Sabertooth's Lodging Inn.
Crocus Garden.
At this time, all members of Sabertooth had been summoned here. They all stood with their hands behind their backs, and every one of them looked extremely sharp and capable.
In fact, they were indeed elite. This was Sabertooth's recruitment principle—one's strength must reach a certain level to be allowed to join the guild.
Unlike Fairy Tail, which set no entry threshold at all, which led to the Mages of Fairy Tail being a mixed bag—
Every member of Sabertooth was a skilled hand, making their title as Fiore's strongest guild well-deserved.
"You're not worth sympathy at all, I can't even squeeze out a single tear. You bunch of trash."
"Think back carefully on why we stand at the pinnacle of Mage Guilds. Don't look at the ants around you, don't waste time talking, just crush them directly. What we need to focus on are much more significant things."
"Shake the heavens! Boil the earth! Silence the sea! That is Sabertooth!"
Sabertooth's Guild Master, Jiemma, was berating the crowd.
"But now look, what has the strongest Sabertooth become?!"
"Last place! Actually last place!"
"What a laughable number! You trash!"
Jiemma said as he threw a bunch of grapes in his hand onto the ground.
"Only two days have passed in the Grand Magic Games, and the once-lofty Sabertooth has fallen to becoming a laughingstock for others!"
"I'm too embarrassed to even go out and see people!"
"Sting."
"Here."
"I'll give you one last chance. Don't let such a mess happen again."
"Yukino."
"Here."
"For you, there is no room for excuses. You should understand that, right?"
"Yes, I lost to someone from another guild and tarnished Sabertooth's reputation."
Jiemma picked up another bunch of grapes and smashed them onto Yukino's head. "That's not what I'm talking about! You lost even after betting your life, and what's more, you were actually pitied by the enemy! We are Sabertooth! A slave belonging to another guild has absolutely no right to be in Sabertooth!"
"Take off your clothes!"
"Understood. I shall obey your command."
Yukino began to undress, and soon, she had taken off all her clothes.
Rogue closed his eyes and didn't look, Rufus bowed his head like a gentleman, and the others in the guild all stared straight ahead, also avoiding looking at Yukino.
"Remove the guild mark."
Yukino's body trembled, but she still followed the command and removed the guild mark from her abdomen.
"Although my time here was short, I still want to thank you for taking care of me."
"Get the hell out of here, trash!"
Yukino turned and left.
"You lot, I don't want to see another disgraceful performance like today's in the upcoming matches. Go and reverse the score immediately, understood?"
"Understood!"
"Meeting adjourned!"
After Jiemma finished speaking, the guild members scattered and left.
"Master really does things in an extreme way." Sting complained as he walked.
They had, after all, won several championships for Sabertooth, but just because of an occasional poor performance, they were scolded like they were nothing.
Lector said, "It can't be helped. This is the way of survival for the strongest guild."
"Frosch feels so lonely."
Rogue spoke up, "Is this a 'guild'?"
"Ah?"
"Yukino was once our comrade."
Sting looked at Rogue and said, "But she disappeared because of a lack of strength. There's no helping it. Survival of the fittest is exactly the law of survival for the strongest guild."
Rogue didn't say anything. He knew this model was wrong and unhealthy, but he was powerless to change anything.
"Speaking of which, it seems Minerva is going to take Yukino's place."
"Doesn't that complete the strongest five-man team?"
Lector and Sting continued walking forward, as if they hadn't been affected by what just happened.
"Rogue, will Frosch also disappear because I'm too weak?" Frosch looked at Rogue anxiously.
Rogue smiled. "You won't disappear, Frosch, because I'll be with you."
"Mm, Frosch won't disappear."
—
Fairy Tail's lodging hotel.
"Cheers!"
The guild members all raised their glasses to celebrate together again.
"Haha! We swept first and second place, how satisfying!" Macao shouted happily as he drank.
In these seven years, they had always been in last place. Now they had finally turned things around, this was Fairy Tail's original position.
If it were just a simple first place, some might think it was just luck, but by taking both of the top two spots, there was no doubt that Fairy Tail was the strongest guild, more powerful than any other.
Today, they heard the audience talking about Fairy Tail from the stands. Those people had changed from mocking to shocked, and from shocked to admiring.
They originally didn't care much about rankings, but they didn't want Fairy Tail to be slandered, so they participated in the Grand Magic Games time after time, but luck never seemed to be on their side.
Or rather, they weren't weak, but they were only good at certain things, like Bisca being good at shooting and Jet being good at running.
So every time they wanted to prove something, they ended up at the bottom of the rankings, and without realizing it, they had all lost their confidence.
Now that the core members were back, they had finally found their backbone, proving that they weren't boasting—their Fairy Tail was the strongest guild.
"Erza, someone's at the door looking for you." At that moment, Max called out to Erza.
Erza was taken aback. She didn't seem to have any acquaintances here, but she still went to the door.
A girl was standing at the door, wearing a hat that made it hard to see her face.
"Erza, long time no see. Meow."
"That catchphrase..."
A look of pleasant surprise appeared in Erza's eyes as the girl took off her hat and revealed her face.
"Millianna!" Erza called out the other party's name.
"I missed you, meow." Millianna lunged straight at Erza.
Erza happily hugged Millianna. "Haha! Long time no see, Millianna. It's been another half a year, hasn't it?"
"It's not half a year. For me, it's been a full 7 years."
Erza patted Millianna's head. "That's right. No wonder you've grown so big, you're even taller than me now, you've become a young woman. Have you joined a guild?"
"Yes, Mermaid Heel."
"What about Sho, Wally, and Simon? You all left together back then, where are they now? Are they in the same guild too?"
"What are you saying? Mermaid Heel is a guild that only accepts women. Wally and Sho are still continuing their travels, and I hear from them occasionally. Simon opened a restaurant near Mermaid Heel. Oh right, you've met Kagura, haven't you?"
"The one participating today? She's a very powerful girl."
"She's Simon's younger sister."
"What?!"
Erza was taken aback. She hadn't expected that Kagura was actually Simon's younger sister.
"Then I'm truly happy for Simon. Being able to reunite with family is the best thing."
After her initial shock, Erza felt genuinely happy for Simon.