"Hmph, you two need more training!" Macao boasted as he led the run ahead of Cana and Wakaba.
"Huh? What's this?"
While running, Macao suddenly stepped on a glowing stone.
"It's a spell," Cana observed, skidding to a halt as glowing purple characters sprang up from the ground, surrounding the three of them in a magical barrier.
"Damn it! Freed?!" Wakaba groaned, recognizing the rune magic.
"He set up spells along the running route!"
"Exactly right." Freed Justine stepped out from behind a tree, appearing before the three trapped mages.
Cana pounded on the spell barrier with her fist, glaring at him.
"Are you planning to keep us trapped here?! While it's true we can't use flight or mounts, using spells to block the path is going too far!"
"I never said you couldn't get out. There's always a solution to my spells," Freed replied calmly.
A flash of white light illuminated the barrier, and a massive stack of thick books materialized on the ground within the spell.
Cana picked one up, reading the covers in disbelief. "What are these books? 'Complete Collection of Past Written Exam Questions for Magic Vehicle Driver's License'? 'Third-Level Four Elements Magic Theory Question Bank'?!"
Macao picked up another stack. "'Complete Collection of Laxus Quotes'??? 'Selected Edition: 108 Golden Quotes from Laxus'??? 'Laxus's Life Story'?!?"
Back at the commentator's booth, Raizel nearly died laughing at Freed's blatant fanboy antics.
"Life story??? 108 quotes? And a selected edition?!" Wakaba protested loudly, "Freed! What exactly are you trying to do?"
Freed smiled mysteriously. "To break this spell, you must complete all the questions inside those books and get every single answer correct. I'm doing this for your own good."
"Nani?!"
"If this 24-hour endurance race is meant to test our physical strength and wisdom, then adding this academic side activity shouldn't be excessive," Freed reasoned perfectly. "If you want to blame anyone, blame yourselves for carelessly falling into the trap."
Over the broadcast, Raizel chimed in: "This is quite sudden. Let's interview contestant Laxus for his thoughts on this."
Laxus, sitting comfortably at the commentary table, twitched at the corner of his mouth as Mira suddenly shoved a microphone in front of his face.
"This is within the rules... but I'd prefer if the names of those books were changed."
"Good for what?!" Cana yelled from the screen. "To take a magic vehicle driver's license exam?!"
"Or to become Laxus fanboys like you?!" Wakaba added.
Cana facepalmed in sheer exasperation. "Laxus isn't even dead yet, and you're already writing his life story?!"
Freed's face reddened slightly when his word choice was pointed out on live television.
"Ahem, I'll change the book title next time. What do you think about changing it to 'Heroic Deeds'?"
All three trapped mages screamed: "No good! Let us out!"
"Heh, you can only leave after answering correctly." Freed turned and departed after saying this, leaving them to their misery.
"What does this have to do with me?!" Cana raged.
"Macao was the one who activated the spell! We're just collateral damage!" Wakaba cried.
"Eh! Now we have no choice but to try answering all the questions correctly!" Macao sighed in defeat.
Cana and Wakaba protested violently: "Do it yourself if you want! What's the point of doing Laxus-related questions?!"
...
Further down the path, Erza was sprinting with steady breaths when she abruptly stopped and took a step back.
"Is this a spell?"
"Titania, your senses are indeed sharp! You can detect my spell traps, but unfortunately..." Freed stepped out of the shadows.
However, while Freed was speaking to himself, his pupils suddenly widened in shock.
Dozens of razor-sharp magic swords had surrounded him from all directions without his notice.
"You've committed the grave sin of disrupting my running rhythm," Erza glared at him menacingly, her swords humming with power.
"Forcing me to readjust it all over again is unforgivable."
"Erza, wait! Let me out! Don't run away!" Freed panicked as the swords trapped him in place.
Just then, Happy suddenly dashed past Freed and Erza on his little legs, panting heavily.
Jason screamed into the mic. "The magic barrier was just set up, and already a massive magical free-for-all has erupted!"
Raizel: "It's hard to predict the outcome here, but amidst the chaos, Happy has miraculously surged to the front of the pack!"
Mira smiled warmly: "It seems everyone is truly terrified of the Master's penalty game."
Jason: "Huh? There seems to be some movement on Mount Ibol? Could it be...?"
Raizel checked the crystal screen: "Yes! It appears to be Jet—he's already reached the mountaintop."
The camera finally captured Jet running at blinding speeds up the rocky incline.
Jason: "He's obtained the Snow Magic Beast's scale! So easily! Now he just needs to run back!"
Jet didn't even slow down after grabbing the glowing white scale from the pile; he merely pivoted, charging back down the mountain at full speed.
...
Evening had finally fallen over the forest, casting long shadows.
Lucy was utterly exhausted, finding a soft spot under a tree to sit and rest her aching legs.
"I'm dead tired. I can barely run anymore. I have to rest for a bit," Lucy panted, wiping sweat from her brow.
"Lucy-chan, you've got to hang in there," Levy said, jogging in place to maintain her running pace and heart rate.
"But I can't run anymore, Levy. You go ahead without me. I'll catch up soon," Lucy urged her friend.
"Then... I'll go on ahead by myself. Don't give up!" Levy waved, continuing down the path.
"My feet hurt so much. Isn't there any good solution?" Lucy whined to herself.
Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in her head. "In times like these, the most reliable..."
Lucy took out her golden Celestial Spirit keys and smiled.
"Open! The gate of the Goat! Capricorn!"
With a chime of golden light, Capricorn, dressed in a sharp tuxedo and dark sunglasses, appeared and bowed gracefully.
"How may I serve you, Miss Lucy?"
"Quick, carry me and run to the mountaintop! At super high speed!" Lucy demanded, hopping onto his back.
"Understood!" Capricorn placed a hand on his chest and gave a slight bow, adjusting his grip on her.
"Oh ho! This is too easy. Full speed ahead! Please hold on tight, Miss Lucy. I'm starting to run."
WHOOSH!
Further up the path, Levy, still running, only heard Lucy's scream and felt a massive gust of wind blow past her as Capricorn sprinted by in a blur.
"Lucy-chan! You're cheating too!" Levy cried out in betrayal.
Over the broadcast, Raizel clarified the rules.
"Capricorn is a Celestial Spirit and doesn't count as a mount or vehicle, so it's not against the rules and can't be considered cheating. A clever loophole by Lucy."
Capricorn chatted politely with Lucy while running at breakneck speed: "Miss Lucy, if I may be blunt, you should have summoned me from the start."
"I just didn't think of it!" Lucy wailed, holding onto his horns for dear life.
...
Elsewhere in the forest, Juvia sat by the riverbank, dipping her hand into the cool, flowing water.
"Such refreshing water—all my fatigue is washing away," Juvia sighed blissfully. "Gray-sama, I'm truly sorry for earlier. Because Juvia was also afraid of the rumored penalty game, I didn't help Gray-sama when he crashed and ran ahead alone."
"But Juvia is now condemning herself for it!" she cried dramatically. "At least when Gray-sama reaches here later, I'll use this cool water to ease his fatigue! Like this... Eek!!!"
Stepping too far into the current, Juvia unconsciously transformed her body into water to avoid drowning and ended up flowing rapidly downstream with the river.
Further up the trail, Wendy's ears twitched.
"Was that Juvia-san's voice just now?" She felt like she heard Juvia's scream echoing from the water.
"Hmm, should I say it's expected of a Water Mage?" Carla mused. "While using water to heal her fatigue, she even thought of using the river's current to move forward."
"But isn't the river flowing downstream? The mountain is upstream," Wendy pointed out.
"Did any of you see Juvia pass by?" Gray suddenly caught up to Wendy and Carla from behind, looking around for the water mage.
Wendy and Carla simply pointed silently at the river flowing in the opposite direction.
"Eh??? What are you pointing at?" Gray asked, thoroughly confused.
...
It was already late evening.
Back at South Gate Park, Raizel, Laxus, and Mira didn't even bother with commentary anymore.
They were happily eating a massive feast at their table.
"Aren't we being utterly wicked?" Raizel smirked, taking a bite. "They're doing a grueling 24-hour endurance run while we're here eating a barbecue?"
"Blame gramps for that. He didn't let the three of us compete," Laxus grunted, taking a swig of beer.
Mira had also been barred from competing by Makarov, for an absolutely ridiculous reason—the 'face of the guild' must remain beautiful and sweat-free.
"Why blame me!" Makarov yelled from off-screen.
Mira placed a massive plate of freshly grilled meat on the table.
"Here they are, the skewers are here!"
The sounds of the three of them noisily eating, chewing, and praising the delicious skewers were transmitted directly through the magical microphones and broadcast across the forest, reaching the ears of the starving, exhausted members still running.
"We're running for our lives out here! Is it really okay for you guys to be eating?!" Wakaba yelled at the sky.
"Skewers! I want skewers! ┭┮﹏┭┮" Macao cried, still trapped in Freed's rune.
"We haven't eaten for almost a whole day!" Lucy complained from Capricorn's back.
Erza, however, was completely unfazed by the sounds of food, entirely locked into her own running rhythm.
Jason completely ignored the external distractions, maintaining his hype.
"It's been most of the day since the start, and now we're under the moonlight! Let's take a look at the Mages currently holding the Snow Magic Beast scales, who have begun rushing back on the return journey!"
Jet, Ur, Erza, and Gajeel were leading the pack.
Ur and Erza's steady pacing strategy was already paying off massively.
Many members were already out of breath, but these two were still breathing evenly even now, maintaining a constant speed.
Ultear had also obtained a scale, but she was in the third group; physical endurance wasn't exactly her strong suit compared to her immense magical reserves.
Reedus and Freed had also retrieved their scales.
Following them, nearly ten more members successfully acquired scales.
...
"Huh??? Don't disappear now!"
Natsu, who was almost at the mountaintop, finally ran out of magic.
His Fire Dragon's Iron Fist boosters had been pushing him all day, running from early morning until night.
Running out of fuel was entirely normal.
"After all, I've sprinted this far, it should be..." Natsu panted, dropping to his knees.
Natsu only then noticed Gajeel was hot on his heels.
"Gajeel!"
"Don't block my way, Salamander!" Gajeel sneered, sending an iron-scaled punch Natsu's way, launching the exhausted fire dragon slayer into the sky.
"That bastard Gajeel... Huh?"
While airborne, Natsu sniffed the air hard a couple of times.
He smelled fire nearby—a campfire left by hikers.
"Excuse me... Can I eat this fire?" Natsu asked a terrified camper, immediately scarfing down the flames to recharge.
Back at the broadcast, Raizel, munching on a fried chicken leg, watched Jason enthusiastically commentating.
"Jason's a tough guy, huh. It's been a whole day, and he's still not tired."
Laxus drank his beer. "Well, he's the reporter. We're just guest stars."
Meanwhile, Happy, with his hands behind his back, finally strolled into the mountaintop competition area like an old man out for a walk.
"Finally made it!" Happy smiled, looking at the members running back with their scales.
But there was a problem.
The scales were sitting on top of a tall, smooth boulder.
"Eek!!!" Happy jumped up and down vigorously on the ground, trying to reach them.
Although he was a cat, unfortunately, he wasn't a cat with great jumping ability without his wings.
His jumping height... was about the size of a matchbox.
"Hmm..." Happy sneakily checked left and right to see if there were any cameras around so he could cheat and use his wings.
However, Happy, who had just secretly spread his wings, was immediately spotted by a Lacrima camera floating nearby.
Panicking, he tried to free-climb instead.
The rock face was too smooth; Happy climbed halfway up only to slip and fall back down on his head.
"Oh, Happy," Natsu called out, having gotten his fuel refill and finally arriving at the peak.
"Natsu!" Happy cried tears of joy.
Natsu easily climbed up the boulder, took two scales down, and handed one to Happy.
"Thank you, Natsu."
"Then I'll run ahead now! See ya!" Natsu grinned.
"Don't collapse from exhaustion halfway!" Happy warned.
"I know! Fire Dragon's Jet!" Natsu blasted off down the mountain like a meteor.
"Whew~" Happy adjusted his breathing, clutching his scale tightly, and started running back too.
Jason's voice boomed over the town: "The Mages who have obtained the Snow Magic Beast scales are now dashing at high speed towards the finish line at South Gate Park!"
Right now, there were still many spectators from Magnolia staying up late at the park, waiting together under the stars to see the victor.
Jason: "Still in the lead is Jet! Close behind are the unfazed trio of Ur and Erza, followed by the group of Gajeel, Gray, and Lucy!"
Jason: "Everyone's sprinting at full speed, COOL!!! Who will end up in last place? Who will bear the ultimate punishment this year? Don't miss this thrilling showdown!"
Lucy was now running on her own two feet again.
Even with Capricorn's incredible stamina, carrying Lucy all the way up the mountain and halfway back had nearly drained him.
Moreover, Lucy's own magical power couldn't sustain summoning such a powerful spirit for that long.
Far ahead of the pack, Jet felt slightly hungry and confident.
He stopped and picked a nearby fruit from a tree to eat.
"Everyone's being too lax. Let me spice up the game's atmosphere," Jet smirked to himself.
After finishing the fruit, Jet leaned against the tree.
He decided to give them a head start to make his victory look even cooler... but unfortunately, he drifted into dreamland.
Jason: "COOL!!! The race is nearing its conclusion! The incredibly fast Jet remains unseen on the cameras—likely because he's too far ahead!"
"However, Ur, Erza, Natsu, and others are hot on his heels, pushing hard."
Mira watched the crystal screen showing everyone running tirelessly through the dark woods.
"They've been running all night. How exhausting."
Raizel and Laxus exchanged glances at their table covered in empty plates.
"We've been eating all night."
They gave each other a respectful thumbs-up. "Well played."
Jason: "Our crew will now relocate down to the finish line at South Gate Park! To witness everyone's heroic return!"
Deep in the forest, Happy was jogging along when he spotted someone sleeping sprawled out in an awkward position under a tree.
"Huh??? It's Jet!"
Happy jogged over and nudged the snoring runner. "Are you sleeping? Jet! Wake up!"
Jet, still drowsy, sat up while yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"Isn't this Happy?"
"Is it really okay to sleep at a time like this?" Happy asked innocently.
"Whoa!!! I overslept!" Jet screamed in absolute horror, looking up at the position of the moon.
He had only intended to add some suspense to the race, not to lose—but he'd genuinely overslept by hours.
"Everyone's already run past you," Happy informed him.
"Thanks for waking me, Happy! I'll treat you to fish when we get back!" Jet scrambled to his feet.
...
Jason: "Only a short stretch remains to the finish line! Are they competing for second place?!"
Natsu shouted excitedly while gazing into the distance through the trees.
"Great! Magnolia is now in sight!"
"What's going on?"
The leading Natsu noticed a blur of motion closing in at super speed from behind, kicking up a massive dust cloud.
Jason: "What's happening? Is that... Jet?!"
Makarov's eyes widened in the booth. "Wasn't he in first place?!"
As Jet caught up to the frontrunners, Natsu finally recognized him. "Wait? Why is Jet behind us?!"
Gray zeroed in on the key point immediately.
"That means... we're actually competing for first place right now?! Ur, even if it's you, I won't surrender the top spot!"
Ur, fiercely focused on her running rhythm, ignored him and pushed her pace harder.
Jason screamed into the mic: "What in the world is happening?! Jet is now catching up to Natsu's group at unbelievable speed! He's too fast! He's already overtaken another batch of runners!"
Erza glanced back at the approaching dust cloud that was Jet.
"Dream on! First place belongs to me! Requip!"
A flash of magical light blinded the runners.
When it faded, everyone stared in absolute shock.
"A bunny???" Gray yelled.
Erza had requipped into a skintight, aerodynamic bunny girl outfit, complete with ears.
"Did she get faster?!" Natsu asked in bewilderment.
"She might've slowed down?" Lucy panted, confused by the lack of running shoes.
"Is she trying to win through appearance?!" Wakaba cried.
"Seems like she's very particular about presentation," Carla sighed.
"What is the point of that outfit?!" Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray complained in unison.
Amid the bizarre banter and exhausted panting, the group finally breached the tree line and reached the paved streets of Magnolia.
"Everyone, MOVE!!!" Jet roared, recklessly activating his God Speed magic to its absolute limits, his legs a blur as he finally rejoined the lead pack.
Jason: "After entering Magnolia, Jet has finally caught up with the frontrunners!"
"It looks like the champion will be among these seven people!"
"Fire Dragon's Iron Jet!" Natsu tried to blast forward again.
Pfft.
A tiny wisp of smoke came out of Natsu's hands.
"Don't joke around!" Gray laughed.
"Requip!" Erza prepared to sprint.
Jason: "Natsu's Iron Fist has run out of fuel again!!! Will he lose his chance at the championship?!"
Natsu roared with a ferocious, determined expression, refusing to give up.
"How could I lose here! I'm going to sprint on foot!"
But at the final moment, just as the finish line came into view, Kagura finally bared her fangs from the middle of the pack.
She drew her sword slightly, her eyes glowing purple.
"Gravity Magic! Full power!"