The second day of the "Fairy Tail" Harvest Festival Civil War passed in the blink of an eye.
When Gajeel drew his lot, he once again encountered Natsu.
At the start of the Dragon Slayer duel, Natsu held a slight advantage because their Magical Power reserves were still abundant, and he ultimately managed to win the match through sheer force of will.
Lucy's luck with the draw was a bit better; she encountered a minor member of the Guild and managed to defeat her opponent by cooperating with Capricorn.
However, there was a complication: Lucy couldn't use Leo this time.
Leo had entered the competition under his human identity, Loke, and hadn't been eliminated yet.
Lucy sighed helplessly every time she thought about her Celestial Spirits, who always seemed to act on their own accord...
Heaven knows how shocked she was on the first day of the competition when she heard Makarov call out Loke's name, followed by Loke stepping onto the field to compete as an individual participant.
"Why are you here?!" After her initial surprise, Lucy cornered Loke.
Loke scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said, "Sorry, Lucy, for acting on my own. But I'm using my own Magical Power, so it won't affect you. I've been really looking forward to this competition. In previous years, I wasn't in good condition and couldn't go all out, so let me make a final appearance under the name 'Loke'."
Loke had his reasons for doing this.
In past years, he never fought to his full satisfaction due to his fading life force.
Now fully restored, he had always looked forward to having an all-out battle with Natsu, Gray, or even the newly joined members.
If she encountered an opponent that Virgo, Capricorn, or Aquarius couldn't defeat, having him available to summon likely wouldn't change the outcome anyway.
Of course, if he encountered a powerful opponent and got eliminated early, he could still appear as the Celestial Spirit Leo to help her later.
After all, he was currently registered under the name "Loke."
"..."
Lucy was speechless, her head full of black lines.
She only found out about this after Loke appeared in the competition and didn't even know where to start complaining.
"I think you should blame Raizel... When I went to sign up, he agreed immediately, but he actually didn't tell you," Loke added, shifting the blame.
Lucy gave an awkward smile.
Blame Raizel? Forget it, she didn't know how many favors she owed him already.
Since Loke wanted to fight, she decided she should support him.
Thinking this, she shook her head and said, "Never mind, never mind. Do your best. If we meet in the competition, I won't go easy on you."
"Of course."
The two smiled at each other and high-fived.
...
As the second day's competition came to a close, aside from the S-Class Mages who originally held the seeded spots, the other ten participant slots had been decided.
The bracket for the Top 16 was determined by drawing lots from a box, conducted by Ur, one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
It was divided into upper and lower halves.
The first name drawn was placed in the upper half, the second in the lower half, and so on.
It was hard to say whether Ur's luck was good or bad.
Jason, the reporter, leaned on the table with one hand, his whole body almost falling off it in excitement.
"Let's welcome our first contestant! He is... Contestant Raizel! The first one is Raizel Bael! COOL!!!"
Makarov chimed in at the right moment over the commentary. "As everyone knows, Contestant Raizel is a top seed for the championship. Being in the same half of the bracket as him means entering the 'Bracket of Death'."
"The second is Contestant Cana, who will be in the lower half!"
"NICE!!!" Cana excitedly punched the air upon seeing she was in the lower half, avoiding Raizel.
Raizel looked at Cana's reaction with exasperation. "The problem is Laxus hasn't been assigned to a bracket yet. Don't celebrate too early..."
"Oh right, damn." Cana finally realized she might have celebrated too soon.
"Let's look forward to the third draw! The third person drawn will be Raizel's first-round opponent!"
Jason noticed Ur's strange expression.
"Ur's expression seems quite.... subtle."
The camera gradually zoomed in on Ur, capturing her expression and the ball she was holding in her hand.
"Let's see who it is..."
Ur slowly revealed the name written on the ball with a wry smile.
"Ultear..."
Jason jumped onto the table, excitedly shouting, "The third is Contestant Ultear Milkovich! SOOOOOOOO COOL!!!"
The camera crew understood perfectly, immediately focusing on capturing Ultear and Raizel's expressions.
Raizel awkwardly scratched his cheek with his finger.
Ur's drawing luck... was really something else.
To draw her own daughter against him in the first round...
Ultear, however, waved casually at the camera without concern.
In the end, Laxus wasn't in the same half as Raizel, also landing in the lower half.
Coincidentally, Ur also drew Erza and Laxus to face each other in the first round.
This meant that among Fairy Tail's participating S-Class Mages (Raizel, Ultear, Laxus, Erza, Mirajane), at least two would face elimination in the very first round of the finals.
Mirajane had pretty good luck, facing Warren in the first round and being in the lower part of the upper bracket—she wouldn't encounter Raizel until the semifinals.
But the Erza vs. Laxus match was undoubtedly the most anticipated one: The showdown between the steadily growing "Titania," the Fairy Queen, and the "Thunder God" Laxus.
Final Bracket:
Upper Bracket: Raizel, Ultear, Natsu, Loke, Lucy, Mirajane, Wendy, Warren.
Lower Bracket: Cana, Laxus, Erza, Gray, Kagura, Juvia, Freed, Bisca.
Notes on the Qualifiers:
Bickslow, Evergreen, and Elfman didn't have good drawing luck in the qualifiers.
Elfman lost to Kagura, while Juvia defeated Evergreen.
Bickslow had an internal match with Freed from the Thunder God Tribe, with team captain Freed ultimately proving more skilled and winning the match.
Bisca had consistently good luck, always encountering opponents who weren't particularly fast.
Under her dual guns, they became living targets, allowing her to dominate every match.
However, it seemed Bisca's luck might end here, as she was set to face Cana in the first round of the main event.
...
Back at the Guild.
"Ah..."
Lucy slumped completely in her chair, filled with regret.
Her opponent had been decided.... she would face Loke.
Although she had made bold declarations when challenging Loke before, when it came to actually fighting, she had no confidence about whether she could win.
Levy patted Lucy's shoulder to comfort her and said. "Good luck, Lucy-chan. Making it to the Top 16 is already quite an achievement. I didn't even make it past the Top 32."
Lucy straightened her back and nodded firmly, comforting herself. "Well, at this point I can only give it my best shot. I don't really care much about the ranking—what matters is the money! The prize for making the Top 8 is much better than for the Round of 16!"
Levy wasn't surprised by Lucy's reaction.
Lucy often complained to her about struggling to make money, and she could understand why—after all, Natsu's destruction during jobs was just too severe, eating into their rewards.
Otherwise, Natsu would absolutely be the perfect choice for a mission partner.
Meanwhile, Natsu had now become the target of everyone's criticism.