"What—?!"
Omega's eyes widened as the lightning sphere came screaming back at him. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.
God-Slaying Magic, like Dragon Slayer Magic, allowed its user to consume attacks of the same element. The cyan lightning wrapping the black sphere was the key. Devour that, neutralize the rest.
"Enough talk," Omega snarled as black lightning erupted across his body. "Let me show you lightning that can kill even gods!"
He exploded forward in a flash of darkness, his massive fist wrapped in crackling black thunder, aimed straight at Rowan's head. The force behind it looked capable of punching through the arena floor.
"God-Slaying Magic: Thunderous Destruction!"
"Out."
Rowan didn't move.
Instead, his golden tail suddenly expanded, swelling thicker than a stone pillar. Cyan lightning raced along its surface as it snapped forward like a whip.
Giant magic. Localized enlargement. Lightning reinforcement.
The tail struck first.
Omega's punch stopped less than a finger's width from Rowan's face. The next instant, Omega was gone, launched backward as if hit by a runaway train. His body slammed into the arena's outer stone wall, blood spraying as he crumpled to the ground.
"We already established this," Rowan said calmly, tail retracting as he clasped his paws behind his back. "We're not on the same level. I didn't even try. Do yourself a favor and stay down."
The arena went dead silent.
Every spectator, every mage on the other platforms, stopped mid-fight and turned to stare.
Omega wasn't weak. He was Saint-class. He had obliterated a mechanical monster with a single spell the day before. Even elite guilds treated him as a serious threat.
And yet, Rowan had dropped him with a single tail strike. No grand spell. No visible effort.
The gap was obscene.
"You've… really pissed me off."
Omega staggered to his feet, coughing blood, eyes blazing with rage. He drew every last drop of magic he had into his hands.
"This is unfinished magic," he roared. "I can't control it! If you die, that's on you!"
A massive black magic circle bloomed beneath him.
A column of black lightning, thicker than a water barrel, roared toward Rowan like a judgment from the sky.
"God-Slaying Magic: Thunder God Particle Cannon!"
Rowan's ears twitched.
"Huh. That one's decent," he said. "I use something similar."
The air screamed.
Lightning so dense it made mages across the arena shudder condensed in Rowan's paw.
"Standard Magic: Plasma Rail Cannon."
A cyan beam erupted forward.
The two lightning pillars collided.
For less than a second, they resisted each other. Then the difference became obvious. One attack was barely holding its shape. The other was compressed, stable, and merciless.
The cyan beam tore straight through the black lightning and struck Omega square in the chest.
This time, his body didn't just fly.
It punched through the arena's reinforced magic-stone wall, three meters thick, before finally coming to a halt outside the structure.
"…My lightning… kills gods…" Omega murmured weakly, tears slipping from the corners of his eyes.
Then he passed out.
"Magic's fine," Rowan said flatly. "You're the problem."
The explanation was simple. Against equals, God-Slaying lightning was superior. But raw volume mattered. Overwhelming force crushed technique when the gap was wide enough.
Armor beat flesh. Numbers beat armor.
Rowan had brought an army.
"W-we have our first winner of Group One!" the host finally shouted, voice shaking with excitement. "Fairy Tail's Rowan Mercer defeats Sabertooth's Omega! Fairy Tail gains ten points!"
The arena erupted.
"FAIRY TAIL!"
"FAIRY TAIL!"
Below the platform, Sabertooth's leader clenched his fists, veins bulging across his temples.
"Useless trash," Jiemma snarled. "A loser like that disgraces my guild."
Beside him, a woman in elegant dress folded her fan calmly.
"Father," Minerva said evenly, "Fairy Tail may be dangerous, but it's only one fighter. They won't outscore us alone. Our true rivals remain Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, and Lamia Scale."
She glanced toward the unconscious Omega being carried away.
"And we still need his strength. Let him redeem himself."
Jiemma exhaled slowly, rage barely contained, before nodding.
"…Fine. Heal him."
"Absolute Territory: Spatial Transfer."
Omega vanished, reappearing instantly in the medical wing.
Rowan fluttered down and landed on Laki's shoulder. As he watched Omega disappear, his gaze shifted briefly to Minerva.
"Long-range spatial transfer," he mused. "That's rare."
He could teleport himself. He could bring others with him. But relocating someone remotely like that was beyond him, for now.
Interesting.
The remaining matches dragged on far longer. Unlike Rowan's fight, most pairings were evenly matched, grinding battles that ended only when magic ran dry and fists took over.
The crowd loved every second.
But everyone knew one thing now.
The individual matches had a ceiling.
And Rowan Mercer had already broken through it.