Seeing two more "formidable enemies" arrive, Cana, who never found a scene too chaotic for her liking, approached Juvia reeking of alcohol. She hooked an arm around Juvia's shoulder and began "stirring the pot" with a chuckle.
"Oh oh oh!!"
"So you guys are also exchange students from the Royal Capital Magic Academy. Are you Juvia's suitors?"
"It's not like that, Cana..."
Juvia wanted to explain, but Lyon beside her had already jumped out as a reflex.
"What?! Juvia-chan's suitors?!"
"So that means you two are also my rivals?!! Very well, very well... just you wait!"
"I will prove to everyone that I am the man most worthy of Juvia!!"
Sawyer and Jellal fell silent simultaneously.
"Who is this idiot?"
Gray, Natsu, Gajeel, and the others each moved a step away to the side.
"Don't know him!"
"Never met him!"
"Unrelated!"
Erzi looked left and right, realizing... she was probably the slowest one among all the contestants.
Soon, the group of eight arrived at the track.
"On your marks, get set... GO!!"
As the referee dropped the flag in his hand, the eight contestants moved at once—
Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Lyon, the four of them sprinted forward almost simultaneously, their speed fast enough to whip up a lingering wind.
"Behold my secret move!!"
"Come forth, Flame Boosters!!"
Natsu let out a loud shout, and immediately, bursts of orange-red flames erupted from his elbows, heels, and other parts of his body. As the flames continued to vent, an invisible thrust appeared on Natsu's body, significantly increasing his speed.
"Oh? Interesting!!"
"Then I can't fall behind either!"
Gray's lips curled up, and he placed both hands at his waist: "Ice-Make: Floor!!"
Shua—
The entire track instantly froze into a smooth ice surface, making the friction drop to nearly zero.
"What?! Oh no..."
Natsu's expression changed drastically; he didn't have time to adjust his balance before his feet slipped, and finally, with a "dong" sound, he slammed hard onto the ice.
"Ice-Make: Ice Skates!!"
Ice blades suddenly appeared on the soles of his shoes, making Gray's height jump up by five centimeters out of nowhere. He then began alternating his left and right feet to glide, passing Natsu with an extremely elegant posture and skating forward.
"Tch... a mere ice surface, do you think it can stop me?"
Gajeel didn't care and continued running forward, except that wherever he passed, several rows of small holes appeared on the originally mirror-smooth ice. Looking closer, it turned out he had created iron spikes on the soles of his shoes, so every time he stepped down, the spikes pierced the ice, thereby breaking Gray's "zero-friction" tactic.
However, even so, his speed still couldn't beat Gray, who was skating forward.
But Gray had his own obstacles.
"Ice-Make: Birds!!"
Countless ice falcons flapped their wings, flying over the struggling Natsu, the trudging Gajeel, and the relaxed Gray, landing on the track ahead of Gray's path. As the birds hit the ground, they immediately formed roadblocks on the unobstructed skating track, hindering Gray's progress.
"Oh no—!!"
Gray turned pale with fright and hurriedly "braked."
Chirrr—
The ice skates scraped against the ice, producing a terrifying sound as sharp as a hundred claws scratching at the heart. The onlookers hurriedly plugged their ears, but they were still stimulated by the sound into putting on "pain masks."
"It's that guy Lyon..."
Gray finally managed to stop his movement. Just as he was thinking about how to cross the obstacle, Lyon had already caught up riding an ice tiger!
"Gray, the winner will be me!!"
"In your dreams!!"
Gray let out a great shout: "Ice-Make: Snow Cannon!!"
The next moment, a large cannon appeared on Gray's shoulder, and then with a "rumble," the muzzle fired a surge of snow, heading straight for the ice tiger ahead.
However, a senior is a senior after all. Lyon had guessed Gray would have this trick up his sleeve; how could he let him succeed so easily? Just as the snow cannon was about to hit the ice tiger, a giant ice ape appeared out of thin air, blocking the tiger's rear. With a boom, the ice ape's torso shattered, while the ice tiger remained unharmed and continued to streak forward.
"Hahaha..."
"Gray, you can't catch up to me!"
Being temporarily ahead of Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel made Lyon very proud. He subconsciously looked at another lane, only to see a blue figure in the sky sprinting forward like a sharp arrow.
It was Happy!
At the start of the race, he had used his "Aera" to fly into the air, avoiding any confrontation with other opponents!
"An Exceed, indeed fast enough!"
"But if you think you can win like this, you are dead wrong!"
Lyon knew very well that although Exceeds have strong flying abilities, their combat power is extremely low. He only needed to make a slight move, and the opponent would have no chance.
Sou—
With a wave of Lyon's hand, Happy in the air was instantly frozen into a block of ice and fell onto the track with a "pa-da" sound.
"Hmph hmph... now I have no rivals!"
Just as Lyon was reveling in his success...
A figure rushed rapidly from the start of the track, easily passing the four in front, then passing Happy, and continued running forward.
"You guys are all too slow. I'll go ahead and wait for you at the finish line!"
This person's speed was incredibly fast; he was at the start of the track when he said the first word, and by the time the last word dropped, he was already in front of Lyon! Everyone could only see an afterimage and couldn't tell who it was at all.
Yet, after running a distance, he actually stopped his pace, turned around, and smugly made a gesture toward the people behind him before continuing to run forward. Now, everyone finally identified the opponent's true face.
"It's that guy named Sawyer from earlier!"
"His speed is actually this fast? Impossible!"
Being able to outrun the four of them wasn't a surprise, but being able to outrun Happy, an Exceed—no matter how one thought about it, it didn't seem possible! Unless... he wasn't running purely with his legs, but was also using magic!
"It's Speed-type Magic!!"
Everyone, having undergone the "Primary Magic Education" of Fairy Academy, immediately understood.
Just then, there was more movement from behind!
"Meteor—!!"
A golden starlight flashed past in the corner of their eyes and arrived in front of Sawyer in the blink of an eye.
It was Jellal!
His speed was actually faster than Sawyer's, and his feet didn't even touch the ground. It was exactly like his magic; he had turned himself into a meteor in the sky, crossing dozens of meters in the blink of an eye!
"Hehe... Jellal? Don't you think you can be faster than me!!"
Sawyer activated his magic, and his speed became even "faster," starting to race side-by-side with Jellal. Then, the two figures became entangled, starting to strike each other with fists and kicks.
"Ice-Make: Ice Geyser!!"
Rumble!!
With a loud explosion, an "ice mountain eruption" suddenly occurred on the track ahead of Jellal and Sawyer. The infinite ice blocks instantly blasted the two fighting figures away while simultaneously sealing all lanes, making it difficult for anyone to move forward.
The real race was only just beginning.