Ellie was the winner of the tournament and received quite a lot of money. She is happy about that, but she's a lot happier to challenge a Wizard Saint for their title. 3 days after the final round, the title match finally took place.
Ellie hasn't announced who she will challenge for the title match. It's not because she wants to delay it, she just followed the rule that was established. Ben came up with this rule to make the title match more interesting because the chosen Wizard Saint won't have any time to prepare.
People even bet on who she will choose and Ben had the highest odds with Jura being 2nd. Ellie finally chose the Wizard Saint she will fight before the match. Surprisingly, she didn't choose either Ben or Jura, and it left Ben disappointed.
'Damn, I proposed this tournament so I can fight someone strong but she didn't choose me, goddammit. She didn't choose Jura either but the man who became a Wizard Saint after I turned the position down in the past.' Ben thought.
Ben wondered why Ellie chose this guy out of all the Wizard Saints. He checked out their information and found out both of them came from the same nation. They are from the land of Isvan which is far away from Fiore.
"Hmm, they are from the same nation so they might have met before. Maybe she has a grudge against him or something. Well, whatever." Ben sighed.
The Wizard Saint that was chosen had no choice but to come to Fiore. He used the Council's teleportation device which took a few minutes to activate. The teleportation is connected to the device the Council set up in the capital.
After waiting for some time, the man finally arrives in the arena. Ben's guess turned out to be right as Ellie displayed some hostility towards the man. The man, Mike, also seemed to be hostile with Ellie.
Ben doesn't really care though as it's not his problem. He just wanted this to end soon so he wouldn't be challenged. At least he acquired good data throughout this tournament so it's not that bad for him.
'Too bad though, no one uses Law. I really need it right now but the data from all libraries that I've explored is limited. The data is enough but I'll reach my goal faster if I have more data.' Ben thought regretfully.
Anyway, the match soon started and it was more intense than the final round. Mike used Lost Magic, Art of Paint. This magic allows anything he draws to come to life as long as he has sufficient magic power.
'It's similar to Arc of Embodiment, but Art of Paint requires a picture drawn by it's user. This is not a good magic for those who cannot draw.' Ben thought.
While he is disappointed that he can't fight in the title match, Ben is very curious about Art of Paint. It's a powerful magic that can create everything as long as the user can draw it and has sufficient magic power.
Mike can draw really fast using a magical pen to draw in the air. He drew magical beasts and also some magic attacks of different elements. All his creations are really powerful, a lot stronger than anything Rustyrose came up with.
'This guy is leagues above Rustyrose in terms of power and imagination. Rustyrose isn't so smart when it comes to using his overpowered magic. But this guy is a lot smarter with his magic. Still, it's not enough to defeat Ellie who has improved throughout the tournament.' Ben thought.
Ellie cut everything that Mike made easily. She could even cut space when she faced Matt in the final round. So cutting some beasts and magic attacks is a breeze for her.
The problem was she couldn't land a hit on Mike because he flew around on a fast white wyvern that he created. He flew around while drawing beasts and elemental attacks. It seemed his specialties are beasts and elements.
Ellie can't fly so she can't pursue Mike. She can only attack from the ground with long range Cut Magic attacks. But her attacks weren't fast so Mike can dodge them by riding his fast wyvern.
The battle became a stalemate with both of them unable to land any attack. All of Mike's attacks have been destroyed by Ellie's Cut Magic. Even when Mike created strong beasts and magic attacks, she could destroy them rather easily.
Their battle continued like that for an hour, causing the audience to become bored. But then something incredible happened. Ellie stopped moving and attacking, confusing everyone.
Mike's beasts and magic attacks came towards Ellie, but she remained in her position. She sheathed her sword and then spread her arms out while pouring magic power into her arms. A moment later, she clapped her hands and something shocking happened.
Countless sharp magical slashes appear all over the arena, literally everywhere. They appear from right above the ground to the upper boundary of the barrier that Ben erected. After they appear, the slashes fly around, cutting everything in their path.
Of course, Mike and his magic were slashed too without any opportunity to dodge. In a instant, the tide of the battle changed and Mike who was in the lead suddenly lost. Ellie cut him into several parts, rendering him unable to fight anymore.
Everyone was confused about what just happened, including Ben. He knew Ellie had something up her sleeve but he had no idea how she pulled off this attack. He did have limited knowledge on Cut Magic, so that was no surprise.
'It must be her ultimate spell. But the fact that she didn't use it earlier means she needed time to prepare it. Whatever, I will try to uncover what she used in the future. For now, let's end this tournament. It's too bad I can't find the magic that I was looking for. I still managed to obtain valuable data, though.' Ben thought.
Jura announced the winner and asked the other Wizard Saints about the result. No one objected to it and they agree to appoint Ellie as the new Wizard Saint, replacing Mike. Ellie is stronger, so she has the right to be the Wizard Saint instead of Mike.
Mike is bound to hold a grudge, but it's not their problem. He can try to reclaim his position next year if he wants to. That is if he can surpass the growth of the other Wizard Saints.
With Mike's loss, the other Wizard Saints will become alert. They'll realize that their positions can be taken from them through this tournament. So they will train and improve themselves this year to prepare for the next tournament.
Ben is satisfied with the result because he knows that a tragedy like what happened on Tenrou Island was bound to happen again. He doesn't know when Acnologia will appear again so he needs strong allies to help him before he became strong enough to fight Acnologia.
'I need to surpass even God Serena if I want to fight Acnologia by myself. That bastard is super strong. I'm not sure even the combined power of all Ten Wizard Saints will be enough to defeat him.'
'Also, if A.I Chip's analysis is correct, then he will be immune to all magic except Dragon Slayer Magic. When he attacked Tenrou Island, only myself, Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel and Laxus could damage him albeit slightly. Maybe God Slayer Magic can injure him as well because it's ranked higher than Dragon Slayer Magic.'
'So among the Ten Wizard Saints, only God Serena and I can fight him. But God Serena has a lousy personality, so I'm not about to team up with him. That's why I will just seek out unimaginable heights so I can fight Acnologia by myself. But it will take time so I need the others to become stronger during that period.' Ben thought.
Ben's goal is hard to achieve but he will do everything he can to reach it. This is just the first of many steps he'll take. As for the other steps, he's preparing them all and he swears that he'll succeed.