A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Erza instantly changed her outfit, and a uniquely shaped Wind God Sword appeared in her hand. With a swing of the blade, a storm roared out, directly striking the oncoming whirlwind.

At this moment, Erza seemed to be possessed by the legendary wind god. The two winds collided and canceled each other out, creating a burst of scattered air currents.

But Erza was clearly not satisfied with this result, and swung her sword twice more: "Sword of the Wind God, unleash the gale!"

Faced with the wind's attack, Mystogan planted his two staffs on either side of him and skillfully drew out the last two magic staffs together. The five magic staffs, each with its own power, could be combined in various ways to form a variety of rare spells.

"Fourfold Magic Circle, Hidden Kagura!"

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

Four magic circles—blue, red, white, and black—appeared one after another, lining up in front of Mystogan to enclose a huge fan-shaped area. They bound the raging winds brought by the Wind God's Sword together, preventing them from escaping. Finally, the magic power was exhausted, and calm returned.

"A spell that seals magic?" Erza immediately recognized the spell's effect, then, considering the Edolas' constitution, she understood its purpose. "It's both unexpected and perfectly logical!"

"Change gear, Demon Armor!"

This is a set of purplish-black armor, made from the beast king's fur and steel, incredibly tough; the matching demon sword is shaped like a humerus, pale in color, the black and white colors contrasting against each other, creating a unique style. This sword has no hilt or tip, instead resembling a bone club used for striking.

Erza drew her sword and closed in, choosing her forte: melee combat.

"You say your magic isn't very effective against me, but mine doesn't work on you either!" Erza slashed hard. "In the end, I still have to choose this kind of fighting style..."

Mistgang was speechless and silently parried with his staff.

"This scene seems familiar. Have they run out of ideas?" Kira said, sitting in the stands with some disappointment. "Have those flashy, special-effect-heavy magical battles ended? This kind of close combat doesn't look like something a mage would do."

Lucy, who was standing nearby, asked, "Why don't they use magic to fight anymore?"

Kira turned his head and found that everyone else was also waiting for him to act... no, they were waiting for him to explain, so he cleared his throat and said, "Erza's strongest attack is the Heavenly Wheel Armor. The armor's function is to control multiple blades, but she already tried this move yesterday. The sword rain was reflected by Mystogan's Mirror Water, so it was not worth it."

"Similarly, the test just now proved that ranged magic is also limited by the Kagura technique of Mystogan, so we can only fight in close combat and use swordsmanship."

"Looking at Mystogan, his signature magic, such as Skyscraper, Misty Abyss, Dreamscape, Maple Dance, and Kagura, are all illusion magic or hypnotic magic that target mental power, which is also very effective against Erza."

"They might have some special moves, but those are usually only used in life-or-death battles. Since this is just a match between teammates, they definitely won't use them."

"So this is how it turned out, with two dignified S-class mages forced to fight in close combat like warriors."

After Kira's analysis, the confused group suddenly understood.

At this moment, Loki, who was focused on watching the match, seemed to notice something: "The sword in Erza's hand is strange. If I'm not mistaken, it doesn't seem to be sharpened?"

Natsu, standing nearby, looked confused: "No blade? Isn't that just an iron bar?"

The two men turned their gaze to Kira, clearly knowing whose masterpiece the armor was.

“Oh, you read that right, that weapon is a club!” Kira explained. “But it’s not an iron club, it’s a bone club, made from some kind of hard animal bone using a special secret method. Don’t let its unassuming appearance fool you, it’s incredibly powerful! Ordinary iron blocks are no different from tofu in front of it.”

"Tch! If it's so powerful, then why can't it break through Mystogan's magic staff?"

Kira looked at the group with an expression of utter disbelief: "Of course it's because I made them all, using the same materials!"

Everyone: "..."

Lucy: "I can't argue with that at all..."

Natsu: "Yeah, that's right..."

Mystogan and Erza are both seasoned veterans, and even without magic, they can fight fiercely. With Dispel's vivid narration, the audience's enthusiasm is aroused, and shouts continue.

10 minutes... 20 minutes... 30 minutes...

Clang, clang, clang... the sound of metal clashing was incessant.

Kira rubbed his ears and complained, "If this keeps up, my ears are going to explode!"

Boom!

A powerful blow struck the ground, creating a hole and cracks that spread outwards. You can see that there are already many such pits and similar cracks on the competition platform.

Fortunately, perhaps for the sake of the competition funds, the two concentrated their attacks in a small area, without spreading the battle too far. The smaller the area, the more skillful their combat techniques were.

Erza swung her demon sword horizontally, and Mystogan took a step back, grabbing three magic wands from his side and holding them between his hands. He stepped to the right, dodging a downward slash, and crouched slightly, using the magic wands to spin and leap forward. Three attacks came in turn from his shoulder, waist, and knee to Erza, making a whooshing sound.

The Five-Staff Style of combat is not only novel but also unique, something rarely heard of or seen before. Mystogan's attacks are unpredictable, with speeds that fluctuate wildly and power that is both light and heavy. The inertia of his rotation amplifies the staff's power, and if you're not careful, you'll get hit. Even if you're immune to hypnosis magic, you might still be knocked unconscious.

Erza was not afraid of the Mystogan. Although she could tell that both of their equipment were made by Kira and made of the same material, their different uses determined the upper limit of their weapons' attack power.

Mystogan's magic wand is mainly used for casting spells. The correct way to use it is to arrange the magic circles in the five magic wands in different combinations and orders to produce specific magic. In comparison, the bone club is much simpler and easier to understand. It is used to hit people, to knock them out, and at most, to stab them.

Clang! Ding! Dong!

With a single swing of her sword, leaving three sword shadows in the air, Erza, with her superhuman eyesight and unparalleled hand speed, struck Mystogan's aerial spinning attack in less than a second, using the momentum to retreat.

"Fivefold Magic Circle - Kagura!"

Upon hearing the sound, Erza noticed that about a meter behind her and to the left and right, there were two magic wands that the other party had lost their hands in the battle, stuck in the ground.

shhhhh--

Turning back, three shadows descended, and in the blink of an eye, he became the center of five magic wands!

"Has prolonged close combat made you forget how mages fight each other?"

If it were someone else, they might have thought Mystogan was being sarcastic, but Erza didn't see it that way. Instead, she took it as a friendly reminder not to be careless in battle.

Although I was indeed careless, but...

"That trick is useless now!" Erza said confidently.

"is it?"

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

White, black, purple, cyan, red, and blue—six magic circles emerged one after another within the circle formed by five magic wands, and the dazzling magic circles reignited the audience's enthusiasm.

Chapter 169 Strength Positioning

"Oh my god!! It's finally here! This is the fighting stance of a mage!!"

Being in the center of the formation, Erza was the most likely to notice anything amiss, and she immediately realized, "Isn't that Mikagura?"

Mystogan chose to answer with a technique: "Sixfold Magic Circle - Miroku!"

Before Mystogan could answer, Erza tried to dodge, but it was too late. This move by Miroku was clearly more difficult to deal with than that of Kagura. Although she didn't know what the effect would be, she had already been hit and was now unable to move, and could only watch helplessly as the beam of light fell on her.

Erza stared intently at Mystogan, her black pupils filled with disbelief. She didn't utter a sound, but seeing her eyes, Mystogan knew what she wanted to say.

"How can five magic wands create six layers of magic arrays?"

"You're saying your magic is countered by me?!"

"Is it too late to accept your surrender now?"

"I never thought someone with thick eyebrows and big eyes like you would learn to lie!!"

"He seems like an honest and upright person on the surface, but he's actually so cunning behind the scenes!"

"This must be related to... cough cough, I have no idea who you learned this underhanded trick from!"

"As expected, none of those named Gerald are good people!"

"..."

That's all there is to it.

Seemingly sensing something, perhaps it was a tacit understanding between companions, in any case, Mistgang understood, so he nodded in acquiescence.

Erza: "..."

"Oh dear! The 30-minute close-quarters combat has come to naught. Erza finally revealed a weakness and was caught off guard by Mystogan's attack!"

Dispel is making his presence felt again, "This is yet another spell I've never seen before. What will it do? I'm really looking forward to it!"

Not only Dispel, but all the spectators present were captivated by this move. Mystogan's strength has always been a mystery, and no one has ever seen him go all out. Even today, after fighting Erza for so long, he still appears to be handling things with ease.

From the stands, Lucy said, "Speaking of which, although I've only seen Dispel fight once, his strength should be about the same as Kira's, right?"

Natsu asked, "So what?"

"By analogy, assuming that Edolas and Aslant's counterparts have similar combat strength, then Mystogan's true strength should be similar to that of Jellal. If we calculate it that way, he is also at the level of one of the Ten Wizard Saints!"

Natsu nodded, seemingly understanding, "So what? Back in the Tower of Paradise, Erza was able to fight Jellal to a standstill!"

"No! According to Erza, she was at a disadvantage in the battle at the Tower of Paradise!"

Lucy continued, "Moreover, Erza fights with armor and a sword, and every move draws blood, while Mystogan fights with magic, and his fighting methods mostly involve putting enemies into illusions or making them unconscious."

"In other words, in this match, under the premise of 'not using lethal moves,' Erza's strength should be weaker than when using Mystogan!"

Lucy's words are easy to understand; simply put:

Because: Kira ≈ Dispel

Therefore: Erza < Geralt ≈ Mystogan

Known: Limited Erza << Full Power Erza

Furthermore: Limit Mystergan <= Full Power Mystergan

Conclusion: Limit Erza << Limit Mystergan

"I see!" Natsu exclaimed in sudden realization. "But the match is almost over now, what's the point of saying all this?"

Lucy: "..."

After a two-second silence, she said, "It's nothing, I just suddenly realized something..."

Kira overheard their conversation. Judging from his perspective, Lucy's assessment of the two fighters' strength was quite accurate. Her only mistake was overlooking the fact that Jellal and Erza might not have been fighting at full strength.

Although it won't have a significant impact on the result, her high school teacher taught her that the process is graded. If she could incorporate this point into the argument for the essay question "On the Power Position of Erza and Mystogan," her answer would likely receive a higher score.

"Speaking of which, today I not only saw Maple Dance and Hourai, but also the appearance of Kagura Hira, and now there's this Miroku move. As expected, Mystogan's moves are not limited to just a few moves."

In Kira's memory, Mystogan only had two battles in the Fairy Tail manga, and his moves were pitifully few:

Skyscraper was cracked by Laxus in seconds; Mirror Water reflected magic a few times, so it was relatively useful; Mikagura was flashy and the special effects were too expensive, which led to Mystogan being killed off, and it never succeeded.

Because of his limited combat experience and the fact that he is not said to have any magical power, Kira always believed that Mystogan's S-class title was undeserved and even thought that his strength was below Erza's.

If we roughly divide the power levels of the entire Fairy Tail series from 1 to 10, they can be divided into these levels:

The weak and easily defeated extras: There are countless people like this;