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*****
"Not bad at all."
After hearing the rules for the Team Arena Defense Battle, George also found the format quite appealing.
This type of team competition ultimately came down to a guild's overall strength. For their guild, it didn't matter whether they were an arena-holder or not—they were guaranteed to earn at least sixty points.
In fact, if given the choice, he would have preferred not to be one of the arena-holding guilds.
That's because the most points an arena-holder could earn was sixty, while a non-arena-holder guild, with the right strategy, could potentially earn as much as one hundred and five points.
Here's how: if a guild first defeated all five members of an arena-holding guild, they'd earn fifty points. After taking over as the new arena-holder, they'd face the remaining three challenging guilds—fifteen points per guild—netting them another forty-five points.
Fifty plus forty-five made one hundred and five points exactly.
However, given how dominating their performance had been in both the preliminaries and the individual rounds, the organizers clearly wouldn't assign their guild as a challenger. It was a sure bet they'd be made an arena-holding guild.
If they had intentionally underperformed in the earlier matches, there might've been a chance to avoid it.
But that wasn't George's style. What he wanted was to lead his guild in a relentless charge forward. No need for a strategy of "hide first, then shine." He wanted to demonstrate loud and clear that Fairy Tail is the strongest, and that he, George, would crush all opposition like a lion swatting away kittens.
As expected, after the rules were explained, Pumpkin Man began announcing the six arena-holding guilds:
"Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, Mermaid Heel, Lamia Scale, Quatro Cerberus, and Blue Pegasus!"
Once the names were announced, the system began randomly matching the remaining guilds. Soon, each arena-holding guild's set of four challenger guilds appeared on the large magical projection screen.
Next came pre-battle strategy meetings for each guild.
Since this was a team battle, coordination was key—deciding who would go first or last, whose magic countered whose, how to maximize points or hold the line. Everything had to be discussed and planned in detail.
This Team Arena Defense Battle wasn't going to be easy for anyone—neither for the arena-holding guilds nor the challengers.
The arena-holding mages were strong, but they would have to face four times as many opponents, and none of the guilds that made it to the main tournament had weak members.
Even someone like Jura, a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, had limited magical power. Continuous combat would drain anyone, eventually rendering them unable to fight.
As for the challenger guilds, going up against a clearly stronger arena-holding guild meant that deciding the order of participants was crucial. Some might aim to go first, hoping to snag points early—perhaps even dreaming of defeating the whole team and taking the arena for themselves.
Others might prefer to go last, waiting for the earlier challengers to wear down the arena holders, then swoop in and claim the prize.
Meanwhile, George and his four team members held a brief meeting of their own.
It only lasted about a minute—because George had already decided their strategy.
"Our strategy is simple," he declared. "I go in alone, wipe out every last one of them, and secure all sixty points."
"Guild Master… isn't that a bit too… extreme?"
His four teammates stared at him in shock after hearing the plan.
From their perspective, no guild was likely to put their ace mage at the front of the lineup.
For one, having a single person defeat the best mages from four guilds in a row was incredibly difficult. Even if it was possible, they'd be utterly exhausted by the end.
For another, doing so would expose all of one's magic and trump cards—something they should ideally save for the chaotic free-for-all later in the tournament.
The smartest move was to put the ace at the end. If the first four members successfully defended the arena, the ace wouldn't even need to fight.
And if they didn't manage to hold the line, the ace could still clean up afterward.
As for the four challengers losing and earning forty points—that was irrelevant. With four teams splitting those points, it wouldn't pose any real threat. All they had to do was hold on long enough to earn sixty points.
"Sometimes, simplicity is key," George said. "This is how we make sure the audience remembers us. The more attention we get, the more missions we'll land in the future."
"Don't worry, I've got it all under control."
After finalizing the battle strategy, George and his four teammates headed to one of the arena platforms, ready to face whatever challengers came their way.
About twenty minutes later, the other five arena platforms were also set up with their respective arena-holding guilds, and the challengers had already decided their order of attack.
"Boom!"
The gong sounded.
"Let the Team Arena Defense Battle officially begin! Challengers, please take the stage!"
As the announcer's voice rang out, cheers and shouts of encouragement erupted from the audience, filling the air with excitement.
"We, the Wild Boar's Tusks, are here to challenge!"
Five mages from the Wild Boar's Tusks guild stepped up to face George's team.
They felt fortunate to be assigned to challenge Fairy Tail's arena. While they knew they couldn't defeat Fairy Tail and become the new arena holders, they had already figured out that aside from the leader, the rest of the team was mostly relying on magical tools to boost their strength.
Now that they knew what those tools could do, they were confident. With the right moves, even if they couldn't defeat all four members, they should be able to take down three of them—securing thirty points at least.
That's why they had decided to go first. If they let the other guilds go ahead and drain the team, they'd have to face that cat later—their leader, George, who was known to be terrifyingly strong. Even the leader of Sabertooth had been forced to retreat when facing him, thanks to his overwhelming magic power.
They didn't want to face George at the end, where they might walk away with no points and risk getting eliminated.
But just as they were preparing to figure out who among them should face the team first—based on their strategy to counter the mages—they saw George himself, the leader, take flight and land directly in front of them.
"No… No way!"
The five members of Wild Boar's Tusks froze in shock.
"Seriously? He's coming out first?"
The other arena-holding guilds were also taken aback. They hadn't expected Fairy Tail to reveal their ace right at the start. Unlike the rest of them, who had carefully kept their aces for the later rounds, Fairy Tail was throwing their biggest threat out right away.
The members of the Crocodile Skin Guild—the last challengers for this platform—were already grinning ear to ear. They were the last team to fight, and if the previous three challengers could defeat George, they might just have the chance to take down the remaining four mages and earn forty points, possibly even taking the arena title.
"Don't waste time, come at me all at once," George said, landing on the stage.
According to the rules, the five members of each guild were supposed to face each other one-on-one, battling until one team member was defeated. However, George found that approach tedious. He didn't mind facing them all at once—it would be just as easy as taking on one.
(End of Chapter)