The End of the Tournament and the Fantasia Parade

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

October 15, x785.

With Ur's announcement of the winner, Cana finally snapped out of her confused state. Then, with a frown on her face, she looked towards Elicia. However, when she saw Elicia's state, her frown disappeared immediately.

"Lici!" Cana said as she hopped into the ring with concern marring her expression.

A moment before Cana arrived next to Elicia, however, Alfonzo appeared next to her, as well.

"Lici, are you okay?" Alfonzo asked as he knelt next to his wife.

"Not really." Elicia replied with a pain-filled smile on her face. "This really hurts… a lot."

"Yeah, I guess it would." Alfonzo said. "You're covered in burns everywhere."

"Lici, I'm so sorry!" Cana shouted in a panic. "I didn't mean to hurt you so bad. The [Super Nova] was just supposed to blow you out of the ring with concussive force."

Though her smile still indicated she was in pain, Elicia smiled as gently as possible at Cana.

"I know." Elicia said soothingly. "You're my best friend. So, I never even considered that you did this on purpose. But stuff like this happens in battle, right? What's the old saying? Magic spells have no eyes, right?"

Hearing that, Cana was visibly relieved. However, she was still concerned about Elicia's well-being.

"And in most cases, it probably would have." Alfonzo said, cutting into the conversation. "But because Lici made that Vibranium Thread cocoon around herself, the kinetic energy that would have thrown her out of the ring was reflected at you. Meanwhile, the heat from the explosion was left behind. And well, this is the result."

As he finished speaking, Alfonzo gazed down at Elicia's body that was covered in burns and ruined clothing. Meanwhile, Cana was surprised. She didn't actually see what happened as she was blown away rather quickly. Elicia, on the other hand, looked away sheepishly. Especially since she was aware that she had done more damage to herself than Cana's spell would have.

"Anyway, let's get you to the medical station." Alfonzo said, changing the. "Hopefully, Ren, Shizuka, and Wendy will be able to get you right. Otherwise, we'll have to ask Porlyusica to help."

Immediately upon hearing that she might have to go see Porlyusica, Elicia's expression fell. Then, she began to shudder in fear. However, her shuddering did not last long, as the movement irritated her burned skin.

"Ow~~~!" Elicia cried in pain.

In the next instant, a slab of metal appeared underneath Elicia. Then, it levitated off the ring's surface.

At first, when the metal Alfonzo created came in contact with her wounds, Elicia painfully drew in a breath of air. However, after only a moment, her expression relaxed significantly.

"Ah~~!" Elicia exhaled in comfort. "This feels amazing."

"Yeah, that metal tends to stay cool as long as the temperature it is subjected to isn't too high." Alfonzo said with a smile. "And the temperature in the middle of October is nowhere near high enough to change that."

With that, Alfonzo turned towards the medical station as he led Elicia and Cana out of the ring. Meanwhile, the crowd had fallen silent after seeing the state Elicia was in. However, when it seemed like she would probably be okay, they cheered loudly.

A few minutes later, Alfonzo returned to ring side. Meanwhile, Cana stayed in the medical tent to accompany Elicia.

"How's Lici?" Marin asked with concern in her tone.

"I'm not sure yet, honestly." Alfonzo said while shaking his head. But since she can joke and talk freely, she should be fine. At worst, we'll just have to ask Porlyusica to look at her."

Hearing that, Marin and Sun breathed sighs of relief. Then, they smiled just thinking about the reaction Elicia would have because of the thought of going to see Porlyusica.

"Up next is the two on two match." Ur said, bringing everyone's attention away from Elicia's injury. "Teams, send your fighters to the ring."

"So, who's going up?" Sun asked. "Should Marin and I go?"

"Nah, I'll go up with Marin this time." Alfonzo said. "I wanna finish this match quickly. The parade will start soon, and we need to get ready for it."

After receiving nods from his team mates, Alfonzo hopped into the ring, followed closely by Marin. At the same time, Ultear and Laki also hopped into the ring, too.

"Well, damn…" Ultear muttered as she looked at Alfonzo and Marin on the other side of the ring. "I didn't expect Alfonzo to come up in this round."

"Yeah, he looks determined." Laki said with a nod. "Do you think he needs to feed his stomach?"

Smiling despite herself, Ur could only shake her head at Laki's my pace attitude.

"No, I doubt it." Ultear replied. "It probably has something to do with the conversation Cana and Lici had before the last match."

As she was close enough to Alfonzo and Elicia, Laki was well aware of what happened between them and Yoruichi back in March. However, as Ultear seemed really nervous upon seeing Alfonzo jump into the ring for this match, she told a little joke to lighten the mood.

"Fighting in this two on two match will be Alfonzo Marcus and Marin Kitagawa of Team Steel Threads and Ultear Milkovich and Laki Olietta of Team Ultear." Ur said, introducing the competitors and gaining loud cheers from the audience. Then, to cut through all the cheering, she continued in a sonorous voice. "Should Alfonzo and Marin emerge victorious, Team Steel Threads will defend their title as Fairy Tail's strongest team. However, should Ultear and Laki come out on top, Meredy will face off against Sun to determine our champions. Now, are the fighters ready?"

After receiving nods from the four wizards in the ring, Ur nodded as well before raising her right hand high above her head.

"Begin!" Ur ordered as she lowered her hand swiftly.

"[Soar upon the---" Ultear began to chant her [Soul Armament's] release command.

"[Wood-Make]---" Laki said, beginning to cast her first spell, as well.

Before either of them could finish, however, Alfonzo appeared between them with his hands resting on both of their sides.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Spark Cannon]." Alfonzo chanted calmly.

In the next instant, both Ultear and Laki were electrocuted by the electricity that began to gather on Alfonzo's palms. Then, before either Laki or Ultear could scream in pain, they were sent flying by the balls of electricity that formed in Alfonzo's palms before landing outside of the ring on opposite sides.

In response, the entire stadium fell into an awkward silence.

"Uh… Um… Ultear and Laki are outside of the ring." Ur said in an awkward tone as her voice cut through the silence. "The winners of the match are Alfonzo Marcus and Marin Kitagawa. And the winners of the tournament, and defending their title, are Team Steel Threads."

Despite Ur's announcement, the stadium remained silent. On top of feeling that the end of the tournament was anti-climactic, the audience was thoroughly flabbergasted by the ease with which Alfonzo finished the match.

"Why did I even come up here?" Marin asked as she lowered Nova to her sides. "I could have stayed out of the ring and the outcome wouldn't have changed."

A moment later, Alfonzo appeared next to Ultear. Then, like he had done with Natsu, he sucked the electricity out of her body. Then, he picked her up in one arm after she stopped convulsing before appearing next to Laki and repeating the process.

"I'll take them to the medical station." Alfonzo said with Laki and Ultear in his arms. "I hit them a little harder than usual to end the match quickly. We still have a parade to put on, after all."

When Alfonzo mentioned the parade, the crowd finally snapped back to their senses. Although watching the wizards of Fairy Tail was a lot of fun, the real main event for the Harvest Festival was, and always will be, the Fantasia Parade.

Then, while the audience cheered loudly, Alfonzo made his way to the medical station, followed by Marin, Sun, and Meredy. Meanwhile, the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards exited the stadium to prepare for the aforementioned parade. With the exceptions of Erza, Mirajane, and Lucy, who were all concerned about Elicia's well-being after she was injured in her match with Cana.

However, since there were others around, Alfonzo was unable to have the talk he wanted to have with his girls right away. And after they made sure that Elicia would fully heal and that Laki and Ultear would be ready to go for the parade, everyone left the tent.

"Well, your guild is full of young, talented wizards, Maki." Goldmine said, having thoroughly enjoyed watching the Battle of Fairy Tail Tournament. "I bet Bob and Ooba are gonna be envious that they missed it."

"Indeed." Ritsu, who was walking with the two old friends as they left the stadium, said in agreement. "Those youngsters are truly talented. An that boy, Alfonzo, will more than likely surpass Gildarts in the next few years."

"You think so, too?" Makarov asked as he looked towards Ritsu. "*Sigh* I can still remember when I picked them up from the orphanage in Hargeon. It feels like it happened just the other day. But to think it was more than fourteen years ago. *Sigh* Time sure does fly."

"Yeah, you really are getting old, Maki." Goldmine replied while wearing a teasing smile."

"Indeed." Ritsu concurred. "Unfortunately, it would seem that Age was unable to cure you of your delusions or perversions. And with that said, I will be taking my leave. I wouldn't want to be infected by your… idiosyncrasies."

Then, before Makarov could defend himself, Ritsu disappeared with the [flash Step] and returned to her hotel room, deciding to relax until the Fantasia Parade begins.

Meanwhile, Makarov could only look at the spot where Ritsu disappeared from with a blank gaze. A moment later, he was pulled out of his stupor when Goldmine patted him on the shoulder.

"Come on, Maki, let's go have a drink." Goldmine said with a smile. "And while we do, we can talk about all the women who shot you down over the years. And maybe, we can cure you of those delusions Master Unohana mentioned."

In response, Makarov turned his head towards Goldmine with a betrayed expression on his face, which caused Goldmine to begin laughing uproariously. Still, Makarov led Goldmine to the guild hall to have a drink just as his old friend suggested.

A few hours later, the people of Magnolia lined the main street that ran from the east to the west of the town in preparation for the Fantasia Parade. And like every year, they were not disappointed with what they saw. With all the available Fairy Tail wizards, other than Gildarts, who was liable to destroy everything without trying, taking part, the parade was a lot of fun to watch, like it was every year.

The first float to drive by carried Ur, Gray, Ultear, and Juvia. And while Juvia sprayed water into the air, the three ice wizards froze that water before transforming it into different forms that landed on the float as ice statues.

Then, there was a float that carried Fairy Tail's four Dragon Slayers, who used their various kinds of magic to produce many dazzling effects in the night sky. Gajeel and Laxus even worked together to make a number of street lights to illuminate the floats that came after theirs.

Then, there was a float carrying Levy and Lucy. While Lucy summoned one Celestial Spirit after another to perform, Levy used her [Solid Script Magic] to create various effects to enhance each Spirit's performance, the highlight of which was Lyra, a Silver Celestial Spirit, who sang a song Alfonzo taught her from his past life.

Naturally, there were many other floats and performances. However, the one that most people remembered was the one with Alfonzo and Erza acting as the Fairy King and Queen.

Unfortunately, due to Elicia's injuries, she was unable to play the role as the Fairy Queen. And while many people thought that they should have Cana play that position as this year's Miss Fairy Tail, Cana declined… rather fervently. And her reason was that she had been practicing for her own performance and did not want to waste the effort. So, the role fell to Erza, who had the epitaph of Titania, the Queen of the Fairies.

Like Cana, however, Erza was also reluctant to take that role, as she had also been practicing for her own performance, a sword dance. So, to not let her practice go to waste, Alfonzo decided that he would match Erza's sword dance atop the float, making their float a mock battleground as they drove through the town.

In the end, all the spectators loved it. And the parade finished without a hitch. Though, Alfonzo did have to stay on alert. Even though it would have been unintentional, he had the feeling that Erza would somehow damage the town if he was not careful. And he was right. There were a few times when Erza swung her sword too hard and would have damaged either the float or the buildings on either side of the street thanks to the wind pressure from her sword swings.

Despite all that, the Fantasia Parade ended without any mishaps, and everyone went home with great memories of the x785 Harvest Festival.