Chapter 177: To Save Lucy
"AND WITH THAT, THE FOURTH DAY OF THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES COMES TO AN END! THERE WILL BE A ONE DAY BREAK FROM THE GAMES AND AFTER THAT, IS THE FINAL MATCH. THE FINAL MATCH WILL BE A SURVIVAL GAME WITH ALL FIVE MEMBERS OF EACH TEAM! WHICH GUILD WILL COME OUT THE VICTOR IN THE END?!" Chapati announced.
---
July 5th X791
"So that was an interesting day at Ryuuzetsu land huh. I've never been to a water park before. "They don't have things like those in Britannia." Meliodas said as he and Jellal, still dressed up as Mystogan, walked through the streets of Crocus.
"Y-yeah…" Jellal said, his face becoming noticeably red underneath his mask. Meliodas glanced over at Jellal and noticed his face was flushed red.
"Oh, I see. Something happened to you and Erza." Meliodas said as he nudged at Jellal's arm with his elbow.
"I-It's nothing…" Jellal responded.
"It's fine. I'd do the same thing to Elizabeth." Meliodas said nonchalantly. The two of them continued walking until reaching the outskirts of the city where barely anybody was around. From behind a house, two figures walked out and approached Meliodas and Jellal. The four of them immediately jumped on top of the four story house and crouched on the roof.
"Alright, so what did you want me to come here for anyway that you couldn't tell me at Ryuuzetsu Land?" Meliodas asked.
"It's about the strange magic...and the person I was tracking with that magic." Jellal said.
"Oh, you found that guy who can sink into the shadows?" Meliodas questioned.
"No...it was someone else." Jellal said. "The person I confronted...was Lucy Heartfilia."
"Lucy?!" Ultear and Meredy exclaimed. Meliodas also had a surprised expression on his face upon hearing the name.
"This isn't the Lucy we know though...this Lucy was from the future. Seven years in the future to be precise. She used something called the Eclipse Gate in order to travel back in time. And those who travel through the eclipse gate somehow get surrounded by a magic that feels like Zeref's." Jellal answered.
"Time travel? That...shouldn't be possible right? But assuming that is what happened, why did she come back here?" Ultear questioned.
"To warn us. At the end of the 7th day of the Grand Magic Games, ten thousand dragons will appear and destroy everything." Jellal answered solemnly.
"How are we supposed to stop something like that?!" Meredy asked.
"Meliodas most likely." Jellal said.
"I don't think I'm ready to take down ten thousand dragons." Meliodas responded.
"No. Not that. Lucy brought something important about you. She saw you during the Naval battle and had no idea who you were. In the future she comes from, you never existed. You being an outlier in this world might be the key to stopping the dragons somehow." Jellal said.
"Wait. Let's backtrack a bit. The person you ended up finding was Lucy. But that means there was someone else who came from the future too then. That guy we were chasing on the third day…" Meliodas added.
"So there are two who came from the future." Ultear commented.
"Lucy said nothing about coming here with another." Jellal added.
"So that means they probably aren't working together. This means we need to find that other person Meliodas was tracking and maybe he can help us with the dragon situation." Meredy said.
"I sure hope that's the case." Jellal said.
---
Evening of July 5th
Meliodas walked into the bar, expecting there to be a loud and rowdy guild partying and drinking. To his surprise, the bar was empty, except for Makarov sitting on a table in the corner with a few other guild members standing around him.
"Meliodas, good timing. Come here." Makarov said. Meliodas nodded and joined up with the group. He looked over to his side and noticed Natsu squirming as he was tied to a large wooden support beam.
"LET ME GO! I GOTTA GO RESCUE LUCY!" Natsu shouted.
"Natsu please calm down." Wendy pleaded.
"Aye! If you tried to barge in there and save Lucy, you'd have to fight an entire country!" Happy added.
"Wait, what happened to Lucy?" Meliodas asked.
"She got arrested by the Royal Army on the grounds of being charged as some collaborator." Laxus answered.
'Royal Army...why would they want Lucy unless...does it have something to do with Future Lucy?' Meliodas thought to himself.
"So let's go save her right now! My magic's coming back to me already!" Natsu shouted as he tore through the ropes and stood back up and looked at Meliodas.
"Let's break in the front gate just like you did in Edolas!"
"Oh yeah, that." Meliodas said, remembering going against the entirety of the Edolas Royal Army capital after storming through the front gate.
"Sure, we can do that." Meliodas said with a grin. 'I did the same for Elizabeth after all.'
"Oh? That's a plan I could get behind." Laxus added in.
"All of you stop!" Makarov shouted as he looked at Meliodas, Natsu, and Laxus. "I don't doubt that the three of you could easily take back Lucy. But we're not here to make an enemy of the entire kingdom. However! That doesn't mean I'll just idly stand by as one of my children is taken. Meliodas, you weren't here for this part of the conversation, but we were promised Lucy back if we were to win the Grand Magic Games. Besides, even though she is a prisoner, the Kingdom won't mistreat her, considering they will use her as a hostage for this Eclipse plan…"
"So we just have to make sure we win then." Erza said.
"I'm going to make a change to the team lineup. We can't trust them entirely." Makarov said. "We'll split into two teams. One team will be participating in the Grand Magic Games in order to win. The other team will be a secret squad going to save Lucy themselves."
"Well, well, well. The stakes for these games are getting really high now." Meliodas commented in a lighthearted tone. His expression suddenly shifted and turned serious as he looked at Makarov.
"But I'll make sure we win this one."
---
July 6th, X791
"THE DAY HAS ARRIVED! THE FINALS OF THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES! WHETHER IT BE THROUGH SMILES OR TEARS, TODAY WE WILL KNOW WHICH GUILD IS THE ULTIMATE WINNER! AS ALWAYS, I, CHAPATI AM YOUR PLAY BY PLAY ANNOUNCER! HERE WITH ME TODAY ARE EX COUNCILMAN YAJIMA AND THE MASCOT OF THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES, MATO!" Chapati announced.
"I wish you all the best." Yajima said.
"Pumpkin!" Mato said.
"NOW IT'S JUST ABOUT TIME FOR THE COMPETING TEAMS TO MAKE THEIR ENTRANCE INTO THE ARENA." As Chapati finished speaking, the teams began walking into the arena with Chapati announcing each one.
"IN SIXTH PLACE WE HAVE QUATRO CERBERUS, FOLLOWED BY LAMIA SCALE, BLUE PEGASUS, MERMAID HEEL, AND IN THE NUMBER TWO POSITION IS FAIRY TAIL!" Chapati shouted as Fairy Tail walked out into the arena.
"WHAT'S THIS? THERE APPEARS TO BE A CHANGE IN FAIRY TAIL'S LINEUP!" Chapati mentioned as he saw Meliodas, Erza, Laxus, Gajeel, and Gray walk out into the stadium.
"AND IN THE NUMBER ONE SPOT, WE HAVE SABERTOOTH! CAN THEY KEEP THEIR CROWN THIS TIME AROUND?" Chapati said as the Sabertooth team walked out.
"It looks like Natsu isn't here." Rogue said.
"We should count ourselves lucky but…" Sting said as he glanced over at Meliodas. 'He is our biggest obstacle.'
"AND FOR THE AUDIENCE, WE WILL PUT UP LACRIMA VISION FOR ALL OF YOU TO SEE EACH TEAM'S MARTIAL SKILLS, MAGIC, AND TRUST IN THE COMRADES AS THEY PARTICIPATE IN THE FINAL FULL SCALE TEAM BATTLE! THIS TIME, THE BATTLEFIELD IS THE ENTIRE CITY OF CROCUS!" Chapati announced. Suddenly, each of the teams were teleported and scattered throughout the city.
"WHEN ANY MEMBER WANDERING THROUGH THE TOWN MEETS AN ENEMY, A BATTLE MUST ENSUE! KNOCK OUT YOUR OPPONENT OR STOP THEM FROM CONTINUING TO FIGHT AND YOUR TEAM GETS ONE POINT! ALSO! EACH TEAM HAS ONE LEADER. THE OTHER TEAMS WON'T KNOW WHO THAT LEADER IS BUT IF THAT LEADER IS KNOCKED OUT, YOU GET REWARD FIVE POINTS INSTEAD OF ONE! THIS MEANS A TEAM COULD THEORETICALLY SCORE UP TO 45 POINTS! DO THE TEAMS STAY UNITED? OR WILL THEY SPLIT UP! WE WILL SEE THEIR STRATEGIES UNFOLD! WHO WILL OBTAIN THE HONOR AND STAND AT THE PINNACLE OF THE MAGIC WORLD?!! LET THE FINALS OF THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES BEGIN!" Chapati shouted as a loud drum rang throughout the entire arena, signaling the start.
The other teams immediately took off, running into the town with some scattering as they went to look for the other guilds. Chapati watched the lacrima vision with a confused look on his face as he saw Fairy Tail standing still with their eyes closed.
"FOR SOME REASON...FAIRY TAIL IS JUST STANDING THERE AS OTHER GUILDS HAVE ALREADY STARTED FIGHTING AND EARNING POINTS! LAMIA SCALE GETS A POINT! BLUE PEGASUS GETS 2 POINTS! THE SCORES ARE ON THE MOVE AND FAIRY TAIL STILL HASN'T MOVED!" Chapati said
"IT LOOKS LIKE KAGURA'S MADE HER APPEARANCE AND SHE GETS 2 POINTS FOR MERMAID HEEL!" Chapati continued. "AND FROM MILLIANA'S END, ANOTHER 2 POINTS! BUT WHY IS FAIRY TAIL STILL STANDING STILL?"
"You all got the plan from Mavis?" Erza asked.
"Yeah." Meliodas said as he opened his eyes. Black wings sprouted from his back and he suddenly dashed forward as Mavis' words echoed in his mind.
'Meliodas. You will be the one to lead the charge. At your 11 o'clock position, charge straight through the first ten buildings. At the eleventh one, you can take down both Ren and Eve who are at the other side. Your goal is to cause as much destruction as you can while doing so. Everyone in this competition naturally fears your raw power, so they'll know that's your location and try to avoid it.'
Meliodas pierced straight through each building, ramming head first through them with no effort as he flew at full speed while counting the buildings and leaving a large trail of destruction in his wake. At the eleventh one, he broke straight through the building, with Ren and Eve staring at Meliodas for a brief instant with dumbfounded looks before he delivered two solid punches to their guts. The two Blue Pegasus members went flying, crashing into another building across the street.
"AND MELIODAS HAS JUST EARNED TWO POINTS FOR FAIRY TAIL!" Chapati announced.
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Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
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