The blast of fire exploded in Vanica's face, knocking her backward and leaving visible injuries. Natsu's fire is as strong as ever. Vanica struggled to get up, which gave Natsu enough time to deal another punch straight to her face, sending her flying backward.
As for myself, I needed all that time to get over the shock of what I just witnessed. I actually opened a portal to a random world that Natsu happened to be in, and now we were together again. As much as I wanted to pull him into a hug, we were in the middle of a battle, and we both knew there was no time for that. No words were spoken as I stood tall, reinvigorated, and called out to my spirits to attack. I switched out Gemini for Capricorn and stayed in Aquarius star dress, knowing I'll still need water attacks to weaken her blood.
"Natsu, there's no time to talk right now. Just help me fight this lunatic," I said. He got the message, even if he wasn't completely satisfied by it and charged forward with flaming fists. He ran straight at Vanica attacking headfirst while I used water attacks to weaken her defenses. Unlike myself or Loropechika, Natsu was keeping up with Vanica the whole time, and his attacks were actually hurting her. This had the effect of getting Vanica more pissed off.
"Who are you?" Vanica shouted. "Girl, what did you do to my spell?"
"You don't control my magic Vanica, I just used it to reunite with my closest friend. We won't lose to you now."
"Think you're so strong now that you have help. I'll see how much you enjoy it once I'm serious. Devil Power, 70%"
That's it, she maxed out how much power she can draw from the devil without fully summoning Megicula from the underworld. Now, Vanica is at full strength.
"Watch out Natsu, she's at full power now." I said.
"Got it Luce, but that's not stopping me. Fist of the Fire Dragon."
While Natsu continued his barrage, Loropechika was setting up for a big attack. For now, she left Vanica uncovered since Natsu was fighting her head on, but the sky above us was covered in water. She was expanding the ceiling to go even wider and box us in, which could completely drown Vanica.
As for myself, I'm simply too low on magic after using an Urano Metria and a lot of summons already. I should be able to star dress a few more times, but I won't be summoning many spirits soon. Either way, I need to keep Vanica distracted until Loropechika is ready, so I switched into Loke's star dress and went for physical attacks, trying to lure her into Natsu's onslaught.
Vanica kept defending using blood claws and her devil wings to fly around at crazy speeds. The water ceiling above her was enough to cap her height, but not enough to limit her mobility yet. The only reason the fight wasn't lost was thanks to Natsu keeping up with her speed by using his flames as boosters. He landed a punch, then blocked the retaliation with his feet before creating distance using his legs as boosters. Vanica gave chase, and was met with a roar head on. She used her blood and regeneration to defend the attack, which allowed myself and Capricorn to hit her in the back, which sent her straight into Natsu's waiting fists. When the punch came, it carried enough force to leave Vanica on the ground. Her clothes around her stomach were mostly burned away, and the skin underneath it was bruised.
"You'll pay for that, Curse-Warding magic, curse of disintegr …"
That's the moment that Loropechika struck. She had just finished building walls of water to surround all of us and trap us in her construction. Now that the it was finished, Loropechika called out Water magic, Undersea Castle. The entire structure filled with dense water and unlike her other spells, the outer walls she spent so long to build turned solid, keeping us all locked in. here Vanica's speed wouldn't matter so much and her attacks would be weaker. In addition, myself, Natsu, and Gaja on the ground were coated in a layer of air theat moved with us, providing air and our normal mobility. She had so much control over her water to always make it move out of the way of Natsu's flames, keeping him at full power.
Natsu continued his attacks with greater fury, and every punk of his was connecting. Vanica's weakened attacks couldn't keep up with the raw power of Natsu, and she kept getting hit over and over. My magic was still low from before, maybe giving me one more summon if I played my cards right. Knowing that, I forced Capricorn back and exited star dress, reverting to my base form for the first time since the fight began. Instead, I switched over to using my whip once again, all to distract my enemy into falling for more of Natsu's attacks. I attacked wildly, not trying to deal damage but just enough to give Natsu more opening.
We did finally get some more luck on our side. Gaja, who was knocked out from earlier, was back to being awake. He took a quick look around to assess his surroundings, then immediately joined the fight. He used lightning attacks which resonated well with the watery environment. He didn't bother holding anything back and unleashed every last bit of lightning he had into the water. I saw what was happening and used my whip to pull natsu back to me before turning it off. Natsu and I were protected from the lightning through the air coating, which left Vanica to take the entire attack head on. The water box trapping us all lit up yellow as Vanica was screaming in pain from the blast. Soon enough, her body was left smolderig. Loropechika dropped the now electrocuted water, exposing us all to open skies.
Vanica struggled to get to her feet. Over the course of the battle, she's taken numerous powerful attacks that were finally slowing her down. Still, she wasn't that easy to defeat. "Damn you all, I still have more tricks to use. Curse-Warding magic, Death Curse," she yelled. Her body was surrounded in black smoke. All the plants around withered and died. Up above, a raven flying overhead fell down. Unfortunately, I recognized this magic.
"Back up Natsu, it's just like Zeref!" I screamed, dragging him away. Unlike Zeref's curse, this one lingered, following her around. Now we didn't have a good way to get in close. Before Natsu could move again, I held out a gold key and touched Natsu with it. This would be near the last bit of magic I have left, so it better work. I've already noticed that the spirits are more powerful here than in Earthland. Had we been there, None of my spirits would last more than a few seconds against Vanica. I need to assume it means some other restrictions are a bit weaker, such as the one I'm betting on right now. Open, gate of the Twins.
Gemini came out from the gate took Natsu's form. Great, even if my magic isn't as strong as his, I can still copy his form, and hopefully his powers to some extent. Anything is enough here. "Gemini, charge up your largest attack now, use brilliant flame." Sure enough, it worked. Gemini-Natsu held out both hands and charged the Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame, one of Natsu's long-range fire attacks.
Vanica just stared the oncoming bomb with a cold stare, taunting me to release it at her just for her to shut me down again. "What's that pathetic little ball going to do. Don't you already know you're nothing to me without your friends little summoner. Face it, you're not even worth playtime!" she muttered.
"I wasn't planning to. Gemini, fire at Natsu."
Loropechika looked at me in shock while Vanica could only say a quiet, "wait what?"
The blast left Gemini's hands and traveled towards Natsu. I immediately recalled her to stay on my feet. Natsu got the idea and ran straight at the blast, opening his mouth and consuming all the flames in one go.
Loropechika kept staring and said, "My god what is that magic."
"That's dragon slaying magic. Part of it allows eating your own element for power boosts and the ability to enter a form known as dragon force. In that form, we will win.
Natsu was completely coated in fire now, a sure sign of dragon force. "Thanks for the mean Luce. Now that i've eaten, I'm all revved up. I think this has gone on long enough, and you've hurt my friend too many times. Dragon slayer secret arts, Crimson Lotus exploding Fire Blast." The blast shook the ground I stood on with its sheer power. Vanica was still too hurt from her previous injuries to dodge it. The fire hit her at lightning speed and tore a hole straight through her chest. The devil-possessed fell to the ground, dead at last.
Out of the body a spirit flew to face us. This must be the devil Megicula, unable to keep a hold on the human world without her host. "You will rue the day you crossed me Heartfilia. I will have revenge for this."
I quickly shut her down saying, "Right now you've just lost all your power. It's time you leave for good. Underworld gate, Forced gate closure. May you never see the world again. Begone!"
The portal did nothing more than suck up the remnant devil and close. We'd finally done it. We actually defeated a devil. The devil was so strong to take all of us that far. The first thing I fely after that fight was Natsu hugging me tightly, saying, "I missed you Luce."
"Missed you too Natsu. Like always you just had to come and save me from evil. Thanks a ton. I've met so many new friends in this world. I was gonna go back and see how they're doing, wanna come along for a few more adventures?"
"Of course. I just found you again. I'm not going away from you that easily. Fairy Tail's all about that never ending journey. Let's go on more adventures forever, Lucy."