Chapter 128: Get Out of My Way If You Don't Want to Die
"What?!"
Loki was slightly stunned. He stared at Ren, his fading, translucent body flickering. His mind, hazy with exhaustion and the encroaching void, struggled to process the words. "Ren... what... what do you mean by that?"
"It means exactly what it says," Ren replied. His voice, filtered through the cold, emotionless mask of Ulquiorra Cifer, was flat and devoid of any human warmth. It was the voice of a being stating an absolute, unchangeable fact. "You're dying because you can't return to the Celestial Spirit Realm, right? If I send you back to the Celestial Spirit Realm, won't that solve it?"
"What?!"
"Send me back to the Celestial Spirit Realm?!"
This time, Loki and Lucy both said it at the same time. Loki's was a gasp of desperate, impossible hope; Lucy's was a cry of pure confusion.
"But... how?" Lucy stammered, taking a step forward. "That's impossible! I can open gates, but I don't have Loki's key, nor am I his owner, so I can't open a gate for him! I can't force a Spirit I'm not contracted with back to the Spirit Realm!"
Lucy thought Ren brought her here to open a gate for Loki, but she also knew her own strength. Forcing open a gate for a Celestial Spirit that didn't belong to her was an advanced and dangerous technique, far beyond her current level. It could shatter her magic.
"No need for that," Ren said, dismissing her concern as irrelevant. "You can just open a gate and summon any Celestial Spirit. I have a way to send Loki back to the Celestial Spirit Realm."
"This... alright!"
Although Lucy was still a bit confused, she had learned on Galuna Island that when Ren stated something with such certainty, the right thing to do was to trust him.
Lucy pulled out a golden key, the one she was most familiar with. "Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!!"
A golden magic circle lit up, and the Celestial Spirit, Virgo, appeared in a flash of light. She had pink hair, wore a blue and white maid outfit, and looked very cute.
However, her appearance was a bit undignified. She was not standing, but hanging upside down in the air, her entire body bound in thick, rough ropes.
"Do you want to punish me, Princess!" she asked in her usual monotone voice.
"Eek!" Lucy was startled when she saw her. "Why are you like this?! Doesn't this make me look strange?! What were you doing in the Spirit Realm?!"
Ren, still in his Ulquiorra form, just gave Lucy a blank, analytical stare. "I never thought, Lucy, you had such a fetish."
"No, I don't!" Lucy shrieked, her face bright red.
"Snap!"
Ren, ignoring them, snapped his fingers.
Buzz!
Space itself vibrated. Then, a small, black crack—like a flaw in glass—appeared in the air at the exact spot where Lucy had just summoned Virgo.
Following that, the air began to tear apart, not like a piece of cloth, but like a gaping, lightless maw opening. The sound of a thousand rushing winds filled the clearing, and the edges of the tear crackled with green-black spiritual energy.
"What... what is this?!" Lucy and Loki were stunned by this sight, stumbling back from the sheer unnatural pressure.
"Garganta," Ren's voice echoed, as if from a distance. "It can tear space apart and move freely between different worlds. It's also one of the abilities I can use in this form."
[Akarin's Note: Garganta (Spanish for "Throat") is an ability from 'Bleach' used by Arrancar to move between dimensions, most often between the human world and their world, Hueco Mundo.]
"I asked you to summon a Celestial Spirit earlier because I wanted to pinpoint the 'scent' of the Celestial Spirit Realm. Your magic created a bridge. I just used that bridge to tear a new, wider road. This makes it more convenient, so I don't get lost in the spatial gaps."
"How... how amazing!" Lucy whispered, staring into the swirling black void.
Although they already knew Ren was powerful, being able to casually rip worlds apart at will was perhaps a bit too extraordinary.
Soon, the dark void stabilized, a swirling, pitch-black tunnel that seemed to pulse with a life of its own.
"Alright, Loki, just go through here, and you can return to the Celestial Spirit Realm."
"This..."
Loki was completely bewildered. He hadn't expected the path home, the one thing he had craved and been denied for three years, the thing that had caused him such despair... to be accomplished so easily with the cooperation of Ren and Lucy.
He could feel it. He could feel the unique, pure Celestial Spirit power flowing from the dark void passage. It was the air of his home. The other side really was the Celestial Spirit Realm.
"That's great! Loki!" Lucy jumped up happily, tears in her eyes. "You can return to the Spirit Realm! You don't have to die!"
Loki's feelings were complex and excited. His heart hammered in his chest. He had seemed resigned, willing to accept the punishment of death, but how could he truly be content? He still had many, many things he wanted to do, and he couldn't bear to leave everyone in the guild... his family.
He took a shaky step toward the portal.
Suddenly!
A majestic, thunderous shout rang out from the sky above, a voice that seemed to shake the very foundations of the world.
"Who goes there?!"
The world itself seemed to stop.
The Garganta froze. The swirling void ceased its motion.
The sky changed color, the stars dimming as the heavens darkened to a deep, royal twilight. The flowing river water began to still, as if frozen in time.
Then, the waterfall itself—tons of crashing water—stopped, hung suspended in mid-air, and began to flow backward, rushing towards the sky, forming a giant, swirling vortex of water.
Within the vortex, a colossal, armored figure with a magnificent, cross-shaped mustache appeared in mid-air. He was impossibly huge, a true giant king made of starlight and armor.
Loki saw his figure, and his fading life force seemed to flicker with pure terror. "No... this is... the Celestial Spirit King!!"
"The King... is he the strongest Celestial Spirit?" Lucy whispered, her knees shaking as she stared up at the being who was the god of her magic.
As a Celestial Spirit Mage, she never expected to see the Celestial Spirit King here, in the human world.
"How... how did he appear here?!" Loki couldn't believe it.
"I sensed someone tearing the space between the Celestial Spirit Realm and the Human World," the King's voice boomed, a sound that was both heard and felt. "So I came to investigate. It turns out to be you, Leo!"
The King looked down at Loki, his ancient eyes filled with a sad, deep wisdom. "Leo, we have a contract with humans not to harm the key owner. Although you didn't directly kill the owner, Karen, you indirectly caused her death. Therefore, I refuse your return to the Celestial Spirit Realm."
"Wait, isn't this ridiculous?!"
Lucy, seeing her friend about to be condemned, and seeing the hope drain from Loki's face, bravely stood up at this moment.
"For his comrade! For Aries! He did it to protect her! Wasn't this a necessary act?!"
The Celestial Spirit King looked at Lucy, his gaze softening almost imperceptibly. "I understand my old friend's feelings, and I am pained by it. But my old friend, this rule cannot be changed."
"Don't talk about 'old friends'!" Lucy shouted, her voice cracking with emotion as tears of frustration streamed down her face. "We need to talk about the friend in front of you! Listen to me, old man with the long beard!"
"This was a tragic accident! What crime do you say Loki committed? I cannot accept the idea that he is guilty! He was protecting Aries from abuse! Karen was a terrible master!"
"If you are also a Celestial Spirit, you must understand Loki and Aries' feelings! He did what he did to protect one of your own subjects!"
"Thinking of his comrade... where is the crime?! Where is this crime?!"
Loki quickly stumbled up, his translucent body flickering, and grabbed Lucy's arm. "Idiot Lucy! That's the Celestial Spirit King! Don't anger him!"
Then Loki looked at the Celestial Spirit King, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He bowed his head. "Your Majesty, Celestial Spirit King... Karen's matter was my fault. I am willing to accept the punishment of death!"
He didn't want to implicate Lucy and Ren because of his own situation. He was just so, so tired.
Suddenly!
Ren's cold, monotone voice rang out, cutting through the emotional scene.
"I refuse."
"Ren?!"
Everyone looked at Ren, who was still in his Ulquiorra form, his expressionless face turned up toward the sky.
Ren said indifferently, "That person's death, she deserved it. It has nothing to do with Loki. If you want to talk about punishment, Loki's three years of exile in the human world are more than enough."
"Now," Ren continued, his voice dropping slightly, "Loki is a member of the Fairy Tail Guild. I am sending Loki back to the Celestial Spirit Realm. If you dare to interfere... then you are an enemy of Fairy Tail."
Swish!
Ren's figure flashed, his Sonído carrying him into mid-air in an instant. His black wings unfurled behind him. He stood directly in front of the Celestial Spirit King's massive face, his cold green eyes staring directly into the King's ancient, cosmic gaze.
"Celestial Spirit King, if you don't want to die, get out of my way!"
To be honest, he had seen enough giants recently, and he was sick of looking up at people when talking.
Loki was in mortal danger now. Ren had no time, and his current form had no patience, to bother with idle chatter with this obstacle.
"Wait... Ren! That's the Celestial Spirit King!" Loki's expression changed dramatically upon hearing Ren's words, his terror for Ren overcoming his own despair. The Celestial Spirit King was the strongest among the Celestial Spirits, with unfathomable power. It would be terrible to anger him.
"Yes! Ren, don't be impulsive!" Lucy also quickly tried to dissuade Ren. Celestial Spirits were actually very strong; the reason they sometimes displayed weaker power was due to her own insufficient magic training and lack of magic power. The King was on another level entirely.
The Celestial Spirit King looked at the tiny, winged figure floating defiantly before his nose. He felt the cold, empty, unbelievably powerful pressure radiating from him. He had not felt a power like this in millennia.
A slight smile played on his lips.
"Haha, it's been many, many years since I've seen such a bold young man. Since you, and my 'old friend' Lucy, both say so... I will give Leo a chance. As long as you can defeat me in a move or two, I will allow Loki to return to the Celestial Spirit Realm."
[Akarin Note:
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