On the wind-swept arena, Chase and Future Jura stood facing each other across the ravaged, cratered ground.
"WOW! What a surprise! After such a terrifying magical exchange, neither of them has fallen!" Chapati gripped his microphone tightly, his voice brimming with excitement. "A battle of equals—hands down the most spectacular match of the day!!"
"OOOOOH!!!" The audience let out frantic, near-hysterical cheers.
No longer just cheering for Jura, they were exhilarated simply by witnessing a battle of this caliber.
"A battle of equals... is it?" Yajima said, his expression grave as he studied the two fighters on the field.
With his sharp eye, he caught details that laymen would miss.
Chase, who had casually deflected the residual shockwaves, had steady, even breathing and abundant magical power. Jura, on the other hand, showed faint signs of hurried breathing!
On the field.
"Sigh. As a battlefield, this arena is still a bit too small. Hard to really cut loose," Chase said with a light sigh, dismissing Rock Giant Soldier and Dark Magician of Chaos from the field.
"You truly are monstrously strong, Mr. Chase," Future Jura said with genuine admiration.
The previous exchange and their current conditions were more than enough to confirm his earlier suspicions.
The man before him, who looked a few years younger than himself, had truly transcended human limits and reached that realm!
Meeting such a formidable opponent, Jura would have loved to go all out to test his own limits. But as Chase had said, this place wasn't suitable.
With that, the self-aware Jura slowly raised his hand, ready to concede.
But Chase, who still hadn't gotten a new card, wasn't about to let it end there.
BOOM!!
Before Jura could surrender, Chase lightly clenched his fist, and a torrent of magic power erupted from within him.
Unlike the dark gold from before, this time it was a deep blue suffused with sacred energy!
An invisible pressure descended upon the entire arena. Every spectator trembled, their legs going weak, struck by an instinctive urge to fall to their knees.
Even the guild mages in the VIP stands were stricken with terror, their expressions drastically changed.
Weren't you just saying the arena was too small to properly fight?!
"Th-This magic power?!" Future Jura was stunned. "W-Wait, Mr. Chase, I surren—"
Chase cut him off unceremoniously: "God Slayer Magic: Obelisk Form!"
If Jura surrendered without a proper fight, certain fools would undoubtedly start spreading rumors about fixed matches.
WHOOSH!
Under the pale faces of everyone present, sacred arcs of light intertwined and wove together. A massive, deep-blue figure, tens of meters tall, slowly opened its crimson eyes.
Its shadow, heavy with pressure, cast over half the arena.
Its form was unmistakably Obelisk the Tormentor!
Thanks to the Card Space upgrade and the unlocking of his Second Origin, Chase's magic power had grown significantly since the Tenrou Island incident.
Building on that, and combining Obelisk's characteristics with divine power, he had developed a God Slayer Magic distinct from Slifer's—one focused on enhancing physical might: a semi-materialized manifestation!
The effect and form were somewhat reminiscent of Susanoo from that other series, but its strength was on an entirely different level!
"Chase, you brat! Didn't you promise me you wouldn't go overboard?!" Makarov was the most terrified person in the entire stadium.
From within the head of Obelisk's solidifying silhouette, Chase laughed. "I'm not summoning Gandora or Slifer, am I?"
"Also, this next move might be a bit intense—so I'll leave it to you, old man, to protect the venue~"
With Heart Magic backing him, he wasn't worried about the old man's body giving out.
"I'll *&%#@!!" Makarov cursed with heartfelt emotion.
After venting, the resigned old man leaped onto the platform and braced himself.
"If the old man's handling it, there shouldn't be any problems," Chase said, looking down at Future Jura below. "So—let's fight with everything we've got!"
"Very well, then—"
Since it had come to this, Jura, who had been craving a full-power fight all along, hesitated no longer. A blazing battle spirit ignited in his eyes. "Then I'll make a fool of myself."
"Rock Iron Titan: Overlord!!"
The ground roared. Dense, iron-hard rock lifted Jura high into the air, coalescing beneath his feet into a heavily armored titan no smaller than the Obelisk manifestation.
Armor, helmet, gauntlets—each piece materialized, radiating solemn, crushing pressure!
The two colossal figures loomed within the cramped arena, facing each other. Just the sight alone sent countless spectators fleeing in panic.
"Um... this seems a bit dangerous. Mr. Yajima, Mr. Chapati—maybe we should take cover too?" Jenny at the commentary booth was trembling.
Nobody had told her that being a guest commentator for the Grand Magic Games came with life-threatening risks!
"Impossible! Even if I die, I will see this unprecedented battle through to the end!" Chapati declared, gripping his microphone with unwavering resolve.
"Well, there's no need to be that scared. I trust Chase and Jura will exercise restraint," Yajima said.
"Can you please say that after you've come back from that corner?!" Jenny was even more panicked.
Ignoring the chaos in the stands, Chase and Jura had eyes only for each other.
"Make sure you take this hit, Jura."
Under Chase's control, Obelisk's silhouette slowly raised its right arm. Wild, chaotic energy accumulated in its clenched fist, warping the surrounding space.
Even though he already knew the outcome, Future Jura showed no fear: "Bring it on, Mr. Chase!"
The Rock Iron Titan roared skyward, its own colossal fist brimming with surging power.
"God Slayer Secret Art — God Fist Smash!!"
"Overlord — Rock Shattering Fist!!"
"AAAAHHH~! Super Defensive Magic — Three Pillar Gods!!"
With Makarov's passionate roar, three silver-black pillars erupted from the ground, isolating the arena from the spectator stands.
At the same moment, the divine fist and the Rock Iron Titan's fist collided with the force of two meteors crashing together!
The world seemed to drain of color as a cataclysmic explosion echoed through the entire royal capital of Crocus!!!
No one knew how long it took for the earth-shattering chaos to finally subside.
The silver-black pillars crumbled to dust and scattered in the wind, revealing the scene on the field for all to see.
There lay Future Jura, battered and bruised, sprawled on the ground—clearly unable to continue. Opposite him, Chase still stood tall.
The winner was obvious.
"Day One, Fourth Battle Round — The winner is—"
Chapati's trembling, ecstatic voice snapped the dumbstruck audience back to reality: "Fairy Tail Team B — Chase!!"
After a brief silence, Chase raised his right arm, and the arena erupted in thunderous cheers.
"OOOOOH!!!"
"Amazing! He actually beat Rock Iron Jura!"
"They swept the top two in the competition rounds and won every battle round! Wait—this bottom-feeder guild is actually this strong?!"
"Dammit! I shouldn't have thrown away that Fairy Tail shirt that came free with my Sabertooth merch!"
If Gray's performance in the competition round had only raised suspicion, and Future Lucy's Urano Metria had merely begun to shift their stereotypes—
Then Chase's decisive victory over Ten Wizard Saint Jura was a true battle for recognition, one that shook everyone to their core!
"Wahhh... it's back... it's all back..."
In an unassuming corner of the stands, surrounded by the overwhelming cheers, the refund-demanding spectator from earlier was moved to tears.
As one of Fairy Tail's few loyal fans, he had come to watch the Grand Magic Games every single year. And every single year, he had left in dejection, mocked and ridiculed by others—even by the friends who came with him.
Seven years of silent support. Seven years of humiliation and pain. Now, finally, the light had come—the time to stand tall and shout those words!
With that thought, the refund guy suddenly stood on his seat, whipped off his jacket, and proudly revealed the Fairy Tail emblem printed on his T-shirt.
"This strong?"
"Of course they are! They're the strongest guild in Fiore from seven years ago—Fairy Tail, you bastards!!!"
***
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