Sting Eucliffe

Sting Eucliffe (スティング・ユークリフ Sutingu Yūkurifu) is a Mage of the currently strongest Guild in Fiore, the Sabertooth Guild.

Appearance
Sting is a slim, yet muscular and toned young man of average height with blonde hair, which is kept in spiky strands jutting outwards in every direction, and a smaller, frontal tuft of hair partially hanging on his forehead. He has slanted dark eyes, and above the right one is a visible thin scar, diagonally going up his forehead. His left ear is adorned by an earring, with a prominent metal pendant reminiscent of a double-edged blade attached to it. His dark Sabertooth stamp is located on his left shoulder. Being a Dragon Slayer, he possesses distinctively sharp canine teeth.

Sting dons a blue vest with golden outer edges and inner edges covered by a prominent trimming of gray fur over a short, cream top, leaving his muscular upper abdominals exposed. His arms are covered by dark blue gloves reaching up to his middle biceps, with their upper edges being adorned by light grey bands hanging down several centimeters. He wears loose, cream pants, similar to Natsu's, but held up by suspenders, attached to the pants' loops by square-shaped rings. Over them, he dons distinctive, dark blue galoshes-like footwear, reaching up to his thighs and attached to the upper edge of his pants. The prominent soles of the "boots" are distinctive in their own right, having rectangular protrusions pointing upwards on their front part, similar to square fangs.

Personality
Sting is a calm individual, who is usually seen smiling and has yet to lose his temper. He apparently thinks that people who abandon their comrades are scum and does not hesitate to punish them for their behavior ; at the same time, he was angered when Natsu said that fighting for his comrades was his reason for entering the games. Also, he seemingly had no problem with killing his own foster parent. Sting thinks that it's natural for a Dragon Slayer to kill dragons, and thinks that Dragon Slayers who are defeated by a dragon are nothing but a disgrace.

Sting apparently likes to watch fights, as he was excited to see Orga and War Cry fight. However, he was disappointed that Orga finished the fight rather quickly. He also desires to fight strong opponents, as after Natsu left after fighting his master, Sting showed a very excited face at Natsu's strength having a desire to fight him.

He seems to be quite arrogant as well, as he often boasts about his superiority as a Dragon Slayer. Also, after Yukino was banished from their guild for her failure, he seemed like he wasn't the least bit troubled, instead he said that they're the strongest guild and they had no need for weaklings. His only reaction was that a young Mage would replace Yukino, and that Sabertooth's five strongest Mage would be reassembled for the Grand Magic Games. He also has a sadistic side, going as far as to laugh at Lucy's suffering and over Minerva's cruel treatment towards her. Although he seems to care a lot for his Exceed companion Lector; this is demonstrated when he enters Dragon Force mode during his fight with Natsu stating that he will win for Lector's sake.

History
Sting was raised by a Dragon, Weisslogia, who taught Sting  White Dragon Slayer Magic. He eventually used this Magic to kill Weisslogia, in order to become a "real" Dragon Slayer. At some point in his life, he also implanted Dragon Lacrima in his body, which made him a Third Generation Dragon Slayer.

Seven years ago, he was also a fan of Natsu Dragneel.

Grand Magic Games arc
After wiping out an entire army of Dark Guild Mages, Sting and Rogue discuss the return of the Fairy Tail members who went missing seven years ago, including Natsu Dragneel. Despite Rogue's claims otherwise, Sting feels that Rogue would very much like to meet Natsu. As their conversation shifts to Rogue's apprenticeship to Gajeel Redfox, an archer from the Dark Guild they defeated appears and shoots an arrow at them, but Sting grabs the arrow, eats it, and scares the archer off with his Dragon's Roar. They regroup with Lector and Frosch, who praise the two Dragon Slayers. As they walk away, Sting suggests to Rogue that they duel Natsu, though Rogue shows no interest.

Five days before the beginning of the Grand Magic Games, Frosch and Lector inform Sting and Rogue about Natsu deciding to participate in the tournament. Sting gets enthusiastic with the tournament while Rogue expresses his disinterest.

At the city of Crocus, Sting and Rogue fight and defeat some Mages before meeting Natsu, who they make fun of for being a Dragon Slayer who couldn't defeat a dragon. They then announce that they are third generation Dragon Slayers who killed the dragon that taught them Dragon Slayer Magic. Sting, Rogue and their Exceeds then leave, but not before Sting tells Natsu they will show him the true power of a Dragon Slayer if the main event ends up being a battle. .

Later on, the teams which passed the preliminaries of the Grand Magic Games arrive at the stadium one by one. After the teams are revealed, Sting walks out with Rogue and the three other members of his team who took 1st place in the preliminaries, greeting Natsu along the way and telling him to enjoy the game. Sting cheers for both Rufus, and Orga Nanagear, from the side lines, as they both manage to place Sabertooth in the lead, with 20 points in total.

Sting later participates in the second day's event, Chariot. However, the task proves to be difficult for him as he becomes motion sick alongside Natsu and Gajeel, and the three are left behind while the rest of the participants race towards the goal. As the others finish, Natsu, Gajeel and Sting are ridiculed by the audience. Sting decides to give up but notices Natsu and Gajeel continue, deciding he'll let the two have the points as he feels it won't matter for his team in the end, though Gajeel warns him not to complain if it comes back to haunt him later. When he notices that the two are really determined to finish the race, he asks why, to which Natsu responds that it's for their guild mates who waited seven years for them to return as well as to symbolize that Fairy Tail will never give up. As Natsu and Gajeel finish and gain points for their teams, even getting applause from the audience for their tenacity. Sting exits the field, angered by Natsu's reason for joining the tournament.

He then watches the battles for the second day of the tournament until the final one between his team's Yukino Aguria and Mermaid Heel's Kagura Mikazuchi. Orga chastises Sting for not scoring any points though Yukino is confident that she can put them on the board. Sting reminds her why she's in Sabertooth, to win and not sully the guild name. However he is later left completely stunned and shaken when Yukino loses even after pulling out her most powerful Celestial Spirit, as well as losing the wager she had made with Kagura on her life. With this defeat, Sabertooth gains zero points in the second day of the games.

Later at night, Sting and the rest of Sabertooth attend to a meeting with the Guild Master, Jiemma. After holding his speech, Jiemma tells Sting that he'll only give him one more chance, which Sting accepts. Afterwards he watches Yukino being expelled from the guild. After the meeting, Sting points out that their master takes things to the extreme. Rogue expresses his doubt about their guild's concept and reminds Sting that Yukino was their comrade. Sting simply replies that she had to disappear because she was weak.

In the middle of the night, the Sabertooth lodging is attacked, and the noise causes Sting and Lector to wake up from their sleep. Rogue and Frosch inform them of an intruder, and the Twin Dragons hurry to find him, with Sting quickly getting dressed along the way. They then witness their guildmates being attacked by an angered Natsu, who had recently heard about Yukino's excommunication from the guild. Sting is shocked to see his guild-mates being attacked, and watches as Natsu challenges Jiemma to a fight. After seeing Dobengal's defeat, Sting tells his master to let him battle Natsu, but Jiemma tells him to stay back. Sting is also surprised at Minerva's return. When Natsu leaves, Sting is shocked at Natsu's strength.

At night, after the events of the third day, Sting stares up at the night sky as Lector approaches him, asking if he can't sleep. Sting responds that he has a feeling he'll be fighting Natsu the next day, stating that it's what he's been waiting for for seven years. The next day, during the Naval Battle, Sting watches Minerva and Lucy clash. He talks to his guildmates about how devilish Minerva is, then later when the Sabertooth Mage tortures Lucy deliberately, Sting could do nothing more than laugh gleefully at Fairy Tail's loss.

Sting, along with the rest of his teammates, comes down to the field, where Lucy is grievously injured, to protect Minerva from team Fairy Tail A. When Erza Scarlet tells his team that making an enemy out of Fairy Tail has been the greatest mistake they committed, Sting looks at them and smiles. Later on, when the new Team Fairy Tail is formed, Sting and his teammates stare at the new team.

Sting enters the battle field with Rogue Cheney as his partner as they get ready to fight Team Fairy Tail's Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox, and Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel. Sting looks at Natsu and tells him that he has been yearning for this day to come. Sting, anxiously waiting for the battle to start, thinks about how much he has been waiting to fight Natsu. The Pumpkin Man gives the signal to begin the battle when the bell is rung, Sting and Rogue rush towards Natsu and Gajeel but are left stunned when they meet their opponents face-to-face.

Sting is attacked with a barrage of attacks by Natsu. He regains his posture and uses his White Dragon's Roar, but does not land a hit. He changes the direction to where Gajeel is standing, giving Rogue an opening to attack Gajeel. However, Natsu grabs Rogue and drags him towards Sting and uses his Fire Dragon's Wing Attack on both of them. After stating that he knew Natsu would be a tough opponent, Sting activates White Drive. He runs towards Natsu and attacks him with his White Dragon's Punch, dealing significant damage to Natsu. As Sting keeps assaulting Natsu with his attacks, he tells him that he has always looked up to him and aims to surpass him. He sends a beam of light towards Natsu, which lands on his stomach, creating a Stigmata.

As he gets ready to land the finishing blow, affirming that with his upcoming attack he will surely surpass him, Natsu evades it and punches him. Surprised and excited, Sting gathers light and uses his Secret Dragon Slayer Art, Holy Nova, but is easily stopped by Natsu. After many hits, Sting lays on the ground next to Rogue. With Mato questioning the outcome of the match, Sting, promising to win for Lector's sake, and Rogue get up and enter Dragon Force mode.

Magic and Abilities
White Dragon Slayer Magic: A form of Dragon Slayer Magic which allows Sting to transform the physiology of his body into that of a White Dragon, allowing him to generate and manipulate light as he wishes. Unlike that harnessed by standard Light Magic, however, the White Dragon Slayer ' s element has been described as being "holy", with Sting remarking that his opponents suffer the "judgement of the holy white". Strangely enough, while such form of Magic is focused around light and thus supposed to grant Sting the ability to consume light to replenish his strength, the Sabertooth Mage was shown able to consume a metal arrow, something supposed to be a prerogative of an Iron Dragon Slayer. As a member of the Third Generation of Dragon Slayers, Sting learnt this form of Magic through two means, by both receiving the teachings of Dragon named Weisslogia and having Dragon Lacrima implanted into his body.


 * White Dragon's Roar (白竜の咆哮 Hakuryū no Hōkō): As the Dragon's Roar typical to his Magic, Sting is capable of firing a ray of light from his mouth to attack opponents. While being relatively small in width when compared to other Roars, the White Dragon Slayer is capable of freely moving his head around while performing it and thus make it curve at his whim, thus managing to lash a wider area with this move while he targets foes. Natsu Dragneel noted how the generated beam resembles a laser, and its effects aren't unlike it, seemingly slicing the ground it struck while lifting a linear explosion of debris in its trajectory. After devouring a metal arrow which was fired at him through unknown means, Sting was shown using a different Roar, this consisting of a powerful, larger whirlwind which pierced through several buildings with ease, leaving a clean, round hole in each of them.


 * White Drive (ホワイト・ドライブ Howaito Doraibu): A technique which, according to Mavis Vermilion, amplifies Sting's Magic abilities, completely cloaking his body into an aura of bright light which allows him to better employ his Dragon Slayer Magic, at the same time seemingly enhancing his physical prowess to a degree, particularly his speed. According to Sting himself, White Drive harnesses "the power that kills dragons", and it indeed allowed the White Dragon Slayer to momentarily overwhelm Natsu Dragneel, who had him completely outmatched beforehand. This state either grants Sting the ability to perform new moves or makes them stronger, as the Sabertooth Mage has been shown employing several skills only while in such form. This technique is very similar to that used by Sting's fellow Dragon Slayer and partner Rogue, the similarly named Shadow Drive.
 * White Dragon's Punch: Sting covers one of his hands into a sphere of light and then punches the target with it, striking with boosted power and making it look like he's firing some sort of beam at close range. He's shown capable of unleashing extremely fast barrages of such attacks, momentarily driving even an accomplished unarmed fighter the likes of Natsu Dragneel into a corner. (Unnamed)


 * White Dragon's Claw (白竜の爪 Hakuryū no Tsume): A close range move which he described as a "holy attack", Sting performs White Dragon's Claw by generating a sphere of light around one of his hands and then firing a blast of medium size from it. If such blast connects with the body of the opponent, it tears through clothing and blackens the struck area, at the same time leaving a light, complex mark on it, a so-called "stigma", which, according to Sting, takes away the body's movement; something which leaves the foe open to the White Dragon Slayer ' subsequent attack. It's currently unknown how much such move limits the target's freedom, as Natsu Dragneel was able to burn the symbol away with his own Dragon Slayer Magic exploiting one of its seeming weaknesses, fire. A stigma is a supernatural mark of faith found in Christianity, living up to the holy theme of White Dragon Slayer Magic.
 * Dragon Slayer's Secret Art (滅竜奥義 Metsuryū Ōgi):


 * Holy Nova (ホーリーノヴァ Hōrī Nova): A technique which Sting described as "the best of (his) best", and which he initates by bending his right arm backwards, the fist clenched, and extending frontwards a mildly bent left arm, tiny streaks of light gathering before the outstretched fingers from the surrounding area. He then rushes towards the target and punches them with his right hand, which is now covered in a very massive, horizontal column of light enveloping his entire arm and a remarkable distance behind it. This move creates a large, impressive explosion on contact, which leaves Sting unharmed, but is seemingly lethal to the target. The true power of the White Dragon Slayer ' s most powerful attack, however, remains unknown, as Natsu Dragneel stopped it with a single hand and emerged unscathed from its blast. However, Orga Nanager and Rufus Lore's shock at such a feat hints at the highly destructive capabilities Holy Nova possesses.

Dragon Force (ドラゴンフォース Doragon Fōsu): Being a product of the so-called Third Generation, Sting is capable of entering the most advanced state a Dragon Slayer can achieve at his will, without the need to consume strong, external sources of Magic. Such a feat greatly surprised several individuals who have intimate knowledge of Dragon Slayer Magic, leaving them blank. While activating this form, Sting's body gains additional traits making him more alike to a White Dragon, with his whole body becoming cloaked in an aura of light even more brilliant than that generated by White Drive, and with pure white scales appearing to cover the outer edges of his face and extending down the sides of his neck to the rest of his body. These are shown to be more and more uniform as they get farther from the central part of his body, which instead bears several scattered, distinct scales, elongated and placed diagonally.

Enhanced Reflexes: Sting possesses fast reflexes, having been capable of grabbing an arrow which was flying towards Rogue in midair even while seated, something which greatly surprised the archer who shot it.

Enhanced Durability: As expected from a Dragon Slayer, Sting appears to be considerably durable, undergoing a barrage of physical attacks from Natsu, some of which were enhanced by the Mage's own Dragon Slayer Magic, without suffering debilitating injuries, and continuing to fight employing his best techniques afterwards.

Hand to Hand Combatant: Sting is shown to actively engage opponents in melee, using the light generated by his Dragon Slayer Magic to boost the power of his blows. When punching under the effects of White Drive, the White Dragon Slayer is capable of literally bombarding his foes with a barrage of shining blasts at close range, leaving even a seasoned martial artist like Natsu Dragneel open to attacks, despite him eventually overwhelming Sting.

Battles & Events

 * Twin Dragons of Sabertooth vs. Unnamed Dark Guild
 * Twin Dragons of Sabertooth vs. Unnamed Mages
 * Chariot
 * Natsu Dragneel & Gajeel Redfox vs. Sting Eucliffe & Rogue Cheney

Trivia

 * In Volume 32's extra content, Mashima provided the battle statistics for 31 of the 40 X791 contestants in the Grand Magic Games. The stats, however, were provided not from Mashima's point-of-view as the author but from the view point of Sorcerer Magazine reporter Jason. Which explains why some stats are missing and why others may be inaccurate. According to Jason from the Sorcerer Magazine, during his participation in the Grand Magic Games of X791, Sting's stats are: