Growth
July 6th X787
The Fairy Tail guild stayed at a local tavern all night, partying away. Despite not getting first place, they were still satisfied with the result of the magic games, considering it a victory in their own eyes. As it approached midnight, the tavern began to grow quiet, with over half of the guild passed out drunk, their bodies sprawled all over the ground. Meliodas got up from his seat, using this opportunity to slip away.
Several minutes passed as Meliodas stood outside on a terrace overlooking the capital city. He looked up at the clear night sky, the stars shining dimly with a crescent moon illuminating the area overhead. In his hand, was an empty bottle of Crocus brand ale. Meliodas turned around towards the bench behind him, one figure sitting on the bench and two figures leaning over it.
"Did you get any better sense for that strange magic we were feeling earlier while you were participating?" Jellal asked.
"Just some small hints of it here and there, but it was nothing too big. I don't think it was coming from any of the participants…" Meliodas responded.
"The event uses a lot of magic to host its events...although that doesn't explain why there would be trace's of Zeref's magic appearing…" Ultear said.
"The Grand Magic Games may be hiding something...but we'll have to wait for the next one if they decide to host another." Jellal added. "Based on the huge popularity of this event, they probably will."
"Meliodas, are you going to participate in next year's?" Meredy asked.
"No. This was fun and all, but I think I'll just stay on the sidelines. Fairy Tail's been growing and they're strong enough now. If they keep up their training, they shouldn't need me." Meliodas said with a grin. "Besides, I'd rather look for leads on finding a way back to my home."
"Well, we can't stay at the capitol much longer. I picked up another lead on a dark guild to take down, although this is just a smaller dark guild that has no ties to any spatial magic from what I could gather and you probably want to stay with Fairy Tail a bit longer before sleeping in caves with us." Ultear said.
"Speaking of spatial magic, didn't that woman from Sabertooth use that? Maybe you could get some information off of her?" Meredy suggested. Meliodas shook his head.
"I already tried. Sabertooth didn't stick around and left as soon as they got their prize. And I doubt Minerva would be of much help as Rezeria was much stronger and wasn't able to help me out either." Meliodas answered.
"Well then, we'll be on our way. Congratulations to Fairy Tail. We'll relay a message to you when we're near Magnolia." Jellal said as he stood up from his seat. He began walking away, with Ultear and Meredy right behind him.
"Well, well, well. This was a long week. Guess it's time to go back home soon." Meliodas commented. He raised his bottle to his mouth, only to quickly realize that it was empty. "Well...after I get some more ale."
---
October 17th, X787
Deep in a remote area of the great plains north of Magnolia Town, Meliodas stood across the field, facing Jellal. A gust of wind blew through the field, bending the knee length grass and ruffling Meliodas and Jellal's hair. Both Meliodas and Jellal had light bruises on their bodies and face. Standing at the far end of the field were Ultear and Meredy, watching from a distance.
"Well, well, well. That was a pretty good warm up. Now, come at me with everything you got!" Meliodas said with a grin as he made a beckoning gesture for Jellal to come at him.
Jellal crouched on the ground, a bright magical circle appearing beneath him. A yellow aura began to surround his body. Jellal suddenly kicked off from the ground with a burst of great speed. Meliodas put his arms up in front of him as Jellal sent a kick forward towards Meliodas, launching him backwards into the forest behind. Meliodas' body crashed through several trees, leaving a line of destroyed foliage.
Meliodas quickly got a hold of himself, sinking his feet deep into the ground to stop himself. In a bright flash of light, Jellal suddenly appeared right in front of Meliodas with his right fist wound back.
Jellal threw a heavy punch towards Meliodas, to which Meliodas retaliated with a quick upwards kick, knocking Jellal's fist away. As Jellal rebounded from the recoil Meliodas lunged forward towards Jellal until he was right under him.
Jellal, having already recovered from the last counterattack, twisted his body, spinning around as he sent a kick towards Meliodas with his left leg. Meliodas raised his right arm up, blocking the kick and immediately delivered an uppercut straight into Jellal's chin.
"Ggghh!" Jellal grunted as he was launched up into the air. Jellal flipped over, doing several somersaults in the air as he retreated backwards while regaining his balance. A small amount of blood dripped down from his lip.
From below, Meliodas leaped towards Jellal. Jellal raised his right hand out and a huge magical nearly twice his size instantly appeared in front of him and Meliodas.
"Abyss Break!"
Meliodas immediately put his hand on the handle of Neo Mel Force.
"Full Counter!"
Meliodas swung his sword, expecting the blast to be fired at him at point blank range. To his surprise, he swung his sword at nothing as the huge magical circle suddenly vanished along with Jellal. Behind him, Meliodas felt a huge magical presence forming. Meliodas turned his head and saw Jellal floating behind him, the huge magical circle from earlier right in front of him. 'A thought projection?!'
"Abyss Break!"
Meliodas' eyes widened as a huge blast of darkness collided right into his back, sending him flying through the sky. As the crushing force of the magic pushed against him, sending him further away, Meliodas adjusted his body, trying to face forward and push back. Just as he managed to turn himself around, he felt something hard collide with his back as the rest of Abyss Break engulfed him, creating a huge explosion.
"What the hell are those two doing?!" Ultear shouted as she watched Meliodas crash straight into a nearby mountain followed by a massive explosion that engulfed the entire upper half of the mountain.
"Are they really just sparring?!" Meredy said nervously. The smoke from the blast began to clear, revealing over half of the mountain was gone.
"OKAY! THAT'S TOO MUCH!" Ultear screamed. "What is wrong with men?! Is this some pride thing that makes them go way over the top like this?!"
"Hey something's coming!" Meredy pointed out. Coming from the mountain, Meliodas was seen flying straight towards Jellal, with jet black wings sprouting from his back and various bruises and wounds all over his now shirtless body.
Jellal, still hovering in the air, put his left hand behind him, causing six swords of lightning to form behind him.
"Jiu Leixing!" Jellal put his left hand forward, sending the swords flying in Meliodas' direction. Meliodas, still flying, dodged the swords, spinning around as he continued going forward, the swords just barely missing him as they converged towards him.
As Meliodas flew towards Jellal, Jellal raised both hands out over his head, forming a cross with his arms. A small black ball formed between his hands, growing larger and larger as it generated a suction effect.
"Altairis!"
Jellal launched the now massive black orb at Meliodas. As he watched Meliodas and the orb about to collide, he felt a massive change in magic from Meliodas. Meliodas' eyes turned pitch black and a large spiral shaped black marking appeared on Meliodas' face, covering his forehead and trailing down below his eye. The wounds that covered his body began to disappear as the wings on Meliodas' back vanished as he wound his right fist back.
Darkness clad Meliodas' fist as he threw a punch straight at Altairis. Jellal stared wide eyed as Meliodas went straight through Altairis, creating a massive hole in the middle of it and causing the rest of the magic to disperse behind him in a massive explosion of black smoke.
Meliodas continued propelling forward straight into Jellal with his fist still out in front of him. Just as his fist was about to crash into Jellal's torso, his demonic features vanished, and the darkness surrounding his hand receded, revealing just his bare hand.
As Meliodas' fist sunk into Jellal's torso, Jellal winced in pain and his body was sent hurtling diagonally into the ground below.
Jellal crashed through dozens of trees, unable to stop his momentum before hitting the ground hard, causing more of the forest around him to fall and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Meliodas descended to the ground, landing just in front of the tower of smoke. He could barely make out Jellal's figure slowly getting back up. Jellal wiped the blood dripping from the side of his mouth as he fully stood up and faced Meliodas, the dust now beginning to clear up.
Jellal suddenly took a strange stance, bending over with his left hand pointing towards the ground and his right one facing directly upward. Jellal began to rotate his arms and the sky began to darken. Meliodas looked up and saw black clouds had begun swirling above them.
"Agghh!" Jellal grunted, causing Meliodas to look back at him confused. Jellal suddenly collapsed forward on the ground and standing behind him, was Ultear with an annoyed expression on her face.
---
Half an hour later
Meliodas and Jellal sat on a rock as Ultear stood above them, glaring at them. Behind her, Meredy watched anxiously as Ultear scolded Jellal and Meliodas.
"What the hell were you idiots doing?! That was no sparring session!" Ultear screamed. Jellal looked away, somewhat embarrassed as Meliodas retained an aloof expression.
"UGH!" Ultear shouted in frustration as she paced back and forth before turning back towards Meliodas and Jellal.
"It's like you two were trying to get caught by the council! Jellal! What the hell were you thinking when you used Abyss Break into that mountain?! Then you tried casting Sema?! You're actually asking the council to put you back in prison!" Ultear continued.
"Well, I'm sure you could fix whatever damage we did to the environment with your magic-"
"That's not the point Meliodas!" Ultear shouted angrily.