After exchanging a final ringing sword clash, the two fighters stepped back several paces to catch their breath.
Panther Lily had initially invited Erza to spar with swords—partly to test exactly how long he could comfortably maintain his muscular battle form in Earthland, and partly to gauge Erza's legendary strength for himself.
"That is enough for today," Erza said with a respectful smile, returning her magic sword to her pocket dimension using her Requip magic.
Lily, who had just been a tall burly panther man, transformed back into a small round cat with a soft poof of smoke.
He reached up and wiped the sweat from his furry forehead.
"It seems I can only briefly return to my original fighting form here," Lily noted with a slight sigh.
"But you are quite skilled. Your swordsmanship is truly excellent," Erza praised him.
This was her sincere evaluation, which was an incredibly high compliment coming from Titania herself.
"No... I should be the one saying that. As expected of you, Erza. I am no match for you," Lily humbly returned the courtesy.
"How about that, Erza?! This is my Lily's true combat ability!" Gajeel yelled, unable to resist boasting proudly from the sidelines.
"Is this the standard strength of an S-Class Mage in this guild?" Lily asked, thoroughly impressed.
...
Meanwhile, deep in the eastern forest, Raizel, Laxus, and Gildarts—a trio of incredibly powerful mages with absolutely nothing better to do—were relaxing by a river.... fishing.
Laxus, who had just taken a large sip of alcohol, suddenly spat it all out.
"What is going on? You are going to be an examiner?!"
Laxus didn't even care about his cool image anymore, he wiped his mouth casually with the back of his hand and pressed the older mage for answers.
"Oh, so is that what Gramps was secretly discussing with you the other day?" Raizel asked, suddenly remembering Makarov mysteriously approaching Gildarts earlier and shooing Raizel away so he couldn't listen in.
Raizel had originally thought it was some massive top-secret guild business, but it turned out it was just a conversation about being an S-Class examiner.
"What? I didn't know anything about this." Laxus frowned, seriously suspecting the two older men had schemed something behind his back without telling him.
"It is nothing much," Gildarts laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "I just told the Guild Master earlier that I actively want to be the chief examiner for Natsu's S-Class trial."
"If I recall correctly, you didn't even attend Cana's exam... and you haven't participated in any S-Class exams for years," Laxus pointed out, deeply puzzled by this sudden motivation.
"Hahaha! Well, I wasn't really around back then," Gildarts awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit guilty.
"Honestly, even if Gildarts had been here when Cana took the exam, he wouldn't have been able to bring himself to fail her. Sitting out was definitely the right move," Raizel chimed in, defending his fellow mage.
"True." Laxus nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I made a firm promise with the Guild Master a while back: I told him that once Natsu was finally ready to take the S-Class Exam, I would be his examiner," Gildarts explained.
"A while back? When exactly was that?" Raizel asked curiously.
"Hmm... The year Natsu first arrived at the guild, I think? That fiery kid just really clicked with me." Gildarts thought hard for a long time, but he honestly couldn't remember the exact year Natsu had joined the guild.
"So you have been planning this specific trial for a very long time..." Raizel murmured.
He had absolutely no idea about this secret promise.
Makarov probably didn't think it was important enough to tell Raizel, since Raizel wasn't the type to aggressively fight over an examiner spot anyway.
Raizel stroked his chin and suddenly realized a key point.
"Wait, so Natsu wasn't actually ineligible to take the S-Class Exam all these years? I honestly suspect Gramps was intentionally holding him back and waiting for you to return before finally letting him take the test!"
Raizel had always thought Makarov was a bit too strict with Natsu.
Given Natsu's raw destructive abilities, it made absolutely no sense that he hadn't even participated in the S-Class trials until now.
Thinking it over, Raizel finally began to understand—it all boiled down to Gildarts simply not being around to test him.
It would have been ridiculous if Natsu had suddenly managed to pass the S-Class Exam while Gildarts was away on his century quest.
Still, Raizel felt Makarov was overthinking things just a bit.
The competition during the previous years had always been fierce, and a younger Natsu would have hardly stood a chance of passing anyway.
This year, however, was really the first time Natsu had grown by such massive leaps and bounds.
Now, the fiery Dragon Slayer could even activate his Dragon Force almost at will.
"That is part of it, I suppose," Gildarts remarked after taking a calm sip of his drink. "The other reason is definitely that the Guild Master wants to temper the boy properly. Natsu is exceptional material—I have always had a strong feeling about him."
What Gildarts secretly admired most about Natsu was his fearless, never-give-up spirit—it was exactly the kind of unyielding willpower needed to reach the absolute pinnacle of magic.
However, Gildarts also felt that Natsu was still lacking something vital in his heart, which was exactly the lesson he intended to convey to him through this trial.
"True, you never really know what kind of crazy miracles or surprises Natsu will pull off," Laxus chimed in, showing his own quiet confidence in the boy.
Many mages can easily avoid arrogance in victory, but staying completely undiscouraged in the face of a crushing defeat is far harder.
Constant losses can easily dull a warrior's edge.
Yet with Natsu, you would never see him lose that aggressive sharpness.
You could always feel an intense, burning fighting spirit radiating from him.
Even when facing Erza, whom he was utterly terrified of, he could always muster up the courage to challenge her.
"Speaking of which, are you planning to be an examiner this year?" Laxus suddenly asked, turning to Raizel.
Raizel shook his head. "I am not sure yet. It is completely up to Gramps, I guess? If he wants me to test them, I will. But I am definitely going to Tenrou Island either way. How about you?"
"Not me, but I will definitely go to watch the show. Of course, I will not be taking the same boat as you guys," Laxus grunted, heavily emphasizing the last part.
"You are so hung up on your stubborn pride," Raizel sighed, shaking his head helplessly with a smile.
Still, those in the know tacitly spared Laxus some serious embarrassment by never mentioning his crippling motion sickness in front of the newer guild members.
Laxus yawned loudly, stretching his arms. "Compared to the S-Class Exam, which is honestly more trouble than it is worth, I am mostly just looking forward to the year-end Christmas party."
"Now that you mention it, I haven't been to one of our parties in years! I really miss it..." Gildarts reminisced fondly, thinking back to the chaotic past Christmases at Fairy Tail.
'If the dark guild Grimoire Heart shows up during the Tenrou Island trip, we will need to wrap things up quickly,' Raizel thought to himself, his mind drifting toward future dangerous concerns.
'As long as Zeref doesn't cause too much trouble, we probably won't attract the attention of Acnologia... right?'
'Come to think of it, maybe I should try to get in touch with Jellal soon...'
"Hey, what are you thinking about? I just asked you a question," Laxus grumbled, waving a large hand directly in front of Raizel's face.
"What was it? Sorry, I was completely lost in thought and didn't hear you," Raizel blinked, snapping back to attention.
"It is nothing much. I just asked who you think will actually do well in this year's S-Class Exam," Laxus said impatiently.
"Kagura or Natsu, I suppose," Raizel answered honestly after quickly running through the possibilities in his head.
"Pretty much what I thought. I am leaning toward Kagura, while the old man sitting here is blindly betting on Natsu," Laxus nodded.
"So, you honestly think Natsu can pass your test?" Raizel asked Gildarts, catching the heavy implication.
"Yes. It will be incredibly difficult for him, but I truly think he can do it," Gildarts nodded firmly.
"In that case, this time let's not set any annoying environmental restrictions, like blocking magic, so Natsu can accurately track your scent and find you among the eight trial passages," Raizel suggested.
He suddenly remembered the trial's mechanics and snapped his fingers as he spoke.
"You are right, absolutely right. Make a mental note of that," Gildarts nodded vigorously, loving the idea.
...
Inside the Guild Hall—
The usually hardworking members had unanimously and completely stopped accepting any new missions the previous day.
Makarov stood proudly on the main stage, holding a magical microphone to address the silent, anticipating crowd.
"Everyone must make sure to come to the guild tomorrow! The official candidate announcement will be made tomorrow!"