CONTROL - Ver. 2

XVII

"Grand Magic Games! Day four!" Rin looked down from the team's balcony at the giant orb of water in the arena. No words needed to be spoken about the upcoming competition. It was silently agreed that this was Juvia's strong suit and that she would be the best person on the team to participate. "Battle part: Naval Battle! One participant per team.

"The player who leaves the sphere of water will lose. The remaining person will be the victor. In the event that there are two participants remaining in the sphere, a special rule will be added: the five minute rule. If within five minutes one of the two leaves the sphere, that person will be given the least points."

The participants all took the field including Juvia, Cheria, Jenny, Risley, Rocker, Lucy, and Minerva. Rin bit her tongue. This surely wouldn't end well with that tiger woman in play. She knew that the woman held resentment toward Fairy Tail after the other night and would probably target them for the rest of the tournament. "The rules are simple! If you leave the water, you lose. Naval Battle, commence!"

The gong rang and the participants began attacking each other. Juvia foolishly aimed for Lucy which should have been her last choice considering they were in the same guild. However, they put on quite the show as the water mage and Aquarius presented equal strength underwater. Everyone from the other guilds began their own battles except for Sabertooth.

Minerva simply floated at the top and watched as the other women (and man) fought for points.

Jenny was quick to remove the first participant from the orb, Rocker falling to the ground face-first. "Quatro Puppy has dropped out!" Noting that the ranking had begun, Juvia switched her focus to the majority of the mages in the water. Using her oddly-named spell "Gray-sama Love", she knocked out Jenny, Risley, and Cheria. Minerva used her magic to protect herself from Juvia's spell and remained in the water.

The water mage looked back at Fairy Tail A's balcony to check if Gray was watching her. He was, but he wasn't exactly excited to have magic named after him. In her distraction, Juvia fell out of the water with a gentle shove of Minerva's magic.

Rin and all of Fairy Tail B facepalmed at their teammate but gave up nonetheless. They had gotten third place, so that wasn't too bad. "The only two left are Minerva and Lucy! Now, who will be the victor? Sabertooth? Or Fairy Tail?"

Due to the barrier that the water created, Rin was having trouble hearing any of the conversation. However, whatever was said clearly struck the tiger woman and she began attacking the blonde. Lucy held her ground through the onslaught and remained in the water, enduring the beating even after her keys were stolen from her.

Rin bit her nails. Lucy having to deal with Minerva alone was making her anxious. It was clear to her that Minerva was going to win this battle, but why wasn't she just doing it, then? With about a minute left on the clock, all movement ceased and the two simply floated as they allowed the five minute rule to come to an end. That meant that Fairy Tail had secured at least second place.

The timer finally hit zero seconds and stopped, but that's when things got ugly. Minerva took that as her cue to ruthlessly beat the celestial mage to a pulp. She used her magic to hit the girl so meticulously that she was unable to exit the sphere of water. This left Lucy vulnerable with no escape and no way to defend herself.

Fury was starting to set in among Fairy Tail and all its friends as Minerva continued an already ended match. Rin released a guttural sound from the bottom of her throat as she stared at the tiger woman. She was getting payback for what the brunette had done the other night. It was safe to say that the dragon slayer was furious. Her grip on the balcony wall was so tight that it crumbled under her fingers.

"Stop it!" Everyone's eyes shot toward Sabertooth's balcony where they grinned like madmen. Rin felt her heart drop at the sight of her mate's wide smile, lacking any and all sympathy for what his guild member was doing. And finally, the referee threw his hands up and stopped the match as Lucy had long since lost consciousness.