"Phew~ I'm finally here."
Zorn and the Master stepped into Magnolia City. Zorn used his magic to rush the entire way, which made Master Makarov realize the terrifying amount of Zorn's magic power from another perspective.
"The shape of this town… Gildarts mode, it seems Gildarts is back." Houses lined both sides, leaving a straight path leading directly to the Fairy Tail Guild.
After a while, as Zorn and Makarov were nearing the guild's main entrance, two figures darted out.
"Yo, Natsu, Gray, are you here to greet us?" Zorn's mouth curved slightly as he looked at the two who suddenly jumped out, took a fighting stance, and stood before him.
"Zorn, we want to challenge you." Natsu and Gray looked at Zorn with serious expressions, their earnestness causing Zorn to put away his playful thoughts.
"Alright, then let me see how much you've improved."
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist"
"Ice-Make: Ice Sword"
Both moves were imbued with their respective Armament Haki.
Natsu punched towards Zorn, and Gray leaped up, raising his sword to slash at Zorn. Both attacked Zorn with extreme speed.
Zorn imbued his hands with Armament Haki, raising his right hand and extending his left hand to simultaneously block both of their magic, but his body was pushed back and slid a distance due to the force of the attacks.
"Wow~"
"Natsu and Gray have gotten stronger; their normal attacks are so powerful."
"Yeah, they actually made Zorn move such a long distance."
"Oh, amazing."
Everyone in the guild immediately surged out from all directions, also looking at Natsu and Gray in surprise. Then, Everyone cheered, rooting for Natsu and Gray.
"Not bad, great progress, keep up the good work." Zorn patted them on the shoulders as a sign of encouragement, genuinely happy for them in his heart.
"Alright, come on, come on, those who lost, quickly hand over your money."
"Cana, I can't believe you thought Zorn would be pushed back by their attacks."
"Hahaha, of course."
Cana laughed heartily from the side; she knew exactly how strong Natsu was at the moment, after all, she had fought Natsu back on Tenrou Island.
Everyone noisily returned to the guild. Upon entering, they saw Gildarts sitting alone at the bar, drinking beer heartily, while Laxus was still staring blankly from the second-floor railing.
Mirajane and Erza were still competing in front of the mission board on the second floor, their hands clasped together, pushing back and forth, arguing over who should take the mission.
"Yo, welcome back, Gildarts, how was the mission?"
The Master was the first to jump onto the bar, had the bartender pour him a drink, then clinked glasses with Gildarts and spoke.
"Of course, it was successfully completed, haha, I'd like to challenge something even harder."
Gildarts rubbed his head with his right hand, laughing heartily, then tentatively mentioned it to the Master.
"Well, that's possible, but let's have a party first to celebrate."
Zorn, who was not far away, raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking, "Sure enough, it's this time. What reason should I use to stop it? It's quite a headache."
"What's wrong, Zorn, is something bothering you?" Cana keenly sensed that Zorn might be troubled and asked.
"Oh, nothing, just some confusion about certain magic." Zorn still evaded the question.
"Everyone, to celebrate Zorn becoming one of the Ten Wizard Saints, and Gildarts successfully completing his Ten-Year Mission, let's have a banquet!"
"Oh oh oh oh, yes!"
"Banquet, banquet, banquet!"
Everyone cheered. The banquet continued until nightfall, showing no signs of stopping.
Gildarts, however, called several S-Class Mages of the guild to the second floor. Everyone sat around the table, waiting for Gildarts to speak.
"Well, as you know, above S-Class missions, there are Ten-Year Missions and Hundred-Year Missions, and the difficulty of the missions increases exponentially."
"I've decided to undertake a Hundred-Year Mission this time, and I don't know when I'll be back, so I'll leave the guild to you."
When Gildarts said these words, he was a bit embarrassed, after all, he indeed spent very little time back at the guild throughout the year. Since Zorn and Laxus were promoted to S-Class, this was the only time he had returned.
This time, he was going to undertake a Hundred-Year Mission. Although he couldn't guarantee that the mission would be completed, ensuring his own life was not a problem; it was just uncertain when he would return.
"I disagree. The Hundred-Year Mission can be put aside; there's no rush to complete it. Are you really that desperate, old man?" Zorn looked at Gildarts with determined eyes.
"Do you have any concerns, Zorn?" Gildarts asked softly, looking at Zorn, who was clearly acting unusually.
"No, in short, not yet. If you must go, wait a few days for me."
After saying that, Zorn got up directly, left the meeting, went downstairs, and left the guild.
Only Laxus, Erza, and Mirajane were left, looking at each other, not understanding why Zorn reacted so strongly, and it was the first time they had seen Zorn like this.
Gildarts, however, lowered his head in thought.
No one else in the guild noticed this scene; only the Master, who was sitting at the bar, had been observing the movements on the second floor.
Seeing Zorn walk out of the guild with a grave expression, and connecting it with Zorn's earlier abnormality and Gildarts' mention of the Hundred-Year Mission, he already had some suspicions in his heart.
After a few days of thought, Gildarts still decided to undertake the Hundred-Year Mission.
During these past few days, he had been trying to talk to Zorn, and Laxus and the others were too, but Zorn never showed up. There was nothing he could do but wait in the guild, but there was still no news, everything was still normal, and Zorn hadn't appeared.
Just as Gildarts finished training Natsu and the others in East Forest that day and was about to take a shortcut to the tavern for a drink, a familiar figure appeared before Gildarts.
"Zorn? You really came."
"Yes, old man."
"You seem to know a lot of things, Zorn." Gildarts looked at Zorn with a scrutinizing gaze, hoping to get details from him.
"Old man, if you knew that you would almost not come back from this trip, and even if you did, your body would be crippled, would you still go?"
Zorn's low voice slowly emerged, but Gildarts' reaction was as Zorn had expected, still completely unfazed.
"Hahaha, the future is never set in stone, Zorn, but with your reminder, my chances of returning are much greater."
Gildarts didn't care about the so-called future at all; he only believed that he would definitely return safely.
"Is that so?"
"This is something I prepared for you, old man. Take care on your journey."
Zorn's body slowly floated into the air, suspended. Golden and blue lights emerged from his body. As Zorn slightly brought his hands together in front of his chest, a double magic circle appeared in the sky, directly enveloping the sky.
Zorn murmured ancient words that were unintelligible, his expression becoming strained as he murmured, but he still fully supported the magic output.
Everyone from Fairy Tail also felt this magic power and rushed out of the guild to see the huge magic circle in the sky.
"This is, that Super Magic from back then."
"Yes, exactly."
Laxus and Cana were the first to recognize this magic; it was the Super Magic obtained from that ruin mission, and they had also received Zorn's blessing at that time.
"Master, look, the guild emblem is glowing."
Erza suddenly noticed her left arm, where the Fairy Tail emblem was glowing, and quickly called out to remind him.
Their surrounding companions also looked at their own emblems, and without exception, they were all glowing.
"Zorn, you…"
Gildarts watched Zorn activate this magic with great difficulty, starting to speak but then stopping halfway, fearing that interrupting the magic would cause Zorn to suffer a backlash.
"Super Magic - Starlight's Blessing & Twelvefold Spriggan Shield Defense Magic"
As the magic was completed, a golden Spriggan Shield magic appeared around the Fairy Tail emblem on Gildarts' chest. This magic had gathered all of Zorn's magic power.
It was by no means ordinary magic; he hoped it could help Gildarts evade an attack.
Zorn, having exhausted his magic power, fell, but was fortunately caught by Gildarts with a quick step.
"You brat, you really are reckless."
"Well, thank you for your thoughtfulness, kid." Gildarts smiled as he looked at Zorn, who had fallen into a deep sleep due to magic exhaustion.
He then carried Zorn on his back and returned him to the guild.
After staying in the guild for a few days and confirming that Zorn was fine, he embarked on the path to complete the Hundred-Year Mission.
To be continued~
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