"Are you sure you want to stay?"
As Finn sat back down in the dugout, Sorano, Ultear, Flare, and Meredy immediately crowded around him. Naturally, it was Ultear who asked the question.
"Why do you ask?" Finn replied calmly.
"Don't pretend you don't know." Ultear rolled her eyes, fully aware that Finn was just playing cool. "You know exactly who is going to fight the final battle today. Are you really going to be okay?"
It wasn't that she lacked faith in him. But she knew that neutralizing a city-destroying meteor—especially after simultaneously draining his reserves to possess Meredy and Sorano across two separate events—had to have taken a massive toll on his magic power.
Frankly, Ultear thought Jellal was an absolute idiot. To risk dropping a tactical nuke on a populated city just to win a tournament match was sheer lunacy. While Finn had managed to perfectly dismantle the spell, save the city, and even pocket the debris, Ultear knew that kind of spatial manipulation required a terrifying amount of mana.
With Natsu's explosive provocation earlier, the narrative was practically carved in stone: the final match of the day would be Finn versus Natsu.
If Finn was at peak strength, Ultear wouldn't even blink. But fighting a monster like Natsu Dragneel on a near-empty tank? She knew firsthand how resilient and absurdly destructive the Fire Dragon Slayer could be.
Watching Finn lean back in his chair, a dark, protective thought crossed Ultear's mind. I need to recreate the Devil's Heart for him as soon as possible. She wanted him to have an infinite reservoir of power. It might have seemed strange how quickly she had fallen for him, especially given their rocky beginning, but Ultear wasn't the type to swoon over a gentle knight. Being handled roughly, dominated by absolute pragmatism, and watching him ruthlessly pursue his ambitions resonated with her twisted soul. She wanted to support him entirely.
As for Jellal? Ultear couldn't care less. If the Magic Council arrested him, fine. Finn basically owned the Council anyway.
"Don't worry," Finn smiled softly, seeing the genuine concern radiating from his women. "Even if my magic power hits absolute zero, I can still win with my sword alone."
Inwardly, Finn was analyzing his own reserves. Cleaning up Jellal's mess had indeed drained him significantly. But unlike standard mages, Finn's physiology was currently tied to a Dragon Slayer equivalent—or rather, a pseudo-type.
His draconic power didn't stem from traditional Slayer Lacrima; it came from Take Over magic, functioning remarkably similarly to a Zoan-type Devil Fruit from One Piece.
Since Natsu eats fire and Gajeel eats iron to recharge... does that mean I should eat a sword?
Finn couldn't help but make a weird face. The draconic soul he had absorbed belonged to Kurnugi, the Sword Saint Dragon. Conceptually, if he wanted to rapidly regenerate his stamina, he should consume blades or physical slashes.
Yeah, let's not do that, Finn decided instantly. The visual of him crunching down on a steel broadsword in the middle of a fight was absolutely ridiculous.
Besides, he didn't need magic to win. The true advantage of the Sword Saint Dragon wasn't flashy magical beams; it was absolute, overwhelming physical superiority and peerless martial arts. Even completely devoid of mana, his swordsmanship could effortlessly dismantle most mages on this continent.
Yet, as he sat there, Finn realized a fundamental truth. Remaining an "Enlightened" or a "Sage" wasn't going to be enough in the long run.
Suzuki in the Tensura world hasn't even evolved yet. But should I go and evolve further? Finn mused, drawing parallels between his multiverse counterparts. He figured that once Tensura Suzuki finally made his move, evolving into a higher existence would be relatively simple.
"Don't worry. I will win," Finn reassured them.
Flare, Sorano, Meredy, and Ultear nodded and decided to trust him. However, they didn't exactly give him space. Instead, they seamlessly pressed themselves closer to him, instantly deploying an optical illusion barrier over their seating area.
Illusion magic wasn't nearly as difficult as most mages believed. If a B-tier guild like Raven Tail could cast an illusion convincing enough to fool an entire stadium (making it look like Ivan was fighting Laxus one-on-one when Laxus was actually fighting the whole guild), then Heavenly Blue could do it flawlessly. With the Manager running perfect background calculations, their optical cloaking was impenetrable.
Under the cover of the illusion, they happily treated him to subtle, wandering hands, making staying in the dugout far more entertaining than Finn had anticipated.
Out in the arena, the remaining battles were actually quite interesting.
The match between Ren Akatsuki and Yuka Suzuki was a standard, slightly boring exchange of magic that Finn mostly ignored. But the match that followed immediately caught his attention: Yukino Agria of Sabertooth versus Kagura Mikazuchi of Mermaid Heel.
"Oh, she has Golden Keys," Finn noted.
He knew the original plot, but seeing Yukino actually summon the Zodiac spirits Libra and Pisces in person confirmed her status as a rare, top-tier Celestial Mage.
"She is good," Sorano murmured, a trace of genuine pride slipping into her voice as she watched her younger sister fight.
Yet, Finn knew Kagura was in an entirely different league. When a desperate Yukino played her ultimate trump card, summoning Ophiuchus—the mythical 13th Zodiac gate that took the form of a colossal, mechanical snake—the stadium trembled.
But Kagura didn't even flinch.
"As I said before, this is your loss."
With terrifying speed, Kagura stepped forward and executed a flawless Iaijutsu technique. Without even fully unsheathing her blade, the sheer kinetic pressure of the draw cleanly bisected the colossal mechanical serpent!
The invincible aura of Sabertooth was shattered in an instant. Down in the arena, a devastated Yukino collapsed to her knees, weeping quietly into the dirt.
"She's strong..." Ultear, Meredy, and Flare muttered, genuinely surprised by Kagura's raw physical output.
Sorano, however, clung tighter to Finn's arm, her eyes darkening with a fierce, vindictive glow. "Sleep with her. Fuck her silly, and throw her aside, Finn-sama."
"....."
Finn stared at Sorano, absolutely speechless. "Your sister is not weak, and Kagura fought her completely fairly. Instead of begging me to sexually traumatize her opponent out of sheer spite, you might want to use this opportunity to go down there and console your little sister."
Sorano's anger might appear weird, yet as Yukino was her little sister, and she was defeated by Kagura, of course, Sorano had a grudge against Kagura.
"Meet her..."
Sorano's vindictive edge immediately vanished. She looked down at her hands, not entirely hating the idea, but her heart ached with hesitation. Can I even do that? I'm a criminal...
Finn gently rubbed the top of Sorano's head, grounding her.
Before Sorano could make a decision, the stadium speakers cracked to life, but they were entirely drowned out by a deafening roar.
A figure suddenly leaped from the Fairy Tail balcony, crashing down onto the arena floor with a fiery explosion. As the smoke cleared, Natsu Dragneel stood in the center of the ring, pointing a burning finger directly at the Heavenly Blue dugout.
"YOU! GET DOWN HERE! LET'S FIGHT!"
The stadium erupted into absolute bedlam. At long last, the battle everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived.