Chapter 285: Lucy Favored by the Goddess of Luck
Water Lock, Juvia's signature water magic.
Once caught, the body would be suspended in a water sphere, unable to move by force, and over time, would suffocate to death.
"Water Slicer!"
Seeing that the water ball trapped George, Juvia did not dare to be careless at all. She immediately created a dozen water blades that sliced towards George from all directions.
However, George was not concerned about this.
"Phantom Shift."
In a flash, he teleported out of the water sphere, appearing not far behind Juvia, easily dodging all attacks.
"Seven Hundred Million Volts!"
A powerful current burst out from George's body, striking the water-formed Juvia through the water flow on the ground.
Water form could ignore any physical attacks but could not be immune to magical attacks.
Moreover, lightning magic naturally restrained water magic. Juvia was immediately forced out of her water form by the electricity.
"Water Lash!"
Enduring the spasms and tremors caused by the electric current, Juvia controlled a water whip to lash towards George, trying to stop him from continuing to release electricity.
However, with a flash of electric light on his body, George easily dodged the attack with his small cat-like body and lightning speed, appearing right in front of her.
"Sorry, Juvia."
His magic wand pointed at Juvia's forehead.
"Stupefy!"
Juvia immediately lost consciousness and fainted to the ground.
"Ring Eight, the victor: George!"
Seeing the match end, Mirajane flew over and loudly announced the result.
The crowd of Fairy Tail mages who had already been eliminated also began to talk among themselves.
"Juvia is an S-Class mage, yet she was so easily defeated by George. George's strength has truly grown stronger and stronger."
Most Fairy Tail mages did not know the details of the Tower of Heaven incident and still thought of George's strength as it was when he fought Phantom Lord.
At that time, George was strong, but not as overwhelmingly powerful as now. The battle against S-Class Juvia was light and effortless, clearly not on the same level.
After lifting Juvia's unconsciousness spell, George began paying attention to the other matches.
Laxus was indeed strong, usually defeating his opponents in one move. This time, he faced Sarusuk from Levy's team, who had decent strength, but was still defeated in a single blow.
[TL: sauron05]
Evergreen fought Elfman. Because of her petrification eyes, Elfman had to fight with his eyes closed, and coupled with Evergreen's ability to fly, he ended up being completely petrified and defeated.
Levy fought Gajeel and won, but George could tell Gajeel had held back, and the reason for that was intriguing.
The most eye-catching and longest match was between Gray and Bixlow. Their strengths were comparable, and in the end, both exhausted their magic power, seriously injured and fainted at the same time, resulting in a draw.
However, because their injuries were too serious, they could not continue to the next round and were eliminated together.
Thus, there were thirteen victors in the third round.
George, Laxus, Erza, Evergreen, Levy, Freed, Cana, Macao, Wakaba, Bisca, Alzack, Warren, and Lucy.
Not bad, Lucy had also successfully advanced to the top thirteen.
Actually, from George's perspective, Lucy's strength was quite strong; she just lacked confidence.
Not to mention her other celestial spirits, just Aquarius and Leo alone could match the strength of an S-Class mage in other guilds.
Therefore, in an actual fight, Lucy definitely had the potential to be in the guild's top ten.
But today, she didn't really need much strength, because her luck was so good. During the fourth-round draw, she got a bye and advanced directly to the top seven without a fight.
"Natsu, this is great! I made it to the top seven! I can win the fifty-thousand prize money. Next month's rent is covered!"
After drawing lots, Lucy excitedly ran over to tell Natsu, who was sitting on the ground.
Natsu, still feeling down after losing to Erza in the second round, replied weakly:
"Who told you not to stay in the guild's free dormitory and instead insist on renting a place?"
"I'm just more used to living alone. It feels freer."
Seeing Natsu's bad mood, Lucy comforted him:
"Don't feel down. Losing to Erza is normal. It's Erza, after all."
Happy, who was sitting next to Natsu, pulled out a fish from his small pouch, eating while sarcastically commenting:
"There's something going on!"
In the fourth round, there were six arenas. George's opponent was relatively weak this time — Warren Rocko, who specialized in telepathy magic, and the battle ended with a single move.
Telepathy magic was similar to psychic abilities, allowing mind reading and communication within a certain range during battle.
Unfortunately, Warren could not read George's mind, who possessed psychic abilities and brain-sealing techniques.
George was still quite interested in telepathy magic, feeling that learning it would enhance his psychic abilities and the effect of Legilimency.
After returning from the Century Quest, he planned to add this type of magic to his study list.
After finishing off his opponent, George once again joined everyone in watching the other matches.
Soon after, the fourth round ended, and the top seven were decided.
They were George, Laxus, Erza, Evergreen, Freed, Cana, and Lucy.
Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe were indeed strong. Except for Bixlow and Gray, who knocked each other out early, Evergreen and Freed both advanced easily.
The fifth-round draw began.
Laxus versus Cana, Erza versus Evergreen, George versus Freed, and Lucy once again got a bye.
"I must be blessed by the Goddess of Luck today!"
Lucy was overjoyed.
Laxus versus Cana, and Laxus won decisively.
Erza versus Evergreen, originally thought to be an intense battle, but Erza had a fake eye that could ignore Evergreen's petrification gaze. She easily defeated Evergreen, letting her know who the true Fairy Queen was.
The last match was George versus Freed.
"I know you're strong, but today I must defeat you, because only then can Laxus fulfill his wish of becoming Guild Master."
Freed stood opposite George, drawing his Western-style magic sword.
"You might not know this, but even though I didn't become an S-Class in the guild, I've defeated many S-Class Dark Mages outside!"
If he could defeat George in this round, Laxus would definitely become the champion of the tournament and smoothly take over as Guild Master.
That newcomer Lucy relied entirely on luck and wasn't worth mentioning. Although Erza's strength was somewhat beyond his expectations after she defeated Evergreen, she definitely wasn't Laxus's match.
The only real threat was George. His strength was too deep to fathom. Whether it was his previous feats or his recent mountain-shifting and mountain-slicing magic, they all proved that he was at least S-Class, and among the strongest of S-Class.
He was a huge threat to Laxus.
(End of Chapter)