Layla's Strength

Loke stared at the girl in shock. "How can you possibly summon one of the four Heavenly Kings? That ability was thought to be impossible for over four hundred years. There shouldn't be a summoner alive that can do that."

"I'm not from this time, Loke," Layla simply replied.

"What?"

"She came from the future," Lucy answered. She placed her hand on Loke's arm, trying to comfort the lion. She didn't understand why he was so upset. The girl had just saved all of their lives by summoning that king. "Is it really that difficult to summon?"

"There are a lot of factors that go into summoning one of the Heavenly Kings," Loke responded.

"Like what exactly?" Freed asked.

Bickslow gestured his hand around. "First who are these Heavenly Kings?" His babies repeated, 'Heavenly Kings' three times.

Loke looked over at them. "The Heavenly Kings have a realm outside of the Celestial World which serves as their kingdoms. Each also watches over a part of this world. Byakko is the king of the wind and controls the Western plains such as Fiore. Each of them have immense power and it's far from easy to make any sort of contract with them."

"What do you have to do?" Lucy asked.

Loke looked back at his master. "First, you have to figure out how to set up a meeting with them and after that they not only test your character but study your bloodline. If they think either is not worthy of their service they will completely reject you."

"Bloodlines don't matter," Natsu managed to shout out.

Every looked over at the still beaten up dragon slayer. "That idiot does realize not everything follows the same ideas as Fairy Tail."

Everyone sweat drop. "Who knows with that idiot," Laxus said.

"You were saying Loke." Lucy tried to focus back on this Heavenly King business. "Hold on," she said as she brought her fist to her chest. "So even if the person themselves is good, but their family isn't the Kings won't even bother with them."

"That's right," Loke told her. "They have to have some sort of status and must be good people in their own right, especially their parents and any siblings they have. Even if you manage to have all those it takes a large amount of magical energy to summon them even more than it does to summon us of the Zodiac.

"Summoning them even for less than a minute can leave a large strain on ones magical reserves and that's not including adding in one using their magic so the kings can use their magic in this world. One person shouldn't be able to handle such a strain of keeping a king here for almost five minutes."

After Loke had finished his explanation everyone looked at Layla in awe and wonder, waiting for her to answer how she was able to pull it off.

Layla shut her eyes. "I can't give you all the details as to why I'm capable of doing this otherwise I may not have it at all; however as for the reason I'm able to have a King out for so long is do to the type of contracts I've made with the four of them."

"Wait, you have a contract with all four kings?" Loke said in utter shock.

Layla nodded to confirm. She opened her red eyes that simply look frightening compare to her normal gray. "I can summon them for only up to five minutes; however in that time frame they use their own magic to fight while I keep their gate open with my own magic that is why I can fight and not use up all my magic."

"Even so I'm still surprise you're still standing," Loke said.

"I have plenty of magic left," Layla gently assured the lion. Loke felt in some way it was Lucy comforting him.

Erza stepped forward in front of Layla. "Is that true?"

Layla nodded confused. She looked up at the red hair woman that was slightly taller than her even though she was in heels.

"That man was one of the A Class you warned us about the one who tied with Gajeel in your time," Erza started. "You were able to defeat him so I want to test what it will take to fight one of these A Class wizards."

Layla understood the reason why, but it was true they needed to know what the current level of the guild was so they could all be prepared for the battles ahead. "Fine, I understand."

"Hold on," Blot said. The two women looked over at the black haired boy. "Sis, you already summoned two kings today. You know that's your limit."

Layla looked back at Erza. "I still have my other sets of magic. I want to know how strong Erza is in this time."

"Very Well."

Erza and Layla walked out of what remained of the guild hall onto the street and face each other with enough space between them for a proper battle.

"Maybe we should get those two idiots out of the way before those two start clashing," Blot suggested.

Laxus sighed before he nodded. He and Blot moved between the girls and grabbed Natsu and Gajeel off of the streets and brought them back into the guild so Wendy could heal them. No one else was on the streets except the two Fairy Tail women.

"Will she be ok against Erza?" Lucy asked worried. She knew how strong Erza was from the many battles she'd seen her in. This Layla girl was powerful as clear by her defeating one of Crime Spree's A class, but it had drained at least a good amount of her magic.

Blot folded his arms across his chest. "She might be with 'that' magic."

"Might?" Lucy said even more worried.

"Anything less than a sure thing is a bad idea against Erza," Happy said.

"What magic are you talking about?" Loke questioned.

"Are you sure that you're able to do this?" Erza asked.

Layla nodded with strong determination in her eyes.

Meanwhile back in the guild Cana was taking bets on who would win the match the fearsome Titania or Fairy Tail's King Summoner who can't summon any of her kings. The bets were greatly in Erza's favor.

"Aww, I want to fight," Natsu complained.

"You can't even stand up," Lucy said.

The only ones who weren't betting were Blot, Lucy, Loke, Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, and Carla. Blot, Lucy and Loke were all too busy focusing on the two women as the match was about to start.

Makarov raised his hand and then swung it down. "Let the battle begin."

Erza instantly requiped into her Heaven's Wheel armor, not knowing what to expect from her opponent. She flew up and swung her blades around her and threw them directly down at Layla. "Dance my blades!"

Layla stuck her right hand out at a downward angle. A green magic circle appeared under her palm and a double edge sword with two wind holes near the top appeared in her hand. She gripped the handle with both hands and swung across in front of herself in the shape of an arch.

A wind slash came out of the blade and sent Erza's blades off in different directions.

"She uses requipment magic too!" Lucy and Loke said at the same time.

Layla spun the sword in her hand in front of her. "Divine Twister!" A raging sharp stream of wind shot out of her blade at Erza, capturing the Fairy Queen.

"Wait a minute, that sword belongs to Byakko's kingdom," Loke said. "How did she get it?"

"Maybe she stole it," Happy said.

"Don't be stupid," Blot responded still focus on the match. "Do you think a king would work with a thief? My sister got that as a gift from Byakko so she wouldn't always have to summon him."

"A gift?" Lucy then remembered when Virgo had given her, her Fleuve d'étoiles so she wouldn't always have to summon her spirit.

"But unlike when she summons the kings she has the power the weapons with her own magic," Blot informed them.

Erza broke out of the wind storm now in her black wing armor. She flew back toward Layla with her sword drawn back. Layla prepared her next attack.

Layla used the boost of wind magic of her sword while Erza used the power of her armor. They swung, flipped, dodged, and counter one another's attack with great skill. Erza started to gain the advantage.

Layla ex-equip her wind sword and then requiped into fire style gloves and boots. Flames engulfed her hands as she shot a ring of flames at Erza that she simply dodged. Layla slammed her hands on the ground and swung her flaming feet at Erza.

Erza had her blade over her head and pointed it down so that it blocked the attack. Layla created an explosion with her flames before flipping back to create some distance.

Natsu chuckled. "Something like that won't work on Erza."

"Duh," Blot replied.

Layla landed on her feet, switching from her flame weapons to a turtle shell body shield. The flames are swept away by Erza's sword with her now in her Fire Empress Armor. She was down on one knee.

"Crushing Wave shot!" A blue magic circle appeared in front of Layla's shield. A huge wave of water came out of it blasting Erza back.

Erza quickly changed into Sea Empress armor to take on the wave that surrounded her. Meanwhile Layla requiped into having a large earth mallet in her hands. She swung across her front. "Earth Dasher!"

The ground rose and made a curve earth wall behind Erza, smashing her into it. Erza let out a scream.

"She's requiping faster than Erza," Lucy said now worried about her friend.

"No, she knows how Erza thinks," Loke said. "So even though Erza's faster at requiping she knows how to counter her before she change again."

"How is that possible?" Natsu questioned.

"You forget she's from the future, Natsu," Lucy said.

I'll have to finish this fast, Layla thought. I don't have much magical power left so maybe if I combine two of the kings' weapons. She unequip the hammer about to switch to her wind sword and fire gloves and boots.

A flash of light came from Erza.

Layla's eyes opened wide. She fell back, being cut on her side by a blade. She dropped on the ground as Erza stood several feet behind her in her Flight armor and blade in hand.

"Erza won," Happy cheered.

"Guess that's no surprise," Bickslow stated. 'No surprise, no surprise, no surprise,' his babies repeated.

Water and stars in the shape of a whip slid across the ground, wrapping around Erza's ankle. The red haired woman looked down to see that it was Lucy's Fleuve d'étoiles. "What?" She saw Layla on the ground holding the whip, but for a second image it was Lucy.

Erza was flung into the air and slammed down on the ground in front of Layla who was holding the celestial whip.

"I've never seen Erza get man handle by another girl before," Bickslow said.

"How does she have Fleuve d'étoiles that's Lucy's isn't it?" Gray questioned.

Blot raised an eyebrow. "You thought there was only one of those things." What Blot stated wasn't a lie a second one was fasten for his sister after their mother asked as a favor from the Celestial King, but it was still reckless of his sister to use it right now.

Erza switched to her Purgatory armor, breaking out of the whip's gasp. She was now standing with the large spike mace in her hand. She leaped up and swung the mace down toward the girl that was crouching on the ground.

Layla pulled out a silver key. "Open Gate of the Eagle, Aquila." A flash of light came in front of her as Erza swung down.

The ground broke and smoke rose so no one could see what had just happen.

"Do you think Erza killed her?" Happy questioned in a panic.

"I don't think so, Happy," Wendy said.

An eagle rose out of the smoke into the air. The bird was big enough to carry a person and had Layla there kneeled on his back. She had already put her whip back on her belt. "Princess, are you alright?" Aquila asked.

"Princess?" Everyone sweat drop.

"She seems a lot like Lucy," Happy said.

Erza launched herself into the air ready to attack once again with her large mace.

Layla pulled off another key from her key ring, having a total of seven gate keys. "Open Gate of the Shield, Scutum." A magic circle appeared along with a flash of light. The shield appeared before them that created a magic barrier.

Erza swung her weapon that clashed against the barrier. She pushed against it, but couldn't break through the barrier that had her land back on the ground.

Lucy was on her way out of her family's house. A young eight year old Layla stood just a little outside of the living room as she stepped forward. "Momma."

Lucy stopped and turned back to face her daughter. "Hmm?"

Layla looked down nervous. "Uh-um."

"What is it, Layla?" Lucy asked sweetly. Lucy had already packed for her latest mission with her team of course she didn't mind being late if something was bothering her little girl.

Layla looked over at all the keys her mother had including the golden ones. She then looked back down again more scared to ask her question.

Lucy let go of her luggage and came down to her daughter's height. She placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. Layla looked into her mother's eyes. "It's ok, you can tell me."

"Do you, do you think I'll ever to be as strong as you and dad?" she asked.

Lucy smiled gently. "Of course you will."

Layla waved her hands around frankly. "But I only have three silver keys and none of them are as strong as momma's gold ones. Plus Blot always beats me and I can only summon one spirit a day. You, you can summon so many at once, Momma."

"I didn't start out that way," Lucy told her. "I could only summon just one a day too and it took me a long time to make all the friends I have now." She placed her hand on top of her daughter's head. "Your dad had a weak body when he was kid."

"Daddy?"

Lucy nodded. "You can become stronger too, Layla. You just have to work hard and love the friends you make contracts with. Believe in yourself, Layla and I know you can do anything."

Layla was breathing heavily. I only have a little magical energy left so I'll have one shot at this. She lifted up a third sliver key above her. "Open Gate of the Chisel, Caelum." A flash of light and dings came from the magic circle to have Caelum appear.

Layla pointed down at Erza. "Fire down on her."

Caelum switched to his cannon mode and gathered energy to form its blast. Scutum would keep Caelum safe long enough for it to launch its attack the real problem was making sure it hit Erza. As soon as Caelum finished charging it fired down on Erza.

An explosion went off.

Smoke rose once again and everyone waited to see what happened. When the smoke clear, a double arm shield was above Erza's head. She had requiped into her Adamatine armor.

Layla had returned her shield and chisel back to their world. She dropped her hand that held her three gate keys on Aquila's back. "That's it, I'm out of magic. Aquila, please land I've lost this fight."

Aquila did as his master asked, landing on the ground before disappearing. Layla dropped to the ground unconscious.

"Layla." Blot charged over to his sister.

Erza returned back to her normal clothing. She looked down at her opponent as Blot pulled the girl into his arms. Erza admired the skill the girl had with both requip and celestial magic and neither was her strongest type of magic which was properly why she was that badly hurt in the fight.

She also realized something else in that battle. She would train this girl in the future. Her style in the requip arts reminded her of her own. She certainly couldn't be prouder of the girl's abilities and looked forward to that day, but she also knew she needed to get stronger if she was going to help them stop Crime Spree.

Blot carried his sister bridal style over to Wendy. He putted her down in front of the young dragon slayer. "Wendy, can you heal my sister's injuries." The young dragon slayer nodded with determination and dropped down to her knees, waving her hands over the main damage Layla got from her fight with Erza.

After Wendy was finished she wiped her brow. "There she just needs rest to now to gather her magic back."

"She's one heck of a man I'll give her that?" Elfman commented.

"She's not a man, big brother," Lisanna said.

"If you say man one more time, I'm going to beat you with my fan," Evergreen threatened.

"I need to find a place for her to sleep for the night," Blot said.

"You should stay a Lucy's," Happy said.

Lucy looked freaked out. "Why my place?"

"Because your bed is so comfy," Natsu said.

Blot looked at his sister. "Its fine, we'll find a place."

Lucy sighed. "Well, I guess you can't be any worst than Natsu."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Blot picked his sister back up. "So then let's get going."

Mirajane waved them off. "You guys take care of her we'll work on fixing up the guild hall."

Lucy escorted the twins to her apartment. Loke looked at them suspiciously before he decided to follow them.

Thanks to all of you who have been reviewing this story it got me really excited about writing it. Thanks for your support. I look forward to your next review.