Fairy Tail Rewind (Completed)

Chapter 17 -- Three Stellar Spirits

Lyra, Virgo, and Sagittarius showed up in a flash. Virgo threw Lyra a dirty look, whilst the latter returned with a tucked out tongue. Colours rose to Virgo's cheeks. Irked, she stomped her feet on the ground. A metal whip coated with thorns appeared in her grasp. 

"Virgo has been longing to use this great gift from Princess Lucy on someone disobedient."

Shaking his head, the horse-man wove in between the ladies. His arms holding the bow and arrows lifted high in the air, implying that the war with Master Jose was what they should focus on. Lyra and Virgo seemed to read the situation. Lyra chanted a spell-word and a similar looking metal whip materialized. She winked at Virgo, before stretching her arms horizontally, creating six cloned Lyras at each side, all holding metal whips.

"Speed is vital in a fight, not the number of mook minions you have! Let's compete!" Virgo swung her whip amid shouting, "For Princess Lucy!" The whip enlarged and pirouetted in the air, killing a bunch of bats in a clean sweep. "That makes up to twenty-four kills!"

"For Lucy and Fairy Tail!" Lyra and Mr. Mohawk echoed.

The Stellar Spirits fought back to back, concurrently counting the numbers of bats they had killed. They laughed at each kill. Their infectious zeal twirled in the air like an invisible booster. All of the mages shouted "For Fairy Tail!" and fought even more ferociously. Despite her fatigue, Lucy smiled at how well her Stellar Spirits had cooperated among themselves. She could compel herself to open the Gates for the whole day, as long as she could protect Fairy Tail's dignity. 

Standing next to them, Kana flung her Tarot Cards, bringing down fifty-two bats instantly. As the carcasses turned to ashes and dropped a few inches from her feet, she smirked triumphantly. The Stellar Spirits gawked at her disapprovingly and fought harder.

Gray swung his ice swords and killed a dozen of bats which were flocking down towards Makao when Makao tried to burn another swarm that was attacking his son with his Purple Flare. Lyra let out a squeal of admiration and kept looking at Gray with love in her eyes.

Loki twisted an amethyst ring on his index finger. A sonorous roaring like a lion echoed around, magnified by the ring of mountains. When the roaring trailed away, a bolt of lightning appeared in mid-air, zapping five bats that were found surrounding Lucy. Lucy had been too focused on ruling her mental power that she couldn't even move. Alarmed, she grinned feebly at Loki for saving her life. She didn't know that he could do magic actually, apart from womanizing around.

Reddus, the mage with brown curly hair and an enormous waistline, drew something on his belly. His painting kit disappeared when a real fire extinguisher floated in mid-air. Aiming the nozzle at the bats, he removed the safety pin and pressed hard on the discharge lever. The powder froze the bats. Elfman then crashed those creatures to smithereens with his black beastly arms, splurting philosophy about a real man would protect all his guild's members.

However, in spite of their persistence, like phoenixes, the bats reborn from the ashes and attacked them. Not long after, the Fairy Tail's mages panted and fell on their knees, deprived of their power. The deathlike pallor on Lucy's face indicated that her stamina bar was near to nil. She could now see red dots dancing in her eyes. Gripping her fists, she willed her mind to concentrate. Her mental strength was the strength to keep the Gates open. 

Nervous, Mirajane took out a stopwatch from her gown's pocket. "Eight minutes to Jupiter's next attack. These bats... Guys, these bats are just a diversion. They are here mainly to divert our attention. They won't do us any harm actually. We should destroy the cannon."

"I feel that the atomic bomb is a fusion of the power of some mages." Happy fluttered his wings. "Let me check the mechanism first." In a blink of an eye, he had already disappeared into the barrel. A minute later, he returned. "I was right. The atomic bomb is actually fueled by the magic of the Element Four. There are four Lacrimas inside. Fire. Earth. Water. Wind. We can only stop the cannon from firing by destroying the Lacrimas. But a fire mage is guarding the engine room."

"I'll destroy him and that cannon!" Natsu clenched his fists. "Happy, fly me there!"

The tic-toc sound of Mirajane's stopwatch competed with their heartbeats. "Four minutes left."

Red fiery light shone out, indicating that Natsu was putting up a tough fight. They could even hear the faint roaring of Natsu's anger. As the rest of them couldn't see exactly what was happening inside the barrel, their fear heightened. Apart from that, they still had to fight the bats to prevent their power to be attenuated by those irritating black winged creatures. Lucy almost blacked out, when Loki instructed Lucy's Stellar Spirits to return to the Stellar World.

Lucy gawked at Loki with confusion. He was always there when she needed help with her Stellar Spirits. Lucy wondered who Loki was, but her brain gave way to thinking, and she collapsed into his arms. This time, Loki didn't avoid the skin contact and hugged her tight. 

"Two minutes to Jupiter's next fire," came a robotic sound from the Phantom's castle.

Violet light appeared at the lip of the cannon, enlarging and darkening as the seconds ticked by.

"One minute to Jupiter's next fire," cautioned Mirajane and the robot in sync. 

"Fifty seconds... Forty seconds... Thirty seconds..."

Most of the Fairy Tail's mages had stopped fighting the bats, beginning to embrace death. 

Ten seconds... Eight seconds... Six seconds...

Inferno blasted in the air. The mages cheered as the barrel of cannon exploded to smithereens. Natsu and Happy returned. He eyed Loki with blood-shot eyes, and the latter quickly placed Lucy in his embrace. Lucy opened her eyes and smiled weakly at Natsu for having succeeded in destroying Jupiter. They had just let their guard down for three heartbeats when a deafening noise assailed their ears. Within seconds, the castle reconstructed and formed an automaton.

Master Jose's voice sounded in the distance. "Jupiter was just an appetizer. Are you ready for the heavy main course?" The automaton roared, shooting out a dozen of violet circles. They ringed the warehouse, giving off an eerie sound like the buzzing of electricity inside a cable. "This time, can you destroy my Magic Circle? Fail to do so, not only the living thing around this warehouse will be annihilated, but the whole citizens in this town will face their doom." 

A dozen of three-headed wolves jumped out from each of the circle, snarling their tusks at their weak targets. Their fur bristled up as if they were made of needles. They bounced around. Their long bodies, stretching and contracting, covering the ground at a vicious pace. 

"Also, I must capture this annoying girl, for being the culprit that my Jupiter was destroyed." 

Several moments of mutinous silence hung in the air. No one moved. Intense fear seeped into the air. Everyone stood still, staring aghast at the automaton. Suddenly, the automaton stirred, its hand charged towards them. At first, Lucy thought that Master Jose was about to capture her, but the hand scooped up someone else. When it retreated, they were shocked to see that Mirajane was gone. Her scream ached their hearts, as she was being squeezed to death.

"Elder sister!" Elfman's limbs transformed into those of an enormous monster. With a powerful leap, he sprang from the ground and landed at the automaton's thigh. "Don't you dare hurt my elder sister!" He sank his claws into the steel surface and climbed up to the hand.

The boneless mage, Monsieur Sol, appeared from the inside of the steel arm. "Oh, she's your elder sister? The rumoured Heinous Heir of Hydra? Too bad, her superpower was wasted. Who's to blame, I wonder?" Monsieur Sol smirked. "Today, you'll lose another of your sister."