Lucy's eyes widened at the stranger before her, taking a step back, wincing from her leg injury. "M-My keys?!"
Ruika nodded, smirking as the key she held in front of her started to glow. "That's right; I'm her for your keys. Every. Single. One."
"W-What do you want with my keys?!" Lucy asked, realizing how bad her situation really was at this point.
"I want them," Ruika replied as the key gave a brighter glow. "Gate of the warrior, I open thee! Orion!" A magic circle appeared in front of Ruika, and a male looking to be about 19 appeared in front of her.
"C-Celestial Spirit Mage…?" Lucy's eyes widened slightly as the male appeared.
"I'll make you a deal," Ruika said. "Give me your keys, and I won't kill Luke."
"W-WHAT!?" Lucy raised her voice to almost a shriek, surprised that anyone would have the nerve to make such a deal. "B-But…!"
"Oh?" Ruika smirked slyly at Lucy's reaction. "So, you're saying you'd just let him die?"
"T-That's not what I'm saying…!" Lucy replied. "B-But I can't just hand over my keys…!"
"If it saved the life of the one who risked his to save yours, would you?" Ruika asked, smirking to herself at Lucy's reactions to her manipulations.
Lucy looked over at Luke, who was still barely breathing. Lucy knew she could barely put up a fight in her condition, but she wasn't going to hand over her keys so easily, and especially at the expense of Luke's life. "You're not taking my keys," Lucy said in a stern tone. "And I'm not letting you kill Luke." He protected her, and now it was her turn to protect him.
"You don't really intend to fight, do you?" Ruika asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not that I don't mind finishing you off right here, but look at you. You can barely stand, and you're carrying around dead weight. I've never seen a stupider person in my entire life."
"I agree with Ruika!" Orion chimed in, quite unnecessarily.
"I don't have that much magic power left…" Lucy thought to herself, looking down at her keys. "Loke, Taurus, Scorpio, Virgo, and Aquarius aren't ready for battle again either…" She then looked over at Luke. "And Luke's in critical condition…and then there's my injuries…" Lucy started to realize that if she were to fight, she had a very high chance of losing. "Dammit…"
"So, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," Ruika said, looking at Lucy for a response.
Lucy carefully set Luke down in a sitting position against the wall, looking at Ruika as she reached out for a key she hasn't used yet, holding the key out in front of her as it began to shine. "Gate of the Archer, I open thee! Sagittarius!" A magic circle appeared as Sagittarius appeared. Lucy panted as she felt how much magical energy that took from her already dangerously low amount.
"I am here to assist you, moshi-moshi!" Sagittarius said with a salute.
"Ah...so you want to do this the hard way." Ruika shrugged her shoulders. "Fine by me."
.
.
Two bolts of lightning clashed continuously in a large, square shaped room. Claps of thunder booming out every time the bolts clashed. Laxus landed on his feet, somewhat bruised as he faced off against a male with black hair, an open jacket revealing his bare chest, and white pants. He was more bruised than Laxus was, but he stayed silent. "I know my own magic anywhere," Laxus replied. "Lightning Dragon Slayer…"
"Voltaire Dyanmo..." The male replied, causing Laxus to raise a brow.
"Oh, so you can speak," Laxus said, smirking slightly as sparks started to dance wildly around his body.
"Sometimes the silence…is more deadly…" Voltaire replied, allowing the sparks to dance around his body as well, smirking over at Laxus.
"White out!" A blizzard-like snow fall raced towards Voltaire, catching the static slayer off guard, causing him into the wall, his movement suppressed by the heavy amount of snow. Jaxon smirked, walking beside Laxus.
"I was wondering if one of you would show up," Laxus smirked slightly over at Jaxon. "Not that I needed the help. You were better helping someone else."
"Sorry I'm late," Jaxon replied with a shrug. He was just going to ignore Laxus' comment. "I just wanted to watch. Really, don't mind me. I don't even think you need my help."
"Well, let's wrap this up anyway…" Laxus replied while cracking his neck. "Just stay out of my way."
"You got it." Jaxon said while sitting back.
Voltaire didn't say anything, but he zoomed towards Laxus with his lightning body. Laxus did the the same thing, repeating the process from earlier. Jaxon was watching the lightshow with a raised brow. These two were really going at it, but he could already tell who the winner would be based on the state of things earlier.
"I mean, I made him slower with my White-Out...but this Laxus guy is something else. I really wonder what would've happened if he had to fight against us in the little guild clash we had instead..." Jaxon thought to himself.
Voltaire slammed his leg into Laxus' chest, but Laxus took the hit, much to the silent dragon's surprise. Laxus then gripped Voltaire's arm, no longer smirking or smiling. This was serious business. "Alright, this has been a fun distraction, but that's about all you are. Up above, there's a little girl waiting for her family to come rescue her. Right now, you're in the way. So either you're gonna move, or I'm gonna make you move, got it?"
Obviously, Voltaire wasn't taking kindly to this. So he silently responded by slamming his head into Laxus' forehead for a fierce headbutt...but Laxus didn't budge. There was blood dripping from the injury, but that was it. Voltaire's eyes widened. "...!"
Laxus reared his free arm back, lightning surging wildly around it. "Okay. If you like silence so much, then I'll make sure you get this loud and clear. Secret Dragon Slaying Art: ROARING THUNDER!" Laxus slammed his free hand into Voltiare's stomach, a deafening BOOM of thunder echoing out as the impact forced Voltaire to fly from Laxus's oppressive grip and right into the wall across the room. His eyes were pure white and steam flowed from his mouth, signifying his KO. "Hmph..."
"...Whew." Jaxon whistled. "You, my friend...are strong."
"Not really." Laxus said while turning around and walking off. "He was just in the way."
"Not really?! What the ls this guy!?" Now Jaxon was really glad he didn't have to deal with Laxus at all. Titania...Laxus...who knows what that Mirajane could do!? Fairy Tail's S classes kinda frightened him now...
.
.
"What the hell happened to the cannon!?" Aiden glanced around, glaring as the Omega Fire Cannon's controls shortened out and exploded, causing the scientist to take several steps back.
"I don't know, but I'm not complaining!" Cynthia replied with a grin.
"Tch!" Aiden growled, unable to find a response for this, or Cynthia's annoying attitude. "You…don't get so cocky just yet! This was just a fortunate malfunction for you. I can fix this easily from here," Aiden replied, looking up at the lacrima screens, raising an eyebrow at what he saw. "What? What is Ruika doing here? She's not supposed to be here…Daityas is going to have her head…" Aiden then glanced around at the other screens, his eyes widening at what he saw. "What?! Voltaire is down as well!? UGH…And I see that Wendy and Salamander are the only one's actually making progress…"
"Wendy's coming…!?" Cynthia's voice lit up with excitement.
"She's coming, but that doesn't mean she's going to get passed him…" Aiden replied, smirking slightly.
"W-who's him?!" Cynthia asked, her heart pounding from nervousness at the thought of Wendy getting severely hurt, or worse.
"Oh, don't worry, my dear," Aiden said. "You'll find out soon enough." He then looked up at the screens once more, gritting his teeth as he saw Juvia defeat Myuu, and Gajeel landing the finishing blow, an Iron Dragon's Roar, defeating Horoki. "You're kidding…!?" Despite the string of victories the mages seemed to be having, he did notice that they were all beaten, battered, bruised, and running low on magical energy. "Tch…that water woman easily defeated all my guards and Myuu…That only leaves Byron, Veronica, and Aloysius…"
.
.
"Natsu-san, why do you think Kinana-san was here…?" Wendy asked, leading the way up a long flight of stairs.
"I don't know, but she helped us out, so I can't complain," Natsu replied, scowling at the fact he was unable to beat Cobra once again. He didn't even land a direct hit.
Wendy pointed her nose into the air, sniffing for Cynthia's scent once again, her face lighting up with hope when she noticed the scent was getting stronger for every flight of stairs they made it passed. "W-We're getting close! I think once we reach the top of these stairs we won't be too far from her!" Wendy said, kicking it into high gear as she sprinted up the stairs, Natsu following right behind her.
.
.
"Aira, Cyg, Selene, Tak!" Waiston ran up to the four mages, panting heavily. "Oh man, I'm so glad I found you all!"
"Waiston? You beat the lava girl? Nice!" Cygnus grinned, putting his hand up for a high five.
"No time for that!" Waiston panted. "Luke's in serious trouble!"
"We saw!" Selene replied, leaning against the wall. Though she had magic power, her body was exhausted from her fight with Kiora and Sora.
"Wait, what's up with Luke?" Cygnus asked, looking around.
"He protected Lucy and now he's on the edge of death, that's what!" Aira replied.
"Aira, I can sniff him out from here. If we hurry, do you think you can heal him?" Waiston asked hopefully.
"I…I only have a little bit of magic left…" Aira replied, panting. "That battle took a lot out of me…"
"A little is all we need…" Selene replied, looking over at Aira.
"Where is he right now…?" Aira asked Waiston, Selene, and Takeru, since the three had an acute sense of smell. Waiston sniffed the air a few times before pointing in a single direction. "He's over there!"
.
.
"Are you serious about this?" Rukia asked, watching Orion defeat Sagittarius. "I'm TRYING to make this quick, since I have somewhere ELSE I'm supposed to be right now."
"D-Dammit…" Lucy gripped her arm, taking a step back, realizing she had no magic energy left to summon another spirit. "T-This isn't good…"
"So, I'll take your keys, kill you, and go off on my way?" Ruika asked, taking a step forward until she was face to face with Lucy.
"N-No…" Lucy took a step back, wincing from her leg injury. "Y-You're not getting my keys…and you're not getting me either…"
"Hm…Alright, then let's do this…" Ruika pointed over to Luke. "Orion."
"Yes, Ruika!" Without hesitation, Orion held a sword over Luke.
"N-NO!" Lucy took a step forward, but she then fell to her knees, groaning from the pain of her former injuries.
"Give me your keys, and I'll call Orion off," Ruika replied, looking over at Lucy with her hand held out, expecting Lucy to fold under the pressure.
"I-I can't…" Lucy replied, gripping her keys tightly to her person, looking over at Luke. "Leave him alone…please…"
"I don't do please," Ruika responded, and then looked over at Orion. Orion raised his sword, and then swung it down at Luke.
"NOO!" Lucy shrieked.
"Pisces!" A voice called out from afar. Suddenly, two fish, black and white in appearance, were seen barreling down the large corridor and slammed right into Orion. One of them attempted to slam into Ruika, but she was able to avoid this at the literal last second.
"What!?" Rukia's eyes widened. Upon the white fish was Yukino, who ran along to carry her momentum. She flew forward with a kick, attempting to slam her heel into Ruika's chest. Rukia was able to avoid this, but Yukino's momentum did mean she slid back a bit.
"Lucy-sama! Are you okay?!" Yukino looked over her shoulder at Lucy, who was surprised to see her.
"Y-Yukino...!? Lucy's eyes were wide, but she felt so relieved too. "W-What are you...how are you...?"
"We saw what was happening, and we moved to come here as quickly as we could!" Yukino explained.
"We...?" Lucy blinked slowly.
Rukia cracked her neck as Orion stood back next to her. "Yukino Agria...you are the holder the remaining Zodiac Keys, are you not? This just turned into my lucky day." The woman smiled an evil smile, holding her hand out as the Pisces duo circled around Lucy and Luke protectively. "Hand over your keys and I'll spare everyone here. It's a rather nice deal, isn't it?"
"No deal." Yukino shook her head. "I came here to aid Lucy-sama and Fairy Tail. You will not be bringing harm to another person as long as I am here."
"Figures. You humans always have to go and make things more difficult. That's fine with me. I don't need you to be alive to take your keys!" Rukia pointed her hand forward, commanding Orion to attack Yukino. "Orion, take her head."
"As you wish!" Orion said while lunging at Yukino with his sword at the ready.
"Gate of the Scales, open!" Yukino sprinted forward while calling forth Libra. Libra appeared behind Yukino, using her gravity magic to immediately weigh Orion down to the point where he couldn't move. With the gravity in play, Yukino was easily able to flip over Orion and she moved to strike Rukia with her palm, but the attack was blocked. Yukino was quick on her feet, throwing a flurry punches at her foe. Ruika was able to hold her own in this close combat, but Yukino was admittedly a little faster than she would've liked to deal with, so a few blows hit here and there.
"That's enough!" Ruika grabbed Yukino's wrist, spinning on her heel and throwing the opposing spirit mage into a wall with a cry of pain. "You can't fight me and defend them at the same time! Gate of the Twin Bears, open! Ursa Major! Ursa Minor!" She summoned two spirits at once, two of them being twin bears; one was large and wielded a battle axe, while the other was smaller and had a ninja-like appearance. "Attack Pisces!"
"Yes, Lady Ruika!" Ursa Major and Minor replied at the same time.
"She can summon three spirits at once...!?" Lucy's eyes went wide. Ruika was that strong!? Lucy and Yukino could only manage two!
Ursa Major lunged at mother Pisces, but she also lunged at the large bear and clashed with it. This meant she had to give up her position of defending Lucy, refusing to lose this contest of strength. The two of them were at a standstill, while Ursa Minor tried to sneak around to strike Libra! The son Pisces noticed this and tried to defend his comrade, but in turn, this left Lucy and Luke open. Ruika put the spirits in a situation where someone would always be in danger!
"Orion, this is your chance!" Ruika demanded. Yukino lunged at her again, but she was managing to fend her off easily.
"You're right, Lady Ruika...!" Orion found the strength to move, much to Libra's surprise. "When you're counting on me...I HAVE TO DELIVER!" Orion roared while standing up straight, drawing his sword once more and lunging at Luke and Lucy. Libra's gravity held no effect on him due to the power of love and devotion.
"NO!" Lucy hugged Luke tight, preparing to shield his body with her own. He did the same for her, so she had to repay the favor.
"Lucy-sama!" Yukino cried out as she was kicked away.
"Yah!" Gray expelled ice from his hand, catching the blade Orion swung down without injury to his hand.
"What?" Ruika turned, surprised that Gray was around.
"G-Gray!" Lucy's eyes lit up with excitement.
"What the…!?" Orion jumped back, looking over to Ruika, confused. Ursa Major and Minor also retreated, unsure what to do next with the reinforcements that pooled in.
"I wasn't expecting the ice fairy to be here…" Ruika said to herself. "Doesn't matter…"
"Hey, look, over there!" Waiston shouted from the other side of the corridor, breaking into a sprint along with Takeru, Lyon, Cygnus, Aira, and Selene, stopping when the saw Ruika. "Huh?"
"Who's that…?" Selene raised an eyebrow, and then spotted Luke resting against the wall. "Luke!"
"Yukino...?" Gray had no idea how Yukino got here.
"Great…" Ruika rolled her eyes, groaning from annoyance. "I'm not gonna be able to do what I want with this crowd…" Ruika pulled out another key. Yukino managed to stall long enough for reinforcements. "I have to get out of here..." And before she could finish, Yukino appeared right underneath her vision. Yukino sprang up, legs wrapping around Rukia's neck, and she threw the opposing wizard right into the wall. "Gah-!?"
"Libra, now!" Yukino preformed a diving kick at Rukia, aided by Libra's gravity. Yukino's power was increased due to all this momentum, and she slammed her leg into Rukia's gut, putting a small dent in the wall as a result.
"Guh-!" Rukia spluttered and fell to her hands and knees, coughing from Yukino's surprise attack.
"Holy shit. She's got moves." Waiston was impressed.
"LADY RUIKA!" The woman's spirits exclaimed, getting ready to attack Yukino, but the others stood in front of her. They were wounded, but they could still fight and easily fend off these spirits with their numbers.
"I'll remember this..." Rukia coughed, glaring at Yukino and Lucy. Yukino got the best of her this time, but she would make sure that never happened again. "Gate of the bat, I open thee! Batto!" A magic circle appeared from the shining key, causing a humanoid bat to appear. "Batto, let's go," Ruika said. Batto scoffed at Ruika before creating an illusion that lasted a few seconds. When the illusion faded, Ruika, Ursa Major and Minor, Orion, and Batto were gone.
"She fought her off..." Lucy was so relieved Yukino showed up when she did.
"…What was that all about?!" Gray asked, looking over at Lucy. "And what the hell happened to you!?"
"L-Long story…" Lucy sighed, her body relaxing since she felt comfortable with all these mages around.
"Luke!" Aira rushed over to Luke, placing her hands over his body as she used the last of her magic energy to heal Luke's wound, the hole in his stomach closing, leaving a scar.
"G-GAH!" The pain of the wound closing caused Luke to shoot awake, panting heavily. "D-Damn! What the hell happened! It feels like a sword nearly punctured my stomach…!"
"That's because a sword nearly did punctured your stomach you idiot!" Lucy shouted as Gray covered Lucy's wounds with ice. "What were you thinking!?"
"I wasn't thinking!" Luke replied, attempting to move, but found it too painful to move from his sitting position. "D-Damn…"
"Don't move," Aira said. "I was only able to close the wound…and it's still too serious for you to move too much…"
"You idiot…" Selene huffed, crossing her arms as she turned away from Luke.
"…So…what did I miss…?" Luke asked, grinning goofily.
"Selene, Aira, Tak, and I defeated two really powerful Tartaros mages," Cygnus said with a smirk.
"Heh…who else is left?" Luke asked.
"I dunno…" Waiston replied. "But Gray, Lyon and I defeated that lava girl!"
"We cooled her down," Gray said with a smirk.
"So Lyon-sama came too..." Yukino said quietly.
"How did you get here so quickly...? We haven't been here for very long and we were the first responders..." Gray asked Yukino.
"Oh...actually..." Yukino stroked her chin. "Someone gave us a warning that something like this would happen. Sabertooth received an anonymous letter, saying at this time, something dangerous would happen. It said our help was optional, but not required."
"What the hell?" Takeru blinked. "What kinda message is that?!"
"I don't know..." Yukino shook her head, just as clueless as the rest of them. "We got it last week. Of course, we brushed it off, but then the events of this morning happened..."
"What does that mean...?" Lyon couldn't figure anything out.
"Do we need to think about it too hard?" Cygnus waved the subject away. "We still got business to do."
"Has anyone seen Natsu?" Lucy asked, looking around. "Wendy ran off so suddenly, and Natsu followed behind her. I ran after them, but then I got lost…and then ran into that mage…"
"Natsu? I haven't seen that flaming idiot anywhere…" Gray replied.
"He and the sky dragon slayer are even higher in the tower," Takeru said, pointing up.
"He and Wendy got higher!?" Lucy shouted. "That means they're close to Cynthia!"
"Yeesh…with all this fighting for our lives, you forget we're doing this for the little girl…" Luke groaned.
"Is everyone else okay?" Lucy asked, looking towards the group of mages.
"I don't think I can handle any more movement…" Selene replied, dropping to her knees on the ground. "Too exhausted…"
"Same…" Aira fell on her stomach, panting heavily from the lack of magic.
"I can…keep going…" Takeru grit his teeth as he took a step forward, only to lean on the wall for support after the first step. "D-Damn…"
"I think we're all too exhausted to go on…" Waiston replied, sitting down on the ground after.
"Guess we're just gonna have to leave it up to the others…" Gray said, lying on his back on the floor.
"I wish we could see what was happening…" Luke groaned, placing a hand over his gut. "Oi…Lucy…"
"Huh…?" Lucy looked over at Luke with a confused expression.
"Thanks for keeping me alive, somehow," Luke said with a small grin.
"...You're welcome." Lucy flashed Luke a small smile of her own. "...We make a pretty good team...sometimes."
.
.
Erza walked into a large room with a skylight, looking up at the dark sky. "I can break that sky light and reach the top quickly…" Erza smirked slightly, requiping into her Black Wing Armor.
"Now, now, Titania," Byron said, walking into the room from the opposite entrance of the room, holding a hammer in both of his hands. "It's not nice breaking things that ain't yours."
Erza turned her head to look at Byron, a glare forming on her face. "You're one to talk, destroying Fairy Tail and all," Erza replied, unable to hide her obvious anger that her home was destroyed, pointing her sword at Byron.
"Meh, technically that was you guys and Tobias," Byron shrugged. "But, I have one question for you."
"What's that?" Erza asked, keeping her guard up.
"Are you ready?" Byron grinned, holding the hammer in his hands high above his head. "For the big bang?"
.
.
"Hey!" Veronica walked into the room with the floating platforms, unamused when she saw Cobra and Kinana. "You're not the sky dragon!"
"…Your voice annoys me…" Cobra replied, completely ignoring Veronica's comment.
"Where is she!?" Veronica huffed, forming a ball of poison in her hands.
"She's ascending this place," Cobra replied. "Now stop talking."
"YOU STOP TALKING!" Veronica hurled the ball of poison over at Cobra.
"Idiot…" Cobra gathered the sound from Veronica's shouting, but before doing anything with it, he opened his mouth, inhaling her poisonous sphere completely. "Hm…thanks for the meal, I suppose…" Cobra then snapped his fingers, causing the sound he gathered earlier to explode on Veronica, causing her to yelp.
"H-HOW DID YOU!?" Veronica shook off the impact and hopped on a floating platform.
"I can hear you…" Cobra simply replied, gesturing to Kinana to find some safe ground because this fight sounded like it was going to get hectic.
"Oh?" Veronica lifted her hand up, grabbing Cobra with her telekinesis.
"W-What the…?" Cobra was caught off guard for once, grunting as Veronica slammed him into the nearby wall.
Kinana's eyes widened slightly. "E-Erik…!"
Veronica grinned, relishing in the surprised expression that Cobra was wearing. "You may be able to hear me, but that doesn't mean you can stop me~"