Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day of the S-Class Mage promotion trial.
On this day, Natsu, Gray, and all others related to the exam gathered at Hargeon Port, preparing to board a ship to the exam location, Tenrou Island.
"Erza, you're here so early!"
Wendy, who had come with Kenichi, saw Erza who had already arrived and immediately called out to her.
"It's not that I'm early, you're just too slow. Everyone else is already here!"
Erza looked at Wendy and Kenichi walking over and said with a smile.
"Everyone... is here?"
Hearing Erza's words, Wendy's little face showed surprise, and she glanced around.
Soon, her gaze fell on the ship docked beside Erza.
She saw that Natsu, Gray, and the others were all inside the ship.
"Then... that means we really are late!"
Wendy said apologetically.
"You can't exactly call it late. Master hasn't... oh, he's here!"
Erza originally meant to say Master hadn't arrived, but before she could finish, she saw Makarov walking towards them.
"Let's board the ship!"
After meeting up with Kenichi and Wendy, Erza walked ahead, heading straight for the ship.
Once on board, Kenichi glanced around and saw everyone gathered in pairs.
Natsu and Happy.
Gray and Gajeel.
Cana and Evergreen.
Freed and Bickslow.
Mest and Elfman.
Juvia and Lisanna.
Levy and Lucy.
Clearly, these pairs were the partners for this round of the exam.
"Kenichi, Wendy!"
Seeing Kenichi and Wendy approach, Lucy immediately stood up and waved!
"Everyone has found their partners!"
Wendy said with a smile, then walked with Kenichi towards where Lucy and Levy were.
"Kenichi, this time I will definitely defeat you and become an S-Class Ma..."
Before Kenichi and Wendy could reach Lucy and Levy, Natsu suddenly jumped out, pointed at Kenichi, and declared with fighting spirit.
But before he could finish, the ship suddenly rocked.
Natsu, who was full of confidence a second ago, wilted like a wilted eggplant the next, collapsing to the floor.
"Natsu, what were you saying about becoming what?"
Seeing Natsu fall, Gray said teasingly.
"Sh-Shut up..."
"Wendy, help me!"
Natsu weakly scolded Gray, then pleaded with Wendy for help.
"Okay..."
Wendy was about to walk over to help Natsu when Makarov came over and said: "Wendy, the S-Class Mage promotion trial begins the moment you step onto this ship. You and Kenichi are teammates, and you are enemies with all other teams."
Hearing Makarov's words, Wendy withdrew her hand and said apologetically to Natsu: "Sorry, we are 'enemies' now."
"How can this be!"
Natsu lay on the floor, looking utterly miserable.
"Erza, where are Mira and Gildarts?"
Kenichi scanned the surroundings but didn't see Mirajane or Gildarts, so he asked.
After all, Kenichi knew that Erza, Mirajane, and Gildarts would also participate in this trial as examiners testing the participating teams.
"Mira and Gildarts have already gone ahead to Tenrou Island. And I... stayed behind for a certain reason."
Erza subconsciously averted her gaze from Kenichi, then said.
While Kenichi and Erza were talking, the ship had already set sail.
At first, everyone could enjoy the sea view and feel the sea breeze.
But when the ship entered a certain area of the sea, the air became unusually hot and stifling.
"What's going on? Why is it so hot?"
Hearing Gray's words, Wendy said puzzled: "Hot?"
But soon, Wendy noticed that not only Gray, but also Freed, Cana, and the others over there were extremely hot.
Seeing this, Wendy realized it really was hot.
But Wendy found it strange that she herself didn't feel hot.
"This is..."
Soon, Wendy noticed that Kenichi beside her was, at some point, continuously emitting cold air.
"Kenichi-nii..."
Wendy looked at Kenichi with tears welling up in her eyes.
After who knows how long, Makarov, who hadn't shown himself since boarding, suddenly jumped out.
"We will arrive at Tenrou Island soon. Let me first explain the exam rules for the next stage!"
Hearing Makarov's words, everyone looked out to sea.
They saw a peculiar island shaped like a mushroom not far out on the sea.
"Is that Tenrou Island?"
"It has two layers!"
"It's really amazing!"
Wendy, Levy, and the others all looked at Tenrou Island with astonishment.
At that time, Erza called out to Kenichi and then left the ship early.
"Do you see that wisp of smoke on the island?"
"After you enter the island, there will be 8 paths leading to the location of that wisp of smoke."
As he spoke, Makarov opened a diagram.
The content of the diagram was the map for this exam.
The map showed 8 paths converging together.
Among them, four paths intersected in pairs, with the character for [Fight] written at the intersections.
Additionally, three paths had images of Erza, Gildarts, and Mirajane respectively.
The final path had the character for [Quiet] written on it.
After Makarov's explanation, Gray and the others understood that the [Fight] character meant the two teams meeting there would battle.
The winning team advances.
The paths with images of Erza, Gildarts, and Mirajane meant having to fight those three.
As for the [Quiet] one, it meant doing nothing and advancing directly.
While Lucy, Cana, and the others were thinking about how to choose the direct advancement path, Kenichi's gaze fell on the images of Erza, Gildarts, and Mirajane.
According to Kenichi's plan, he naturally wanted to fight these three S-Class mages.
Kenichi possessed Sensory Magic. Knowing exactly which paths Erza, Gildarts, and Mirajane were in would be as easy as turning over his hand.
Therefore, Kenichi could choose whomever he wanted.
'Let's choose Mira.'
After some thought, Kenichi fixed his gaze on Mirajane's image.
Kenichi also wanted to fight Mirajane after she had used her Satan Soul.