"Analyzed every contestant's personality, behavior patterns, and magic characteristics?"
"Hu-Hundreds of millions of simulations—that's an exaggeration, right? It has to be!"
"Developing battle plans—so the Master had already discussed this with the First Master?"
Hearing the two Mavises' tearful lament, the guildmates found it hard to believe. The First Master looked so cute and ditsy, no different from little Asuka. Yet she could formulate battle plans and run hundreds of millions of simulations?
"I did discuss things with the First Master, but I don't recall any specific plan," Makarov said, equally confused.
First impressions were so powerful that he had momentarily forgotten about Mavis's legendary title.
"Wait. If I remember correctly, the First Master led the guild to victory in the Second Trade War using her extraordinary intellect, didn't she?"
It was Lucy, who had learned the guild's history during the S-Class trial, who finally caught on. "She was even called the 'Fairy Tactician' by the people of that era!"
"The First Master? Fairy Tactician?"
"She commanded a large-scale war to victory?"
Hearing this, the guildmates were shocked, their expressions turning to disbelief.
They had all heard of the trade war that had swept across the continent, but none of them realized the guild's First Master had participated as a "tactician"—a role that sounded incredibly important!
From this, it was clear these people truly knew nothing about their own guild's history.
"Lucy reminded me," Makarov said, nodding belatedly.
"That's right. Besides her exceptional magical talent, the First Master's intellect was unmatched. She could accurately predict various possible outcomes in complex battlefield conditions."
"In other words, without these special rules, the other guilds would have been utterly crushed by her strategies!"
Old Makarov's emotional intelligence was still high. A few flattering words not only left the guildmates deeply impressed, but also stopped the two Mavises from crying. They puffed out their not-so-impressive chests with pride, their elf ears twitching slightly.
"Too bad. In this situation, there's no way to use those plans."
Chase suddenly sighed. "And it might even negatively affect their next move, leading to—"
Makarov was terrified out of his wits and frantically shushed him.
But it was already too late.
The two Mavises, who had just recovered, felt their eyes sting again as tears welled up.
"I-I'm not crying!" They pressed their lips tightly together, trying their best to look strong.
Everyone panicked, scrambling to comfort them.
"Someone! Quick, comfort the First Master! Laxus, you're up!"
"Wh-Me?"
"Chase, you—no, you card nerd, you did that on purpose!"
Mirajane nudged Chase's waist with her elbow and whispered, "Chase, that was mean."
"I learned from you." Chase smiled like a cat that got the cream.
What Mavis didn't know was that this unexpected development had actually preserved her "Fairy Tactician" reputation. If they had followed the original plan, things would have gone off the rails like they did in the original story!
"Oh my, I'm flattered~" Mirajane smiled too.
Lucy muttered: Sly guy plus scheming woman. No wonder you two ended up together!
While the rest of the guild was busy comforting Mavis—
On the arena floor, the competitors had already stepped into the teleportation arrays and appeared in random areas across Crocus, with safe distances between teams.
"While the teams adjust their strategies, allow me to introduce the five NPCs for today's Survival Game."
Host Chapati's voice rang out, his expression filled with excitement. "Please prepare yourselves, because even I was shocked when I saw the list."
After a few seconds of pause, the largest screen in the arena shimmered and split into five separate feeds.
The backgrounds were mostly familiar areas of Crocus: the east-side activity plaza, the outer districts, the central garden, and so on.
A figure stood in each area, wearing strange costumes of various styles. Some had fierce faces, others wore smiles.
The one thing they all shared was the chilling aura in their eyes—the kind that only came from countless kills—which could be felt even through the screen.
The audience instinctively shrank back out of fear, their cheers dying in their throats.
Fairy Tail Stands.
"I didn't expect Fiore to have mages like this," Makarov said with a grave expression.
"None of them look easy to deal with..." The timid Wendy hugged herself.
"They carry a very dense aura of death. At least hundreds of lives on each of them."
The two Mavises furrowed their delicate brows. Having personally experienced war, they were even sharper than Makarov when it came to reading people.
"H-Hundreds of lives?"
"Those people are the NPCs for this match?!"
Lucy turned pale and clung to Natsu, who was equally frightened.
Chase glanced at his idiot sister and idiot brother-in-law, then returned his gaze to the familiar faces on the screen.
To think they'd send even these people out. For the sake of making the final battle more interesting, King Toma is really going all out.
"You may not recognize these five people, but you've certainly heard of their names."
Chapati took a deep breath, grabbed his microphone, and shouted, "That's right! They are Fiore Kingdom's Special Operations Unit, known as the Executioners—the Direwolf Knights!"
As expected, gasps rippled through the audience. They had definitely heard of this knight corps' infamous reputation.
"But contestants, please don't worry. They won't kill anyone in this match."
"Now then, let's invite today's guest, Mr. Pumpkin Head, to explain the detailed rules regarding the 'Executioner' NPCs!"
The Pumpkin Head on the far left took over. "Alright, pumpkin. Thank you, Chapati."
He adjusted his slightly crooked pumpkin headgear and snapped his fingers.
HUM!
Large magic circles, similar to barriers, lit up around each of the five NPCs.
"The area covered by these rules is the neutral zone. Defeating an 'Executioner' within it earns the corresponding points. It also provides protection, so nearby residents don't need to worry about being caught in the crossfire."
"Notably, if attacked from outside their zone, the 'Executioner' will leave their designated area and pursue the attacker. Even if other contestants interfere, their 'aggro' won't shift. So ranged harassment won't work."
"Should you prioritize defeating opponents or securing neutral points to establish an advantage? This game emphasizes strategic maneuvering between teams, pumpkin."
With that, the Pumpkin Head raised a finger mysteriously. "Additionally, there's a hidden rule that will only be revealed once someone defeats an 'Executioner'!"
"Sounds like a competition that demands strict judgment of the situation, point management, and team allocation~" Yajima summarized with a smile.
DONG~!
As the bell tolled across all of Crocus, the Grand Magic Games' final day—an unlimited-time "Survival Game"—officially began!
The moment the bell rang, the teams that had already planned their point-gathering strategies sprang into action.
Without knowing the other teams' exact locations, most had clear goals: head to the nearest NPC and secure the points first.
Since moving as a full team made them too visible and vulnerable to coordinated attacks, most split into groups of two or three. Only powerful mages like Jura, Kagura, and Minerva chose to move alone.
"Oh my! Just as we predicted, the guilds have chosen the safe tactic of splitting up and picking off targets!"
Chapati's gaze swept across the scattered mages and finally locked onto a certain open plaza. "Huh? What's this?"
"Fairy Tail, the highest-scoring team of the entire tournament, is standing still, making absolutely no move!"
Under his commentary, the audience's attention shifted to Erza and the others. Whispers spread through the crowd.
Fairy Tail Stands.
"What are they doing?"
"If they don't move, other guilds will take the neutral points!"
"Are they still going to follow the First Master's plan?"
Hearing Lucy's guess, the two Mavises looked guilty and started sobbing again.
Lucy panicked. Of course, Happy the dead cat chose that moment to poke fun. "Bringing that up on purpose—what a mean woman you are, Lucy."
"I didn't mean to! And you dead cat, why didn't you say anything when Chase said it?!"
Lucy frantically tried to comfort the two Mavises while turning back to glare at the dead cat with jagged teeth.
"Chase, what do you think?" Mirajane turned to him.
She didn't believe Erza, Laxus, and the others would lose their composure just because things weren't going according to the First Master's predictions.
There had to be some special plan!
"I don't know what they're thinking."
Watching Erza on the big screen, her eyes closed as she gathered magic power, Chase could roughly guess the reason. He smiled. "But if it were me, I'd exploit the biggest loophole in this game and end it in one go!"
"Oh my, when you put it that way, it suddenly becomes much clearer~"
Mirajane blinked her beautiful eyes in sudden realization. "But would they think of that? Or rather, would they actually do it?"
Their cryptic conversation left Levy, Éclair, and the others thoroughly confused.
Before the audience could discuss it further, the screen's focus shifted away from Fairy Tail.
Skirmishes had already broken out between guilds.
On the south side of Crocus, on the outskirts of Executioner Cosmos's zone.
Yuka and Toby of Lamia Scale ran into Warcry of Quartet Cerberus, who was moving alone.
Even before joining a guild, the two had worked with Sherry on Lyon's Moon Drip plan, so their teamwork was seamless.
In just a few exchanges, Warcry, who used tear magic, fell and became the first eliminated contestant. Lamia Scale gained 1 point.
"Toby, do you sense any other contestants nearby?" Yuka clasped his hands behind his back.
Before stepping into the neutral zone to fight the pink-haired woman in the white hat, he needed to ensure no one else would ambush them.
"No. Just this guy," Toby said, twitching his sensitive nose.
"Then let's finish this quickly, take the neutral points, and go support Lyon and the others!"
Yuka confidently stepped into the neutral zone, his magic power surging with the glow of wave magic.
"No problem! But... is it really okay for the two of us to bully such a cute girl?"
Despite saying that, Toby didn't hesitate to bare his sharp claws.
After charging their magic, they both rushed straight at Cosmos.
And then, the next second.
"Spore Bomb: Neighboring Flower Chain!"
In a terrifying plant explosion, the overly confident duo were sent flying backward, smoke billowing from their mouths, immediately incapacitated.
"Rushing in so recklessly isn't beautiful at all."
Cosmos stood atop a venus flytrap with fangs, sighing with some regret. "Too bad this is just a regular match, not a real execution."
The rules triggered. The "3" above her head representing her base score changed to "5."
The severely injured Yuka and Toby were quickly carried off by the medical team.
"Ooooh! A single attack took out two contestants! So this is the power of the Direwolf Knights?!" Chapati exclaimed.
"Heh. Without S-Class strength, attacking recklessly will come with a heavy price, pumpkin," the Pumpkin Head said with a satisfied chuckle.
This was actually part of the reason he had chosen the Direwolf Knights as NPCs: to showcase the power of the Fiore royal family!
"Another team is fighting over there," Yajima said calmly.
Following his gaze, on the peripheral streets leading to Executioner Nepa's zone—
Millianna and Risley of Mermaid Heel had encountered Rokka and Sems of Quartet Cerberus.
The "beauty and beast" matchup drew gasps from the audience, but the battle wasn't as exciting as expected.
Millianna, who had already fought them in the earlier battle rounds, easily took down Sems. With Risley's gravity magic assisting, she soon beat the remaining Rokka into a pulp.
Quartet Cerberus's master and members looked like they'd been struck by lightning. After losing Warcry, they had now lost two more "generals." They were essentially out of the running for champion.
"Oh? My opponents are a cat girl and a fat girl?"
Looking at the two entering his zone, Executioner Nepa took a swig of acid and grimaced. "My magic isn't very friendly to you two."
"Hey hey, Risley! He called me a cat girl! Full of energy!" Millianna was delighted.
"Hey fatty, how about taking a closer look?"
Risley, displeased with the "fat girl" label, used gravity magic to transform herself into a slim, sexy beauty.
Just as they were about to attack Nepa—
Cold air struck. Black wind howled.
Ice-Make Magic and Sky God Slayer Magic caught them completely off guard. Both fell to the ground.
"Since you're so troubled, how about we be your opponents instead?"
Lyon and Sherria, having easily claimed 2 points, emerged from a side street and calmly stepped into the neutral zone!
***
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