Master of Space!

"Everyone should be ready by now, Pumpkin."

The host, wearing a comical Pumpkin headgear, announced in a cheerful tone.

"Wait a moment!"

In the Raven Tail group, the man named Nullpudding suddenly interrupted.

"You still haven't explained the rules of the competition! Besides, Fairy Tail has two teams; it seems like this is too advantageous for them!"

"There's nothing I can do, Pumpkin," the Pumpkin Man shrugged, his tone helpless.

"That's allowed by the rules. If your guild is strong enough, you can certainly send two teams to participate, Pumpkin."

"Hmph!" Rufus, the Sabertooth, let out a cold snort.

"I don't mind how many people come; my 'memory' will sing the most perfect victory song for me."

"I don't mind either." Yego, the Quatro Cerberus, grinned.

"Same," the Beth with the Mermaid Heel echoed expressionlessly.

Jiang Bai didn't even bother to look at Nullpudding properly, only glancing at him lightly with the same look he gave a grain of sand in a vast desert.

You won't have the chance to face other people.

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached the ears of every player on the field clearly.

"Whether it's this match, or any match after this one."

Nullpudding was enraged by this undisguised contempt, but his face showed an indifferent expression.

"Tch! What a clueless jerk."

"Alright! Open the arena! Pumpkin!"

The Pumpkin Man gave the order.

"Boom--"

With a loud bang, strange light blocks resembling mosaics appeared out of thin air in the center of the Grand Magic Games arena, constantly combining, extending, and materializing.

In just over ten seconds, a small town with rows of buildings and crisscrossing streets miraculously appeared before everyone's eyes.

"W-what?!"

"A town!"

"It just appeared out of nowhere!"

"What amazing magic!"

A deafening roar of amazement erupted from the audience.

"Hmm?" The moment Jiang Bai appeared in the town, he keenly sensed a familiar fluctuation.

"Space Magic? That's interesting."

However, at this moment, the Pumpkin Man was stunned.

He looked at the competition field and found that, apart from the eight contestants, the team members who were not participating in this competition were still in place, showing no signs of being teleported away.

That's not right!

According to the setup, once the competition venue is formed, all unrelated personnel, except for those participating in the competition, will be automatically teleported out of the venue!

A sudden thought flashed through the Pumpkin Man's mind, and he suddenly remembered a certain unreasonable being.

He glanced tentatively at Jiang Bai and asked directly, "Um... Jiang Bai, the others weren't teleported away... right, Pumpkin...?"

He believed that Jiang Bai would understand what he meant.

"Oh, you mean this?" Jiang Bai said with an "Oh, so that's what it is" expression, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's not my fault. Around me, unless I actively control it, all spatial abilities except mine will automatically become ineffective."

This ability existed as early as the Oración Seis arc.

However, back then, it was a skill that needed to be actively activated; now... it has become one of his many passive auras.

"Well... then I'll have to trouble you, Pumpkin." The Pumpkin Man wiped away non-existent cold sweat from inside his hood.

"It's nothing."

Jiang Bai waved his hand casually.

The next second, before Laxus, Natsu, Erza, and all the other non-participants could even react, they found themselves teleported helplessly to the audience seats outside the arena.

After doing all this, Jiang Bai controlled his absolute suppression of the surrounding space, allowing the match to continue.

The members of guilds like Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel, who had just personally experienced being "forcibly teleported," looked at the nonchalant man in the arena and silently raised Jiang Bai's threat level to the highest level in their hearts.

As for guilds like Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale, who already knew how outrageous Jiang Bai was, they all had a calm expression that said, "Stand up, it's standard procedure."

"Alright! Dear viewers! Now, you can clearly see the match in town through the magic crystals on the sidelines!"

The host Chapati's voice brought everyone's attention back to the present.

The "Hidden" rules are actually very simple!

"Currently, none of the eight contestants know the exact locations of the others."

(Jiang Bai, who was using his mental power to scan the entire town map: What? Does this mean I have to pretend I don't know?)

"Everyone is both someone to hide from and someone to be captured!"

"What the contestants need to do is find other contestants in town and successfully strike them! We won't restrict how they attack!"

"Whether the opponent is injured or not, as long as the attack is successful, the attacking side immediately scores one point!"

Hearing this, Jiang Bai raised his hand and asked, "What if we fight each other in close combat with fists and feet? If you punch me and I kick you, does that count as both of us hitting each other, or how is the score calculated?"

"Good question! In this situation, only the side that attacks first and hits the target can score!" Chapati explained immediately.

"That's good." Jiang Bai nodded in satisfaction.

Just then, another unexpected event occurred!

Suddenly, countless figures appeared out of nowhere in every corner of the town, and those figures looked exactly like the eight contestants on the field!

It's a massive number of clones!

Natsu was watching the arena from the stands when he saw dozens of identical Jiang Bai appear on the field. He was so startled that he jumped up from his chair.

"What... what is this?! Why are there so many Jiang Bai?! Is the world going to end?!"

"And... and each of them looks so scary!"

The other members of Fairy Tail around him nodded in agreement upon hearing Natsu's words.

One Jiang Bai is enough of a headache, but so many Jiang Bai gathered together... just looking at them gives off an overwhelming sense of impending doom. Who are they trying to scare to death?

"Now, finding the real target will be much harder," Lucy muttered to herself, looking at the clones wandering around the city.