"To finish in last place… how pathetic," Gajeel said loudly, making sure Natsu could hear every word.
"Master Gray, it must have been Lucy who dragged the team down!" Juvia declared with complete confidence.
Rhodes privately chuckled.
Phantom Lord's ex-members still held such charming hostility toward Fairy Tail.
Meanwhile, Chapati continued his announcements:
"Next, the seventh-place team from the preliminaries, a guild made up entirely of women, the Sea's Dancing Maidens… Mermaid Heel!"
Leading the group was the cool and composed Kagura, followed by Millianna, Arana, Risley, and Beth.
The four behind Kagura waved to the audience, drawing a thunderous reaction from the male spectators.
Rhodes nodded approvingly. "Mermaid Heel qualified, no surprise there."
Mira murmured, "I wonder how Miss Leila's injuries are healing."
Leila was the Celestial Spirit Mage from Mermaid Heel whom Rhodes had met in Saint Topia, severely injured, sent back to recover, then swiftly picked up by Kagura afterward.
Since Mira had been the one to take care of her, she still worried.
"Oh right, did you know?" Mira suddenly leaned toward Rhodes with a mischievous expression. "Miss Arana and Droy from our guild..."
Only Juvia perked up slightly, and in a completely wrong direction."She rejected Droy? Does she… like Master Gray? A rival in love?!"
Gajeel sighed. "Idiot. Not every woman likes Gray."
Chapati continued, "Next, the sixth-place team from the preliminaries, the wealthy and mysterious rising-star guild… Dragon's Treasure!"
"Dragon's Treasure? Who?"
It was the question on almost everyone's mind.
Sensing the audience's confusion, Chapati turned to Yajima.
"Mr. Yajima, Dragon's Treasure doesn't seem as well known as the other guilds."
When Yajima took things seriously, he could still deliver solid commentary.
"Hm… that's because they're a recently established New Faction Mage guild. But I've heard their members are a little… different from the usual New Faction Mages."
Jenny added, "And I heard they were the first guild to open an office right here in the capital."
She squinted at the team walking in. "They do have a rather intimidating presence."
Down in the arena, Natsu squinted at the two men leading the formation.
"I swear I've seen them somewhere… where was it?"
The two men were staring at him with equal intensity.
The one with the long braid snorted. "Never expected you to make it to the finals, kid. But we're not who we used to be. This competition is the perfect place to settle our old grudges!"
Natsu's eyes widened in recognition, then immediately lost it."Ah! You're...uh… who were you again?"
The other man, big-nosed with a trident-shaped hairstyle, growled, "Big bro, he's looking down on us again!"
Lucy and Happy, from the spectator seats, let out simultaneous screams.
"It's them! The Vanish Brothers from the mercenary guild Southern Wolf!"
At the same time, Rhodes briefed his teammates:
"I did some digging before. Dragon's Treasure is a New Faction guild established by a magical item company. Their executives noticed the weakness of standard New Faction Mages, so they came up with a plan, acquire a mercenary guild, outfit those battle-trained mercenaries with cutting-edge magic gear, and create the strongest New Faction guild."
"And the guild they acquired was none other than Southern Wolf, one of the top three mercenary guilds."
Mira tilted her head. "I remember now, two of them were beaten up by Natsu and Lucy."
"Was that the one where they defeated the gorilla monster in a maid outfit?" Laxus asked. Since reforming, he had heard many… colorful tales to get a read on his guildmates.
Mira giggled behind her hand. "That's the one."
"Making finals means they're at least decently strong, right?" Gajeel eyed the magic equipment strapped to them, some pieces looked metallic. He wondered what they would taste like.
"Are they stronger than Mermaid Heel?" Juvia asked.
Rhodes shook his head. "Hard to say. The prelims had a chaotic free-for-all element, but it was ultimately a puzzle-based event. Rankings don't necessarily reflect actual combat strength."
After the commentary box finished their brief analysis of Dragon's Treasure, Chapati continued:
"Next, the fifth-place team from the preliminaries… the azure wings shining across the night sky, Blue Pegasus!"
The arena shook with screams from the female audience as Ichiya swaggered in, leading four handsome men: Hibiki, Ren, Eve, and Simon, who appeared to have undergone extremely successful plastic surgery.
Jenny, as expected, cheered wildly for her own guild from the commentary booth.
The popularity of Fiore's most handsome "magician boy band" was terrifying; waves of fans shouted every member's name.
If one listened carefully, Ichiya's name even faintly drowned out the others, as if married women, in particular, were especially susceptible to his… unique charm.
Chapati raised his voice again:
"Fourth place! The goddess of love and war, the sacred destroyer, Lamia Scale!"
Jura, Lyon, Yuka, and Toby marched proudly into the arena, faces Rhodes had seen many times before.
The fifth member was a petite girl with short red hair tied into twin pigtails. Her mannerisms, posture, and timid energy mirrored Wendy's so closely that even her height was nearly identical.
Except… she surpassed Wendy in one area Wendy was quite sensitive about.
The audience's cheers for Lamia Scale were explosive, mostly due to their excitement toward Jura.
"That's Sherria," Rhodes said. "Jura bragged about her at that banquet. Supposedly she's a healing type like Wendy, and also uses Sky Magic."
Right as he finished speaking, Sherria, nervously glancing around, tripped on nothing and fell flat.
Then she sprang up in a panic and apologized profusely to her teammates.
Every Fairy Tail member froze with a powerful sense of déjà vu.
Wendy hugged herself, as if spiritually wounded.
"If we're ever matched against Lamia Scale," Mira said with a laugh, "maybe Wendy should take a substitute slot. It'd be adorable."
Rhodes shook his head. "Possibly. But we might not be allowed to choose our own battle members."
Chapati continued:
"Next, in third place, led by a newly appointed Wizard Saint, the rising star Mr. Bryliens!"
Yajima nodded in approval. "Hmm, I heard , Bryliens is an impressive young man."
Five contestants entered, each with an extremely distinct appearance.
To summarize: a bowl-cut guy, a cool older-sister type, a tiny loli, a muscle-bound tank, and a handsome pretty boy.
"It's Jeni," Rhodes said, spotting the small girl clutching a lollipop-shaped staff. "Good. She actually made it in!"
Although Shining Sun was a New Faction guild, none of them, aside from Jeni's staff, carried external magic items.
Most likely, they were specialists in Transformation Magic.
Then Chapati loudly announced the next team:
"And now, second place from the preliminaries… oh my, what an unexpected result."
He double-checked the paper in his hand as if afraid it might be wrong.
"Second place, last year's Grand Magic Games champions, Fiore's self-proclaimed King, its strongest guild, Sabertooth!"
The entire arena fell into stunned silence.
Sabertooth…second?
The guild that boasted
"The heavens roar for us, the earth trembles for us, the seas bow before us", had been beaten?
Jenny gasped. "That really is shocking."
Yajima added, "Hmm, Sabertooth has always had tremendous popularity as well…"
Sting, Rogue, Orga, Rufus, and Dobengal entered without a trace of their usual arrogance.
Despite placing second, a perfectly respectable result, their expressions were stiff, almost grim.
All except Dobengal swept cold gazes toward the final unopened entrance, trying to sense who had dared to surpass them.
The audience buzzed loudly.
They counted carefully, most of Fiore's major guilds had already appeared.
Dragon's Treasure was technically a newcomer, so expectations for them were low.
So then, who took first place?
Of the few well-known guilds still missing, could it be…Quatro Cerberus?
...
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