A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

slap... slap...

"You've been tricked!"

Gray smiled smugly. His real goal wasn't the ice hammer attack, but to freeze the five puppets. The plan was a success; now Biguslow had no puppets left to attack...

Wait! What's that?

"Since that's the case, how about we change your pet's skin?"

"Change the skin?"

"Yes, yes, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your babies, would you?"

"What is this thing?!"

To Gray's astonishment, the dolls seemed to come alive, struggling to break free from the ice that encased them. The dolls, suspended in the air, shed their simple wooden shells, revealing their true forms.

The miniature toy is still Bigelow's favorite model. The shape is almost the same as before. It looks like a wooden barrel with eyes and a mouth carved on it, plus two wings. The most obvious difference is the material of the two!

The doll in front of me was clearly made of a special metal; under the sunlight, its silvery-white skin reflected a faint luster.

“That’s… Philosopher’s Metal!” Gray recognized the raw material used to make them at a glance.

"Sage...metal?" Juvia asked curiously, "Lord Gray, what is Sage Metal?"

For some reason, whenever she heard this name, which sounded so cringeworthy it made her feel awkward saying it out loud, she felt that it must be related to Kira.

Gray explained, “A few years ago, Kira’s Hope Hut introduced a metal named after his nickname. According to him, it was an accidental product of an experiment, and it works very well in drawing magic circles.”

It is now certain that Bigelow bought these doll toys from Kira, because this special metal is only available in Kira's shop in the entire Magnolia.

But the material is not their main difference. The main difference is that Pipi, Bobo, Baba, Beibei, and Bubu in front of them are clearly not simple dolls. Gray can see that there are magic circles engraved inside them, so they are genuine magical artifacts!

It's the kind of magical item with special effects that Kira sells!

Just now, the puppets of Biguslo were frozen by its ice and unable to continue fighting. This was equivalent to being attacked enough to destroy them completely. So they activated the magic circle engraved in their bodies and broke free from the ice in one go.

Gray was very unhappy; he felt he was being mocked by both Kira and Biguslow.

"Even if he's not here in person, does he have to indirectly interfere in other people's battles? Kira is really annoying!"

'It seems I need to reassess Biggleslow's strength,' Gray thought. 'High attack, medium speed, low defense, and his Shapeshifting Eyes require eye contact to activate, so he doesn't use them easily. He usually relies on these five puppets in battle. Kira's new puppets overcame the original's fragility, which undoubtedly indirectly strengthens his abilities...'

In the original Fairy Tail timeline, the two briefly clashed during the civil war, but at that time, Biggleslow had just appeared and had a rookie aura, so Gray couldn't beat him, but things are different now.

This isn't a doll shop, nor does it have any of Philid's spells. Unfortunately, Bigusro's Star Chart Doll Magic is still too much to handle, and he still has the Shape-Shaping Eye Magic, which can control people's souls, that he hasn't used yet.

"What kind of magic was that just now?"

Gray asked Biguslo that he needed to know exactly how much magic was inscribed on the puppets and what kind of magic it was, otherwise he wouldn't be able to fight at all. What if those puppets suddenly used some kind of super-powerful magic like [Gravity] or [Crush]? How would he fight then?

“To ask your opponent such a question during battle, you are hopelessly naive, Gray!” Biguslo stuck out his long tongue, revealing the guild crest tattooed on it, and laughed. “But I don’t dislike naive people.”

Whether it was because guild friendship trumped everything, or because Biggleslow had lost his mind and decided to reveal his abilities to fight Gray fairly, or simply because he wanted to show off his treasures, he proudly revealed the magic on the puppets.

"My darlings possess only one type of magic: healing magic! Once attacked to a certain degree, the magic circle will be activated, repairing them or lifting them out of their abnormal state. In other words, trying to destroy or freeze them is futile!"

Repair magic involves time and space and is a type of magic that can restore objects to their original state. In theory, it should only be triggered after the doll is destroyed, but Gray's freezing is also taken into account, which means that Kira added other triggering conditions to it.

If it can't be damaged or frozen, what other options are there?

Biguslow's voice was loud, so Gray heard it clearly and expressed his opinion with great displeasure: "Seriously, everyone who gets involved with Kira is so unreasonable."

"You're younger than me, but you're quite capable, Gray."

Chapter 156 First Place and Last Place

"Tch, what's there to be proud of?" Gray said indignantly. "We barely managed to hold off the enemy by relying on special magical items and other people's magic. It's nothing but a false victory."

"What did you say?" Biguslo seemed provoked. "Are you saying I won because of Kira?"

“Isn’t that right?” Gray continued to provoke. “Without the doll Kira created for you, and that magic that can repair the doll, you would have already lost.”

Bigelow, hovering in the air on a puppet, crossed his arms and looked down at Gray: "In that case, feel free to come and try!"

'Very well, then focus your attention on me!' Gray feigned resentment, but secretly felt smug.

Two minutes ago...

“Juvia, I have a plan.”

"What plan?"

"If there are any more enemies later, I'll hold them off. You just keep running forward."

"But Juvia wants to fight alongside Lord Gray!"

"...The most important thing right now is to help you win the game, don't think about these other things!"

"Yes, Juvia understands."

just now……

Because they had a plan in advance, Gray and Juvia clearly defined their tasks when Bigusro appeared: Gray was responsible for holding Bigusro back, while Juvia would turn into water and sneak away when the opponent wasn't paying attention.

In less than a minute, Gray had successfully drawn Biguslow's attention, and Juvia had lived up to expectations and was now nowhere to be seen.

"Ice-forged, Great Hammer Soldier!"

Dozens of ice hammers slammed down, creating a whooshing sound, only to be shattered by the laser beams from the toy dolls.

"Ice Holy Sword!"

Realizing that ranged attacks were not going to be the best option, Gray decisively chose melee combat, creating two longswords and charging forward. For ordinary people, firearms are more useful than melee weapons, but this is not the case for mages. There is no superiority or inferiority between the two; the key to how much combat power one can unleash depends on whether it is suitable for them.

Erza is the most skilled with melee weapons in the guild. Her knight magic allows her to freely manipulate various melee weapons. Then there's Gray, whose static modeling magic allows him to use weapons like swords, spears, axes, and hammers in every battle. Over time, he's become quite adept at using them.

Bigusro's attacks were monotonous, and the Star Chart Puppet Magic had few advantages other than slightly higher attack power. Once his fighting style was figured out, the battle quickly became one-sided.

"Line formation!"

The twin swords blocked the attack, and the magical beam exploded, sending up crystal-clear, cold ice shards that sizzled and fell to the ground.

“Even if your puppet can be repaired, there must be limitations like magic power,” Gray said, his twin swords shattering once more, but his face showed no sign of dejection. “As long as it keeps being destroyed, there will eventually come a time when it can no longer be built up!”

"Drink up!"

With a long shout, Gray mobilized all his magic power and, taking advantage of the gaps in the puppet's attacks, unleashed hundreds of spells!

When it comes to speed in creating outfits, he's never been afraid of anyone!

Within a minute, the five poor little dolls were subjected to inhumane torture. Knives, swords, guns, axes, hammers... all the cold weapons that humans could think of appeared one after another, and then fell like rain, making the crisp sound of ice blocks hitting the ground.

Thanks to the powerful repair magic, the doll can be restored to its original state immediately after each destruction, but this actually accelerates the consumption of magic power.

"Oops!"

Realizing that his puppet's energy was about to run out, Biguslo panicked and his weakness became apparent.

Gray lowered his body slightly, his fists and palms met, then he spun and leaped, his figure rushing to Biguslo like lightning: "Ice Forging, Holy Demon Twin Swords!"

Swish—!

He swung the ice sword diagonally upwards with both hands, accelerating twice in mid-air before the blade sliced ​​across his chest, creating a gust of wind.

One strike and he was sent flying!

Biguslo's body flew straight out, like a boulder that had lost its strength and crashed heavily to the ground, sending fragments flying and dust scattering in all directions.

Looking at the fallen Biggslow, Gray said triumphantly, "Dolls can be repaired, but you can't!"

Biguslo retorted, "I haven't even used my full strength yet!"

"Hehe, I know you still have the magic of the Shapeshifting Eyes to use, but it's too late now. Juvia is already..."

Before the smug look on his face had faded, a voice echoed through the canyon: "The outcome of the battle between the Black and White teams is decided. Congratulations to the White team for their victory."

"puff--"

Gray: What am I working so hard for? I feel so tired!

At the White Team's crystal tower, Nob lay unconscious by the roadside. Juvia looked regretfully at the white crystal ball so close to her; she had only just arrived!

Less than 15 minutes into the match, a battle was decided. Under the watchful eyes of a large audience, the ten players from the black and white teams were quickly teleported out of the canyon and back into the arena.

White Team's situation: Kira and Bisca are alive, Biguslo, Marcus, and Nob are incapacitated;

Black Team's situation: Juvia is alive, while Natsu, Gajeel, Alzac, and Bigeta are incapacitated.

"Haha, Gray's expression is hilarious!"

"Oh~ Biguslo actually lost? That shouldn't be the case..." Kira looked at the survival status on the big screen and felt that he definitely hadn't used his full strength just now. Even if he had used his full strength, he probably still wouldn't have been able to beat Gray. "I wonder if he didn't have time to use it, or if he wanted to hold back."

Scrolling further down, I saw, "I didn't expect Bisca to still be alive..."

Then Juvia's voice could be heard: "What a pity, we almost won. Juvia really failed Lord Gray's help~"

"The distortion magic at the central intersection was randomly changing. I didn't expect it to open the passage for the white team in the blue team's path, giving them another way to go. That was my miscalculation."

Kira secretly reflected on his actions and decided to think a few steps ahead next time he tricked someone.

With the help of other guild members, both teams returned to their rooms to rest. The wounded rested while the others continued to watch the show.

Inside the canyon, one-third of the preliminary rounds have ended, indirectly accelerating the pace of the remaining matches. Kira's departure has also restored the original routes of the six passages in the center of the canyon.

An invisible fluctuation of magical energy lingered, and the first to sense it was the trapped Laxus: "White Team won? That magical energy just now... did Kira tamper with it here? Tch, that bastard!"

If you were to ask who in Fairy Tail suffered the most at Kira's hands, it would definitely be Laxus. He hasn't forgotten the image of being thoroughly thrashed!

……

In the middle lane of the red team, the demon and the knight fought fiercely.

Black magic and white sword clashed once more. The two men locked eyes, their faces less than 10 centimeters apart, clearly seeing each other's intense fanaticism.

"Dark Spark!"

"The Heavenly Wheel's Three Swords!"

The broadcast did not affect the battle between the two. Mira launched powerful attacks, her magic as dazzling as the night stars and as brilliant as fireworks, causing the air pressure to crackle. Meanwhile, Erza had countless silver-white giant swords floating behind her, each swing causing the sword light to flash, shocking the onlookers.

"Extremely brutal and violent!"

"The Pentagonal Sword of the Celestial Wheel!"