Generally speaking, an ordinary mage's growth follows a fairly smooth curve. Saying you'll make up seven lost years in three months is, honestly, a very unrealistic idea.
Every mage strengthens body and magic bit by bit, developing and refining their spells to grow stronger.
But for the Tenrou Group, this wasn't a question of whether it could be done. It was a goal they would achieve.
After all, none of them were ordinary mages. Outstanding talent plus multiple life-or-death battles that pushed them past their limits gave them the confidence to do it.
And then, as expected, the unexpected happened.
Counting pre-tournament prep and travel, they only had two and a half months left to train—every second mattered.
Yet with time that tight, the whole bunch went off to play in the Celestial Spirit World during their training camp.
And that place runs on time completely out of sync with reality.
By the time they returned, two months had passed. When Charles arrived, he found the group turned into black-and-white statues.
With three months, there had been a chance to close the gap. With only a dozen days left, lying flat sounded more realistic.
What could Charles say? He'd forgotten they still pulled stunts like this.
The only exception was Lucy. Having contracted all twelve Zodiac spirits, her growth shocked even Charles.
So amid a row of black-and-white statues, she alone was full of energy. Not only that, she was sneakily smirking in front of Natsu.
At this point, normal methods were no longer viable. They'd have to flip the switch like in the original timeline.
Charles contacted Ultear and asked her to forcibly unlock everyone's Second Origin.
Maybe Ultear had foreseen this; the moment Charles reached out, she appeared and helped everyone develop their Second Origin.
As for the side effect of pain so intense they couldn't move—that was on them.
Twists aside, they still hit the target.
But before heading to the Grand Magic Games, Fairy Tail would hold an internal selection match for the roster.
The format: a magic battle royale!
In the mountains near Magnolia, everyone who wanted in entered separately. Everyone else was an enemy.
They would keep going until five remained—those five would be this year's team.
Simple as it sounded, the format tested far more than combat strength: target acquisition, survival, strategy… even luck.
Everyone not competing—and a few assigned to the rescue squad—watched from the guild via surveillance magic.
Charles didn't vie for a spot. He sat to the side, sipping through a straw and watching the stream—naturally, he was following Natsu.
Natsu twitched his nose, using his sharp sense of smell to hunt opponents.
For a diehard like Natsu, strategy wasn't a thing. He wanted a roster spot, sure, but he was one hundred percent hunting the strongest in the arena.
And he had absolute faith that even if he fought the strongest, he would win in the end.
Charles sighed. Natsu's personality was worrisome. But that faith was how he'd beaten one "unbeatable" foe after another—maybe that was the root of his strength.
On the screen, a smug grin spread across Natsu's face—he'd found his target—and he rushed off.
"Laxus, let's settle this!"
Charles slapped his forehead with a groan. Natsu really knew how to pick them.
A former S-Class mage, Laxus had already developed his Second Origin on his own.
In the original story, if not for Natsu's plot armor and Laxus not truly seeing him as an enemy, Natsu wouldn't have beaten him.
After multiple smackdowns from Charles and finding his true self, Laxus had grown a lot during his time wandering.
He hadn't joined the training camp, which meant he spent those two and a half months in solid practice.
Barring a handful like Gildarts, Charles, and Stella, no one in the guild—not even Erza—could claim they'd beat him.
Then everyone in the arena saw crimson flames and golden lightning shoot skyward. The clash didn't last long before lightning suppressed the fire.
No one was surprised. But though everyone expected Natsu to be eliminated, he slipped away.
Even if he couldn't win, Natsu wouldn't run—good thing he had the relatively level-headed Happy with him.
Happy grabbed the shouting, still-eager-to-brawl Natsu and flew him away from Laxus, keeping him from becoming the first one out.
In fights that aren't must-wins, the little blue cat is pragmatic and won't let Natsu be stupid.
While Natsu took on Laxus, others found their own matchups.
The Twin Dragons met the Thunder God Tribe, defeated them, and knocked out the trio. In terms of coordination, the Twin Dragons could even unleash a joint Dragon Slayer art—they had the edge.
Gray eliminated Elfman; even after taking on the Beast King's Soul, Elfman couldn't break out of Gray's freeze.
Kagura and Erza showed no mercy in eliminating the two Sky girls, then went head-to-head—still without a winner.
Both were sword-specialist mages. No flashy magic, just settling it blade to blade.
Cana and Lucy gave a live demo of "plastic sisterhood," pulling every dirty trick on each other.
Like the previous pairing, both were balanced mages who leaned into deployment and formations—cards and spirits flying in turn until they turned the fight into a turn-based game.
Maybe to avenge Levy, Gajeel fought dead serious. Juvia wasn't giving up her chance to compete alongside Gray either; her resistance was fierce.
The two had the same origin and got along fine at the guild, but to fight this hard over a man/woman—it was a textbook case of being blinded by love.
Sipping his juice, Charles shook his head, lamenting how the guild's vibe had gone off the rails.
As for Makarov, he had a headache.
The format solved a lot of problems, but he seemed to have forgotten one thing.
Even if the battlefield was the wilderness, they couldn't let it be wrecked too badly. Yet not long after the match began, the fighting had turned the area into a mess.
He couldn't imagine the cleanup after it was all over!
Cold sweat beaded on Makarov's brow. That region shouldn't have any major issues… right?
With Fairy Tail's problem children, even if he didn't want to admit it, Makarov had to have absolute confidence—in their ability to break things, that is.
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