Early the next morning, the clearing outside Magnolia was packed with people.
Lin Yuan looked at the guild members carrying snacks, wineglasses and even folding chairs. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Is this an official duel?"
"Of course." Mira flexed her wrists at the other end of the clearing. "Official enough that the whole guild can witness it for me, so you can't deny it when you lose."
"We only came because Natsu said there was a fight to watch!"
"I even started a betting pool." Wakaba waved the paper in his hand. "Right now, two more people have bet on Mira to win."
Macao asked in a low voice, "Who did the master bet on?"
"He bet the clearing would break first."
Makarov sat in the largest folding chair. Hearing that, he looked up. "I'm the referee. How could I possibly place a bet?"
The wind promptly knocked over the money pouch by his feet, revealing a slip of paper with "the ground" written on it.
The crowd around him immediately broke into boos.
Lisanna and Elfman had been assigned to a small hill some distance away, while Erza stood at the edge of the clearing. Her job was to keep Natsu and Gray from charging in, which, in a way, was even harder work than refereeing.
Makarov raised his hand. "The rules are simple. You lose if you stay down for ten breaths, admit defeat, or leave the marked area. No attacking spectators, no damaging the farmland in the distance, and absolutely no sending your opponent into some unknown space."
"Who was that last one for?" Lin Yuan asked.
"You know perfectly well."
His hand came down, and Mira charged first.
Black magic instantly enveloped her right arm and legs. Rather than complete her full-body Take Over immediately, she used the demon's power to shatter the ground beneath her feet and closed in on Lin Yuan in the blink of an eye.
Lin Yuan raised a hand and folded the distance.
But before her fist could be pulled away, Mira spun sharply and kicked up a great cloud of dirt. As it blocked his view, she grabbed pieces of broken stone and hurled them in rapid succession in three directions.
Lin Yuan had barely dodged the stones when demon claws came bearing down on him through the dust.
He turned sideways, caught Mira's wrist, erased half a step of distance beneath his feet, and drove his shoulder into her chest. Mira was pushed backward, but she dug her claws into the ground and forced herself to a stop just before the boundary.
"So close!" Elfman shouted.
"There's no way my sister's going out!" Lisanna waved a little flag.
Mira grinned, grabbed Lin Yuan by the shoulder, and flung him toward the boundary along with her.
Just before they flew over the white line, Lin Yuan folded the distance between the boundary and the space behind him into a ring. The next instant, they both landed back in the center of the clearing.
"Cheating again!"
"This is my magic."
Mira let go, and black magic spread rapidly over her body. Curved horns, claws, and wings took shape one after another, and the complete Satan Soul descended once more.
The watching crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted in even louder cheers.
Erza gripped her training sword tightly, her gaze fixed intently on Mira. She did not back away from the demonic form. Instead, she looked as though she was already considering who should take the field next.
Mira beat her wings and rose into the air, twice as fast as she had been yesterday.
Unable to lock onto all her changes in movement at once, Lin Yuan could only fold the space around him into layers of nested circles. Every time Mira broke through a layer, her direction was turned, and in just a few breaths, she had flown four laps around the clearing.
"Won't that make her dizzy?" Gray asked.
Natsu looked envious. "I want to try too!"
"You throw up just riding in a vehicle."
"Flying isn't the same as riding in a vehicle!"
In midair, Mira suddenly folded her wings and let space send her in the wrong direction. Just as she was about to hit the ground, she drove a fist into the dirt and used the reaction force to turn back.
The blow was not aimed at Lin Yuan, but it disrupted the spatial positioning he had just completed.
Mira passed through the collapsing rings, her claws stopping at the tip of Lin Yuan's nose.
At the same time, Lin Yuan's fist crossed the final stretch of distance and stopped in front of her abdomen.
Neither of them pressed the attack.
Makarov raised both hands. "You landed your hits at the same time. It's a draw!"
"I was clearly first!" Mira protested at once.
"My fist was closer."
"Of course your hand looked closer. Your arm's shorter!"
"You're not much taller than me."
The argument quickly turned into a second round of grappling. The gamblers outside the clearing demanded their money back, and Natsu took advantage of Erza's distraction to charge into the clearing, only for her to knock him back out with the hilt of her sword.
In the end, Makarov pressed everyone into the grass with a giant hand.
"Since there's no winner, the bet is off!"
Mira poked her head out between his fingers. "No. Then we'll find another way to decide the winner."
She pointed to the flag visible above the guild roof in the distance.
"Isn't the second floor only for S-Class Mages? Whoever becomes S-Class first wins. The loser still has to agree to do one thing!"
Makarov looked at Lin Yuan. "What about you?"
Lin Yuan reached out and touched Mira's demon claw.
"Agreed."
Two surges of magic, black-silver and pitch-black, collided between their palms, making the guild flag snap and flutter.
Mira lifted her chin, a confident smile on her face.
"Just wait. I'll become S-Class before you."
Far beyond the distant waters, on Tenrou Island, a sleeping glimmer among the branches and leaves of a giant tree quietly lit up, unnoticed by anyone, before falling still again in the sea breeze.