Ankh sat on a rock inside the cave, frowning as he pondered matters.
In the days since arriving early on Tenrou Island, he, along with Seram and the members of Oracion Seis, had thoroughly searched every corner of the island but found zero trace of Zeref.
This made Ankh realize that his memories of the original story were no longer of any help.
He had no choice but to resort to the simplest method: quickly repel Grimoire Heart and then make a swift exit.
Thus, Ankh had Ur stationed at various shores of Tenrou Island to keep watch for Grimoire Heart's airship, with instructions to signal him as soon as anyone approached.
After making these temporary arrangements, Ankh himself came to the battle route to serve as the examiner for some unfortunate soul—whoever it might be.
And now, at this very moment, Ankh saw the pair he would be testing: Lucy and Cana.
The moment he saw Lucy, Ankh couldn't help but feel that this chosen heroine's luck was truly remarkable.
After all, in this modified S-Class Exam, choosing the "Calm" route would mean having no screen time at all.
Choosing the "Duel" route meant randomly encountering any of their peers, and winning wouldn't be easy.
Unlike in the original story, Freed and Bickslow owed these two girls no favors this time around and wouldn't go easy on them.
As for the S-Class Mages on the "Fierce Battle" routes, it went without saying—only he and Gildarts might be lenient enough to "open the floodgates" and let them pass.
Cana nervously drew her cards and stood ready opposite Ankh, while Lucy also pulled out her Celestial Spirit Keys, staying on high alert.
Ankh smiled casually and said, "Relax. Let me first explain my testing criteria to you."
"Criteria?"
Cana was taken aback and exchanged a glance with Lucy, who immediately understood and asked.
"Does that mean if we meet the criteria, we can pass?"
Ankh nodded nonchalantly and replied.
"The guild's S-Class standards can't be changed, but I won't rigidly adhere to them either. As long as you can prove to me that you have the potential to become S-Class, then lacking in raw strength right now isn't a big deal—it's just a matter of time."
Cana put away her cards, thought for a moment and understood Ankh's intention.
In a straight fight, even ten of them combined would struggle to win against him.
By setting up a separate test, Ankh was actually offering them a viable strategy to pass.
Cana and Lucy exchanged a determined look and nodded in agreement. "Alright, what will you test us on?"
Ankh smiled mysteriously.
He pulled a small bell from his pocket and gently speak, "Bell capture."
That's right—Ankh had directly borrowed the iconic entrance exam tradition from the neighboring Naruto series.
After all, it was perfectly suited to challenge them here.
Ankh fastened the bell to his waist and casually Requipped into an outfit holding a small hourglass.
Pointing at the bell, he said to the two, "I'll place the bell here. If you can snatch it before the last grain of sand in this hourglass runs out, you pass the exam."
Lucy froze for a moment, then exclaimed in delight, "That sounds pretty simple! We just need to grab the bell!"
Cana shot her a sidelong glance and whispered, "Don't joke around. With Ankh's Gravity Magic, we won't even be able to get close, let alone his God Slayer Magic..."
"Oh~ I won't use either of those magics. Or, if you can force me to use them, I'll count that as your win too."
Ankh, with his keen hearing, overheard Cana's muttered remark and generously added this condition.
Cana: ...
'Well... that does make it a lot easier.'
After all, they were Mages! How could they possibly lose against a Mage who wasn't using any Magic?
After briefly indulging in overconfidence, the cautious Cana quickly snapped back to reality.
She pulled Lucy aside, and the two began whispering strategies.
Ankh stood waiting for a long time before Cana and Lucy finally faced him with highly determined expressions.
"Is that hourglass a Magic hourglass? How long does it take to empty?" Cana asked warily.
Ankh shrugged. "I set it for half an hour."
Cana let out a breath, exchanged another resolute glance with Lucy, then turned to Ankh and nodded.
"We're ready!"
"Good. Then the test..." Ankh smiled faintly, flipped the hourglass in his hand, and gently placed it on a smooth, flat stone.
"...Begins!"
As soon as he spoke, a blinding light flashed from the opposite side of the cave.
The moment Ankh finished speaking, Cana immediately waved her hand, throwing out several cards. Dense lightning spread out like a spiderweb.
"Lightning's Fate!"
The golden lightning bolts shot toward Ankh.
Squinting slightly, Ankh swiftly bent backward, effortlessly dodging Cana's initial lightning attack.
Behind the dazzling light, a bull's roar suddenly erupted.
The Celestial Spirit Taurus bellowed as he raised his giant axe, aiming to strike Ankh's head during the brief moment of blindness caused by the lightning.
"Quite ruthless, aren't you~"
Ankh sidestepped casually, then reached out and struck the flat of the giant axe with a fierce palm strike.
Clang!
"Moo?! My axe!"
A clear metallic ring echoed through the cave.
Taurus cried out in surprise, his powerful arms now completely numb.
The axe he had been gripping tightly was sent flying to who-knows-where.
After disarming Taurus with a single palm strike, Ankh spun around rapidly as if he had eyes in the back of his head, swinging the bell at his waist out of the way.
Lucy, who had used Cana and Taurus as distractions to sneak behind Ankh, lunged forward only to grasp at empty air.
Ankh took the opportunity to kick Lucy right in the ass.
The unfortunate Lucy-sama flew backward uncontrollably, landing face-down with her bottom in the air.
"Ouch, ouch..." Clutching her backside, Lucy scrambled to her feet and commanded her Celestial Spirit, "Taurus, use your brute strength to restrain Ankh!"
"Moo! Lucy-san in a bikini is so sexy!" The lecherous bull spoke with hearts in his eyes, but he didn't hesitate to charge right back at Ankh.
Snatching the bell wasn't about winning a decisive battle—they just needed to limit Ankh's physical movements!
Cana, who was responsible for controlling the field, made her tactical judgment while never ceasing her movements.
She drew two cards and chanted in a low voice:
"Ripples of the clear spring, whispers of the swift wind... Synthesize! Canopy of rain and mist!"
Despite being inside a cave, a light rain suddenly began to fall over Ankh's head, with dense, obscuring mist rising all around him.
Taurus charged up to Ankh, grabbed his arm, and shouted, "Lucy-san, I've got him!"
Lucy emerged once again from the mist, crouching low as she suddenly appeared right beside Ankh's lower back.
Her eyes gleamed with joy as she stared at the jingling bell within her reach.
Success!
Just as Lucy reached out to touch the bell, she felt a gentle breeze brush her face and Ankh's body vanished right before her eyes.
"Huh?!"
Ankh was now using Taurus's arms as a pivot, his body lightly suspended in a handstand directly above the bull's head.
Taurus stared blankly up at Ankh flipping over his head, then quickly realized he needed to take him down and restrain him.
But before he could act, Ankh smiled faintly.
He exerted force with his arms mid-air, performing a "dry-land onion pull" that lifted the massive Taurus entirely off the ground.
"Moo!!"
Taurus's pained cry echoed as Ankh, gripping his arm, slammed him hard into the stone floor.
Then, like a helicopter rotor, Ankh began spinning wildly while holding onto the dizzy bull, before hurling him forcefully in one direction.
The previously attempted ambush by Lucy once again ended with her being sent flying like a bowling pin by her own Celestial Spirit.
Even without using Magic, relying solely on physical strength, these two would severely struggle to pass the test.
After observing Cana and Lucy's actions for a while, Ankh couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.
He felt that they should be unleashing some kind of willpower-driven trump card by now...
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