### Chapter 25: Promotion Successful
At this moment, the smoke slowly dispersed, revealing that most of the mountain body that had been beside them had vanished.
Only a part of it remained, the sides looking as if they had been sliced off by something.
"...What on earth..."
"...Happened?!"
Everyone was in disbelief seeing this scene.
Makarov's face also tensed up, and he hurriedly ran out through the newly cut gap.
Erza and the others quickly followed.
*Clatter! Clatter!*
Shattered rocks fell from the cliff face.
*Boom!*
A figure burst out from the rubble.
It was Gildarts. But right now, Gildarts was in a sorry state. The clothes on his upper body were gone, and there were several cuts on his skin, bleeding fresh blood.
"Sur... Survived!"
Gildarts slumped on the ground and breathed a sigh of relief.
Glancing at the missing mountain sides, Gildarts' eyes twitched.
Initially, he intended to completely destroy the Tailed Beast Ball Shun emitted. But he hadn't expected the Tailed Beast Ball's energy to be so terrifying.
So he had to change tactics, focusing his hit on one point to break the Tailed Beast Ball.
Finally, at the last moment, he smashed the Tailed Beast Ball in half from the middle.
The two halves of the Tailed Beast Ball shot out from both sides, destroying the mountain behind him.
However, the shockwave from the explosion impacted him greatly. His clothes were torn, and he was sent flying, crashing into the mountain wall behind him.
Although he looked a bit miserable now, these were all just superficial injuries.
On the other side, after firing the Tailed Beast Ball, the tails behind Shun slowly retracted. Soon, Shun deactivated his transformation, returning to his normal appearance.
Shun gasped for breath heavily. The high-intensity battle had consumed him severely; both his stamina and chakra were somewhat overdrafted.
Since awakening the One-Tail form, this was the first time he felt like this.
Just then, Makarov and the others ran over.
"Uncle Gildarts?!!"
Natsu and the others were shocked to see the wretched-looking Gildarts.
Why was Gildarts here?
Also, Gildarts was the strongest S-Class Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild. Who on earth beat him into this state?
They soon had the answer. Following the traces of destruction into the distance, they saw Shun sitting on the ground resting.
The surroundings were scenes of destruction after a great battle: huge craters on the ground, destroyed forests, and the obliterated mountain.
It all seemed to be telling how intense and terrifying this battle was.
"Gildarts, what happened?"
Makarov looked at the scene before him in shock and asked Gildarts.
Gildarts smiled bitterly: "As you can see, I fought Shun, and this destruction is the result."
"...How is that possible?!"
Hearing Gildarts' words, Makarov couldn't believe it.
Gildarts was Fairy Tail's strongest Mage, someone Makarov watched grow up.
Although Laxus and Shun were also exceptionally talented youths, when Gildarts was young, his talent was not inferior to Laxus and Shun at all, perhaps even superior.
Now he was in his prime.
Fists fear the young and strong, but even Makarov himself might not be Gildarts' opponent.
"It's true. Shun's strength is too great, forcing me to take him seriously. He's truly a monster!"
"Shun!"
"Are you okay?!"
Erza and the others ran to Shun's side.
"I'm fine, just consumed a bit too much magic power. As expected of Uncle Gildarts, his strength is really too great. I lost."
Shun praised sincerely.
Just now he had no strength left at all; only after resting for a while did he recover a part of it.
Gildarts looked miserable, but actually didn't suffer serious injuries.
If it were a life-and-death duel, he would have been killed just now when he couldn't move.
Gildarts was indeed Gildarts, the strongest S-Class Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild.
But Shun wasn't discouraged. He felt the gap in strength between him and Gildarts.
As long as he was given about four more months to break through to the Four-Tails realm, he should be able to compete with Gildarts.
Hearing Shun's praise, Gildarts' eyes twitched. Please, how old are you? I'm thirty-nine this year, looking at forty.
Shun is just a bit over that, thirteen years old, only one-third of his age.
Also, look at the situation now. Although this brat admitted defeat.
But this kid looked like he wasn't injured at all.
Look at himself again. His upper body clothes were tattered, and he had wounds and bloodstains on his body. How did this look like a win? It looked like he lost completely, okay?
But with so many people watching, he couldn't say such things. As the strongest S-Class Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild, he had to keep face.
Gildarts patted Shun's shoulder and praised: "Mhm, Shun is not bad. To have such strength at such a young age, I believe it won't be long before you can surpass me."
"You passed the third round of the exam."
"Third round?"
Hearing Gildarts' words, Natsu and the others understood. The third round of the S-Class Mage Promotion Exam was a duel with Gildarts.
Gildarts said Shun passed the third round.
"So..."
"Ahem!"
Makarov coughed lightly twice, asserting his existence.
Seeing everyone's gaze attracted to him, Makarov said with a serious face:
"I announce!"
"Shun has successfully passed the S-Class Mage Promotion Exam!"
"Shun becomes the second S-Class Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild!!"
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