Chapter 277: Reaching the Finish Line
[Day Two of the Grand Magic Games – Chariot Event.]
[The second day of the festival has arrived, and the magic power in the capital is reaching a boiling point!]
[Today's event is Chariot: racers must reach the finish line without falling off the moving chariots.]
[The chariots keep jolting, so one slip means a tumble. The course winds past every major city landmark—who will cross the line first?]
[Spectators can follow every contestant via the magic screens placed throughout the Domus Flau.]
The announcer's voice boomed through the stadium, hyping up the crowd.
However, in the Fairy Tail waiting area, the mood was far from excited.
Every Fairy Tail member watching the Lacrima screen stared in absolute disbelief.
Their jaws practically hit the floor.
"Why send Natsu?!"
Gray Fullbuster gripped the balcony railing, looking utterly bewildered.
He felt a headache coming on just watching the screen.
Lucy Heartfilia couldn't help muttering, clutching her head.
"Just hearing the word 'chariot' tells you he's doomed…"
It was common knowledge in the guild.
Natsu Dragneel and transportation were mortal enemies.
Erza Scarlet crossed her arms and sighed deeply, her expression resigned.
"He insisted—no one could stop him. He wanted to make up for yesterday's confusion."
Ren, the black-haired mage standing beside them, leaned back casually against the wall.
He didn't seem worried in the slightest.
"Relax! His choice, his pain. A little lesson won't hurt," Ren said lightly.
For him, points didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
With his strength, he could always claw them back later in the battle rounds.
[For some reason, Natsu of yesterday's top-placed Fairy Tail A team is now dead last!!]
The camera zoomed in on the leading group, then panned all the way back.
Far, far behind the pack.
There was Natsu.
He wasn't running.
He wasn't even walking.
He was slumped over the edge of a moving chariot, his face a sickly shade of blue.
"Ugh… I'm gonna hurl…" Natsu groaned, his soul seemingly leaving his body through his mouth.
[Beside him is Gajeel of Fairy Tail B, yesterday's third-place team.]
"Why… is the world spinning…?"
Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer, was in an identical state.
He clung to the wooden floorboards of the chariot, his iron scales rattling with his trembling.
Even Sabertooth's Sting Eucliffe was in the same sorry state…
"I… I can't… move…" Sting gasped, looking nothing like the arrogant arrogance he displayed yesterday.
In the stands, the members of Fairy Tail B were face-palming.
"Looks like we're out of luck this round," Jet sighed, shaking his head.
Had he run this race with his High Speed magic, first place would've been easy.
Everyone knew Natsu's weakness to transport, but seeing Gajeel like this was a surprise.
"Exactly," Droy agreed, eating a snack to calm his nerves.
"But why Gajeel too…?" Levy McGarden wondered, watching the Iron Dragon Slayer suffer.
"Don't steal Natsu's gag!" Happy complained, flying over to Team B's section.
The race course was a nightmare for them.
It was a chain of chariots linked together, moving constantly through the streets of Crocus.
The ground was never stable.
It vibrated, swayed, and jerked with every turn.
For a Dragon Slayer, whose semicircular canals were hypersensitive, this was hell on earth.
[Let's check the front-runners—it's neck-and-neck!]
The announcer shifted the focus to the actual race.
[Leading is Raven Tail's Kurohebi, trailed closely by Blue Pegasus's Ichiya, Lamia Scale's Yuka, and Mermaid Heel's Risley.]
[A little behind comes Quatro Cerberus's reserve member, Bacchus Groh.]
The action at the front was intense.
"MEN!!"
Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki gasped for air, his short legs pumping furiously.
Long-distance sprints were torture for short-legged men like him.
But his spirit was undeniable.
"Go, Mr. Ichiya! Let your parfum explode!"
"Win this and we pass Fairy Tail!"
In the stands, Blue Pegasus's Ren Akatsuki and Eve Tearm cheered loudly for their mentor.
Ren (Fairy Tail) glanced over at Ren Akatsuki (Blue Pegasus), amused by the shared name but vastly different demeanor.
Hibiki Lates adjusted his glasses and smiled confidentially.
"Trust Ichiya-sama—he never lets you down when it counts."
On the track, Yuka Suzuki of Lamia Scale narrowed his eyes.
He looked at the plump woman running beside him.
"Pretty fast for your size…" Yuka commented, though not without respect.
"Don't underestimate curves!" Risley Law beamed, winking at him.
Behind them, the wild man from Quatro Cerberus stumbled.
"I'm done for—yesterday's booze still has me dizzy," muttered Bacchus.
He had barely beaten Cana Alberona in their drinking contest the day before.
His head was throbbing, and his balance was off.
Or so it seemed.
Seeing the finish line approaching in the distance, Yuka decided it was time to make his move.
He couldn't rely on pure stamina anymore.
"Wave Boost!!"
Yuka thrust his palms backward.
Massive shockwaves of anti-magic energy blasted from his hands.
The recoil rocketed him forward like a jet engine.
"No magic works inside my waves!" Yuka shouted confidently.
He had timed it perfectly.
Everyone would soon cast spells to sprint for the finish, but his Wave magic would neutralize them.
"Useless!"
Risley laughed, her body glowing with a soft light.
She didn't try to push through the waves.
Instead, she jumped to the side—off the chariot!
[There it is—Risley's Gravity Shift! She skirts the edge, waves nullified!]
Risley ran horizontally along the side of the moving carriages.
By changing her own gravity, "down" became "sideways" for her.
She sprinted along the vertical walls of the chariots, completely bypassing Yuka's anti-magic field.
"Neutralizing magic? That is troublesome."
Ichiya sniffed the air, his nose twitching.
"Then—Sprint Perfume, straight up the nose!"
Ichiya whipped out two vials of orange liquid.
Without hesitation, he jammed them directly into his large nostrils.
Sniff!
"POWER!!"
His muscles bulged, ripping his suit slightly.
Suddenly turbo-charged by the alchemical stimulant, Ichiya shot past Yuka in a blink of an eye.
He left a trail of sparkles and the scent of roses behind him.
Bacchus, watching them accelerate, grinned wildly.
His gourd of sake sloshed at his hip.
"Oh… they're giving it everything! My very Soul trembles—guess I'd better get serious."
He took a swig from his gourd.
His eyes sharpened, changing from a drunkard to a predator.
"Take this!!"
Bacchus stomped his foot down onto the chariot floor.
He didn't run.
He destroyed.
BOOM—!
The chariot shattered instantly under his heel.
The sheer kinetic force was terrifying.
The blast flipped the front cars into the air like toys.
"Waaaah!"
"What the—?!"
Ichiya, Yuka, and Risley were hurled sky-high by the shockwave of the destruction.
While they flailed in the air, losing their momentum, Bacchus used the debris as stepping stones.
He sprinted ahead with the grace of a falcon.
Glancing back, Raven Tail's Kurohebi tried to use his Mimic magic to copy the movement, but it was too late.
He was overtaken in an instant.
Bacchus crossed the finish line with a wild grin.
[Across the line—10 points to Quatro Cerberus!]
[The Drunken Falcon takes the win!]
The order was decided quickly after that.
Second: Raven Tail's Kurohebi.
Third: Risley of Mermaid Heel.
Fourth: Yuka of Lamia Scale.
Fifth: Ichiya of Blue Pegasus.
[The remaining three are still struggling…]
The camera cut back to the "Loser's Group."
Compared with the explosive action of the leaders, the rear trio looked miserable.
It was pathetic.
Three of the most powerful mages in the tournament were crawling on their hands and knees.
Gajeel was drenched in motion-sick sweat, his iron studs vibrating.
"Only the fire dragon's supposed to suck at transport!" Gajeel groaned, trying to hold back vomit.
He felt betrayed by his own biology.
"Congrats—looks like you're finally a real Dragon Slayer… urgh—!" Sting panted from behind him.
Sting was pale, his spiky blond hair matted with sweat.
"You bastard!"
Gajeel gritted his teeth and rammed his head into Sting's side.
It was a petty, weak attack, but it was all he could muster.
Just then, a groaning sound came from behind them.
"Raaaaah!! I'm… moving… forward!!"
Natsu Dragneel roared.
It wasn't a roar of power, but of sheer, stubborn desperation.
He dug his fingers into the wood, splintering it.
He dragged his body inch by inch, fighting the overwhelming nausea that told him to lie down and die.
Sting looked at him with disdain.
"Pathetic, isn't it?" Sting called out, his voice shaking.
"You're out of juice and still chasing a measly point or two—what's the point? The cool Natsu Dragneel I heard about… is this him?"
Sting couldn't understand it.
Why suffer this much for a single point?
Sabertooth was the strongest.
One loss didn't define them.
"Onward!!"
Ignoring him, Natsu pushed past Sting.
Gajeel, fueled by rivalry, crawled faster alongside him.
They opened a gap between themselves and the White Dragon Slayer.
"Fine, victory's yours," Sting shrugged, stopping his crawl.
He let go of the floorboards and lay flat, staring at the sky.
"I give up. I'm not going to humiliate myself further for nothing."
"Don't whine later over one lousy point, idiot!" Gajeel shot back, not looking behind.
"Raaaaah!!"
Natsu screamed, forcing his legs to move.
He stood up, wobbling dangerously as the chariot swerved.
"Can I ask—why join this tournament?" Sting shouted at Natsu's back.
"Old Fairy Tail wouldn't care about rankings or power. You did your own thing. You didn't care what people thought!"
Sting had been a fan of Natsu and Ren when he was younger.
He had planned to join Fairy Tail once he was older—then the guild vanished for seven years.
Seeing his idol reduced to this desperate, crawling mess... it disappointed him.
Natsu stopped.
He didn't turn around, but his voice carried over the wind.
"For our comrades!"
Natsu's voice cracked, but it was filled with fire.
"Seven years they waited… while we were frozen in time."
Natsu remembered the tears in Romeo's eyes.
He remembered the dilapidated guild hall.
He remembered Macao and Wakaba, aged and beaten down, apologizing for being weak.
"Through hardship, sorrow, scorn—they protected our guild. They kept the name alive when everyone laughed at them!"
Ren, watching from the balcony, closed his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.
Natsu continued, taking another agonizing step.
"I'll make the world see… that Fairy Tail never stopped!"
"We've kept marching forward!!! We aren't dead!!"
[Finish line reached!!]
The buzzer sounded.
[Fairy Tail A's Natsu Dragneel grabs 2 points!]
[Fairy Tail B's Gajeel Redfox takes 1 point!]
[Sabertooth's Sting Eucliffe withdraws—zero points!!]
The stadium was silent for a moment, then erupted—not in cheers, but in murmurs of respect.
In the Fairy Tail section, the reaction was immediate.
"Natsu!!!"
Macao Conbolt covered his face with his hands.
Wakaba Mine bit his lip, trying to hold it back.
Romeo Conbolt wiped his eyes furiously.
The Seven Year Group wept floods of tears at Natsu's words.
They had suffered so much ridicule.
They had been called trash, the lowest of the low.
But hearing Natsu, their ace, fight so desperately for their honor... it washed away seven years of pain.
Ren watched the scene, his heart warming.
He felt it too—Natsu was still Natsu.
He was the hero whose fire could ignite anyone's Soul.
He was the heart of Fairy Tail.
"Big speech for a measly two points, you idiot!" Gray yelled, though he was smiling broadly.
"But I still love that idiot," Lucy whispered, wiping a tear from her eye.
"That's our Natsu," Erza said softly. "He never changes."
Ren nodded, looking down at the pink-haired mage collapsing at the finish line.