"Taurus! Take them out!"
Just as Taurus was confused, the fake Lucy gave the order.
Taurus immediately lost control of his body and leaped toward Lucy, grabbing the large axe from his back mid-air.
"What's going on?!"
Taurus turned pale with fright.
He tried to control his body, and in that moment, he understood—it had to be Gemini messing around!
Boom!
Taurus landed on the ground, fighting to stop himself from swinging the axe down.
He didn't want to attack Lucy, even if he was being controlled.
Of course, Lucy wasn't just standing there waiting to get chopped.
She had dodged out of the way beforehand.
Although her close-combat skills were rated an "X" by Marco, that was according to Marco's standards, using Gray and Natsu as benchmarks—that passing grade was just too high!
After years of training, Lucy and Hisui's close-combat skills weren't bad.
Dodging Taurus's reluctant axe swings was no problem for her.
"There really is a bull here."
While watching this, Marco made a sarcastic remark from the sidelines.
At the same time, his curiosity was piqued by this Gemini Celestial Spirit.
It was one thing for this Gemini Celestial Spirit to mimic someone's appearance, but they could actually copy their belongings too?
There was only one of these Zodiac keys, yet the Gemini spirit not only duplicated it but could also summon Taurus and force him to act.
Did they copy the contract along with it? Maybe even alter it? The original contract didn't have such strong constraints.
"Interesting."
Marco was quite expectant.
Could the Cygnus Cloth be copied?
Since Gemini could summon Lucy's spirits, could they use the "Diamond Dust"?
Could they send him a request to summon the Cygnus Cloth?
Could they request weapons from his Libra Gold Cloth?
Watching the smug Gemini Spirit Lucy, Marco wanted to remind them that Lucy still had many killer moves she hadn't used yet!
'Hurry up and try them, satisfy my curiosity!'
Under Marco's gaze, the Gemini Spirit Lucy's eyes suddenly lit up, as if thinking of something fun.
"Come forth! Cygnus Cloth!"
The Gemini Spirit Lucy shouted, making Marco's eyes light up.
With the fake Lucy's actions, the Cygnus constellation began to flicker and Marco felt the summoning request on his end.
"Access Denied."
After Marco gave his response, the Cygnus star map dimmed, ignoring the fake Lucy.
Naturally, the Cygnus Cloth was nowhere to be seen, it had no intention of descending.
"..."
The Lucy formed by Gemini struck a pose waiting to be armored, but the atmosphere suddenly turn awkward.
The summon had undoubtedly failed.
"How could this be?"
The fake Lucy was puzzled.
They hadn't expected to fail.
Their duplication was a full copy—taking on the opponent's everything, even their memories and thoughts.
Logically, a summoning failure shouldn't happen, as they are now the "real Lucy."
Lucy reacted quickly, glancing at Marco.
Marco smiled and nodded at her, which put her mind at ease.
"Come forth! Cygnus Cloth!"
Lucy initiated the summon as well.
This time, it was successful.
The Cygnus star map responded to her instantly, and the Cygnus Cloth materialized from the starlight, equipping itself directly onto Lucy.
"???"
The Gemini Lucy was dumbfounded.
They didn't understand why the Cygnus Cloth rejected their summon.
This Celestial Spirit hadn't imagined that Marco possessed such control over the star map in the sky—that its response actually required his permission!
Truthfully, it was Marco's first time realizing this too.
After all, this fake Lucy—this Gemini Celestial Spirit—was the first to send him a direct application without prior authorization.
This copying ability was a bit ridiculous!
Fortunately, it wasn't ridiculous enough to alter Marco's "unequal treaty".
Whether they could summon the Cloth or receive a response from the constellation still required his consent.
The "unequal treaty" was just that tyrannical.
Just like his disciples' abilities, as long as Marco expelled them, all ties to these abilities and Cloths would be severed.
Even skills they had already learned would become invalid, because the power of the stars would no longer favor them.
"Gemini! Hurry and help!"
Before the fake Lucy could remain shocked, Angel started calling for backup.
The Aries spirit's magic hadn't trapped Leo, so her laser cannon missed Leo, failing to send him back.
"Leo! Stop attacking! Freeze!"
The Gemini Lucy immediately turned and issued a command to Leo.
Even though she didn't summon him, she could still influence him and fight the real Lucy for control.
"Damn it!"
Leo's body was immobilized.
He shouted in frustration, but since everyone served their respective masters, he didn't blame Gemini.
Besides, Celestial Spirits were immortal, even if they were beaten, they'd just return to the Celestial Spirit World to rest.
Having signed a contract, they had to give it their all for their contractor.
Gemini was just doing his job, so Leo couldn't say much.
While immobilized, Leo couldn't dodge Caelum's attack and the laser cannon blasted him directly.
The next second, the situation shifted drastically.
A beam of starlight shone onto Leo, and he was instantly restored to normal and even strengthened.
It felt as if he possessed an inexhaustible amount of magic power.
This sensation was familiar to Leo, of course.
No, maybe not familiar, because it was stronger this time. This starlight came from the "Leo Star Map" in the sky, his patron constellation was bestowing power upon him.
"Thanks, Marco!"
Leo's magic power surged, erupting in a tangible orange light.
He thanked Marco, then charged straight for Angel.
Boom!
"Swamp!"
Leo suddenly stepped into the dirt as Hoteye intervened.
Seeing the situation going south, he quickly stepped in to protect Angel.
Regardless, the Oración Seis had a good relationship with each other, especially Angel, who got along well with everyone.
"Ganging up on her, huh?!"
Seeing Hoteye intervene, Fairy Tail naturally wasn't going to sit back and watch.
Gray immediately stepped up to confront Hoteye.
Just a moment ago, it was a duel between Celestial Spirit Mages—Lucy and Angel.
Plus, there was a grudge between Leo and Angel, so everyone consciously stayed out of it to let them settle their score.
They were having a good fight, and just as a winner was about to emerge, Hoteye interfered.
Wasn't that just dishonorable?
Of course, it was a "good fight" for Fairy Tail, but for the Oración Seis, the situation was looking grim.
Cobra had already fallen.
He was defeated way too fast!
Naturally, they couldn't just watch Angel be defeated too.