Sparing, Shrinking, Sickness

"Today's brawl is one of mine, and probably your, favourite game! Arena Wars!" Clawhouser yelled as he raised his furry hand to the moon lit sky, the crowd cheering in excitement. "The last person who isn't incapacitated wins! Maybe I should introduce some off our lucky constants for tonight's game?"

Through the crowds cheering, the recovered Kiola sat on the closet seat to the arena as she could, getting excited to watch her boss fight it out against 57 other people in a battle royale. She looked down to see the former demon training with her chains. 

"Is your weapon seriously chains?" A man with a well toned body said as he approached Lucy with a cocky look. "Yes. Is it so surprising?" She said with a small grin before letting out a light cough. "Maybe you'll be strong enough to face down the Blood Tiger." He said sarcastically as Lucy began coughing even more.

"And for our next combatant, she was personally defeated by King Midas, she had her heart ripped out and left defeated in the desert as a statue. But has now broken free and has come to challenge our lovely Arena herself. Give it up for... Lucy." The weretiger said as he awkwardly motioned to Lucy as she began coughing her lungs out. 

The crowd went dead silent, but she could hear Kiola howling with laughter as she continued to cough. "Shut... Up!" Lucy called out as she continued to cough. 

After a few minutes of introductions of some of the crowd favourites royale fighters, Lucy stepped onto the field with everyone other competitor while Clawhouser began counting down, the crowd joining him as the cheers grew louder.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

As the countdown ended, everyone began running at each other, battling and clashing as both magic and arrows were shot across the battlefield. Yet Lucy looked paler then usual, for once in her long life, she was ill. 

"Aww, is the little lady ill?" The guy from earlier said with a smug look as he raised his sword to strike her down. "In these things there are always a few casualties." He said before being knocked out by one whip of her chains. 

"Why am I ill..." She said with a light sniffle, slowly making her way through the field, whipping away any misplaced or deliberate shots at her with a rather simple sway of her chain. Despite her power being greatly diminished, she still knew how to fight. 

"Do you think Lucy will be pissed about the contract changes?" Arlo asked as he began rewriting the contract, staring at the unconscious Lucy on the floor. "I think giving her a taster of my power would at least help her in training when she finally gets a majority." Ro said with a smile as she took off her mask. 

"The power to spread ailments to others with a simple cough. Quiet scary." Kiola laughed, handing the two a pen. "Yeah... And she'll be sick for a few days." Ro sighed before accidentally coughing but Arlo had a thought. "We know the extent of it with you... But if Lucy can use our abilities, couldn't that mean..."

"She could create an entirely new disease on accident... Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." 

Back on the battle field, Lucy was doing rather well, already having 5 knockouts already and was now fighting her 6th. But as her opponent gave her a sharp kick to the chest and knocking the wind out of her lungs, she began coughing and wheezing. 

"Oof. Looks like Lucy is almost out for the count." Clawhouser announced as he watched. But Kiola could feel something was off, as she knew that a nice hard hit to her chest would most likely make her spew mist on accident, so if Lucy had both mist and a plaque mixed together it would result in...

"Oh my gods... This is gonna get gooooood." Kiola laughed, now on the edge of her seat as Lucy threw up her mist, spewing it over her opponent. "Agh, disgusti-" The battle hardened warrior yelped before shrinking down to only a few inches tall.

"Uh, I guess..." She mumbled, clutching her head as she carefully knocked her diminutive opponent out with a quick flick. Lucy felt too ill to really bother fighting anymore, instead choosing to make herself a little dome around herself with the magic she learned from lamb.

As the other combatants continued fighting, one by one they disappeared from sight, confusing both the crowd and Clawhouser. "W-Well it s-seems something strange is afoot. Perhaps someone's ego power is running rampant?" He still kept up the announcer act as in nearly a minute the remaining 38 others were now only down to 1.

Lucy groggily lifted her blonde bangs to see that no one else was even there. "Did... Did I win?" She grumbled as she put down her barrier and walked around the now deserted battlefield. The crowd all remained quiet as they watched her awkwardly stumble about.

"Where cough is everyone?" She asked before accidentally stepping on an elf. She let out a slight gasp when they politely asked for her to get off. Clawhouser was stunned when he realised what Lucy had done.

"We... HAVE A WINNER!" He cheered, followed loudly by the crowd who all called out her name in a chant. She couldn't help but feel bizarrely appreciated when Clawhouser bowed before her. "Well done, Lucy. I suppose for a demon, you aren't to bad."

"Haha... Screw you." She grumbled with an awkward smile. "So uh... Is the shrinking permanent?" He asked with a curious look as the defeated adversaries all slowly made their way backstage. "Uh... Ask me when I feel better. I need to lie down. And before I forget about it, I want my prize." 

"The favour? You're calling that now?" He asked with a confused look while Lucy summoned one of her contracts. She took a deep breath before saying all of the terms and conditions inhumanly fast before finishing nice and slow with; "And sign here." She tapped the dotted line with a tired smile.

"Uhm, and what is it I'm signing?"

"I just told you."

"Tch, fine. I'm a man who doesn't go back on his word." He said before lightly cutting open his hand with a claw and writing his name in blood. The contract began to glow as ethereal chains once again shot out and bound themselves to Lucy. 

"Thank you." She said with a bow before walking away. He felt as though he had just made the biggest mistake of his life as he watched her walk away. Lucy wearily walked her way back to the resting area of Dustination's Colosseum and sat down next to Arlo, who was still unconscious from Nvr's punch.

"Holy crap, girl. Way to go with that vomit!" Kiola yelled as she burst into the room with a giddy look. "What happened?" Ro asked as she shot awake from her nap, looking at the now ill Lucy. "Well she threw up her mist on this guy, right? Then everyone else started shrinking despite the mist not even being close to them!"

Ro's smile dropped as a nervous glare appeared on her face. "And uhm... Did anyone happen to contain the affected combatants?"

"No? They're all resting in the other room. Why?" Kiola answered, now seeming concerned. "Okay. No one panic, but I think Lucy may or may not have created a shrinking virus with your mist."

Everyone slowly turned to Lucy, who had already fallen asleep. Nvr had Grey quickly shift into a face mask despite the fact that even magical aliments wouldn't last long against her immune system. Ro began pacing back and fourth nervously as she tried to figure out how to stop this from turning into an epidemic. 

"What if we break Lucy's contract?" Kiola suggested with a smile shortly before trying to shaking Lucy awake. After a bit of explaining, Lucy handed over the contract with little resistance. "I grant thee... The power to change your contract however... You please. Just let me sleep." She said before dozing off once again.

Ro began rewriting the contract, writing that any virus or bacteria created by Lucy shall only last at most 4 days depending on the potency and fusion of abilities. She didn't feel like crippling such a fun Ego power for her new master to much. "Oh almost forgot about my sickness." Ro mumbled, quickly writing that any illness that she has, won't be passed to Lucy. 

Kiola let out a sigh of relief as Ro finished it up by adding in 40% of her total power to Lucy.

"I suppose I should get rested up." Kiola said with a smirk. Nvr tilted her head in confusion, asking flatly; "Where are you going? Lucy has not ordered it."

"I've got my final fight against Clawhouser tomorrow. If I win, guess who gets to leave with three years if food?"

"You do?"

"Yeah! Oh, and can you feed my crew?"

"What are they, pets?" Nvr asked with a slight smirk as she leaned closer to Kiola. The dragoness gave a light shrug before pulling out a jar filled with what looked like a tiny micro-biome with little sandstone buildings placed inside. "Did you make that yourself?" She asked with a teasing look on her muzzle.

"Nah, I just stole a few buildings with some magic, mist and Cyel's help. Oh, and keep an eye on that one. She's been getting grumpy lately." Kiola laughed before walking away to go to her own personal quarters. With that, everyone began heading for their own spaces to rest.

Though Cyel slowly crept into the room, just standing perfectly still as she watched Lucy sleep, holding diminutive's sub-mind and a strange device she had been working on for the last few hours. 

"I hope you like your little surprise tomorrow..."