Inside the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, the atmosphere was being pushed to an entirely different climax.
"Hello everyone, thank you for waiting."
On stage, Max, dressed in a blue-purple suit with a bright red bow tie, was hosting the main event of the celebration.
"Beautiful fairies compete for glory, the Miss Fairy Tail Contest officially begins now!"
A thunderous roar of cheers instantly erupted from the audience.
Cana, Juvia, Mirajane, Erza, and Levy, among others, took to the stage one after another.
Ryoma, holding a glass of juice, mingled with the crowd, enjoying the festive atmosphere.
He looked at the familiar faces on stage, watching their meticulously prepared performances for the competition, and the gloom in his heart caused by Laxus dissipated considerably.
'This is more like it. What's the point of fighting? It's better to feast your eyes on beauties.'
"Next, please welcome our contestant number seven, Lucy!" Max announced loudly.
The spotlight shone on one side of the stage, where Lucy, in a cheerleader outfit and holding pom-poms, took a deep breath, her face filled with nervousness. This was a big deal, affecting several months of her rent, so failure was not an option.
Just as she made up her mind and was about to go on stage to perform her Celestial Spirit magic, a slightly sharp and arrogant female voice rang out from behind the stage, rudely interrupting the MC's flow.
"Contestant number eight."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a woman in a magnificent green gown, holding a feathered fan to partially conceal her face, slowly walking out with elegant and confident steps.
Evergreen walked to the center of the stage, covered half her face with her fan, and declared in a matter-of-fact tone, "Fairy refers to me, beauty refers to me. That's right, I am the epitome of all this, and the winner is, of course, me... Evergreen."
With that, she snapped her fan shut and pointed it at the entire venue.
"Alright, this boring competition can end now."
The Fairy Tail members in the audience instantly fell silent, everyone stunned.
Ryoma's relaxed expression vanished, the cup in his hand unconsciously tightened, and the unease he had suppressed now flooded his thoughts like a breached dam.
'Thunder God Tribe...' His heart sank.
'Laxus has been sealed, why are they still here? Could it be...'
His previous glimmer of hope was shattered at this moment.
Lucy on stage couldn't care less about all that. She looked at the woman who had suddenly appeared to disrupt things, so anxious she was almost stomping her feet.
"Hey! Don't cause trouble here! This is a big problem related to my livelihood!"
Hearing this, Evergreen slowly turned her head, her eyes hidden behind her glasses locked onto Lucy, her right hand adjusting her frames, with a hint of disdain and curiosity.
"And who are you, little girl?"
"Lucy! Don't look at her eyes!" Gray in the audience suddenly reacted, shouting with all his might.
This shout was like a clap of thunder that instantly woke up the still-shocked Ryoma.
Stone Eyes!
Without time to think, he tapped his foot, and an almost invisible ice flower instantly bloomed and withered.
The next moment, he appeared out of thin air in front of Lucy, shielding her behind him, directly meeting Evergreen's gaze.
"Get down." Ryoma whispered to Lucy behind him without turning his head.
Lucy was startled by the sudden change, but seeing Ryoma's expression, she instinctively nodded and quickly ran off the stage.
The audience members also sensed that something was wrong. This was no longer part of the competition, but a real conflict.
Panic began to spread, people screamed and rushed towards the guild doors, fearing being caught in a Mage battle.
Evergreen looked at Ryoma, who had suddenly appeared and was completely unaffected by her Stone Eyes, and secretly let out a 'Tsk.'
She withdrew the hand that had removed her glasses, again covering the lower half of her face with her fan, and scrutinized Ryoma with interest.
"It's a celebration, so it needs some entertainment to be lively, right?"
No sooner had she spoken than the huge curtain behind the stage was suddenly torn open with a 'whoosh'.
Behind the curtain were not backstage props, but six lifelike human stone statues.
Mirajane, Erza, Cana, Juvia, Levy, Bisca...
All the female members who participated in the pageant were turned into cold gray stone sculptures, standing silently there.
Seeing this, Ryoma's body stiffened, an indescribable chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, followed by towering rage.
He wasn't angry at Evergreen, but at himself. Angry at his complacency, angry at his self-righteousness, thinking that sealing Laxus meant extinguishing the source of the conflict, yet forgetting that a viper's fangs are not always openly displayed.
"Evergreen."
Ryoma slowly spoke, no emotion discernible in his voice, but the surrounding air temperature was rapidly dropping.
His once calm eyes were now swirling with unfathomable gloom.
"Voluntarily undo the magic. Otherwise, I promise you won't want to know the consequences."
A terrifying surge of magical power erupted from him, its dreadful might making souls tremble.
Evergreen's smile instantly froze. She felt the terrifying power contained within that magic, and cold sweat seeped from her forehead.
Just then, two figures appeared on either side of Evergreen.
To her left was the stern-faced Freed, and to her right was Bickslow, wearing a strange helmet and surrounded by five floating dolls.
"Don't be so agitated, Ryoma." Freed said in his usual rigid tone.
"This is just part of the game. If you act rashly, these beautiful works of art might accidentally shatter."
Bickslow chuckled strangely, the guild mark on his tongue faintly visible. "Yeah. My children want to see what shattered stone looks like. Bababa!"
A blatant threat.
They intended to blackmail Ryoma with the lives of his companions.
These words completely ignited the last shred of Ryoma's rationality.
Boom!
An even more terrifying aura exploded from within him, the entire guild hall trembled violently, the chandeliers on the ceiling swayed wildly, groaning under the strain.
Through the windows, the sky outside could be seen darkening in just a few seconds, dark clouds gathering as if the apocalypse had arrived.
"Very well."
Ryoma's voice became incredibly chilling.
He looked at the three stubborn members of the Thunder God Tribe before him, no longer bothering to say another word.
Reasoning? Threats? All meaningless to these intractable individuals.
He slowly raised his right hand, but his target was not the three individuals in front of him, but the row of cold stone statues behind them.
Freed and Evergreen's nerves instantly tensed. They thought Ryoma was going to attack forcefully, disregarding the hostages.
"I told you not to move!" Freed shouted sharply.
However, Ryoma completely ignored him, an imperceptible, almost transparent ripple emanated from his fingertips, silently enveloping the six stone statues.
The next second, fine cracks began to appear on the hard stone surface, but these were not signs of shattering. Rather, it was like a film playing in reverse.
The dull gray stone color receded like a tide, and the colors of life visibly returned.
Erza's dress regained its luster, Mirajane's hair became soft again, and Levy's astonished expression became lively.
In just a brief moment, the petrification was completely reversed.
The six girls blinked blankly, their memories still at the moment before they were petrified.
"Huh? What happened?" Mirajane looked at her hands in confusion.
"I... I couldn't move just now." Erza frowned, moving her body.
The expressions on the faces of the three Thunder God Tribe members completely froze at this moment.
Evergreen's face, usually adorned with an arrogant smile, was now only filled with pure shock and blankness.
Bickslow's dolls dropped to the ground with a 'pat.'
Freed's perpetually stern face finally showed a crack, filled with an incomprehensible shock.
Their strongest trump card, their absolute hostages used to control the entire guild, were casually undone before their eyes?
The three stood frozen in place, their minds blank, a chilling fear from the depths of their souls making them cold all over.