Chapter 37 - Hard Task - Part II

Lucy didn't have much time to gather herself as her surrounding area started spinning once again, a sudden feeling of vertigo crashing over Lucy before the blonde mage realized that it had stopped.

'Okay, that now was different...' she mused, taking a look around.

One thing was for sure. The new stage for her challenge was in the middle of a forest. And across from Lucy, a river ran, vigorously. Shades from the trees from the other side not being enough to dim the light's reflection on the small waves.

Lucy looked around, in search of Merope but she couldn't see her.

There was a loud crackling noise and Lucy looked to her side, readying her whip.

Thankfully it was only Sagittarius who looked solemnly at her, head falling in a short nod before glancing towards the river's shore. Her foes seemed to be ready for her.

'Well, so am I!' Lucy thought, taking a deep breath.

"Fourth match. Sagittarius versus Bì. You may begin." The voice said, words falling heavily among the noise of the water and the rustle of the leaves in the surrounding trees.

"Interesting…" Lucy heard Sagittarius say. She turned to him.

"What do you mean?"

"That they would send a fisherman to battle me." Was the strange answer.

And, upon a closer look, Lucy realized the truth in the words of her spirit.

Beside Merope stood what looked like a tall, muscled man.

His torso was bare, what allowed the muscled and toned golden skin to be in full display for he was only wearing shorts which were bunched up at the edge, frayed fabric. A leather belt cinched the waist and allowed for a number of weapons and trinkets to hang off it.

A blank expression settled on his unshaven face, and he ran a hand distractedly through his shaggy dark hair as a few words were exchanged with Merope.

On his left hand he was holding a fishnet.

'What the hell?' Lucy wondered. She and her spirit were walking toward where their opponents were. Apparently going unnoticed by them.

A sudden feeling – or reflex, she didn't have enough time to choose – made her grab Sagittarius' arm and pull to the side.

They fell on the ground, haphazardly.

Lucy let out a grunt at the impact.

She noticed that there had just been a strange glow. White light.

Laughter echoed on the clearing.

"Let's see how you get over this now." She could hear Merope say.

Lucy let out a huff as she stood. On her side Sagittarius was ready, his bow already in hand and with some arrows clenched on the other hand.

"Let's do this. You can do it." She nodded at Sagittarius.

Her spirit was back to his gave face.

In the blink of an eye, three arrows were placed in position and shot.

The white light appeared again, apparently coming from the thing the other spirit was holding, the net.

A handful of nets, smaller ones, shot from behind them, protecting Bì and Merope and easily neutralizing the arrows.

It was only then that Lucy noticed that trapped among the glowing wires there were fish, trying to get free and water droplets that glowed in the light.

The arrows were no match some falling flat on the ground while others got caught in the net.

After a moment, the arrows that had been on the net disappeared.

'Damn! What the hell was that!' Lucy yelled to herself. 'Okay, I have a really bad feeling about this…'

"Please, take cover." Sagittarius said suddenly. Lucy looked at him, confused.

Then she looked at Bì, saw the odd aura surrounding him, the nets spreading outwards, some plunging into the water while other rose up towards the sky.

It was impressive. And menacing.

Sagittarius stepped forward, protecting Lucy. Seriousness emanating off him.

A blinding flash of light and Sagittarius was shooting a barrage of arrows, in every direction – unfortunately with no lasting effect as the arrows were disappearing as soon as they touched the nets.

"My turn now." The other celestial spirit said.

There was a sharp snap-like noise and a sharp breeze rose, making Lucy raise her arm to protect her eyes.

'What the hell is this?' She wondered, her hand curling on the whip handle more tightly.

Before her she could see Sagittarius frantically shooting arrows in every direction, though she couldn't exactly see if they were having any effect.

Suddenly Lucy was being pushed back, it was so unexpected that she stumbled and fell down on her ass. Scraping her hands as she instinctively braced herself in them, to stay the fall a bit.

When she looked up, Sagittarius was completely covered by the net, it was its black colour at first but was slowly lighting up as it roused into the air.

Sagittarius was struggling inside it but it was all for naught as his arms were immobilized – and tightly – against his torso.

"Sagittarius!" Lucy yelled, as she got up and started running towards her spirit.

The light started shining brighter.

"End of the fourth match. Victory for Merope and Bì." The voice suddenly cut in.

It was with relief that Lucy saw her surroundings spin.

When things stopped she was standing on a narrow strip of land, both sides being steep cliffs.

It did give her a mild sense of vertigo momentarily.

'This just keeps getting weirder…' she thought while stifling a nervous giggle. She could see that Merope, standing at quite some distance apart from her, also seemed to share the sense of unease.

Venturing a glance to her right side, Lucy saw that the cliff wall, full of sharp and pointy rocks stood above the sea. Large waves crashing upon the near-black rocks, the white foam spreading back and mixing with the foam of previous waves. The roughness of the sea under added to the unease as a sharp wind, cold and cutting in its saturated saltiness, raised.

"We're up to no good, hm, boss?" The gravelly voice of Draco sounded from her left.

"You can bet on that." She answered in a low voice. "Do you think we can take them?" She looked towards Merope and the three flying girls – they looked like it but it was impossible!

The purple dragon looked at Lucy, seeming to be assessing her, contemplative.

"What?" Was her slightly raspy question.

"Nothing…" was the simple answer.

It didn't convince Lucy.

She threw a glare at Draco. Blinking her eyes a couple of times she took in her spirit a little better. There was an air… a difference in him.

The scar that ran over his left eye had turned green and so did the tip of his long tail.

The cigar in his mouth was lit, as the greyish cloud of smoke attested to it.

These changes were slightly more noticeable but there was something the celestial mage couldn't quite put her finger on.

"What are you looking at?" Draco grumbled as he felt himself being observed.

"Nothing." Lucy shook her head. "Let's do this." She took a few steps approaching the centre.

"Fifth match. Draco Bom versus Shēn." The announcing voice said, the words suspended around them for a few instants before being swiped by the wind. "Begin."

The wind stopped suddenly.

The standstill only being broken by the loud noises of the sea coming from downwards.

"This is going to be a fight in the air!" Draco said before flying upwards, putting some distance from the mages.

Lucy saw him go. And then she focused her attention on his opponents.

Three girls clad in white dresses that reached their knees. The top seemed to have an imprint of a large triangle that contained four smaller triangles within, varying hues of green painted in each triangle. They also had headbands, a shiny white large triangle, the same pattern as in the shirts, placed at their fronts.

An unsettling feeling made Lucy's gut constrict in anxiousness.

The three girls moved at the same time, the same movements.

Perfect synchronicity.

'This is not good,' she thought to herself before being startled by a crunching noise. Ut was Merope.

Lucy instantly went into a fighting stance. But the other surprised her by not moving her weapon. She glanced at Lucy.

"I propose a small truce. Let our spirits do the fighting, what do you think?"

Lucy was slightly dumbfounded.

"Huh…" she started saying, intelligently. "Sure." She ended lamely.

"Good." Merope nodded and turned, looking into the sky.

Despite feeling suspicious, Lucy followed her lead.

Up in the air, things were heated.

With his tail twitching slightly, the only signal outwards that showed that he was feeling something, Draco was looking at the three sisters that stood in front of him. The smiles and empty eyes were unsettling but Draco… Draco had seen a lot of things… he still had an important part to play so he had to hurry, get done with this small hiccup to return to what mattered.

A twitch of his cigar was the only tell before he'd launched himself at the other spirits.

As expected they split up, each one flying to a different direction quite quickly. Annoying giggles sounded.

"C'mon, we haven't got all day." Draco grumbled as he felt the warmth rising, the pressure within demanding release. His mouth opened wide and a column of fire came forth, a wide arch.

Shēn came together behind Draco. As he turned to them, a green leaf got stuck in his snout.

He grumbled in distaste.

"You should go first, Alnitak." One of the girls said suddenly.

"What! No. Let Mintaka go first." Said another, waving her hands around.

"No, Alnilam has the best entrance." The last girl said with finality.

They stood like that for a while, bickering and not paying one bit of attention to Draco.

The dragon felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

'I can't believe it. Is it my fate to be facing hare-brained girls or what?!' he disparaged mentally.

"Hey, ladies." He said out loud. "Do you think that this is the right time and place to be doing that?" He asked sarcastically.

"Oh!" Three voices said at the same time. "He's right!" They added.

Shēn turned around to look at him, serious faces on.

"Let's do this!" They yelled as wind started blowing.

'They move too fast!' Draco thought, looking around, flying to the side as fast as his frantically beating wings allowed him to.

"Oh, so you don't want to play?" A voice said from his right. One of the entities was keeping up with him at a leisurely pace.

Draco started braking. He collided with another of his foes. She laughed and grabbed him.

"But he's just sooo cute!" She said in a cutesy voice.

"Let me go! I'm not cute!" He yelled, offended. His tail slapped her hand, making her startle and let go with a surprised noise.

"Hey, that's not fair." Was the outraged grumble.

"I'll give you fair…" Draco mumbled, his cigar twitching slowly. He took a deep breath and let out a big ball of fire followed by a column of fire, a large ring of flames surrounding him.

Having a small respite, apparently.

"Alnilam, I don't like the fire."

"Neither do I."

"Let's put it down." The last one said.

Draco didn't like the sound of it. Not one bit.

Wind started howling, taking away little wisps from the ring of fire. Flashes of white appeared on the corner of his eye here and there.

Seeing as one of the girls was standing right in front of him, Draco started flying to her, the burning he felt on the inside brimming to get outside.

However, as he rushed there he was hit. First on his left then his right. Laugher following each hit.

Then, the girl he'd been heading towards disappeared as he was being pushed from all his sides, in a dizzying whirlwind.

He found himself fighting, before long, on instinct.

Flames erupted into the air, his tail slapped and tangled with limbs and then… it stopped.

Draco turned, saw himself standing at the centre of the triangle the three individualities of Shēn made.

'Huh oh…' he thought, his cigar twitching anxiously in his mouth. 'Should I…?'

He prepared himself.

But blinding light consumed the world.

"No!" Lucy yelled, attempting to reach the falling form of her spirit.

"End of the fifth match. Victory for Merope and Shēn."

Lucy was barely listening, intent in trying to somehow reach Draco before he fell to the water.

Her foot slipped and rocks scrapped at her legs, tearing more at the by now ripped skirt of her dress.

She tried to grab something but she only ended slicing her hands up further.

And then she was suddenly propelled forward.

There was only a void.

Lucy didn't so much as have the chance to scream.

Darkness spun before her eyes.

And then, strong arms were catching her, making what little air that remained in her lungs come out in a gasp.

She opened her eyes and saw… Loke.

"Wha-" she started saying in a thin voice before coughing and gasping. She felt Loke lower her, help her up and steadying her. "Oh, I'm glad you're here." She finally said.

"Your wish is my command, Lucy." The spirit bowed, taking her hand to brush his lips against the back. He paused, making a face at the state of her hand. He took a closer look at the dishevelled state Lucy was in, mouth twisting.

"Sixth match. Leo versus Gui. You may begin."

The words sounded with an odd finality, Lucy noticed.

'Doesn't matter. I have to win.' She braced herself, steeling her resolve.

"Let's finish them." She held Loke's hand firmly, tightening her grip momentarily.

"Let's." Loke smiled sharply, his pointy teeth peeking out.

They let go of the grasp, a strange blanket of calmness falling upon then.

Silently they headed to what looked like the centre of the place they were at. A fountain, blanched and cracked stone, stood there.

Dry.

Large slabs of light grey stone were comprising the ground, underfoot, green weeds peeking from the ever-growing interstices.

A good layer of dust covered just about everything.

To the fountain, two streets converged. The façades of the houses and buildings still upright – even if not all that steady and secure-looking – and vegetation and trees gave some colour to the mostly bleached-white and dusty sight of the stones.

The sound of steps and, sure enough, Merope was walking to the fountain. A tall man walking beside her.

It was a figure that was clad in what looked like a bespoke suit, black with subtle red stripes, red tie, he had a trimmed moustache and his black hair was slicked back. Flinty eyes stared dispassionately at them.

Against his left thigh a sword was resting.

Merope seemed oddly relaxed, a tiny smirk on her lips. Her hands were holding her weapon before her, steadily even though she seemed slightly jittery, anticipating.

Without any sign or word, the ball connected to the bottom end of Merope's main weapon was flying towards Lucy.

Before Lucy could move so much as a muscle, Loke was standing before her, effortlessly making the ball fall to the side.

"So, it's like this?" Loke asked, tone bored.

"Your fight's with me." Gui said suddenly, sword falling in a downwards arch.

Both Loke and Lucy jumped out of the way, debris erupting into the air.

Lucy glared at Gui then at Merope, catching by the corner of her eye, Loke poised in a familiar stance.

His lips moved but his voice was so low that she couldn't catch anything.

Still, he could only be saying his incantation.

Bright light made Lucy turn her head, covering her eyes, and there was a hollow thud before the sudden brilliance dimmed and Lucy was standing alone with Merope.

Large scrapes cut the stone on the ground.

Though Lucy didn't have long for her contemplation, metal came zinging through the air, right at her head.

Lucy pivoted on her left foot, left hand coming to slide over Merope's weapon.

The two mages paused, a momentarily balance reached.

Their strengths were matched.

At least for the moment.

"Don't you think…" Merope scoffed, free hand reaching the top of the weapon, a handle, and a sword came off it.

Lucy cursed.

The balance between them was broken.

Lucy didn't stand without reaction, though, her right hand moved, wrist making a quick motion, the whip snapping and curling around Merope's right wrist.

She immobilized her momentarily.

Though that didn't seem to bother Merope as the celestial mage grinned and moved the esfingador. Lucy only felt a large force crashing against her stomach, taking her breath away. Instinctively she unlatched the whip from the other's forearm.

Lucy fell, most likely leaving some gaping overtures on her defence – though she was kind of beyond thinking about that. But she had to catch her breath back.

Frenzied steps sounded, and echoed, on the small plaza before the first building crumbled.

It was a deafening sound, raised thick clouds of dark dust. From inside it flashes of white and red were noticeable.

"After everything I was still expecting more." The silky voice cut in right beside Lucy's ear, the frisson of warning running down her spine before cold metal caressed Lucy's cheek.

"Don't worry…" Lucy suddenly ground out. "I can give you more." She said before throwing her head back, knocking against the other's face. Her left hand shot out to grab the handle of the sword, sharply taking it from Merope's hand.

And then Lucy felt two hands curl around her waist, lift her and take her away.

She looked up at Loke.

The spirit was slightly mussed-looking, scratches on his face and a general air of dishevelment.

"You didn't expect me now, did you?" He asked with slight amusement in his voice.

"You surprised me." Lucy replied in a breaking voice, still composing herself.

"And what do you have there?" Loke finally asked as he helped Lucy to the ground. They were hidden behind high bushes and large trees as well as by a bricked wall, the reddish colour faded to near white.

"This?" Lucy let out an aborted laugh as she held the sword up. "I just thought that it was only fair if both of us had these sharp and pointy things." She smiled pleasantly. "My whip, only, left me at too bit a disadvantage."

"That's right…" Loke smile approvingly at Lucy. "But I think that now we should stick together, maybe?"

"How was Gui? I didn't have much chance to pay attention, well, you two disappeared too…" She spoke while tilting her head to the side as she distractedly stored her whip in such a way that was ready to be quickly picked and used.

"He was… unusual." Loke replied frankly. "He uses that sword together with a strange energy. It's magic but with a sickly oddness to it."

"That can't be good." Lucy muttered. "Do you have any idea to counteract that? Him?"

"I might." Loke shrugged. "Still need to confirm a few things first but, yeah. I can take care of that guy."

"Okay. I'll try to hold her, to give you time." Lucy concluded, her hands resting on her hips.

"Do you think you…?" Loke started saying, concerned.

"Yes. Now, you go and kick his ass." Lucy made a shooing motion with her hands at him and then winked, confident.

"I will." Loke promised.

Sooner or later they had to return to the line of fire. They didn't take long to notice the other two as they seemed to be returning to the arena at the same time as he and Lucy.

His master didn't seem to be too affected by whatever had gotten her before. The small chance to regroup and take a breath had helped her.

A sword wasn't exactly her weapon of choice but Loke knew that she could handle herself. Even if her opponent was quite strong, it was never good to underestimate a foe. However, Loke had a mission – and it was going to be quite a tricky one.

That guy, Gui, set his teeth on edge. The magic he used was strange and when added to the sword, it tripled its harm.

On the other hand, Loke just needed to confirm one thing and then, hopefully, he had the right attack to finish the fight off with just one hit.

The spirit disappearing from the immediate space of the arena counted as a win, right?

Loke ran, right into the other's face, seeing slight surprise in the other's eyes. A shot of gooey-looking magic passed right by his left ear.

'That was close.' Loke thought as he stopped the falling blade with his bare hands.

They stood frozen in that position, measuring each other, still. This opponent was so tricky that so far into the fight they still hadn't completely grasped each other's forces.

Then the sticky red magic started oozing down the blade, making Loke's hands slip.

His current position wasn't sustainable for much longer.

With a push to his left side, Loke jumped to his right, spinning on his toes, his leg rising to kick Gui right in the gut.

The other spirit let out a gasp, being projected against a tree right behind.

'Gotcha!' Thought Loke.

Still, Gui was quick to gather himself and so he plunged the tip of the sword on the stone floor, a rift of energy shooting towards Loke at insane speed.

Loke ran.

Maybe closer to the crackling burst of energy than was advised but he approached Gui in a flash.

Light was already coursing through him, the warm feeling leaving a pleasant tingle down his arm. Light fathered in his palm which he then closed, making a fist.

He punched the other spirit with all he got, right in the solar plexus.

Gui was blasted away, a large trail of destruction in his wake.

"We won." Loke said to himself, a fact. He turned to Lucy, waiting for the confirmation too.

But what he saw made him freeze.

Then he saw red.

"End of the sixth match. Victory for Lucy and Leo." The voice said, although the misty surroundings at the edges were getting slightly more clear. "The end result is: a draw between the participants."

Lucy let out a huge sigh of relief. She wasn't too sure about the meaning and implications of a draw. After all, would she be able to continue ahead? Or was she going to be stopped despite proving herself, according to the rules?

A cacophony of thoughts was running though her mind. Both she and Merope had let go of their weapons, adrenaline still coursing highly through them.

Lucy looked at Loke but he was staring at Lucy with a scary-serious look.

'Odd.' She thought but then was distracted by a hand touching her arm.

She turned to see Merope standing back, extending a hand.

The last setting of the trial dissolved behind them, leaving them back at the starting point.

"No matter the outcome, it was a pleasure going through this trial with you. You've proven resourceful and honest. A good opponent."

Lucy extended her hand too, they shook them slowly.

"It has also been a pleasure. Hopefully we'll meet again, though under a more auspicious situation." She glanced at Merope's clothes. "Sorry about the clothes. And your leg. And arm…" She grimaced a little

"Likewise. Sorry about your back. And your leg too." Was the contrite reply.

"Ah. Don't mention it." Lucy waved a hand at her, showing that she didn't have to worry, the fire in her back finally making itself known to her body. To a screaming effect.

Suddenly dizziness hit her and Lucy felt herself fall.

Into the darkness.

Lucy woke slowly, groggily, into what seemed to be a bright room.

The first thing she saw was the white ceiling which contained a number of intricate forms that created different images through a complex game of shadows and light.

The whiteness was too much for her, though. It was too bright for her eyes and there was light coming from somewhere, even if it wasn't directed at her.

She waited, letting herself get used to the brightness. By doing that she also started assessing her surroundings.

It didn't take long for her to conclude that she was in the infirmary ward, decidedly.

And it was after the trial.

She grimaced.

Hurt permeated her body. Every little bit, muscle and bone, even what during the trial looked like just a minor scratch now seemed to be making a point of being noticed.

Though the worst were the wounds that positively screamed at her.

A tiny noise of pain escaped her lips but it went unheard in the heavy silence that shrouded the room.

As awareness got a tighter grasp on her, her other senses seemed to kick in, to became sharper.

Slowly, fragments of a conversation started reaching her.

"… not good. The report said that someone from Blue Pegasus was the one who caused it." One voice said.

"It goes against our plans that they're close to finding us already." Another voice replied sternly.

"They're only supposed to take notice much later." The first voice continued, agitatedly. "When we are ready."

"I wonder if someone from that guild is aware – I mean, they ruined our plan so maybe we were discovered."

"And how about we don't discuss such important matter in a place where everyone can overhear?" A third voice suddenly cut in.

"Ah! Sorry."

"Sorry."

Both voices sounded properly chastised.

Footsteps ensued and then only silence remained.

Lucy blinked owlishly, trying to order her thoughts and make sense of what she had just heard.

'I wonder if the person from Blue Pegasus they were talking about was the one I saw before…' she wondered. 'What the hell were they talking about, though?'

The thought crossed her mind but at that moment she felt a wave of pain go through her and so she welcomed the dark arms of oblivion with relief.

End of the First Arc

Glossary:

Wěi – Tail

Niú – Ox

Nǚ – Girl

Bì – Net

Shēn – Three Stars

Guǐ – Ogre/Demon, Ghost

A/N: Whoa, finally, the end of the first part of this fic! Can you believe it, reader?

I doubt that anyone's still following this story from the beginning but, heh, to whoever read this far, thanks for coming with me on this ride. There's a lot of stuff happening but I'm just super happy for managing to get here. Despite the terrible fight scenes, many apologies for that…

Anyway, I have a serious question to pose to the readers. I mean, is there interest in continuing reading this fic? I'm just saying this because I don't have any notion if people are still interested, I don't have feedback (though there are some exceptions) so I'm a bit in the dark…

So… thoughts?

Thanks for reading this far. This chapter was unbetaed, as per usual.

Feedback would be awesome.