As blood oozed out from my numerous injuries onto the ground, creating a small puddle at my feet, I held the woman by her neck while she clutched my arm, using the last tidbits of her magic power to stab me with one of her feathers; smirking, I grabbed her hand and broke it, causing her to whimper while she muffled her painful moans. "S-Spare me, p-please. H-Have mercy." Muttered the woman pleadingly as she looked into my eyes, though I couldn't help but chuckle at how pathetic she was. "Heh, do you think someone like you deserves mercy?" I found it borderline hilarious that the owner of a dark guild that does human trafficking would dare ask me for mercy.
It seemed she understood I had no intention of keeping her alive as she grabbed the numerous feathers lodged in my body and forcefully dug them further in, causing me to hiss as it didn't feel good; clicking my tongue, I grabbed her head and violently broke her neck, causing her to lifelessly drop to the ground beside one of her three assistants I had killed earlier in battle. Taking a deep breath, I spent the next minute removing nearly forty feathers lodged inside my body before plopping onto the ground beside corpses. "Ahh, now that was fucking good fight. It's the best one since my battle with Laxus on Tenrou Island." The fight against those weaklings wasn't fun, but fighting those final four made up for my annoyance.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I rested my head atop the woman's stomach while looking into the sky. 'Hmm, I might've lied a bit. I wouldn't quite call it a weakness, but fighting enemies who specialize in ranged magic is a real pain in the ass.' I spent probably half of my battle just chasing after the woman as she kept fleeing whenever I got a little too close, and since she had three helpers, it only prolonged the battle; however, once I got rid of those three, it was only a matter of time until I caught her, and the instant I did, it was over. "Ugh, now I've got to call the Magic Council and have them take care of this mess." Groaning in annoyance at the duties of being an S-class Mage, I reached into my pocket and grabbed the communication lacrima.
Cycling through my contacts as if it were a normal phone, I stopped when I spotted a guy wearing lame white clothes, as he was the Magic Council advisor who deals solely with Fairy Tail; every major guild, such as Lamia Scale and Phantom Lord, in Fiore, had such a person. Once the man answered the call, I didn't waste time and went straight to business. "Southeast of Borwatt Town, deep in the forest between a Valley, the Dark Guild Soly Mon has been destroyed." When I finished, I didn't wait for the man to respond and promptly shut off my communication lacrima while leaping onto my feet before dusting off my hands. "Welp, I suppose it's time to return to the guild and retrieve my reward; it was several hundred thousand jewels."
Yawning, I jogged out of the valley, leaving behind the massacre I had created, and returned to Borwatt Town, taking a few minutes; however, instead of heading directly for the train station, I took a moment to ensure the slaves I had freed were doing well, and while I wouldn't call it great, they were having a better time than when they were enslaved by Soly Mon. 'That's good.' Standing atop a building, I looked in the distance before turning around, leaping across the roofs until I arrived at the train station, taking the train going to Onibus as it was the closest. Boarding the train a little later, I entered my cabin and plopped down, falling asleep a few minutes later.
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Sitting atop the hill, I watched as Erza slowly climbed the hill with a flag in hand before finally stabbing it into the ground beside me, only to drop to her knees in exhaustion. "I-I d-did it!" Said Erza weakly as she rolled onto her back and looked into the sky while gasping for breath, causing me to smirk as I gently rubbed her head. "Congratulations, Erza… You're the third S-Class Mage! And the Youngest to ever do so, to boot!" Erza was clearly excited by my words, though her exhaustion outweighed her excitement, so she could only offer a slight smile.
Gramps arrived at the top of the hill a short while later and sported a large smile. "You've truly proven yourself as an S-class mage, Erza. I'm very happy for you." Said Gramps with a faint smile as he gave Erza a thumbs-up while she suddenly narrowed her eyes. "M-Master. W-Why was this trial s-so much harder c-compared to last years?" Erza asked in confusion as she looked at Gramps in frustration, causing me to also raise an eyebrow at her question since this year's trial was many times harder than last year's, where I won.
"Um, well, about that, Erza, last year's trial was merely for formality… There was no way for you or Mira to beat Cooper. Although he acts quite dumb, he is more than capable of taking his mission very seriously; after all, he's taken several quests with others, though have they ever returned injured?" Glaring at Gramps, who awkwardly looked at Erza, I clicked my tongue in annoyance while averting my gaze. "Now that you mention it, I've never seen anyone hurt when taking a mission with him." Muttered Erza softly as she furrowed her brows with a thoughtful expression before shifting her gaze to me, causing me to roll my eyes.
"You can take care of her, Gramps; I'll get everyone else." Standing up, I walked down the hill into the forest, where I found Mira lying on the ground, prompting me to toss her over my shoulder; a few minutes later, I saw Mystogan, who, like always, was wearing large clothes that concealed most of his appearance except for his eyes. However, since Mystogan was unconscious, I used that chance to view his face, and while it was nothing special, he had a pretty cool red tattoo on the right side of his face. After tossing him over Mira, I continued trekking through the forest, where I found Evergreen, Bickslow, and Fried before heading towards the docks.
Once I arrived at the dock, I spotted Gramps tending to Erza, wrapping her with bandages while I tossed the five onto the ship's deck. Grabbing some rolls of bandages, I spent the next few minutes tending to their wounds while Gramps slowly sailed the ship back to Fiore.
When we arrived at Fiore, everyone had woken up, and although they were frustrated with their loss, they all congratulated Erza, well, except for Mira, who was more than just a bit upset. "Tsk, stupid stuck-up girl. Ugly red-haired girl." Listening to Mira, I rolled my eyes and sighed; despite my words, she and Erza still had a very intense rivalry. Kicking open the guild doors, Natsu, Max, Nab, Jet, Droy, Lisanna, Elfman, Gray, and Alzack quickly surrounded us as they began pestering us with questions regarding the S-class Promotion Trial. "How was it!?" "Who won!?" "Mira, did you win!?" "I'll fight whoever won to take their spot!" "I just want to fight!" "Big bro, come here!"
I could feel my face twitch in annoyance at their constant pestering, causing me to clench my fist as I swiftly maneuvered between them, hitting each of them on the head and causing them to fall to the ground while grabbing their heads in pain. "Back off. Everyone is injured, and you're bothering them." Folding my arms, I eyed the nine boys before shaking my head and walking past them, prompting everyone behind me to do so as well.
"Attention, everyone! I would like to introduce to you all, our newest S-Class Mage… Erza Scarlet!" Stated Gramps with a grin as he pointed towards Erza, who attempted to look professional, though it was quickly broken as she was enveloped within a massive hug by nearly half of the guild members before being repeatedly tossed into the air. "Erza! Erza! Erza! Erza!" Faintly smiling, the guild was full of joy for the rest of the night as we celebrated Erza's promotion to S-class; well, Mira wasn't too happy, but since she sat beside me, I kept her content.
Once morning arrived, I first grabbed another S-class mission, though instead of going by myself, I lifted Erza, who had just woken up, onto my shoulders, prompting her to subconsciously grab my hair for support. "W-What are you doing, big bro?" Asked Erza in confusion as she looked down at me and shook off her drowsiness. "Now that you're an S-class mage, I will take you on your first mission. I've taken a few very dangerous S-class missions where I nearly ended up dead, so I'll act as your supervisor." Gently patting Erza's thigh while I looked up at her, she pouted slightly as she never seemed to like it when I treated her like a child, especially even more so now that she was fifteen, but I didn't care.
"Haa, fine, Big bro… What mission did you take?" "Hmm, something to do about a demonic beast in the western forests of Fiore. Eh, it should be fine."