Three days after the Harvest Festival—
Raizel and Laxus were discharged from Magnolia Hospital one after the other.
Both Laxus and Raizel had fractures and bone cracks all over their bodies.
Laxus still had three large band-aids on his face—one on his forehead, one on his cheek, and one at the corner of his mouth.
Gildarts wasn't uninjured either; both his hands were wrapped in bandages, and he had a band-aid on his right cheek.
Porlyusica had helped treat them, and given their physical condition, they would recover fully in due time.
For the past two days, Ur had been responsible for bringing them food.
Ultear and the others had visited on the first day but hadn't returned since, having gone back to the eastern forest lake to continue their training.
After all, they had already enjoyed a full week of fun during the Harvest Festival.
Duke Grant and Kevin had come to the hospital yesterday to bid farewell to Raizel.
...
The fight was featured in the weekly Sorcerer Magazine, taking up nearly half of the issue.
The cover photo showed the three of them standing opposite each other in South Gate Park.
Various high-definition images of the duels, captured by cameras, were published in the magazine.
Many people bought this issue of Sorcerer not for the usual models, but for these three.
The photos weren't taken by Jason but by other reporters from the magazine, and they were still quite well-shot.
Raizel – Take Over: Royal Knights.
When he was 13 years old, he became the youngest S-Class Mage in the history of the Fiore Kingdom.
His 'Hinukamuy' flaming fist, the impact beam from the triangular prism formed by the Three Sword Spirits, and the speed and power of his Take Over form switches were breathtaking to behold.
...
Laxus – Lightning Fire Dragon slayer.
People realized they had severely underestimated this 16-year-old mage.
While he was already quite famous and could easily complete many S-Class quests with his lightning abilities alone, many had only known him as the grandson of the Wizard Saint Makarov and didn't hold him in high regard.
This was his first time revealing his Dragon Slayer Magic to the public.
...
Starting with this issue, many began to remember Laxus for who he was, not just as Makarov's grandson.
...
Gildarts – Super Advanced Magic: Crush
A man who uses basic attacks like ultimate moves.
He has completed SS-Class Quests and decade-long missions solo.
With exceptional combat awareness, immense magical power, superb martial arts, an unstoppable iron fist, and formidable mental strength, he defeated the two S-Class Mages while fighting them both at once.
...
This time, Ur, Ultear, Erza, Kagura, and Gray also made it into the magazine.
Ur and the others instantly used Ice Make to create ice walls to block the scattered magical power, while Erza's super defensive magic circle manifested before her Adamantine Armor became a popular topic of discussion.
Kagura didn't draw her sword, but the composition of her gripping Archenemy tightly in her right hand, frowning slightly and standing ready, was visually striking and was included in the magazine.
As for Natsu, he was knocked out by Erza and wasn't discovered to be the Fire Dragon slayer mage, so he missed the chance to appear in this issue.
Through the Harvest Festival duel, Fairy Tail has clearly established itself as the top guild in the Fiore Kingdom.
People suddenly realized that Fairy Tail possessed two Ten Wizard Saints and three S-Class mages.
Among them, the S-Class mage Gildarts was acknowledged to have the power of a Ten Wizard Saint, though his constant destruction always prevented his nomination.
The other two S-Class mages were only sixteen years old, with futures extending far beyond the S-Class.
Warrod Sequen wasn't counted among them.
While true that he was one of Fairy Tail's founders, he now dedicated himself to desert control.
As one of the Four Gods of Ishgar, he never attended meetings, and many had forgotten he was once a member of Fairy Tail.
For the three-person brawl, not only was the Defense Formula deployed, but two Wizard Saints—Makarov and Ur—were also mobilized for defense.
...
Raizel sipped tea in the guild hall while flipping through the weekly magazine.
"Damn, Sorcerer Magazine really knows how to hype things up..."
The issue Raizel was reading had been bought by Makarov.
According to Ultear, Makarov had been flipping through it all day yesterday.
Makarov was currently drinking merrily with Macao and Wakaba, while Gildarts had set out yesterday to undertake a ten-year quest.
There was a backlog of ten-year quests.
Though there were many guilds across the Ishgar continent, scarcely any could handle ten-year quests.
Ultear and the others had each bought a copy too.
Since Raizel saw everyone seemed to have one, they'd probably all been featured in Sorcerer Magazine.
Thinking this, Raizel finished flipping through the entire magazine without seeing Natsu...
Cana made it in because she was being held by Gildarts, and Wendy appeared while sitting in Makarov's lap...
Cana kept staring at the page with the photo of Gildarts holding her while her hand stroking the magazine.
"That damn Erza, knocking me out. Otherwise I could've been in Sorcerer Magazine too." Natsu spat flames, fire swirling around his right hand as he jumped around the guild in fury.
'If I were in the magazine, would Igneel be able to see me?' The thought made Natsu somewhat dejected.
Though his current life was good and he had friends, he still missed Igneel terribly.
"Hahaha, I made it into Sorcerer Magazine before you, Natsu!" Gray mocked Natsu with hands on his hips.
"You only got in because you were standing next to Ur and Ultear!" Natsu's gloomy expression suddenly shifted as he crossed his arms and sneered right in Gray's face.
"But I still made it in!!!" Gray couldn't find any words to retort.
Raizel actually found Natsu's argument quite reasonable... When it came to verbal sparring, Raizel had to hand it to Natsu.
The two started fighting as they argued, tussling together while Erza remained absorbed in admiring her Adamantine Armor's heroic pose in the magazine, paying them no mind.
Raizel couldn't be bothered to intervene.
Since they couldn't destroy the guild anyway, drinking tea while watching them fight made for decent entertainment.
"Next year should be the Fairy Tail member battles."
Raizel raised his glass in a toast to Laxus sitting beside him, though it contained only tea.
Porlyusica had forbidden alcohol until his injuries healed.
"Looks like we can't miss future Harvest Festivals," Laxus remarked with a slight curl of his lips.
Gildarts had already informed them he was undertaking a ten-year quest and might not return in time for the next Harvest Festival.
Moreover, he's too strong and probably won't participate in the future fight unless Raizel and Laxus team up again, which might interest him.
Gildarts suggested focusing on making money instead, complaining how difficult it is to raise children!
Laxus asked Ur beside him, "Are you planning to give it a try next year, Ur?"
Laxus had never fought Ur before and was itching for a challenge.
If he weren't currently injured, he would have requested a match right away.
Ur was also sitting with them, sipping tea while watching Ultear and Erza's group.
The bar area was the adults' section, while the table where Erza and the others sat was the minors' section.
"You'll find out next year," Ur shook her head without giving a direct answer.
Actually, not just Laxus, even Raizel had never fought Ur before.
But Raizel was fine with it - he wasn't the type who wanted to fight every strong opponent he saw.
"I'm going on a mission tomorrow. I'm not satisfied since i'm being defeated so quickly," Laxus said while watching Gray and Natsu fight, chatting with Raizel and Ur.
"You actually did quite well. How old are you now? That was Gildarts after all - even I'm no match for him, and that was the serious Gildarts you were fighting," Ur patted Laxus' shoulder, comforting him.
Ur was right.
Laxus had performed well in that day's physical combat match - he had managed to injure Gildarts and didn't lose too quickly.
The three of them had fought in close combat for nearly ten minutes in the first round.
They later had another round of brutal close-quarters combat that lasted several more minutes, during which Laxus was ultimately defeated.
"Thanks, Ur," Laxus slightly raised his glass in gratitude.
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