CONTROL - Ver. 2

V

"This is disappointing." Every guild member watched glumly as Fairy Tail was targeted and beaten mercilessly. Gray kept his head down in shame and Juvia remained quiet from her lack of performance. She hadn't meant to get distracted by Gray, but she couldn't help herself. It was her one weakness.

"You guys aren't really impressing me yet," sneered a certain blonde. Rin's neck practically snapped with how quickly she spun to face him. "That was a pitiful performance." Rin tried her best to maintain her composure but found her anger quickly bubbling over. "Don't tell me you're also that weak."

"You―!"

"It's okay," Mira cut in politely. Though her smile was bright and innocent, her voice had a venomous edge that warned him to back off. "We're just getting warmed up!"

"Rin." The brunette just barely caught the call of her voice above the noise of the crowd. She zoned out, blocking out everything except for her name being spoken from above. She peered up above the stands and found a white cloak similar to her own obscuring the person from view. She immediately knew that she was being called upon and grabbed her cape from Leese.

"Where are you going?" She didn't even spare Laxus a glance.

"Business. I'll be back." The brunette wasted no time running through the corridors of the arena to the top where some form of a Council Member awaited her. And she knew it wasn't one of the chairmen. "What are you doing here?"

An amphibian-like humanoid tapped their foot impatiently as she approached.

"I was sent here with a message."

"And what is it?" Rin crossed her arms, irritated that the Council would interfere with the games when they knew she was participating.

"It's not for you. I just wanted to let you know that you're being outed."

"Out―My title? Why?!" Rin was fuming now, steam flaring from her nostrils as she intimidated the being in front of her.

"The Council picked you for a fight. That is all." The person began walking away, leaving the Dragon Slayer speechless and angry. Not only was she gonna have to fight in front of all these people, her secret title wasn't gonna be a secret anymore. She cursed every member she could think of, starting with Lahar.

"I get that I always pick on you, but is this really necessary...?" The woman sluggishly walked back through the halls, stopping to compose herself for a bit. She had forgotten all about Lucy's match and instead focused on preparing herself. The Council was requesting a match? That couldn't be good. Whatever it was, they definitely had a motive and were using her as a pet for show and tell. "Whatever. No matter who it is, I won't lose."

竜

Orga of Sabertooth was quick to knock down War Cry from Quatro Cerberus and began singing a song to the audience per Sting's "request". But ultimately, the final battle had long approached and Rin felt her shoulders tense up. She hadn't been selected for any of the previous battles and her team was one of the last to be chosen.

Was I lied to?

"Well then, at last we've arrived at the final match of the first day. The teams remaining are Fairy Tail B and Lamia Scale." A sinking feeling suddenly dropped in her stomach. "In the past, the strength of these two guilds was balanced, so this will be quite an interesting match."

The whole team held their breath, scared of being chosen for the final battle. Unknown to them, their fate was already sealed. "Lamia Scale... Jura Neekis!

"Oh no..." Laxus and Gajeel frowned at the girl.

"Versus!" The whole stadium silenced in anticipation, only making the nerves of the team skyrocket. "Fairy Tail B... Rin!"

All eyes locked onto her figure while she simply stared at her opponent in his balcony. He seemed equally as shocked, but more amused over the situation. Murmurs filled the crowd; poor girl... she's gonna get hurt... this isn't a fair fight... All beginning to piss her off.

"She's dead." Rin felt her ears perk up as Sting began making his own comment across the field. "Jura-san! Please don't kill her," he cooed jokingly. Now she was pissed.

With a scowl, she jumped into the arena directly from the balcony and landed with a powerful thud.

"So," Jura began approaching her from the tunnel, although keeping his distance. "Seems like we're part of an agenda, no?"

"Yeah," she murmured. "But I stand by what Natsu said earlier."

"So, you want to go all out?" Rin nodded at the burly man. "I'm fine with that. Why don't we put on a show for all of these spectators?" The woman hummed and removed her cape, storing it with her Requip magic. She finally smiled, getting into the feeling of the festival and deciding to submerge herself into the fun for once.

"Now, for the most anticipated match of the day! This battle was specifically requested by none other than the Council themselves. So, who will win in this epic battle among two of the Ten Wizard Saints?!"

The arena became eerily silent, then. No guild spoke on the revealed truth that had been hidden for years to come.

"Shocking," Jura joked, but she remained silent and listened carefully to the audience.

While Fairy Tail went crazy, yelling at her for not telling any of them, Sting stood in shock with the rest of Sabertooth. All the pieces were finally coming together and their interactions finally made sense. And he had just teased her about being weak.

"A-A Wizard Saint...?" He couldn't wrap his head around it. Everything was falling into place; all he had left to figure out was what kind of magic she possessed. He had already felt it, but now he was really getting the chance to see it in action.

"Hey," Jura regained her attention, "maybe this is the Council's way of re-ranking us."

"You'll have to beat me for that to happen," she shot back darkly.

"Despite her size, Rin actually ranks higher than Jura. But," his enthusiastic voice cheered up the crowd once more, "who knows how this match will turn out."

"Ne, Jura." The bald man smiled at the brunette. "I want to apologize in advance." His smile suddenly faded, replaced with a calm frown. He wasn't stupid. He knew just how strong she was and how dangerous she could be. "I promise to pay for your medical bills."

Jura watched as she made two familiar hand-signs, unlocking the block she kept on her magic power.

A sudden pressure filled the entire arena. It was as if gravity magic was bringing force down upon every single person. A dark aura clouded Domus Flau and every single person in a mile's radius could feel every inch of Rin's magic power.

"W-What is this?" Sting struggled to stand upright, the pressure buckling his knees. He knew she was strong, but this blew away his expectations. "This is insane!"

"Enough of the intimidation tactics. You know they don't work on me," mused Jura. He still had yet to remove his hands from his sleeves.

"It wasn't for you." It truly wasn't. In fact, Rin wanted every single person to feel just how powerful Fairy Tail could be. After years of being ridiculed and called weak, she wanted to put the rumors to rest. Jura chuckled in amusement. How funny this girl could be.

"Lamia Scale, Jura Neekis! Versus! Fairy Tail B, Rin! Today's final match... Start!"