A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"God of War Gun!"

A massive, crystal-shaped ice pillar rose from the ground, seemingly piercing the sky and heading straight for Erza.

Erza twisted her body, forcefully changing direction in mid-air, changing her clothes, and then used the momentum of her foot to leap onto the ice crystal. She drew her sword and charged down the ice pillar, slashing down with unstoppable force, her movements without wasting a single moment.

Gray had anticipated this, and before the attack even arrived, he immediately unleashed a wide-area attack: "Lancer!"

Hundreds of ice spears shot out, spiraling upwards. The distorted wind squeezed the ice spears, causing them to squeak and crackle as they struck the ice pillars, scattering large pieces of fine ice. The scattering cold air caused the surrounding temperature to drop slightly.

The towering crystal icicles stood still, yet they were riddled with holes and emitted wisps of cold air. Erza charged down through the hail of bullets as if strolling in a garden, like a red fairy dancing gracefully.

"Heavenly Wheel, Sword of Cycles!"

Hundreds of swords were wielded as if they were extensions of an arm, possessing immense power and moving so fast it was dazzling.

"Ice-made, ice wall!"

Knowing that an ordinary shield could not withstand such a dense attack, Gray did not hesitate to expend a lot of magic to create an ice wall to protect himself. The thick ice blocked the rain of swords coming from all directions. The swords crackled and popped as they swept across the room, and a thin layer of ice fell with each attack.

"Erza is really ruthless!"

Inside the ice wall, Gray was sweating profusely, thankfully he had reacted in time.

A moment later, the rain of swords stopped, and smoke and ice mist mingled together. Erza's sharp eyes immediately noticed a large hole smashed into the ice wall. Just as she was about to press her advantage, she saw a cannon protruding from the hole.

"Ice and Snow Cannon!"

Using giant hailstones as bullets and biting snowflakes as gunpowder, Gray built a cannon, mixing ice and snow together to create an avalanche-like attack that hurtled towards Erza.

Seeing the white frost pressing down, Erza's pupils contracted, and she slammed on the brakes: "Diamond Armor!"

The Vajra Armor is her strongest defensive armor, incredibly tough, more than enough to withstand ice and snow cannons, but...

Before Erza could recover, she felt the ground beneath her feet crack open, as if something was bursting out of the earth!

"Ice Spring!"

The illusion didn't work as expected, but the brief moment of distraction was enough. Gray seized the opportunity created by Mystergan before his defeat, pressed his hands to the ground, and a large number of ice spikes erupted from the ground beneath Erza like a fountain, completely engulfing her body.

"Success!"

Gray exclaimed, but the next second he was dumbfounded.

"Ice Emperor Armor!" Erza changed her armor in mid-air once again, emerging unscathed from the ice and snow.

The familiar armor; Gray remembered that this armor could greatly mitigate ice magic attacks.

"Damn it! It's Kira's doing again!" Gray slammed his fist into the ground, steeling his resolve. He roared, unleashing his last remaining magic power, and unleashed his ultimate attack once more: "Ice Creation, Cavalry Frenzy!!"

A series of crisp clanging sounds rang out as a vast array of weapons—swords, spears, axes, hammers—were instantly produced, silently circling in the air, standing ready and orderly like well-trained soldiers.

Erza stared wide-eyed at the scene. Even though she always had confidence in her companions' abilities, she couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Such a fast transformation speed! It's truly astonishing. Is this Gray's current strength?"

If even someone she knew best could lose their composure like this, one can only imagine how others would react.

Mystergan, who was standing next to him, as well as all his teammates and spectators watching this scene on the field, were stunned by Gray's amazing move. Shouts and cheers resounded throughout the audience!

On the judges' panel, Maklov was overjoyed, his old face beaming with happiness; reporters who came to cover the event snapped photos of the scene; even the mayor was happy, he didn't care about the strength of the team, but Fairy Tail's popularity was beneficial to Magnolia.

Erza donned the Heavenly Wheel Armor once more, channeling her magic to create countless blades: "Heavenly Wheel - Blade of Chaos!"

Outnumbered and outspeeded, the two wielded their weapons and hurled them at each other!

Snap snap snap... Bang bang bang...

Ice weapons clashed with iron weapons, creating a cacophony of sounds. Slashes, chops, thrusts, and jabs followed one after another, a chaotic yet orderly display of speed that left onlookers breathless. All they could see were flashes of sword light, blade light, and refracted ice crystal light, before the weapons all fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust that covered the entire arena.

Even though Gray created so many weapons, the ice weapons could not last. They rapidly decreased amidst the clanging of metal until the sound completely subsided and the dust settled. Only Gray, sitting helplessly on the ground, and Erza, standing in front of him with her sword pointed at his head, remained in the arena.

The outcome is decided!

With no obstacles in sight, Erza flew towards the Blue Team's crystal tower on her sword, shattering the crystal ball placed inside and bringing the final match of the preliminary round to a close!

A familiar voice rang out: "The outcome of the battle between the Red and Blue teams is decided. Congratulations to the Red team for their victory!"

"Are you alright?" Erza extended her right hand to Gray, who was sitting on the ground.

Gray chuckled and used the support to stand up: "Of course!"

The principle of "competition first, friendship second" is perfectly embodied in them.

"Honestly, beating you is really not easy!"

"You've done a great job!"

Erza was happy because she won the match; Gray was happy because he had a great fight with Erza and, although he didn't win, he improved his strength; only Juvia was unhappy because she not only lost the match, but also saw Gray and Erza holding hands.

[Because Juvia failed to win and betrayed Lord Gray's help, he chose to be with Erza?]

The competition ended, and the last ten players were teleported back to the starting lineup, amidst cheers from the crowd.

Amidst the cheers, only Juvia clung to Gray's leg, crying and begging him not to leave her, much to Gray's embarrassment.

On the judges' stage, Dispel held the microphone and announced to everyone: "The preliminary round of the Fairy Tail Magic Tournament has officially ended. The winners are Team White, Team Green, and Team Red. Please see the big screen for each person's score!"

The sound drew everyone's attention. Kira looked up and saw the scores of 30 people from six teams displayed on the screen.

Each team is awarded points ranging from 2 to 10 based on their contribution. The winning team receives an additional 2 points per player, with further points added or subtracted based on match time. Therefore, the total score for everyone is:

White Team (Winner): Kira 14 points, Bisca 12 points, Biguslo 10 points, Marcus 8 points, Nob 6 points;

Green Team (Winner): Mira 13 points, Fied 11 points, Kana 9 points, Wakaba 7 points, Jeter 5 points;

Red Team (Winner): Erza 12 points, Elfman 10 points, Abbagrien 8 points, Dorell 6 points, Tono 4 points;

Blue Team (Loss): Gray 10 points, Mistergan 8 points, Lucy 6 points, Macao 4 points, Warren 2 points;

Yellow Team (lost): Rocky 9 points, Levy 7 points; Ridge 5 points, Laxus 3 points, Chico 1 point;

Black Team (Loss): Naz 8 points, Gajiru 6 points, Jubia 4 points, Alzak 2 points, Bikita 0 points.

"Everyone is ranked according to their scores. In the event of a tie, the winner is ranked ahead of the loser. If all teams are winners, they are ranked according to the time of their win."

Following Dispel's finger, everyone looked at the large screen on the other side, which displayed the list of sixteen people who had passed the preliminary round:

First place: Kira, 14 points

Second place: Mira, 13 points

Third place: Bisca, 12 points

Fourth place: Erza, 12 points

Fifth place: Felid, 11 points

Sixth place: Biguslo, 10 points

7th place: Elfman, 10 points

8th place: Gray, 10 points

Ninth place: Kana, 9 points

10th place: Rocky, 9 points

11th place: Marcus: 8 points

12th Place: Abba Greene, 8 points

13th place: Mistregan, 8 points

Fourteenth place: Natsu, 8 points

15th place, Wakaba, 7 points

Sixteenth place, Levy, 7 points

"The top sixteen scorers can advance to the semi-finals! Congratulations to them!"

Chapter 162 Quarterfinal Matchup Table

The results shocked everyone. The most unbelievable thing was Laxus's score, which was only 3 points; followed by Gray, whose score was even higher than Mysterion's.

"What? Laxus only got 3 points?! He didn't even pass the preliminary round?!"

"Pfft, hahaha—Ah!"

stab-

The laughter abruptly stopped, and golden lightning crackled across the fallen figure. Laxus withdrew his right hand, his face grim and silent.

Felix knelt beside him, crying and begging for forgiveness: "Laxus, I'm so sorry!"

"Hmph! This is not the kind of civil war I wanted. It's like a child's game. I'd rather not participate in the rest of the competition!"

Mira laughed and high-fived her teammate Cana: "We owe it all to Fiend this time! If he hadn't trapped Laxus, we wouldn't have had it so easy!"

Upon hearing the sound, Laxus snorted coldly and turned to leave.

The rest of the competition was no longer relevant to him. All the Thors had made it to the semifinals, but their leader hadn't. It was incredibly embarrassing to say that!

Fied was utterly mortified and, with Biggleslow and Abbagle, caught up, crying out, "Laxus... Laxus, don't go..."

Wakaba sighed and exhaled a cloud of smoke: "I never imagined Mirasan would be so terrifying..."

As it turns out, behind every sweet smile lies a cunning heart.

Seeing that Gray's score was higher than his, Natsu was extremely unhappy and shouted angrily, "Gray's score is higher than Mystogan's?! How is that possible?!"

Erza calmly crossed her arms and explained, "It's because the score is based on contributions during the match! Gray defeated Biggleslow and Elfman, and even fought me in the end, so it's not hard to understand why his score is higher than Mistgang's."

"But Mistgang is clearly stronger!"

Mr. Gang said, "I don't care."

Gray proudly boasted to Natsu, "How about that, Natsu? My score is higher than yours!"

"What did you say?!"

As he expected, Natsu exploded at the slightest provocation, "What's there to be proud of? You lost too!"

Gray continued to provoke, "But my score is higher than yours, so I'm better than you. It's because you were the first to lose."

Natsu let out a defeated wail, his entire body engulfed in flames: "Damn it—!"