"All that bragging, and in the end they still ran away."
Anmixiu looked at the twelve open gates spread across the platform and muttered in disbelief.
Above the platform, twelve floating screens suddenly appeared in the sky, each one showing the scene inside a different Celestial Spirit's domain.
Ankh swept his gaze across them, but Ophiuchus was still nowhere to be seen, so he could only focus on the immediate problem.
"We don't really have a choice. We'll have to split up and fight them one by one," he said. "Everyone, take one of the Princess's force-close keys and enter the Spirit domains."
Lucy immediately took Virgo's key, her face full of worry. "I'm going to Virgo's place. I'm hoping I can talk some sense into her."
Naciel puffed herself up like a little adult. "Then I'll protect Mom!"
"Then you'd better do a good job, because Lucy definitely won't manage on her own," Gajeel said dryly as he casually picked up Taurus's key.
He figured a fight against a brute-force monster like that would at least be satisfying.
Gray chose Cancer. Under Juvia's encouraging gaze, Grinju stepped up beside him, clearly intending to go with Gray.
Gray glanced at him and, after a moment of silence, didn't object.
Beside them, Juvia smiled softly and chose Aries's key for herself.
"I'm obviously going to settle things with Loki!" Natsu declared, grabbing Loki's key without hesitation.
"Aye! Settle things!" Happy chirped, instantly backing him up.
After a moment's hesitation, Wendy chose Aquarius, who had taken on a little-girl form.
Levy frowned and picked Capricorn instead, since he looked like the easiest opponent.
Gajeel frowned, but the perceptive Elysia immediately raised her hand with a bright smile and suggested.
"Then I'll go with Levy-Auntie. If things get dangerous, I can help."
Only then did Gajeel relax a little.
Levy gladly agreed as well.
Compared to herself, that "junior" was frighteningly strong.
"The Gemini twins should obviously be handled by siblings," Garell said, choosing Gemini—who looked deceptively harmless but was actually a nightmare to deal with.
Galena only smiled and offered no objections.
Erza and Cana picked Sagittarius and Scorpio, while Yukino chose her own bonded Spirit, Libra.
As for Anmi, he arrogantly chose to take on Pisces alone in their two-person form.
Mirajane, however, clearly couldn't trust her son to go by himself, so she chose Pisces too.
Just like that, it became a mother-and-son tag team battle.
Ankh took a magic crystal out of his bag and handed it to Princess Hisui. "Princess, stay here and coordinate for us. If anything happens inside the Celestial Spirit Sanctuary, let us know immediately."
"I understand," Hisui said, taking the heavy crystal ball with solemn seriousness.
Once everything was ready, everyone immediately entered their chosen Spirit Gates.
After thinking for a moment, Ankh chose to go with Natsu and Naciel to Loki's domain.
The moment they crossed through the gate, the scenery changed completely.
The world around them became a stretch of rugged, broken mountains, with an ancient-looking structure standing in the distance.
On top of that building stood Loki in his armor, gazing down at them with cold contempt.
"Loki!"
Hot-blooded as ever, Natsu charged forward without another word, fists already raised.
Beside him, Happy grabbed him and took to the air, carrying him straight toward Loki.
Ankh, meanwhile, remained where he was, staring at Loki from afar with a frown.
That was obviously bait.
Loki wanted Natsu to rush into that old building.
Where exactly was the trap?
At the same time, Ankh could also sense Ophiuchus's power somewhere inside this space...
...
Inside Virgo's domain, Lucy was currently facing Virgo in a direct confrontation.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long before Virgo had her completely on the ropes.
Lucy was getting beaten so badly by this dominatrix-version of Virgo that her clothes were practically in tatters.
She'd been reduced to a flustered, barely-covered mess.
Thankfully, Naciel was there with her, relentlessly chasing after Virgo and throwing one attack after another.
Virgo, sly as ever, simply burrowed into the ground and ignored Naciel completely, focusing all her attacks on Lucy instead.
And so an absurd scene emerged—
Naciel chased Virgo, Virgo chased Lucy, and Lucy let out a yelp every now and then when another whip lashed across her.
...
Aquarius's domain had been transformed into an amusement park, where Wendy and Carla ran into the now-loli-version of Aquarius.
Compared to her normal fiery, bad-tempered self, loli Aquarius seemed far milder.
Admittedly, she still attacked with just as much violence...
But it felt less like malice and more like a child who simply didn't know how to play without destroying everything around her.
She smashed ride after ride in the park until Wendy lost her temper and ran over to argue with her.
The two little girls immediately devolved into the kind of quarrel only elementary schoolers could have.
Carla watched the whole thing in speechless disbelief.
And then, before long, the two of them somehow made up.
Aquarius even bought Wendy and Carla ice cream.
Greedy little Wendy and tsundere Carla were both bought off instantly, and soon the three adorable creatures were sitting together eating ice cream in a scene so peaceful and healing it barely felt real.
...
Cana stood on a raised platform, staring in frustration at the four blank cards floating in front of her, then at Scorpio, who sat opposite her in perfect ease.
The moment they entered his domain, Scorpio had laid out a tabletop game and invited Cana to play.
If he lost, he claimed he would willingly let himself be sent back to the Celestial Spirit World.
At first, Cana had planned to just beat him into submission.
But after a barrage of mocking taunts from Scorpio, she had eventually swallowed the bait and accepted the challenge.
In battle, it was only after receiving Gildarts's guidance that she had finally begun to carry the air of a truly top-class mage.
But when it came to card games?
Cana firmly believed she was unmatched in the world.
Yet the moment she drew her opening hand and saw four completely blank cards, she froze in confusion.
When she protested, Scorpio merely replied that this was part of the rules—"I am the rules."
Unable to refute that ridiculous logic, Cana could only grit her teeth, close her mouth, and sharpen her focus, carefully studying the way Scorpio played.
...
And in Capricorn's domain, a truly ridiculous game show was underway.
Levy was strapped to a chair with an unlit red lamp above her head.
Beneath the seat was a slide that ended in a set of spinning, razor-sharp blades.
She stared at it in horror and blurted out, "What is this supposed to be?!"
Capricorn and Elysia were seated beside her under exactly the same conditions, though unlike Levy, both of them seemed perfectly calm.
Elysia curiously tugged at the heavy chain binding her wrists to the chair.
Crack.
With a crisp snap, the chain shattered.
Elysia's eyes widened in alarm. Before the other two noticed, she hurriedly pieced the broken chain back together and put it back in place.
This looked way too entertaining to ruin just yet. She wanted to see where it was going.
Capricorn, still completely unaware that one of his "hostages" could free herself and slaughter them all at any time, continued proudly introducing the rules of his game:
"Fairy Tail Knowledge Quiz! Come, let us see who truly deserves the title of the most learned woman in Fairy Tail—Levy McGarden!"
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