Chapter 359: Ar hivist
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While the girls were taking their bath after their earlier fun Alex was relaxing alone in his room, having already cleaned himself off so as not to make Lucy even more uncomfortable than they had earlier. He was taking the brief moment of solitude to consider what to expect from his new opponents based off of what Lucy had told them earlier.
From what she said before it was fairly easy to deduce that one of Darius's abilities allowed him to absorb others into himself to gain their own abilities, which he had used at least on Zeref while Alex guessed that it was also a fair guess that the same fate had been enacted in the vanished Laxus and Jellal. Other than that his remaining abilities from the system were a complete mystery to them, something that was almost as dangerous as that one ability alone was.
And then there was the four generals.
The first to make their appearance was someone Lucy said was called Calvin, who could bend almost any part of the earth and nature itself to his will, and was considered the Dark Emperor's right hand. Then there was Alice, a woman who would use what Lucy described as 'beams of light' to wipe out entire cities instantly if she moved; but the most terrifying part about her was her tendency to kidnap any man that caught her fancy, and somehow bend them to her control and turn them even against their own family and friends.
Then was the newest addition to the generals ranks, Hyato. Very little was known about him other than his appearance, due solely to the fact that whenever he took to the field he ensured that no one lived to tell the tale. What little was known was that he always wore a curious red and white armor while in combat, and his actual appearance had never been seen in combat.
Last but certainly not least was perhaps the most terrifying of the four, someone known only as 'The Ghost'. Only a few people had ever met him face to face besides the other generals and the emperor, but all who have apparently couldn't even recall what he looked like, or any discernible details regarding his existence such as his name, if he really was even a 'he'. Apparently The Ghost's contribution was running the Dark Emperor's information network across the world, acting akin to a spy master and assassin when his services were needed.
As he thought about his five newest opponents Alex frowned slightly, as he wasn't sure about taking them on in a direct fight. Sure, he had worked his ass off for years to build his strength exactly for this, but there was no telling what remaining abilities they had or if his powers would even be affective against them. With his lack of information in mind, taking all five of them on at once could only be considered suicide until he knew more about them, and Alex would never allow any of his women to get close to them to help him due to Darius's ability to absorb others.
Alex was swearing that he'd find a way to investigate everything he needed to know about them t the first available chance, when he suddenly noticed a presence behind his closed door. What was surprising about this was that the presence was none other than Lucy, dressed in a set of pink cotton pajamas, who was fidgeting slightly as she worked up the courage to open the door.
After a few seconds of deliberation, Alex sighed and used his 'Telekinesis' to open the door for her, making Lucy jump in surprise even before he asked, "What can I help you with Lucy?" She fidgeted there in the doorway a few seconds longer, before mumbling,
"I was wondering...." She then trailed off and said the rest in a voice so low that now even Alex could hear it, making him arch a brow and ask,
"What was that?" Lucy clenched her fists irritably at his question as she built up her resolve, before saying in a firmer voice,
"I was wondering, if I could join your peerage." This time both of Alex's brows raised in genuine surprise at her request, as he started wondering who exactly had told her about that. Of course his immediate thought was Kuroka, since he had seen the two of them speaking earlier, but he couldn't place why exactly she'd share that kind of information with Lucy.
Though it wasn't exactly supposed to be a secret, he still didn't want people getting the wrong idea of what it meant to receive one of his evil pieces. With that thought in mind, and knowing Lucy's relationship with Natsu, Alex sighed and said, "I don't think you understand exactly you're asking for-"
"But I do!" Lucy exclaimed as she stepped closer, and continued, "Your evil pieces give power to those who get them, power that could help my comrades!" Alex closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, before saying,
"Yes, they could. But you would also have to join me on my travels, leave everyone you know behind, including Natsu." Lucy flinched when Alex mentioned Natsu's name, before saying angrily,
"Natsu...will be fine without me, just like he was before...." He didn't think it was possible, but Alex found himself increasingly surprised as the seconds ticked by, curious as to what Natsu had done to piss Lucy off so much.
Though the two arguing over something wasn't that uncommon throughout the series, mostly due to Natsu and Happy constantly invading Lucy's house, they were still thick as thieves the entire time while it was fairly obvious that Lucy would feel the occasional heartthrob for him. However Natsu's obliviousness that rivaled even Goku's had always gotten in the way, preventing any actual development between the two despite literal years going by.
Before he could put too much thought into what the slayer had done wrong though, Lucy suddenly began to slowly approach Alex while saying, "I understand that I'll have to leave Fairy Tail behind, for now, but Kuroka assured me that you'd never make me quit entirely, and that in the future if be able to visit almost whenever I wanted, no matter where we went!" Alex nodded slowly when she said this, before replying,
"True, but you'd also have to participate in battles at a scale the likes of which no one in this world could even conceive, plus, my evil pieces come at a price entirely different than simply leaving those you know behind to join my travels." As he finished speaking Alex was once again surprised when Lucy stopped right in front of him, and, after a brief moment of preparing herself, she crawled onto his lap to straddle his legs. With her breathing becoming more ragged with each second, and her cheeks becoming increasingly red, Lucy said,
"I know, you require those you give your pieces to to love you, and you give your love to them too... That is.....all I want....." This time Alex frowned when he heard that, and, after a brief check on her mental state with Spirit magic, was for once unsurprised to see that she was under the effects of someone's demonic charm.
Demonic charm was an ability that almost any devil could use in order to help entice people into making deals with them, however the only one amongst his peerage that had actively acquired it as a skill and trained it was Rias, up until Kurumu had joined them. Though he wasn't too surprised that someone had been able to use the demonic charm, Alex was now wondering why they(Kuroka) had gone so far to try and make Lucy join his peerage.
He then turned his thoughts to what exact role she would play in his peerage. Though some of his peerage members may seem weak in some aspects, they more than made up for it in others due to their specific abilities, such as Sun. Lucy however was primarily a summoner, which he wasn't even sure if she would be able to summon her spirits outside of Earthland. Of course he then reached the next logical idea for Lucy's future, that of both a summoner AND tamer.
If he granted her Alteration magic like he had given Spirit to Kurumu and Creation to Lala a while back, then Lucy would be able to use it to both tame and improve upon any monsters she encountered almost indefinitely. Though any of them who already had Alteration magic could do the same thing, none of them really intended to devote the time and energy needed to be an effective tamer. As such, Lucy could then have the capability to deploy literally an entire army of monsters that they encountered in the various worlds at a whim, adding to their numbers if they ever needed it.
There was also the act that, despite how she looked and acted, Lucy was a giant nerd. Her love of books specifically was so great, that she was not only writing one of her own, but had even refused to destroy a book she and Natsu had been contracted to retrieve and destroy once she realized it was written by an author she was a fan of. As such, Alex was confident that she would be very useful in researching any information they needed about a new world that he didn't already know.
Before he thought too much about that though, Alex placed the tip of his finger in the middle of Lucy's forehead and dispelled the charm that Kuroka had placed on her. In an instant her eyes became noticeably clearer as she blinked a few times in response to the effects of the demonic charm being removed. Though he half expected Lucy to freak out after the things she'd said and due to the fact that she was still straddling his lap, he was once again surprised when she only asked in a subdued tone,
"Why?"
Alex resisted the urge to sigh yet again, as he gently put a finger under her chin and said, "Lucy, just tell me this without the charm, why do you want to join my peerage so badly?" Lucy was silent for several seconds, before eventually saying,
"Because back at the guild I always saw how happy my friend Levy was when she found someone she liked, as well as another guild member named Juvia. Even though I had someone so close to me, why couldn't I get him to look my way as well?" At this point tears started forming in Lucy's eyes due to the frustration she felt, which Alex gently wiped away before saying soothingly,
"Even if he isn't looking at you now, Natsu is bound to notice your feelings eventually, most boys tend to be a bit dense about these things." As he spoke Alex got a faraway look as he recalled all of the dense anime protagonists who could quite literally have a woman strip n.a.k.e.d in front of them while begging him to f.u.c.k them, and still not get the hint. Lucy however laughed condescendingly and remarked,
"I thought so too before, but do you know what Natsu asked me when he heard about me coming to the mainland for supplies?" Alex slowly shook his head at her question, already doing an internal face palm at whatever stupidity Natsu had said this time. He almost actually did one when Lucy continued,
"He didn't tell me to be careful, or that he'd miss me. He didn't say anything at all about me or my wellbeing while I was away, he asked me to get some BEETLES from the mainland for him." When he heard that Alex's jaw literally fell open from how utterly gobsmacked he was at Natsu's stupidity, and he had thought he was prepared for whatever Lucy was going to say. She then looked him firmly in the eye and continued,
"While I was being molested in that cell I pleaded that Natsu would somehow instantly cross the ocean and rescue me when I needed it, but he didn't. Instead YOU saved me from Bora, and if you hadn't then I could've very well been on my way to the Dark Emperor right this moment to be tortured or worse, and the last thing Natsu would have ever said to me was about beetles." As Lucy finished speaking Alex was completely silent as he processed what she had said, something that still took him a few seconds to do.
When he eventually did though, Alex lightly shook his head before looking down at Lucy once more with a type of fire in his eyes. Before she could react, Alex slipped his left hand down the back of her pajama bottoms, where he was once again surprised for about the tenth time that night to find out she wasn't wearing any panties underneath, to get a firm hold of her ass to pull her closer.
Lucy let out a small yelp when Alex grabbed her, before her body started shuddering slightly as his middle finger then snuck its way between her butt cheeks and started to lightly stroke her precious place from behind. More than a little surprised at Alex's sudden eagerness, Lucy was about to ask him to slow down when he used his free hand to lightly grab her chin and make her face him, putting them in a position where Alex was firmly holding her ass while stroking her, something increasingly hard was poking her through both of their pajamas, her b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed firmly against his own chest, and their faces were less than an inch apart.
Lucy's words were caught in her throat as they stayed like that for several seconds, her body becoming increasingly heated as Alex's finger continued to act up, until he finally said, "So that there are no illusions regarding what is about to happen-" He then released her chin and, with a snap of his fingers, a small red object appeared in Alex's hand as he continued,
"If you accept this Lucy, you are my woman, my servant, my property. For the rest of eternity, I will own you. You will be mine to use, and love, as I please, and there will be no going back. Do you understand?" Lucy gulped when she heard Alex's words, as she tried to comprehend the severity of what she was about to do. Though she hesitated for the briefest of seconds, she then reached out and took the 'Pawn' piece in her hand before activating it.
There was a slight exclamation from outside the still open door when Lucy became enveloped in a small flash of demonic light, before the wings of a devil sprouted from her back. Alex however ignored them, and lightly grabbed Lucy's chin a second time before saying,
"Now, you are mine." Before she could respond he closed the small remaining distance immediately, and sealed her lips in her first ever kiss. Lucy m.o.a.ned lightly in Alex's mouth as their tongues began to dance together, and the finger on his left hand became more proactive in exploring her secret garden while his right unhesitantly sn.a.k.e.d its way into her pajama top to seize and start massaging one of her b.r.e.a.s.ts.
***
When the sun began to peek through the cabin windows the next morning, Lucy was the first to start twitching due to the light in her eyes.
"Nnn..." She groaned as she made to get up, feeling exceptionally sore down there for some reason, as well as tire due to the strange dream she had.
It wasn't until the blanket that had been covering her fell to reveal not only her n.a.k.e.d body, but that of the man's next to her, that Lucy suddenly recalled that everything she had 'dreamed' had actually happened. Her face instantly turned completely red as she recalled the feeling of something unbearably hot and large burying itself deep within her, and her mouth sealed with another's as he passionately made love to her.
It was only then that she glanced around and saw a practical sea of n.a.k.e.d female bodies that were either sprawled out across the great bed, or entwined in the final throes of their own passion, a passion she had also received her fair share of. Lucy then recalled that Alex wasn't the only one that had stolen her lips, or had brought her pleasure as the lingering phantom feeling of their tongues, lips, and fingers exploring places they shouldn't passed through her body.
With the realization that the events of the night before weren't actually some kind of strangely e.r.o.t.i.c dream, Lucy almost started to panic as she began wondering what to do, incidentally waking Alex next to her while she was at it. Without even a moments hesitation Alex reached up to her head, and pulled her down to his for a quick peck on the lips, stunning her to stillness as he then said as they separated,
"Good morning Lucy."
There was a moment of silence as Lucy took in what Alex had just said, before a radiant smile spread across her face and she answered with tears of happiness formib at the corners of her eyes,
"Good morning, Alex."
Later, after everyone had woke and eaten their breakfast, they were all gathered on Zenith's deck once more, except this time they were fully clothed and looked serious as they gathered around their newest comrade. Currently Alex was explaining the specific abilities of the 'Pawn' piece to Lucy, before Grayfia went on to explain about her new demonic powers. Once that was done, Alex then went on to explain the specifics of the status she now had access to, as well as the job function.
"Let's see here, 'Whip Apprentice', 'Archivist', 'Summoning Apprentice', "Celestial Magic Apprentice', and Taming Apprentice'." Alex muttered as he examined Lucy's available jobs, making her mutter quietly,
"There's not that many, are there.....?" Alex smiled wryly at her words, and explained,
"There usually aren't at first, just as you get stronger and get more skills, the amount of jobs you can take will go up, while once you accept a job it's usually replaced by a better version if you qualify for it." Though she wasn't entirely assured at his words, Lucy still felt a little comforted by what Alex said as she looked once more at the jobs available.
According to Alex she needed to chose one since it would either improve one of the skills she already had, or even give her a new one. That was why she was carefully scrutinizing each and every job available, weighing her options carefully before choosing. The majority of the jobs were fairly straightforward, improving on her summoning, whip skills, or celestial spirit magic. However there was also one that she didn't know the purpose of, 'Archivist'.
She was wondering what it could possibly do, when Alex suddenly said, "Why don't you choose that one?" Lucy's brows shot up as she asked,
"Do you know what the 'Archivist' job might do?" Alex shook his head lightly and said,
"Not exactly, but one reason I decided to make you my 'Pawn' was to have you study and do research whenever we go to a new world, maybe the 'Archivist' job would help with that?" Alex himself was curious about this particular job due to the fact that he hadn't even heard of or considered it before, and so he couldn't help but wonder what its effects were. He wouldn't make her take it if Lucy truly didn't want it though, that wasn't a problem however as she promptly accepted the job and then heard the notification,
[NOTICE! The skill 'Archive' has been added!]
Both Alex and Lucy went wide eyed in surprise when they saw the new skill she had acquired. Archive was a type of magic in this world that functioned more less like a magic computer in a world where technology was practically nonexistent, a type of magic that seemed exceedingly useful, yet for some reason was never brought up more than once or twice.
It was capable of mapping and tracking everyone within a certain area, friends and enemies alike, and the user could not only store and access information from the Archive freely, but could also download that information directly into the minds of those around them. Now that he thought about it, Alex decided that it was a fitting ability for Lucy who would mostly stay in the back of any conflicts they got into, while her spirits did most of the fighting for her. A sentiment Lucy seemed to share as she eyes lit up and she exclaimed,
"Wow! I've seen Hibiki use this magic a bit ever since we brought Blue Pegasus to Tenrou, but I never thought I'd also get to use it as well!" As she said this Lucy recalled one of the times that Hibiki showed her his magic, by downloading a powerful Celestial spell into her mind for future use as thanks for helping them.
She then activated her new skill to try it out, creating several screens of light in front of her that displayed a variety of information, with one even showing a complete map of Zenith with several green dots in each of their locations. Though as she played with it a bit Lucy was soon disappointed to find that there wasn't very much information on there, due to the fact that it's entire information network was currently based solely on what she knew herself, making her swear that she'll start studying as much as possible when they returned to Tenrou.
"That's it?" Kuroka asked from the side, before continuing in disappointment, "It's just a computer~Nya..." Though she didn't know what a 'computer' was, Lucy still deadpanned when she heard Kuroka mocking her new skill. Instead of saying anything though, she instead pulled up some of the information that was on it, a detailed map of the continent, and proceeded to download it directly into Kuroka's mind.
Everyone watched as a bar appeared over Kuroka's head that slowly filled up, before giving a small 'DING' and vanishing once it was full. Kuroka however went wide eyed as she started registering every detail of the map Lucy just sent her, before she suddenly asked excitedly,
"Wait! You can learn something and send it directly to us in an instant~Nya?!" Narrowing her eyes slightly at Kuroka's sudden eagerness for her new skill, Lucy slowly nodded before Kuroka practically leapt in the air and shouted,
"Yes~Nya! Now I never have to read to learn anything ever again~Nya!" Everyone around her deadpanned when they realized that Kuroka's excitement was due to her innate laziness, while the cat in question ignored their looks. Shaking her head slightly, Lucy dispelled the screens while saying,
"I'll test it some more later, but now I have something else I want to try!" Lucy then pulled out one of her keys, Loke's, and stated,
"Open the gate of the lion, Leo!" There was a flash of light before another figure was standing on deck alongside them, as the suited man they had met a couple days prior appeared. Though he pointedly avoided meeting the eye of any of the other girls around them, Loke nodded respectfully to Lucy before turning to meet Alex's gaze.
"If you ever hurt Lucy then you'll have to answer to me, no matter how strong you think you are." Alex smiled at Loke's promise, before replying,
"If I ever hurt any of my wives or women, then I'd have to answer to the full fury of my entire harem. No offense, but that thought alone scares me more than you do." Though Loke narrowed his eyes at Alex's provocation, he didn't say anything else as he turned back towards Lucy and asked,
"What do you need Lucy?" Lucy however chuckled awkwardly at how Loke and Alex were behaving, before turning serious and saying,
"Well, I'm sure you're somewhat aware of the things that have been happening, so I wanted to test if there's been an effect with my summoning now." Loke nodded in understanding and stood at the ready should he be needed for anything, while Lucy then retrieved another key.
One way to gauge a summoner's capabilities was by how many spirits they were capable of bringing into the human world at one time, a question that could spell life or death for those who weren't aware of their own limits. A prime example had been Loke's previous master, a summoner from the Blue Pegasus guild by the name of Karen Lilica, who had been unable to summon more than a single spirit at once. Because of this, when Loke protested Karen's cruel treatment towards another spirit of hers by staying in the human world against her will, she had ended up losing her life on a job due to being unable to defend herself by summoning another spirit.
Lucy on the other hand was able to summon multiple spirits at once, even going up to three if the situation was dire enough. However what she did next surprised Loke as she proceeded to summon not only himself, but even two other golden zodiac spirits, Aries and Cancer, as well as the minor silver key spirit, the Canis Minor, Plue. Aries, a cute girl with ram-like features and wool wrapping around parts of her body, grabbed Lucy's hands while exclaiming,
"Congratulations miss Lucy!" Cancer, a good looking man with crab-like hair and legs protruding from his back, nodded in agreement while saying,
"Indeed-ebi. Even Aquarius was surprised to find out you got a boyfriend-ebi!"
"Puuuuuuun~!" Agreed Plue, a short white thing with a large bulbous head and carrot-like nose, however Lucy didn't appear happy at their congratulations. Instead, a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she demanded,
"You mean to say that after I even got a major power up, all she cares about is wether or not I have a boyfriend?!" With the four spirits she had just summoned nodding in unison, Lucy grit her teeth in frustration before hugging Alex's arm into her b.r.e.a.s.ts and declaring,
"Well fine then! At least my boyfriend is a hundred-no, a THOUSAND times better than hers!" The four spirits deadpanned at her declaration, before Aries hesitantly raised her hand and said,
"Um, miss Lucy, even if you're irritated at Aquarius, I think you should be nicer to Scorpio." The rest of the spirits nodded in agreement at her words, while Lucy paused as she did recall the fact that Scorpio was Aquarius's boyfriend, and felt a bit bad from talking bad about him. She didn't worry about it long though as Loke muttered,
"To think though, you can summon three zodiac spirits, and even a fourth minor spirit, without even breaking a sweat now..." Lucy puffed out her chest with pride as she declared,
"Yep, and this isn't even all I can do now!" Lucy then took in a deep breath, before declaring,
"Promotion, BISHOP!" Instantly Lucy's magic power soared to the point that her hair started waving slightly around her body, while the four spirits could feel even more power being funneled through their still active keys. Lucy then held up two more golden keys, and continued,
"Open the gates of the goat and Twins, Capricorn, Gemini!" Instantly three more spirits joined them on the increasingly crowded deck, a man with his entire body covered in fur, as well as other goat-like features, that was dressed in a suit, as well a couple of what almost appeared to be living paper dolls.
"Lucy-sama." The goat man said respectfully.
"Piiiriii piiiiiiiiii!" The two paper dolls greeted her as well, bringing the total number of summons Lucy currently had to six, with her appearing none the worse for the wear.
"Amazing....." Loke muttered dumbfoundedly as he looked over his companion spirits, while one of the surrounding women, Sun, stepped forward and asked eagerly,
"So what can they all do?" Lucy smiled proudly and proceeded to go down the list of describing what each spirit was capable of, before finally arriving at Gemini and saying,
"And Gemini here can mimic anyone they touch, while also perfectly replicating their skills!" As she finish speaking the two spirits put one of their hands up and shouted proudly,
"Piiiii piiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Curious, Shia stepped forward and asked, "Really? Can they copy me?" The moment the words were out of her mouth the two spirits looked directly at Shia before one touched her, and suddenly there was two of her standing there looking at each other.
""Wow! There's two of me!"" The two Shia's said while examining each other in perfect sync, before they both got a mischievous smile. They then rapidly shuffled themselves for several seconds, before posing in front of everyone and asking,
""Ok, which one is the real me?""
Unsurprisingly no one was able to tell which was the real Shia, except the other spirits that could instinctively sense each other, until Alex unhesitantly pointed at the one on the right and said,
"You're the real one." The Shias jumped in surprise as Alex effortlessly pointed to the real one, before they demanded,
""How did you know?!"" Alex smirked at her question, and replied as if it was obvious,
"It's simple, I would never mistake identifying any of my women." Shia smiled widely in response to Alex's words, even as she also rubbed the back of her head bashfully. After that she and the rest of the women proceeded to play around with Lucy's spirits, while also introducing some of their own familiars to them at the same time.
***
Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, well over a hundred sh.i.p.s and airsh.i.p.s plowed their way through the waves and clouds, a dark atmosphere hanging over them like a fog as they eagerly anticipated the slaughter that awaited them. In the airship that led the way forward though, a group of people had gathered around a map detailing Tenrou island from Hades's previous attempt to attack it. In their center was Hyato as he poured over their charts and maps, before saying,
"First I'll lead the foot soldiers from the minor guilds in an frontward assault, no matter what defenses they have we'll break through them with sheer numbers and force. As we bring the majority of their focus onto us in the front, our best assassins will flank them to take out the important people in the back, starting with the sky slayers. Once the healers are out of commission they're to remove as many of the guild masters and S-class mages as possible before being overwhelmed." At this point one of the surrounding mages, a beautiful woman with long flowing dark purple hair, brown eyes, wearing a pure black dress asked,
"Will they be willing to readily go to their own deaths like that?" Hyato looked at the woman, Ultear, and stated plainly,
"They were trained specially by the Ghost, and conditioned by Alice's ability. They'll fall on their own blades without any hesitation should I ask it of them." Ultear's brows rose in surprise when she heard Hyato's claim, while she also shuddered inwardly at the mention of the most terrifying aspect of the general Alice.
Though her disasterous strength and ability to wipe out entire cities within seconds was already terrifying, Alice also apparently had the ability to completely bend those she had managed to sink her claws into to her will. She readily turned lifelong friends and families against each other, and all of her 'boy-toys' into her obedient slaves.
Keeping any remarks she might have had about Alice's ability to herself, Ultear quietly listened as Hyato continued,
"Once the assassins have done their jobs and thinned out the ranks of the guild masters and S-class mages, I'll pull back and we'll employ scorched earth and carpet bombing tactics. All of the magic weapons and remaining mages that are able to employ such magic will bombard the island with the intent to destroy it, wiping it from the face of the earth and removing the last of those that can truly oppose us."
There was several seconds of silence that stretched as those around Hyato absorbed his plan, before Hades hesitantly asked, "What of the men we'd already sent ashore?" Hyato gave him a grim look, before saying,
"They'll be caught up in the attack, but it'll be a worthy sacrifice to ensure that our enemies are wiped from existence." Once again there was silence at his words, before Zancrow snorted and asked,
"Why don't we just pick one plan or the other? I don't see the point of bombing the place when we have the numbers, or storming it when we're just going to bomb them anyways." Hyato gave Zancrow a deadpan stare, before saying with undisguised exasperation,
"Because, if we simply stormed them then the members of Fairy Tail will just steadily power up from fighting the grunts before eventually taking even us on. And to bomb it we need to be within a certain range of the island due to its defenses, which they'll know somethings up if we just sit there without attacking. We need to keep them distracted while simultaneously weakening them before dealing the final blow, which is also why some of the primary targets are the sky slayers and the guild masters."
Silence followed Hyato's words as those surrounding him begrudgingly accepted that his plan to keep Fairy Tail preoccupied while they dealt the final blow did make sense. However one of the surrounding people, a tall muscular man with a thick beard and oppressive aura, stepped forward and stated,
"I'm going ashore too, I need to 'greet' those weak little shits that ran me out of my own guild before we blow them to hell." Hyato's brow twitched when he saw the former guild master of Sabertooth, Jiemma, and resisted the urge to sigh.
He was an excessively aggressive person who practically worshipped the idea of 'strength', and would unhesitatingly kill or run out anyone who had even moderately displeased him. These traits of his had only become more extreme ever since he joined Tartarus after being kicked out of Sabertooth, and underwent demonification to become even more powerful. Standing behind him was his daughter, Minerva, who had definitely inherited her father's cruelty, yet was more cunning and manipulative than him.
"It would be good to send some of us elites with you as well to charge the front lines, lest the sacrificial pawns catch on to the fact that we're going to dispose of them anyways." Hyato's brows furrowed at her words, as he had already been planning to do exactly that, but the ones to lead the charge alongside him were going to either be those that no one would particularly care about if they lived or not, or those that had the ability to withdraw at the right time.
With Jiemma easily falling into the first category, he had no problem saying, "Ok then, just remember that it'll be up to you yourself to escape before we begin bombing the island." Jiemma snorted at his warning, but didn't say anything else as Hyato sighed in relief and turned towards Hades.
"How much longer until we reach Tenrou?" Hades made his way to the side to check some things with the person who was actually piloting the airship, before answering,
"Five days if the wind doesn't turn against us since we have to keep pace with the ship's below." Hyato frowned at the information, before saying,
"Make it three. I don't care what we have to do to make it happen, but I don't want to take longer than we absolutely need to get there." Hades's brow twitched at the command, as the only way he could think of to get there that quickly with the sh.i.p.s on the sea was by having any wind based mages use their magic to blow more wind into the sails, which would tire them all out before they even saw battle. He didn't say any of this though, instead bowing respectfully to Hyato and saying,
"As you command, general." Hyato nodded and turned to leave as they carried out his orders. He then made his way to one of the balconies on the outside of the airship that allowed him to look down while the wind blew through his hair. Hyato felt the sudden lurch as the airship picked up speed, and smiled into the salty breeze.
He couldn't explain it, but something was telling him that he needed to hurry and get to Tenrou Island as soon as possible. As he thought about the people there though, a pang of guilt surged through him before it was promptly stomped out by Hyato's resolve, his resolve to collect as many experience points and sacred gears possible to free the one he wanted to meet most.
"Rias..." He muttered into the wind, as he eagerly awaited the day he could finally defeat the 'fake' Red Dragon Emperor and save her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Lucy Heartfilia
Race: Human
Titles:
Friend of the Spirits, Friend of the Spirit King, Princess of Heartfilia
Job: Archivist: 1
Passive skills:
Whip Skill: Level 3
Celestial Spirit Magic: Level 4
Enlarged Magic Pool: Level 1
Magic Sense: Level 2
Active Skills:
Summoning Magic: Level 5
Urano Metria: Level 1
Archive: Level 1
Alteration Magic: Level 1
Unique Abilities:
Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece
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While the girls were taking their bath after their earlier fun Alex was relaxing alone in his room, having already cleaned himself off so as not to make Lucy even more uncomfortable than they had earlier. He was taking the brief moment of solitude to consider what to expect from his new opponents based off of what Lucy had told them earlier.
From what she said before it was fairly easy to deduce that one of Darius's abilities allowed him to absorb others into himself to gain their own abilities, which he had used at least on Zeref while Alex guessed that it was also a fair guess that the same fate had been enacted in the vanished Laxus and Jellal. Other than that his remaining abilities from the system were a complete mystery to them, something that was almost as dangerous as that one ability alone was.
And then there was the four generals.
The first to make their appearance was someone Lucy said was called Calvin, who could bend almost any part of the earth and nature itself to his will, and was considered the Dark Emperor's right hand. Then there was Alice, a woman who would use what Lucy described as 'beams of light' to wipe out entire cities instantly if she moved; but the most terrifying part about her was her tendency to kidnap any man that caught her fancy, and somehow bend them to her control and turn them even against their own family and friends.
Then was the newest addition to the generals ranks, Hyato. Very little was known about him other than his appearance, due solely to the fact that whenever he took to the field he ensured that no one lived to tell the tale. What little was known was that he always wore a curious red and white armor while in combat, and his actual appearance had never been seen in combat.
Last but certainly not least was perhaps the most terrifying of the four, someone known only as 'The Ghost'. Only a few people had ever met him face to face besides the other generals and the emperor, but all who have apparently couldn't even recall what he looked like, or any discernible details regarding his existence such as his name, if he really was even a 'he'. Apparently The Ghost's contribution was running the Dark Emperor's information network across the world, acting akin to a spy master and assassin when his services were needed.
As he thought about his five newest opponents Alex frowned slightly, as he wasn't sure about taking them on in a direct fight. Sure, he had worked his ass off for years to build his strength exactly for this, but there was no telling what remaining abilities they had or if his powers would even be affective against them. With his lack of information in mind, taking all five of them on at once could only be considered suicide until he knew more about them, and Alex would never allow any of his women to get close to them to help him due to Darius's ability to absorb others.
Alex was swearing that he'd find a way to investigate everything he needed to know about them t the first available chance, when he suddenly noticed a presence behind his closed door. What was surprising about this was that the presence was none other than Lucy, dressed in a set of pink cotton pajamas, who was fidgeting slightly as she worked up the courage to open the door.
After a few seconds of deliberation, Alex sighed and used his 'Telekinesis' to open the door for her, making Lucy jump in surprise even before he asked, "What can I help you with Lucy?" She fidgeted there in the doorway a few seconds longer, before mumbling,
"I was wondering...." She then trailed off and said the rest in a voice so low that now even Alex could hear it, making him arch a brow and ask,
"What was that?" Lucy clenched her fists irritably at his question as she built up her resolve, before saying in a firmer voice,
"I was wondering, if I could join your peerage." This time both of Alex's brows raised in genuine surprise at her request, as he started wondering who exactly had told her about that. Of course his immediate thought was Kuroka, since he had seen the two of them speaking earlier, but he couldn't place why exactly she'd share that kind of information with Lucy.
Though it wasn't exactly supposed to be a secret, he still didn't want people getting the wrong idea of what it meant to receive one of his evil pieces. With that thought in mind, and knowing Lucy's relationship with Natsu, Alex sighed and said, "I don't think you understand exactly you're asking for-"
"But I do!" Lucy exclaimed as she stepped closer, and continued, "Your evil pieces give power to those who get them, power that could help my comrades!" Alex closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, before saying,
"Yes, they could. But you would also have to join me on my travels, leave everyone you know behind, including Natsu." Lucy flinched when Alex mentioned Natsu's name, before saying angrily,
"Natsu...will be fine without me, just like he was before...." He didn't think it was possible, but Alex found himself increasingly surprised as the seconds ticked by, curious as to what Natsu had done to piss Lucy off so much.
Though the two arguing over something wasn't that uncommon throughout the series, mostly due to Natsu and Happy constantly invading Lucy's house, they were still thick as thieves the entire time while it was fairly obvious that Lucy would feel the occasional heartthrob for him. However Natsu's obliviousness that rivaled even Goku's had always gotten in the way, preventing any actual development between the two despite literal years going by.
Before he could put too much thought into what the slayer had done wrong though, Lucy suddenly began to slowly approach Alex while saying, "I understand that I'll have to leave Fairy Tail behind, for now, but Kuroka assured me that you'd never make me quit entirely, and that in the future if be able to visit almost whenever I wanted, no matter where we went!" Alex nodded slowly when she said this, before replying,
"True, but you'd also have to participate in battles at a scale the likes of which no one in this world could even conceive, plus, my evil pieces come at a price entirely different than simply leaving those you know behind to join my travels." As he finished speaking Alex was once again surprised when Lucy stopped right in front of him, and, after a brief moment of preparing herself, she crawled onto his lap to straddle his legs. With her breathing becoming more ragged with each second, and her cheeks becoming increasingly red, Lucy said,
"I know, you require those you give your pieces to to love you, and you give your love to them too... That is.....all I want....." This time Alex frowned when he heard that, and, after a brief check on her mental state with Spirit magic, was for once unsurprised to see that she was under the effects of someone's demonic charm.
Demonic charm was an ability that almost any devil could use in order to help entice people into making deals with them, however the only one amongst his peerage that had actively acquired it as a skill and trained it was Rias, up until Kurumu had joined them. Though he wasn't too surprised that someone had been able to use the demonic charm, Alex was now wondering why they(Kuroka) had gone so far to try and make Lucy join his peerage.
He then turned his thoughts to what exact role she would play in his peerage. Though some of his peerage members may seem weak in some aspects, they more than made up for it in others due to their specific abilities, such as Sun. Lucy however was primarily a summoner, which he wasn't even sure if she would be able to summon her spirits outside of Earthland. Of course he then reached the next logical idea for Lucy's future, that of both a summoner AND tamer.
If he granted her Alteration magic like he had given Spirit to Kurumu and Creation to Lala a while back, then Lucy would be able to use it to both tame and improve upon any monsters she encountered almost indefinitely. Though any of them who already had Alteration magic could do the same thing, none of them really intended to devote the time and energy needed to be an effective tamer. As such, Lucy could then have the capability to deploy literally an entire army of monsters that they encountered in the various worlds at a whim, adding to their numbers if they ever needed it.
There was also the act that, despite how she looked and acted, Lucy was a giant nerd. Her love of books specifically was so great, that she was not only writing one of her own, but had even refused to destroy a book she and Natsu had been contracted to retrieve and destroy once she realized it was written by an author she was a fan of. As such, Alex was confident that she would be very useful in researching any information they needed about a new world that he didn't already know.
Before he thought too much about that though, Alex placed the tip of his finger in the middle of Lucy's forehead and dispelled the charm that Kuroka had placed on her. In an instant her eyes became noticeably clearer as she blinked a few times in response to the effects of the demonic charm being removed. Though he half expected Lucy to freak out after the things she'd said and due to the fact that she was still straddling his lap, he was once again surprised when she only asked in a subdued tone,
"Why?"
Alex resisted the urge to sigh yet again, as he gently put a finger under her chin and said, "Lucy, just tell me this without the charm, why do you want to join my peerage so badly?" Lucy was silent for several seconds, before eventually saying,
"Because back at the guild I always saw how happy my friend Levy was when she found someone she liked, as well as another guild member named Juvia. Even though I had someone so close to me, why couldn't I get him to look my way as well?" At this point tears started forming in Lucy's eyes due to the frustration she felt, which Alex gently wiped away before saying soothingly,
"Even if he isn't looking at you now, Natsu is bound to notice your feelings eventually, most boys tend to be a bit dense about these things." As he spoke Alex got a faraway look as he recalled all of the dense anime protagonists who could quite literally have a woman strip n.a.k.e.d in front of them while begging him to f.u.c.k them, and still not get the hint. Lucy however laughed condescendingly and remarked,
"I thought so too before, but do you know what Natsu asked me when he heard about me coming to the mainland for supplies?" Alex slowly shook his head at her question, already doing an internal face palm at whatever stupidity Natsu had said this time. He almost actually did one when Lucy continued,
"He didn't tell me to be careful, or that he'd miss me. He didn't say anything at all about me or my wellbeing while I was away, he asked me to get some BEETLES from the mainland for him." When he heard that Alex's jaw literally fell open from how utterly gobsmacked he was at Natsu's stupidity, and he had thought he was prepared for whatever Lucy was going to say. She then looked him firmly in the eye and continued,
"While I was being molested in that cell I pleaded that Natsu would somehow instantly cross the ocean and rescue me when I needed it, but he didn't. Instead YOU saved me from Bora, and if you hadn't then I could've very well been on my way to the Dark Emperor right this moment to be tortured or worse, and the last thing Natsu would have ever said to me was about beetles." As Lucy finished speaking Alex was completely silent as he processed what she had said, something that still took him a few seconds to do.
When he eventually did though, Alex lightly shook his head before looking down at Lucy once more with a type of fire in his eyes. Before she could react, Alex slipped his left hand down the back of her pajama bottoms, where he was once again surprised for about the tenth time that night to find out she wasn't wearing any panties underneath, to get a firm hold of her ass to pull her closer.
Lucy let out a small yelp when Alex grabbed her, before her body started shuddering slightly as his middle finger then snuck its way between her butt cheeks and started to lightly stroke her precious place from behind. More than a little surprised at Alex's sudden eagerness, Lucy was about to ask him to slow down when he used his free hand to lightly grab her chin and make her face him, putting them in a position where Alex was firmly holding her ass while stroking her, something increasingly hard was poking her through both of their pajamas, her b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed firmly against his own chest, and their faces were less than an inch apart.
Lucy's words were caught in her throat as they stayed like that for several seconds, her body becoming increasingly heated as Alex's finger continued to act up, until he finally said, "So that there are no illusions regarding what is about to happen-" He then released her chin and, with a snap of his fingers, a small red object appeared in Alex's hand as he continued,
"If you accept this Lucy, you are my woman, my servant, my property. For the rest of eternity, I will own you. You will be mine to use, and love, as I please, and there will be no going back. Do you understand?" Lucy gulped when she heard Alex's words, as she tried to comprehend the severity of what she was about to do. Though she hesitated for the briefest of seconds, she then reached out and took the 'Pawn' piece in her hand before activating it.
There was a slight exclamation from outside the still open door when Lucy became enveloped in a small flash of demonic light, before the wings of a devil sprouted from her back. Alex however ignored them, and lightly grabbed Lucy's chin a second time before saying,
"Now, you are mine." Before she could respond he closed the small remaining distance immediately, and sealed her lips in her first ever kiss. Lucy m.o.a.ned lightly in Alex's mouth as their tongues began to dance together, and the finger on his left hand became more proactive in exploring her secret garden while his right unhesitantly sn.a.k.e.d its way into her pajama top to seize and start massaging one of her b.r.e.a.s.ts.
***
When the sun began to peek through the cabin windows the next morning, Lucy was the first to start twitching due to the light in her eyes.
"Nnn..." She groaned as she made to get up, feeling exceptionally sore down there for some reason, as well as tire due to the strange dream she had.
It wasn't until the blanket that had been covering her fell to reveal not only her n.a.k.e.d body, but that of the man's next to her, that Lucy suddenly recalled that everything she had 'dreamed' had actually happened. Her face instantly turned completely red as she recalled the feeling of something unbearably hot and large burying itself deep within her, and her mouth sealed with another's as he passionately made love to her.
It was only then that she glanced around and saw a practical sea of n.a.k.e.d female bodies that were either sprawled out across the great bed, or entwined in the final throes of their own passion, a passion she had also received her fair share of. Lucy then recalled that Alex wasn't the only one that had stolen her lips, or had brought her pleasure as the lingering phantom feeling of their tongues, lips, and fingers exploring places they shouldn't passed through her body.
With the realization that the events of the night before weren't actually some kind of strangely e.r.o.t.i.c dream, Lucy almost started to panic as she began wondering what to do, incidentally waking Alex next to her while she was at it. Without even a moments hesitation Alex reached up to her head, and pulled her down to his for a quick peck on the lips, stunning her to stillness as he then said as they separated,
"Good morning Lucy."
There was a moment of silence as Lucy took in what Alex had just said, before a radiant smile spread across her face and she answered with tears of happiness formib at the corners of her eyes,
"Good morning, Alex."
Later, after everyone had woke and eaten their breakfast, they were all gathered on Zenith's deck once more, except this time they were fully clothed and looked serious as they gathered around their newest comrade. Currently Alex was explaining the specific abilities of the 'Pawn' piece to Lucy, before Grayfia went on to explain about her new demonic powers. Once that was done, Alex then went on to explain the specifics of the status she now had access to, as well as the job function.
"Let's see here, 'Whip Apprentice', 'Archivist', 'Summoning Apprentice', "Celestial Magic Apprentice', and Taming Apprentice'." Alex muttered as he examined Lucy's available jobs, making her mutter quietly,
"There's not that many, are there.....?" Alex smiled wryly at her words, and explained,
"There usually aren't at first, just as you get stronger and get more skills, the amount of jobs you can take will go up, while once you accept a job it's usually replaced by a better version if you qualify for it." Though she wasn't entirely assured at his words, Lucy still felt a little comforted by what Alex said as she looked once more at the jobs available.
According to Alex she needed to chose one since it would either improve one of the skills she already had, or even give her a new one. That was why she was carefully scrutinizing each and every job available, weighing her options carefully before choosing. The majority of the jobs were fairly straightforward, improving on her summoning, whip skills, or celestial spirit magic. However there was also one that she didn't know the purpose of, 'Archivist'.
She was wondering what it could possibly do, when Alex suddenly said, "Why don't you choose that one?" Lucy's brows shot up as she asked,
"Do you know what the 'Archivist' job might do?" Alex shook his head lightly and said,
"Not exactly, but one reason I decided to make you my 'Pawn' was to have you study and do research whenever we go to a new world, maybe the 'Archivist' job would help with that?" Alex himself was curious about this particular job due to the fact that he hadn't even heard of or considered it before, and so he couldn't help but wonder what its effects were. He wouldn't make her take it if Lucy truly didn't want it though, that wasn't a problem however as she promptly accepted the job and then heard the notification,
[NOTICE! The skill 'Archive' has been added!]
Both Alex and Lucy went wide eyed in surprise when they saw the new skill she had acquired. Archive was a type of magic in this world that functioned more less like a magic computer in a world where technology was practically nonexistent, a type of magic that seemed exceedingly useful, yet for some reason was never brought up more than once or twice.
It was capable of mapping and tracking everyone within a certain area, friends and enemies alike, and the user could not only store and access information from the Archive freely, but could also download that information directly into the minds of those around them. Now that he thought about it, Alex decided that it was a fitting ability for Lucy who would mostly stay in the back of any conflicts they got into, while her spirits did most of the fighting for her. A sentiment Lucy seemed to share as she eyes lit up and she exclaimed,
"Wow! I've seen Hibiki use this magic a bit ever since we brought Blue Pegasus to Tenrou, but I never thought I'd also get to use it as well!" As she said this Lucy recalled one of the times that Hibiki showed her his magic, by downloading a powerful Celestial spell into her mind for future use as thanks for helping them.
She then activated her new skill to try it out, creating several screens of light in front of her that displayed a variety of information, with one even showing a complete map of Zenith with several green dots in each of their locations. Though as she played with it a bit Lucy was soon disappointed to find that there wasn't very much information on there, due to the fact that it's entire information network was currently based solely on what she knew herself, making her swear that she'll start studying as much as possible when they returned to Tenrou.
"That's it?" Kuroka asked from the side, before continuing in disappointment, "It's just a computer~Nya..." Though she didn't know what a 'computer' was, Lucy still deadpanned when she heard Kuroka mocking her new skill. Instead of saying anything though, she instead pulled up some of the information that was on it, a detailed map of the continent, and proceeded to download it directly into Kuroka's mind.
Everyone watched as a bar appeared over Kuroka's head that slowly filled up, before giving a small 'DING' and vanishing once it was full. Kuroka however went wide eyed as she started registering every detail of the map Lucy just sent her, before she suddenly asked excitedly,
"Wait! You can learn something and send it directly to us in an instant~Nya?!" Narrowing her eyes slightly at Kuroka's sudden eagerness for her new skill, Lucy slowly nodded before Kuroka practically leapt in the air and shouted,
"Yes~Nya! Now I never have to read to learn anything ever again~Nya!" Everyone around her deadpanned when they realized that Kuroka's excitement was due to her innate laziness, while the cat in question ignored their looks. Shaking her head slightly, Lucy dispelled the screens while saying,
"I'll test it some more later, but now I have something else I want to try!" Lucy then pulled out one of her keys, Loke's, and stated,
"Open the gate of the lion, Leo!" There was a flash of light before another figure was standing on deck alongside them, as the suited man they had met a couple days prior appeared. Though he pointedly avoided meeting the eye of any of the other girls around them, Loke nodded respectfully to Lucy before turning to meet Alex's gaze.
"If you ever hurt Lucy then you'll have to answer to me, no matter how strong you think you are." Alex smiled at Loke's promise, before replying,
"If I ever hurt any of my wives or women, then I'd have to answer to the full fury of my entire harem. No offense, but that thought alone scares me more than you do." Though Loke narrowed his eyes at Alex's provocation, he didn't say anything else as he turned back towards Lucy and asked,
"What do you need Lucy?" Lucy however chuckled awkwardly at how Loke and Alex were behaving, before turning serious and saying,
"Well, I'm sure you're somewhat aware of the things that have been happening, so I wanted to test if there's been an effect with my summoning now." Loke nodded in understanding and stood at the ready should he be needed for anything, while Lucy then retrieved another key.
One way to gauge a summoner's capabilities was by how many spirits they were capable of bringing into the human world at one time, a question that could spell life or death for those who weren't aware of their own limits. A prime example had been Loke's previous master, a summoner from the Blue Pegasus guild by the name of Karen Lilica, who had been unable to summon more than a single spirit at once. Because of this, when Loke protested Karen's cruel treatment towards another spirit of hers by staying in the human world against her will, she had ended up losing her life on a job due to being unable to defend herself by summoning another spirit.
Lucy on the other hand was able to summon multiple spirits at once, even going up to three if the situation was dire enough. However what she did next surprised Loke as she proceeded to summon not only himself, but even two other golden zodiac spirits, Aries and Cancer, as well as the minor silver key spirit, the Canis Minor, Plue. Aries, a cute girl with ram-like features and wool wrapping around parts of her body, grabbed Lucy's hands while exclaiming,
"Congratulations miss Lucy!" Cancer, a good looking man with crab-like hair and legs protruding from his back, nodded in agreement while saying,
"Indeed-ebi. Even Aquarius was surprised to find out you got a boyfriend-ebi!"
"Puuuuuuun~!" Agreed Plue, a short white thing with a large bulbous head and carrot-like nose, however Lucy didn't appear happy at their congratulations. Instead, a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she demanded,
"You mean to say that after I even got a major power up, all she cares about is wether or not I have a boyfriend?!" With the four spirits she had just summoned nodding in unison, Lucy grit her teeth in frustration before hugging Alex's arm into her b.r.e.a.s.ts and declaring,
"Well fine then! At least my boyfriend is a hundred-no, a THOUSAND times better than hers!" The four spirits deadpanned at her declaration, before Aries hesitantly raised her hand and said,
"Um, miss Lucy, even if you're irritated at Aquarius, I think you should be nicer to Scorpio." The rest of the spirits nodded in agreement at her words, while Lucy paused as she did recall the fact that Scorpio was Aquarius's boyfriend, and felt a bit bad from talking bad about him. She didn't worry about it long though as Loke muttered,
"To think though, you can summon three zodiac spirits, and even a fourth minor spirit, without even breaking a sweat now..." Lucy puffed out her chest with pride as she declared,
"Yep, and this isn't even all I can do now!" Lucy then took in a deep breath, before declaring,
"Promotion, BISHOP!" Instantly Lucy's magic power soared to the point that her hair started waving slightly around her body, while the four spirits could feel even more power being funneled through their still active keys. Lucy then held up two more golden keys, and continued,
"Open the gates of the goat and Twins, Capricorn, Gemini!" Instantly three more spirits joined them on the increasingly crowded deck, a man with his entire body covered in fur, as well as other goat-like features, that was dressed in a suit, as well a couple of what almost appeared to be living paper dolls.
"Lucy-sama." The goat man said respectfully.
"Piiiriii piiiiiiiiii!" The two paper dolls greeted her as well, bringing the total number of summons Lucy currently had to six, with her appearing none the worse for the wear.
"Amazing....." Loke muttered dumbfoundedly as he looked over his companion spirits, while one of the surrounding women, Sun, stepped forward and asked eagerly,
"So what can they all do?" Lucy smiled proudly and proceeded to go down the list of describing what each spirit was capable of, before finally arriving at Gemini and saying,
"And Gemini here can mimic anyone they touch, while also perfectly replicating their skills!" As she finish speaking the two spirits put one of their hands up and shouted proudly,
"Piiiii piiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Curious, Shia stepped forward and asked, "Really? Can they copy me?" The moment the words were out of her mouth the two spirits looked directly at Shia before one touched her, and suddenly there was two of her standing there looking at each other.
""Wow! There's two of me!"" The two Shia's said while examining each other in perfect sync, before they both got a mischievous smile. They then rapidly shuffled themselves for several seconds, before posing in front of everyone and asking,
""Ok, which one is the real me?""
Unsurprisingly no one was able to tell which was the real Shia, except the other spirits that could instinctively sense each other, until Alex unhesitantly pointed at the one on the right and said,
"You're the real one." The Shias jumped in surprise as Alex effortlessly pointed to the real one, before they demanded,
""How did you know?!"" Alex smirked at her question, and replied as if it was obvious,
"It's simple, I would never mistake identifying any of my women." Shia smiled widely in response to Alex's words, even as she also rubbed the back of her head bashfully. After that she and the rest of the women proceeded to play around with Lucy's spirits, while also introducing some of their own familiars to them at the same time.
***
Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, well over a hundred sh.i.p.s and airsh.i.p.s plowed their way through the waves and clouds, a dark atmosphere hanging over them like a fog as they eagerly anticipated the slaughter that awaited them. In the airship that led the way forward though, a group of people had gathered around a map detailing Tenrou island from Hades's previous attempt to attack it. In their center was Hyato as he poured over their charts and maps, before saying,
"First I'll lead the foot soldiers from the minor guilds in an frontward assault, no matter what defenses they have we'll break through them with sheer numbers and force. As we bring the majority of their focus onto us in the front, our best assassins will flank them to take out the important people in the back, starting with the sky slayers. Once the healers are out of commission they're to remove as many of the guild masters and S-class mages as possible before being overwhelmed." At this point one of the surrounding mages, a beautiful woman with long flowing dark purple hair, brown eyes, wearing a pure black dress asked,
"Will they be willing to readily go to their own deaths like that?" Hyato looked at the woman, Ultear, and stated plainly,
"They were trained specially by the Ghost, and conditioned by Alice's ability. They'll fall on their own blades without any hesitation should I ask it of them." Ultear's brows rose in surprise when she heard Hyato's claim, while she also shuddered inwardly at the mention of the most terrifying aspect of the general Alice.
Though her disasterous strength and ability to wipe out entire cities within seconds was already terrifying, Alice also apparently had the ability to completely bend those she had managed to sink her claws into to her will. She readily turned lifelong friends and families against each other, and all of her 'boy-toys' into her obedient slaves.
Keeping any remarks she might have had about Alice's ability to herself, Ultear quietly listened as Hyato continued,
"Once the assassins have done their jobs and thinned out the ranks of the guild masters and S-class mages, I'll pull back and we'll employ scorched earth and carpet bombing tactics. All of the magic weapons and remaining mages that are able to employ such magic will bombard the island with the intent to destroy it, wiping it from the face of the earth and removing the last of those that can truly oppose us."
There was several seconds of silence that stretched as those around Hyato absorbed his plan, before Hades hesitantly asked, "What of the men we'd already sent ashore?" Hyato gave him a grim look, before saying,
"They'll be caught up in the attack, but it'll be a worthy sacrifice to ensure that our enemies are wiped from existence." Once again there was silence at his words, before Zancrow snorted and asked,
"Why don't we just pick one plan or the other? I don't see the point of bombing the place when we have the numbers, or storming it when we're just going to bomb them anyways." Hyato gave Zancrow a deadpan stare, before saying with undisguised exasperation,
"Because, if we simply stormed them then the members of Fairy Tail will just steadily power up from fighting the grunts before eventually taking even us on. And to bomb it we need to be within a certain range of the island due to its defenses, which they'll know somethings up if we just sit there without attacking. We need to keep them distracted while simultaneously weakening them before dealing the final blow, which is also why some of the primary targets are the sky slayers and the guild masters."
Silence followed Hyato's words as those surrounding him begrudgingly accepted that his plan to keep Fairy Tail preoccupied while they dealt the final blow did make sense. However one of the surrounding people, a tall muscular man with a thick beard and oppressive aura, stepped forward and stated,
"I'm going ashore too, I need to 'greet' those weak little shits that ran me out of my own guild before we blow them to hell." Hyato's brow twitched when he saw the former guild master of Sabertooth, Jiemma, and resisted the urge to sigh.
He was an excessively aggressive person who practically worshipped the idea of 'strength', and would unhesitatingly kill or run out anyone who had even moderately displeased him. These traits of his had only become more extreme ever since he joined Tartarus after being kicked out of Sabertooth, and underwent demonification to become even more powerful. Standing behind him was his daughter, Minerva, who had definitely inherited her father's cruelty, yet was more cunning and manipulative than him.
"It would be good to send some of us elites with you as well to charge the front lines, lest the sacrificial pawns catch on to the fact that we're going to dispose of them anyways." Hyato's brows furrowed at her words, as he had already been planning to do exactly that, but the ones to lead the charge alongside him were going to either be those that no one would particularly care about if they lived or not, or those that had the ability to withdraw at the right time.
With Jiemma easily falling into the first category, he had no problem saying, "Ok then, just remember that it'll be up to you yourself to escape before we begin bombing the island." Jiemma snorted at his warning, but didn't say anything else as Hyato sighed in relief and turned towards Hades.
"How much longer until we reach Tenrou?" Hades made his way to the side to check some things with the person who was actually piloting the airship, before answering,
"Five days if the wind doesn't turn against us since we have to keep pace with the ship's below." Hyato frowned at the information, before saying,
"Make it three. I don't care what we have to do to make it happen, but I don't want to take longer than we absolutely need to get there." Hades's brow twitched at the command, as the only way he could think of to get there that quickly with the sh.i.p.s on the sea was by having any wind based mages use their magic to blow more wind into the sails, which would tire them all out before they even saw battle. He didn't say any of this though, instead bowing respectfully to Hyato and saying,
"As you command, general." Hyato nodded and turned to leave as they carried out his orders. He then made his way to one of the balconies on the outside of the airship that allowed him to look down while the wind blew through his hair. Hyato felt the sudden lurch as the airship picked up speed, and smiled into the salty breeze.
He couldn't explain it, but something was telling him that he needed to hurry and get to Tenrou Island as soon as possible. As he thought about the people there though, a pang of guilt surged through him before it was promptly stomped out by Hyato's resolve, his resolve to collect as many experience points and sacred gears possible to free the one he wanted to meet most.
"Rias..." He muttered into the wind, as he eagerly awaited the day he could finally defeat the 'fake' Red Dragon Emperor and save her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name: Lucy Heartfilia
Race: Human
Titles:
Friend of the Spirits, Friend of the Spirit King, Princess of Heartfilia
Job: Archivist: 1
Passive skills:
Whip Skill: Level 3
Celestial Spirit Magic: Level 4
Enlarged Magic Pool: Level 1
Magic Sense: Level 2
Active Skills:
Summoning Magic: Level 5
Urano Metria: Level 1
Archive: Level 1
Alteration Magic: Level 1
Unique Abilities:
Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece
While the girls were taking their bath after their earlier fun Alex was relaxing alone in his room, having already cleaned himself off so as not to make Lucy even more uncomfortable than they had earlier. He was taking the brief moment of solitude to consider what to expect from his new opponents based off of what Lucy had told them earlier. From what she said before it was fairly easy to deduce that one of Darius's abilities allowed him to absorb others into himself to gain their own abilities, which he had used at least on Zeref while Alex guessed that it was also a fair guess that the same fate had been enacted in the vanished Laxus and Jellal. Other than that his remaining abilities from the system were a complete mystery to them, something that was almost as dangerous as that one ability alone was. And then there was the four generals. The first to make their appearance was someone Lucy said was called Calvin, who could bend almost any part of the earth and nature itself to his will, and was considered the Dark Emperor's right hand. Then there was Alice, a woman who would use what Lucy described as 'beams of light' to wipe out entire cities instantly if she moved; but the most terrifying part about her was her tendency to kidnap any man that caught her fancy, and somehow bend them to her control and turn them even against their own family and friends. Then was the newest addition to the generals ranks, Hyato. Very little was known about him other than his appearance, due solely to the fact that whenever he took to the field he ensured that no one lived to tell the tale. What little was known was that he always wore a curious red and white armor while in combat, and his actual appearance had never been seen in combat. Last but certainly not least was perhaps the most terrifying of the four, someone known only as 'The Ghost'. Only a few people had ever met him face to face besides the other generals and the emperor, but all who have apparently couldn't even recall what he looked like, or any discernible details regarding his existence such as his name, if he really was even a 'he'. Apparently The Ghost's contribution was running the Dark Emperor's information network across the world, acting akin to a spy master and assassin when his services were needed. As he thought about his five newest opponents Alex frowned slightly, as he wasn't sure about taking them on in a direct fight. Sure, he had worked his ass off for years to build his strength exactly for this, but there was no telling what remaining abilities they had or if his powers would even be affective against them. With his lack of information in mind, taking all five of them on at once could only be considered suicide until he knew more about them, and Alex would never allow any of his women to get close to them to help him due to Darius's ability to absorb others. Alex was swearing that he'd find a way to investigate everything he needed to know about them t the first available chance, when he suddenly noticed a presence behind his closed door. What was surprising about this was that the presence was none other than Lucy, dressed in a set of pink cotton pajamas, who was fidgeting slightly as she worked up the courage to open the door. After a few seconds of deliberation, Alex sighed and used his 'Telekinesis' to open the door for her, making Lucy jump in surprise even before he asked, "What can I help you with Lucy?" She fidgeted there in the doorway a few seconds longer, before mumbling, "I was wondering...." She then trailed off and said the rest in a voice so low that now even Alex could hear it, making him arch a brow and ask, "What was that?" Lucy clenched her fists irritably at his question as she built up her resolve, before saying in a firmer voice, "I was wondering, if I could join your peerage." This time both of Alex's brows raised in genuine surprise at her request, as he started wondering who exactly had told her about that. Of course his immediate thought was Kuroka, since he had seen the two of them speaking earlier, but he couldn't place why exactly she'd share that kind of information with Lucy. Though it wasn't exactly supposed to be a secret, he still didn't want people getting the wrong idea of what it meant to receive one of his evil pieces. With that thought in mind, and knowing Lucy's relationship with Natsu, Alex sighed and said, "I don't think you understand exactly you're asking for-" "But I do!" Lucy exclaimed as she stepped closer, and continued, "Your evil pieces give power to those who get them, power that could help my comrades!" Alex closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose, before saying, "Yes, they could. But you would also have to join me on my travels, leave everyone you know behind, including Natsu." Lucy flinched when Alex mentioned Natsu's name, before saying angrily, "Natsu...will be fine without me, just like he was before...." He didn't think it was possible, but Alex found himself increasingly surprised as the seconds ticked by, curious as to what Natsu had done to piss Lucy off so much. Though the two arguing over something wasn't that uncommon throughout the series, mostly due to Natsu and Happy constantly invading Lucy's house, they were still thick as thieves the entire time while it was fairly obvious that Lucy would feel the occasional heartthrob for him. However Natsu's obliviousness that rivaled even Goku's had always gotten in the way, preventing any actual development between the two despite literal years going by. Before he could put too much thought into what the slayer had done wrong though, Lucy suddenly began to slowly approach Alex while saying, "I understand that I'll have to leave Fairy Tail behind, for now, but Kuroka assured me that you'd never make me quit entirely, and that in the future if be able to visit almost whenever I wanted, no matter where we went!" Alex nodded slowly when she said this, before replying, "True, but you'd also have to participate in battles at a scale the likes of which no one in this world could even conceive, plus, my evil pieces come at a price entirely different than simply leaving those you know behind to join my travels." As he finished speaking Alex was once again surprised when Lucy stopped right in front of him, and, after a brief moment of preparing herself, she crawled onto his lap to straddle his legs. With her breathing becoming more ragged with each second, and her cheeks becoming increasingly red, Lucy said, "I know, you require those you give your pieces to to love you, and you give your love to them too... That is.....all I want....." This time Alex frowned when he heard that, and, after a brief check on her mental state with Spirit magic, was for once unsurprised to see that she was under the effects of someone's demonic charm. Demonic charm was an ability that almost any devil could use in order to help entice people into making deals with them, however the only one amongst his peerage that had actively acquired it as a skill and trained it was Rias, up until Kurumu had joined them. Though he wasn't too surprised that someone had been able to use the demonic charm, Alex was now wondering why theyKuroka had gone so far to try and make Lucy join his peerage. He then turned his thoughts to what exact role she would play in his peerage. Though some of his peerage members may seem weak in some aspects, they more than made up for it in others due to their specific abilities, such as Sun. Lucy however was primarily a summoner, which he wasn't even sure if she would be able to summon her spirits outside of Earthland. Of course he then reached the next logical idea for Lucy's future, that of both a summoner AND tamer. If he granted her Alteration magic like he had given Spirit to Kurumu and Creation to Lala a while back, then Lucy would be able to use it to both tame and improve upon any monsters she encountered almost indefinitely. Though any of them who already had Alteration magic could do the same thing, none of them really intended to devote the time and energy needed to be an effective tamer. As such, Lucy could then have the capability to deploy literally an entire army of monsters that they encountered in the various worlds at a whim, adding to their numbers if they ever needed it. There was also the act that, despite how she looked and acted, Lucy was a giant nerd. Her love of books specifically was so great, that she was not only writing one of her own, but had even refused to destroy a book she and Natsu had been contracted to retrieve and destroy once she realized it was written by an author she was a fan of. As such, Alex was confident that she would be very useful in researching any information they needed about a new world that he didn't already know. Before he thought too much about that though, Alex placed the tip of his finger in the middle of Lucy's forehead and dispelled the charm that Kuroka had placed on her. In an instant her eyes became noticeably clearer as she blinked a few times in response to the effects of the demonic charm being removed. Though he half expected Lucy to freak out after the things she'd said and due to the fact that she was still straddling his lap, he was once again surprised when she only asked in a subdued tone, "Why?" Alex resisted the urge to sigh yet again, as he gently put a finger under her chin and said, "Lucy, just tell me this without the charm, why do you want to join my peerage so badly?" Lucy was silent for several seconds, before eventually saying, "Because back at the guild I always saw how happy my friend Levy was when she found someone she liked, as well as another guild member named Juvia. Even though I had someone so close to me, why couldn't I get him to look my way as well?" At this point tears started forming in Lucy's eyes due to the frustration she felt, which Alex gently wiped away before saying soothingly, "Even if he isn't looking at you now, Natsu is bound to notice your feelings eventually, most boys tend to be a bit dense about these things." As he spoke Alex got a faraway look as he recalled all of the dense anime protagonists who could quite literally have a woman strip n.a.k.e.d in front of them while begging him to f.u.c.k them, and still not get the hint. Lucy however laughed condescendingly and remarked, "I thought so too before, but do you know what Natsu asked me when he heard about me coming to the mainland for supplies?" Alex slowly shook his head at her question, already doing an internal face palm at whatever stupidity Natsu had said this time. He almost actually did one when Lucy continued, "He didn't tell me to be careful, or that he'd miss me. He didn't say anything at all about me or my wellbeing while I was away, he asked me to get some BEETLES from the mainland for him." When he heard that Alex's jaw literally fell open from how utterly gobsmacked he was at Natsu's stupidity, and he had thought he was prepared for whatever Lucy was going to say. She then looked him firmly in the eye and continued, "While I was being molested in that cell I pleaded that Natsu would somehow instantly cross the ocean and rescue me when I needed it, but he didn't. Instead YOU saved me from Bora, and if you hadn't then I could've very well been on my way to the Dark Emperor right this moment to be tortured or worse, and the last thing Natsu would have ever said to me was about beetles." As Lucy finished speaking Alex was completely silent as he processed what she had said, something that still took him a few seconds to do. When he eventually did though, Alex lightly shook his head before looking down at Lucy once more with a type of fire in his eyes. Before she could react, Alex slipped his left hand down the back of her pajama bottoms, where he was once again surprised for about the tenth time that night to find out she wasn't wearing any panties underneath, to get a firm hold of her ass to pull her closer. Lucy let out a small yelp when Alex grabbed her, before her body started shuddering slightly as his middle finger then snuck its way between her butt cheeks and started to lightly stroke her precious place from behind. More than a little surprised at Alex's sudden eagerness, Lucy was about to ask him to slow down when he used his free hand to lightly grab her chin and make her face him, putting them in a position where Alex was firmly holding her ass while stroking her, something increasingly hard was poking her through both of their pajamas, her b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed firmly against his own chest, and their faces were less than an inch apart. Lucy's words were caught in her throat as they stayed like that for several seconds, her body becoming increasingly heated as Alex's finger continued to act up, until he finally said, "So that there are no illusions regarding what is about to happen-" He then released her chin and, with a snap of his fingers, a small red object appeared in Alex's hand as he continued, "If you accept this Lucy, you are my woman, my servant, my property. For the rest of eternity, I will own you. You will be mine to use, and love, as I please, and there will be no going back. Do you understand?" Lucy gulped when she heard Alex's words, as she tried to comprehend the severity of what she was about to do. Though she hesitated for the briefest of seconds, she then reached out and took the 'Pawn' piece in her hand before activating it. There was a slight exclamation from outside the still open door when Lucy became enveloped in a small flash of demonic light, before the wings of a devil sprouted from her back. Alex however ignored them, and lightly grabbed Lucy's chin a second time before saying, "Now, you are mine." Before she could respond he closed the small remaining distance immediately, and sealed her lips in her first ever kiss. Lucy m.o.a.ned lightly in Alex's mouth as their tongues began to dance together, and the finger on his left hand became more proactive in exploring her secret garden while his right unhesitantly sn.a.k.e.d its way into her pajama top to seize and start massaging one of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. *** When the sun began to peek through the cabin windows the next morning, Lucy was the first to start twitching due to the light in her eyes. "Nnn..." She groaned as she made to get up, feeling exceptionally sore down there for some reason, as well as tire due to the strange dream she had. It wasn't until the blanket that had been covering her fell to reveal not only her n.a.k.e.d body, but that of the man's next to her, that Lucy suddenly recalled that everything she had 'dreamed' had actually happened. Her face instantly turned completely red as she recalled the feeling of something unbearably hot and large burying itself deep within her, and her mouth sealed with another's as he passionately made love to her. It was only then that she glanced around and saw a practical sea of n.a.k.e.d female bodies that were either sprawled out across the great bed, or entwined in the final throes of their own passion, a passion she had also received her fair share of. Lucy then recalled that Alex wasn't the only one that had stolen her lips, or had brought her pleasure as the lingering phantom feeling of their tongues, lips, and fingers exploring places they shouldn't passed through her body. With the realization that the events of the night before weren't actually some kind of strangely e.r.o.t.i.c dream, Lucy almost started to panic as she began wondering what to do, incidentally waking Alex next to her while she was at it. Without even a moments hesitation Alex reached up to her head, and pulled her down to his for a quick peck on the lips, stunning her to stillness as he then said as they separated, "Good morning Lucy." There was a moment of silence as Lucy took in what Alex had just said, before a radiant smile spread across her face and she answered with tears of happiness formib at the corners of her eyes, "Good morning, Alex." Later, after everyone had woke and eaten their breakfast, they were all gathered on Zenith's deck once more, except this time they were fully clothed and looked serious as they gathered around their newest comrade. Currently Alex was explaining the specific abilities of the 'Pawn' piece to Lucy, before Grayfia went on to explain about her new demonic powers. Once that was done, Alex then went on to explain the specifics of the status she now had access to, as well as the job function. "Let's see here, 'Whip Apprentice', 'Archivist', 'Summoning Apprentice', "Celestial Magic Apprentice', and Taming Apprentice'." Alex muttered as he examined Lucy's available jobs, making her mutter quietly, "There's not that many, are there.....?" Alex smiled wryly at her words, and explained, "There usually aren't at first, just as you get stronger and get more skills, the amount of jobs you can take will go up, while once you accept a job it's usually replaced by a better version if you qualify for it." Though she wasn't entirely assured at his words, Lucy still felt a little comforted by what Alex said as she looked once more at the jobs available. According to Alex she needed to chose one since it would either improve one of the skills she already had, or even give her a new one. That was why she was carefully scrutinizing each and every job available, weighing her options carefully before choosing. The majority of the jobs were fairly straightforward, improving on her summoning, whip skills, or celestial spirit magic. However there was also one that she didn't know the purpose of, 'Archivist'. She was wondering what it could possibly do, when Alex suddenly said, "Why don't you choose that one?" Lucy's brows shot up as she asked, "Do you know what the 'Archivist' job might do?" Alex shook his head lightly and said, "Not exactly, but one reason I decided to make you my 'Pawn' was to have you study and do research whenever we go to a new world, maybe the 'Archivist' job would help with that?" Alex himself was curious about this particular job due to the fact that he hadn't even heard of or considered it before, and so he couldn't help but wonder what its effects were. He wouldn't make her take it if Lucy truly didn't want it though, that wasn't a problem however as she promptly accepted the job and then heard the notification, NOTICE! The skill 'Archive' has been added! Both Alex and Lucy went wide eyed in surprise when they saw the new skill she had acquired. Archive was a type of magic in this world that functioned more less like a magic computer in a world where technology was practically nonexistent, a type of magic that seemed exceedingly useful, yet for some reason was never brought up more than once or twice. It was capable of mapping and tracking everyone within a certain area, friends and enemies alike, and the user could not only store and access information from the Archive freely, but could also download that information directly into the minds of those around them. Now that he thought about it, Alex decided that it was a fitting ability for Lucy who would mostly stay in the back of any conflicts they got into, while her spirits did most of the fighting for her. A sentiment Lucy seemed to share as she eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Wow! I've seen Hibiki use this magic a bit ever since we brought Blue Pegasus to Tenrou, but I never thought I'd also get to use it as well!" As she said this Lucy recalled one of the times that Hibiki showed her his magic, by downloading a powerful Celestial spell into her mind for future use as thanks for helping them. She then activated her new skill to try it out, creating several screens of light in front of her that displayed a variety of information, with one even showing a complete map of Zenith with several green dots in each of their locations. Though as she played with it a bit Lucy was soon disappointed to find that there wasn't very much information on there, due to the fact that it's entire information network was currently based solely on what she knew herself, making her swear that she'll start studying as much as possible when they returned to Tenrou. "That's it?" Kuroka asked from the side, before continuing in disappointment, "It's just a computer~Nya..." Though she didn't know what a 'computer' was, Lucy still deadpanned when she heard Kuroka mocking her new skill. Instead of saying anything though, she instead pulled up some of the information that was on it, a detailed map of the continent, and proceeded to download it directly into Kuroka's mind. Everyone watched as a bar appeared over Kuroka's head that slowly filled up, before giving a small 'DING' and vanishing once it was full. Kuroka however went wide eyed as she started registering every detail of the map Lucy just sent her, before she suddenly asked excitedly, "Wait! You can learn something and send it directly to us in an instant~Nya?!" Narrowing her eyes slightly at Kuroka's sudden eagerness for her new skill, Lucy slowly nodded before Kuroka practically leapt in the air and shouted, "Yes~Nya! Now I never have to read to learn anything ever again~Nya!" Everyone around her deadpanned when they realized that Kuroka's excitement was due to her innate laziness, while the cat in question ignored their looks. Shaking her head slightly, Lucy dispelled the screens while saying, "I'll test it some more later, but now I have something else I want to try!" Lucy then pulled out one of her keys, Loke's, and stated, "Open the gate of the lion, Leo!" There was a flash of light before another figure was standing on deck alongside them, as the suited man they had met a couple days prior appeared. Though he pointedly avoided meeting the eye of any of the other girls around them, Loke nodded respectfully to Lucy before turning to meet Alex's gaze. "If you ever hurt Lucy then you'll have to answer to me, no matter how strong you think you are." Alex smiled at Loke's promise, before replying, "If I ever hurt any of my wives or women, then I'd have to answer to the full fury of my entire harem. No offense, but that thought alone scares me more than you do." Though Loke narrowed his eyes at Alex's provocation, he didn't say anything else as he turned back towards Lucy and asked, "What do you need Lucy?" Lucy however chuckled awkwardly at how Loke and Alex were behaving, before turning serious and saying, "Well, I'm sure you're somewhat aware of the things that have been happening, so I wanted to test if there's been an effect with my summoning now." Loke nodded in understanding and stood at the ready should he be needed for anything, while Lucy then retrieved another key. One way to gauge a summoner's capabilities was by how many spirits they were capable of bringing into the human world at one time, a question that could spell life or death for those who weren't aware of their own limits. A prime example had been Loke's previous master, a summoner from the Blue Pegasus guild by the name of Karen Lilica, who had been unable to summon more than a single spirit at once. Because of this, when Loke protested Karen's cruel treatment towards another spirit of hers by staying in the human world against her will, she had ended up losing her life on a job due to being unable to defend herself by summoning another spirit. Lucy on the other hand was able to summon multiple spirits at once, even going up to three if the situation was dire enough. However what she did next surprised Loke as she proceeded to summon not only himself, but even two other golden zodiac spirits, Aries and Cancer, as well as the minor silver key spirit, the Canis Minor, Plue. Aries, a cute girl with ram-like features and wool wrapping around parts of her body, grabbed Lucy's hands while exclaiming, "Congratulations miss Lucy!" Cancer, a good looking man with crab-like hair and legs protruding from his back, nodded in agreement while saying, "Indeed-ebi. Even Aquarius was surprised to find out you got a boyfriend-ebi!" "Puuuuuuun~!" Agreed Plue, a short white thing with a large bulbous head and carrot-like nose, however Lucy didn't appear happy at their congratulations. Instead, a tick mark appeared on her forehead as she demanded, "You mean to say that after I even got a major power up, all she cares about is wether or not I have a boyfriend?!" With the four spirits she had just summoned nodding in unison, Lucy grit her teeth in frustration before hugging Alex's arm into her b.r.e.a.s.ts and declaring, "Well fine then! At least my boyfriend is a hundred-no, a THOUSAND times better than hers!" The four spirits deadpanned at her declaration, before Aries hesitantly raised her hand and said, "Um, miss Lucy, even if you're irritated at Aquarius, I think you should be nicer to Scorpio." The rest of the spirits nodded in agreement at her words, while Lucy paused as she did recall the fact that Scorpio was Aquarius's boyfriend, and felt a bit bad from talking bad about him. She didn't worry about it long though as Loke muttered, "To think though, you can summon three zodiac spirits, and even a fourth minor spirit, without even breaking a sweat now..." Lucy puffed out her chest with pride as she declared, "Yep, and this isn't even all I can do now!" Lucy then took in a deep breath, before declaring, "Promotion, BISHOP!" Instantly Lucy's magic power soared to the point that her hair started waving slightly around her body, while the four spirits could feel even more power being funneled through their still active keys. Lucy then held up two more golden keys, and continued, "Open the gates of the goat and Twins, Capricorn, Gemini!" Instantly three more spirits joined them on the increasingly crowded deck, a man with his entire body covered in fur, as well as other goat-like features, that was dressed in a suit, as well a couple of what almost appeared to be living paper dolls. "Lucy-sama." The goat man said respectfully. "Piiiriii piiiiiiiiii!" The two paper dolls greeted her as well, bringing the total number of summons Lucy currently had to six, with her appearing none the worse for the wear. "Amazing....." Loke muttered dumbfoundedly as he looked over his companion spirits, while one of the surrounding women, Sun, stepped forward and asked eagerly, "So what can they all do?" Lucy smiled proudly and proceeded to go down the list of describing what each spirit was capable of, before finally arriving at Gemini and saying, "And Gemini here can mimic anyone they touch, while also perfectly replicating their skills!" As she finish speaking the two spirits put one of their hands up and shouted proudly, "Piiiii piiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Curious, Shia stepped forward and asked, "Really? Can they copy me?" The moment the words were out of her mouth the two spirits looked directly at Shia before one touched her, and suddenly there was two of her standing there looking at each other. ""Wow! There's two of me!"" The two Shia's said while examining each other in perfect sync, before they both got a mischievous smile. They then rapidly shuffled themselves for several seconds, before posing in front of everyone and asking, ""Ok, which one is the real me?"" Unsurprisingly no one was able to tell which was the real Shia, except the other spirits that could instinctively sense each other, until Alex unhesitantly pointed at the one on the right and said, "You're the real one." The Shias jumped in surprise as Alex effortlessly pointed to the real one, before they demanded, ""How did you know?!"" Alex smirked at her question, and replied as if it was obvious, "It's simple, I would never mistake identifying any of my women." Shia smiled widely in response to Alex's words, even as she also rubbed the back of her head bashfully. After that she and the rest of the women proceeded to play around with Lucy's spirits, while also introducing some of their own familiars to them at the same time. *** Meanwhile, several hundred miles away, well over a hundred sh.i.p.s and airsh.i.p.s plowed their way through the waves and clouds, a dark atmosphere hanging over them like a fog as they eagerly anticipated the slaughter that awaited them. In the airship that led the way forward though, a group of people had gathered around a map detailing Tenrou island from Hades's previous attempt to attack it. In their center was Hyato as he poured over their charts and maps, before saying, "First I'll lead the foot soldiers from the minor guilds in an frontward assault, no matter what defenses they have we'll break through them with sheer numbers and force. As we bring the majority of their focus onto us in the front, our best assassins will flank them to take out the important people in the back, starting with the sky slayers. Once the healers are out of commission they're to remove as many of the guild masters and S-class mages as possible before being overwhelmed." At this point one of the surrounding mages, a beautiful woman with long flowing dark purple hair, brown eyes, wearing a pure black dress asked, "Will they be willing to readily go to their own deaths like that?" Hyato looked at the woman, Ultear, and stated plainly, "They were trained specially by the Ghost, and conditioned by Alice's ability. They'll fall on their own blades without any hesitation should I ask it of them." Ultear's brows rose in surprise when she heard Hyato's claim, while she also shuddered inwardly at the mention of the most terrifying aspect of the general Alice. Though her disasterous strength and ability to wipe out entire cities within seconds was already terrifying, Alice also apparently had the ability to completely bend those she had managed to sink her claws into to her will. She readily turned lifelong friends and families against each other, and all of her 'boy-toys' into her obedient slaves. Keeping any remarks she might have had about Alice's ability to herself, Ultear quietly listened as Hyato continued, "Once the assassins have done their jobs and thinned out the ranks of the guild masters and S-class mages, I'll pull back and we'll employ scorched earth and carpet bombing tactics. All of the magic weapons and remaining mages that are able to employ such magic will bombard the island with the intent to destroy it, wiping it from the face of the earth and removing the last of those that can truly oppose us." There was several seconds of silence that stretched as those around Hyato absorbed his plan, before Hades hesitantly asked, "What of the men we'd already sent ashore?" Hyato gave him a grim look, before saying, "They'll be caught up in the attack, but it'll be a worthy sacrifice to ensure that our enemies are wiped from existence." Once again there was silence at his words, before Zancrow snorted and asked, "Why don't we just pick one plan or the other? I don't see the point of bombing the place when we have the numbers, or storming it when we're just going to bomb them anyways." Hyato gave Zancrow a deadpan stare, before saying with undisguised exasperation, "Because, if we simply stormed them then the members of Fairy Tail will just steadily power up from fighting the grunts before eventually taking even us on. And to bomb it we need to be within a certain range of the island due to its defenses, which they'll know somethings up if we just sit there without attacking. We need to keep them distracted while simultaneously weakening them before dealing the final blow, which is also why some of the primary targets are the sky slayers and the guild masters." Silence followed Hyato's words as those surrounding him begrudgingly accepted that his plan to keep Fairy Tail preoccupied while they dealt the final blow did make sense. However one of the surrounding people, a tall muscular man with a thick beard and oppressive aura, stepped forward and stated, "I'm going ashore too, I need to 'greet' those weak little shits that ran me out of my own guild before we blow them to hell." Hyato's brow twitched when he saw the former guild master of Sabertooth, Jiemma, and resisted the urge to sigh. He was an excessively aggressive person who practically worshipped the idea of 'strength', and would unhesitatingly kill or run out anyone who had even moderately displeased him. These traits of his had only become more extreme ever since he joined Tartarus after being kicked out of Sabertooth, and underwent demonification to become even more powerful. Standing behind him was his daughter, Minerva, who had definitely inherited her father's cruelty, yet was more cunning and manipulative than him. "It would be good to send some of us elites with you as well to charge the front lines, lest the sacrificial pawns catch on to the fact that we're going to dispose of them anyways." Hyato's brows furrowed at her words, as he had already been planning to do exactly that, but the ones to lead the charge alongside him were going to either be those that no one would particularly care about if they lived or not, or those that had the ability to withdraw at the right time. With Jiemma easily falling into the first category, he had no problem saying, "Ok then, just remember that it'll be up to you yourself to escape before we begin bombing the island." Jiemma snorted at his warning, but didn't say anything else as Hyato sighed in relief and turned towards Hades. "How much longer until we reach Tenrou?" Hades made his way to the side to check some things with the person who was actually piloting the airship, before answering, "Five days if the wind doesn't turn against us since we have to keep pace with the ship's below." Hyato frowned at the information, before saying, "Make it three. I don't care what we have to do to make it happen, but I don't want to take longer than we absolutely need to get there." Hades's brow twitched at the command, as the only way he could think of to get there that quickly with the sh.i.p.s on the sea was by having any wind based mages use their magic to blow more wind into the sails, which would tire them all out before they even saw battle. He didn't say any of this though, instead bowing respectfully to Hyato and saying, "As you command, general." Hyato nodded and turned to leave as they carried out his orders. He then made his way to one of the balconies on the outside of the airship that allowed him to look down while the wind blew through his hair. Hyato felt the sudden lurch as the airship picked up speed, and smiled into the salty breeze. He couldn't explain it, but something was telling him that he needed to hurry and get to Tenrou Island as soon as possible. As he thought about the people there though, a pang of guilt surged through him before it was promptly stomped out by Hyato's resolve, his resolve to collect as many experience points and sacred gears possible to free the one he wanted to meet most. "Rias..." He muttered into the wind, as he eagerly awaited the day he could finally defeat the 'fake' Red Dragon Emperor and save her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name: Lucy Heartfilia Race: Human Titles: Friend of the Spirits, Friend of the Spirit King, Princess of Heartfilia Job: Archivist: 1 Passive skills: Whip Skill: Level 3 Celestial Spirit Magic: Level 4 Enlarged Magic Pool: Level 1 Magic Sense: Level 2 Active Skills: Summoning Magic: Level 5 Urano Metria: Level 1 Archive: Level 1 Alteration Magic: Level 1 Unique Abilities: Reincarnated Devil: Pawn Evil Piece
