Fallen Celestial (Fairy Tail fanfic)

Fallen Celestial Part 33

It had been a long time since Lucy had felt fear, not since she had been hit by a curse that had transported her to a chamber filled with spiderlike Etherious, but as she stared out at the soon to be battlefield she could feel the cold tendrils of fear wrapping around her unbeating heart.

Stretching out before her she could see the ramparts the Fiorian military had built in haste, walls of flimsy wood with a multitude of mages hiding behind them, and small towers of lacrima that would be used to shoot down anything that came too close. She could see baristas spaced periodically along their defensive line next to tents with each guilds symbol printed on flags over the top of the fabric, a rallying symbol for the united mages.

But despite all the gathered forces Lucy couldn't help but feel afraid at what she saw before her. The sky was filled with massive hovering cubes, cubes that likely held an uncountable number of demons intent on turning Fiore into a land devoid of life, so many cubes that they were actually beginning to block out the light.

"Wow...that's a lot of Etherious...I wonder if they have any lookers amongst them?" Lilith questioned playfully as she looked up into the sky.

"Are there ever? Most of the time they just look like a person mixed with a bug." Lucy replied with a sigh as she turned around to inspect the ritual magic site that Abaddon had prepared for her.

Unlike the two previous great celestial spells; Urano Metria and Heaven's Fall, Hypernova involved invoking the Spirit King's power through earnest prayer. The caster requiring themselves to separate their mind from the mortal plane, fully grasp the power of the heavens, and channel the power of creation into a single point of their choosing.

And while Lucy had a strong connection to the Spirit King, having been invited to a celebration for her return by the king himself she still knew that she would be essentially defenseless during the ritual. And even if she didn't take into account the pranks Lilith would inevitably play on her while she was in contact with the King she still couldn't discount the threat of a long range attack targeting her the moment she went under.

And that wasn't even taking into consideration the fact that the enemy, whoever they were, seemed to somehow know about Lucy's plan as their formation was fairly spread out. Meaning that much more of their forces would survive Lucy's initial bombardment than she originally planed for.

"Things are already going wrong and we haven't even started yet." Lucy complained out loud as she bit the inside of her lip, trying to figure out if she should issue changes to her orders through Roland or just go with the initial plan. Was her plan even that good? Did she make the right choices in order to ensure that their side would come out with more survivors than their opponents?

Can i...can I really make myself give orders that might lead to my family members deaths?

But Lucy's panic was cut short when Abaddon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn and find the ancient demon smiling back at her.

"Milady, I understand that for a first time commander this situation might cause you some discomfort. But the men and women under your command need to see you standing strong, with the same level of pride that first drew me to you." Abaddon gently chastised as he subtly gestured out to the army, many of who were currently looking at Lucy with nervous expressions. "Show them the confidence that made Fallen Celestial one of the most feared names in the kingdom."

"...it has to be a cold day in Underworld if the lord of Pride is giving me advice and not making fun of me at the same time." Lucy eventually replied with a small smile before turning to her army and conducting herself with the same level of confidence that she had used during the Grand Magic Games.