A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

During their trip to the Western Continent, only Inbell, Larcade, Neinhardt, and Jacob escaped Kira's plan. Kira knew their strength; each of them was at the peak of the Wizarding Ten, making them virtually invincible here. In the entire Fiore Kingdom, probably only Fairy Tail could rival them.

Imagine if the mages of the Alvarez Empire were to dominate the Grand Magic Games held in the Kingdom of Fiore...

Good heavens... this guy's trying to cause trouble!!

At that moment, Kira suddenly regretted not having Gildarts join them.

But he was also glad that he had moved the strongest players from the Twelve Shields away. Otherwise, if players like August, Irene, Val, Timaria, Serena, and Brandish, who were overpowered, had been on the field, the other teams would have been outmatched!

As Kira pondered, his gaze fell upon another somewhat familiar figure: long red hair, brown skin, pink lipstick, and white armor.

She is the person with the highest magic power on the field, besides Natsu, Ultear, and Agil. Moreover, the nature of her magic is also very special. It is a kind of magic that Kira is very familiar with—Dragon Slayer Magic!

"A second-generation Dragon Slayer Mage?"

Kira recognized the other person at a glance, then his thoughts drifted back to the present momentarily. After a while, his brow relaxed. "I remember now, it's Silver's companion!"

I remember this lady was a Star Dragon Slayer Mage, and she even had a... battle with Jellal back then!

Is she here alone, or did the group from the Dragon Slayer Research Institute come along? If the latter, what about Silver? Wasn't he researching intelligent robots in the Western Continent? Did he come back with Val?

No, no... The Silver who went to the Western Continent was just a mechanical clone, not the real person!

Just as Kira was lost in his own thoughts, the competition began!

Chapter 654 The 'Destroy the Crystal Ball' Plan Finally Takes Action

【00:01】

【00:00】

As the countdown reached its final second, one of the floating metal instruments suddenly made a 'clicking' sound, then slowly opened a hole, and a batch of crystal-clear white spheres fell out.

"One, two, three... only four?"

"Isn't this far too little?"

"Hurry and grab it!!"

The crystal ball plummeted like a meteor, accompanied by a clear yet prolonged whooshing sound, and the battle began abruptly. After a loud shout from someone, the group of mages closest to the crystal ball made their move.

"Yosh—! It's mine now!!"

"Don't even think about succeeding!!"

Boom! Thud! Bang!

"Oh, they've started fighting!"

"Go for it, Nazusan!!"

Upon hearing his companion's cry of despair, Natsu instantly perked up, flames erupting from his arms. With a stomp of his foot, he charged towards the most crowded area.

"It's on fire!!"

"Get out of here, get out of here..."

"All the crystal balls are mine!! No one can take them from me!!!"

*Thud thud thud...*

With Natsu's strength, the mages along the way could hardly withstand his power, and he fell to his fire fist with overwhelming force.

"oops--!"

“Natsusan of Fairy Tail launched a solo attack on the other fighters, and it was one against many. For the time being, no one could stop his punches. Can he take the crystal ball?”

The announcer shouted excitedly, enlivening the atmosphere in the arena, and the audience cheered in response.

"Natsu, that idiot!!"

From the stands, seeing Natsu's actions, Gray immediately cursed, "He actually rushed in to fight everyone else! What if he runs out of mana later?!"

Although the words were meant to be reproachful, every single one was filled with concern, making Juvia jealous.

"Hmm...it was indeed a bit reckless."

"But that's Natsu's style!"

Happy was the one most familiar with Natsu's style and had the most faith in his abilities. "I think no matter who the opponent is, Natsu won't let go of the chance to steal the crystal ball or destroy the crystal ball in someone else's hands!!"

"So...doesn't that guy even consider the strength of the others on the field? Apart from him, none of the other skilled players have made a move yet!"

Whether it was Agil, Eric and Macala, or Hibiki of Blue Pegasus and Yuuka of Snake Scale, they were all still standing still, their eyes following Natsu's movements as he knocked the other mages away one by one.

They weren't in a hurry at all, because there was still plenty of time in the competition, and there were plenty of opportunities to advance. After all, not everyone dared to break an extra crystal ball.

"Stop getting in my way!! Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!!!"

Natsu roared again, brandishing his fire fist and charging forward. The terrifying heat melted the ground, revealing a magical power completely different from when he participated in the S-class assessment, leaving Makarov in disbelief.

"Natsu has become so strong?! What has he been doing in the past six months?!"

"Didn't expect that, President? Natsu is really strong now!" Erza's gaze fell on Natsu in the arena, her face full of satisfaction.

These are all the results of training under their own fists!

"How was it? Impressive, aren't you?"

Happy straightened his back proudly in front of Rector. Ever since Stinger and Rogue arrived at Fairy Tail, Happy had been trying to recruit Rector and Frosh, the two new Beyonders, as his underlings.

After all, Stinger is a big fan of Natsu, so it's only natural that Stinger's cat would be his underling, right?

However, Rector is not Frosh; he won't be foolish enough to obey orders.

"After all, it's Natsu-kun!"

"However, Stinger will become stronger than Natsu in the future!"

Perhaps because it looks like a fox, this red cat's intelligence has also increased. Although its arrogance can be clearly perceived in daily interactions, it also possesses a cleverness that Harpy can hardly match. The calculating look in its eyes is a gap that Harpy can never bridge.

Even in these casual chats, Rector never forgets to occasionally boast about Boschtinger, something the mages in the guild are already tired of hearing.

"Waaaaaah... Roar!!"

"Get out of here... the roar of the fire dragon!!"

Natsu was like a fiery dragon that had invaded the town and wreaked havoc, laughing wildly as he set fires everywhere and showing no mercy to the mages around him.

It is now the year X786. Compared to the original year X792, Natsu has had much more time to train, and his strength has naturally increased more. Not to mention this group of weaklings with abstract appearances, he can even fight against the Ten Wizard Saints!

Under Natsu's hunt, one mage after another let out painful howls, tears and snot streaming down their faces.

"This is incredible!! How can someone be so strong?!"

"So this is a mage from 'Fairy Tail'? They're like monsters..."

"Could they have sent up their strongest member?"

Twenty minutes passed quickly, and the second metal device was activated, releasing the second batch of advancement crystal balls. This time, the number was...

"Ten?!"

"We have a chance!! Maybe we do!!"

"It's finally here!!"

"It's about time we went up, otherwise it would be a huge loss if they snatched it all or destroyed it..."

All the contestants were energized again. Now all four crystal balls from the first round had been claimed. One of them was in Natsu's hands, while the other three were taken by the mages 'Giant's Nose', 'Bull's Bone', and 'Succubus's Spirit'. These were all well-known second-rate guilds in the Kingdom of Fiore, and they could easily take on ten ordinary mages at once.

"Odo!!"

The announcer slammed his hand on the table and stood up excitedly. This change was the perfect opportunity for him to warm up the audience: "The contestants who haven't moved since the start of the competition are starting to move! What kind of performance will they bring us?!"

The backstage staff, working in coordination with the announcers, controlled the cameras to keep a close eye on each contestant, especially the mages from famous magic guilds, capturing all their movements and projecting them onto a virtual screen floating at the edge of the arena.

"Since they don't know how many crystal balls will be thrown in the third round, did the players choose to join the battle now? After the second batch of crystal balls enters the arena, there are now 14 crystal balls on the field. What kind of countermeasures will the players take against these crystal balls?"

Listening to the announcer's report, Kira couldn't help but twitch his lips: "Is this announcer deliberately stirring things up? Absolutely! To incite competition between the contestants, he deliberately added hints in the report about 'what can be done to the crystal ball'..."

Seemingly to confirm Kira's conjecture, some contestants soon took action.

A minor character who had just won the crystal ball laughed loudly, holding it high and mocking those around him who hadn't gotten one: "Hahaha... I already have the crystal ball. As long as I destroy the rest, you won't be advancing!!"

Snapped! !

With a loud bang, a crystal ball was shattered, and the remaining crystal shards were scattered all over the ground, leaving all the contestants who wanted to surround him stunned.

This immediately provoked public outrage, and several fierce-looking mages glared angrily at the mage who destroyed the crystal ball.

The first time you snatch the crystal ball is to advance, and the second time you can say it's just in case, but to snatch it and then destroy it is truly inhumane. Even the most good-tempered person couldn't tolerate such behavior!

"Kill him!!"

"We can't let this kind of person get away with it!!"

"That's outrageous!!"

Just as a group of mages were filled with righteous indignation and were about to rush forward without any regard for martial ethics, someone beat them to it!

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!

Several bats formed from sand appeared out of nowhere, darting across the battlefield at an astonishing speed and precisely targeting the crystal ball at the center of the battle.

A yellowish-brown lightning bolt flashed across their field of vision. The group of people felt a blur in their eyes, and the crystal ball they had been holding onto had vanished without a trace.

"What?!"

"Where's the ball?! Where's that huge ball?!"

"Who did this?! Step forward and tell me, you bastard!!"

Amidst the chaos of the contestants, only the announcer, perched high above, could clearly see what had just transpired: "Ooh-! Some contestant used sand magic and snatched the crystal ball from the center of the battle in one fell swoop!!"

"Ah, there it is!!"

"It's a mage from 'The Emperor's Shield,' Agilsan!!"

Kira was speechless: "The Emperor's Shield... Could the name be any more casual?"

After being alerted by the announcer, the mages in the midst of the battle finally realized what was happening and turned to look in one direction. Tens of thousands of spectators also shifted their attention away from the other mages.

In sight, a dark-skinned man who hadn't moved until now stood arrogantly on a sand fortress, surrounded by several desert bats flapping their wings vigorously, holding the crystal ball that had just suddenly disappeared.