Chapter 345: FTG Chapter 342: Erzi on the Offensive

Erzi looked at Natsu and the others with a face full of shock.

Judging from their expressions, this didn’t seem to be a joke from Cana; they had indeed lost their matches.

"No way..."

"You all lost? Not a single one passed?"

"Just who managed to defeat you guys?"

Natsu said with a mournful face: "A person named Jellal!"

Gajeel looked utterly unreconciled: "I ran into Mira!"

Lyon looked as if he had lost the will to live: "It was Ultear!"

Erzi: "..."

She subconsciously turned back to look at Gray and found that his mood had indeed brightened considerably.

"The four of you really are unlucky enough, each running into the four most troublesome people in the academy right now!"

Erzi shook her head and sighed, then told them about Gray being eliminated by Brandish.

After hearing this, Natsu and the others felt their hearts regain balance, and joyful smiles once again filled their faces. People are like that: if something unlucky happens only to yourself, you’ll most likely complain to high heaven, but if everyone is just as unlucky as you, you won’t take the misfortune to heart anymore.

Before long, the group of four was back to being heartless, laughing and joking around.

"Who would have thought that among us, Erzi would be the one to hold on until the end? It’s truly unexpected!"

The boys, who had been making such a fuss from the beginning about wanting to become famous in one stroke through this sports meet, were eliminated; instead, Erzi, the person pulled in just to play along, was the one who pulled through. The group couldn’t help but feel a lot of emotions.

The gaze Juvia directed at Erzi was also full of admiration: "Macbeth’s strength is ranked second in the exchange team, second only to Jellal. Erzi, you really are amazing!"

Erzi laughed bashfully: "Hehehe... it was okay, I guess..."

After celebrating Erzi’s victory, the group suddenly realized something: "Tomorrow is the last day of the knockout rounds, and the top four will be decided. That means tomorrow, Erzi, you will definitely run into Brandish! Do you... have any confidence in defeating her?"

Erzi’s smile instantly froze on her lips, and she fell silent: "Well... it’s hard to say!"

Brandish’s massive magic power and powerful spells were famous throughout the entire Fairy Academy. Erzi truly didn’t have much confidence.

Should she use some underhanded tricks?

No, no... flowing through her veins was the blood of the Lagrange and Heartfilia families; how could she resort to such low-down methods?

Erzi’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly closed her eyes, flushing the various dirty and foul schemes out of her mind.

The next day.

It was still the Area A arena of the Individual Combat grounds.

Erzi had fought her way through, defeating several students of mediocre strength using her Celestial Spirit magic, finally advancing to the quarter-finals under the eyes of the crowd.

At this point, only she and Brandish were left in the entire Area A arena. Of the two, only the one who won could become one of the top four and represent the Area A arena to compete for the throne of "Academy chief."

"I didn’t expect you to make it this far; it’s quite a surprise!"

"Do you need me to go easy on you later?"

Brandish’s eyelids were half-drooped, the corners of her mouth slightly raised. The gaze she directed at Erzi was full of amusement, her expression looking as if... her dog that she had raised since childhood had suddenly gained intelligence one day and wanted to rebel against its master’s orders.

Erzi felt a chill down her spine from the look: "You’d better not look down on me! I’ve been making rapid progress lately. The outcome of this duel is not so certain yet!"

Before Cana had traveled a thousand miles to find her father at Fairy Tail, and before Lyon was taken in as a disciple by Ur, there were only five children in the guild: Laxus, Ultear, Brandish, Gray, and Erzi.

Although they grew up together, their ways of interacting with each other were all different. Laxus was the eldest, with a rebellious and antisocial personality, often playing independently away from the other four.

Ultear was the big sister in their eyes; though she was gentle with the three younger ones, she lacked a bit of feminine reserve. Instead, she was like a boy, constantly thinking about having a showdown with Laxus to prove her strength.

More often than not, it was Brandish, Gray, and Erzi who hung out together. The library in the guild basement, the dessert shops on the town streets, the old houses near the academy... their footprints were left in almost every corner of Magnolia.

But the dynamic between the three was also quite curious. Brandish was one year older than the other two; not only were her talent and strength greater, but her mind was also more mature. She often played with them like they were toys, as if she were teasing her own pet dogs and cats.

This sentiment reached its peak after Brandish awakened her "Command T" magic. Because after awakening her magic, she really could turn Gray and Erzi into tiny people to play house.

So for Erzi, Brandish was not only the "perfect child from next door" but also an inescapable nightmare she had lived with since childhood! But today, she was going to break this nightmare with her own hands!

"Match start!!"

Shoom—!

Just as the battle began, Erzi vanished before everyone’s eyes, causing many to look on in shock. But those familiar with Brandish knew that Erzi’s "disappearance" wasn’t because she was transferred elsewhere, but because she had been shrunk.

Following the tips from those in the know, the people who were still in a state of bewilderment finally learned the situation and hurriedly focused their eyes to look closer. Sure enough, on the ground, a thumb-sized figure was rushing toward Brandish.

The shrunken Erzi did not panic; instead, she reached back and pulled out a Celestial Spirit key.

"Aries!!"

The Aries Spirit, Aries, appeared. Simultaneously, with a sweep of her long arms, she released a large amount of wool onto Erzi. In just a few breaths, the wool completely dissolved the magic power Brandish had enveloped Erzi with.

At the same time the magic was dispelled, Erzi and Aries both returned to their original size with a "pop."

Brandish’s eyes lit up, the corner of her mouth curving slightly: "Oh? You can actually break this move of mine now. It seems you really have made no small amount of progress!"

Erzi smiled smugly: "Hmph hmph... of course!"

Since they were small, the two had lost count of how many times they had soaked in a bathtub together. What the other’s magic power was like, the characteristics and weaknesses of their magic—even how many hairs were on their butt cheeks—the other knew perfectly well.

In the past, even if Erzi knew these things, she couldn’t bridge the gap in magic power quality with Brandish. This situation was like playing a game where your level is 3 and the enemy’s level is 30; even if you knew the enemy’s stats and their health bar was visible, you still couldn’t win.

But now, their various stats were roughly the same, or perhaps just the difference between level 99 and level 100—the gap was small enough to be ignored.

In regards to defeating Brandish, Erzi was full of confidence!