Fairy Tail: Sun Eater - Part 2

276. Learning by Watching

The 3rd Wizard Saint tournament finally starts and it's still as popular as ever. There are so many people who come to watch it just like when it was held for the first time in Fiore. It's a continental event, after all, so people from all Nations in Ishgar want to participate.

Ben has taken Fairy Tail Mages on the previous 2 events and this year's event as well. He asked Makarov to bring all young members and only left some senior members in the guild. This is a good chance for the young members to learn because they can watch the battles of high-level Mages here.

"Argh, I want to join this tournament and fight strong people too," says Natsu in frustration while they walk to the stadium.

"You can't, we have a Wizard Saint in our guild, so we aren't allowed to join," says Lucy.

"Well, it's not like you can't join at all," says Ben.

The Tenrou boys' ears twitched excitedly, "REALLY?"

Ben grins and looks at them, "Yeah, but there's something that you need to do first."

"What is it?" asks Gajeel.

"You need to defeat me. If you can do it, then I will resign from my position and you'll be able to join the tournament because we won't have any Wizard Saint anymore," says Ben while still grinning.

The boys' smiles disappear and they all look away while sweating. Then they continue their walk without saying anything. They've tried to fight Ben many times since they return from Tenrou Island, but he always defeats them with mere flicks on their foreheads.

Their gaps in power have grown a lot wider in these 3 years because Ben keeps growing while they didn't. They couldn't even defeat him 3 years ago, not to mention now. He has even surpassed Gildarts, so they don't have any chance.

With the boys get silenced, Fairy Tail can watch the tournament happily. They have seats in the front rows because of Ben's privilege. Ben was invited to watch from a special room with Ellie and some high-ranked people, but he refused because his guildmates are there.

The first round finally starts at 9 AM and it's still a battle royale like usual. But different from the tournament in Fiore & Seven, this battle royale round has just 4 groups, not 8. They will just choose 4 winners from each group, so there will be 16 people for the next round.

That's why the size of each group is big with more than 300 participants in each group. The arena looks very cramped with more than 300 people fighting in it. But it will also make the contestants work harder to defend themselves & attack their opponents.

The battles in this round are quite interesting and the Fairy Tail Mages learn a lot of things from this round. Well, Ben explains a few things to them like the right & wrong things that the contestants do in this kind of battle.

They also can see Mages who use the same or similar magic as them. But these Mages can utilize their magic better or have stronger spells. The ways these Mages use their magic in battles have inspired the young Fairy Tail Mages.

Even Ben can learn a lot of things in this tournament. Each person has a unique fighting style even if they learn from the same teacher. That's why there are always things to learn from other Mages even though Ben has seen them fought before.

In the 3rd battle royale group, Ben sees an interesting thing. Mike, the former Wizard Saint who got his title taken by Ellie is fighting in this round. He becomes the favorite contestant in this tournament instantly because he was a former Wizard Saint.

Of course, Mike passes the 1st round and then the 4th group is up. Ben sighs when he sees a familiar face. It's the Plant Mage woman who won the last tournament but lost against Ben in the title match.