Marco had only just displayed such overwhelming power, so naturally no one was bored enough to come looking for trouble with him.
Even King Toma himself did not mind, so no one else had any standing to criticize Marco for it.
Before long, everyone dispersed, and no one continued dwelling on the matter.
Makarov's response had served as a very good example.
If even he had not rushed into the royal palace, then naturally no one else would charge inside either.
It really reduced the chance of a lot of unnecessary chaos breaking out.
In the afternoon, the Grand Magic Games continued as usual.
The audience seats were still packed, and the arena of Domus Flau had probably not been this lively for countless years.
But then again, with the Dragon Graveyard lying directly beneath the arena, all this excitement above it could technically be considered dancing on a grave.
Of course, those dragons had been dead for four or five hundred years.
By now, maybe they had already reincarnated into other creatures, so whether people danced above their graves or not was hardly something they could do anything about.
Standing in the Guild Master viewing area, Marco shifted his attention to the Saint System, because he had triggered a new mission. It had appeared just now, when he destroyed the Eclipse Gate.
[Mission Name: Eclipse Gate!]
[Mission Details:]
[The Eclipse Gate, a time-travel machine created by Zeref, can travel to timelines in the past or future once opened!]
[This object is extremely dangerous and may cause the creation and collapse of multiple timelines. To prevent anyone with ulterior motives from using it to destroy the normal timeline, every single Eclipse Gate must be destroyed!]
[Mission Progress:]
[Destroy Eclipse Gate: 1/2 — Incomplete.]
[Mission Reward: Random Gold Cloth.]
This mission told Marco that, somewhere unknown, there was still another Eclipse Gate hidden away.
But King Toma knew nothing about it, and Marco chose to believe him.
King Toma clearly really did not know.
The Fiore royal family only knew the location of this one gate. As for the other, perhaps it was a backup left behind by Anna Heartfilia.
If Marco wanted to find the location of that Eclipse Gate, he would probably have to find Anna Heartfilia first.
No.
Finding Zeref himself would probably work too.
After all, Zeref had created the thing. He would definitely know where it was.
'Zeref...'
Marco frowned.
That strange "founder of dark mages" had countless connections to Fairy Tail.
And judging from what Marco had seen so far, Zeref truly did not seem as terrifying and emotionless as the legends described him.
But how to put it?
There were still many tragedies caused by Zeref. The fact that he had created so many demons alone meant the sins on his shoulders could never be washed clean.
Those demons he made had caused far too much suffering over the past several centuries.
'What a complete mess.'
The more Marco thought about it, the more he rubbed his temples.
Anna Heartfilia, who had come from the past.
Zeref, the legendary mage who had lived for centuries.
The Eclipse Gate, which could cross time.
And the final point to which all these contradictions seemed to lead—the Black Dragon, Acnologia.
Not a single one of these problems looked easy to handle.
Earth-land was enormous.
Finding one person in a world this large was already troublesome, especially if that person was deliberately trying to hide.
After all, Earth-land was filled with undeveloped areas. If someone hid deep in the mountains or old forests, they would not be easy to find. Otherwise, dark guilds would never have had room to survive.
Marco had already asked King Toma to issue an order, using the Kingdom of Fiore's power to search for any information about Anna Heartfilia.
Of course, this matter naturally involved Jude Heartfilia as well.
Marco had already sent a message to Jude.
Jude was currently in Crocus too, and he responded immediately, promising that the Heartfilia Konzern would do everything it could to search for her.
After all, this "Anna Heartfilia" was an ancestor of the Heartfilia family.
More than that, she was connected to Layla's death. Jude very much wanted to find this Anna.
Their family had been living perfectly well, yet because Layla had gone to "open a gate," he lost his wife, and Lucy lost her mother...
Still, there was not much point in blaming Anna for it.
Layla Heartfilia had chosen to do it of her own will.
Whether this plan could ultimately succeed was something even Anna and the others who designed it could not be fully confident about.
It all depended on whether their descendants could pass the mission down and whether they were willing to cooperate.
In the end, all one could say was that time and fate had played their part.
....
"Next, let us welcome the contestants for today's battle! The young lady of the Heartfilia Konzern, student of the Star Rose God! A powerful Celestial Spirit Mage, from Fairy Tail Team A... Lucy Heartfilia!"
At that moment, King Toma's passionate voice rang out through the arena.
The battle segment was about to begin, and the first match was an internal fight: Fairy Tail Team A against Fairy Tail Team D.
Fairy Tail Team A was sending Lucy, while Fairy Tail Team D was sending Wakaba.
The participants had been chosen in advance.
The lottery only decided which team would face which team.
Fairy Tail's luck clearly was not good enough to avoid internal battles entirely. After all, among the eight teams, Fairy Tail alone occupied half the bracket.
Avoiding internal fights under those circumstances was truly difficult.
"What rotten luck..."
Uncle Wakaba had a cigarette in his mouth, and he looked rather speechless. If he had drawn someone else, he would still have been confident enough to fight.
But after drawing Lucy, he knew he had no chance.
"And her opponent... a veteran mage from Fairy Tail Team D, Wakaba!"
Listening to the host's incredibly brief introduction of him, Wakaba curled his lip.
He was not some unknown mage either, all right?
"Uncle Wakaba, I have to win this! Sorry in advance."
Standing in the arena and looking at Wakaba, Lucy smiled and apologized to him.
That made Wakaba smile bitterly.
"Fine, fine, go ahead and win. It's not like I can stop you anyway."
Wakaba blew out a smoke ring and spoke helplessly.
"Battle... begin!"
Although he had spoken discouragingly, the moment the host announced the start of the match, Wakaba did not simply raise his hand and surrender.
Buzz!
Magic power surged.
The smoke rings Wakaba had exhaled transformed into fists, attacking Lucy from every direction.
"Sorry, Lucy! I've got to fight for this point for my teammates too!"
Wakaba shouted loudly with the cigarette between his teeth.
How could he just surrender outright?
Right now, they were opponents, and he also carried the expectations of his team. At the very least, he had to put in some effort!
"Go, Wakaba!"
The members of Fairy Tail Team D cheered for their teammate.
As a veteran member, Wakaba still had quite a few old friends in the guild. Many people in the Fairy Tail spectator area cheered for him too, praising his spirit.
Of course, compared to Lucy's supporters, Wakaba's supporters were few in number.
Across the entire arena, most people were cheering for Lucy. In terms of popularity, Wakaba clearly could not compare to her at all!
"Lady Lucy! Go! Victory is yours!"
Aside from Fairy Tail's side, the loudest among Lucy's supporters was the Heartfilia employee cheering squad.
Or rather, the momentum they created was far greater than Fairy Tail's.
One look was enough to tell that they had practiced in advance.
The employees of the Heartfilia Konzern waved flags, held banners, and shouted in perfect unison.
They had even prepared all kinds of Lucy merchandise purchased through Fairy Tail's official channels.
Their professionalism was honestly impressive.
There were even dedicated staff selling support goods to the other spectators.
The prices were cheaper than buying through Fairy Tail's official channels, and their main goal was simply promotion.
As long as someone was willing to support Lucy, they would not mind giving the goods away for free.
Competing in popularity against the daughter of a wealthy conglomerate was impossible for Wakaba.
It would have been strange if he could win.
And more than that, Lucy had Marco as her master.
The attention spilling over from Marco alone was enough to give Lucy considerable fame.
If this match were decided by voting, Wakaba would not even need to fight.
Even if his votes were multiplied by ten, he still would not win.
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