The Kingdom of Fiore is a place where magic flourishes, and it has produced far more powerful Mages than any other Kingdom on the continent.
For example, Fiore holds several seats among the Ten Wizard Saints.
Fairy Tail's Guild Master, Makarov Dreyar.
Phantom Lord's Guild Master, Jose Porla (former).
Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis.
It is said that a member of The Four Gods of Ishgar was also born in Fiore.
Since the Ten Wizard Saints born in Fiore alone occupy nearly half the seats, the Magic Council naturally wouldn't easily bestow the title of a Wizard Saint upon Takeshi.
Toma said, "Hmph! I don't know if those guys are Mages or politicians. In the magic world, strength is king. If someone is strong, they should be given the title of a Wizard Saint. If they watch a Wizard Saint get trampled, the ones losing face are them."
Indeed, the Ten Wizard Saints are chosen by the Magic Council. If they are defeated by someone else, it is naturally the authority of the Magic Council that is lost.
The Ten Wizard Saints can almost be said to symbolize national power. It is precisely because Fiore possesses several Wizard Saints, coupled with numerous Mage Guilds, that other nations dare not provoke it.
The knight asked, "Your Majesty, do you have any requests regarding the combat portion of the second day?"
"Well... Although I really want to see Takeshi's other fighting styles, he has already appeared. It wouldn't be appropriate for him to appear again, and we also need to balance the score differences between the teams."
"Oh right! I want to see Bacchus. Add Bacchus to the Duel Group."
"Understood. Which team would you like to see him fight?"
"That person from Fairy Tail... the one who can transform. I can't quite recall the name, E... E..."
"I understand. I will make the arrangements. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave."
"Thank you for your hard work. Please rest well."
—
The hotel where Fairy Tail is staying.
"Bring it on!"
Natsu shouted excitedly, while Max lay on the ground.
"Amazing, Natsu!"
"You suck, Max!"
Macao and Wakaba cheered when they saw Natsu easily crush Max.
"Why did he get so strong in just three months?!"
"What was our seven years even for!"
Warren and Vijeeter looked shocked and unwilling to accept it. They had trained diligently and worked hard to become stronger over those seven years to change the status quo of Fairy Tail.
Yet Max, who could still suppress Natsu three months ago, now had no power to resist him. This was too unfair.
Takeshi shook his head helplessly, thinking, 'This is the gap in talent.'
Natsu is the protagonist of the Fairy Tail anime, and Erza and the others are also part of the main cast. In just three months, they were able to surpass seven years of effort by others.
Although Max wasn't exceptionally strong, he wasn't weak either. In other Mage Guilds, he would be a mid-level Mage.
Takeshi had long been mentally prepared for this. His own magical talent was average, but with the help of the System, he was able to stay ahead of Natsu and the others. If he had relied solely on his own talent, he might have just been a weakling.
"Interesting. I'll be your opponent." Gajeel felt his hands itching to fight as well.
Laxus stopped him, saying, "Stop. If you and Natsu fight, it won't be just a game."
Gajeel, slightly surprised, patted Laxus on the head. "Oh! You've become obedient, Laxus."
"Don't do that, Gajeel!"
Seeing this, Levy quickly hugged Gajeel, trying to pull him away.
Although Laxus was slightly weaker than Takeshi, he was still monster-level. If Gajeel angered him, he wouldn't get off easily.
"..."
Laxus didn't say anything, treating it as compensation for having beaten Gajeel up back then.
Freed was displeased by this scene. "You bastard! How dare you treat Laxus like that! Thunder God Tribe, assemble!!!"
Freed shouted loudly, but Bickslow and Evergreen were already completely drunk and had crawled under the table.
"Haha! How useless!" Cana said, grinning.
Just then, a man walked over, placed a cup of liquor on the table, and spoke to Cana, "You are strong. How about a match with me?"
"Oh? Although I don't know who you are, you want to compete with me in drinking capacity?" Cana was intrigued.
When it came to drinking, she had never yielded to anyone.
"Hey! We don't know who you are, but you should still give up."
"Don't judge her by her appearance, she is a monster."
Macao and Wakaba quickly tried to dissuade him when they saw this.
However, the other party ignored their warnings and started drinking cup after cup with Cana.
A little while later, Cana got drunk and collapsed onto the floor.
"No way?!!"
"Seriously?!"
"Cana lost a drinking contest?"
"This is the first time we've seen Cana collapse."
"Just who is this guy?"
Everyone in Fairy Tail was greatly astonished by this scene.
"Bacchus?"
Erza saw him and called out the man's name.
"Yo! Isn't this Erza? Long time no see, you're still a great beauty just like before." Bacchus turned around and saw Erza.
"Erza, you know him?"
Erza nodded. "Yes, he is an S-Class Mage from Quatro Cerberus. I've run into him a few times while working, and we've fought, but we never settled the score."
"What?! He's actually Erza's equal?!"
Lucy couldn't help but be surprised upon hearing this.
If he was evenly matched with Erza from seven years ago, how powerful must he be now?
"Why are you here?"
Bacchus said, "Nothing much. I just heard that Fairy Tail had returned, so I dropped by to take a look. I watched today's match—it made my soul boil. The one named Takeshi, right? He's incredible."
"So, you want to challenge Takeshi?"
Bacchus quickly waved his hands. "Are you kidding me? Although alcohol gives courage to cowards, even with all my guts, I wouldn't dare after seeing today's match. I just came to look around. I didn't expect to meet such a heavy-drinking young miss, wahahaha."
"You don't seem to be participating in the Grand Magic Games this time." Erza remembered not seeing Bacchus during the opening ceremony.
Bacchus said, "Wahahaha! I originally intended to leave it to the younger generation and not participate myself, but seeing Warcry's miserable state, I just couldn't stand by and do nothing. That's what you call a man's soul, right? So I joined as a reserve member, hic!"
"If we meet after tomorrow, let's continue the unfinished fight from before. Soul is always... wild..."
"...for..."
"You're really not cooperating, hahahaha!"