"Once you set foot on the path of a Mage, it is hard to talk about what is dangerous or not. Besides, the members participating in this assessment are the elites of our guild. They are not fragile." Laxus stated this fact very calmly, crossing his massive arms.
"But..." Ur still wanted to argue, her maternal instincts flaring.
"I agree with Laxus's opinion," Raizel interjected gently. "Right now, we have Gramps, you and Gildarts here too. All of our guild's S-Class Mages are gathered in one place. Why should we be afraid of Grimoire Heart?"
"They should be the ones afraid of us," Raizel finished, looking directly into Ur's eyes with unwavering confidence.
"How about we just hear their own opinions?" Raizel tapped his temple with his index finger, activating his telepathy.
"Alright, we will respect their wishes," Makarov made the final decision.
However, the Guild Master already had the answer in his heart, he knew these stubborn kids far too well.
[Attention candidates. You have two choices: Continue the assessment with changed rules, or stop the assessment and evacuate.] Raizel's voice echoed in the minds of the scattered Fairy Tail members.
[Continue!] The teams quickly and unanimously shouted their answers back through the mental link, even Levy.
"Alright, you have convinced me." Ur sighed softly, having clearly heard the firm, fearless voices of her guildmates.
In truth, Ur was only worried about their safety... she wasn't actually afraid of fighting.
In her own mind, she was already preparing to head straight to the absolute front lines to protect them.
Laxus nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Then I will lay out the new rules. The assessment will continue, but the core objective will radically change. It won't be based on reaching the First Master's tomb anymore. Instead, the new grading criteria will be based on the number of the Seven Kin of Purgatory—or other Dark Guild elites—defeated by the candidate teams."
"So, you mean we examiners temporarily hold back from intervening?" Gildarts raised a questioning eyebrow.
Laxus nodded. "Yes. As long as there is no immediate, life-threatening danger to the candidates, we don't intervene for now. Let them prove their strength."
"Wait, there are two highly dangerous enemies we personally need to pay attention to," Raizel raised a slight tactical objection.
"One is Azuma. He uses a Lost Magic called the Great Tree Arc, which allows him to manipulate and merge with trees. It is absolutely vital that we protect the Tenrou Tree from him."
"The other is not one of the Seven Kin, but he is just as terrifying. His name is Bluenote Stinger, the Vice-Commander of Grimoire Heart. He uses devastating Gravity Magic. This person is absurdly strong; the assessment candidates probably cannot defeat him on their own right now."
"Leave the Tenrou Tree to me. I don't think anyone is more suitable for protecting it than I am, right?" Ultear volunteered, looking at the other examiners.
"Then leave the gravity guy to me? I really need to stretch my stiff bones a bit, too," Gildarts yawned, cracking his knuckles loudly.
Makarov's aged gaze became intensely resolute.
"Precht... leave him to me!"
Raizel didn't want to force Makarov into such a heartbreaking battle.
If Makarov didn't actually want to fight his former master, Raizel could easily step in.
But seeing the absolute resolve in Makarov's eyes, he decided to let the Guild Master handle it himself for now.
After all, Raizel, Gildarts, and Laxus were all on standby and could definitely handle the fallout if the situation deteriorated.
After speaking his piece, Makarov silently turned and headed purposefully toward the beach with his hands clasped firmly behind his back.
"I will follow the old man secretly. I am worried he might be in over his head," Laxus whispered to Raizel, watching his grandfather's retreating back.
"Alright. He is the Second Master after all. It is much better to be careful. If things go wrong, use the signal flare," Raizel nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry about me. I'm not the type to push myself recklessly at all," Laxus smirked.
"Cut the crap, Laxus. You and I both know exactly whether that is true or not," Raizel sighed, immediately calling out the Lightning Dragon Slayer's blatant bluff.
"Let's go," Laxus waved dismissively, melting into the jungle shadows to stealthily follow behind Makarov.
Precht was an unparalleled magical genius—one whom even Zeref had historically praised—so being overly cautious wasn't excessive in the slightest.
"I need to find Zeref as soon as possible. He absolutely must be protected from Grimoire Heart," Raizel continued.
Truth be told, he was also quite looking forward to finally conversing with the legendary Black Wizard.
"If you encounter Jellal out there, there is no need to worry too much. You can put on a convincing act without actually trying to kill each other, though remaining vigilant is still necessary," Raizel instructed Ur and Erza before preparing to leave.
Raizel personally trusted Jellal quite a bit, but it was always better to be safe than sorry when Dark Guilds were involved.
"Are you really certain Jellal is actually on our side?" Ultear voiced her lingering doubts.
Raizel completely understood her hesitation—after all, as one of the elite Seven Kin of Purgatory, Jellal had no real, tangible need to cooperate with Fairy Tail.
Moreover, there was his dark history of destroying the former Magic Council building and tearing the government apart from the inside.
"There is something I have kept hidden from you all," Raizel revealed softly. "When we first went to Rosemary Village years ago, I had actually met Jellal. At that time, he was still laboring as a child slave to build the Tower of Heaven."
"In X774? He must have been very young then... So, you mean..." Erza gasped, putting the timeline together.
"Exactly. I saved him once back then, and I remembered his magical signature. When we later reunited at the Tower of Heaven, he told me the truth about his experiences there. Strictly speaking, he never joined Grimoire Heart voluntarily."
"He was abducted from a magical orphanage by Brain, the former leader of Oración Seis, and then trafficked to Grimoire Heart's airship to be raised as a weapon."
"His unique facial tattoo is indeed hard to forget," Ur nodded in deep understanding.
"We can attempt cooperation with him, but remember—caution always comes first," Ur warned Erza.
"As for the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, we need to be incredibly careful with all of them."
Raizel had already briefly described the other Seven Kin members earlier, sharing the vital intelligence secretly provided by Jellal.
What truly surprised Raizel was that Meredy was among their ranks.
Raizel had originally thought that without Ultear's dark influence in this timeline, Meredy might have tragically met an untimely death during the destruction of her hometown, remained completely unknown, or learned magic elsewhere.
But unexpectedly, fate had still guided her to become one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, learning the powerful Lost Magic: Maguilty Sense.
However, Raizel had eventually gotten the answer from Jellal—Meredy was actually someone Jellal had personally saved and protected.
At the time, Jellal had simply felt the traumatized child was too pitiful, her tragic circumstances painfully reminding him of his own dark past as an enslaved child.
He had never expected Meredy to possess such incredible, latent magical talent, rising to become one of the Seven Kin at such a shockingly young age.
One could say Meredy was immensely fortunate, yet deeply unfortunate at the exact same time.
Her fortune was encountering Jellal, who had just finished his dark guild tasks and was gathering with the other Kin nearby.
Her horrific misfortune was having her entire peaceful village destroyed by those very same Seven Kin, losing both her home and her loving family overnight.
Besides her, there was a sinister mage named Zoldeo, who used a twisted form of Human Subordination magic.
According to Jellal's intelligence, this man claimed he was once the noble prince of a small kingdom.
After fleeing from a devastating defeat in war, he was supposedly chosen by Precht and began training in Lost Magic to seek revenge.
Of course, these were all grandiose claims Zoldeo had personally shared with Jellal and even Jellal himself expressed heavy doubts about their authenticity.
The deadly magical abilities of the remaining Seven Kin members aligned perfectly with Raizel's original recollections.
There was Zancrow, the psychotic user of Flame God Slayer Magic; Rustyrose, the theatrical wielder of the Arc of Embodiment; and Kain Hikaru, the bizarre brawler who used Ushi no Koku Mairi voodoo magic.
Raizel had already described their general appearances, threat levels, and clothing styles to the guild members earlier, ensuring that Fairy Tail was as prepared as possible for the impending storm.