By this point, Kagura, Wendy, and Lucy had all settled their battles with Kotetsu, Gennai, and Sai.
With their own opponents defeated, they turned toward the distant battle over the Deltara Mountains just in time to see Viernes take another blast from Raizel square in the abdomen.
The Gold Dragon God fell from the sky like a puppet whose strings had been cut, while Raizel hovered overhead and calmly watched him struggle back to his feet without immediately finishing him off.
Kagura had been too busy fighting Kotetsu earlier to pay much attention, but after watching for only a short while, she understood what was happening.
Raizel could have ended the fight with Viernes long ago.
He was simply playing with him.
Once Kagura realized that, she stopped worrying.
She knew Raizel well enough to recognize that particular bad habit.
He did the same thing whenever he fought Natsu—despite being perfectly capable of ending the match in one attack, he would deliberately drag it out for ages and then claim he was "helping Natsu train."
Ultear's battle against God Serena was similarly one-sided.
Serena possessed more raw Magic Power than Ultear and vastly more combat experience, but his Eight Dragon Slayer Magics were almost completely countered by her magical crystal spheres.
On top of that, Ultear could use both Arc of Time and the Spatial Magic Selene had taught her, allowing her to effortlessly deny Serena any opportunity to force the fight into close range.
They had been fighting for quite some time, yet Serena had not managed to touch so much as the edge of Ultear's clothing.
Ultear, meanwhile, repeatedly used spatial rifts to slip behind him and launch surprise attacks.
'No wonder... This really is kind of fun.'
Ultear was beginning to understand why Raizel so often refused to finish an opponent immediately.
She was also deliberately avoiding attacks that used the Eight Dragon Slayer Lacrima inside her crystal spheres
Instead, she fought using only Arc of Time and Ice-Make, ensuring that Serena could not replenish himself by devouring the Magic Power behind her attacks.
By now, Serena had already burned through more than half of his reserves with no reliable way to restore them.
Had Viernes not used History Transmutation earlier, Serena might already have lost.
Of course, the God Serena who had been recreated as Viernes's doll was no longer at the absolute peak of his life anyway.
At the moment, he looked thoroughly battered. Frostbite covered several parts of his body, and his frustration was beginning to boil over.
"I refuse to believe this, GOD! There's no way I'm losing to some little girl!"
Ultear had to resist the urge to point out that he was the one who looked like a little girl, considering the bright orange hair and ridiculous twin ponytails.
...
Natsu's battle with the bald mountain of muscle known as Alex was also raging at full intensity.
After entering Lightning Flame Dragon Mode, Natsu had finally seized the advantage.
"Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!"
His fist slammed into Alex's stomach.
The moment the huge man doubled slightly from the impact, Natsu rushed in and unleashed both flaming fists in a relentless barrage.
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA—!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA—!"
One punch after another crashed into Alex's body.
Blackened fist marks rapidly appeared across his torso, accompanied by wisps of white steam rising from his overheated skin.
...
Erza's battle against Roy, the alchemist specializing in heavy weaponry, was also approaching its conclusion.
Roy was a doll modeled after a mechanical race, and his entire fighting style revolved around transmuting weapons from his body.
Several blue-flame Gatling guns appeared around him first, filling the air with a continuous hail of bullets.
"Requip: Adamantine Armor!"
Golden light enveloped Erza as the enormous shields on both arms joined together.
A massive green defensive magic circle appeared in front of her and stopped every bullet in its tracks.
Once Roy realized that ordinary gunfire was useless against her, he immediately abandoned the Gatling guns.
Erza had already switched armor.
"Requip: Purgatory Armor!"
She surged forward and brought her weapon down toward Roy.
Roy transmuted a riot shield nearly as tall as himself and raised it in time to block her strike.
But Erza's Requip—The Knight—was instantaneous.
"Requip: Flight Armor!"
In the blink of an eye, her equipment changed again.
With the Flight Armor's speed, Erza vanished from in front of Roy's shield and appeared behind him, immediately sweeping a short blade toward his throat.
Close-quarters combat had been an important part of Roy's design, however.
He leaned backward just in time to avoid having his throat cut.
Even so, Erza's blade still sliced across his face.
'No blood.'
Erza immediately understood what that meant.
Roy was not human like the Signario Sisters.
"Then if you aren't human—and you aren't alive—I don't need to hold back!"
Her speed increased again.
Clad in the Flight Armor, Erza became a blur that attacked Roy from one direction after another, leaving slash marks across his mechanical body before disappearing and striking again.
Unfortunately, Roy was a doll.
Pain and injury did not make him hesitate the way they would a normal person.
He waited for one of Erza's attacks, caught the timing, and drove a fist directly into her stomach.
The blow launched Erza backward and sent her crashing into a tree.
She grimaced as she pushed herself upright.
"Whoever designed this thing really went overboard. Heavy weapons, strong defenses, and close-combat skills too? That's practically cheating."
Erza no longer dared underestimate him.
She pushed the Flight Armor even harder, used the nearby trees as footholds, and launched herself into the air.
After spinning once, she brought a heavy kick down against Roy's head and smashed him to the ground again.
"Weapon Transmutation—Heavy-Firepower Metal Exoskeleton!"
Roy immediately answered with a blast from his palm, forcing Erza backward.
Two missiles then launched from his shoulders and approached her from opposite directions.
Erza dodged at full speed.
The missiles collided and exploded in midair, turning the sky behind her into a sea of fire.
Roy took advantage of the explosion.
Twin rocket thrusters on his back ignited and propelled him into the air, while his right hand transformed into a flamethrower and released a roaring pillar of fire toward Erza.
"Requip: Flame Empress Armor!"
Erza gripped the Flame Empress Sword in her right hand and split the flames apart with a slash.
In her left was a Sea Empress Sword, which she immediately swung to release a blade of water toward Roy.
More than a dozen homing missiles suddenly launched from Roy's shoulders.
Several detonated against Erza's water blade and destroyed it, while the rest curved through the air and continued chasing her.
"I can't shake them..."
Erza twisted and maneuvered through the air, but the Flame Empress Armor could not create enough distance between herself and the pursuing missiles.
She flipped once and dropped toward the ground.
"Requip: Adamantine Armor!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The homing missiles exploded one after another against the defensive magic circle.
Roy followed immediately with another laser from his palm, the beam ripping through the air toward her.
It still failed to penetrate the Adamantine Armor.
Erza's equipment had never remained static.
Whenever technology improved—whether through stronger alloys or more advanced defensive magic circles—she regularly upgraded her armor.
The Adamantine Armor she wore now was far stronger than the version she had once used.
And after exchanging so many attacks, Erza finally identified Roy's weakness.
"You have plenty of weapons, but none of them possess the kind of absurd destructive power you'd get from something like the Magic Convergent Cannon Jupiter or Etherion."
Roy offered no response.
Instead, he tried to create more distance and resumed firing a storm of bullets at her.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
Erza dodged through the barrage while steadily closing the gap.
Once she was close enough—
"Heaven's Wheel: Blumenblatt!"
A five-pointed sword formation appeared around Roy.
The blades detonated against his body and blasted him dozens of meters through the air.
Erza was already moving.
She held Benizakura in a reverse grip at her side, taking the posture of an iaijutsu draw as she sprinted toward the airborne Roy.