front.
"Three, two, one…"
Meredy was yelling something. "I can't hear you," Ultear said. "Just wait. I'll be up there soon."
Her voice was fed through the sound system to the audience. Immediately, Meredy closed her mouth, jabbing her hand instead.
She was pointing behind Ultear. The count had stopped.
"Would you believe it? She's up! Minerva of Sabertooth is on her feet!"
Impossible! Ultear spun so fast that she should have collapsed. How could someone like that—?
Mato wasn't lying. Minerva was up. But she didn't look like herself. There was no killing intent in her eyes anymore. They didn't even hold the intent to harm. Minerva's eyelids were halfway down, her pupils dilated and her expression glazed.
"He's watching," she said. "I can't fall."
Ultear felt shivers.
"Ice-Make: Rose—"
"Territory: Explosion."
Maybe Ultear could have reversed the explosion in time, if she had been the target. She wasn't prepared for Minerva to hit herself.
The explosion went off directly behind Minerva's body, catapulting her in a straight line.
For a second, Ultear had an extremely clear view of Minerva's face. Her nose looked broken, curving slightly to the left and ringed with blood. She was cut and burned and wearing dried blood all the way down one cheek. Smoke was curling off of her back, her dress ruined by her own explosion. Her braids were blowing in the wind as her body was propelled forward. Light glinted off of Minerva's large forehead— that, specifically, was the last thing that she saw.
Ultear's aching head was bashed and everything went black.