The Domus Flau felt giant while standing inside. It had been empty when Harry saw it through a screen. Now it was full, feeling — and sounding — like half of Crocus had come to watch the top guilds square off. Then, you had those guilds themselves. All of the competing seven had sections of the lower stands to themselves. The guilds eliminated in the preliminaries had to be satisfied with ordinary seats like anybody else— but they were willing to settle. They cheered as loud as anyone else, rooting for the guild that took their wristbands to go on and win so they could say they lost to the champions… or hoping to watch the mages who embarrassed them get a beating of their own. Vendors climbed stairs between the rows, hawking Grand Magic Games memorabilia or selling hot dogs and other stadium food off of portable lacrima-powered grills. A holographic screen hung above the sandy center of the stadium. It was off, for now, waiting for the action to start along with the fans.
"I think I might be a little sick," Laki murmured.
"Tell me about it," Wakaba said, squeezing the words out between hiccups. His cheeks were rosy. Predictably, there was a drink in his hand.
Fairy Tail had more seats than they needed. Like the other guilds, their section was as close to the action as you could get. If Harry picked up Wakaba's drink and threw it like a Quaffle, he could've hit the sand.
Their seats were organized into three rows with plenty of space for the members to choose from. Harry was in the row closest to the stadium's floor. Laki was next to him, with the five who would be competing sitting on the other side. One row up sat Dyst, Flare, Yukino, and Macao. The rest of the older members were in the top row, some of them holding onto the seats in front of them. In Wakaba's case, it was his drink he was gripping tightly.
"Macao! Don't leave me drinking alone old buddy," he said, holding out a second beer.
"No thanks," Macao said, his eyes glued on the still-empty stadium floor.
Wakaba wasn't the only one who looked at him in shock.
"And I thought I was nervous," Wakaba said. "Hang in there. It'll turn out alright."
Macao was bouncing his leg, tapping the floor over and over. Harry could hear it. Tap tap tap tap tap tap.
"I do not understand why so many people are here," Flare said. "Is this supposed to be interesting?"
She was watching the sand with the kind of attention you'd pay to a show, frowning. Yukino tapped her side.
"It hasn't started yet," explained the celestial spirit mage.
"I see! That makes a lot of sense." Flare smiled, happy to learn that this wasn't all they had to expect. Some of the tension broke. Laki laughed, and Wakaba stopped gripping his beer can like he was trying to crumple it.
Meredy looked nervous for a different reason. She was staring at seats as close as theirs which had been given to ordinary people. "Doesn't it seem like they're a bit close? Not everyone's magic is as contained as mine. Won't somebody get hurt?"
Footsteps clinked against the stone aisle that ran in front of Harry's seat. "The Domus Flau is equipped with one of the largest magical barriers ever made, constructed by the engineers behind the Magic Council's Etherium Cannon, funded by the royal family themselves. This barrier has withstood five years of games. Rest assured, no civilian is in danger."
The newcomer was tall and tanned with a fiercely spiked head of black hair and an equally jagged goatee. The red cape flowing off the back of his armor showed that he was no rank-and-file Rune Knight.
"Can I help you?" Harry asked, not unpolitely.
The man answered with a question. "Are you Fairy Tail's master?"
"I am."
"You've been summoned. My name is Arcadios, a knight working directly for Fiore's princess. All guild masters are invited to watch the first event in her highness' royal booth. I'm sure I do not need to say how momentous an honor this is."
"Well, I'm not about to say no." Harry rose. "Lead the way, Arcadios."
There was only one thing left. Behind Arcadios, Harry stopped for a moment to converse with his team.
"Frankly," Harry said, "I could send any of you out there and know that asses would get sufficiently kicked. But seeing as this is the first event, I want to set the tone for the whole rest of the games. Let's give them a statement."
Harry met Jellal's eyes. Without needing a word, the blue-haired man rose.
Harry put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't hold back."
Jellal nodded.
Arcadios waited patiently. Harry followed him again, sliding both hands into his pockets. Climbing the stairs of the stadium, the Rune Knight made Harry look small despite his being a decent height. Instead of going straight to the princess, Arcadios took a route that wrapped around the arena's circumference.
"I'm not the only one you were told to invite, am I," Harry said.
"No. I have been sent to fetch two guild masters personally. Other servants were sent to the rest."
"The second guild master wouldn't happen to be Jiemma, would it?"
Sabertooth's section of the stadium was in front of them. Harry could see Minerva's buns next to the other members of her team. They were the guild with the most members present. Their master sat at the back, his arms crossed, positioned like a king surrounded by his court, which made complete sense to Harry having met the man. Arcadios looked curious.
"Are you familiar with him personally? Or merely by reputation?"
"We met. Once." Harry fought a grin. Had teleporting into the city to get one over on Jiemma been petty? Absolutely. Absolutely worth it.
Arcadios approached Jiemma the same way he'd done with Harry. Or, he tried to. He quickly found his way barred by a man dressed like a ninja.
The man had brown hair and a mask that covered everything from the bridge of his nose down. Despite being smaller than Harry, he fearlessly blocked Arcadios' path. It wasn't as if size meant much in a fight between magic users but the sight was still striking.
"Who are you to approach Jiemma Orland? I am Dobengal, one of Sabertooth's top ten mages. What you might say to him can be said to me. The master needs to focus ahead of the first event."
"I'm called Arcadios, and I come bearing an invitation from her highness Hisui E. Fiore. Guild masters are requested to join her."
"Stand down, Dobengal. I will speak with this man."
Jiemma rose with his arms still crossed. He was exceptionally large. Now that Harry wasn't floating above him on a broom it set in how truly big he was, even more muscular than Jura, although that was close. As Jiemma loomed above them he favored Harry with a brief look.
Harry waved exactly the way he did when he welcomed Jiemma into the city. Instead of taking the bait, Sabertooth's master turned to his team sitting in the front row.
"Sabertooth!" Jiemma was as loud as a troll, enough to make Arcadios cover his ears. "Today, we win! Tomorrow, we win again! Dominance is the bare minimum! If you are ever tempted to fall for even a second, remember that my displeasure is more terrible than anything you will face in the arena! Show you understand!"
"Yes, master!" said all those in attendance, even the ones who weren't competing.
"Orga!" Jiemma said. "Give them a display of your overwhelming power."
The shirtless man who was built like Jiemma rose to his feat. "I'll leave them with a fear of clouds for the rest of their lives."
Jiemma didn't acknowledge the boast. He and Harry walked behind Arcadios, making the trip to join the other masters.
The royal box turned out to be halfway around the Arena. Like the seating for the competing guilds, it was close to the action. Rune Knights lingered around the box in a ring. When they arrived, Arcadios slipped into a gap, standing behind the seat of a pretty young woman with green hair. Her dress was of the same color. In her hair was a diadem made from gold, embedded with what looked to be a ruby.
"Welcome," said Hisui E. Fiore. "In place of my busy father, allow me to welcome you as esteemed guests. I pray that Crocus has treated you well."
Their seats were designated by the emblem of their guild painted in front of each chair. Harry was at the far end of the table next to Goldmine. Jiemma's seat was directly next to the princess, while Ooba Babaasama was on Hisui's other side. Harry's eyes roamed the table briefly. There were two seats empty, one for Mermaid Heel and the other for Raven Tail. A chubby bald man in a dress and lipstick was the next closest guild master to Harry, with only Goldmine between them.
"Good to see you again," Goldmine said. "How're your nerves doing?"
"They're just about on fire," Harry said.
It was true. He couldn't wait for the task to start. He'd put the work in to get to this point since he arrived in Earth Land. Here, in front of more than a hundred thousand people, it was so close to the time he'd been waiting for. His fingers tapped the table as he smiled.
Goldmine chuckled. "Well, it makes sense you'd be nervous. Hang in there."
The man beside Goldmine leaned forward, pursing his lipstick-clad lips. "Hello there. I'm quite sure we haven't met."
The look that the man gave Harry reminded him of some of the ones he'd gotten from Ultear in the past. Particularly when she'd finished a mission and was feeling worked up. The emblem in front of him was the easiest one to put a name to— a horse's head framed by a pair of wings, blue in color. That meant this was Bob, the master of Blue Pegasus. Another ex-Fairy Tail member.
"Harry," Harry introduced himself. "Fairy Tail's new master."
Bob giggled. "A pleasure to meet you."
He sat back in his seat after that, staring at the sandy circle where the event would take place. If Harry were to estimate, he would say it was about twice the size of a horse racetrack on earth. The seven competing mages were entering the arena now, coming out of a gate built into the wall. Orga said something and lifted his fist in the air. Toby, the dog-man who visited Fairy Tail's guild hall with Jura, looked angry and howled something back. Tournament officials in black outfits hurriedly directed the mages to spread out. Seven equally-spaced circles had been arranged around the arena.
As soon as the last mage got to their circle, Mato made his appearance. He was there in person this time, his small body being fired out of some kind of cannon to reach the middle of the arena. He summersaulted using his pumpkin head to cushion the landing, popping up with pizzazz.
"Hurrah!" said the host. "Let me hear you're voiiices for the Graaand Maaagic Gaaaaaames!"
The crowd obliged. It was so deafening that Harry considered muffling the noise with magic. He ultimately didn't, bearing with the pain to enjoy the noise. The cheers were making his heart beat.
Fireworks went off in the sky. Not too many, only six or so. When enough noise faded for conversation to be possible, Hisui addressed the guild masters she had summoned.
"And so it begins!" The princess was smiling. "Once again, I thank you for your service to our country. It's thanks to you that dark mages can be controlled, beasts can be fended off, and our citizens can live happily. So I implore you, enjoy yourselves! This promises to be a captivating competition."
"You will have to forgive me, princess, if my guild ruins that," Jiemma said.
"Why would that be?" asked Hisui.
"It won't be close. Once again, Sabertooth will triumph. As always."
"Maybe so!" Bob said. The overweight and elderly man was easily the least imposing guild master, even more so than the gray-haired Oooba. Yet, Bob didn't have any trouble looking Jiemma in the eye. "I recall the preliminary round coming down to the wire, though. Five ribbons… and at times, it almost looked like second place wasn't trying."
"Yes! Fairy Tail was most impressive," Hisui said. If it was anyone else at the table, Harry suspected Jiemma would've interrupted them. Still, there were some lines even he knew better than to cross.
The princess turned toward Harry. She was very pretty, around the age of a younger college student. Even her eyes were green.
"Did you come up with the idea to split up yourself?" Hisui asked. "It was a very effective strategy!"
"Ah— That was something they did on their own," Harry said. It wasn't like they had much choice. His guild members had shown up scattered and, for at least one of them, hungover. "I'm just glad it turned out well."
"The preliminary round means little," Ooba said. "There are no points for it. Quatro Cerberus and Sabertooth are still tied."
"For now." Jiemma's mustache twitched, giving away the smirk underneath it.
"Too true," Goldmine said. "You never know. We could take an early lead."
Ooba slapped her hands on the table. "Toby will do us proud! If he doesn't after all of his boasting, I've a newspaper with his name on it!"
Bob touched his chubby cheeks, smiling. "There's more to my boys than their good looks, you know. They might surprise you."
Harry said nothing. He was watching the arena, waiting for Mato to stop basking in the moment and start doing his job.
A musical giggle came from the middle of the table. Hisui covered her mouth, barely muffling her laughter.
"Your competitive spirit is rubbing off on me! I'll have to find someone to root for," she said.
"Pick us, princess," Jiemma said. "I would hate to see you cry come the end of the games, betting on someone other than the best."
"You're so sure that you're better than everyone," Harry said. "Where does it come from?"
Jiemma's head turned sharply. It was the first time Harry had spoken directly to him since their conversation outside Crocus.
"If you want an example, look no further than these games," Jiemma said. "My life has gone into keeping Sabertooth the best. Taking the number one spot is one thing. Keeping it is the true challenge. I've honed all of my members into the sharpest blades they can be."
"If a blade is too sharp, it's liable to break."
"Irrelevant," Jiemma scoffed, "When we're yet to meet anything we can't cut."
Harry thought of Minerva. Jiemma's daughter trembled when he raised his voice. What of the other members, ones who Harry hadn't met yet? The more he saw of Sabertooth, the more brittle he found them to be.
"One day," Harry said, "you're going to try and cut a rock. It's not going to work. Your blades will break one at a time until you have none left. I'm curious. Will you be able to repair them?"
Mato's voice flooded the arena and covered the noise the crowd was producing, including anything Jiemma wanted to say.
"We're back, folks! It's time for the real thing! The Grand Magic Games are uuundeeeeer way!" Mato jumped back and forth between his legs, waving his arms around. His pumpkin head appeared on the projection floating in the air. Abruptly, Mato turned to the side, pointing straight toward the crowd. "You all want to know. I know you do. Mato, Mato, what's the first event? Why, it's a magical joust!"
Mato's face was replaced on the screen by an informational card. The title was Magical Joust with a description offered beneath it. Mato explained aloud for those too lazy or too excited to read.
"Contestants have all been given a circle of their own! The moment they step out of their circle— they're out! You get one point for going out first. If you go down second to last, that's two points for you! I think you can see the pattern. Whoever is last standing will get a whole seven points!" Mato put the back of his hand to one side of his pumpkin mouth, as if he was telling a secret, but his volume didn't get any lower. "All of the tasks will use this point system, if you want to know. Coming fifth instead of sixth, or sixth instead of seventh, could win it all for a guild on the last day, so every result matters. Now, for our contestants!"
Mato spun in a circle, addressing the seven around him one after another.
"Any magic is allowed! Use whatever strategies you can think of! Above all, do your best, and make your guilds proud!"
Mato's spinning took him toward the door that the seven contestants had entered from. Before he disappeared, Mato paused long enough to scream, "Begin!"
Cannons sounded somewhere to signal that the match was live. Mato ducked through the heavy metal door, closed it, locked it, and disappeared completely. A wise course of action. As soon as the event began, half of the competitors attacked.
The contestants had been introduced while the guild masters were trading boasts. From Kagura's Mermaid Heel guild was a woman almost as pretty as the swordswoman. She had thick locks of green hair and wore a golden jumpsuit covered in spider web patterns. She'd been introduced as Araña Webb. Harry wondered if that was a stage name. It seemed too fitting, given the way she fired spider webs from her palms the moment the match began.
Araña's concentrated webs shot at her neighbors. Toby was one of them. He had good reactions, ducking too fast to be hit and severing the web with elongated fingernails as it passed overhead.
Araña's other target was the mage from Raven Tail. He was short and ugly, his skin an unhealthy purple color and his chin looking an incredible amount like two nicely-rounded butt cheeks. He'd been introduced as Nullpudding.
Unlike Toby, Nullpudding let the web hit him. He enlarged one of his arms until it was the size of a motorcycle. The webs hit his fist and Araña gave her mightiest heave.
Nullpudding's altered body didn't budge. He turned to the side, heaving with his arm, and Araña was nearly dragged out of her circle. She canceled her spell in the nick of time, teetering at the edge. Harry was sure wherever she was watching from, Kagura let out a relieved breath when Araña steadied herself.
At the same time that this was happening, the Blue Pegasus representative had turned his corner into a blizzard. Eve Tearm used snow magic. Although it lacked the offensive power of Ultear's ice, it came with plenty of pushing power. The snow was carried by heavy winds that buffeted Eve's target, turning the ground slippery with accumulated slush in the process. It was a pretty good fit for this event.
Eve was targeting Orga with all his might, trying to eliminate the Sabertooth mage first. He wasn't the only one who had the idea. Orga's other neighbor, Jäger, was one of Goldmine's mages. He wore a spiked collar in keeping with the rest of his guild's weird fashion sense, pairing it with headphones that he apparently wore into battle. Jäger planted his hands on the ground, straining his buff arms. A venus flytrap the size of a building burst out, aiming to swallow Orga and carry him into the wall.
The crowd roared as they wondered if they were going to see an upset. The noise didn't last very long.
Eve looked like he was putting more effort into keeping his attack up than it was taking Orga to withstand it. The Sabertooth mage stood in the path of Eve's powerful winds without budging. He didn't use magic and even yawned, like he was standing outside on a warm day. When the flytrap got close Orga held up one hand, catching the top half of its jaws and pinning the plant against the ground. It still didn't look like he was struggling.
"As I said. The sharpest blades," Jiemma said.
Harry didn't answer. He didn't even look, truth be told. He was watching his own guild member.
Jellal had been temporarily forgotten as his neighbors focused on their neighbors. That wouldn't last long, given the pose he'd struck.
"What is Mystogan doing?" Goldmine asked.
Names were an issue for the Fidelius trio. While their identities were completely hidden, their names had been forgotten, and even those who knew them — like the rest of Fairy Tail — couldn't speak them in the presence of anyone who didn't already know, as the trio were their own secret keepers. They needed names they could operate under while in the presence of others.
Jellal chose Mystogan. A former member of Fairy Tail who was apparently an alternate dimensions version of Jellal, now happily returned to his home. Since it was a fake name that a Jellal had already used, Earth Land's Jellal found it easy to adopt.
"He's standing completely still. Has he frozen from fear?" Ooba grumbled.
Only Harry looked up.
He wasn't alone for long. Once the noise started, the other guild masters all craned their necks. The audience did so next. The last ones to realize what was happening were the mages on the ground. For those six, it was only when the shadow fell over them that they finally took notice.
"Brace yourselves," Harry said.
"Good god—" Goldmine whispered.
The audience screamed. Some tried to leave their seats, hoping to run, as a meteor the size of the sandy arena plummeted toward the ground. Each of the champions reacted in their own way.
Toby curled into a ball. There wasn't much he could do with his enhanced nails. Nullpudding swelled until he was thick and squat, his whole body matching the arm that had puffed up. He crossed his wrists and bent his knees to absorb the impact. Eve created an igloo around himself, while Araña made a similar shape out of webbing. Jäger and Orga attacked the meteor directly. Three flytraps shot at the rock with their mouths open. In the face of the asteroid, they looked as small as the plants they were based on.
Orga cloaked himself in black lightning. He screamed a battle cry as the meteor fell on him, a cry that was lost in the explosion of the impact.
Smoke and debris were thrown everywhere while a deafening shockwave reached the crowd's ears. The barrier that Arcadios described flared to life, looking like a pane of glass between those watching and those competing. Force, fire, and hunks of stray rock pounded the barrier, which proved resolute. When the smoke slowly started to clear, some in the audience released sighs of relief.
"What's this!?" Mato was back on the screen, now with a microphone in his hand, commentating from somewhere outside the arena. "In an instant, we're down to two competitors!"
Mato was right. Most of the contestants were unconscious. Their best efforts had been brushed aside, their bodies launched from the circles when Jellal's Sema made contact with the ground. The exception was Orga. The tribal-looking man's buff skin was decorated with soot as he was reduced to a knee. Black lightning still crackled around his body like a coat. He forced himself to his feet, his legs only trembling a little bit.
"You! You're worth challenging!" Orga crashed his fists into each other, creating a boom of thunder and doubling the lightning around him. "Taste my magic and feel the might of a god slayer!"
If he was expecting a response from Jellal, he was disappointed. Jellal's face remained pointed toward the ground. He hadn't dropped the pose. Some in the crowd probably understood what that meant, they just didn't want to believe it.
"Sema," Jellal said.
The second meteor fell faster than the first one. Maybe it was because of shock, but those in the crowd were sure that the second blast was louder than the first had been.
The shockwave came, with its flames and its dust. The barrier reappeared. Those close enough to the arena could catch a ringing sound. Right in front of Hisui, a fracture appeared.
"Impossible!" Arcadios said.
He ran to his princess too late. The whole barrier shattered with the sound of a gong. Harry's boots hit the table, vaulting up and leveling his wand toward the onrushing plume. "Protego!"
A blue bubble separated them from harm. Ash and force were brushed aside like nothing as Harry shielded the whole length of the table. It was over as suddenly as it started. The ash reversed direction and disappeared from the Domus Flau.
Orga's unconscious body had been buried into a crater in the arena wall. Only Jellal was awake, still inside his circle, and so—
"Fairy Tail wins first!"
Mato sounded more enthused than anyone in the arena. Probably because he hadn't been caught in the blast, wherever he was. Harry turned back to those at the table, smiling. "Are you alright, princess?"
Hisui shook herself. Arcadios was holding her shoulders, until she touched his hands gently to indicate he could let go. "I'm fine. Thank you for reacting so quickly."
Harry gave her a polite — but confused — look.
"I'm sorry for the confusion, your highness. I'm glad that you're alright… but I wasn't asking you." He turned to Jiemma. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you… princess?"
Jiemma blinked slowly. Like so many others, he hadn't reacted in time. He did now. His hands started to glow with explosive light. "You dare to refer to me as—"
Hisui interrupted him, standing up so fast that her chair was knocked back. Enough of her shock had passed for her to think about what just happened. "My people! Are my people hurt—?"
"They're okay," Goldmine said. "Look around."
Other than a bit of soot no one had been touched. In fact, even the arena was back to normal. The shockwave had reversed its direction as soon as it reached the crowd, going backwards in time. Ultear was standing up from her seat, arms out from reversing the effects. Bits of debris that she missed had been diverted in midair, thrown back into the arena below, Dyst looking bored the whole time. Shadows slid back to the floor, reverting to where they were supposed to be after forming domes over the lowest rows of civilians. The largest would-be projectiles were floating in the air without any gravity while Yukino gritted her teeth, garbed in a belly dancer's outfit.
Above it all, Mato's face disappeared from the projected screen, replaced by a scoreboard. Most of the scores weren't updated. It was hard to tell who came seventh or third when five of them lost at the same time. Sabertooth had been granted six points. With seven points, at the top of the list, was the only name anyone cared about.
Fairy Tail.