Fairy Tail: The Dark Swordsman

19 - First Phase

[X779, Tenrou Island]

— Dannis Martell —

Makarov's announcement was met with a second of confusion, as everyone stood on the deck of the ship in bewilderment. The beach was still a good hundred meters away, and I bet they expected the exam would start when the ship actually docks.

Not me though. The brief moment of silence was interrupted as I grabbed my pack and ran towards the edge of the boat, my partner running beside me.

"Mira!"

"I'm on it!"

Mira transformed midair, her form covered in light before revealing a new appearance. Her white hair that was tied up in a ponytail flew freely as a dark skimpy one-piece suit replaced her previously gothic look.

Two bat-like wings emerged from her back as she took to the skies. I jumped into the air, allowing my partner to grab me by the arm as we flew towards the island.

"Let's get a headstart!" Mira cackled happily. "See you losers!"

"Dammit, get back here!" Gray yelled.

"Come on Levy! We can't let them get too far ahead!"

"Right!"

Their voices started to echo behind us as we got further away from the ship. Mira and I reached the shoreline quickly as I let go of her hand and landed on my feet.

She landed beside me and looked at the numerous paths that could be taken.

"So what's the plan? I doubt finding those orbs would be easy."

"For everyone else, perhaps. But we got this one in the bag." I say as I pumped magic into my left eye, the irises glowing a deep red as the future played right into my mind.

The way my Clairvoyance works is the more magic I use, the further into the future I could see. Usually, I just use enough to have the next few seconds played out in combat situations. Using it to play out the next twenty minutes like I'm doing now would take an enormous amount of magic, one I use very hesitantly due to the consequences.

Case in point, I grit my teeth in pain as blood started leaking from my left eye. It pulsed greatly as I felt my reserves dwindle from the use.

Although this is a spell I can't use consecutively, it's power is one that I secretly have as a trump card for the future.

I wiped the blood off my cheek with the back of my hand as Mira looked at me worriedly. I wave off her concern as I let out a breath, finally deactivating the technique.

With this, the entire first round of the trials is completely negligible. Which is good, since I'd much rather save up as much energy as I could in the inevitable fight against Gildarts. While using this much early on was a risk, it's one I had to take.

I don't plan on succeeding in these trials, I plan on dominating. To show Master Makarov his faith in me was not misplaced.

I will become S-Class this year. That is a promise.

______________________________________

Tenrou Island had very thick foliage. As I walked deeper into the island, the very minimal sunlight that got past the dark clouds were swallowed up by the large vegetation around us.

I had to use my sword to cut through a path to the location I saw with my clairvoyance. Mira helped by using her sharpened claws to do the same thing.

In the future, I saw both me and Mira find one of the orbs in a cave that had numerous beasts inside it. Those beasts ranged from oversized lions to the occasional giant spiders. Creatures that would prove no threat to mages of our caliber.