The Domus Flau was more than just an arena for magical combat. It had magic of its own. When the competitors for the second day took to the field, standing in the sandy pit Jellal had destroyed, the sand was not only restored to its original state, but it soon transformed entirely.
With a white flash similar to Requip Magic, the contestants found themselves standing on a linoleum floor in front of a long table. The floor only took up one small corner of the arena. Most of it had been replaced by a big rubber running track. Mato took the field, swinging a checkered flag over his head.
"Day two! Day two!" said the excitable little host. "Our second event! Wasn't the first one great? This one will be twice as good, and that's your Mato guarantee! Then, tomorrow… We're so close to our first battle day that I can smell it!"
The tournament's format had been explained in detail on the evening after the first event. Mato himself had done a broadcast, or for those who didn't tune in, informational pamphlets found their way to all of the guild lodgings.
The first event had been on day one of nine. The joust theme with the circles had been the beginning of the themed events, each of which tested ingenuity and skill more than outright power. Well, theoretically— Jellal's sledgehammer approach couldn't have worked much better in the first one.
Still, Laki assured Harry that there was more to the games than fighting. Races, tag, hide and seek, all kinds of competitions would be adapted. It was impossible to tell which mage would be the best fit for a given event until it was already underway, adding an aspect of luck
The second kind of event would be direct fights, pitting one mage against another in a more classic fashion. The first of those would occur tomorrow. After that would be two days for themed events again, then would come the second battle day. Two more themed events, then a finale, which the organizers remained tight-lipped about. All of this would take nine days in total, one of which was already in the rearview mirror.
Harry's guild was a lot less nervous than a day ago.
"Mess 'em up!" Wakaba shouted, his hands cupped in a circle around his mouth.
"Do your best!" Laki yelled.
"Leave those fools in the dust!" Jet yelled.
Meredy waved at the crowd, particularly her guild. The screen floating above the arena fed details to those who were watching. The pink-haired girl's glowing smile melted many of the hearts in the crowd, earning Fairy Tail a handful of new supporters.
"Is she ready?" Laki asked.
It wasn't a question about Meredy's abilities as a mage. Laki was looking at her own legs, which were shaking very slightly despite sitting down. Ultear, who wasn't showing such signs of exhaustion, smiled at her.
"You're familiar with Meredy's magic?"
"Sensory Link," Laki said.
"That's her strongest spell. It can be used to hurt two people simultaneously. However, Maguilty Sense's true strength is in linking yourself to an enemy. You won't dodge your own attacks. They can't dodge them if you don't. Therefore…"
Like a teacher offering a lesson, Ultear waited for Laki to fill in what was missing.
"She's willing to hurt herself when she fights," Laki said.
"Close," said Ultear. "If she can withstand more than her opponent, she can't lose."
"Her pain tolerance is higher than mine," Jellal said. He didn't understand why the conversation had come up, but was willing to share. His smile looked almost paternal.
It wasn't exactly her ability to withstand pain that was in question here. All the same, Laki looked relieved.
The contestants were directed to sit down at the table. Harry didn't recognize most of them, so the introductions that Mato offered were appreciated. The three loudest cheers came for Sting, the Sabertooth representative, Bacchus, the Quatro Cerberus mage, and Meredy herself.
Sting sat in his seat wearing a smirk, pleased with the cheers even as he pretended not to hear them. Bacchus threw his hands out and blew kisses back to the crowd. Meredy looked confused, maybe a little surprised, but not unhappy. She responded to the cheering with a calm and polite wave.
When the introductions were done, Mato jumped onto the table. "Time for the event!"
There was a second flash behind him, similar to but smaller than the one that morphed the arena. The only thing that appeared were thick casks of—
"Alcohol!" Bacchus said.
He lurched forward, looking like he was going to leap out of his chair and vault the table. At the last second, he reigned himself in. That didn't keep his tongue from hanging out of his mouth like a panting dog's.
"Part one will be none other than a drinking contest!" Mato said.
"How dare you! Where was that when I was competing?" roared Macao.
His words were lost in the crowd's cheers for everyone except his guild mates. Mato carried on.
"The fastest to drink ten mugs of Crocus' strongest ale will get to set off first," Mato said. "Set off for what, you ask? Why, part two, the race!"
"How dare you! Where was that when I was competing?" roared Jet. Like Macao before him, it went unheard.
Mato danced to the roar of the crowd, swinging his checkered flag around. After a few seconds, he brought the bottom against the table with a thud!
"I call it the Tipsy Turvy Magical race!" Mato jumped backwards off the table. He walked, arms pumping, to the line at the end of the circular running track. When he turned back, he cocked his pumpkin head.
"Are you ready?"
The challengers sat up. Even the ones who looked nervous, like Meredy.
"Remember your training, Meredy," Macao said.
"Making her drink until she passes out doesn't count as training!" Laki said.
"Don't you think she'd be more nervous for this if I never did that?" Macao asked.
"It—" Laki didn't have a good answer.
"Of course it's training," Macao said. "Now just watch!"
"Gooooooooooooooo!"
Mato's enhanced voice signaled the start. The competitors didn't have to get the drinks for themselves. Some kind of spell brought a tall mug of frothy ale directly in front of them. Sting from Sabertooth put his head back and poured the alcohol down his throat. A little bit streamed from the corners of his mouth, dripping off his chin.
"Penalty," beeped a robotic voice. "Sting of Sabertooth. Spilling violation. Drink invalidated."
"Wha—! Over that much?" he roared.
A new drink appeared in front of Sting. While others received a 1 over their heads, Sting had a 0 appear.
The Raven Tail mage also received a violation. He had a big beaked nose at the end of what looked like a wooden mask. The mask's mouth couldn't open, and he refused to take it off. Drink after drink sloshed off of the wood followed each time by the buzzing voice calling, "Penalty! Penalty! Penalty!"
Toby was competing again from Lamia Scale, hoping to redeem himself. So far, that was going well. He drank with confidence and was already eyeing the track. Blue Pegasus had sent Hibiki, another playboy-looking mage who was no stranger to holding a drink. He was progressing the second fastest.
As for first…
"It's difficult to count his progress," Ultear remarked.
Bacchus somehow managed to have two mugs in his hands at any given time, pouring both into his mouth. He didn't spill, though. The robotic referee was yet to call a penalty on him. Two, four, six, eight, ten— he was going more than twice the speed of the others.
"This event was made for me!" Bacchus laughed.
Then, for some reason, he grabbed two more drinks.
"Isn't he done?" Yukino asked.
"He can race any time. Look, the voice is telling him to go," Macao said, "but he isn't done."
Bacchus was having so much fun drinking that he wouldn't stop. Hibiki reached his tenth drink and lurched out of his chair. Sting finished soon after, putting his foot on the table and jumping over to save time. There was a greenish tint to his cheeks.
"Did I forget to mention?" Mato's voice covered the stadium. "There's one more rule. If you hurl, you're automatically out!"
The news wasn't taken well by those who were struggling. The short and heavy woman from Kagura's guild froze halfway through her fourth drinking, looking at Mato in horror. Sting slowed down a little bit, choosing not to run so fast on a full stomach. Bacchus was still drinking, unbothered, as the number above his head did its best to keep up with his consumption.
Harry was looking at Meredy. She was on her ninth drink and looked like she was in pain. When she finished, she let out a big breath and panted. Disgust was written across her face.
"She still doesn't have a taste for alcohol," Ultear said. "A drink that strong will taste like mud to her."
"Please don't throw up. Please don't throw up," Laki whispered.
Toby was in the race now as well. Even after slowing down, Sting had gained ground on Hibiki, who didn't have any magic to help him run faster. Meredy started on her last drink, just as Risley — the Mermaid Heel mage — turned and barfed. Raven Tail's mage was stuck on zero drinks, either not possessing a mouth or being unwilling to use it.
One gulp at a time, Meredy forced herself to get through her drink. She got up and started to run. The determination was impressive. Her speed, not as much.
"A race was a poor fit for her," Kageyama observed.
"Poor girl," Totomaru said. "I would've aced this challenge! At least, if the track was a little shorter. Of course, once Bacchus stops messing around, they're all done."
Harry turned to him. Even though Bacchus could apparently care less about the task, Harry couldn't stop paying attention to the mage. Something kept drawing Harry's eyes back. 40. 50. There was no end to his drinking.
"You know him?" Harry asked.
"My old master wanted him to join Phantom Guild," Totōmaru said. "He set up a meeting. Bacchus insisted they hold it in a bar. Jose laid everything out to him. Phantom Lord was twice as strong as Quatro Cerberus, Jose could destroy Goldmine with his eyes closed, and Jose was willing to make him our ace. Bacchus listened to everything, drinking the whole time. I was there with the rest of the Element Four so that Jose could show he was serious, and I'll never forget the way it ended. Bacchus got up and told a Wizard Saint that he was half the man that Goldmine was, without a hundredth of the style. When he walked out, we were left with a tab the size of an A-Class mission reward."
"Jose let him go after that?!" Macao asked.
"Of course not. He sent Aria to jump Bacchus on his next mission, just to do it in secret. No fighting between legal guilds after all. Aria found him, Aria fought him, then Aria limped back to the guild hall with a face too bruised to recognize. Until the war with Fairy Tail, that was the only fight Aria had ever lost."
60. Two more mugs appeared in front of Bacchus. Instead of drinking from them, he stretched out his back, reaching his hands above his head.
"That was tasty! I guess I should win now."
It took the crowd a few seconds to realize he'd joined the race, because he left an afterimage in his chair. It was hard to see him move. The easiest thing to track was the white blur of the flapping ribbons hanging off his topknot.
Meredy's hair blew as he passed her. Toby put on a burst of speed that was a waste of time, only buying an extra second before he was overtaken. Hibiki was next. Sting, who had pulled into the lead, started to glow.
His body was surrounded by light. He got faster, while looking more sick. There was a third of the track left. Sting stayed ahead longer than the others. He might've won the race if his cheeks didn't bulge.
Sting turned to the side, dropping to his knees. He forced himself not to vomit with a big gulp, swallowing something back down.
"Nasty!" Macao said.
Bacchus waved to him as he went by.
"Get a stronger stomach, kiddo!"
The Quatro Cerberus mage ended the race with a knee slide. He held his hands out and basked in the crowd's cheers, the loudest of which came in the form of barks and roars from his own guild.
Mato swung his flag wildly. "Quatro Cerberus in first! Bacchus Groh wins the race!"
Sting was back on his feet again but could only walk toward the finish line. Toby had overtaken Hibiki. A second place for Lamia Scale seemed likely.
Fairy Tail was showing no sign of climbing the rankings. The fact that Mermaid Heel was out and Raven Tail couldn't catch up didn't cheer Meredy up. She was huffing and puffing.
"Harry," Ultear said, "would you happen to have a spell for amplifying voices?"
"I've got something like that," Harry said.
Ultear smiled sweetly, pointing at her throat to request its casting.
Harry aimed his wand and held it there. She rose to her feet, clearing her throat. When the sound reverberated through the stadium, she looked pleased.
Then, she screamed.
"You don't have to play nice, dear!"
Her voice paired with Harry's magic was loud enough that even Mato looked at them. Naturally, Meredy heard her. On the big screen, Fairy Tail could see the look on their contestant's face. Surprised, then confused, then determined."
"Sensory Link!" Meredy said.
Everyone had been so confident in their own speed that they never thought about slowing others down. The rules didn't forbid it. Meredy held her hand out.
Her wrist was surrounded by a band of pink light. Similar ones appeared on Toby, Hibiki, and Sting. Satisfied with what she saw, Ultear pushed Harry's wand away from her throat and sat back down.
"A four-way link is her limit," Ultear said. "How lucky that it's enough."
"Can she catch up, though?" Macao asked "Even with the spell active. Some of them have a serious lead."
It wasn't like Meredy could just knock them out. She was linked to them the same way they were linked to her. Luckily, without any other spells, that was having an effect.
Sting had been forced to stop. Sabertooth's mage was hunched over again, doing everything in his power not to throw up. The finish line was so close to him, less than fifty steps away, yet he couldn't take one. All the nausea Meredy was experiencing, including her revulsion toward the ale taste in her mouth, had turned his stomach into a moshpit.
Hibiki hadn't been prepared for the feelings that targeted him. He spun to the side and did what Sting was holding himself back from, throwing his breakfast up on the edge of the track.
Meredy had risen one place now. Her slow and steady power walk was gaining ground on the two left ahead of her. But time was running out.
Unable to walk, Sting started dragging himself. One arm ahead of the other, he pulled his limp body toward the finish.
Toby was on his feet and still running. Apparently, he had an iron stomach. He did kind of look like he would eat out of trash cans, in Harry's opinion. Toby whooped as he saw the end coming up.
"Second place—!"
Toby collapsed.
He rolled back and forth holding one of his thighs. Sting let out a similar gasp of pain and planted his forehead on the ground, grasping his own leg.
Meredy kept walking, her teeth gritted and a glowing pink sword protruding from her thigh.
"Meredy's blades attack pain receptors directly. Defensive magics are useless," Ultear said. "If you've ever been hit by them, you'll know. The pain is excruciating."
"She can walk through that?" Laki asked. She was rubbing her own thigh in the same spot, imagining the feeling.
"Meredy is used to excruciating," Ultear said simply.
The crowd seemed to hold their breath as the race slowed to a crawl. Meredy moved forward at a walking pace. She was still queasy and had to keep the sword through her thigh, or else the ones she was chasing would finish in an instant.
Sting had bitten down on the fur collar of his top. He was dragging himself again, fighting through the pain. Toby was pulling himself forward now too, his magic nails extended to help drag himself forward. It was impossible to tell who would finish first.
"Raaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" Pulling a second wind from somewhere, Toby managed to get onto his feet. He stumbled forward as soon as Meredy got close to him, pitching himself over the finish line. The move didn't have any of the style that Bacchus finished with, not that it mattered. Second place was second place.
When Meredy passed Sting, something in him broke.
"Fuck this!" he said.
She hobbled toward the finish line. He opened his mouth. "Dragon Slayer Magic: White Dragon Slayer's Roar!"
A beam of light shot across the arena and blasted one of the walls. Sting was pushed forward by the recoil. He skidded toward the finish line just as Meredy brought her foot down.
"A photo finish! Brilliant! But who made it to the podium?" Mato said.
Sting finally vomited. There was no rule against it after the finish line, leaving him free to empty his stomach. Meredy was taking deep breaths. The Sensory Link was gone and she was sweating. Hibiki and Toby were giving her dirty looks, while Meredy looked torn between being frustrated about her performance and hopeful that she beat Sabertooth.
The screen over their heads showed a replay. At the crucial moment, it paused and zoomed in.
Meredy's foot had crossed the line a second before Sting's head.
Already cheering for her efforts, Fairy Tail raised their voices even louder.
As Mato yelled about what a fantastic spectacle, they'd been treated to, the replay was replaced by a scoreboard.
Raven Tail had been given last place for repeated penalties. Those who threw up were ordered by the times that they did it, Mermaid Heel going second to last while Blue Pegasus finished one place above them. Then Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, and Quatro Cerberus. Bacchus was laughing about how the race ended, pointing at Sting curled up on the ground and giving Meredy intrigued looks. Fairy Tail's attention was on the scoreboard. Macao was whispering as he did mental math.
He bolted to his feet. "We did it!"
With the first day's results factored in, Fairy Tail was holding onto the top spot for another day.
Harry would've liked to see Jiemma's face.