Chapter 1 - Secrets of the bandits' hideout
Lucy walked through an underground building with Gemini leading her. They quickly and silently eliminated subsequent bandits. As they silently came forward, Lucy couldn't help but think about what she would do if she was with her old team. Probably nothing, because these guys are pretty weak. Natsu and Gray would take them out before she could do anything. As for this mage, Erza could probably handle him.
But it was just her and her ghosts. And she didn't want to just join a group of enemies with an unknown magician as a leader. Besides, she's already taken care of half the enemies, and if all goes well, she'll quietly take out all the criminals present here before they find out what's going on.
"What." - A voice suddenly said behind her as she and Gemini turned around and saw one of the criminals. Of course, it can't be that simple.
"Alert! We hav-" - Before he could finish, Lucy quickly used Fleuve d'étoiles and grabbed him before throwing him against the wall so hard, that he fell unconscious.
"So much for stealth." - Lucy said.
"So I go." - said Gemini, returning to her original forms - "You better call someone stronger to fight. Good luck, Miss Lucy. Also. The magician's place is to the right of this corridor. Easy to recognize."
And so Gemini disappeared, and Lucy called Lok to help her. The next two criminals appeared relatively quickly, but Loke eliminated them in seconds. From the other side, another bandit came with a sword, but Lucy easily grabbed it out of his hand and Loke quickly dispatched him.
Then 2 more tried to surprise Lucy and Loke, but both of them easily dodged the attacks and took them out without any problems.
Then the last five in one group arrived. Loke quickly used Regul's Light to blind them, and Lucy took out the first one with her whip. The force of the impact sent him flying straight into the next one, knocking them both out. Loke then rushed in between the final three and quickly finished them off.
"That's everyone except the mage." - Lucy said as she grabbed the line and started tying up the unconscious criminals.
"So, Lucy, since your knight has taken out all his enemies, why don't you reward him-" - Loke didn't have time to finish before Lucy closed his gate. She really didn't want to listen to his flirting right now.
After a few minutes, she had all the criminals tied up and found the door to the magician's chambers. It's hard not to notice the strange decorations on the gates. Pentagrams and other similar symbols. Of course, the magician inside must have already known about her presence and had probably prepared a trap. So she decided to just break through it.
"Open the Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus." - Lucy said.
"Moo." - shouted the emerging Taurus - "Nice body, Lucy! What do you need today?"
"There's a criminal mage hiding behind this door." - said Lucy, readying the whip - "Break them open and take him out. But watch out for any traps."
Taurus screamed again and quickly broke down the door. Unfortunately, he fell into a trap set by the mage, who immediately shot some strange mist at him, knocking him to his knees.
"Taurus!" - Lucy shouted, attacking the magician with her whip. But he used the fog as a cover and avoided the attack. Lucy used this moment to close the Taurus Gate and summon Aries.
When the mage tried to attack Lucy, Aries quickly formed a wall of wool. As soon as the attack passed, Lucy immediately threw her whip at the magician again. He hid in the smoke again and sent another attack, which was again blocked by Aries.
"Congratulations on avoiding my trap." - said the Mage, attacking again - "But you're late. I got what I wanted and these fools can get caught."
"And you think I'm just going to let you go." - Lucy said, attacking with her whip again, which was again dodged.
"We are at an impasse, but you must have used your magical powers when you fought my subordinates." - said the mage, firing again - "In a one-on-one fight, you will exhaust all the magic faster. And I still have my secret power. You can not-"
"Aries! Now!" - Lucy shouted.
"Hi! Wool Bomb." - when she and Lucy together attacked the magician from different sides. The magician failed to completely avoid the attack and was hit. Still, he stayed on his feet and hid in a cloud of smoke.
"Idle boasts and threats don't work on me." - said Lucy - "If you really had this power, you would have just used it at the beginning and not tried to bargain. Just give up and let's get this over with. For only steeling and light wounds on locals, you will probably get a decade, maybe two, in prison and that's it."
The mage got angry and launched a series of attacks, which were again blocked by Aries. But he used this to grab his sword, cut through the cotton and force Lucy and Aries apart. The magician thought for a moment that he had Lucy caught and fired another attack at her. Unfortunately for him, Loke suddenly decided to arrive and block the blow. Lucy and Aries immediately took advantage of the situation. Aries immediately blocked the escape routes while Lucy launched a whip attack, which the mage barely managed to dodge.
The magician tried to save himself by approaching Aries and attacking her with his sword. But she immediately covered her hands with magic, blocked the sword and struck him in the stomach so hard that he flew towards Lucy, who performed her 'Lucy Kick' and knocked the magician into the ceiling. A moment later he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Sorry." - said Aries - "If I were stronger, Loke wouldn't have had to intervene."
"What are you talking about, Aries." - said Lucy - "You were amazing. I was the one who sent Taurus first, even though I knew there would be a trap or a surprise attack there."
"You both push each other too hard." - Loke said, catching the girls - "You were great and took out this mage like he was a regular novice."
"Thanks, Loke." - Lucy replied, a bit happier.
"So, are you..."
"No." - Lucy replied, anticipating the question.
"Tough as ever." - Loke said with a smile and returned to the spirit world.
"So, is it over?" - Aries asked.
"Most likely." - Lucy replied - "Aries, go tie him up. I'll check what he was doing here."
"All right."
And so Lucy began to search the room as Aries tied up the magician. She found nothing out of the ordinary, apart from a few books and a large amount of stolen magical items. But one of them caught Lucy's attention in particular. It was a book with a symbol similar to her guild mark and it had some bookmarks.
Lucy took out her gift from Levy, Gale-Force Reading Glasses, and started reading quickly.
"Lucy, what are you doing?" - Aries asked.
"I found this book about fairies." - said Lucy - 'It looks like he was trying to do something with her. She had essence extraction marked and a few other spells that should be considered dark magic, but I don't know why does has marked and started to collect magical items. Unless…, he actually caught a real fairy."
Suddenly Lucy started looking more closely at the wall and noticed that one cupboard was slightly away from the wall. When she looked closer, she saw that there was no dust under the shawl.
"Aries, help me move this cabinet." - Lucy said. With Aries' help, she quickly moved the cabinet and, as she thought, there was a hidden passage behind the cabinet. She opened the door and saw a dark corridor.
"We could use some torch now." - Lucy said, looking at the corridor.
"I can always help." - Aries said and quickly surrounded her hand with magic, giving pink light around the passage.
"Thanks, Aries." - Lucy said and they both started walking down the hall. They quickly reached the closed door and opened it. Inside there was a room with a circle with a cage above it. Inside the cage was a tiny humanoid creature with wings. She was unconscious.
"Aries, protect me." - said Lucy - "If any trap is activated, block it with your wool."
"Wait, Lucy." - Aries said, catching Lucy before she could get any closer - "Maybe I should go in first. Celestial Spirits are immortal, so if I have problems I can come back. But you not."
"What about the person in the cage?" - Lucy asked - "If the worst comes to the worst, you have a better chance of saving us. Besides, I've already told Taurus to go on trap earlier. I won't make that mistake again."
Lucy quickly broke away from Aries and entered the circle. She pulled down the cage and gently pulled the little girl out of it. It was barely the size of a finger. She then walked over to Aries. She saw that she was injured, so she pulled medical supplies from her backpack and began medical treatment. But she could only disinfect the wounds and wrap the girl in a cloth. She then stepped out of the circle and approached Aries.
"Luckily, there was no trap." - Lucy said. At that moment the room started shaking - "Of course, I had to open my mouth."
Lucy and Aries started running through the tunnel but were blocked by a wall of fire. Aries tried to stop him with her magic, but cotton is flammable, so it only made things worse.
"Come back, Aries." - said Lucy.
"Sorry." - Aries finished, disappearing into the golden light.
Lucy really wished Natus or Juvi were here. They would both put out the fire quickly. With a little water, Aquarius could cope. Wait, she still has...
"Open the Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" - Lucy said quickly as another ghost appeared in the glow of light - "Extinguish the fire with your sand."
"We are!" - Scorpio shouted and the fire was immediately extinguished. Lucy quickly sent Scorpio away and ran to the end of the tunnel. Seconds later, it began to collapse and the entire tunnel was buried.
"That was close." - Lucy said to herself, trying to calm down. But she had no energy left so she just sat on the ground. A short rest before starting the flare.
Suddenly Lucy felt movement on her hand and saw a small creature moving there. She was obviously confused by her surroundings and very scared.
"Hi." - Lucy said, getting her attention. The little creature got scared and tried to fly away, but it winced in pain.
"Be careful, you're too injured to fly away on your own. You should wait until you are fully healed." - said Lucy, but the girl was still unsure - "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I swear on my honor Celestial Spirit Mage."
She seemed to calm down a bit but still didn't say anything.
"I forgot to introduce myself. I am Lucy Heartfillia, Celestial Spirit Mage of the Fairy Tail Guild." - Lucy said, which caught the girl's attention - "And who are you?"
The girl began to think for a moment until she tried to speak. But then the beaten magician slowly started to wake up. The girl immediately moved away from him, and Lucy protectively pulled her to herself while reaching for her keys.
"You bitch." - said the magician - "I will kill you for this."
"I would take it a little more seriously if you weren't tied up." - Lucy said.
"So let it be." - said the magician and suddenly screams started and dark smoke flew towards the magician. - "I told you, these fools are just tools for my purpose."
As the fog began to surround the magician, Lucy began to back away. She saw his body slowly begin to grow larger and larger. Finally, his transformation was complete and a 10-foot-tall demon stood there. Its body was all gray and its wings were just pieces of bone covered with skin. Overall, he didn't look healthy. But he was a demon, so she wasn't going to judge him.
"Open the Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" - Lucy said quickly, and Virgo immediately rushed at the demon and shouted - "Run, princess. I'll take care of him."
Lucy obeyed and ran towards the exit with the girl in her arms. Along the way, she saw the butchered bodies of previously captured bandits. There's no way they could have survived it. And that wasn't even the worst. Her magical power had dropped to dangerously low levels. Fighting the demon with just a whip didn't seem like a good idea.
"I got you!" - the demon shouted, throwing the caught Virgo straight at Lucy. Lucy managed to catch her at the last second and turn to the corner to avoid the charging demon that crashed into the wall. Virgo took advantage of this moment and created a hole under the demon, effectively sending it down.
But unfortunately, the demon managed to cut Lucy's hand, leaving a large foaming wound.
When they reached the exit, Lucy ordered Virgo to block the entrance. Shortly after, Virgo disappeared due to Lucy's lack of magic.
"It won't stop him." - said the girl.
"So what else can we do?" - Lucy asked, feeling weak. Where are Erza, Gray, and Natsu when you need them? Even Happy would be welcome. And how did it change from a mission to defeat bandits to a fight against a demon?
"I can help you rebuild your magic, but I don't know if it will allow us to win." - said the girl.
"Then let me join in." - said Loke, appearing in a blaze of light - "And after our victory..."
"No." - Lucy replied bluntly, smiling slightly at the sight of her friend.
"And apparently three times is a charm." - said Loke, then became serious - "Virgo explained the situation. I'll take care of it, you take the fortune teller and get out of here."
"No way." - said Lucy - "The fairy regenerated enough magic for me to be able to continue fighting. Besides, if this guy defeats you, we will fight him in the city and there will be many more casualties."
"You're hurt!" - said Loke.
"I have been hurt many times and I am still alive!" - Lucy shouted back.
"But then with you-"- Loke began, but a sudden explosion cut him off. The demon roared and attacked, but was countered by Lok, who attacked with Regulus. The two engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Loke, with more experience, fought on an equal footing with the demon, which had much greater strength.
"Loke, dodge!" - Lucy shouted, and Loke obeyed. A moment later, the demon was pierced by Sagittarius's arrows and fell to the ground.
"Thanks, Sagittarius."
"No problem. Moshi, moshi." - Sagittarius replied and disappeared in the golden light.
"Loke, what are you doing?" - Lucy asked, seeing Loke approaching the demon's body.
"Double Tapping." - Loke replied, then covered his hand with Regulus and crushed the demon's head - "He definitely won't get up now."
"Isn't that um... overkill?" - Lucy asked. j
"Believe me, Lucy, against demons, there is no such thing as overkill." - Loke replied before disappearing into the golden light.
"At least it's over." - Lucy said, sitting under the tree. But suddenly her arm started hurting. A dark mist began to emerge from the wound. Lucy quickly began to lose energy and the wound began to hurt more and more. She began to lose consciousness.
"listen..." - the girl started, but Lucy could barely hear her - "...heal...agree..."
"Yes, I agree…I agree…" - Lucy said before losing consciousness.