"Go for it, Orga! Show them what you've got!" Lector raised his paws and cheered loudly.
"120mm Black Thunder Cannon!"
After closing his eyes and meditating to gather magical power, Orga unleashed a devastating golden beam entwined with black lightning, shooting straight toward the MPF crystal.
The golden light illuminated the faces of the participating members.
"3125!!! It's over 3000!!"
"What's with this number?! That's incredible!" Chapati Lola screamed.
"Alright, next up is the highly anticipated Ten Wizard Saint, Jura! Can he surpass this value?!"
"Am I really allowed to go all out?" Jura asked as he stepped forward.
"Of course, kabo."
With the affirmative answer, Jura clasped his hands together and closed his eyes.
"Mr. Jura seems to be concentrating!"
A heavy layer of golden magical power surged around Jura, causing the very earth beneath the colosseum to tremble.
"Resonance: Mount Fuji!" Jura opened his eyes, and a towering pillar of raw, earth-shaking magical light enveloped the MPF, rapidly expanding.
From the city of Crocus, civilians could see a massive white pillar tearing through the night sky!
"8144!!! This... this is truly astonishing!!!" Chapati Lola yelled.
"Old man, that's just abnormal!" Natsu was completely dumbfounded.
Even Orga, who had been calm and cocky earlier, now had cold sweat running down his forehead.
"This has shattered the MPF's highest record! The title of Ten Wizard Saint truly lives up to its name!"
"Have you tried it, Ur?" Raizel asked curiously from the stands.
"No. But I'd like to give it a try if I get the chance," Ur shook her head, intrigued.
"It's truly surprising." Makarov was also somewhat amazed.
'It seemed Jura had made significant progress.'
'Are Mages nowadays all this terrifying? Jura hadn't even used an Ultra Magic spell.'
Makarov wondered to himself whether he could achieve such a feat without using one of the Fairy Three Great Magics.
However, this didn't mean Makarov couldn't defeat Jura in a real fight.
The MPF is just one factor measuring sheer, raw attack power. In an actual battle, many factors determine the outcome.
Raizel looked down at Natsu, who had remained uncharacteristically silent.
"Next up is Natsu, right? I'm curious about how much he'll score." Chapati Lola commented.
"After Mr. Jura's performance, the pressure must be immense!"
The pumpkin-headed figure looked up at Natsu.
"Please do your best, kabo." Natsu, contrary to his usual energetic self, quietly approached the MPF pedestal.
Erza taking on a hundred opponents alone, Jura's impossibly high MPF score—these things would pressure most people, but Natsu was the type to grow stronger when faced with absolute walls to climb.
He mimicked Jura's actions, lowering his head, closing his eyes, and adjusting his breathing to clear his mind.
As Natsu meditated, red and orange flames intertwined with volatile golden arcs of electricity wrapped around his right arm.
"Natsu-san..." Sting gritted his teeth, staring intently at his idol.
Laxus walked up to the edge of the Fairy Tail balcony, watching the meditating Natsu, and smiled.
"Erza just stole the show, so you need to bare your fangs too, Natsu."
Natsu's Emotional Flames could grant him terrifying power amplification, which was why Laxus had always held high expectations for him.
"Get back now!!" Jura suddenly shouted.
Jura sensed an unnatural, surging spike of magical power and quickly urged the other competitors to take cover behind him.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus Exploding Thunder Blade!"
Veins bulged on Natsu's forehead as faint dragon scales emerged across his skin, his white scarf billowing fiercely from the sheer surge of magical pressure.
The Fire Dragon King Igneel, the Thunder Dragon, and the Hellfire Dragon Atlas Flame— ROAR— The audience faintly heard the roar of a dragon echoing through the stadium, chilling their souls.
Three phantom images of Elemental Dragons flickered behind Natsu, rapidly merging into one.
Natsu threw a devastating punch!
A massive elemental dragon composed of roaring flames and jagged black lightning charged toward the MPF crystal.
BOOM!
"Iron Rock Wall: Chain!"
As Natsu struck, Jura acted immediately, surrounding the competitors' area with a massive, reinforced circular rock wall.
The stadium's crystal screens whited out.
In an instant, a violent, surging pillar of three-colored light engulfed the arena, resembling a towering column of hellfire rising from the earth.
The pillar first condensed and compressed... before erupting explosively.
The crimson shockwave dyed the clouds above the arena blood red, making the audience feel as though they were witnessing a blazing sunset in the dead of night.
The MPF pedestal was entirely swallowed by the raging pillar of fire.
As the smoke and dust slowly settled, the MPF pedestal had vanished entirely.
Hovering in the air where the screen used to be were the cracked, glowing numbers : "9999"
The arena erupted!
"What... what just happened! The MPF was destroyed and maxed out the counter! What is going on with this guild?!" Chapati Lola was visibly shaken, his words stumbling.
As for Yajima and Laharl, their jaws were practically glued to the floor.
Natsu grinned, raising his flaming right arm triumphantly.
"Natsu!!"
"Salamander!!" The cheers of the audience surged like a tidal wave.
Sting's mouth hung open unconsciously, cold sweat beading heavily on his forehead.
'I can't win...' That was the only thought echoing in his mind.
"Fairy Tail is far ahead in the lead! Is there truly no one who can stop them now?!"
"Of course no one can stop us! Because we are the strongest guild—Fairy Tail!" Natsu raised his arm and shouted.
'Did Igneel intervene somehow?' Raizel wondered.
'It doesn't seem likely... This is just a test, after all. Two Dragon Kings and one Hellfire Dragon close to a Dragon King, combined into a three-in-one Dragon Slayer Secret Art, and Natsu had even meditated to focus his explosive power—it wasn't surprising he managed to blow up the MPF entirely.'
Not to mention, Natsu was in unusually good form today.
For someone as hyperactive as him, entering a true meditative state usually took quite a while.
...
Chapati Lola announced the rankings once more.
Fairy Tail's all-female Team A was far ahead in the lead.
He simply skipped over the bottom-ranked Mermaid Heel and Quatro Cerberus.
"The battle segment of the third day of the Grand Magic Games is about to begin!"
"The battle segment is truly something to look forward to."
"The first match is Amelia of Mermaid Heel versus Seamus of Quatro Cerberus!"
"Souls are forever wild..."
"Four!!"
"Now, the Wood Stage match begins!"
"First strike! Frenzied Spiral!" Seamus extended his arms horizontally, his entire body spinning rapidly. He became a human tornado tearing through the arena, charging wildly toward Amelia.
"This is a physical attack that utilizes his massive body weight spinning at high speeds!" Chapati Lola yelled.
"Watch this!" Amelia dodged with several backward leaps before spinning and throwing her longsword.
Her plan was to strike Seamus's feet with the sword, disrupting his brutal rotation.
But it didn't go as intended—the sword failed to inflict any damage on Seamus's momentum, and after being violently deflected, it nearly struck Amelia herself.
However, Amelia quickly adapted.
While evading, she used her spare shortswords to dig hidden pits in the dirt track. With enough pits, one was bound to trip him up.
Sure enough, when the constantly spinning Seamus rolled over a hidden divot, he lost his balance and crashed hard into the ground.
Seizing the opening, Amelia leaped from a tree branch and landed a knockout blow squarely on his back.
"The winner is contestant Amelia!"
"Next up is the second match of the duel segment: Rufus Lore, the Memory-Maker of Sabertooth! Facing off against Eve Tearm of Blue Pegasus!"
Rufus had regained his fighting spirit.
Before today's matches, he had still been listless, but his renewed vigor was entirely thanks to Erza and Natsu.
Originally, Rufus had been dejected, sinking into a depressive state after his loss.
But after watching Erza annihilate a hundred monsters and Natsu shatter the MPF, he finally understood that there are always greater mountains to climb beyond one's own.
Their overwhelming passion and fighting spirit ignited his own.