Chapter 86

[Now! Without further ado! Let the Grand Magic Games Opening Game "Hidden" Begin!]

Natsu was staring at the masked man from Raven Tail, more specifically, at that little goblin on his shoulder, somehow he finds it familiar.

'Where have I seen it? Its presence is also very similar to-' his eyes widened as a smiled formed on his lips, 'So you're here? Brother?'

"Go Gray-sama!" Juvia cheered as Lyon glared at Gray.

"Gray and Mira huh? I would've thought that Gajeel would be the one to volunteer himself." Said Macao.

"Rufus is there too? This will be a bit hard." Added Wakaba.

Natsu's nose twitched as he turned to his right, and saw a beautiful woman walking towards them with a smirk.

Kagura noticed this and also glanced at where Natsu was looking, her eyes narrowed when she the woman walking towards them.

Ultear however, just chuckles, though she was also looking at the woman with wariness.

"Well, hello there, Master Natsu."

"Why are you here, Master Minerva."

"Oh my? Can't a girl visit her friend? You're hurting my feelings." Said Minerva with pitiful voice, though she still has this smile on her face.

Seeing that Natsu wasn't affected by her 'act' she just sighed and glanced at the women on his sides, before giving a smile.

Kagura glared at her, but she couldn't do anything, after all, it is indeed true that Minerva and Natsu are friends, but she just can't keep her composure whenever Minerva is here.

Minerva just really gives off this dangerous feeling that causes Kagura to be wary of her.

Makarov was also staring at Minerva, he can feel how absurd her magic power is despite her trying to hide it, though it wasn't comparable to his own, it was enough to match Gildarts.

Especially Sting and Rogue when they destroyed a bar during their mission, and Minerva happens to be there, drinking, they don't want to remember what happened next.

"Anyway, Natsu, the council requested to meet us Saints, its important, Jura will be leaving with us, he already have a substitute." Said Minerva, her smile already lost and was replaced by a serious expression.

Minerva was chosen to be saint years ago, she was an 8th rank saint.

Natsu nodded and stood up, he looked at his guild mates and said, "I'm sorry guys, looks like I won't be with you for the time being, so enjoy okay?"

He then glanced at Kagura and Ultear, "Sorry we can't spend some time after this, I'll make it up to you two tomorrow, I promise." As he kissed them.

"Hmph! You better be."

"Fufu~ Don't worry, though make sure you'll spend time for us tomorrow."

Natsu smiled and nodded before turning towards Minerva, who just smiled and snap her fingers. A dark sphered covered the two of them before disappearing.

They appeared outside the arena, where Jura was waiting for them.

"Nice to see you again, Natsu-dono, Minerva-dono."

"Yeah, nice to see you too Jura."

Minerva however just smirked and approached Jura before ċȧrėssing his cheeks, "Jura dear, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Mistress, Milady, or Lady Minerva...or perhaps, you want to be punished?"

Jura shivered, he knew he can beat her if they fought, but he can't help it! She's just way to much for him to handle, he doesn't know how Natsu can keep up with her!

"I-I'm sorry Milady." He just apologized, the last time person she 'punished' was Julius, the 7th Saint, and he wasn't seen for a whole month after that.

"Good," she smiled and took her hands way, "Let's go." With a snap of her finger, the three of them disappeared.

Back at the arena, it now transformed into a city, with countless copies of the participants. Gray was looking around, seeing many other him and other participants.

[The rules of hidden is quite simple! All of you will be "it" and be looking for each other in this city!]

"Looking for each other? Then what about the copies?" Gray mumbled as he keep looking at the other copies.

[You're free to use any magic you like! You just need to land a hit! Each hit will give you a point! However, if by any chance, you hit the copies instead of the original, then you'll lose a point!]

[Now then, Vanish into the stillness! Stalk like black cats under the shroud of the night! "Hidden" Has begun!]

"Tsk, the real challenge here isn't to hide, but to figure out who's the original!" Gray said as he began to ran and search for other competitors.

Meanwhile, Mira was calmly walking with a smile on her face, following behind her copy.

'Hmm~ the copies are moving in a specific pattern, if I act like them, then it will be hard for others to know that I'm the real one, this way it will be easier for me to search for others with me being less likely be find out. I'll just hit whoever is moving weird than the others.'

At that moment, she saw Jäger from the Quatro Cerberus, frantically looking around while running. Her smile grew wide, though she didn't immediately attack, what if it was also a copy made to confuse others?

However..

"Damn it! This event is too WILD!"

'That's real alright.' Mira transformed to her satan soul and appeared in front of Jäger, surprising him.

"What the-?"

"Goodbye." As she sent him flying to the sky. She quickly reverts back to her normal appearance and resumes walking like the other copies.

Back to Gray, as he was searching at the crowd. 'Damn, its freaking hard to spot other people here! And my sense of smell also isn't as good as a dragon slayer!'

"Well, well, well, look who do we have here?"

Gray turned around, "Who's there!?" He saw the short, fat man with weird chin from Raven Tail.

"Raven Tail, Narupuding."

Gray quickly went to his stance, preparing to attack, "Ice Make..." However, he suddenly turned around, "..Shield!"

A shield made of ice appeared, blocking the attack coming from the 'real' Narupuding, surprising him.

"How did-"

Gray smirked, "Ice make: Ice lance!" Several lances made of ice appeared around Gray before shooting towards Narupuding.

"Yeah right, as if I'd fall for that. I lived on that hell of an island for three months, getting ambushed by several beasts every day, I can already feel you sneak attacking me from miles away."

"KYAAA! GO GRAY-SAMA!"

"Calm down! Don't jump down there!"

Kagura smiled seeing that, "Indeed, looks like master's training truly strengthened them, their instincts have been honed to a level almost impossible for ordinary people to achieve."

"Fufu~ now I wonder what would've happened if we went to the Celestial Spirit world? I heard that three months here is one day over there?" Said Ultear.

"Well, they won't have time to train, and you'll have to forcefully open their second origin. But I'm sure that even with that they still won't be able to win this tournament." Said Kagura.

"Of course they will. After all, our guild has a powerful trump card that anyone can use."

"....The power of friendship?"

"Exactly!"