Chapter 460: The Candidate List is Announced
Whirr...
The massive curtain obscuring the main stage finally began to rise, instantly drawing every eye in the guild hall.
When the curtain fully lifted, Makarov stood front and center. Behind him, lined up in a neat row, were the guild's S-Class mages: Noah, Gildarts, Laxus, Erza, Sorano, and the rest.
"Master!"
"We've been waiting forever!"
"Hurry up and announce it!"
"Who's it going to be this year?!"
"Announce? Announce what?!"
Seeing the imposing lineup on stage, the crowd below erupted into a chaotic symphony of shouts, cheers, and confused questions.
"Ahem!" Makarov cleared his throat loudly.
The members in the front rows immediately fell silent, and the hush rapidly rippled toward the back. Within seconds, the entire guild hall was dead quiet, every eye glued to the Master.
"In accordance with Fairy Tail's age-old tradition, I will now announce the candidates for this year's S-Class Mage Promotion Trial," Makarov declared, his voice carrying clearly to every corner of the room.
"OHHHH!!!" The guild erupted into deafening cheers.
Lucy jumped in shock. "The S-Class Mage Promotion Trial?!" She hadn't expected something this massive at all.
"I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu roared, bursting into literal flames and forcing everyone around him to scramble back.
"Settle down!" Erza ordered sternly from the stage.
"The Master isn't finished speaking," Gildarts added.
The cheering gradually subsided. Seeing the crowd calm down, Makarov continued, "The venue for this year's trial will be Tenrou Island, our guild's holy ground."
"Whoaaa!" The members gasped in awe. It had been a very long time since Tenrou Island was used as the trial venue.
"Hey, what exactly does the trial entail?" Lucy whispered to Meredy and the girls.
"It changes every year, but it's always incredibly difficult," Wendy replied.
"Naturally. Anyone who passes becomes an S-Class mage, so the bar is set extremely high," Meredy added.
"And to ensure everyone's safety and proper evaluation, Brother Noah, my sister, and the others absolutely will not hold back," Yukino chimed in.
Up on stage, Makarov opened his mouth to continue, but just then, Noah—standing directly behind him—felt an incredibly subtle, yet familiar pulse of magic sweep across every single person in the hall.
Noah's mouth twitched. He immediately hid his hand behind his back and rapidly traced the air with a single finger. Several complex magic circles flashed momentarily, completely neutralizing and dispelling the sweeping magic pulse.
Down in the crowd, one specific guild member's face paled drastically when the pulse was shattered. He immediately turned to leave, only to discover that his body had been completely paralyzed and his voice stolen. He was forced to stand frozen in place.
"I have carefully observed the strength, hearts, and souls of everyone here over the past year. There will be eight participants this year!" Makarov announced loudly.
"Natsu Dragneel!"
"Gray Fullbuster!"
"Juvia Lockser!"
"Elfman Strauss!"
"Bickslow!"
"Freed Justine!"
"Simon Mikazuchi!"
"Lyon Vastia!"
Makarov rattled off the eight names in a single breath.
"ALRIGHT!" Natsu roared, his face splitting into a massive, excited grin.
"Way to go, Natsu!" Happy cheered beside him.
"The day is finally here," Gray smiled confidently.
"Eh? Juvia is participating too?" Juvia froze, completely stunned that she had been selected.
"A true man becomes an S-Class mage!" Elfman bellowed, flexing his muscles.
"Do your best, Elf-nii!" Lisanna cheered him on.
"Hahaha!" Bickslow laughed wildly, his dolls floating around him in a chaotic dance.
"Laxus..." Freed immediately looked up at the stage. Seeing Laxus nod at him with a proud smile, Freed's body trembled with excitement, his face setting into a look of absolute determination.
"Do your best, Brother!" Kagura smiled warmly at Simon.
"I will," Simon nodded seriously.
"I will definitely become an S-Class mage this time!" Lyon declared with absolute confidence.
While the chosen eight celebrated, the rest of the hall was filled with sighs and groans of disappointment.
"Waaaah! I missed the cut again this year?!" Alzack dropped to a crouch, looking utterly depressed.
"There's always next year, Al," Bisca comforted him gently.
"Natsu finally got picked."
"Gray too."
"Good for them."
"They all look so determined."
"An S-Class mage... Someday, I'll be up there too..."
The older members smiled warmly, admiring the fiery determination of the younger generation, while the newest recruits looked up at the stage with stars in their eyes, dreaming of the day they would join those ranks.
"So that's what was going on. Everyone was working like crazy and showing off just to get picked," Lucy finally understood the bizarre atmosphere that had plagued the guild for the past few days.
"Do your best, everyone!" Meredy and her group cheered loudly for the candidates.
"Only one of you will pass this trial! The exam begins in exactly one week. Use this time to prepare yourselves physically and mentally!" Makarov bellowed.
"Only one person?!"
"Lyon probably has the highest chance, right?"
"What about Simon?"
"You can't count out Freed or Bickslow either!"
"And there's Natsu and Gray too."
The guild immediately buzzed with heated debates over who would claim the single winning spot.
"Wh-Why wasn't I picked when Juvia was?!" Gajeel grumbled in disbelief. They had both transferred from Phantom Lord, they were both incredibly strong, so why was she chosen over him?! It made no sense!
"From what I've heard, your position within the guild is still rather... delicate," Panther Lily pointed out bluntly.
"N-No! I mean, I can't talk about it, but it's definitely not what it looks like! Gah! Even if I wanted to explain, I can't!" Gajeel groaned in frustration.
Because of his role as Makarov's double agent within Raven Tail, he deliberately kept his distance from most guild members to avoid drawing suspicion. As a result, aside from a select few, no one in the guild really knew him well. Combine that with his past history of attacking the guild, and it was natural that he still felt somewhat alienated. But he couldn't exactly announce his secret mission to the whole room to justify it.
"Erza told me all about it," Lily added smoothly.
"Heh. You still have a long way to go, Gajeel," Erza smirked down at him from the stage, having overheard their conversation.
"Dammit!" Gajeel glared at her smug face, deeply annoyed.
"Carla, what's wrong?" Wendy asked, noticing that Carla's face had suddenly drained of color. Meredy and the others quickly turned to look as well.
"N-N-Nothing..." Carla stammered, cold sweat dotting her forehead as she shook her head frantically.
"If something is wrong, you need to tell us," Meredy insisted gently.
"I know," Carla forced a nod, wiping the sweat away.
"I will now explain the rules for this year's trial," Makarov announced, drawing the room's attention back to the stage.
"The eight selected candidates must choose a single partner within the one-week preparation period," Mirajane explained smoothly.
"A partner?" Lucy blinked.
"That means it's a two-man team battle this year."
"This trial will test the bonds between comrades," several members explained to Lucy.
"There are two strict rules when selecting your partner," Erza continued, her voice cutting through the chatter. "First, they must be an official member of Fairy Tail. Second, you cannot choose a current S-Class mage."
"Meaning you can't team up with Erza, Noah, Mirajane, Gildarts, or anyone else standing on that stage," Panther Lily summarized.
"Well, yeah. If you teamed up with Brother Noah, it would be way too overpowered," Wendy laughed.
"Honestly, if you got Brother Noah as a partner, passing the exam would basically be guaranteed," Meredy agreed.
"The specific details of the trials will be announced once you arrive at Tenrou Island. However, I will inform you now: Erza will be serving as one of your examiners," Makarov declared.
"GAAAAH!" A collective scream of terror rang out from the candidates.
"I'm an examiner this year too! Look forward to it!" Sorano announced proudly, planting her hands on her hips.
"EHHHHH?!" The screams grew louder.
"W-Wait... Does that mean they have to defeat Erza and Sorano to become S-Class?" Lucy covered her mouth in shock.
"Well... Sorano might go a little easy on them, but Erza..." a member nearby trailed off, shaking his head grimly.
"They won't necessarily have to defeat them outright, but it won't be easy either. That's why the S-Class exams are always a nightmare," another member added.
"Stop whining! Every S-Class mage standing up here had to walk the exact same path," Gildarts chuckled down at the terrified candidates.
"W-W-Wait a minute!" Elfman paled drastically.
"Don't tell me..." Happy shivered.
"Is Gildarts participating too?!" Natsu cheered, vibrating with excitement.
"DON'T LOOK SO HAPPY ABOUT IT, YOU IDIOT!" Gray screamed at Natsu, his face completely blue with terror.
"Noah, are you participating too?" Elfman looked at Noah with desperate, pleading eyes.
Noah smiled and shrugged. "I won't be participating this year."
"Dammit!" Elfman groaned in disappointment. He had been praying to run into Noah, knowing that Noah usually evaluated candidates fairly and might even go a tiny bit easy on them to let them pass.
"Haha! Good luck, guys!" the bystanders laughed at the candidates' despair.
Past exams had proven that if Noah was an examiner, as long as you met his baseline requirements, he would let you pass. While Ultear and Mirajane wouldn't hold back, they were manageable if you gritted your teeth.
But this year's lineup was a nightmare. Erza's standards were notoriously brutal, Sorano was wildly unpredictable, and Gildarts simply didn't know how to hold back without accidentally obliterating his opponents. The difficulty this year was completely off the charts.
Aside from Natsu, every single candidate's expression turned incredibly grim.
"The eight candidates and their chosen partners will gather at Hargeon Port exactly one week from today! That is all!" Makarov dismissed the meeting.
The crowd quickly dispersed into smaller groups, pulling the tables and chairs back into place to chat and celebrate.
"Let's go," Mavis said to Noah's projection near the entrance.
"Leaving already? Don't you want to watch a bit longer?" Noah's projection asked.
"No. It would be disastrous if something unexpected happened to my body right now. I'll come back when we are absolutely certain it's safe. I am truly looking forward to that day," Mavis smiled, shaking her head.
"Then let's head back and continue our work." Noah's projection placed a hand on her shoulder, and the two vanished from the alley, returning to Tenrou Island to resume the medical analysis.
Up on the stage, after Makarov dismissed the crowd, Noah turned to Ultear and the others. "I'm heading back to Tenrou Island to finish examining the First Master. Let me know if anything comes up."
"Understood. Go ahead," Ultear nodded.
Noah vanished instantly.
Simultaneously, down in the crowd, one specific guild member vanished as well.
Swish!
Noah didn't teleport to Tenrou Island. Instead, he reappeared in a secluded alleyway just a few streets away from the guild hall. And standing right across from him was the paralyzed guild member.
The moment they materialized, the man glared at Noah with extreme vigilance and quickly swiped his right hand, attempting to cast a spell.
"Don't waste your energy. I've completely bound your magic. You can't cast a thing," Noah said calmly.
"Why did you bring me here?! What are you planning?! Is this some kind of misunderstanding?! I'm a member of Fairy Tail! You are attacking a comrade!" The man shouted, taking two cautious steps back when he realized his magic truly wasn't responding.
"Are you seriously trying to play the victim here? You're the one who snuck into Fairy Tail and tried to cast a mass memory-alteration spell on the entire guild. Too bad for you, I completely shattered your spell the second you cast it. No one's memories were altered," Noah smirked, looking at the man with a half-smile.
Hearing this, the man's expression twisted in panic, and he took several more steps back.
He opened his mouth to argue, but Noah cut him off.
"Whatever. Let me just remove that seal in your head first. Having to explain this twice would be far too annoying."
"What are you trying to do?! I am—!" The man tried to scream his true identity, but Noah's fingers blurred through the air, instantly drawing a highly complex runic array.
Before the man could dodge, his body locked up completely, and his voice died in his throat.
The glowing array in the air mirrored itself perfectly onto the man's forehead. Both arrays flashed brightly for a split second before vanishing completely.
The moment the magic took effect, the man staggered backward, squeezing his eyes shut and clutching his head in agony with both hands.
Noah didn't press the attack; he simply stood back, casually waiting for the man to recover.
Huff... Huff...
After a few minutes, the intense pain finally faded, and the man's expression relaxed. He looked up at Noah and let out a bitter, exhausted laugh.
"I never expected to meet you again under these circumstances."
"I didn't expect you to show up here right now either. Especially not trying to brainwash my guild members... Mest."
The man standing before him was none other than Mest Gryder—currently operating under the alias Doranbolt—Fairy Tail's deep-cover operative within the Magic Council.
~~~
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