"Really? We both know I didn't get injured at all." Eric whispered to Flare with a smirk, but the girl ignored him as she checked him over while Eric glared at the mages snickering in the background.

"Be quiet, you. I told you that I would be your medic for the exams." She said back and he rolled his eyes as he continued to drink his whiskey, waiting for a while before the red-haired lady was satisfied as she went back to drinking her wine.

"What's the verdict, doc?" Eric teased with a smirk and Flare giggled as she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, you are in perfect health."

"Were you expecting me to be injured?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, his second eyebrow joining the first as the girl just blushed and looked away.

"What did you do to turn poor innocent Flare into a sadist?" Goldmine asked as he sat down at their table, Eric grumbling as Flare let out an exaggerated sigh.

"He put me through the ringer, master. I didn't even get a moment of rest before he wanted to continue another round and my body was sore all over every day." Goldmine just looked at the girl in shock before turning to a smirking Eric.

"You walked into that one." He spoke, drawing chuckles from the rest of the guild as Flare giggled while Goldmine shook his head with a sigh.

"So, think I can get a sneak peek of tomorrow?" Eric asked with a smirk before grumbling as Goldmine smirked at him.

"Yeah, no. You're just going to have to wait just like everyone else. However, before I leave, I have to ask something. Do you want an easy fight or a hard one?" He asked and Eric blinked at the question as he frowned in thought before shrugging.

"It doesn't actually matter to me if I become S-Class or not. I just wanted some place where I can be fight to my fullest. As long as that can happen, I don't particularly care."

"Then, why go on the training trip?" Flare grumbled with a glare and Eric smirked as he shrugged.

"I wanted to go train in peace and I wanted to both make you as strong as possible & spend time with you."

"And you wonder why people think you're dating." Goldmine chuckled as he stood up, leaving a bright red Flare and an amused Eric behind as he walked over to where the other S-Class mages were sitting near the counter.

"And?" Guy asked and Goldmine smirked as he nodded.

"Give him the hardest fight."

"Did he say that?" Bacchus asked with a smirk, snickering as Goldmine chuckled & nodded.

"Yeah, the kid doesn't care for becoming S-Class. He just wants a good fight." Bacchus laughed at that while Guy & Warcry sighed.

"I blame you for making him like that." Guy said with a frown aimed at the Ace, who snorted as he shook his head & stared into the whiskey glass in his hands.

"Me? No, I didn't have anything to do with that. That kid…he's like me."

"A battle-hungry maniac?" Warcry asked before he along with the other two were surprised by the feral grin that spread across Bacchus' face as he shook his head.

"No. He's a caged beast. A monster that has to hold itself back or it will destroy everything around it. He wants an opportunity to let the monster free and he thinks this will be the chance to do so."

"You actually believe he's on the same level as you?" Guy asked, to which Bacchus chuckled as he shook his head.

"Not at all, but that won't stay that way for long. Give him a year or so and even I might have to try in our spars."

"Welcome back to the Quatro Cerberus Promotional Exams!" Guy exclaimed with a grin, the crowd & Quatro mages cheering along as Eric just stared at their new battleground with a deadpan stare.

'I guess they never removed it.' He thought with a sigh as he stared at the old Phantom Lord castle in front of them, with the other three winners & himself standing off to the side while the other four that lost were standing with determined looks in front of Guy & Goldmine.

"And now! We were supposed to do this yesterday, but master wanted to extend the tournament, so without further ado, Master."

"Thank you, Guy. Now, I'm certain you wild guys want to know what I meant yesterday by 'you still have a chance, right?" He asked, smirking as all four men nodded before he continued.

"Well, with how little people have been passing the exams over the past year, we've decided that we've been a bit too…harsh in the first rounds of each exam, so this year, the four losers will be fighting in a four way free-for-all for the chance to go directly to the final round."

"Now, that's what I'm talking about." Jäger growled with a grin, Semmes smirking as both Rocker & Nobarly grinned at each other.

"However, this is not a simple free-for-all. No, you all will be fighting over…these." He said as he pulled out four small orbs, tossing one at each confused test-taker and smirked at their confused looks.

"Those are what I like to call 'pointers'. Each one of you four have been given one and your goal is to destroy that pointer. Even if your opponent is injured, unconscious or defeated, they are not out if their pointer is still in tact. However, for those that want to go hide their pointer away & wait on the opposite side of where it is located, your pointer has to be within 50 cm of you or else, you're disqualified. That is also another way to get the win. The last one standing with their pointer will be the winner & will advance forward to the final round of the Exam. Does everyone understand?" All four men nodded in agreement and Goldmine smirked as he nodded before turning to Guy.

"Well! Now that everyone understands the rules, you guys will be taken to one of the fifteen exits of the castle and be given a minute to get ready before the round starts. Jäger, Semmes & Nobarly, follow Warcry to your designated entry point." The three men nodded as they gave Rocker a pat on the shoulders/ back before following after Warcry, Eric watching them leave as he frowned in concentration.

"Rocker & Nobarly's intense battles from yesterday won't help them in today's rounds." He muttered and Screecher frowned as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Despite his quick match against you, Jäger is still a strong guy and with them weakened & the closed-off space, he's the biggest threat."

"That's not to mention the fact that Semmes' Spin strength can be adjusted as he wishes, so he could go from bouncing harmlessly off the walls to slamming into you like a MagiTruck." Buffer chimed in as Leo chuckled & nodded.

"That all may be true, but they might surprise us with their resilience." He said with a smirk and the other three chuckled as they nodded, having heard rumours or having bore witness to how tenacious those two can be.

'First, I need to take care of Jäger. Leaving him alone would lead to a loss if he is left alone for too long.' Semmes, Rocker and Nobarly each thought with a frown as they stood in front of their respective entry points, Jäger grinning as he began to make a plan for the battle.

"Okay! Get ready to enter in three…two…one…GO!" The doors were blasted open as the four mages rushed into the castle, Jäger skidding to a stop just a few feet away from his entry point before slapping his hands against the walls & on the floor.

Semmes, Rocker and Nobarly all frowned as they heard the castle groan before their eyes widened as vines shot out from the ground in their respective hallways.

'Damnit! I need to get closer!' Nobarly thought with a frown as he unleashed a burst of heat from his body, watching the vines shrivelling up before growling as even more grew from the old vines' decaying forms.

Quickly ducking underneath a vine that swatted at his head, he placed a hand on the floor before unleashing a scorching heat wave that burned everything around him to a crisp.

'I hope you got that, Rocker.'

'Oh, you're not caring for structural damage, huh Nobarly? I guess we're going all out, then.' Rocker thought with a grin as his hands began to spin violently, watching as the creeping vines drew near before he put his arms in front of him & lunged forward.

Plant matter & leaves shot everywhere as the man drilled right through the vines, the ones that tried to wrap around his legs & waist shredded away by the respective body part turning into a supersonic drill before they went back to normal once more.

"Pinball Destruction!" Semmes chanted as he bounced through the hallways, the vines in his path absolutely decimated as the behemoth made his way towards Jäger.

'Damnit. First Eric & now these guys. I really need to learn new tricks.' Jäger thought with a frown as he jogged through the hallways, making his way up to the second floor before cursing as he tried to enter what was formerly the guild master's office only to run into a grinning Rocker.

"Well, hello there! You're really predictable, man." Rocker spoke with a grin, Jäger not answering as his eyes flickered before he slammed his fists together and a large dark-green magic circle appeared in front of him.

"Titan Fall!" Jäger growled as he slammed his fist into the ground before a sea of thorny vines shot out of the ground, a drooling venus flytrap chomping at the end of each vine.

Rocker, however, didn't look a single bit worried as he dove straight forward, the air warping as the temperature of the entrance hall skyrocketed before Jäger's eyes widened as scorching air twisted into the shape of a blade & cleaved through his vines.

Catching sight of Nobarly grinning at him as the mage rushed into the entrance hall, Jäger cursed as he leapt into the air, barely dodging Rocker's spinning fist before his eyes widened as a shadow fell over his form.

"Pinball Slam." Semmes chanted from above him and as he slowly turned around, a defeated smirk grew on his face at the behemoth just a few inches away from him before his world went blank as a painful force slammed into his chest.

A dust cloud ripped through the entrance hall as Jäger's limp form slammed into the ground before the dust was quickly dispersed by the spinning form of Semmes landing on the ground, Nobarly & Rocker frowning as the Spin mage first stomped on the dark blue pointer of Jäger before he stopped spinning to look at the two of them.

'It's just them standing in between me and a chance to get this S-Class promotion.' Rocker thought with a frown as he walked to be further away from Nobarly, who had the same thought as him as the man walked further away until the three were far enough to have each other within eyesight.

A tense silence hung in the air as the trio glanced warily at each other, neither daring to move as they waited for the other to do the first move.

One of the wooden beams above them began to creak & groan and a loud snap echoed through the guild hall as it began to fall down towards the ground, the world around the three of them dimming away as the beam slowly fell before crashing into the ground in between them with a deafening doom.

Before the dust could even settle, Semmes was already spinning towards Rocker, who grinned as he leapt towards the spinning man before using him as a platform to launch himself towards Nobarly.

"Hyper Mode." The familiar pink hue coated Nobarly's body as Rocker's drill leg came down onto him with an axe kick, the mage easily moving out of the way as he pulled back a fist before slamming it forward.

The air in front of him twisted before unleashing a beam of scorching beat, Rocker's eyes widened as he rapidly spun his lower body and just barely missed the beam that burned a hole through the wall behind them.

"Oi! That would have killed me!"

"We both know that's a lie! At worst, you would have been slightly burned!" Nobarly shouted back with a grin and Rocker growled as he landed, ducking under a hook fist before snapping out a leg sweep that made Nobarly frown as he leapt over it.

However, the both of them forgot about their other opponent as Semmes appeared from behind Nobarly, the mage wheezing as a dropkick slammed him into Rocker before sending the two of them flying into a pair of tables.

Not finished with his attack, Semmes began to spin as soon as he landed, Nobarly and Rocker shaking away the pain before grunting as they flipped out of his path whilst wincing as they aggravated their new & old bruises.

Nobarly frowned as he looked at Semmes bulldozing after Rocker, the two catching each other's eyes before nodding as Rocker stopped while Nobarly slammed one palm onto the ground.

The next moment, Semmes was surprised to feel himself getting lightheaded, looking around to see the air around him twisting & warping as Rocker began to spin his upper body.

"You're not the only one who can spin, buddy." Rocker spoke with a grin as he launched himself forward, roaring as he crashed into Semmes & sent the two of them rolling across the ground.

Semmes growled as he decided to lay on the ground & continue spinning, turning the ground under him to rubble before Rocker's eyes widened as a hail of stones was launched at him.

However, he grinned as Nobarly landed in front of him with his arms crossed, the man unleashing a pulse of heat in front of him that stopped the stones in their tracks before roaring as he slammed his fists outwards & sent them flying back.

Quickly flipping onto his back, Semmes chuckled as he spun himself rapidly to parry all of the stones before his eyes widened at the sight of a grinning Nobarly skidding to a stop in front of him.

Trying to accelerate his spin, he stifled a scream as the ground under him began to heat up tremendously, stopping his spinning to flip to his feet just as he noticed Rocker was gone.

"Rocky Guillotine!" Rocker roared as he came down from above, Semmes looking up before he gave a silent gasp as a pair of drilling boots crashed into his face & buried him skull-first into the ground.

The ground shattered & cracked as Rocker quickly leapt away, Semmes being sent rolling across the ground before he crashed into a wall while Nobarly grinned as he lifted a foot & destroyed the red pointer lying on the ground.

"So, it's just the two of us, huh?" Rocker said with a smirk as he turned to face his opponent, Nobarly smirking as the pink hue of his skin darkened & raised his fist.

However, he frowned as Rocker reached into his pocket with a chuckle before his eyes widened as the man shattered his purple pointer.

"The fight with Buffer took too much out of me and with today's battles & injuries…I know when to call it quits. Congrats." The man spoke as he walked towards Nobarly and held out a hand, Nobarly looking down at his hand & back up at him before sighing as his Hyper Mode deactivated.

"You're just a lazy dog." Nobarly grumbled as he shook the man's hand, Rocker chuckling before the man winced & grabbed his side.

"Hahaha! I should have known you would give up!" Bacchus exclaimed with a grin as he walked through the large front door, Guy rolling his eyes as he walked around & began using his Mirror Magic to revert everything back to how it was at the start.

"How do you even do that?" Nobarly asked with a focused frown as he watched Guy working, to which the man just smirked and walked away to fix up the rest of the walls.

"Yeah, you're going to have a better time getting Master to give you a free beer than getting Guy to give you information on his 'special magic'." Bacchus said with a grin as he carried the knocked out forms of Jäger and Semmes on his right shoulder, to which Rocker just snorted as Nobarly shook his head.

"Come on. Let's just go and watch the other matches." Nobarly said with a sigh as he wrapped his fellow mage's arm around his shoulders before helping him follow the S-Class mage back out to where the others were waiting.

"One day, I'm going to figure out how that works." Eric said to Guy as soon as the mage walked out of the castle after having done all his repairs, to which Guy just smiled as he shrugged.

"When you do, I'll give you a hundred thousand."

"See, now you've just given me even more reason to do so." Eric said with a determined grin, to which Guy chuckled as he walked to where Goldmine was talking to the crowd.

'How the hell were these guys so weak in the canon universe if their S-Class mages were this cool? Then again, our Ace was equal to Erza before they were put under the Fairy Sphere and they have Mira, Laxus, Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, Lucy, Wendy, Makarov & the monster known as Gildarts so I see why.' Eric thought with a sigh before shaking his head as he went back to listening at Goldmine.

"Now, for the moment you all have been waiting for! It's time to start the second official round of the Exams known as…the Hostage Retrieval Round!" Eric watched as the crowd & other Quatro cheered at that, his attention fully focused on Goldmine as he turned to face him & the other three contestants.

"This round is very simple. One contestant will be given the role of 'Guardian', where you will be given a doll and your goal is to defend that doll for five minutes. The other contestant will be given the role of 'Kidnapper' and your objective is to either capture that doll & bring it out the front door or…strike it with a killing blow in the chest."

"…What?" Eric asked in shock, the other three just as shocked as him as Goldmine frowned.

"To know the risks of an S-Class escort mission, we have decided to put one of you in the stressful position of defending your client and the other in the position of a dark mage/ assassin. If you wish to be successful in these types of missions, you need to think like someone who wants to kill your client. To know your enemy, you must become your enemy. Do you understand?" Eric frowned at that as he gave a nod, noting how the other three did the same as Goldmine smiled & nodded before turning to Guy, who cleared his throat.

"Now, here are the match-ups for this round. The guardian will be given a one minute headstart into the castle, where you will have to put your client in a secure position & protect them for the five minutes. Once one minute has passed, the kidnapper/ assassin will be send in & your job is to either kidnap your client & make it out or kill them & escape within the next minute. If you do kill the 'client' and the guardian catches you, that will be an automatic win for the guardian. Do you all understand the rules?"

"By 'catching the assassin', is it just a simple touch or will we have to hold them?" Eric heard Screecher ask and Guy looked to be in thought before answering.

"A touch wouldn't be enough, so if you can keep in contact with them for a three count, then you win."

'Okay, so it's basically a game of 'Protect the VIP'. Man, I think I'm good at those.' Eric thought with a frown as he watched Guy typing on a screen before his eyes locked onto the large screen that appeared above him, a grin spreading across his face as he looked over at his opponent.

Noting how confident the mage looked when he stared at the screen, Eric couldn't help his excitement from growing as Leo looked at him with a smirk before he nodded at the mage, to which Leo gave a chuckle as the mage nodded back.

"The first round is Screecher versus Buffer with Buffer as the Assassin & Screecher as the Guardian. After that, it will be Leo versus Eric with Eric being the assassin & Leo as the Guardian. Will the two of the first round step forward?" Eric smirked as he walked back to the sideline with Leo following him, watching as Screecher was given a deep gold dummy doll with a black '4' painted on its forehead.

"So, who do you think is going to win?" Eric turned away from Screecher disappearing into the castle to look at Leo, the mage stroking his beard as he looked at him.

"Since I don't know much about them, I can't make a good choice, but if I had to make a guess…my money's on Screecher. As far as I know, Buffer doesn't have anything that would let him track the other if he was invisible and even if Buffer manages to land a death blow, the invisible mage could still stay hidden in a corner & grab him from behind for the three count before Buffer could even blink." Eric answered truthfully, smirking as Leo just hummed before he spoke.

"See, I'm of the opposite. Yes, Buffer doesn't have a way to find Screecher if he's invisible, but he can still kill the doll and walk out while using his impact reflection to ward off Screecher before the man can even get a good lock on him."

"Yeah, that is true. I guess the only thing that will decide the outcome is if Screecher will let his doll be killed or not." Eric muttered with a smirk as Guy gave Buffer the go-ahead, hearing Leo chuckle as the two of them along with the others watched the man take his first step to begin Round 2.