The Art of Trouble

Chapter 25: Reflection to the Outside

"Breathe in... Breathe out..." Gasping in pain, Lucy struggled as she concentrated on diverting her pain away from her thoughts.

Moments ago, a blast of meteor-like shower had hit the area where Gray and Lucy was standing. Apparently, it appeared just about a second after Lameria was gone with the wind. Gray was able to make an ice as a shield, but it happened so fast that the blast still managed to hurt them. Lucy raised her upper body, caressing each part to examine if she had incurred major injuries. Luckily, there was none. Although, she became worried for her partner.
"Gr...Raven...?" She huskily uttered his pseudonym. She called him a few times before he heard something behind a large rock. There was another impact. This time, it sounded like there was a commotion, and when she began to look over the rock, she instantly saw Gray. If there was truly something she had learned from her training, it was taking out the fear inside when it comes to battle. Unlike before, where, as much as possible, she would resort to hiding first prior to fighting, she managed to lessen the fear, or at some point ignore it.

Gray was now heavily sweating. The man he had now encountered was about a foot taller than him, his face was hidden behind an oddly looking mask, and all in all, he looked like a mercenary. The odds would have been in Gray's favor, if not for another mercenary who was about to attack his back.

"Behind you!..." Lucy was now approaching towards the direction of the fight. She was now attacking the first mercenary who fought Gray, while, the latter was dealing with the second one.

The blonde's aim was to cripple her opponent's ability to use his sword. Hence, she lure him into attacking her, then, when he was about to get lured, she swung her body to his right and instantly move away, making them switch positions. As soon as the man could not be able to turn towards her, Lucy kicked his shoulder that held the sword, which had then fell to the floor. Seizing such opportunity, the mage was about to throw a punch to end the training, yet, suddenly the mercenary had a dagger on his other hand. The dagger had sliced the woman's stomach. Lucy was stunned. She knew that there would be a chance for her opponent to throw such a stunt. For all she knew, it was still a training, she had not realized that they could really get killed. The mercenaries were there to murder them if they would not take them seriously.

"Gray, this is not just a simulation!" Lucy yelled at her comrade.

"Tell me about it!" Gray barely, responded. This time, he was knocked down by his opponent, and he was suffocating him with his big hands. After a while, Gray succeeded to stretch his hand, in order to throw a punch to the man who had assaulted him. It was a hard punch, enough for the man to let go of him and fall to the ground. Although, it was not long enough till both mercenaries stood up and got ready for another round.

"Damn, these men never get tired." The blonde mage whispered.
"Lucy, you might want to summon Loke now. I'll buy you some time for you to do it."

"There's no need for that!"
Loke appeared all of a sudden. His quirkiness was faint amidst the tension surrounding them.
"You've really gone stronger..." Gray commented.
"No, Lucy got stronger than she was back at the guild. As between me and her, summoning me through my gate is totally no longer needed." The Celestial spirit explained, and the ice mage only gave them a smirk. He thought of how proud he was for her girl. "Wait, what? Did he really say his girl?" Lucy and Loke gave the raven-haired a baffling look. After all, a blush was evident on the latter's face. "Hey, dude.." Loke was about to say something, but then, he was cut off by a sudden blast being thrown off them. This time, the three thought they were truly hit by such explosion . However, they happened to see that the blast did not descend towards them, and as soon as the sound could be heard, another mercenary came into sight.
"So, this will now be three on three.." Lucy spoke with sarcasm.
"Get ready..." Gray had sculpted a sword with a shield, preparing to fight one of the mercenaries. "Loke, you take the new guy."