Chapter XVII
"I'll never let you win," Lucy told him, still holding Happy close to her chest.
"What a shame," Zeref replied. "Because I'm going to anyway."
"Not if I have anything to say about that!" With a small effort, the blonde summoned a celestial spirit. "Open, Gate of the Lion: Loke!"
A bright light rose from inside of her, and said spirit appeared. "This isn't a way to treat a lady," he told the dark mage, cracking his knuckles. "Let me teach you some manners."
If I knew more about how the Star Dress worked, I could have used that instead, Lucy thought to herself. But I also don't want to freeze!
"We can't let him anywhere near Fairy Tail," she called to Loke. "We have to stop him here before he destroys everything!"
"Got it!" He jumped, landing just short of Zeref, and aimed a chain of punches at his body and face. While dodging most of them, Zeref landed an attack of his own, sending the celestial spirit flying backwards.
"Loke!" Lucy took a few steps forward in the snow, but couldn't reach him in time. Zeref was already charging up his next attack.
The dark sphere killed everything in its path, and sent Loke back to the spirit world. "I'm sorry," was all he could muster to the blonde before his departure.
"Now then, any other toys you'd like to send out?" the dark mage asked her, taking a single step forward and calling forth his own power again.
Lucy glared at him. I'll risk it. "Star Dress!"
In a moment, she was dressed in different clothes; they were that of Aquarius' power. She wasn't sure what exactly she could do, but she had to try something.
The blonde moved her hands, attempting to call forth the power that was given to her. Water appeared at her fingertips, slowly engulfing her hands.
Freaking out when the liquid kept ascending up her arms, it eventually stopped at her shoulders, leaving the girl sighing in relief.
She had put Happy down, and was now facing Zeref on her own.
"Is that all you've got?" He shook his head in disappointment. "I expected more of Layla's daughter and Anna's descendant."
This information took a moment to process, but Lucy's eyes soon widened. "Anna's… what?"
"You didn't know?" The dark mage's red eyes stared blankly at her, only a hint of surprise in them. "I almost feel sorry for your ignorance."
"You're going to feel sorry for yourself pretty soon!" Lucy retorted, her nervousness fading away, replaced with newfound confidence.
"Oh? I'd like to see that."
In an attempt to call forth her magic, Lucy raised a water-covered arm. Unfortunately, the water stayed where it was, a small ripple or two the only sign of movement.
She heard a bout of laughing start from in front of her. She looked up, shock hitting her almost as hard as the punch to the gut. What… speed!
"Nice try, but you'll die before mastering it," the dark mage commented, pulling his fist away from her stomach as she coughed up blood. The spot he had hit started turning black and hurt like the devil, making Lucy scream with pain.
Zeref grabbed her hair as she began to fall to the ground, lifting her up. "Choose the next spot you want hit," he said, raising his fist.