"THAT MATCH WAS SOOOO COOOOL!" Jason screamed, all of these battle leaking out his enthusiasm and even more.

"He's too excited for this…" Heather said while flipping her hair back behind her shoulders.

"We should be winning this…" Reve said in a bit of an agitated tone.

"Those Fairies are stronger than you're giving them credit for," Heather replied, looking over at Reve.

"Besides, it wouldn't be much fun if we just swept through them!" Luke gave a thumbs up, grinning. "We got Sidney, so we're set. Although…"

"Although what?" Reve asked, looking over at Luke as he raised an eyebrow.

"Cynthia kinda worries me…" Luke said while rubbing the back of his head.

"You're worried about that little girl? Really, Cloud?" Reve said with a disappointed tone.

"Uh…do you NOT remember the forest a while back?" Luke replied, looking up at Reve.

"Oh yeah…that MIGHT be a problem…" Reve looked over at Cynthia, rubbing his chin. Cynthia may have bested Waiston, but she was all power and no skill in his eyes. "We'll be fine…"

"Is Natsu gonna be okay," Happy asked Wendy who just walked back from the infirmary.

"Mhm, Natsu-san will be fine once he wakes up," Wendy replied with a smile.

"Five left on each team…" Makarov said quietly, crossing his arms.

"You wouldn't mind me replacing someone so I could mu-I mean beat Luke, right?" Mirajane asked with an innocent smile.

"Luke brings out the old Mira alright…" Erza mumbled softly. "I think the five we have now can handle it."

"We have Gildarts!" Cynthia shouted joyfully.

"Yeah, whoever's up against him is in for some trouble," Gray replied with a smirk.

"I won't be holding back either," Gildarts replied.

"So, are we ready for the next fight?" Calium asked.

"Of course," Makarov responded. "Let's see who is next." Calium nodded in response to Makarov, and started the roulette once more. The roulette stopped on Lucy, as the White Eclipse one kept going.

Lucy's heart sudden jumped into her throat as the possibility of fighting Luke came to mind. She wanted to fight Luke, but at the same time she didn't want to because the fear of losing and letting Fairy Tail down at a time they needed her the most clouded her head. "Who…" Lucy mumbled to herself as she eyed the roulette intently.

Luke smirked, standing up already as if he knew he was going to be picked. "Sit down, Cloud," Reve said.

"What?" Luke sat down, looking at Reve.

"Don't get so cocky just yet; we don't know who it is…" Reve replied. Just as he finished speaking, the roulette landed on Heather. "Oh, would you look at that…" Reve smirked, looking over at Heather. "It's your turn."

"I can see that," Heather replied, standing up, stretching to loosen up her muscles.

"Her spirits," Luke said.

"What about them?" Heather replied, looking over her shoulder as she walked towards the arena.

"You'll see," Luke replied with a smirk. "Take her down."

"Be careful, Lu-chan," Levy said with a stern nod.

"Yes, we don't know what she can do, so be very careful…" Erza added.

"Don't worry, I will be!" Lucy nodded with a small before walking into the center of the arena, a few feet away from Heather.

"She's gonna be in for a surprise…" Nightwalker smirked.

"Are you ready?" Heather asked as she got into an offensive stance.

"Mhm," Lucy nodded slowly, pulling out two keys from her pouch.

"I'll allow you the first move," Heather replied.

"How kind of you…" Lucy held a key out, a bright light shining from the key. "Gate of the Scorpion, I open thee, Scorpio!" The light at the tip of the sky got brighter for a few seconds before Scorpio emerged from the key.

"We are!" Scorpio said with gusto. "Sand Buster!" Scorpio bent over, pointing his stinger out unleashing a high powered sand tornado towards Heather.

"Celestial Spirit Mage…" Heather mumbled this to herself before jumping to the side, evading Scorpio's Sand Buster. "Interesting…" Heather then ran forward, a thick purple substance surrounding her hands.

"That smell…" Cynthia said, sniffing the air.

"That's…" Wendy started.

"Poison…!" Cynthia blurted out.

"We! Look out!" Scorpio placed his body in front of Lucy, buying her time as Lucy took a few steps back behind Scorpio.

"Poison Dragon's…" Heather started, a purple magic circle appearing in front of her.

"Dragon Slayer!?" Cynthia leaned up in her seat.

"Lucy-san, look out!" Wendy shouted.

"Iron fist!" Heather swung her poison covered fist forward, striking Scorpio's gut.

"W-We…" Scorpio fell over from the powerful hit, turning into yellowish fuzz before fading back into the Spirit World.

"Dragon Slayer…" Lucy mentally groaned. "Just my luck…" Lucy thought to herself before pulling out another key. "Gate of the Ram!" Lucy started, the tip of the key glowing brightly.

"Not so fast!" Heather pointed her hand out, a purple magic circle appearing. "Poison Dragon's Scales!" Poisonous scales shot out from the magic circle, rushing towards Lucy at an alarming rate.

"Look out, Lucy!" Erza shouted.

"WAH!" Lucy had to cut off her summon as she rolled to the side, a poison scale scraping against her sleeve. "That…that was close…" Lucy let out a sigh of relief, but she dropped her guard for too long as Heather came flying in with a powerful poison infused kick to Lucy's sternum, causing Lucy to stumble back, groaning from the burn the poison left. "Ouch…!" Lucy shook off the pain, pointing her key out. "Gate of the Ram, I open thee; Aries!" Aries sudden appeared in the arena, looking around nervously, shifting around uncomfortably.

"U-Uhm…" Aries said quietly.

"Aries, do it!" Lucy shouted.

"H-Hai! I'm sorry!" Aries shouted to Heather as she pointed her hands out. "Wool Bomb!" Aries bent over, pointing her hands out as soft, pink fluff shout out, aiming to capture Heather in its softness.

"Heater, look out!" Luke shouted.

"Do not worry about me," Heather replied as she jumped into the air, avoiding the large cloud of wool coming her way. Heather spread her arms out as a magic circle appeared in front of her. "Cross Poison," She swung both of her arms down diagonally into an X formation, sending two thick lines of poison shaped like an X hurtling towards Lucy and Aries.

"Aries, look out!" Lucy pulled out her whip, wrapping it around Aries' waist as she jumped back, pulling Aries with her, avoiding the impact of the Cross Poison.

"That girl is very dangerous…" Mavis eyed Heather carefully. "I don't think she's trying that much…which worries me…"

"Something about her is familiar…" Erza thought to herself. She knew Heather from somewhere, but she was unable to put her finger on it.

"I'm sorry…Lucy-sama…" Aries whimpered before fading back to the Spirit World.

"I'm running low on options here…" Lucy rubbed her sternum lightly, feeling the poison from before starting to numb her upper body. "This isn't good…" Lucy thought to herself. "Gate of the Bull, I open thee; Taurus!"

"MOOO!" From the ground, a large cow holding a large battle axe. "I will do my best to protect Lucy-sama's nice body!" Taurus gripped his axe, glaring at Heather.

"Oh, look, the perverted cow," Luke rolled his eyes.

"Does that cow have a crush on Lucy…?" Cynthia tilted her head at Taurus's behavior, remembering how he was acting the exact same way in the cave.

"Looks more like an unhealthy obsession to Juvia…" Juvia muttered.

Cynthia blinked at Juvia's words, the extreme irony sticking out to her. "…Did you of all people just…"

"Get her, Taurus! Quickly!" Lucy gripped her chest, breathing slightly heavier due to the poison.

"Yes, Lucy-sama!" Taurus charged forward with his axe pulled back. "This is what you get for messing with Lucy-sama's nice body!"

"Oh my…you're one of those people, aren't you?" Heather shook her head as she held her hands out. "Poison Dragon's Guard!" A think wall of poison appeared in front of Heather just as Taurus swung his axe down. The wall of poison successfully blocked Taurus' attack, leaving the spirit dumbfounded by the wall's defensive strength.

"W-What…?" Taurus's eyes widened slightly.

"Poison Dragon's…" Heather's cheeks started puffing up, and she easily dispatched of Taurus with a distracting kick to his side, forcing him to slide away, fading away to the spirit world after.

"Lu-chan, look out!" Levy cried out. But it was too late; Heather was already in front of Lucy.

"Roar," Heather opened her mouth a purple magic circle appeared, unleashing a vortex of reddish black poison at point blank range on Lucy. When the Roar faded, Lucy was...not present at all. Heather's eyes actually widened in surprise and she looked around, only to notice a hole in front of her. "What the...?"

"That was close..." Lucy said with a sigh. She looked behind her and smield at Virgo, who made a last second entry onto the battle. "Thank you, Virgo."

"Of course, Princess." Virgo nodded. "But I was late. So will I be punished?"

"NO!" Lucy said angrily. "We have to focus on her, and quickly!" She was still feeling a little numb from the poison, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. Heather was strong, but Lucy had a plan to take her out. "Follow my lead!"

"Another one?" Heather scoffed and shook her head. "You can summon as many lackeys as you want. That's not going to stop me from putting you down!" And so, Heather began to rush towards Lucy and Virgo, prepared to take them down.

Virgo spread her arms spart and multiple boulders appeared around Heather. "Spica Lock!" These boulders moved in immediately to enclose around Heather to trap her. Heather found herself on the defensive, spreading her arms apart to stop the boulders, gritting her teeth as she was fending them off. She was able to use her poison to tear through them, but this did provide Virgo with the opportunity to use her Driver, which created a hole in the ground that both she and Lucy used to escape into.

Heather saw this and sucked her teeth. "Running away? Don't think you can hide from me!" Heather said while stepping closer, using her Dragon slayer senses to her advantage. She sniffed the air around her and a malicious grin crept onto her lips. "Your scent just got a lot more intense. Heh...I know this smell all too well. The smell of fear." Heather said while waiting for Lucy and Virgo to make a move. Multiple holes suddenly appeared within the arena, and Virgo popped out of one.

"Virgo Kick!" The maid exclaimed while swinging her leg towards Heather. Heather was prepared to dodge, but Lucy emerged and swung her whip forward, grabbing onto Heather's wrist to stop her. This brief moment of confusion did allow Virgo to kick Heather in the cheek, causing her to stagger back. Virgo landed in a hole and Lucy also vanished.

"I get it!" Levy said with a grin. "Even if she can't beat Heather in a straight fight, she can still outsmart her! That's my Lu-chan!"

"But will it be enough?" Freed crossed his arms. He wanted to believe in Lucy, but she was on a timer and everyone knew it. It was lucky that Virgo arrived when she did, but Lucy was still afflicted by poison...

"Lucy has the numbers to her advantage..." Waiston said while crossing his arms. "It's gonna piss Heather off eventually...and that might be Lucy's opening. How'd you deal with the numbers?" He turned to Luke.

"Annoyed the whole time." Luke replied. "They're not something you can afford to ignore, and taking one on just leaves you open to the other." Luke was watching Heater's reactions. Her scowl deepened the longer this went on. "Heather doesn't have as much patience as I do...although she only has to wait out the clock until Lucy falls over from poison, that doesn't mean Lucy can't pull the rug out from under her..."

"You're talking like you respect her." Hanako said teasingly. Luke had a flustered look and he glanced away.

"When you fight her as much as I have, you know which options you have to respect..." Luke replied with a scoff.

Lucy kept emerging from holes to whip at Heather, while Virgo emerged to kick at her. The summoner and spirit had a very good rhythm going, despite the fact it wasn't doing much to Heather aside from annoying her and everyone watching. "These potshots are only pissing me off." Heather snarled. Lucy was attacking her a lot, every time she vanished she popped out of another hole. Her movements were fast, but all Heather had to do was react to it. Virgo came in once again for a kick, but Heather dodged this one, retaliating with a spinning kick of her own to Virgo's side. This was enough to send the maid into the arena wall. She timed it well, because Lucy emerged from a hole, but Heather already had her figured out, her hand reaching out and grasping Lucy by the throat.

"Hrk...!" Lucy let out a choked gasp, hands moving to try and pry Heather's fingers from around her throat, but to no avail.

"Congratulations. You've lasted longer than I thought." Heather wasn't giving praise, though. There were only a few marks on her body from the attacks Virgo and Lucy landed, but it was nothing in the grand scheme of things. "But you should really learn your place. You couldn't even beat Luke and you had three chances. What made you think you could defeat me?" As Lucy kicked and struggled to escape Heather's grip, Heather's free hand turned purple with poison, green eyes glaring towards the Fairy Tail wziard at her mercy.

"Lucy!" Cana shouted. Was this it!?

"That's game." Reve was already checking Lucy off.

"She shouldn'ta made Heather made." Jaxon shrugged. "Girl's kinda scary."

"..." Sidney was still silent as ever.

"..." As was Gildarts.

"...You guys don't smell that...?" Waiston furrowed his brows.

"Know your place." Heather said while clawing Lucy down the middle violently. One would think she was trying to kill her with how intense that attack was. Everyone's eyes widened not at Heather's brutality, but...at the fact that a puff of smoke appeared where Lucy was, splitting into not one, but two beings: Gemini. Everything froze for Heather in that moment. "W-Wh..." And to make matters worse, the surrounding area started to darken.

"How did she...!?" Zalen gasped.

"No way...!" Luke's eyes went wide. "When she went underground...she summoned Gemini and used it as a decoy to fool Heather's senses!?" That's exactly what Lucy did. Lucy knew how strong a Dragon Slayers senses were, and she knew exactly how to trick them. When Heather claimed her scent intensified, that was the moment she quietly summoned Gemini to copy herself. Lucy and Gemini were attacking in tandem with one another moments ago, and now...

"Survey the heavens, open the heavens!

All the stars, far and wide, show me thy appearance.

With such shine."

Heather immediately whipped around to see the real Lucy on the opposite side of the arena, a golden light emanating from her. How!? How was she in two places at once!? "But...!?" No buts! Something dangerous was coming and she had to stop it here and now. Heather took one step forward, only to feel multiple chains clamp around her wrists and ankles. "Ngh!?" When she looked behind her, she saw Virgo, still active! The maid was using her chain magic to restraint Heather.

"Heather, you have to get out of there!" Luke nearly screamed.

"I'M TRYING!" Heather roared back. But it was no use. Lucy continued with her incantation, uninterrupted, and a blanket of darkness covered the arena, multiple star-like lights appearing within the darkness, all of them surrounding Heather.

"GO, LUCY!" Natsu screamed. Everyone in Fairy Tail rallied behind this cry. This was Lucy's chance to turn the tables and they were behind her all the way!

"Oh Tetrabiblos.

I am the ruler of the stars.

Open thy malevolent gate...

Oh 88 Stars of heaven...

SHINE!

URANO METRIA!"

These 88 Stars all shone brightly around Heather before exploding on her in a brilliant flash of light. Everyone had to cover their eyes from the shine of Urano Metria. Lucy was putting her all into this attack. If she couldn't beat Heather in a fight, she'd have to risk it all on a single attack and take her out from there! This was everything that Lucy could muster and she was putting it on the line! She had to show White Eclipse she was not some helpless pushover like they thought she was! Whatever noise Heather made was completely drowned out by the sound of exploding lights. Slowly but surely, those lights began do die down, leaving only a thick cloud of smoke lingering where Heather was standing. Lucy was panting heavily, and exerting that amount of magic only made the poison spread through her body faster, but she was standing, hunched over and panting heavily. She needed to know what happened to Heather.

The smoke slowly began to clear, and Heather was hunched over, panting heavily, chest heaving. But...something was different about her body. There were purple scales along her body and her eyes had a reptilian visage to them. At the last second, she was forced to enter Dragon Force to endure Lucy's attack, and she was not happy about it. "You..."

"She's still standing!?" Wendy gasped.

"Holy shit..." Luke was in awe for multiple reasons.

"N-No way...t-that was everything I had...!" Lucy said with wide eyes. Heather was still standing!?

"LUCY!" Natsu yelled. "SHE'S STRUGGLING TO STAND! IT'S NOT OVER YET!"

"Ah!" Natsu's words snapped Lucy out of her shock. He was right! The only thing keeping Heather standing must have been her anger and her endurance. But...Lucy was also on her last legs. Was she going to be able to outlast her!? That poison made it difficult for her to move! But then, Heather released another Roar from her posiion. Lucy instinctively crossed her arms since moving wasn't much of an option. This only meant that the poison in her system was multiplied.

"I'll slaughter you...!" Heather growled while attempting to run forward, but Virgo kept a solid grip on her with her chains. That said. Virgo was starting to slide forward unwillingly.

"Princess...I do not think...I can hold her much longer...!" Virgo was doing her best, but it wasn't enough. Before she even had the chance to transform, Heather broke free of her chains and gripped them, using them to throw Virgo right into Lucy. The two collided against each other and tumbled to the ground. It was already taking Lucy everything she had to stand, and she could feel she wasn't getting up after that.

"Ngh..." Lucy weakly lifted her head up, watching Heather and her venomous aura slowly approaching them. Despite the situation, she looked up with a fire in her eyes. "I'm...not scared of you..."

"You should be." Heather snarled while raising her hand. She was going to finish Lucy off, but then...Lucy just passed out. The poison invading her system was too much for her to deal with and she fainted as a result, denying Heather the glory of the finishing blow. "..."

"...Lucy Heartfilia is unable to continue the battle." Calium said. "Heather Viperoso wins this round."

"Lucy..." Happy frowned.

"..." That was...admittedly a hard loss for Fairy Tail. Lucy gave it her best effort and she still came up short.

"...Hah. Looks like she scared them." Laxus said with a smirk. While Wendy and Natsu went to attend to Lucy, Laxus was simply looking over at the wizards of White Eclipse. Their tense expressions told the story they wouldn't dare admit aloud. Lucy may not have been able to pull the rug out from under Heather's feet. but she got damn close.

"...You sounded scared for a second there." Mira said while placing her hand on her cheek. "Did Lucy surprise you?"

"...Not at all." Reve shook his head.

"I was...fine." Heather grumbled, her body returning to normal. She was clearly very agitated, though. "But I wasn't going to lose to her. She's not the one I'm after..." No. Her gaze went directly towards an suspecting Erza Scarlet.

"...That move..." Luke was shocked. Lucy...never had the chance to use that move. She tried in their third fight, but he managed to stop her. But what if he didn't...? Would he have...?

Lucy went down fighting and that's all anyone could've wished for. It was a bitter defeat, one she was going to have to swallow. She lost to White Eclipse again...but there was a small sense of pride that swelled in her chest moments before she passed out. Whether anyone wanted to admit it or not, White Eclipse had no choice but to respect Lucy a little for her show against Heather. They couldn't afford to underestimate her again...