"What's taking those boys so long! Time is almost up and everyone's already here. I just hope those boys aren't taking their sweet time to finish this exam, cause if they are, I'll make them regret it." Gildart murmured as he was waiting for them.
After a while passed, he checked his wrist watch and pondered angrily as he screams, "Ahhhhh! More time has passed and they aren't still here. Damnit, I'm starting to get pissed off just by thinking about the time they're wasting."
"I need to calm down, breathe Gildart breathe. Inhale, and exhale. Oh yeah... once those boys get here, I'll give them a piss of my mind, and not just that, I'll give them a brutal punishment that'll make them always want to finish on time! Yes, that's what I need to do, no, that's what I'll do, those boys are in for a lifetime of suffering in this exams!" Gildart murmured to himself as a smirk curled across his face, slowly twisting into a sinister cackle.
"I really feel for those kids, Gildart is going to make sure they don't have it easy in the next exam" Damian thought as he wished he could help ease their burden.
"Okay everyone, get ready, we'll soon start going to the location for your next exam" Gildart said which shocked everyone.
"But sir, Yami hasn't arrived and he still have some time left" Kaikuh said as Gildart looked at her with an intense gaze, sending chills down her spine as he replied, "And so!"
"Isn't that being partial, don't you think it'd be a bit strange to leave the others behind when their time isn't up yet?" Izumi said as Gildart coldly replied while checking his watch, "It's been fifteen minutes since you all arrived, do you really think they would get here in the next seven minutes?"
This made most of them speechless as Dr Mayumi then went closer to him and whispered, "I just received information that their Stage 4 instructor would arrive soon, so we'll have to wait here"
"Fine, but once the time elapse, those two have failed, even if they arrive a second late" Gildart said as Damian thought, "You'll need to get here quickly if you really want to pass this exam, come on boy, what's taking you guys so long"
Everyone heard the sound of an explosion, which made the ground shake as Mitsuki murmured, "You better hurry up you dummy"
Meanwhile Yami on the other hand was pissed off with Natsu for being so reckless as he sealed their escape route.
"What the hell man? You just blocked the exist!"
"We'll find another way out of here, besides, we aren't even sure if that was really the exist or an entrance into another room"
"Yeah but..."
"But what Yami! We were cornered and had no way of defeating that guy, the only shot we had was to get away from him. I'm sure you've noticed by now, but that man is basically waiting for us to run out of energy before he carries us to who knows where. I know I currently look like a coward, but I'm not as strong as you to act as support"
"Damnit Yami, what are you thinking? Natsu's right! We'll have a better chance of passing this exam if we avoid that man. It must be hard for him knowing he's powerless, even though he's got good survival instinct" Yami thought as he took a deep breathe and said, "I'm sorry Natsu, I didn't mean to make you feel bad or pathetic. I was just anxious since we're running out of time. I'm really scared of losing this exam since it means a lot to everyone around me, but I get your point, surviving this comes first, right"
"Yeah, but how are we going to escape from this maze? We're almost out of time and I'm sure mister Gildart is getting really anxious by now"
"Yeah, if..." Yami said as the rock separating them from the boss got destroyed, making some rocks to fly towards them as he protected Natsu.
"Can't we have a break!" Natsu said as they saw the boss shadow heading towards them.
"Did you think that would stop me?" the boss said as he walked towards them.
This made them unease as Natsu became desperate to escape from the boss, so he passed a little ball to Yami while whispering, "Blow that thing close to the man"
Yami nodded and activated his armor before the boss emerged from the cloud of dust, and as the boss emerged, the both of them rushed towards him as Natsu immediately threw explosive to the boss while Yami threw a punch at him. But the boss just held Yami's hand and swung his blade making the explosive ball to fly towards the wall before exploding.
Yami smiled as he pressed the ball, making it to explode as Natsu shot lots of explosive ball above them, flying towards the boss as he tried to save Yami.
Since the boss was caught off guard, he entered into fighting mode, making him to almost decapitate Natsu, but missed as some of Natsu's hair flew off.
With a surge of energy, Yami grabbed the boss's hand and spun with full force, channeling all his strength into a powerful kick that broke the hold.
Natsu quickly grabbed Yami and yanked him aside just in time, making the boss unable to grab them as they both crash landed on the ground.
Yami immediately pushed himself up using his powers as he lifted Natsu without hesitation, and ran toward the escape route.
The explosion was powerful so Yami's armor was deactivated as he ran to the light.
Natsu continued throwing explosives which made the hall way to start collapsing as they continued moving.
The boss dashed towards them, hitting them from the back, which made them crash land on the ground while he stood in front, blocking the exist.
"That was a desperate move, but that wouldn't take me down or make you escape" the boss said as his clothes were turned with little injuries on his body.
"Damnit! We've done everything to escape but this man still manages to hold us back" Natsu said in frustration as he lost hope.
Yami stood up while panting heavily and looked at the boss in front of him and said, "Don't think this is the end, we'll definitely get out of here and once we do, you'll be in big trouble"
"Yeah right, I'll be waiting for that! But to be honest, the only way you guys are getting out of this place, is by me carrying you out unconscious" the boss said as he smiled.
Yami looked back and saw a pile of rocks blocking the way and then looked at the man as he thought, "The only way to escape is to push forward"
"The man became anxious back then, which just means that the light we see is our freedom. So how do we get to the other side" Yami thought as he looked around and noticed the cracks on the top and side of the hall.
"Wait, when the top was collapsing... For a split second, just a little while, I could see the sky. This just means that if I throw Natsu through the wall, he'll be able to get help from mister Gildart and come to my rescue" Yami thought as he looked at the disk in his hand and said, "Natsu... Take that... Activate it so we can fight this man together. Even if you're not fast, he won't be able to win if the both of us coordinate our attacks"
"Okay" Natsu said as he took it and used it to hit his chest, making the armor to appear on him.
Yami nodded his head making Natsu to run towards the man while screaming as Yami used his powers to go towards the rock pile and began throwing it.
The man hit Natsu to the corner as he dodged the rocks.
Yami continued throwing small rocks at the boss, making him preoccupied as he dodged it and got closer.
"Wait, does Yami want me to get out of here while he holds the man off? If that's so, I should start heading out" Natsu thought as he began running towards the exist while making his ropes to move ahead of him, so he would be able to catapult himself.
"Don't worry Yami, I'll make sure I bring back help!" Natsu thought as he was running.
The boss got to Yami and punched him on his tummy, making him cough out blood as he whispered, "Go to sleep now"
Yami laughed and said, "Yeah, maybe in my next life" as he gripped the boss really tight.
This immediately made the boss to realize that Natsu was heading towards the exist as he turned and saw Natsu jumping up.
Everything froze as the boss opened Yami's hands and dashed towards Natsu, grabbing him before his rope could catapult him, as he threw him towards the pile of rocks, which made him cough out blood as he fell to the ground.
The boss saw the pile rocks falling, so he dashed towards them and protected them as a bright light shined on them.
"Nice try kids, but this is the end!" The boss said as Yami coughed and said, "Not yet, I'm not gonna loose!"
"Natsu, hope you ain't dead, cause we can still win this, we can't give up now, we're so close... We're so close to finishing this, so get up!" Yami said as Natsu forced himself up.
This brought a smile on the boss face as he thought, "Exactly, don't you dare give up, cause that's how you win any unbeatable battle"
"I won't lie, your pretty though, to be honest, I'm still wondering why someone as strong as you haven't finished us and gotten their job done, but still, I want to say thank you, thanks to you always giving us space to rest, we would be able to pass our exams" Natsu said as the boss became confused.
"What's he talking about and why...?" The boss thought as Natsu flew out of the place.
"What?" The boss thought in shock as Yami also flew out.
"Damnit, I now understand what he meant by that, I gave them enough time to escape" the boss thought as he jumped to the top of the place.
Natsu used his rope to catapult himself and Yami towards the rest.
"Don't think I'm just going to let you escape" the boss thought as he threw lots of rocks towards them.
One of the rocks almost hit them, but they dodged it, making them crash land on the ground since Natsu used his rope to pull them down.
As they crash landed, Yami got up and began running with Natsu on his back as other rocks began heading towards them which they dodged with a near misses.
"Hey, what's that? Hold up, that's... Ahhhhh!" Haruka said as she realized it was a boulder heading towards them.
Makoto protected her and blocked the boulders using his sand magic as Akari and the rest destroyed some of them.
One of the boulders headed towards Gildart but he easily destroyed it as Dr Mayumi screamed, "What the hell is going on!"
As Natsu and Yami tried dodging the rocks, Mr Damian noticed something running towards them and as he looked closely, he noticed it was Natsu and Yami.
"Damn it, I gotta go after them before they escape" the boss thought as he dashed towards them.
"Mr Gildart" Natsu and Yami screamed as they were approaching them.
"What's going on?" Mr Damian asked as the boss then landed in front of them, dashing towards Natsu and Yami.
"Where do you think you're running to, I ain't done with you boys yet!" the boss said as he dashed towards them.
Mr Gildart followed and sent a kick towards the boss making him to jump back.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" the boss said with a death piercing gaze as he saw Gildart in front of them.
"I should be the one asking you that Kenji, why they hell are you attacking my students like that?" Gildart replied with the same expression.
"What do you mean your students? Those are outsiders Gildart, and I already got dips on them"
"Hold up, what makes you think they're outsiders" Damian asked as Natsu and Yami thought, "Wait, they know each other!"
"They defeated my men who where inside the secret passage, so I thought they were rubbers or intruders trying to cause some harm" The boss said as Damian and Gildart became speechless.
"Hold up Kenji... Do you mean this two boys used the secret passage that took the hunters association a month to find" Mr Damian said as he replied, "Yeah, they even defeated the rookie hunters that where with me, so I basically believed they were outsiders"
"Sorry but they aren't, they're reckless contestants who unfortunately for us, we have to look over" Gildart said as Kenji looked at the boys in shock.
"How the hell did you guys find the secret passages, nevermind that, I'm just happy you guys are okay" Mr Damian said as Kenji said, "Hold up, you're telling me this two boys are applying to be hunters"
"Yeah" Mr Damian said.
Mr Kenji began laughing which puzzled everyone as he said, "Those two don't need this exam, they're already better than some rookies, plus, they completely annihilated all the beast in the hidden room. They should be applying to be apprentices not some rookie hunters"
"What?" Everyone screamed in shock.