A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

The card was thrown and landed on the ground, creating a cloud of smoke. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the fire-attribute summon, the Demon Ape, appeared on the battlefield.

The Demon Ape is similar in size to the Kamaitachi, less than half a meter tall, thinner, and more powerful.

It is also an upright walking monster. The hunched back of an ordinary monkey does not appear on it. Its arms are long and reach past its knees. It has six ears on the side of its head, with gold earrings hanging on them. Its eyes gleam with a golden flash like flames, giving it a strong special effects feel. Its whole body is covered with bright and eye-catching fiery red fur, making it look very hot.

"This is a fire-attribute magical beast?"

Kana muttered to herself, "Judging from the card, it should be even cooler. But never mind, as a long-time customer, she knows very well that the difference between the promotional illustrations and the actual products of Hope House's items is greater than the difference between a person and a pig."

Fortunately, even though its appearance isn't great, its performance is solid, which somewhat makes up for consumers' dissatisfaction.

As soon as the Fire Demon Ape appeared, the temperature in the arena rose several degrees. Gray's ice began to melt, most notably as water started to emerge from the ice spear, the spearhead became blunt, and the accuracy plummeted, allowing Kana to easily dodge it.

"It's so hot!" Gray wiped the sweat from his brow and complained, "When did Kana switch to summoning cards like this?"

Chapter 165 Whose Victory Is This Really?

On the judges' platform, Dispel continued to provide commentary from time to time.

"Gray goes first, starting with his familiar Ice Lance. Kana summons the Fire Ape to fight back. The temperature on the arena has clearly risen. Let's take a look at the temperature right now—my god, it's 40 degrees Celsius! But it's been hot lately, so this high temperature can't be just a problem with this monster..."

With the Fire Demon Ape present, slender attacks were ineffective because they lacked sufficient power. Gray immediately recognized this and switched to a large and thick ice-shaped weapon.

"Ice-forged, Great Hammer Soldier!"

An ice hammer suddenly appeared above Kana's head and slammed down with tremendous force; this was magic that fire and high temperatures could not easily melt.

At this moment, to Gray's astonishment, the Fire Demon Ape spoke in human language: "Enemy detected. Enemy is a guild member. [Internal War] mode activated."

"Good heavens, everyone listen! This monster is saying it's entering civil war mode! Was it programmed to fight its guildmates from the moment it was created? What kind of person would create such a magical artifact?!"

Elfman, standing in the audience, shouted excitedly, "That's it! I encountered the same monster yesterday. That weasel was really powerful and incredibly fast!"

"That's Kira's gadget, isn't it? That guy always gives girls special treatment—Erza, Mira, Cana, Levy, Bisca..."

"Who told them that their magic requires magical weapons and tools?"

"Mira doesn't need magic!"

"But she's rich!"

"..."

An ice hammer several times larger than herself fell from the sky, and Cana dodged it with another lunge, but Gray had anticipated it.

"Ice, floor!" With a wave of his hand, the magic was released, and the entire arena was instantly covered in ice, smooth as a mirror.

Caught off guard, Kana slid off the ground with a whoosh, looking quite disheveled.

"hateful!"

As she flew off, Kana's mind raced, and in an instant, she came up with a countermeasure. She pulled a card from her waist and inserted it into the ice, stopping her from gliding.

"Ice-made prison!"

"Ice-forged chains!"

Gray didn't let the opportunity slip by. After the ice hammer and the floor spell, he immediately followed up with another spell to trap Cana. But then, an unexpected event occurred.

The previously summoned Fire Demon Ape launched an attack. With a stomp of its foot, it fired golden laser beams from its eyes, which struck the chains and blasted them into ice shards. At the same time, the Fire Demon Ape spat out a fireball, a huge, high-temperature fireball that exploded on the prison that was about to trap Kana, melting it into water and vaporizing it into steam.

Whoosh! Boom!

The two spells made a loud noise and at the same time stirred up a gale that spread outwards. Under the pressure of the wind, the fire demon ape's attack did not diminish. Its hands were pressed on the ground, and an invisible ripple spread outwards. Wherever it passed, the ice floor liquefied, revealing the original stone.

"Ice Forged, the Ice Holy Sword!"

Seeing this, Gray changed his attack method again, creating two ice swords and charging forward.

"The ranged attacks of the ice-making magic are ineffective, so Gray has chosen melee combat. He is using all his magic power to maintain the shape of the two ice swords. This method can indeed concentrate the cold air and prevent the ice created from being melted by the demonic ape's flames to the greatest extent! So how will Kana deal with this?"

Before Dispel could finish speaking, the Fire Demon Ape leaped into the air, and the earring on Six Ears fell off and landed in its hand, forming a short golden stick!

"My goodness! The Fire Demon Ape is actually a warrior! I never imagined that its earring was also a magical item. This short stick is so shiny and bright, it's obviously not simple!"

The Fire Demon Ape held its short staff horizontally between Cana and Gray, and the staff and sword clashed, producing a resounding metallic clang.

Gray looked at the little monkey in front of him in surprise: "You have this trick up your sleeve? You're really something else. I underestimated you before!"

The Fire Demon Ape did not answer; its programming did not include the function of chatting. It was solely focused on defending against the enemy's attacks and trying to find ways to break through the enemy's defenses.

The two swords moved with controlled lightness and heaviness, their movements flexible and adaptable. The short staff used force to overcome skill, its great skill appearing clumsy. The man and the monkey fought for several minutes, their blows clanging and clattering, neither gaining the upper hand.

"Grey thrusts his right sword straight forward, the demonic ape leaps up and slashes down with its short club... Grey parries with his left sword, spinning around in an attempt to deflect the club, while simultaneously striking back with his right hand... The demonic ape raises its club, then swiftly thrusts it down again, its body sliding along the club's trajectory... Absolutely brilliant!"

"They've been fighting for three minutes now, and they're still evenly matched. Gray truly lives up to his reputation as one of the most promising young fighters in Fairy Tail..."

"This Fire Demon Ape is also unusual. The intelligence indicates that it is a magical artifact produced by Hope House. Although it looks no different from a real magical beast, it is actually a mechanical artifact. It's incredible!"

"While they're fighting, let's ask the creator of the Fire Demon Ape, Mr. Kira, how much does such a magical item cost?"

Kira took the microphone and said, "Only 499 million J!"

"499 million J?! Did everyone hear that? Such a powerful mechanical monster for only 499 million J? That's an unbelievable deal!"

The product placement in Dispel was very effective. Kira noticed that many viewers were looking in his direction, and he estimated that the store would receive a large number of orders after the competition. Thinking about this, he felt inexplicably better.

On the stage, Kana controlled the Fire Demon Ape to fight against Gray. Actually, it had an automatic battle mode, but that mode was too mindless and easy to be countered, so she finally decided to control it manually. Besides, if she just stood there doing nothing, she would look too dull.

Summoning beasts consumes a lot of mana and is difficult to control. With Kana's current mana and mental strength, she can only control one at most, but one is enough.

Under Cana's control, the Fire Ape unleashed magic as it fought, bombarding the enemy with fireballs, fireballs, and laser beams. Gray constantly changed weapons, switching between sword, hammer, axe, and shield with remarkable agility.

Ten minutes passed in this battle, and the shouts from the audience gradually subsided. Having grown accustomed to Kira's ability to defeat opponents with a single move, watching this evenly matched fight felt like it was going on for too long, and their interest waned. Even Dispel gave up commentary and sat on the judges' panel to drink a beverage.

In fact, fighting for this long is the norm for mages. Charging magic, casting spells, dodging, and predicting all take time. After all, not everyone can be as cunning as Kira, who has countless traps in battle.

The Fire Demon Ape blocked Cana's path, and Gray had to deal with it first if he wanted to attack Cana; while Cana, because she was controlling the Demon Ape, was unable to use other attacks, and the battle reached a stalemate.

Twenty minutes later, the battle finally took a turn for the better.

The continuous use of shape magic caused Gray's physical strength and magic power to decline, and he began to show signs of weakness. Meanwhile, Cana had been controlling the Fire Ape, which had depleted her mental energy, and she gradually showed signs of fatigue on her face.

"You're really tenacious!"

"We're in the same boat..."

Gray was covered in sweat, and Cana was pale. The two of them, who could fight in the guild all day without rest, couldn't hold on today. Of course, the main reason they couldn't hold on was because this was a one-on-one duel, not a multi-player melee, and there was also the factor of elemental advantage.

Let's decide the outcome with one move!

"Okay!"

Gray let out a long breath, channeling his remaining magic power. He clapped his fists and palms together in front of his chest, pushing the magic to its limit. Cana also controlled the Fire Ape in her mind to unleash its strongest move. It put away the short stick, turning it into an earring and hanging it back on Six Ears. Then, all the energy in its body gathered, forming a dark red flame that concentrated at the Fire Ape's mouth, compressing into an energy ball that was red with black and black with red.

"They're coming! Their ultimate moves are coming!" Sensing the rising power of the two fighters, Dispel knew the decisive moment was approaching and immediately stood up, shouting, "Everyone be careful! These two are about to unleash their final attacks!!!"

As expected, as Dispel finished speaking, Gray and Cana shouted in unison.

"Ice Forged, the Demon King's Eternal Frozen Fang!"

"Fire Demon Ape, Flame Rasengan!"

Chapter 166 Their battle is like this, then the S-rank must be...

Upon seeing the two unleash their ultimate attacks, Kira decisively made his move.

"defense!"

"Guards!"

"barrier!"

Multitasking, three defensive magical shields were erected in quick succession over the stands, protecting thousands of spectators from harm and preventing the energy within the arena from dissipating. The next second…

On this side, Gray gripped a three-meter-long, twenty-centimeter-wide greatsword tightly in his hand. The icy blade spun once, launching countless ice blades that descended from the sky and rose from the ground like a thousand horses galloping forward, covering the sky and covering the earth, densely packed, leaving no room for anyone to dodge. The momentum was overwhelming, instantly freezing half of the arena into an icy territory, with tremendous destructive power.

On the other side, an energy ball less than ten centimeters in diameter was the final form of unimaginable energy compressed to its limit, rotated, and maintained. It was launched from the mouth of the Fire Demon Ape at great speed, moving straight forward. It first burned half of the arena into charcoal, and then, without making a sound, melted the outermost layer of the ice blades with water stains before even touching them. The temperature was astonishingly high.

Ding!

With a soft thud, the three-meter-long Ice Shard cleaved into the oncoming energy fireball. The formless yet clearly visible energy erupted at the moment of impact, whipping up a terrifying gale in all directions.

Then came a massive, earth-shattering explosion!

boom!

Frost and heat waves collided, rubbed, and merged violently; the lighter ones rose, burning the sky red, while the heavier ones sank, freezing the earth.

Two air currents, one hot and one cold, formed a sloping front on the field. In the very center, within a circular area one meter in diameter, water vapor continuously evaporated and rose into the air, obscuring the spectators' view.

Hundreds of ice blades floated in the air and stood on the ground, like well-trained soldiers. Led by Gray and commanded by the greatsword, they launched wave after wave of attacks on the enemy opposite them. Like fearless warriors, they rushed forward and fell into the wall of fire, just to lower its temperature.

But the wall of fire, that crimson wall formed by the explosion of a fireball that divided the arena into two worlds, was even more solid than the walls built of energy-absorbing stones. Tens of thousands of ice blades struck it like moths to a flame, courting their own destruction. It was like a bottomless sea of ​​fire, melting as many ice blades as they came.

"drink--!"

"asshole--!"

The two combatants exerted all their strength, as if trying to exhaust their remaining magic and mental energy.

They knew in their hearts that even if they won, they would still have to fight Kira tomorrow. Although they didn't want to admit it, they really couldn't beat him, so they might as well make today's fight more exciting and at least win one round.

The white and red colors divided the arena in two: on the left was Gray's icy wilderness, and on the right was Kana's scorching hell. Ice blades blotted out the sky, slashing and piercing in the same direction; flames raged endlessly, collecting and devouring ice weapons of various shapes.

The familiar scene reappeared, reminding Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Loki, and Elfman of the earth-shattering battle they had witnessed in Zonia not long ago.

The group glanced at Kira, and all thought to themselves, "This is practically a carbon copy of that battle..."

However, in this battle between ice and fire, the ice side has no terrain advantage, and the fire side lacks its fancy designs. The two players on the field are also far from the strength of the two sides in the original final battle.

"So this is Kira's summoned beast? Impressive!" Gray was drenched in sweat, his eyes fixed on the flames before him, showing no sign of flinching. "It seems even hotter than Natsu's fire!"

"Damn it, I've never seen Gray use this move before. The magic seems a bit strange too, it feels strangely familiar," Cana gritted her teeth, her face pale. With her remaining mental energy, she transmitted her thoughts and remotely controlled the Fire Demon Ape, whose energy was gradually running out. "Right, is it the ultimate move that Zonia encountered and learned from it?"

The confrontation continued, but the thousands of spectators in the stands were already stunned by the scene before them, their mouths agape and their eyes wide open as they stared at the spectacle.

"Wow...that's amazing...this is what a Fairy Tail mage is like..."

"Gray and Cana, I remember these two aren't even S-class mages from Fairy Tail, are they? They're already this strong when they fight, so what about S-class mages when they get serious..."