Chapter 15: Promotion Assessment

"I... my wall!!" Makarov looked at the shattered wall, almost in tears. This was going to cost a fortune.

Little did Makarov know, behind him, Natsu watched Gildarts with eyes shining with excitement. Perhaps there would be someone in the future who would imitate Gildarts' behavior.

...

On a deserted island, Alex looked across at Laxus and felt somewhat speechless. "I haven't come to find you yet, and here you are?"

Now, the two of them had begun the S-Class Mage exam. According to the rules, they had to find medallions engraved with Fairy Tail marks in the forest on the island.

There were 20 such medallions scattered around, some hidden on the island, others guarded by powerful magical beasts. The requirement was to find 12 medallions first to advance to the next stage. Anyone with fewer medallions would be eliminated.

The next stage involved facing Gildarts, and ultimately, Gildarts would judge whether they had the potential to become S-Class Mages.

Alex had found 4 medallions on the island. The 5th medallion was guarded by a magical beast, and Alex had managed to defeat it.

Unexpectedly, Laxus sensed Alex's magical power and came directly to him.

Thus, the scene unfolded.

"How many medallions do you have?" Laxus shouted across to Alex.

"What about you?" Alex retorted. After all, they were competitors now.

Laxus nonchalantly showed the medallions in his hand. "I have 8."

Alex widened his eyes at the sight of the 8 medallions in Laxus' hand. "Didn't you say you hadn't fought any? How did you get so many medallions?"

Laxus chuckled, "It wasn't that hard, right? Just picked them up along the way. Isn't that what you did?"

Alex was instantly petrified.

"Picked them up along the way??" Alex recalled finding his first medallion under a waterfall, the second in an underground river, and the third buried deep underground. He wouldn't have found the first one without the guidance of a monkey. Later, Alex dug many feet underground to find it.

The last one was even found on a very powerful magical beast.

"Are you kidding me? Do you have some sort of luck cheat code?" Alex couldn't help but ask sincerely.

To be honest, if Alex didn't know the old man's character, he would even suspect that the official was cheating.

"You didn't say, but I knew you had quite a few medallions too," Laxus said confidently.

Alex neither confirmed nor denied, "That's right. Looks like we'll have to fight here. Whoever falls, their medallions will be enough."

Laxus took off the earphones from his ears, and his whole body began to flicker with electric light, giving off a tingling sensation...

At least that's how Alex felt.

"I've been looking forward to this, Alex." Laxus was extremely excited at the moment, and the electric light on his body became more and more dense.

"Who is the strongest mage of Fairy Tail after all?"

Alex tilted his head and thought for a while before saying, "Excluding the president, the strongest mage in Fairy Tail should be Gildarts. If you're talking about the two of us..."

Looking straight at Laxus, Alex said in a very serious tone, "Then it's definitely me who's the strongest!!"

"Hehe, let's see if you can say that after surviving my thunder," Laxus chuckled.

"Let's do this, Laxus!!" Alex's body began to emit a red light, followed by a flame that began to burn.

The magic powers of the two rose, collided, and sparks seemed to fly in between.

In the center of the island, Makarov and Gildarts stood, facing a huge magic display screen. The screen showed the two competitors facing each other.

"Gildarts, who do you think will win?" Makarov asked.

Gildarts smiled wryly, "Do you really want me to say?"

Makarov looked at Gildarts' expression but shook his head and said in a very serious tone, "I know what you're thinking. Laxus is my grandson."

After a pause, he continued, "Alex is too, and all the homeless children in the guild are. I have never favored anyone."

Gildarts nodded and said, "I know that." Then he looked up at the sky. "Just like Ivan, but maybe you would prefer Laxus to win."

But Makarov shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, I would prefer Alex to be here. Laxus is too conceited, and perhaps only through failure will he improve."

"Haha, that's right. Look at them. Let's see who can get here," Gildarts said, turning to the big screen, at this point the two of them were preparing to start fighting.

The forest's magic powers constantly collided. As the stone chips in the middle fell, it was like the referee's gun rang, and the two disappeared in place.

The sound of their continuous clashes echoed from the middle.

Laxus relied on lightning-fast speed, while Alex depended on astonishing physical strength. At this moment, both of them moved with such speed that it was almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, they exchanged blows several times before retreating to their original positions.

Laxus rubbed his slightly trembling hands and stared at Alex with a serious expression.

Alex shook his tingling right hand and said, "This guy is really troublesome, he's electrified all over."

Then, raising a single hand towards the sky, flames fiercely ignited and soared into the air, quickly forming a sky full of fireballs. "Take this, Laxus."

Although Alex found the name "Sky Firestorm" a bit lame, its power was still considerable. Since experiencing the power of "Ryujin Jakka," Alex dared not release it easily.

Therefore, he learned some conventional fire magic, but it still possessed an unusually high temperature.

The multitude of fireballs swarmed towards Laxus, obscuring the sky and turning Laxus' face red.

Laxus' body flickered with golden electric light. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into lightning, evading the sky full of fireballs with incredible speed.

However, the density of the fireballs was too high, making it difficult for even Laxus' speed to dodge completely.

"Boom, boom, boom!" Three consecutive fireballs smashed into Laxus, igniting his clothes. The extremely high temperature caused Laxus intense pain.

"Damn it." Laxus tore off the burning clothes, revealing his strong muscles underneath.

The tattoo on his chest appeared even more fierce due to the muscles stretching it.

"As expected, you're strong. That's the only way you can be my opponent." Laxus said in a low voice.

Then, he looked at Alex and said, "Heh, warm-up is over. This level of fight is nothing. Show me your true power, or you might die here."

Slightly increasing in size, Laxus' muscles began to swell again.

"Perhaps you don't know yet, my true power." The lightning on Laxus' body intensified, and residual electricity crackled across the grass.

The grass seemed scorched as if struck by lightning, turning into black charcoal, which was then scattered by the wind.

Alex clearly felt Laxus' magic power had grown stronger.

Laxus looked up, and a golden magic circle appeared above him, filled with golden lightning swirling around his mouth.

Seeing this familiar stance, Alex couldn't help but think of Natsu in the guild.

"What is this?"

"Roar of the Thunder Dragon!!" A tremendously robust thunderbolt roared out from Laxus' mouth.

Seeing this, Alex immediately drew his sword,

"Slash!"

Like a fiery blade, he successfully cut through Laxus' roar, eventually disappearing into the sky.

"Dragon Slayer Magic?" At this moment, Alex understood. Laxus' magic was like Natsu's, designed to combat dragons, but unlike Natsu's, Laxus' was more ferocious.

Just after slashing the roar, Alex noticed he lost track of Laxus. Sensing the thunderous rumbling behind him, Alex quickly turned around and swung down with his Ryūjin Jakka.

"Thunder Dragon's Crushing Fist."

Laxus's heavy punch was successfully blocked by Lu Alex's Ryujin Jakka, but to be honest, this punch carried considerable weight, and Laxus's lightning strike was also remarkably powerful.

His fist carried such force that Alex felt a numbness spread through his body.

As they separated, Laxus grinned, "You finally drew your sword. If you had waited any longer, you might have been lying down instead. Show me your full strength now. Unleash the power you've been holding back. Let me see the power forbidden by the Guild Master."

Alex smiled back, "Since you're so eager to see it, I'll indulge you."

With a tilt of his sword towards the ground, an immense magical power surged from Alex, sweeping across the entire island. Throughout the year, Alex's magical abilities had been growing rapidly, and now he wasn't sure how powerful he had become.

For Alex, this phenomenon indicated that he was still in the stage of rapid magical growth. It might slow down later, but that time hadn't come yet.

Flames on Alex's body roared violently.

"Shikai: Reduce All Creation to Ash, Ryūjin Jakka!!"

Instantly, Alex's Ryujin Jakka erupted with a massive amount of flames, so intense that even the blade itself couldn't be seen, engulfing the entire island in a blaze. Trees on the distant shore quickly withered and were fully ignited, soon engulfing the entire forest on the island.

Makarov was shocked as he watched everything around him. It was the first time he had witnessed Alex's power firsthand, even though he had known about it before through Gildarts' reports.

"It's so hot, no, it's scorching. This is truly astonishing." Even Makarov, the Guild Master, was amazed by the extremely high temperature in the area.

"This kid's power is even greater than last time," Gildarts said, feeling the intensity of the flames, which were completely different from the previous ones.

"This kid is getting stronger again."