"What?!"
Loke froze, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Kael… what are you talking about?"
"It's simple,"
Kael said, his tone flat and unfeeling.
"You're dying because you can't return to the Celestial Spirit World, right? So I'll send you back. Problem solved."
"What?!"
"You're going to send him back?"
Lucy echoed, startled.
Loke and Lucy exchanged a dazed look, as if they couldn't decide whether to feel hope or panic.
"Kael, I can open a gate,"
Lucy said quickly, forcing herself to think.
"But I don't have Loke's key. I'm not his contractor. Opening the gate for a spirit who isn't bound to me is almost impossible!"
She'd assumed Kael brought her here because he needed her magic—but she knew her limits better than anyone.
"No need,"
Kael replied.
"Summon any spirit you have. I just need something to anchor to. I'll do the rest."
Lucy hesitated for half a beat, then nodded hard. She didn't understand his method, but experience had taught her one thing: Kael didn't make promises he couldn't keep.
"Fine…!"
She pulled out a golden key and swung it through the air.
"Open! Gate of the Maiden—Virgo!!"
A golden magic circle flared. Virgo appeared in a swirl of dust—pink-haired, expressionless, and wearing her usual maid outfit. Except she was also tightly bound in thick ropes from head to toe.
"Will you punish me now, Princess?"
Virgo asked, utterly deadpan.
"Eek!"
Lucy squeaked, face instantly turning scarlet.
"Why do you look like that?! You're making me look like a total weirdo!"
Kael glanced at Lucy from the corner of his eye.
"I didn't realize you were into that, Lucy."
"I'M NOT!"
Snap.
Kael snapped his fingers.
BZZZ——!!
The air shuddered. A jagged black—like a crack in glass—split open where Virgo had manifested. Space tore apart in strips, revealing a swirling, pitch-black void beneath it.
"What… what is that?!"
Lucy and Loke breathed at once.
"Descorrer,"
Kael said calmly.
"In this form, I can rip open the fabric of space and move between realms."
He glanced at the portal as it widened and stabilized.
"I had you summon a spirit so I could trace the residual connection back to the Celestial Spirit World. It's easier to find the front door than to wander the dimensional gap."
"That's… insane,"
Lucy whispered.
They'd always known Kael was strong—but casually cutting a doorway between worlds wasn't "strong." It was bordering on impossible.
A few moments later, the tear settled into a stable, dark corridor: a Garganta.
"There,"
Kael said, turning slightly.
"Loke. Walk through, and you're home."
Loke stared at it, heart hammering.
From the opening came a familiar, comforting mana—clean, bright, and unmistakably home. The place he'd believed was forever closed to him was sitting in front of his face, waiting.
"Loke!"
Lucy burst out, eyes shining.
"You did it! You don't have to die!"
Loke's chest tightened. Relief slammed into him—followed immediately by guilt. He'd already made peace with dying… and yet, faced with a way out, he realized how badly he wanted to live. To see the guild again. To laugh again. To exist.
Then—
A thunderous, majestic voice rolled across the valley.
"WHO GOES THERE?!"
The clouds churned. The roar of the waterfall vanished as if someone had muted the world—and then the river itself stopped.
A heartbeat later, the water surged upward, flowing back toward the sky and spiraling into a colossal vortex.
From that vortex emerged a massive armored figure seated upon a floating throne, draped in a cape like the night sky itself.
Loke went deathly pale.
"No… it can't be…"
Lucy swallowed.
"That… that's—"
"The Celestial Spirit King,"
Loke finished, voice shaking.
Even Lucy—who had lived with keys in her hands—felt her breath catch. She had never imagined meeting the ruler of the stars in the human world.
"I sensed someone forcibly tearing the veil between our realms,"
the King declared, voice like grinding stone.
"I came to investigate… and I find you, Leo."
He looked down, eyes ancient and heavy.
"Leo, the laws of our world are absolute. Spirits contract with humans under oath. Though you did not strike the killing blow, your actions led to your Master's death. Therefore, I cannot permit your return."
"Wait—no!"
Lucy snapped, stepping forward before fear could stop her.
"That's ridiculous! He did it to protect his friends! He did it for Aries! He didn't have a choice!"
The King's gaze shifted to her.
"I understand the feelings of my 'Old Friend,'"
he said, measured and solemn.
"And it pains me to see Leo suffer. But law is law. It cannot be bent."
"Don't call me confirmed,"
Lucy shot back, furious now, pointing straight up at him.
"We're talking about the person standing right here! Listen to me, you overgrown grandpa—this was a tragedy! How can you label him a criminal for trying to protect someone? I won't accept it!"
Her voice rose, trembling with anger and conviction.
"If you're truly the King of Spirits, then you of all people should understand their hearts! Since when is caring about your companions a crime?!"
"Lucy—stop!"
Loke grabbed at her arm, panicked.
"That's the King! Don't provoke him!"
He turned so fast he nearly stumbled, then bowed deeply toward the throne.
"Your Majesty… Karen's death is my burden. I accept whatever punishment you decree."
He couldn't let Lucy—or Kael—pay the price for him.
Then Kael spoke, and the temperature seemed to drop.
"I don't."
Everyone turned.
Kael's green eyes glowed with a cold, predatory light—calm, but dangerous in a way that didn't need volume.
"That woman got what she had coming,"
Kael said bluntly.
"Her death isn't Loke's crime. And three years of slow death in the human world is already more than enough punishment for something he didn't even do."
Kael rose into the air, wings unfurling as he climbed to the Spirit King's eye level.
"Loke is Fairy Tail,"
he said, each word clean and final.
"I'm sending him home. If you stop me, you're an enemy of the guild."
He floated until he was only a few feet from that massive face, then stared the King straight in the eyes.
"Celestial Spirit King,"
Kael said quietly, voice edged like steel.
"Move aside if you don't want to die."
Behind him, Loke was literally fading. Kael didn't have time for a courtroom argument—especially not after weeks of dealing with towering monarchs. He was tired of looking up, and he was tired of people "discussing" whether his friends deserved to live.
"Kael!"
Loke choked out, horrified.
"That's the Spirit King! His power is unfathomable!"
"Kael, don't be reckless!"
Lucy added, fear finally catching up to her outrage.
The Celestial Spirit King studied Kael for a long moment. Then, slowly, the corners of his mouth curled into something faintly amused.
"Heh… It has been many centuries since I've met a young man with such audacity,"
he murmured.
"Very well. Since you and my 'Old Friend' are so insistent, I will grant Leo a chance."
His voice deepened, the air vibrating with authority.
"If you can move me by even a fraction—if you can land a single blow—then I will permit Leo to return to the stars."