"As the competition progresses, points are awarded based on ranking. The lower the ranking, the fewer points you receive: first place gets 10 points, second place 8 points, third place 6 points, and so on, with the last place receiving 0 points! Round one, 'Hidden,' begins!..."
"For the competitive part, you can choose any one person to participate. For the battle part, the organizers will select pairs from the fans' votes. The battle rules are simple: each group needs to fight. The winning team will win 10 points, the losing team will not get any points, and in the event of a tie, each team will get 5 points."
"Next up is the opening event of the Grand Magic Games. Each team will send one person to participate. The rules will be announced after the list of participants is submitted!"
"I'll go first, teach me!" said Jaeger, one of the four hunting dogs.
"Don't forget that your soul must always be wild!!" the other four members of the Four Beasts shouted to Jaeger in encouragement.
"I think I should go first, if you don't mind," said Beth with her Mermaid Heel. "Hmm! I approve!"
"Go ahead, Napdin!" said Ivan the Raventail;
"Receive!"
"Leave it to me!" said Blue Pegasus Eevee with confidence. "Go for it, Eevee-kun...! Don't lose too badly...! Even if you lose, lose gracefully...!"
"One team after another has selected their starting players. Who will the Sabertooth send out?" Guangbo began to announce.
"I'll handle it...! I'm better suited to deal with unknown opponents!" said Rufus of the Sabertooth.
"They made their choice! The Bard Singing Under the Crimson Moon! Rufus!"
"Oh... whoosh..." The audience erupted in cheers, creating an incredibly noisy atmosphere;
"Why is everyone so excited about that country bumpkin...!" Natsu said, disgruntled.
"Maybe it's because 'country chic' is all the rage lately!" Gray said.
"Since it's about secrecy, then the smaller the better! I or Yuka will do it!" Sherry of the Lamia Scale said.
"We have to win from the first round, and I'll go!" Lyon declared.
"So fast...!"
"Calm down...!"
"Are you going to go, Lyon?"
Seeing Lyon enter the arena, Gray smiled and said, "In that case, I'll go up! Let me see what kind of match this is!"
Juvia's eyes lit up when she saw Gray enter the arena, and she exclaimed, "Since they're sending Lord Gray to the arena, then I'll go too!"
"Hey...! Don't get me wrong! Or I'll beat you up...!" Gajeel said.
Then everyone turned their attention to Chen Fan's group was a heavyweight; sending out any of them would attract a lot of attention.
"Rock! Paper! Scissors! Rock! Paper! Scissors!" Chen Fan and his friends had just evolved from playing hand-to-hand to rock-paper-scissors.
"Why...!" someone exclaimed loudly upon seeing it;
"Looks like it's my turn to shine...!" Gildarts said with a smile, while Chen Fan was eliminated in the very beginning when it was a hand-to-hand match.
"Gildarts...!"
"Gildarts!"... The Fairy Tail outside the arena cheered happily when they saw Gildarts appear. Who is Gildarts? He's Fairy Tail's strongest Mage. With him on the field, what can't be handled?
Natsu and Gray were also dumbfounded, not expecting Gildarts to be the first to appear. A bead of sweat rolled down Gray's forehead as he said, "Shouldn't the old man be the last to appear based on age? By the way, why was it that he was the one who decided the way he would appear?!" He couldn't help but complain in the end.