The voices of Frosch and Lector caught Lily's attention.
"Are those Exceeds in the audience seats over there too?" Lily remarked, looking at the two cats.
Lector was understandable since he look quite similar to Happy or Carla, but what was up with that pink frog-like one...
Happy had no time to address Lily's question.
"Natsu, you have to do your best too! Laxus, all of you, give it your all!" Happy declared that he couldn't lose in cheering, waving his paws so fast they left afterimages.
"With Team B's entrance, all participating teams are now complete. Mr. Yajima, what are your thoughts on these members?"
After the introductions, Chapati Lola belatedly remembered that Yajima was also at the commentary desk and quickly tried to salvage the situation.
"Ah... Youth is such a wonderful thing..." Yajima sighed.
"No, that's not what I meant..." A drop of cold sweat trickled down Chapati Lola's forehead.
"Hmm?" Yajima looked at Chapati Lola with a puzzled expression.
Chapati Lola wisely chose to change the subject. "Well, everyone, thank you for waiting! We will now announce the schedule for the Grand Magic Games!"
"???"
A vibrating sensation came from under their feet.
Ultear and the others frowned, somewhat confused as they looked down. Accompanied by the vibration, a massive stone monument engraved with text forcefully rose from the ground.
The monument appeared plain at first glance but was actually a magical artifact—the text on it could change in real time.
Standing over ten meters tall, Ultear and the others could only look up at it.
Fortunately, the sunlight wasn't too harsh, allowing Ultear to read the text clearly.
At the very top, it read Grand Magic Games.
Apart from DAY 1, the events for DAY 2 through DAY 7 were still marked as [???], indicating that the competition events would be announced just before each day.
"There's a battle on the first day?" Gray remarked, looking at the word "battle" carved on the monument.
"A battle?" Natsu's eyes immediately lit up.
Behind the monument, the points added for rankings from first to eighth place were displayed: First place: 8 points, Second place: 6 points, Third place: 5 points, Fourth place: 4 points, Fifth place: 3 points, with subsequent ranks decreasing accordingly, and eighth place receiving zero points.
Chapati Lola read the rules aloud. "First, let me explain the competitive events. All competitive events will rank participants from first to eighth place, and points corresponding to each rank will be added to their respective teams. Additionally, for competitive events, teams may freely select one member to participate."
"Next is the battle portion. This segment will consider factors like fan votes, with the final matchups determined by the tournament committee."
"So, based on the votes, it's possible we could have intra-guild matches..." Ultear frowned slightly.
"Just so you know, even if it's within the same guild, I won't go easy on anyone." Natsu clenched his fist and patted his bicep.
Erza didn't say anything, but just glared at Natsu and he immediately backed down.
"If it's arranged by the tournament, we might have to participate in battles right after finishing the competition events?" Lucy expressed some concern.
Chapati Lola couldn't hear Ultear and the others' discussion at all and continued announcing.
"The rules for the battle portion are simple—one-on-one, two-on-two, or team battles. The winning team gets ten points, the losing team gets zero, and in case of a draw, both teams get five points each."
"Now then, the opening game of this Grand Magic Games—Hidden—is about to begin!"
As soon as Chapati Lola finished speaking, the word appeared on the giant stone tablet: [Hidden]
"Hidden? What kind of competition is this..." Ultear frowned slightly, looking up at the stone tablet with confusion.
In the spectator stands, Ur, Layla, and Raizel were also making guesses.
"Can you figure it out?" Ur asked Raizel.
Raizel shook his head frankly. "No, it's hard to guess with just a noun. It's not something simple and understandable like swimming or diving."
He truly couldn't remember—the memories of his manga knowledge regarding the Grand Magic Games were already very distant to him.
He didn't have any particular impressions aside from Twin Dragons vs Twin Dragons and Erza's 1 vs 100 event.
And he only remembered the name...
"The number of participants is one person per team. The game rules will be explained after all contestants have gathered."
"First to register is Yeager from Quatro Cerberus."
"Croix Knights is sending the Golden Lion Knight, Ren!" Golden Lion Knight Ren wore a dark golden bucket helmet with a pair of bull horns, only revealing his eyes and mouth, making his true appearance unclear.
His entire body was clad in black armor with red leather wrapped around his waist and leg armor.
He held a spear over two meters tall with a longer-than-normal spearhead that was burning with flames, red tassels at the connection between spearhead and shaft, while his other hand held an irregular tooth-shaped shield.
"How heavy must that entire set be..." Erza clicked her tongue secretly.
As an armor enthusiast, Erza carefully observed Ren.
The sense of weight faintly emanating from the full suit of armor showed this wasn't just for show, making her raise her eyebrows slightly.
She thought her own Purgatory Armor probably wasn't as heavy as his set.
Levy flipped through Ren's information and read, "Golden Lion Knight Ren, one of the S-Class Mages of Croix Knights. It's said he also has a lion, though it's unclear why we can't see it."
"Blue Pegasus sent out Eve Tearm!"
Levy was far more dedicated than Chapati Lola, continuing to introduce him to the members.
"Eve Tearm manipulates snow magic, excels in large-scale snow magic, suitable for crowd control and support."
"Sabertooth is sending the Memory-Make user, Rufus!"
"Rufus... age unknown, magic unknown..." Levy sighed helplessly while flipping through the information.
"The two teams of Fairy Tail still seem unable to decide who will go first!" Chapati Lola saw Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel from Team B pressing their foreheads against each other, none willing to back down.
The situation was gradually heating up.
'Mediation?' Laxus just yawned on the side, watching the drama unfold.
If it weren't for Wendy's mediation, these three would have started fighting right there in the arena!
This was the moment for a hero to step forward! And the Hero finally took a step forward!
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Erza gave each of them a solid knock on the head to show them why flowers bloom so red.
"Ouch ouch ouch!" x3 All three immediately quieted down, squatting on the ground while rubbing the massive bumps on their heads.
They shot Laxus a glare.
And a skill called Death Glare struck Laxus!