Chapter 06: Sol Regulus Rey
Random area of the Worth Woodsea, Fiore - X784
Rushing down a hill towards a river as he was a bit ahead of the others (Had he been calmer, he'd have remembered to ask Happy to just fly him straight towards Nirvana), Natsu Dragneel halted at the scent and sight of one of the blonde suited guy. "Wait, Ev... Eek? Yeah, Eek."
Leaping forward into the river, Natsu waded towards Eve's limp body. "What are you doing here? What happened to that other guy that Lucy called tsundara? Or was it tsunjere?"
Realizing that Eve was unconscious, Natsu cast another desperate look at Nirvana's pillar. The more time he wasted, the greater chance of Erza and Bell running into Jellal again. Grumbling to himself, Natsu's grabbed Eve's arm and held him up. "Gotta at least get you out of the water. Wake up already, you magazine guy!"
Thankfully, Eve finally stood up on his own, although he had a weird evil expression on his face. It became worse when Eve yanked on a rope that Natsu hadn't noticed, causing a raft to suddenly emerge from beneath them. "What's a raft doing here?!"
Almost immediately, Natsu cursed his motion sickness as the bobbing of the raft in the river got to him.
"Looks like that little tidbit from this one's Master was correct, after all." 'Eve' commented. ""Do be sure to mind the dragon slayers for their motion sickness"."
"You're not..." Natsu struggled to keep the contents of his stomach inwards. "Who are you...?"
"That's not your business." 'Eve' stomped on Natsu's head, the latter too sick to even grab at it as he raised a hand that started to chill with Snow Magic. "Someone who's about to die has no need for my identity. Now, then... Since you slayers tend to be a ridiculously durable lot, here's a big one for you. [Snow Magic: Impact Avalan-]"
Before he could finish, 'Eve' ducked as a few arrows and ice lances shot above him.
"Hey!" Gray growled with an angry Lucy and Sagittarius at his side, his fists still exuding chilled energy. "What do you think you're doing to my guildmate, bastard?!"
"Natsu, are you okay?!" Lucy fretted from the bank with the others.
"You guys..." Natsu murmured in relief, only to hold back the urge to hurl when the raft suddenly came to a stop against a protruding stone in the river.
"Natsu, I'm coming to save you!" Happy flew towards them, only to be suddenly blasted and frozen against a tree with snow magic.
"Happy, Aera Magic." 'Eve' lowered his chilled hand as he smirked at his handiwork. "Low in physical ability and combat. Information confirmation complete."
"Huh?" Lucy frowned. "Why is he acting like that?"
Wendy casted a suspicious look at the pillar in the distance. "Is this Nirvana's fault?"
"Or rather, how do we know if this isn't his real personality without his playboy act?" Gray palmed the top of his fist before slamming them down to unleash a wave of ice that froze the river enough to stop the raft's movements. "Oi, Natsu! Are you done being pathetic now?!"
"Who the hell are you calling pathetic?!" Natsu roared as he swiftly recovered, already punching at 'Eve' with a blazing fist. Grabbing the offending wrist, 'Eve' paid little attention to the burn he received as he redirected the dragon slayer into a judo flip brutal enough to send cracks through the frozen river.
"[White Fury]."
Natsu choked as a mass of compressed snow was fired right at his head, smashing into him with enough force that the frozen surface of the river came apart beneath them and allowed the raft to start bobbing again as 'Eve' dropped Natsu back on it.
"""Natsu/Natsu-nii!""" Wendy and the Fairy Tail members shouted in shock and worry.
"'Salamander' Natsu Dragneel as seen by Eve Tearm: A powerful but reckless combatant of Fairy Tail." 'Eve' reported in the same tone he'd done for Happy. "And a fool unable to appreciate the beauties in his team."
Wendy frowned. "Is that even still Eve-san? He smells the same, but..."
"Okay, even I'm pretty sure that Eve-kun isn't like this." Lucy raised her key, directing Sagittarius to aim. "Sagittarius, take him down!"
"Oh? So you're his contractor, then?" Before Sagittarius could fire, 'Eve' chuckled strangely, his voice sounding childish and distorted. "Piri-piri~"
Lucy gawked as 'Eve' exploded into smoke, only to clear away and reveal... her?! "M-Me?"
"Are you dumb?" Gray scoffed. "What's the point of taking on Lucy's looks with everybody watching?"
"I wonder about that." 'Lucy' replied. "Men tend to have a particular weakness for women like her. For example..."
'Lucy' grabbed the bottom of her upperwear before pulling it upwards, letting her braless breasts bounce in their freedom. "I wonder if Leviathan would've loved these like you boys~"
"AAAAIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Lucy shrieked while covering her own still clothed chest in embarrassment while Gray and Sagittarius babbled at the sight.
Wendy and Carla sighed in simultaneous disappointment, before the former idly patted her chest. 'Lucy-san's... are quite big...'
"S-S-Swaying..." Now while Natsu was referring to the raft, there was obviously something else everybody else thought he meant.
"Damn right!" Gray and Sagittarius agreed.
"Cut it out with the ogling!" Lucy swiftly kicked the two males away, her humiliation granting her temporary super strength.
"Information gathering complete." 'Lucy', having lowered her top already, narrowed her eyes at Lucy curiously. "Wow! I don't think any Celestial Spirit Mage has gathered so many Golden Gate Keys since Anna-sama. Is this a sign of blood memory?"
"Anna? Blood memory?" Lucy muttered. 'Could they be referring to Natsu's 'Anna-sensei'...? No way... It's probably a coincidence...'
"You've even had an audience with the Celestial Spirit King?" 'Lucy' noted. "And your magical power is nothing to scoff at, either. Give you a few more years... No, even less than that if you build up your body... Well, whatever. Sagittarius? If you please..."
Wendy's eyes widened as she saw the archer in the horse costume raised up his already notched weapon. "Gray-san, duck!"
That was the only warning they got before Gray hastily dodged beneath the spirit's fired arrows. "Moshi Moshi?!"
"Sagittarius?!" Lucy shouted.
"N-No, it's not me." Sagittarius bit out, struggling against his own body. "I would never... do something like..."
"Bastard..." Gray growled from his spot. "How'd you manipulate Lucy's spirit like that?!"
"Because Lucy can do the same." 'Lucy' replied cheekily. "After all, is it not normal for all spirits owned by 'Lucy Heartfilia' to obey her will?"
Even as she said that, Sagittarius struggled as he notched another arrow against his will. "I apologize, Lucy-dono, Gray-dono..."
"[Sky Dragon's Gale Fist]!" Wendy slammed her fist into the unprepared spirit's side, launching him hard enough to smash him through a tree. "Sorry about that, but now you're too injured to stay here, right?"
"Yes, you have my gratitude... Moshi Moshi..." Sagittarius muttered as he disappeared into motes of golden light.
Wendy sighed in relief, only to start coughing as she collapsed to her knees.
"Wendy!" Carla fretted as she flew over to her. "Why did you push yourself like that?! On top of using a Secret Art, you overdid it with fixing that Jellal person! No more spells until you've Eaten!"
Wendy paused to inhale, her chest expanding only for her to cough even more violently from the action. "This air's too rife with this miasma and Nirvana's magical power saturating it. Sorry, but I need Carla to take me higher into the skies."
"Don't worry about it!" Gray replied as he came up to Lucy's side. "Just keep heading after Bell and Erza towards Nirvana! Carla, don't bring her back!"
*THOOM!*
Dust bursted off the ground as Carla grabbed Wendy and left a trail of superheated particles from her speed. "I wouldn't even if you'd asked otherwise!"
"In that case..." 'Lucy' burst into smoke and became 'Eve' again, aiming his fist up at the duo. "I'll just have to shoot you down."
"Oh, don't worry about her." A sultry voice came out from the other side of the river, revealing Angel as she sashayed towards them. "Now that Nirvana's seal is released, that means she's already revived Jellal before she escaped Brain. We don't need that little monster's help anymore."
"Oh, I see!" 'Eve' cheered before exploding into transformative smoke again, revealing the twin spirits of Gemini. "Piri-piri~"
"Hi, Lucy-chan~" Angel cheerily waved at her fellow Celestial Spirit mage. "Angel-chan's here~!"
"You're that Oración Seis mage that Wendy beat." Gray noted.
Angel's brow twitched. "Unfortunately. It appears that even pint-sized dragon slayers are dangerous to fight head-on."
"Huh?" Gray scoffed. "I can usually handle Natsu just fine."
"Um, Gray, let's be real." Lucy deadpanned. "There are several moments when I question you and Erza's humanity, especially after I saw him and Gajeel fight."
Gray looked at Lucy with shock. "Oi, don't go classifying me and Erza together! She's a monster of her own league!"
"Eh?" "This guy-" "Is actually-" pretty strong?" Gemini floated down to poke at the still sick Natsu on the raft.
"Screw... you..."
"Now, now, Gemi, Mini." Angel raised up a Golden Gate Key, prompting them to fly over to her side as it attracted Lucy's full attention. "Interested? These two are the Twins, Gemini."
Angel's smirk turned particularly predatory. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, fellow Celestial Spirit mage."
"A Celestial Spirit Mage?" Lucy gawked in shock. 'But, the intel said that you were strong... I didn't...'
"You didn't think that Celestial Spirit mages were the type that could be considered 'strong'?" Angel correctly guessed, making Lucy gasped. "Normally, that kind of thinking would be true... but that's only if you limit yourself. I'll be sure to educate you well as I take all of the keys you have."
As a fellow Celestial Spirit mage, those were the equivalent of fighting words and Lucy took that very personally. "I won't let you do that! [Open up, Gate of the Water Bearer]!"
"[Gate Closure: Gemini]." Angel waved the Twins away, flicking out a new key.
"[Aquarius]!" Lucy stabbed the key into the river, summoning a busty blue-haired and scaled mermaid with an urn in her hand. "Get her! I don't care if I get swept up in it!"
"Wait, what?" Gray spoke up.
"That's what I was intending from the start." Aquarius admitted, making both Lucy and Gray stare at her in shock as tidal amounts of water surged out of her urn as she whipped it about. "I'll wash everyone away!"
"[Open up, Gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio]." Angel invoked, getting back their attention as she summoned a dark-skinned man with dual tones of red and white, while having a 'scorpion tail' that really looked like a huge firearm.
"We are! Yeah!" Scorpio greeted with a pose, folding his middle and ring fingers back while keeping his index and little fingers extended, which mimicked the pincer claws of a scorpion.
"Scorpio~!" Aquarius squealed, making Lucy react in shock at her complete change in character.
"What?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"We are! How you been, Aquarius?" Scorpio wrapped an arm around Aquarius's waist, hugging her close. "It's been a while, yeah!"
"I was so lonely!" Aquarius sobbed(in a totally fake manner).
"D-Don't tell me..." Lucy shook as past comments from her spirit suddenly made much more sense. "That boyfriend you've always been mentioning..."
"Yup, that's him~" Aquarius confirmed with a bashful face.
"We are! How do you do, Aquarius's owner?" Scorpio greeted. "Yeah!"
"Oh, um, nice to meet yo- Wait!" Lucy paused in her instinctual greeting to shriek at Aquarius. "He's really real?! All this time, you weren't just being a bitch and making him up?!"
In a snap, Aquarius's 'normal' demeanor returned as she loomed over Lucy menacingly. "Just try saying something about my Scorpio... Not even you will recognize your own body after I'm through, got it?"
"Yes." Lucy trembled, her voice very small. "I'm so sorry for my attitude."
"You've got it hard, huh." Gray commented as he watched Aquarius and Scorpio leave them in a lovey-dovey manner, with even Angel waving them off while Lucy screamed in panic.
"That reminds me..." Angel turned to face Gray. "Aren't you going to help her?"
"Normally, I would." Gray leaned back against the tree as he casually freed Happy. "But it's kind of an unofficial Fairy Tail rule to not interfere in one-on-one battles. As you've made a clear intent to take away Lucy's spirits, do you even see or hear her calling for my help?"
Angel chuckled. "Am I supposed to be worried about a little girl who doesn't even know about the relationships between spirits?"
"[Open up, Gate of the Lion: Leo]!"
There was a bright burst of golden light before it faded away to reveal a handsome man with blue-tinted sunglasses, wild spiky orange hair, lion ears and was dressed in a dark suit with his jacket unbuttoned. "Your prince has arrived."
"Oh, yo, Loke!" Gray called from the side. "So this is how you properly look as a Spirit. You're gonna attract even more girls like this."
"It's been a while, Gray, Happy." Leo noted Gray's semi-relaxed stance despite Lucy's current state. "Is this another one-on-one fight? Looks like you've upgraded well from Bicklsow to this hottie."
"That's how he described it." Angel chuckled mockingly as she pulled out a third Golden Gate Key. "Besides, weren't you listening to me earlier? The most important thing to a Celestial Spirit Mage is the relationships between the Spirits. [Open up, Gate of the Ram: Aries]."
In a burst of pink wool, Aries manifested with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, Leo..."
"Aries..." Leo froze in shock.
"Karen's Spirit..." Lucy gasped in worry. "Why is she here? Why do have Karen's Lilica's Spirit?!"
"Because I'm the one who offed her." Angel easily answered, startling the others at her remorseless admittance. With a proud smirk, she patted the timid Spirit's head. "This here's just the spoils of battle. ("I'm sorry." Aries muttered.) Even though that woman didn't have much magical power, she tried to force a Dual Summon of Golden Zodiac Spirits. She practically did herself in against me."
Now having identified the direct source of his suffering, Leo's fangs were bared in hatred. "You..."
"Oh, don't mistake it as anything personal." Angel waved a cheerful hand at Leo's hateful glare. "Every single one of my Keys were taken from every Celestial Spirit Mage who had the misfortune of running into me. Someone like you, Lucy-chan, won't be any different."
Lucy frowned and bit into her lip before holding up the Lion Key. "Loke, return back. I'll summon Cancer or Virgo for this-"
Leo caught her wrist, halting her from closing his Gate. "Don't think so little of me, Lucy. Even if we were friends, that doesn't apply if our different owners encounter each other as enemies. A Celestial Spirit fights for their Contractor."
Aries nodded in agreement, a surprising look of resolve on her face. "Even if it's against someone dear, I will still defeat the enemy as my master has willed."
""That is...""
Leo's fists became clad in golden light while pink wool wafted off Aries's arms.
""...our pride!""
With that declaration, the Lion and Ram Spirits clashed against each other in earnest, much to Lucy's distress and Angel's interest.
Aries gritted her teeth as she immediately lost in the brief struggle of physical strength, Leo easily pushing her through the bank and and two trees until she stopped.
But even as he stepped back, he didn't let up. "[Regulus Shower]!"
Several orbs of golden power manifested around him, firing forward as lasers at Aries. Dodging them all, Aries charged towards Leo and leapt high above, flipping about as wool gathered protectively around her clasped hands while falling. "[Wool Hammer]!"
Leo swiftly dodged back, barely missing the huge amount of wool that would've incapacitated him when she landed. However-
"What?!" Leo gasped as Aries landed on his shoulders and tightened her legs around him, twisting about hard enough to sending him crashing into the earth.
Before Aries could even land, she yelped as Leo immediately leapt out of his crater and slammed into her, launching them over the two Celestial Spirit Mages in the river and slamming her hard into the other side.
Not being done, Leo's fist glowed brightly before being brought down upon Aries's face, only for her to luckily dodge the punch which then created a powerful shockwave upon hitting the ground.
"As expected from the leader of the Golden Zodiac Spirits." Angel commented as Leo dropkicked Aries into the river, the Ram doing her best not to take too many direct hits from him. "Not even Aries can keep up in a straight fight, I guess. Well, in that case... [Open up, Gate of the Chisel: Caelum]."
Summoning Caelum to her side, Angel directed the robot-like Spirit to transform into it's Cannon Form. "Okay, Caelum, target. Aim for when Aries stops Leo's movements."
Such an opportunity came almost immediately and Caelum took it, blasting through both Zodiac Spirits' torsos in one powerful energy shot. Almost immediately, the Spirits began to fade away to recover from the fatal injuries.
"No way..." Happy moaned from beside the ice mage. "Gray, you gotta do something!"
Gray frowned, but still stayed where he was. "...not yet. Until Lucy actually calls for my help."
"How do you like my Dual Summon?" Angel hummed in satisfaction as Caelum returned to it's original form. "I don't think your powerhouse Leo will be making a return anytime soon.
"I can't believe you..." Lucy's fist clenched in rage.
"What? It's not like Spirits die anyway, so what's the big deal?" Angel chuckled.
"What do you find so amusing?" Lucy let a growl that immediately killed Angel's laughter, as well as sending a wary shiver down her spine. "What is so entertaining that you laugh at them? What exactly do you see your Spirits as?!"
"...huh?" Angel tilted her head in a mocking demeanor. "Didn't you hear what Aries and Leo earlier said before their fight? Spirits are just tools to carry out their owners' will. If you can't even see that yourself, just die and leave your keys behind. Caelum, fire again at her!"
"[Open up, Gate of the Maiden: Virgo]!"
Bursting out of the ground, Virgo immediately whipped her chain at Caelum and caused it to divert it's blast. "At your service, Princess."
"Defeat Caelum!" Lucy shouted as she rushed towards Angel herself, unfurling her whip and lashing it out at the feather-themed woman.
"Don't mess with me, brat!" Angel caught the whip with her forearm and yanked it (and Lucy) close, slamming her heel into the blonde's stomach and making her choke. Swiftly yanking out another Silver Gate Key, Angel invoked her fifth and last Spirit. "[Open up, Gate of the Fox, Vulpecula]!"
Manifesting in a burst of blue flames, a young buxom woman dressed in a white miko gi and a short blue skirt, and bearing fox ears, nine swishing tails with a stoic expression as she snapped her fingers towards Lucy.
*BOOOM!*
Even as Virgo swiftly put herself before her and took the brunt of it, Lucy's ears still rang as an explosion of blue flames blasted them away from Angel.
"I dreadfully apologize... for leaving you like this... Princess..." Virgo faded away into motes of light.
"Virgo...!" Lucy got up, only to suddenly fall to her knees in exhaustion. "Huh? Why am I...?"
"You can't use so many Zodiac Spirits in quick succession without a huge amount of magical power." Angel explained as Caelum and Vulpecula stood at her sides. "Of course, that's a nonissue for me, as you can clearly see."
"...even so." Lucy gasped as she struggled back to her feet, gripping her whip tight. "I can't lose, not to you of all people! I can't believe that I'm saying such a Natsu-like thing but..."
Lucy panted as she flexed her whip. "Prepare yourself, Angel! No matter how, I'll be dragging you down from that false heaven of yours! Because I'm really fired up, now!"
Some meters away still on the swaying raft, Natsu weakly gurgled as he raised a tentative thumbs up. "That's... the... spirit..."
"If that is case, then perhaps I shall intervene in this endeavor."
Lucy's eyes widened as a familiar pulse echoed through the world, freezing time while the day became starfilled night that began to spin in concentric circles around a single spot. The water from the river suddenly rose against gravity and then stopped to swirl together at the apex of the circling stars. A figure began to emerge from the anomaly and the two Celestial Spirit Mages could only stare up at the towering being in shock.
"My King." Vulpecula immediately fell to a knee, placing a hand against her chest as she bowed her head. Beside her, Caelum dropped down as low as it could without touching the ground, similarly subservient as well.
"King?!" Angel gasped at that knowledge. "You mean the one that rules over the Celestial World?!"
"Hige-oyaji?!" Lucy exclaimed at the sight of the massive Celestial Spirit above them. "What are you doing here?"
"It has been a while, friend of Leo." The Celestial Spirit King greeted Lucy, his voice resounding and ethereal at the same time. "Regarding my presence, I have learned of my fault regarding Leo and Karen Lilica's troubles and have been observing the Celestial Spirit Contractors much more closely. When Leo and Aries simultaneously returned to the Celestial World in such agony, I was alarmed at the cause and searched for your location as quickly as I could."
The Celestial Spirit King's eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on Angel. "And here stands before me... the cause of Leo's years of torment."
Angel bit her lip as both of her Spirits clearly flinched. "And? As a Celestial Spirit, you've got no right interfering in this battle without being Summoned!
"...you are correct." The Celestial Spirit King sighed. "Someone of my stature cannot be summoned unless in the most dire of scenarios."
"Ha!" Angel scoffed. "So get going-"
"However," The Celestial Spirit King suddenly cut her off. "I still have a valid reason to be here. My friend, Lucy Heartfilia, has yet to receive a gift from me regarding her efforts to save Leo the Lion. To allow such a splendid Celestial Spirit Mage to go unrewarded after risking her life and rightfully challenging the law I had set down as the King? Nonsense."
"Hige-oyaji...?" Lucy gasped as the massive Spirit leaned down and pressed two fingers against her forehead and chest, manifesting a massive celestial glyph around her. "What is this? Inside... of my head...!"
"Take this as a long deserved gift, my friend." The Celestial Spirit King faded away into motes of starlight.
As time reasserted itself with his absence, the water crashed back down into the river pathway. The stars had stopped their rotation and vanished, returning the sky back to daytime. But even with all that, Lucy's celestial glyph had yet to vanish as she entered into a trance.
"I will tell you of the beginning."
Three satellite-like rings of symbols borne from golden flames and brilliant white light adorned her right arm as she slowly raised it up, spiraling quickly as the sky changed once more.
"Nonexistence bowed, absence congratulated creation, and my light cleaved the void!"
The rings started spinning even faster as they surged in power, the sun suddenly seeming to expand in both size and power as it drenched the area in unbearable heat.
"Sun of the world that encompasses all, thy shine is the brilliant light that illuminates all of actuality!"
Lucy's arm was fully raised upwards now, the rings of sunfire gathering up to the tip of her index finger.
"Wh-What is this?!" Angel stepped back in terror. "C-Caelum, Vulpecula, do something!"
While Caelum began to charge up to fire at Lucy, Vulpecula instead gave the incoming spell a single look before looking to her owner. "You're the worst for becoming an enemy of our King's sole human friend."
"What?!"
"Grovel in silence before the Sunshine of the Lion King! [Sol Regulus Rey]!"
Lucy swung down her arm, unleashing a beam of powerful whitish gold solar energy that struck her enemies with judgmental finality as it seemingly vaporized Angel, not even leaving her ashes behind.
When Lucy came back to, it was to an unconscious Angel with most of her clothing(and skin) burnt off, along with the surrounding terrain now a mess of smoldering craters and ashen flora.
"Oh, no... I appreciate the spell, but..." Lucy thought back to her teammates. Her dear lovable teammates. Her dear lovable and super destructive teammates. "I've become just like theeeeeeeeeem!"
Off to the side, Gray whistled in appreciation as he let down his ice shield and carried up a shocked Happy. "Natsu, you just got outdone by a Celestial Spirit Mage who doesn't a single fire-related Spirit."
Sitting up well now that both the river and the raft were all but obliterated now, Natsu gave his surroundings an awed look. "I wonder how firepower it'll take to match this."
"DON'T MATCH MEEEEEEE!"
KingVessel: And the King of Celestial Spirits makes his cameo and grants a gift that he really should've given. Guess you can't have both that and {Urano Metria}~!