After a brief rest, the Mages returned to the arena, awaiting the second round's draw.
The fifteen matches had actually progressed quite quickly, with only a few battles lasting longer.
This was inevitable—some matchups had significant disparities in strength, making prolonged fights impossible.
The entire first round didn't even take the whole morning, and the sun was still high, signaling lunchtime.
"Now begins the draw."
Marco returned to the judges' platform to oversee the second round's selection.
Watching Marco skillfully manage the proceedings, Goldmine and Bob's eyes practically overflowed with envy.
Not only was he incredibly powerful, but he also possessed strong leadership abilities, already helping Makarov share the burden at such a young age.
A talent like Marco was truly rare—Makarov had indeed found a worthy successor.
In Goldmine and Bob's eyes, Marco taking over Fairy Tail as the Fourth Guild Master was practically a foregone conclusion.
Under everyone's watchful gazes, Marco, Ichiya, and Goldmine swiftly completed the second-round draw.
Since there were no avoidance rules this round, the process was straightforward—whatever name came up was final.
"Tch, this luck..."
After the draw, Marco's lips twitched slightly.
In his hands were two balls: one bearing Erza's name, the other Mirajane's.
"Erza vs. Mirajane!"
This was the final matchup of the second round—and undoubtedly the most heavyweight one at that.
A quick glance at the other Fairy Tail members' matchups revealed similarly tough draws: Natsu vs. Gajeel, Cana vs. Bacchus, Juvia vs. Hibiki, Hisui vs. Deman.
Not only were their opponents formidable, but there were also internal guild battles.
Out of the seven Fairy Tail participants in the second round, two were now facing their own comrades.
"To think Erza and Mirajane got matched up!" Gray muttered under his breath.
Marco's "divine draw" was truly something—compared to this, Natsu and Gajeel's fight seemed almost trivial.
But Natsu and Gajeel clearly didn't see it that way.
The two were already sizing each other up eagerly.
"Gajeel! I'm gonna knock you flat!" Natsu shouted, thoroughly pleased with this opponent.
This was his chance to defeat Gajeel fair and square.
If he could win here, Gajeel would have to steer clear of him for a long time afterward.
"That's my line, Natsu!" Gajeel shot back, equally satisfied with the draw.
His top choices had always been Gray or Natsu.
With Gray already advancing via bye, Natsu was the next best option.
The two butted heads aggressively, looking as though they couldn't wait for the second round to start immediately.
"Lunch break. Regroup at 2 PM. Dismissed."
From the judges' platform, after posting the second-round matchups, Marco promptly announced the adjournment.
It was time for meals.
This exam was surprisingly considerate—rather than forcing continuous battles, it allowed proper rest periods between rounds.
For Erza and Mirajane, this break wasn't really necessary since they hadn't exerted much effort in the first round.
However, for the Mages who had already fought fiercely in the first round, this time to eat and rest was absolutely essential.
During this period, they could recover some of their magic power, adjust their condition, and also take the opportunity to gather information about their opponents.
"Juvia, invited by Marco to join Fairy Tail, known as the Rain Woman, uses water-element magic, awakened her magic from childhood—exceptionally gifted."
After finishing his meal, Hibiki immediately began "gathering intel."
For others, collecting information about opponents in such a short time would indeed be very difficult, and they'd only manage to gather surface-level details.
But for Hibiki, this wasn't much of a challenge.
He stared at his archieve, contemplating strategies to counter Juvia.
Though Juvia appeared gentle and ladylike on the surface, Hibiki knew this girl was far from an easy opponent.
"Hibiki, aren't you going to check on Karen?"
Ren, who had just arrived, asked as he watched Hibiki preparing intently for battle.
"Karen? What about her?"
Hearing Ren's words, Hibiki paused for a moment before responding.
"She's been throwing a tantrum ever since she woke up. Seems like she's not taking it well."
Ren shrugged, his expression far from pleased—after all, Karen's behavior was downright embarrassing.
"Not taking it well?"
Hibiki was momentarily speechless, finding the whole thing rather baffling.
"She lost fair and square—everyone saw it. I don't know what she has to be so upset about."
Ren couldn't help but complain, clearly disapproving of Karen's attitude.
"It's not like someone sabotaged her Celestial Spirit summoning.
The problem was with her own magic."
Maybe Karen hadn't been able to perform at her best, but that wasn't anyone else's fault.
There was no reason for her to be so bitter about it.
"That's why I came to you. Could you go talk some sense into her? Before she humiliates our guild any further."
Ren wore an expression like he'd swallowed something foul.
He had no way to deal with that madwoman, which was why he'd sought out Hibiki—who had once been in a relationship with Karen.
"I'd better not. I'd just make things worse. She'd probably think I came specifically to laugh at her."
Hibiki smiled wryly, looking resigned.
Even without going, he could already imagine how Karen would react upon seeing him.
"So we just let her keep making a scene?"
Ren paced back and forth in frustration. He clearly had a strong sense of loyalty to Blue Pegasus and couldn't stand the thought of letting Karen continue her tantrum unchecked.
"Send her back to the guild first. She's done here anyway."
Seeing Ren's distress, Hibiki offered a solution.
If they couldn't stop Karen's outburst, they could at least send her back to the guild to vent—better than having her embarrass herself here any longer.
"Great idea! I'll go find the Master right now."
Ren's eyes lit up, and he immediately left to find Bob—clearly having reached his limit with Karen.