Curse of Compassion

Chapter 10

Three days before the Grand Magic Games, the judges came to Sabertooth.  Mikal learned that the first eight guilds to make it through a giant maze were the ones who qualified to participate in the games.  In order to qualify this year, however, the total power of the assigned teams was assessed. The top eight teams that had the highest amount of power were qualified to compete in the Games. 

"So all we have to do is hit this thing and it measures our power level?" Sting stared at the levitating machine before him. It didn't look like much, so he was more concerned about breaking it.

"Looks like it. It's the same thing we had to do when Erza took on those one hundred monsters, remember?" Rogue looked uninterested. 

"Yes, that's right! All you have to do is hit it with your power!" An enthusiastic pumpkin man stood next to the machine. "The bigger the number, the bigger the score! And the bigger the score, the higher the chance of getting qualified!"

Mikal was more freaked out by the pumpkin standing before her. "Yukino, what is that thing?" She whispered to her friend.

"He's a pumpkin!"

"But his mouth isn't moving. It's freaking me out."

"Alright, I'll go first," Sting cracked his knuckles.  "I would stand back, if I were you," he gestured to the pumpkin. After a few seconds, Sting activated his dragon force. The white aura surrounding him indicated his increase in power.  "White dragon roar!" A torpedo of white magic hit the machine directly.  "Huh? It didn't break?"

"Seven thousand five hundred points! Nicely done! Who's next?" The pumpkin jumped up and down with excitement. His dead, unmoving eyes were unsettling to Mikal.

"I'll go," Rogue stepped up to the machine, and activated his dragon force as well. "Shadow dragon eruption!" For a second, Mikal thought the explosion destroyed the machine. But once the dust settled, it was still standing without a single scratch.

"Seven thousand four hundred ninety points! Well done!"

"My turn. Open, gate of the two fish! Pisces! Hit it with everything you got!"  Yukino held out a golden key, and summoned two fish-like people. They each hit the machine before vanishing in thin air.

Celestial magic, huh? That's interesting, Mikal thought to herself as she watched the numbers above the machine increase.

"Four thousand seventy three points!"

"I know they're more powerful than that," Yukino grumbled and returned to where she was standing before.

"I'll be going next," Rufus stepped up to the machine. "If my memory is correct, Fairy Tail's Cana exerted the most power into the machine a few years ago. In that case, I'll have to borrow her spell. Memory-make, Fairy Glitter and Black Lightning!" His attack almost blinded everyone around it.

"Seven thousand points!"

"Seven thousand? Perhaps my memory was mistaken." Rufus walked away in a huff as he tried to figure out what he did wrong.

"I guess I'm last?" Mikal walked up to the machine and stared at it. "Do I have to attack it, or can I just touch it?"

"As long as you exert your power, the machine will pick it up!" The pumpkin hopped around without a care in the world. 

Mikal glanced over at Sting. She didn't want expose how truly powerful she was in front of everyone; or at least, not yet.  She decided she would aim for seven thousand points, but she had no idea just how much she'd have to exert herself in order to get it. Sting nodded to her.