"Now, announcing the first place in the preliminaries..." Jabadi paused for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise, "Unbelievable! The first place in the preliminaries is... Fairy Tail B Team!"
"What—?!" Natsu almost popped his eyes out.
Lucy was equally shocked: "Weren't they supposed to be on an emergency mission and not in the guild?!"
In the cheering section, Makarov jumped up and stood proudly on the railing, laughing heartily: "Hahaha! That's Fairy Tail for you, surprised, huh!"
He was shouting both at Team A and at his old friends—our guild is just outstanding!
Bob chuckled: "Oh my, so many adorable kids~♡"
Goldman was displeased, just because he didn't send Baggs in the preliminaries, he didn't even make it to the finals.
Having an ace up your sleeve feels...
Looks like Makarov will tease me mercilessly at the next regular meeting; what a hassle.
Jabadi, who was responsible for commentary, timely explained: "This is a new rule adjustment this year, where each guild can send out two teams."
Yajima affirmed: "Yes, many guilds have sent out two teams, but only Fairy Tail has both teams advancing to the finals."
"So, the news about Mr. Rhode participating isn't just a rumor," Jenny said, "Can we look forward to his duel with Mr. Jura?"
The audience roared with excitement; they could actually see a duel of the Ten Wizard Saints this time!
Gray quickly figured out what 'emergency mission' was, displeased: "So that's how it is."
Kana looked at the three walking in the center—Rhode, Mira, and Laxus. She put an arm around Erza's shoulders: "How about we surrender?"
"Don't say such disheartening things," Erza said, "No wonder the President kept stressing to me, 'More important than great individual strength is teamwork.'"
Lucy took Erza's words to boost her courage: "That's right, even if it's Mr. Rhode, as long as our teamwork is seamless..."
"You guys haven't partnered with Rhode before, have you? He probably has Plan A, Plan B, and a backup plan ready for dealing with each of us," Kana said with some distress, "I'd rather not drink for a month than be his opponent."
"..." Everyone fell silent, as if that wasn't out of the question.
The other teams were puzzled—it's fine for us not to know, but how come you folks didn't know your own team was the first place?
"Good morning! Did you have fun in the maze?" Rhode cheerfully greeted Erza and the others.
Gajeel and Jubia, as usual, handled the teasing and fangirling.
Jura, Kagura, Simon, Jimmy, and other familiar faces came forward to greet, maintaining a harmonious atmosphere and expressing their determination to compete with full force.
This led to six of the eight teams on the field subtly gathering together, making the other two appear less sociable.
In the Sabertooth team of five, Stinger, Rogue, Oroga, and Dobe Gal had all been taken care of by Rhode and Mira.
This led everyone in the Sabertooth cheering section, except the President, to break out in a sweat upon seeing Team B, including the two little cats.
Originally planning to be passive-aggressive, intending to tell them it's just good luck, don't be smug, but...
The cheering section also fell silent.
Dobe Gal wanted to say hello, but considering their own guild's situation, decided against it.
Stinger stepped forward as the captain: "We're not the same as last time, just watch, the Strongest Guild's performance!"
"What did you say?" Natsu was about to explode, but Rhode held him back.
Rhode gave a thumbs up, smiling: "Good luck, show your style."
"You..." Stinger was at a loss for words, unable to retort or retaliate.
Jabadi looked at the time and announced: "With all teams assembled, next we'll reveal the schedule for the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts!"
"The entire competition schedule spans 5 days, with each of the first 4 days comprising of a competitive parts and a combat parts! The competition adopts a point system throughout, and the team with the highest points at the end wins!"
"The participants for the competitive events will be decided by each team themselves, but the pairings for combat events will be voted on by the audience in entirety, with the organizers finalizing the participants based on the voting results!"
All the participants on the field listened intently to the host's explanation, doing their best to analyze the pros and cons of various rules.
Rhode only picked up on the large room for manipulation in the combat segment—what's this about taking into account the results of all votes...
This thing isn't anonymous, nor does it publicize vote counts. In the end, isn't it all up to the organizers anyway?
After briefly outlining the rules, Jabadi said:
"The opening match of the Great Demon Fighting Martial Arts, 'Secret', is about to begin. Please each team send out one participant, and once decided, detailed rules will be announced."
Mermaid's Heel sent out Beth, who uses Vegetable Magic.
Blue Pegasus fielded Simon.
Sabertooth sent out Rufus, dressed as a bard.
Rays of the Rising Sun surprised everyone by sending out a muscleman named Talent.
Dragon's Treasure sent out Silas, a man with a masked face and a camo cloak.
Lamia Scale fielded Leon.
For Fairy Tail A Team, Gray saw Leon and couldn't suppress his urge to volunteer.
On Team B side, Jubia got immediately excited: "Jubia wants to compete!"
"Rejected," Rhode knocked her on the head, "Can you really 'hide' in front of Gray?"
Jubia clutched her head, whispering a defense: "Jubia 'hides' every day while stalking Lord Gray..."
"I'll do it," Rhode handed his dandy cane to Mira, smiling, "Just from the name, this event fits me perfectly. Let me score an opening victory."
His teammates felt they had no grounds to argue with him.
The 8 selected participants stayed on the field, with others retreating to the waiting area.
"Mr. Rhode..." Simon smiled wryly, "To think you'd be out in the first match."
"I really want to win," Rhode said, "Feels like your magic suits the name of this match well."
Gray looked gloomy, but since it was a match, he wouldn't wimp out.
Sabertooth's Rufus's lips curled up—he hadn't been roughed up by Rhode and felt now was a great opportunity to showcase Sabertooth's strength.
Dragon's Treasure's Silas also looked eager. If he could win against a Ten Wizard Saint... the bonus from the guild surely wouldn't be small.
——Their guild's hidden boss was always someone diving headfirst into things.
Then, the Pumpkin Man they saw last night stepped onstage: "Next, I will explain the specific rules, but first... setting the stage, pumpkin!"
Rhode blinked, and the people around him vanished instantly.
Replaced by clean streets and staggered buildings, even including overpasses, stalls, street signs...
It was just like a real city!