Gajeel leaned leisurely against a large tree with his arms crossed over his chest, chewing on a loose iron nail.
Nearly twenty minutes had passed since the civil war began.
Along the way, Gajeel kept seeing members who wanted to rescue their "goddesses" getting trapped one after another by the Magic Formulas along the path.
They were forced to defeat their opponents to earn the right to proceed, just as the rules dictated.
Thus, the number of "brave warriors" continuously dwindled along the route, leaving only increasingly stronger members to advance further.
'Hmm, quite interesting,' Gajeel thought, watching Alzack duel Bisca's admirers.
'But I'm not particularly interested at the moment.'
Mainly because he had other work to do.
"Gajeel... how's the civil war going?"
Perched on Gajeel's shoulder was a small paper figure resembling a shikigami, from which emerged an eerie male voice.
Gajeel's eyes darkened.
He spoke quietly into his shoulder. "Ah, Master Ivan... this is just child's play here. It won't affect the guild much. Just a festival game."
"Hehehe..." The paper figure emitted a grating, peculiar laugh before continuing, "Never mind then. Stay safe, Gajeel. Remember our deal."
Gajeel curled his lip and slowly put the paper figure away into his pocket, crushing it slightly.
This kind of work was really troublesome, he sighed.
Shortly after joining the guild, Gajeel had been assigned by Makarov to a task that truly tested his acting skills.
Makarov's son, Ivan Dreyar, had established a suspicious Dark Guild: Raven Tail.
This guild often operated in the shadows, specifically targeting Fairy Tail's activities, which made Makarov uneasy.
Coincidentally, Ivan wanted to infiltrate the guild more deeply and approached the newly-joined Gajeel.
He believed that a man of iron like Gajeel couldn't possibly have genuinely surrendered to Fairy Tail so quickly.
So Ivan secretly reached out to Gajeel, asking him to remain undercover within the guild as a double agent and steal information when opportunities arose.
But Gajeel was an honest man—he immediately reported that "some middle-aged guy wants me to be a spy" to the old man... Makarov.
When Makarov learned about this, he had a brilliant idea: instead, he had Gajeel feed false information to Ivan while gathering intelligence about Raven Tail.
This move was a spy-vs-spy game, a battle between father and son, proving that your father will always be your father.
Gajeel calmly stored the paper figure and returned his attention to the streets of Magnolia.
Surprisingly, the seemingly brutish Gajeel turned out to be unexpectedly suited for this job.
Not only was he bold yet careful, but his natural appearance... just didn't make him look like a good person.
No one suspected him of being loyal.
Speaking of which... where should he go to join the fun first in this civil war?
Gajeel looked toward the several distant battlefields, pondering to himself.
Natsu had explained the effects of the Petrification Eye to everyone before rushing off, Gajeel recalled.
If I prioritize taking down that woman, Evergreen, wouldn't all the hostages be freed and the matter resolved?
Currently in Magnolia's four directions, due to the varying "popularity" of the seven female hostages, the number of members in each area differed accordingly.
The Thunder God Tribe's objective was to intercept more guild members, so they would likely be lying in ambush in the more popular Northern Area where Erza and Mira were held.
That's where the chaos would be.
The Southern Sector only had Levy alone.
It had the fewest members chasing after her, making it the complete opposite direction from the main action.
After a moment of contemplation, Gajeel decided to adopt the "capture the ringleader" tactic.
"Going North," he muttered.
He started walking.
"BOOM!!"
"Fist Plant!"
"Falcon Foot!"
The roar of explosions suddenly erupted nearby.
Gajeel narrowed his eyes and looked toward the nearby street.
Verdant plants transformed into massive fist shapes, bursting through the ground to strike at the figure across from them.
Jet's feet shifted rapidly as he dodged Droy's Magic with incredible speed, then activated his God Speed Magic to charge at Droy!
"It's those two weaklings," Gajeel noted.
Gajeel lowered his brows, watching the two novices fighting each other with complete disinterest.
During the sneak attack on Fairy Tail's weeks ago, Gajeel had knocked out both of them with single punches each—their abilities were truly nothing serious.
'Come to think of it,' Gajeel thought, 'were these two here to rescue their teammate, that little blue-haired girl? Levy?'
Gajeel silently watched for a while, then a trace of boredom appeared on his fierce face.
He decisively turned to leave.
Rather than wasting time watching weaklings fight, he decided, it would be better to hurry on his way North.
He walked forward.
THUD!
Gajeel slammed headfirst into a hard air wall.
"What the—?!"
He rubbed his forehead, staring incredulously at the faintly visible purple magical characters appearing before him.
[Only the Victor may leave this area.]
"When did this appear?!" he wondered aloud. "I didn't walk through a rune!"
...
Meanwhile, hidden within Magnolia Cathedral, peering through his crystal ball.
Ankh let out a satisfied chuckle.
'You little rascal,' Ankh thought, watching Gajeel rub his head.
'I finally managed to lure you into the "Levy Zone"—did you really think you could escape?'
A reformed tough guy with a rough edge, and a petite, adorable bookworm girl.
Sounds like fun!
"Freed! The important character has appeared! Begin the next phase!" Ankh called out cheerfully to Freed while holding the crystal ball, clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Freed, who had been standing by the cathedral entrance guarding the runes, hesitated for a moment.
He first glanced at Laxus.
Only after receiving a silent, resigned nod from Laxus did Freed quietly slip out to execute the command.
Laxus glanced at Ankh's beaming, matchmaker-like smile and sighed.
"You're enjoying this too much," Laxus grumbled. "If you do this, those guys are going to go crazy, you know. Gajeel hates them."
Ankh chuckled and said, "Love... without experiencing social death, how can one see the rainbow? Besides, they need to clear the air."
...
Back in the street.
Gajeel stared darkly at the words floating within the Magic Formula wall.
Then looked down at Jet and Droy, who were now clutching their heads and moaning on the ground.
[Only the final victor can leave this area.]
"Are you kidding me?"
Before Gajeel could even make a move to leave... these two idiots had actually taken the initiative to attack him.
"For Levy!" Jet shouted, charging.
"Out of my way!" Droy yelled.
And so it ended up like this—the same old story.
BAM. BAM.
One punch per "little friend," instantly deciding the outcome.
Gajeel rubbed his iron fist and coldly eyed the two pitiful figures lying on the ground.
He snorted. "I really don't understand where you get your courage from. You knew you couldn't win."
"Ahem—"
As if a sad violin BGM was playing in the air, Droy pounded the ground with a pained expression and roared.
"Dammit! It's all my fault for being useless! I couldn't save Levy-chan..."
Jet gazed blankly at the sky, tears streaming down his face.
He said with a bitter smile, "Well... there's nothing we can do about it now."
He looked at Gajeel.
"Gajeel-kun... we leave what comes next to you." 2x
Slowly closing their eyes, the two simps seemed to resolve themselves.
When they opened their eyes again, they were filled with determination.
"Carry our will forward, Gajeel! You must save Levy-chan!"
"Don't let her turn to stone!"
Hearing the two men's "last words" that sounded like entrusting orphans to a rival, Gajeel remained expressionless.
'You fools,' Gajeel thought. 'Entrusting everything to others will only get you killed. Get up and fight.'
'All this for a woman... Is it really worth looking like the sky is falling?'
Watching the two finally shut up and peacefully lose consciousness from exhaustion, Gajeel turned away without any hesitation.
Just kidding.
As the wise and courageous Gajeel, he always adhered to one principle: No women in the heart, it will only make your knees weak!
'Saving people? Not happening! I'm going North to beat up Laxus.'
Gajeel sneered as he turned around.
He hadn't taken more than a few steps when the Magic Formula beside him suddenly changed its text.
It floated slowly before his eyes as if on purpose:
[Ten minutes remaining until seven hostages turn to dust.]
Gajeel froze.
He glanced at it, calculating in his mind.
'Ten minutes to find Evergreen, be careful of her Petrification Eye, and quickly take care of that guy... shouldn't be too difficult...'
'Yeah, plan confirmed. There's enough time. I'll ignore the girl.'
Gajeel nodded and lifted his leg to leave again.
After walking ten meters.
Gajeel halted.
'Enough time my ass!'
'What if Evergreen does the opposite and waits in ambush where the blue-haired kid is... What if I'm wrong?'
'Tch, then she'd be lucky. Anyway, I'm not betting on those odds!'
Gajeel closed his eyes and nodded in self-approval.
'Not my problem.'
He started walking away again.
Step... step... step...
Three steps later, Gajeel's face suddenly darkened and he groaned.
"Dammit."
He smoothly pivoted and turned toward the direction Jet and Droy had pointed.
'Well... wouldn't hurt to take a look. Just to be sure.'
And so, this competition zone finally welcomed its last victor.
Gajeel walked up to the giant tree in the park—one of the seven locations Laxus had provided, said to be where the hostage Levy was being held.
It was also the very place where, in the original story, he had nailed Levy to a tree.
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