Buzz!
"Gate of the Lion, open!"
Leo's figure appeared.
The handsome Lion Celestial Spirit drew a wave of cheers the moment he showed up.
Leo had some fame in Fairy Tail too, though mostly because of his face. He had long ranked near the top of the "Ideal Boyfriend" rankings.
As for who held first place on that list, there was no need to hesitate at all.
If any magazine dared to make that kind of ranking and put someone other than Marco in first, it would be cursed to hell and back.
Who could possibly snatch first place in that kind of poll from Marco?
"Wakaba, I suggest you surrender honestly. Otherwise, Lucy won't even need to do anything. I alone can take you down!"
Leo scattered all of Wakaba's smoke fists with a burst of Regulus, then laughed and joked with Wakaba.
"Quit talking nonsense! I'm not giving up that easily!"
Wakaba remained stubborn, but he knew Leo was telling the truth.
The strength of a Celestial Spirit was closely tied to its contractor.
The more magic power the contractor had, the more support they could provide to the spirit, and the stronger that spirit's power became.
And the current Lucy undoubtedly had an abundant supply of magic power.
She was already wearing the Cygnus Cloth, and the steady flow of star magic power made Leo seem as if he had been given a huge boost.
Leo, the Lion Celestial Spirit, was already one of the strongest among the spirits. Now, with this support, he was even more formidable.
Wakaba had an extremely hard time dealing with him.
Buzz!!!
At that moment, Lucy finally stopped watching from the side.
Since Wakaba was unwilling to give up voluntarily, she had to make a move and end the battle.
As Lucy took her starting stance and moved her body, the surrounding air seemed to begin freezing.
"Diamond... Dust—"
"I surrender!"
Before Lucy could throw that punch, Wakaba decisively raised both hands and shouted that he surrendered.
Being stubborn for a while was fine, but he could not actually let himself get beaten up, could he?
Uncles had pride too!
If he really got knocked flat, he would lose too much face when he returned to the guild later.
"Booooo!"
Wakaba's move immediately drew a wave of boos.
Even his own supporters laughed and joined in.
Anyone with eyes could see that Wakaba was definitely going to lose, so no one was surprised that he chose to surrender.
But that did not stop everyone from booing his behavior.
"I'm simply not strong enough. I admit defeat."
Wakaba did not mind at all.
He shrugged helplessly, looked at Lucy after she withdrew her power, and nodded to her.
"Then I'll be taking those ten points~"
Lucy smiled in response and winked playfully.
She had won another ten points for her team.
Their lead was now quite large, putting them fourteen points ahead of second place, Fairy Tail Team B.
Of course, if Fairy Tail Team B also won, then the gap would shrink back to four points.
Fairy Tail Team B's fighter was the Iron Dragon, Gajeel.
They had not drawn an internal battle. Instead, they had drawn Mermaid Heel.
Fairy Tail Team C had sent Reedus, and they had drawn Quatro Cerberus. The remaining match was Lamia Scale against Blue Pegasus.
After watching Lucy's fight, Marco left the venue without staying any longer.
His mind was currently full of thoughts about the Eclipse Gate. After all, this was another chance to unlock a Gold Cloth.
Since awakening his Cosmo, Marco had naturally been training hard to improve it. But the speed of improvement had not been especially obvious.
At the very least, it was far less obvious than directly unlocking a Gold Cloth.
Although it had not been long since his Cosmo awakened, Marco still hoped to become stronger.
After all, the massive threat known as the Black Dragon Acnologia still existed.
This was not yet the time for leisurely training.
Aside from asking King Toma to search for Anna and asking Jude to use the Heartfilia Konzern's channels to look for her, Marco had also contacted the Magic Council.
He was not certain that Anna was still within the borders of the Kingdom of Fiore, so he had to mobilize more people.
Moreover, he needed to search through the Magic Council's archives and see whether there were any records related to the Eclipse Gate.
If he could find the answer directly through the Magic Council, then finding Anna would no longer be so urgent.
As for finding Zeref, that would be even harder.
And much more dangerous.
Anna, the mage from the past, seemed at the very least to stand on the side of order.
She had gone through such great effort to cross time because she wanted to destroy the Black Dragon Acnologia.
If someone found her, there should not be any danger.
Zeref was different.
He was still extremely dangerous.
Even if he subjectively did not want to hurt others, he himself did not seem able to control it.
Marco had seen the man suddenly go berserk before.
The shockwave filled with the aura of death that Zeref released was not something ordinary people could withstand.
Simply sending people out to search was not enough.
Marco also had to find a way to make Anna reveal herself.
And the best way to draw Anna out was naturally to let her hear some news about the Black Dragon.
With her obsession toward Acnologia, she would surely come looking on her own.
So Marco immediately began making arrangements.
While the various forces searched for Anna, they would also deliberately spread the news that Marco had encountered the Black Dragon.
"Mr. Marco! We heard you encountered the legendary Black Dragon of the End! Is that true? Is that Black Dragon really as terrifying as the legends say? Did you kill it?"
As the rumors spread, the reporters from every major and minor newspaper were the first ones who could no longer sit still.
Every day, crowds of them came to surround and chase after Marco, hoping to obtain firsthand information from him.
Marco stopped in his tracks and looked as though he was willing to accept an interview, which immediately excited the reporters following him.
Over the past few days, Marco had never given a direct answer on this matter.
Whenever reporters pressed him, he had only brushed them off patiently. Never once had he looked as serious as he did now.
"That's right. I did encounter that Black Dragon." Marco spoke bluntly.
The moment those words came out, the reporters immediately cried out in shock.
This was real breaking news!
"The Black Dragon really exists?!"
"How strong is it?! Has it already been killed?!"
"Did you fight it personally?!"
The reporters fired off questions all at once, their hands writing furiously at the same time.
"It really exists and its strength is extremely terrifying! I fought it, but I was not able to kill it. I only drove it back."
Marco slowly spoke, revealing some information about the Black Dragon.
As someone who had truly repelled the Black Dragon, Marco naturally had the right to say these things.
It would not cause too much panic either.
This was completely different from when Gildarts first encountered the Black Dragon.
Back then, Gildarts had almost been killed instantly, and no one else had ever faced the Black Dragon directly.
Even Marco had not been confident enough to say that he could kill it for certain, so that information could not be allowed to spread.
A terrifying, undefeated Black Dragon powerful enough that no one could oppose it would naturally cause massive panic.
But a Black Dragon that could be pushed back by someone was not quite as terrifying.
Even if only one person could force the Black Dragon back, that alone was enough to dispel most of the people's fear.
If the sky fell, then the tallest person—Marco—would hold it up.
Since Marco could stand against the Black Dragon, ordinary people did not need to worry too much.
Even if they did worry, there was nothing they could do about it.
They would only be adding unnecessary anxiety to their own lives.
"Is the Black Dragon really trying to destroy the world?"
"Why did the Black Dragon suddenly appear?"
"Are there any other dragons still alive in this world?"
"Will the Dragon Slayers go and destroy the Black Dragon?"
Once Marco truly answered their questions and confirmed that the Black Dragon existed, and that he had even fought it, the reporters' questions came one after another.
For such a major topic, there were simply too many things they wanted to ask.
"I don't know. I'm not the Black Dragon, so how would I know what it's thinking? What I do know is that it attacked Fairy Tail and made itself our enemy. So, I have to kill it."
Marco shook his head, brushing aside those questions before giving his declaration.
The Black Dragon had already become Fairy Tail's prey.
It had become his prey.
"Anyone who can provide information about the Black Dragon may come to Fairy Tail. As long as the information is true, we will give a reward. But please, everyone must pay attention to safety! Do not attempt to provoke the Black Dragon. Its strength is truly terrifying."
Marco's expression was serious as he issued a bounty in front of the reporters, requesting that they publish his words exactly.
"There is no need for everyone to worry. Before the Black Dragon can destroy the world, I will definitely destroy it first."
Marco ended the interview with those words.
Then he ignored the reporters and walked straight through the arena's VIP passage, heading directly up to the exclusive viewing platform for Guild Masters.
By now, it was already the final day of the Grand Magic Games main tournament.
After today's matches ended, the final winning team would be decided, and they would go on to challenge the final boss team.
----
From now on Marco will be very op that if he fight Acnologia again, it will end with one punch.