Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

July 1, x790.

{"Alright, it looks like everyone is here."} Mato said in his energetic tone. {"But this time, we're gonna do something a little different. Instead of testing your teams speed, agility, brains, or even luck like we have in the last few years, we'll be testing just one thing. We wanna know who can hit the hardest. So, for this year's preliminary round, each team will send one member up to hit the Magic Power Finder with their strongest attack. And the eight teams with the highest scores will get to move on to the real show starting later today."} 

Hearing that the crowd burst into a slight uproar with those confident in their strength cheering happily. Meanwhile, those who had lower single attack strength grumbled at the unfairness.

For those who are unaware, the Magic Power Finder is a magic item used to quantify the strength of a magic spell. Meaning, when the Magic Power Finder is struck with a magic spell, it will rate the strength of the spell that hit it with a score ranging anywhere from 1 to 9,999.

However, before the crowd could get too rowdy, a magic circle was activated right in front of the gates to the Flower Light Palace, its light drawing everyone's attention.

{"Now, so that we're not out here all night, please step into the magic circle you see in front of you."} Mato said in his usual upbeat tone. {"When you do, each team will be randomly relocated to one of the arenas set up for this event. Then, the winner in each arena will be the team to move on. Got it? Good. Now, let's get going."}

With that said, the wizards in the plaza started to step forward.

{"Oh, and don't worry about being separated from your teams."} Mato added just before the first wizard stepped into the magic circle. {"The magic circle can detect your guild emblems. So, you will be transported to the arena where the rest of your guild mates ended up."}

"Does that mean we have to wait until everyone else is done before we can get out of these so-called arenas?" A random wizard from a less than well-known guild asked, shouting up into the sky.

{"An excellent question."} Mato replied. {"And to answer your question, the answer is no. As soon as the wizard representing each team has taken the test, they and the rest of their team will be teleported back to the plaza. After that, they will be free to return to their lodgings."}

With that said, Mato waved his hand. Then, his projection turned into eight separatee images, each showing one of the arenas, a baren land with nothing but a Magic Power Finder device floating on one side of the area. Meanwhile, flashes of light started popping on the other side of the area before guild wizards took their places.

Not only did each view show the various arenas. But there was also a scoreboard to the side of each arena's view. However, because no one had struck the Magic Power Finder Device yet, there were no values on any of the scoreboards.

"So, who should do it?" Alfonzo asked as he and the rest of his team walked towards the teleportation circle.

"Not me." Brandish replied. "Although I'm confident in defeating most wizards in a fight. [Command T] doesn't have any offensive power."

"Same here." Elicia added. "Well, that's not exactly true. But my magic is best suited to support my physical abilities and creativity."

"I'm not really the best when it comes to one-hit power, either." Marin said with a shrug. She then turned to look at Alfonzo and Sun. "So, that leaves the two of you."

"Well, do you wanna do it?" Alfonzo asked Sun with a smile.

"Hmm?" Sun hummed in thought while tilting her head cutely. A moment later, she shook her head and replied. "No, I think you should do it. You have the highest destructive power out of all of us."

"If you say so." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "Well then, let's put the fear of God (of Ishgar) into the others on our platform."

In response to Alfonzo's little joke, Elicia, Marin, and Brandish all rolled their eyes. Sun, on the other hand, smiled cheerfully as she hugged Alfonzo's arm just before they all stepped into the magic circle.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, GMG Preliminary Arena #6.

A moment later, Alfonzo, Elicia, Marin, Sun, and Brandish found themselves standing in one of the arenas among about an eighth of the wizards who entered the magic circle before they did.

Looking around, the five were unable to see any of the guilds from the favorites to make the main event. They could also see a projection of the scoreboard everyone in Crocus was able to see floating above the Magic Power Finder Device. And just like it was before they stepped into the magic circle, it was still empty.

"Randomly teleported my ass." Alfonzo muttered after looking around. "It's clear they have an idea who is going to make it through the prelims. And they made sure to split up all those teams."

"Well, it wouldn't be any fun if all the strong teams eliminated each other in the prelims, would it?" Elicia asked with a smile.

"*Sigh* I know." Alfonzo replied. "Anyway, look at all these guys discussing who should go up. They're just wasting time. By now, they should all know which of their team mates has the strongest single target attack, right?"

"They probably are trying not to show off too much of their capabilities." Brandish said, analyzing the other teams' thought process. "That way, they can keep a trump card in reserve."

"Whatever." Marin said. "Let's just get this over with. I wanna go back to sleep. Go, Fonzie! I choose you!"

With that, Alfonzo, Elicia, Sun, and Brandish all looked at Marin strangely. While Sun and Brandish just thought Marin's phrasing was over the top and unnecessary, Alfonzo and Elicia were thoroughly dumbfounded by her exclamation.

'Where the fuck did that come from?' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Pokémon don't even exist in this reality. And I haven't started introducing the story yet. I mean, I'm still trying to work out what to add to TVs when I invent them.'

'Marin is in a class of her own.' Elicia thought to herself. 'I mean, she was kind of an otaku in her source material. I wonder if that's why she can somehow find things that relate to her past life.'

"What?" Marin asked while shrinking under the incredulous gazes of the other. "It wasn't that weird, was it?"

Deciding to worry about that later, Alfonzo turned around and started walking towards the Magic Power Finder. And as he got closer and closer, he attracted more attention from the other wizards in the arena. By the time he reached his optimal attack distance, every eye in the arena was focused on him.

However, not just the eyes in the arena were focused on Alfonzo, as the first wizard to step up and attack, both those still in Crocus, as well as the wizards in the other arenas were watching him, as when Alfonzo got close to the device, screens of all the other arenas showed up in each arena.

"Oh, I've got the whole kingdom watching me now, huh?" Alfonzo asked himself with a smile. "Well then, let's put on a show."

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, GMG Preliminary Arena #5.

"Oh, it looks like Alfonzo is making his move." Jura said with a peaceful expression on his face. "Let's see just how strong he's gotten over the years."

"Is he really that strong?" Lyon asked. "I mean, I know he's one of the Ten Wizard Saints, but so are you, Jura."

"I assure you; he is that strong." Jura replied.

"Yeah, I remember Takashi and Rei talking about how strong he was." Yuka added. "Apparently, he can rain down lightning from the sky. And that's him attacking casually."

"Either way, we'll find out shortly. Jura said while watching the screen of Arena #6.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, GMG Preliminary Arena #8.

"Hey, Yoruichi, have you ever seen Alfonzo go all out before?" Anko asked curiously.

"Just once." Yoruichi replied. "Well, I saw it from a distance. But I still remember that ray of purple light that connected the ground to the sky. And that was after drilling through almost thirty feet of solid rock."

"Are you serious?" Rangiku asked in a disbelieving tone.

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Kagura." Yoruichi replied. "She went on that quest, too."

Hearing that, Sui-Feng, Anko, and Rangiku all turned to look at Kagura, who calmly nodded her head in return.

"I was even further away than Yoruichi when that happened." Kagura said. "But the amount of power was like nothing I had ever felt before that point. And that was almost six years ago."

"Well, let's just wait to see how much stronger he's gotten since then." Yoruichi said, putting an end to the discussion while she and the other members of Team Mermaid Heel watched the screen.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, GMG Preliminary Arena #2.

"Oh, Fairy Tail looks as if they are going to be the first to take this little test." The young woman from the Sabertooth guild, Minerva Orland, said with a smirk on her face while looking up at the screens.

"He's one of the Ten Wizard Saints, right?" Sting asked. "I wonder just how strong he is."

"Does it matter?" Rogue asked emotionlessly. "Dragon Slayers are the strongest. There's no way he could be stronger than us."

"That's right." Sting replied. "Since Natsu and Gajeel aren't on the team, they're probably only sending out weaklings. Especially since their Lightning Dragon Slayer lost last year."

"Well, what do you expect." The masked young man, Rufus Lore, said while touching his right index and middle finger to his right temple. "I have no powerful feats from this Alfonzo Marcus in my memory."

"That's right!" the light green-haired young man, Orga Nanagear, shouted while raising his fists into the air. "Sabertooth is the strongest!"

"Be quiet." Minerva ordered while watching the screen like a hawk.

Immediately, the four Sabertooth wizards fell silent. Then, like Minerva, they watched the screen, as well.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

Like the wizards in the eight arenas, all the people in Crocus were watching the screens floating above the city. And after seeing Alfonzo take the first step forward, aside from the members of Fairy Tail, Retsu was the most interested in his results.

Ever since the day she had worked with Alfonzo to bring down Irene before she switched sides, Retsu had been looking forward to Alfonzo's growth. The potential she could sense from him during that fight was immense. So, she was quite interested to see how much he had grown since the last time she saw him fight.

"Show me your limits." Retsu said quietly while watching the floating screen. "Show me that I was not wrong about you."

Meanwhile, in another part of the city Itachi and Kisame, who had been tasked with keeping track of the growth of the wizards participating in the Grand Magic Games from year to year, were also watching the screen showing Alfonzo.

"Hey, that's the girl who stopped us from capturing the Nine-Tails brat that one time, right?" Kisame asked while pointing at the screen.

"It is." Itachi replied while watching the screen with his Sharingan active. "And if it weren't for the fact that shew as protecting Naruto, I have a feeling that she would have been quite difficult to deal with. But more importantly, we need information on what the other members of Fairy Tail are capable of, just in case Pain decides we need to attack Magnolia to retrieve the Nine-Tails."

In response, Kisame simply nodded his head while returning his attention to the screen.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, GMG Preliminary Arena #6.

"Alright, let's go." Alfonzo muttered quietly.

In the next instant, Alfonzo flared his magic power to its limit, putting pressure on everyone unlucky enough to be in the same arena as him.

"What the hell?"

"How can this be?"

"Impossible!"

After feeling the weight of Alfonzo's magic power, every wizard in the arena, with the exception of Elicia, Marin, Sun, and Brandish, were forced to their knees, with some of the weaker ones being either pressed flat on the ground or falling unconscious.

*Zap~~~~~~~~!*

Alfonzo then raised his hands to his sides. As he did, he was coated in arcs of violet electricity. Then, he focused all that electricity into his palms. So, it looked as if he were holding a pair of violet orbs surging with electricity. However, that did not last for long, as instead of only using electricity, he added other aspects of the Electromagnetic Spectrum, as well.

First, the color of the orbs paled significantly when Alfonzo added radio waves into the mix. Then, they took on a redder hue as he added microwaves. Following that, the color seemed to turn grey once infrared radiation was added into the mix. Next, the color turned to a bright white as he used visible light to manipulate the orbs' color. Following that, Ultraviolet Radiation and X-Rays were combined with each orb. However, because of the visible light manipulation, the color did not change again.

"I think that should be enough." Alfonzo muttered while letting his gaze shift between the orbs in his hands. "I really don't wanna have to worry about controlling the gamma radiation to not hurt anyone or the environment if I were to add that, too."

With that decided, Alfonzo brought his hands together, combining the two orbs into one larger one. Then, he aimed his hands at the Magic Power Finder. However, he did not finish casting his spell immediately. Instead, he stopped to think for a moment. Then, he used his [Metal Magic] to levitate the Magic Power Finder into the air. All the while, his hands and the orbs of Electromagnetically charged magic power raised along with it.

Then, when Alfonzo was certain that he would not harm anything, or anyone, when he cast his spell, he nodded to himself.

"[Electromagnetism Magic: Final Flash]." Alfonzo chanted.

In the next instant, a sound that was hard to describe could be heard everywhere in Arena #6, forcing all the weaker wizards to cover their ears. Luckily, the sounds were not broadcast along with the images. Otherwise, more than a few eardrums would have been blown out as collateral damage from the spell.

At the same time, the beam of bright, sparking, white light that was fired from the orb in Alfonzo's hands crossed the distance to the Magic Power Finder in what seemed to be the blink of an eye. Then, while striking the Magic Power Finder, the beam continued forward, lighting up the sky.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Crocus.

At the same time, east of the city, a pillar of white light rose into the sky, lighting up the majority of the city as if the sun was rising. And although no one other than the Grand Magic Games' organizers knew exactly how far away the preliminary arenas were located, they all could tell that they were not exactly close to Crocus.

Despite that, Alfonzo's spell was able to be seen from every corner of Crocus. And that left most of the people in the city slack-jawed in amazement. However, there were a few exceptions. For example, the wizards of Fairy Tail wore expressions that said: "As expected." Though, there were a few who wanted to fight Alfonzo immediately after seeing his display of power. *Cough* Natsu. *Cough* Gajeel. *Cough*

Meanwhile, Retsu continued to smile while watching the pillar that lit up the eastern sky. However, her usual gentle smile was replaced with one that was radiating so much bloodlust that it was a wonder that anyone staying in the same hotel was still conscious.

In another corner of the city, both Itachi and Kisame watched the light pillar with dumbfounded amazement in their expressions. While Kisame was simply in awe, Itachi's mind was working at high-speed.

'I can't let the rest of the Akatsuki find out that Alfonzo Marcus is really this powerful.' Itachi thought to himself. 'If they find out, there's a much greater chance that they will hold off on trying to get the Nine-Tailed Fox until after Naruto returns to the village. And that would not only put the village in danger, but Sasuke would be in greater danger, as well. But what should I do to make them believe that he's no threat, so they'd rush to their deaths on their own?'

"Itachi, just how strong does someone have to be to cast a spell like that?" Kisame asked.

"Don't believe what your eyes are telling you." Itachi replied in a disdainful tone. "That attack is just flashy. All show, no substance. Besides, did you see how long it took him to prepare it? Believe me, Alfonzo Marcus is no threat."

Hearing that, Kisame turned away from the eastern horizon to look at Itachi. And he just held that position for a while. Then, when he saw that Itachi's expression did not change after saying that, he nodded in understanding. Then, he smiled slightly while turning back to look at the dimming light pillar in the distance.

"The Sharingan really is amazing." Kisame said. "If you weren't here, I would have thought he was too much for even Pain to deal with."

'Thank goodness he's not only dumb but extremely trusting of his allies.' Itachi thought to himself while nodding to Kisame's words.

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, GMG Preliminary Arena #6.

Around that time, Alfonzo's [Final Flash] fizzled out. When it did, everyone looked up. However, when they did, they were unable to find the Magic Power Finder. Then, they looked at the scoreboard to see Team Fairy Tail's score.

"What does this mean?" A male wizard asked in a confused tone.

The reason for such a question was what was posted on the scoreboard. No one knew how to react what they were seeing.

{Magic Power Finger

Rank Name Score

Fairy Tail ERROR}

After seeing the scoreboard, everyone turned to look at Alfonzo, who was confidently walking back to the rest of the team. Then, when he felt everyone's gazes on him, Alfonzo smiled brightly.

"If any of you can evaporate the MPF, too, I don't mind letting you have this round." Alfonzo said before continuing to walk forward.

And just as Alfonzo said, after the Grand Magic Games Executive Committee verified that the Magic Power Finder had indeed evaporated thanks to the heat and energy produced by Alfonzo's spell. They then granted Alfonzo a score of infinity before teleporting Team Fairy Tail back to the plaza. 

Meanwhile, after hearing the verdict on Fairy Tail's score, nearly seventy percent of the teams in that arena gave up directly. Then, after a few teams tried their luck, scoring no higher than 998, the rest of the teams gave up, as well.