Chapter 23

"But Princess…" Loke started to protest.

"Lucy-sama, I don't think you have the experience to use one." Capricorn followed, worried that his mistress would put herself in more danger.

"There's no time and I am running low on Magic since I've been training so early in the morning. Capricorn, I need to close your Gate now." Lucy explained in a hurry. The monster she's fighting was gaining back its composure and preparing another offensive move.

"Okay, Lucy-sama. I wish of your success in this endeavor." The Goat softened his features and smiled, realizing that his mistress was staring to grow up into a wonderful and strong woman. He then disappeared in a flash of light.

"Here, Princess." Loke handed one of his rings in Lucy's palms. Lucy carefully took it and slid it into her right index finger.

"Okay, Loke, since I'm not one full of ego and pride, I want your assistance." Lucy looked at the A-Class demonic monster, smirking and adjusting her knuckles.

"At your command, Princess." Loke took on a battle stance, facing the black creature once again.

"Go!" Lucy dashed towards their opponent, dodging its swipe. She rolled to the side and readied herself for another lunge and sure enough, the monster made another attempt. Timing herself, just as the arm could make contact on her body, she jumped ten feet into the air, light burst as she made her ascend.

Caught off-guard, The monster didn't have the time to defend itself when Lucy took the moment to punch it in the head, light once again appeared as Lucy's fist made contact. The force was enough to stagger the monster, giving Loke the opening to use some of his techniques.

"REGULUS GATLING IMPACT!" Taking advantage of the monster's sudden distraction, Loke repeatedly punched his target's legs, engulfing them in brilliant light. Legs weakened, the monster was brought down on the floor, sending tremors on the whole building.

"Did it work?" Lucy asked when Loke landed beside her. But just as The Lion could answer, the rubble cleared, although took a blunt force, the monster still stood.

Using its single hand, the monster brought down his fist to the ground, creating cracks in the floor that rushed towards them. Lucy and Loke jumped out of the way, avoiding the growing cracks from reaching and possibly trap them on the floor.

"Princess, attack when I'm done." Loke turned his head towards his mistress and smirked, gesturing for her to follow his lead. Lucy, on her part, readied herself. She knew all too well what her loyal Spirit would do and there's no need to for them to exchange words to understand what the other was thinking. Once she has taken a battle stance, Loke took on his casting stance as light danced in his black suit. "LION BRILLIANCE!" Large burst of light were released from his body, blinding the monster and giving them again the opening to mount another offense.

Taking that as a sign that it was her chance to attack, Lucy concentrated a small amount of her Magic in her feet and jumped a good distance away from Loke and to the monster. Her sudden upsurge released a burst of light that propelled her to her destination. Fixing her sight to the momentarily blind monster, readying if it was to open its eyes, Lucy clasped both of her hands with each other, fingers locked on the other hand and released a ball of light. Gaining momentum from her fall, the blonde brought her clasped hands in the monster's head.

"REGULUS PUNCH: LUCY VERSION!" Her clasped hands connected to the monster's head, the light taking on the shape of a vertical elongated oval. The move combined with the momentum gained from gravity knocked down the monster to the ground, damaging the concrete once more.

"Her improvisation is ingenious." Mirajane finally spoke. Her eyes have only focused on Lucy since the start of the event. Scratch the other three since they've always been so unbeatable but Lucy…Lucy's progress was a wildfire. Months ago, the Demon wouldn't believe that their blonde guild mate was capable of such feat but now? Now, that's a different story. Lucy has finally catching up with the other three.

"I could agree to that." Jellal smiled. In contrast to the Demon, he knew from the moment he ever felt her using Unison Raid that this girl has potential, considering that she has three monsters of team mate, Natsu, Gray and most especially, his beloved Erza. "Unpolished yet creative, there were no particular routine to follow. She just moves according to what her instinct and reflex says and makes some flashy attacks."

"I think that would be both a disadvantage and advantage." Gajeel argued. "If she's too flashy, she won't be able to refine her hand-to-hand combat skills." The Iron Dragon Slayer then glanced at the still quiet Laxus. "But then again, this is Bunny Girl we're talking about. She uses her brains better, unlike Natsu and Gray. She first search for her opponent's weakness then exploit it. Bunny Girl's starting to become calculating and manipulative. Gihi" He smirked.

"Besides, using her instincts won't allow her opponents to predict her next move and it is for that reason that she can use the element of surprise against them. And the element of surprise is a powerful tool." Mirajane stated like a pro.

"One thing that surprises me is that even though it's not choreographed, she's still graceful. Like a dancer." Gajeel uttered, wondering.

"Wow, Gajeel! I don't know you're a very expressive man." Mirajane feigned a gasp, giggling at the man's expense.

"Tsk. I don't know how and where Bunny Girl got that but I'm sure as hell that she's didn't learn that from Laxus." Gajeel drawled.

"She didn't." Laxus, still looking at the fight, admitted. After a while, he then glanced back at his fellow Fairy Tail Team B. "That's just my girl." He smirked.

Lucy had enough. They've only been running on circles. They'll attack, the monster falls down, the monster will attack, they will dodge, and then back to the part that they will attack. It was too tiring, doing the same things over and over again. The beast has taken damages and she's been running low on Magic Power. Though, the thought of using Spirit Energy crossed her mind, she eventually blasted the idea down. She won't use it in front of many people.

"Princess, what are we gonna do?" Loke asked beside her. It seems that he too has noticed that they've been repeating the very same routine over and over again.

"Let's just finish this. I'm running low on Magic Power and there's still one more monster left." Lucy answered, huffing from her exhaustion.

"Okay! At your command." Loke flashed her a brilliant smile. Still flirting, are we? Lucy could only sigh.

"Threw me at the monster's head." Lucy said out of the blue, ignoring he flirtatious attitude her Spirit was giving her.

"What?!" The Lion snapped from his seduction reverie. What on Earthland suddenly crossed her mind and though of something so ludicrous and stupid? Has her anger towards Laxus finally pushed her sanity to its limits, that she's willing to clash head-on with a S-Class monster? S-CLASS MONSTER!

"You have faith in me, right?" The blonde leaned on him, pressing her back against his.

"Well, this certainly brings back memories." The Spirit smirked as he adjusted his glasses. This pose made him remember a time ten years ago when Lucy wasn't able to properly summon even two Spirit at once. Their fight against Bickslow. But even now that she can even call four simultaneously, she still trusted him enough to beckon his aid alone. "Zenith of Regulus!" Light again gathered around his body as he took Lucy's feet on his clasped hands. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Then The Lion exerted his strength and effort to throw, sending Lucy into the air with a burst of light. Lucy darted in the towards the head of the monster, whistling in the air but instead of hitting it just like before, she used its head as a lever to back flip and shoot herself another good feet into the air, light trailing behind her. "Loke!" Lucy called.

"Here I go, Lucy! REGULUS IMPACT!" Loke ran and positioned himself below the head of the beast. He jumped into the air, gathering light in his open right palm and clenching his fist to punch the chin. A large lion's face materialized from the light when his fist collided.

"Okay! LUCY KICK!" As of the same time, using the momentum gained from the height and gravity, Lucy propelled herself downwards, light gathering on her legs. Thinking of a better plan, Lucy made another back flip when she neared the monster and postured her heel so that it would crash with the beast's forehead. With a battle cry, she closed the distance between them and knocked their opponent down, light flared in the clash that made the monster disappear in a blast of rubble and smoke.

"Wow! Lucy's really a badass!" Gray cheered as he watched light exploded from below and above the creature's head.

"Well, that's the last S-Class monster." Erza stated. They defeated their own opponents just a while ago.

"And she said she wouldn't show off." Natsu hmph-ed.