Fairy Tail: Bandits vs Fairies (Part 3)

The battle between Lydia the Green Knight and Erza Scarlet was impossible to follow by anyone on the ground floor. The pair were expert swordswomen and wizardesses, lightning fast with their swords as well as their spells.

Erza would trade blows, spring and maneuver off the walls, then make more weapons appear from mid-air, sending them hurtling at her opponent like missiles. Occasionally she was bathed in golden light and her armor changed, her physical capabilities altering along with her appearance. It could have fooled anyone watching into thinking she was several different people fighting at once.

Opposite the scarlet-haired warrior, Lydia fought in a similar fashion, her armor and weapons themselves changing shape to match Erza’s arsenal. Scythes, quarter staffs, great swords, maces, all of jade-green steel formed in her hands. Her armor grew or shrank, forming spikes or becoming stream-lined, matching her opponent’s attacks.

Yet despite both of their great power and skill, it was Erza that dictated the pace. She struck first, forced Lydia to react to her, stayed on the offensive. Lydia adapted to her, altering her armor and weapons to keep up, but was kept on the back foot. Although, despite this, Erza never quite managed to land a telling cut.

Eventually, after a tangled ballet of strikes and reposts, the queen of the fairies landed a sledgehammer blow. It was one her opponent blocked, but the sheer force of it knocked the green knight straight downwards, slamming her into one of the tower’s winding balconies.

Lydia was knocked through the floor and to the level below, pulverizing another bookshelf with her armored body.

Erza, dressed in pink armor with decorative wings at her elbows, knees, and in her hair, landed across from her opponent, a sword in either hand. If the green knight had been slower getting up, Erza would have finished her off, but as it was upon her arrival Lydia was already climbing to her feet. And she was grinning.

Narrowing her eyes, Erza watched her opponent warily. Regardless of her youth, she’d had numerous battles and could boast experience most warriors couldn’t hope to equal in their entire lives. With that experience came instincts and those instincts were telling her there was something her green armored opponent was hiding from her.

“You dance beautifully with your steel, Erza,” Lydia leered, “I’m glad now you forced my hand. “

Erza stared back, lips tight in a stern scowl.

“Why do you seek the Siphons of Hedrick?” she barked, pointing her sword, “You are a wizard. How does it help you to empty the world of its magic?”

Lydia paused at that, eyes twinkling. She stayed still, regarding her red-haired rival thoughtfully, mouth just slightly ajar, like she’d decided to speak but not what she would say.

“Being a bandit has gotten difficult lately,” she finally sighed, “There was a time I could do whatever I wanted. Hide in the woods, rob a caravan blind, enjoy a good fight, then slip away and do it all again.”

Although the pair kept wary eyes on each other, Erza allowed her opponent to speak and Lydia leaned back against the bookshelf. The latest form of her armor covered her arms and chest, but notably left a gap open to expose her cleavage, which jutted out as she arched her back.

“With all the wizard’s guilds around, things got more complicated,” Lydia brushed some hair behind her ear with a claw, “I had to step up my game. I couldn’t just have a gang, I had to have an army. I couldn’t have a hideout, I had to have a fortress. And it all has to be hidden well enough that we can’t be tracked there… but it’s only a matter of time before someone finds it.”

The green knight held up her hand, palm up, and like she had formed weapons now she formed a miniature castle of green steel. It was intricate and detailed, so much so that it could only be a real place, now resting in Lydia’s hand.

“Eventually some guild, probably Fairy Tail or Sabertooth will get called there,” she said, “And we’ll be squashed like bugs. But if I can control the siphons…”

A dome formed over the little castle, turning it into a solid, shining ball of green steel.

“Not only will no magic be able to track us there,” Lydia grinned, “But if your guilds DO show up…”

Erza’s glare darkened, “You mean for it to be a trap then. To destroy magic guilds.”

Lydia tossed the steel ball and caught it, “Not at all. I mean to have a home base where I can strike from and retreat to, where no one would dare attack. If your guilds decide to attack anyway, well, I can’t be blamed for their stupidity.”

At that, the time for talk was over. Erza lunged and Lydia leapt out of the way, leaving the already wrecked bookshelves to be further sliced to pieces. With a thought, the steel ball in her hand launched at Erza like it was fired from a cannon, but the Fairy Tail wizardess knocked it aside with a flash of sparks and continued her pursuit.

“You cannot control the Siphons,” Erza snarled, striking at the green knight with both swords, “They are made from dark energy none can bridle. You will destroy everything for your greed.”

Lydia blocked the strokes with a blade of her own, then shoved her opponent back and sprang. She bounded across the gap and to the railing on the next level, then sprang again and again, bouncing up one floor at a time.

“My magic comes from that dark place, Erza,” she called over her shoulder, “And so does my lieutenants’. Three masters of demon power, three Siphons.”

Erza leapt after her, calling out a spell as she did.

“Requip: black wing armor!”

In the middle of her leap, the scarlet-haired warrior lit up, her silhouette filled with a golden glow. Her armor and weapons changed shape, though it was hard to distinguish until the light faded. When she was visible again, her armor had become black and almost vampiric, with a pair of large bat wings sprouting from her back and a wicked double-handed sword in her grip.

Rather than springing from railing to railing like her opponent had done, Erza beat her new wings and made a beeline after her.

“If what you say is true,” Erza snarled, “Then there is even more reason to stop you!”

She intercepted Lydia in mid-leap, just before she reached the tower’s top floor.

Lydia’s eyes widened and she managed to form a shield of green steel, but there was no way to dodge. A mighty stroke from Erza’s vampiric broadsword bit into the shield and cracked it open, the force of the blow knocking her into the tower’s ceiling.

Lydia cried out in pain as she bodily smashed through planks and plaster, gouging a hole in the ceiling and flying through to crash somewhere on the other side.

Erza immediately pursued, tucking her wings to fit through the hole her opponent had made, then throwing them wide once she was through.

It turned out that rather than the roof, the hole led to the tower’s storage room, or perhaps an attack. The tower narrowed towards the top, so it wasn’t as wide as the base floor, but was still very large, full of books and artifacts, stacked and bound together or covered in tarps. It was cluttered and dusty, dark, almost haunted.

With the ceiling too low to fly, Erza tucked in her wings and dropped to the floor, sword at the ready.

Lydia stood with her back to a stack of books, a broadsword of her own in hands. Her armor was split across one shoulder, the damaged shield having been repurposed as a shoulder plate. The steel she could generate wasn’t infinite; enough damaging strokes and she’d run out.

Even so, the green knight was still grinning wildly.

“Well struck,” she ran her tongue over her teeth, “Your steel is a symphony!”

The two met once more, blade clashing against blade, Lydia’s eager grin matching Erza’s stern glare.

“Show me more, Titania,” Lydia hissed, “Show me everything!”

----

While Erza continued to batter at her opponent’s defenses, Wendy was having much less success in her own battle.

She took another blast of dark energy that sent her rolling across the floor, finally coming to a stop when she slammed into a sturdy stone statue with a cry of pain. Aching, tired, her clothes tattered, the little dragon slayer waited for everything to stop spinning before she tried to rise. The attempt was painfully slow, her body shaking as she pushed to all fours, teeth gritted.

It became a wasted effort when Alice landed on top of her with both feet, driving her back to the floor.

“I bet you’re sorry you tried to fight me now, huh?” Alice sneered, “You’re not even a real dragon! Ha!”

She did a little hop to emphasize her point, drawing a wheeze of pain from the girl beneath her feet.

“Anyway, princesses are better than wizards, and demons are better than dragons,” Alice stuck out her tongue, “Nyah! You should have known that, dummy!”

With that little taunt, she hopped off Wendy’s back and landed beside her, grinning, her nose held high in the air with the utmost satisfaction.

Alice had taken her own damage during the fight. Most of the jewelry she’d stolen, including her tiara, had been blasted off of her, one of the straps of her dress was broken and the bow in her hair was hanging askew. She was dirty, scraped on her knees, arms and face, and her skirts had several tattered holes in them.

However, still lying on the floor, Wendy was practically in shambles. One sleeve of her jacket had been torn entirely away, revealing the Fairy Tail emblem on her bare shoulder, while the other had torn free but was hanging bunched up around her wrist. Her skirt was frayed much shorter than it had been, barely enough to protect her modesty, her leggings so tattered they were little more than strings in places, both her shoes having been knocked off at some point during the fight. Her bow tie was miraculously still in place, but smudged with dirt, every inch of bare skin scraped or bruised.

Panting into the floor, eyes still shining with angry tears, Wendy tried to get up again, but Alice planted her foot on the side of the Fairy Tail girl’s head, leering down at her.

“A sorry, sorry baby.” Alice cooed, “Now apologize, baby. Say you’re sorry. Say it nice enough and maybe I’ll stop beating you up!”

“Nghh…” Wendy cringed as the other girl pressed down, grinding her temple into the library’s floor.

Although she’d never been to an actual school, Wendy had encountered bullies. Not many, but enough for her to recognize them and know how to handle them. They were usually unhappy, angry, looking to take out their frustrations on someone weaker. If Wendy made it clear she wasn’t afraid, that messing with her would be more trouble than it’s worth, bullies left her alone. And if they didn’t, she was a dragon slayer.

But Alice wasn’t just a bully. She was mean and said nasty things, but she actually wanted to take things from everyone, not just weaker people. She didn’t care if she got hurt to do it or how much damage she caused in the process, she wanted to bring down everything around her. If no one stopped her, she’d destroy the library, ruin lives, and hurt everyone she came into contact with. Most importantly, she’d hurt Fairy Tail; she’d hurt Wendy’s family. That was something she couldn’t forgive.

Clenching her fists, the tattered, blue-haired girl looked into herself, calling on the power that had been placed there. She was a dragon slayer not because she actually slayed dragons, but because a seed of a dragon burned in her chest, making her part dragon herself. In that moment of need, the Sky Dragon inside Wendy came to life.

The little girl opened her mouth and drew in a deep breath, devouring the air that fueled her powers.

Alice was just about to let fly with another taunt, when a pillar of wind erupted from the girl beneath her, throwing her straight into the air with a shriek of fear and surprise. The wicked blonde girl was carried on the gale like a scrap of paper, flipping end over end. The force beneath her was so powerful, she shot up the tower like a rocket, the floors becoming blurs as she whipped past them.

“YAAAAAAH!” she cried.

She was flipping so fast, she couldn’t tell which was up or down. Flailing, trying to call on her own powers, she managed only to make her flight more erratic. She was quickly carried so high that people below lost sight of her, threatening to reach the top of the tower and slam into its ceiling.

Seconds before she would have hit the top floor, where Erza and Lydia had vanished earlier, Alice pulled out all the stops and simply encased herself in a ball of her own dark energy. It hurt, making her cringe in pain, but it stopped her in her tracks, the wind buffeting against the dark bubble but breaking like rapids around a glowing, violet rock.

“NHH!” Alice clenched her fists, putting more power into her capsule, waiting for the winds to stop.

Finally, they did and she let the energy ball drop, her baby-doll features screwed up and stormy. Hovering with her aura of violet power, she glared down at the bottom level where guards and bandits were still fighting, trying to pick her opponent out from the melee. She didn’t like when someone got the better of her, even in a single exchange. And she especially didn’t like being taken by surprise. She was going to punish the blue-haired girl for that.

Too far away to see one little girl on the ground floor, Alice angled herself downwards and dove, her skirt flapping against her legs. She didn’t want to give the wizard girl time to catch her breath or to think she actually had a chance of winning. She was going to find her and hit her back right away to make sure the Fairy Tail girl knew who was boss.

However, before she could fly down and pay the girl back, she saw something flying up to meet her. It looked like a trick of the light at first, a pink spark flying towards her and getting larger. As it drew closer, Alice began to see the bright pink was attached to a figure, that of a young girl dressed in familiar garb. In fact, the glowing pink was actually her hair, held in pigtails but wilder, longer now, almost reaching her feet.

“Tenyru… no…” Wendy roared in her shrill little voice, “HOKO!”

Alice juked to the side to avoid the attack like she’d done before, but to her surprise the gale had such a wide spread that it filled the entirety of the tower; there was nowhere to dodge. Once again, she was struck by the winds like a battering ram, thrown back towards the ceiling.

More prepared for it this time, Alice created a shield of dark power that acted as a wind-break, allowing her to hold her ground, though the slip stream still hit her with enough force to yank the bow out of her hair. She gritted her teeth, her curls flapping, squinting through her energy shield as the girl she’d bullied a minute before bore down on her.

Wendy was still the same girl, the same soft features, the same big eyes, same athletic little body in the same tattered skirt uniform, but there was something distinctly different about her, and not just the color of her hair. Her eyes were the same glaring pink as her hair, glowing feathers sprouting from her wrists, ankles, and more that formed actual wings on her back, but that wasn’t the entirety of it either. It was something in the spirit of the once-meek little girl, a fire behind her eyes, a fierceness in the wrinkle of her button nose, the curl of her lip as she roared.

Alice blinked, actually surprised at the savageness of the girl’s expression.

“You… really are a dragon…” she breathed.

Wendy rocketed towards her, teeth bared, showing pointed canines. So far, she’d relied on the winds to be her weapons, a gale to be her dragon’s claws, a cyclone as her roar. Now she simply flew at her evil counterpart and punched her in the face.

Alice’s head was jerked to the side from the force of the blow, sending her reeling through the air.

“That’s for stealing!” Wendy cried.

Alice shook her head and collected herself, preparing to counterattack, but Wendy was already on top of her, burying her fist into the young bandit’s stomach.

“That’s for saying bad things about Fairy Tail!” Wendy cried again.

The blow knocked Alice back, drawing a wheeze of pain, but she steadied herself with her powers and met the other girl’s glare with one of her own.

Wendy charged at her again, but this time Alice swooped to the side, avoiding the girl’s swing and hitting her back with a fist enclosed in violet energy. It struck the Fairy Tail girl across the face, turning her head and stifling her forward progress.

“Well, that’s for not giving up when you should have!” Alice drew back her fist to swing again, “And this is for—NYEEK!”

Her punch was caught and she was swung around by her arm, then let go and sent flying. Before she could arrest her momentum, she crashed through a bannister and into another bookshelf. Several books fell on top of the young bandit as she landed on her butt, momentarily stunned.

“Fairy Tail wizards never give up!” Wendy yelled at her, “Tenryu no hoko!”

Opening her mouth wide, she blasted her evil counterpart with a Sky Dragon roar at almost point-blank range. The cyclone smashed through not only the bannister and the bookshelf, but the wall behind it too. It looked like someone had detonated a shape charge, brick blasted to dust and creating a small cloud, rubble thrown out of the gaping hole along with hundreds of thousands of tattered book pages.

But when the dust cleared, Alice was still standing there, braced behind a shield of her dark energy. Her skirt was a bit more tattered, her curls frayed, but she was grinning, eyes narrowed and gleaming.

Wendy blinked, a bit surprised that the other girl was able to shield herself so completely from the attack, but quickly shook it off, narrowing her eyes in return.

“I don’t want you to give up anymore,” Alice’s grin broadened, “I’m going to beat you, dragon. And then… you’re going to be MY pet!”

With that, she shot her energy shield at the dragon slayer, turning it into a projectile.

Wendy dodged around it and the two girls rushed towards each other, small fists blazing with supernatural power.

----

In the strange purple and black room, Lucy and Gutride stared at each other, the former with a wary frown while the latter wore a smug smirk.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Lu-Lu-chan?” Gutride dragged her eyes up and down the blonde’s curving figure, “Finishing school. You look even bustier than you did back then…”

She swaggered toward the bed where Lucy had landed, hips knocking side to side like a church bell.

“To tell you the truth, I was little obsessed with you in those days.” Gutride laughed gently.

Lucy narrowed her eyes back, “I remember.”

Not liking the suggestive nature of her current position, Lucy climbed off the bed on the opposite side from her former schoolmate. She crossed her arms under her breasts, keeping the large four-poster between them.

Gutride looked a lot different than she had during their school days. Gutride had come from one of the wealthier families, even wealthier than Lucy’s, and she’d always been dressed as a classical lady, even if she never acted the part. With the pageboy cut and the punk-like outfit, it was difficult to reconcile her with the girl she’d known those years ago. However, now that it clicked, Lucy recognized the wild look in her violet eyes and the cruel, crooked grin.

“Seeing you again brings back lots of feelings,” Gutride leaned on the edge of the bed, her shoulders slanted, “Do you feel it too?”

Lucy stiffened, her cheeks flushing pink.

Despite her family’s wealth, Gutride had always been an outsider at school. She was weird, had creepy hobbies, and bad things usually happened to anyone that picked on her. At first, Lucy had felt sorry for the girl and hoped their shared interest in magic could make them friends, but Gutride had made it clear that she wasn’t looking for friends. Several attempts at cornering her and getting handsy put an end to that.

Frowning, hugging her arms a bit tighter over her breasts, Lucy kept her distance.

“Gutride… what are you doing here?” she finally asked, “What is this… room?”

Gutride laughed, rolling her eyes, “Well, I’m a bandit now, blondie. Obviously.”

She stepped away from the bed, turning in place.

“And this…” she threw her arms out wide, “Is my own little pocket dimension. It’s where I keep allllllll my toys and fun magic things. It’s my place. My own little sanctum…”

Lucy looked around, her jaw set, mouth a firm line. One of the reasons she hadn’t attacked the other girl yet because she didn’t know the way out of this place. If this was Gutride’s personal dimension, the only way out would be if Gutride let her out, she created her own portal, or she bottomed out Gutride’s magical reserves. But despite how creepy the girl was, Lucy would try to talk her way out of this first, rather than start a fight. She wasn’t Natsu.

“How did you make this place, Gutride?” she asked, “I thought you were forbidden from summoning magic… after what happened.”

Gutride paused, growing dangerously still for a moment.

Even the Longcaster family’s wealth and influence couldn’t save her from expulsion after she’d attempted dangerous magic that almost destroyed the facility. She’d broken one of the summoning taboos, trying to take the power of a celestial spirit and put it inside herself permanently. The attempt had backfired and the spirit went on a rampage. It was Lucy that had managed to put a stop to it and in the end, she’d confessed that Gutride had been the one who started it all.

Judging by the other girl’s reaction, there were still some hard feelings.

“Oh…” Gutride said, her voice deceptively light, “I had to get a little creative. The celestial spirits refused my summons, but I could summon other things.”

Lucy’s brow furrowed. That didn’t sound good.

“What other things? What did you do?”

Gutride smiled. She paused, making it clear she’d heard the question and was deliberately ignoring it, then turned to stride towards a pile of violet cushions that had been laid on the floor.

“You haven’t said anything about my collection, Lu-Lu-chan,” she teased, “It took a lot of effort to find them, gather them.”

Lying amidst the cushions was one of the porcelain-white statues, sprawled on its hip, cheek to the floor, appearing to be sleeping peacefully. The girl in the statue had long, straight hair that fell over her shoulders, slender with her rounding hip jutting up from the way she lay.

Gutride knelt beside the statue, smoothing her hand over the marbled shoulder.

“This is one of my favorites,” she cooed, “Isn’t she sweet like this? So sexy. She fought so hard. And then when she gave in, she let out the cutest little sigh.”

“Gutride,” Lucy tried again, “What are you talking about? What did you do?”

Gutride rose and strode to another statue, this one sitting against the wall, her bare breasts thrust out from the way she was propped up.

“They’re all mine now,” she continued, “Mine to play with whenever I want. They dress how I want, do what I want, say what I want. It’s perfect…”

Lucy clenched her fists. She’d heard enough of this.

“Just like the spirits you summon,” Gutride said, “Toys. And I always want more, when I—”

CRACK!

Gutride was cut off, stiffening in surprise as a whip struck one of her cushions, splitting it open as cleanly as a knife stroke. Stuffing flew into the air and the crack reverberated through off the circular walls, leaving her ears ringing.

She slowly looked over her shoulder at Lucy, lips pursed in annoyance at being interrupted.

Lucy was less than intimidated. With her point made, she flicked her celestial energy whip back, leaving it to coil on the floor at her side. Usually bouncy and chipper, she now wore a forbidding glare worthy of Erza.

“Celestial spirits are not toys.” she declared, “They are living beings that deserve respect. And I don’t have time to listen to the rest of your creepy speech. Let me out of here right now.”

Gutride stared at Lucy with a lizard-like grin, cold and very still. Then she let out a low, rumbling laugh.

“So impatient,” she chuckled, “Don’t worry, I’ll let you out. From time to time. To play with you. I’m going to play with you lots and lots.”

The dark-haired, dark-eyed girl reached into the neckline of her shirt. Lucy didn’t understand why until she withdrew a steel chain, from which dangled dozens of summoning keys.

The keys for summoning celestial spirits were either silver or gold, silver indicating a more common spirit while the gold was only for the rare and powerful 12 spirits of the Zodiac. But these keys were neither; they were either entirely black or white, with symbols on them that Lucy didn’t recognize.

“Summoning keys?” Lucy blinked in surprise.

Gutride grinned, plucking one of the black keys off the necklace.

“Like I said, I had to get creative,” she said, “It’s true, that little escapade at finishing school lost me the ability to summon celestial spirits. But I could still open portals and manipulate things in other realms. And with enough dark magic, enough twisting and perverting… open, gate of the devouring beasts!”

As Gutride said those last words, she thrust the dark key into the air and a portal opened from one of the walls. Fire immediately burst from the open doorway, licking out from the hellish landscape on the other side, and through it shambled several blackened but sultry figures. They were beautiful women, bald and naked but for clumps of ash and soot that managed to protect their nether regions. Each had a body to kill for but they all looked exactly the same, all exhausted, slumped, trudging to meet their mistress’s summons. Their eyes were an unhealthy pink, empty and staring, but what was most disconcerting was their mouths, hanging open and full of sharp teeth.

Lucy gasped in shock and horror, paling as she realized what she was looking at.

“With enough torture,” Gutride cooed, “You can make something else entirely. Demons.”

Eyes wide, Lucy backed away from the creatures, trembling, brow pinched with grief.

“Aww, don’t be scared, Lucy-tan,” the other girl stroked one of the creature’s bald heads, “They won’t hurt you. I want you alive.” She laughed, “Capture her, devourers. And bring me her keys.”

On her command, the former celestial spirits suddenly stiffened and came to life, their seeming-fatigue vanishing with prey in their sights. Their eyes widened and locked onto Lucy, mouths opening wide to show all their pointed teeth, hissing in eagerness.

But Gutride had misinterpreted the blonde wizard’s reaction. She was shocked, but it wasn’t a prelude to paralyzing fear. She trembled, but not with terror.

As Lucy came to grips with what Gutride had done, her lips pulled back and her brow lowered, squeezing her whip handle so tight the leather creaked. She shook not with fear, but with rage, her eyes smoldering, teeth bared.

“You… you did this…” she hissed, “to your own spirits?”

The devourers shrieked and charged at her, fingers curled like claws, eager to pounce.

A slash of Lucy’s glowing whip drove them back, knocking several off their feet.

“I felt sorry for you,” her voice trembled, “I knew you were weird back then, even creepy, but I didn’t think you were evil. Now… I’ll never forgive you.”

Gutride’s mouth fell open, surprised at how easily the other girl had driven back her demons. But Lucy wasn’t done.

Reaching to the keyring hanging from her belt, she snatched a golden key and swiped it through the air.

“Open, gate of the lion!” Lucy cried, “Loke!”

A glowing portal opened, and out of it stepped a tall, leonine man with spiky hair. He wore a suit, stood upright and regal, his steely gaze burning through a pair of sunglasses at the mass of twisted creatures before him. Loke the lion, the most powerful of the 12 spirits of the zodiac, knew what they were and he didn’t need a command to tell him what to do. He launched himself at the fallen spirits, his fist glowing with celestial energy.

“Regulus impact!” he bellowed.

He swung his fist and unleashed a torrent of golden light. It enveloped the devourers and they screamed in unison, their corporeal forms breaking apart. In only an instant, their screams vanished and so did they, returning to whatever hellscape was their home domain.

Having seen what was about to happen, Gutride had dove out of the way before she was caught in the blast as well. Eyes wide, slightly awed by the show of power, she snatched another black key from her necklace.

“O-open!” she cried, “Gate of the tendril leeches!”

Another portal opened and dark tentacles lashed out, coiling around Loke and pulling him in several directions. He snarled and fought back, pulling against the tendrils, breaking them or blasting through them, but they managed to slow him down.

“Open, gate of the bull!” Lucy produced another golden key, “Taurus!”

As Gutride gaped with incredulity, another golden portal opened and out stepped a massive man-shaped bull with an even larger, double-headed axe. He was layered with powerful muscle, his teeth bared in a mirror of Lucy’s own fury, and he charged, slicing through several tentacles with one swing of his great axe.

“You… you can open two of those at once?!” Gutride gasped.

Lucy sneered, producing another key, “I can do a lot more than that.”

The shocked brunette pulled another black key to keep pace and the battle of the summoners continued, but it was very one sided.

Although this was Gutride’s on pocket dimension and she was a summoner of significant skill, her raw power paled in comparison to Lucy’s. Not only could Lucy hold more portals open longer, but her spirits were more powerful and attuned to her, her well of personal magic giving them reserves of might her opponent couldn’t hope to match.

It wasn’t long before Gutride was all but running for her life, trying to stay out of the way of all the attacks from Lucy’s spirits but finding herself pinned in. She began using her demons and shields to protect herself, rather than launching any assaults on Lucy, desperately trying to stay a step ahead.

“Open! G-gate of the mud monster!” she cried desperately.

The creature appeared in front of her, just in time to absorb several celestial arrows that would have pinned her to the wall.

However, while she was so busy with the battle amongst her summoned monsters and Lucy’s celestial spirits, she didn’t notice Lucy herself charging at her from across the room.

“Lucy… KICK!” Lucy cried, planting her foot into Gutride’s chest.

Taken completely by surprise, Gutride gasped as the wind was knocked out of her and was thrown onto her back, clutching her chest. Wheezing, her glasses askew on her face, she propped herself up to see Lucy standing over her with a stern glare.

Lucy placed her hands on her hips, her breasts thrust out beneath her daring tube top as she posed authoritatively.

“What you’ve done is unforgiveable,” she glowered, “You tortured innocent creatures and made them into monsters.”

Gutride glared back and coughed, straightening her glasses on her nose.

“This is over,” Lucy narrowed her eyes, “You can’t beat someone who treats their spirits with respect. And you’ll never earn their respect. Not after this.”

As if to prove her point, Loke blasted a hole through her mud monster, making the creature moan and vanish back to its realm. A swarm of wicked pixies was hampering Saggitereus, but Taurus came in with his axe and cleaved many of them away. A giant, beautiful female cyclops tried to get to its feet, but a double-footed kick from Capricorn knocked her flat.

There was no doubt about it; Gutride would soon lose this battle.

Lucy pointed an accusing finger, “Now give me your keys and let me out of this creepy place. My friends need my help.”

At the mention of taking her keys, Gutride snatched them protectively, her eyes wide. In all this time, she’d never been so clearly outmatched. She’d known Lucy was strong, she had been when they were younger, but she’d never pictured the perky, almost silly blonde girl having this kind of power. At this point, she was almost out of demons to summon and the energy to summon them with.

Cornered, Gutride’s violet eyes darted about, looking for some sort of escape. Even as much as she rebelled against it, she was still an entitled girl from a wealthy family and she was used to getting what she wanted. She almost couldn’t comprehend that someone might actually be able to take something away from her.

Her fingers went from one key to the next, trying to remember which ones she’d already used and which could help her. In her desperation she’d lost track and she was starting to panic, her expression becoming a snarl of petulant defiance.

Then in her haste, she accidentally grabbed one of the white keys.

She stopped. An idea came to her, one wicked and ironic. And fun. Oh yes, if it worked it would be very fun.

Her glare relaxed into a smile and slowly she began to laugh.

Despite her monsters being overwhelmed a dozen paces away, she grinned up at Lucy, eyes lidded and suggestive.

“Aww, you don’t want to stay?” Gutride purred, “But I have so many fun things we can do…”

Lucy jutted out her bottom jaw, glowering and tapping her foot. She didn’t have a problem kicking the evil girl during a fight, but she hesitated at the thought of whipping her while she was prostrate and helpless. It seemed like something a bad guy would do.

The blonde wizard chewed her lip for a moment, considering her options.

“I’ll kick you again, you know.” She said, “I stomped on a guy’s face earlier. And you did something way meaner than what he did.”

Gutride just giggled again, sitting up straighter and flirtily pressing out her own chest.

“But you’re not going to stomp on me,” she grinned, “And you’re not going to be leaving right now either. You’re about to be too sleepy to do any of that.”

Lucy blinked, not understanding what the girl meant.

She was about to snap back, maybe threaten Gutride with her whip, when suddenly someone pressed against her back, hugging around her waist.

“AA—MMHH!” she stiffened, starting to squeal in surprise, but someone pressed a soft cloth over her mouth, muffling the cry.

Eyes wide with surprise and confusion, Lucy froze for a moment, not sure how to react. Someone was holding her, someone with soft skin and a supple body, breasts pressing into her back, breath against her neck. One arm looped tight around her stomach, while the other held the sweet-smelling cloth on her face.

It wasn’t a monster, but a girl. A naked girl.

Gutride licked her lips, eyes narrowed with pleasure at the sight.

“That’s it,” she cooed, “Keep her cuddled nice and tight.”

“Shhh…” the girl whispered dreamily against Lucy’s cheek, “Don’t fight. This will make you feel good…”

“WMMHH?!” Lucy squawked, their words galvanizing her.

She bucked, grabbing at the arm around her waist and trying to twist around to face her attacker, but the girl kept the cloth hugged tight to her face, keeping her from turning.

It was difficult for her to fight someone who was directly behind her, but the attacker was just a normal girl, with strength comparable to Lucy’s own. When pulling the arm from her waist didn’t work, she grabbed the hand holding the cloth with both of her own and began prizing it away.

“A little help?” Gutride asked.

Lucy pulled the cloth from her face and took a deep gasp of air, whatever was on the cloth making it harder to breathe. She turned her face to the side, opened her mouth to shout for help, but before she could another hand clasped over her lips.

“MMMHH!” she cried out in surprise, her blue eyes wide.

Another girl had sidled up beside her with a sleepy smile, placing her hand over Lucy’s mouth to stifle her. She was very pretty, with curly red hair and freckles. She was also naked and she looked pleased to be that way.

“No screaming…” the girl cooed, “Not yet…”

Before Lucy could come to grips with that girl, another came from the other side, taking one of Lucy’s wrists in a firm, but gentle grip. Lucy’s eyes darted towards her just as she began slowly pulling Lucy’s arm away, holding it out where she couldn’t use it.

“You’re so soft,” the girl, dark-haired and pretty, pressed her lips to Lucy’s hand, “Just enjoy this…”

Lucy squealed and jerked as the one that initially grabbed her smoothed the cloth over her mouth and nose again, holding it in place, while the redhead took Lucy’s only free hand with both of her own. In moment’s, she pulled it out like the other girl had done, holding their victim in a crucifix.

And more girls came, hands smoothing over body as they surrounded her, pressing close, all naked, all beautiful.

It was Gutride’s collection, the girls that had been statues minutes before. They’d come to life in some sort of sleep-walking haze, smothering her, holding her, keeping her from calling her spirits for help. Though Loke, Taurus and the others were fighting nearby, they were too busy to see what was happening to their key-holder.

“Ooh, her skin is so soft…” a hand smoothed over her bare tummy.

“So kissable…” another cooed, pressing her lips to Lucy’s neck.

Lucy squeaked and gasped at the attention, but there was so much of it pressing in on her from every direction it was becoming overwhelming. She still squirmed and blushed, but gradually she was finding it harder to think, becoming dizzy. The scent on the cloth was strong, making her feel like the room was spinning a little bit.

“MMHH!” she cried out for Loke’s help, “LMMKE!”

But despite her muffled sounds, Loke didn’t notice. The battle with Gutride’s monsters seemed like it was right on the verge of ending, but her spirits never quite seemed able to find victory. It looked like they were struggling more, like something was weakening them.

A wave of dizziness threatened to overcome Lucy and she blinked her eyes hard, struggling to focus. Realizing whatever was on the cloth was sapping her strength, she struggled with renewed effort, bucking and arching to free herself, but the overwhelming number of girls held her easily, her fighting barely noticeable to anyone watching but for the twisting of her hips and thrusting of her chest.

“MRRHHH!” she cried out in frustration, kicking one of her legs out.

But all the effort did was leave her even more out of breath and dizzy, having to sag for a moment before she tried again.

As she momentarily wilted, Gutride swaggered towards her, grinning wolfishly. All the white keys on her chain were conspicuously glowing, activated at once.

“Oh, Lu-Lu-chan…” she cooed, “You’re in trouble now, aren’t you? All that power doesn’t mean anything if your spirits are too distracted to help you.”

Behind her, the battle continued, but as Lucy watched Loke and the others began to find themselves on the back foot. Their attacks weren’t doing as much damage as before, their reserves were depleting faster.

“And as you weaken, so do your little celestial friends,” Gutride reached out to stroke her cheek, “Once your magic fades, they’ll vanish one by one.”

“MMRRH!” Lucy kicked at her, but it was clumsy and half-hearted.

Gutride easily stepped back, leaving the blonde to pant and keep from collapsing.

“It won’t be long now,” she whispered, “Then you and I can really catch up. Just like I’ve always wanted…”

----