Evening. In the sky above the capital, there was a huge spherical maze.
Although Kenichi's Fairy Tail A Team and Sting's Sabertooth had already successfully advanced to the main tournament, there were still over a hundred teams competing within the massive spherical maze.
Among them, Gildarts's Fairy Tail B Team was one of these 100+ teams.
"Darn it, this maze is way too big! There's no way out!"
After wandering around for a long time without finding the exit, Cana let out an impatient curse.
"Leave it to me!"
Hearing Cana, Gildarts said very coolly to his daughter, then threw a punch at a wall in front of them.
Boom-
With a loud noise, the steel-like wall instantly shattered.
The mages on the other side of the wall, who had been looking for a way out, were sent flying by the sudden shockwave before they even understood what was happening.
At that moment, the entire huge maze trembled.
"Uh..."
Seeing Gildarts actually punch through the wall, Cana, Freed, and Gajeel all broke out in a cold sweat.
Only Laxus snorted, seemingly very approving of Gildarts's simple and brutal method.
"Um, isn't this method a bit inappropriate?"
Cana said to Gildarts.
"Don't worry. Didn't that Pumpkin Head say before that any magic can be used during the competition?"
"That means even directly destroying the entire maze is tacitly allowed!"
With that, Gildarts punched through another wall.
And so it went. Gildarts punched through every wall he saw, going straight through.
"We're out?!"
Although she hadn't quite agreed with Gildarts's method at first, upon seeing the finish line, Cana couldn't help but say excitedly.
"Let's go now while we can!"
Gildarts called out, and then the five members of Fairy Tail B Team rushed towards the finish line along a long staircase.
The Pumpkin Man at the finish line saw all of this.
"These Fairy Tail's members... truly live up to their reputation!"
Although somewhat helpless, he didn't stop Gildarts's actions.
As Gildarts had said, destroying the maze was allowed.
But the prerequisite was that you had the ability to do so.
After Gildarts and the others came out, the destroyed walls were repaired by magic.
Meanwhile, Kagura, Millianna, and the other members of Mermaid Heel were rushing around inside the maze.
"What were those loud noises just now?"
As they rushed, Millianna asked curiously.
"Probably someone is destroying the walls."
Kagura glanced at the steel wall beside her and said.
"Destroying the walls? Ah, right! We can do that too!"
Millianna suddenly thought of something and said excitedly.
With that, Millianna kicked directly at the wall in front of her.
However, only a loud noise echoed through the air, and the steel-like wall remained completely undamaged.
"So hard!"
Millianna held her fist, gritting her teeth in pain.
"This method won't work for us. Let's quickly collect the last two map pieces and get out of here!"
Kagura looked at the spot Millianna had struck.
She seemed to realize something and immediately abandoned the idea.
"Attack!"
With that, five mages appeared before Kagura, Millianna, and the other four.
Kagura wanted to steal the maze maps from other teams.
Similarly, other teams also wanted to steal the maps from Kagura and the others.
Seeing Kagura's group of five, those mages immediately charged.
Watching the five mages charging, Kagura moved her feet, her body shooting towards them like an arrow from a bow.
Thud Thud-
Then, they saw Kagura's graceful figure weaving across the battlefield. The five mages were soon all on the ground.
"We'll be taking your maps!"
Millianna didn't stand on ceremony either, directly taking the maps from one of the mages.
"Kagura! Two of these maps are exactly the ones we were missing!"
Millianna looked at the five maps in her hand and said excitedly.
Originally, Kagura's group was only missing two maps, and now they had just been completed.
"Good, let's go!"
After Kagura took the maps and glanced at them, she immediately found the optimal route. Then, leading Millianna and the others, she rushed towards the exit.
Soon, Kagura's group of five arrived before the Pumpkin Man.
"Congratulations on successfully passing the preliminary round!"
Seeing Kagura's group, the Pumpkin Man spoke first.
"Great! We passed!"
Hearing the Pumpkin Man, Millianna immediately jumped up excitedly.
And the other three female members of Mermaid Heel were also extremely excited.
"By the way, what place are we in?"
"Fourth place, pumpkin!"
"Fourth place?"
Kagura showed a thoughtful expression, then turned to look at the aerial maze.
"Only four spots left... I wonder if Kenichi and the others can..."
Just as Kagura was thinking this, Millianna seemed to see through her thoughts and said with a smile: "Don't worry! With Kenichi and Erza's strength, they will definitely pass the preliminary round. You don't need to worry about them, right, Pumpkin?!"
The Pumpkin Man was utterly confused: 'What does this have to do with me?'
And Kagura, seeing that Millianna had seen through her thoughts, her pretty face immediately turned red, then she explained somewhat flustered: "Wh-who's worried about him?!"
Seeing Kagura's rare appearance, Millianna and the other female members of Mermaid Heel all showed pleased smiles: 'So cute!'