"Twenty more dark guilds to go!" Ichiya exclaimed as he looked back at his boys. "Keep it up and soon, we'll be reaching the head guild!"
"Yes!" Hibiki, Eve, and Ren replied.
Meanwhile, Sabertooth was debating amongst themselves two things. One, how awesome Lucy was just now and two, what was she wearing?
"So what did you guys think about that just now?" Rogue asked.
"Is it some kind of equip?" Sting asked, too.
"It didn't look like that to me..." Minerva said in deep thought as they continued running. "It was more like...her true nature?"
Rogue and Sting looked at Minerva and couldn't help but agree at her reply.
"She looked like a goddess to me," Sting said.
Rogue nodded his head. But, before any one of them got the chance to say anything, Lucy flew down on her cloud to the same level as them and was right behind them. She closed in and whispered something to them.
"It's better if you don't ask questions now. You'll know everything later. So don't ask anything," Lucy said. The three wanted to argue but seeing the frown on her lips and the sorrowful emotion in her eyes, they thought they better not. The three nodded and made a silent agreement to not tell anyone. After all, they knew Lucy kept her promises. Heck, she even did that birthday party for Nagi about two months ago, just as he had wanted.
Seeing them three agree, Lucy nodded and flew back up, rejoining Jura, Nagi, Happy, and Lily.
"You spoke to the three of them?" Jura asked.
Lucy nodded. "I trust them to keep this a secret."
"Mama, how many more guilds left?" Nagi asked. "Looks like a few guilds are going down here and there."
"Most likely only 50 left."
"That's pretty slow-paced," Jura murmured to himself. Then he looked up towards Lucy and Nagi. "Willing to give this old man a hand?"
"Of course!" Nagi immediately replied as he floated down a little on his cloud with Happy and Lily by his side. J
ura flew down, following Nagi down. In the distance, Lucy saw the eruption of a guild and another guild that had rocks and boulders bursting from the guild. Ten guilds were destroyed within five minutes. Lucy looked down, not showing a shred of emotion. Her attention wasn't on the mages below her, but rather what stood ahead of her. Clouded in the distance, a dark aura was emanating from a lone worn-down castle.
That's got to be it, Lucy thought. Do they really want the head dark guild to stand out that much? Are they idiots?
Lucy sighed. "Jura! I'm going ahead! Take care of the rest of the fifty guilds!"
Jura looked up and nodded before heading back to what he was working on below. Lucy flew ahead and soon, she hovered over the eerie castle. There were shattered windows here and there and the bushes and trees around it were covered in weed and vines. She descended upon the ground but suddenly, she felt someone from behind. She fanned her fan towards that direction, swiftly evading the magic that had been directed at her.
"Introduce yourself," Lucy stated, holding her fan towards her face.
"My, my, my. To see someone so powerful as you," a woman's voice mused. "It's been a long time since I've found a toy to play with.
A woman stepped out and one look at her, she knew she had come face to face with a crazy person. The woman had green curly hair tied up into two pigtails. Her eyes were blue with a weird swirl in them and her clothing...it was basically a ripped dress.
"Is that in style right now?" Lucy asked, sweating at the woman before her.
"Hey, that's rude! Does this not look cute on me?!" she yelled childishly.
"Sorry to say, no," Lucy replied.
The woman pouted and grew a fiery red. "That's it! I hate you! I don't want a toy like you!" Soon, tens of grenades and bombs started flying. They exploded one by one and soon, smoke covered their surroundings.
"Hahahaha! I thought you were strong but I guess not!" the woman laughed as soon as she noticed that the blonde girl's presence was gone. She turned to leave until a voice startled her from behind
"What makes you say that?" Lucy said. The woman whipped around only to see the blonde girl unharmed with golden hexagons around her. But they soon disappeared once the smoke faded.
"W-Why?! Why are you unharmed?!"
"Gunpowder magic, huh?" Lucy said, examining the damages around her. "Quite a useful magic but the way you're using it, it's nothing but a child using it."
Seeing the hidden smirk on Lucy's face, the woman got angry.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she screamed and threw more bombs and grenades. But before she could do any more damage to the area, Lucy came up behind her in a flash and knocked her out. Her hand had been covered with magical energy so when she hit her, she disappeared and faded into black dust.
"Is this all you're made up of, O high and mighty head of the dark guilds?" Lucy sang.
A growl was heard from behind the trees and soon, five mages came walking out from their hiding spots. Another mage coming out from the door behind her.
"You're not getting away so quickly, miss," a boy hissed.
"You just killed one of our members. An eye for an eye as they say," another man said, but his voice more gruff.
The woman from behind suddenly spoke. Lucy assumed that she was the guild master. "You won't be able to kill us off. We have a million minions in here, too!"
Lucy remained silent and thinking that they won, they bursted out laughing.
"Is she too scared now?" they sang and laughed.
"She's a scaredy-cat!"
"A weakling!" they all taunted.
But, all of a sudden, Lucy chuckled from behind her fan. She snickered at first, trying to keep in her laughter, but soon, she bursted out into a full-on laughter. The most powerful guild members surrounding her took a step back, unsure of what was going on. Lucy's laughter soon died down and she narrowed her eyes at them.
"I wouldn't say that to early," Lucy said, shooting a glare at them.
"A-Attack!" the master yelled, pointing a finger at Lucy.
Lucy stood there, her barrier shielding her from all the attacks as she waited silently for them all to die down. Huffing and trying to regain their magic strength, the guild members looked shocked to see that she remained harmless. Not a single hair on her had been damaged.
"You know," Lucy said as she walked towards the guild master and stood face to face with her, her fan hiding her mouth. "You awfully remind me of that person that had accused me of planning something with Zeref in front of the villagers. He went too easy on you that time."
Seeing the smirking eyes of Lucy, the master gulped and let out a shriek. "Get away from you, you monster!"
Lucy took a few steps back, still smiling. "If this guild went up against the other guild members, they wouldn't stand a chance against your demonic magic. Even Jura and Nagi might not be able to handle it. So...I prefer to end this quickly."
"Y-You...!" the master yelled but before she could finish her sentence, she was broken off by a single word.
"Destroy," Lucy murmured.
A blinding golden light flashed and once the light died down, where the people had once been standing, only black dust remained. Lucy stood in front of the two large doors and without lifting a finger, the doors blew back and unhinged itself, slamming themselves into a bunch of members within the castle, killing them off instantly.
"So many people..." Lucy sighed. "How could they get so many people to join them? This is going to be troublesome."
Lucy changed her fan into a long spear, it's blade eerily shining in the room with no light penetrating.
"Zodiac Spirits! Heed my call!" Lucy stated, summoning her twelve zodiacs one by one. "Are you up for some fun?" Lucy grinned as a golden magic circle appeared beneath her feet. The doors slammed shut and the fighting began.
Whereas on the other side of the battle where Jura and Nagi were, things were going fairly well.
"Shall we rest?" Jura said, noticing how worn-down the people were.
"Yeah, we're running out of magic," Erza replied.
"For one time, I have to agree with the fairies," Sting said, taking a seat beneath a tree and leaning against it. Ichiya, Hibiki, Eve, Ren, Lyon, Sheria, Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Jura, Nagi, Happy, and Lily gathered around an empty space and decided to camp there for the night. The sky was dark and there was no sign of anything living around them.
"Where's Lucy?" Minerva suddenly asked.
Nagi looked up. "Where did Mama go?"
"She went ahead," Jura replied, sitting down on the ground. "It's better if we don't go after her. We'll just be interrupting her."
"I'm going to Mama!" Nagi shouted, standing up. Before he could leave, Sheria grabbed his hand and shook her head. Nagi started to well up tears and soon was crying.
"I want to see Mama! Let me go! I want Mama!" Nagi cried, as he held his hands to his eyes.
Sting, Rogue, Minerva, Happy, and Lily were shocked. They've never seen Nagi cry before. All the time they've spent at the guild, they've known Nagi as a four-year old boy that liked to pick at others and laugh and party with them. But seeing him breaking down like this, with large heavy tears falling towards the ground, they didn't know what to do.
"Nagi..." Minerva said, holding the child close to her.
But, Nagi broke away, continuing to cry. Not knowing how to comfort him, the others just looked down in silence. Nagi could only cry himself to sleep. Seeing that he had fallen asleep, the others also took a silent nap.
The battle went on for ten days and ten nights for they had to constantly rest to rejuvenate their magic supply within them. Nagi had been fighting on and on without rest, desperate to get to his mother's side as fast as possible. Minerva, Sting, and Rogue had to force Nagi to rest before he broke himself.
"One more guild to go!" Jura said as they closed in on the last remaining guild members and destroyed them.
Upon arriving at the eerie castle, Sabertooth was the first to burst in.
"Lucy!" they all yelled.
"Mama!" Nagi screamed, seeing Lucy laid down on the floor. The castle was a complete mess with shattered glass and beaten up furniture here and there. Piles of black dust covered the furnitures and was strewn over the floor.
Sting ran over and held Lucy by her head, shaking her. "Hey, Lucy! Wake up! I said wake up!"
Lucy didn't budge and seeing the worst, Minerva, Sting, Rogue, and Nagi began to cry. Loud sobs echoed through the castle. Lucy twitched.
"...Mama?" Nagi asked, noticing the twitch of her eyes.
Lucy's eyes slowly opened, her golden eyes shining. "You guys are so loud..." she mumbled before getting up and rubbing her eyes.
They were all bewildered.
"W-Weren't you dead?" Hibiki stuttered.
"There was no magic presence on you at all," Jura added.
Lucy looked at them with an annoyed face. "I'm not going to die so easily just from dealing with a million minions. I was just sleeping since I had finished early."
"A million?!" Gray shouted.
"Uhhh...you're so loud," Lucy said, covering her ears.
"Mama!" Nagi yelled, hugging Lucy around the knees and sobbing onto her white and golden cloth. "I-I'm so glad! I thought y-you d-died!"
Lucy smiled and bent down, patting Nagi on the head and holding him close. "I won't leave you so easily, Nagi. You're the reason why I'm the way I am now."
Nagi looked at his mom with teary eyes and nodded his head. Lucy smiled again and continued stroking his head, comforting and calming him. All of a sudden, Sting, Rogue, and Minerva jumped in and hugged Lucy.
"W-What?!" Lucy suddenly said, stunned.
"Lucy, you're alive!" Minerva yelled, crushing her.
"Blondie, don't do such things again!" Sting said.
"Don't worry us like that," Rogue mumbled, a silent blush falling onto his face.
Lucy was surprised but soon broke into laughter. "Did I make you guys worry that much? Don't worry. A million was nothing."
"That's not the point!" Minerva, Sting, Rogue, and Nagi screamed at her at the same time. Jura, Sheria, Ichiya, Hibiki, Eve, Ren, and Lyon chuckled. Fairy Tail on the other hand was looking about them. The destruction done was beyond what they had imagined. Sure, they killed many but a million...that was way over what they had possibly thought she could handle. Just who is Lucy? What is she hiding?