Chapter 469: As Expected, You Can't Just Casually Catch Up to a 400-Year-Old Genius
"Urgh... Nngh... Aaaahhhh!"
Suddenly, Zeref's expression twisted violently. He clutched his head again, his face a mask of excruciating agony.
"It's coming... Hurry... get away from here..." he gasped out, his voice strained as thick plumes of black mist began to violently erupt from his body.
"What's happening?!" Happy shrieked.
"Do not touch that mist!" Noah ordered sharply.
He lunged forward, grabbing Natsu and Happy by their collars. Magic circles instantly flared to life beneath his feet. With a powerful kick, he launched them backward, instantly creating a massive distance between them and Zeref.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!"
Even from far away, Noah could hear Zeref's agonized scream.
The black mist swirling around him grew exponentially denser, forming a massive, undulating sphere of pure, pitch-black death.
A split second later, the mist exploded outward, expanding at a terrifying speed and covering a significantly larger radius than before.
When the mist finally dissipated, the devastation was absolute. Even the withered tree trunks that had survived the first wave were completely obliterated, reduced to nothingness. The entire area had been transformed into a desolate, barren wasteland devoid of a single trace of life.
"What in the world is going on?!" Happy stared at the dead earth, his eyes bulging in sheer terror.
"Where did that guy go?!" Natsu frantically scanned the wasteland, but Zeref was nowhere to be seen.
"He just left," Noah said, setting the two down.
He immediately split off a Thought Projection, pulled out a pile of analytical equipment, and began carefully collecting various soil, ash, and residual magic samples from the barren ground.
"Noah, who was that guy?" Happy asked nervously, still trembling. Natsu also turned to him, demanding an answer.
"Zeref," Noah answered bluntly, not even looking up as he focused entirely on scanning the wasteland.
"Zeref... Zeref?!" Happy froze for a second as his brain slowly processed the name. When it finally clicked, the color completely drained from his furry face.
"Zeref? You don't mean that Zeref, do you?!" Natsu had obviously heard the name before and stared at Noah in shock.
"Yep. The Zeref. The most infamous one in history," Noah nodded, finally looking up from his scans.
"Then... what about the exam?!" Happy panicked. If the legendary Black Mage was roaming the island, how could they possibly continue the trials?!
Noah frowned thoughtfully. "Since Zeref is physically on Tenrou Island, and I currently have no way of tracking him through our sensory grid, continuing the exam is too dangerous. We have to suspend it temporarily."
"I guess that makes sense..." Happy slumped, looking incredibly depressed.
"Like hell it does! We're right in the middle of the exam!" Natsu roared, violently objecting.
"Hah, you don't get a say in this. Grandpa does. And he just ordered me to bring all the candidates back to base camp immediately. The exam is officially suspended," Noah smirked at Natsu's outrage.
He had just received a telepathic message from Makarov confirming the order.
"NO WAY! I promised Gildarts I'd pass!" Natsu yelled.
"Take it up with Grandpa," Noah reached out and grabbed both Natsu and Happy.
Happy went limp, accepting his fate, but Natsu thrashed wildly, desperately trying to break free so he could continue searching for the grave.
Noah didn't even humor him. With a swift, one-handed suppression technique, he locked Natsu down and instantly teleported the three of them back to the base camp.
Immediately after, Noah dispatched three Thought Projections, teleporting them directly to the remaining active teams. He grabbed them and yanked them back to the base camp as well. The others could explain the situation to them; his true body remained at the blast zone with his first projection to continue gathering environmental data and residual samples of the death curse.
While scanning the area, Noah's mind suddenly registered a telepathic link from Jellal.
Jellal frantically warned him that Grimoire Heart—one of the three pillars of the Balam Alliance and the dark guild he had recently infiltrated—was launching a full-scale invasion on Tenrou Island. Their vanguard vanguard had already deployed, and the main force was right behind them.
Receiving the urgent warning, Noah left his Thought Projection to finish gathering samples and immediately teleported back to the base camp.
The moment he arrived, he was greeted by Natsu throwing an absolute temper tantrum.
"I WANNA CONTINUE THE S-CLASS EXAM! I'M GONNA BECOME S-CLASS!"
Noah merged his returning Thought Projections back into his body and turned to Ultear. "What's his deal?"
"The Master officially suspended the S-Class trials. He said we have to wait until we confirm Zeref is no longer on the island before deciding whether to resume," Ultear explained with a sigh. "Given that the massive barrier you and the First Master built still couldn't track his movements, the threat level is simply too high. Without confirming his departure, the Master has no choice but to halt everything."
"Once Natsu heard the news, he started throwing a fit. Honestly, the others feel the exact same way; they all want to keep going," Sorano added, gesturing toward Gray, Lyon, and the others, who all looked equally frustrated and fired up.
"I see." Noah watched Natsu jump around, screaming about becoming an S-Class mage. He walked over with a smirk. "So, you really want to become S-Class?"
"HELL YEAH! I'M GONNA BE S-CLASS!" Natsu roared.
"I'll give you a chance right now. If you can pull this off, I guarantee Grandpa will promote you immediately," Noah said with a devious smile.
"Really?! What is it?!" Natsu's eyes practically turned into stars. The other candidates instantly zeroed in on Noah as well.
"It's very simple. Defeat me. If you win, Grandpa will make you S-Class on the spot. Come on! Bring it!" Noah waved a hand, casually beckoning Natsu forward.
"UWOOOOOHHH! I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu bellowed in sheer excitement, instantly igniting his fists and charging straight at Noah.
BAM!
Noah lazily raised a hand and casually slapped Natsu straight down into the dirt. The sheer force cratered the ground beneath him.
Natsu lay twitching at the bottom of the crater, his limbs spasming involuntarily.
"I... give... up..." Natsu croaked out weakly.
The other candidates stared at Natsu's pathetic state, swallowing hard in sheer terror. Any thoughts of challenging Noah instantly vanished.
"Alright, that's enough of that. The S-Class trials are on hold indefinitely. We have a much more pressing issue to deal with right now," Noah clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
"What is it? Something about Zeref?" Mirajane asked, her brow furrowing. Given the situation, Zeref was the most obvious problem.
"Not exactly. Zeref has likely been on this island for quite some time, but he hasn't taken any hostile action against us. Because of that, his immediate threat level is actually lower," Noah explained before turning to Makarov. "Grandpa, I just received intel. The main forces of Grimoire Heart are currently en route to Tenrou Island."
"Is the intel reliable?!" Makarov's expression instantly hardened into absolute seriousness.
Noah nodded firmly. "Highly reliable. The vanguard has already been deployed, and their main force is right behind them."
"Which means Grimoire Heart will be making landfall on Tenrou Island any minute now?" Cana asked, her face turning grim.
"DAMMIT! MY S-CLASS EXAM!" Natsu miraculously crawled out of his crater, looking utterly furious.
If Grimoire Heart was marching on Tenrou Island, there was no way they were coming for a friendly visit. Since they were a massive Dark Guild invading Fairy Tail's sacred ground, they were obviously enemies. With a war looming, any hope of resuming the S-Class exam was completely dead. Natsu was naturally pissed.
"Grimoire Heart? The strongest pillar of the Balam Alliance? Why the hell are they coming to Tenrou Island?" Laxus crossed his arms, his expression turning dangerous.
"Could it be because of Zeref?" Mirajane guessed. Since they had literally just been talking about him, it was the most logical connection.
"It's highly likely. Most Dark Guilds have some sort of fanatical connection to Zeref," Ultear nodded.
"They probably sensed the massive bursts of dark magic Zeref unleashed earlier and tracked him here," Sorano theorized.
They had all watched the live feed of Noah's encounter with Zeref from the base camp. They had seen Zeref lose control of his death curse twice. The sheer, apocalyptic nature of that black mist was entirely unprecedented. It was a blatant, unique magical signature. It wasn't hard to imagine a fanatic Dark Guild monitoring for that specific signature to locate him.
"It's incredibly likely. Which means Grimoire Heart was drawn here by Zeref?" Erza's tone turned icy.
She had personally suffered under the cruelty of Zeref-worshipping cults when she was a child. The fact that his mere presence had drawn another horde of violent fanatics to their holy ground made her skin crawl with disgust.
"Regardless of why they're coming, our job is to meet them head-on and crush them. This is our guild's sacred ground! We will absolutely not let them trample it!" Laxus declared firmly, sparks of lightning arching across his shoulders.
"Exactly. We won't let them do as they please!" Erza agreed, summoning a sword to her hand.
Everyone nodded instinctively, their fighting spirits igniting.
"One of the three pillars of the Balam Alliance... this is going to be terrifying..." Lucy shuddered, recalling the grueling battle against the Oración Seis.
That fight had been an absolute nightmare, and the Oración Seis only consisted of six core members with no actual grunts. Grimoire Heart was bringing their entire guild, meaning the sheer numbers and overall difficulty would be exponentially higher.
"..." Wendy, Yukino, and Meredy also looked a bit frightened. Sorano quickly walked over to comfort them.
"Don't worry. With everyone here, we can definitely crush Grimoire Heart," Noah said calmly, glancing around the camp.
Following his gaze, the nervous girls realized that practically the entire roster of Fairy Tail's elite S-Class mages was standing right in front of them: Gildarts, Laxus, Erza, Mirajane, Ultear, and Noah himself. Suddenly, a Dark Guild didn't seem quite so terrifying anymore.
"Alright, everyone use this time to rest and recover your magic. We've got a lot of fighting ahead of us," Noah instructed.
"Those bastards! I'm gonna send them all flying!" Natsu grumbled, stomping over to a tree to sit down. The other candidates also looked incredibly frustrated.
First, they ran into Zeref, forcing the exam to pause. Now, a Dark Guild was invading, effectively canceling the trial entirely. It was unbelievably depressing. But since the enemy was already on their doorstep, they had no choice but to fight.
As everyone found a spot to rest, Noah pulled out a batch of stamina and magic recovery potions and handed them out, primarily to the candidates. They had burned a lot of energy running from the island's monsters earlier. While the Tenrou Island barrier rapidly replenished their magic reserves, physical and mental exhaustion didn't recover nearly as quickly.
No one refused. They downed the potions and sat in meditation, forcing themselves back into peak condition.
Meanwhile, Noah fully activated the island's sensory grid, sweeping every inch of Tenrou Island one more time.
As expected, he found absolutely zero trace of Zeref.
He and Mavis had painstakingly designed this barrier together, yet it still couldn't locate him. Noah could only sigh and give up the search.
As expected, you can't just casually catch up to a 400-year-old magical super-genius.
Even when Zeref had been subconsciously suppressing his own magic and actively avoiding using spells earlier, Noah still hadn't been able to detect him through the grid until the cameras happened to catch him visually. Now that Zeref knew the island was managed by Fairy Tail—and having seen Natsu—he was likely actively using magic to conceal himself. Finding him now was practically impossible.
However, as long as Zeref didn't make any hostile moves against Fairy Tail, Noah had no intention of provoking him. The fact that Zeref had warned Simon and Kagura to stay away proved his emotional state was still relatively stable, meaning he wasn't currently a threat to innocent lives.
Still, Noah ramped up the defensive and surveillance protocols, ensuring he could react instantly if Zeref or Grimoire Heart launched a surprise attack.
Having done everything he could, Noah finally sat down to rest.
Hovering nearby, Mavis quietly watched the guild members prepare for battle. The heavy, tense expression she had worn earlier slowly melted away, replaced by a warm, proud smile.
Makarov, Gildarts, and Ur also remained silent, watching the younger generation strategize and hype each other up. Satisfied smiles graced their faces, their hearts swelling with profound pride and relief at seeing how much their 'children' had grown.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
About half an hour later, the Archive screens floating in front of Noah suddenly flashed red, blaring a sharp warning alarm. Everyone instantly snapped to attention, their eyes locked on Noah.
Noah quickly tapped the console, projecting a massive holographic map of Tenrou Island and its surrounding waters into the air for everyone to see.
A swarm of red dots had appeared on the edge of the barrier's detection range. One of the red dots was significantly larger than the rest.
"Are those guys from Grimoire Heart?" Gray asked, cracking his knuckles.
"Yeah. Let me pull up the visuals." Noah tapped the screen a few more times, and a dozen live video feeds popped up.
The screens displayed various mages sailing toward the island on small boats. Though their appearances varied wildly, they all shared one defining feature: a distinct, sinister emblem stamped prominently on their bodies or clothes.
"That's the Grimoire Heart emblem, alright. Just like Noah said, they're launching an assault on Tenrou Island," Mirajane noted, her expression turning dangerously cold.
"That's a lot of people," Sorano observed, looking at the cluster of red dots on the map. She quickly counted around thirty or forty individual signatures.
"That's just the vanguard. The main force is still on its way," Ultear reminded them.
"I don't care! I'm gonna send every last one of them flying!" Natsu roared, punching his palm. He was itching to charge down to the beach and beat them all into a pulp for ruining his S-Class exam.
~~~
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