Previously:

"When will I meet them?" Callista asked.

"Soon."

Now:

• Time Skip ~ 10:00 am •

"Welcome back to X796's Grand Magic Games! I'm Chapati Lola and I'm here with Mr. Yajima, the owner of 8-Island restaurant in Hargeon!" A loud voice boomed through the microphone. It's now the next morning and Callista and I are seated on the stone statues of Domus Flau. "Our guest judge for today is none other than Fiore's queen. Hisui Fiore!"

"Hello everyone," Hisui greets into the microphone.

"Now let's introduce this year's participants! In 8th place is Splitforce!" Chapati exclaimed as a team of 3 guys and 2 girls come out. The crowd stays mostly silent except for a few claps. At least the crowd didn't boo. I guess they're not well known.

"In 7th place is Quatro Cerberus!" Yajima announced as the same Quatro Cerberus team from X791 comes out.

"WILD!" The team cheered as the crowd just simply claps. I guess they're still not as popular since being called Quatro Puppy in X791.

"In 6th place is Blue Pegasus!" Chapati voiced as team Blue Pegasus comes into the arena. Instead of Ichiya #2, they went with Jenny Realight this year. The crowd, mostly the girls, erupt into cheers and claps. The Blue Pegasus waves and bows to the crowd as it moves to the side so more teams can come into the arena.

"In 5th place, Meraki Parastin!" Yajima exclaimed. That's a new one. A team full of 5 boys soon comes into the arena. Judging by the crowd, they're pretty well known. The crowd, mainly women once again, erupts into cheers and claps. They're honestly not bad looking. They're pretty decent looking and I can tell they have at least a little skill to back them up.

"In 4th, Mermaid Heel!" Chapati hollered as a team of 5 girls come into the arena. The crowd roars, being both female and male. The women are probably proud to have a full team of women in the Grand Magic Games again, and the men... well they're men.

"3rd place is Lamia Scale!" The same Lamia Scale team from the X791 comes into the arena, which confuses me. I thought Jura left Lamia Scale for the magic council. Oh well. He probably took a break from the serious stuff to join the games. The crowd cheers and claps for the team as they take their place in the arena.

"In 2nd place, the team of tigers! Sabertooth!" The crowd roars with excitement as the Sabertooth team comes out, having Yukino, Rogue, Orga, Rufus, and Minerva as its members. Kind of obvious, since Sting is now the guild master and guild masters aren't allowed to participate.

"Now in 1st place! The team of our favorite reckless fairies! Fairy Tail!" Cheers and hollers soon erupt again, being louder than ever, as team Fairy Tail steps out into the arena. I begin to clap with the audience as Callista starts cheering like there's no tomorrow.

"Now, will all the teams make their way to their designated balconies?" Chapati told all the guild teams. Once everyone got to their balconies he started to explain Day 1's event. "Today's event is the Kingdom Raid! Each team please send down one of their members to participate!" 

I wonder who Fairy Tail will put out.

As time passes, 8 different wizards made their to the arena, a lacrima-vision showing the name and the guild of the participants. "From Lamia Scale, we have Yuka Suzuki!" Chapati announces.

"From Mermaid Heel, we have Millianna!" Yajima voiced as the lacrima-vision shows Millianna.

"From Quatro Cerberus, we have Semmes!"

"From Meraki Parastin, we have Dante Adwin!" Dante Adwin huh? The lacrima-vision showed a picture of him close up. He definitely didn't look like someone to mess with.

He had medium-dark skin with piercing icy blue eyes. His white hair didn't look natural, making me believe him to not be any older than 20, as he did look quite young. On both of his ears were black earrings.

He wore bold clothing, as it was lined with gold. He wore a greenish-blue sleeveless jacket with a mesh front, black fabric strips making 2 X's in the front. He also had a black and gold scarf around his neck, a greenish-blue jewel in the middle of it. He had a golden bangle around his right bicep, a long black and gold fingerless glove on his right hand and a shorter glove-like thing around his forearm. He had a black and blue belt around his hip and black pants with teal designs around his shins and calves. He wore no shoes, which weirded me out. (picture. there's so much going on \/)

On his right shoulder, you could see his blue guild mark. A circle with 3 pointed ovals. 

What magic does this guy use?

"From Sabertooth, we have Rufus Lore!" Chapati continued as I eyed the rest of Fairy Tail competition.

"From Blue Pegasus, we have Ren Akatsuki!" Yajima soon added, a picture of Ren showing on the lacrima-vision, making the women cheer.

"From Splitforce, we have Phedalea Aspect!" Another new face. She had ombre blondish-orange hair, blonde at the roots, orange on the ends. She had fiery eyes that were dark red on top then gradually turned light yellow on the bottom. She had pale yellowish skin and she wasn't that tall. Maybe 5'2"?

She wore a red and orange medium lengthed flowy dress and a black and gold accent around her waist and stomach. It was a deep v-neck and she had a black choker with a golden string. She had a black and gold fingerless glove on her left hand with a red and yellow ribbon wrapped around her left wrist. Her small wedges were black and gold with a red and yellow accent on each shoe. In her hair was a yellow ornament with black string dangling down. Based on her color scheme, I was guessing she's a fire mage.

On the back of her left calf was her yellow guild emblem. A spiky circle with 4 curved spikes pointing to the middle.

"And last but not least, from Fairy Tail, Erza Scarlet!" Chapati added as Erza was on the lacrima-vision. 

"For this event, each of you will have a small tower to protect the princess. Each person will have a total of 100 units for your army. You can decide to deploy them all or gradually release them. You can also choose the class of each soldier, whether they're an archer, swordsman, wizard, etc. Please note that different classes cost a different amount of units like the wizard costs more units than the archer. You'll also choose how this soldier acts on the battlefield, whether they stay near the tower as defense or goes out as offense. But be careful! These soldiers can die- or be defeated, kabo!" Mato explained to the participants in the arena.

I get it. This is a strategy game.

"Of course, you as the participants can choose whatever role you want to do. The aim of the game is to protect your kingdom's princess as well as capture other kingdom's princesses. You have to take the princess back to your tower to successfully obtain the points, kabo. Once a princess is captured, all the soldiers of the kingdom who lost their princess will dissolve, making the guild of that kingdom return to their balcony. Of course, the captor will receive 5 points for every princess captured and 1 point for every guild defeated on the battlefield. Soldiers can also obtain points for their kingdom too, by either capturing a princess or defeating a participant. The participant defeated will respawn back at their tower, kabo. Of course, all the soldiers, as well as the princesses, are just artificial beings we've created for the games, kabo," The pumpkin man explained (sorry if you don't understand-). "Let's teleport the participants to the battlefield!"

"Good luck everyone!" Hisui cheers, sending off the contestants.

• ERZA'S POV •

The battlefield was a large forest with trees taller than the simple stone towers. I went inside the tower to explore, finding a spiral staircase and a table with a lacrima screen. One lacrima showed the number '100' in the top right corner of the screen, as well as pictures of different people and a number beneath each picture of the people.

I went upstairs into a room with no windows. The only way in is through the staircase, through the front of the tower on the first floor. I saw a girl in a dress resting on her bed with a tiara upon her head. That must be the princess. 

"The round will begin when a firework is shot, kabo!" A voice, probably Mato, said through a microphone. I quickly made my way downstairs to the table with the lacrima, getting ready to deploy troops.

Soon enough, I hear an explosion from the sky. The firework. I scroll through the pictures of soldiers when I spot a picture of a tall armored man holding a large colorful battleaxe with the number '10' underneath it. Over the picture are the words 'Elemental Tank'. I click on the picture and the screen zooms into the picture as more labels appear. 

Soldiers:            

Units Cost: 0

Element:

Fire:           

Water:           

Air/Wind:           

Earth:           

Ice:           

Role:

[Offense]                                       [Defense]

I enter in the requirements and I press the button for the role I want the soldiers to fight in.

Soldiers: 10

Units Cost: 100

Element:

Fire: 2

Water: 2

Air/Wind: 2

Earth: 2

Ice: 2

Role:

[Offense]                            [Defense]

I then press deploy and I watch as 10 heavily armored men appear in the room. I'm guessing they'll stay here and guard, while I'm going on offense.

• LUCY'S POV •

I look at the lacrima-vision that's showing Erza. Erza decided to risk it, only deploying 10 troops, using all her units, in the very beginning. I would say that's stupid, but it's Erza we're talking about. She knows what she's doing.

I look at the different lacrima screens to see how the new faces are doing. Dante evenly distributed his troops. Both long-range and short-range are working as both offense and defense, putting 5 wizards and 5 knights, with a sword and shield, in each role. Kind of a generic strategy, though right now, he's seems to be casting a spell. Soon enough, an army of what seems to be 100 different wizards wielding different types of magic appears. What is this?

"Oh! It seems like Dante of Meraki Parastin has created his own army in addition to the soldiers he's used. What type of magic is this?" Chapati exclaimed, making the crowd roar with excitement. 

"It seems to be either illusion magic or arc of embodiment," Yajima explained into the microphone as we watch Dante's army duplicate the sending off. 100 of his wizards staying on defense while the other 100 go on offense with him.

"Arc of embodiment?" Hisui questioned, looking at the screen with curiosity.

"A lost magic. It can materialize anything the caster can think of. The possibilities are endless with this magic," Yajima further explained. 

I remember this magic. Some dude from Grimoire Heart used it on Tenrou Island. He was a pain for the Thunder Legion.

"Looks like Sabertooth and Fairy Tail have some tough competition in this year's Grand Magic Games! What other wizards does the Meraki Parastin guild hold?"

• NATSU'S POV •

Something's been making me a little uneasy recently, and I don't mean Merlins Porkchops or whatever that guild's name is. I mean, I have a feeling that we're not alone. It's this nagging feeling that someone's here. I don't mean just anyone. I mean her.