Chapter 700 - 700: Raizel vs. Selene

Laxus's fist slammed into Mercphobia without the slightest restraint.

Golden and crimson lightning instantly spread across the Water Dragon God's enormous body, making him cry out in pain as electricity coursed through him.

The ocean flooding the arena gradually began to recede, but Mercphobia was hardly going to take the attack lying down.

His massive tail whipped around.

It struck Laxus squarely in the waist and sent him hurtling across the arena with tremendous force, smashing him into the wall hard enough to leave a huge crater.

Laxus still struggled on for a while afterward, but in the end, he was defeated by Mercphobia.

Although, looked at from another angle... Laxus had still won something.

At least he had managed to injure Mercphobia.

That was considerably better than Kirin, who had barely managed to put up a fight before losing.

...

Ultear had entered her match against Selene with plenty of powerful tools at her disposal.

She possessed the eight Dragon Slayer Lacrima, Arc of Time, and Spatial Magic.

Unfortunately for her, Selene was the person who had taught her Spatial Magic in the first place.

Ultear even combined Purgatory Dragon's Blazing Hell with Tempest Dragon's Storm-Snow-Moon-Flower, but the combined attack still failed to break through Selene's Moonlight Flame.

Ultear fought hard and tried every approach she could think of, but eventually ran out of options.

Selene advanced with relative ease.

...

The day after the Round of 16 ended, Ur and Mavis once again handled the draw.

This time, the eight remaining competitors would be divided into an upper and lower half of the bracket.

One ball after another was drawn.

Upper Bracket: Irene, Dimaria, Selene, Raizel.

Lower Bracket: Zeref, Mira, August, Mercphobia.

Each half contained one contestant who was clearly weaker than the others—Dimaria in the upper bracket and Mira in the lower.

As far as those two were concerned, this was basically nightmare difficulty.

Raizel held an obvious advantage in the upper bracket, but the draw also meant Selene and Irene probably would not get the direct confrontation they wanted.

Selene's opponent was Raizel.

If she wanted to fight Irene, she first had to get past him.

The lower bracket was harder to predict.

Zeref and Mercphobia were both terrifying opponents, and it was difficult to say with certainty which of them would come out on top if they met.

"Now, let's welcome our first two competitors!"

Irene and Dimaria opened the quarterfinals.

Dimaria did manage to activate Âge Seal.

But Irene simply transformed into a dragon and forcibly broke free of the frozen time.

Even after Dimaria activated God Soul: Chronos, she never managed to turn things around.

One strike from Irene's Sage Dragon's Claw smashed her into the arena wall and ended the match.

...

Zeref versus Mira was also decided quickly.

The powers Mira had absorbed from Tartaros, Bloodman, and the Flame Demon originally tied to Natsu all shared one important detail—

Zeref had been the one who created those Curses in the first place.

Which meant he knew how to use them too.

And in his hands, those same Curses displayed destructive power that the Nine Demon Gates had never come close to showing.

Mira and Zeref both used the Whiteout Curse White Serpents.

The serpents Zeref created were far thicker, more solid, and more powerful than Mira's.

The same was true of the Thorn Curse.

Even though Zeref cast second, his thorns overtook Mira's almost immediately.

They were tougher by an entirely different margin and crushed her thorn constructs apart without difficulty.

Mira eventually resorted to her Flame Demon Take Over.

It still changed nothing.

One Dark Explosion from Zeref taught her exactly how wide the gap between them remained.

After defeating her, Zeref raised one hand.

White light flashed across his palm, and a thick magic book appeared.

The book floated toward Mira on its own.

Zeref explained with his usual expressionless calm.

"You should be capable of learning the Curses recorded in this book. It contains techniques beyond those used by Tartaros."

"They aren't easy to learn. If you have questions, come ask me."

...

Then came Raizel versus Selene.

"Who do you think is actually going to win?!"

The argument over which of them was stronger had already spread throughout the spectators.

Irene watched the two standing in the arena and answered without hesitation.

"Raizel."

Raizel had demonstrated the ability to injure Acnologia.

Neither Irene nor Selene could do that.

It was a point the two women had already acknowledged long ago.

Selene stood in the arena dressed in one of her elegant robes, looking every bit as graceful and regal as usual.

If anything, she looked less like someone preparing for battle and more like she had arrived for a beauty contest.

She smiled at Raizel.

"It's a shame I probably won't get my match with Irene, but fighting you instead isn't bad at all."

Raizel shrugged.

"I don't particularly care. I can always surrender."

"No."

Selene rejected the suggestion immediately.

"That would be boring."

She wasted no time after that.

Her human form vanished as she revealed her true body.

Raizel responded just as quickly.

[Take Over: Examon X.]

Two colossal figures faced one another beneath the sky.

Selene had become a fox-faced dragon covered in luxurious platinum-white fur, with nine enormous tails spreading behind her.

Opposite her hovered Examon X, his gigantic body clad in gleaming Digizoid armor.

Savage horns crowned his head, and a Thunder Sword rested in one hand.

Both were enormous.

Examon X in particular seemed almost large enough to blot out the sky simply by spreading his wings.

The instant Selene transformed, a full moon appeared overhead.

Pale moonlight poured down across the battlefield.

"Moonlight Butterflies!"

Selene roared toward the heavens.

A massive platinum-white pillar of light surged upward from the ground and swallowed Examon X's enormous body.

Raizel remained perfectly calm inside the light.

He spun the Thunder Sword Bureiragaha in his hand, then delivered a horizontal slash.

The moonlight pillar was cut cleanly in half.

Selene had no visible wings, but that had never prevented her from flying.

She slipped into a spatial rift and vanished.

An instant later, she emerged behind Raizel.

Moonlight condensed into razor-sharp slashes and swept toward his back.

But Raizel's reaction speed did not remotely match the enormous size of Examon X's body.

He turned immediately and swept the Thunder Sword across.

The blade cut apart the Moonlight Blades.

Then it suddenly extended.

Selene's eyes narrowed.

She escaped back into a spatial rift just before the elongated sword reached her.

Had she reacted even slightly slower, she had no doubt that the blade would have cut straight through her scales.

After all, she had personally witnessed what that weapon could do against Acnologia.

But surrendering had never crossed Selene's mind.

She burst from another spatial rift, violent energy already gathering inside her jaws.

"Moon Dragon's Roar!"

The breath attack erupted outward like a roaring beast and surged toward Raizel.

He made no attempt to evade.

Examon X spread his wings and raised the Thunder Sword.

Then he simply brought it down.

The sword cleaved straight through the roar.

The divided torrents blasted into opposite sides of the arena before gradually dissipating, while the resulting shockwave was powerful enough to make even the heavily fortified VIP viewing room tremble.

Selene had already disappeared into another spatial rift before Raizel's blade could reach her.

Raizel froze for a moment.

'Using anything other than UlforceVeedramon against her is kind of a pain. How am I supposed to fight someone who keeps disappearing into space?'

He was already considering switching Take Overs and chasing Selene through the spatial rifts himself.

That brief distraction was all she needed.

Selene appeared behind him once again.

Moonlight gathered around both of her foreclaws, condensing until two enormous Moonlight Claws became almost solid.

She struck Examon X directly across the wings.

Under the full moon, Selene's power had risen considerably.

Unfortunately, the result was not what she had expected.

Her attack left only two pale claw marks across Examon X's armor.

Selene stared at them.

Then frustration immediately welled up inside her.

'Damn it! Why is his defense this ridiculous too?! How am I supposed to fight this?!'