The next day, after Everyone had breakfast together, Gildarts and Zorn walked towards the opposite side of Tenrou Island, while the Guild Members continued to camp with the Master.
Along the way, the old man kept finding topics to chat about, and Zorn responded to every sentence. The atmosphere was quite harmonious, but Zorn felt it was harmonious, while Gildarts felt a bit strange, as if Zorn was sulking.
"Alright, this is the place. Laxus also took his examination here." Gildarts and Zorn had reached the opposite shore from the camping beach. Gildarts stood still, one hand on his hip, smiling as he looked at Zorn and said.
Neither of them cared about the chaotic environment around them, because the environment might be even worse later.
"The examination begins." Gildarts' tone became serious, his expression instantly stern. After he finished speaking, a powerful white magic power surged out from his body, directly soaring into the sky. The ground immediately cracked and collapsed. As the magic power output increased, the cracks grew larger and gradually spread to Zorn's feet.
The terrifying magic power pressure directly brought up a strong wind that impacted Zorn. Other than his clothes and hair being blown around, Zorn calmly looked at everything, completely unaffected.
Zorn was extremely excited looking at such terrifying magic power. Zorn's current strength had reached 90%, and he really wanted to know what level his current strength was in the Fairy Tail world. Now there was a very good sparring partner in front of him.
Zorn also immediately released all the magic power in his body. A golden magic power, no less than Gildarts', also soared into the sky. The two powerful magic powers directly collided, neither giving way. Gildarts was the first to retract his magic power. As Zorn followed suit and retracted his magic power, the golden magic power slowly condensed into a light sword in his hand.
"Heavenly Cloud Sword"
"Gildarts, please enlighten me."
"What a terrifying kid. You're not even as old as Laxus, yet you possess such magic power at such a young age. You are undoubtedly S-Class. Let me see how far you've come."
Upon hearing this, Zorn held the light sword horizontally in front of his chest, charged up, and swung it forcefully. A huge golden crescent-shaped slash rapidly charged towards Gildarts. Gildarts narrowed his eyes slightly, and with a forceful spread of his right hand, imbued with white magic power, the golden slash immediately crashed against the barrier formed by white magic power. It held for a moment before Gildarts crushed it with a squeeze of his hand, breaking it into light particles that dissipated into the air. At this moment, Zorn's figure also appeared on the right side.
Zorn knew this move wouldn't affect Gildarts, so after striking, he immediately transformed into a flash of light, disappearing from his spot and reappearing to Gildarts' right. The light sword, imbued with Armament Haki, was then brought down by Zorn with a purple-gold glow.
"When did he get there?" Gildarts was surprised by Zorn's speed and combat awareness, taking advantage of his right side being occupied. However, Gildarts' combat experience was extensive. He pushed off the ground with his foot and simultaneously exerted force with his right hand, dodging Zorn's second attack and pulverizing Zorn's first attack.
The descending slash directly split the shore in half, and then split the sea surface in half for over a dozen meters before flying into the sky. The seawater also poured back into the shore, gradually filling the deep gully.
"Kid, you were just a little off, hahaha, not bad, not bad." Gildarts looked at the magnificent scene before him, feeling a bit of regret, but he greatly admired Zorn's strength.
"Tch~" Zorn let out a soft 'tch'. If it weren't for the light sword in his hand gradually turning into light particles, he would have been very happy to hear Gildarts' words.
"Uncle, you're just as Laxus said, incredibly strong. To be able to do this much in such a short time." It turned out that the moment Gildarts dodged, his left hand, imbued with Crush Magic, also struck the light sword.
"It's not over yet, Uncle!" Zorn flew into the air, clasped his hands together, and slowly pulled them apart. A golden-yellow light appeared between his palms. As the distance between his palms grew, the light also grew larger. "Holy Light Magic - Yasaka Magatama!" Countless laser beams, like raindrops, shot down, completely covering the area where Gildarts stood.
"Boom, boom, boom!" The sound of explosions was incessant. The already ravaged ground was completely destroyed again, with bigger craters covering the original ones. The huge explosions also reached the Guild's campsite, causing Everyone to stop what they were doing and look towards the direction of the examination. Kana also stood there, looking worriedly, even though it was an examination and nothing serious would happen, she was still worried about the two of them getting hurt.
As the smoke cleared, looking down from high above, such dense attacks had caused the ground to sink directly. Only the ground around where Gildarts stood remained relatively intact, with a circular white magic power barrier blocking the vast majority of the attacks.
"That's truly a troublesome magic. If that's not enough, then let's go for a direct hand-to-hand combat." Zorn said, Armament Haki immediately covered him, and magic power converged throughout his entire body. A purple-gold armor covered him. He tapped his foot in the air, creating a sonic boom, and transformed into a flash of light, heading straight for Gildarts.
"Hahaha, I'm fired up too, kid." Gildarts laughed heartily. He was very happy to see so many capable young people emerging in the Guild now, and he wanted to test just how strong Zorn truly was.
Zorn raised his right fist and swung it with all his might, clashing with the terrifying Crush Magic, "Crushing Evil, Exposing Justice - One Day." The two energies intertwined and shattered each other. Energy waves surged outwards from the center of the two, instantly cracking the ground. Debris flew with the shockwave, destroying everything around them. Finally, both sides were sent flying by the immense force. Zorn tumbled a few times in the air, stopping himself by stepping on the air. Gildarts also dragged on the ground, stopping his sliding body with a forceful push of one foot, and stood firm.
Both looked at each other excitedly, then charged into battle again, clashing with their fists. Zorn leaped up and delivered a downward kick, which Gildarts blocked with both hands, sinking his legs to dissipate the force into the ground, and simultaneously using the recoil to push Zorn away. Both used their proud hand-to-hand combat techniques. If the Guild Members were present, seeing this scene, they would feel they could eat a few more bowls of rice, what a wonderful duel.
They fought for an unknown period of time, then both stopped their hand-to-hand combat. Zorn's purple-gold armor was broken in many places, no longer deserving the name armor. Zorn was breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on Gildarts, whose clothes were only torn and who had some bruises on his body, but no other injuries.
"Uncle, you also try this, my final blow." Zorn dissipated the magic power from his armor, slowly ascended into the air, and raised a single hand above his head. A golden-yellow light gathered into a single point in his hand, gradually growing larger. From the ground, it looked like a second sun, full of oppressive power. Looking closer at the sphere of light containing immense magic power, some magic power even overflowed and encircled its surface.
Everyone on the coast also looked up at the second sun, marveling at how powerful Zorn was. "Amazing!" Natsu and Gray exclaimed, their eyes gleaming as they looked at the figure in the sky, completely unaware of the impact if this magic were released.
"Those two idiots." Makarov's forehead was also covered in black lines as he accelerated towards the examination site.
Gildarts looked at Zorn, who stood in the air illuminated by the light, and a slightly grave expression appeared in his eyes, but the smile at the corner of his mouth revealed that he was truly happy.
"Very good, kid~ Then I'll also use my full power."
"Crushing Evil, Exposing Justice - Absolute Heaven!"
"Holy Light Magic: Star of Radiance!" Zorn forcefully threw the orb of light in his hand, and it instantly collided with Gildarts' strongest Crush Magic. A dazzling white light burst forth from the center, just as the Master arrived and happened to witness it. He immediately activated his defensive magic, "Three Pillars of God," to withstand the impact generated by the energy collision.
After the light disappeared, this section of the coast also vanished, leaving only where Gildarts and the Master stood. The rest of the area had completely disappeared, and seawater poured in.
Zorn slowly descended at this time, landing beside Gildarts, panting, feeling quite exhausted. Gildarts didn't look very good either; his cloak had completely disappeared, his front clothes were severely damaged, and his hair was a messy explosion.
"But he was still laughing heartily," constantly patting Zorn's back in admiration.
Seeing this, the Master immediately transformed into a giant, smashing both of them into the ground with two fists. "Both of you, that's enough!"
"Zorn, from now on, you are absolutely forbidden to use this magic without my permission unless there is a life-threatening situation. If Gildarts hadn't crushed most of it with his magic, the consequences would have been severe." The Master looked sternly at Zorn, who was climbing out of the pit.
"Yes, Master Grandpa," Zorn also nodded apologetically.
The Guild Members also arrived at the scene at this time, and seeing the destroyed coast before them left a deep shock in their hearts. Laxus clenched his fists tightly, and at this moment, he also resolved to train hard and definitely catch up to Zorn.
Erza and Mirajane also couldn't calm their hearts for a long time.
Afterwards, the Guild Members went forward to check on their injuries and then helped them back to the camping beach.
The Master held a banquet to celebrate both Zorn and Laxus becoming S-Class Magicians. Everyone in the Guild cheered and became busy. Zorn was also thinking about learning other magic in the future to broaden his path in the magical arts.