Facing an enemy attacking from both front and rear, even Leo had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender.
"Sorry, Lucy. Looks like I'm out as well."
"This lady is right. Next time, you should avoid using dual gate summons."
Knowing this was only a spar, Leo dismissed his summon without hesitation and returned to the Celestial Spirit Realm.
With Leo gone as well, Lucy was left isolated against a combination of fake Leo and Scorpio under Sorano's control. At first glance, she seemed to have no chance of winning.
But at this moment, the advantage she had chosen earlier by fighting near the swimming pool finally came into play.
Without hesitation, Lucy turned and rushed to the poolside, inserting the Aquarius key into the water.
"Please, my strongest spirit… Aquarius!"
Sorano crossed her arms, as if she had already predicted this outcome.
"Aquarius, huh. It's been a while. But with only that remaining amount of magic, what can you possibly change?"
She said that outwardly, but inwardly she was full of envy toward Lucy.
Four Zodiac spirits already. One third of the golden keys were in this girl's possession. The world really was unfair.
However, just when Sorano, Meredy, and Laki all thought the outcome was already decided, an unexpected event occurred.
"Brat, don't think I'll forgive you just because you praise me! You summoned me while I was out shopping, so come sink into the sea with me!"
"Wha… wait, I'm still here!"
Aquarius appeared in a foul mood from the start, immediately swinging her urn and unleashing a massive wave of water.
Lucy panicked instantly.
"W-wait! I'm still in it!"
But Aquarius gave her no chance to escape. With a forceful motion, she brought the urn down, controlling the towering wave as it crashed forward, sweeping Lucy away first.
The remaining surge did not stop there. It continued rolling toward Sorano and the two spirits who were still stunned.
"Oh yeah, I still have something to do. I'll be leaving now."
"Gemi… Gemini~"
Scorpio and Gemini quickly greeted Sorano before turning and fleeing without hesitation.
Sorano was left alone facing a wave several meters high.
She froze on the spot.
BOOM!
The wave crashed down, and two desperate screams were swallowed by the rushing water as it swept everything away.
On the spectator side, Laki quickly raised a barrier, but even so, a large portion of the water still flooded past and spread into the surroundings.
Watching the backyard reduced to chaos, Laki and Meredy both had extremely complicated expressions.
"That idiot…"
Meredy covered her face, unable to watch any longer.
She had never heard of a Celestial Mage being attacked and dragged into chaos by her own spirits during a summoning.
Laki, on the other hand, patted her chest in relief. At least the main force of the attack had been directed toward the Eastern Forest. Only a small portion of the garden had been destroyed.
If the direction had been different, their house would have been in trouble.
Even so, the commotion still reached the second floor, awakening Kabe, as well as the person next door who had been resting.
Not long after, Kabe's figure appeared on the balcony.
Seeing the devastated backyard, even he could not help but swear.
"What the hell, who did this? Which idiot used a wide-area spell in my backyard?!"
Then he saw the mermaid-like woman floating in his pool, turning back with an unfriendly gaze fixed on him.
"Aquarius? Lucy! That idiot!"
In an instant, Kabe pieced together what had happened, holding his forehead in frustration as he fell silent.
At the same time, the window of Irene's villa was violently pushed open, and a green head poked out, immediately shouting in anger.
"Who has no sense of public decency, making all this noise early in the morning? Doesn't anyone care that people are still sleeping?!"
Then she also noticed the familiar figure outside.
"…Eh? A-Aquarius!!"
Seeing the familiar presence, Brandish froze on the spot, cold sweat instantly covering her back.
Aquarius remained silent for a long moment.
Then she slowly smiled.
"Interesting. Looks like all the old acquaintances are here. This is more entertaining than shopping."
(Lucy: gurgle gurgle… so I got washed away for nothing?!)