Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Chapter 176

"T-The Celestial Spirit King?!"

The enormous golden lion that Loki had become stared upward with his eyes stretched wide, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

"He... he actually appeared..."

Lucy didn’t catch whatever Loki muttered after that.

She was still somewhat confused about exactly what she had just accomplished, but there was no mistaking the enormous bearded figure towering before them.

This was the legendary Celestial Spirit King!

The Celestial Spirit King glanced briefly at Loki before turning his attention toward Lucy.

"Old friend. We Celestial Spirits enter contracts with humans under laws that forbid us from harming the owners of our Keys. Leo did not directly kill his contract holder, but his actions indirectly caused her death. Therefore, I refused to allow Leo to return to the Celestial Spirit World. That judgment was passed according to our laws."

"But that’s ridiculous!"

Lucy immediately fired back.

"Leo only disobeyed Karen because he was trying to protect Aries! He never hurt his contract holder, and he didn’t do anything wrong!"

"I understand how you feel, old friend. However, the law—"

"DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT THE LAW!"

Lucy threw out a hand with such authority that even Marshall raised an eyebrow.

She pointed directly at the towering Celestial Spirit King.

"Listen to me, Grandpa Beard! I refuse to accept that Leo is guilty!"

Loki’s jaw dropped.

Marshall silently admired her courage.

Lucy didn’t care.

"How can worrying about your companion possibly be a crime?! How can wanting to protect someone you care about be wrong?!"

All of Lucy’s magic erupted at once.

One after another, the Celestial Spirits contracted to her manifested behind her, answering their Mage’s emotions almost instinctively.

For that brief moment, surrounded by her Spirits and blazing with magical power, Lucy’s presence was so fierce that she somehow seemed to overwhelm even the gigantic Celestial Spirit King.

Then her knees buckled.

She had released far too much magic at once.

Before Lucy could fall, Marshall stepped forward and caught her by the shoulders, steadying her from behind.

He had remained silent throughout the entire argument.

Rather than interrupting, he simply stared thoughtfully at the Celestial Spirit King, studying every reaction with unusual intensity.

The Spirit King remained silent for a moment.

Then he finally spoke.

"Old friend... if you feel this strongly, perhaps the one at fault is not Leo."

His immense gaze shifted toward the exhausted lion.

"Perhaps the fault lies with the law itself."

Lucy’s eyes widened.

"Leo committed his offense while trying to save Aries. And now you, old friend, have confronted me in order to save Leo."

The Celestial Spirit King’s voice softened.

"Such bonds are beautiful things."

He raised one enormous hand.

"For the sake of that bond, I shall make an exception."

Loki froze.

"Leo."

The King’s voice echoed across the star-filled sky.

"You may now return to the Celestial Spirit World. Your offense is forgiven."

A faint smile appeared beneath his enormous mustache.

"Give thanks to the guidance of the stars."

Lucy immediately broke into a huge grin and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Hey, Grandpa! You’re actually a pretty good guy!"

The Celestial Spirit King chuckled.

Then the curtain of stars slowly faded.

The immense magical presence disappeared along with it, and the ordinary sky returned.

At the same time, a glowing door appeared behind Loki.

The path home.

All he had to do was open it.

The emaciated golden lion stared at Lucy in disbelief.

"It... actually worked."

His voice trembled.

"This isn’t some illusion, is it?"

Lucy turned toward Marshall with a triumphant grin.

"See?! Marshall, what did I tell you?"

She planted her hands on her hips.

"How would we know something was impossible if we never even tried?!"

Her smile became unbearably smug.

"I’m amazing, right?"

Marshall didn’t answer.

Instead, he raised a hand toward the lion.

Loki stared at him for a moment.

Then his paw transformed back into a human hand and slapped against Marshall’s palm.

SMACK!

(✧▽✧)ﾉヽ(✧▽✧)ﾉ

Loki returned to his human form with tears streaming down his face.

"IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!"

He threw both arms into the air.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH, LUCY!!! YOU’RE MY SAVIOR!!!"

Lucy blinked.

"?"

Marshall grinned.

"Told you it would work."

He looked proudly toward Lucy.

"Our little Lucy was hiding some serious connections. That backing of yours is rock-solid."

Lucy slowly turned toward him.

"???"

Before she could process what that meant, Loki dropped dramatically to one knee.

One hand pressed against his chest and his expression became absurdly solemn.

"O great, respected, beautiful Lady Lucy!"

Lucy’s mouth fell open.

"I shall become your sword and serve as your guardian knight!"

He raised his head with sparkling eyes.

"Please forge an eternal contract with me!"

Lucy stared at Loki.

Then at Marshall.

Then back at Loki.

Then at Marshall again.

Her brain finally connected several pieces that it really should have connected sooner.

"Loki..."

Her voice trembled.

"You..."

She pointed at him.

"You’re Leo the Lion?"

Loki nodded.

"Yep."

"You’re a Celestial Spirit?!"

"Yep."

Lucy very slowly turned toward Marshall.

"And you..."

Marshall smiled innocently.

"You already knew?"

"Yep."

Lucy froze.

Several seconds passed.

Then the enlightenment struck.

"You two set me up?!"

Marshall’s smile widened.

Lucy finally understood everything.

These two bastards had worked together!

They had known exactly what was happening while she was pouring her heart out, arguing with the Celestial Spirit King, nearly exhausting herself, and acting like Leo was about to die in front of her.

They had just stood there and watched the entire performance!

Lucy’s face cycled from red to white and then straight back to red.

"You!"

She pointed furiously between them.

"YOU TWO ARE AWFUL!"

Her voice rose into a shriek.

"You tricked me! I’M MAD NOW! I’M REALLY MAD! AAAAAAHHH!"

Marshall immediately raised both hands.

"Hold on. In my defense, I never actually lied to you."

Lucy stared at him.

"WHAT?!"

"Everything I told you was true."

Marshall started counting on his fingers.

"Leo’s story was true. Karen really died. Leo really was exiled from the Celestial Spirit World. Which part was a lie?"

"You said the last time you saw Leo, he was on the verge of death!"

Lucy jabbed a finger toward Loki.

"This bastard goes around flirting with women every single day!"

"Oh, that."

Marshall nodded calmly.

"Loki nearly died during one of my experiments the last time we worked together."

He glanced at Loki.

"Right?"

Loki nodded vigorously.

"Yep. Completely true."

Lucy’s eye twitched.

"And you said he was about to disappear! You made me worry about him!"

"Without my magic supporting him, he really was close to disappearing."

Marshall looked at Loki again.

"Right?"

Loki nodded.

"Yep. Completely true."

Lucy began shaking.

"You two...!"

She pointed at Marshall.

"Then why didn’t you tell me Loki was Leo?!"

Marshall blinked.

"You never asked."

Loki nodded immediately.

"Yep. Completely true."

Something snapped inside Lucy.

"YOU BASTARD, LOKI!"

She pointed at him furiously.

"You’re a liar! If I’d known you were Leo, I never would’ve saved a womanizing scumbag like you!"

"Wait!"

Loki immediately panicked.

"Lucy! I just swore to become your knight!"

He placed a hand dramatically against his heart.

"I meant every word!"

"GET LOST! I DON’T WANT YOU!"

Marshall hurriedly stepped between the two before Lucy tried physically throwing Loki through his newly restored Gate.

"Come on, Lucy, don’t be so angry."

He gently patted her back.

"Think about what actually happened."

Lucy glared at him.

"You did something good."

Marshall began reasoning with her in the most shamelessly cheerful voice imaginable.

"Leo’s punishment was overturned. Justice was served. Fairness prevailed. Nobody got hurt, and we reached the perfect happy ending where everyone gets to walk away alive."

He spread his hands.

"You should be happy!"

Lucy’s mouth opened.

"You..."

Then closed.

"You... I..."

She suddenly couldn’t explain why she was this furious.

Marshall was right.

She had saved Leo.

An unfair punishment had been overturned.

The Celestial Spirit King had admitted that the law itself could be wrong.

She had accomplished exactly what she wanted.

So why did she feel absolutely no satisfaction whatsoever?

The more Lucy thought about it, the more aggrieved she became.

Then she saw Marshall standing beside her with a barely concealed grin, clearly enjoying every second of her confusion.

That did it.

Lucy lunged.

She grabbed both of Marshall’s cheeks and pulled as hard as she could.

"You rotten little brat!"

Marshall’s face stretched sideways.

"I’M GOING TO TEACH YOU A LESSON!"

Marshall stared at her.

’?’

Fine.

He would allow it this once.

He could always bully her twice as hard later.

With his cheeks being stretched in opposite directions, Marshall mumbled almost incomprehensibly,

"Lu...cy... you still haven’t... answered Loki..."

Lucy stopped.

Right.

Loki had been kneeling there this entire time.

Even more dramatically, he was still holding his own Gold Key in both hands.

The moment the Celestial Spirit King pardoned him, the Key had reappeared in his possession.

Lucy gave Marshall’s cheeks several final vicious kneads until she finally felt satisfied, then released him and turned toward Loki with a cold expression.

Loki gave her his most ingratiating smile.

Lucy stared.

"I don’t want a frivolous Celestial Spirit like you."

Loki froze.

An invisible arrow pierced his heart.

He collapsed onto all fours.

"Ugghh..."

Then he looked pitifully toward Marshall.

Marshall grinned.

"I don’t want you either."

Loki’s face cracked.

"I’ve already got Virgo. She’s enough for me."

"Are you serious?!"

Loki shot upright.

"I’m the strongest Spirit among the Twelve Zodiac Keys!"

He pointed at himself.

"Neither of you wants me?!"

Marshall shrugged.

"You don’t actually need anyone else’s magic to survive in Earth Land anymore. I already modified you."

He gestured lazily.

"You can just keep living as Loki."

Loki blinked.

"...Huh."

He thought about it.

Then his eyes lit up.

"Wait! That’s actually not bad!"

He slapped one fist into his palm.

"If I don’t need a contract holder, then I don’t have to break up with any of my girlfriends!"

Lucy’s expression of disgust intensified.

"You really are a scumbag."

She turned on Marshall again.

"And this is all your fault! If you had told me Loki was Leo, I wouldn’t have cared whether this idiot lived or died!"

Marshall giggled.

"Nope."

Lucy frowned.

"What?"

"You would’ve saved him anyway."

Marshall smiled knowingly.

"Lucy would never abandon a companion."

Lucy’s face instantly turned red.

She released Marshall completely and spun around so he couldn’t see her expression.

"N-No, I wouldn’t!"

"Hm~?"

"Shut up!"

She crossed her arms.

"Anyway, this whole thing is over now, right? I’m going home!"

Lucy marched off with as much dignity as she could muster.

She made it several steps.

Then stopped.

She looked around.

Forest.

Trees.

No recognizable road.

No Magnolia.

Nothing.

Lucy had arrived by teleporting with Marshall.

She had absolutely no idea where they were.

Her shoulders stiffened.

After several agonizing seconds, she quietly turned around and walked back.

Marshall, Loki, and Lucy stared at one another.

"Lucy."

"What?!"

"You’re really fun to mess with."

"SHUT UP!!!"

Marshall calmly endured Lucy’s renewed tantrum before turning toward Loki.

"There’s one more thing you should know."

Loki became serious.

"The Celestial Spirit Lacrima inside your body isn’t naturally part of you."

Marshall tapped his own chest.

"In theory, if you die once, the Lacrima may separate from your body during the reconstruction process."

Loki’s smile faded slightly.

"So..."

Marshall shrugged.

"Try not to die."

Loki laughed.

"Come on! I’m pretty strong now."

Then he looked down at the Gold Key still resting in his hand.

"Marshall."

"Hm?"

"Keep this for me for now."

Loki tossed the Key toward him.

Marshall caught it.

"Once I find a suitable contract holder, I’ll come get it back."

"No problem."

Loki turned toward the glowing Celestial Spirit Gate.

"Well then..."

His expression became unexpectedly nostalgic.

"I think I’ll go back to the Celestial Spirit World for a while."

He smiled.

"It’s been a long time."

Loki pushed open the Gate and stepped inside before turning back toward them.

"Seriously."

His usual teasing expression softened.

"Thank you, Lucy."

Lucy looked at him.

"I’m sorry I hid who I was, but my gratitude is genuine."

Loki smiled brightly.

"And my knight’s oath will always remain valid~"

"I DON’T NEED IT!"

Lucy stuck out her tongue.

"Bleh!"

Loki laughed.

The Gate closed behind him.

Soon, only Marshall and Lucy remained.

Lucy looked around.

"Marshall."

"Hm?"

"Aren’t we going back?"

"Not yet."

Marshall looked at her thoughtfully.

"There’s something I want to ask you first."

Lucy immediately became suspicious after everything that had just happened.

"What?"

"Do you know why you were able to command the Celestial Spirit King?"

Lucy stared at him.

"...What?"

She pointed at herself.

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Command the Celestial Spirit King?"

Lucy looked genuinely bewildered.

"I didn’t command him! I argued with him until he understood I was right!"

"..."

Marshall stared at her.

Then he quietly laughed.

"I see."

Lucy frowned.

"What’s so funny?"

Marshall’s expression became increasingly meaningful.

"Apparently, Lucy..."

"You know absolutely nothing about your own family’s bloodline."

"?"

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