Lucy wasn't seriously hurt, but she decided to stop participating in throwing the ball and found a spot on the sidelines to sit down.
"Ahhh!"
Not long after, another scream rang out—this time it was Gray.
Gray was currently clutching his stomach and rolling on the ground in agony.
Raizel glanced up at the Magic Lacrima replay.
Gray had tried to catch the ball but missed, and it hit him in a sensitive spot, though the speed wasn't particularly high.
Raizel felt like Gray was exaggerating.
"Get him out of here! He's just stalling for time!"
Natsu (from the sidelines) had already started directing Elfman, who grabbed Gray by his hands and feet, ready to toss him out of bounds like a sack of potatoes.
"I'm fine, I'm fine! I can walk on my own!"
Seeing that his act wasn't working and he was about to be humiliated, Gray immediately gave up the charade and walked off.
"Not again! Why is it always you? Targetting the girls again!"
This time it was Cana, who failed to dodge and got hit directly in the back.
The replay quickly identified the culprit—the same spectator who had been eliminating girls all along.
"Wait a minute, doesn't that mean our team is completely eliminated now?!"
Lucy only just realized that Cana was the last member of their team; Droy had been eliminated early on.
Jason announced the update. "There are now 12 people left on the field. Both Team H with Natsu and Team G with Cana have been completely eliminated!"
"The team with the most remaining members is Team A with Ultear, which still has three people left!"
Levy had managed to survive until now by constantly begging for mercy and acting cute whenever a ball came her way.
Jet, on the other hand, relied on his muscle memory from his godly speed—the ball simply couldn't catch up to him.
The match was gradually heading toward a conclusion.
"Well done, Laxus!"
Laxus kept dodging balls in the field with minimal movement.
"Gajeel eliminated! Team C only has Kagura left now!"
"Juvia eliminated!"
Warren looked at the spectator standing beside him with a speechless expression.
"Seriously? That was my teammate! You're standing right next to me, and you hit my teammate?"
"Freed eliminated! Team B is also completely out!"
"Oh! Mira and Wendy dodged that so well!"
"COOL! Such intense focus!"
Mirajane and Wendy coordinated perfectly, slightly turning their bodies in sync as the ball flew right past them.
"Now we need to target Laxus! Everyone attack Laxus now!"
Gray, who was resting off the field, started directing the crowd.
Raizel and Laxus glared at Gray, who immediately shrank back and didn't dare make another sound.
"Laxus!"
"Laxus!"
The atmosphere returned to the same intensity as when they were targeting Raizel earlier, with even the remaining players clapping and shouting Laxus's name.
"Wait, why me..." Laxus was utterly baffled.
He had been playing the game honestly without causing any trouble!
"What kind of passing technique is this?"
Natsu came up with a tactic from the sidelines, directing the throwers to make the ball zigzag like a pentagram.
"I'm getting dizzy." Alzack kept spinning around trying to track it.
A staff member ran onto the field pulling a white line.
Jason explained, "Since there aren't many people left on the field, the large area is making everyone expend too much energy, so we're reducing the playing area now."
"Everyone, do your best! Let's finish this quickly and go eat!"
Raizel sat on the sidelines, clapping and shouting.
The area was too small to accommodate so many people, so Raizel simply sat down with Lucy and the others to watch the finale.
"He's still so agile! Laxuuuuus! Even with the smaller field, it doesn't hinder his nimble dodging! COOL!"
"Alzack is eliminated!"
Alzack failed to dodge in time and was grazed by the ball.
"It's up to you now, Mira, Wendy, do your best!" Alzack cheered for the two before leaving the field.
"Now there are only two boys left on the field, Jet and Laxus!"
"He's one of us!" Wakaba caught the ball and immediately thought about throwing it directly at Laxus, but fortunately, Laxus shouted quickly.
Wakaba managed to stop himself just in time; otherwise, it would have been a self-elimination (friendly fire).
"Wait, why am I the target again?" Laxus dodged two balls in succession.
"Ah! Levy is eliminated! What a pity!" Jason was quite disappointed about Levy's elimination.
Levy had contributed many entertaining expressions today, desperately begging for mercy.
"A lady-killer, this guy is definitely a lady-killer."
"This dude is the killer of the female contestants!"
"Just from what I've seen, four girls have been eliminated by him already!"
Jason observed the situation on the field. "Now only four teams remain! We'll soon determine the first to third places!"
"Everyone, who is our target?"
"Laxus!"
"Wow!!! Laxus!!!"
Laxus quickly stood up, and the camera replayed the scene.
Although Laxus slipped, he took advantage of the momentum to do a one-handed push-up, and the ball flew past his waist, hitting the ground and bouncing away without hitting him.
"Ah! Ultear is eliminated!"
The distance was too close, and Ultear had no choice but to try to catch the ball, but she failed.
After Ultear sat down, Raizel looked at her and said, "That's a shame. I thought you could make it to the end."
Ultear smiled nonchalantly. "This kind of thing was never my strong suit anyway. Making it this far is pretty good. Actually, I feel like I survived by sticking close to Levy."
Levy's face turned slightly red as she waved her hands.
"No, no, it was Ultear who dodged well herself."
...
"Hit!!! An attack from Elfman!"
"Ehhhhhhhhh... but the person he hit is Erza!"
"What a huge blunder! Erza was eliminated by her own teammate!"
"I-It went off course..." Elfman scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly.
"Elfman!!!" Erza glared at him angrily.
She had let her guard down when she saw it was Elfman throwing, never expecting he could miss his target so badly and hit her instead.
With Laxus finally being hit by Cana shortly after, the match came to an end.
Jason announced the results:
"The final results are in!"
"Third place goes to Team D with Laxus!"
"Second place goes to Team C with Kagura!"
"First place goes to Team F with Mirajane and Wendy!"
"Now Team C is temporarily in first place with a total of six points!"
"Team A and Team F are tied for second place with five points each!"
"Let's give them a round of enthusiastic applause to cheer them on!"
Due to various unexpected incidents, playful banter, and Natsu stirring up the crowd with waves, the dodgeball match, originally scheduled for one hour, ended up lasting nearly two hours.
"Tomorrow morning, the third and fourth events will take place! Let's invite Happy back to draw the third event for us."
"Aye!" Happy put his paw into the lottery box and randomly felt around. "That's the one!"
"Revealed! The third competition event is..."
Jason handed the microphone to Happy.
"Aye! its Pogs!"
"The specific rules for Pogs will be announced tomorrow, please stay tuned!"
After the competition ended, the members thanked the lucky audience members who participated in this dodgeball event.
"Everyone worked hard."
"Thank you all, thank you!"