Chapter 74

Celestial Spirit King is the 74th chapter of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail.
Lucy is determined to protect her friend, Loke, as his body starts to vanish, indicating his last moments. Loke tells her that it is futile but Lucy just won't give up. Lucy tries to force the gate to the Celestial Spirit World open, she does not believe that protecting a friend is a sin. Suddenly the time stops, Celestial Spirit King appears. Lucy tries to convince the King that Loke is innocent, but the King claims that the rules must be obeyed, referring to Loke as an "old friend". But when he hears that Loke was just protecting Aries, he changes his verdict and allows Loke back to the Spirit World and says his punishment is to protect Lucy, his loyal friend. As the King returns to his World, time resumes and Loke, thanking Lucy from the bottom of his heart, leaves for the Spirit World and confers his key to Lucy.
==Summary==
Loke begins to vanish and tells Lucy to give his regards to Fairy Tail, but Lucy doesn’t want to let him go, and tries to open his gate forcibly. She says she can’t stand the loss of her friend, and uses all of her Magic power to open the gate. Loke tries to stop her, but she persists. Loke keeps trying to make her give up, but Lucy won’t hear of it. Her power starts surging out like never before. Lucy is hell-bent on changing the rules, and after she shouts this, time stops, and the Celestial Spirit King appears before them.
The King refers to Loke as old friend, and voices his crime. He says it doesn’t matter if the fault is direct or indirect, Loke cannot return to their kingdom. Loke is surprised to see that the King himself came to deal with the situation. Lucy then interferes and says that the punishment has gone too far. She says that Loke has been suffering for three years, for his friend's sake. The King says that he is pained by his old friend's fate, and Lucy says that Loke isn't "old", he is right there, before his very eyes. She tells the "Mustache Man" that Loke did nothing wrong and that she won’t accept anything but his innocence. At this point, Loke shouts that he wants to repent, but Lucy yells that he can't, as it is not a sin to care for your friends. Using all of her strength, she summons all her Zodiac Spirits and Plue at once, an action which would have killed another Celestial Mage.
Lucy however cannot hold the gates open for long, but the Spirit King concedes that maybe the law is in error. After all, Loke did what he did to protect Aries, and Lucy did the same thing to protect Loke. The King doesn’t want this bond to be broken, so he makes an exception for this time. He grants Loke permission to return to the Celestial Spirit World. If Loke wants to repent, he should live on and protect Lucy, as he believes her to be a friend of such worth. Time then restarts, and Loke thanks Lucy, returning to the Spirit World and giving Lucy his key.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
==Battles & Events==
*Leo's Return (started and concluded)
==Magic, Spells, and Abilities used==
===Magic used===
*
**
***Summoned the Golden Bull, Taurus
***Summoned the Archer, Sagittarius
***Summoned the Canis Minor, Plue
***Summoned the Giant Crab, Cancer
***Summoned the Maiden, Virgo
***Summoned the Water Bearer, Aquarius
===Spells used===
*None
===Abilities used===
*Time Manipulation
*Multiple Summon
===Items used===
*Celestial Spirit Gate Keys
**Gate of the Golden Bull Key
**Gate of the Archer Key
**Gate of the Canis Minor Key
**Gate of the Giant Crab Key
**Gate of the Maiden Key
**Gate of the Water Bearer Key
==Navigation==