After the loud bang, the discomfort on Aquarius disappeared completely.
The Healing Magic of Wendy and the Marine Sub-Dragon began to take effect, quickly restoring her spirit.
Lucy said joyfully, "Aquarius, are you okay now?"
"Yes." Aquarius nodded slightly, thinking of her earlier call of 'Bearded Dad,' she said softly, "You should show more respect to the King."
Lucy laughed, "I've always respected Bearded Dad."
Aquarius chuckled and shook her head.
Compared to the somewhat relaxed atmosphere here, the Star Spirit King and Frederick were much more serious.
Frederick, whose gigantic body was comparable in size to the Star Spirit King, floated up, meeting the Star Spirit King at the same height, "So bold of you to leave the Star Spirit Realm."
The Star Spirit King did not respond directly, "Overintervening in the Human Realm is against the rules, and recklessly harming Contractors is unforgivable. Come back with me, confess, and accept your punishment."
"As a ruler, only you would say something so naïve," Frederick sneered, "Listen well, a King never breaks the rules, a King never harms anyone recklessly, a King doesn't need forgiveness from anyone, and a King is never guilty!"
To be fair, Rhode felt that this guy was quite imposing, so he had to consider carefully how to whack him on the head.
But such a strong opponent seemed difficult to sneak up on, so it was better to gang up on him.
"Unreasonable." The Star Spirit King gave up on communication, raising his Longsword, "In the name of the stars, I will judge your crimes here!"
The stars in the sky brightened slightly, and those familiar with star maps could recognize the shimmering constellations while the Star Spirit King's blade glowed with brilliant starlight.
And Frederick also raised his Scepter, "In the name of the stars, I will make you slumber here forever!"
In the sky behind him, a star map appeared as well, but its divisions were vastly different from the Star Spirit King's, and the glow of the stars was not the usual gentle white but a sinister purple and dark red.
The two patches of stars twinkled above the two of them, distinctly separated, as if countless Star Spirits were wrestling above.
The Magic Power kept accumulating, the cloaks of the Star Spirit King and Frederick billowed in the wind, flaring more and more.
The wind started howling, Antinous gestured backward, and four guards followed him silently.
Several more figures from the Divine Hall joined their steps.
Aquarius said, "Lucy, we have to leave too."
"Aren't we going to help Bearded Dad?"
Aquarius nodded, "This is the King's battle."
Rhode suddenly sensed something, pointed in a direction, "It's good we're leaving, Sister Ocean, over there."
The Marine Sub-Dragon immediately flew off without a word; she loved clear and actionable instructions like this.
"Huh?" Lucy hadn't reacted yet.
Natsu was about to say something when a loud bang resounded from the sky as the weapons of the two kings clashed.
The two clusters of stars flickered, and at the point where the Longsword and Scepter collided, a black void appeared, seemingly an embodiment of their powers.
The black void exploded with a boom, and both of them were blown back dozens of meters in the air before they could steady themselves.
The nearby clouds had long since dispersed; the mountains below trembled faintly. Cracks appeared with a crashing sound at the place the Marine Sub-Dragon had blasted out of the cave.
The temple at the mountain's summit seemed on the verge of collapse.
The Marine Sub-Dragon's body swayed, and her flying speed suddenly surged—not because she accelerated herself but because she was propelled by a fierce wind.
Three unconscious, injured people almost got blown away, but fortunately, Natsu, Gray, and Yukino each held one down.
Lucy seemed to understand why Aquarius wanted her to leave, but that was only half the reason.
The main reason was probably that the Star Spirit King wanted to personally deal with this old rival.
Wendy asked, "Brother Rhode, where are we going?"
Rhode used Void Divination for a quick scan, then answered, "We're almost there. Some fool... someone wants to fight me for control of a wild monster... That's the mountain!"
The Marine Sub-Dragon plummeted downward.
Midway up the mountain, a curly-haired man with a dog-skin hat, beast-skin clothes, and a crooked staff looked strangely at the three Magical Beasts before him.
—Two were seemingly ordinary giant wolves, and one was a giant wolf with two heads.
His task was to cooperate with the Bear Constellation Star Spirit, to control as many Magical Beasts as possible, to hunt down Star Spirit Mages, and seize their keys. Also, to provide as many troops as possible for the newly started war.
But these three giant wolves before him...
He turned to his companion next to him, "My 'Taming' doesn't work, see if your 'Command' does any good?"
His companion was not a person but a finely crafted saddle with facial features.
The saddle 'nodded,' emitting three purple beams of light.
The three beams of light landed on the three Shadow Wolves, transforming into saddles, reins, and muzzles, automatically adjusting to fit the Shadow Wolves perfectly.
Even the Two-headed Wolf had specially fitted doubles for its muzzles.
The Shadow Wolves shook their heads and bodies, but no matter what, they couldn't shake off these items.
"Grrrrr~~" The Shadow Wolves crouched low, growling softly.
Their original task was only to scout and look for those in need of rescue, but these two were clearly enemies.
The Three Wolves pounced all at once.
The curly-haired man blocked the Two-headed Wolf with his staff, but the fine saddle was caught by the other two ordinary wolves.
However, with the muzzles on, they couldn't bite at all, and it was hard to pose a threat using only their claws.
"I really didn't expect to encounter such hard-to-control Magical Beasts," the curly-haired man sighed regretfully.
Normally, he would be very interested in spending more effort to tame these wolves, but now he didn't have the time, and he was ready to strike them down.
The staff suddenly transformed into a wooden stick with a sharp stone tied at its end, resembling a primitive Long Spear used for hunting.
He leaped back and bent his arm, ready to throw the spear.
Just then, the back of his head was suddenly grabbed by someone, and his body uncontrollably pitched forward, his forehead crashing into the fine saddle.
With a thud, his head and the saddle were buried in the ground together, and he heard a faint voice saying, "Who gave you permission to touch my huskies?"
A moment later, both man and saddle had vanished, with Aquarius identifying from memory, "That's the Comet Hunter Constellation and the Bear Constellation, capable of controlling beasts with magic."
Yukino asked, "Those Magical Beasts that attacked us..."
"They must be the ones they controlled," Aquarius smiled, "To have dealt with them in a flash, this will greatly reduce the enemy's forces!"
Just as Aquarius said, the birds of prey in the sky and the beasts of prey on the slopes, originally helping the rebellious Star Spirits in battle, suddenly regained their senses, looking around in confusion, some fleeing, some changing sides.
It was also then that a particularly handsome man arrived with a squad, expressing some regret, "Am I too late?"
Natsu clapped his right fist into his left palm, smiling, "Just in time!"