Chapter 283: The Small Island in the Center of the Lake
Upon hearing there would be a prize, Lucy and Cana, who originally hadn't planned to participate, also signed up.
After George and Makarov roughly discussed the rules of the competition, George spread his wings and flew out of town.
At high speed, it didn't take long for him to find a fairly suitable small mountain.
"Mountain Moving!"
Waving his magic wand, he began to chant the incantation of the ancient mountain-moving spell.
It was one of several ancient magics he had learned from Dumbledore, and like the thunderstorm magic, it required a long time to chant.
Because the speed of moving a mountain was slow, any enemy with slightly faster movement could easily escape the range of attack, making it not very valuable in actual combat. Thus, he hadn't spent much time practicing it.
Under normal circumstances, casting it would require at least ten minutes of chanting.
However, it didn't matter this time. He wasn't preparing for battle, only to move a small mountain into the large lake next to the guild city.
This way, he could create a small island in the lake to serve as the grand stage for the upcoming tournament.
"Rise!"
As the incantation ended, the small mountain in front of George immediately began to shake, then more and more violently, until it really lifted from the ground and gradually floated into the air.
"Let's go!"
Controlling the mountain with his wand, George cautiously flapped his wings and moved toward the large lake beside the town.
As he flew over the city, he suddenly thought that although the mountain-moving spell might be slow for hitting people, and easy to miss, its destructive power wasn't small.
For example, if he were to drop the mountain directly from high altitude onto the town below, the entire town would certainly be smashed into ruins, its power not much less than that of a super magic.
Meanwhile, the townspeople and tourists below, seeing George carrying a mountain over the town, were all shocked with their mouths agape.
"Is... is this part of the Harvest Festival program too?"
"Everyone, don't be afraid. I'm George, a mage of Fairy Tail guild.
At two o'clock this afternoon, our guild will hold the first-ever Fairy Tail Mage Tournament on the small island in the lake to determine the strongest Fairy Tail mage.
Anyone interested can watch the matches from the lakeshore and cheer for our mages!"
Using an amplification spell to broadcast the news to the whole town, George brought the mountain to the lake near the shore and gently set it down.
"Plasma Railgun!"
Controlling a long plasma column, he swept horizontally, slicing off the top half of the mountain, leaving behind a large circular platform exposed above the water—a simple large arena was thus completed.
As for decorations on the stage, although they could be created with transfiguration spells, he felt it wasn't necessary.
After all, once the fighting began, those decorations probably wouldn't survive.
Regarding spectator seating, there would be none on the island.
The island wasn't far from the town shore; the townspeople could fully view the matches from the shore.
This was also for the safety of the residents and allowed the guild mages to fight without concerns.
After hearing George's announcement, the townspeople and tourists immediately started discussing enthusiastically, then eagerly gathered at the town's lakeshore.
Upon seeing George's method of creating the small island, they couldn't help but marvel at the strength of Fairy Tail's mages.
Ordinary people knew mages were powerful, but they had little concept of just how powerful.
A magic that could lift an entire mountain had already exceeded their imagination.
Not to mention the ordinary citizens, even the mages of Fairy Tail were equally stunned.
Destroying a mountain was understandable—Erza and Natsu both had that kind of destructive power.
But to lift an entire mountain from the ground and control it to fly elsewhere—no one had ever heard of a mage capable of such a feat.
Even their guild master, Makarov, couldn't do that.
Makarov, after becoming a giant, indeed had the strength to lift something as heavy as a small mountain, but that meant lifting something with the weight of a mountain—not literally carrying a mountain off the ground.
A mountain, by nature, is connected to the earth; how could one possibly pull it out from the ground?
"This cat is becoming more and more unfathomable."
Laxus, watching George who had just teleported back to the guild, had a gradually serious look in his eyes.
He had always thought that his only rival in the guild would be Mystogan, but now, it seemed that this cat George might actually be his biggest competitor.
Mainly because George knew too many types of magic.
Previously, he thought George's strongest magic was lightning magic, and as a Dragon Slayer of Lightning, he could devour all lightning, thus having a natural advantage against George.
Thus, he hadn't regarded George as a big threat.
The one who made him feel a sense of crisis had always been the mysterious Mystogan, whose depth he could never quite fathom.
As for Erza, he believed Evergreen of the Thunder God Tribe could deal with her.
But after the recent series of events, he now felt that George might actually be his greatest rival, and the guild master's trust in George seemed to confirm this.
"You are quite something, George. If I beat you in the end, you will be my cat. You are qualified to be my cat."
"You can talk about that if you manage to beat me."
George waved his cat paw, then said to Makarov:
"The stage is set. We can begin the entry now."
"Good, then let me explain the rules for the competition."
Makarov addressed the eager Fairy Tail mages:
"The rules are simple: you'll draw lots to form pairs. Win to move to the next round, until a champion is determined.
Losing consciousness or admitting defeat counts as a loss. Everyone, fight within your limits."
"Awesome! This time I must defeat Laxus and become the strongest mage!"
"You'd better defeat me first, Natsu!"
"Don't underestimate us either!"
After hearing the rules, everyone became fired up with excitement.
"Won't Jellal and Mystogan participate?"
At that moment, George asked in a low voice.
Makarov shook his head:
"I contacted Jellal with the magic crystal. Jellal said he had already been defeated by you before, so he won't participate this time.
As for Mystogan, there's no need to ask. I know he won't participate either—he doesn't like being exposed in front of everyone."
Mystogan even used sleeping magic to make everyone unconscious whenever he returned to the guild, let alone standing on an island to fight while the entire town watched.
"It's fine. Participation in this competition was voluntary anyway."
George didn't mind. He raised his hand and used magnetism to extract iron sand from underground, condensing it into a large iron plate.
"Everyone, come up. I'll fly you over."
He could now carry a load of over a dozen tons, so transporting everyone to the island wasn't too difficult.
As they flew toward the island, the townspeople by the lakeshore erupted into enthusiastic cheers and encouragement.
(End of Chapter)