"D-Damn it!"
When the contestants slowly woke up, most of them were still dazed.
They had all assumed the match was already completely over.
After all, they had already fallen for Hisui's spell.
Logically speaking, there was no reason for her to release the hypnosis.
Letting them sleep straight through until the end of the competition was undoubtedly the best choice for her.
However, they quickly realized that the match had not ended yet.
"Hisui really is confident..."
Hibiki Lates rubbed his temples and couldn't help giving a bitter smile.
She had not even bothered to use that method to widen the gap by fourteen points.
Was this the confidence of Fairy Tail Team A?
Of course, based on the information he had gathered and what he knew about Hisui, her making this choice was not particularly strange.
She was a generous, kind, and responsible senpai.
"Then I have to treasure this chance. I need to score as many points as possible and at least narrow the gap a little. Otherwise, I'd be letting Hisui-senpai down!"
Hibiki pulled himself together.
He had to work hard now.
Bickslow, Warren, and Miki also regained their fighting spirit one after another.
Hisui had already earned the full fourteen points, securing first place for Fairy Tail.
They could not allow themselves to fall too far behind. At the same time, the pressure on them had actually decreased a little.
In truth, part of the reason Hisui had chosen to give the other seven teams a fair chance to compete was because three of those teams were also from Fairy Tail, and because Hibiki was her junior disciple.
She still had to give her own people some face.
As for whether the others could stand out in the following competition and earn high scores, that would depend on their own abilities.
Without Hisui suppressing everyone, the remaining seven teams continued the match.
Bickslow displayed a tremendous advantage.
Flying through the air made him look like a living target, but as long as he flew high enough, ordinary mages really had no way to attack him.
"Jura from Lamia Scale isn't someone to mess with. I won't provoke him for now."
Bickslow quickly made his judgment.
Although he had already used his Figure Eyes to determine Jura Neekis's location, he did not approach carelessly. This Iron Rock was quite famous.
For now, those two points could stay there. He would look for a better opportunity before making a move.
"Yo!"
His dolls flew out at high speed, weaving through the illusions before quickly striking Warcry.
Bickslow did not stop for even a moment before heading toward his next target, leaving Warcry so angry he could only stomp his feet as he tried and failed to retaliate.
The little dolls controlled by Bickslow were extremely agile. Even amid this crowd of illusions, they could still move through the gaps easily.
And he could attack on multiple fronts at once.
Some dolls descended for close-range strikes, while others hovered in the sky and fired magic lasers from a distance.
Before long, Warcry from Quatro Cerberus, Millianna from Mermaid Heel, Hibiki Lates from Blue Pegasus, and Warren and Miki from Fairy Tail Teams C and D had all been hit.
Bickslow easily took ten points.
As for the remaining Jura Neekis, Bickslow planned to take his time.
Ideally, he wanted to find a chance to ambush him rather than risk being countered.
Bickslow was still fairly confident that he could succeed.
Jura Neekis was strong, yes, but Bickslow was no nameless nobody either.
"Your Teams A and B are both very strong."
Watching the scene play out, Bob and Goldmine were somewhat envious.
Fairy Tail really was overflowing with talent. The number of high-quality mages in their guild far surpassed other guilds.
Even if Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus joined forces, they probably still could not compare.
Trying to fight Fairy Tail for the number-one position in Fiore was truly hellishly difficult.
However, some people still refused to accept that.
Ooba Babasaama of Lamia Scale still wanted to clash with Fairy Tail.
Even if they could not compare to the final boss team, surely they would not lose to the lower teams that did not even have S-Class Mages, right?
That would be far too humiliating.
More importantly, a certain rumor had already begun spreading through the streets.
People were saying that Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages should be listed as a separate rank of their own.
Their strength could no longer be compared to the S-Class Mages of other guilds.
Calling them all "S-Class Mages" made it too easy for clients to misjudge their actual power.
For other guilds, that statement was undoubtedly damaging.
It had even started affecting S-Class job commissions.
And if teams from other guilds, all of whom had sent out their S-Class Mages, still failed to beat Fairy Tail teams without even one S-Class Mage, then that rumor would basically be confirmed.
Ooba Babasaama could not accept that.
Were they really going to change the mage ranking system that had existed for so many years just because of Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages?
Were they really going to create a new rank for them?
"Why not?" Marco said. "Nothing can stay unchanged forever. The ranking system for mages should also keep up with the times."
Marco, Goldmine, Bob, and old Makarov were also discussing the issue of mage ranks.
"Exactly. I also think it's about time for a change."
Makarov immediately agreed with his grandson.
Hadn't plenty of things already changed because of Fairy Tail?
For example, the increasingly developed railway network that now stretched across the kingdom, and even connected to other countries—Fairy Tail had contributed greatly to that. In fact, they had been one of the main driving forces.
Of course, they had earned plenty from it too.
The Heartfilia Konzern was now Fiore's undisputed railway trust, while Fairy Tail stood behind it as its military guarantee.
Both sides benefited from the arrangement.
Many retired guild members had eventually joined the Heartfilia Konzern as part of its security forces.
First, this provided the Heartfilia Konzern with reliable protection.
Second, it gave mages who no longer wanted to run around taking jobs a relatively stable occupation.
Although the Heartfilia Konzern had established cooperation with every Mage Guild in Fiore, ensuring that its stations across the country could be protected, having its own people still made handling sudden incidents much easier.
In short, Makarov did not think changing mage ranks was anything too serious.
Only certain old people cared so much about it.
"Don't go provoking that old woman," Goldmine quickly warned Makarov. "If you do, she'll start nagging nonstop."
When Ooba Babasaama got worked up, she was genuinely annoying.
The main problem was that she could talk far too much. It was practically a mental attack.
"Just watch," Bob added. "If Fairy Tail really manages to meet itself in the final battle, and if the final boss team wins by an overwhelming margin, then the mage ranking system will have to change. Otherwise, the S-Class Mages of other guilds will become a joke."
In Bob's opinion, the result of the final battle would decide whether this reform of mage ranks would actually happen.
Right now, everyone still had doubts.
But if the result really developed the way Bob imagined, then even the greatest doubts would have to disappear.
...
While everyone chatted, the competition event Hidden soon came to an end, and the final scores were announced.
First place: Fairy Tail Team A, Hisui, fourteen points.
Second place: Fairy Tail Team B, Bickslow, ten points.
Third place: Fairy Tail Team D, Warren; Blue Pegasus, Hibiki Lates; Lamia Scale, Jura Neekis — six points each.
Fourth place: Fairy Tail Team C, Miki, four points.
Fifth place: Mermaid Heel, Millianna, two points.
Sixth place: Quatro Cerberus, Warcry, zero points.
After Bickslow reached ten points, he chose to stop while he was ahead.
He did not challenge Jura Neekis.
The first reason was that he never found a good opportunity, so he simply did not make a move.
The second was that he was afraid of accidentally hitting illusions during a battle. If that happened, his points would decrease instead.
Warren defeated Millianna, Warcry, and Miki, earning six points.
As a key member who possessed Telepathy Magic capable of reading thoughts, Warren was far stronger than he looked.
Hibiki Lates also defeated Millianna and Warcry. In addition, he beat Warren in a one-on-one fight, so he also earned six points.
Jura Neekis likewise took points from Millianna and Warcry, while his other two points came from Miki.
Miki fought Bickslow, Warren, Jura Neekis, Millianna, and Warcry.
She gave points to the first three and took points from the latter two.
She was truly fearless.
The moment she found someone, she fought them, not caring at all whether she might end up handing out points.
Miki's thinking was very simple.
If she could win, she took the points.
If she could not win, then there was nothing to be done. Losing points just meant she was not skilled enough.
Her only regret was that she had not found Hibiki Lates in time and had not been able to fight him.
In truth, Hibiki was the one who should have felt regret.
He believed he could have beaten Miki, that was two points he had truly missed out on.
Otherwise, he could have climbed another step higher.
Of course, ranking itself did not matter much.
The points were what really counted.
As for Millianna and Warcry, the two of them were purely unlucky. They ran around like headless flies and got hit by everyone.
Warcry was the most miserable. He could not even beat Millianna.
"That Warcry brat! I really need to train him properly when we get back!"
The final result angered Goldmine badly.
There was no helping it.
Zero points was genuinely too much. Warcry had failed to show any of his ability and had simply been abused by everyone.
"Six points... I suppose that's acceptable."
Bob was not exactly thrilled either.
Hibiki was one of Blue Pegasus's trump cards and an S-Class Mage.
He was different from Warcry, whom Quatro Cerberus had sent out. Yet in the end, he had only earned six points.
Ooba Babasaama of Lamia Scale thought the same.
She had already begun angrily scolding Jura Neekis, because six points was not the result she had imagined at the start.
But there was nothing to be done.
This competition did not test raw strength alone.
If others could learn your position in advance, they could simply choose not to fight you, just like Bickslow had done.
Aside from the two points Hisui had taken from Jura, no one else had managed to score on him.
But if he could not find people, there was nothing he could do. Earning six points was already fairly good.
"Very good. It seems everyone is slowly getting into the rhythm. Teams that haven't found their footing yet shouldn't panic either. Adjust quickly!"
After announcing the results, King Toma gave a summary of the competition.
...
With that, the morning half of the day was over.
The afternoon battle segment would be held in the arena of Domus Flau.
"Domus Flau... that place is worth investigating properly."
A thought stirred in Marco's mind.
The first time he went to that arena, he had already sensed that the ancient coliseum was unusual.
There was definitely some secret hidden inside it.
It had been passed down from ancient times and might have a history of four or five hundred years.
That naturally caught Marco's interest.
Because four or five hundred years ago, this continent had belonged to the age of dragons.
Therefore, it was possible that the secret hidden inside this arena was related to dragons.
Since their current greatest enemy was the Black Dragon, Acnologia, Marco paid a great deal of attention to any information connected to dragons.
"Domus Flau? That coliseum really is different. Beneath it is a graveyard belonging to dragons."
When Marco asked, King Toma gave him an answer.
He actually knew what secret the arena of Domus Flau held.
While renovating the ancient coliseum, the construction team had dug open an entrance—a passage leading to the Dragon Graveyard.
At the time, King Toma had been personally overseeing the work on-site, so he had quickly suppressed the matter.
The Grand Magic Games were about to begin. Changing venues at the last moment was completely unrealistic.
Naturally, they could only set this matter aside for the time being and wait until the Grand Magic Games were over before dealing with it.
"..."
Marco fell into speechless silence.
All he could say was that this truly fit King Toma's way of doing things.
For this man, the Grand Magic Games absolutely came first!
"Take me to see it."
Marco did not intend to affect the Grand Magic Games either, but going in to take a look should be fine.
Perhaps he might gain something from it.
"No problem."
If someone else had made this request, King Toma might have considered it carefully.
In fact, he might not even have revealed the existence of the Dragon Graveyard at all.
But if it was Marco, then there was no issue.
King Toma trusted Marco a great deal.
Under King Toma's lead, Marco arrived before the entrance the construction team had dug open.
The two quickly descended underground.
In truth, King Toma himself was also quite curious.
They had not dared to explore deeply before, but with Marco here, there was nothing to fear.
The Dragon Graveyard was located directly beneath the main arena.
No wonder the construction workers had dug it up during the renovation work.
Snap!
Marco lit a flame as firelight illuminated the space.
And what entered their eyes were pile after pile of dragon bones.
No wonder King Toma had called this place a Dragon Graveyard!