Previously:

"Good job," Kagura sighed as she failed to try to get up. Taking the hint, Kagura slowly started to vanish, being teleported back to her balcony, where she could get medical help when she's taken the infirmary.

"You too," Erza complimented as she saw her close ally disappear into thin air. Kagura was now teleported to her balcony as the crowd roared with excitement.

1 more point for Fairy Tail.

Now:

• STILL IN 3RD PERSON POV •

Time quickly passed as more and more contestants got eliminated and others gained more points for their guild. The current leaderboard was plastered on a lacrima screen in the middle of the arena as spectators watched wizards fight with one another for their guild to be number 1.

[ X796 Grand Magic Games ]

[ 1st ] Fairy Tail - 65 pts

[ 2nd ] Sabertooth - 51 pts

[ 2nd ] Meraki Parastin - 51 pts

[3rd] Lamia Scale - 50 pts

[ 3rd ] Splitforce - 50 pts

[ 4th ] Mermaid Heel - 30 pts

[ 5th ] Quatro Cerberus - 22 pts

[ 6th ] Blue Pegasus - 21 pt

Fairy Tail remained in 1st place, barely changing ranks since Day 1, but they quickly pulled ahead and had a great point gap between them and 2nd place.

From Splitforce, Zero Haztor was on a roll, taking wizards out left and right. He had defeated Ren and Hibiki of Blue Pegasus and Nobarly of Quatro Cerberus. With the whole Quatro Cerberus team defeated, all the Quatro Cerberus wizards watched from their balcony.

This put Splitforce up to 2nd place with 53 points.

Milliana and Risley Law from Mermaid Heel stuck together. They had then stumbled upon Ichiya. With Milliana obtaining Erza's habit of being weirded out by the guy, they had defeated him in a few minutes.

Now we're with Gray Fullbuster. The stripping ice mage. He had finally reached the cave, but soon regretted it as he was met with powerful wizards. One who had proven to be a challenge in the past - but then defeated - and the other was a new wizard that Gray had no knowledge about except for his magic.

The one who Gray had faced in the past was no other than Rufus Lore of Sabertooth.

And the new wizard who Gray knew nothing about? Luca Davian - Meraki Parastin's own Phantom Wraith Slayer.

"Well, this sucks," Gray muttered as he entered the dimly lit cave and walked forward to his 2 opponents.

The cave was relatively dark in the far back, but it was certainly spacious. The only light coming into the cave was coming from the large opening that was about the size of large castle gates.

"On the contrary, I look forward to memorizing some of Luca's interesting magic," Rufus mentioned, tipping his hat forward.

Luca simply said nothing. He did nothing. He just seemed to stare... at nothing.

"Welp, let's get this over with," Gray said with a smirk as he got into a battle stance.

"I look forward to redeeming myself for that loss I took a years ago," Rufus remarked, following with him getting into a battle stance as well.

Luca once again said nothing. Except, he did actually do something this time. He got into a battle stance.

Luca's silence was deafening, and was quite honestly freaking the 2 other wizards out. For the few times Luca hung out in the bar at those Fairy Tail parties with the Meraki Parastin boys, he said nothing audible to either of them. They only heard a total of 4 words come out of his mouth, and that was in the Meraki Parastin vs Splitforce match when he muttered a spell.

The 3 male wizards stood in a triangle formation, all of them looking towards the middle to keep an eye on both of their opponents.

Unbeknownst to the memory-make mage and the ice wizard, Luca had been observing them since Day 1. Not them specifically, but every single wizard that stepped into the arena and had entered the games. Even his own guildmates.

He observed their weak points, the way they fought, the limit to their magic, everything. I guess that's one thing he found good about formerly being mute and currently being taciturn. He wasn't a talker, but a listener. He listened to how they talked and the way they said their spells. While he may not be as strong as his teammates, he's definitely one of the most observant.

Almost nothing can get passed him. He notices things.

Like how the fire dragon slayer speaks to a certain blonde. The joy and endearment he expresses through the words he conveys to her and the love in his eyes from her reaction of his dense words. Of course, Luca's noticed the fire dragon isn't as dense as he wants everyone to think.

He's also observed how the ice mage looks at her like she's the most valuable person ever, and losing it would break him. The small similarities between the two people and how it subtly brings them together.

He's noticed the small hint of adoration and affection the light dragon slayer hides behind the teasing and jokes he says to her, and the happiness he gets when she responds with the same energy.

He noticed how the lightning dragon slayer subtly looks after her and makes sure she's okay. The appreciation he has that she's there with them. More specifically, him.

He's even noticed the slightest emotion the shadow dragon slayer expresses when this girl speaks to him. A fondness the shadow dragon only exposes to those closest to him.

He has also noticed how the mysterious disappearance of the said girl for years affected them deeply. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Luca would use this phrase when regarding the relationship of the blonde celestial wizard with the 5 slayers.

Overall, he's also noticed this girl's obliviousness to the romantic feelings of these guys. Though she may be oblivious, the look in her eye when she looks at the 5 of them make the Phantom Wraith slayer believe that she feels a strong sense of attachment to the 5 of them. Love? Maybe. Adoration? Most definitely.

Of course, Luca was never one to meddle in other's affairs. He'd keep quiet on topics unless it was absolutely life or death.

His sense of sight is keen, which is why he instantly noticed when the ice wizard tried to subtly take a deep breath and cast Ice Devil's Rage in Luca's direction.

Luca quickly dodged Gray's attack within a blink of an eye, moving towards the memory maker.

"So wraith slayers have intense speed..." Gray thought as he watched Luca swiftly move out of the way of his attack. It was almost as if Luca was teleporting. "I guess it makes sense..."

Black markings then appeared on Gray's skin at his will, showing that the ice devil slayer was getting serious.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!" Gray yelled, creating a silver iced bow in his hands. Pulling the bowstring back, he aimed at his two opponents who stood near each other. He released the arrow of peircing ice, the arrow hurdling towards the two wizards at intense speeds.

"Memory-make: Afterimage!" Rufus countered, the former image of him disappearing.

"Phantom form," Luca quietly casted, making his body a 3d shadow as the ice arrow pass through the thin air and the shadowy, dark figure.

Gray mentally scolded himself while Rufus appeared next to the stone wall of the semi-dark cave, casting a spell against the 2 slayers. "Memory-make: Sword of Frozen Black Lightning!" Rufus exclaimed as he shot waves of ice over the ground, black lightning soon striking the ice.

Luca, still being in his phantom form, completely evaded the attack as it passed through him. Gray on the other hand, dodged the strikes of black lightning while eating the ice as he passed by.

The spell Rufus had casted soon dissipated as Luca deactivated his phantom form, solidifying as into a normal human being.

"Phantom Wraith's Living Shadow," Luca said with a monotone voice. The shadows of the 3 wizards started climbing out of the ground with beady dark purple eyes staring into the eyes of the living.

The shadow monsters seemed violent and hostile towards Gray and Rufus, but not Luca, as he was the one who casted the spell for them to be living in the first place. Though Luca was the one to summon the shadows, he cannot control them. The shadow's do as their pleased until Luca sends them back to their place as a shadow of the living.

"Memorized," Rufus said with a smirk as he faced his own shadow. He then began thinking of a spell to combine with the one he learned from Luca. 

"Wait, don't-" Luca began, but it was too late. When Rufus finalized thinking of the perfect combination, he opened his mouth to cast the spell, only for nothing to come out.

While Rufus was busy being filled with absolute confusion as to why he couldn't speak, his shadow kicked the back of his knee before punching his stomach then his back.

The memory maker couldn't even yelp nor groan in pain as he dropped onto the floor from his shadow's attacks. Rufus' hands flew up to his gaping mouth with wide eyes as he tried saying anything. A spell would be the most useful in his situation, but he couldn't even make a peep.

"You shouldn't use a wraith slaying spell," Luca told Rufus as Rufus' shadow sank into the ground, grabbing Rufus to keep him on the ground while a worried expression was plastered of his masked face. "Otherwise, you'll have to go through the same side effects I had."

Rufus' shadow raised a fist from the ground next to Rufus' face before punching Rufus on his jaw hinge, instantly knocking him out.

"It'll wear off in a few," Luca muttered, gazing down at Rufus as Luca's shadow stood next to him.

Rufus teleported back to the Sabertooth balcony, taking his shadow with him as Luca earned Meraki Parastin 4 points because of Sabertooth's power up - get 3 points for every defeat, opponent gets 4 points when defeated.

"W-What...?" Gray stammered as his shadow stood in front of him, the scene of Luca and Rufus behind the shadow figure.

He couldn't believe his eyes. When he first fought Rufus, it took him a lot of strength, magic, and willpower to defeat him, but here was the Phantom Wraith slayer, defeating the memory maker with one spell.

This just got a lot more difficult.