Let's Play A Game...

With a few more games of Criminal Cogs under her belt, Lucy's prideful attitude was at an all time high for the first time in a while. It was rather amusing for Avis to (Metaphorically) see Lucy act the same she used as she summoned chains to whip Vinea after winning the last game of the night.

"Haha! No one can beat Demonic Royalty!" Lucy cheered, watching as the victory animation played once again. "You're... You're getting really into this, aren't you?" Vinea said with a light chuckle, using his Ego power to heal his wounds.

"So? It is... Enjoyable. To not have to worry about life or death every five minutes, it is a luxury I don't usually get." She said with a dismissive wave. "Did you forget that you're fighting Titania in an hour or so?" Avis chimed in with a sing song tone, making Lucy tense up slightly.

"Screw it. I have complete confidence in my abilities."

"Says the woman with no abilities of her own." The harpy said with a smirk on her beak before getting knocked to the floor by the slight tug of a chain. "I have enough power to kick your feathered ass into the next realm over." Her pride was quickly wounded when Avis sent her flying to the ceiling with a few notes of her guitar.

"See? No power."

When Lucy hit the floor with a thunderous crash and slowly rose to her feet, the sound of trumpets rung though out the halls of the palace. Vinea quickly yelled for everyone except Lucy to get out of the throne room. 

Nvr and Mix rushed to grab Avis and carry her away, though the harpy played a few notes on her guitar to make the atmosphere more dramatic.

"Hear ye, hear ye! Queen of The Fey Court, Titania has returned!" A guard yelled into the throne room while Vinea sat idly on one of the thrones, swirling an empty chalice like he was actually doing something. "Tell her I'm free to talk, please."

The guard gave a nod and swiftly left, leaving Vinea alone as Lucy slowly crawled out from behind the second throne. "Do I really have to do this? Can't I just rip her apart?"

"Do you want to be a painting?"

"No..." Lucy grumbled, moving down the steps and closer to the door. "Now, just walk in the room and challenge Titania when she arrives. Badda bing, badda boom, you get outta here." 

"Don't say that... You sound like Rat." She sighed and left out the door. Vinea took a few breaths and watched with baited breath as Titania slowly creeped open the doors. With her flower crown on her head, she quickly flew over to Vinea with her butterfly like wings, hugging him tightly.

"Flower power! Did you miss me?" She asked in a cutesy voice while Vinea uncomfortably hugged her back. "Yeah... Sure. H... How was your trip?"

"Oh you know, I found a cool stick, I got into trouble and..." She began manifesting something, summoning a familiar tiny multiarmed woman, wrapped up in a bow. "I managed to get us a new friend!"

"Is that Arachne?" He stared at the woman, who was squirming around and trying to untie herself with her four, thin, spindly back arms. "Arch-Who? I just named her Itsy. Aww look, she's bit me." Titania giggled before casually tossing Arachne to the side without much thought.

"And how are Ayre and Netel?" She asked before sitting on the throne beside him, floating around a bit due to her energetic nature. "They're good. I mean, we don't do much with out you." He sighed, secretly extending a vine to unwrap Arachne, motioning for her to get Lucy.

As Titania continued talking Vinea's ear off, Arachne slowly crept away. Crawling under the door to the throne room, she quickly realised that she had no actual clue where to go or who she was actually looking for, since Vinea couldn't exactly say it out loud. 

She began swing through the corridors of the palace with her webs before accidentally crashing right into Nvr. "The spider idol? Why are you here?" She whispered, lightly spooking Arachne. "Uhm, the vine king in there wanted me to do something? I don't really know." She shrugged with all her arms. 

Lucy, who had joined up with them after she left, took it as her cue to enter. Giving a thanks before bursting into the throne room.

"Titania, I challenge thee to a game of Criminal Cogs: Try in exchange for a favour!"

The queen of the fey looked stunned before laughing, giggling and all round smiling as she flew over to Lucy's face. Despite her size being half that of Lucy's, The Former demon could feel an aura of menace as Titania said with a creepy grin: "Now's not the time, Demon. I want to spend time with my family. !evah t'nod uoy gnihtemos ylraelc" She seemed to speak an almost different language, confusing Lucy somewhat.

"But by Fey law, you can't back out of a challenge. Now fight me... In a video game." Lucy tried her best to sound somewhat serious saying it, but just felt stupid. Titania groaned loudly, noticing the console was already out. "Fine, fine, fine. Fail, I take your whatever I want. Win, I grant you a favour. Happy?" 

"Yes." Lucy said with a smirk, using her chains to grapple a controller over to her hand before scooting Vinea out of his throne to sit. The Fey Queen just wanted to get this over with, already knowing she'd win. 

"Select your character then." 

Lucy quickly selected Pet-kin as usual, though that only made Titania smirk. "Oh... Forgot to mention, Titania mains a counter pick to Pet." Vinea whispered with a slightly nervous laugh. Titania selected a character called Beth, a lanky doctor wielding a giant scalpel. 

"Are you ready for the wheelchair?" Titania asked mockingly, setting herself down on her throne once more, quickly getting comfortable to rip Lucy to shreds in both the game and reality.

*Pet-kin VS Beth*

"Mankind knew they could not change society, so instead of reflecting on themselves, they blamed the beasts. FIGHT." 

Once the round started, Beth quickly pulled back and threw something into the air, confusing Lucy. Before she had the chance to react, a trumpet landed on the ground. Pet quickly went in for a grab, but was out ranged by Beth's scalpel. 

The doctor quickly moved to grab the trumpet and blew it. Lucy had barely enough time to jump, dodging a stampede of crazed dolls. "What the hell!?" She yelled before getting air grabbed and thrown to the ground. 

"Beth's whole gimmick is changing the battle field at a moments notice. So, watch it." Vinea explained as he watched Lucy get caught in a combo string that finished the first round rather quickly.

"You could have mentioned that!" She yelled, getting ready to summon her chains to whip Vinea to shreds, but Titania gave a little giggle as she turned Lucy's head towards the holographic screen. "Don't get distracted so easily. I thought you were meant to be a fearsome opponent? That's what everyone in that little city of yours said anyway." 

"Shut it, you floating floundering fly on the wall!" Lucy soon reorganised and readied herself for her next round. 

Once the next round started, Titania went for the same strategy of backing off and throwing an item. This time it was a donut. Lucy noted that The Fey Queen seemed disappointed by the outcome, but decided to go on the offensive.

She closed the gap with a simple input, doing some light jabs to try and catch her off guard. But it was easily blocked, just as Lucy planned. With out any warning, she went for the grab, surprisingly able to get it off and quickly removing half of Titania's health.

"Boo. That was basic." The fairy groaned, not seeming to interested by the game any more as Lucy managed to finish the round with little resistance.

"Why don't you give up now? It's obvious I shall win." Lucy said with a boisterous cackle, failing to notice Vinea motioning her to stop taunting Titania. "Oh? If you're so confident then how about we raise the stakes?"

"How so?"

Vinea put a vine over his head in disbelief over Lucy's stupidity while Titania gave a mocking laughter. "How about we finish the fight ourselves. No cheap tricks, no instant defeat magic, just me and you, fighting for what we want."

"Don't-" Vinea tried to warn her but was to late. "Very well then. I did think this game was rather pointless anyway." She smirked and dropped her controller to summon some chains instead, but Titania let out another laugh as she snapped her fingers.

"Let the game begin!"