Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Chapter 26: Her True Powers...
While Lucy and Sting were now both ready to take on Shelly in what would probably be a very great battle for everyone to witness, not even caring if the entire city of Crocus would be destroyed because of a big fight like this one, a certain pink-haired male had been walking around while seeming very pissed off about the current results in this event. He truly was not pleased with the fact that Team Sabertooth now had first place again, meaning that his blonde ex and his blond rival might possibly end up kissing while they would be holding the trophy together, but Natsu was not down for that at all.
He was looking angry at the Lacrima Vision screen that was up in the sky, showing that Sabertooth had just gotten ten more points because of Rogue Cheney taking down Tby and Yuka from Team Lamia Scale, and the fire dragon slayer knew that he could easily beat Rogue in a fight. He had taken him and Sting down in the tag-team battle last year, not even really breaking a sweat while he had been fighting for Lucy, but things had taken a very big turn this year. After all, since Natsu had gone out of his way to cheat on her, it was no surprise that Lucy would try and find comfort in the guild that truly rivaled Fairy Tail.
Natsu could even bet that Lucy wanted to really laugh at him for his flop of not checking the crystal that was in the projector, since the footage of his steamy mornings and nights with Marina from Team Aqua Kyogre had been seen by almost everyone in Crocus, and mainly all of the people in the city were heckling him. Some of them had booed at him while he walked down the street, others even throwing pies filled with bugs at him, and it was funny to see that cheating jerk getting what he truly deserved. After all, a lying user needed to be humiliated in public like the scum that they were.
He never even thought that Lisanna would ever find out about what had been going on behind her back, but it was totally karma for Natsu. He had been so deceitful to Lucy, sneaking around with Lisanna while he would leave the blonde mage all alone in bed for her to feel cold when he wasn't by her side, and fate had simply sent Marina to him as comeuppance for all the lies that he had ever told. Marina had actually kept that specific crystal in the projector on purpose to ruin Natsu's life, ironically still making him think that she was his loving ally, and fooling that guy was easier than finding a common animal like Wurmple on Route 101 of Fiore.
It wasn't like things were not going okay with Lisanna, making Natsu have no real right to cheat on her, but she was just fed up with how he had wanted to beat down Lucy for the times that she had gotten a little bit of payback on him. While it was okay for him to simply say that Fairy Tail would beat Sabertooth again in this year's Grand Magic Games, he did not have to keep telling the entire guild about how crucial it was to take down Lucy. Really, if he was truly not caring about her anymore, then why did her name have to be spoken from his mouth? Also, would it really do any good for Natsu to talk bad about someone who truly did have friends in the guild?
Some people like Gray and Juvia had not even gone along with his plan about keeping his affair from reaching Lucy's ears, mostly because they thought that he would just screw it all up on his own, and even the Rain Woman felt bad about her love rival leaving the guild of Fairy Tail forever. Some people had really hated the fact that they couldn't say anything to Lucy, possibly because of the theory that she was sensitive and would cause tons of drama while crying hysterically, but having the guts to say something was much better than saying nothing at all.
As Natsu walked by the hot springs of Crocus, not even knowing where he was going, his nose picked up on the lovely scent of blackberries. He smiled at the fact this was a great smell, the odor of his beloved girlfriend, and Natsu followed his nose to find his teal-haired lover. Having Marina by his side would be really fun, especially if he could show Gajeel that he had gotten Marina without any luck, but Natsu still had no idea that he was being played like a sap. He smiled happily while using his Fire Dragon's Roar to burn a gaping hole in the bamboo fence, ready to peep in on his lover's bare body, only to clumsily fall into the water when he passed through the hole.
"Well, it looks like someone wants to have a peek at me while I'm enjoying this nice bath in the hot spring. Hello there, my oblivious and goofy Natsu. It would be very nice if you came here for a hot and steamy soak with me, my love, and I would even wash your back for you while kissing it as well. Just let the hot water relax you, my Natsu, and I assure you that we will have no need to fight each other." Marina told Natsu in a sweet tone while smiling in a caring manner, as a blue towel was around her body while she relaxed in the boiling water.
Natsu replied in a calm manner while rising up to the surface, smiling happily as he began to blush from the fact that his face was right near the front of her towel, "I could never fight you, Marina, and you're more of a woman than Lisanna ever could be. You're so sexy, full of charm, and your kisses feel like heaven to me. People in Fairy Tail have been saying how you're all a bunch of bad jerks, but I don't see how you could be a villain. They shouldn't judge you for going over to Aqua Kyogre, even though it is a dark guild, but you're so warm and good in bed."
He was truly infatuated by her beauty, letting her blackberry perfume fill his nose with the smell of delight, and that truly was no ordinary perfume. From the very first moment that Natsu had taken a whiff of Marina, he had become smitten with her. His mind would go into a daze that felt loving like a dream, and all that he could ever think about was the teal-haired girl who had made him become attracted to her. Natsu's love for Marina had definitely grown, especially during the days where she had nursed him back to health, and he loved to see her get naughty for him. She would even bite his chest softly, making him feel good, but it was no surprise that Natsu would fabricate stories to Lisanna about a cat biting him every day when she wanted to know how he kept getting bite marks on his body.
As the fire dragon slayer was about to kiss his girlfriend, ready to get her towel off while they were in the hot spring, Natsu felt a certain needle strike him in the abdomen. It was actually Marina using a small spell known as Aqua Dart, and this simply let Marina make a tranquilizer dart out of water to knock out her opponents. She did tell Natsu that they would not be fighting, and it wouldn't be fun for her to fight naked. After all, she would have to kill him for any burn marks that would be on her body. Marina had gained 5 more points for Team Aqua Kyogre, making Makarov look frustrated at how stupid Natsu could be, and even Gajeel saw this coming.
The iron dragon slayer looked up at the Lacrima Vision screen to see Natsu falling asleep while he was in Marina's arms, and she sunk down into the warm water with him while smirking evilly. The charms from women were something that did not really get to Gajeel, since they had just annoyed him greatly, and that's why he liked Levy for being so quiet. She was also very kind while not even trying to seduce him, and that's why Gajeel could tolerate her. He could even hear her cheering his name while he beat down Shelly's three pawns from Aqua Kyogre, defeating them quickly in the donut shop, and Gajeel gained 15 more points for Team Fairy Tail A.
At the same time, in another part of Crocus...
Cana had crossed paths with a clone of Lucy while she was looking for enemies, shocked to see the blonde girl wielding an orange book while she wore an orange tube top with some orange sweat shorts, and Lucy also did not wear any shoes. She totally looked ready to work out at a gym, possibly going to do 100 push-ups for her to reach Shelly's level of strength, and Cana knew that she had not interacted with Lucy in a while. Mintochoko Town was the last place where they had a conversation, not really ending on a good note, and the card mage truly was sorry for what she had done to Lucy back in Fairy Tail.
She had never meant to leave Lucy in the dark about the fact that Natsu had been cheating on her with Lisanna, especially since a real true friend would never let their best friend go through heartbreak all alone, and Cana really felt bad about letting Lucy's feelings get hurt. She could've told her sooner, ignoring the fact that Lucy might possibly freak out or break down in sadness, but it was always better to let out the horrible emotions with a friend than go through it all alone while letting the anger and misery make her become a vicious person who had the intent to kill whoever broke her heart. (There is so much regret in this tale of romance, is there?)
As the brown-haired woman took a few steps forward, walking softly to not make Lucy get scared, the blonde-haired girl told her in a fierce tone while turning around, "Hello, Cana. I hope that you're ready for a good battle with me, and we're going to work out while I take you down! We were friends at one point, but then you put a knife in my back while not even caring about how I felt! You watched Natsu and Lisanna date for seven months now, so much time that you let me be led on by that jerk, and now we're enemies."
"Look, Lucy. I truly am sorry for not being your friend when you needed someone by your side, and it makes me sad to see that you've been taking us all out because you want payback. That won't make any of us happy, and the Fairy Tail guild imploded when you left. So many people have conflicts with Natsu while other people hate Lisanna, and even someone as mighty as Erza couldn't calm the storm. I hope that you really didn't kill her." Cana replied in an apologetic manner, even though she gave Lucy a scolding look for how she and Shelly had battled against Erza.
That last part of her speech had made Lucy narrow her cocoa brown eyes, knowing that she had to take out Erza for some payback, and the blonde girl clenched her left fist tightly while biting down on her lower lip. While she also wanted some love, Lucy had also had a drive for some more power. She could now see another reason why it always seemed like the triangle of herself, Sting, and Shelly had kept occurring. It was almost like Sting was her romantic motive, always giving her the best love while they would train together, and Shelly was like her new best friend that supplied her with power. Good and evil did work well together, as it seemed, and Lucy would demonstrate her power.
She opened the orange spell book to unleash the ninth spell of Earth Magic, and it was known as Earth Punch. An orange aura engulfed her left fist while she ran towards Cana, and Lucy quickly struck her right in the face with her fist. She could feel her power increasing from that punch being a success, and she lightly punched Cana two more times. It did not matter if the punch was soft, since every hit on an enemy would double Lucy's attack power, and now her punches were eight times stronger than normal. She did not even let Cana look at up her, simply hitting her in the chest with full force, and the card mage was sent flying into a building from that massive punch!
The energy from Lucy's fist had made a large orange blast of Earth Magic transpire, making some people like Orga wonder what the psycho expert with explosions was doing now, and Lucy growled angrily at the sight of Cana standing up while seeming unscathed. Before she had crashed into the building, Cana had used a Shield Card to simply make a gray sphere of energy surround her to protect her from damage. She hopefully had many of those, since Lucy's wrath was really not something that a person could simply laugh about. Deciding to now attack, Cana looked stern while pulling out one card from her deck.
This card caused the violet-eyed mage to send a large vortex of flames towards Lucy, fairy certain that it would hit her and burn her to a crisp, but Lucy quickly activated the tenth spell in the orange book. It was called Quicksand Mud, and the effects were easily implied by the name. Well, this spell actually caused the ground to break apart while it also started turning brown. The ground turned into mud, and Cana's flames sunk down into it. She looked shocked to see the mud consume her flames with ease, before the earth repaired itself quickly to provide more intact ground for Lucy to use. Really, were the spells in this book not what anyone would want?
Cana knew that beating Lucy would not be easy, but she also did not expect someone who used such fierce power to have the ability of creating strategies so quickly. She activated a Lightning Card, in an effort to make lightning come down from the sky and strike Lucy, but Cana was shocked to see that her blonde opponent had activated the eleventh spell. It was known as Earth Dome, and this spell made many large rocks surround Lucy to form a barrier around her. Cana's lightning could not break past the dense earth, and Lucy's dome split into many floating rocks with an orange aura surrounding every single one of them.
"I guess that it's about time for me to and try combine two advanced spells together, Cana, and I could create something pretty powerful from this next spell. It may leave you crying or crushed, but those are the consequences of being a traitor to someone who was always there for you. We really could've been great friends, but you chose to follow the plans of Natsu and Lisanna. It's quite sad how you also try to fight me, knowing that you can't beat me or Shelly." Lucy explained to her in a calm tone, before giggling a bit at what she had conjured up for her final move.
Seeing the rocks floating in midair, Lucy could command some of them to come down for her to lightly punch them a few times with her left fist. This hand was still under the effects of Earth Punch, meaning that its power would double with every hit, and this fist had passed its power on to the rocks that Lucy was hitting. They were becoming more powerful as well, having more density, and Lucy ordered her rocks to charge at Cana with full force! While this would be a big way to end it, Cana smirked a bit while she was about to use another Shield Card to hardly even feel the damage of this massive attack.
However, she did not expect Lucy to come running at her with such a high amount of speed! She had turned all of the energy from Earth Punch into an orange aura that engulfed her body, and Lucy's physical strength had tremendously risen. She quickly slid down to the ground, before delivering a harsh kick to Cana's abdomen, and th brown-haired woman screamed in fear from realizing that Lucy also caused her cards to be knocked out of her hands. She could only close her eyes while she was about to collide with the powerful rocks from Lucy's twelfth spell, and it was known as Explosive Earthy Demise.
When Cana had made the slightest amount of contact with one of the rocks, one of many massive orange blasts could be seen and heard in Crocus. They had even shook the ground, causing some pretty serious quakes, but two Wizard Saints like Jellal and Jura were the only ones who knew that they weren't creating this much magical energy while they had been fighting each other. Some people were screaming their names, thinking that they were making such huge blasts, but even Jura's Rumbling Mt. Fuji attack could not stand up to Lucy's earthy blasts. Makarov and Mavis could also guess that Cana was dead, since 50 massive blasts of Earth Magic could do some intense damage.
Meanwhile...
In a different part of Crocus, in front of a few fancy boutique shops, Laxus Dreyar from Team Fairy Tail A was going up against Orga Nanagear from Team Sabertooth. The lightning dragon slayer was getting ready to go up against the lightning god slayer once again, and both men were ready for this rematch. Laxus and Orga were also respectively cloaked in yellow lightning and black lightning, which would probably make this become a really shocking match for anyone to witness. Who would emerge victorious, especially in a battle that could truly electrify Crocus?
Orga smirked arrogantly while staring down his blond rival, and the green-haired male decided to start things off by trying to attack Laxus with his Black Lightning Sphere. This sphere was formed almost instantaneously, completely engulfing Laxus inside of it before he could even react, but the lightning dragon slayer simply broke through the Black Lightning Sphere with his Lightning Dragon's Roar. The collision of the two attacks created a black blast of lightning, which was subsequently followed by a yellow blast of lightning, but neither of the males were harmed.
The smoke quickly cleared up to reveal that the attacks had been on equal level with each other, much to Orga's surprise, and he looked a bit frustrated while charging up his Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon to quickly end this. The black lightning in this attack could vaporize almost anything when it came into contact with solid objects, and it also had a high amount of destructive power. As Orga was building up an immense amount of power for his finishing move, Laxus smiled confidently while knowing that he was probably fast enough to evade it.
However, as Orga was finished charging up his Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon and fired it straight at Laxus, something strange would soon give them both a shock. Orga's attack had hit something immediately, not even hitting Laxus, and the smoke quickly cleared up to reveal that one of Lucy's clones had arrived on the scene. She was carrying the yellow spell book, clearly representing the Lightning Magic that had been gained from fighting against Courtney in the amusement park, and her sudden appearance really surprised Orga. Lucy wore a yellow top with a black miniskirt, looking fashionable as always, and her flat shoes were yellow.
Laxus had recently seen Lucy take out Mirajane and Lisanna in a part of the city that was far away from where him and Orga were located, and a Lacrima Vision screen quickly appeared in the sky to show Lucy's clone with Earth Magic turning into mud while Cana was buried under a pile of rubble. Since Lucy had defeated Cana so easily, she gained five more points for Team Sabertooth. This left Juvia and Jellal as the only active competitors left for Team Fairy Tail B, but people still did not even know that "Juvia" was really Marina in disguise. Natsu had simply encountered a clone that dropped him in a lake of Crocus while she warped through the water, so Aqua Kyogre was definitely a guild full of trolls.
He had not really looked at the color of her spell book, but the non-spell ability of Lightning Magic could make Lucy move at lightning speed. This clone had presumably come all the way over here to fight against Laxus, but could she possibly win? Even with evolved spells, Lightning Magic probably would not do much to a Lightning Dragon Slayer. It would probably not even faze Orga, either, since a Lightning God Slayer could eat all kinds of lightning. This battle would probably be very long, or there would be the chance of it ending up in a big stalemate. Lightning was a very quick thing, so it really did not waste time.
"What are you doing here, Lucy? I can definitely handle this, you know. This time, Laxus is going to go down." Orga asked and told her in a rather confident manner, smirking while he saw Laxus grin at both him and Lucy.
Lucy responded in a kind manner, having a smile of courage on her face while strength had made its way into her cocoa brown eyes, "Don't worry about me interrupting your battle, Orga. I never said that I would come here to fight Laxus. I'm actually going to use my spells here, mainly because of the architecture in this part of the city. I'm not going to get myself involved in the battle that you have with Laxus, and it truly would just end up being a waste of my time to take five points from Fairy Tail. Besides, it's more fun to see lights filling up other parts of Crocus."
Her unorthodox motive for being here in the survival tournament certainly made Laxus look pretty curious, and he even wondered what she was going to do while she had pulled out the Celestial Spirit Key of Loke. She opened the Gate of The Lion, summoning the orange-haired spirit, and he smiled confidently while being happy enough to assist the owner of his key with whatever task needed to be done. Loke could tell that Lucy's main focus was not directed at Laxus or Orga, so there was no need to fight.
Lucy started things off by using the ninth spell known as Electric Volt Curve, causing her to shoot a large beam of lightning out of her left hand, and it headed straight for a building. When the attack hit the side of the building, it immediately made a sharp left curve to hit another building. The beam curved once again, hitting a potted plant, and it kept curving around while it hit four more objects in a perfect zigzag pattern to look like a bolt of lightning. A yellow aura also began to surround everything that had been hit, and the chain power of Electric Volt Curve made the spell become bigger and faster. It was also stronger, too.
The large and fast lightning beam for the Electric Curve spell had propelled itself high into the air, right before it could hit the ground to make a massive blast of electricity occur, and this part of Lucy's plan is where Loke had a role. He had an important task to do, and he smiled proudly while using his Regulus Beam attack. This move made Loke release a beam of light from his ring, and he shot it straight up into the sky. He actually shot it at the Electric Volt Curve spell, and his light was spiraling around Lucy's lightning to give it some extra power.
With that step out of the way, Lucy felt more confidence entering her heart while she began to think of Sting. She was going to win this tournament for him, definitely planning to see him smile when Sabertooth would be announced as the best guild in Fiore, and Lucy was definitely not going to lose to anyone. She planned to put an end to this, and the tenth spell known as Electric Voltage Vortex would definitely assist her in reaching the fine goal of achieving success. How would this electrified plan of hers work, though, and would the lightning have perfect precision?
She called upon the power of the Electric Vortex spell, putting all of her emotions into it while the yellow spell book began to glow, and this move caused a massive vortex of yellow lightning to be fired straight from her mouth. It began to follow the zigzag pattern that had been created by Electric Curve, destroying every single building or object that had a yellow aura surrounding it, and every link in the chain caused Electric Voltage Vortex to grow much bigger. It also became much stronger and faster, and the attack flew upward into the air to join forces with Electric Volt Curve and Regulus Beam.
When all three attacks had made contact with each other, fusing together to create something totally new and possibly amazing, all of the clouds in the sky became dark while they proceeded to swirl over the city of Crocus. This sudden darkness over the flowery capital of Fiore even made Jellal wonder what was going on, since he hadn't even cast Sema yet. Even Rufus looked surprised by what was happening, thinking that the battle between Laxus and Orga must've been intense, but he did not know that Lucy's clone was with them. What would be the result of her unorthodox ways?
In a few moments, at the snap of Lucy's fingers, a massive Electric Voltage Vortex emerged from the sky! It was twice the size of Lucy's original electrical vortex, and Loke's light had caused the large attack to have more of a golden color instead of being yellow. Laxus and Orga could sense the tremendous amount of magical power coming from this spell, and Orga had even given it a new name. As he saw it shoot a homing beam of lightning from its center, precisely hitting the target of Lucy's desire, the intense thunder waves temporarily paralyzed him and Laxus. He called this move Electrically Explosive Paralyzing Light, since it was also extremely bright.
The vortex of electricity had followed the path of its homing beam, about to create a massive explosion when it would come down upon its target, and the city was going to end up being destroyed more than ever. None of the electricity was going to hit the Domus Flau, since all of the spectators were there for the purpose of safety from being harmed in the event, and Courtney Kagari from the guild known as Magma Groudon had also been watching from the stands. She was smirking a bit while being really impressed to see the evolved lightning from the girl who had defeated her, and she unknowingly stood next to Runo. The brown-haired woman folded her arms while grinning a bit, and the earth dragon slayer now knew that Lucy was truly elite to pull off a spell like this.
The electric vortex had been aimed at Juvia from Team Fairy Tail B, who was actually Marina from Team Aqua Kyogre, but the green-eyed girl had enough sense to run near the bar where the members of Fairy Tail had been partying last night before Natsu's little video shocked everyone. The real Juvia was still zonked out in the bar because of Marina spiking her drink, unable to move, and Marina jumped down into a puddle of water that she quickly created to get out of the electrical vortex's way. Really, was Team Aqua Kyogre enjoying their smarts or the fact that they never liked people to attack them?
Lucy's attack had struck the bar where the members of Fairy Tail would be drinking, creating a massive yellow blast of Lightning Magic, and its high amount of electricity was enough to wake Juvia up while she was screaming in pain from this electrifying move. Bar Sun was completely obliterated by the attack while it continued to cause great pain to Juvia, and the shock waves from the blast of lightning had destroyed several nearby buildings as well. They ripped through Crocus, showing off the fearsome power of Lucy's happy clone, and that electric vortex would probably break a Magic Power Finder with the smallest amount of contact.
The Rain Woman was fried while she fell to the ground, blacking out once again, and Lucy had gained five more points for Team Sabertooth. It was a pretty cheap shot to take out someone who could not handle a drugged drink, especially since intense amounts of lightning were now surging through Juvia's body, and Lucy had won another battle. Even though it had never even officially started, that battle resulted in Fairy Tail losing one more participant in the survival tournament. Could Jellal, Laxus, and Gajeel possibly be the shocking trio to try and turn things around? However, even if they wanted to, they wouldn't be able to gain enough points to take the lead away from Team Sabertooth.
Near the library...
Upon hearing that nearly all of the Fairy Tail mages had been taken down by Lucy's clones and their spells, Shelly could only giggle with delight at the fact that her plan had now worked. She had kept Fairy Tail from winning the Grand Magic Games this year, she made their guild implode by having Marina mess with the love life of Natsu, and some of the fairies were close to their deaths. She had been happy to see that the power of Lucy's evolved spells was at such a high level, maybe even near Shelly's level of skill, but the black-haired woman narrowed her blue eyes while knowing that she had to fight against the real Lucy Heartfilia now.
This meant that Shelly would truly be taking this seriously against Lucy and Sting, battling them with her elite attacks, but was it truly fair for an expert in advanced spells to really be taking on a girl who only just started using them? Lucy looked totally ready to fight against her rival, determination building up in her cocoa brown eyes while she wanted to take down Shelly for some respect to be gained from the dark mage, and Lucy also thought that beating Shelly would keep her from trying to kiss Sting. This was one rivalry that needed to really be settled, but Lucy would not be handling this by herself.
Sting would be by her side, assisting her with the fight against Shelly, and he had some business to settle with her. After all, when he remembered how Lucy's Wind Magic caused her to crash into Shelly, that was when the battle between the two girls had really started. His battle against the tanned criminal had never actually been finished, so this was a good opportunity for some payback to be sent towards Aqua Kyogre. After all the times that Shelly had tied with Lucy, the two girls were finally going to have a match with an actual winner emerging from it. Of course, knowing that Shelly came from a dark guild, things would not be really fair.
As the spell book had now turned pink, Lucy decided to start off this match by using the ninth spell of Heavenly Body Magic. It was known as Astral Sphere, and this spell made a pink sphere appear in the palm of her right hand. Seven small pink stars floated around the sphere, showing how this was the evolved version of Heavenly Sphere, and Lucy threw it towards Shelly! The attack was about to create seven large pink blasts of energy in midair, causing damage to the space around it, but Shelly smirked a bit while making a mirror out of ice to stop Lucy's attack from going an inch farther.
The seven large pink blasts transpired, all of their energy focused into one point, but Lucy and Sting both gasped in shock at what they were seeing. The icy mirror had completed negated that large move, not even having a single crack, and Shelly giggled while telling her blonde rival that the water of her advanced spells was dense enough to handle almost any substance. It could possibly even stop a few powerful strikes from the mighty Laxus, making Lucy bite down on her lower lip while she knew that stronger spells would be needed in this battle against Shelly.
Sting sternly glared at Shelly, before aiming his White Dragon's Roar straight at the dark mage, but Shelly snapped her fingers to make her ice mirror break apart. The ice shards floated in front of Sting's attack, diverting the white light into different directions, and Lucy was able to dodge a beam that came her way. She knew that this fight was not going to be easy, mainly because of Shelly negating a high-level spell like it was nothing, and she could guess that the ice was in or near a glacial state for it to have so much density. Really, she was going to turn this into quite a pain for the two mages from Team Sabertooth.
Lucy activated the tenth spell of Heavenly Body Magic, looking fierce as she would not let her rival negate this attack, and it was known as Meteor Waves. Seven meteors came down from the sky at high speeds, turning pink as they were gaining power on their descent, and the rocks cracked open to reveal seven large energy waves. They all headed straight for Shelly, ready to strike her at high speeds while she simply smirked, and Sting threw in his White Dragon's Holy Ray attack to make many beams of light try to strike his foe.
All of the attacks created pink and white blasts of energy, their power being at high levels, and Lucy gave Sting a lovely kiss on the lips while knowing that no one could possibly fend off against their teamwork. When the smoke cleared up, however, Sting narrowed his blue eyes while he could hear the sounds of glass breaking. The powerful spells had sent Shelly down to the ground, but her body was cracking apart like a shell while every part of her had turned white like ice. Water was coming out of what appeared to be an icy shell, as the ice began to melt away, but where had the real Shelly gone to?
Suddenly, Sting told Lucy in a concerned tone while his nose picked up on the scent of Shelly, "Lucy, look out! She's about to strike us!"
However, his warning came too late. As Lucy gasped in shock, Shelly emerged from the icy air behind the two mages to deliver a harsh kick to Lucy's left side! The powerful impact of her kick had sent the blonde mage crashing through a nearby building, making it now seem unstable, and Sting knew that he had to go help his girlfriend. In an effort to distract Shelly, Sting used a new spell known as White Dragon's Laser. This move made him fire ten thin beams of white light from his mouth, making them all move in curved trajectories to have a better chance of striking Shelly, but the antagonist simply countered his attack.
She spun around in a rapid manner while surrounding herself in a large twister of water, combining it with Ice Magic to generate cold air, and Shelly smirked evilly while seeing Sting's beams of light get deflected at other parts of the street. Every time they struck a building or the ground, a large blast of white light would transpire! However, it faded away to reveal that large icicles had been left behind to replace the blasts when they were gone. Lucy even found herself being propelled through the air by a blast that had struck the building she crashed through, and she landed on her stomach next to Sting.
Lucy did not want to lose against Shelly, especially after how hard she had worked to reach this point, and she slowly found herself able to stand up while panting heavily. Her rival was definitely using her best tactics in this fight, able to utilize two types of magic in a decent combo with each other, and Lucy was at a disadvantage with only her Heavenly Body Magic being used right now. She decided to call upon the eleventh spell in the pink book, and this move would surely determine whether Lucy was still in this fight or just about ready to give up. It was called Meteorite Mash, and this spell made a pink aura surround Lucy's body while she looked pretty fierce.
She commanded her attack to come down from the sky, watching in delight as many star-shaped projectiles of energy were homing in on Shelly, and their power was coming from the heavens. They became faster and stronger with every passing second, ready to take down Shelly for good, but the black-haired woman simply shot out a copious amount of small blue bubbles from her mouth. They canceled out Lucy's projectiles, effectively stopping them while creating a large cloud of smoke in the air, and that left the blonde girl with only one spell remaining. Tears fell from her cocoa brown eyes, having only one evolved spell left to use, and Lucy knew that it was hopeless. (Really, wasn't this starting to remind you of Ash versus Tobias in the Sinnoh League?)
The exhaustion of using three high-level spells was now taking its toll on Lucy, making her feel weak while she panted heavily, and the blonde mage could barely stand while knowing that it would be bad to let down Team Sabertooth when things had been going so well for them. She did not want to look bad in front of Sting while she had fighting so hard to impress him, so Lucy knew that this final spell had to count. She had to use a spell that was at a lower level, not having enough energy for the twelfth evolved spell to be used, and Lucy decided to go with Heavenly Slice.
However, just as Lucy was about to use that spell, Shelly quickly appeared in front of her rival to deliver a harsh kick to her abdomen. She wasn't going to let Lucy try and make anymore stupid moves, since her magical power was almost depleted down to nothing, and Shelly created a white ball of icy energy in her hands. She smirked evilly while throwing it straight ahead, and the ball exploded into a large white blast of energy when it hit Lucy! The attack surrounded her, making her feel icy explosions hitting her from every direction, and Lucy screamed in pure agony at the pain she was feeling. She was sent sliding across the hard ground, which really must've hurt, and seeing her be exhausted had made Shelly laugh at how Lucy had thought she was so strong.
The tanned female commander from Aqua Kyogre asked Lucy in a teasing tone, squatting down by her side after walking over to the blonde girl, "Wow, what a shame. You do have a lot of creativity with those spells, Lucy Heartfilia, but you truly failed to realize that our levels of experience with advanced spells were just too far apart for this to be a close battle. Your clones beat all those people from Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale, sweetie, but beating a bunch of weaklings is really no reason for you to think you're hot stuff. I even gave you three types of magic, yet you still can't defeat me. It's quite a shame that you and Sting couldn't even work well together against me, but you did work well with me to destroy Fairy Tail. You're still weak, but you're also beautiful and useful to me. After all, the book is why-"
Before Shelly could continue berating Lucy, her attention was diverted to yet another Lacrima Vision screen appearing in the sky. Marina had just been beaten by Rufus using Memory Make: Aquatic Sealing, causing Marina to be hit quickly by a small bubble from the mouth of Rufus while his move reduced the powers of her Water Magic and Ice Magic to zero, so that meant five more points for Team Sabertooth. Even though the teal-haired girl lost the match, as she fell to her knees, she still smirked in a delighted manner at the fact that Fairy Tail now had zero chance of winning.
With 160 points for their total score, as well as the city being too damaged for anymore powerful battles to take place, Team Sabertooth had been deemed the winners of this year's Grand Magic Games. The crowd cheered with joy, many fans of Lucy hoping for Sabertooth to win, but the only people on the team that weren't happy had to be Lucy and Sting. Lucy had really wanted to take down Shelly, truly hoping to make that be the final battle to decide who would be the stronger of the two rivals, but Lucy had been completely outclassed by her rival's advanced spells.
Sting had also wanted to take down Shelly to keep her from kissing him, also wanting to show her that she couldn't make Lucy join Aqua Kyogre, but the white dragon slayer could only look frustrated at how he couldn't even protect Lucy in this battle. She was in a lot of pain from Shelly's last attack, her body numb from how cold it was, and Sting truly saw the flaw here. Him and Lucy were so fixated on powering up the spell book, yet they didn't realize that its full potential had mostly come from Lucy's chemistry with Sting. She was so driven by revenge for the spells to be powerful, but all of that hate left barely any room for her to show some love.
Lucy told Shelly in an unhappy manner, tears streaming down her face while she looked up at her smirking rival, "Back at the hot spring, I was right. Shelly, you totally are stronger than me. You're much stronger than me, and I was no match for you at all. Still, I hate how you battled me with advanced spells when you've got more experience with them. It's just not fair, and I can't even move because my body's numb. I was so ready to prove that I could beat you, but I still failed to truly win..."
Those were Lucy's last words to Shelly, as she felt utterly exhausted from using up so much magic in one day, and the blonde mage sighed sadly while closing her cocoa brown eyes. As she had let herself fall to the taste of defeat, something that had not come her way in quite a while, Lucy could only bite down on her lower lip to not scream from this failure. She had not wanted to let Shelly win, and Lucy felt even worse about the fact that none of her spells got through Shelly's advanced defenses. Would she now have to bow down to Shelly, showing her respect, or would Lucy ever be strong enough to defeat her rival? More importantly, could she and Sting regain their spark for love to truly let their flowers of teamwork begin to bloom?
How was Chapter 26? Did you like it? I apologize for making Lucy lose at the very end, since there was buildup about this battle, but this failure was meant to not make Lucy into an overpowered character. Her clone for Fire Magic will be shown later on, and this story will get more of the StiCy romance that it needs. Anyway, will Lucy think about Shelly's offer? Will Sting be there to help her get over this loss, and will the two of them develop more love? Standby for the update!