Natsu's Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Phoenix Blade enveloped Wendy's entire figure in a torrent of flames.
But Wendy, standing at the very center of the inferno, felt no discomfort at all; instead, she felt quite warm.
Within the flames, Wendy continuously sensed the flow of the Dragon Slayer Secret Art, understanding the lesson Natsu was passing on.
As the flames slowly dissipated, Wendy cooperatively rolled her eyes back, pretended to faint and fell to the ground.
"The winner is Contestant Natsuuuuuuuuu Dragnelll!!!"
After the match was called, Natsu rushed over to help Wendy up.
Unseen by the crowd, she secretly winked at him.
She fully understood Natsu's well-intentioned efforts to teach her without hurting her.
However, the commentator, Jason, didn't catch the nuance.
He kept talking, his voice choking up and tears streaming down his face as he spoke into the mic.
"It's such a pity that Contestant Wendy's journey ends here! ┭┮﹏┭┮..."
Raizel helplessly facepalmed and remarked, "Hey, hey, that's way too exaggerated..."
Ultear patted Raizel's shoulder and pointed towards the audience seats.
"Why don't you take a look at the audience's reaction..."
Not looking was one thing, but looking was a shock—many audience members were wiping their tears with tissues, and some were even biting on their handkerchiefs while crying incessantly over Wendy's defeat.
"Alright, I spoke too hastily."
Raizel's perception of Wendy's popularity was once again refreshed.
Most of these fervent supporters of Wendy were residents of Magnolia.
Aside from Wendy herself being adorable and heartwarming, over the years, Wendy had consistently treated their sickness, even solving many difficult and complicated medical cases.
Sometimes, even when her Magic Power was nearly depleted, she still did her utmost to help with treatments.
It was no surprise that Wendy enjoyed such immense popularity in Magnolia.
...
Next, Kagura and Freed Justine presented the audience with an exciting match.
"This is a duel between two swordsmen! COOL!"
Freed used both his Dark Écriture Magic and his rapier swordsmanship, and the two began with a fierce sword fight.
"Dark Écriture: Agony!"
"Dark Écriture: Terror!"
"Dark Écriture: Pain!"
Freed's Rune Magic was unleashed one after another.
The Dark Écriture affected Kagura immediately.
In a state of extreme fear and pain, she bit her tongue hard, using the sharp pain to snap herself back to clarity.
"Dark Écriture: Wings!"
Freed used his magic to grant himself wings of energy, taking to the sky.
"Gravity Change: Suppress."
A massive purple magic circle appeared above the stadium.
Freed, who had been soaring through the sky, was suddenly suppressed by the immense gravity.
He crashed down, kneeling on one knee and using his rapier to support himself as he struggled to slowly stand up.
'The range is still too large,' Kagura thought to herself.
To ensure Freed couldn't gain aerial dominance, she had covered the entire arena with her Gravity Magic.
It did restrict Freed to the ground, but because the area was so wide, the suppression wasn't concentrated enough to crush him completely.
"Dark Écriture: Absolute Shadow!"
As dark runes covered his entire body, Freed's form began to change, transforming into an armor-clad warrior resembling a demon.
Makarov explained to the crowd, "Absolute Shadow—a simplified version of the Darkness spell. In this state, speed, defense, and attack power are all enhanced, perfectly addressing the weakness of spellcasters in close combat."
Jason noticed Kagura slowly drawing her sword. "Contestant Kagura's sword! It's finally drawn! COOL!!!"
Ur continued the commentary. "Kagura's blade is named Archenemy: the Grudge Blade. Actually, Freed made a slight mistake earlier—he shouldn't have used negative dark script. Those negative energies nourished the grudge blade, and now Archenemy's power has increased."
Seeing this, Freed didn't dare to be careless.
His strongest move, a massive sphere of dark energy, condensed repeatedly in his hands before he hurled it at Kagura.
"Archenemy: Slashing Form!"
Kagura didn't evade the incoming darkness bullet.
Instead, she stomped heavily and charged forward, raising Archenemy high before bringing it down in a vertical slash.
SLASH!
Archenemy cleaved through the darkness bullet, splitting it in two and causing it to explode harmlessly on either side of her.
Kagura's momentum only slowed briefly before she continued her fierce charge toward Freed.
With a grave expression, Freed gripped his rapier with both hands and clashed with Kagura in a single, decisive exchange.
The two swapped positions and stood firm with their backs to each other.
After several seconds of silence, Freed's Absolute Shadow state gradually dissipated, and he collapsed to the ground.
"The winner is Contestant KAGURAAAA! COOOOOL!"
"I lost... You're truly strong, Kagura," Freed murmured.
He hadn't held back despite her youth, Kagura's strength was no less than the current S-class.
"You're strong too," she replied, sheathing her blade.
...
The morning matches concluded just like that, with the next four bouts scheduled for the afternoon.
The afternoon matches ended relatively quickly.
After Mirajane activated Satan Soul, she somewhat spared Warren's pride by engaging him for over a dozen exchanges before seizing an opportunity to defeat him decisively.
Since Elfman had gained control over the Beast Soul, Mirajane had also fully mastered Satan Soul, including her magical output and emotions.
She was now completely unaffected by the soul's negative influences.
Loke and Lucy also delivered an exciting match.
Lucy summoned her Celestial Spirits—Capricorn, Sagittarius, and Virgo—in succession, battling Loke one after another.
With Loke intentionally holding back slightly, Lucy and Virgo coordinated perfectly to defeat him.
Though Loke felt some regret at not being able to fight Natsu or Gray, life isn't always perfect.
Leaving room for regret can sometimes be a good feeling.
He had come and gone as his heart desired, and that was enough.
He had given his all in previous matches, and he could always challenge Natsu or Gray another time.
Holding back was also his way of repaying Lucy for her role in the Celestial Spirit King incident that saved his life.
"I made it to the Top 8, Levy-chan!" Lucy shared her joy with Levy after the match.
"Congratulations, Lucy-chan! You'll have to treat me to a meal later," Levy teased her.
She decided to take full advantage of Lucy's offer, though with her small appetite, she wouldn't actually eat much.
"Of course! I'll take you to the best restaurant in Magnolia!"
Flush with her recent earnings, Lucy waved her hand grandly, exuding a sense of newfound extravagance.
...
"The next match features Gray Fullbuster versus Juvia Lockser!"
"It's a clash of ice and water! COOL!"
Jason turned to Makarov and asked, "I heard these two have faced off before, is that true?"
Makarov nodded and replied, "Yes, during the Guild War with Phantom Lord, Gray and Juvia fought. I'm not sure of the details, but Gray emerged victorious."
In the arena, Gray blushed and twitched his mouth at the memory of how he'd won that particular fight.
"What's with that expression? We're in the middle of a match, hey!"
Shaking his head to clear away the bizarre thoughts, Gray saw Juvia in front of him, her eyes sparkling with hearts as she kept wriggling shyly.
He couldn't hold back any longer and blurted out, "Be serious!"
"Gray-sama... Juvia... can't bring herself to strike you..." Juvia swooned.
"What a formidable pre-match declaration!" Jason somehow misheard it, managing to interpret her love-struck murmur as something powerful.
Gray was utterly speechless, his face turning serious as he said.
"Since it's a competition, we shouldn't let the audience down. Let's have a proper match."
"Okay, Gray-sama, Juvia will do her best!"
Juvia started wriggling again, clearly lost in fantasy.
Gray wanted to show some gentlemanly courtesy and quietly waited for Juvia to make the first move.
"..."
"Hey, how about you attack first!"