Fairy Tail: My Magic is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck — Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Chase VS Erza

Chase and Dark Magician Girl stood by the second-floor window, watching Lucy stomp down the street. Even from a distance, the blonde mage practically radiated a dark aura of absolute resentment.

Chase leaned against the frame and chuckled. “Lucy is definitely more adorable when she’s full of energy.”

He let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “Indeed, I just can’t stand to see a girl’s tears.”

Dark Magician Girl rested one hand on the window ledge, tilting her head as she stared blankly at her summoner.

“So Master, you made her angry,” she muttered.

That ridiculous pink dumbbell was originally meant to be a free gift. She certainly had not expected Chase to suddenly change his mind and extort that insignificant amount of money from the poor girl. As the one secretly keeping track of Chase’s personal treasury, she knew exactly how overflowing his funds currently were.

Chase laughed heartily, entirely unrepentant. “You played along with me just now perfectly, didn’t you?”

Naturally, he cared nothing for Lucy’s money. Given the heavy atmosphere earlier, pulling a shameless prank was simply the fastest way to snap Lucy out of her depressive slump.

Dark Magician Girl offered a faint, knowing smile. “Because you are my Master.”

After hearing the full story of Lucy’s family situation, the spirit had gained a much deeper understanding of the usually optimistic, sarcastic celestial mage.

Chase held up his hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t force you to play the villain, alright? Don’t pin this all on me.”

Dark Magician Girl narrowed her eyes playfully. “Speaking of which, you must have been quite moved by how sexy Lucy looked just now, right?”

Chase looked up at the ceiling. “Who knows.”

“Hmph! I am very angry right now. If you coax me, maybe I can reluctantly help warm your bed.”

Chase looked back down at her, a dry smile on his face. “You really try to take advantage of every single situation, don’t you?”

Dark Magician Girl raised her staff. “No wonder Lucy called you a dead card player! Die!”

The magical staff bonked him squarely on the crown of his head before the girl dissolved into a shower of glowing golden light particles. Chase rubbed the rising bump on his head, sighing at the empty room. Life was truly not easy.

The next morning.

Lucy snapped her eyes open, staring blankly at the wooden ceiling of her rented apartment. Her chest heaved with heavy breaths.

Perhaps heavily influenced by Chase’s chaotic behavior last night, she had just suffered a terrible nightmare. She dreamed that Chase had transformed into a towering, scaly monster. He had punched the entire Hartfilia family castle and the surrounding mountains into the stratosphere, only to be chained up by the Magic Council. Then, the Council branch headquarters also grew wings and flew away, leaving Chase standing atop a mountain of burning rubble, laughing maniacally like a Demon King.

“That was terrifying. Thankfully, it was just a dream.”

Lucy rubbed her temples, then slapped both hands against her cheeks to force the lingering dread out of her system. Her usual spirited vitality returned to her eyes.

“I need to find a high-paying job today. If this keeps up, I won’t even be able to pay my rent.”

She rolled out of bed, muttering a string of calculations under her breath as she shuffled out of her bedroom and into the living room.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

Sitting on her sofa, lounging with the absolute casual authority of an emperor, was a completely naked pervert.

“Yo Lucy, good morning.”

Gray greeted her without a shred of shame. He raised the pink dumbbell in his hand, inspecting it with mild surprise. “This is unexpected. I didn’t know you had such strange hobbies.”

Lucy’s face contorted into a fanged, saw-toothed mask of pure rage. “Hobbies my foot! Chase forced that garbage on me! It cost me twenty-eight thousand Jewel! Twenty-eight thousand!”

She stomped forward, pointing an accusing finger at his chest. “Breaking and entering is one thing, but can you please not take off your clothes inside my house!”

Gray looked down at himself, his expression completely serious. “Huh? No, I took off my clothes before I came in.”

“Is that the point I am trying to make! Get out of here if you don’t have any actual business!”

Gray slowly set the pink dumbbell down on the coffee table. He looked up at the bristling blonde. “I came here because I do have business.”

He leaned forward, his casual demeanor shifting into something slightly more serious. “Remember Erza agreeing to Natsu’s challenge when we first formed that team? They are about to start.”

Lucy crossed her arms, her anger deflating into utter disinterest. “That is not worth paying attention to. Natsu is just going to get instantly defeated anyway.”

“The main point is, Chase and Erza also have a match scheduled right after. This is a very rare confrontation between two S-Class Mages in our guild.”

Chase and Erza.

Lucy’s eyes widened. Her exhaustion vanished entirely. She completely ignored the minor criminal offense of Gray’s illegal entry, sprinting to the bathroom to wash up and change at record speed.

Friendly sparring between S-Class Mages did more than just sharpen the combatants. It gave the regular guild members a rare opportunity to witness high-level magic manipulation and gain very useful combat insight. Because of this, Makarov not only allowed the destructive fight, he actively encouraged it.

Acting as the temporary referee, the Guild Master had led the entire Fairy Tail roster to the desolate wastelands far outside of town. Magnolia’s infrastructure simply could not withstand the collateral damage of Chase and Erza going all out.

As for Natsu’s match, absolutely no one cared. Even Happy was busy eating a fish.

By the time Lucy and Gray arrived at the designated canyon, the perimeter was already packed with a dense crowd. Lucy spotted familiar faces mixed in with dozens of people she had never seen before. Fairy Tail was a massive organization. Having only joined a few days prior, she barely knew a fraction of the peripheral members.

In the center of the vast, rocky plain, the crowd had cleared a massive circular arena. Chase and Erza stood facing each other across the dirt. Even from a distance, the sheer weight of their dormant Magic Power made the air feel thick and heavy.

Makarov stood at the edge of the clearing, raising his hand to announce the official start of the event.

Before he could speak, a blur of pink hair vaulted over the crowd and crashed directly into the space between Chase and Erza.

“Wait! I was first!” Natsu roared, pointing a finger at the card mage. “Hey! Chase! Get out of the way! If anyone is fighting Erza, it is me first!”

The surrounding guild members collectively groaned, shaking their heads at the sheer arrogance on display.

Macao crossed his arms. “Is he an idiot? No matter how brave you are, there has to be a limit. This isn’t just regular roughhousing.”

Wakaba puffed on his pipe. “Want to make a bet on how fast he drops? The odds will probably be quite moving.”

Cana tipped a massive wooden barrel of booze back, gulping loudly before wiping her mouth. “Dummy. If he just waited until Erza and Chase were done fighting, maybe he’d actually have a zero-point-one percent chance of winning.”

Laki adjusted her glasses, staring intently at the pink-haired dragon slayer. “But the swords flying out of Natsu’s head are really sharp.”

Lucy sweatdropped at the bizarre metaphor. ‘Sharp means… courage, right?’

She turned to the ice mage standing beside her. “It seems everyone here expects Natsu to lose horribly. But no matter what, he is still a member of the Strongest Team. The gap shouldn’t be that massive, right?”

Gray scoffed dismissively. “Strongest Team? Who is so bored they would come up with a stupid title like that?”

A few feet away, Mirajane froze. The pleasant smile shattered off her face. She covered her eyes with both hands and burst into loud, theatrical sobs, looking utterly heartbroken.

Gray flinched, the color draining from his face. “It was Mira!”

Lucy glared at him with absolute disdain. “That is incredibly mean, Gray. You made her cry.”

Gray panicked, waving his hands frantically as he stumbled over clumsy apologies to the weeping barmaid.

Down in the arena, Natsu had already lost whatever little patience he possessed. His fists ignited into roaring columns of flame. Heat waves distorted the air as he charged directly at the armored woman.

“Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!”

Erza did not even blink. She calmly shifted her footing, swaying just an inch out of the path of the blazing punch. In the exact same motion, she drove her own gauntlet squarely into Natsu’s exposed abdomen.

The impact echoed like a cannon shot.

Natsu folded in half. He collapsed face-first into the dirt. A small, white, ghost-like soul drifted out of his open mouth, waving a tiny white flag of surrender.

Erza retracted her fist, nodding seriously at the unconscious boy. “There is no helping you, Natsu. Alright, I will fight you first then.”

Happy raised a paw high into the air from the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. “Aye! It is already over!”

Two peripheral members quickly rushed onto the field, grabbing Natsu by the ankles and dragging his smoking body out of the blast zone.

Only Chase and Erza remained.

Chase threw his head back and laughed. “You sent Natsu flying with just a single punch. As expected of you, Erza.”

Erza kept her posture rigid, her eyes locked onto his. “If it were normal times, playing around with Natsu would be quite nice. But my opponent today is you. If I do not conserve my Magic Power right from the start, I will probably lose terribly.”

She spoke her true thoughts without a hint of pride or hesitation.

She had fought Chase at full power exactly one year ago. At that time, they had been dead even, tearing up the landscape without either gaining a definitive upper hand. That battle was the exact reason she had later confessed to Mirajane that she might no longer be a match for him.

It was not that Chase had been holding back back then. It was that his rate of growth defied all logic.

When he had first joined Fairy Tail, he was weak enough to get beaten up by Natsu and Gray’s daily brawls. Now, a single year later, facing him felt entirely different. Even though Erza had trained relentlessly and grown stronger herself, standing across from him now, she truly did not have absolute confidence in her victory.

But for the Fairy Queen, that uncertainty only fueled an irrepressible, surging fighting spirit.

Erza summoned a sword into her right hand, the blade gleaming under the morning sun. “Come on, Chase! Let me see exactly how much stronger you have become this past year!”

Chase pulled a card from his deck, a confident smirk spreading across his face. “That is exactly what I want to know too, Erza!”

The air between them shattered.

Almost simultaneously, two incredibly terrifying pillars of Magic Power erupted from their bodies, cracking the earth beneath their boots and sending a violent shockwave ripping through the canyon.

The S-Class versus S-Class battle had begun.