The blistering heat radiating from Kain Hikaru was suffocating.
In his Shining Giant form, the large dark mage glowed with a radioactive, blinding light.
The wet grass beneath his boots hissed, the moisture evaporating into steam within seconds.
Lucy shielded her eyes, taking a step back. "It's too hot! I can't even get close to him with my whip!"
"Mr. Cursey says it's time to burn!" Kain cheered, waving his glowing hands. He pushed the doll forward.
His massive body shot toward them with terrifying speed.
He didn't even throw a punch.
He just tackled the space where they stood, using his sheer mass and the burning aura of his curse as a weapon.
"Watch out!" Cana yelled, shoving Lucy hard to the side.
Cana dove the other way, but Kain's glowing shoulder clipped her.
The impact sent Cana spinning through the air. She crashed hard against the trunk of a massive tree, coughing up blood as she hit the dirt.
Her clothes were singed where he touched her.
"Cana!" Lucy scrambled to her feet, pulling a silver key. "Open, Gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!"
With a flash of light, the eccentric crab spirit appeared, spinning his scissors. "Ready for a haircut, ebi?"
"Don't cut his hair! Just blind him!" Lucy pointed at the glowing giant.
Cancer dashed forward, moving in a rapid zig-zag pattern to avoid the heat.
He leaped at Kain's face, snapping his scissors right in front of the dark mage's tiny sunglasses to create a distraction.
"Hey! Get away from my shades!" Kain whined, swatting blindly at the sp-irit.
Lucy didn't waste the opening.
She cracked her Fleuve d'Étoiles whip.
The magical water extended, snapping around Kain's thick wrist. "I got him! Cana, now!"
Cana groaned, pushing herself off the ground.
Her vision blurred, and her ribs screamed in protest. She looked at Kain, then looked at the glowing cards in her trembling hand.
If I lose here, it's over, Cana thought, biting her lip so hard it bled. I'll never have the courage to tell him. I'll just be a coward forever.
"I'm not quitting!" Cana roared.
She pushed through the pain, drawing three cards and throwing them in a tight cluster. "Explosion!"
The cards flew straight toward Kain's chest. But before they could hit, Kain yanked his arm back.
The raw physical strength of his Shining Giant form easily overpowered Lucy's grip.
Lucy was ripped off her feet, flying through the air as Kain swung his arm around, using her body as a human shield against the incoming cards.
Cana's eyes widened. "Cancel!"
She snapped her fingers, dispersing the magic of her cards just inches before they hit her partner.
Lucy crashed into the dirt, groaning in pain.
Her whip deactivated, the handle rolling away from her fingers.
"You fairies are so clumsy!" Kain laughed, holding his voodoo doll up.
He pulled another strand of his hair, preparing to swap the crystal for something else. "Let's try the heavy rock next!"
"Lucy, his doll!" Cana yelled, catching her breath. "His magic comes from that creepy toy! If we take it away, he loses his armor!"
"I know," Lucy wheezed, sitting up. "But we can't get close! Every time we try, he just swats us away!"
"Then we make him come to us," Cana said, her eyes narrowing.
She stepped in front of Lucy, fanning her remaining cards out in her hands. "I'll be the bait. When he rushes me, you grab the doll with your whip."
"Are you crazy?!" Lucy panicked. "If he hits you again, you'll die!"
"I don't care!" Cana shouted back, her voice raw with emotion. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
"You don't understand, Lucy! I have to become S-Class! I have to tell Gildarts he's my father!"
Lucy froze, staring at Cana in shock.
The pieces fell into place.
The desperation, the drinking, the obsession with passing this exam.
"Gildarts... is your dad?" Lucy whispered.
"He doesn't know," Cana confessed, raising her cards.
Her hands stopped trembling. A fierce, unyielding fire burned in her eyes. "And if I don't pass this trial, I'll never be strong enough to look him in the eye and say it. So I'm not running. I'm taking this guy down."
Kain tilted his head, picking his nose. "Are you two done talking? Mr. Cursey is getting bored."
"Hey, ugly!" Cana yelled, throwing a single card that sparked with lightning. It bounced harmlessly off Kain's glowing chest, but it got his attention. "Come and squash me!"
"Gladly!" Kain grinned.
He bent his massive legs and launched himself forward like a glowing cannonball, aiming a devastating double-axe handle smash right at Cana's head.
Cana didn't move. She just stared the dark mage down, trusting her partner.
"Now, Lucy!"
Lucy lunged for her whip. She poured her remaining magic into the handle, the watery lash extending further than ever before.
She didn't aim for Kain's thick wrist this time. She snapped the whip in a tight arc, wrapping the glowing water directly around the neck of the ugly voodoo doll in his hand.
Kain blinked. "Huh?"
With a fierce yank, Lucy tore the doll right out of Kain's grip.
The moment the doll left his hand, the blinding, radioactive light surrounding Kain's body vanished.
The Shining Giant curse broke. He was just a heavy, unarmored man falling through the air.
"I got it!" Lucy yelled, catching the doll.
Cana didn't hesitate.
With his armor gone, Kain was wide open.
She threw her three strongest cards directly into Kain's unprotected stomach as he descended.
"Triple Explosion!"
The blast hit him point-blank. Kain coughed up saliva, his eyes rolling back as the concussive force sent him rocketing upward into the jungle canopy.
He crashed through several thick branches before finally getting stuck in the crook of a massive tree, unconscious and smoking.
Cana dropped to her knees, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
The adrenaline faded, leaving only exhausting pain.
Lucy walked over, dropping the voodoo doll on the grass. She knelt next to Cana, offering a tired but genuine smile.
"We beat him," Lucy said softly.
She placed a hand on Cana's shoulder. "And Cana... you don't need to be S-Class to tell him. If Gildarts is your dad, he's going to love you no matter what rank you are."
Cana looked down at the dirt, fresh tears finally spilling over her cheeks.
She didn't say anything, but she nodded slowly, leaning against her friend.
...
The western canyon shook with the force of an earthquake.
Erza swung her heavy Purgatory mace. The black steel connected with a massive, twisted wooden golem Azuma summoned from the earth.
The impact shattered the golem's arm into splinters, but the wood simply regenerated seconds later, thicker and denser than before.
Azuma stood atop a high ridge, his arms crossed. The tribal tattoos on his skin glowed with a deep, earthen brown.
"Your heavy armor grants you immense kinetic force," Azuma noted, his voice carrying over the sound of grinding wood.
"But blunt trauma doesn't work well against the earth. Wood absorbs shock. You are just wearing yourself out."
Erza jumped back, dodging a sweeping strike from the golem's remaining arm.
She landed softly on a rock, her breathing steady.
"You're right," Erza said, her eyes narrowing. "Blunt force isn't the answer. Requip!"
The imposing dark armor vanished in a flash of light. She was now clad in a sleek, crimson-and-gold breastplate with a pair of elegant, flaming swords in her hands.
The Flame Empress Armor.
"If blunt force fails, I'll just burn it to ash," Erza declared.
She dashed forward, her swords leaving trails of roaring fire in the air. She slashed the golem's chest in an 'X' pattern.
The intense magical flames caught the dry wood, spreading rapidly. Within seconds, the massive construct was reduced to a burning pile of cinders.
Azuma didn't look worried. He actually smiled.
"Fire is a natural element," Azuma said, raising his hand. "And the roots of Tenrou Island have survived wildfires for centuries. The earth feeds on the ashes."
The ground beneath the burning cinders split open. A massive, towering tree erupted from the canyon floor, its bark thick and dark.
The tree absorbed the lingering flames, its leaves turning a vibrant, glowing red.
"Folliage Strike: Crimson Leaves," Azuma commanded.
Thousands of burning, razor-sharp leaves detached from the tree, swarming toward Erza like a flock of fiery locusts.
Erza gritted her teeth.
She spun her flaming swords in a rapid circle, creating a vortex of heat to deflect the incoming barrage.
The burning leaves clashed against her blades, the impact ringing out in a chaotic chorus.
She deflected most of them, but a few slipped past her guard, slicing shallow cuts into her arms and shoulders.
"He's adapting to everything I throw at him," Erza muttered, stepping back to analyze the terrain.
Azuma wasn't just throwing spells; he was manipulating the battlefield itself.
"You are strong, Titania," Azuma said, stepping off the ridge and landing on one of the massive roots below.
"But you fight like a mortal. You rely on the weapons you wear. My magic is connected to the pulse of this island. As long as I stand on Tenrou soil, I have endless stamina."
"No one has endless stamina," Erza countered. She swapped her flaming swords for a single, long katana.
"Every mage has a limit. I just need to find yours."
"A bold claim," Azuma chuckled, his aura flaring. "Let's test that theory. I won't hold back anymore."
Azuma slammed both palms into the ground. The entire canyon violently trembled.
"Great Tree Arc: Tower of Babel!"
The walls of the canyon began to collapse inward as colossal, ancient roots tore through the stone.
They twisted and braided together, rising high into the sky to form a massive, inescapable dome of dark wood around the battlefield, sealing Erza inside.
The dim sunlight was blocked out, leaving only the eerie, glowing sap of the magical roots to light the arena.
Erza tightened her grip on her katana, her eyes reflecting the glowing sap.
She was trapped in a cage of her enemy's making, but she didn't show a hint of fear.
"Bring it on," Erza challenged, readying her blade.