Everyone in the tower froze, even the Tartaros and Silent Sanctum mages. No one made a move… "R-Reve…" Zalen looked up at Reve with a worried expression. "D-Do you feel that…?"
Reve nodded slowly, feeling a chill up his spine. "Yes…I do…"
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Wendy, Natsu, and even Cobra stopped dead in their tracks, the chill traveling up the spines of Natsu and Wendy. "N-Natsu-san…?" Wendy looked up at Natsu with a worried expression.
"I feel it too…" Natsu replied, keeping his eyes on Cobra in case he tried something, but right now, it seemed highly unlikely that he would.
"…I can hear it…" Cobra said, scowling slightly as he could figure out exactly what happened just from hearing the thoughts of those involved.
Heather stopped, looking around as the very same chill that was traveling up everyone else's spine traveled up hers. "W-What…?" Even Cygnus, who was walking to the base of the mountain after killing the giant flaming spider, felt the chill, and he looked up at the tower in the distance, nearly dropping his meatball sub in the process.
Selene, Aira, and Kiora entered a freeze frame in their battle, everything stopping as Selene and Aira felt the cold chill make its way up their spines. The same question entered the mind of very Fairy Tail and White Eclipse mage…"What happened?"
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"H-Hey…" Kuro looked around at the others with a worried expression on his face.
"Yeah, Kuro?" Nami asked, looking up at the usually joyous mage.
"You guys felt that too right…?" Kuro asked. Everyone inside nodded.
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Cynthia's eyes widened at Luke's actions; not even she thought Luke would've done such a thing. "H-He…!"
"What…?" Aiden raised an eyebrow, watching Luke and Lucy.
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Tobias attempted to shove the blade through Luke's body, but Luke placed both of his hands on the part that had yet to enter his stomach, attempting to pry it out of him before Tobias could push it through. "L-LUKE..!" Lucy's pupils shrunk along with her surprise, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. "W-Why would you…!?"
Luke coughed up some blood, his hands starting to bleed from gripping the blade so tightly. But he let out a light chuckle, though it did in fact pain him. "Heh…I can't believe that child was right this entire time…"
"H-Huh…?" Lucy looked up at Luke, who didn't even bother to turn around; he just continued to fight Tobias' efforts in shoving the blade through him.
"C-Cynthia…" Luke replied, groaning slightly as he felt the blade slowly make progress into his stomach. "T-The damn child was right…"
"R-Right about what…" Lucy asked.
"Y-You know…us…" Luke replied, feeling his grip getting slightly weaker. "I'm pretty bad when it comes to hiding how I really feel…so…I did what I thought was best at the time…I pretended to hate you…When…well…as you can see…I don't…"
"That's cute," Tobias replied, gritting his teeth in annoyance. "Now shut up and die!"
"L-Lucy…Run…" Luke let out a soft grunt as he slowly started to pull the blade out against Tobias' efforts to push it through.
"W-What?!" Lucy brought a hand up to her mouth, caught off guard by everyone Luke was saying and doing. Now he chose to tell her these things, right when he was possibly on his death bed!?
"D-Dammit…you heard me…run! He's too strong for both of us…you have to escape…" Luke replied, taking a step back.
"B-But I can't just leave you like this…!" Lucy replied. She had no magic. She could barely move. Even if she did run, could she get far?
"If you don't run this would've been a waste...!" Luke shouted as loud as he could, grimacing from the pain shortly after. "I don't think…this is one battle I'm gonna win…"
Lucy took a step back, gasping from pure shock. "L-Luke…!" Lucy then winced from her injuries, gripping her arm. "I-I won't leave you…"
"Dammit…you choose now…to be as stubborn as you can be…?" Luke let out a groaned mixed with pain and frustration. "This isn't a game…this isn't about making it up to me…or vice versa…it's just about getting you out of here…!" Lucy took a step back, about to listen to Luke when she put too much weight on her injured leg, pain shooting up her leg and into her body, causing her to let out a tiny shriek of pain before falling over onto her back. "Fuucking..." Luke growled a bit, planting his feet as firmly into the ground as possible, attempting to buy Lucy as much time as he could to escape.
"L-Luke…I can't…" Lucy replied, tears starting to stream down her eyes. "I can't leave you…!" She couldn't do it. She couldn't run away. Luke was putting his life on the line for her, but Lucy wasn't the type of person to leave someone behind.
"If I may," Tobias started, impressed that Luke was able to hold on for so long with a blade puncturing his stomach. "It doesn't matter where you run off to, Heartfilia. This is Fiore's End, and if I don't get the chance to kill you, you'll die anyway, because you're weak. You can fight with your spirits all you want; it doesn't change the fact that you're still a weak mage. And you…" Tobias turned to Luke, scowling. "I don't like your kind…a mage that has to copy other mage's magic just to become strong? How pathetic can you get! You are in fact the lowest of the low, and that's coming from a dark mage. How do you feel? You are certainly one of those mages that deserve to die!" As he spoke, he started to make progress, shoving the blade deeper into Luke's stomach, causing him to cough up moderate amounts of blood.
"S-Stop it…!" Lucy shouted, her body trembling from a mix of emotions; she honestly didn't know how to handle this.
"You'll be next!" Tobias said while grinning at Lucy.
"Lowest of the low…huh…?" Luke tilted his head down, his hair creating a shadow over his eyes. "First off…I don't just use other people's magic to become strong…White Eclipse…the people inside keep me strong…they drive me to give it my all and more…Fairy Tail keeps me strong…whenever I lost to one of their mages, I'd just start training harder…I don't like losing to any of those Fairies, and I'll get stronger until I can defeat each and every one of them…because it's White Eclipse or second place…Second of all, Lucy's not weak…she's one of the strongest females I know, and that's saying something…And let me tell you another thing…" Luke looked up at Tobias, a small smirk forming on his blood covered lips. "I'm a copycat…and proud, amigo!" With that, Luke pulled the blade out of his stomach, forming a red magic circle in front of him. "Flame Dragon!" A large, flaming dragon head shot out the magic circle.
"W-WHAT THE!?" Tobias's eyes widened; he only had enough magic power to heal himself and bring out his sword, so the Flame Dragon slammed into him, severely burning his body as he slid back a few feet. "W-What was that!? HOW DID YOU!?"
"Heh…" Luke held Tobias' sword in his hands, completely ignoring the pain in his stomach for the time being. "How many times did we engage in hand to hand combat…? You see, my dear spell caster…Whenever I make contact with someone…I copy their magic…" Luke gripped Tobias' sword tightly, running forward. "HAVE A TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICENE!" Luke attempted to stab Tobias' sword through him, but Tobias caught the sword with body of his hands just as the tip made its way through his stomach; any farther and Tobias would've been in trouble.
"You didn't think that was going to work on me, did you!?" Tobias asked, snarling down at the copy mage.
"What goes around, comes around, amigo! Especially if it's with me!" Luke replied, feeling his body running purely on adrenaline.
"Good luck with that…!" Tobias yelled, smirking as he started to push Luke and the blade away. "I think you just lost your last life, Copycat!" Just as Tobias started to push Luke away completely, a whip wrapped around his neck, constricting his breath and caused his eyes to widen as he brought his hands around the whip in attempt to pry it off.
Lucy was standing firmly, despite the pain shooting all over her body. She had a firm grip on Tobias with her whip, and she wasn't going to be letting gone any time soon. "Luke, let's do it now!"
"W-Why are you still here!?" Tobias grunted.
"BECAUSE!" Lucy said while glaring at Tobias. She never had any plans on running. The situation was dire, but she had to meet Luke's determination with her own. Despite their quarreling, they were working together in the fight. He saved her, and it was her turn to return that favor. Despite the ups and downs of their relationship, Luke's actions reaffirmed one thing they both nearly forgot. "LUKE IS...MY FRIEND!"
"Right! Adios, amigo!" Luke plunged the blade into Tobias' stomach just as Lucy pulled Tobias forward with her whip, causing the mage to fall forward, making sure the blade pierced the dark mage's stomach; blood spurting out from the wound and out of Tobias' mouth as his eyes went white, falling onto his stomach, laying in a pool of his own blood with his own sword plunged through his own body, fatally injured; defeated. Luke took a few steps back, grinning at the sight of the downed Tobias. "Yeah!"
"We did it!" Lucy and Luke gave each other a genuine smile, and Lucy raised her hand. "We did it…"
"Heh…" Luke raised his arm, giving Lucy a high-five. "Damn right we did…"
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"T-They beat him…!?" Aiden's eyes widened. "That's not possible! Tobias is one of the strongest mages I've hired! Useless spell casting piece of shit!"
"Heh…I told them…" Cynthia grinned, feeling a sense a pride knowing she was right to believe in those two until the very end.
"This isn't possible…that's two mages from Tartaros down…!?" Aiden groaned, slamming his fist into the steel wall, causing a dent. "How are they doing it!? These mages are much stronger than those Fairy Tail mages and those White Eclipse mages combined….and yet!"
"It's called teamwork…" Cynthia replied. "That feeling of trust between one another…when you trust someone…you can get through anything…"
"That's a lot of bullshit if I've ever heard it…" Aiden sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Wendy…" Cynthia's thoughts drifted over to Wendy, putting her trust in her. Starting to feel like a person again just from watching Lucy and Luke's teamwork.
"Don't trust her too much, now," Aiden smirked slyly. "I doubt she'll be making it here…"
"N-No…don't say that! Wendy's strong…!" Cynthia nodded a few times, biting her lip as her red flames started to flare around her body once again, unable to control them.
"You have a strong bond with this Wendy, don't you…?" Aiden asked, his smirk growing wider.
"D-Don't you dare hurt her!" Cynthia screamed out, her flames darkening as she attempted to break free from her restrains, but she found once again that she was unable to do such a thing, despite how hard she tried.
"Keheheh…" Aiden smirked from ear to ear. "Oh…I won't be the one who hurts her…"
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"I don't know about you…" Luke said, grunting softly. "But after this, I think I'm just gonna go sleep for a week…" Luke took a step forward, and then it all hit him. His eyes widened as the adrenaline flushed itself out of his body, and the agonizing pain in his stomach returned once more. "URK…!" Luke fell to his knees, then onto his back.
"L-Luke…!" Lucy's eyes widened somewhat and she knelt down, catching Luke in her arms before he hit the steel floor, his shirt and jacket stained deep red from the amount of blood dripping from his stomach wound. "H-Hold on…!"
"Heh…ow…" Luke smiled slightly, looking up at Lucy. "Hey…this time you caught me…"
"I-I'm gonna find someone to help you…don't worry…!" Lucy held onto Luke's bleeding hand tightly.
"Doesn't…doesn't seem likely…" Luke replied, coughing a few droplets of blood up, feeling his body get weaker as his vision blurred. "Damn…he really handed it to me…didn't he…? I don't even have any magic left after that last attack…"
"L-LUKE! Stop talking! Save your energy! I promise I'll help you…!" Lucy yelled, the tears streaming down her cheeks once again. "Y-You're not allowed to leave…!"
"Lucy…" Luke smiled softly, doing as instructed and stayed quiet. Lucy looked around for something that could possibly slow down the bleeding, since stopping it seemed unlikely at this point.
"Come on…Come on…" Lucy looked around, chewing on her lip until she thought of something. She gently set Luke down, then rushed over to Tobias' body, and took of his slightly blood stained coat. "Here…" Lucy lifted Luke up slightly, and wrapped the coat around his stomach to suppress the bleeding.
"Cute…but…I don't think it's gonna help…" Luke groaned slightly as his eyes started to close.
"L-LUKE! LUKE NO! HOLD ON! PLEASE!" Lucy screamed.
"Thank you…Lucy…" Luke's eyes closed completely as his breathing slowed down.
"LUKE!" Lucy's eyes widened as the tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably, her body trembling.
"Lucy, what's wrong!?" Warren asked, hearing the panic in her voice.
"L-Luke…" Lucy started.
"Luke!?" Cana shouted. "What about him?!"
"H-He…He's…"
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Cynthia's eyes widened at the sight of Luke, unable to find any words for the situation. Aiden then pressed a button, projecting the video of Lucy and Luke to the areas where the White Eclipse and Fairy Tail mages were. "Take a good look, White Eclipse, and you too Fairy Tail...This is only the beginning..."