Devil's Word Magic In Fairy Tail

Once I teleported to the shore, the others immediately noticed me and I came over to them.

"Good, now that Arthur has also come back we can proceed with the next trial." Gramps spoke up, unknowing of what had just transpired.

"Good luck you guys, I guess I'll have to try again next year, hehe." Ultear said with a wry smile.

"Yeah, I'll be waiting at S rank by then though." Cana announced proudly with an arrogant smirk.

"Awww, that's my girl! Already got this one in the bag don'tcha, hahaha!" Gildarts laughed heartily, picking Cana up for a hug.

"Hehehe, of course I do dad!" Cana giggled as Gildarts' beard prickled her cheeks. "Hey! That tickles." She said and tried to back away, pushing at Gildarts to escape his bear hug.

"My, ain't you two just soo full of yourselves." Ur grinned and ruffled through Cana's hair. "Good luck Cana, make sure you win. Otherwise you might have more trouble by next year than you had bargained for." She said with a kind smile.

After a few seconds, Cana had a look of realization and grinned, replying "Yes!" with a smile.

Ur then turned around, now facing Ultear.

"Ultear, prepare yourself for when we get back… Hehehe…!" Ur said with an evil smile, ruffling through her daughter's hair.

Ultear seemed to get chills as she replied. "Yes, mother…" and sheepishly crumbled under Ur's pressure.

"I could help you out with that too if ya want, Ur." Gildarts said, pointing at himself with a grin.

"Ah! That would be fantastic and much appreciated, Gildarts." The two nodded at each other with evil grinning faces.

This time even Lyon felt a sudden shiver, as the duo of S rank mages snickered to each other.

A few meters away, Gray was conversing with Erza while reviewing the last trial.

Suddenly he felt a shiver run down his spine too.

"Hm? Did it get colder or is it just me?" He suddenly asked, dreading what it could possibly mean.

"Mmm… No, I don't think so? Anyway, about the next trial…" Erza started pointing out a number of strategies depending on what the next trial may be like.

Seems like she prepared thoroughly for this exam.

"Can we get on with this already?" Laxus suddenly spoke up.

"Yes, if we could continue soon it would be quite delightful." Freed said politely.

"Yes, yes. It's time I announced the second trial of this year's exam." Gramps said, standing in front of everyone with Gildarts and Ur behind him once more.

"The second trial shall be a race to the top of the Tenrou tree with a time limit of six hours, you need to arrive there with your teammate so keep that in mind. Those who make it to the top will be met by a magically created maze which they must find the center of by the end of the timer. The ones who do find the center will participate in the third and final trial. Be wary on your way to the top and through the maze as you may encounter numerous obstacles like the traps you've seen until now or potentially meeting a strong opponent." Gramps explained.

"Good luck to everyone, dismissed." Gramps concluded and everyone moved towards the Tenrou tree immediately.

Laxus and Freed easily ran side by side at top speed, getting a head of the others.

Erza was actually running a dozen meters in front of Gray who was lagging behind, she completely ignored the fact she had to bring him with her as he wasn't fast enough to keep up with the other three.

She was only about five meters behind Laxus and Freed and gaining speed on them, once she got too close and started passing them, Laxus sped himself up with lighting magic leaving them both behind.

Cana on the other hand was forced to carry Levy on her back, as Levy was in no way built for such a heavily physical duty and wouldn't even be able to reach the tree before she crumbled down.

None the less she still soon passed Gray and moved towards the rest of the runners.

"They're giving it their all, huh." I said, munching on some popcorn while Natsu was eating steak.

"Hey *nom* Arthur, shouldn't we *nom* like *nom* go after them?" Natsu said as he stuffed himself full of meat.

"Nah, this is fine." I replied, taking out a bottle of what was this world's version of Cola.

"You're not gonna win if you just sit there you know." Ultear said with a questioning, yet angry expression.

As if saying… 'I already lost and have to wait a whole year yet you're just sitting there enjoying popcorn while the others get ahead?! Why?!' or something like that.

The trio of examiners gave her a wry smile as they prepared to leave for the tree themselves.

I simply looked over to Ultear while taking out more popcorn to munch on.

Without putting much thought in it, I handed her the bag of popcorn.

"You want some? *nom*." I asked, putting the rest of what I had in my hand into my mouth.

"No! Get going already!" She demanded, obviously annoyed at how easily we were taking it.

"Alright, alright!" I said, putting all the food away in my storage.

"Awww, but Arthur!" Natsu cried out, since he had now lost his stacked table of food.

"We shall be going now, we have a long journey ahead of us Natsu! All the way up that tree!" I said pointing to the Tenrou tree while striking a pose.

"Oooh…!" Natsu looked on in amazement.

Ultear just nodded in agreement, satisfied that we would take it seriously now.

"Well then, see ya later Ultear! {Gate}" I said and opened a gate to the top of the tree…

"Eh? Wait that's not fai-" Before she could even finish I already dragged Natsu through and took out my popcorn again.

Now, walking through the maze I laid down traps for the others for when they reached here.

Natsu was happy to receive more food as we moved along the maze.

I really need to refill my stock soon…

Anyway, I have to say this is kind of relaxing!

What with everything that transpired in the last twenty or so minutes I kinda want to take a breather.

So I trapped everything in sight and walked to the end of the maze where Gramps, Gildarts and Ur had somehow already arrived at together with Ultear and Lyon.

I did spend over an hour in the maze trapping everything but still… They're fast!

"Oh, there you are Arthur! I trust you left a lot of misfortune down your path?" Gramps snickered as he asked.

"But of course, they won't know what hit em!" I stated

"Hahaha, well let's wait and see." Gramps said and we all began our long wait.

I checked on the others about twenty minutes after my own arrival, Erza and Gray had actually managed to somehow gain a lead on Laxus and Freed, running up the steep spiral tree while walking on ice made stairs!

Laxus himself was running uphill the spiral tree trunks with the help of his magic boosting him. Freed was seemingly very tired by now with chasing Laxus so he was left behind for the moment, climbing the tree slowly but surely.

Luckily for the two potential S class mages, apparently they no longer needed to worry about Cana.

Why?

Well…

She was stuck together with Levy inside of one of Freed's traps…

Apparently he laid some down in the forest while he and Laxus were searching for one of the gems.

Cana was now stuck there and would be let out after three hours according to Freed's magic…

"Damn it Freed! I'll beat you to a pulp when I get out of this!" She pouted in annoyance.

"Levy! Can't you do something about this and get us out faster?" She asked.

"I'm trying! But these runes are so complicated…" The poor girl may be smart for her age, but she was still too young and inexperienced.

So she couldn't figure out the runes in time.

By the time they were freed, only two hours remained and Teams Erza and Laxus had gone half way through the maze.

In it they were met with a ridiculous number of traps which I laid down due to my earlier frustration.

Sorry guys, you're my stress relief.

I actually ended up defeating some of the monsters Gramps had placed there because of the traps getting triggering by them…

Oh right, Erza and Laxus also had to fight monsters on the way. Pretty strong ones too!

Gramps had made Gildarts and Ur capture a bunch of beasts you'd meet on A rank extermination jobs. So the maze was quite full of them.

How'd I not encounter one? Well, I kinda have a concealment spell.

Anyway, it took Cana nearly an hour to get to the top from the bottom, as she still needed to help Levy with the heavy labor task of climbing a giant tree taller than the Eiffel Tower.

While they did get to the maze, by the time they reached a third of the way both Laxus and Erza had reached the end of the maze and the timer had ended.

And so Cana was disqualified from the finals.

I of course, being the polite gentleman that I am, brought the two tired girls to where everyone else was.

Cana was not happy.

The first thing she did was literally just punching Freed straight in the stomach, knocking him flat on the ground like a dead fish, he was as unconscious as a thug who met and provoked a pro boxer during his evening jog.

"That's for leaving me stranded in the middle of a forest for THREE HOURS! Hmpf." Cana yelled to the nearly dead Freed and proceeded to pout angrily on the side.

Lyon and Ultear simply chuckled at the sight.

"Hahahahaha!" Gray however laughed loudly, somehow losing his clothes in the middle of said laugh.

I swear it's a cosmic power that steals his clothes or something…

"Hahahaha!" Ur laughed too while holding her belly, not because she felt his pain but because she was actually physically hurting on her sides from laughing so hard.

Gildarts on the other hand didn't know whether to laugh or cry! But after nearly crying at the sight of his daughter knocking out a guild mate in the middle of an important exam he proceeded to laugh his heart out "Hahahahahahaha!"

"Ha! Ha! Hahaha!" Even Gramps laughed heartily, enjoying the show his 'brats' as he called them pulled off.

I swear I saw Erza suppress a chuckle in the background too.

"Now, now. No need to get rowdy, we've still got the final trial to do!" Gramps stated as he clapped his hands in order to gain our attention.

"I seem to have lost my teammate though." Laxus stated with a deadpan expression, pointing at Freed.

Gildarts and Ur were suppressing their laughter at this point, while the master could at least be professional when he wanted to.

"That is fine, you don't require a teammate for the third trial after all." Gramps explained, "You've proven your ability to search, avoid traps, navigate through tough terrain, get from point a to point b, defeat strong enemies and that you have a good sense of direction. Now, we shall do a proper combat analysis on you." He said.

"What kind of combat analysis are you talking about Master? You said it yourself, we've been fighting strong enemies in the form of monsters haven't we?" Erza inquired.

"Quite the simple one in fact, it is a mere one on one fight between yourself and Laxus. I have to see how good you are in a fight between wizards after all." Gramps replied to Erza's question.

"Gramps… You're gonna make me fight a little girl?" Laxus asked, obviously looking down on his opponent and trying to provoke her.

"I don't want hearing that coming from someone who keeps getting his a.s.s beat by a 'little boy'." Erza provoked back, using me who was the same age as her in a means of a powerful mental attack.

"Huh? What's that you tomato haired shrimp?!" Laxus obviously bit the bait and glared at Erza.

Honestly, using my seemingly only connection with Laxus for that…

I approve!

"Why are you giving a thumbs up?" Natsu asked.

"It is but a thing between comrades my dear Natsu." I simply replied with a grin.

Before the two could continue bickering, gramps separated them with his two enlarged hands.

"You'll get to go at each other's throats in a minute, for now let's clear out the area." He said gesturing to the rest of us to move.

The center of the maze was a big open circular space with a stone floor.

On closer inspection, you'd realize that the ground is made up of stone tiles making it seem like an arena.

I created a place where everyone could sit at and we all sat down as Erza and Laxus were in the middle of the arena.

Once I myself sat down, Laxus suddenly looked to gramps and asked.

"Hey old man, what about him? Who's he fighting? There's only three of us left you know." He said in a questioning tone.

"Well about that-" Gramps got cut off by Gildarts.

"Ah! That would be me, hehehe." He said while scratching the back of his head with a smile.

"Eh?" was the c.u.mulative response that came from everyone other than Ur and Natsu whom I told earlier.

Gramps instead simply sighed at the reveal.

"Y-you're fighting my dad?!" Cana asked, seemingly all excited at the thought.

Her previously pouting visage was gone, only sparkling eyes remaining.

"Seriously…?" Lyon muttered.

He had long since realized that the difference between his teacher and Gildarts was not small.

For someone who thought of Ur as the greatest mage, the existence of Gildarts seemed invincible!

"Is that even fair? Wouldn't a rematch with Ur be a better option for him?" Gray asked, still missing his clothes.

"No thank you… I'm pretty sure he had already surpassed me months ago…" Ur replied, seemingly remembering something.

Months ago… Wait did she see me while I was training for the Rasen Shuriken?

Oh well.

"…" Lyon only stood silent at the comment.

"So Arthur already surpassed my mom huh…" Ultear on the other hand mused before sighing.

"I'm kinda afraid of what he'll become once we grow up…" Levy commented silently.

"Hehehe, well I guess we'll wait and see huh?" I merely laughed and placed my hands behind my head.

Ugh… The future seems bleak no matter how I paint it after today.

Laxus who was currently in the arena, seemed to have his veins bulge as he yelled, "Stop praising that brat and look over here already!" In an angry tone.

"Yes, yes… I'm sorry my boy." Gramps said, in an apologetic "Are you two ready?"

"Yes." Erza affirmed confidently, requipping a single sword in her right hand and entering a stance.

"Yeah!" Laxus exclaimed as lightning surrounded his entire frame, his eyes glaring towards Erza.

"Then, may the third trial… Begin!"

…