As the manifested town vanished, the arena returned to its original state. On the floating holographic screens, the contestants' scores rapidly updated.
Soon, the final rankings of the "Hidden" event and their corresponding points were clearly displayed before the audience:
From lowest to highest: Raven Tail (0 points), Mermaid Heel (1 point), Mermaid Heel (2 points), Blue Pegasus (3 points), Sabertooth (4 points), Lamia Scale (6 points), Fairy Tail Team A (8 points), Fairy Tail Team B (10 points).
Fairy Tail had once again swept the top two spots, firmly dominating the other six guilds on the leaderboard!
Moreover, because Lyon had scored enough points off Nullpudding, even though Rufus's Meteor Night had struck five people at the end, he couldn't overtake in total points and could only barely hold onto fourth place.
In truth, if Rufus hadn't been so flashy and waited until the very last moment to strike, he might have held onto third place like in the preliminaries.
But there were no "if onlys."
Tasting defeat, his expression dim as he walked back to Sabertooth's area. There, Future Sting, Future Rogue, and the others stood in grim silence, fists clenched. Master Jiemon's veins bulged on his forehead, already on the verge of explosion.
What awaited the arrogant Rufus was sure to be a storm of fury.
"Damn bastard! How dare you do this to me! I'll kill you!!"
Nullpudding, bruised and battered, his eyes bloodshot, charged at Gray despite the match being over.
"Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough, Nullpudding?"
A figure wearing a bronze mask, completely shrouded in a black cloak, appeared silently between them.
His name was Alexei—the captain of Raven Tail's five-man team, and in truth, Master Ivan himself.
The familiar, cold voice made Nullpudding shudder, instantly regaining his composure. "S-Sorry... I failed..."
"It's fine. You've worked hard. Go rest in the back."
Alexei (Ivan) acted generously, but beneath the mask, his expression was ruthless. If it weren't for needing enough members to continue competing, he would have killed this useless fool on the spot!
They had already lost Obra. If they lost Nullpudding too, they wouldn't even qualify to participate in the Grand Magic Games, let alone target Fairy Tail.
"Just you wait, Makarov. Pray that you don't run into us in the battle rounds..."
With one last deep look at the triumphant Makarov in the stands, Ivan flicked his cloak and followed Nullpudding off the field.
The other guilds were also agitated by their loss to Fairy Tail, but the atmosphere wasn't as oppressive as Sabertooth's or Raven Tail's.
After cheekily telling his senior Lyon that he still needed to work harder, Gray returned to Team A's area.
"Hey, Gray! What's the big idea?! You had someone feeding you points, and you still lost to Team B?!" Future Natsu immediately scolded him, clearly dissatisfied with Gray's second-place finish.
"Easy for you to say! Who knew that bastard Chase would hit his own teammates too?!" Gray snapped back. "And what do you mean 'feeding me points'?! I earned those points fair and square!"
That wasn't entirely wrong—in the original story, he had been so badly targeted by Nullpudding that he had ended up crying alone in a dark room after the match.
"Hmph! Your 'skill' isn't all that impressive then. If I had gone out there, I'd have taken first place by a landslide!"
"First place from the bottom? Sure, I believe that."
"What did you say, you dimensional ice cube?!"
"I said you're Team A's dead weight!"
Words were wasted on them. Even though they were from different worlds, their foreheads were soon pressed together in their signature clash.
"Ooh! Now that's Natsu and Gray! That's what it means to be a man!" Elfman cheered them on.
"You two have always had such a good relationship," Erza said, nodding seriously instead of stopping them.
"Where is that 'good relationship' coming from?!" Future Lucy shouted in exasperation, deeply worried about the matches ahead.
With them like this, could they really beat Team B and become the guild's strongest?
The crushing victories in the preliminaries and the first day's event had made her unconsciously treat the Grand Magic Games as an internal Fairy Tail competition, taking it lightly.
"So..."
Inside the card in the stands, Lucy stared blankly at Natsu and Future Gray brawling passionately. "Why are the two idiots on our side fighting too?!"
"Aye~ Because they can't tell who's the dimensional counterpart and who's the real one~" Happy said.
"Is that the problem?!" Lucy was utterly baffled.
Compared to Team A's chaos, Team B was perfectly harmonious.
"Great work, Chase~"
Mira stepped forward gently, helping straighten Chase's slightly disheveled collar (caused by napping on the wooden bench).
"Heheh. That was incredible magic—hitting everyone in one shot!" Future Gajeel said with admiration, still awestruck by the Trap Card's activation.
"There's nothing to be impressed about. That level was just playing around," Future Laxus said, glancing at Chase matter-of-factly. "This guy wasn't even using the power he showed when fighting me!"
"Wahhh... I wish my name could be next to Gray-sama's..." Future Juvia bit her sleeve, gazing enviously at the screen. "But for GrayJu's sake, Juvia must endure!"
Chase gave her an amused glance but ultimately decided not to mention that the Gray on the field was from their own world.
For a love-struck girl like her, it probably wouldn't matter anyway.
As the teams returned to their respective rest areas, the stunned audience finally snapped out of it, reacting to that near-perfect final strike from Mirror Force.
Then, after a brief lull, the heated discussions erupted once more.
Sabertooth's die-hard fans argued that Chase's "sneak attack" was far too underhanded, nothing like Rufus's honorable style.
Though few in number, some rational spectators who had been won over by Mirror Force argued back, pointing out that Chase had openly revealed his position from the very start.
There was no denying that. So Sabertooth's fans shifted their attack to Gray, accusing Fairy Tail of using dirty tactics to bribe Raven Tail.
The two sides argued fiercely, quickly drawing in supporters from other guilds, voices clashing from all directions.
"REFUND!!" One particularly agitated spectator stood up and shouted, standing out conspicuously in the crowd.
"It seems there's a lot of controversy regarding Fairy Tail and Raven Tail—these two father-and-son guilds," Chapati said, glancing at the battle round matchup list in his hand. After a brief pause, his passionate voice echoed through the arena via the microphone.
"Is it about personal connections, or simply a display of overwhelming strength? Let the upcoming battle rounds tell us the answer!"
"Day One of the Grand Magic Games — First Battle Round: Raven Tail's Flare Corona versus—"
"Fairy Tail Team A's Lucy Heartfilia!"
***
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