Chapter 19: Chapter 19: A Self-imposed Test

"Fire and water". It was the last thing she heard from Jean before he started walking with three of the five wizards who had been watching them; without a second glance, Lucy concentrated on the two wizards that had stayed behind.

"Well, that guy is screwed, although it's not like you're any better". Said the boy that she guessed that used fire magic, and seeing them well, both he and the blue-haired girl gave Lucy a clear sense of familiarity; she felt that she had seen them somewhere.

And it was then that she remembered, were few times, even in Scoserer Weekly, but she remembered seeing a couple of pictures of the boy in front of her.

"You are from Phantom Lord". She said, more as a confirmation than a question.

"Oh? Do you know me?"

"You are one of the most famous guilds in the kingdom, although you have rarely appeared in magazines or given interviews"

"A fan then? Well, then that might make everything easy; if you agree to come with us, then no-"

"Why are you after me? What do you want?" Lucy interrupted the cliche statement looking for more answers.

"Tch Tch Tch, I'm not going to tell you that, but let's say that our guild master sent us to look for you"

Lucy frowned, thinking about the statement; a guild master had sent his mages to look for her? Why? And it was not only that; these were not simple wizards; the characteristics of the 2 in front of her confirmed her suspicions; they were all from the elite of the Phantom guild, element four, and the iron dragon slayer Gajeel, she unconsciously took a brief look in the direction where Jean had gone with the others.

"Worried about your boyfriend? If that's the case, it's better to turn yourself in at once; think about it; if you know about us, then you should also know that 2 of those he's going to face are the strongest in the entire guild and although Sol isn't that strong, he's still an S class."

'I want to go on a trip to see the world, to live adventures out there in the same way that Goku did; I want to meet strong people with different types of magic, and to do something like that, I need to be very strong to face any problem that I may find, that's why I always train, so that when my trip begins I can go without worrying my mother and my uncle'

Lucy remembered those words and smiled; how could she forget them? Those words gave her the courage to better herself and wholeheartedly accepted her desire to go out into the world for adventure.

"Jean will win". She said without a hint of hesitation.

"Eh?" Totomaru took a second to understand the girl's statement, more because of the confidence in her voice than because of the message itself. "I think you don't quite understand the situation; he is going to face an S-class earth magician, the right hand of the guild master, and the iron dragon slayer; what can he do to win?"

"I know Jean very well; I've known him for over ten years; he's direct, he likes to make perverted jokes, he hardly ever takes no for an answer, he blames himself for things that are out of his control, and he's an idiot who never surrenders, the Jean I know will not be defeated"

"Tsk". Totomaru clicked his tongue; he would have preferred the girl to give up and not have to fight; after all, he wasn't too keen on the idea of hitting a pretty girl, but it seemed that she was confident that the Jean guy would defeat his companions.

And although the idea seemed ridiculous to Totomaru, perhaps it would be better to render her unconscious quickly and thus avoid any unpleasant surprises that the swordsman boy might give them.

"Fine, if you want it that way". He said as he walked forward, the rain might make him a little uncomfortable, especially since he seemed to have gotten a little stronger during his conversation with the blonde, but for a fire mage of his level, the power of his flames would hardly be affected.

"Let's finish t-". But before finishing, a hand took his shoulder; turning his head, Totomaru felt a chill, Juvia kept her characteristic blank face, but her eyes, gods, those orbs seemed to contain all the evil of the world.

Understanding the message, Totomaru stepped aside and let Juvia advance; the fire mage silently prayed that Juvia wouldn't overdo it; if she hurt the girl too much, the guild master might get upset, but even though a saint wizard was one of the few persons that Totomaru definitely didn't want to make angry, right now Juvia was just as terrifying as his Guild Master.

######

Juvia Pov

When told that all of element four and Gajeel would be sent on a single mission, even Juvia made her expression blank for a second.

What kind of mission would require the entire elite of the guild? Later, when they explained the details of it, her expression returned to the same as always.

Recovering a girl who had been kidnapped, apparently, the criminal had not asked for a ransom, but the client believed that they were heading to the southeastern part of the kingdom, having taken a train line.

In addition to that, the client described his daughter, the kidnapper, and gave a brief summary of their abilities.

An apparent swordsman with re-equip magic, if the client's babbling about how he pulled swords out of nowhere was any clue.

That information was suspicious; the kidnapper hadn't contacted him, but did the client know what he looked like and what his magic could do? Something didn't quite add up.

And after the man in a suit left, her guild master sat down in front of the 5 of them and spoke. "Basically, she's a girl who ran off with her boyfriend because her father didn't like him"

"I refuse to go; we are not a guild of nannies". Gajeel said before turning around and taking steps towards the exit door.

"It's a shame". José spoke with a glass of wine in his hand. "I heard that the boy is quite strong". He said before drinking a little.

Gajeel stopped short and turned his neck a little. "Strong?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah". He responded feigning disinterest. "From the information that Mr. Heartfilia sent a few days ago for us to review before he arrived and my informants, I was able to find out a bit about our mysterious kidnapper". He finished saying before drinking the entire contents of his glass and opening a small folder in front of him.

"Jean Faure, raised by a single woman with a clothing store, fatherless, nephew of a runeguard captain, has had a couple of... 'incidents' since his childhood". He said before turning the page.

"When he was nine years old, he defeated a dark wizard turned serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, a magical re-equip user known for his brutal murders with knives and explosions". He paused briefly before continuing. "And without using magic"

That piece of information aroused a bit of interest from her and the rest of element 4; Totomaru even whistled; Gajeel, for his part, turned around and returned until he was in front of Jose's desk.

"The interesting thing was the official report, according to that, the boy was unable to use magic, but with the right incentive, some rune guards who worked a couple of years in his city before being transferred said interesting things, like seeing him train with his uncle using swords that he summoned out of nowhere"

"Why would someone hide something like that? Sounds like simple re-equip magic to me". Totomaru said.

The guild master smiled slightly and continued. "Unless it's not, his magic might be something else, and that's why someone hid it in the report, someone like a family member in a position of power". José finished, obviously referring to the boy's uncle.

"Then when he was 12 years old, he again beat another wizard who went rogue, a guy named Zoldeo who possessed the body of a celestial spirit, and apparently none other than one of the 12 of the zodiac"

"Okay, that's something". Totomaru spoke once more.

"So, Gajeel, is that enough to get your attention?" The guild master asked with a smile. "Someone who since childhood passed almost impossible tests even for normal wizards, with a possible unknown magic, and who we do not know how much more he has grown in power until now"

Gajeel looked at his guild master and smiled. "When do we go?"

After that, it took them two days to find a trail, and when they finally caught up with them, it seemed their guild master had been right; they were just a couple of lovebirds on the run.

If Juvia was honest, she was upset, a part of her would rather let them go, and another roared with envy.

Why didn't she have someone who proposed to run away to live a life together? Though it's not like she really had anything she wanted to run away from, except for the rain, but that would be impossible for her.

With a sigh and using all her willpower, she diverted those thoughts; this was work, and although she thought that letting them go would not be a bad idea, her mission was to recover the girl and take her to her father, although she would leave the job to Totomaru, she wasn't really in the mood today, and Gajeel, Aria and Sol would be more than enough to neutralize the supposed re-equip user.

That was her plan, of course, until she heard the word "boyfriend" come out of Totomaru's mouth; her body tensed involuntarily; after all, her past experiences associated with the word had left her somewhat... sensitive.

But making use of another effort herculean, she totally calmed down... or maybe just a little... well, at least she managed to hold back enough that the light rain only turned into a normal rain and not a full-blown storm.

"Jean will definitely win"

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Juvia really didn't hear clearly what that girl had said next, but she did make out some words of confidence or praise, which bothered her.

The blonde was rubbing in her face that she had a boyfriend and trusted him so much?

UNACCEPTABLE!

She had thought to empathize with her a bit, but instead, she was making fun of her?

She wouldn't forgive her, Juvia wouldn't forgive her!

So she stopped Totomaru, and when he got out of the way, Juvia started walking toward her new enemy.

#####

Seeing the girl that Sorcerer Weekly named Juvia, Lucy almost couldn't help but take a step back.

Why did she look at her as if she had done something unforgivable to her?

Swallowing hard, she refused to back down; her keys clinked up her sleeve, and for a moment, she was about to use them, but after a quick thought, she decided against it; it wasn't time yet.

While she would usually choose to summon Taurus or Capricorn to study how the girl fought, she decided to do it herself this time.

She had trained very hard in her own way, and since this would be her first official fight, she would try to check how much she had really improved by covering the main weakness of the Celestial Spirit Mages.

The bracelet on her wrist transformed when she thought about it, and a second later, a whip appeared in her hand; wasting no time, she threw her weapon to catch her opponent's ankle and make her fall.

However, she never felt the limb being caught. Instead, her weapon pierced through both of the blue-haired girl's legs with almost no resistance.

"You won't be able to beat Juvia with those attacks". She said before raising her hand and shooting a sizable jet of water.

Lucy hurriedly jumped to the side, narrowly dodging the attack, only to see a whip similar to hers but made of water going towards her.

Applying the Capricorn teachings, she jumped back and did a couple of somersaults as she backed up.

Once again, she sent out her whip, this time aiming at the girl's waist, but in the same way as before, the weapon pierced through her as if it was made entirely of liquid.

'Her entire body is made of water?!' Lucy thought to herself as she again dodged another attack from the water whip. 'If it really is like that, then it won't matter how I attack her; I'm not going to hurt her, then...' Lucy's thoughts raced through her head as her whip returned to her bracelet form and sent a golden key to her hand.

Running straight at the water mage, Lucy waited for her to launch an attack, but it never came, and two tentacles came out from under the ground and held onto her legs.

Instinctively she moved her hands forward to break her fall, but two new tentacles grabbed her wrists with enough force to make her drop her golden key.

"It won't work; Juvia knows your keys and won't give you a chance to summon your spirits". The blue-haired girl spoke before forming a new bubble of water, this time around her opponent's head.

"It's over". Juvia said as Lucy tried to let go of her hands, but no matter how hard she struggled, the tentacles wouldn't let go.

Her vision began to blur as her lungs demanded oxygen, but before she fainted from her, her bracelet shone again as she turned back into a whip that snaked up to pick up her fallen key and throw it at her face.

Lucy opened her mouth, and when the key entered the water bubble, she caught it between her teeth and screamed in her mind. "Open door of the bearer of Water: Aquarius"

A golden magic circle appeared, and both the water bubble and the tentacles dispersed; Lucy sat down on the ground while she coughed a little and caught her breath.

In front of her, a new blue-haired woman, familiar this time, was looking at her and the other mage out of the corner of her eye.

"I can't believe you seriously almost got beaten by a trick like that; you let your guard down too much, brat". Aquarius said with a bored tone.

Lucy finished catching her breath and stood up. "I know, but I didn't expect them to know about you and the others"

"You are careless; if they are after you, it is quite obvious that they would know what magic you use!" The mermaid roared with her classic menacing expression making Lucy back away with a frightened face.

"Are you done yet?" Juvia spoke, interrupting the spirit's claim.

"Hah? Brat, don't you see we're busy here? Haven't your parents taught you to respect your elders?" The spirit's tone showed that she didn't take well to being interrupted as she hammered her claims into Lucy's head.

And Juvia's answer was a jet of water about 4 meters wide at full speed towards Aquarius's face, although with a simple gesture of the spirit's hand, the liquid erupted harmlessly a meter before reaching her.

"Trying to hurt me with water? You have 100 years of training to go before you even dream of trying to do something like that". The mermaid said boredly before turning her gaze to Lucy. "I'm leaving". She said with boredom.

"Eh?! You are not going to help me?!" Lucy yelled, not believing what her spirit was telling her.

"Why should I? Aren't you using this fight to prove to the other brat that you're not a weakling? You can win; just use what we have taught you all these years." The woman said confidently.

Aquarius' statement touched Lucy; after all, she never believed that she trusted her so much.

"So don't call me for a while". She pointed with a menacing expression before moving on to a smug one. "I will have a date with my boyfriend; because I did have the courage to declare my feelings, and I have one". She scoffed as she disappeared.

"I already told you that we are not like that!" Lucy yelled at her spirit after seeing that she didn't really trust her, but she just wanted time alone with her boyfriend.

'But she was right about something'. Lucy thought as she reviewed the mistakes she had made, she had been too hasty, and her opponent was much more capable than she thought at the beginning of the fight.

While it was true that she had improved considerably in close combat, she did so to cover the natural weakness of celestial spirit users, not to become a specialist in the matter.

And with the kind of opponent she had in front of her, that wouldn't do her much good either, at least not conventionally, so she took a breath and began her new strategy.

"I'm ready". She told the water mage, who responded by launching a new stream of water.

Lucy didn't move; instead, she used the golden key of Aquarius again.

"Star Dress!". She said as a golden glow covered her body.

The stream of water was stopped mere inches from her target when the blonde's hand raised.

The glow that surrounded his body faded, showing his new appearance.

A yellow bra with green slings supported her chest, and just below her collarbone was engraved the same symbol that her spirit had; green sleeves with yellow trim covered her arms while a skirt of similar colors was at her waist, and completing the outfit, white thigh-high stockings connected to white sandals fit her feet.

"Now, let's start!" Lucy yelled as she sent the stream of water back at Juvia.

The water mage was slightly surprised but still let the attack collide with her watery body, being absorbed, and causing no apparent damage.

"Do you want to beat Juvia in a water magic fight?" She said with a slightly offended tone; then, she took a position and decided to fight seriously this time.

"Juvia won't hold back". She declared and released a new stream of water the size of a truck.

Lucy tilted her body to the left and put her hands in front of her as if she expected to catch the attack, but when the water made contact with her hands, she moved them to the right, deflecting.

When she looked in front, she saw Juvia in front of her with a water whip; Lucy quickly ducked, narrowly dodging the attack, and threw a fist at her opponent's belly.

Invisible to Juvia, Lucy's fist was coated in an almost invisible layer of water while the bracelet on her wrist gave off a golden glow.

Even having noticed the attack, Juvia didn't bother to avoid it; after all, she was immune to any physical attack.

But that thought changed when she felt the sharp pain of a fist digging into the pit of her stomach.

Her eyes widened in surprise and pain, leaving an opening that Lucy took advantage of.

Quickly, her whip extended and circled Juvia's body before tightening around her, and for the second time, the attack managed to touch the blue-haired mage's body, causing her to fall to the ground, completely restrained by the whip.

"H-how is it possible, those attacks shouldn't be able to hurt Juvia". She said as she tried to free herself.

"It's thanks to Aquarius, I've used water magic before, and though I'm nowhere near as good as you, it's not necessary; using Aquarius water magic, I can feel the flow of your water magic when I touch you, and to break it I just have to inject my own magic to make your body becomes solid again". Lucy explained tightening the whip tighter around Juvia's body. "That way, you won't be able to free yourself from my whip". She finished saying before looking at Totomaru.

"If I defeat you too, then everything will end"

Totomaru was seriously impressed; in all the time he had been in Phantom Lord, he had never seen someone capable of undoing Juvia's body of water ability, but still...

"I wouldn't get too far ahead of myself if I were you". The fire mage said as he pointed to his guildmate.

Lucy, who had turned her back on her opponent, turned her neck and saw her; the blue-haired mage had an annoyed expression as she made a clear effort to free herself.

"You... Don't you dare... UNDERESTIMATE JUVIAAAA!" The mage screamed as her entire body exploded like a balloon, managing to break free of the whip and creating a huge geyser of water under Lucy's feet.

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Lucy quickly linked her hands together and brought them down, trying with all her effort to stop the water attack. Still, apparently, the attack had so much power that the only thing she could do was delay it for a couple of seconds, a time that she used to move to the side and let the massive jet of water continue its way to the sky.

"You're better than we thought, but don't forget that you're facing an S-class mage from Phantom Lord". Totomaru said, taking a couple of steps back.

Lucy pulled herself together and watched as the huge water attack dispersed, revealing the water mage, her hat gone letting her hair move like tentacles of water with a life of their own.

Lucy felt a chill when those eyes looked at her, but she still stood her ground, and with a mental command, her whip formed and flew towards Juvia, but before the attack connected, a water whip collided with Lucy's, stopping its progress.

Lucy paid no attention to this and quickly began to run in her opponent's direction as her whip returned to its bracelet form; attacking from a distance wouldn't do her much good without a strategy, and while she could defend relatively well against water attacks, she wouldn't get anywhere if didn't actively attack.

"WATER CYCLONE!" A huge whirlwind of water accompanied the cry of the mage; Lucy did not even bother to try to stop it; just seeing the size and power of the attack that destroyed the ground where it passed through, she was able to compare that attack to one of the Aquarius could produce.

So, instead, she sped up her run a bit more, reinforcing her four limbs with magic just as her water spirit had taught her to do in the past while her bracelet transformed again, this time into a staff of at least 4 meters, and a few seconds before the attack reached her, she stuck the staff into the ground using it as a boost and jumped over the water attack.

Juvia, who had her eyes straight ahead, couldn't help her eyes widen in surprise as Lucy flew straight towards her when from one moment to another, she kicked and from her foot shot a sphere of water directly at her face.

If this had been any other of the confrontations Juvia had in the past, she would let the attack touch her and bind harmlessly to her body, but the still lingering pain in her stomach and her instincts told her not to get hit again.

So she raised both hands, her left launching a water attack that collided with Lucy's exploding and neutralizing each other, while her right launched a much bigger one towards the blonde.

However, Lucy's arm went up, and when she lowered it, Juvia's attack split into two, courtesy of Lucy's whip, the weapon elongated and flew quickly towards Juvia's ankle, catching her and yanking her at full speed in Lucy's direction.

The blonde's fist, covered in a thin layer of water and with the bracelet glowing brightly, retracted ready to strike at Juvia, but at the moment of impact, Juvia joined her hands, colliding with Lucy's fist.

"WATER NEBULA!"

"LUCY PUNCH!"

Both girls screamed as the attacks finally collided, a shock wave produced by two considerable forces meeting head-on filled the place, and Totomaru even had to raise an arm to protect her sight from the air current that originated from the clash.

And a moment later, from where the clash had taken place, two figures shot out in opposite directions from each other; Totomaru watched as Juvia rolled on the ground for several meters before coming to a stop, while Lucy only rolled for a dozen meters before colliding against a huge rock and land sitting down.

Totomaru's eyes were wide open; how could this girl be this strong? She was fighting an S-class mage from Phantom Lord, and yet the fight seemed to be even.

Unconsciously embers came out of his palms; this was not good; he couldn't push Juvia to the point that this girl was doing it, and with that information, a question floated into his mind.

'If this girl is that strong, how strong is Jean Faure?'

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the blonde, who was already slowly getting to her feet.

"Ouch ouch, that hurts". She said as she held her right shoulder; apparently, she had been hurt in the crash, while she was rolling or when she hit the rock.

And just like her, Juvia was also beginning to get up, although more slowly and with a more marked tremor in her legs.

"Juvia... will not lose". She said through clenched teeth as she stood up straight again.

Both girls looked at each other directly, waiting for the other to make her move, when something else caught the attention of the three present.

In the distance, in the same direction Sol, Aria, Gajeel, and Jean had gone to have their fight, a huge steel-colored whirlwind forced its way into the sky, leaving a gaping hole in the gray clouds.

The power of the attack was such that even a slight current of air reached them.

Totomaru's concern grew more; that was Gajeel's special attack, one that he had seen him use only on a few occasions, like when he wanted to get rid of a large number of enemies and with whom the Dragon Slayer really considered worthy or problematic enemies, which meant they were at least as strong as Sol, the weakest of Phantom Lord's S-class members.

"Water Gatling". His partner's voice snapped him out of her thoughts, returning his attention to the fight that was taking place in front of him.

Juvia had stretched out both hands with thumbs up and index fingers extended as if they were pistols; from her fingers, several drops of water came out towards Lucy at an enormous speed.

Noticing the attack and with a clear effort, Lucy began to run to her right to avoid being hit as Juvia's hands followed her path.

After a few seconds, realizing that she would not achieve anything by running away and that if she got closer, she would be unable to dodge the water bullets, Lucy decided to take the offensive once more, but when her right hand was raised, ready to attack, something stopped her, and not just her hand, her feet stopped moving, just like Juvia's attacks.

Slowly the eyes of the blonde, the water mage, and the fire mage went once more to where the others were fighting.

"What... what is this pressure?" Lucy said, feeling how the atmosphere became heavier and noticing how all that pressure was coming from the same direction where Jean had gone to fight.

"This is not possible". Said Totomaru looking wide-eyed as he clearly felt the magical power of Gajeel, Aria, and Sol was completely released.

Jean Faure was strong enough to push those 3 to the point where they needed to give it their all while fighting together?

The idea sent chills down his spine, but he quickly took action; this was no longer the time to stand by and watch.

"Juvia!" He yelled, drawing his partner's attention, who had also been looking in that direction with wide eyes showing genuine surprise.

"Let's fight together; we have to hurry up, beat her, and then go to help the others if necessary!" He explained her reasoning before pointing his right hand at the blonde. "Red Fire". He said before sending out a crimson red flame.

Lucy's palms hit the ground giving rise to a wall of water that rose in front of her, and when the opposing elements met, a cloud of steam filled the place, making it difficult for everyone to see.

'I have to do it now'. Lucy thought with two golden keys and a silver one in her hand, when she heard a voice several meters to her right.

"Back off, Juvia". The fire mage warned before making his next move, his hands reaching out to his sides, he said. "Green Fire!" And following that, a large amount of dark green and misty-looking fire spread all over the place occupying only 30 centimeters of space on the ground.

Feeling the slight heat on her legs, Lucy noticed a peculiar smell coming from that fire, it was not hot to the point of burning her, but it gave a slightly warm sensation, like a warm towel.

"You are quite strong, but that doesn't matter, you only need to smell a little of the aroma of my green fire, and you would suffer dizziness and cramps throughout the body"

Hearing the fire mage strut around, and trusting in her bracelet's ability to protect her from ill effects, Lucy sprinted in the direction of the voice as her bracelet transformed, this time taking the form of a metallic glove that covered her right hand up to the wrist, while on her other wrist a shield appeared that had a face.

Looking around, waiting to hear his target's moans or coughs, Totomaru was confident when suddenly, the blonde he had been looking for jumped out of the cloud of steam directly at him without showing any of the effects that any other person would have when exposed to his green fire.

Lucy's appearance was different from before; this time, her hair was gathered in 2 buns on each side of her head, leaving a couple of strands that framed her face, and a bra and sleeves white with black stains adorned the upper part of her torso, while black pants secured with a Taurus sign belt covered one of her legs, and left the other fully exposed.

"Super Punch!" The blonde mage said as her metal-encased fist sank deep into Totomaru's stomach, lifting him nearly a meter off the ground and dispelling the curtain of steam by the tremendous force of the punch.

The fire mage's eyelids widened until it almost seemed as if his eyes would bulge out of their sockets as his mouth gasped. "Ah... ah... h... how... is... possible". He managed to say before falling on his back as the green fire dissipated.

The gauntlet returned to the form of a bracelet letting Lucy's left hand squeeze her right wrist, trying to dull some of the stinging pain that covered her now red hand with some scratches.

It seemed that even after her best attempts at training, her body still didn't get used to that movement that overloaded her fist and glove using the energy stored in her bracelet; either that or she needed to improve her control further when she used so much energy at once.

"Careful upstairs!"

With the warning of her shield spirit and sensing the imminent danger, Lucy jumped to the side, dodging a jet of water that could have hit her squarely on the left side, and when she looked up, she saw the water mage pointing both palms at her.

"Water cannon". She said before another stream of water was thrown at her.

Backing away as she dodged the water attacks, Lucy thought about what else she could do to get the chance to land an accurate blow on her still-standing opponent.

So focused was she on strategizing and dodging at the same time that she didn't notice something approaching her foot until it was too late, and a purple flame caught her ankle causing her to lose her balance for a second.

"Wha-". The question could never be finished because a jet of water the size of a truck hit Lucy squarely, causing her to fall back to the ground.

With her arms in an X position behind her shield, the blonde resisted the constant flow of water that seemed to grow larger and larger in an attempt to crush her, which it indeed would have been capable of if her strength and durability weren't enhanced by her magic and the Taurus Star Dress along with the scutum protection.

But even with that, she felt her arms begin to tire and give way.

It was at that moment that she decided that she had to use plan B if she wanted to get out of this dangerous situation. "Do it now, Virgo!" She screamed, and a blink later, she heard a female scream, and the stream of water that was hitting her stopped.

Beneath Juvia's feet, the ground collapsed, revealing a huge pit a couple of dozen meters deep, and next to the hole, a familiar pink-haired maid stepped out.

"Mission accomplished, princess". She spoke in a flat and proud tone, impossible as that sounded.

With a slightly resigned smile, Lucy thanked her spirit as she stood up to transform her bracelet into her whip shape and cut the purple fire still holding her ankle.

"I let my guard down again". The celestial spirit mage said with a bit of self-criticism tone, the truth was that when she summoned Virgo in the middle of the vapor cloud, she expected to use the trap that her spirit would build with a combination of attacks to win the fight, but in the end, she had to use it to save herself when she was cornered.

"I think the princess is being too hard on herself; she is fighting two fairly strong mages, and even though the fire mage underestimated her, knowing how to take advantage of that is also important in a fight". Said the spirit trying to cheer her contractor up a bit.

"Virgo is right, the young lady is one of the most skilled contractors I've ever had." The shield added with sincerity.

Lucy had a surprised expression as, although she felt that she had good chemistry with Virgo and trusted Scutum, she didn't think they would trust her that much. "Thank you, Virgo, Scutum, I really appreciate it"

"So, you are going to punish me?" The spirit asked, a little excited.

"And there goes the comforting atmosphere". Lucy complained when Virgo reiterated her peculiar taste; if she thought about it, she was not so surprised that her spirit had understood and got along with Jean almost immediately; both seemed to have a gift when it came to throwing comments at the worst time and break the pleasant atmosphere.

"Then". She said as she directed her gaze towards the fire mage who was still lying on the ground looking directly at her; it was surprising that he was still conscious after receiving her super punch directly; maybe she had held back unconsciously?

She still remembered when she had shown the move to Aquarius, Cancer, and Capricorn, only to be warned that if she used that move on someone with a body that was too frail, or she used too much magic, she could, in addition to damaging her own body, hurt her opponent until the point where his life will be in danger.

Leaving those thoughts aside, Lucy walked towards the wizard on the ground slowly and with a slight limp; it was no use thinking about it at the moment, he was already on the ground, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to get up for a while, even if he was still conscious.

But when she was a few steps from him, the ground began to tremble slightly; her neck turned from one side to the other in an attempt to find the origin when from the same well where Juvia had fallen, a huge geyser originated and standing on top, there was the girl with blue hair.

"WATER BOMB!". Juvia yelled before launching a meter-wide sphere of water at the blonde.

Lucy tried to back up to dodge the attack, but the pain in her ankle stopped her movement, so she could only raise her shield, but even so, the attack exploded on contact, sending her flying until she collided with the same rock formation that Phantom Lord's mages had used to hide.

"This is bad". Lucy grunted as she felt the energy she was giving Scutum momentarily cut off causing him to disappear, with great effort she slowly got to her feet, trying to put as little weight as possible on her injured heel.

Ahead of her, she could see Virgo using her chains as a weapon to distract Juvia, who seemed to have lost enough magic that she couldn't use her water body since instead of letting the chains go through her, she was dodging them and fending with her water whip.

At that moment, the ground shook again, and a loud explosion sound accompanied by a cloud of dust came from the direction of Jean's fight against Gajeel, Aria, and Sol.

The sound and movement were strong enough to stop even Juvia and Virgo's fight.

But a second later, a figure crossed the field and crashed a couple of meters next to Lucy on the same rock.

The still constant rain quickly dissipated the little dust that rose, and when it did, Lucy could clearly see the figure of the person she trusted the most nailed to the rock with his arms outstretched and his head bowed, preventing his face from being seen.

"JEAN!" The girl yelled with clear concern and tried to get closer to her friend, but her action was stopped when she put her weight on her injured foot and almost fell to the ground.

The brunette looked quite damaged, his jacket was missing, and his white shirt was almost completely destroyed to the point that all that held it up was a thin strip of cloth over his left shoulder.

His bare torso showed various bruises, cuts, and wounds, very similar to the state his arms were in, and from his hair, along with the rainwater, crimson drops fell from time to time.

"That guy... is a... nuisance". Said Gajeel when a couple of seconds later, he, Aria, and Sol arrived, standing next to Juvia; they all sported some injuries.

The blood was dripping from Aria's nose, and it looked slightly crushed as if something very blunt had hit him; his left cheek sported a huge, very dark purple stain, not to mention that he was also supporting his left side with his arm, and seemed to be trying to support most of his weight on the right leg.

On the other hand, Sol had a black and closed eye, an evident product of a strong blow he had received, and light but constant flow of blood also fell from his broken lip.

But the most affected was the Dragon Slayer, he seemed to be more exhausted than the others, and that was something to say when he was also the one with the bigger reserves of stamina in the entire group; for the rest, his armor of scales dragon seemed to have some small cracks in several places, the same ones where some blood trickled out.

But even with those injuries, they all seemed fit enough to continue fighting.

Lucy gritted her teeth as she stood in front of Jean in an attempt to protect him with Virgo at her side; she only had one special move left that after being used, would leave her completely exhausted.

Or in her current condition, falling unconscious was also a possibility.

But she had no other options, so after taking a deep breath, she looked at the mages in front of her now that Totomaru had risen to stand beside his companions.

And when she was about to attack, a hand grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

Turning slowly, she saw Jean start to raise his head to meet her gaze with his, he had a few scratches here and there, and a little blood was dripping from his forehead and lip.

But what caught Lucy's attention the most was the defiant smile and the sparkle in his eyes that he kept even in his state.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked before forcing his body out of the rock formation where he had crashed. "This is not over yet". He said, standing next to her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel asked, clearly annoyed that Jean refused to give up. "You know you can't win"

Jean seemed to ignore the dragon slayer's words and raised a finger, pointing at the mages he had been fighting. "You three are strong, more than I thought, especially you". He spoke, referring to Gajeel with his last sentence.

"I underestimated you and let my ego get the worst of me". He said with a smile as he shook his head. "Thanks for bringing me back down to earth, but let me repeat myself, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WIN". His tone reflected the clear challenge to his opponents.

"In the beginning, I didn't want to do it to prove myself, I was arrogant, but if it's with you guys, I think I can use it". He finished saying before taking his nearly ripped shirt and ripping it off in one fell swoop, leaving him bare from the waist up.

His feet spread until they were shoulder height with him, his elbows moved to be level with his ribs, his fists clenched tightly, and his expression showed the emotion peaking.

Lucy's eyes widened; she knew that pose, so knowing what was coming, she strengthened her body a bit with magical energy while she thought how lucky she was to have already Taurus star dress equipped.

OST: Super Dragon Ball Heroes the Ultimate Gogeta Theme Cover

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Jean's scream filled everyone's ears as his body was covered in a semi-transparent white aura, his hair rippling rhythmically as if dancing, the sparkle in his eyes and smile reflected excitement and happiness at using a skill that he had rarely used to date.

"W-what?" Gajeel's tone reflected the shock and disbelief felt by all the Phantom Lord wizards; that wasn't magical power at all, and yet his sharp instincts kept screaming at him that the one in front of him was extremely dangerous.

He tried to move and attack before Jean finished whatever he was doing, but the pressure on his body and his own instinct stopped him as if he subconsciously knew that just taking one false step would result in a much more dangerous situation.

"Ultimate armor!" And with that sentence, Jean's body began to be covered by shiny metal, centimeter by centimeter; the metal moved as if it had a life of its own, until the end, it covered him completely, giving Jean a knight's armor.

When the transformation was complete, Jean stepped forward, the eyes of the armor's helm emitting a silvery glow.

"Now, let's begin the third and final round". He said, pointing to the wizards.

---

Chapter 19 finished.

As the title says, Lucy sees this fight as a way to show everyone (including herself) how strong she is.

And in case that wasn't clear enough, Jean (and me too) is a huge fan of Dragon Ball.

In addition to being a bit of a chuuni too.

Also, what do you think about me suggesting soundtracks?

Should I do it in the future or not?

Also, the ultimate armor is not Jean's Balance Breaker, he doesn't have it yet, but he will get it in the future; how far into the future will it be?

Well, that's something I can't say.

That's all for now, Ciao.

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