Chapter 25: Thorns and Glass

Erza rushed towards Azual as she swung her sword at her, the fire-bender smirked as she dodged and slid between Erza's legs before jumping up and kicking her in the side. Erza winched as she scoffed before turning around and kicked Azula in the gut.

Ty-Lee and Mai ran towards Scarlet as Ty-Lee jumped over Scarlet and grabbed her by the neck tossing her towards Mai, Mai grabbed her knives and threw to at Scarlet while holding onto one more to stab her. Scarlet noticed as she snickered before grabbing the knives with her teeth, she then stopped herself mid-air and landed a double drop kick on Mai, knocking her back as she spat out the knives from her mouth. "Nice try, but you need to be quicker than that." She snickered again as she landed on her back but jumped up and turned her attention towards Ty-Lee.

Ty-Lee smiled as she did a somersault and got closer to Scarlet, she extended her fingers outwards to jab at Scarlet's pressure points. However, Scarlet remembered what Erza said as she spun around Ty-Lee's attack and used the butt of Black Rose against the back of Ty-Lee's neck. Mai slowly got up as she sighed, she rushed towards Scarlet again and went for another attack but missed by a long shot. Scarlet moved out of the way and gut punched Mai, she then stepped on Mai's back knocking her down onto the ground.

"Damn, she's predicting our every move now." Ty-Lee said as she rubbed the back of her neck, she didn't get knocked out from being hit in the back of the neck with Black Rose, it was just enough to knock her down and out of reach from Scarlet. She glanced at Mai as she then looked up at Scarlet.

"Just get it over with.... I'm tired." Mai said in an emotionless tone not giving a care if her and Ty-Lee get thrown out of the ring or not.

"Oh? That just makes my job easier." Scarlet said as she grabbed Mai by the back of the head and grabbed Ty-Lee by the leg. "You two don't have any special powers like Azula, you're just a waste of space." She was about to toss them both out, but Ty-Lee grinned as she jabbed her finger into Scarlet's stomach and then her arm, hitting two of her pressure points causing her to let go of her and Mai. "Tch, damn you." Scarlet's arm went limp as it also felt like her stomach was burning and eating away at itself from the inside out. Her aura flickered as she growled.

Erza took notice as she gritted her teeth and blocked one of Azula's lightning bolts with her swords. "You fool! You let your guard down!" She shouted at Scarlet, clearly annoyed that she was tricked by Mai.

Azula grinned with a huge smile on her face going from ear to ear as she continued to shoot bolts of lightning at Erza from her finger tips. "Pay attention to me and not her. You'll know soon enough why we're the strongest in the tournament." She then changed her tactics up as she sent a breath of blue fire towards Erza followed by several shots of lightning from her finger tips.

Erza's eyes widened as she braced herself, time around her came to a stand still however as Scarlet had enough strength left to freeze time around Azula. Erza noticed that Azula and her attacks were frozen, she glanced over to where Scarlet was at. "Y-You just saved my ass."

"Don't flatter yourself...." Scarlet said putting on a somewhat Tsundere act. "I didn't do it because I wanted to." She kept her gaze on Erza for a small moment. "Well? What are you waiting for? Christmas?" Her cocky attitude came out as she glared at Erza clearly giving her a hint to attack Azula while she was frozen in time.

"Oh right..." Erza said as she turned her attention towards Azula and rushed forward and jumped over the fire, she swung her swords down slicing at Azula's frozen body and then gave butted heads with her. Erza landed behind Azula as she panted before standing up.

Scarlet's eyes were starting to bleed from how long she was keeping her semblance active. She blinked as time resumed, right one time as well. Azula felt the effects of being attacked as she cried out in pain before falling face first down onto the ground.

~~~

"Man, things are really getting heated." Natsu said with a huge grin on his face. "Come on! Show them what happens when they mess with Fairy Tail!"

Ed mumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms and scoffed. "Is that really all you've got? You're supposed to be all mighty and terrifying, yet you're getting beat by two girls who don't have any special powers." He unfolded his arms and leaned over the edge. "Stop being so weak Scarlet! Show them who you really are!"

Whis smiled as he looked towards Beerus. "It seems like even her former enemies are putting all their faith and trust into her my lord. It's clear that Goku had forgiven her when he showed up with her." He looked back at the tournament ring. "Despite all that had happened, she's holding strong to be a better person. Even if she does tend to take the violent route."

Beerus scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Regardless of all that, she's a pain in my side... but her original world was very much godless to say the least... despite how Salem tried to mold it into her own utopia. In the end however, she failed to do just that. But.... this Queen woman, she's gone through hell to ruin things for Scarlet."

"Indeed she has, just like Demigra has. White Queen made a terrible choice in picking to mess with the wrong person." Whis said as his smile faded from his face. "Scarlet is a force of nature, her Grimm genetics is what makes her such a terrifying foe to face against. Not to mention the fact that Salem's blood runs through her making her immortal. Unlike Zamasu... her immortality is far greater than what his was. Merging together with another timeline version of himself that didn't have the immortality put a tamper on his plans." He then looked towards the other side of the tournament ring. "I have a feeling that after this is over with, Goku would want to fight her without any restraints. But that also depends on what happens from here on."

Beerus nodded his head as he closed his eyes. "I don't think Queen had any idea that Goku would be taking Scarlet. If she had then.... what was her plan for us exactly?"

"That is a good question." Whis said with a curious look on his face. "That is indeed a good question...."

Natsu looked confused over hearing Beerus and Whis talking about White Queen, he looked over towards Gray and Markarov. "Who are they talking about? Who's this Queen chick they're mentioning?"

"Your guess is as good as mine Natsu." Gray said with his arms crossed. "She might be someone from Scarlet's new world, since she's not allowed to return to her original world. Isn't that what you told me?"

Natsu looked confused again but snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, that's right.. you might be right. It could be someone from that world."

Marakrov nodded his head lightly. "You're indeed right on that you both. However, even someone like her has orders to follow. Someone else is working behind the scenes to make all this possible..."

Gray and Natsu looked towards him for a bit as they pieced together the puzzle. Right after they had done that, Lucy came dropping in as she landed on her butt. It seemed Fairy Tail was getting picked off one by one, Lucy rubbed her butt with her hand as she looked towards Natsu, Gray and Markarov. "Fairy Tail is on the ropes, we're holding our own the best we can out there."

"Oh? Against who exactly?" Natsu asked looking over at Lucy.

Lucy sighed and felt a bit ashamed and embarrassed but pointed towards one of the parts of the tournament ring. "Him."

Natsu glanced over as he saw Shredder beating up Gajeel, the iron dragon slayer was trying to gain his footing and strike Shredder with all his might. Shredder jumped over Gajeel as he slashed at his back with his razor claws, Gajeel turned his skin into iron as he turned around and kicked Shredder away from him.

"You've been a thorn in my side..." Gajeel said as he gritted his teeth. "Let's see how you do against my iron dragon club, metal head!" Gajeel's right arm turned into an iron club as he swung it at Shredder.

Shredder took the hit as he started to laugh. "The time for games has ended, you will know what true terror is. I am The Shredder, and soon I will be your doom!" He shoved Gajeel's iron club away as he gripped onto the handle of the Sword of Tengu and swung it forward as he landed a blow on Gajeel.

"Damn it, this guy is tough." Gajeel mumbled as he stumbled a little. "I can't let Fairy Tail down!"

~~~

Scarlet slowly stood up as she glared at Erza, she then looked towards Azula, Ty-Lee and Mai. "Say, why don't we switch dance partners?"

Erza cocked an eyebrow up but smirked. "Very well, you deal with fire princess and I'll deal with those two." She walked over towards Scarlet as Scarlet walked past her. "Requip!" Her armor changed as she was now only wearing bandages around her breasts, and samurai like pants that were red with yellow flames at the bottom of the pant legs. She had two katanas in her hands as she looked at Ty-Lee and Mai.

Scarlet snickered as she looked back at Erza. "Your Clear Heart clothing, how cute out of all your requipable armor, you went with this one. Not that I'm complaining, but you better not hold back when it's our turn to fight each other." The Grimm girl walked off towards Azula as she cracked her knuckles. "Now then.... where were we Azula?"

"Switching out? It seems like she couldn't handle the heat I was putting out..." Azula smirked after saying that, her eyes locked onto Scarlet. "This is getting more exciting than I had thought. But what makes you so sure she can take down Mai and Ty-Lee?"

Scarlet laughed as she gave Azula the evil eye and grinned widely. "Why? Because she's quicker, and she sacrificed her defense for offense."

Azula wasn't buying it as she surrounded herself in blue flames cutting off any more interactions between Scarlet and Erza. The ring of fire was massive as she grinned and rushed towards Scarlet, she threw her fist forward as a ball of blue flames came shooting out and hitting Scarlet. "You've gotten soft, you're not holding back are you?" Her tactics began to change up again as she shot lightning from her finger tips at Scarlet.

Scarlet noticed as she spun Black Rose around to avoid getting hit again. She then rushed towards Azula and punched her in the face. "I'm not getting soft, you're just thinking with your ego, and it's swelling your brain!" The punch sent Azula flipping through the air as she landed onto her back, her hair was now all messy and not in its perfect style. "Get up, come on. You talk big, but at the end of the day... you're just a weak and pathetic dog crawling at her masters feet, begging for attention."

Azula groaned as she slowly got up, her eyes filled with anger and a sadistic wicked smile appeared on her face. "You've ruined my beautiful hair and face, you will pay ten fold for that!" Her eyes had a burning passion in them as she slowly stood up. "The sins of the father will be visited upon the child.."