Elicia Vs. Cana

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

October 15, x785.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Ur said just as the thirty minute break ended. "The x785 Battle of Fairy Tail Tournament finals is about to begin! Are you ready!?"

In response, the crowd exploded into loud cheering with many of those in the audience shouting the name of their favorite wizard among the eight participating in the finals.

"The, without further ado..." Ur said, her voice cutting through the cacophony of cheering voices. "Team Ultear, and the reigning champions, Team Steel Threads, please make your way to the ring."

As the two teams approached the ring, the cheers grew in volume. And when Elicia and Cana jumped into the ring without waiting for Ur to ask, the crowd got even more pumped up.

"It looks like the first match of the finals will be between Elicia Marcus Taylor of Team Steel Threads and Cana Alberona of Team Ultear." Ur said, surprised that the two were so eager to get started. "Then, if both fighters are ready, you may begin!"

Despite Ur giving the signal to begin, Elicia and Cana did not immediately start to move. Instead, they stared at each other in silence. Though, Cana's stare was more of a glare than anything else.

"Cana, what's wrong?" Elicia asked with concern lacing her tone. "Why have you been looking at me like that?"

Instead of responding immediately, Cana continued to glare at Elicia. Though, because of the genuine concern in Elicia's tone, her glare grew a bit complicated.

"Cana…?" Elicia asked again.

"It's not fair." Cana said while gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. "Why were you first? Especially after everything that happened earlier this year?"

After hearing Cana's question, Elicia knew exactly what was on her mind. However, she did not know how to respond.

"I…" Elicia said, struggling to respond.

"I know…" Cana said, holding up a hand to stop Elicia. "I know how much he loves you. And we all knew you were his favorite. But still, it's not fair."

With a helpless expression on her face, Elicia subconsciously looked back at her team, who was looking at her and Cana with concern. Then, Marin and Sun turned their gazes to Alfonzo. And the concern in their gazes was evident.

"Cana, I…" Alfonzo said, wanting to explain himself.

Alfonzo knew some of the girls would not be happy with his decision to marry Elicia first after the debacle with Yoruichi. But he never thought it would manifest into something like this. Especially since no one said anything to him about it when he told them his plan to marry Elicia before their birthday.

"Don't say anything, Fonzie." Cana said, her gaze softening as she spoke. "I know I should have said something sooner. But I just couldn't… But after the deal the other girls and I made about the pageant, all these feelings bubble to the surface. And I just can't hold them back."

Hearing that, Alfonzo and Elicia, who were not made privy to the bet the other seven girls had riding on the pageant, wore confused expressions. Meanwhile, Ultear, Erza, Mirajane, Marin, Sun, and Lucy all understood where Cana was coming from.

"Anyway, we can talk about this later." Cana said, her gaze sharpening once again as she looked at Elicia. "It's definitely necessary after this. But for now, I need this fight. So, Lici, don't hold back."

As she spoke her last sentence, Cana pulled out several cards and slapped them onto her exposed skin.

"Because I won't." Cana said, almost growling out those words. "[Card Magic: Enhancement Cards: Power, Speed, Magic Power Density."

In the next instant, Cana vanished from where she stood. Then, when she reappeared, her right fist was headed towards Elicia's abdomen.

Reacting quickly while putting the issue to the back of her mind, for the time being, Elicia swept Cana's arm away with her left hand. Then, while riding the momentum of her parry, she dropped down and lashed her left leg at Cana's knees. In response, Cana lightly hopped over Elicia's leg sweep while simultaneously pulling another combination of cards from her [Soul Armament].

"Card Magic: Thunderbolt's Judgement]." Cana chanted as she brought the hand holding the cards down at Elicia's chest.

Before Cana's hand could make contact with her chest, Elicia shot threads from the fingertips of her right hand at the end of the ring behind her. At the same time, she kicked off the ring with her extended left leg, moving herself to a safe location.

*Boom!*

In the next instant, Cana's hand slammed into the ring. And when it did, two bolts of lightning fell from the sky on either side of her hand and struck the ring. And despite her proximity, the lightning bolts had no effect on Cana, at all.

A moment later, several threads wrapped around Cana's wrist. However, before Elicia could pull them, Cana once again reached into her [Soul Armament] to draw a few cards.

"[Random Throwing]." Cana chanted as she threw the cards in her free hand.

With little resistance, Elicia's threads were cut just as she retracted them. Meaning, Cana was completely unaffected by Elicia's attempt to ruin her balance.

"[Card Magic: Icicles]." Cana chanted after drawing another handful of cards, sending a volley of sharp icicles in Elicia's direction.

Instead of trying to dodge the incoming projectiles, however, Elicia ejected more threads from her fingertips. Then, with a masterful display of control, she wrapped them around the icicles before spinning her body.

"You can have these back." Elicia said as she uncoiled her threads from around Cana's spell.

In the next instant, all the icicles were sent flying back in Cana's direction, surprising her slightly. Still, Cana reacted quickly, punching each icicle as they neared and turning them into ice dust.

Meanwhile, Elicia, with her magic power saturating her legs, dashed forward. Then, just as the last icicle was destroyed, she lowered herself and slid towards Cana.

Raising her leg to avoid Elicia's outstretched left leg, Cana attempted to stomp down on Elicia's thigh. However, Elicia managed to get her left leg out of the way by using her hands to spin, once again trying to sweep Cana's legs out from under her.

And just like last time, Cana hopped over the leg sweep. However, Elicia quickly followed up by pushing herself up onto her hands as she continued spinning. As a result, Elicia's right leg clipped Cana in the side.

"Ugh!" Cana grunted in pain.

At the same time, Cana clamped her left arm down around Elicia's leg. Then, when she landed back on the ring, she spun on her heels, whipping Elicia's body along with her movement.

After a full rotation, Cana released Elicia, sending her flying towards the edge of the ring. Then, while Elicia was still airborne, Cana pulled a combination of cards from her [Soul Armament] and threw them in front of her. However, instead of falling to the ring or flying towards Elicia, the cards fanned out and hovered in front of her.

"[Card magic: Explosion]." Cana chanted as a wave of searing hot flames was fired in Elicia's direction.

In most cases, the fact that Elicia was airborne would mean that she had no way of dodging Cana's incoming spell. However, thanks to her threads, Elicia's mobility was barely hindered at all.

Shooting her threads into the ring, Elicia pushed herself straight upwards. Unfortunately, thanks to the momentum from Cana's throw, she was still flying towards the edge of the ring. So, once she was out of the range of Cana's spell, Elicia shot another volley of threads in Cana's direction, sinking their tips into the ring.

Reacting quickly, Cana used [Random Throwing] to once again cut Elicia's threads, hoping to stop her from changing her momentum. Unfortunately, she was just a little too late.

Now, Elicia was flying back towards the ring. Though, Cana had no intension of letting her land unimpeded.

"Card Magic: Sun's Strength]." Cana chanted as she threw several cards at Elicia.

As soon as the cards left Cana's hands, they were ignited in flames as they flew towards Elicia. Meanwhile, Elicia, knowing that those cards would explode on contact, shot her threads towards the ring, once again changing her direction to avoid the cards.

At the same time, before the cards could reach the audience, a slab of fire resistant metal appeared in front of most of them. And for those Alfonzo did not stop, Natsu was there to devour the flames, stopping anyone in the audience from being harmed.

On a side note, Cana already knew that someone would stop her spell from hurting innocent bystanders. However, if she had not been sure about it, she would have never used that spell in the first place.

Continuing to maneuver between the cards Cana threw around, Elicia eventually made it back to the ring. Still, Cana continued to throw flaming cards at her. And while doing so, Cana drew another combination of cards from her [Soul Armament]. Then, after waiting for Elicia to draw near, she cast her spell.

"[Card Magic: Super Nova]." Cana chanted as she knelt to the ring and held the cards in her hand as close to the ring as possible.

"Oh… Crap…" Elicia muttered as the cards in Cana's hand began to glow brightly.

In the next moment, a bright white light exploded from the cards in Cana's hand, engulfing the entire ring in a blinding light.

"Kya~~~~~!" Cana screamed.

Though very few of those present could see what was going on in the blinding white dome of light produced from Cana's spell, they could all tell that she had been attacked. A moment later, Cana was seen flying backwards off the ring.

'No, I can't lose this!' Cana shouted internally. 'Not after making such a big deal before the fighting even began.'

In the next instant, Cana found herself sitting at a card table in a large casino. Standing on the other side of the card table was a beautiful young woman with bright red hair styled into twin tales and red eyes wearing black and white face paint and dealer's attire with rid accents. However, instead of slacks, she wore a pleated black skirt.

"So, you pulled me in here for a shot at winning, huh?" Cana said after scanning her soundings.

"That's right, the red-haired woman, Cana's Armament Spirit replied while shuffling a deck of cards. "On top of that, I'm certain you've been ready to hear my name for a couple of weeks now."

"Seriously?" Cana asked in an incredulous tone. "Then, why haven't you told me yet?"

"What would be the fun in that?" the [Armament Spirit] asked while smiling brightly as she finished shuffling the cards in her hand. "Instead of making it so simple and boring. Why don't we play a little game?"

"Now's not the time for this!" Cana shouted in an agitated tone.

"Fine." The [Armament Spirit] said while shrugging her shoulders. "Then, you can go back and fall out of the ring, while you're unable to do anything about it."

"*Sigh* Fine." Cana said in a huff. "What kind of game do you want to play."

"Blackjack." The [Armament Spirit] replied, her smile widening as she did so. "One hand. If you win, I'll tell you my name. And if you lose, then you lose in the tournament. Fun, right?"

"Just get on with it." Cana said in an irritated tone. "Deal the cards."

Hearing that, the [Armament Spirit] raised an eyebrow in amusement. Then, she began dealing the cards.

A moment later, both Cana and the [Armament Spirit] had two cards in front of them. While both of Cana's cards, a five of hearts and a five of spades, were face up, only one of the [Armament Spirit's] cards, a king of clubs, was face up while the other was face down.

"So, what will it be?" the [Armament Spirit] asked.

Taking a moment to consider, Cana's expression turned resolute as she raised her hand above her head.

*Bang!*

"Double Down!" Cana shouted as she slammed her fist into the table.

Smiling in response, the [Armament Spirit] dealt another card, an ace of diamonds, to Cana.

"That's some pretty good luck." The [Armament Spirit] said jovially. "And because you doubled down, I'll even help you learn how to wield my power more actively if you end up winning."

"Just play the game." Cana said. Though, it was clear she was feeling pretty good about her chances of winning.

Following Cana's order, the [Armament Spirit] flipped her face down card. When she did, she revealed a queen of hearts.

"Hmm… I guess I have to hit." The [Armament Spirit] said with a smile.

Drawing another card, the [Armament Spirit] revealed a jack of spades.

"Looks like you win." The [Armament Spirit] said. Now, per our agreement, you may refer to me as…"

Back in the real world, Cana was still flying through the air while the dome caused by her [Super Nova] spell was dissipating.

"[Deal the Cards, Hoyle]." Cana chanted.

A moment later, the card pouch that acted as Hoyle's weapon form was now black and accented in red. And from the pouch, Cana drew two handfuls of cards. The first, her usual tarot cards while the second was a handful of poker cards.

"[Full House]." Cana changed as she dropped the poker cards to the ground below her.

In the next instant, a house of cards large enough for Cana to stand on was constructed below Cana, stopping her from falling to the ground and losing via ring out.

'Wow! Cana released her first seal!" Sun exclaimed, standing up in excitement as she did so.

'I had a feeling her [Armament Spirit] would have a name like that when I saw the form her [Soul Armament Embryo took after its first shift. 'But how's Lici? I mean, she took that [Super Nova] to the face.'

"Kya!" Cana yelped in surprise, drawing Alfonzo's attention to her just as he was turning his head back to Elicia.

When Alfonzo focused on Cana again, who had just fallen to the ground with confusion written all over her face, he saw the cards making up the house she landed on had been cut through cleanly by threads extending from the ring.

Tracing the threads back to their source, Elicia was lying in the ring, covered in burns, with her right hand extended towards Cana. On top of that, Alfonzo could feel melted Vibranium on the ring surrounding her.

'I knew she made a Vibranium Thread cocoon when Cana triggered the [Super Nova].' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'So, I'm not surprised that Cana was sent flying by the reflected kinetic energy. But I never expected the [Super Nova to be hot enough to melt the cocoon so quickly.'

"Cana Alberona is out of the ring." Ur announced while Alfonzo was thinking. "Winner of the match, Elicia Marcus Taylor of Team Steel Threads."