Chapter 59: Era. Part 1: Rank Exam
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***
It had been a month since Eros had returned to Magnolia and strangely enough, four more kids had joined the daily training of his 'elite'.
The first was Mira, after the day her brother and sister came to him. For the first few days she tried to attack Eros, but he paid no attention to her, nor did he spare her, trampling her into the ground every chance he got. After a week of abuse, Mira stopped doing that and focused on strength, setting her sights on defeating Eros.
A week after Mira's arrival, Elsa stopped by his playground, wanting to join them. As Eros learnt from Kagura, she didn't want to lose to Mira and when she heard from her friend (Kagura) that she was being taught by the titan, she wanted to join them, followed by two other boys. One of them was Fire Dragon Killer, with pink hair and a very wild character, it was impossible to count how many times he called Eros to "mahych" and how many times he was kicked by him, and later by Elsa. The second was a boy with dark hair using creation magic. He, of course, was calmer than the first, but because of the constant mania for undressing, he was getting beaten up by Elsa no less than the first. Eros also couldn't help but recognise Ur's apprentice in this ice wizard. Their names were Natsu and Grey, and although they fought like cats and dogs, the titan thought they were good friends.
And with the second Dragon Slayer joining the team, Eros had more material to research to answer the question of why these two, who had been trained by dragons and arrived at this time, were not turning into them. Although the titan had one idea, it scared him, because if that was the case, then at least two more dragons were walking around the world and helping these two in some inconspicuous way.
Also Eros finally finished with gathering all the documents to create a guild, but first he has to pass the qualification test. That was why the titan had been waiting for this month, because today was the day when the eighth in the list of the God-Elect came to Era, and with his help, Eros was going to get his S-rank, as well as the eighth place in the list of the God-Elect, by defeating him. Although even if he did that, his chances weren't 100%, the council's decision wasn't the last thing on the matter, so he asked Urthir to join him to support the titan at this time.
***
Era is a large city that is built around high rocky mountains. On the mountain is the headquarters of the highest authority in the world of Magic, the Magical Council. The rocky mountain is located in the heart of the city, and it has a rough path that encircles the periphery of the mountain as the entrance to the Council's headquarters. The city is surrounded by forest and mountains in the snow. The buildings themselves are built in the same style as Magnolia.
Eros arrived in Era today, to receive his S-rank, as well as becoming one of the Ten Holy Mages.
- Not bad," Eros looked around the city from a bird's eye view and said, "Okay, now I have to do my business, and I can go for a walk afterwards," he landed near the city, removed his invisibility and walked towards the gate guarded by a group of Rune Knights.
As he approached the gate, he was blocked by two knights.
- Your name, city, guild, purpose of arrival? - Came the monotone voice of one of them.
- Eros, Magnolia, I am not a member of a guild, I have come to obtain a rank.
Quickly writing down the data, the two stepped aside allowing the titan to pass into the city.
- Come on in.
- Thank you," Eros headed straight for the largest building on the mountain.
As he walked through the city, Eros noticed a large number of Rune Knights patrolling the city. This was not surprising, as it was the seat of the Magical Council, and these old men were very afraid for their lives.
As he climbed the mountain, a huge garden opened up in front of him, the path to the building was framed on both sides by small trees. On either side of the path were statues depicting winged women with naked breasts in fluttering robes framing their bodies and arms crossed on their chests. And against Eros stood a huge building, not a little inferior to Hartfilia's estate and even larger than it.
Once inside the building, the titan went straight to the reception desk, where a strange toad-headed creature dressed as a rune knight stood. Eros was surprised to see it, as he had never seen magical creatures working anywhere.
- Hello, can I help you? - The toad had a very pleasant voice that made Eros wince.
- Yes, I need to get a Rank.
- Yes, of course, wait a minute," he quickly rummaged through his desk and pulled out a small sheet of paper, "Fill this out and in twenty minutes you will be invited to the exam.
- Sure," he took the sheet and quickly filled it out and handed it back.
- Uhh... - the man looked at the sheet for a few seconds and suddenly turned pale... ~Quah....
- Is something wrong?
- Kwa... Maybe you've made a mistake," the man nervously pointed to a paragraph in the sheet where the letter "S" was written, "Maybe you've made a mistake...?
- No.
- Kwa... Let me... Wait one minute! - he flew out of the counter and ran up the stairs.
Five minutes later a stomp of footsteps could be heard up the stairs and the toad herself and five other people in the same uniform as her, followed by another man in an officer's uniform, ran up to Eros.
- I am Captain Eugene and I will also be taking your exam, please follow me," the man said nervously, "You'll have to excuse our behaviour, but every S-rank mage is worth its weight in gold, because the military strength of Fiora depends on them and the more powerful mages there are, the stronger the country is.
- I understand, but what is the format of the exam?
- There will be two stages, the first will test your strength and the second will test your fighting ability, and then you will be given a rank.
- That makes sense.
Arriving at the small arena, Eros immediately noticed a strange construction. Around the lacrima stood several sheets of steel, shield shaped and connected together. The orb itself levitated in the centre of them and emitted a small amount of magical power.
- This is a magic power meter, you should hit it with magic and it will show your power, of course, normally we don't use it, but at the moment the wizard who determines this has left Era and this artefact stands as his temporary replacement.
- Good," Eros walked over to it and pointing his palm at it, a wave of red Destruction power hit the meter....
As soon as the dust settled, all that was left in place of the meter was a small crater and a giant number in the form of '9999'.
- How is this possible...? - the captain whispered in shock as he looked at that number, "I've never seen such a gigantic number in our troops..."
- I'm sorry about that, I was really trying to hold back," Eros said sincerely and he wasn't lying, he was only using 30% of his strength, the titan just couldn't expect that he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
- S-Suppressed...?
- Yeah, I didn't realise it was so fragile.
- Fragile...?
- If it's expensive, let me pay for it.
Recovering and pulling himself together, the captain smiled nervously.- ''What are you, nothing, you have nothing to pay for, after all, it's our fault that he couldn't withstand your strength... - ''He's definitely an S mage! But why was nothing known about such a powerful young man! How the fuck does intelligence work?! But it's a plus for me, because I found him first! Now I'll definitely get a promotion!"
- That's it, let's move on.
- Oh... Yes, of course. Please follow me..." at this moment, he called one of the knights over to him, "Invite Mr Pate over!
- W-are you sure?
- I said call him in and tell him I've found him a worthy opponent!
- Yes!
***
Fifteen minutes later, accompanied by the same knight, a man appeared in the arena, wearing a rather colourful green swelling robe, with a large green hat.
- Show him to me, I can't wait to stretch my bones! - exclaimed the man cheerfully, looking round the hall until his eyes locked on the figure of Eros and after a moment, his face became very serious, "Good... A worthy opponent!"
Eros turned around and looked at the man whose amount of magic power surprised him slightly, for it was higher than that Golden Dragon Killer's, but less than Makarov's. Titan recognised him at once, for Urthir had sent him a message describing most of the God-Elect, and in this mage, Eros recognised the Eighth Holy Mage, Pate. Eros also received a description of his magic, he could create "living" objects from his flames that fought alongside Pate. Although the mage was not a weak one, but Eros didn't make Eros strain in any way.
- Here he is," the captain stepped forward and greeted him, "Mr Pate, this is the young man who wants to be S-ranked.
- Good," he replied with a grin, extending his hand, "Pleased to meet you, I'm one of the Ten Holy Mages, Pate.
- Eros, you too," he shook his hand.
- I think there's no point in waiting, let's get started right away.
- Wait a minute, let's start by erecting barriers around the arena! - Eugene exclaimed with panic in his voice and ran away.
Exactly a minute later, a yellow dome appeared above the arena, followed by red and blue above it
- Come on, attack," Pate beckoned Eros with a smirk.
- Are you sure?
- Come on," as soon as he said that, a red wave of destructive power flew at him, "Strong, but..."- The God-Elect calmly stepped aside, "Too slow."- But the next moment he had to dodge again, because another wave of red energy hit him exactly where he dodged it, - "Oh, shit!"- Putting his hand out in front of him, green flames flew out of it, which took the form of a ladder, and quickly climbing it, Pate jumped back, letting the wave pass under him, -Close... Now it's my turn to attack! Creation Magic Fire Lions! - Green flames erupted from his hands, taking the form of large two-metre tall lions that dramatically surrounded Eros on all sides, with the God-Elect himself standing in front of him.
"Beautiful..."- The titan looked at the lions with interest, a description is one thing, but to see them in person is quite another, - "I'll remember, maybe it will come in handy sometime."
At the next moment the lions rushed forward, the first one swung his paw and hit the barrier, but it did not move. The force of the blow was not weak, an A-rang mage would easily be blown away. The other lion clawed at the barrier with its fangs, but bounced away with a sharp roar and then howled.
- How is it possible...? - Pate said with disbelief, seeing the absence of a paw hand from one and all fangs from the other, the third he stopped, "What kind of magic is this? How could she hurt my lions so easily!"
Eros removed the barrier and... Disappeared from his seat appeared next to the right lion and grabbed the one by the muzzle, sealing it into the ground. The lion didn't even squeak before disappearing in a red glow.
- Not bad, you managed to destroy one of my lions, - Pate said with a nervous smile, spreading his hands apart, - What about a couple of dozens? - Flames burst out of his hands and about forty lions appeared behind him, not inferior to the first three, - Can you handle them?!