"You've passed the test of strength! You may proceed!"
Laxus said in a deep voice, crossing his arms and stepping aside.
Gajeel, whose body was completely charred, and Levy, who was protected beneath him, were both stunned. Before they could rejoice, Levy quickly crawled out, tears streaming down her face in distress, and helped Gajeel up.
"Levy, your strength still needs a lot of improvement. You should thank Gajeel properly!"
This sentence stunned Levy just as she passed Laxus.
Levy looked at Gajeel, who was already slightly dazed, with a self-reproaching gaze, and silently made up her mind to become strong enough to fight alongside Gajeel.
"I understand~" Levy's firm words echoed through the passage, but Laxus's figure had long since vanished.
"Levy, congratulations!"
When Levy had just painstakingly helped Gajeel out of the passage, Lucy hugged her tightly, overjoyed.
Natsu caught Gajeel, and Gajeel, opening his swollen eyes, exchanged a smile with Natsu.
Freed and Bickslow were also leaning against a tree, Happy for Gajeel and Levy.
A few minutes later.
At this stage, those who had passed the examination were intently watching the chilling, silent passage before them.
They hoped Gray and the others would pass the examination.
"Thump... thump... thump~"
Until sparse footsteps came from inside the passage.
"Gray, just hold on a little longer, we're almost there!" Loki's voice followed.
The two of them emerged from the passage, covered in frost and trembling slightly. Gray even shielded his eyes from the dazzling sunlight, feeling its warmth, and they both smiled knowingly.
"First, I'd like to... congratulate you!" Kana was the first to offer congratulations, and Everyone was very Happy.
After hearing where the voices came from, Loki and Gray recovered slightly, lifted their heads, and were about to say thank you, but when they looked over, they froze in place.
"G-Gildarts! How is he here!" They exclaimed in unison, mainly because they had never seen Gildarts with such an expression since they were children.
Gildarts was staring at Kana with a silly grin.
"Yo~, congratulations! But stay away from Kana, you're very cold, be careful not to make my daughter catch a cold." Gildarts flicked his cloak, controlling his power with great subtlety, directly pushing the two of them several meters away.
He even draped his cloak over Kana, cherishing her immensely, which made Kana a little embarrassed at the moment.
"W-What, daughter." Gray and Loki stood stunned on the spot.
The others, who already knew, all nodded in unison, confirming the accuracy of the news.
"Alright, it seems almost Everyone is here! It's time to announce the results." Master Makarov jumped down from a large rock nearby, walked out with his hands behind his back, and prepared to announce the examination results.
"Freed and Bickslow defeated Wendy and Mest in the Combat Passage, advancing!"
The two exchanged a smile, and Bickslow even stuck out his tongue and laughed heartily.
"What! Mest lost?" Gray and the others exclaimed in surprise. In their impression, Mest was a very strong existence, after all, he almost passed the S-Class Exam last time.
But then they thought about how hard Freed and the others had worked in recent years, and how much their strength had greatly improved, so it was normal.
"Natsu and Happy, as a team, broke through the passage where Zorn was, gaining recognition of their strength, and advancing!"
"Aye!" Happy raised his hand and cheered, but Natsu sat down next to Gajeel, deep in thought, and didn't respond.
"Kana and Lucy, as a pair, broke through Gildarts's passage, their strength is qualified, gaining recognition of their strength, and advancing!"
"Yay!" The two girls hugged each other happily.
"Levy and Gajeel, as a pair, passed Laxus's passage, their strength is qualified, and they advance!"
Upon hearing this, Levy showed no happiness, instead she was filled with self-reproach as she cared for Gajeel.
"Gray and Loki, as a pair, passed Ul's passage, their strength is qualified, gaining recognition of their strength, and advancing!"
"Huh? Where are Juvia and the others? Did they fail?" Gray looked around in confusion, not finding Juvia's figure, and asked in doubt.
"I can't stand it! Ahhh~" Upon hearing this, the Master's face immediately fell, he clutched his head with both hands and shrieked.
His figure became even more desolate, and he continued with his head down: "They met that female knight who absolutely won't go easy! Ahhh," he finished with a shriek.
Meanwhile, Erza was walking towards the assembly tent, carrying a girl on each shoulder, where the other examiners were waiting for the next arrangements.
From a distance, Juvia and Lisanna, on Erza's shoulders, rolled their eyes and simultaneously mumbled indistinctly: "We... we surrender..."
Those who passed also burst into laughter and tears.
Erza only acknowledged those who could defeat her as qualified.
However, Erza overlooked one thing: with her current strength, truly no one could consistently defeat her, except for the other active S-Class Mages.
"Then the only ones left are Elfman and Evergreen, right...."
Everyone mentally ruled out the other routes, and a demon's figure appeared. Well, they could only pray for them. Meeting this harbinger of disaster, the chances of passing were minuscule.
Because when Mirajane receives her Demon Soul, her personality changes greatly. Don't let Mirajane's current ladylike appearance fool you; after suppressing her demonic personality for so long, she and Erza are practically the same in terms of examination demeanor.
This release was simply a disaster. Everyone quickly shook the scenes from their minds, wanting to forget them.
"Wait a minute, we... we also passed this examination!"
Evergreen helped Elfman walk out of the forest from one side. Both of them had also suffered very serious injuries, showing that Mirajane had shown no mercy at all.
"We successfully defeated Big Sister!"
"We successfully passed the first examination!"
"Huh? How did you defeat Mirajane..." Gray was the first to ask curiously. In just a few minutes, he had already experienced a lot of shocks.
"Th-This, this is the only thing, as a man, I can't say it even if it kills me."
"You just need to know it was during a brief opening!"
Elfman and Evergreen's expressions were very unnatural, they squirmed and finally emphasized vaguely.
However, the more they tried to hide it, the more curious Gray and the others became.
"Ahem, next, it's time to tell you the content of the second examination!"
Master Makarov coughed a few times, bringing Everyone's attention back, and continued.
...
On the other side.
Several examiners were resting in the tent here.
"What, Elfman and Evergreen are getting married?"
Erza paused her stirring in the pot, turned around in surprise, and asked Mirajane.
"Haha, I was also so shocked when I heard the news that I was caught off guard and they ambushed me."
"However, I think this must have been their battle plan! I was still careless, hahaha."
Mirajane rubbed her face, explaining with an embarrassed expression.
"Oh, that's such a shame, I still wanted to see the children of Elfman and Evergreen!"
Mirajane sighed, resting her hands on the table.
However, she hadn't noticed that Mirajane nearby had also heard, and was covering her face, not wanting to imagine what the child would look like (combining Elfman's appearance).
The girls here were chatting animatedly.
Laxus, who was nearby, also heard the word 'marriage' and was staring blankly at the sky, deep in thought, but his ears were very attentive to the upcoming gossip.
Ul, however, smiled knowingly, looking towards the distant direction where her daughter, Ultear, might appear.
Zorn, on the other hand, was searching the island for Zeref, who might have already arrived. He wanted to teleport him away in time, even if there was just a slight possibility.
But he had already fully covered the area with Observation Haki, yet he found nothing, as if some kind of energy was shielding Zeref.
"Damn it, where is he?"
....Zorn stood on the treetop, closing his eyes and carefully investigating.
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