Chapter 501

Mari and Randi is the 501st chapter of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail.
Having defeated Neinhart, Natsu turns to Brandish, but collapses due to the latter re-enlarging his previously shrunk tumor. To settle any differences within herself, she engages with Lucy in battle until Dimaria appears, who casts doubt on Brandish's true intentions, subsequently cutting her down before attacking Lucy for corrupting her comrade's way of thinking.
==Summary==
With Neinhart out of the way, Natsu turns his attention to Brandish and somewhat reluctantly challenges her to battle as Lucy begs her to step aside. Brandish, in response, re-enlarges Natsu's tumor, which causes him intense pain and renders him unconscious; Lucy asks her why she did so, and she reveals to them that Natsu is an obstacle and that they three are her enemies. Lucy responds that they can still be friends, but Brandish retorts that their situations are different than those of their mothers', and in her emotional turmoil, she challenges Lucy to battle, wherein Lucy demands that Brandish heal Natsu if she wins. Brandish reiterates her inner turmoil to Lucy and states that she has no chance against her, but Lucy attacks Brandish and demands that she promise to adhere to her condition of victory. Brandish parries Lucy's attack and casually agrees to her terms; Lucy recovers and summons Scorpio and his accompanying Star Dress to launch a teamed attack against the Spriggan 12 member, which fails when Brandish shrinks Lucy.
Brandish tries to crush the shrunken Lucy in her hands, but Lucy's uses Cancer's Star Dress to free herself and launch a series of pestering strikes against Brandish. The woman returns Lucy to her original size, only to find that she is now above her in Aquarius' Star Dress, and is hit by Aqua Metria, which Scorpio reveals to the onlooking Happy that she learned from Aquarius herself. Brandish reduces and compresses Aqua Metria and fires it back at Lucy on a magnified scale. Recovering herself, Lucy tells Brandish that she has reservations about fighting her, but that strength differences mean nothing to her, as she must protect Natsu at all costs.
At that moment, Dimaria ceases her onlooking and steps onto the battlefield and reveals to everyone post-haste that Brandish had no intention of killing anyone, as she could have killed them all in various ways, such as rupturing Natsu's internal organs or simply crushing a shrunken Lucy under her foot. Dimaria goes on to correctly guess that Brandish was going to throw the match after realizing that she was watching this unfold from afar; deciding that Brandish isn't useful to them anymore, Dimaria instantly cuts her down, much to Lucy's horror and Happy's shock. Dimaria then asks Lucy if she is the one responsible for "corrupting" Brandish and directs her rage towards Lucy, and in a fit of tears says that death is the only means fit to punish her for such an act.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
#Lucy Heartfilia
#Happy
#Brandish μ
#Natsu Dragneel
#Neinhart
#Porlyusica (flashback)
#Scorpio
#Dimaria Yesta
==Battles & Events==
*Lucy Heartfilia vs. Brandish μ (started and concluded)
==Magic, Spells, and Abilities used==
===Magic used===
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***Summoned the Scorpion, Scorpio
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===Spells used===
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===Abilities used===
*Hand-to-Hand Combat
*Swordsmanship
===Weapons used===
*Twin Blades
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===Items used===
*Celestial Spirit Gate Keys
**Gate of the Scorpion Key
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==Arc Navigation==