Chapter 446: Leaving the Stage

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Don’t worry. I will heal you, Finn replied calmly through their telepathic link.

Heal me! Heal me right now! My entire body is screaming!

As Sorano cried out within the confines of her own mind, Finn, safely seated on the balcony, activated his absolute healing magic on her. A profound wave of relief washed over Sorano, making her sigh in absolute comfort, though she still turned to glare at him with teary eyes.

That was too much!

Sorano hadn’t expected the physical backlash of that ultimate attack to be so agonizing. Yet, wasn’t it to be expected? The sheer velocity she had just achieved—breaking the sound barrier and causing the light to refract around her body like a rainbow—was inhuman. If her muscles hadn’t torn themselves to shreds under that immense G-force, it would have been a miracle. Fortunately, Finn’s healing magic was absolute, having been amplified after he used Take-Over magic on the Archangel Michael she had summoned in the past.

"....."

While Sorano recovered, the rest of the stadium remained dead silent. Everyone who had witnessed the devastating attack was entirely at a loss for words—especially those who knew they would inevitably have to fight Heavenly Blue later in the tournament.

"...W-What in the world was that?"

It was the question echoing in everyone’s mind. For Sorano to instantly vanish, cross the arena in a flash of rainbow light, and casually completely neutralize Kagura—a woman with the physical strength of a gorilla—made everyone wonder if Heavenly Blue was genuinely unbeatable.

"Heavenly Blue..." Mavis narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t even realized that a cold sweat had broken out across her forehead and back, despite the fact that she was a ghost.

It was a natural reaction. Despite her peerless intellect as the Fairy Tactician, her mind was coming up entirely blank. There was simply no logical strategy she could formulate to defeat Heavenly Blue.

"Master Mavis?"

At the sound of Makarov’s voice, Mavis snapped out of her daze, turning to see the members of her guild looking at her with deep concern.

What am I doing?

Mavis took a deep breath and stood up, her ethereal form radiating determination. "Even so, let’s win! Let’s show the true power of Fairy Tail to the entire world!"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!"

The Fairy Tail members roared in unison. Heavenly Blue might possess godlike power, but Fairy Tail would never simply roll over and accept defeat!

What the heck?

Finn, who happened to glance over at the Fairy Tail balcony at that exact moment, was utterly speechless. What is happening over there? Why did it suddenly look like Fairy Tail was right on the verge of forcefully awakening their "Power of Nakama," even though literally nothing had happened to them yet?

"Was that attack Sorano just used a spell?" Flare asked, pulling Finn from his thoughts.

Realizing that his overwhelming presence might be accidentally triggering Fairy Tail’s protagonist buffs early, Finn casually answered, "No, that was pure martial arts."

"...."

Ultear and Flare stared at him in disbelief.

"Really?" Flare asked.

"Yeah," Finn nodded. "I figured it would be a bad habit to rely entirely on magic all the time, so I spent some time developing my martial arts, specifically swordplay."

"You certainly didn’t seem to use it during the last seven years," Ultear noted. Having been by his side during Fairy Tail’s disappearance, she had learned a great deal about him. During that massive seven-year gap, there was absolutely no trace of him practicing or wielding such devastating martial arts.

"Well, that’s because no one was strong enough to push me to use it."

"....."

Ultear blinked, then nodded slowly. "That is a very fair point."

It was true. With Fairy Tail out of the picture, there was no one on the continent who could legitimately challenge Finn. Ultear also knew he wasn’t the type to actively go out and cause unnecessary trouble; instead of picking fights to test his limits, he vastly preferred to lie back and enjoy the comfortable life he had spent years building.

"Should we head back?" Finn asked.

"Okay."

Now that Meredy and Sorano were done with their match and returning to the stands, there was no real reason for them to stick around.

The next match on the schedule was the highly anticipated clash between the Dragon Slayers of Sabertooth and the Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail. If Finn didn’t already know the plot, he might have stayed out of genuine curiosity. He knew exactly how this would unfold. Fairy Tail would claim victory—especially now that he had inadvertently riled them up and activated their ridiculous friendship power.

Finn-sama, are you leaving?

As the members of Heavenly Blue stood up and turned their backs on the arena right as Sabertooth and Fairy Tail were stepping onto the stage, the crowd was stunned. Naturally, Minerva couldn’t help but reach out to him telepathically.

Yup, I’m tired. Take care of the rest for me, Minerva.

Don’t worry. Leave everything to me, Minerva replied. She was undeniably disappointed that he wouldn’t be watching her guild, but there was nothing she could do. All she could focus on now was ensuring Sabertooth secured a flawless victory. Frankly, she was highly confident; with Sting and Rogue stepping up, the combination of the Light and Shadow Dragon Slayers was supposed to be completely unbeatable.

Don’t get overconfident.

Finn wanted to warn her, but ultimately decided to keep his mouth shut. He simply offered a lazy wave in the direction of the Sabertooth balcony before teleporting himself and his entire guild directly back to their luxurious hotel suite.

"We can just watch the rest of the battle on the television," Finn noted as they arrived.

"Okay!"

After all, even knowing the inevitable result, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly curious to see how the epic clash translated into reality.

Back in the stadium, the sudden disappearance of Heavenly Blue left the audience and the competitors completely at a loss.

"Wait... can one of them use high-level spatial teleportation, too?"

"..."

"DAMMIT! HOW DARE THEY JUST RUN AWAY?!" Natsu screamed, furious that Finn had dismissed them so easily.

"There’s nothing you can do about it, Natsu. You already lost to him," Gajeel grinned, cracking his knuckles.

"Bastard!"

"That’s exactly why we need to show them that we’re the absolute best. We’ll put on a show so damn good it’ll make them bitterly regret not staying to watch. Right, Fire Dragon?"

Gajeel was just as annoyed by Finn’s blatant arrogance, but he also recognized the unfathomable gap in power between them and Heavenly Blue. Because of that, he was ready to go completely all out and show the entire world what Fairy Tail was truly made of!

"Now that’s what I’m talking about!" Natsu grinned fiercely, stomping toward the center of the stage with Gajeel.

"Let’s go, Rogue."

"Yeah."

Sting and Rogue strode out to meet them, both silently swearing to claim absolute victory for Sabertooth.

Yet, even with Heavenly Blue absent from the VIP stands, their shadow loomed heavily over the tournament. When the fierce battle between the Dragon Slayers finally concluded—with Fairy Tail securing a dramatic and explosive victory—the organizers officially reached out to Heavenly Blue regarding the final event, which was scheduled to take place in two days.

Tomorrow was an official holiday, a rest day for the organizers to prepare for the massive final stage.

While every remaining team in the Grand Magic Games spent the night fiercely preparing for the climax of the tournament, treating Fairy Tail as the massive hurdle they had to overcome, the absolute truth was undeniable. Their true, insurmountable obstacle was Heavenly Blue.

Yet, the leader of that terrifying guild was currently unbothered by the tournament.

Back in their suite, Finn had thoroughly exhausted his women. Ultear, Meredy, Flare, and Sorano were entirely spent. Sorano, in particular, was an absolute mess—her face and the curves of her exhausted body heavily coated in the sticky, white aftermath of his climax.

Just as the room finally fell quiet, a sudden, unexpected magical communication reached him.

Finn quickly cast a localized cleaning magic over himself, washing away the evidence of his recent lewd activities, and stepped out to meet the caller.

"Erza?"

"Come."

Erza didn’t waste a single breath on small talk. Reaching out, she forcefully pulled him into another hotel room just a few blocks away. The moment the door clicked shut, the two of them surrendered entirely to their forbidden, hidden pleasure—completely ignoring the looming threat currently gathering in the shadows of the kingdom.