novel-bin Chapter 430 is perfect!
Chapter 430 is perfect!
Chapter 430 is perfect! (Please subscribe!)
The second day's elimination rounds were not held in the special "Aerial Maze" venue, but in a real arena.
Thomas Brau, this historic arena, has finally begun to witness the battles of mages once again after countless years.
However, the first stage of the first day of the knockout stage will not be held in the "Thomas Brau" arena. Everyone has gathered in the arena to listen to the rules of the competition. The knockout stage format is different now.
"The official competition will adopt a points system, and the team with the highest score at the end will be the winner."
King Thomas explained the format simply: unlike the qualifiers, although it should now be a "knockout stage," these eight teams will not actually be eliminated. Instead, they will be ranked according to their points, which is officially referred to as the "official competition."
"The official competition will be held over five days, with each day divided into a first half and a second half. Different events will have different requirements for the number of participants, and each team will decide for itself who to send."
King Thomas continued explaining that the competition format was actually quite easy to understand: regardless of the competition, just send someone up and win.
The winner gets more points, while the loser may not get any points at all. In short, you must fight hard in every game to win in order to achieve the final victory, otherwise you may fall behind others.
The participating team members listened attentively to the competition rules, each with a serious expression, after all, these were the final five days that would determine the outcome.
"The first half of each day's competition is the main event, where each team sends out participants to compete according to the competition requirements and earn points. Each team has the opportunity to earn enough points."
The second half of each day's competition is the head-to-head session, where each team sends out its participants, who are then drawn into matches. The winner receives ten points, while the loser receives none. This is a crucial match for widening the gap between teams.
King Thomas continued, explaining that he had indeed made many preparations for this year's "Grand Magic Martial Arts Tournament," vowing to make it an epic event, to set a good precedent for the "Grand Magic Martial Arts Tournament" in the "Royal Capital," and to make this project the "Royal Capital's" flagship project in the future.
"Alright, I'll now explain today's competition rules. Today's competition theme is 'Secrets.' Each team will send one mage to participate. The participating mages need to find and attack the other seven opponents within the designated competition area."
Successfully hitting a real person earns two points, while hitting a dummy deducts one point. You cannot score points by attacking the same person twice, and the person who is hit cannot score points by attacking the person who hit them.
King Thomas gave a passionate explanation, but the team members didn't quite understand.
"What is a dummy?"
Not only were the contestants confused, but Natsu also looked at Moen with a puzzled expression, genuinely not understanding what the rule was.
"You'll see when you see it."
Moen shook his head. He didn't know the details of the competition either. Princess Emerald didn't know either. When it came to fairness and impartiality in the competition, King Thomas had completely disowned his daughter. King Thomas, who was determined to make the competition a success, was utterly ruthless.
Soon, each team had chosen their opponent for the competition.
Although we don't know exactly what a "dummy" is, this competition requires attacking other players to score points, so we need to send out at least one player who is good at fighting, or one who can damage the target from a distance.
"Being able to quickly distinguish between real and fake is also important. Since this dummy will lose points if it is hit, it must be able to pass for real."
Fried quickly activated his "supercomputer," and his intelligence ranks among the best in "Fairy Tail."
"You mean, these so-called mannequins are actually magical artifacts that can impersonate us contestants? Or are they some kind of prop?"
Abaglin frowned. Hitting the dummies would deduct points, so group attacks wouldn't be effective. If there were a lot of dummies, a group attack might turn the score into a negative one, which was obviously not worth it. Therefore, precise attacks were also very important.
"Then, aren't you a good fit, Abbagrien?"
Lisanna tilted her head and offered her idea.
"Me? You mean the Petrifying Demon Eye?"
Abagrien understood what Lisanna meant.
"But there's a prerequisite: the dummy has to be a real dummy. Otherwise, Abagerin's petrification magic won't be able to identify it."
Fried shook his head. If it were a real "dummy," Abageline would naturally have an advantage, since her "Petrifying Eye" required eye contact to activate, and she could naturally distinguish between people and "dummy" figures.
"Haha, as expected, I'm the one who has to step in."
Biguslo smiled and said that Abagerin's "Petrifying Eyes" might not work, but his magical "Shaping Eyes" would definitely, because his eyes see "souls," which is magic that can manipulate the soul of a target.
Regardless of how those "dummies" impersonate others, and regardless of whether those people are alive or not, he can tell their true identities with just one glance and will never be fooled by their appearance.
"That's right, Biguslow is a good fit."
Fried nodded. Biguslow's "Shape Eyes" could distinguish between real and fake targets, the Star Chart Doll could carry him around, and it also had ranged attack capabilities. He was indeed the best choice.
"Then please! Win the game like a man!"
Elfman said solemnly to Biguslow.
Team B of "Fairy Tail" sent out Biggleslow to participate, while the other teams quickly selected their participants as well.
"Fairy Tail" Team A: Jade, Team B: Biggleslow, Team C: Warren, Team D: Miki, "Four-Headed Hound" Team: Walker, "Blue Pegasus" Team: Hibiki Rettis, "Boa Princess Scale" Team: Jura Regis, "Mermaid Heel" Team: Miriam Anna.
Clearly, each guild has a different idea, and because of their different strategies and focuses, they send out different players. Some send out their ace players, ready to use their raw strength to get off to a good start, while others value the type of magic more and choose players who can have an extraordinary effect in the competition.
Soon, the eight contestants were taken to the competition venue, which was a pre-planned street with the residents evacuated. It was specially set up for this competition.
"The first match of the official competition, 'Hidden,' has officially begun! The match will last for one hour!"
After the crowd was led to different locations on the street, King Thomas gave a command, announcing the start of the official competition.
The once empty street was suddenly filled with a bunch of illusions. These illusions were no different from real people, at least on the surface, except that they did not move. The pile of illusions filled the entire street, making it difficult to walk through them.
Finding seven opponents among so many illusions is indeed very difficult. These illusions all resemble the players who qualified for the official tournament, as well as the illusions of the players participating in this match. This is the easiest target to attack by mistake.
"They're definitely not living beings; it looks like we've got this game in the bag!"
Biguslo removed his mask, glanced at the illusions, and immediately made a judgment. The next step was simple: fly into the sky, find people, attack them, and continuously gain points.
"Buzz!!!"
However, just as Bigusro flew into the sky on his little wooden puppet, a powerful harp melody rang out.
"It's jade!"
Bigus immediately realized where the music was coming from; as a guildmate, he was naturally familiar with the music.
Moreover, the song played by Emerald Bell is the exclusive theme song of their "Fairy Tail" guild, namely "Masayume".
Of course, Bigusro could also sing "Chasing".
"What does this mean? Is it revealing our location?"
Bigus looked in the direction the sound came from. It was quite obvious; once the music started, everyone probably already knew where Emerald was.
"I'm sorry, Emerald, since you exposed yourself first, I'll have to go over there."
Biguslo didn't hesitate and headed straight there. Anyone with a bit of confidence would probably have gone to check it out by now.
"Jade? What are they doing?"
On the other side, "Ghost Princess" Miki, who was wearing a pair of ghost horns on her head, was also completely confused. She had already released her little bird, Little Skin, to search for its target in the sky, but before it could find its target, Emerald suddenly jumped out on its own.
The tall and fit Miki didn't think much of it and followed Xiao Pi towards the direction from which the piano music was coming.
Midge's magic is manipulating the little bird Pee, a magical bird that can transform into fireballs, shields, and deliver messages, and can also talk. However, Midge doesn't use Pee in battle; she's a fighter who relies mainly on her own relentless attacks.
"Jade? What happened? Do you need help?"
Warren pointed to his temple and established a communication connection with Emerald. The area of this street was not particularly large, and it was basically within the coverage area of Warren's "telepathic magic".
Therefore, he can quickly connect with everyone and accurately distinguish between illusions and real people. These illusions cannot be connected through "spiritual magic".
"It's alright, Senior Warren."
Jade's calm voice came through, and she certainly didn't seem to be in trouble.
"But you guys might need to be a little more careful."
Just as Warren breathed a sigh of relief, Emerald spoke up, which stunned Warren, who then widened his eyes.
"Wait...wait a minute!"
Warren had barely uttered a sound when, before he could react, his eyelids began to droop, and then everything went black as he collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep sleep.
"Snapped!"
Little Pi fell onto Mickey, the little bird fell asleep, while Bigelow on the other side crashed and slammed hard onto the ground, but this still didn't wake him from his dream.
"That's...cheating..."
The moment Xiang Retis heard the music, he immediately knew what it was, but he couldn't block it out at all. Even plugging his ears didn't work. It only slightly slowed down the hypnosis process, but in the end, he was still hypnotized by the music.
Miriam and Walkley, the "cat and dog," were no exception; they didn't even have time to react before falling into a deep sleep.
"As expected of Mr. Moen's apprentice..."
""
The one who persisted the longest was naturally Jura Rekis, but he also failed to reach Emerald and eventually fell into a deep sleep on the ground.
Emerald stood atop a house, wearing the "Lyra Suit," playing the lyre that came with the suit, with a specially made magic trumpet in front of her.
That's right, if the sound of the zither isn't loud enough, then we'll use an external device to amplify it. With this magical megaphone, Emerald's zither music can spread throughout the arena. The music, carrying her magic, spreads out and successfully hypnotizes all seven opponents.
As for those illusions, they were naturally unaffected by the music; the jade's music did not cause any harm to them.
"This...this actually works?!"
Seeing this scene through the broadcast, everyone was very surprised. Fairy Tail Team A actually scored points in this way, and they got fourteen points in one go, which is a perfect score. They took all the points from their opponents.
"Now, the winner of this competition has been decided: the fourteen-point Emerald, from Fairy Tail."
Team A!
King Thomas announced the news directly.
The second-place player now has a maximum score of twelve points, because he can no longer score from Emerald. The remaining seven players are also unable to score from Emerald.
As the broadcast footage showed Jade finishing her piece, she bowed gracefully to those around her, announcing the end of the performance.
"Impressive! No wonder he's Moen's apprentice!"
Emerald's performance naturally garnered countless praises, and among these praises, the name of Moen would inevitably be mentioned, because Emerald used the "new-style celestial magic" of the Moen lineage. Her identity as the "eldest disciple" was already well-known, and now her fame had been completely established.
"It was really well done."
Faced with everyone's compliments, Moen smiled and offered a compliment as well.
Emerald is indeed a very hardworking child. Although her magical talent is not particularly outstanding, she has a good compatibility with the constellation "Lyra," and is therefore able to unleash the power of "Lyra," a constellation that is in no way inferior to the "Zodiac."
After bowing, Emerald's magic was dispelled, and she was now invincible; no one could score against her.
Now that the magic has been lifted, other guilds can still fight each other and score points, instead of sleeping until the end of the match.
"This girl is too kind."
Seeing this, Moen shook his head with a smile.
In fact, Jade could have let these contestants sleep until the end of the competition, then Fairy Tail Team A would have a 14-point lead, while the other teams would still have zero points.
But Emerald clearly didn't intend to go that far; after getting a perfect score herself, she still gave the other teams a chance to score.