A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

The sudden sound shocked the audience once again, causing them to gasp in surprise.

"Magic fusion? Is this true magic fusion??"

The judges exclaimed excitedly, their eyes sparkling as they looked at Markbeth and Eric. "We've heard that mages with this kind of talent are extremely rare, but we never expected to see them here!!"

"Magic fusion? I never imagined you two had such perfect chemistry... How come I didn't notice it before..."

Even with Brian's wisdom and familiarity with ancient texts, he still hasn't found the exact answer to 'how to research magic fusion,' so everything happening before his eyes immediately piqued his interest.

Of course, there was also apprehension!

Just by looking at it, he knew that this move was incredibly powerful and that he might not be able to withstand it. However, influenced by Wu's personality, he had no choice but to rush in recklessly at this moment.

"Let me test just how powerful this fusion of magic is!"

Brian's previously playful expression turned serious. He then raised his hands high, striking a pose resembling Tai Chi, and shouted, "Genesis - Nothingness!!"

Brian, or rather, his alter ego, possesses the strongest magic!

The next moment, countless black ghosts burst forth from the void behind Brian!

These ghosts were entirely black, with only two empty eye sockets and a mouth that was constantly emitting high-pitched screams. The sounds were like the cries of an infant, the chirping of countless birds, or an unimaginable high-voltage current.

The sheer volume of the images was overwhelming and inexhaustible, leaving viewers stunned and breaking out in a cold sweat.

"What is this?!"

"What disgusting magic..."

"What a piercing scream!!"

"Aaaaaah, this is so scary!!"

Finally, the overwhelming, distorted poisonous barrier and countless terrifying ghosts, like two opposing torrents, collided in mid-air!

In an instant, a pitch-black black hole appeared in the sky above the arena, seemingly capable of swallowing everything around it. All the poisonous obstacles and ghosts, like moths to a flame, desperately converged on that black hole. The more they gathered, the larger the black hole became, and a terrifying aura enveloped the entire arena.

In the blink of an eye, the expanding black hole completely swallowed the figures of the four people in the arena, and quickly spread, covering the entire arena, so that no one could see what was happening inside.

"This...this...this...what kind of magic is this?! It can actually emit such a dark aura!! It's like hell!!"

"They were swallowed up, so we can't see the duel anymore!!"

"That's a black hole, right?! It must be a black hole! How could anyone survive if they were swallowed up like that?!"

The audience was abuzz with discussion. For the first time in three days, they felt fear because of such powerful magic. Before this, even when they saw the giant-like Battle Bond, the ice that could freeze the entire arena, or the flames that could melt the arena, they had never felt this tension and fear.

After an unknown amount of time, all the poisonous obstacles and ghosts were finally swallowed up by the black hole in the middle. The next moment, accompanied by an absurd, earth-shaking tremor, the black hole turned into a deafening chain explosion!

All anyone saw was a black, turbulent flow of magic surging across the entire arena, penetrating the newly constructed stone floor downwards, with dark energy flowing into the hollow beneath; and soaring upwards into the sky, creating a massive mushroom cloud that covered most of the mountain.

"W-how...how is it?!"

"How did the duel go?!"

"Who won?!"

With the crisis averted, everyone finally felt relieved and turned their attention back to the four people in the arena.

A moment later, the smoke and dust cleared, revealing an incredible sight on the arena—

All four contestants collapsed to the ground, unconscious, clearly unable to continue fighting.

Chapter 695 Welcoming the Future

"On the third day of the Grand Magic Games, the fourth fight was a two-person duel. Since neither of them was able to continue the match, it was decided to end in a draw."

"However, this draw is different from the draw in the last match!"

"In the previous battle between 'Boa Hancock's Scale' and 'Fairy Tail,' the four were evenly matched, but all still had the ability to continue fighting, so they can all be retained."

"However, in the battle between 'Sin of the Witch' and 'Raven's Tail,' both of them lost their ability to fight before the end of the match time, so they are eliminated at the same time!"

The tournament organizers' decision surprised all the guilds and sparked much discussion.

"Huh?? Simultaneous elimination... there's actually a settlement method like this?"

"That's true! After all, they've all lost..."

"It's a bit of a pity, but since that's the rule, there's nothing we can do about it."

Amidst the sighs of regret from the mages, the third day of the competition officially came to a close.

The staff immediately entered the arena and got to work. One group skillfully carried the competitors to the medical room, while another group skillfully began to repair and fix the arena in preparation for construction.

Looking at the construction workers sweating and working hard on the field, Kira sighed with emotion: "It must be really tough for these workers. They have to make repairs almost every time they play a game. Such frequent construction must be very tiring."

Gray rolled his eyes and muttered speechlessly, "Why do you always focus your strange concerns on such strange things..."

"Of course I'd care, right?"

Kira glanced at Gray with a puzzled look, then pointed at the construction workers in the arena and said, "Put yourself in their shoes. Every half hour or so, you have to complete the exact same task, and then watch helplessly as a bunch of lawless bastards destroy your hard work. Wouldn't you be furious?"

"Well... I do feel a bit unwell..."

Suddenly, Kira seemed to realize something and turned to Makarov, asking, "Speaking of which, the arena has been destroyed so many times in the past three days, yet not once was it because of us 'Fairy Tail'. Isn't that a bit unreasonable, Guild Master?"

Makarov was immediately jolted awake, then shouted at Kira, "Shut up! Isn't this better now?"

"From now on, our 'Fairy Tail' will no longer be the 'problem guild' that the public perceives us to be. Even if I retire, I can do so with peace of mind..."

It seems the old man is really planning to retire...

Kira thought to himself, increasingly feeling that his chance had come, his heart leaping with joy, but his face remained impassive: "But a stable 'Fairy Tail' has no soul..."

"Stop talking nonsense!! The soul of our guild is our companions, our family!! Not destructive force!!"

Leaving aside Makarov's exasperation, Kira approached Mavis: "Original, what are you looking at?"

Mavis extended a delicate, snow-white finger and pointed at the crystal screen in the venue, saying, "I'm wondering what the purpose of those points is. This competition is clearly an elimination tournament, right? So what are these points used for?"

On the crystal screen in the venue, a list showing the order of the eight guilds participating in the competition so far, based on their points and number of members, was displayed:

First place: Fairy Tail, 50 points, 6 people remaining.

Second place (tied for first): The Emperor's Shield, 50 points, 6 players remaining.

Third place: Heart of the Dragon, 40 points, 5 players remaining.

Fourth place: Boa Hancock, 30 points, 5 players remaining.

Fifth place: The Sin of the Witch, 25 points, 3 people remaining.

Sixth place: Four-headed hound, 20 points, 3 people remaining.

7th place: Blue Pegasus, 10 points, 2 people remaining.

8th place (tied for 7th): Raven's Tail, 10 points, 2 people remaining.

This year's Grand Magic Games adopted an elimination system instead of a points system, but the rule of 'defeating opponents to gain their points' has indeed aroused curiosity.

"The scores in this competition?"

After a moment of contemplation, Kira's eyes flashed as he said, "If I were designing it, I would add some items that need to be exchanged for points in later rounds. Probably around the fifth day, since the process for that day is still unknown."

"Hmm? That sounds reasonable..."

"No matter what, since it's something you get after winning, the more the better, right? Speaking of which, it's lucky that I got those 10 points in today's competition, otherwise our guild would be in second place now."

As soon as Kira finished speaking, Natsu and Cana both shuddered, a chill creeping up their spines: "We're...we're sorry! We've disgraced the guild..."

Makarov said kindly, "It's alright, it's alright. The opponent is that Jura. You've done a great job by holding out until the time runs out!"

Instead of blaming them, she comforted them, an attitude that made Natsu and Cana feel even more ashamed.

If they weren't both lacking in strength, they would be ranked number one in the guild rankings right now, instead of being tied for first place.

……

Nighttime, in a tavern.

The mages were celebrating Fairy Tail's continued number one ranking for three consecutive days.

"What a pity, in the end they both perished."

The members of 'The Witch's Sin' sat at a table, raised their glasses, and drank a round of toasts, expressing their regret over the elimination of Markbeth and Eric.

"Actually, if you two had chosen to persevere a little longer back then and waited until the time was up, wouldn't you have been able to avoid being eliminated like Natsu and the others?"

Hearing their complaints, Eric and Mark Beth looked embarrassed: "If we could, of course we'd want to win! Besides, who knew we'd end up with a draw and both being eliminated..."

The banquet lasted all night, and both hosts and guests enjoyed themselves immensely.

Meanwhile...

Deep underground within the Fiore Palace, the gates of the eclipse slowly opened.

A slender figure, about 1.6 meters tall and draped in a black cloak, gracefully walked out, and then the door closed again.

The man in black looked around to determine his location, then skillfully bypassed the patrolling soldiers in the palace and soon arrived on the streets of Crocus.

Ten minutes later, the man in black turned into an empty alley and sat down on a bench by the roadside.

A right hand bearing the pink 'Fairy Tail' guild crest put down the newspaper it had just bought, then pulled out a notebook and a pen from its pocket and began to write 'swish swish swish' on it in the light of the overhead streetlamp.

"The gate to the solar eclipse was opened for the 7th time, and we successfully entered a parallel world, which will be designated as World No. 7."

“时间，X786年7月3日晚21时45分37秒……”

"Location: Aslant - Ishgar - Crocus - Fiore Palace - Basement..."

"Major event, the third day of the first Grand Magic Games..."

After an unknown amount of time, the girl finally finished recording the information she had just gathered. Then, she gathered her long golden hair that had fallen onto the notebook and stared blankly at what she had written.

"It seems that this world is still functioning normally. I wonder if we can find a solution here?"

"Anyway, we should go find Natsu and this world's version of myself first... no, it would be better to find Kira first, wouldn't it? Right now, they're celebrating at a tavern near the inn, right? I remember those people saying it was in this direction..."

The girl stopped hesitating, got up and walked out of the deserted, dark alley, heading towards a tavern she had heard about.