Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master

"Hey, she turned into stone! What's going on?"

"That was weird."

"Is it part of the show or something?"

The crowd murmured in confusion. At first, no one suspected anything unusual. After all, this was Fairy Tail. Turning someone, or even yourself, into stone for dramatic effect wasn't out of the ordinary.

But Max, acting as the host, knew better. He recognized that as Evergreen's magic. Judging by her demeanor, she wasn't joking.

His instincts flared. Trouble was brewing.

"Everyone, please evacuate immediately!" he shouted, using his sand magic to form a glowing arrow pointing toward the exits.

The civilians, alarmed by his serious tone, began to scatter in panic.

They didn't know the details, but clearly something dangerous was happening. That woman might even be staging a terrorist attack.

Up on stage, Makarov stood up, his face darkening. "Evergreen! What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to ruin the entire festival?!"

Evergreen closed her fan with a snap and casually waved her hand. The curtain behind her suddenly burst into flames.

As the flames devoured the fabric, five stone statues were revealed—Cana, Juvia, Levy, Bisca, and... Erza.

Everyone had seen Lucy petrified just moments ago, so they quickly realized the truth. Those statues were the other contestants.

All the Miss Fairy Tail participants had been turned to stone, except for Mira, who had luckily jumped off the stage before the attack.

Mira gasped, covering her mouth. "No way..."

Rhodes's eyes narrowed. Evergreen's petrification magic had even worked on Erza?

"Enough of this! Undo the spell, now!" Makarov roared, his voice shaking with fury. This was no harmless prank.

A blinding bolt of golden lightning struck the center of the stage.

In its wake stood Freed and Bickslow, flanking Evergreen. In front of them, arms folded and expression smug, was Laxus Dreyar.

"Hey there, Fairy Tail," Laxus said with a smirk. "Looks like the festival's finally getting interesting."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Had Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe really ambushed the other contestants backstage and turned them into statues?

No one wanted to believe it. Laxus might be arrogant and abrasive, but he was still part of Fairy Tail, and Makarov's grandson. Surely he wouldn't harm his own guildmates.

So why was this happening?

Laxus clearly enjoyed the stunned expressions. Grinning, he turned to Makarov. "Let's play a little game, Gramps."

"This isn't a game, Laxus!" Makarov thundered. "Even as a joke, this has gone too far. Turn them back. Now!"

Another streak of lightning cracked down, grazing the Lucy statue and splintering part of the stage.

"I'm not joking, old man." Laxus placed his hand on the petrified Lucy's shoulder. "These girls are my hostages now. If anyone breaks the rules of the game, I'll smash them to pieces."

Everyone froze.

With his speed and lightning magic, Laxus could destroy a statue before anyone had time to react. There was no way to intercept him in time.

Makarov clenched his fists. "What do you want?"

Laxus opened his arms dramatically. "Simple. I want to find out who's the strongest in Fairy Tail. From now on, it's survival of the fittest. The last one standing wins."

"Just what I was hoping for!" Natsu's voice rang out as he leapt forward, charging at Laxus. "Take this, Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"

"Gotta love that enthusiasm." Laxus effortlessly caught Natsu's punch. "Too bad I can't stand your loudmouth attitude."

He flung Natsu aside and blasted him with a surge of lightning. The shockwave sent him crashing back, smoke rising from his charred clothes.

"Natsu!" Happy flew over, checking on his partner. Thankfully, Natsu was just scorched and singed, not seriously hurt.

"Bit too eager, aren't we?" Evergreen said with a sweet but venomous smile.

"Here's the deal," she continued. "If you want these girls back in one piece, you'll have to beat us. You've got three hours. Fail, and they'll crumble to dust."

Gasps erupted across the guild.

"WHAT?!"

"Even if you want to have a strongest battle, you don't have to go to this extent, right?"

"Are you serious?!"

No one answered. Instead, Freed stepped forward to announce the rules: "The battleground will be the entire city. As long as you find us, you're free to engage."

Bickslow stuck out his tongue and laughed wickedly. "There are only four of us, and you've got nearly a hundred! Doesn't sound too fair for us, huh? Ahahaha!"

"Unfair!"

"Unfair!"

The five floating puppets surrounding him repeated his words in shrill chorus.

The black Fairy Tail emblem etched on Bickslow's tongue glinted ominously under the lights.

Once the Thunder God Tribe had said their piece, they stepped behind Laxus and disappeared through the rear exit of the guild.

"This is absurd!" Makarov growled, his body beginning to swell as he prepared to transform into his giant form.

But Laxus calmly raised his lightning-charged hand to Lucy's petrified neck. "Don't rush, old man. I haven't finished speaking yet."

It wasn't just Makarov who was on edge. Alzack had already aimed his rifle, and other mages throughout the guild were preparing to cast spells. But the danger to the petrified girls kept them all frozen in place.

Rhodes furrowed his brows so tightly they nearly knotted. He couldn't grasp Laxus's logic.

If Laxus wanted to test his strength against the guild's finest, why not just challenge the S-Class mages directly? Fairy Tail was full of battle-hungry lunatics, someone would have answered that call without hesitation.

Why go so far as to take hostages and start some twisted version of a battle royale?

Was Laxus afraid no one would take it seriously unless lives were on the line?

Rhodes locked eyes with him, trying to read what lay behind the storm in Laxus's gaze. Did he truly not care about their comrades' safety? Or was it all just for show, an elaborate bluff?

Whatever the truth, things had escalated far beyond the point of no return. With the incident of Levy just days ago, and now this, Laxus was practically daring the guildmaster to expel him.

Rhodes couldn't see any gain in this madness.

At that moment, Laxus's sharp gaze fell directly on him.

Since their brief clash at the construction site, Laxus had marked Rhodes as a threat, the one most aligned with Makarov's values.

Not only that, Freed had investigated him. According to the report, Rhodes had inherited more than just magical strength. He embodied the wisdom and strategic mind of the first, and carried the heart of the third.

Freed had even suggested recruiting Rhodes into the Thunder God Tribe.

Laxus scoffed at the idea.

Laxus thought that if there was anyone in the guild who could become the next master, it would be this person.

The only thing Rhodes lacked was probably his qualifications and strength.

Therefore, this person would be the biggest obstacle for Laxus to become guild master, and he had to be defeated completely.

Laxus stared hard at Rhodes. From what he could sense, Rhodes's magic power wasn't particularly strong. It barely reached the minimum standard for S-Class. Someone like that...

"Fairy strategist, right? In this upcoming battle, just rely on your clever tactics and lead your little 'army' to try and defeat me! I'll show you how useless your strength is against me!"

He swept his gaze over the outraged crowd and sneered, "But let me warn you in advance, no matter how many you gather, be it a hundred or a thousand, trash is still trash!"

"Laxus, you bastard!"

"Who are you calling trash?!"

"Let them go! I'll show you real power!"

Laxus ignored their shouting. Suddenly, a blinding light burst from his hand like a flash bomb.

The entire guild was engulfed in brilliant white light. It poured through the windows and doors, forcing everyone to shield their eyes with their hands.

In that moment, Laxus vanished into streaks of lightning, leaving behind only one chilling statement: "Let the battle for Fairy Tail's strongest begin!"

When everyone opened their eyes again, Laxus was gone. Only six petrified girls remained on the stage, frozen with various expressions.

A hush fell over the guild.

Then someone shouted out:

"How dare he look down on us!"

"Want to play hide-and-seek? Coward!"

"Let's find him and knock him flat!"

Everyone rushed to act, but Rhodes leapt onto the stage and called out loudly, "Everyone, wait! Stop and listen to me!"

"Rhodes? What is there to talk about right now?!"

"Yeah, we should be out hunting them already!"

"It's just four of them. What kind of tactics do we even need?!"

The crowd paused slightly, but angry rebuttals quickly followed.

Rhodes raised his voice again. "Now more than ever, you need to stay calm. If you charge out in anger, you're only doing exactly what Laxus wants!

We've got the Master right here. Mira's still with us. And Mystogan might appear anytime. Laxus and his team aren't dumb—they wouldn't challenge the entire guild head-on unless they had something up their sleeve. There are definitely traps waiting outside. Don't fall for them!"

"I don't care! I'm going to save Bisca!"

"Levy needs us too!"

"Easy for you to say. What if Mira was turned into stone? Would you still be so calm?!"

"You think we're just pawns for your strategy games?!"

The more everyone worried about the petrified girls, the harder it became to think rationally.

If Laxus's goal was to provoke the guild into a frenzy, then he was succeeding perfectly. Emotions were boiling over, and no one was willing to stay still.

Rhodes knew it too. If Mira had been turned into stone, possibly shattered or worse, turned to dust, he wasn't sure if he could stay calm either.

Laxus's parting words echoed in his mind. Whether he truly wanted Rhodes to take charge of the counterattack, or he was trying to sow discord, didn't matter. The crowd's fury had already drowned out any chance of strategy.

The most heated reactions came from Alzack, Jet, and Droy. Without another word, the three stormed out the front door.

The rest soon followed, scattering in every direction to hunt down Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe.

Whether it was concern for their petrified friends or the sting of Laxus's taunts, everyone acted on raw emotion, just as they always had.

The only ones who could stay in the guild were the master, Mira, Elfman, Gray, Warren, Laki, and a dozen others who were either calm enough or trusted Rhodes.

Natsu, having just been knocked out by Laxus, was still lying on the floor, with Happy watching over him. Gajeel was crunching on some iron cutlery again, acting like this had nothing to do with him.

Rhodes checked the girls on stage. All six were cold and stiff, fully turned to stone. They didn't even look like living people anymore.

He turned to Makarov and asked, "Master, is there any way to reverse the petrification magic?"

Makarov shook his head. "I can't remove it. Maybe Evergreen herself can undo it... or perhaps Porlyusica has medicine that can help."

Mira bit her lip and whispered, "I'm sorry... If I had been backstage at the time..."

"If you had been back there," Rhodes interrupted gently, "there'd probably be one more statue on stage."

He reassured her with a calm tone. "Even Erza got caught. It's likely you wouldn't have escaped either. Evergreen took advantage of the fact that no one would expect an attack from a guildmate. You can see it from their surprised expressions."

Mira didn't respond. She knew Evergreen could petrify people with her eyes, but she still hadn't been on guard.

To use the trust between comrades for a sneak attack... it was cruel and cowardly.

It was unacceptable.

"You're right, Mira. This isn't your fault, it's mine!" Makarov said, striding toward the exit, guilt and anger burning in his eyes. He deeply regretted not punishing Laxus more harshly before.

"Go find Porlyusica. Ask if she has a way to reverse the petrification. I'm going to deal with Laxus myself. This time, he's going to face the harshest punishment I can give. I won't show mercy again."

His footsteps were heavy with determination. Magic flared around him, his long coat fluttering behind him. For a moment, the full presence of one of the Ten Wizard Saints filled the hall.

And then—

WHAM.

He slammed face-first into an invisible wall near the door. His cheeks squished comically as if he had run into a glass pane.

Everyone stared in shock.

"Master? What happened?"

"Something's blocking the way!" Makarov growled, pressing his hands against the invisible barrier. Even with all his strength, he couldn't break through.

"Are you serious? But everyone else just ran out a second ago!"

Suddenly, glowing dark-purple text with strange markings shimmered in the air:

"No passage for statues or individuals over the age of 80."

"A barrier?!"

...

Bonus @400

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