"They're out! They're out!"
"It's Fairy Tail's mages! Team A and Team B! Fairy Tail has taken two spots in the knockout stage right away!"
King Toma's voice carried through the broadcast lacrima.
At the maze exit, two Fairy Tail teams had already run out.
Lucy's group was slightly ahead and took first place, while Freed's team came out second.
Clearly, they had discussed this beforehand. There was no real difference between first and second place anyway.
Both were Fairy Tail teams.
"That really wasn't easy!"
Lisanna let out a relieved sigh.
Fortunately, they had not disappointed everyone in the guild. Teams A and B had successfully secured two advancement spots for Fairy Tail.
Now everything depended on whether Teams C and D could break through as well.
"Do your best, everyone! You have to advance!"
Wendy looked toward the broadcast screens and immediately spotted Fairy Tail's Teams C and D, who were currently fighting.
She quietly cheered for her guildmates.
"From the current situation, Quatro Cerberus, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Mermaid Heel all have a strong chance of advancing. Those are the main competitors for Teams C and D."
Freed quickly swept his gaze across the broadcast screens.
Basically, every powerful team had its own dedicated screen following them.
The teams from those guilds, along with Fairy Tail's Teams C and D, were the closest to qualifying right now.
"They might not necessarily be opponents," Lucy said, offering another possibility. "Aren't there exactly six teams? All six of them can advance. Teams C and D don't need to defeat them. They just need to suppress the other teams and secure their spots!"
There was no need to treat those guilds as enemies.
Even if they assumed those four guilds would take four advancement spots, there were still two places left for Teams C and D.
"But... will they realize that?"
Cana looked worried.
They were watching from a god's-eye view, so naturally they could think of all kinds of strategies.
But the mindset and perspective of Teams C and D inside the labyrinth were completely different.
"Don't worry. Believe in Macao and the others' wisdom. They'll definitely figure it out."
A calm, steady voice answered Cana's concern.
Everyone turned toward the speaker at once, and sure enough, Marco had arrived.
"Marco! We completed our mission!"
Lucy immediately stepped forward to claim credit and report the good news.
They had achieved the goal they had set before the match—and had even exceeded it by taking the top two places directly.
Anyone who had stopped being optimistic about Fairy Tail would now have to reevaluate their strength.
Marco had become Guild Master.
Makarov, Gildarts, and Mystogan were not participating.
Fairy Tail's other S-Class Mages had also formed a separate final boss team.
In other words, Fairy Tail had suddenly lost nine S-Class-level combatants, while the other guilds all had S-Class Mages in their teams.
Under those circumstances, even though Fairy Tail had four participating teams, it was not strange that many people were less optimistic about them.
But the performances of Fairy Tail's Teams A and B had fiercely slapped those people in the face.
Even Teams C and D were performing far beyond most people's expectations, clinging tightly behind Quatro Cerberus, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Mermaid Heel.
"You all performed very well. That's exactly what you should do—answer every doubt with your results."
Marco smiled and patted Lucy's head, then encouraged the members of Teams A and B one by one. Everyone was delighted, and their motivation grew even stronger.
In their hearts, they all resolved to achieve even better results.
Of course, these so-called "doubts" were not true disdain toward Fairy Tail.
It was more that people no longer believed these four teams could maintain Fairy Tail's previous terrifying dominance.
No one was genuinely looking down on Fairy Tail.
Fairy Tail was still part of the championship discussion.
Some people had even considered the possibility that the final result would be Fairy Tail challenging Fairy Tail.
But for the four Fairy Tail teams participating, even that level of doubt already counted as being underestimated.
None of them wanted to be looked down upon.
What, just because this batch of members had become the main force, Fairy Tail was suddenly no good anymore?
Yes, Fairy Tail had lost its main force for this tournament, and its strength had indeed weakened.
But that did not mean the other guilds had become stronger.
Even if a group of mages who had not originally been the main force took center stage, Fairy Tail was still Fairy Tail.
Not every guild was qualified to compare itself to them!
"Damn it! Macao and the others ran into Quatro Cerberus!"
Just as everyone was chatting and laughing, Elfman suddenly shouted.
At the same time, many of the broadcast feeds shifted toward the encounter between Quatro Cerberus and Fairy Tail's Teams C and D.
"Why did they have to run into Quatro Cerberus of all guilds...?"
Hisui sighed helplessly, and everyone's expressions became worried.
Although Fairy Tail had a good relationship with the people from Quatro Cerberus, that group was... rather excitable.
Especially once they got into the mood, they really might throw everything aside and charge forward recklessly.
If it had been Blue Pegasus, there was a high chance they could avoid a fight.
But since it was Quatro Cerberus, things were much harder to predict.
For a while, everyone stared nervously at the screen, afraid the two sides would start fighting.
The members of Quatro Cerberus were not weak!
"Why did they have to meet at a time like this...?"
On the other side, Goldmine was starting to sweat.
Quatro Cerberus was only missing one map fragment.
There was absolutely no need for them to fight Fairy Tail since it would not be worth it at all.
After all, Fairy Tail's two teams held the numerical advantage, and they were not opponents who could be dealt with easily.
If Goldmine were making the decision himself, he would absolutely choose cooperation. At the very least, he would take a detour.
He definitely would not choose to fight.
But as for what his own youngsters would choose, even Goldmine could not say for sure.
Once they got fired up, they really might ignore everything else.
"Don't be so nervous, Even I'm not nervous, see."
Makarov joked beside his old friend.
He really did not look nervous.
He seemed extremely relaxed, even leisurely sipping his wine.
"Of course you're not nervous! Fairy Tail already took the top two spots! Whether those two teams advance or not doesn't matter anymore. But Quatro Cerberus hasn't gotten a single team through yet!"
Goldmine answered irritably.
That old bastard Makarov only knew how to make sarcastic comments. It was easy to talk when it wasn't your back against the wall.
"Oh my, oh my. What terrible timing, running into each other like this. They really mustn't start fighting."
Bob covered his mouth and laughed from the side, thoroughly enjoying the drama.
He kept saying things like "Please don't have an internal clash," clearly not minding if the show got bigger.
Goldmine rolled his eyes at him and completely ignored Bob's attempts to stir the pot.
...
Meanwhile, the actual people involved were also a little numb.
On Quatro Cerberus's side, the one leading them was naturally their S-Class Mage, Bacchus.
He scratched his head, momentarily unsure what to do.
The members of Quatro Cerberus exchanged looks, all a little uncertain.
Were they supposed to fight these Fairy Tail people?
"Well, if it isn't Bacchus and the boys from Quatro Cerberus too. What a coincidence. Have you already completed your map?"
While Bacchus and the Quatro Cerberus mages hesitated, Macao smiled and spoke first, his attitude warm and friendly.
"Not yet. We're still missing one piece."
Seeing Macao being so friendly, Bacchus answered honestly and directly explained the current situation of their team.
"One piece? That's impressive! We're still missing two. How about we compare our map fragments? If we can complete two full maps from what we have, that'd be perfect!"
Macao first praised Quatro Cerberus's progress, then immediately proposed cooperation.
Between the two guilds, they had gathered so many map fragments already.
Surely they could piece together two complete maps, right?
"C-Can we do that?"
Bacchus opened his mouth.
Quatro Cerberus had fought its way here the entire time, giving other guilds no chance to communicate.
Suddenly switching to cooperation made them feel genuinely unused to it.
"Why not? The rules never said we couldn't. As long as you complete the map and get out, and as long as you're among the first eight teams, you advance. There's no restriction on how you gather the fragments."
Macao said it as if it were perfectly obvious.
In fact, they had even encountered teams who voluntarily handed over their map fragments, begging to be spared.
That was also a strategy in its own way.
Losing the map fragment was bad, but at least they would not be beaten until they lost the ability to fight.
If they lost the map fragment, they could still find another way to obtain one.
That was much better than being eliminated by Fairy Tail on the spot, wasn't it?
Not every guild was Fairy Tail, Quatro Cerberus, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, or Mermaid Heel.
If a weaker team got lucky and completed the map first, they might even be able to eliminate teams from these stronger guilds.
In short, during this first preliminary round, every kind of strategy existed.
There were even several smaller guilds that had directly joined forces.
Never mind who would leave first after the full map was completed.
The first priority was to actually piece the map together!
"Good! Then there's nothing else to say. Let's do it. I trust you."
Hearing Macao explain it that way, Bacchus no longer hesitated and chose cooperation.
He trusted Fairy Tail because he trusted Marco.
Now that Marco had become Fairy Tail's Guild Master, he definitely would not allow the guild members to betray an ally.
"Thank goodness!"
Everyone from Fairy Tail let out sighs of relief.
Bacchus and the others were all quite strong, especially Bacchus himself as an S-Class Mage.
His strength had always been compared to Erza and Mirajane's.
Although Fairy Tail's members did not accept that comparison, he was still definitely first-rate.
If they had really fought, several of them might have needed to work together just to suppress Bacchus.
And as for the other Quatro Cerberus mages, in one-on-one fights, none of Fairy Tail's members could say they were guaranteed to win.
The Quatro Cerberus members also let out deep breaths of relief.
Although these people were technically Fairy Tail's third and fourth teams—
No, if the people who had not participated, as well as those who had formed the final boss team, were counted, then these people were probably Fairy Tail's fifth and sixth teams.
Even so, Quatro Cerberus did not dare say they had absolute confidence in defeating them.
These two teams included seasoned veterans who had been famous for years, support mages with extremely useful abilities, long-range fighters, and straightforward martial fighters.
Their lineup was very complete.
Perhaps their individual strength did not stand out as much, but together, they could unleash power far beyond their individual levels.
Because of that, the Quatro Cerberus mages were also happy to reach cooperation.
At the very least, this would let them complete the map directly.
If there really were not enough qualifying spots afterward, they could always fight once they reached the exit.
Once both sides agreed and began exchanging information, not only did the people inside the labyrinth relax, but the spectators outside also let out breaths of relief.
"Those brats didn't make the wrong choice."
Goldmine finally eased up.
Fortunately, they had not fought. Otherwise, something really might have gone wrong.
Quatro Cerberus only had this one precious seedling left in the tournament.
"What a pity."
Bob shook his head and sighed.
Just now, Blue Pegasus's team had also successfully exited the labyrinth under Ichiya's leadership.
If Quatro Cerberus had fallen here, that would have been truly entertaining!
Surpassing Fairy Tail was no longer possible, but placing above Quatro Cerberus would still feel pretty good.
"You only got lucky."
Seeing Bob's rather smug expression, Goldmine snorted coldly.
He did not believe Blue Pegasus was stronger than them.
"Luck is part of strength too."
Bob smiled proudly.
In any case, Blue Pegasus had already placed above Quatro Cerberus in the rankings.
That alone was enough.
...
"Congratulations. You advanced successfully."
At the exit, Marco smiled and congratulated the Blue Pegasus mages.
"We were just lucky, hahaha!"
Ichiya laughed happily.
He was very satisfied with this result.
The members who had come with Ichiya were basically all familiar faces: Hibiki Lates, Ren Akatsuki, Eve Tearm, Jenny Realight, and Nichiya.
That's right.
Nichiya the Exceed was also one of the team members!
He and Ichiya had truly hit it off from the moment they met.
"Master, congratulations on becoming Guild Master!"
Hibiki came over and congratulated Marco with a face full of admiration.
This mage, whom Guild Master Bob was raising as the future Guild Master of Blue Pegasus, had absolute respect for Marco.
Marco had helped him understand himself, taught him magic, and even helped him take revenge.
By now, Marco had completely become his idol and role model.
Perhaps that was also one of the reasons Hibiki had managed to stand out as the "future Guild Master."
"Do your best, Hibiki. Work hard and don't disappoint Master Bob."
Marco smiled and patted Hibiki Lates on the shoulder, offering him some encouragement.
Leaving everything else aside, Hibiki absolutely had to secure the position of Blue Pegasus's Guild Master!
"Yes! I'll work hard!"
Hibiki immediately replied, his body standing perfectly straight.
He was only one step away from issuing a military pledge on the spot.
"Excellent. That's the spirit!" Marco looked deeply pleased.
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