Chapter 127: You Won't Die
"You know?!"
Gray and Mira both looked at Ren, their expressions a mix of shock and confusion.
"Really?! Ren, you know where Loki is?!" Gray was a little agitated, stepping forward. Loki was one of his best friends, and his sudden, silent departure had worried him greatly.
"Hmm... more or less."
As a man who had seen the entire plot of Fairy Tail, he naturally knew Loki's secret. Loki's role in the story wasn't extensive, but it wasn't too small either.
"Where is he?" Mira asked, her voice filled with concern.
"Hmm... he should be with his owner!" Ren replied calmly.
"Owner?!"
Mira and Gray were both completely confused. What on earth was an owner?
"Oh! Right, you don't know," Ren said, tapping his chin. "Loki isn't human. He's a Celestial Spirit."
"A CELESTIAL SPIRIT?!"
Mira and Gray were stunned to hear this. They, of course, knew what a Celestial Spirit was. While Celestial Spirit Mages were rare, they weren't non-existent; for example, the guild's new member, Lucy, was a Celestial Spirit Mage.
"No... no way!" Gray said, shaking his head. "How could Loki be a Celestial Spirit?! He's been in the guild for years! He uses his own magic!"
"Yeah!" Mira agreed, though her mind was racing. "Ren, how do you know Loki's identity?"
Ren thought of a reason, mixing a partial truth with his own unique abilities. "Don't I receive Heroic Spirits with my Take Over? Heroic Spirits and Celestial Spirits are both spiritual bodies, so my magic is sensitive to their nature. I can sense that he isn't human. Plus, isn't Lucy a Celestial Spirit Mage? After the Galuna Island mission ended, when I saw the Spirit Lucy summoned, I knew Loki's identity was a Celestial Spirit. His magical signature is the same as theirs, just... much, much stronger and self-sustaining."
"Who is Loki's owner?" Mira asked, her mind accepting Ren's logic.
"That, I'm not clear about."
This was not a lie, because he genuinely couldn't remember the name of Loki's owner. It was a minor character who died early on.
"Then let's go out and look for him too," Mira said, putting on her coat. She was very worried about Loki's situation.
"No need, I'll go alone."
"Do you know where Loki is?!" Gray asked.
Ren nodded. "Yes, I have my ways to find him."
"Really?!"
"Full-Body Take Over: Ulquiorra Cifer!"
Ren received Ulquiorra in front of Mira, his form changing in a flicker of green-black energy. He transformed into Ulquiorra's pale, black-haired appearance, his cold green eyes devoid of emotion.
Then Ren placed his right palm on the floor of his room.
"Nerve Probe!"
Ren closed his eyes and rapidly spread his perception along the ground in all directions. This was the Arrancar's Reiatsu Perception, or Spiritual Pressure Perception. It allowed him to sense everyone's spiritual pressure in the vicinity, determine their strength and location, and display the location of the detected targets in his mind as burning flames.
Swish, swish, swish!!
His mind's eye was instantly filled with a map of Magnolia. Countless azure flames lit up. Most of them were very dim, almost non-existent. These were ordinary people.
Some flames were brighter. These were Mages. He could see the bright, steady fires of Gray and Mira right next to him. He could sense the rowdy, chaotic flames of Natsu, Elfman, and the others, clustered back at the guild hall.
The brightest flame Ren sensed was undoubtedly Master Makarov, its luminosity like a small sun, far exceeding everyone else's.
He pushed his senses further, past the town, into the surrounding forests and mountains.
Soon, in the mountains west of Magnolia Town, Ren sensed a cluster of familiar flames—Natsu, Erza, and the others, clearly searching. But he also sensed one flame that was separate from the others. It was flickering erratically, like a candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish at any moment. This magical perception... this fading life force... it perfectly matched Loki.
Ren opened his eyes. "Found him!"
"Really?! That's great!" Mira and Gray couldn't help but be happy when they heard Ren's words.
"Yes," Ren said, his voice the cold monotone of Ulquiorra. "You two go tell everyone to come back. I will bring Loki back safely."
"Okay!" Mira and Gray agreed.
Ren tapped his toes, and his body vanished in a blur of Sonído. He moved rapidly towards the town. Now that he remembered Loki's identity, saving Loki would require one more person.
Soon, Ren arrived at Lucy's rental house. He didn't bother knocking. Gray had set the precedent. This was an emergency.
He reappeared inside her apartment, right by the door. "Lucy!"
"Eek!"
Lucy, who was humming to herself, had just come out of the bathroom after a long, hot shower. Ren's sudden appearance in her room startled her so badly that she jumped, and her bath towel, which had been loosely wrapped, fell.
It pooled around her ankles, revealing Lucy's perfect, glistening figure.
This made Ren's blood surge, and he sighed in his heart: Truly Lucy, this figure is indeed a 'nice body.'
"Ahhhhh!"
Lucy also noticed her bath towel had fallen. She let out a high-pitched scream and shyly—and frantically—covered her chest with both hands, then squatted to pick up the towel, trying to cover everything at once.
Ren, ever the gentleman, turned the tables and said, "Why aren't you wearing clothes? Has Gray led you astray?"
"I just finished showering, of course I'm not wearing clothes!!" Lucy shrieked, her face beet-red as she fumbled with the towel. "Besides, you're trespassing! Breaking into a girl's house late at night! No... it can't be... what do you want to do... are you going to..."
Ren immediately raised his hand and said, "Don't worry! I'm not interested in you!"
"Hmph!" Lucy snapped, finally getting the towel secured, though her blush remained. "Then what are you doing here?! Get out!"
Ren's expression turned serious. "Loki has left the guild and might be in some trouble. He needs your help."
"What?!"
Lucy's expression changed instantly upon hearing this. "Loki left the guild? Why?"
"I don't know about that," Ren said, already moving to the window. "Hurry and get dressed. I'll take you to find him."
"Then you should turn around! Pervert!"
At the West Mountain Waterfall, Loki stood before a single, worn tombstone, his gaze fixed on the grave. This was the resting place of his owner, Karen Lilica. He didn't want the guild members to see him die; rather than that, it was better for everyone to believe he had left. This was also the most suitable place for his final demise.
He was so tired. His body felt transparent, his magic all but gone.
Suddenly!
A voice rang out: "Loki!"
Loki quickly turned his head, his fading eyes widening in astonishment. He saw Ren and... Lucy... walking out of the woods. "Ren?! Lucy? How did you know I was here?!"
"This is my perception magic," Ren said, walking calmly toward him. "It's quite simple to sense your location within a certain range."
Loki couldn't help but sigh with emotion upon hearing this. "You truly live up to your reputation!"
"So... this is your owner's tomb?" Ren asked, looking at the name on the stone.
"You... how did you..."
"What? You don't actually think your identity as a Celestial Spirit has been well-hidden, do you?"
This time, Loki was completely shocked. Ren actually knew his identity as a Celestial Spirit. But thinking about Ren's many incredible, seemingly impossible abilities, it wasn't impossible for him to know his identity.
"You actually found out..."
"A Celestial Spirit?!"
Of course, Lucy was even more shocked. Loki? The guild's suave, girl-crazy, ring-magic-using Loki... was a Celestial Spirit? How was that possible? She, a Celestial Spirit Mage, hadn't even noticed.
Ren looked at Loki, his gaze analytical. "You're fading. Are you... going to die?"
"You even know that," Loki said, a bitter smile on his face. "Yes, I'm about to die. Just as humans cannot survive in the Celestial Spirit Realm, Spirits cannot survive in the human world. In the human world, a Spirit's life is slowly stripped away, eventually leading to death. I've been in the human world for three years."
"Three years?!" Lucy gasped. "Even one year is already incredible!!"
"Yes," Loki said, sinking to his knees. "I've reached my limit now. I can't use any power at all. To avoid worrying everyone, please forgive me for leaving this way. Please... help me say goodbye to everyone. Don't let them know I died; just let them think I'm still alive somewhere else."
Ren directly raised his hand to refuse. "I'm sorry, I don't like to deliver messages for others, and I especially don't like to deliver last words. It's too unlucky. If you have anything to say, you should go back and tell everyone yourself."
Loki paused slightly, then shook his head with a bitter smile. "I can't go back."
Then, as if to vent three years of crushing guilt, Loki began to tell the story of him and his former owner. His former owner, Karen Lilica, was a woman with a very unpleasant personality.
She liked to be praised and enjoyed toying with men. Sometimes, when those men pestered her, Karen would summon Aries to "accompany" them to get rid of them.
"Furthermore," Loki's voice trembled with rage, "she would often hit or scold us. She didn't see us as living beings at all, but merely as tools for making money."
"To stop this behavior," he continued, "I chose to forcibly open my own gate, which prevented Karen from summoning other Spirits. I also demanded that Karen break my and Aries's contracts. I just wanted to protect Aries."
He originally intended to scare Karen, to force her to change. But unexpectedly, what ultimately came was news of Karen's death. It turned out that Karen, unable to summon Spirits, chose to undertake a mission anyway and was killed during it.
"Because of me, my owner died. This violated the ultimate rule of the Celestial Spirit Realm," he whispered, his body starting to flicker. "So from that day on, I could no longer return to the Spirit Realm. The Spirit King refused to accept a Spirit who disobeyed their owner's commands, resulting in their death."
He already sensed that soon, he would completely disappear.
Loki smiled at the two and said, "Thank you for listening to me. After telling all of this, I feel much better. Even if I die now, I'll have no regrets."
Ren listened quietly to Loki's words, his expression unreadable. He then said indifferently:
"Don't worry. With me here, you won't die."
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