The sun finally began to set, letting dusk slowly descend over Magnolia.
Back in the guild hall, since the poster girl didn't actually have to compete, Mirajane was hosting the whole event alongside the Master and Jason.
Above the endurance race track, a ton of floating Magic Crystals linked up to broadcast the live race conditions straight back to the guild's starting line.
The main Magic Crystal in the hall was currently displaying the scene over at Mount Ibol, when suddenly, a blurry figure dashed right into the frame.
Jason instantly roared with excitement, "It's Jet! Just as expected, the top-seeded contestant has reached Mount Ibol first!"
"Jet has retrieved the scale! He's already starting his return trip! Oh, man!! His speed hasn't slowed down one bit—does this mean the championship is already locked in for Jet?!"
Mirajane rested her face in her hands with a helpless, sweet smile. "It seems everyone really wants to avoid that punishment game."
"Speaking of which..."
Makarov stared hard at the crystal ball for a long time, scratching his sparse hair in total confusion.
"Where the hell is Laxus?"
Laxus was a powerhouse Mage who specialized in Lightning Magic, and one of lightning's absolute strongest attributes was pure speed.
No matter how fast Jet was, there was no way he could have left Laxus this far behind...
Mirajane adjusted the crystal ball's display and tried to explain, "We actually haven't seen him for a while. Maybe the tracking Magic tool just couldn't keep up with him?"
Makarov's face instantly darkened. "That idiot..."
Meanwhile, all the way over on the southern side of Magnolia city, Laxus stood with his arms crossed, his gaze coldly fixed on the train sitting right in front of him.
'...Wait.'
'A train station?'
'No, something was terribly wrong here.'
He distinctly remembered the train station being in southern Magnolia, while Mount Ibol... was definitely supposed to be in the north.
After silently pondering his life choices for a long time, Laxus let out a heavy sigh and looked up at the setting sun.
So it seemed.
He had completely lost his way on the journey of life...
...
"He totally just ran in the wrong direction!"
Ankh complained out loud while running right alongside Erza, fully sensing that Laxus wasn't actually ahead of them at all.
Even though Laxus was a massive, burly guy standing nearly 1.9 meters tall, he unfortunately shared a very specific trait with a certain one-eyed, green-haired swordsman.
Getting hopelessly lost.
While his sense of direction wasn't quite as abysmal as that green-haired Zoro, it was still totally common for Laxus to get lost just going grocery shopping or taking a casual stroll through town.
But Ankh truly hadn't expected Laxus to veer completely off course on a clearly marked race track...
Aside from Jet, the frontrunners in the top speed tier were generally all A-Class to S-Class Mages.
So naturally, the second these hot-tempered meatheads reached Mount Ibol, they started fighting fiercely all over again just to snatch the damn Snow White Beast scales.
Out on the pitch-dark slopes of Mount Ibol, totally chaotic and passionate battles erupted.
Even Erza ended up getting held back by annoying idiots like Natsu and Gajeel, which dragged everyone's progress back down to roughly the exact same level.
Right in the middle of all this, Ankh just stood there watching everyone brutally brawl over the scales.
He couldn't help but scratch his head in slight, comical loneliness.
'Why the hell is nobody paying attention to me?'
Meanwhile, Happy was struggling hard to climb up a small dirt slope, desperately trying to grab a scale fragment.
Happy had originally been dead last, but with everyone now completely stuck in the muddy warzone on Mount Ibol, the little cat had actually managed to catch up using his tiny, stubby legs.
Ankh casually reached up, grabbed an extra scale from a higher spot, and handed it right over to Happy with a soft smile.
"Here you go, little guy."
Happy immediately beamed, happily accepting the scale.
"Anyway, Jet is most likely gonna take first place. Let's just run casually and make sure we avoid being dead last."
Ankh comforted the currently short-legged Happy, who threw his paw up in absolute agreement.
"Aye! We just need to dodge that awful punishment game!"
And just like that, Happy got his scale and Ankh calmly resumed his nighttime running journey.
By now, the majority of the 24 hours had passed, and the sky was finally starting to brighten with the dawn.
The chaotic brawls back on Mount Ibol had eventually died down, and the contestants finally started focusing on actually moving forward.
Even though Mages had Magic Power supplying their physical stamina, mental exhaustion was completely unavoidable.
Because of that, the race had now officially entered its most grueling, torturous phase.
Ankh was literally running with his eyes half-closed.
His mind was completely detached from his body, yet his limbs just kept moving completely on autopilot, not slowing down in the slightest compared to when he first started.
'Hmm... this must be what they call—my legs are doing the running, so what the hell does it have to do with my brain?'
Meanwhile, back at the park at daybreak, the trio of hosts who had been waiting there all night observed the entire bizarre situation through the main Magic Crystal.
Jason, watching Ankh literally meditating and sleeping while running, exclaimed excitedly.
"As expected of Fairy Tail's Grim Reaper! He can run this insanely fast even while completely fast asleep, and he's currently sitting comfortably in second place!"
"The only person ahead of Ankh right now is the Speed King, Jet!"
"Jet should already be closing in on the finish line!"
...
"Jet, why are you asleep?"
Deep inside the dense, wooded areas of Mount Ibol, Happy—who had just gotten overtaken again by Erza and Natsu's group—curiously wandered over to the side of the road and found a grown man snoring loudly in the dirt.
This idiot was none other than Jet, the guy the entire guild had placed their highest bets and hopes on.
Happy pushed Jet vigorously until the guy drowsily blinked his eyes open.
The cat asked in total confusion, "Jet, aren't you gonna have problems if you just keep sleeping out here?"
Jet looked up completely blankly, stared straight at the bright eastern sun, and his brain momentarily blue-screened.
"Oh, crap!! I totally overslept!"
Jet clutched his head in absolute, screaming despair.
Originally, he had looked back, saw that everyone was nearly half a track behind him, and cockily decided to lie down for a quick nap...
But he ended up sleeping through the entire night!
"Thanks, Happy! I owe you big time for this!"
After shouting that, Jet immediately scrambled to his feet and started violently sprinting toward the finish line, kicking up so much hurricane-force dust that Happy was nearly blown away all over again.
Just as Jet was rushing back in a blind panic, a massive flash of lightning caught the corner of his eye.
Amid the fierce, deafening crackle of thunder, Jet squinted and immediately recognized the figure as Laxus!
'Why the hell is Laxus behind me too? Could it be that even after sleeping for a whole night, I'm somehow still one of the top contenders?!'
Jet watched in sheer confusion as Laxus bolted past him, but he quickly mustered all of his competitive determination to chase after him, swearing to defend his dignity as the reigning champion!
The swirling tornado of dust and violent lightning flashes very quickly caught up with the current leading pack.
Gray stared back in absolute shock at the rapidly approaching figures and yelled.
"No freaking way, why are those two all the way in the back?!"
"Wait a minute, does that mean we're actually competing for first place right now?!"
Gajeel aggressively charged forward with his head down, while Natsu's iron fist boosters had completely run out of magic, forcing the dragon slayer to desperately swing his arms like a madman just to keep up with the others.
Erza, spotting Ankh's relaxed figure not too far ahead and seeing the finish line already visible in the distance, felt a massive surge of competitive joy.
"If I can just catch up to my brother, I'll officially be in first place!"
"Ah!! A completely unexplainable situation has just emerged!"
Commentator Jason, who had somehow stayed passionately awake all night, was still as hyper as a monkey.
He hopped up and down while screaming into the mic:
"Laxus, who had been missing for hours, has suddenly reappeared! And Jet, who should have easily been in first place, has inexplicably shown up from the back of the pack!"
"The current situation is absolutely insane! Jet, Laxus, Erza, Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel—all six of them are making their final, desperate sprint, directly targeting Ankh for first place!!"
"Will one of these six monsters seize the opportunity to steal the crown, or will the Grim Reaper Ankh completely dominate and claim the victory?!"
Ankh: ZZZ...