Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.


-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-

Chapter 61: Fight For S-Class! Cade VS Ivan!

Year: X758. 26 years till Canon begins.

Cade POV:

I felt a small drip of sweat roll down my forehead when I saw my opponent.

Ivan, who was a little taller than Gildarts, was wearing his usual purple ornate cloak along with a dark blue dress shirt and a light blue ascot tied in a full windsor knot. He stood smartly as if he was waiting to hear what I would say to him.

"Ivan..." I began with some annoyance. "What a pleasure to see you as my opponent."

No. In actual fact Ivan was perhaps the worst person that I could come across as my opponent right now.

Ivan was a harsh and strict young man. Like he said to me earlier, he did not believe that I belonged as an S-Class wizard. While Gildarts or Quikora would have maybe felt like that I was worthy and then let me by them without having to beat them, I knew that Ivan would not let me get by him like that

In order to win this trial, I would have to actually beat Ivan Dreyar in a fight. No way around this.

Ivan gave me a cold look. "If I were you I would turn around. You can still surrender and leave this cave. At least that way you would be going home with no major injuries." He suggested, taunting me.

I gritted my teeth. "Not a chance. I'd be shaming myself and my friends back at Fairy Tail if I just gave up here." I said with determination. "Frag and Scarlet are probably counting on me to win considering that I beat them earlier."

Ivan scoffed when he heard me say that there. "The fact that you made it to the second round of the trial is simply astonishing. I had expected all three of you to fall quite quickly." He jeered.

I hardened my expression. "If you keep spending time ignoring the progress the other mages in the guild make, then you'll be surpassed by everyone. I've hardly seen you at the guild in these last few months. Of course I know that you have an outside life, so I don't fully blame you for that. But still."

Ivan looked annoyed at my comment there. "What is your point?" He rebuked.

"My point is Ivan, you don't know what you're up against right now."

I smirked as I began to power up my magic and then Requiped into my armour.

Ivan laughed when I said that. "You think I should be the one worried right now? You Cade, are facing an S-Class wizard. One that has no time or any patience with any weak wizards like yourself!" Ivan spat as he too began to power up his magic.

I clenched my fist in anger. "I'll be getting past you in this cave Ivan. After that you'll think twice before believing that all the wizards in Fairy Tail are weaklings."

"Tell me." Ivan started. "What makes you think that you can win here? You are far out of your league here."

"Because I have a reason to win and move upwards in the guild. By becoming S-Class I can make a difference and help those that may need it the most. I think that's a better reason than why you became S-Class." I quipped cooly.

Ivan looked outraged to hear me say that. "Enough! It's time to end this waste of a trial!" He shouted as he got ready to fight. "We shall see how much of an enchanter you really are."

I got myself into a fighting position. This was it.

It was time to prove that I had the strength to surpass Ivan, proving I was powerful enough for S-Class. If I failed here, then I would also be proving to Ivan that I, and many others in the guild were not worthy of S-Class.

While this would perhaps be my hardest fight yet, I was also somewhat excited. Now I had a good opportunity to really throw a few punches to Ivan for how he's treated me recently.


I let out a yell as I sprinted towards Ivan ready to prove to him that I had what it took to win here and move forwards and upwards in the guild.

As the distance between us closed, I powered up a spell to use against Ivan. "Stone Fist!" I yelled as I covered my hand in stone and aimed towards Ivan's face.

Ivan smirked when he saw my attack. He quickly darted to the side and avoided my punch, before he then proceeded to attack me with a spell of his own. "Predictable. Shikigami Outrage!" Ivan cried.

This spell of Ivan's summoned several small paper dolls that flew towards me in the shape of punches. The fists hit my chest and sent me flying back.

As I was flown back, I quickly used my feet to skid on the ground, before standing up straight ready for a counterattack. "Stone Slicer!" I shouted.

The slices of stone went flying towards Ivan, but Ivan simply waved his hands and prepared a spell to destroy my slices of stone. "Shikigami Torrent!" He boomed. "What ever's the matter Cade? Show me your enchantment spells!"

'What the hell is he talking about?' I thought with oddity, as Ivan prepared his attack.

Ivan summoned a wave of his Shikigami dolls that he then sent flying towards me in the form of a violent torrent. His attack was able to break apart my stone with little effort on his part. What was worse was that his wave was still able to fly towards me.

"Disappear!" I yelled as I caused an explosion that destroyed the wave of Shikigami dolls. When the cloud of smoke and dust formed in the air, I used this moment to fire off an attack at Ivan while he was distracted.

"Stone Beams!" I shouted as I sent three beams of stone towards Ivan. The beams flew towards and right through the smoke that was between us. I squinted my eyes to see if they hit Ivan, but before the smoke cleared, I heard a voice from my side.

"Too weak! Shikigami Malevolence!" Ivan cried, holding out a hand.

'What?! When did he get behind me?!' I thought suddenly. But I didn't get much time to think that, as Ivan casted a spell that caused a small Shikigami doll to appear at my chest, which then exploded and forced me to be sent flying backwards.

I felt a lot of pain course through my chest when that happened. I fell on my back as I hit the ground and skidded along it. I quickly leapt back on my feet and saw Ivan preparing another attack.

"Shikigami Darts!" Ivan called forth several Shikigami dolls that he sent flying towards me in the shapes of darts.

I now done what I should have done a few minutes ago before this fight started, and casted Soft and Soar on myself. As soon as the enchantments flowed through my body, I leapt up into the air and avoided Ivan's attacks.

I then held out my hand and fired off an attack towards Ivan. "Take this! Stone Bullets!" I aimed my bullets to hit Ivan. He simply leapt out of the way of the bullets and powered up an attack while I was still in the air.

"Shikigami Dark Bomb!" Ivan called, as he summoned lots of small Shikigami dolls that came together in a sphere that were them thrown towards me.

I quickly prepared a counter move to this. "Stone Beam!" I cried as I fired off a single stone beam to detonate the bomb as it was in mid-air and still decently far away from me.

As I fell down to the ground the attacks connected and caused an explosion above us both. I wasted no time in casting another spell that to hit Ivan.

"Five-Layered Stoneflake!" I shouted as I summoned the five shards of ice that went flying over me and straight towards Ivan.

However, much to my surprise Ivan simply smirked and stood to take the attack head on! Right when I was thinking what his plan was, my attack went flying right through him!

'Wh-What? What the-?!' I began to think frantically. I then saw the figure of Ivan shape and shimmer until it was no longer visible.

'That's right! Ivan also has Illusion Magic! How could I forget?!' I grunted in anger for forgetting such an important detail.

Right as I did this, I saw the real Ivan appear from above me. He was preparing a spell to fire at me. "Stone, stone and more stone. Is that all you possess?" Ivan jeered. "Shikigami Impact!"

His attack here sent a beam of small dolls right towards me. Right when it was about to hit me, I quickly prepared a powerful spell to block it before it hit me.

"How about you shut up for once, Stone Buster!" I shouted as I fired off my powerful close range move to destroy Ivan's beam before it reached me. This was thankfully successful, and Ivan's dolls went scattering around us. As Ivan landed on the ground though, he gave me a sinister smile.

He waved his hands in fast rhythmic motion and something began to happen to the Shikigami dolls that were still in the air. Ivan let out a cry as he called out his follow up spell.

"See if your stone can break through this Cade! Shikigami Giant!" Ivan shouted with anger.

Just then the small paper dolls began to come together and form a large humanoid giant that stood a few meters tall. This was a move that Ivan used against Gildarts when they first fought – and now it was being used against me.

'Oh come on! Not this attack!' I was annoyed to face the giants head on. While Gildarts was able to destroy them easily with his magic, I feel I would not have such easy time. But things got worse.

I saw that Ivan had summoned another Shikigami Giant using some more of the paper dolls that were around the cave we were in. He had been setting this scenario up since the battle had begun?

What did give me some confusion though, was that Ivan was standing rather far back from where he had summoned the giants. Was he that confident? I'd make sure to make him regret that.

I didn't get much time to think on that, as the first giant leapt up towards me and pulled back a fist, ready to punch me.

I quickly leapt to the side and fired off a move to see how durable these giants are. "Stone Beam!" I shouted with determination. As my beam flew towards the giant's head, he blocked with his fist. But I could see that my move had left a big mark on the giant's fist. That gave me some hope.

I was about to fire off another move before I saw the second giant running to me from my right side. I had just caught him out of the corner of my eye. I leapt up into the air to dodge him, and hopefully get both giants close together. However, I was in for a rude surprise.

As I jumped up into the air, I felt a tug on my back. I looked down and saw a shocking sight.

The giant… he had grabbed my cape!

'What the-!? Dammit!' I thought with a snarl.

I was about to quickly undo the brooch that held the cape, but the giant had pulled the cape – and therefore me, down to the ground at a fast speed.

I crashed into the ground with a large crashing noise. Pain flew throughout my entire back and I let out a scream as it happened. If I hadn't been wearing my armour…

I immediately saw that the giant was preparing to throw a punch at me, him having let go of my cape just there. I wasted no time in getting out of this situation I was in. If I didn't then I was done for.

I fired up a hand to destroy the giant before it could land a punch on me. "Stone Slicer!" I shouted out with anger.

I sent a powerful slice of stone that completely cut through the giant's hand and destroyed it. The giant let out some sort of cry when this happened and took a few steps back.

This allowed me to jump out of the small crater I was in. The first thing I did was unbuckle my cape which fell to the floor. Then, while the giant was distracted I prepared a move to hopefully destroy him while he was still distracted.

Before I could though, I saw the second giant leap up and pull back a punch, ready to knock me back into the ground.

I gave a huff as I jumped back and avoided his punch. 'Ivan really isn't holding back here! I gotta bring me A-game to win here!'

I felt my chest wince I little as I did this. That crash to the ground earlier had been quite painful. I could only hope that it didn't slow me down. I had to be quick on my feet if I wanted to win this.

With both giants now somewhat close together, I casted a spell that would hopefully deal some good damage to them both.

"Delirium's Blades!" I shouted as I sent several of the sharp blades down towards the giants. The giants held up their hands (or just a single hand for one of them) in an attempt to block my swords.

The swords that I sent dealt what looked like some good damage to the giants. They had several gashes and rips going through their arms and hands. Yet they still stood despite the damage.

Both giants then begun to run towards me. Not wanting them to reach me, I sent an attack to slow them down, or perhaps even destroy them outright.

"Stone Wave!" I yelled as I threw my hands forward and sent a giant wave of stone towards both giants.

Unfortunately they were able to somewhat break through my wave of stone and keep up the run towards me.

'Oh come on! How tough are these guys?' I speculated in a hurry.

I was forced to jump up in the air as the giants got closer to me again. Thankfully there was no cape for them to grab onto, so I was able to get up in the air successfully this time.

As I was in the air, I realised that I had just simply jumped up in the air. I hadn't put any angle on where I jumped. That meant I had all but a few seconds until I fell back down. In which I would be pummelled by both giants.

Thinking quickly, I casted down a spell that would either distract or destroy the giants.

"Stone Spikes!" I cried with focus, as several stone spikes suddenly began to skewer the giants from underneath them. The giants let out a cry as this happened and they began to punch and try to break off the spikes that were holding them in place.

I grinned as my plan worked. It seems like while the giants will try to attack me, they will prioritise trying to help themselves over me. With them now distracted, I was ready to finish them off.

As I fell back down to the ground, I powered up my magic and let out a cry as I casted my spell to destroy the giants. "Take this, Stone Extinction!" I shouted with fury.

When I hit the ground and casted my spell on the giants, there was an explosion before several sharp stone spikes skewered the giants from all sides completely immobilising them from moving. When I stood back up, the giants began to break apart.

I let out a sigh of relief at that. Now all I had to do was focus on Ivan. He in question was still a few metres away from me. He had his arms crossed and just looked bored with this trial.

"I didn't think you would be able to destroy my giants like that." Ivan remarked. "But regardless of your skill there, you are still no match for me."

"Oh really?" I smirked. "Then why did you summon your giants to attack me? Could it be that you underestimated my ability while we fought earlier?"

Ivan's face shifted into an expression of anger. "Silence! I saw just there that you were barely able to destroy my giants. You must remember that you have still to land a single hit on me, whilst you have taken plenty of damage. I will not be wasting any more time with you here!" Ivan remarked as he began to power up his magic even more.

Ivan then leapt towards me and casted a spell to knock me back down to the ground. "Shikigami Torrent!" He yelled with anger.

As the torrent of Shikigami dolls were summoned from thin air, and Ivan sent them flying towards me. I grunted and ran towards the Shikigami attack. If I had to win here, I would have to land a good few hits on Ivan. Playing the long range may not work here.

"Stone Wall!" I shouted as I summoned a large wall of thick stone from the ground. I then sent the wall flying straight towards Ivan.

This was able to disrupt Ivan's attack and was still shooting straight towards him. While I couldn't see Ivan, I could hear him cry out a spell to destroy my wall. "Shikigami Outrage!"

I saw that the wall that I summoned broke apart into chucks of stone that fell to the ground. I could now see that Ivan and I were getting closer to each other. As the distance began to close, I powered up a spell meant to punch Ivan square in the face.

Right when I was about to hit him, I saw that Ivan was beginning to shimmer and dissipate. Another illusion!

But I noticed that there was a shadow behind me. Thinking quickly, I turned around as fast as I could and saw what was behind me. 'Aha!'

I smirked when I saw the real Ivan, who look astonished that I spotted him. While he was still distracted I called out my attack and punched him at the right side of his face.

"Stone Fist!" I shouted with determination.

To my joy, my attack hit Ivan square on the right cheek of his face and sent him flying backwards, where he then hit the wall of the cave we were both in.

'Finally. I was able to land a hit on him. And it felt pretty good to do it as well.' I thought with a smirk.

'It's going to take a lot more to bring Ivan down for good though. Can't start relaxing yet.'

I then saw Ivan get out of the wall that I had just punched him into. His clothing was scuffed and dirty from the impact. Ivan himself, had a look of anger on his face.

"How's that?" I spoke. "Still think I'm a low-class threat?"

Ivan looked quite livid at my comment there. "You… You think you are even a chance closer to victory?! Just because you landed a single punch on me?! A mere fluke and nothing else!" Ivan yelled. "You will not win here Cade!"

"Shikigami Darts!" Ivan yelled as he summoned several Shikigami dolls that formed into darts. Ivan sent them flying towards me, but I began to run towards him to try and land another good hit on him.

As the darts got closer to me, I quickly casted a spell to destroy the darts. "Five-Layered Stoneflake!" I shouted. The five shards of ice flew over my back and destroyed the darts as they came towards me.

Ivan scowled as he saw me getting closer to him, while also seeing me disrupt his attack there. He waved his hands and prepared another attack.

"Shikigami Impact!" Ivan yelled. As he fired off the beams of Shikigami dolls, I simply chose to dart and move out of the way using my agility.

Ivan grimaced when he saw the distance between us close even more. He then grunted and prepared what looked like a close encounters move. He powered up his fists with some sort of Shikigami Magic.

Right when we were about to meet in the middle, I also prepared a close encounters move, with Ivan casting his spell as well. We both cried out our attacks at the same time.

"Stone Claws!" I yelled as my fists were covered into stone that was shaped like claws.

"Shikigami Fury!" Ivan yelled, as he used his Shikigami dolls to form several more arms and hands that extended out from his back. I counted around four.

Ivan began to rapidly punch me with his many new fists. I was immediately forced to use my claws to block and parry the punches as they came flying in to not get hit. As I did this, a few of the punches did grace my chest causing some pain to run through me. I did my best to hold on through, as I needed to try and block as many of these as I can.

To my fear, as the punches were quite fast and strong. I could feel the impact that they were leaving on my claws. This meant that I was being pushed back slowly but surely.

Ivan during this, had a rather sinister smile on his face at seeing my struggle here. He grinned as he began to move forwards to keep up the pressure.

Realising that I was fighting somewhat of a losing battle here, I quickly leapt back using my magic and dissipated my claws. It appears that it did that at the right moment, as they were very close to breaking into pieces!

While I was still in the air I casted a spell down at Ivan while he was still below me. "Delirium's Blades!" I shouted as I fired off the enchanted swords at Ivan.

As the blades cane down towards Ivan, Ivan used his extra fists to block and swipe away at the swords as they were about to hit him. This did mean that his fists were destroyed due to my many sharp swords there.

Ivan gave me a cold look as he prepared his next move. "Let's see how you handle this Cade! Shikigami Disk!" Ivan said as he widened his eyes in delight.

Ivan seemed to use his Shikigami dolls to form a sharp razor disk that looked like it could cut through anything. He then smirked as he sent the disk speeding towards me.

I quickly raised a shield to block the disk. "Stone Wall!" I shouted as I summoned the thick wall from the ground to stop that razor disk. To my horror, the disk simply tore right through the wall as if it were paper.

"What a joke! Stone cannot block this Cade! Unfortunately for you, that eliminates close to all your spells as counters."

"Shut up!" I yelled with anger, as I focused myself. Not wanting to get hit by that dreaded dism, I quickly darted to the side to avoid it. But I noticed that Ivan pulled his hand back, and the disk redirected itself to me!

'He can control the movements of that thing!' I realised in annoyance. If I couldn't block the disk, then I would have to destroy it.

"Disappear!" I shouted as I used my spell to cause an explosion where the disk was. That should have done the job nicely.

Just when I was relaxing though, I saw the disk immediately fly out of the cloud of smoke and stone dust and my explosion formed and continue to fly towards me!

'What?! My Disappear spell is one of my strongest spells! How else can I destroy it?!' I quickly thought as I had to leap to the side to avoid being hit by it.

As I dodged there, I saw that Ivan was still controlling the disks movements with his hands.

Of course! Ivan was still vulnerable while he was controlling the disk!

I grinned at figuring out a plan, and fired off several attacks at Ivan. "You've left yourself wide open Ivan, Stone Beams!" I shouted as I sent a few beams of stone towards Ivan while he was vulnerable.

Ivan gave me a scoff as he quickly moved his hands and brought the disk back to where he was at a rocket speed. The disk then intercepted my attacks and destroyed them all. "Hah! You were saying?"

I gritted my teeth when that happened. I didn't think Ivan would be able to bring the disk back to cover himself that.

"This is perhaps my most powerful attack yet. It is able to destroy almost anything that comes its way. And as you've seen right now, it can even act as the perfect defence!" Ivan smirked with joy.

'Oh come on! Is there any way I can win here?' I thought, irked at the way this battle was going so far. Ivan seemed to have a counter for nearly all my moves! 'And why is he insulting my magic so much? What did I do to him?'

Ivan then held out his hand towards me and sent his Shikigami Disk flying towards me again. I was forced to leap from side to side to avoid the disk. As I did this, I tried to think of a plan to help me here.

'What can I do here? I can't destroy that disk with any of my attacks! Ivan is able to use it block and attack me if he wants.'

'I've already taken enough damage. While I can still move around easily, I can still feel some of the pain from earlier begin to stack up inside of me. I can't risk taking any more attacks.'

As I was thinking of a plan, I saw that a few rocks at the top of the cave fell down to the ground. Now that gave me an idea here.

I made sure to try and get a bit closer to Ivan to execute my plan here. I also had to make sure to avoid the disk as Ivan kept sending it flying towards me.

Finally, when I was a bit closer to where Ivan was, I casted a spell. "Six-Layered Stoneflake!" I shouted as I held up my hand and brought it down to the ground.

I smirked as I saw the six sharp shards of ice materialise in the air above Ivan, before they came downwards to hit Ivan.

Ivan noticed this and flung his hands upwards to use the disk to block the attacks. He did this, with the disk flying upwards to destroy my Stoneflake spell.

And that allowed me to run right towards Ivan and cast a spell directly to his chest. "Stone Buster!"

Ivan was shocked to see me get so close to him like that. As he did not see my attack coming there, he didn't have time to dodge or use his disk to stop me. This meant that he was fully vulnerable to my attack here.

My attack connected with his chest and caused a small explosion that sent Ivan flying backwards. Ivan let out a cry of pain as he hit the ground with his back.

'I did it! I got a good hit on him!' I thought with relief and joy.

My relief was quickly extinguished however, as I saw the disk that was up in the air fly downwards towards me at a fast speed.

I had just enough time to dodge out of the way and avoid the disk. I looked to where Ivan was and saw that he had gotten back up on his knees and was looking furious.

His expression was that of pure rage at me landing a good hit on him like that. "I've had enough of you surviving this long Cade! I'm going to end this little game!" Ivan yelled in anger. "A wizard like you should have never made it this far!"

Ivan stood back up on his feet and used his hands to redirect the disk to fly towards me in a zigzag style.

I just barely jumped out of the way, with me feeling the disk graze the bottom of my boots. I looked behind me and saw that the disk went flying backwards and hit the wall of the cave that we were in. When I looked forwards, I saw that Ivan had jumped up to above my level which shocked me.

Ivan used his leg to kick me down to the ground. Not only did his kick hurt my chest, but I crashed into the ground on my right side. That meant that my right arm and right leg were throbbing with pain.

As I rolled around to get back up, I saw that Ivan was coming down towards me, him preparing to use another attack against me here. "Shikigami Impact!" He yelled with anger.

I was barely able to dodge out of the way of Ivan and the beam of Shikigami dolls that he sent to me. I had quickly rolled to the side and got back up on my feet as fast as I could.

This proved to be rather difficult, as my right leg was sore from the crash to the ground earlier. While Ivan was occupied down on the ground, I tried to use a spell to attack him, but my right arm was also still sore, so I failed to cast the spell.

Ivan then got back on his own feet and prepared to cast another spell at me. "Shikigami Outrage!" He yelled.

I tried to muster up the strength to dodge out of the way or cast a counter spell to block the attack, but my sore limbs made that near impossible. I widened my eyes in shock and fear as the many fists made up of small Shikigami dolls started to rapidly punch me in the face and chest.

Multiple feelings of pain began to run all throughout my face and body. I could feel my nose, cheeks and ribs be struck many times. And behind the punches was Ivan Dreyar; smiling with confidence.

When Ivan had finished his assault on me I was sent flying backwards where I hit the ground with my back. I skidded along for a while before finally stopped.

My armour was completely wrecked by my fight with Ivan. While it was all still on me, it had taken quite a beating and probably couldn't protect me as much as it could have at the beginning of this fight.

I could feel that my body was in worse shape however. I could feel bruises all over my face, while my chest, arms and hands were also in a lot of seething pain right now. My legs also hurt quite a bit here and there.

I tried to get back up and stand up to keep fighting… but the strength to do so was no where to be seen.

'No… is this really it? Argh… I fought so hard to get this far in the trial.' I thought with anger and bitterness.

'Dammit… I have to keep fighting… I have to get up…' I thought, trying to work my limbs.

While I was thinking this, Ivan decided to take this time to gloat. As if he wasn't bad enough.

"Ha! What an effort that was from you!" Ivan jeered. "I will admit that I am a little surprised that you made it that far against me. After all you are a boy that I'd say can be classed as a failure in a league of your own."

I clenched my fists. "Wh-What…?"

"Oh please, everything about you is fake! Even faker than the illusions that I have." He spat. "You're a boy who preaches on about being so happy to have such a powerful magic, yet you lie to yourself and others about it. Where's the enchantments? All I've heard day in and day out is 'stone'."

Ivan chuckled under his breath. "Disgraces like you cannot be allowed to rest in our guild. In your entire time at the guild, you've proven nothing to anyone who's watched you! Waste of wizards like yourself have no meaning with us."

What.

What. Did. He. Say?

As soon as Ivan said that to me, something happened.

All of a sudden – almost as if by instinct, I found myself getting back up on my own feet. I turned around to face Ivan's and saw that he was looking astonished at me getting back up. But that wasn't the only thing I saw from him. He had a look in his eyes that I had never seen before.

His eyes showed the look of fear in them.


No POV, Ivan Dreyar:

Ivan was absolutely taken aback by what he saw right here.

Just a few hours ago he had said goodbye to Alexis and had come on this trial that he thought would be a waste of his time.

Ivan believed that none of the candidates that his father had selected were worth the rank of S-Class, especially that Cadewell. Ugh… Ivan just felt ticked off by that positive atmosphere he always brought.

That Cade… Ivan despised him much more than all the others in the guild.

Why? Because he was a fake! A fraud!

What sort of a wizard was he when all his achievements and accomplishments in Fairy Tail were simply due to luck. If it wasn't for that spell book that he had, then where would be in the guild? He certainly wouldn't be here, Ivan knew that.

And it was laughable that Cade lists himself as an enchantment wizard when he begins all almost all his attacks with the word 'stone'. He was a hack! A cheat! If Ivan was Guild Master, Cade would have been banished immediately! Fairy Tail shouldn't have wizards that outright lie about their abilities.

During this trial, Ivan was admittedly surprised to see that Cade was able to beat those other two wizards who he couldn't remember and make it here.

Yet his opinion on the young man had not changed. He was still just a waste of time to him and the guild. Just like these trials.

Ivan had decided to play around with the boy to see how good he really was. He was somewhat amused to see Cade beat his two giants that could take down some strong A-Class monsters. But then Cade landed a good hit on Ivan.

His lovely cloak and shirt with the ascot that Alexis had gotten him for his birthday was wrecked! Ivan felt a sense that he had not felt for a long time. Anger. Anger towards someone that was much lower and much less powerful than him.

Ivan then took the fight a bit more seriously, using attacks like his Shikigami Disk to try and defeat Cade. But then… Cade somehow landed another good hit on him. A stronger one at that.

He felt rage at the fact that this young upstart was outperforming him! Ivan then wasted no time in quickly dispatching Cade by using his magic to injure him, before sending him crashing across the ground.

Ivan felt a proud sense of accomplishment. Finally, that boy was staying down for good this time. He was a bit more injured than he maybe should be, but his father would probably just give him a slap on the back as he usually does – thought it might be best to avoid Gildarts for a while.

Just before Ivan would announce to his father (who was secretly watching this from behind one of these cave walls with that weird old man), he would take the time to gloat and demoralise Cade here. If he was lucky, then maybe Cade would leave the guild in shame and sadness!

Ivan started with a comments about how Cade was such a fake and disgrace to Fairy Tail. But not long after he began to jeer him, something happened.

Cade… got back up. He stood back up.

Now this… this unnerved Ivan.

How. How was that boy still standing!? He had made sure that he couldn't get back up by punching him as hard as he could with his magic! How could he still be standing up!

It was then that Cade turned around to face Ivan. Ivan then felt a felt a feeling that he hadn't felt in another long while when he got a look at Cade's face.

Cade's face was covered with red bumps and bruses that were due to the punches Ivan had thrown earlier. But Cade's eyes were wide with rage, his pupils a bit smaller than they would usually be. His face was that of a boy – no a man's rage.

Cade was pissed.

And Ivan felt fear.


Cade POV:

"Hey Ivan?" I said with rising anger. "What did you just say there!?"

Ivan took a step back when he saw me standing up just now. His worried face then shifted into one of amusement. But I knew he was still scared.

Ivan gave a laugh – I could easily tell it was a fake one. "Ha! S-So you were able to stand back up? W-Well it means nothing!" Ivan yelled. "So what if I said that you were nothing but a failure? It just means that – GARGH!"

As soon as Ivan said that comment there, I immediately lunged forward and punched Ivan square in the jaw.

No magic was used there. I just punched him as hard as I could.

My eyes were wide with rage. "I AM NOT A FAILURE!" I shouted at Ivan. "STONE BEAM!" I bellowed as I fired a beam of stone that hit Ivan square in the chest and sent him flying back.

"GARGHHHHHHHHHH!" Ivan let out a cry of pain as he went flying backwards. He then stood back up not long after I knocked him across the cave. Ivan looked like he was seething with rage. He had a vein almost bursting on his forehead and he had a snarl as an expression.

"I can see that I have been far too generous with you here Cade!" Ivan boomed, pointing a finger at me. "From now on I will be using my full power to utterly defeat you!"

Ivan began to then power up his magic to the highest it could possibly go. A purplish aura surrounded him as he did this. Whereas a few days or maybe even a few hours ago, I would have been a little nervous about Ivan's display here. Now I couldn't care less how strong he was.

I also began to power up my magic as high as I could. A light white and bluish aura surrounded me as I charged towards Ivan to finally finish this fight.

Ivan also ran towards me. It seemed like he didn't want to waste any more time here as well. As we got closer, I powered up a spell in my right hand to deal some good damage to Ivan. It also looked like Ivan had powered up a spell and had sent it right towards me.

"Shikigami Outrage!" Ivan cried as he summoned several Shikigami dolls that shifted and shaped into fists that were all thrown towards me.

I grunted and used my other hand that was free to annihilate those fists of Ivan's. "DISAPPEAR!" I shouted with anger as I caused a huge explosion that vaporised all the fists. Ivan was shocked to see this, it seemed like he almost wanted to retreat somewhat, but he didn't get the chance as I had now reached him.

Thinking quickly Ivan powered up a spell to attack me with while he still had a few seconds to spare. He casted a spell and aimed it right at my body as I ran up to him. "Shikigami Malevolence!" Ivan cackled as he summoned a small Shikigami doll that was meant to explode when it hit me.

The doll did indeed hit me – and it did explode. But much to Ivan's horror, I faced the explosion head on and did not get thrown backwards like before. With their being nothing between me and Ivan now, I casted the spell that I had been charging.

"STONE FIST!" I yelled as I punched Ivan square in the gut with my right fist that was covered in stone. Ivan coughed out some saliva and spit in his mouth as I punched him, him getting punched backwards even more.

As Ivan went skidding backwards, he looked up at me with a look of pure malice. He waved his hands and casted his next move. "Shikigami Disk!" He yelled as he gave me a wicked smile.

Suddenly the all too familiar disk that had caused me much trouble earlier was reformed at Ivan's hands. Ivan gave me a maniacal laugh as he sent the disk speeding towards me.

I stood my ground and prepared to deal with the disk head on. Right when the disk was about to hit me in the chest, I did what anyone else might think is insane. I blocked the disk with my hands.

I could feel the sharpness of the disk cutting into my gauntlets. I looked and saw that Ivan was giving me a hysterical look.

"You're insane to grab my disk like that! It will just keep on you until you give up!" Ivan laughed, thinking his victory was assured.

I simply hardened my already fierce gaze and grabbed the disk with my hands. I then began to spin the myself and the disk around in a circle with me going faster after each rotation. After a few rotations, I let go of the disk and sent it straight towards Ivan.

Ivan's jaw dropped when he saw this. He quickly tried to redirect the disk, but it was going too fast for him to do so. He quickly scrambled up a spell to block the disk from hitting him. "A-Ah! Shikigami Impact!" Ivan cried with desperation as he summoned several beams that hit the disk and slowed it down somewhat. It still did hit Ivan however and sent him flying backwards even more.

Me and Ivan were quite far apart right now. We were almost at separate end of the cave that we were in. As Ivan got up on his feet, I saw that he now looked quite injured. Several scratches and buses were all over his arms and face. His clothes were now quite ragged and torn.

"That attack just there was for calling me a fake." I remarked with a serious look. "But I'm not done yet. I still have to pay you back for everything else you've done."

As Ivan stood up, I saw that he was panting and clearly tired from this fight. But he wasn't surrendering. He still had some fight left him him.

Good. Like I said, I was still hoping I could knock some more damage into him.

Ivan gave me a small chuckle, before that then turned into a mad laughter. "Ahahahaha! You think you've won here Cade?! I'm not finished yet! I still have one more move left that I can use!" Ivan yelled as he widened his eyes. "Shikigami Colossus!"

'Ah! This move is-!' I realised quickly.

This was that move. The one that Ivan tried to use to defeat Gildarts years ago.

Sure enough, several hundred Shikigami dolls were summoned and began to form a huge, colossal giant. It came up to the height of the cave that we were in and loomed over me. It had no facial features and and resembled a human. It reached down and picked Ivan up, before the head of the colossus opened up somewhat with Ivan being placed in the head of the giant.

I was a little surprised to see that. That was certainly new.

I then heard a cackle come from the colossus. "This is my strongest attack Cade! I will use it here to crush you like the ant that you are!" Ivan shouted with anger.

I simply grunted in annoyance. "If that's your strongest attack then it shouldn't take long for me to wrap this up." I stated.

As I said that though, I felt some pain run through my chest. I widened my eyes in pain but endured it.

'Not good. The pain from earlier in my fight with Ivan is beginning to come back now. I'm running on pure adrenaline right now. If I fall down then I'll probably not be getting back up.' I clenched my fist and began to run towards the huge colossus.

As I ran, the huge colossus (or rather Ivan) picked up some large rocks from the ground and threw them towards me.

I quickly raised my fist to cast a spell to destroy the rocks. "DISAPPEAR!" I shouted with vigour as the rocks were utterly destroyed by my explosion. With this, I was able to keep running and make my closer to the colossus.

The giant then brought its two hands together in a triangular shape and began to charge up a spell. Sensing the high magic power that was emanating from the incoming attack, I quickly recasted Soft and Soar, before leaping up into the air as the attack came.

Out from the triangular shape that the hands made, came a huge beam of purple and dark energy. It completely vaporised the rocks in its way, before it then broke its hands away. I had a feeling that no spell of mine would have been able to block that attack.

As I kept up my pursuit forwards to take down the colossus, I saw that the colossus was reaching up and picking some of the pointed stone from the ceiling of the cave. It then threw the stone at me at a fast speed.

I was able to dodge out of the way of these rocks with a few leaps and darts to the side. Some of the rocks just missed my body.

I began to pick up the pace with my running as I was now getting quite close to the colossus. As I got closer to the giant being, it reached back it's huge left fist and got ready to punch me into the ground.

As the fist came down towards me. I jumped up and over of the fist and landed on the left arm of the colossus. I then felt the arm move forwards somewhat due to the fist hitting the ground.

"Argh! Why won't you just give up!?" Ivan remarked in irritation, as the colossus now turned to look me.

With my options for winning this long and gruelling fight beginning to slip away, I began the final move up the colossus. I started to run up the colossus's arm so that I could get high enough for my final attack.

The colossus used it's right hand to try and swat me off it. It raised its right hand and brought it down to where I was running. With a well-timed leap I was able to slip in between the fingers of the hand and land on top of the right hand that was trying to crush me.

Now I began to run up the right hand and then the right arm, with me closer to the head of the colossus. However, I did feel the arm I was on begin to move around.

The arm suddenly began to turn to the side, with the intention being to have me slip off the creature. I gave a tisk of annoyance as I was forced to jump to not fall off.

I was now in the air with no direction to go. The colossus's head was still too high for me to reach it and launch a spell at it.

Suddenly I was grabbed by the colossus's left hand. The right hand then came and grabbed me with me being stuck tightly between the two hands. I squirmed and tried to break free, but it was no use.

"I've got you now Cade! I'll throw you into the ground hard enough that you will be forced to surrender!" Ivan remarked with enthusiasm.

"…You grabbing me there just saved me and doomed you." I grunted with a serious look. "You've lost Ivan."

I heard Ivan give a murmur of confusion at that, but then seemed to notice what was happening to the colossus he was in. Ivan gave a gasp of shock when he saw the colossus's arms.

"W-What?!" He yelled in horror. "T-The arms! T-They're turning to stone!"

As Ivan said, the arms of the colossus were beginning to turn into stone at a fast speed. The colossus was forced on its knees due to the weight of its arms.

"Did you forget? I have the ability to turn solid magical material into stone. It's hard to do it on your dolls normally as they are so small and fast, but the dolls that make up the colossus here are much more solid and compact." I reminded Ivan.

"If you hadn't grabbed me then I would have been unable to use the spell on your arms like this. Not to mention I would have been on the ground." I said, hardening my gaze.

Now the arms of the colossus were almost entirely stone now. I could feel the grip the hands had on me slipping due to the weakening of the arms. I gave a look of relief as I broke free of the arms and leapt up into the air.

Now I was just at the same height as the head of the colossus. As I gave Ivan a stern and serious look, I prepared my final spell.

It had been along and brutal fight. But it was time to end this. This attack here would bring me to S-Class.

"IT'S OVER IVAN!" I shouted with pure adrenaline. "THIS WILL DEFEAT YOU! ENCHANTER'S FURY: BEAM OF ANNIHILATION!" I cried as I fired off my final attack to Ivan.

This was an attack that I had been saving to end the fight in the trial. It was one that I had handcrafted myself, and it involved me casting an incredibly powerful beam that caused a devastating explosion. This spell was perhaps my most powerful yet. As a downside though it took almost all my magic to use successfully.

My beam struck the colossus's head and caused a huge explosion to be formed at the temple of the head. The beam went right through the head and hit the stone ground that was beneath it. I saw Ivan being flung out of the head and taking the full brunt of the beam.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ivan cried out as he was sent flying down to the ground in the middle of my attack. The colossus meanwhile, began to break apart into small Shikigami dolls that quickly began to disappear into thin air.

"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENINNNNNNNNNNNG!" Ivan bellowed as he hit the ground causing a huge crater to be formed.

By the time I landed on the ground, the colossus had vanished, and Ivan was lying in a crater in the ground. He was twitching his limbs, and I could hear a few groans come out of his mouth.

My trial was over. I had just defeated Ivan Dreyar, an S-Class wizard in battle.


I took a few breaths of relief after that whole experience there, before I then made my way over to where Ivan was lying.

As Ivan saw me coming, he immediately had a panicked look on his face.

"A-Ah! C-Cade! L-Look I didn't mean what I said earlier about you!" Ivan pleaded. "I-I was just trying to have a bit of fun! These trials can be so boring right?!"

I remained silent as I held up a hand and charged up a small beam of magic.

Ivan then held up his hand in panic. "N-No look I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything by it! J-Just please don't attack me anymore!" He begged as he closed his eyes in fear.

I then fired my beam past Ivan's head where it hit the ground. Ivan opened his eyes and gave a look of confusion.

I had a hardened expression. "Unlike you I'd never do what you did earlier in our fight and attack a man while he is lying and vulnerable, like how you and I were. If I did that then I'd be stooping to your level Ivan." I scoffed.

Ivan now had a look of anger when I said that. "What?" He demanded, wanting me to elaborate.

"If I became like you, belittling others and ignoring the strength of others around me, then I'd say I'm not worthy of S-Class. I fought here today to make sure that I can protect others and make sure that they have good guidance for the future. I'll never stoop to your level Ivan." I said as I gave a hard glare to Ivan.

Ivan was clearly fuming with rage with what I was saying. Yet he had no choice but to listen.

"Sometimes you gotta know when you're being surpassed. It may be ironic for me to say that when I haven't fully experienced it yet, but I have a feeling it will happen to me someday. And when that time comes, I'll be ready to help the next generation move onwards." I said, a small smile forming on my face.

"And your magic? What about that?" Ivan questioned with immediate suspicion.

I narrowed my eyes. "I don't get why it bothers you so much, but if you have to know, I don't plan on sticking with stone attacks forever. The whole thing of me layering my magic, was kinda of a short term solution all things considered." Ivan looked baffled. "I WANT to use more pure enchantment based attacks, and expand my magic more, but it's such a massive task that I have to take it a bit at a time."

"Also, my stone attacks are kinda dull looking aren't they?" I smirked with amusement.

Ivan simply grimaced as he looked away from me. He then gave a sigh of defeat and annoyance, before he spoke back up to me.

"Fine. You've passed here Cade." He spoke as he rolled his eyes. "Now get out of here and leave me here in peace. This is awkward enough as it is already."

I couldn't help but chuckle when Ivan said that. "The feeling is mutual." I then moved away from him. "Later Ivan." I held up a hand as I moved away from him and took the exit to the cave.

As I walked out of the cave, I felt a strong wind hit my face upon reaching the outside again. I was in a small area that was covered by trees. I could hear some bird in the air above me, and a gentle breeze flew through the air. I looked behind me and saw several other cave entrances that led to this point. Seems like all the cave entrances led here.

Standing in front of the cave exit was four individuals. There was Master Makarov, the old man that came with us, Quikora and Gildarts.

All four of them turned to see me when I emerged from the cave exit. All of them looked very surprised to see me exit and all shared looks of happiness at my success.

Gildarts was the first to come up to me. "No way! You made it Cade!" He said with joy as he gave me a pat on the back and put an arm around my shoulder.

"What, did you think I would fail?" I said sarcastically. Gildarts gave an awkward chuckle as he led me to the others.

Master Makarov was the next to speak up to me. "Well done Cade. It seems like you were able to beat Ivan after all." He said with some pride at my accomplishment. It wasn't every day that an S-Class wizard loses to another wizard in the guild.

Master then looked a bit uncomfortable. "Erm tell me… how badly is Ivan injured?" He said with some concern at his son.

"Oh, don't worry Master. Ivan's fine. No broken bones and no major injuries. Though he may need some help getting out of the cave there…" I answered with some honestly.

Master nodded his head at that. "I see. Quikora, go and help Ivan please." Master requested as he turned to look at the Illusion wizard.

Quikora nodded and made his way into the cave to help Ivan. That left me, Master, the old man and Gildarts.

I then fell to my knees due to my injuries from earlier coming back to haunt me. Gildarts quickly lifted me back on my feet and held me up. "Hey you ok there?" He asked with concern.

"Don't worry Gildarts, I'll be fine." I assured him with a weak smile. "Just took a bit of damage during that fight there."

The old man frowned when I said that. "A bit? Young man, you have bumps, bruises, scratches and many more injuries all over you. You need some medical attention that's what." He said with some seriousness.

"Really? I'm that badly injured?" I questioned.

Master then pulled a mirror out from his Requip storage and showed me a reflection of my face. I could then see all the injuries that Ivan had inflicted upon me. The old man was not kidding… Thankfully they would all heal in the end.

"Whoa… mother is going to kill me when she sees how injured I got. Though maybe the promotion to S-Class would subsidise that somewhat." I said as I looked to Master Makarov.

Master gave me a smile before he spoke up to me. "Speaking of S-Class, I believe I have an important announcement to make here." Master then cleared his throat.

"I, Makarov Dreyar, herby promote Cadewell Philipe to the rank of S-Class in Fairy Tail!" Master Makarov proclaimed with happiness.

I nearly cried tears of joy when Master said that. I was never one for getting all that emotional, but I felt so relieved and so overjoyed at my accomplishment and promotion today.

Gildarts gave a cry of delight at me getting that promotion to S-Class, as did I. We both held up our fists in the sky with joy.

Master Makarov had a smile on his face, as did the old man who looked happy to see me make it to S-Class. Still feel like I had seen him before somewhere…

As the celebration was commencing, I swore I saw someone from behind me. I turned around and swore that I saw a long streak of blonde hair go into the woods that were behind me.

That hair again. Just who-?

I was cut off by my thoughts on this, as I saw the old man also looking in the same direction as me. He turned to me and gave me a small but noticeable nod and a slightly bigger smile.

I turned back to face everyone else. Ah, I must just be daydreaming. Here's hoping that I don't do that while on S-Class quests!

The future does look bright for me in Fairy Tail. I was excited and eager for what would come next. The thought made me smile with joy.


Phew. That's one long chapter done and dusted. Over 10K words! Feel free to leave a review of your thoughts if you enjoyed it!

This is probably both the longest fight, and the longest chapter that I've done for this story. I wanted the fight between Cade and Ivan to be a rather long and back and forth battle between the two. Honestly, it might be my favourite fight that I've wrote in this story so far. Did you like it more than the other fights?

Anyway, Cade now has the rank of S-Class! With that he can move forwards and do more things that he wouldn't normally be able to do in Fairy Tail.

However, this arc is not over just yet. We still have a few more chapters to go before it is finished.

Anyway, you will see what these chapters are as we continue with the story! I hope you all really enjoyed this chapter and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in the next one!