Chapter 34 - Tenroujima Island! The S rank promotion exam begins!

After everyone left and only me and Natsu remained, I waited for about five minutes before pouring a nice cold ball of water over Natsu's face to wake him up.

Of course drying the floor after wards with my {Dry} spell.

"Bfhaaa! Wha? Where?" He asked in bewilderment as he looked all around himself, realizing he was still at the guild hall.

"You okay there Natsu?" I asked. "Erza knocked you and Gray out." I told him.

"Oh… Damn that Erza... My head still hurts, I'll get her for this!" He said as he held his head, eyes full of determination.

"Well in that case I might be able to provide you with that chance, Erza took Gray for her teammate in the S rank promotions so I thought I'd take you with me. How about it?" I asked Natsu.

"Eh?! Of course! I'll win this thing and become S rank right now! Ohhh!!! I'm all fired up now!" He exclaimed, yelling at the ceiling in excitement.

"No, no… I'm the one who's doing the promotion, you're just helping me this one time as my teammate. Didn't you listen to gramps?" I tried explaining to him.

"Ugh… I wasn't listening actually…" Natsu admitted, a bit sheepishly from embarrassment.

"Hahaha!" I laughed a bit and spoke. "Well, in any case why don't we move to a nice spot and train for a while? Just us two like the others are doing, planning for the exam and all they need like their own team combos!" I pointed out with a smile.

Of course I'm just going to be training Natsu himself, no real need to come up with any combos for this as I'm not even really participating, just going to be getting in the other's way.

"Alright Arthur! Let's go to the mountains, I know a nice place!" Natsu said and bolted towards the exit.

I followed shortly, running after him.

We ran through Magnolia's streets, I decided to let the fact I could just teleport us there slip through Natsu head and instead follow him normally.

After about half an hour of running we reached our destination, it was a cave in the mountains that seemed to go pretty deep in.

"See this? It's like a dragon's lair!" Natsu exclaimed with starry eyes.

"Sure is, ain't it? Hahaha, I wonder if one lives down there or not?" I said jokingly.

"Mmm, I'd probably at least smell him if that was the case…" Natsu mused and continued. "Anyway, what are we going to train on Arthur? Any good combos you think we could do?! Like a Dual flame burst or… something awesome?!" Natsu asked, looking to me with expectation.

"Actually I mostly want to train you over the next week, currently you're the weakest among our group after all." I said.

"Am not! Gray is the weakest!" Natsu said as if it were a matter of fact.

"Sorry Natsu, but Gray's been training with me for a longer period of time so you're still lacking a bit behind. It's just that your fights never get too serious because of… Well because of Erza." I said, smiling a bit as I remembered all the times she scolded the two.

There's gonna be a lot more of that coming over the years huh? Haha, can't wait to enjoy all of that.

"Ugh… Erza's strong… But I'll surpass her sooner or later. Gray is nothing in comparison!" Natsu scoffed and crossed his arms.

"You might, certainly you hold the potential… Come on let's get started!" I said and casted my spells.

"{Heat Zone}" The space we were in suddenly got hot. Really hot. Enough to invoke a heat stroke in most people in fact.

I was perfectly fine, as I have mana skin which protects me from high and low temperatures and most weather. Natsu on the other hand, albeit with his strong heat resistance couldn't handle it that well.

"Damn… It's getting a bit too hot in here…" He said while sweating profusely, his sweat was even boiling and evaporating.

"Wow, I didn't know you would be fine under even these kinds of temperatures!" I exclaimed.

Since I cast my spell I had been rising the temperature slowly in order to see his limit.

"Seems like 170 degrees Celsius is the best we can do for now. Drop and give me a hundred and seventy!" I said with my sergeant voice.

"Ehhhh?! We're doing physical training?! In his heat no less…" Natsu protested a bit but did as he was instructed in the end.

"Won't you do something yourself? This isn't fair!" He cried out in disagreement.

"Meh, sure I'll do it too." I said and jumped up, landing on both hands and doing pushups that way

"{Gravity Zone}" I said and raised the gravity up to six times the normal amount around me.

Natsu stared at me for a few seconds after he stopped doing pushups. I swear I heard him whisper "Show off…" but I might just be hearing things?

Over the course of the week, I kept raising the temperature on Natsu and making him train in both physical and magical ways. Either having him shoot his flames at me or forcing him to eat extreme temperatures of fire.

The fire itself didn't hurt him, but the heat he wasn't used to most certainly did do him for good training…

In the end I managed to buff him up to three hundred degrees Celsius! The kid's a monster I tell you… He just soaks up training like a sponge and gets stronger really fast!

When the time for the trip to Tenroujima arrived, Natsu had slightly surpassed Gray from a week ago. With whatever training he did with Erza he should be around the same level now…

Whelp, I fixed that problem for now. Probably…

Time for the exam itself!

…

It was early in the morning, me and Natsu met up half way and walked to the guild hall together.

When we arrived Gramps, Gildarts, Ur, Laxus, Cana, Erza, Freed, Levy and Gray were there waiting for the rest of us.

Guess they got up earlier…? Anyway…

"Where are Ultear and Lyon?" I asked

"Mmm… Should arrive soon, sit tight for now." Ur replied, sitting down on one of the tables.

Laxus had chosen Freed obviously, and apparently Cana was gonna be with Levy! Sweet.

"Okay then, we've prepared a boat to Tenroujima in about twenty minutes going from Hargeon, Arthur if you would do the honors." Gramps said, outstretching his hand towards me.

I nodded and opened a gate to Hargeon, once we all walked through it we arrived at the port where a bunch of boats were docked.

"This is such a nice means of travel… Wish I could do it too." Gildarts muttered.

"Not something I can teach sadly, sorry Gildarts" I shrugged.

"Gha! Don't worry about it kiddo. Let's get on board." He said and jumped onto one of the boats.

Gramps also got up and with a wave of his hand the sails on the mast spread out, outstretching and blowing in the wind.

A huge red fairy tail symbol was plastered in their center.

"Get on you brats! We're setting sail for Tenrou Island!" Gramps said with a big grin on his face, obviously he loved that island and loved visiting it on the rare occasion where he could.

Poor Natsu…

During the course of the drip he looked like a dried up corpse, throwing up more than once…

"You're seriously pathetic…" Gray uttered in disappointment as he looked to Natsu in contempt.

"G…G-Gray… You bastard…" Natsu bȧrėly whispered before puking out another round of meat and whatever else he ate prior to getting on the boat...

"You poor thing… there, there." Ultear said, patting Natsu's back in pity

"T-Thanks…" He mumbled out.

"Ghahahaha!" Gildarts laughed

"Hahahaha!" And so did Ur.

"You chose an amusing teammate there Arthur! Hahaha! Hang in there Natsu!" Gildarts cheered Natsu on with a big smile on his face.

"Gray's got a funny rival... Pfff" Ur said, suppressing another laugh.

"He's not my rival!" Gray retorted. "I'd kick his ȧss if I wanted to." He said and crossed his arms.

"W-what was tha-" Before Natsu could start a fight, Erza walked up and knocked him out for his own good.

"There, he should sleep till the end of the trip." Erza said and took a pillow out for Natsu to sleep on from who knows where.

Laxus watched in amusement with Freed, Levy was just minding her own business with Cana and Lyon was seemingly engrossed with looking at Ultear.

Seriously good luck dude.

…

It took us a while, but after hours of sailing we finally could see the tip of the Tenrou tree at the horizon! Certainly it looked like an island and some even confused it for one before the rest of the tree became visible.

Those who hadn't seen it were in engulfed in wonder, staring at the site of Fairy Tail's sacred ground.

"So this is it huh… The first master's resting place…" Ultear muttered.

"Yeah… Quite a sight for sore eyes, been tired of only looking at the blue sea." Ur said.

"I'll speed things up a bit. {Gate}" I said and opened a huge gate in front of the ship, leading to the front of the island.

Now that I could see it, it was easy to teleport us there.

Once we were in front of the place, I opened another gate and shoved Natsu through it.

It led to the shore.

"Thank you… Arthur… I'm never leaving the ground again…" Natsu said, still not recovered from the previous ordeal.

"Well then, what now Gramps?" I asked turning to the short old master.

"Alright, everyone gather up now! I'll explain the rules of this year's exam." He said and walked to where me and Natsu were.

When everyone gathered at the shore, boat docked an all, Gramps spoke again.

"You have three tests, first one is going to be to find these gems." He said and took out three different colored gems.

They were Red, Blue and Yellow, crystal clear and see through, had a hexagram like shape and a guild logo inside of their center.

"Each one of you will hold a white gem" He said and Gildarts and Ur held out a white gem each, showing them to the group "You need to obtain two gems in order to proceed to the next round which I will explain afterwards. Also, one last thing… Beware of traps." Gramps concluded.

He handed each participant a white gem and had us disperse in all directions.

The colored gems were laid out around the island a week prior to us coming, so we just had to go look for them.

Really, you don't need to look for those three, from the way Gramps worded it you can take someone else's white gem and pass that way.

Potentially you might even be able to challenge Gildarts or Ur for one… Though I'd think he'd leave that for later on in the trial.

Maybe…

After everyone got separated, I simply checked the island with {Clairvoyance} and {Search} to find the gems. It wasn't hard and I knew all 3 gem's locations instantly.

Sadly I don't get to exploit that knowledge… I'll just go harass someone for now I guess?

I briefed Natsu on the situation and he was… More than a little surprised.

"You're not participating?! What? But you're here to get to S rank aren't you? I'm here helping you for that right? Wait what?" Natsu was confused.

"I've unofficially been appointed to S class, I just need to do a sort of examination after this with Gildarts to verify my capabilities. Though I am technically passed already and that will just be for shits and giggles." I said with a shrug.

"Whoa… I guess you're really that amazing huh?" Natsu said in surprise, seemingly admiring my abilities.

"Not really… I've already learned that I still have a long way to go." I replied, lamenting on the past.

Truly I was arrogant, but my encounters with Both Deliora and Gifernes shook that pride.

Krax and Zult also gave me a rude wake up call, the other participants are out there… Albeit I still haven't met any others I'm sure to meet them sooner or later.

I need to be as strong as I can be for when the time comes!

"So what are we going to be doing?" Natsu asked.

"Hmm… Lemme check on the other's first and then I'll tell you." I replied and activated clairvoyance again.

After finding out the whereabouts of everyone I thought it was about time I looked for the one person I've been thinking of meeting since Tenroujima was announced as the exam grounds.

Yes. I looked for Zeref.

The Black Wizard, whose mere name shrouds the hearts of many in terror.

Well, in reality he's a nice guy with one of the shittiest backstories I can think of at the moment… Eventually losing his screws and going kinda… Nuts…

Right now he should mostly be a pacifist and as far as I know he's spending time on Tenroujima…

Though I have no idea if he came here yet or not…

...

Aaaand I can't find him… Guess he's not here yet?

Kind of disappointing really… Oh well, I'll go screw with the others!

"Come on Natsu, let's go see Cana and Levy!" I said with a grin

Natsu also grinned and after we snickered for a little I cast {Concealment area} and teleported us above Cana and Levy's location, I was floating in the air with Natsu on my back.

We listened in on their conversation.

"Ugh… how are we supposed to find a gem that small in an island so big?! Master Makarov is really pushing it…" Cana said in annoyance.

"Hmmm… I don't know about that Cana… I think there might be another way we can pass!" Levy exclaimed after pondering.

"Ohhh! That's my Levy! What is it? This secret way?" Cana asked in excitement.

"There's a secret way?" Natsu asked me.

"Yeah, just listen to her explanation. No need for me to do it a second time" I replied

"The way the master worded the trial has been bugging me, he said we needed two gems to pass. Not that we needed to find one of the three colored ones… Soo" Levy said sheepishly.

She seemed nervous as to not make a mistake…

"Soo?" Cana asked. "You mean we can just fight others for their white gems and pass?" She quickly caught on.

"Oooh! That's one way of doing it huh!" Natsu said

"Yup. Now then…" I said and hovered down a bit.

"Y-yes, if we can beat one of the other teams that is…" Levy said with uncertainty.

"I think I can beat Ultear and Erza… Laxus I'm not so sure… Hmmm" Cana mused.

"{Pit fall}." As the two girls were walking, I opened a deep hole in the ground in which they fell in.

"Kyaaa!" Levy cried out.

"So this is one of those traps master spoke about? Lame…" Cana said and grabbed Levy as they were still falling down the deep hole, she promptly grabbed onto the side and started wall hopping upwards until she nearly reached the surface where I had opened a gate at the exact same time she jumped out.

She was now a hundred meters in the air.

"Okay, I take it back! These aren't lame at all! Hahaha" Cana laughed like she was having fun, enjoying the view from up above as she and Levy started falling to their deaths.

"Help meeee!" Levy cried out with tears in her eyes.

Poor girl… to so suddenly start falling from the sky must be terrifying…

Who would do such a thing to- Oh wait I did that.

"Don't worry Levy, I've got you! Hehehe!" Cana snickered as she wound up her fist upwards, gathering the Crush energy in it before releasing a punch right before they hit the ground, effectively killing the velocity and landing safely.

Cana had Levy in a princess carry as she put her down.

"That was so much fun! I wonder what else they have planned for us?" Cana said to the still horrified Levy who was hugging the ground.

"I am never leaving the ground again…" She whispered softly with a deadpan expression.

Huh… Guess I'll have to up the difficulty…

…

For the next thirty or so minutes I went around harassing everyone, teleporting from place to place and sending off "Traps" like ice shards falling, thunder strikes, automated machine horse charges, good ol' Indiana jones style boulders chasing people, although they were made from titanium.

I even attacked them with a bunch of weird and ugly stone birds, forced a bunch of giant wolf packs to attack them, had a weird creature that kinda reminded me of an ogre fight with Ultear and Lyon, it was purple though…

Now it's covered in ice.

Cana and Levy ended up finding Ultear and Lyon shortly after their fight with the purple ogre thing, after a few exchanges between Cana and Ultear with Lyon supporting her…

Cana ended up victorious and took their white gem from them.

"I figured this was also a viable option…" Ultear said as she sat down to rest. "Sadly you bested me. Here's the white gem." She said and threw the gem to Levy who after numerous failed attempts of catching it and bouncing it in the air finally grabbed a hold of it.

"Thanks Ulty! Glad we got to fight, it was fun!" Cana said.

"Yeah, I agree. Though your defenses and attacks are ridiculous…" Ultear gave a wry smile.

"Hehehehe" Cana simply giggled, placing her hands behind her head.

"What's ridiculous are these traps! I'm tired…" Lyon said as he laid down on the ground.

"I couldn't agree more…" Levy also said, sitting down to rest.

The four had a friendly chat afterwards, wishing Cana luck with the exam.

"Well, that's one down… Guess we can let the other's be huh?" I asked Natsu

"Yeah, honestly I feel kinda bad at this point… I mean look." He pointed at the battered Lyon.

"Yeahhhh… Let's call it a day…" I said and opened a gate back to the ship for Natsu

"You can go eat at the beach or something, I'll put a table with food there now." I said

"Sweet! Thanks Arthur!" He said and jumped into the gate from my back.

Shortly after I took out a table of food from my storage and pushed it through the same gate.

Well now that that's taken care of… What should I do?

Let's at least check if the others got the gems or not…

Looking at my clairvoyance I saw that Erza had found the Red gem and Laxus had the Yellow one.

The blue gem however… Was missing?

Huh, that's weird… "{Teleport}." I said and appeared at the place it was supposed to be.

It was a small pond with a little water fall dripping down from the rocks above, there was a nice grass clearing surrounded by trees on the others sides around the pond.

"The gem was supposed to be in the middle of the pond… Where did it-" I was cut short as my presence detection rang.

Turning around I saw a young man, no older than Laxus, who was currently holding the blue gem in one hand. He was wearing a black robe with a white toga draped around his torso. He had short black hair and black eyes.

"Oh? What do we have here?" The man spoke. "I didn't know you'd be visiting me this soon… Or has my sense of time dulled over the years?" He said.

I looked at the man in shock!

That's… Undoubtedly Zeref… The Black Wizard Zeref…

How did he escape my detection until now?!

I just stood there, looking at him in silence and disbelief.

Even if he's capable of evading me, he shouldn't have actively tried to do so...

"What is it? Is there something on my face?" Zeref asked, touching his face a little with his free hand.

I remained standing as still as a rock.

"Ooooh, I know! You're just surprised to see me like this right?" He said with a warm smile, outstretching his arms as he walked slowly towards me.

"Y-you… Why…" I uttered, quickly taking out my special hollow mask and putting it on, readying myself for combat with every enhancement I know.

Zeref simply walked towards me with a smile on his face, the light in his eyes seemed dead.

"Why do you have that?!" I yelled a question at him, which only made him smile more.

Why…

Why does Zeref have the dark aura of a participant?!

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