The 1st day of the Grand Magic Games real tournament has finally arrived. Domus Flau, the main stadium for the game is now full of people. There are still many more who can't enter the stadium, so the organizer broadcasts the event all over the capital through magic screens.
The commentators are the same as the ones in the series which are Chapati Lola and Yajima with Jenny from Blue Pegasus as the guest. They do some quick talk as the hosts of the show before finally announcing the 8 participating teams.
"Without further ado, let's call the 1st team, the team that barely made it into the 8th place in the preliminary round, team Quatro Cerberus." Chapati starts announcing the teams starting from the 8th place of the preliminary.
8th: Quatro Cerberus
7th: Blue Pegasus
6th: Heaven's Runners
5th: Lamia Scale
4th: Mermaid Heel
3rd: Fairy Tail Team B
2nd: Sabertooth
1st: Fairy Tail Team A
People are very surprised to know that Fairy Tail manages to pass the preliminary round with 2 teams and they are 1st and 3rd. Many people still don't know about the new rule that allows each Guild to send 2 teams, so the commentators quickly explain it to them.
Meanwhile, in the arena, Elfman is teasing Natsu for losing to his team, and Natsu being Natsu gets taunted very easily. Mira asks Levy how they managed to be 1st place because they haven't talked about it at all before this, so Levy tells her what they did in general.
Wendy talks with Sherria. They have become close friends since the previous Grand Magic Games. They hit it off quickly because of their similar magic. The difference now is Wendy having a similarly curvy figure as Sherria, but their heights are similar too.
Lucy is talking with Flare who joined team Mermaid Heel. They are close because Flare was saved by Layla a few years ago and was introduced to Mermaid Heel. She was crying a lot when Layla passed away last year.
As for Alex, he is surrounded by Laxus, Ultear, Jura, Lyon, and Ichiya. They congratulate him but declare that they won't lose in the main event. After all, they have trained hard before this and Jura who never participated before even joined now because he wants to face Alex.
"You better play in the same event as me so that we can fight seriously again after so long." Ultear grins because it really has been so long since they fought.
"No, you better play in the same event as me, Alex-dono." Jura also wants to fight Alex because they've only sparred twice in the past and they won each spar, so their score is still 1-1.
"I can't guarantee that. We will send suitable people for the games. This is a team play, after all, and we will win as a team." Alex grins, telling them that he will send someone else to fight them if the game is not suitable for him.
"You are correct, Alex-kun. That's why our team will give it our all too and be the most handsome man." Ichiya nods with all the sparkles around him as usual.
"No, I don't think there will be a competition for handsomeness here." Laxus's face darkens because he is overshadowed by the sparkling lights from Ichiya's aura.
The ones who know each other chat while the commentators explain the rules and other stuff to the audience. Only Sabertooth team doesn't talk with anyone from other teams because they are not close with other Guilds.
Sabertooth really has a great ambition to win this year because last year they won when the other big Guilds weren't serious. They want to prove that they are capable of winning this tournament even when the other big Guilds are serious.
Well, Alex doesn't have any problem with that because it's normal. In fact, he doesn't have any problem with Sabertooth. Even from what he knew from the series, Sabertooth is just a strong rival in the competition.
Though he must admit that Jiemma and Minerva are really cruel in this story arc. They were obsessed with victory and would do any means necessary to obtain it, even if it means hurting their own members.
On the other hand, their other members were just people trying to win the competition. Hurting other contestants is normal in a competition between Mages. What Minerva did to Lucy was excessive, but the other members fought normally like other contestants.
That's why now, Alex's only worry is Minerva. He should avoid sending the girls if Minerva participates in a game. While they often get hurt in their jobs, he still doesn't want to see them get tortured in a mere competition.
Anyway, the commentators announce that the event is divided into 5 days. Each day has a surprise round and a battle round except for the final round in the last day that has an unknown event.
They announce the 1st surprise event called Hidden and ask each team to send a representative. Fairy Tail Team A goes to their team area and discusses who will participate.
All teams' representatives are finally chosen and they enter the arena. Fairy Tail Team A's representative is Levy. She offered herself to play when Alex asked if anyone wanted to play in this game.
Fairy Tail Team B sends Cana, Sabertooth sends Rufus, Lamia Scale sends Lyon, Blue Pegasus sends Eve, Mermaid Heel sends Millianna, Heaven's Runners sends Hoteye, and Quatro Cerberus sends Jager.
Alex was actually still surprised to see the members of team Heaven's Runners. In the series, they were members of Oracion Seis. But now, they are members of Heaven's Runners because they are escapees from the Tower of Heaven who banded together to make a Guild with Jellal as their Guild Master.
That's why Alex is also still surprised that Millianna joined Mermaid Heel instead of Heaven's Runners like them. Though Ultear has told him that Millianna joins Mermaid Heel because of Ur.
Ur who found the Tower of Heaven and rescued them is Mermaid Heel's Guild Master. When she heard that, Millianna instantly wanted to join Mermaid Heel because she admired Ur. She wanted to follow Erza previously, but changed her mind after hearing about Ur's contribution to her rescue.
Anyway, the 1st game is about to start. After the teams' representatives enter the arena, a city suddenly emerges there. The 8 participants then get teleported to random locations in the city and then, numerous clones of the participants fill the city to confuse them.
They need to find each other and land an attack to gain a point. If they hit clones, their points will be deducted, so they need to be careful. This is basically an advanced Hide and Seek game.
Levy's brain works very quickly and she immediately blends in the crowd before slipping into a building. She doesn't dare to rush herself and decides to make plans first, that's why she quickly hides.
But she also knows she can't hide for too long because her opponents might have troublesome skills that can track her even if she hides well. So she needs to quickly think of plans to play this game and she gets a lot of ideas very quickly.
The other participants are also making their own plans for this game. Hoteye quickly uses his Eye Magic that can make him see through obstacles and actually differentiate between clones and the real ones, so he can find all the other 7 participants instantly.
With this magic, he is a big threat in this game and his first target is Jager from Quatro Cerberus. He uses Earth Magic to attack Jager by shooting a stone fist from the ground beneath Jager, hitting the unsuspecting Mage and gives him the 1st point in this game.
On another location, Millianna uses her sharp nose to smell other contestants while moving stealthily. She finds a target. It's Lyon who is hiding in an alley and he doesn't realize anything until Millianna's magic whip hits his back.
Just as Millianna gets her first point, Hoteye gets his 2nd point by attacking Eve who is just about to execute his plan. Eve tries to spread his snow all over the city to make the other participants shiver because of the cold.
Unfortunately for him, he is the 2nd closest to Hoteye's location after Jager, so Hoteye is targeting him next. Earth hands suddenly emerge from the floor and catch his feet. With his feet being held, Eve can't dodge the earth pillar that shoots out of the ground in front of him.
The audience is cheering when they see Hoteye manages to hit 2 people without moving from his spot. They are also excited seeing Millianna hit Lyon from behind and the latter didn't realize her presence at all.
But then, they are surprised by the 2 Fairy Tail Mages in this game. Cana is sitting on the rooftop of a building, drinking booze from a barrel while looking down on the streets. She doesn't seem to care about the game and just wants to get drunk.
Even her friends don't know what she is trying to do. She can be the most unpredictable person out of everyone here. Her unpredictability even makes Levy think of her as the most troublesome opponent in this game.
"Hic! Ah~, so that's how it is." Cana takes some big gulps of her booze before looking serious all of a sudden. She will finally make her move.
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Ch. 224. True Threat