Chapter 9: The Thunder god vs. The Celestial Queen
The air sparked with excitement as the two blondes circled one another. Neither seemed keen to make the first strike as they moved in silence. Lucy kept her hands poised around the hilts of her blades, but didn't dare to draw her weapon first. Not being able to hear Laxus's mind was proving to make this a much more intense battle, even though they had yet to cross weapons. "You are taking me more seriously this time it seems." Laxus swirled his staff in the air playfully.
"The moment you underestimate your opponent it the instant you lose, that is what you taught me right cousin?" Lucy kept her breathing as even as possible, opening her mind to receive the information from around her. Laxus may have blocked her from his thoughts and feelings, but the others hadn't, which gave Lucy a nice view of every angle she needed to predict his movements. The air around them practically shook as Laxus took the first strike bringing his staff down swiftly in hopes of catching his cousin off guard.
"Yes, and I see that it is a lesson that you have taken to heart." Lucy crossed her blades as she caught his staff the same as she had in their previous match. A bright flash enveloped the two, momentarily blinding the on lookers. A shrill scream pierced the air as Lucy jumped back, her body trembling. Laxus felt satisfaction at his ability to land a solid attack on his perfect cousin. "I have been working hard on finding ways around your defenses Lu." He continued as he swung the staff towards her exposed ribs, a look of pure excitement lighting his face. Lucy recovered just in time to roll out of Laxus's range, she used her swords to support her weight as she pushed herself back up onto her knee. Her breathing was still raged and uneven from the shock of his last attack.
"I see now." Lucy slide her swords back into their sheaths as she picked herself back up to stand at her full height. "Vulpecula:Fusion" Lucy's body flared with a bright orange flame as she absorbed the powers of the fox spirit. Little orange ears sprouted from her braided golden locks and a bushy tail swished from under her long black coat. When the transformation completed, Lucy channeled the flames to condense them into two flaming swords that were nearly replicas of her original katanas.
"Figured it out that quickly, huh?" Laxus laughed as he pulled his own weapon apart into two swords, slashing them through the air dangerously.
"Allowing you to use the metal of my blades to electrocute me was a mistake on my part, but I won't slip up again." Lucy ran at full speed slashing out with so much force that she knocked Laxus back several steps when their blades collided. They began trading a flurry of slashing attacks that sent sparks of yellow and orange flying around them. The others watched as the battle dragged on, Lucy and Laxus never seemed to tire as they traded blows back and fourth.
"Are you ready to step it up, Lu?" Laxus taunted as his body started to admit sparks of electricity, he took a few steps in her direction weapons poised and ready to attack once more.
"Show me what you've got Laxus." Lucy smirked as she took a fighting stance, body glowing with her bright orange flame laced golden light.
Their weapons clashed once more, sending a shock wave across the field. The speed of their strikes were growing quicker, and to a normal person it would have been nearly to fast to keep up with who was controlling the battle, let alone where the two opponents actually were. Natsu could see that Laxus was keeping his distance from the flaming blades as he threw Lucy back several times. No doubt be knew that her flames were nearly as potent and damaging as the Salamander's himself.
"Um I think we should move back." Natsu suddenly broke the silence of the group as a nasty feeling of wariness bubbled up in his stomach. Surely being that close to these two could spell some nasty injuries for the group of on lookers. Loke immediately nodded in agreement picking himself up off the ground in a way that didn't show how concerned he was for his master's safety or his own. Gajeel grumbled under his breath but agreed that it might be a good idea, since both Lucy and Laxus were taking this fight more seriously than the previous ones. The three made their way further out into the clearing, talking about simple meaningless things till they found a spot where their view of the fight was reduced to the sparks that flew through the air.
Lupus and Lynx followed shortly after, once Lynx was able to get a good grip on his fellow spirit.
"We should give Lucy-nee some space, she will call us if she needs use, Lupus!" Lynx scolded as he dragged the short dark haired wolf spirit along with him.
"Well I guess while we are waiting for those two to duke it out, we could start talking about absorbing your magic, Gajeel." Natsu said in a lazy tone. "I mean you and Draco are my last two, so might as well get it over with right?" Gajeel raised an eyebrow observing Natsu like he was some form of fungus that needed to be removed.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Loke interrupted.
"Beats me. With every other dragon its just been battle and absorb, but Gajeel is human, so I guess it won't be as easy to extract, but since I'm half human I don't think it will be THAT difficult." Natsu placed himself at the base of a tree. "And I don't really feel like fighting, since I've been locked up in a library for so long, I just want to take a while and do absolutely nothing."
"Lazy." Lupus mumbled under her breath.
Natsu looked in her direction which caused the small spirit to blush in the embarrassment that she had been overheard. No one spoke for a while, as the battle on the other side of the field heated up. Trees and boulders were flying through the air as the sparks grew brighter, the time between strikes was becoming none existent. It was really turning into a battle of titans.
"So does this mean you'll be able to use any magic you want after this?" Loke adjusted his glasses before looking over at the lazy fire mage who was sprawled out, half asleep on the grass near a tall oak tree.
"I guess so, I have control of the major dragon elements, nothing like what Mira or Levy uses though. So I still have limitations." Natsu yawned as he listened to the battle rage on at the other end of the clearing.
"SO you and Lucy will be able to use similar attacks then?" Loke fiddled with his tie, but Natsu suddenly sat up looking at Gajeel with wide eyes.
"Oi Gajeel can you materialize your magic without making it into iron?" The tall dark hair mage took a few moments to think about it to himself. His training with the Earth Dragon had given him some control of his pure magic, so it may have been possible. He held out his hand and closed his eyes concentrating on bring his magic to the surface of his palm. After a few minutes a brilliant green light glowed around Gajeel. "Yeah, that's perfect." Natsu inhaled, taking just enough of Gajeel's magic to fill the small container that was reserved for the element iron.
"COOL" Lynx and Lupus cooed at the same time.
"That didn't look hard at all, Natsu you're such a drama queen." Loke sighed.
"Only one element left." Natsu said with a bright smile, ignoring Loke's comment completely. Lynx and Lupus looked at each other snickering about how the defective lion was being ignore, which caused Loke to chase the two around the group for a few minutes.
"Then we can head home, right?" Gajeel asked with a sly smile.
"Yep, once Levy and Wendy get back I full intend to head home." Natsu replied. "By the way our wives have been plotting against us again." Gajeel grunted in response, not sure whether he wanted to know what Natsu meant.
"So did you learn any new tricks?" Loke asked with an eyebrow raised, once he got tired of chasing the smaller spirits.
"Some." Gajeel shrugged as he slide down a near by tree.
"Well you're just as articulate as ever." Loke pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose with dissatisfaction.
Lucy fell to one knee breathing hard with one arm wrapped around her ribs. "Damn it, I never thought you could use your magic like that!" She huffed in a rasping voice.
"Glad to hear that you are impressed." Laxus smirked, through his own labored breaths.
"I don't know how much longer I can keep going like this." Lucy laughed at her own admission of defeat.
"Come on Lu. You still have some fight left in you!" Laxus put his swords back together letting the axe head form for his modified Heaven's Halberd.
"Now you asked for it!" Lucy smiled pushing herself back into a standing position. "Release." Her weapons died away as she gave her cousin a wide smile. Her body seemed to glow with a dense gold light, her hair whipping in the air currents that surrounded her. "Corona: Fusion" Suddenly Lucy's body crumpled to the ground as a golden spirit stood in her place.
"So this is one of your more powerful fusions?" Laxus raised an eyebrow, as she pulled her swords off her discarded body. Vulpi materialized dragging her vessel to safety before the battle started yet again.
"Lets finish this!" Laxus couldn't believe his eyes when the next second her right sword was biting into his throat.
"What the hell?" He couldn't move for fear that her blades would bite deeper into the exposed flesh of his muscular neck which would spell disaster for him.
"It's over." Lucy's calm voice whispered into her cousin's ear.
"Looks like they're done finally." Natsu broke through the arguing.
"Who won?" Gajeel asked with his usual bored tone.
"Dunno, they both look pretty bad." Natsu answered as the two limped over to join the group. Vulpi was holding Lucy up as she held onto her sore ribs.
"That was the best fight EVER!" Vulpi exclaimed as he set Lucy down next to the other spirits. "Man you guys should have seen Laxus's face when Lucy used her secret move to corner him!"
"Would you can it stupid fox." Laxus huffed crossing his arms over his chest.
"You did way more damage to me than I did to you. So don't be like that." Lucy tried to smile but found that the side of her face was starting to swell from where Laxus had connected a powerful blow.
"It doesn't matter how much damage I did, I still fucking LOST!" Laxus shouted in frustration.
"Dude, you lost to the most powerful spirit in the Celestial realm, you should be proud of how many rounds you were able to go before she had to resort to one of her most extreme tactics." Vulpi supplied. "Honestly I thought she was saving that for the battle with the evil guy, what was his name again?" Lucy smacked the back of the fox spirit's head with more force than was necessary.
"Shut it! It's one of my reserve move, but it is by no means my most powerful." Lucy laid back in the grass, slowly healing her wounds. "And I hope I don't ever have to use her, no matter who I'm fighting against. The risks is just to high." Lucy sighed before going silent.
Her companions wanted to ask what she meant, but found that she was already passed out.
"Wow, I haven't seen her this exhausted from a fight in a long time." Natsu sighed as he looked over at Laxus.
"I almost had her this time, damn it." Laxus grunted. "Then I had to be stupid and provoke her into stepping up her game. That spirit form increases her offense so much that I could barely see her move. It was crazy."
"That's not the only thing it does, Corona Fusion actually makes her a spirit that can affect the physical world, but nothing can affect her. The only way to beat her in that state is to damage her vessel. It isn't practical in battle at all, but it's still awesome!" Vulpi explain as he moved to check her wounds.
"It's not fair you know, every time I find a way to beat her, she throws a new move at me." Laxus ran his hands through his slightly shaggy blonde locks before throwing himself backward on the soft grass.
"But that's good for the both of you, it helps you grow and move forward." Natsu's comment was met with a burst of laughter from the group, as they looked at Natsu's serious expression.
"Natsu the sage!" Loke sang out through his laughter.
"Hey! I can act like an adult sometimes you know. And it would be good for you all to remember that I am a PRINCE here! Treat me with some respect." The comment only caused the others to laugh even harder.
"I-I am s-s-sorry my Lord, pl-pl-please forgive m-me!" Loke stammered out as he held his sides.
"Just wait, when I get the last element I'll be stronger than all of you put together... well so long as you don't add Lucy." Natsu rubbed the back of his neck as the others continued to heckle him about his previous comments.
"Alright, I suppose that will satisfy me." Draco held out his arms, allowing his magic to pool in the palms of his hands.
"Really th-that was it?" Natsu asked rather confused. "I've wasted more than half a year of my life for, THAT?"
"Do you want the magic or not Master Natsu?" Draco lifted a perfectly sculpted eyebrow in Natsu's direction.
Natsu regained his composure quickly and inhaled the soft golden light, allowing it to fill his last container. Suddenly a foreign feeling twisted Natsu's insides. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, wait that wasn't true, it was like the time he had eaten the Lycrima on the tower of heaven. Pain ripped through his body as Natsu tried to rein in the powers.
"Lucy dear would you be so kind" Draco turned to Lucy with a sad smile. "I prefer my home in one piece" It only took a moment to recognize what was going on, and she set up a spirit barrier around Natsu before his body had the chance to explode into flames.
"So this is what you have been up to?" A small voice called from the door way.
"Levy-chan!" Lucy called as she kept a watchful eye on her husband.
"Hey Lu-chan, it's been a while." Levy made her way across the library and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Is any one else back yet?" Lucy smiled.
"Everyone except for Wendy now." Lucy answered with a nod.
"I'm glad to see you're doing better." Levy returned a bright smile of her own.
"Gajeel is out in the garden overseeing Happy and Lily's training, you should go see him!" Lucy pointed to the door the lead out to the back garden, pleased that her family was finally going to be together once more.
"No, I don't want to disturb their studies. Would you like a hand with the barrier?" Levy turned back to look at Natsu who was on his knees, his howls of pain were increasing in volume, though they couldn't hear them through the barrier.
"It's almost over." Lucy sighed.
"So have the dreams still been coming?" Levy hoped that the progress everyone had made was enough to change their predestined path to the point that the meeting would be completely out of the question.
"Yes, but they have been changing recently, if only by a little bit." Lucy really didn't want to talk about the events of her night time jumps into the future.
"Do we still die?" Levy asked in a small voice.
"I can't answer that for you." Lucy said in the calmest voice she could. "But I'm certain that what we are accomplishing here is going to be the deciding factor in the war." Lucy released the box from around Natsu as he crumpled to the floor clutching his stomach, his eyes still squeezed tightly shut against the discomfort. "Master Draco, I'm going to take him off to rest, I'll be back in a few hours to continue my lessons." Lucy wrapped her husband's arm around her shoulders as she dragged him from the library.
"Oh Lu-chan, you are such a horrible liar." Levy sighed as she took a look around the room. Her gaze fell on Draco, and she allowed herself to smile as she walked over to him. "Thank you for lending me these." Levy pulled the piles of books out of her bag and placed them on the table nearest the dragon.
"I'm just happy that someone was finally able to master her techniques." Draco laid a hand on Levy's head affectionately. "But promise me you won't use that no matter what happens, you have plenty of other options." Draco's eyes filled with sadness.
"I can't make promises I know I have no intention of keeping, if the time comes and the situation calls for me to than I am ready. So long as I can protect my family I will pay any price."
SO we are only waiting on Wendy and Charle now, before they head back to reality, and the impending war.