After yesterday's Harvest Festival, parade, and various other festivities had all come to a successful close, the time had finally come for the first-ever "Fairy Tail Martial Arts Tournament" to officially begin. So now, the seawall, reefs, and rooftops along the bay north of Magnolia were packed with tourists and travelers from all over the continent who had come especially to watch.
As advertised, the competition was naturally being held at the site of Phantom Lord's destroyed mobile fortress.
However, thanks to the mages of the Fairy Tail guild and some powerful magical alterations, the fortress ruins had been transformed beyond recognition.
The upper structures had been almost entirely demolished and leveled, while the remaining foundations had been turned into an enormous offshore arena. The arena was surrounded by the sea and a long, safe distance separated it from the spectators, so there was no need to worry about anyone getting hurt by accident or city buildings being damaged during the matches.
"Go for it!"
"Come on!!"
"Beat that Scarhead to death!!"
"Oh, no!"
"What a shame..."
"Is that guy useless or what? He's built like a giant, yet he can't even beat a little girl. I wasted two hundred J on his ticket, hoping he'd make it through the first six rounds of the preliminaries!"
"Don't get me started. I'm in the same boat!"
"Just my luck..."
From the snippets of conversation among the noisy crowd, it was clear that this was no longer merely a martial arts tournament for Fairy Tail guild members to compete for the title of guild master. It had become a grand spectacle in its own right!
"Whoa!"
"Look! That mage with the spear is amazing!"
"Yeah! He really is!"
"But if you ask me, that female mage over there who uses cards looks