"All right! I won't waste any more words here—" Caught up in the crowd's fervent cheers, Chapati felt himself getting swept up in the excitement and shouted, "Now! Let's begin the third match of today's duel round—"
"The much-admired Miss Jenny of Blue Pegasus! Against Mirajane of the Fairy Tail Strongest Team—"
"Whoooo—" Unsurprisingly, the instant Chapati finished speaking, the arena erupted in cheers and, ahem, howls.
The crowd's burning gazes split into two waves. One focused on Jenny as she leaped into the arena, while the other turned toward Mira, who was holding Achill's arm in Fairy Tail's spectator section.
Of course, the gazes directed at Mira retreated even faster a moment later. You know why~
"Oh my, so it's my turn. Looks like I'll have to put on a good show too~!" Mira winked playfully at Achill, released his left arm, and walked down toward the arena with a graceful smile, beneath the crowd's strange looks of wanting to watch yet not daring to.
Once she reached the brand-new, mirror-smooth floor, she even bounced a little and lightly stamped her feet, seemingly quite satisfied.
Little did she know that this casual gesture made everyone in the arena's eyelids twitch.
Apparently... this lady also bore the True God of Death's label...
For some reason, although the spectators knew the organizers had thoroughly reinforced the arena, they still felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding...
"Hey... this place isn't going to get blown apart again in a minute, is it?!" one fellow asked weakly.
"I-it shouldn't! Ha, haha..." The person beside him gave a dry laugh. "Didn't you hear the announcer just now? The arena is strong enough now to withstand the shock waves from an all-out battle between more than two mages at the level of the Ten Wizard Saints..."