Months pass and it's finally the end of the year. Fairy Tail is about to hold its yearly S-Class exam this month. Many people are trying to do as many job quests as they can before the selection while many don't even try.
The young ones are the most eager to join the S-Class exam while most of the old ones have already given up, mostly because they haven't gotten stronger for years and have reached their limits, so they know they won't be S-Classes before retiring.
"You aren't interested in the exam, Laxus?" Alex asks Laxus who seems relaxed while many are busy taking jobs.
"Not yet. I know I'm not strong enough to be an S-Class yet. But it will be different in 2 years."
"Oh, so you plan to join the exam after 2 more years?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not waste my time by uselessly joining it now when I know I won't pass. It's not as easy as it sounds. We haven't gotten any new S-Class for years the previous ones retired. Right now, we only have 1 active S-Class Mage."
"Who?"
"Gildarts. Gramps is basically an S-Class, but he is the Guild Master, so he won't take job quests like normal members."
"I see. The exam must be very hard if no one passes for a few years."
"It's not just hard, it's impossible for many people." Mest suddenly joins in the talk.
Mest is another member whose age is close to Alex. He was away on a long job when Alex joined and has just returned quite a while after that.
"See those guys who don't even try to complete more jobs? Some of them have actually joined the previous exams. But they said those exams were too hard and impossible to finish, so they've given up on joining another exam." Mest explains while trying to act cool.
"It was that bad, huh? Sounds interesting. I also want to try the exam."
"Hey, you are a newbie, so let your senior do it first. If you still insist, then I won't hesitate to fight you, you know. Only 1 person can pass the S-Class exam every year, after all." Laxus says it while smirking.
"Then take it next year while it's still hard for me to accumulate points to even be eligible to join the exam because I'm still a newbie. If you take too long, then I'll get that S-Class title before you, you know." Alex also grins mockingly.
"You sure have some guts, kid!" Laxus bumps his forehead to Alex's forehead angrily.
"It's just you anyway, why should I be afraid?" Alex doesn't want to lose and pushes Laxus's forehead back.
They keep bickering and finally get into a brawl that even drags Mest who is minding his own business.
But suddenly, someone comes while shouting panickly. "MASTER! MASTER! GILDARTS RETURN!"
Everyone in the Guild suddenly freezes and turns pale after hearing that.
"HURRY AND GO TO THE TOWN GATE! DON'T LET HIM TOUCH ANYTHING!"
Everyone leaves immediately after hearing Makarov's order, leaving only the kids in the Guild.
"Gildarts? Who?" Alex obviously knows who Gildarts is, but he acts oblivious because he is a new member.
"Didn't you hear me? He is the only S-Class Mage we have now."
"Oh, ok. But why are they so scared of him? Isn't he our comrade?"
"We aren't afraid of Gildarts himself. We are afraid of his magic and idiocy." Laxus says it while sighing.
".... Huh?"
Mest then explains it. "Gildarts has powerful magic that is hard to control. His magic can destroy anything he touches. It won't be a problem if he just walks on the street without bumping onto anything or anyone. But as Laxus says, he is an idiot. Don't even mention walking on the street, he will just walk through buildings and say that they get on his way. That's why he always destroys things whenever he returns."
"... I see."
Alex looks outside while thinking about Gildarts shift. It seems they haven't built it yet or maybe it hasn't finished yet. But now he can see the chaos that happens before the creation of Gildarts shift.
He can hear people's screams and the sound of buildings crumbling. Smoke can be seen far near the town's gate too. Alex never thought the destruction would be this bad.
'No wonder Gildarts shift is necessary. It's much cheaper in the long term to modify the whole city than repairing the destroyed buildings.'
'His control over his magic must be terrible. Shukaku and Kurama also did it when we were young because they couldn't control their strength.' Matatabi suddenly chimes in.
'Oi, now wait a minute! I didn't destroy..... Well, maybe I destroyed a few things, but that fox certainly destroyed more because of his carelessness.' Shukaku protests and Alex knows that Kurama would protest too if he isn't sealed now.
'My point is, being able to control your power is very important. I don't know much yet about this world's magic, so it might be caused by his incredible amount of magic power or his magic is just that hard to control. But I certainly know that you need to keep training your magic control as you grow stronger because the stronger you become, the harder it will be to control your magic.'
'I see. But well, even if I can't control my magic that well, it won't be as dangerous as Gildarts' case, right? I mean my magic is Take Over and I have a good relationship with you, so it's not like I will go on a rampage like Elfman.'
'Elfman?' Matatabi asks confusedly.
'Yeah, someone from this world that appears in the story. He and his sisters are also Take Over Mages. His Take Over allows him to turn into Beasts. But he can't control this one powerful beast and he hurts his sister when he loses control. That beast always tries to take over the control over his body, that's why it could happen. But we are in a good relationship, so even if I can't control my transformation well, I know you won't just go on a rampage like that.'
'You are too naive, kid. If your magic really goes out of control, then you will become a mindless beast. When that happens, it won't be you or us who control your body, but your pure instinct that moves based on your emotions and mood. It will be hard for us to suppress that because it is basically you. We are parts of your power, so we can't suppress you. You will keep being a mindless beast until you regain the control or you run out of magic power.' Shukaku is very serious, unlike his usual playful self.
'You surely know that if you go on a rampage even when you don't have tremendous magic power yet, you still can destroy a whole city just by transforming into our full forms just like when you fought Deliora. So imagine the destruction it will cause when you become much stronger and you will only stop once you run out of magic power. How many cities will be leveled until you run out of magic power?' Matatabi makes it clear how dangerous it will be if Alex really loses control.
It makes Alex think very seriously all of a sudden. The current him is still not that powerful, but he has the potential to be a top Mage. When he has the power to finally use all of the Tailed Beasts's abilities, then he will have the power to destroy even a country.
That's how great the potential he has with his magic. So if he really loses control, then he might really turn into a threat as dangerous as Zeref and Acnologia.
'Now that I think about it, Acnologia was a human who turned into a Dragon and got consumed by his beastly instinct because of rage. Holy shit! I really might have the potential to be a dangerous beast like that guy.'
Alex gets seriously worried now. Shukaku and Matatabi look at each other while scratching their temples. They only wanted to warn Alex so that he wouldn't ignore his magic control level.
But it makes him think of other dangerous possibilities that bad magic control can cause. It is good if he becomes more careful about it from now on, but they feel like he is thinking too much.
Though a while later, his attention is shifted to Cana who seems nervous while looking outside. Alex can guess what she thinks, but he doesn't know how to handle it. This is more troublesome than the danger of bad magic control.
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Thank you for reading this story. Please support by clicking like or vote if you like this story. It is much appreciated.
Read ahead up to +50 chapters in my patreon page, patreon.com/GrimFairy
Ch. 79: Nirvana