The ruined underground ruins, like the carcass of a giant beast forgotten by time, lay quietly deep within Tenrou Island's moist soil.
Brick and stone walls, covered in moss and tree roots, lay in disarray, long having lost their original order. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth, decayed wood, and a loneliness that had settled with the passage of time.
On the mottled walls, one could occasionally glimpse faint traces of a dark red emblem through the gaps in the moss.
That's right. This was the former site of the long-defunct mage guild Red Lizard, the first guild where Fairy Tail's first master, Mavis, had stayed. It had been destroyed by the then-rival guild Blue Skull, leaving behind only these ruins that silently told the story of the past.
"Ahaha! See? I told you! Route E is definitely Erza!"
A loud laugh broke the ruins' years of silence. Natsu stood in a relatively open corner of the ruins, clenching his fists with excitement, his eyes burning with blazing flames.
Across from him, on a low protruding wall, Erza stood in her standard armor, holding a sharp longsword, her gaze low.
Her crimson hair, adorned with a pure white flower, slightly fluttered due to the heat-disturbed airflow, perfectly highlighting the Fairy Queen's confidence and majesty.
"Aye~ How strange. Why do I have the feeling that if we followed the normal script, we definitely wouldn't have run into Erza?" Happy said, his brow furrowed, his small cat face filled with confusion and a barely noticeable pessimism.
On the way there, he had been complaining: since Natsu believed Route E meant Erza, why would he waste such a precious, once-a-year opportunity? Running into Erza was almost the same as instantly losing his qualification for the trial.
Natsu's reason at the time had been: "There's no point in becoming an S-Class mage if I don't beat Erza."
And then, Erza had actually appeared!
Happy couldn't tell whether this was Natsu's intuition at its peak or just an incredible stroke of dumb luck (or bad luck?). But faced with the facts, he sincerely and regretfully offered his condolences. "Hang in there, Natsu."
"What are you talking about, Happy? We haven't even started yet!" Natsu said,.
"Aye~ It's already over." Happy didn't say anything else. He just silently started packing.
"Oh? You seem pretty happy to see me, Natsu," Erza said, swinging her longsword. Her flat tone carried an invisible pressure.
Natsu clashed his fists together, producing flames. "Of course! Isn't the S-Class Trial all about beating you?!"
If Lucy were there, she would have definitely complained, Did you even listen to the master explain the trial rules, you idiot?!
"Come to think of it..." Erza wasn't at all surprised by Natsu's answer. Her magic power quickly climbed up. "...it's been a while since I've seriously beaten you up, hasn't it?"
Their last official fight had been back during the Lullaby incident.
At that time, Erza, wanting to give it her all against Chase, had quite directly punched Natsu's little spirit figure right out of him.
"Hehe. After a week of super-intense training, I'm way stronger than before!" Natsu said, the corner of his mouth turning up, his confidence sky-high.
Happy, who had been silently packing, turned back and couldn't help but reminded him, "Natsu, didn't you notice? Erza said she was going to beat you up, not that it was going to be an equal fight between challenger and examiner."
"What?! You damn Erza! How dare you look down on me?!" Natsu's expression instantly changed. He glared at Erza, furious.
He's adorably dumb.
Erza paused for two seconds, then nodded expressionlessly. "Yeah. Happy's right."
"Dammit!!" Natsu got even angrier.
"If you don't want to be looked down on, then show me this 'stronger' you claim to be."
A flash of Requip magic. Erza changed into her Flame Empress Armor, with its twin-tails hairstyle.
Notably, the white flower Chase had given her seemed unaffected by the Requip. It still hung from her bangs, becoming the perfect accessory to the red-black armor, particularly conspicuous.
"Ooh! I'm fired up!!"
Focused solely on fighting, Natsu completely missed this trivial detail. With a low shout, he burst into crimson flames several times hotter than his normal state.
The flames contained extremely rich and solid destructive energy. Wherever they passed, dragon scales appeared on the surface of his well-trained muscles, and the surrounding rocks and stones melted into lava at a visible rate.
The temperature of the entire underground ruins suddenly rises!
Perhaps affected by Erza's contemptuous attitude, Natsu had immediately activated his current strongest form—Destruction Flame Dragon Mode!
"I see. You've fully adapted to Gandora's Dragon Force, have you..." Erza slowly put away her relaxed expression.
She had to admit that Natsu in this state was indeed very strong. Though not by much, even she felt a pressure that she had never experienced before, not even during the civil war.
The Flame Empress dual swords in her hands flashed, transforming into the Sea
Emperor Ice Sword and the Lightning Empress Lance.
"That's right! So just obediently let me beat you, Erza!"
"Destruction Flame Dragon's Crushing Fist!"
Natsu couldn't contain himself any longer. He charged forward. The destruction flame fist and the ice-thunder energy collided violently. The shockwave instantly leveled the entire underground ruins!
Near the shore of Tenrou Island.
This exam area was completely different from the dark, oppressive underground ruins. The view was open. The sea breeze carried a salty scent. Waves crashed against the golden sand, churning up white foam.
CRASH!
A dark purple storm suddenly exploded. Evergreen flew out backward, crashing heavily into a reef on the beach, a pained cry escaping her.
Beside her, Elfman was already covered in wounds, looking quite embarrassed.
Nevertheless, he still endured the sharp pain to run over and help Evergreen up, his face full of despair as he looked at the pitch-black demon slowly descending from the air.
"For real, Mira-nee..."
Whether it was good luck or bad luck, their team had encountered the exam area guarded by Mira, just like in the original story.
"Don't forget. I'm an examiner now. Even if you're Elfman, I won't go easy on you," Mira said, having taken in Satan Soul. Her smile was even more terrifying than a real demon's. "Or rather, because you're Elfman, I have even more reason not to go easy!"
Notably, like Erza, she also wore a blooming purple flower in her hair.
It was so hard to get a girly gift like this from that card nerd. Of course, I'm going to show it off to everyone!
The two had tacitly exerted some kind of little spell on the flowers to keep them from withering.
"In that case, just this once, is it okay for me to throw a punch at Mira-nee?" Elfman said, clenching his fists.
After the Lisanna incident, he had resolved to become a man capable of protecting his family, even at the cost of his life.
So, from the beginning, he had been finding it difficult to overcome his instincts and fight Mira with everything he had.
Sensing her little brother's gradually igniting fighting spirit, Mira smiled warmly. "It's okay."
She had deliberately emphasized her role as examiner and that she wouldn't go easily precisely because she had noticed this.
Truth be told, even if Elfman gave it his all, his chances of passing were still infinitesimally close to zero.
That remark was too hurtful. After thinking it over, she ultimately didn't say it.
"Ooh! A man!!"
With permission granted, Elfman no longer held back. Like a beast freed from invisible chains, he roared to the heavens. "Combination Take Over: Sacred Beast King Belfast!!"
Beast King horns sprouted from his forehead. Black light flowed through his sturdy beast armor, making his already stout figure appear even more burly and dominant. His strong, powerful pitch-black wings slightly spread, kicking up a storm of sand.
Compared to his forced Take Over during the fight against the Seven Kin to protect Lisanna, after a week of training, Elfman had now fully mastered the power of the gale sacred beast, Belfast.
Combined with the training guide developed by Dark Magician, he could even incorporate certain aspects of the Beast King into it, achieving a perfect balance of power, speed, and defense!
"This is Elfman going all out? A little unexpected..." Mira's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, gaining a bit of gravity.
Having only been on Tenrou Island for a week, she apparently hadn't expected Elfman to have grown this much.
As she was inwardly remarking, a wild, aura rushed toward her.
Elfman clenched his fist, covered in black armor, and threw a violent punch that stirred up chaotic air currents.
Mira gave a soft laugh. Braving the gale-force wind, she stepped forward and chose to confront Elfman head-on.
BOOM!!
The Sacred Beast King's fist and Satan's fist, completely mismatched in size, collided in midair, stirring out a ring of energy impact that seemed ready to tear the beach apart.
The moment their gazes met, the siblings almost simultaneously changed their techniques, launching a rapid, violent series of blows at each other.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Sonic booms echoed continuously. Though they were merely punches thrown by human bodies, their power was comparable to large-scale magical clashes!
No, this was a brawl between a demon and a monster!
Unfortunately, the stalemate didn't last long. Even using 100% of his power, Elfman couldn't match Mira. He quickly fell behind, finding even passive defense extremely difficult.
With a powerful kick from Mira that slammed into his abdomen, the hard black armor on Elfman's body finally reached its limit, shattering into countless fragments.
Tons of damage instantly spread as sharp pain throughout his body. Critically wounded, Elfman doubled over as if reaching his limit. Yet, the corner of his mouth curled into an inappropriate smile.
"Now, Ever!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Evergreen leaped out from a blind spot behind, her glasses removed, her pupils revealing the magical array of her Stone Eyes.
However, Mira had already been on guard. She immediately closed her eyes. A violent energy sphere rapidly condensed in her open palm.
Seizing this fleeting opening, Elfman suddenly steadied himself and landed a heavy side punch on Mira's abdomen.
WHOOSH.
Struck hard, Mira flew backward, splashing into the distant sea.
"Yay! We did it!"
Elfman and Evergreen hugged each other in joy.
"Only Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe can call me Ever. Who gave you permission?" Less than a second into the hug, Evergreen, blushing, pushed the large man away. She pointed indignantly at the hill that had been flattened by an energy sphere. "And how dare you use me as bait? Getting hit by that thing could kill someone!!"
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She began kicking Elfman's body with her bare, smooth foot.
"Ahaha, well, she's my sister. There's no other way to get an opening," Elfman said, scratching his head apologetically.
"Whatever. At least we managed to beat Mira. I'll let it—"
BOOM!!
A sudden erupting pillar of water cut off Evergreen's unfinished sentence. The two instinctively looked up. They were immediately scared into memes, hugging each other tightly again.
Before them, dark purple magic power spread across their vision like a volcanic eruption. Under this terrifying, extreme power, the gale-force wind howled, and the turbulent sea's surface boiled violently!
At the center of the magical storm, Mira, having taken in Demon God Halphas, stood high in the air. The corner of her red lips turned up in a smile that, to Elfman and Evergreen, looked purely demonic.
"You beat me? The S-Class Trial isn't something you can pass that easily, you know~"
Another exam area, an underground space of jagged rocks. The sign for "Battle" was clearly visible.
The two teams that had encountered each other here were Freed and Bickslow, and Levy and Gajeel.
"I didn't expect our opponents to be you..." Freed drew the thin sword from his waist, pointing it at the two before him. "The master was right. This really is a trial of luck."
As the first team to arrive at Tenrou Island, Freed and Bickslow had had more time than the others to strategize.
Upon learning that the trial involved encountering other teams, they had decided that if they ran into Cana or Lucy, whom they had hurt during the civil war, they would go easy and pretend to be defeated, to make up for their past mistakes.
But Levy, who had been petrified at the start of the civil war, posed no such issue. As for Gajeel...
Beating that guy up came with absolutely no guilt whatsoever!
"Keheh. Realizing you're up against the invincible me, so you're resigned to your bad luck?"
Gajeel clashed his fists together, letting out his characteristic cold laugh. "You two have higher consciousness than I expected!"
"Um, I think you're misunderstanding what Freed meant..." Levy said, slightly embarrassed, holding her forehead.
Why does Gajeel seem even more excited than me, when I'm the actual participant?
"Confidence is a good thing, but too much of it... you'll get beaten up badly," Bickslow said, spreading his arms wide, arrogantly sticking out his tongue bearing the Fairy Tail emblem.
The six puppets floating behind him repeated, "Beaten up badly, beaten up badly."
In a way, Bickslow and Gajeel were kindred spirits. In any other anime, they would look like textbook villains.
"Enough talk. Let's just fight," Freed said, swinging his thin sword.
"Right back at you!"
Gajeel, who only had fighting on his mind, charged forward with a laugh.
Then, with a thud, he smacked his head straight into an invisible wall. The sound was crisp and loud.
If his head weren't literally made of iron, that alone would have left him dizzy and seeing stars.
HUM, HUM, HUM.
As if a switch had been flipped, the surrounding ground instantly lit up with dense magical words.
The complex, changing rule-based power spread out, like invisible chains, firmly binding Gajeel and Levy in place, unable to move.
Though it would only last about a minute, that time difference was enough for Freed to set up some simple array traps in the exam area!
"As expected of Freed. Secured the win easily!"
Bickslow declared victory early, manipulating his six puppets into an attack matrix aimed at the struggling Gajeel. "Puppet Light Killing Cannon!"
A cyan light cannon shot forth. The second before it hit, Gajeel suddenly broke free.
"Iron Dragon Staff!"
BAM!
The iron staff shattered the light cannon into pieces, which scattered and dissipated into nothing.
"How is this possible? The array failed?" Bickslow was slightly shocked.
Even Freed beside him showed a look of surprise.
"The array you used incorporates magical words from Dark Magician-san's world, doesn't it?" Levy held up her glowing magic pen, smiling. "Sorry, but I happen to know a thing or two about those as well."
"Keheh. Nice one, little pipsqueak!"
Gajeel's fighting spirit surged. Iron dragon scales appeared on his body under the influence of his surging magic power.
"I see. So the hastily set array traps are useless against you..." Freed sighed quietly.
He had encountered Levy, the only participant besides Lucy and Cana who understood Letter Magic.
So, their luck wasn't all that great either.
Then...
Let strength decide the final outcome!
"Forbidden Letter: Darkness!!"
***
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