Fairy Tail: Starting with Marrying the Dragon Queen Irene

"There's only one of them! Everyone, get in there!"

"I refuse to believe that with so many of us, we can't beat a mere kid..."

Amid a chorus of jeers and shouts, all forty-nine contestants who had emerged victorious from their matches stormed towards Erza, charging across the neatly arranged platforms of the Domus Flau.

Their objective was singular: to take advantage of the chaos, gang up on Erza, and take down this opponent whose power so clearly outmatched theirs.

They no longer cared about the dignity of the strong. To them, victory was everything.

But precisely because of this, they could never truly become the strong.

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"

Erza remained calm, her expression completely unfazed.

After all, Erza had been with the Fairy Tail guild for nearly two years now. She was long used to dealing with dozens, even hundreds, of enemies at once.

She was referring, of course, to those times when the Fairy Tail mages had too much to drink and turned every member of the guild—whether friend or foe, talkative or silent—into an opponent in an all-out brawl.

"Dance, my swords..."

"Secret Technique: Circle Sword of the Heavenly Wheel!"

Erza summoned hundreds of swords, ensuring that each opponent before her would face at least two. She moved swiftly, her voice echoing across the arena.

Boom!

With a resounding noise, countless swords fell from above, pinning each opponent in place.

Boom!

In an instant, the dust settled, and Erza was the only one left standing. Her opponents had been utterly defeated.

"She won? Contestant Erza actually won, pumpkin!"

"Simply unbelievable..."

Pumpkin, holding the microphone, broke out in a cold sweat as he witnessed Erza's strength. It was hard for him to believe that a mere fifteen-year-old could be this powerful. The S-Class mages of Fairy Tail were on an entirely different level than the light guild mages he was familiar with.

It almost seemed absurd just how strong they were.

"She's a queen!"

"The Fairy Queen, Erza!"

"Queen! Queen! Queen!!"

Then, somewhere in the audience, someone began chanting, "Fairy Queen," and soon the entire audience—tens of thousands of spectators—was cheering for Erza. No one could resist cheering for a strong, dashing, and courageous girl.

However, for Erza, this wasn't nearly enough.

"Is this all the Grand Magic Games have to offer?!"

"If this is it, then it's truly disappointing..."

"Don't hesitate any longer! All of you, come at me!"

"I'm not singling anyone out—I mean everyone here..."

Erza's cold gaze swept across the audience and towards the contestants waiting to fight—those who hadn't yet taken the stage or those who had won their earlier matches and gone to rest.

"This girl is way too cocky!"

"Fairy Tail, huh? I'll remember that name! Prepare to lose!"

"Hah, just a naive child! Clueless about the strength of her opponents. Looks like I'll need to teach this disrespectful brat some manners!"

As Erza's words echoed, the mages who had been calmly watching from around the arena could no longer sit still. Shouting, they stormed into the arena.

In no time, hundreds—if not over a thousand—mages flooded into the Domus Flau, all of them with one shared goal: to bring down the "Fairy Queen," Erza.

Boom!

Yet, at that very moment, lightning struck.

Laxus descended from the sky, eliminating dozens of powerful contestants in an instant.

"There's no way I'm letting you hog all the spotlight!" Laxus said with a grin.

"I agree~" Ultear said as she waved her hand, and an Ice Rose Garden bloomed in the center of the arena, instantly freezing over a hundred people.

"Die! Die! Die!" Mirajane, fully transformed into Satan Soul, rampaged like an unstoppable demon, flinging magic blasts as if they were free. Each blast sent a lucky contestant flying from the arena.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

"Ice-Make: Holy Sword!"

"Ice-Make: Ice Dragon!"

Natsu, Gray, and Lyon were also fighting at the edges, the strength of their magic completely outclassing the other contestants - none could even block their attacks.

"Too strong!"

"The Fairy Tail guild's mages are just too strong!"

"Is there no one who can stop them?!"

"Are the Fairy Tail guild mages truly unbeatable?!"

Pumpkin's voice trembled as he narrated the action into his microphone, his forehead beading with cold sweat. Watching the Fairy Tail mages, who seemed unstoppable, he began to doubt whether his five elite squads and tens of thousands of soldiers could really stand a chance against these monsters.

"Of course, someone can! That's us—mages from Phantom Lord!"

Just as Pumpkin was stressing over Fairy Tail's overwhelming power, the ground beside Mirajane suddenly shook. A middle-aged man in a suit, with short green hair and a sleazy look, appeared.

"You must be the Fairy Tail mage known as the 'Demon,' Mirajane, right?"

"I've heard that you're the second-strongest female mage in Fairy Tail, just below the 'Fairy Queen' Erza. As the runner-up for S-Class, your strength is extraordinary! Barely worthy of being my opponent..."

"Oh, right! I haven't introduced myself. My name is Sol, and I'm one of the S-Class mages of the Phantom Lord guild, a companion of Rustyrose—the one your 'Fairy Queen' just defeated. I'll be the one to avenge him..."

Sol was full of confidence. Since Phantom Lord had merged with Grimoire Heart, his strength had grown by leaps and bounds. In addition to Earth Magic, he had also learned Sand-Make Magic.

The real reason Sol had stepped out to avenge his 'companion' was that he wanted to impress Precht, the true master of Phantom Lord, and learn stronger magic from him.

At the same time, Sol had his reasons for choosing to target Mirajane...

First, Mirajane had quite a reputation in Fairy Tail guild.

Second, her strength was only that of an S-class candidate, definitely below him as a true S-class mage.

No matter how you looked at it, he had the advantage.

"Who are you again?!"

However, before Sol could think further, Mirajane had already flashed in front of him, her fist the size of a sandbag instantly appearing before his nose.

"Uh..."

This made Sol's expression freeze slightly. He hadn't yet recovered from his earlier fantasies.

"Bang!"

With a light sound! Before Sol could release any defensive magic, he had already been sent flying by Mirajane's anger-filled punch.

"Ahhhh!!"

Sol seemed to be in great pain from Mirajane's punch. He let out screams of agony, rolling dozens of times on the ground before finally crashing into the arena wall, using it to stabilize himself.

"Cough, cough..."

Sol spat out blood, his mind somewhat dazed.

Was this really the strength of an S-Class candidate?!

She was even stronger than him, a genuine S-Class mage.

Impossible!

Well, Sol didn't understand...

The definitions of an S-Class mage varied vastly across guilds!

The gap between Fairy Tail's S-Class mages and those of other guilds was as great as the gap between a grasshopper and a human.

"Hey, weren't you the one who ambushed my sister just now?!"

While Sol was still in a daze, a deep voice reached his ears.

He turned to see a young man with a bowl-cut hairstyle, standing about 1.8 meters tall, glaring at him.

Sol recognized the boy—Elfman Strauss, Mirajane's brother. He was supposed to be a nobody without much magic talent.

"You..."

Seeing that it was Elfman, Sol regained some confidence as he got up. If he couldn't beat Mirajane, surely he could beat Elfman!

"Full Takeover! Beast King's Soul!!"

Just as Sol was about to retort, Elfman suddenly activated his magic, channeling the soul of the Beast King that Mirajane had forcibly tamed.

Boom!

Elfman's body swelled, growing from 1.8 meters to a towering height of ten meters—a true giant!

"Uh..."

Sol looked up at Elfman, whose magic aura was far stronger than his. His monocle fell from his face. They called this low magic talent?! He would be an S-Class in any other guild!

Well, in Fairy Tail guild! The definition of an S-class mage was someone far exceeding the 'Ten Wizard Saints' standard, and the definition of an S-class candidate was someone who had already stepped halfway into the threshold of the 'Ten Wizard Saints' or was already at the 'Ten Wizard Saints' level.

An S-class candidate's candidate would be qualified to serve as a core member in other guilds and become a senior S-class mage. Someone like Elfman, who was a candidate's candidate's candidate, also possessed strength equal to other guilds' S-class mages.

"Damn!"

Sol cursed under his breath.

Boom!

Before he could say anything else, Elfman's massive fist came crashing down on him.

"Cough, cough..."

Sol spat blood as his eyes rolled back, falling unconscious.

"Both Sol and Rustyrose have been taken down?"

In the stands, Jellal—the leader of Phantom Lord's contingent—covered his face in dismay. Of the eight S-Class mages he had brought, two had already been eliminated by Fairy Tail before they even began hunting them. It was clear he needed to put these people through more rigorous training.

Boom!

Just as Jellal contemplated what to do next...

Lightning struck, and both Erik and Richard were also taken down.

"How can they be this strong?!"

Eric knelt on one knee, glaring at Laxus, who looked like the god of lightning incarnate. His eyes were filled with bitterness and disbelief.

In terms of magical power, Laxus was actually even above Jellal?!

"Phantom Lord's S-Class mages are nothing..."

Laxus stood with his hands in his pockets, demonstrating his mastery of magic far beyond the level of the Ten Wizard Saints. Neither Erik nor Richard could stand against him.

Compared to these guys, Laxus wanted a real challenge—he wanted to fight Jose Porla, Phantom Lord's master, who was also a Ten Wizard Saint like his old man.

"Magic Cancel!"

Just as Laxus dealt with Erik and Richard, a figure suddenly materialized from thin air behind him.

It was a bulky man with tears streaming from his eyes, emanating powerful magic that caused the air to vibrate with a menacing hum. He was Aria, the leader of the Four Elements of Phantom Lord.

"Get lost!"

Laxus seemed to have been prepared for this, facing Aria who tried to sneak attack him with a casual golden lightning bolt.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, the now-charred Aria collapsed onto the ground.

"Three more just went down?"

"This guy named Laxus is terrifyingly powerful."

"Within Phantom Lord, including even Grimoire Heart, aside from Precht, only Jose and I could possibly stand against him..."

Jellal regarded Laxus with caution. He was clearly a formidable enemy.

"Little girl, go train for a few more years."

Meanwhile, Ultear waved her hand, freezing Juvia and Totomaru.

Now, of the original eight Phantom Lord S-Class mages, only Sorano remained.

"Humans can never beat monsters."

As for the reason Sorano survived?

It was because unlike her other companions, she didn't participate in the Fairy Tail hunting activity, but instead stayed quietly to the side, eating snacks and drinking tea, quite leisurely.

"Grimoire Heart has already been wiped out."

Jellal, who had planned to intervene himself, returned to his seat. Dealing with Erza, Mirajane, Ultear, or Laxus individually would have been challenging enough. Facing all four together would have been impossible.

"That brat Makarov... How does he have so many strong pawns?"

Precht, observing from the stands, was stunned. He had believed Jellal to be the most gifted of this generation, but Fairy Tail had several people with talent comparable to his.

At this moment, Precht fell into deep thought...

He was thinking about where that bastard Makarov had found so many incredibly talented children after he left the Fairy Tail mage guild?!

If you said these children were all picked up by Makarov through his own luck, Precht wouldn't believe it even a hundred times. How could there be so many talented orphans in the world? And they all happened to be picked up by you, Makarov? If you said that Makarov was doing some shady business behind the scenes, then everything would make sense.

"How low you've fallen, Makarov! To think you would do such things..."

Precht thought to himself, shaking his head.

At this moment, in Precht's eyes, Makarov had become the most notorious human trafficker in the Fiore Kingdom, or even the entire continent of Ishgar.

Meanwhile...

The once lively and noisy arena had grown completely silent.

The thousands of mages had all been defeated by Fairy Tail's mages.

"I see... Fairy Tail's purpose in coming all the way to my royal capital was to show off their power, to intimidate me, to show they could overthrow me from the throne of Fiore anytime?!"

"Fine, you win this time! I will give your guild whatever you want!"

"But know this, once I have the power to restrain you, I will make sure you are driven out of Fiore..."

Old Toma's forehead was covered in cold sweat as he watched Fairy Tail guild's mages who had taken down thousands of people in such a short time in the arena. He admitted he was afraid...

If Fairy Tail could take down these tournament contestants in such a short time, they could also destroy his army in an extremely short time.

"Cough cough..."

"The winner is Fairy Tail!"

Old Toma slowly came back to his senses, not forgetting his primary duty, and announced Fairy Tail guild's victory with microphone in hand.

In Old Toma's eyes, wasn't the reason Fairy Tail guild came to his capital to participate in this tournament just to make him, as king, acknowledge Fairy Tail's position in the Fiore Kingdom? He would just acknowledge it then.

"Wait!"

"The fight isn't over yet!"

However, before Old Toma could speak, Erza interrupted him.

"Pumpkin?"

For a moment, Old Thomas was confused.

"Aren't there still people in the arena?"

Laxus added, echoing Erza's sentiment.

"But those people are all members of Fairy Tail!"

Old Toma was puzzled, confusion visible in his eyes.

"So what?"

"Even if we're from the same guild, we have to fight until there's a victor."

"I'm all fired up now!"

Natsu, flames covering his entire body, exclaimed excitedly.

"Are they serious?"

Old Toma was stunned after hearing these Fairy Tail mages' words, and he began to doubt his earlier deductions.