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"You look like hammered shit." Natsu said.
Gray looked up to see Natsu standing over him. Ur slinged over his shoulder. The pair looking relatively unharmed.
"What are you still doing here?" Gray asked.
Natsu used his free hand to grab a hold of Gray's shirt and would carry the beaten mage.
"I forgot where to go and came back to get a birdseye view." Natsu lied.
"Where's Lyon?" Gray weakly asked.
"No time, we have to get back to the village and besides he did a number on you. There's no point in staying here." Natsu answered.
Gray bangs covered his eyes.
There's no way you can beat Deliora!
Gray heard Ur's voice inside his head.
You don't stand a chance Gray!
Lyon's voice followed suit after Ur's. It reminded of Gray when he failed, when he failed them and went after Deliora. When he wasn't strong enough and foolishly challenged Deliora. That had inevitable caused the death of his Master. Yet, if Natsu hadn't freed her and if Deliora hadn't died due to Ur's power. He would have failed to stop Lyon. Gray felt useless, he didn't deserve to have Ur back in his life especially when he just accepted that it was impossible.
"Natsu...please...stop Lyon."
Gray felt absolutely useless in this situation. He wasn't helping but had become a burden. Gray had been soundly defeated by Lyon. Natsu could reprimand him about giving up but he would see if Gray would drag himself forward. For now, Natsu carried Gray in relative silence as they headed for the village. Natsu continue walking through the jungle. However, he needed to set Gray on the side of the tree. Natsu sat Ur behind the same tree as the tree shield her from being seen as easily.
"Why are we stopping?" Gray asked.
"We have been caught." Natsu answered.
Natsu stood in front of the two downed mages. In a few moments two people rush out of the brush to see Natsu standing in front of his two allies. His arms crossed as he glared at the pair that broke the treeline.
"I take it you're one of the intruders." Yuka said.
"We would like it if you just surrender and we'll make your death painless!" Toby shouted.
Natsu grew a smirk.
"If we are gonna fight, give me a challenge. That's all I ask." Natsu stated.
"If it's a fight you want, we'll gladly give it to you." Yuka said.
"Bring it." Natsu replied.
Natsu got ready to fight as his two opponents did the same. Gray would have to watch as Natsu made the first move as he moved towards the pair. Yuka summoned a blue forcefield as it stayed in front of his hand.
"My magic is designed to fight against wizards their is no way for a wizard like you to win against me." Yuka said.
Yuka fired off the blue forcefield at the incoming Natsu.
"Too bad for you pal because..." Natsu began.
Natsu slammed his fist forward as his punch destroyed the blue wave that came at him. Everyone that was awake would be floored at the stunt aside from Natsu.
"...it takes more than magical power to be a wizard!" Natsu shouted.
Natsu continued his advance as he got in front of Yuka. The male tried dodging but Natsu was just too fast for him. Natsu's fist came crashing into his face. Yuka went through a tree before colliding with the ground. The man knocked out cold. Natsu grew a dissatisfied expression.
"Come on, you can't be that serious." Natsu said.
He wanted a challenge not a one sided match. The male looked over at Toby as he saw Toby extend his claws out but was nervously sweating.
"What will you do?"
Toby charged at Natsu, Toby took a swipe at Natsu but the swipe would be dodged. Toby would be greeted to a kick slamming upwards into his chin. Toby's body couldn't deal with the blunt force trauma as Toby would be knocked out like it was nothing. Natsu sweat drop at the pair.
"Is this really S-Class? This is quite lackluster."
Natsu tied up the two troublemakers. He would need to come back for them later as there was other matters that needed his attention.
"Let's go check on Lucy." Natsu said.
If Gray was beaten, there would be a chance that Lucy was also going to need help.
With Lucy.
Lucy had to dodge a surprise attack and she rolled forward before getting to her feet as she turned her whole body around to look at the attacker. It was a massive tree that had moved towards Lucy, it used one of its branches to try and hit Lucy. She move to dodge the attack again.
"You, what you have seen and what you have done to my comrades is unforgivable! You shall know pain for taking my love away!" Sherry shouted.
Lucy saw a woman flanking the wooden tree. Is she the one controlling that tree?
"You're having some major issues trying to revive a demon and exterminating a entire village! From what I can see, you guys are the monsters!" Lucy yelled back.
"How dare you refer to my comrades as monsters! Get her, Wood Doll!"
Lucy watch as the wooden tree moved to attack her as Lucy jumped into the air to avoid the attack. She pulled out one of her golden color eyes.
"Open, Golden Bovine Gate, Taurus!" Lucy ordered.
A humanoid muscular cow would appear from a golden color magical circle. It wielded a two handed battle axe.
"Take out that tree!!"
"As you command Lucy!" Taurus shouted.
Taurus would use its battle axe to easily dispatch of the wooden tree that had attacked Lucy. Sherry watched with composure.
"A celestial wizard that can use one of the golden gates. That's not bad but..." Sherry said with a grin.
"Nice going Taurus!" Lucy cheered.
"Moooo!!! Thank you for the praise!!!" Taurus spoke.
"I pity you celestial wizard." Sherry spoke.
Lucy raised a brow as she faced Sherry.
"What?" Lucy asked.
Lucy eyes widen as she found something crashing into her ribs. The female coughing up blood at taking such a heavy hit. The attack sent her flying as she found herself going through the air. Lucy hitting the ground as she lost her vision. The female becoming dazed from the attack. It took Taurus talking for her to come back to the present.
"I'm so sorry, Lucy! I didn't mean to attack you!" Taurus shouted.
Lucy saw Taurus walking towards her. Taurus got on top of Lucy. One of his hands around her throat as she was at his mercy.
"Taurus what are yo-" Lucy found her wind pipe cut off.
She couldn't breath at all as Taurus choked her.
"I swear I'm not moving at all Lucy!" Taurus pleaded.
Sherry grew a sickening smile at having Lucy in her palm and because she was winning, Sherry would play with her food. Taurus grip on Lucy throat loosened enough for the female to start breathing. Lucy gulping down air. She didn't understand what was going on.
"With my magic, magic doll, I can control anything that isn't human. That includes celestial spirits because they aren't human!" Sherry explained.
Lucy became enraged at hearing those words from Sherry. To Lucy, Celestial Spirits weren't just mere things. They were people.
"Celestial Spirits are people! They have their own feelings! They have their own emotions! They have their own lives! They hate it when their keys are dropped on the ground! They don't want to be called on for trivial matters! You're a terrible person for making Taurus do this! I'll get you back!" Lucy unleashed some of her pent up fury.
Sherry began to laugh at Lucy.
"You're in no position to talk girl! That thing you're defending is actively betraying you as we speak because of my magic!" Sherry spoke.
Taurus glared at Sherry. However, his attention was taken away as he felt Lucy's hand reaching hie cheek. He turned his head to see Lucy smiling at him.
"It's okay, Taurus this isn't your fault." Lucy told him.
Here Lucy was trying to comfort him even when he was forced to attack her. This shouldn't...this...should never happen especially when Lucy was making sure to comfort him.
"Close Golden Bovine Gate!" Lucy shouted.
Despite Lucy making the command, the gate did not close and remained open. This allowed Taurus to remain on the field. Sherry began to madly laugh at Lucy's attempt at forcing the gate to close.
"Choke her to death." Sherry ordered.
Lucy felt the air leave her lungs while Taurus's eyes shifted to horror. Taurus resisted with all his might but it didn't matter as he was still choking Lucy out. Lucy had to close the gate. If Taurus killed her. She couldn't stomach his pain. Lucy could not fail Taurus. She couldn't fail her friend. Lucy summoned her magical energy in one last act of defiance. Lucy tried closing the gate and had succeeded. Taurus would be sent back to his world. Lucy gasped for air while Sherry remained shocked.
'She closed a gate!? That's impossible! I have never heard of a celestial wizard being able to force a gate closure!' Sherry thought.
Lucy struggled to get to her feet considering she just got hit in the ribs earlier.
'I feel like a few of my ribs are broken.' Lucy thought.
Lucy did her best to stand tall because she was still in the middle of a fight.
Deliora's Lair.
Lyon eyes were wide at seeing the crumbled remains of Deliora.
"What the hell happened here!?" Lyon shouted.
Deliora should be standing tall surrounded in ice but now, he was in pieces!
Natsu revived Ur.
Lyon reflected on the conversation between him and Gray. Is that really the case? Had this Natsu revived Ur and taken her with him!?
"I see that Deliora is in ruins, this puts quite the damper on your plans." The Man in the masked said.
Lyon looked over his shoulder to see Zalty, Zalty was his assistant.
"Zalty, did anyone leave with a woman?" Lyon instantly asked.
"Why yes, a pink haired individual fled the scene with a woman slugged over his shoulder. She had short dark purple hair if that helps." Zalty answered.
It was true, they had somehow revived Ur. His plan to revive Deliora is ruined but Ur had been revived. That meant his dream of surpassing her was real because he could challenge her to a fight. This revelation was bittersweet for Lyon.
"I need to stop the attack."
It looked like Lyon was finally coming around and Zalty grew a frown.
'Things seem to be settling down now that Ur has been revived.' Ultear/Zalty thought.
To Lyon, Ur is and was his goal. This entire operation had been about defeating Deliora to show proof of surpassing Ur. However, now that Ur is revived and Deliora dead. The main motivation for Lyon had been snuffed out with the benefit of continuing his dream. To Lyon, everything seemed right again. At least to him.
Back with Lucy.
"Not bad for a Fairy Tail Wizard. I see you have some merit. However, keep in mind that your spirits have no effect against me." Sherry stated.
"I don't know about that." Lucy said.
Lucy brought out a silver key. She grew a grin.
"Open Gate of Canis Minor!" Lucy shouted.
A miniature white color spirit came from a magical circle. As it gave out a prideful.
"Pluuuu!!!"
"Foolish girl, Doll Attack: Marionette!" Sherry yelled.
The spirit would attack Lucy but because of it's miniature size along with its twig like arms. The attack did nothing to Lucy. The female striking Sherry with her whip at Sherry being caught off guard. Sherry felt a stinging sensation across her cheek as she would be cut with said whip. Sherry's rage sprang forward. Sherry recovered from the attack and it was something Lucy hadn't anticipated. Lucy tried to attack again with Sherry dodging the whip as she side stepped the path of said weapon.
"Stop Manipulation!" Sherry commanded.
Lucy tried stepping forward as her ribs protested. Lucy being inexperienced at dealing with pain had falter from the pain coursing through her entire side. Sherry capitalized on the mistake of the celestial wizard.
"Doll Attack: Rock Doll!" Sherry yelled.
Lucy looked up as she tried getting to her feet but she couldn't even when the monster made up of large rocks and boulders began to appoarch her.
"You shall perish you bitch! Finish her off!" Sherry screamed.
The rock doll made its fist that went to finish Lucy off and Lucy not being able to move had closed her eyes. She expected her world to go to black. However, she open her eyes when she heard something colliding with the ground. That's when she Natsu had stopped the rock doll attack by punching into the monster's fist. Natsu's attack made the entire arm of the rock doll crumble into pieces.
"Not bad giving your enemy a false sense of security but you should always double tap." Natsu commented.
'Was he...was he watching me!?' Lucy thought.
"Who the hell are you!? Her friend! You'll pa-"
Natsu moved faster than either woman could keep up with and both sets of eyes widen as Natsu appeared in front of Sherry.
"No, you'll pay for that."
Natsu landed his fist into Sherry's gut. The blow would sent her flying through several tree's before colliding with something in the distance. Natsu had essentially one shot the mage that was after Lucy.
'Scary!' Lucy thought.
Natsu must have been an S-Class mage if he easily took care of Sherry while Lucy struggled.
"Can you walk to the village?" Natsu asked.
Lucy knew she couldn't run but she knew she could still walk.
"Yeah, I should be able to make it to the village." Lucy answered.
"Good let's head out." Natsu stated.
Lucy watch as Natsu passed her up. It looked like he was all serious and no play. It suited her just fine, she needed to rest up as soon as possible. Lucy saw where Natsu had left Ur and Gray. It looked like her as well as Gray had taken quite the beating. They both lost their respective fights. Natsu had to rescue them both and both felt horrible as they shared the same wavelength. The group of four made it back to the village. To see the villagers hope die in their eyes at seeing two out of three people return wounded was heartbreaking. Yet. Natsu stepped forward as he took charge of the situation.
"We stopped their plans with Moon Drip and therefore, they can't use it anymore to add to the already high concentration of magical energy in the air. We also took out their base of operations and defeated the three lieutenants. All that is left is their leader." Natsu said.
The hope that return to the villagers eyes would help ease the guilt for the two defeated mages.
"Are you certain?" Moka asked.
It looked like the Headman came to the forefront.
"Yes, we were able to rescue this woman as well. However, all three of my companions need medical attention. I'm going back out to deal with the leader." Natsu said.
It took all of Gray's willpower to not make a scene. It should have been him that stopped Lyon but he failed spectacularly. Gray didn't have any right to say anything to Natsu.