A whole minute later, Vanica was still laughing.

She just stood there in diabolical fashion gloating over us that she wiped out an entire village in one go. Loropechika and I were standing right outside what used to be the village, completely unsure of what to do next. We both knew we couldn't match her strength, but we don't have any other options.

"Oh look, you two survived. I'll get to stack bodies even higher then. Isn't that so much fun?" Vanica cackled.

I can't say this is anything new. I've been horribly outmatched in battles before. It happened against Tartarus, against Alvarez, in the Grand Magic Games, and many other times. Every time, I've come out of it alive. All I can keep thinking about is the one time against Tartarus when I was alone and forced to defeat stronger enemies. I refuse to use the same methods as then. I won't do it! Even more than protecting the commoners of this land, my goal is to see my real family again. That means my spirits as well as Fairy Tail. I will see them all again, which means I need to fight with whatever I have.

"Aquarius, Loke, are you two still able to fight?" I called out.

"Still hanging in there princess, I don't know for how long," Loke said.

I need a bit more right now, even those two aren't enough. I just got you back, so let's see what you can do. Open, gate of the twins, Gemini !

The two blue spirits popped out and floated around me, before transforming into myself. Gemini prepared a whip. Loke stood next to me, preparing light energy in his hands, while Aquarius added strength to Loropechika's water sphere, further weakening Vanica's blood magic.

"Oh, that's no fun, I'll just need a little bit more to destroy you then. Devil Power, 70% ," she said calmly. Half of her body turned black, her opened eye turned red, and she grew black wings, the sign of a devil.

She really wasn't even using 70% power before. I can only fear what 100% looks like. "Loropechika, we have to end this now."

"I know Lucy, I know," she said softly.

Vanica didn't wait any longer and charged through the water straight at me, claw of blood in her right hand. Aquarius unleashed a powerful burst of water, which I reinforced with star dress, slightly slowing her down. As she got closer, Gemini landed a whip attack, slowing her down enough for me to avoid and counter with my own star-enhanced whip. I switched into Capricorn star dress for his physical combat prowess and attacked. Vanica simply took the hit like it was nothing. Loke entered with his own attack, which also wasn't enough to do any significant damage. Loropechika was having a bit better luck, as the water spirit Undine was now in the battle and slowing her down even more. No matter how much we can dilute the blood or I can prepare with a mana skin, any hit that lands on me will probably kill me. I can't afford to get hit even once.

This battle continued for the next minute in the same fashion, with me using numbers to distract Vanica while Loropechika and Undine unleashed actual attacks. I can tell I need a stronger attack to do anything. At this point, I don't have many options other than to use Urano Metria. At least with Gemini here, I won't be completely drained. "Gemini, to me! Loke, close your gate! Aquarius, use your biggest waves now. Gate of the Sea Goat, I open thee. Capricorn . Capricorn, close-range combat. Don't get hit." After that set of orders, I grabbed both of Gemini's hands and started the incantation. Please give me enough time, my friends. I beg of you.

Vanica looked entirely unconcerned and just started muttering Curse-Warding magic . She's finally getting serious now. I've heard that every devil-possessed uses two different elements of magic, specifically, their own and the devil's. The blood magic is her own, and it's all she's used so far. That curse magic is from Megicula, and it's the same thing that put Loropechika's life on a timer. That magic can kill with any contact. Undine struck Vanica from the back, distracting the casting of that spell but leaving herself off guard at the same time. Vanica's fury was clear in the large smile on her face as she sadistically clawed Undine, puncturing her chest and popping the spirit out of existence like a balloon. That was all I needed for time. Undine, please recover soon.

With all 88 heavenly bodies shining, Urano Metria .

I released all the energy I had, pushing Gemini to do the same, and my energy turned into falling meteors that crashed into Vanica nonstop. I could see a blood cocoon form, which Loropechika was quick to wash away, her powerful water magic stopping the blood from condensing. All 88 meteors fell directly onto the devil, and the water stopped her best shields from working.

When the smoke cleared, Vanica emerged with a few cuts on her body. Nothing was deep enough to leave a serious injury.

"You're not as bad as you look little summoner. That was fun," she laughed. "I wanna have some fun too. Or should I say, someone else wants to have some fun." At that moment, Her body shifted to be even more black. The dark energy covered her mouth, and the words that came out were in a much deeper and more evil voice.

"Little summoner, you survived a bit longer than I would have liked, but it ends here. You WILL give me back my body. Curse-Warding magic, withering curse ." This isn't Vanica anymore, this is Megicula herself now. The curse flew towards me faster than I could see. Words in demonic script floated around me, before flying in and writing the effect on my body. Immediately, my clothes withered up as if dropped in acid, revealing a mark in demonic script over my stomach. I fell over clutching my stomach. What is this pain? It's spreading all over my body. I can't feel my legs at all anymore. I try lifting a leg, just to sit up, and find out I can't. That's when the curse starts to get real. All of the sudden it erupts, setting my chest on fire. I struggle to breathe as the fiery sensation moves into my lungs. It then goes into my arms, and now I can't move those either. Then it explodes. My head is the only thing that can still move and it twitches involuntarily just to release screams. I scream my head out. Please stop the pain it's too much! I can't handle this!

Vanica stands still at the center of the crater where we did battle. Loropechika's on her knees now, too exhausted from the fight to stay at full strength. The devil walks closer to me, laughing her head off in the process. "You've lost little summoner. Now, would you be a dear and help me bring back some of my old devil friends. They won't treat you that badly. They just want to kill you!"

Without waiting any more, the devil pulled out an item from her pocket. She then explained, "This little artifact right here belongs to Megicula. It's a piece of hers that escaped. Now, you'll push your magic through it and open a gate to the underworld. Got it!" Without waiting, she put the piece inside my non-functional hands. "What are you waiting for, get to it. I know you still have your magical strength. I only sapped your physical strength with that curse. Oh, your current magic isn't enough to do it. Fine then, I'll have to reinforce it."

Vanica started glowing black as her devil energy swirled all around the air. She put a finger to my forehead, and all that energy entered my body. Somehow, the effects of the curse didn't feel as bad anymore. I could feel a lot of power in me. Foreign power. It's not a feeling I'm not used to. Every time I use a star dress, I'm using foreign magic. This one doesn't follow my orders, and no matter how I command it, it refuses to listen. It flows out of my body and into the object in my hand against my will.

Concentrate, Lucy. This is foreign magic in your body. You control it. I have to control it. Or else I'll have failed to listen to Lucina's warning. There could be a full devil in the world.

Get back here!

You will get back here. You are in MY body. I control you!

Obey me!

Please obey me.

Please.

Nothing …

Why isn't it working? Do something Lucy, anything. Stop this.

It didn't work.

In front of me, a gate opened. Unlike the spirit gates, this one glows black instead of gold, with a red frame. The gate looks a lot more like a portal than the gates I usually summon. The sound of a bell is still there, but it's distorted. It's in a minor key now, and so much lower in tome it sounds ominous. Out of the gate walks a devil. Clearly not Megicula, but a devil in its own right.

"Of course, it's starting there. The first summons to the underworld brought up one of the lowest-level devils. It'll take some time for the girl to get used to her new powers before I can be freed. Remember this my little Loropechika. Even the weakest devil is more than a match for any human. I don't even need to bother fighting you anymore. This little one can do it for me. Isn't that right?" she said, putting a foot onto the smaller devil. I've heard about the cruelty of the underworld from Lucina, but seeing a devil treat one of its own so wrong seemed, well wrong.

I was left on the ground as the lower-ranking devil advanced on Loropechika. Finally, I don't have Vanica on me, and her infusion of magic mostly mitigated that curse from earlier. It's far from healed and I can't fight on it. I need to rewrite these runes. I've done it enough to know what to do, but I can't write on myself. I need a spirit to do it for me. "Gemini, back to me, everyone else, forced gate closure ," I said. I need to maintain all the magic I can, and Gemini can take my form including my knowledge of curse rewriting.

While I sat there waiting to get healed, Loropechika squared up against the devil. Her magic seemed fine now after absorbing a little bit of power from nature. I looked closer and noticed her reserves were completely full. How did she pull that off? Anyways, it means she should be able to defeat this little devil without a huge problem. The only thing she is really missing is Undine. As important as the water spirit is, Loropechika isn't completely defenseless without her. What this devil doesn't know is about the mana zone surrounding the entire country.

As Loropechika started her fight, Gemini was working on rewriting my curse. Already I could feel my legs again, though it would take a few days before they're normal again i think.

"So that's how you keep escaping," Megicula asked. "First the widdle Loropechika, and now the little Lucy girl. Clearly cursing won't do it, so I'll have to kill you quickly."

She then muttered to herself, "Quick deaths are boring. Give me a long death with blood over that every day. Lucky for you summoner. You escaped my curses once, so they won't do much. I can't have a lot of fun then. Lucky you."

As Megicula seemed ready to charge at me again, Gemini finished removing the curse mark and I was able to stand up once again. Ok, what can I do now? I'm clearly no match for Megicula, and Loropechika is too busy in her own fight. Again I need to do something, but I'm alone.

Wait, that's it! I'm not really alone. I never am. My spirits are with me since I can open gates into their realm, but now I can theoretically open gates into other realms as well. Somewhere out there has to be someone who can protect me. I gather up my magic and start glowing golden once again.

Not enough? I need the devil's magic inside me as well. I will not be controlled again. You want to open gates? You will open gates but under my command. If I don't directly fight against it, it shouldn't disobey me as much.

The gate glowed black for a second, then shifted again to light blue. That's it! It's using that magic the devil put inside me along with my own. There's no focus to this spell so it's going to take everything. What can I focus on? The more I think, all I can come to are my friends in Fairy Tail. I know they're not dead. I've believed it the entire time. My bonds of friendship should be enough for this to work. I just need to believe.

The gate was glowing brighter now. I could see all of my magic flowing out into the gate, holding it open. It's working, there's no doubt about it. Right then, my grimoire flipped to a new page and started filling in, half the page in standard golden text and the other half in black demonic script.

"Anyone out there in the world! Come to my aid. Please I beg of you. Help me!" I scream.

It did something.

As Vanica got tired of the light show and attacked again with blood and curses, I heard a very distinctive scream shouting Fire Dragon's Roar . A burst of fire exited the gate, scorching Vanica in her tracks and actually dealing some damage.

The figure emerged from the gate. It spoke. "Hey Luce, it's been a while."

I am staring at the face of Natsu Dragneel.

AN:

Since the beginning of this work, I've been asked about Natsu and if I had any plans to introduce him. This was always planned to happen, and I left hints about Lucy meeting Natsu again and hints at his location for that reason. Why wait this long? As a writer I tend to focus on the plot above all else, and this was the only time it made sense to bring in Natsu.

That being said I think it was necessary and had to happen at some point. It's a crossover story, and without introducing this or focusing on other aspects of the fairy tail world, it wouldn't really be a crossover. At that point it might as well just be an original character in the black clover world. Any good isekai has to make the previous world important to the story, or else it fails as an isekai (dimension-crossing story). I've tried to include elements of the previous world (fairy tail world) into this story, but I think it's been lacking until now, where the events of chapter one and the end of that world actually start to matter to the overall plot. From here on, more fairy tail characters will enter the story, and the fairy tail world will matter more to the plot

Now, the romance question. I'll admit I'm not a good romance writer. I've never pretended to be one and I don't plan on including any romance beyond what was present canonically at the end of the anime. Sorry if you were looking for that.

On other news, I'm now pretty sure this story will go on until 36 or 37 chapters, so I'm marking that as the ending. As for Vanica, she'll now have a much tougher battle ahead. Next chapter will be the only Natsu POV chapter in this story and focus on where he's been from chapter one until now. As always, please do leave reviews, it's what keeps me going. I read them and will be answering questions