A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Kira nodded nonchalantly, "Yes, that's right, just like what you see. That's Zonya's Ice Demon King, Ace's soul. After I brought it back, I found it was still alive, so I thought I'd make the most of it and gave its soul to Mira."

Mira's receiving the Demon Soul magic didn't transform her entire body into a beast like Elfman's receiving the Beast King magic, nor did it make her body grow much larger. On the contrary, because Ace's appearance was very similar to a human's, Mira's changes at this time were not significant. She looked more like she was wearing a set of close-fitting armor, with only a few places showing corresponding changes.

Her thick, long white hair cascaded naturally down to her waist, with a few strands of pale blue visible among them. On her snow-white hair were a pair of small, adorable, snow-white devilish pointed ears. Three blue water ripples appeared between her brows, and her eyes turned sea blue, her gaze as captivating as shimmering waves. Her face remained flawless, but she had transformed from a caring older sister into a cold and aloof older sister.

Mira had grown a few centimeters taller, her figure becoming more shapely and curvaceous, her skin as white as the legendary snow woman. At the same time, there was a blue and white frost flower on her heart, side waist, and right leg, making her beautiful and charming. She also had simple white armor covering her vital parts, which consisted of only shoulder armor, breastplate, and trousers.

Unlike the Satanic Soul, Mira's limbs didn't change much after receiving Ace's soul, only their color changed. Her hands turned blue from the tips to the elbows, with faint snowflake patterns, gradually turning white from the elbows upwards, making it look like she was wearing a pair of patterned blue gloves. Her legs were the same, except the pattern changed to auspicious clouds, making it look like she was wearing tall boots.

The Demon General – that was everyone's first impression of Mira in this form.

Chapter 180 Water and Fire Are Incompatible

Sensing Mira's aura, Natsu was startled: "Ah! This is the Ice Demon King we met in Zonia, the one who devoured many demons!"

Upon hearing this, Mila, who was originally a cool and aloof woman, immediately smiled, and this contrast stirred up the hearts of countless viewers.

"I've heard about your mission in Zonia. If you're scared, it's not too late to surrender now!"

"No way!" Natsu clenched his fists and bumped them together in front of his chest, laughing confidently. "Zonia's mission was originally mine, which means it was meant to be my opponent. Now it's time to settle things once and for all!"

"Are you sure? This Ice Demon King's soul is no less powerful than Satan's!"

"Enough talk, here it comes!" Natsu didn't waste any more words and immediately launched an attack with a punch, "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Mira didn't retaliate with magic; she simply extended her right hand, spread her five fingers, and steadily caught the powerful blow.

Lucy below exclaimed in surprise, "Amazing! He withstood Natsu's attack so easily..."

Kira silently rolled his eyes. Hadn't Natsu already taken enough of his fire punches?

During the battle, Natsu kept throwing punches and kicks, leaving countless afterimages, but Mira remained calm and composed, easily dealing with the attacks from her own position. Her palms also became afterimages, and with a lift and a release, she caught all of Natsu's punches. She then slightly turned her body to avoid Natsu's kicks.

There were no fancy illusions, only foot attacks so fast they were almost invisible, but compared to the close combat I'd seen the other day, it had a different kind of beauty.

"So fast... I can't see clearly anymore..."

My eyes are so sore...

A few extras in the audience spoke up. They were just ordinary people whose dynamic vision couldn't keep up with the fight between the two on the field. They couldn't capture the real punches and palm strikes, so they could only relax a little and pretend that they were severely nearsighted and had astigmatism.

The two fought for nearly 10 minutes before Natsu retreated and withdrew from the battle.

"What's wrong? Are you giving up?"

Mira asked, her voice carrying an unsettling yet awe-inspiring chill, like a proud ice queen residing in a castle questioning the leader of the rebellious bandits.

Natsu chuckled and said, "No way! Now's when we start to get serious!"

After saying that, bursts of flame began to spread along his limbs and over his entire body, and soon he was completely covered in red flames.

"Flame Mode!"

Mira's eyes lit up: "Looks like we can't be careless from now on!"

“It’s Natsu’s Flame Mode!” Erza analyzed, looking at the two on the stage. “Although Magic Amplification can enhance Natsu’s combat abilities, his chances of winning against Mira are still slim.”

“That’s Mirasan, how could Natsu possibly win!” Gray said sourly. “Getting this far is enough for that guy to brag about for a while.”

Lucy said awkwardly, "Don't say that. Maybe it'll work. Who could have predicted he'd get this far..."

"It's not entirely unexpected. Ever since the match-up results came out after the preliminary rounds, I had a feeling this would happen. Look here," Kira said, pulling out the previous sixteen-person match-up list and pointing to the list on Natsu's side, "Bisca, Natsu, Biggleslow, Marcus, Mira, Wakaba, Elfman, Loki, there aren't many decent fighters on this side!"

"On our side, apart from Levy being relatively weak, the weakest among them are at least at the level of the Thunder God Crew, not to mention Erza and Mystogan. If any one of them were on our side, Natsu would only make it to the quarterfinals. So, luck really is very important!"

At this moment, Lu Xia noticed something: "I remember this list was ranked according to the preliminary round scores, right?"

The group turned to look at her, and she continued, "In other words, if you were the first to be eliminated and then contributed the most to your team, you would have a chance to secure a spot in the top four!"

Everyone: "!!"

"What are you saying?" Erza snapped. "Deliberately being the first to be eliminated just to reach the top four? How could you even think of such a thing!"

Kana pondered, "However, in the team that ranked first in the preliminary round, three people have the same opportunity..."

Gray countered, "In the preliminary rounds, teammates are assigned based on the team's overall strength. In other words, if a team has someone as strong as Kira, the other three will not be as strong. And generally, the person who contributes the most to the team is often the strongest."

"In other words, if Gajeel had won first place for the Black Team back then, he would be the one standing on the field now, competing with Mira for a spot in the finals!"

Everyone lowered their heads and remained silent. Lucy and Cana even turned away to avoid Gray noticing their strange looks. He put it tactfully, but everyone knew what he meant: If I had been on the Black Team back then, I would be the one standing there now!

Juvia, standing beside Gray, obliviously offered encouragement: "Lord Gray, don't be sad, come to Juvia's arms and let your emotions run wild~"

Kira sighed, "He lost the game but won the man. Gray is so lucky!"

Gray: "..."

On the battle stage, Natsu and Mira continued their previous mental battle. This time, their attacks were faster and fiercer, and even Mira began to feel the strain. *Thud thud thud...* *Thud thud thud...* *Thud thud thud...* *Thud thud thud...*

"Fire Dragon's Claw!"

"The Fire Dragon's Broken Fang!"

"The Fire Dragon's Horn!"

The three-hit combo was stronger than the last. Mira blocked all three punches, but the last one was headbutted by Natsu, sending her back several meters, her feet leaving two scratch marks on the ground.

But Mira's face still showed no sign of distress. The original Ice Demon King had high defense, high HP, strong magic attack, fierce physical attack, and fast recovery, but his mental strength was weak. After being taken over by Mira, this weakness was eliminated, and he was no longer a boss that could be easily manipulated.

Natsu's eyes sharpened, and he charged towards Mira's chest, ready to continue his attack: "Fire Dragon..."

"The rapids suddenly surged!"

Mira stretched out his right hand, channeling his magic and activating water magic. The magic, powered by the demon, was perfectly natural, and a stream of water rose up from Natsu's feet and lashed at his face.

"not good!"

Natsu stomped his feet on the ground in his flip-flops, immediately halting his forward momentum and narrowly avoiding the jet of water that looked only about the size of a bowl. The water grazed his face and sprayed upwards, leaving a few strands of his cherry-colored hair in its wake.

"That was close..."

"Waterspout!"

Mira continued her attack, a blue magic circle flashing in front of her, from which flew a water-based Eastern dragon. The dragon was majestic and lifelike, and it spun in the air, transforming into sharp tornado-like water blades that descended from the sky and attacked Natsu's body.

Natsu looked up at the sky, took a deep breath, and inhaled the flames into his belly. The surging magical power made his stomach swell instantly. Then he roared at the Sea Dragon Blade: "Roar of the Fire Dragon!"

A massive pillar of fire erupted from Natsu's mouth, the water and flames clashing and canceling each other out in the air. But soon, the flames gained the upper hand, evaporating the water dragon completely, and then hurtled towards Mira.

Mira inhaled as well, amplifying her own magic with the demon's advanced spell, "Frost Breath!"

boom!

The roar of the fire cannons and the breath of frost were equally powerful, exploding in the air and creating a violent whirlwind.

Mira continued to unleash her magic, and pale white clouds formed head-sized projectiles that filled the entire arena: "Cloud Cannonballs!"

"That move..." The scene before him reminded Natsu of his battle with the Cloud Demon Krow. "The same move is ineffective against me!"

Snapped!

Natsu slammed his palms together, merging the flames in his left and right hands. The two flames of the same origin instantly merged, forming an even more powerful attack: "Fire Dragon's... Blazing Flame!!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The blazing flames ignited the cloud-mist cannonballs, and as a result of the chain reaction, all the previously relatively stable cannonballs exploded, with a deafening roar echoing through the air. The wind pressure was even greater than before, and the gale whipped up dust and blew it in all directions until it gradually subsided at the stands. This was only because of the defensive facilities that had been built in front of the stands.

This surprised all the spectators, who cheered and shouted enthusiastically.

Flame Mode consumes a lot of magic power. Natsu fought Mira for a long time in this mode and used several powerful moves in succession. His magic power was about to run out, so he decided to use his last move.

"Dragon Slayer Technique..."

Upon hearing Natsu's voice, Mira knew that the next move was the final one. Without hesitation, she released most of her remaining magic power and used the strongest move in this form.

Ice Age!

"Crimson Lotus Blazing Blade!!"

Chapter 181 Night Party

Fire and ice collide. Just one day after Gray and Cana's battle the day before yesterday, ice and fire clashed once again on this arena.

boom!!

The fiery blade sliced ​​through the glacier, and the endless cold air froze the flames; the glacier gradually melted, and the flames began to go out... The tug-of-war between the red and white flames lasted for nearly a minute, and gradually, the flames lost their strength and could not continue, and the white flames immediately gained the upper hand.

Sensing the change, Mira stopped holding back and increased her output. An even more powerful Hyoga surged out instantly, completely extinguishing Natsu's flames and freezing the entire field!

Feeling the cold air rushing towards him, Kira exclaimed, "This power is at least on par with two or three of Gray's ultimate attacks!"

Poor Gray unknowingly became a unit of measurement for magic.

Ouch!

With a loud bang, Natsu was sent flying by the icy impact. He ultimately failed to defeat Mira, which completely dashed his hopes of "utterly defeating Zonya, that demon, and thus proving his own strength."

Sparring between mages of opposite attributes helps hone one's magical abilities. Therefore, ice mages are undoubtedly Natsu's best helpers on his path to growth. Although he often fights with Gray, their strengths are roughly equal, so the efficiency is still a bit low.

Zonia and those demons were undoubtedly Natsu's best experience pack. Since returning from that time, his strength has increased by leaps and bounds. Now he can even try to take advantage of Mira. If Mira hadn't taken Ace, with her Flame Mode, she might have actually succeeded in taking advantage of him.

The battle ended, and Mira exited the receiving state. She kindly went over to help Natsu up, which also meant that today's competition had come to an end. Only the final battle remained in the entire tournament. With their last expectations, the audience gradually left the venue.

……

Late at night, Fairy Tail guild.

Only a dim light remained in the tavern, illuminating a rectangular table where several figures, their faces obscured, sat together, discussing a major event related to the competition.

"Tomorrow is the final battle. Get ready and clear out all the bets you've placed."

The leader, with his striking red hair, cold blue eyes, and two swords at his waist, possessed an incomparably handsome face, yet uttered the most terrifying words. A single casual remark from him was enough to bankrupt half the guild.

The man's words made the dozen or so figures sitting opposite him stiffen and start whispering among themselves; some even tried to sneak away.

Boom!

A soft sound drew everyone's attention. To the man's left, a tanned girl slammed a wooden barrel containing only half a barrel of wine onto the table, her voice threatening: "Those who dare not pay, do you know what will happen?"

To the man's right, a small figure, no bigger than a head, flew onto the table. The flickering candlelight illuminated its appearance: blue skin, white belly, pointed ears, long beard, wings on its back, and a tail—it looked nothing like a human!