"B-but..." Natsu stammered, still trembling on his knees.
"Hurry up and go. The examiner already said you passed," Gildarts chuckled gently. "However, the exam certainly doesn't end here. You know the Guild Master's character well; there are surely even more difficult trials waiting for you up ahead."
Gildarts placed a heavy, reassuring hand on Natsu's shoulder.
"Have confidence. I believe you can do it."
"And next, I am speaking to you from the standpoint of a friend, not an examiner," Gildarts added, his tone shifting to one of deep, competitive respect.
"A massive pool of magical power doesn't define a person entirely, but I completely understand your fierce desire to win. This has absolutely nothing to do with age or seniority, because I feel the exact same way. I absolutely do not want to lose to you either."
Gildarts grinned fiercely. "I am always ready to have a real match with you. Now get up, go out there, and become an S-Class Mage, Natsu!"
Back at the beach, Ur smiled warmly as she watched Gildarts deliver his speech on the Lacrima screen.
After all these years, this was the very first time Gildarts had reminded her of exactly how he was when they had first met—incredibly strong, wise, and reliable.
"Not just Natsu, but even I have benefited greatly from hearing that. He has truly gone much further than I have," Ur murmured, her praise for Gildarts deeply evident.
Kagura was quietly processing the profound lesson on her own, committing Gildarts' words about fear to memory.
Raizel couldn't help but admire it too.
It was no wonder Gildarts had reached such incredible heights on the path of magic.
It wasn't just his raw talent, but also his pure, unyielding heart—a heart so strikingly similar to Natsu's.
That was probably exactly why he liked the fiery kid so much.
Perhaps when Gildarts was young, he had been no different from the current Natsu.
Only Makarov and Gildarts himself likely knew the true answer to that.
Raizel didn't plan to ask, but he realized that Makarov's incredibly high regard for Natsu wasn't just because Natsu was a rare Dragon Slayer.... this deep, mirrored spirit was probably the real reason.
...
Meanwhile, inside another passage, Mest and Wendy were facing off against Ultear.
"I have never actually fought you before. I am quite curious to know just how strong you are as an S-Class Mage," Mest noted, keeping his guard up.
"And I didn't expect my opponents to be you and Wendy, either," Ultear replied calmly.
Ultear stood elegantly opposite the two of them, lightly holding a magical crystal orb with one hand.
"Arms! Vernier! Armor!" Wendy swiftly applied her three powerful Sky Dragon enchantments to Mest in rapid succession.
Wendy's Vernier speed enchantment effect is much stronger now, Ultear analyzed.
Watching Mest instantly teleport and appear directly behind her, Ultear quickly reached a tactical conclusion.
By combining Wendy's Vernier with his own Teleportation Magic, Mest's rapid attacks came from all directions at once.
However, this raw speed was ineffective against Ultear.
She effortlessly managed to block all of Mest's physical assaults by summoning her crystal orbs from various points in time to act as floating shields.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy yelled, unleashing a massive tornado from her mouth.
"Ice-Make: Ice Shield!" Ultear countered smoothly, blocking the wind.
"Not bad power at all, Wendy. You've definitely improved," Ultear noted, even having the casual composure to kindly comment on Wendy's performance mid-battle.
"Ice-Make: Floor." Ultear's transition from the defensive shield to freezing the ground was perfectly seamless, almost like pure muscle memory.
Wendy couldn't maintain her roaring stance.
The spell had a natural, heavy recoil, and using it while standing on such a frictionless, smooth ice surface completely threw off her balance, causing her to slip and fall.
"Flash Forward!" Ultear chanted.
Dozens of glowing crystal orbs multiplied in the air, shooting concentrated beams of light directly towards Mest.
At the absolute critical moment, Mest used his Teleportation Magic to frantically evade the barrage.
"Your teleportation is fast, but it severely lacks any long-range offensive capabilities. How long can you keep dodging me, anyway?" Ultear asked.
Ultear quickly assessed Mest's overall combat abilities—he could honestly only be described as a slippery, evasive cockroach.
Against an opponent with poor defense and slow speed, his teleportation was a formidable weapon.
But when facing a well-balanced, high-level opponent like herself, he could barely maintain a defensive stalemate.
"Ice-Make: Rosen Krone!" Ultear formed hand seals as the cave's ambient temperature plummeted instantly.
A thick, beautiful layer of jagged, rose-shaped frost aggressively covered the entire tunnel and cavern, completely trapping Ultear, Mest, and Wendy inside an icy garden.
"Flash Forward!" When Mest desperately attempted to teleport away from the incoming light beams, the frozen surface proved too slippery for him to stick his landing, causing his technique to momentarily fail.
"Now you can't dodge, can you?" Ultear smirked.
"Oh no!" Mest panicked.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" Wendy summoned twin, swirling tornadoes with her arms, violently lifting Mest safely into the air just in time to avoid the blast.
"Impressive save, Wendy!"
The narrowly rescued Mest couldn't help but praise his young partner.
"Don't celebrate too early," Ultear warned.
"Flash Forward!" Dozens of magic crystal spheres instantly materialized in the air completely surrounding Mest.
"When did she...?" Mest's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
Boom! Boom! Boom—!
A chain of massive explosions reverberated through the tunnel for a long time.
"Mr. Mest!" Wendy screamed.
"Ice-Make: Ice Wall!" A thick, impenetrable wall of solid ice erupted from the floor, completely separating Wendy from Mest.
When the thick dust and smoke gradually cleared, Mest lay sprawled flat on the rocky ground in a starfish position, completely incapacitated and knocked out cold.
"Only you remain, Wendy. Will you continue?" Ultear asked, casually holding a crystal orb between her hand and waist.
"Of course! I won't give up!" Wendy declared, raising her fists bravely.
"Quite the impressive fighting spirit. Then I won't hold back either."
"Arc of Time: Growth!" A dormant plant seed instantly shattered the ice at Wendy's feet, bursting rapidly through the frozen ground and growing at an impossible speed to firmly entrap the young girl in thick vines.
Ultear slowly approached the trapped Wendy.
"Final Secret Technique! Eating Sour Plums!"
Saying this with a completely straight face, Ultear suddenly produced a glass jar full of intensely pickled sour plums and began casually eating them right in front of Wendy's face.
As a Dragon Slayer Mage with hypersensitive taste buds and smell, Wendy was notoriously terrified of sour plums—even the mere thought of their tartness made her physically recoil.
Wendy pressed her lips tightly together, her face turning pale.
"I'm clearly... not even eating any... but just watching you makes my mouth feel so unbelievably sour... Is this some kind of advanced transmission magic?!"
With swirling eyes, Wendy completely fainted from the overwhelming, imagined sourness, slumping forward in the vines.
...
"I don't even know where to begin criticizing this bizarre fight..." Lucy stood utterly dumbfounded back at the beach, watching the Lacrima screen.
"In that case, Mest's team is officially considered failed," Makarov announced with a sigh.
Mest's abilities truly didn't measure up to S-Class Mage standards—not even close.
One could only say his unique magic had highly specific utilities in certain stealth situations, but when it came to actual, head-on combat, he was quite ordinary.
...
Meanwhile, in another tunnel, Evergreen and Elfman were confronting the demonic might of Mirajane.
"Strike first! Stone Eyes!" Evergreen yelled, ripping off her glasses.
"Against this kind of magic, I simply need to avoid looking directly into your eyes!" Mira smiled, closing her eyes effortlessly.
"Then try this! Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!"
Evergreen violently flung countless, destructive golden energy fairies from her hands, filling the tunnel with blinding light.
"Wide area coverage, but severely lacking in focused offensive power," Mira critiqued smoothly.
Mira didn't even bother to dodge or evade in midair, allowing the massive fairy barrage to approach her before casually launching a single, highly concentrated dark magic bullet.
The tiny, dense projectile effortlessly tore straight through Evergreen's layers of attacks and struck her directly in the abdomen, knocking the fairy mage completely out of the sky and sending her tumbling painfully across the rocky ground.
"Take Over: Beast Soul!"
Seeing Mira's overwhelming casual stance, Elfman knew he absolutely couldn't let his guard down for a single second.
Elfman's figure continuously grew taller and more monstrous.
Originally much taller and bulkier than ordinary people to begin with, Elfman now reached three meters in height.
His massive muscles bulged everywhere, covered in thick fur, proclaiming his immense beastly power.
Elfman repeatedly pounded his giant fists against his chest.
After a furious, deafening roar, he aggressively charged toward his older sister.
He clenched his massive right fist tightly, pulling his arm back before swinging forward with tremendous, earth-shattering force.
Yet, Elfman's full-power heavy strike was effortlessly caught in the palm of Mira's demonic hand.