A loud groan was heard alongside raucous laughter.
"Hahahahaha! Nice try Natsu, but it'll take more than that to take me down." Lucy said with a dopey grin. Deciding she had enough fun she went and sat down on one of the only benches left standing after her and Natsu blasted the inside of the guild.
Slowly standing up Natsu rubbed the back of his head wearing a similar type grin on his face, "Aww, man. I'll get ya next time Luce!"
"No, you will not. I've had enough of you two! Corner both of you!" Master yelled.
Grumbling the two powerful wizards slunk off to their corners, slumping on their charred seats.
With their fighting done with, the master went back to watching the fighting going on outside, his stomach dropping as he saw his children continue to have to fight each other.
Makarov felt his face drop as he watched the runes display the time. "Time remaining: 2 hours 18 minutes. Combatants remaining: 42"
"What? How have we fallen to less than half the guild?"
Lucy, having decided to ignore the master's orders to sit in the corner, walked up behind the old man, voicing what he didn't want to believe.
"How else old man? They followed the rules of the game and fought each other." With a careless shrug, then pointed at the runes clicking her tongue at who were the next opponents to fight.
"Gray vs Bixlow"
Natsu fist pumped the air. "You got this Gray."
"What a drag…I was hoping Gray could avoid cosplay dude." she sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"Aww come on Luce, have some faith in your teammate!" Natsu smiled, fisting pumping the air.
Lucy raised an eyebrow at Natsu, smiling back at him, "If you say so." Bending on one knee, and clasping both hands, Lucy mutters a request to her father.
"Lucifer send Gray your strength."
"If that works, I will let any future transgression slide" Makarov mumbled, still unaware of the other Fairy Tail member in the corner of the guild eating.
"Watch what you say." Lucy chuckled.
"Look Elfman's up against Evergreen, if we're lucky he can get all the girls back to normal!" Happy yelled.
Master and Natsu looked up hopefully, while Lucy rubbed her chin. "Nah, he's gonna lose."
Makarov's eyes widened. "Elfman Strauss vs Evergreen: the winner is Evergreen." The number of combatants dropped to 39.
"Well that was fast. I thought the Elfguy would at least last longer than that…" Lucy said shocked, as she watched their numbers dwindle.
"Elfman just got taken out..." Natsu grit his teeth. "And Gray's fighting Bixlow... even the Thunder god tribe is involved now. Man, I wanna join in!"
"I don't really care for this whole fighting royal thing, but I am angry that they turned my mate to stone so I owe them a beating for that."
"Oh?" Laxus blurred into existence behind them. "You think you can take us on blondie" Laxus asked cockily.
"Uh, yeah. I just said I could, didn't I? Natsu, Happy did I not speak loud enough?" Lucy looked to her friends confused, unsure if she had not for the other blonde to hear.
Happy and Natsu shook their heads, "Nah you were pretty loud Luce, we heard ya just fine!"
"Oh cool."
Laxus rolled his eyes at the idiot slayers before laying his eyes on one confused salmon haired mage.
"Why the hell are you in here Natsu, what too scared to fight?"
"Shut up, I don't know why I'm still stuck here!"
"Never mind, I don't really care. You wouldn't have lasted very long anyways." Laxus bragged, before turning back to gramps.
"Shut up!" Natsu jumped at Laxus's holograms face, not realizing it wasn't the real thing flying straight through it. Not expecting that he slammed into Lucy who didn't even budge and stayed standing chuckling at her friend who was on the floor rubbing his head for ramming into what felt like the equivalent to a cement wall.
"Heh, dummy."
"You're one to speak Lushie" Happy giggled.
"Tell me, old man." Laxus smirked. "How's it feeling watching your precious "family" pound each other in the ground so they can survive?"
He looked around. "I admit I was skeptical about putting up that third condition on the runes but now I'm kinda glad. With that blonde idiot- "
"You're blonde too, stupid!"
Laxus ignored Lucy's outburst and continued his speech "-out of the way and Erza and Natsu out of the picture, there's literally no one out there who can stand up to the Thunder god tribe!" he bragged.
"Shaddup lightning bolt! I swear as soon as I get out of here, I am gonna beat you till you're begging for mercy and even then, I'm not gonna stop" she growled. "And what's taking Gemini and Loke so long!"
As if on cue, a bright light emitted in the guild blinding all those in there, including Laxus. Once the light disappeared two familiar faces popped up greeting everyone.
"Piri, piri, we apologize Lucy, but the weird green fairy is a master at hide and seek." Gemi-Lucy says after popping up.
"Yes princess, surprisingly Evergreen is quite adept at hiding." Loke said apologetically.
"Yeah, and since we're not familiar with her scent we can't sniff her out."
"Damn. Well thanks anyways, you guys can go back to searching for her." Lucy smiled back at her spirits.
"Damage limit, miss Lucy."
"Eh, whatever floats your boat…wait, actually Natsu doesn't want us getting kicked out so don't kill them just like, I don't know, hurt them really bad so they know never to mess with us again" She utters out vaguely.
"Got it, piri, piri." Gemi-Lucy says before disappearing gleefully.
"As you wish princess." Loke bows, smiling back at his master.
"Oh, and Loke you can go back to the spirit world once you get rid of her, everyone will be back to normal so you can get some rest after you get rid of Evergreen." Lucy said smiling.
"What of Freed, princess."
"Eh, if you find him before Evergreen rid of him, if not you're free to go. Really I just care about Laxus now."
Loke laughed at his master's nonchalant reply, "Of course princess."
"Lucy no!" Makarov said rushing to get the younger girl to recall her spirits and change her command.
"Lucy yes!" she laughs, her demonic side taking over, as flames begin to erupt around her making everyone around her sweat.
"Luce…chill out" Natsu told her, surprised even he was bothered by the flames.
"Whatever, kill joy." She murmured, dousing her flames and going to get herself some food.
Laxus's head continued to float above everyone staring in slight awe at the fiery blonde currently sitting at the bar fighting with Happy over a piece of meat. What the hell is she?
"Laxus, what is it you want?" Makarov asked, painfully.
Looking back to his grandfather he went back to his cocky persona. "Ha. Easy old man, I want you to surrender, there's no one here who can help you win, or at least leave and help you win, so why prolong this pointless battle?"
"There's still Gray!" Happy exclaimed. "He's about as strong as Natsu! He won't lose to the Thunder God tribe!"
"Bahahaha!" Laxus cackled. "Got some high hopes for that loser, huh?"
"Yeah we do!" Lucy yelled, missing Natsu, and Makarov sweat drop at the celestial mage.
Makarov scowled. " Ignoring Lucy, I wouldn't underestimate Gray if I were you, Laxus!"
"We'll see" He smirked.
In town
Gray was hit again by Bixlows totems, barreling off the roof of the building they were standing on and onto a canopy breaking his fall. The ice mage fell to the ground groaning, every part of his body sore from the fight, his magic container empty, along with any strength he had left.
Gray was angered at how the fight was currently heading. He could barely get to his knees, despite knowing those left in the guild were relying on him. "If only I were stronger!"
"You'd still get beat by me Fullbuster! You're nothing compared to the strength of the Thunder God Tribe!" Bixlow yelled, as he gathered his totems to help him get to where the ice mage was.
"Stand up little demon's teammate, and accept the strength of a demon!", A deep voice spoke in Gray's head.
"What the...holy shit was that Lucifer!?" Gray yelped, before feeling as if he was doused in cold water, his magic container overflowing with power he's never felt before, any sign of fatigue gone.
"Holy shit. I've only ever felt this magic when around Lucy." Gray said in awe.
"Well, well, well Fullbuster! Seems you're not as weak as I thought. Thought that fall woulda killed you. No worries this last attack will!"
Gray slowly got up, a determined look on his face. "Sorry but that's not happening! I don't know how but Lucy did something to help me out and I'm not gonna waste it!"
"Lucy", Bixlow laughed, with his five totem-like dolls mimicking his next words. "Ha, what could that idiot have done to help you from the guild?! You're just running on adrenaline. You're gonna pass out in a few seconds!"
"Few Seconds"
"Few Seconds".
"Few Seconds."
"Ah, shut up totems!"
Bixlow had just shot forward aiming for a kick to Grays chest. With just a few seconds to spare Gray was able to backflip away sending an attack back.
"Ice make: Ice Lance!"
Bixlows' eyes widened at the younger mages attack which easily broke through his totems, hitting him straight on.
"Ugh! I'll get you for that! Fly, my babies!" Bixlow growled.
"Here we go!" The dolls cheered, blasting Gray with bullets of green light.
"Line formation!"
The things arranged themselves into a totem pole and sent a large blast at Gray. The ice mage was unable to dodge such a huge blast, taking the brunt of it, just barely casting an ice shield at the last moment to lessen the rest of the hit.
"Heh, not bad Gray, but also not good enough!" Bixlow commented. "Now, my babies. Victory Formation!"
Nothing happened. Bixlow's jaw dropped when he turned to his toys and found them encased in blocks of ice. "When did he..."
Gray promptly smashed a knee into his jaw and sent him reeling back. "Ice Make: Hammer!"
Bixlow frowned as the large weapon fell on him. "X Formation!"
Gray's eyes widened when mannequins surrounded Bixlow, stopping his attack.
"What?"
"Nice try Gray, but my magic, Human Possession, allows me to put souls into objects." Bixlow explained. "You may be able to freeze their bodies, but you can't freeze their souls. I can simply transfer those to new bodies. In other words, I CAN GO ALL DAY!"
"GO MY BABIES!" Before Gray could even react, numerous mannequins jumped out attacking him, fortunately with the random surge of strength Gray had received, he was able to deflect a good deal of the attack, coming out of it battered but still standing.
"What the hell?! How are you still standing?" Bixlow screamed. "That attack should 've taken you down."
Gray was still out of breath, on guard, eyeing the mage warily. "I... I don't know. I just know…I'm gonna...take you down."
"But you're magic, it should be depleted by now. How do you still have so much?!" Bixlow growled.
"Beats...me." Gray laughed.
The clearing of a throat garnered the weirdly dressed mage and Gray's attention. Both looking to the interruption, seeing two surprising figures standing with smirks on their faces.
"If you're feeling how I think you're feeling then you can thank Lucifer for that." Loke says.
"And Miss Lucy. Piri, piri."
"What the, but you're supposed to be stuck at the guild!" Bixlow yelled in shock, at the blonde mage in front of him.
"No, our master is. We're allowed to go where we please. Piri, piri" Gemi-Lucy said smiling.
So, it was Lucy's dad who gave me that magic…holy fuck!
"I don't understand, even if that's true how the hell did you get through the barrier! No one is supposed to be able to while in the middle of a fight!"
Gray was just as shocked as Bixlow at this development, but once he saw the lion spirit look towards him, he knew that was a signal for him to attack.
"Well, when you work alongside Lucy you tend to do to be able to do the impossible." Loke grinned mischievously.
"We're miss Lucy's spirits and she's very mad at what you've done. So, we're here to make sure you know that."
"You're just spirits, what can you do?!" Bixlow yelled. Bixlow would forever regret saying that.
Gemini smiled at the seith mage before lighting up their fists. "A lot."
"Indeed. As Gemini said you've made our master very mad, making us very mad Bixlow" Loke answered as he adjusted his blue shades.
Before he could attack them however, Gray had already frozen Bixlow's body, making him unable to move.
"Shi-"
"Regulus Impact!"
"Lucifer punch!"
"Ice make Lance!"
It was twenty seconds later that Loke and Gemi-Lucy were seen leaving a broken Bixlow on the rooftop of a random building in search of their next target. Gray stayed as the surge of magic had finally left his body causing him to pass out from exhaustion.
His last thought being "Thanks Lucifer."
The twin spirits sighed, disappointed at the fight they were given by the seith mage. Given it had only lasted fifteen seconds, they didn't really get to have any fun with the person. Gemi-Lucy turned to the leader of the zodiacs who seemed to understand their downtrodden attitude.
"I know, I know. You want a challenge, but you're not really gonna find one in Fairy Tail. Princess outranks them all" he smiled apologetically. His face brightening a moment later, "Hey maybe we can get Warren or Draco to spar with us some time?"
"Yeah, piri, piri!"
Back at the guild Natsu and Makarov were seething with anger at having to watch their guild mates fight each other because of these stupid runes, confined to only the guild walls was infuriating. Natsu for whatever reason couldn't seem to get out of the guild and fight leaving him stuck with gramps, while Makarov was stuck because of the age restriction. The wizard saint, Lucy, seemed to have accepted her fate and was sleeping.
Natsu hit the wall next to him, "Dammit! Why Laxus?!"
Makarov clenched his fist then looked up when the runes gave off, more of his children were taken out one by one.
Happy spoke up at seeing the runes, "Freed's taken out some more people like Alzack, and Macao! This really is the battle of Fairy Tail just like Laxus said."
Natsu looked up at the runes and noticed something, "Wait a minute…look gramps! The runes!"
Makarov noticed it himself, "I think the scales have tipped my boy." An amused glint appearing in his eyes as the names appeared on the runes.
"Bixlow vs. Gray, Gemi-Lucy and Loke have entered the battle"
Lucy awoke at the mention of her spirits name. Stretching, Lucy turned over to the runes, a giant smile on her face. "Tch, Bixlow is done for."
Makarov and Natsu looked to Lucy then at the runes, in thought. "You truly trust your spirits to be enough defeat the Thunder God Tribe?"
"Ha, enough, more like overkill. Old man, you'll be lucky if Becklow is even alive after they're done with him." Lucy cackled, then pointed back up to the runes.
"Huh?"
"Gramps look!" Natsu yelled. "Gray did it!"
"Bixlow k. o'd by Gray, Gemi-Lucy and Loke" the older man's jaw dropped, amazed at how fast the runes had updated. Less than a minute had passed since the runes had added the opponents and defeated Bixlow. Did Lucy's prayer actually work?
"Heh, you owe me one" Lucy chuckled.
"We don't know for sure it was your prayer!" Makarov said nervously.
"Pfft, it was Luce" Lucy smirked.
" Whatever, I guess now we just wait for your spirits to find Evergreen and the others?" Makarov said a bit worried, but also relaxed.
Lucy yawned shrugging. "Guess so. Gemi-Lucy and Loke already split up to find that wanna be fairy chick, so you don't have to worry."
Makarov stared at the mage on the verge of sleeping. "My children are fighting for their lives, how can I not!"
"Don't be such a drag old man, if you're that worried then send metal face out, he's been here this whole time not doing anything." Lucy threw out, pointing to the corner of the guild where the iron dragon slayer was sitting alone eating a pile of assorted metals.
Natsu and Makarovs eyes practically bulged out of their head at Lucy's words. "What!"
Happy nodded, "Yeah, see Gajeel's right over there." It was then they heard the clanking of metal in the corner of the guild and recognized the person eating to be Gajeel.
"No way! You were here this whole time?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"He's been eating all the dishes too" Happy said waving his arms around.
"Gajeel?! What have you been doing here this whole time?" Makarov asked.
The slayer shrugged, ignoring the fact there was a whole entire battle between guild members going on out there. "Didn't really feel like getting up so figured I'd just fill myself up on the dishes here."
"Mavis are all the slayers in the guild idiots" Makarov cried. "Gajeel, my boy, please will you fight for the guild?"
Gajeel got up from his seat, stretching, "Might as well," he grinned, "I got a score to settle with that guy, so I'll handle him."
Lucy snorted at Gajeels' cockiness, thinking about the fact Gajeel was steel and Laxus was lightning. It was funny how no one thought about the disadvantage Gajeel had against Laxus. Then again people were getting the crap kicked out of them so maybe they didn't really think about that.
"Eh, they'll figure it out sooner or later."
Lucy watched as Gajeel began to walk towards the guilds exit in hopes to fight Laxus and help Fairy Tail. She was slightly impressed by the look of determination on his face, that thought soon shattered quickly when he hit the rune wall, jaws dropping in shock.
"Whoa, Gajeel's super old like you, old man" Lucy said in awe.
"I am not! I don't know why I can't leave! Gajeel retorted. Lucy and Natsu eyed the slayer skeptically.
"Are you sure you're not 80?" Natsu asked.
"Do I look 80?" Gajeel growled.
"Hmm, nah. With those piercings you look like a rebellious preteen" Lucy joked; high fiving Happy.
"Shut up!"
"You sure you're not faking being stuck in here?! I bet you're just trying to copy me?!" Natsu accused.
"In your dreams!" Gajeel countered.
"Hmm, maybe he's not trying to leave hard enough! Come on Natsu, let's push him out of here!" Lucy shouted.
"Good idea, Luce!"
With renewed vigor Natsu and Lucy began shoving Gajeel, or at least tried to push Gajeel outside the rune wall.
"Get your dirty paws off me!" Gajeel yelled while trying to stop the two slayers from pushing him further into the runes. Ignoring his yells Natsu and Lucy pushed harder on the iron slayer, Lucy using her flames as a boost.
"Come. On!" she grunted.
"Shhtop it, dis hurts. Can't get out see!" Gajeel yelled while smooshed into the rune wall.
Lucy and Natsu sighed finally dropping Gajeel to the floor. Both unable to come up with anymore ideas as to how they could get out.
"Impossible…" Makarov said getting their attention, "This means even if you two and Lucy are the only ones left, we've practically lost since you can't get out! We really need Loke or Gemi-Lucy to find Evergreen, Lucy"
"Well yeah, I know that, but the dumb fairy girl seems to be wanting to play hide and seek. And since it's only those two doing all the work it's taking a bit longer to get things done."
Makarov looked grim, "This is bad, we need more help. Can't you call any more spirits, my child?"
"Nope, they're busy."
Master looked at Lucy frustrated, "With what may I ask?"
"They're celebrating the spirit king's birthday party, and I'm not interrupting that."
"It can't be helped I guess."
As much as master wanted to push the matter, he knew better than to piss off a celestial mage who also had the power of a demon.
"How'd you get Loke and Gemini to come help?" Happy asked. "Didn't they want to go to the party?"
According to Loke "I'll always take priority over anything else and Gemini really loves wreaking havoc, so this is way more fun for them than the spirit king's birthday party in the spirit world.
Natsu growled, "See Gramps, we can't just rely on Lucy to do all the fighting for us, even if it is indirectly. We're using a lot of her power just for Loke and Gemini!"
Lucy tried interrupting to tell them she was perfectly fine with having the two spirits out, in fact she wasn't even using a quarter of her magic to have their gates open but now was being ignored. Realizing this she went and sat back down. Eh, I'll let them think what they want.
Gajeel crossed his arms, "Yeah, it's not fair making demon girl do all the work."
"I understand but with you three stuck here behind the rune barrier there's nothing we can do but rely on her…it's all over." he said.
Lucy took a deep breath, drawing all others attention. "I got an idea guys…what if we got my mate's help?!"
Natsu perked up at hearing Lucy's words. "Huh, how the heck are you gonna do that?"
"Lucy, are you being serious right now?" Makarov looked at the girl, as did Happy.
"Yeah, I mean she's a strong, smoking hot, nice smelling, -
"Luce focus."
"Oh yeah, well Erza's strong, so she can take these guys down no problem!"
"Lucy my dear...were you ever dropped as a child?" Makarov asked.
Lucy closed her eyes for a moment to think. "Nah mama was great. Although Lucifer was pretty intense during our training sessions."
"Dear Mavis. Fine, please explain how your mate is going to help us in her state?" Makarov sighed, already feeling drained from his conversation with the blonde.
Lucy grinned easily at the old man, her sharp canines showing. "Easy, burn the stone off!"
"Now hold on a second! What are you about to do?!" Makarov demanded.
Lucy looked back at him innocently, "I'm gonna use my celestial fire on her. Have you never done this before?"
"No! No one's ever done that before!" Makarov yelled." I don't think that's even safe!"
Lucy rubbed her chin in thought, "Hmm, weird. Wonder why Lucifer would let me try it on those villagers then?"
"KYAAA! You melted stone off villagers?!" Natsu, Gajeel and Happy screamed.
"Yeah back when I was first training with Lucifer, he had me do it as a test of skill."
"They were your guinea pigs!" Gajeel yelled.
Lucy looked at the dragon slayer confused, "Whas that?"
"You used them for your own benefit Lucy." Makarov explained.
"What, no way this weird mage went rogue on them and froze everyone in stone. It was just a coindent that I was training to control the temp of my fire." She said with a dopey smile.
The four mages fell to the floor in disbelief. What the hell is coindent!?
"Yeah so anyways, after I defeated him the people didn't turn back to normal though, it was weird. Luckily, I had Lucifer by my side, and he explained how you just gotta imagine you're cooking a piece of meat and don't wanna burn it and then bam the stone melted off the people."
"There's no way she's telling the truth." Gajeel said in shock.
"Luce...that's crazy." Natsu said.
"Yeah, not only did I learn how to control my flames, but everyone came out with a nice tan!" Lucy exclaimed with a goofy smile.
"Mavis help us, she's not real." Makarov prayed.
"Okay, but she's not covered in stone, she is stone, so it's not gonna melt off of her!" Happy said.
Lucy bent down, "There's not really a difference, is there?"
"Right!" Natsu yelled, a total 180 in attitude.
"This is madness you're going to roast her alive!" Makarov sad.
Lucy laughed, "She's my mate, at most she'll get a tan!" Slowly lighting up her hands and laying them above her body.
"Please be careful!" Makarov urged him.
"No joke," Gajeel agreed, "Watch where you put those fire hands bro."
A crack appeared on her forehead getting their attention making them all scream with fear.
"Did that happen when you melted the villagers?" Happy asked.
Lucy's face twisted in thought, sweat beginning to drip down "No. We, uh...we should probably get some glue."
"You idiot, you broke Erza!" Makarov yelled.
"Oh crap, my mate is breaking. Natsu fix it, I broke her!"
"Glue! We need glue!" Natsu yelled running around.
Lucy picked the stoned Erza up, "I didn't mean to break you! Hurry up with that glue quick! Happy glue!"
"Do we have glue?!" Happy asked freaking out.
Lucy began tearing the guild apart searching for anything remotely close to glue but coming up with nothing. Panicking when she came up empty handed.
"NATSU, I CAN'T FIND GLUE!"
"I CAN'T FIND GLUE EITHER!" he yelled back.
"That's not gonna do anything you idiots!" Gajeel brought his iron arm up, "We've gotta use your fire and my iron to weld her back together."
"Yeah, yeah smart! We can even melt the iron faster if I turn up the heat!" Lucy yelled. Lighting a fist up to her highest temperature she carefully put her hand near Gajeel who put it over the s-class mage to begin covering up the cracks.
"Erza no!" Makarov cried out as he noticed more cracks begin to appear on the woman.
The four mages turned to the stone woman and watched as cracks continued to appear until Erza was free from being a stone statue taking them all by surprise.
"I feel extremely hot…" Erza glared at Lucy who was closest to her smiling, "It was you, wasn't it? Were you trying to cook me?!" she said annoyed, punching Lucy into several tables embedding her into the guild wall.
"Ersha's bash!" Lucy said, while her face was implanted in the guild wall.
"Erza's back in business guys!" Happy said joyfully.
"Did demon girl actually melt off the stone?" Gajeel said, shocked at the turn of events.
"Melt stone off...dumb demon did you try melting me!" Erza said exasperated, before noticing the heavy cloth over her shoulders. "Why am I wearing a cloak?"
Once free of the wall Lucy zoomed over to her mate tossing an arm over Erza, breaking her of her train of thought. "Heck yeah I did, and I thought you would be cold even while stone, so I figured I'd put my cloak on you for warmth." she said grinning happily.
Erza smiled at the dumb demon thankful, "Not your mate, but thank you I guess, that was sweet."
"I'm courting you, so we're practically together." Lucy grinned toothily.
Erza slapped her forehead, not wanting to argue since the issue at hand was far more important. Tossing Lucy's arm off from around her, she turned to the master for information.
"We'll talk about this later."
Makarov approached, "I'm happy you're not stone Erza, how did the spell break?"
"Honestly I'm not quite sure," she brought a hand up to her artificial eye, "But if I had to guess I'd say it had something to do with my right eye."
Makarov's eyes grew wide, 'That's it! Her artificial eye must've weakened the effects of the spell!'
"What's up with your right eye, mate?" Lucy said, tossing her arm back around Erza, who did nothing to remove it this time, surprising everyone in the guild. "It the reason you turned back to normal, cause that's pretty cool."
Erza looked to Lucy slightly exasperated, "Yes, Lucy I guess it is."
"You know Lucifer almost stabbed me in the eye once while we sparred with his tail, I barely moved my head in time for him to miss fully stabbing it. I'm pretty sure he didn't mean too, or maybe he did, he gives off mix signals sometimes but anyways that's why I got a scar beneath my eye see?" she said pointing to the small nick underneath her eye.
"I was partially blind because of it until I met this little girl who had some really cool healing powers and fixed it right up!" she laughed happily.
Natsu, Gajeel and Happy stared at the blonde girl in shock, surprised she could talk so fondly about someone or something who caused her to be partially blind.
"You're...so weird Lucy." Erza sighed, chuckling.
"Lucifer used to say the same thing" she grinned.
Happy flew over to her, "Erza, do you know what's going on right now?"
Erza looked at him, "I think so, even though I was turned into stone I was still able to hear most of what was said."
"All right! It's time to strike back!" Makarov said.
"Look it added Erza to the runes now!" Happy said.
"That's impressive," Erza replied, "It updates automatically, but there's only three left."
Happy nodded, "It's just you, Loke and Gemi-Lucy. Natsu, Gajeel and Lucy are stuck here because of the enchantment. Wait! Now it says there's four!"
"It went up!" Gajeel observed.
Natsu and Makarov looked back to the stone girls, "Who could it be?" Natsu wondered.
"The girls are still stoned, so it can't be any of them." Makarov said.
Erza smiled, "Aren't you guys forgetting about someone? A member who's frequently out of town."
Natsu finally got it, "Hold on! You don't mean him?"
"And he's back just when we need him the most!" Makarov said.
Erza kept her smiled, "He's always been one to make a grand entrance, it looks like the real battle is about to begin."
Gajeel crossed his arms, "Someone wanna fill me in over here?"
"Hmm, maybe it's Lucifer!" Lucy yelled.
Gajeel, Natsu and Happy stared at Lucy blankly, unsure if she was kidding or not. Lucy on the other hand was smiling as if she had not said anything out of the ordinary.
"Lucy, how did you ever make it to fifth wizard saint?" Erza asked.
"Beats me, ask that tree guy." Lucy said a bit confused. Then remembering her question "So is Lucifer here or not?"
"No Lucy, of course he's not. I'm not sure how you even came to that conclusion since he's not even a member of Fairy Tail, and none of us have ever even met him." Erza explained.
Lucy looked away grunting, "I don't answer to you."
The knight mage was shocked at the girl's response but shook it off to get back to the matter at hand.
"Anyway, before we were interrupted by Lucy. We're talking about the man who was a contender for the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail…Mystogan
"Lucifer would've been cooler" Lucy mumbled.
With Laxus
"So Erza has recovered and now Mystogan's joined us, including me that's Fairy Tail's elite coming head to head. You can't have a proper festival without a main event."
"It's up to you my dear to defeat Evergreen" Makarov announced to Erza, before she left. Nodding her head, she turned to leave not realizing she still had on an extra piece of clothing around her body. Lucy on the other hand was overjoyed her mate had kept her cloak on and went to fight in it.
Natsu walked up to his best friend who was staring weirdly at the rune wall. Wanting to find out what was wrong with her he decided to confront her about her weirdness. Tossing an arm around her he finally gained her attention, a dopey smile thrown his way at the sight of her best friend.
"Sup Natsu."
"Yo Luce what's got you looking like Erza just said yes to be your mate?" Natsu asked.
Those left in the guild turned to look at Lucy who was smiling as she watched the guild exit, before answering Natsu. Finally, she spoke, "Erza's still wearing my cloak. She's gonna fight in my cloak Natsu."
Natsu smiled at his friend, only she would find such significance in Erza doing something so mundane. Then again maybe demon slayers have different courting rituals. I'll find out later."
Erza ran through town trying to find a member of the Thunder God Tribe or Laxus if she was lucky. She continued to run, eventually searching from the top of buildings, when yellow projectiles fell from the sky making her jump back to the edge of the roof she was on. Her footing was off however causing her to slip.
"Sh-
At the last minute before she fell her elbow was caught, pulling her back up. Looking to the left she smiles when she sees the person responsible for stopping her fall.
"Now, now Erza, Lucy's not around to be your knight in shining armor you know." Loke chuckled.
"Oh, shut up." She chuckled.
Looking up to see who shot off the projectiles she sees her target, Evergreen, standing up across from her on the roof, "Hmm, that's odd I seem to recall turning you into a statue. Well no matter, this just gives me an excuse to torment you further." Evergreen sneered.
"Tch, I wouldn't recommend that Evergreen." Loke warned.
"Hmm, hello there Loke and why exactly is that?"
"Because you already have one death wish, no need to add another one on top of that?" he shrugged. "Then again I don't really care what happens to you. You see so long as my master is happy, I'm happy" he grins.
During his speech Evergreen slowly began to sweat, taking in his outright threat. Hiding behind her fan she began panicking. She never signed up for this, Laxus told her that it would be a simple win, most of the guild members were weaklings so it would be a simple fight where everyone would get a k.o. But then this Lucy girl shows up who's on a whole other level.
Evergreen slowly exhaled before speaking again, she knew she couldn't back down while the fight was going on. She had to go on with the fighting. The things I do for the Thunder God Tribe.
"Hmm, please like you could take me."
Loke face palmed, this woman and her pride. "Very well." Loke said, adjusting his stance.
"Wait, Loke this fight is mine." Erza stated.
Loke's eyebrow rose in interest, on the one hand the challenge was for him, but on the other he didn't get turned into stone.
Shaking his head, he turns back to Evergreen "I'm sorry Erza, but I made a promise to Lucy I would take down Evergreen. As such the best I can do is allow you to help me. I cannot leave you alone to face her. S-class or not, you are my princess's mate, therefore I shall protect you from any harm just as I would do her."
Erza couldn't help but groan at Loke's words. Evergreen wasn't worth this, she could easily take her out, but of course that dumb demon and her spirits promises take priority over letting her have this fight. Erza looked to Loke one last time to try and convince him to let her have this fight.
"Nope."
"Fine, we'll take her down together." She said with a roll of her eyes.
"Very well. Oh, and nice cloak by the way" he smirked.
"Eh?"
"I don't think I've ever seen Lucy let anyone touch that cloak let alone wear it...she really does love you" Loke chuckled.
Erza's face erupted in a deep blush, forgetting she was even wearing the thing, "Shut up!"
"HAHAHAHA, LOKE AND MY MATE ARE GONNA FIGHT EVERGREEN TOGETHER!" Lucy cackled. "SHE'S GONNA DIE!"
Natsu and Makarov stared at the runes, which had just appeared worried.
"Evergreen vs. Loke and Erza"
"Lucy is really living up to her promise huh, Natsu?" Happy asked.
"She sure is buddy. Guess Celestial mages really do keep their promises." He grimaced, looking to the blonde who was still laughing at the runes.
"You're very annoying you know," Evergreen sneered, forgetting she was facing two very strong mages, well one mage, one spirit. "They call you Titania Queen of the Fairies, what a farce. I'm the true Fairy Queen."
"Your prattle doesn't interest me," Erza requipped two twin swords and charged at Evergreen prompting her to fly out of the way.
"We've got a score to settle." Evergreen told her.
"It saves me the trouble of hunting you down I suppose," Erza charged at her, "The sooner I defeat you the sooner the others will turn back!"
"Aren't you confident." Evergreen's eyes glowed yellow, immediately trying to turn Erza into a stone statue again.
Erza quickly acted by covering her left eye, "That won't work!" She tried to slash at Evergreen again, but she dodged, only to fly into Loke's way.
"Don't you dare touch my princesses' mate!" Loke yelled rushing at Evergreen with his fist alit.
"Regulus impact!"
"Ugh!" Unable to dodge Loke, she took the full force of the attack, getting thrown back half a building away from them. As disoriented as she was, she didn't give up on her fight, and got back up despite the pain she was in.
"Well, I see you aren't as weak as people say spirits are." Evergreen said, hoping to bide her time to recover. "No matter, I can still take you both out."
"No spirit is weak. Simply as strong as our master. Lucy is my strongest holder to date allowing me to use my full potential" Loke smirked. The shocked look on Evergreens face at Loke's words caused the lion spirit to laugh.
At finding this out Evergreen realized the danger she was in. She couldn't help but want to get this over with and decided to try for a sneak attack.
"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" waving her arms she sent a torrent of energy needles composed of concentrated dust.
Erza sliced at the projectiles and almost got Evergreen until she flew away, "Try again." She taunted.
"Coward!" Erza chased after the green fairy slicing through the projectiles as she chased after her.
"You're quite adept at deflecting my thorns, aren't you? But I'm just getting started," she stopped, "I wonder, can you handle twice as much?" Evergreen taunted sending more at Erza who slashed at them, some getting pass and onto her clothes.
Loke was not happy at seeing Erza being hit by Evergreen. Deciding enough was enough he prepared an attack which would get the revenge his princess wanted and stop Evergreen.
Evergreen laughed, "From this day forth I shall be known as Titania, for I am the true Fairy Queen!"
Erza requipped some swords from her feet helping her deflect the yellow projectiles taking Evergreen by surprise, "What?!"
After Erza tossed the two swords from her feet at Evergreen, she immediately pinned the woman to the pillar behind her.
Erza then landed in front of her, "Personal character aside you're still a member of Fairy Tail the same as anybody else, so if you wanna call yourself Titania then feel free. I don't even know who gave me that name in the first place."
Evergreen glared at her.
"If you cease this nonsense and turn the girls back to normal then I promise I will not harm you." Erza told her.
"Ha, as if- "Evergreen began but was cut off by Loke.
"While that may true for you Erza, I cannot promise the same." Loke said his fists alit, walking forward from behind Erza.
"Wait, what Loke?" Erza asked confused.
"I made a promise to princess and I intend on keeping it."
"But- "
Evergreen looked to Erza then Loke nervous, " Wait, look look, I released them already! You can let m-
"Regulus Gatling Impact!"
Before Erza could even try blocking Loke's oncoming attack, the spirit released a blinding light upon the roof rendering Erza's ability to see the other two occupants on the roof gone. The only thing which let her know that Loke and Evergreen were still on the roof were the screams of pain.
As the light disappeared Erza couldn't help but stare in slight horror at the sight before her. Lying unconscious on the ground was Evergreen, beside her was Loke who was straightening his jacket. Walking up to her, unaware she was unnerved by his actions he spoke.
"I'll be off now Erza. I have finished what was requested of me." In a flash the spirit was gone right before her eyes.
"Ye-yeah-okay" she said to the spirit who had already left.
"Dammit!" Laxus cursed, slamming his fist into a column. "I trusted you, Evergreen, and you let Erza defeat you?"
"Actually, it was that spirit which defeated Evergreen." Freed observed, entering the church. "Not to mention Bixlow was taken out quite ruthlessly by the same ones alongside Gray."
"Then maybe I should have sent you out there." Laxus growled.
"Perhaps, perhaps it wouldn't have made a difference."
"What the hell are you saying, you're not even supposed to be here." Laxus growled.
"The game is over." Freed declared. "With the hostages released, the Master will not give in."
Laxus scowled and sent a bolt of lightning past the rune user.
"It is not over." He sneered. "But if you want to chicken out, go ahead. I do not need weaklings in my Fairy Tail."
Freed shook his head, he would always be loyal to his leader, but even he knew this was turning out to be a losing battle.
"And by a mage who is still locked up."
Authors note:
Damn, writers block was killing me. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm not exactly sure how it'll be received since I changed up alot, and maybe some people will think a lot of it will be farfetched but then again I like it and hopefully everyone else will too. Again sorry for the long wait. Oh and hopefully you catch an easter egg for the next arc.
