Dear Readers,

I don't think you can possibly be as excited as I am about posting this chapter. Seriously.

Please, read, review, rave, rant, reveal your thoughts in the comments section... all of that. Tell me what you think.

Oh, and remember: Desna owns all the Boscan Characters (Pradesh Fam), Hiro Mashima owns all the rest, and I own the proud, twisted brain that used them in such a way. My beta, bless her, wades through all my bullshit rambling and delivers me to what you see below. All hail GoddessxNyte2 for her infinite patience.

ENJOY!

Channeling magic through the platinum-metallic star mark on her chest, Lucy activated her least-used bond and reached through it, ignoring the massive source of power she felt from the other end in favor of speaking to the being attached to it.

'Father?'

'Oh, Lucy! I am so glad you have addressed me as such, old friend-er, daughter of mine. To what do I owe this pleasant conversation?' Lucy could tell he was distracted, he had informed her he was frequently busy, after all.

'I am sorry, Stache Face, but this isn't going to be a pleasant conversation. Has Loke informed you that I have been following a pull on my magic?'

'Indeed he has, Daughter. You have discovered this magic source?' he sounded far more interested now.

'I'm currently looking at it. Why don't you see for yourself, and I'd like to know what constitutes as dire circumstances…'

In the spirit realm, the King frowned. Lucy wasn't one quick to anger, at least not to an anger so intense, and so he did as she asked and looked through her eyes to see as she did.

When he finally saw what she was referring to, Lucy felt an anger more intense than even what she felt with all the Zodiacs combined.

'This, Daughter, constitutes as dire circumstances. Summon me, and together our justice will be swift and merciless.'

They both watched as Zen sliced the arm off of one of seven wyverns he had been pitted up against, but received a deep laceration to his calf from another. He must have been at it for hours, as the rest of the arena was littered with half a dozen corpses from fallen wyverns and various other enemies.

Lucy and the Spirit King took notice.

Their mutual anger made their magic rise so much that even the Wyverns below turned their attention from their prey to seek out the frightening source of magic power, several of them whimpering and backing away.

Zen's eyes locked with the celestial mage's single one, and she saw recognition on his face. Not for her appearance, but he clearly had felt the same pull of magic she had been sensing for months. She gave him a small smile that turned terrifying when she moved her gaze to the rest of Sky's Reach Stadium. Specifically, to the lavish section that held the Peregrandian Royals.

'I am glad you feel that way, Stache Face. Now I can still call you to help me beat the shit out of Fallen Star later.'

'That really is a terrible name,' the Spirit King commented.

Erik, over the last several months, had gotten a good grasp on what Lucy was capable of. She was terrifying, and she didn't even know it.

In the last month, she'd gotten good enough with her hand-to-hand fighting that she occasionally bested him, without the use of her magic. With the use of her magic? She could either sit there smirking while she nearly suffocated you with her magical presence, or she could summon a few of the most powerful beings he'd ever met to fight alongside her, or she could perform a few dozen earthland-shattering spells that would tear you to pieces without mercy.

What he was feeling from her now was beyond anything he'd witnessed before. Perhaps because she didn't give a fuck about being found, or maybe because she was pissed off enough that her usual delicate control on her magic ran straight out the fucking window, or some combination of all that - whatever it was, he almost felt sorry for the poor bastard who had incurred her wrath. Almost.

She was still Lucy, after all, and if she was this ready to fuck shit up, whoever it was definitely deserved it.

He decided he'd let her have her fun. But also vowed to keep a close eye on Virgo, because if he saw one frown on the maid's face he was running head-first into Lucy's battle without a second thought.

As it was, though, he decided to do as she'd asked and evacuate the slaves. He'd been one of those before, and he knew the people trapped down in the cells didn't deserve to face Lucy's wrath. So he and Virgo got to work, even as he felt a massive surge of power from his livid kin.

The whole stadium had stopped to observe the small blonde woman who stood on the East balcony, assessing the battlefield with a calm sort of anger that displayed her complete lack of concern for being a woman in Peregrande. It made Karadin furious, as he watched several of his guards fall down trying to reach her.

That angered him more. Women were useless and weak and he wouldn't stand for her presence in his arena. She would die where she stood, and he would watch it happen with a smile on his face.

He sent his personal guard to deal with her, thinking they were likely of the few who could push past her clearly oppressive magic, and he watched with interest as they made their way through the stadium. Just as the first of the men came within reaching distance of her, the sky opened up and the entire stadium was filled with a light so intense he felt blinded even with his eyes closed.

Zen eyed the glowing golden blonde woman with a small sense of trepidation that was overwhelmed with a large sense of relief. He'd felt an odd pull on his magic for months, getting stronger each day, and locking his gaze onto her scarred but incredibly beautiful face he felt real hope for the first time in his life.

Her small smile was all the confirmation he needed to understand that she'd felt their magical connection just as he had. When that smile turned dangerous and she looked directly at King Karadin, he felt an odd sense of victory.

He just knew, today was the day the evil king died. And that, no matter what, after today he would no longer be a slave. Dead in a battle for his freedom, or actually free, either way he would be far from this hell he'd called a life for the last eighteen years.

The archangel mage watched as guard after guard approached the woman, only to fall short. He could understand that, her magic was intense, but he didn't feel its pressure. Rather, it appeared to be embracing him, protecting him.

An odd sensation for a life-long slave.

He saw her victorious, menacing smile and braced himself for whatever she was about to do.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy began her incantation, pulling her magic within herself so she could channel it through the mark over her heart.

"Ruler of the stars, by our covenant I call upon thee in the realm of celestial spirits," as she spoke, the daylight above seemed was seemingly pushed aside, as the heavenly bodies appeared above the colosseum.

"By thy soul-anchored gate, I summon thee," she continued, the magic around her intensifying once more.

Below her Zen's eyes widened as the woman he'd been watching literally glowed with intense magical power.

"Open, Gate of the Heavenly Sovereign, Celestial Spirit King!"

The mark on Lucy's chest grew warm as a massive amount of her magic was pulled from her and the heavens themselves opened to reveal Stache Face in all his glory, towering above the tallest seats in the stadium while standing directly in the center of it, unfortunate wyverns smashed unceremoniously underfoot.

And he looked pissed.

He reached large hands to either side of Lucy to pluck the Royal guards from the stands, and decided just to chuck them out of the arena. Fairies don't kill, but today? This was war, and all's fair in love and war.

Lucy was panting heavily. The King wasn't lying when he told her the cost of summoning him would be extreme, even maintaining his gate was a strain on her massive magical containers.

A few stupidly brave guards shot their strongest magical attacks at Lucy, deciding that if she was gone the large, intimidating spirit would be gone as well, only to be blocked by Lucy's own large sword. The one that accompanied her Celestial Spirit King stardress she'd donned just as Stache Face had plucked the guards from their places next to her.

The Celestial Spirit King didn't take kindly to her being targeted, and quickly disposed of the troublesome mages with the wave of a hand. Lucy was sure that the sound of their bodies breaking would someday haunt her, but not today. Today, they deserved every bit of their righteous anger.

"Father," Lucy called to the King, still finding it odd to address him as such, but finding his excitement when she did so to be extremely amusing, "I… feel I can handle this in here. And I'm pretty sure the entire Peregrandian army is on the way… Can you take Zen and-"

She was cut off by a deep voice, "I don't know who you are, but there's no way I'm leaving this stadium without the chance to fight by your side," Zen called to her from his spot by Stache Face's large foot.

The spirit grinned, "I believe that is my cue," he said, following the instruction Lucy gave him, "I will ensure no armies get past me, and leave the… clean-up… to you, daughter," he informed her, before jumping over the walls of the arena to face the incoming enemies.

Zen flexed his massive wings and flew up to meet Lucy on balcony, landing gracefully in front of the woman while studying her closely.

She had hair the exact color of sunlight piled in elegant curls on her head that fell to frame her heart-shaped face, marred only by a scar that split her eyebrow and travelled through her closed eye to split her upper lip slightly. Somehow though, it only made her more intimidating and did nothing at all to retract from her beauty.

She was lean, well endowed but well proportioned, and he could see the tone in her muscles that spoke to harsh, rigorous training. She wore a suit of armor that he would have assumed was next to useless - considering it left bare her vulnerable midriff - were it not for the power it radiated. It was golden, held no sleeves but she wore detached bracers on her forearms that left the underside bare so he could see metallic markings on them, with a gladiator-style skirt armor and leg pieces that stretched from her boots all the way to above her knee.

She was glorious, like some kind of warrior goddess, and Zen took one precious moment to place a warm hand on her shoulder, a show of camaraderie and gratitude, "You came."

Her features - before seeming so full of indignant fury that even Zen pitied whoever found themselves at the end of her large, star-studded blade - softened and she moved her hand to cover his own with the lightest of touches, "I heard you. I had to come."

Neither really understood why it happened, it hadn't been a conscious decision for their magic to connect, but here they found themselves. They didn't know each other but they stood side-by-side to take on the whole of Peregrande, feeling as though they had always worked together.

"Right. Well. I'll go left, you go right, and we will meet on the other side, yeah?"

Zen smirked, "Sounds like a plan."

He turned to move in the direction she indicated, but a soft hand on his shoulder stopped him. He was surprised that his wings hadn't cleaved her in two - as they had every other who dared touch him - but found he didn't hate the contact as she stopped him with a softly spoken, "Hold on."

He turned to face her and she raised that gigantic sword that seemed to embody the night itself, and swung it in his direction with an ease she shouldn't have had with a weapon that large. He didn't flinch. His trust in her was profound, and he honestly had no idea why, but he was grateful as her blade easily sliced through and removed each of his five magic-cancelling limiters.

Both Lucy and Zen took deep refreshing breaths as his magic released around him, Zen in relief for finally having free access to his magic, and Lucy because just as hers had done to him, Zen's magic embraced her, spreading warmth through her body.

"Right. Now, go on," she advised, giving him a bright smile as she turned and ran with a battle cry toward her own enemies. He saw as she came in contact with the first of a long line of guards in her way, and easily picked each opponent apart, picking up barely minor scratches as she did so.

It was impressive, but he finally had his magic, so he decided he would not be outdone. He turned to face his own enemies, sword raised.

Lucy pressed onwards, slicing into some enemies, crushing others underfoot, even knocking a few unceremoniously over the edge of the balcony. Minor injuries she sustained, like the cut on her cheek, went unnoticed as she broke through the enemy line with a single-minded focus. She saw her target, the blasted king of this stars-forsaken country from the corner of her vision, and she was going to get to him if she had to fight Mard Geer Tartaros himself to do it.

Seeing the older, pudgy and frankly disgusting man start to flee, she silently called for Libra.

'He must face my judgement, keep him there, please.' Lucy instructed, slicing the man in front of her nearly in two, ignoring the way the blood caked to her skin as she targeted the next soldier.

'I will see to it he does not escape the Starbringer's Judgement today, Princess,' Libra confirmed mentally.

Lucy felt the pull of her magic as she opened the Gate of Heavenly Scales, but ignored the strain she felt as she punched another guard into a wall. The sickening feeling of his facial bones cracking under her well-trained fist would normally disgust her. Now she felt only satisfaction. These people were slavers, rapists, men who kept other men locked away for their own pleasure or to watch them die, or both. They did not deserve even her pity. Her compassion, normally her greatest trait, seemed to have disappeared as she watched Zen fight for his life, and in this moment she couldn't bring herself to care.

She was getting closer to the King Karadin, she saw him collapse into a heap under Libra's gravity and the satisfaction she felt from the spirit through her bond only pushed her harder.

'Princess,' Virgo called in her mind. Lucy lost focus for a short moment and took a sword slice deep on her bicep. Ignoring it, she responded to her spirit.

'Yes, Virgo?'

'We have completed our task. You and the King are free to commence destroying what you wish, the slaves have been escorted to the edge of the city. Punishment?'

'Not now, but thank you. Please return, tell Erik to make his way to the giant spirit standing over Peregrande's capital.'

Lucy felt a confirmation from her spirit before releasing a relieved breath when she returned to the spirit world. The strain on her magic lessened ever so slightly.

Lucy took a 'wind slicer' spell to her thigh, and gasped at the pain. The cut was deep, she knew, but she'd had much worse, so she fought on with little regard to it, just as she had her minor injuries. The mage that had sent the spell found himself swiftly defeated, a rainbow of bright light blasting him through a few walls as Lucy used the King's sword magic to attack, for the first time exploring more of this stardress than its physical capabilities.

A single mage stood between her and the King of Peregrande, and she found herself laughing at the sad attempt at flames they had sent her way. Natsu's flames were much hotter.

She never thought she'd see the day where she was glad the dragon slayer had no sense of where his teammates were in battle. She sent a brief, heartfelt wish out that he was doing okay without her.

She shoved her night sky sword into the man's chest and watched the light fade from his eyes, shoving him off her off the end of it as he collapsed in a heap at her feet.

Slow, deliberate steps brought her face to face with Karadin himself.

"King Karadin of Peregrande, are you prepared to face your judgement?" Lucy asked him in a commanding tone. She wouldn't find this out until later, but this was her first official act as the Starbringer - bringing judgement and justice upon enemies of the celestial realm.

Libra fed her words through their bond, leading her through the lines she had to speak to pass official celestial judgement on the puny sovereign.

"I, Princess of the Celestial Heavens and First Celestial Starbringer, bring forth charges against you from the celestial realm and those under its protection and guidance. You stand accused of the kidnapping, torture, attempted murder, and attempted rape of the Celestial Realm's Last Evening Star Archangel Mage, the murder of a celestial spirit summoner of the highest order, and attempted murder of the Starbringer. What say you to the charges laid upon you?

The king spat at her feet, "You're nothing more than a whore for breeding, I will not bow to you. Take me prisoner if you want, but you will not escape the wrath of my nation."

Lucy's power spiked and her eye flashed gold, "Libra, your determination?"

"The scales have revealed the truth of his guilt, Starbringer."

"The sentence?"

"That is for you to decide, my Princess. If you seek council, the will of your contracted spirits call for death."

Lucy stepped forward, a gleam in her eye. In any normal circumstance, the celestial mage was compassionate, merciful, and kind. Someone who would pale at the thought of bringing real harm to even her enemies. Her reputation for sparing and befriending her enemies was well known throughout Ishgar.

She was discovering she was not quite the same person anymore. At least, not today, "Last words?"

Karadin paled, "You wouldn't! I'm a King!"

"You are no king of mine, Karadin. Look around you, do you think your great nation could bring me to my knees?"

The king, who was on his knees now himself, did as she said. Looking around, the fear in his eyes only intensified. His beloved colosseum was in ruins. He heard the cries of countless of his warriors outside the arena, and felt the power of the spirit standing just outside the walls, crushing them mercilessly. Heard how they went silent momentarily while a large purple cloud of mist appeared just over the edge of the arena he could see. He saw the countless bloodied corpses of his personal guard littering the balcony, and the way his long-time prized Gladiator impaled the last guard on his left before walking toward him menacingly, all magic restraints long gone.

He shook violently with fear, "Wait, wait, I can give you money. Power. Or the Dark Eagle! You can have him, take him away and we won't chase after you! Whatever you want, just please, don't-"

"Are you sure that you want your last words to be a plea for your pathetic life?"

"Please, spare-"

She never heard him cry out his last, desperate plea to save his sad existence, because her sword met and sliced through his neck before he could utter another word. He deserved a slow and painful, torturous death, but that was not for her to give him. This was justice, nothing more, and the Celestial Realm claimed his life. It was her duty to take it from him.

Zen looked on the scene with less than no pity for the evil man that had ruined the better part of his life. He put a hand on the blood-soaked skin of his savior, "I believe it is time for us to leave. I'm Zen, by the way, and thank you for coming to my aid."

She turned to him quickly, and the eye that had been so full of fury before was now simply tired, the gold within it slowly dissipating. She nodded.

As the last cries of the Peregrandian soldiers reached their ears and died out, she responded, "I'm Lucy, it's nice to finally meet you…"

She trailed off as her small smile fell from her face and her magical exhaustion finally kicked in. At the edge of his vision, Zen saw the gigantic sovereign spirit dematerialize with a proud glance in their direction into a shower of golden magic. The spirit next to them did the same, and as both returned to the celestial realm, Lucy fell to unconsciousness.

Zen caught her before she could hit the ground.

Erik was proud of his kin.

He'd seen her summon that massive spirit guy from his spot exiting the stadium with the slaves in tow, and had immediately decided he'd made the right decision in getting the fuck out of there. She wasn't pulling punches.

He'd seen that same spirit taking on and destroying an entire army when he'd come back from escorting the same slaves to the edge of the city, and immediately jumped in on the action, giving a wave to the spirit guy so he wouldn't get crushed underfoot as he released his most effective poison in a massive roar.

"Kin of my daughter," the Spirit King spoke to him, as the last few members of the Peregrandian army started running for their lives, "She will soon be too exhausted to move. I suggest you go and join her and her new ally."

"...she used too much magic, didn't she?" Erik asked in annoyance.

Laughing, the spirit king nodded, "Likely yes, my new daughter has a habit of doing so. You will need to escort both of them out of this pathetic nation. I warn you," he gave the slayer a stern look, "both mages in the stadium are incredibly important to the celestial realm. Should either fall, know that I will hold you personally responsible."

"Yeah, what the fuck ever," Erik rolled his eyes, taking off in a run toward the colloseum entrance, "You just finish your job Star Daddy, and I'll deal with mine."

Erik ran directly to the balcony to find his kin, only to find… A bloody fucking massacre. The civilians seemed to have all made it out, but lining the entire balcony were the bodies of broken security guards.

'What the fuck…Tink did all this?'

He picked his way through the bodies, following the sound of her overcrowded soul, and caught sight of her standing in her Spirit King stardress (that he refused to spar against) covered in blood and holding onto the bloodsoaked sword she'd stabbed into the ground for support.

The poison Slayer heard her introduce herself before her stardress disappeared, as well as her two spirits, as she collapsed from exhaustion.

Her companion, Zen, as he'd heard him introduce himself just before, caught her limp form before she fell all the way to the ground. The man looked panicked but Erik ran up to them quickly to reassure him.

"Bright Eye is just an idiot sometimes, nothing to really worry about. She's just used too much magic."

Zen looked at him suspiciously, but seemed to find something in him that put him a little more at ease, "You know her?"

"Tink is my kin, so yeah, I know her dumbass self," he leaned down to scoop the celestial mage up, but Zen pulled her back.

"I've got her."

Erik scowled, but allowed it. Whatever was going on, he couldn't sense anything in the guy's soul other than a desire to protect her.

"Fine, but she's not gonna even be awake for the next few days, and we're gonna have to leave this piece of shit country around now-ish."

Zen pulled her fully into his arms and stood, "Okay. After you."

"Kaleb, am I dreaming or… did someone beat us here?" Cristoff posed the question to his brother.

The guildmaster frowned, "Something happened, but all the minds I'm in are just a mess of panic, hard to get a clear picture."

Arman gripped the railing tightly, seeing that Sky's Reach Colosseum, the exact place they were headed to rescue his second eldest son, was heavily damaged. Barely standing, "Zen. Is he okay?"

"I can't tell. VAN! EMZADI!" He called out to his siblings, who approached quickly.

"You two and Cris. Go down and investigate. And hurry. Don't forget, if you run into the king, don't kill him. He's the one person we aren't sanctioned to take out today."

All three mages took off with a nod, using their various forms of teleportation, while the other Pradesh family members and several members of White Sea waited anxiously.

"Kaleb, I know this isn't the best time…"

"What is it, Presca?"

The energy mage sighed, "You remember that mage you had me trying to track down a few months back, before my injury?"

Kaleb looked at him curiously, "I do."

"Her magic. It's all over the place here, stronger than I've ever felt it before. For whatever reason, it seems she gave up hiding it."

Kaleb didn't have time to respond to that, because Vander spoke up through the family link.

'So, I found big bro, I'm bringing him aboard, but he's not alone.'

Kaleb sorted through his brother's mind, "You're kidding me, Lucy Heartfilia?"

Bix spoke up from several feet behind him, "Wait, what? Are you serious?!"

'Oh, that's not all. You remember that little restriction we had?'

'You mean about Karadin?' Arman spoke up mentallly.

"Yup, that one," Vander said, stepping out of the void with a grip on Erik and Zen, who was still holding Lucy, "We were a bit late on all fronts, it seems. Celestial Girl here decided to show you up again, Kaleb. She saved Zen before you could and decapitated King Karadin as the proverbial cherry on top," he said cheerfully.

"What the fuck… Cosplayer?!"