Chapter 185

Chapter 185: Chapter 185

After leaving Cake Tower, Levy and Juvia made their way to an open field outside Magnolia.

Tea?

Who the hell was in the mood for tea right now?

They had come out here to fight!

Since they were both members of Fairy Tail, they might as well settle their problem the Fairy Tail way.

The two deliberately chose a place where nobody would interrupt them, then took up positions opposite each other without saying a word.

They simply stared each other down.

In many ways, Levy and Juvia were completely different kinds of girls.

Their personalities and the way they handled things were almost polar opposites, making it practically inevitable that they would clash.

’Shameless woman!’

Naturally, the verbal battle came first.

Juvia folded her arms and sneered.

"Poor little washboard Levy. What gave you the confidence to challenge Juvia? You can’t even grab Juvia’s elemental body properly, so how exactly do you expect to beat her?"

"You shameless pervert!"

Levy immediately fired back.

"You belong in some dark sewer, spying on Marshall and me while we live happily ever after! And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you ambushed and kidnapped me earlier. I’m going to beat you senseless for that!"

"Hmph! You?"

Juvia looked her up and down contemptuously.

"If you ever became a mother, Juvia would be worried your children would starve!"

A vein appeared on Levy’s forehead.

"Only the strong deserve Marshall. Juvia advises you to withdraw now while you can still preserve a little dignity!"

"You—!"

Levy nearly exploded.

"If a stalker like you ever becomes a mother, I’d be more worried your children would grow up into perverts! Marshall is only able to tolerate your constant harassment because he’s too kind. You even took advantage of him while he didn’t know any better! If you had the slightest sense of shame, you’d leave him alone!"

"Hah?!"

Juvia pointed furiously.

"You’re the one who made the first move on Marshall, you pervert!"

"You have no right to lecture me, you obsessive stalker!"

By this point, they had gone well beyond ordinary insults.

This was becoming personal.

Both girls were genuinely angry now, and the battle was only one spark away from exploding.

Juvia attacked first.

"Water Stream Slash!"

A razor-sharp blade of water tore across the field.

A direct hit would be dangerous for Levy. In a serious fight, even a single mistake could be enough to leave her unable to continue.

But Script Magic was one of the most versatile forms of Magic in existence.

An attack like this wasn’t enough to overwhelm her.

"Shield!" ×5

Levy’s hand moved at incredible speed.

In an instant, she wrote five layers of defensive Script around herself.

The words transformed into flowing streams of magical text that revolved around Levy and automatically intercepted incoming attacks.

The water blade struck and the Shields held.

Levy immediately counterattacked.

"Rock Spear!" ×3

Three stone spears erupted toward Juvia.

Elemental Magic possessed natural relationships of compatibility and opposition.

Fire clashed with ice, light opposed darkness, and Water Magic was naturally disadvantaged against Earth Magic.

This wasn’t merely a physical interaction.

The conceptual property of stability associated with earth interfered with the fluidity inherent to water. It was one of the most elementary principles of Elemental Magic.

Juvia wasn’t particularly fast, but her Water Body could fundamentally ignore most ordinary physical attacks.

Rather than dodge, she transformed herself into flowing water and allowed the stone spears to pass directly through her body.

What she failed to notice was the smile appearing on Levy’s lips.

The instant the Rock Spears entered Juvia’s watery body, Levy activated a second layer of Script hidden inside them.

"Mud Spikes!"

The stone spears burst apart from within.

Countless spikes of magically formed mud erupted through Juvia’s body, while the yellow earth mixed directly into her flowing water.

The sensation was horribly uncomfortable, like swallowing a mouthful of sand.

This wasn’t the world of One Piece.

Elementalization did not make someone invincible.

Juvia could ignore ordinary physical damage in her Water Body, but she could not ignore Magic.

Levy’s hidden spell therefore struck her with its full effect.

"Hahaha!"

Levy grinned.

"Walked right into it!"

She pointed smugly.

"Did you think I was like those brainless idiots in the guild who just throw attacks around without thinking? Don’t underestimate me!"

Unfortunately, Levy didn’t get to celebrate for long.

The muddy form of Juvia suddenly collapsed.

Splash.

It dissolved into a puddle of dirty water on the ground.

Levy’s expression changed.

’Crap!’

A water clone!

She immediately looked up.

Juvia was already descending from above, half her body transformed into a rushing torrent of water, making her look almost like a true water spirit.

"You lose, Levy!"

Juvia thrust both hands forward.

"Water Sphere Prison!"

An enormous sphere of water surged into existence around Levy.

It was essentially a Water Lock spell.

No matter how many Shields Levy had surrounding her, if Juvia submerged her completely inside the sphere, the battle would effectively be over.

At the last possible moment, Levy wrote another word.

"Air!"

The letters transformed into a bubble-like shell around her head, allowing Levy to continue breathing underwater.

But surviving inside the sphere was not the same as escaping it.

Her entire body was now surrounded by Juvia’s water, which meant she had practically fallen completely under Juvia’s control.

The pressure around her grew stronger by the second.

"Hmph."

Juvia smiled triumphantly.

"You’re clever, Juvia will give you that."

She folded her arms.

"But how long can you keep this up? If you don’t want to lose too embarrassingly, surrender now, shorty!"

Levy glared furiously through the water.

Then she extended one finger and wrote—

"O!"

A strange spherical character glowing with rainbow-colored light appeared inside the water.

It slowly expanded.

Larger.

And larger.

Until it forcibly stretched apart Juvia’s Water Sphere and burst free.

The strange construct dropped onto the ground and bounced several times like an enormous elastic soap bubble.

Inside it, Levy planted both hands on her hips and laughed triumphantly.

Juvia stared.

"???"

"What the hell is that?!"

She pointed at the bouncing sphere.

"Script Magic doesn’t work like that!"

"Hehehe."

Levy raised her chin.

"That’s because you don’t understand Script Magic."

Juvia scowled.

"There are countless different forms of writing in the world, but completely different symbols can still produce the same magical effect. That’s because the meaning of Script Magic is ultimately assigned by the Mage."

Levy tapped the glowing symbol surrounding her.

"Once you understand Script Magic deeply enough, you can even assign unique meanings to musical notation and other symbols, then use those meanings to create whatever effect you need."

She grinned.

"Script Magic is the most versatile Magic there is!"

"Tch."

Juvia refused to be impressed.

"Marshall’s Script Magic is way better than yours!"

"It’s not!"

Levy immediately protested.

"If we competed using Script Magic alone, I wouldn’t lose!"

Her expression became serious.

"I’ve worked far harder than normal people ever would so I could keep up with Marshall too!"

And just like that, the fight continued.

Levy and Juvia traded spell after spell, neither able to decisively overwhelm the other.

Their total magic reserves weren’t enormously different.

Juvia possessed a little over a thousand more magic power than Levy, while their primary Magic stood at roughly Script Magic LV4 against Water Magic LV5.

On paper, Juvia was stronger.

But not overwhelmingly so.

Levy’s mind was more flexible than Juvia’s, and she constantly found unconventional ways to reverse bad situations.

Eventually, what began as a magical duel turned into a battle of attrition.

Then both of them ran out of magic.

So naturally—they started punching each other.

By the end, both girls were bruised from head to toe, panting heavily as they continued glaring across the field.

"S-Shouldn’t you admit defeat already, stupid bitch?"

Juvia could barely stand.

"If Juvia had used Water Severing Wave, you would’ve lost ages ago!"

"B-Bullshit!"

Levy was just as exhausted.

"If I’d set up a field banning Elemental Magic from the beginning, you wouldn’t even have been able to touch me!"

"Then keep fighting!"

"Come on! You think I’m scared of you?!"

The two staggered toward each other.

With the very last of their strength, each threw a weak punch directly into the other’s face.

Thump.

Then both of them collapsed.

They genuinely couldn’t move anymore.

Levy and Juvia lay side by side on the grass, staring silently at the sky while the only sound between them was their heavy breathing.

Eventually, Juvia spoke.

"Levy..."

"Hm?"

"Juvia understands your feelings for Marshall now."

She stared upward.

"Your love for him... isn’t any less than Juvia’s."

Levy snorted weakly.

"Obviously."

She turned her head.

"Marshall and I are childhood friends. We’re destined to become husband and wife."

Her eyes remained determined even though the rest of her body could barely move.

"I’ll never give Marshall up."

"J-Juvia is his childhood friend too!"

Juvia protested.

"You only met him a couple of years before Juvia did! Don’t act so smug!"

"Four years!"

Levy immediately corrected her.

"I knew him four years before you!"

"Tch."

Juvia thought for a second.

"Then Juvia just has to live four years longer than you!"

"Are you stupid?"

Levy stared at her.

"I’m not planning on dying!"

"You’re the stupid one! Everyone dies eventually!"

"If Marshall doesn’t die, then I’m not dying!"

"Then Juvia won’t die either!"

They continued bickering weakly like two little children.

Eventually, neither could keep a straight face anymore.

Both girls started laughing.

After a while, Juvia asked,

"Levy... when did you start liking Marshall?"

"When I was ten."

Levy answered without hesitation.

"That was when we teamed up with Marshall for a job and found Mira. Marshall transformed himself to look like an older version of himself."

A dreamy smile appeared on Levy’s face.

"The moment I saw him like that, I knew he was going to be the father of my future children!"

"Eh?!"

Juvia immediately turned toward her.

"Juvia was the same!"

She looked delighted.

"Back then, Juvia thought Marshall was some handsome older boy. It was love at first sight~"

Levy immediately clicked her tongue.

"You lustful woman. So you just fell for his face!"

"Hah?!"

Juvia glared.

"You’ve been a little pervert since you were a kid! You have no right to say that about Juvia!"

The two began arguing again.

Then, without either of them noticing exactly when it happened, the argument gradually turned into ordinary conversation.

When it came to Marshall, the two of them had an endless supply of things to talk about.

"Still..."

Levy smiled.

"Marshall looks even better now than that older transformation did back then!"

"Right?! Right?!"

Juvia immediately became excited.

"Marshall’s skin is even softer than Juvia’s! How does a boy even have skin that good?"

Levy giggled.

"Hehe. There are other little things about Marshall that are even more ridiculous, but I’m not telling you."

Juvia’s head snapped toward her.

"???"

"Tell Juvia!"

"No."

"Juvia will pay you 100,000 Jewels!"

Levy immediately reconsidered.

"Then bring your ear over here..."

"..."

Not far away, Marshall—currently descended into Envy through God Descent—had watched the entire battle from beginning to end.

As the conversation continued, he slowly became aware of Lust staring at him with a very strange expression.

Marshall quietly lowered the camera in his hands.

He was beginning to feel that he really shouldn’t be here anymore.

These two idiots!

If they wanted to fight, then fight!

Why the hell had they started chatting afterward?

And why did the conversation have to drift toward things they absolutely shouldn’t be talking about in front of his own subordinates?!

At this rate, his image in the eyes of the Apostles was going to be completely ruined.

"Ahem!"

Marshall abruptly stood.

"You two!"

He pointed toward the exhausted girls.

"When they’re done, carry them over to Sloth for treatment."

Then he immediately turned away.

"I’m leaving first!"

And so, the battle between Levy and Juvia ended in a draw.

Their relationship, however... seemed to have become considerably better.

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